The economy does not drive

‘Yes Minister’ feels too naive for the times of today.

- RAJA SEN

The Maruti Suzuki Jimny: It is not about the destination, but the journey.

Politicians like to panic. They need activity; it’s their substitute for achievement.

As the world and its politics cease to make sense—at least twice a day these days—I find myself occasionally burrowing into the sarcastic and insightful comforts of the British classic, Yes Minister. Created by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, the 22-episode series (and its sequel Yes, Prime Minister) can be streamed in India on the BBC Player section of Amazon Prime Video. Generations of Indians have grown up on this 1980s series about bureaucratic double-speak and institutional ineffectiveness, a series holding up a mirror to our own desi issues with power and powermongers.

I must here mention that my own first foray with screenwriting came decades ago when I sat at an NDTV desk, and helped in adapting Jay and Lynn’s magnificent scripts to an Indian context for the adaptation Ji Mantriji. The show starred Farooq Shaikh and Jayant Kripalani in the roles of Minister and Secretary, made so famous in the original by the beautifully bewildered Paul Eddington and the supremely supercilious Nigel Hawthorne. While episodes about knighthoods and honours proved specifically slippery to set in an Indian context, most other issues felt all too relatable. At that time, more than two decades after the original, it applied perfectly to our times of coalition governments and dodging-the-blame.