A not so grand goodbye to 2023 and welcome to 2024

                                                                                                            Dr. R. S. Sengar, Reshu chaudhry and Mukesh Sharma

The party season is on big time. Of course, I am referring to the ered plan that was sup posedly meant to remember those who had lost their lives. Despite the clouds, political parties storm bickering and haggling hahaha! In Mumbai, our deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis ki biwi the high-profile, showbiz lady Amruta Fadnavis (she looks unrecognisable and completely altered in every new photo op), organised an event featuring all her.

 Bollywood friends like SRK and others, to perform at a con- cert marking the terror attacks of 26/11-right in front of the iconic Taj Mahal Hotel the worst hit target of the four day dastardly, coordinated shooting and bombing attacks. Thirty one lives were lost and 28 people were hurt at the Taj during the lethal siege, where the employees of the hotel put up a heroic fight against the terrorists.

More than a decade and a half later, it is the horrifying visual of the famous dome of the magnificent hotel on fire that became the most recognised symbol of the attack. Mrs Fadnavis glamourous, high profile event was described as a "homage" to mark 15 years of 26/11 and salute the "Spirit of Mumbai". The mythical spirit of our great city has excused, condoned and forgiven too many sins over time. When all else fails, netas and sundry self styled dogooders invoke this mysterious spirit and exonerate themselves of further responsibility.

This time, our sweet Amruta not just chose the wrong venue to host an event billed as the Global Peace Honours under the aus pices of the Divyaj Foundation, but unfortu- nately for her, the grand show got rained out by an unseasonal shower. Clearly, the gods did not approve of such a skew.

Maharashtra chief-minister Eknath Shinde was in attendance. Alas, SRK's performance got washed out. Meanwhile, the Taj Mahal Hotel, as always, sensibly skipped the glam-sham and sho-sha, by marking the sad occasion in a far more dignified and appropriate manner. Visitors and regular guests at the hotel were touched to see the families of those who had died during the attacks (police personnel included) being warmly and courteously hosted for a four day stay by the management.

It was a somber and sentimental time for the families seeking comfort and solace over their loss. Surely, Amruta should have known better than to use such a tragic moment to stage an extravagant entertainment programme? What about the staggering costs involved in the elaborate production at the Gateway of India? The security forces and the police personnel on duty? The same amount of money could have been deployed towards assist- ing those directly affected. But then, that would not have generated photo-ops...

The real tragedy of the "mad-for-publicity" neta culture is precisely this. Any and everything is converted into a self-seek- ing image building activi- ty. So many weeks after we watched the ICC World Cup go to the Australian team, we are still licking our wounds, consoling ourselves and passing the buck, unable to accept the basic truth that two exceptionally tal ented teams battled for the cup: and one had to win, the other to lose.

Finally, six 'rat hole' miners achieved the impossible. Shockingly, it is these very 'rat holes' through which kids in Meghalaya enter the mines to extract coal. That's it. But our politicians are still stupefied and upset that THEY were robbed of their moment of glory and gloating. Reliable sources say that huge posters of our boys in blue with the Prime Minister had been printed well in advance and were to be extensive ly used, especially in Rajasthan, as election propaganda. The boys were going to be felicitated and given handsome rewards in the state, while being hugged by the chief minister.

Elaborate victory parades had also been planned in New Delhi, speeches rehearsed and outfits readied for the grand moment... one more feather in the PM's cap. That was not to be. But so what... who says a great leader cannot con- vert a loss into a positive occasion? There he was, invading the private, sacrosanct space of the team, accompanied by a camera crew.

Writer: Dr. R. S. Sengar, is professor and director of training and placement cell of Sardar Patel Unioversity of Agriculture and Technology Meerut.