03 November,2009 12:07 PM IST | | Dilip Cherian
Nostalgia was the dominant mood among Dilliwalas last week, particularly those of the political ilk. A quarter of a century after her death, Indira Gandhi and her legacy shone forth: fullu2013page newspaper advertisements and at functions. Naturally Dilli was the focal point of most of the homage. The trip to Shakti Sthal, her final resting place beside the Yamuna, by Congress President Sonia Gandhi and therefore by the who's who of netau2013dom was the usual annual ritual we have come to expect from our leaders. But if the anniversary had any message for Sonia and the PM who insist they continue to be "inspired" by Indira, it is to address concerns about India's choice ofu00a0 development options.
To complete the nostalgia overdrive, former US prez George Bush came calling too. And he chose to make no gaffes and sounded dubiously retrou00a0dwelling only on India's great future.
Tweet temptations
The growing significance of social media has been a little slow to dawn on the minds of our babus, even if their political masters have taken to Twitter, Facebook et al like ducks to water. While Twitter is sharpening public discourse and is particularly favoured by some politicians, the battle for increased market share between Facebook and Orkut is no less significant. After all, India's estimated online population is now 47 million and growing.
It cannot be considered insubstantial, by any definition.
But there is muttering in Dilli's corridors of power about blocking Skype. The company is strangely refusing to share the encryption code with investigators it strikes a jarring note given that other governments have it. But, though our babus may have their concerns about security, the sheer number of users and the force of democracy will not allow too many bans to happen. So tweet on!
