Politics doesn’t turn me on.

No, let me rephrase that. I am indifferent to politics…and politicians.

They have as a breed exhibited so many varieties of cheap, lowdown behaviour that I have preferred to make them my blind spot. Which also means I have stopped having any kind of expectations from any of them. The difference between a good deed and a sin is insignificant in their context. There is nothing they will not stoop to, nothing that gives them troubled nights of conscience and conflicts. So in my books they are as a species, quite a lot lower than the lowest worms.

Between politicians and corruption the nexus is today so overt that even the distaste has stopped having any meaning. And a dirty cop who pockets a few hundred bucks can no longer be faulted in the face of multi-million dollar scams. In fact he can only be pitied.

So in this environment where a good, honest politician is an aberration, why would I want to listen to a friend called Sanjaya telling ‘all’ about a Government that failed in many ways, but most of all, one that has consistently failed in allowing some basic dignity to its leader-members?

Was the ‘Accidental Prime Minister’ an attempt at eulogising an alleged gentleman? Was it a case of setting straight a chapter of history? Was it indeed a post mortem report of a corpse written even before rigor mortis had set in? Was it yet another case of a fan making his hero a God even as the rest of the world was branding him a devil?

None of these questions or even similar ones interested me. They were just examples of the noise that I was hearing and not even bothering to shusssh! So why did I go to the Manthan Evening with Dr. Sanjaya Baru?

And no, it was not because he was an old school friend and a fellow YMCian. Not because he was a journalistic voice that I respected. Not for a variety of reasons.

I did go, simply because I saw somewhere, the beginnings of an ethical battle. And that interested me…nay, fascinated me.

There were these many camps see, who had branded the book a betrayal of sorts. And some who said that the whole publication reeked of opportunism. There were factions that wrote off the book as fiction. But it seems everyone had a position…not just about what was written in the book…but more importantly about the person who wrote the book.

I found that strange. Really…I mean if someone is smart enough to release a book so that it exploits its own topicality, that cannot be cause for complaint.

And if someone who rode shotgun with the driver of this story writes about the journey, how can his authenticity be questioned?

More importantly, what is the point of discussing ‘him’ (Sanjaya) and his motives, his ethics, his action, his wisdom etc., whereas the book was really about someone else…whether it was about the Sardar who couldn’t or about the system that wouldn’t or even about the lady who wasn’t…

So I thought I’d drive across to the Manthan meeting, meet up with old friends Ajaya Jayarao and Sanjaya Baru (and where are you Chaitanya?) and listen to Sanjaya’s point of view or even his defence of several allegations.

The first thing that struck me was that ‘defensive’…he never was. Apologetic he did not try to be. And far from willing to bend over and forget all the bile that was being directed towards him, Sanjaya was taking a stand and hurling it all right back at ‘them’.

Okay!!! This is a fight that I am liking to see.

Pity that it is going to be at best a ferocious round of shadow boxing.

Because Sanjaya’s opponents have no chance of attacking him. They can, as they say, bark…but the biting is a privilege limited to Dr. Baru and he has already bitten off chunks of reality…and the proverbial ‘purdah’…ab to ‘phatee’ hai.

Can Sonia and/or her cohorts authoritatively claim that what Sanjaya said…did not happen…or happened in a dramatically different fashion?

No they cannot. Simply because their deeds have stripped them of any cloak of dignity and the poll results have washed away the last signs of comfort.

Naked, they stand before all of us and shudder to be among the counted.

Now, do they interest me? Am I keen on giving them a chance to tell their own version of the story? I don’t think so. I do believe that I have a better purpose in life than listening to a bunch of losers trying every which way possible to not blame the ‘hand’ and satisfy themselves by blaming the pointing ‘finger’.

Now…Am I going to read the book?

I guess I am…not today…not tomorrow…not in a hurry. But I will read it. It’s the closest thing to the footnotes of contemporary history that can ever be written.

And history always tells a fascinating tale if only you care to listen.