Platform 2-3 SBC

Not long ago, when Bangalore city railway station handled much less traffic, Island express and Udyan express, trains to Kerala and Mumbai respectively, originated from platforms back-to-back (2 &3) with a gap of only 30 minutes. Waiting in the platform for either of the trains to start chugging off was a delight and never boring. Majority of the travelers were not Bangalore natives; a bunch of malayalees to Kerala and a bunch of north Indians towards Mumbai.
The travelers to the north enact melodramatic scenes with hugging, caressing the hair and touching the feet of each other. Contrast this with the dullness of the lackluster malayalee traveler on the other side of the platform with rich black hair oiled with coconut oil, resembling characters from Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s award winning films.  The malayalee traveler will be dressed in a lighter shade, sandalwood paste on the forehead, usually with a plastic footwear and a umbrella (courtesy the rains of Kerala); their counter parts however being in colorful dresses, with 2 centimeter sidhoor on the forehead – ready to make it to Ekta Kapoor’s Hindi soap operas. The sight of some expressionless spectacled group of nuns with a basket of grapes (to make wine for next X’mas) is not unusual.
Watching the contrast is not just fun but also a short learning experience on how diverse people are within our country. With train timings revised, one misses this spectacle on platform 2-3 of Bangalore city station enacted daily by different actors oblivious to the fact that this is a rare platform which two diverse cultures share for more than 30 minutes.

Why I feel like pulling Chidambaram's dhothi

What is Chidambaram up to other than disinvesting a small stake in some loss or not-so-profitable making PSUs? He is using all his creativity in devising innovative techniques of widening the tax gain (not tax net) by squeezing the salaried tax payers turning them fast into bagasse.  It started with the tax (surcharge?) on cash transactions (even on ATM withdrawals). This was followed by the introduction of a Kathin (replacing Saral) to file income tax returns, which will be four pages of information on how you spent your already taxed money. This was later revoked under severe criticism. The latest is the service tax on postal money order. The time tested safe (may not be fast) way of passing money every month to your near and dear seems to be an ideal target to fatten the exchequer by imposing a service tax. This move of his pinches the middle class and lower strata of the society as others these days use a wireline transfer.

Our finance minister (monster?) may not be a cruel but still seem to take a cue or two from his profession – a lawyer. A lawyer does a micro analysis on his case to read in between the fine print and prove his point. Chidambaram’s mind set has not changed much. His budgets are full of complex equations on tax rate changes and not any new policies in the macro economic sense. He seems to be still looking at minor points in taxing the salaried class when Mulayam Singh and his ilk do not pay tax at all.

Now tell me if I am wrong if I feel like pulling Chidambaram’s dhothi?