Clueless about who's next

So the elections are almost over and little more has been heard of Mru00a0 Muthalik and his pink 'chaddi' brigade.

With such a motley rabble in the fray, the prospect of making a voting choice seemed appalling.

But after all the exhortations on TV, I made it a point to stumble down to my polling booth (stumbling is how I get around on our crazy roads and crazy 'pavements')...

My reactions to the election were mixed. On the one hand we were all aware of the scandals of the pre-election political infighting. Varun Gandhi and his fond Mummy set standards of personal abuse and barefaced lying, which would have qualified them for an 'A'u00a0 team of the IPL (Indian Politicians League). And their slogfest matched Andrew Symonds shenanigans. He would have been right at home in the league, along with 'Slapper' Bhajji and 'Crybaby' Sreeshanth.

But everyone is wisening up. Shri Manmohan Singh has learnt to be firm and talk tough.u00a0 Thiru Karunanidhi hasu00a0 perfected the art of talking from both sides of his mouth simultaneously. (Some netas have done it for so long that twisted tongues or twisted mouths have got stuck inu00a0 that position.

So there we were, standing on the pavement, wondering for whom to cast a vote from this this motley crowd ofu00a0 'leaders'. There were the Gowdas, father and sons, Maya and her boys. Vatal Nagaraj (No! that could not be considered a serious thought. It never has been).

Life is complicated.u00a0 We have the Pakistanis to the north, the Bangladeshi's to the East and now splinters of Sri Lanka in the south.

Moneys are being carted around in carloads, as also liquor hauls big enough to get the voters sloshed out of their minds. So after loitering on the pavement for an eternity, I was still clueless whom to vote for.

But where I went to cast my vote the voters stood in ordely ranks by sharp contrast with the VIP rabble who are lining up to be elected.

Apart from the perennial jokers like Lalu, Pappu Yadav and our very own Vatal Nagaraj-ji everyone has now cast his/her hat into the ring. Whatever happened to Jyoti Basu's one time disciplined brigade where it is now each man for Prime Minister himselfu00a0 and the devil take the hindmost?

Everyone including Prakas Karat, Sitaramu00a0 Yechury and so on... loose cannons like Mamtau00a0 Bannerjee...u00a0

Narendra Modi's fortune keep fluctuating (only the Supreme Court is finally probing his antecedents or 'lynching' him as Varun Gandhi's Mummy would have described the long arm of the Rule of Law).

Anyway, it will soon be over. I pray that we can soon be saying the same about the war of Lankan lions and Tamil tigers. It has been such a terrible human disaster.

Back home in India the Judiciary has been getting its act together. There is now a growing conviction that no one is above the law.

Or it may be just an illusion fostered by watching the news and views programs.

SO... WHO WILL BE THE NEXT PRIME MINISTER? On election day I was clueless. But not any more.

The present incumbent seems tou00a0 be our best prospect for the present.