Power goes to his head.

I have been thrown out of interview meets before, so when Maharashtra Energy mantri Shri Valse Patil short-circuited our chat, I was not entirely, to use the right word, shocked. (To read the truncated interview which appeared in the Mumbai Mirror, click here.)

All the same, it’s a shame that these people don’t want to be answerable to the people, and it’s a bigger shame that the quote-starved, subservient media, especially a large section of the electronic media, allows these bullies to get away with it.

Consider this: till just five years ago, Maharashtra had so much power at its disposal, we used to sell it to other States, and a power cut in Bombay was simply unthinkable. And just a few years down the line, many suburbs of the city have massive cuts, and other towns like Nasik and Pune and Nagpur have gone to the dogs. And it’s too embarrassing to even discuss the situation in our villages, those poor sods have forgotten what a lit bulb looks like. And you don’t need a degree in electronic science to figure that it’s complete mismanagement and inefficiency of our mantris that has brought us to this situation, they haven’t done their jobs, and we have to all suffer now.

And what pisses me off the most, is that these leaders aren’t the ones who will get hit… while I was waiting at Valse’s office for two hours, the A/C in his massive cabin was left on so that when the boss arrived, he could chill inside a cool, cool room. And the man had the gall to later gloat he has lunch in the dining room with the fans turned off! If such blokes are sitting in on our destiny, no wonder we are all collectively screwed.

But while saab was lunching, his other ‘fans’ were on in flow flow… all the idiotic journos from the TV media, sitting around like obedient disciples, and who later (the mantri himself said to me) were bitching that I was being too harsh in the interview! To begin with, you slime balls have sold your souls, you aren’t doing what the public expects out of you… to put some pressure on a mantri who’s clearly unfit for the job… and are instead pissing on someone who is at least trying.

People say the media explosion in India is a good thing, I am not sure about this. Because the explosion has left in its wake, vast debris of rubbish who I would not even think of calling journalists.