Not just AQI, what we need is a BSI! |
One has always had the highest admiration and respect for Meryl Streep's acting qualities, graceful beauty and composure. To these qualities, I should now add her strong moral conviction and the courage to speak out: her takedown of Trump at the 2017 Golden Globe awards function was something to watch, and won her a standing ovation. (Hopefully our Bollywood marionettes watched it too).
But I find that she is also relevant to the India of today: as proof, here is another of her statements: "Funny thing about getting older, your eyesight starts getting weaker but your ability to see through people's bullshit gets much better."
I can vouch for the fact that never was a truer word spoken: at three score and fifteen, I can no longer spot the prettiest lady in a crowd before Neerja can bat an eyelid (as I was wont to earlier), and I take quite a few wrong turns on the road as the traffic signs have become as blurred as Mr Modi's visions for 2047, but give me a piece of bullshit and I can spot it for what it is instantly, through the layers of grandstanding, hypocrisy and ignorance which is the hallmark of our government and ruling classes.
IIT-Kanpur got it all wrong when it diagnosed the NCR smog as consisting mainly of vehicle emissions, construction dust and paddy burning. It failed to detect a major ingredient — bullshit (BS) — whose particles — BS 2.5 by lesser politicos and BS 10 by ministers — have seen a major increase since 2014.
These emissions are usually disguised as droplets of nationalism, religious revivalism or Viksit Bharat slogans. They affect, not the lungs, but the IQ of the residents here, which explains why the BJP keeps winning........