Speculation that there would be atleast one more reshuffle in the Union Cabinet, making room for Mamta Behn, have piped down for the time being. It is felt that the sudden outbreak of war in Iraq and the massacre of Kashmiri Pandits in Shopian, has hit the reshuffle plans like an accidental political missile for the time being. The joys and excitement of some hopefuls that completion of five successful years rule of the National Democratic Alliance at the Centre would provide for them additional prizes in the form of ministerships, have gone on hold. The Prime Minister, without whom no reshuffle can ever take place, has other and more important things on his mind. He was planning a visit to the G-8 meeting in Europe, to which he has been invited, though not a member. But before that he is expected to have a word with President Putin in a special visit to Russia. While hopefuls like Sandip Gangopadhyaya from West Bengal and some from the Shiv Sena might have to wait for a luckier moment to wear the ministerial crown, at least for the Shiv Sena hopefuls, the will of their lord and master, Bal Thackeray, would also count heavily. It is said that Thackerey, who was responsible for the withdrawal of his party nominee Suresh Prabhu from the Union cabinet, wants to make sure that none of his and his party's nominees become permanent as ministers. Well, well, the passage to the throne is always a slippery one.

Having stormed the Priyanka fortress in Amethi, the master invader of Indian politics, Behn Mayawati, is now all set to storm Sushil Kumar Shinde's bastion in the Sahayadri mountains and his political capital--Mumbai. She wants to spread the word that she and she alone is the leader of the dalits of India, be they in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat or Maharashtra. After all, was it not she who built memorials to Ambedkar and organised rallies and commemorations to revive and project the memories of the man who fought brilliantly and courageously for the cause of the dalits? With Shekhar Suman and Madhukar Jaitley respectfully lining up in the Maya cavalcade, it is quite clear that the BJP needs Maya more than Maya needs the BJP. No wonder they have stopped singing praises of the legendary 'Jhansi ki Rani' and are now singing political hymns in praise of the 'Lucknow ki Rani'. The BJP knows it needs her.

Jammu and Kashmir is threatened with two very serious environment threats--both linked with black ice of one or the other kind. Gulmarg, according to reports is threatened by the global warming phenomenon which may turn the coldest spots in the world into burning hot spots, weather wise. The pollution and global warming threaten to turn even the milky white snows into black ice. This is in terms of physical environment alone. But Pulwana district and the Shopian areas are suddenly under the threat of 'political black ice'. The hireling terrorist dogs of Pakistan's ISI are now targeting the Kashmir Pandit families to give a bloody nose to Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and a black eye to the prospect of the Kashmiri Pandits returning to their homes in the Valley under the Mufti plans. Is the scourge of political black ice in Kashmir linked with the sudden lifting of all sanctions against Pakistan by its faithful master, the United States of America? The U. S. A. is so keen to give a black face to Saddam in Iraq that it seems to overlook the black ice operation of the cross border terrorists of Pakistan. In any case, there is no oil in Kashmir, that makes it uninteresting for the Pentagonists. The Kashmiris have to put up with operation black ice.

'Sonia Ji', as her faithful followers call the Indian national Congress president with great awe and respect, is worried, even irritated at the performance of Captain Satish Chandra Sharma and his team, including the Uttar Pradesh Youth Congress prince Nadeem Ashraf Jayasi, for having lost the 'battle of Gauriganj' to Mayawati and her BSP squad. The team kept on assuring her "not to worry, not to worry" and then lost Gauriganj to Mayawati's nominees. Even though Congress legislators Akhilesh Das and Subirami Reddi, both well-known Congress Rajya Sabha members, ensured that there was no dearth of flow of money and material, the election was still lost. And this happened in Amethi, supposedly the fortress of Sonia Gandhi, where a lot of good work was also being done by the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. Surely, there is cause for worry for her. She has to find out what went wrong: men or money?

Despite all the arrangements made for the evacuation of Indians trapped in war-stricken Iraq by the Government of India, a large number of Indian girls and boys have chosen not to leave Iraq with whom they have literally 'fallen in love'. The girls who have married Iraqi boys would rather stay in the battlefield with their loved ones rather than return to India without them. The Iraqi boys would rather live and die in their own motherland in this hour of peril and challenge. The Indian boys who have fallen in love with Iraqi girls and married them during their job tenures there would also not desert their sweethearts at a time when they need them most. Moral: Even George Bush Jr. and his deadly missiles cannot vanquish lovers.