December 7, 2008

Who is your President?

Our Brain is very wicked!It sometimes put you in awkward and embarrassing situations.Yesterday had a good trivia time with Ms Brain(Not sure if I should address my own brain Ms or Mr).:P
We were a group of 5 celebrating my friend's graduation at a Cajun Sea food restaurant.Three Indians and 2 French. When struggling hard with lobster tails, I always prefer to be silent as I don't like others to find out that I am clumsy with food.
Trying hard to avoid the Euro-Indo relationships,we were having a good time discussing the food,music and culture.Appreciating their interest and knowledge in Indian cities, we were just trying hard to act 'International'.(Thanks to those ads by the tourism ministry that pop up in our TV Channels).
Here comes the twist.This French girl asked me an innocuous question.So 'Baadera',Who is the President of India?Gulp!I kept chewing nothing!President of India(Not Obama,Not Mc Cain,Not Bush).I looked at the other two(Similar gestures).Busy meddling with lobsters.
Finally my other friend charged.Our Prime Minister is Manmohan Singh!The next in row,Our former President was Dr Abdul Kalam.Both of them looked at me as if I was supposed to take the ball in my court.
Cant I remember the name of the President of my country.Felt as if their looks were crushing me.Trying to hide my shameful face, I started a conversation to justify our memory .'You know unlike in France,President is not so important to us,Its PM for us, and our President is a she..(I said inside..dam..so what?Just because its a female how can you forget her name).
French Army:"But cmon guys,none of you know her name?"
Indian Army:(Giggling)(All eyes on me)(I hate to admit here I was in the quiz club both in school and college)
All that I could remember was the article I read in Times of India where her comments on Bombay attack.But Still no luck with name..I cursed my memory.!
Waiter looking at my exhausted face..'Yes Mam,what dessert can I get for you'
P...Patail..Yesss Pratiba Patil
Whew!I just didnt notice the weird and confused look on his face.I just looked at everybody and screamed..Its Pratiba Patil..The President of India :)
I heard laughter,I heard sarcasm!But I was happy.I didnt forget her name.
Should I blame the media for not binging her name?Should I blame her for not being an active President?Or is it just my brain or my lack of current affairs!
My friend did a good job asking me another innocuous question..'Pratiba Patil?Are you sure?I thought she was some old bollywood actress'!
God Bless India!

8 comments:

Matt said...
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Matt said...

lol .. and do you know why everybody (quite often) do not remember her name? Its because she is always holed up in the 340-room Rashtrapati Bhavan! The only time she surfaces is when she is welcoming some foreign president to her 'humble' home .. with her hands clasped together in a 'namaste' pose.
Here's another question .. who's the Vice-President of India? :)

thazoom said...

that was really funny :)
Yup.. hw can we remember unless we see her often in media!

Balu Krishnan said...

HAHA....Thats a good one..she is not that popular as Dr. Kalam. I feel, it was Dr. Kalam, who showed, yeah there is a person called Indian President.

Ajith Prasad Balakrishnan said...

So, now, next question..Who is the vice-president of India :) ? ..Dont Google :)

Rakesh said...

hilarious post.. keep going...

u know, when I ws reading ur post, I had this queasy feeling that NRIs don't know nything abt their homeland... but when I read Matt's & Ajith's question, I was shocked at my own ignorance...

Chellu said...

Well People I think we are growing old!I am sure if we ask the school kids,they would have the answers..I remember by hearting the names of all the union ministers for quizes in school ..:P

Aswin Dev said...

lolz... Well does happen when the President is a person who's mostly unknown prior to and post the presidential elections... ;)...

@ Matt and Ajith: Thats a question 90% won't answer without googling... including myself... :D