Dhanya Rajendran| August 2, 2014| The News Minute| 7.00 pm IST
On Friday, a friend sent me many excerpts from former Congress leader K Natwar Singh’s book One Life is Not Enough. I was curious and asked how did you get all these excerpts? He says, “Wait!”
In less than 10 minutes I get a mail from someone on behalf of the e-commerce site Flipkart, my id had been provided without revealing my profession I guess.
The mail said, “We have exclusive rights to sell this book (One Life is Not Enough by K. Natwar Singh) online for a month and a half. The book is already creating waves and is intend to a lot more closer to the release date. We intend to create a buzz around the book on Twitter from the 1st of August 2014 to the 3rd of August 2014 and hence this email is being sent to you.
It would be great if you could speak about the book through your Twitter account for those 3 days, at least, close to 10-12 tweets talking about the book. We will send you quotes and quips from the book which can be used.”
When I replied in the affirmative, the next mail came promptly.
The mail had an attachment with many excerpts from the book and a link to the Flipkart product.
It said, “We will begin the tweeting activity at 5 PM and go on till whatever time you'd like. For today, it will be great if each of you could tweet close to 5-6 Tweets. Attached is the material in 3 sets for 3 days. The 3 Days are today, Monday, the 4th of August 2014 and the 5th of August 2014, which is a Tuesday. Please feel free to use it the way you like. The excerpts are being share to initiate conversations and discussion around the book, keeping the sanctity of your thoughts and opinions. If you are quoting from the book, then let it be in quotes. Otherwise it is totally your call what you want to tweet. There is no hash-tag, however it would be great if it trends. “
But at 5 pm, I didn’t tweet! Still an hour later I got a thank you mail and a voucher worth Rs 360.
Apparently, this is the norm. This is how companies try to create buzz, but was a first time for me. Socialmedia is being used to create buzzzzzz and how. Maybe Natwar Singh can now stop hopping from studio to studio and let Twitterati do the job.
SELECT EXCERPTS FROM THE BOOK “ONE LIFE IS NOT ENOUGH”
SET 1
EXCERPT 1
Later in the summer of 2005, Sonia and I flew to Moscow by special plane for a convention. After the meeting, Sonia and I flew to a little town called Vladimir by helicopter. I was mystified, wondering why she had chosen this town which I had never heard of. Located in the middle of a forest, Vladimir offered peace and tranquillity. Sonia walked towards one of the larger buildings, which had been converted into a small museum. We entered an octagonal room, the walls of which were covered with little handwritten pieces of paper. She was intently looking at these chits. Turning to me, she said, ‘Natwar, my father, during the Second World War, was a prisoner of war in this room. He escaped and walked all the way to Italy.
Reference Articles & Links
1. http://www.frontline.in/navigation/?type=static&page=flonnet&rdurl=fl1509/15090140.htm
2. http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/sonia-gandhi-the-maino-girl-who-kept-her-tryst-with-destiny-in-india/1/194441.html
3. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xkd4xy_russia-s-toughest-prisons-documentary-2011_shortfilms
4. http://worldprison.fo.ru/wiki/39054
EXCERPT 2
At the dinner, Manmohan informally told me that I was getting External Affairs and Arjun Singh, the Ministry of Human Resource Development. After dinner, Sonia asked me to come with her. She told me that she was under great pressure from various quarters, including the Americans, to not appoint me as External Affairs Minister. Would I consider taking another ministry?
EXCERPT 3
In October 1954, the Prime Minister visited China, and was welcomed in Peking by a million people lined up on both sides of the road as Pandit Nehru and Chinese Premier Chou En-lai drove by in an open car. On his return, Pandit Nehru stopped in Calcutta. The first letter he wrote on his China experience was to Edwina Mountbatten, and shared with her the content of his discussions with the Chinese leaders. Strictly speaking, this was against the oath of secrecy he had taken.
