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The former CMD of India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC),Parvez Dewan,seems to have that rare quality to poke fun at himself. On the author’s profile page of his latest book on Kashmir,this J&K IAS officer has candidly revealed some interesting facts about himself. “Most of the publications that Parvez has written for have folded up (Youth Times,JS,The Hindustan Times Evening News,The Metropolitan on Saturday,Shama (Urdu) and such sections of The Times of India as he regularly contributed to)”,it mentions. “The venerable Illustrated Weekly of India wrote a long story about how Parvez created the Ladakh Festival in difficult circumstances. That was its last issue,” it carries on. At another point,it talks about two of his ‘libretti’ having been recorded as rock operas in Denmark,and a third telecast on Britain’s Channel Four,adding: “And none of the three was ever heard of again.” Hopefully,the book will have better luck.

Trivial Pursuits

There seems to be no end to Congress spokesperson Renuka Chowdhary’s penchant for trivialising serious issues. Asked about the Telangana agitation on Monday,Chowdhury replied that the matter was not “aloo-gobhi ki sabzi” which can be put in a pressure cooker and made ready in two “seeties (whistles)”. This was only the latest in several strange analogies she has drawn ever since taking up the job of spokesperson. Sometime back,when she was asked why party general secretary Rahul Gandhi was keeping quiet on the Team Anna movement,she had said he was no “parrot”. On reports of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee offering to resign,she had said that it was like asking a husband whether he had beaten up his wife or not.

Diversionary Tactic

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s move to sack state Water Resources Minister Mahipal Maderna for his alleged involvement in the disappearance of an auxiliary nurse midwife,say Congressmen,was “more of a self-survival tactic”. Under fire for his inept handling of the Bharatpur incident in which several Muslims were reportedly killed in police firing,he was said to have got jittery after Rahul Gandhi visited the victims’ families without informing him. With pressure mounting on the party high command to intervene in Rajasthan affairs,Gehlot’s sympathisers at the Centre were said to have prevailed on him to “sacrifice” some of his colleagues so as to divert attention from his own lack of performance.

Roosevelt House Blues

American efforts to find an ambassador for India in President Barack Obama’s last year in office is turning into a bit of a struggle. One strong line being pedalled in Washington is that the time has come to select a suitable Indian-American for the job. This would be in sync with the fact that US has posted Gary Locke,who is of Chinese-origin,to Beijing,and Korean-origin Sung Kim to Seoul. Outside this pattern,there is an attempt to find someone from Washington’s powerful think-tank community,but this has received a setback after Brookings Institution’s Strobe Talbott turned down the offer. If this was not enough,the latest buzz set about by State Department officials among their Indian counterparts is why not consider a woman candidate. Meanwhile,there are others who say status quo with an interim ambassador is “just fine” till the next elections.