Ben who?

Ben Bernanke arrived on stage at the Kotak Presidium event in Mumbai to the sound of music and trumpets. After a glowing introduction as the man who saved the world from financial collapse, he could have been forgiven for being less than modest.

But he brought the packed house down instantly by deadpanning that while the music was wonderful, it wasn’t always like this and he wasn’t always well-known.

Taking a dig at his own low profile, he went on to relate how, when his daughter mentioned that her father was Chairman of the Federal Reserve, the incredulous response she got was, “Are you Alan Greenspan’s daughter?”

Enter the dragon?

There was plenty of banter and quips as Ben Bernanke and Uday Kotak held a conversation covering a range of issues immediately after Bernanke’s talk. Kotak, who asked a couple of questions, turned the topic to China. “Moving to China.....”, he began but Bernanke was quick off the block saying, “We are all moving to China!”

High-flyers

If it is not entirely clear who will win the election, we at least know who is flying high, going by the manner the civil aviation watchdog has been conducting surveillance on the aircraft used by political leaders. The DGCA started by pulling up the crew of a flight carrying BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. Then came the news that the aircraft of Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi was targeted. Who will it be next?

Finding NaiMo

NaMo is Narendra Modi across India, but in Andhra Pradesh, the enthusiasts of the TDP-BJP alliance are touting it as Naidu and Modi. Although the road to forging a pre-poll alliance has been anything but smooth, the Naidu-Modi team thinks it has what it takes to be a match winner.

Infy and out

The resignations haven’t stopped yet. The latest to exit Infosys was the chief compliance officer who, of course, has been quickly replaced. Industry watchers say they haven’t seen such a rush of exits in any major Indian company for a long time. In fact, at the recently concluded Infosys results press conference, except a couple of officials, almost everyone on the dais was new.

A date with Rajnath

BJP chief Rajnath Singh, who was campaigning in Mumbai on Thursday, was full of praise for the BJP-led NDA government. He recalled how US President Barack Obama had called India ‘emerged’ and not ‘emerging’ under the NDA government, which was in power from 1998 to 2004. However, Singh had to be reminded that Obama assumed office as US President only in 2005.

At the same conference, Rajnath also exuded confidence that the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance would win the Maharashtra Assembly election in October 2015. He had to be corrected by his Maharashtra leaders that the election will take place a year earlier. A wag wondered whether the campaign was taking a toll on him and quipped: “Hope he remembers polling day!”

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