EXCERPT 4
In 1961, Queen Elizabeth II was the chief guest at the Republic Day parade. Lord Mountbatten had got Nehru to agree to the Queen and President Rajendra Prasad jointly taking the salute. This was an atrocious proposal. I spoke to several of my colleagues about it. There was unanimous disapproval. I also spoke to S. Gopal, the son of Dr S. Radhakrishnan. Sensing the mood, Nehru dropped the idea. What bothered me even more was the pernicious influence of the Mountbattens on Nehru, so much so that he was literally eating out of their hands. He was oblivious to Mountbatten’s glaring shortcomings. His wife, Edwina, had fallen in love with Nehru, and he with her. When Edwina Mountbatten died in early 1960 in Borneo, Nehru paid her a tribute in Parliament. This was unprecedented.
Reference Articles & Links
1. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2241195/How-wild-promiscuity-Edwina-Mountbatten--wife-Prince-Charles-mentor--took-heartbreaking-toll-children.html
2. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Nehru-Edwina-were-in-love/articleshow/2204895.cms
3. http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/jawaharlal-nehru-and-the-mountbattens/article1375810.ece
EXCERPT 5
1997 witnessed a happy event in the Gandhi family—the marriage of Sonia’s daughter, Priyanka. She reminds people of Indira Gandhi, both in looks and grit. She fell in love with a Christian, Robert Vadra, who had his limitations, and her choice surprised one and all.
Reference Articles & Links
1. http://www.outlookindia.com/printarticle.aspx?202854
EXCERPT 6
One afternoon, Mrs Gandhi had some free time and decided to go for a drive, along with me. A few miles outside Kabul she saw a dilapidated building surrounded by a few trees, and asked the Afghan security officer what it was. Bagh-e-Babur, he told us, and Mrs Gandhi decided to drive up to it. The protocol department went into a tizzy as no security arrangements had been made. Regardless, we headed towards Babur’s grave. She stood at the grave with her head slightly lowered and I behind her. She said to me, ‘I have had my brush with history.’
EXCERPT 7
From the day she set foot on Indian soil she has been treated like royalty; she has behaved like a prima donna. Over the years she has evolved from being a diffident, nervous, shy woman to an ambitious, authoritarian and stern leader. Her displeasure strikes fear among Congressmen. No one has been Congress President for fifteen years. Her hold on the Congress Party is total; firmer and more durable than even that of Jawaharlal Nehru. Under her, dissent is smothered, free discussion fenced in. Silence is used as a weapon and every subtle gesture is a message, an icy stare a warning. Even opposition parties handle her with kid gloves (this is now rapidly changing). She is never blamed or criticized for failures and defeats of the party. ‘Soniaji can do no wrong,’ chant the battalions of cacophonous sycophants. From her privileged perch, she reigns and rules. Favours are granted piecemeal, lèse-majesté is given short shrift. Beneath all that posturing an ordinary and insecure person emerges. Her capriciousness is lauded. A fine-tuned personality cult is promoted. Politics has coarsened her.
EXCERPT 8
What Sonia Gandhi has achieved is to reduce the Congress, one of the greatest political parties of the world, to a rump of forty-four members in the Lok Sabha.
EXCERPT 9
Stories mysteriously appeared in TV channels, newspapers and magazines, portraying me as an accomplished thief. No evidence was produced. Newspapers began turning down my articles. One Hindi newspaper editor frankly confessed that he could not publish my articles because, ‘Soniaji would get angry.’
EXCERPT 10
After the Commonwealth Games and the 2G scandals broke out, a well-known journalist met me in the Central Hall of Parliament. ‘Sir, you must feel like a saint now. ’I asked, ‘Why?’
‘You were exonerated by the Pathak Authority, yet you were hounded and crucified by the likes of me, the Congress Party and Manmohan Singh’s government at the behest of Sonia Gandhi. I just wish to apologize.’
I was touched and thanked him. The hounding and harassment continue. But Sonia Gandhi can neither run nor hide.