In Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in India, one lady is engaged in the remarkable task of applying Keynesian economics to revive her state's economy. That is none other than Mayawati, the most charismatic person in India after sam anderson!

According to John Maynard Keynes, during a recession the government has to stimulate demand by enacting public spending projects that would increase employment and also reduce taxation to encourage people to spend more.

That's where Mayawati comes in. She has embarked on one of UP's largest public spending exercises in recent times: erecting about 40 statues, including 6 of herself(not to be confused with the statues of the party symbol;the elephant). She believes investing about 10000 crores in such projects(including parks and memorials) will help the economy grow by providing employment to thousands of people. Also by merely looking at these statues, the dalits will become inspired and empowered and educate themselves and come out of poverty.

She is believed to have got this radical idea from none other than renowned economist and visionary Arindham Chaudhary.In fact rumor has it that most of the IIPM students who are not placed are working on her statues!

However it seems one just can't please everybody. According to the opposition, erecting statues of oneself is a foolish thing to do since according to Indian tradition, statues are erected only in honour of the dead. Then again one can't really blame her. She is forced to erect statues of herself since no one else will do any such thing after her time!

This is the first edition of the Lampoon Interview(LI). The LI features interviews of famous and not so famous people who, owing to their exceptional words or deeds,have been deemed be worthy of being lampooned. For the first edition of the Lampoon interview, we have with us Mugeshwaran Iyer(MI), who has cracked the IIT-JEE with an AIR of 7. He has also been ranked 23rd(national) in the AIEEE and got 97.5% in his CBSE board exam. Join us for the interview of this ,brilliant lad.

LI: Firstly, let me start by congratulating you on your exceptional performance.

MI:Thanks!

LI: Why don't you introduce yourself to our readers?I'm sure they are anxious to know about the secret of your success!

MI:blushes. My name is Mugeshwaran Iyer, and my friends call me Mugesh. All I can say is that I owe my success to my parents, teachers and most importantly to god.

LI:Humility coupled with brilliance. A rare combination indeed!But could you elucidate on your preparation for the benefit of other aspirants?

MI:Well a lot of credit goes to my father. He inculcated a love for learning in me by sending me to vedic mathematics classes when I was just 4 years old. After attending classes for four years, he enrolled me in an institute that trained students for science olympiads and talent search examinations.When I was 10 years old I started learning computer programming from some books that my father bought for me.

LI:Wow!You sure seem to have had an eventful childhood!

MI:Yes, and in that respect I am fortunate. While my peers wasted time on sports, games, movies etc I spent my vacations attending various summer camps like memory enhancement camps, speed mathematics camps etc.I also completed a couple of courses from NIIT.

LI:Whoa! So you never actually took a break?

MI:Of course I did take breaks! I spent my free time solving puzzles and riddles.I used to read a lot too. I was a voracious reader until about 6th std, when I started focusing on academics.

LI:Phew!So when did you realize IIT was where you wanted to study? And when did your preparation start?

MI:When I was about 9 years old my father told me I have to get into an IIT. At the age of 11 I started going for NTSE(National Talent Search Examination) classes. I attended these classes for a couple of years and it really strengthened my fundamentals. I was selected for NTSE when I was in class 8. That really gave me confidence in myself.

LI:You seem to be quite an achiever!And when did your actual IIT preparation begin?

MI:You could say that. I had always stood first in class right from LKG! When I was in class 8 my dad enrolled me in UNFITJEE's integrated classroom program. That was when my serious preparation first began. I began studying for bout 4 hours every day. I also worked on several science projects during this period. I won the national science project competition a couple of times.

LI:stunned. Continue.

MI:UNFITJEE was really the turning point in my life. From 9th to 12th std, I studied nearly 6 hours every day, except for vacations when I used to spend 16 hours every day. I also concentrated on the school syllabus and thus could maintain very good grades. Also when I was in std 11 I started preparing for International Olympiads.

LI:How could you possibly manage to study so much?

MI:merely shrugs his shoulders. It was a bit difficult in the beginning , but eventually I got used to it. Besides, all that effort has paid off!

LI:It sure has paid off! So what are your future plans? Research? MS abroad?

MI:grins sheepishly. Actually I plan on doing an mba. I have already registered for CAT classes! I also plan on learning some basic economics. I would like to work in the finance or marketing sector. Dad told me that it's an excellent career.

LI:What?!After spending almost your entire childhood learning science you now want to do an MBA? If you wanted to do finance or marketing why didn't you do a B.Com or a B.A (Econ)?

MI looks at me aghast. It was a familiar look, one that I had seen on the faces of people who had just watched a Sam anderson movie!His mother, who was bringing a cup of hot filter coffee for me, retraces her steps back to the kitchen, muttering "Abhishtu abhishtu" under her breath.

I realized the interview was over.

ZERO: The average IQ of the SONY SET MAX Extra Innings team.

1:No of people who read my blog regularly.(Including me, that is!)

3:No of times Dhoni uses the words obviously/of course in a sentence.

13:Total No of people who watched the santosh trophy final.

75:Amount in lakhs spent by VIT management to be ranked 10th best engg college in India, ahead of all the NIT's

364: Duration, in days, of summer in chennai

1000:The ave no of times Ranjith Fernando said 'DLF Maximum'/"City moment of success" per match in the IPL.

10000:Amount in crores, spent by IIPM on ads!(Ponytail man thinks IIPM is better than IIM!)

1 Million:Amount,in $, spent by Harsha Bhogle on his new hairdo!

10 Million: No of golti students pursuing B.E in IIT's, NIT's and US universities
,
1 billion: India's population in the recent past

13 trillion:US national debt, in $

Zillion: TAX FREE PROFIT, IN $, made by 'commissioner' Lalit Modi, thanks to the IPL!

Googol: India's population in the not so distant future.

The Women's reservation bill has been in the news lately, and it has spurred a series of articles, debates and discussions. In principle I am against any sort of reservation, be it for women in parliament or for the backward classes/communities in educational institutions. A reservation is basically a compromise on merit, although I doubt merit has any relevance in the context of politics. Then again women constitute almost 50% of our population (more like 45% thanks to female infanticide and foeticide which has skewed our sex ratio), and their representation in parliament is woefully inadequate. Therefore we must either remove the social prejudices and cultural perceptions about the role of women in politics, and help them overcome their challenges or introduce something like the women's reservation bill. It is not surprising that our politicians have chosen the latter, in accordance with our highest democratic traditions of taking the easy way out.

On a lighter note, the passing of this bill could possibly set a precedent that might pave the way for an efficient and corruption free government.Those in favor of the bill contend that there are too few women in parliament and their numbers ought to be increased. Fair enough. However, applying the same logic, there aren't too many politicians who are well educated. Don't the educated citizens of our country deserve adequate representation? Going by the number of tainted ministers, it is evident that the honest hardworking millions of our nation too are not adequately represented. Shouldn't there be a quota for honest and educated people as well? Considering the fact that the youth constitute nearly 65% of the population, don't they deserve a far greater representation in parliament? In my informed opinion, if we concentrate on providing adequate representation to young, honest and educated people in parliament, that would automatically take care of the gender divide and in all probability skew the ratio in favor of the fairer sex!

The raison d'etre of this blog can be explained by the above latin phrase, "Castigat Ridendo Mores", which translates to one who corrects customs by laughing at them, which is a figurative expression for a blunt critic. I believe that if one can't solve the problems of the world, the next best thing is to laugh at them! I also believe that it is futile to laugh at others if one can't laugh at oneself. Therefore without further ado, let the comedy begin!