M.K. Narayanan

Now that there is so much ‘hawa’ about telephone-tapping-shapping, I feel it’s my duty to share a few thoughts on a subject so close to my heart. As everyone knows, in my heyday as National Security Advisor (NSA) I was a tapper extraordinaire. And I achieved this distinction because I was a patient listener (I have heard more conversations than most telephones and Amar Singhs put together). In fact, I was a 24x7 sleuth who overheard loose talk round the clock, sleeping only between calls. Yes, believe me, those were exciting times. And now? As governor of West Bengal I am reduced to tapping my own phone and those of my colleagues in the Raj Bhavan. Why, it was only yesterday that I downloaded on the off-the-air-GSM/CDMA monitoring system (gifted to me by the Ukraine government) one of the peons ordering roshogolla from Balaram Mullick (a sweet shop on Park Street) and asking for a discount. Later, like any good intelligence man, I listened to the call several times trying to decipher all the hidden meanings and even tried to...