Perhaps it’s true that things can change in a day. That a few dozen hours can affect the outcome of whole lifetimes. And that when they do, those few… - Arundhati Roy

Things can change in a day.

Little events, ordinary things, smashed and reconstituted. Suddenly, they become the bleached bones of a story.

– დღის კოშმარი გესიზმრებოდა, – უთხრა რაჰელმა.
– კოშმარი კი არა, სიზმარი იყო, – მიუგო ამუმ.
– ესტას ეგონა, რომ კვდებოდი.
– ისეთი სევდიანი იყავი, რომ...… – თავი იმართლა ესტამ.
– ძალიან ბედნიერი ვიყავი, – თქვა ამუმ და მიხვდა, რომ მართლაც ასე იყო.
– ამუ, როდესაც ადამიანს ბედნიერება ესიზმრება, ეგ ითვლება? – ჰკითხა ესტამ.
– რა ითვლება?
– აი, ეგ სიზმრად ნანახი ბედნიერება.
ამუ მშვენივრად მიხვდა, რას გულისხმობდა მისი ქოჩორწამხდარი ვაჟი.
იმიტომ, რომ სინამდვილეში მხოლოდ ის ითვლება, რაც ჩასათვლელია.
მარტივი, სრულიად მყარი ბავშვური სიბრძნე.
ძილში თუ თევზი ჭამე, ითვლება? იმას ნიშნავს, რომ თევზი მართლაც შეჭამე?
სიზმრის ხალისიანი კაცი, რომელმაც ნაკვალევი არ დატოვა, ითვლებოდა, თუ არ ითვლებოდა?

Sonia Gandhi and her son play an important part in all of this. Their job is to run the Department of Compassion and Charisma and to win elections. They are allowed to make (and also to take credit for) decisions which appear progressive but are actually tactical and symbolic, meant to take the edge off popular anger and allow the big ship to keep on rolling. (The best example of this is the rally that was organised for Rahul Gandhi to claim victory for the cancellation of Vedanta’s permission to mine Niyamgiri for bauxite — a battle that the Dongria Kondh tribe and a coalition of activists, local as well as international, have been fighting for years. At the rally, Rahul Gandhi announced that he was “a soldier for the tribal people”. He didn’t mention that the economic policies of his party are predicated on the mass displacement of tribal people. Or that every other bauxite “giri” — hill — in the neighbourhood was having the hell mined out of it, while this “soldier for the tribal people” looked away. Rahul Gandhi may be a decent man. But for him to go around talking about the two Indias — the “Rich India” and the “Poor India” — as though the party he represents has nothing to do with it, is an insult to everybody’s intelligence, including his own.)

The division of labour between politicians who have a mass base and win elections, and those who actually run the country but either do not need to (judges and bureaucrats) or have been freed of the constraint of winning elections (like the prime minister) is a brilliant subversion of democratic practice. To imagine that Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are in charge of the government would be a mistake. The real power has passed into the hands of a coven of oligarchs — judges, bureaucrats and politicians. They in turn are run like prize race-horses by the few corporations who more or less own everything in the country. They may belong to different political parties and put up a great show of being political rivals, but that’s

[Internationa] Aid is just another praetorian business enterprise.