A coup in India! I was truly excited. Finally we could tell the Pakistanis, the Bangladeshis, the Nepalis, the Sri Lankans, that hey we just had one of our own but no one found out about it for well over two months till a newspaper that only practices journalism of courage discovered what had happened. And once they found out, boy, they didn't waste any time or newsprint in letting the world know. They printed the story of the coup across the entire front page with a triple-decker headline and a triple-decker byline! What a splash.
As a journalist I am absolutely thrilled. I can confess now that all those chaps in the Congress and BJP were beginning to bore me. But there's no chance of any boredom with a coup. I can play around with words like coup d'etat and putsch. Military chaps who organise coups in places like Ecuador, Fiji, Congo and Togo, look quite impressive. Now that we have been reliably informed that it also happened in Najafgarh on the outskirts of Delhi, I have a vision of interviewing a big strong general with medals all over his chest and asking him what he thinks about Anna Hazare.
I must immediately start developing contacts in Army HQ. I am quite fascinated by all those military chaps on TV these days and I never realised they spoke such good English. They also use lovely words like morale and national interest. Of course I would have to find out where HQ is located but saying the word HQ itself is quite thrilling.
Reminds me of Pakistan where I've made three trips and each time managed a great assignment. I remember travelling with Nawaz Sharif and he would talk about how much he loved India and Hindi films and then a shadow would cross his face and he would mutter a complaint about HQ. Later when HQ despatched him out of the country, I realised why.