"So Sonia Gandhi is to India what Asif Ali Zardari is to Pakistan."
"Don't agree."
"Why ever not? Both are spouses of deceased leaders who were assassinated and both inherited the party leadership."
"Even with respect to inheritance there was a difference. Sonia Gandhi didn't need to present a succession certificate to her party members to claim her inheritance but President Zardari did."
"What can I say! These jiyalas are tougher than Congress (I)."
"I thought all those jiyalas who required a succession certificate are out of the party."
"Don't be facetious. Second difference is that Sonia Gandhi has made the Forbes list of the most powerful people in the world and our President didn't. And this is in spite of the fact that Sonia Gandhi does not hold an official designation while A Z does."
"That's because India is now a powerful player in international politics and our country is still struggling what with heavily relying on the IMF tranche release and..."
"OK, but there is another difference: can you guess what it is?"
"Sonia Gandhi is a back seat driver while the President likes to be in the driving seat."
"No my friend you have ignored the most obvious difference; Sonia is female and the President is male."
"I don't understand what that has to do with anything."
"A female doesn't mind operating behind the scenes while a male from the sub-continent is averse to it."
"But when Benazir Bhutto was alive..."
"Don't go there my friend, that's a thing of the past."
"What is the future?"
"Bilawal and Rahul Gandhi!"
"I see, so the two parties would remain family fiefdoms."
"Again with a difference: Bilawal will enter at the top while Rahul is starting not quite at the bottom but certainly not at the top."