Its awesome to be back in the Gulf, The moment the plane landed here, i couldn't get the grin out of my face, everything too neat, too glitzy. In fact, too glitzy to be normal. I've been wondering about what makes this place tick. Apart from oil, its the seemingly hospitable environment to the white-skinned, the clannish unity of the people here. Only the previous day had my pracs got over, the ride back home from college was already alien. Here's why: pracs over at 12:15. Waited in the library for quarter of an hour, not only for the want of something better to do, but to escape the scorching 40 degrees. Put my bag in the only 1:00 pm bus available. Waited as the bus got full, fuller, and well, by 1:00, there were students sitting on first aid boxes. To add to this, we had entertainment in the form of radio mirchi, a local radio station. We arrive at poonamallee, after a bumpy ride so characteristic of indean roads, this li'l village masquerading as a town, flags of political parties everywhere, as though mocking the plight. When these people can promise 2kg of free rice, tv sets and other fairytale stuff, is it near impossible to promise better roads, better bus stands, better railway stations, more schools, the list is endless. The DMK, currently in the opposition, has conventiently decided to make its election manifesto that of the ADK's apparent shortcomings, while the ruling party's promised free tv sets too, for fear of being left behind in the freebies marathon. While the former has arithmetic, with more than 4 parties on its side, including the age-old congress, the latter's banking on chemistry to win the elections. Courtesy: NDTV. Another thing i've discovered here, thanks to my parents. Its unbiased, and definitely a welcome respite from the likes of sun music, sun tv etc. Talking of respite, the political party Lok Paritran seems to be a respite, in fact, many a shade better than these conventional political stuff. No soft promises. All they promise is clean, transparent governance.