Rancho

 So the Yanks have turned their tail again, what’s new one may ask? The mighty US of A, the global hegemon, policeman, watchdog of democratic values, the saviour of the world from all kinds of catastrophes, be it the aliens, meteors or even invasion by the zombies….the Avengers!! 

If wishes were horses.Hollywood stories would come alive. It always amazes me that aliens do not land anywhere else in the world, except US, be it the Independence Day or Martian Invasions. Some of you may be surprised to note that Americans had been fantasising about alien wars immediately after the second World War and produced movies on the theme including a 3D version way back in 1953.  Most of us of course recall the more recent ones War of the Worlds, Avatar etc, where they have saved the Planet a million times. So obviously, Americans find mere mortals too lowly for a fight, be it Vietnam or Afghanistan, these are not their wars. They simply took it on themselves to rid the world of communism and Islamic extremism, even if they had to befriend the Middle kingdom itself; their communists were better than the Russian ones. Similarly  Pak and Saudi extremism is acceptable but Afghani is anathema. No, it had nothing to do with the Military Industrial complex, which made a cool three trillion dollars from this venture. A couple of million lives lost, displaced refugee crisis are mere collaterals. In fact, actually it is an investment for future as they have sown the seeds of discord amongst the people displaced, who would be the cannon fodder for future conflicts, creating a demand for the same weapons again, so a win-win for everyone!!

We can’t blame them really, there are only two industries which Americans can be justifiably proud of Arms and Entertainment, which too incidentally is beholden to the Chinese, with many productions houses already owing their allegiance to them. So Men in Black would rather seek fictional  aliens and monsters who can be handled on celluloid with computer aided digital effects rather than roughing it out in the rugged and unforgiving mountainous arid Afghanistan. The superheroes Batmans, Supermen  women and even the Rambos have discovered to their chagrin that when things get tough toughs don’t get going ….they just turn back and run….

Rancho from 3 Idiots was actually Ranchhoddas Chanched the character played by Amir Khan. Well, may be Old Joe is the modern day Krishna, who too got the sobriquet of Ranchhod (one who runs away from a battlefield) after scooting from the battlefield.