BRAHMOS

This city of Anantha the snake, rejoiced

as did the rest of the state, the defense
minister, who as the state chief minister
had initiated action for the take over of
the sick, ailing, state PSU by the defense
establishment, proclaimed it as the centre’s
new year gift to the people of his state; while
the ageing chief minister and his party men
called it their victory, claiming it was their
relentless pressure on the centre that produced
the results and the saffron party’s leadership
declared that the credit was theirs since they
started the Russian joint venture to produce
Brahmos while they were in power at centre.

Amid all the claims and counter claims,
for once the people of ‘god’s own country’
too rejoiced with the chest thumping
politicians, despite the corrupt deals and
cracked roads of gaping incompetence and
rising prices and unemployment and sex
scandals involving Tantris and police atrocities
and all the power cuts and water scarcity; they
hoped for missile induced jobs and development.

Acclaimed as India’s pride and Russia’s joy,
the fastest missile in the world in its class,
rupees one thousand crore, promised the
elated defense minister for the new Brahmos
missile factory and the crowd cheered him
on, at the handing over ceremony where a
gloomy chief minister had to play second
fiddle to the one who truly deserved all credit.

But, both citizens and politicians were blissfully
unaware of the communist and Islamic missiles
in the north that had quietly locked on to their
new target down south, ready to nuke Anantha
and his people when the next war breaks out! 
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09/02/08                                       R Jayachandran