February is the silliest month...

This is that time of the year where grown up, sensible men will sit in front of their television or discuss in the TV studios about that vague document called the Budget. On the last two days of February we are waiting in anticipation as if the budget is going to make break our lives.The leap year makes it extra special - you get tortured for an extra day. (Thankfully I was spared this stress since i had no cable)

Strange words like fiscal deficit and public debt are thrown around and we pretend that we understand them. And whoever is the Finance Ministers gets us to hold our breaths for a day or two. So now that the party is over, lets sift through the hangover.

So Rs. 60,000 crores have been waived for farmers. Wow! Wow? How many of us have even worked on a farm in the last twenty years?

Shit ! Cigarettes prices will go up. But were you not planning to quit this year?

Rs. 16,000 crores have been allocated to cover National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme? What is that? When did you want one? In any case IT and services sector do not come under that !!!!

Cars have become cheaper by about 2-5000 rupees. OK great, but you were going to buy on an EMI anyways.

Lets be honest. None of us - urban middle class, upper middle class and upwardly mobile (any of the above) are affected by the budget. But the show we put on during this time it seems like that our life depends on it. Just for this brief moment we all become experts on what is the right budget for the country.

My suggestion is that budget discussions on television should be simplified and should only be in Hindi. That's one way to keep them short and not let the experts meander on.

The rest of the stuff you can read on the net or the newspapers tomorrow.