I am not a Star Wars Fan. I mean I have seen all the movies, all the episodes etc. But I am not a Fanatic. I am not Obsessed. I do however know a lot of people who are almost diseased.

And they are the people who talk the language at the drop of a hat. May the Force be with you…the Empire Strikes Back…and a host of other phrases pepper the conversations of passionate Star Wars fans.

That’s natural I guess. Each generation of people find phrases that they make their own. From Gone with the Wind came the “Frankly My Dear, I don’t care a damn” line. From the muscular Arnold came the “I’ll be back” promise. From Dirty Harry came the immortal “Make my Day” threat. And who can forget the Mario Puzo Godfather line about ‘making him an offer that cannot be refused’.

But each of these lines had a clear pattern of ownership. We don’t for example, expect the youngsters of today to use the ‘Frankly My Dear…’ line with any sense of history. And quite frankly neither do they expect us to use words like ‘Radical’…or ‘Awwwwwwesssssommmeee’. And when they say they want to ‘give it a goog’ they mean search for details on Google, but do not expect us to use that phrase.

Please understand that when they find an older person trying to sound ‘uber cool’ or ‘mod’ or ‘hep, hip and happening’ they find it very hard not to snigger. As funny as it may sound many of us think that it’s a part of good parenting. I must confess that even I have been guilty of this crime.

But when I saw a clip of our Prime Minister speaking at Ram Leela Grounds in New York I hoped like mad that the comedy had not been spotted by the rest of the world. Unfortunately some media did sit up and take notice.

Of course Modiji thought he was connecting…