Heard of Anwar Manippady? He is a BJP leader from the Karnataka coast. He served for a while as chairman of the Minorities Commission. He has just tweeted a picture of Rahul Gandhi relaxing with three others at a Mangalore restaurant he identifies as the Ocean Pearl. Now our Manippady sir has a problem. Many problems, actually. How could a potential prime minister slip out of the highly secure Circuit House at 12 midnight, and sit drinking till 2 am? Why was Congress senior Oscar Fernandes refused entry to Circuit House? And why was Rahul sitting with a “society girl?” Abbadi, what all Manippady wants to know! Sir, first of all, why are you bringing poor Oscar into all this? At least the Congress has an Oscar in its ranks. In your party, most of the time, it looks like there’s no Oscar, no teller. That’s why colleagues like Sampangi and Janardhana Reddy go berserk. And your ministers sit watching eye-popping content on their mobiles while the Assembly debates drought and pestilence. And what’s that society girl bit? Are girls in those parts outside society? In any case, with this single tweet, Manippady has won enemy Congress a good many votes. He has proved that Rahul is a hard worker who doesn’t mind staying up late into the night. (The Congress prince went campaigning in Kerala the next day). And if Rahul becomes PM, he is unlikely to impose a night curfew on any city. Or send goons to pubs in Mangalore. Or make a big deal about his personal security. Or mind going out drinking with ordinary folks, unlike politicians who go to pricey resorts... One good thing is the hotel has a name in English. Imagine if it had been in Kannada. Ocean Pearl. Kadal Muththu. Kadal is ocean, but this second word is treacherous. It means two things: pearl and kiss. That would have outraged Manippady sir even more. And he would have tweeted, “Ee Rahul Gandhi entha burnaas jaagakke hoda gottunta, maaraayre!” In other words, do you know what a nonsense place this Rahul Gandhi went to?
Finally
■ Government announces 11,500 quarters for policemen. ☺ The policemen are saying, “So sweet of you. Any chance you could make that full bottles?” m ayyoexpress@gmail.com