Through the past 12 months Jaal has thrived upon recycling the rumours that hold New Delhi agog. After all, the grapevine provides the headiest intoxicants for Dilli's denizens.
Here's our account of the rumours that became the truth or could assume that shape in the near future and the ones that were just so much hot air like Central Hall gossip.
We predicted that Mulayam Singh Yadav's son and Laloo Prasad Yadav's daughter would get hitched before the year ended. We could say we were right. Laloo's daughter Misa married Shailesh Kumar, an Infosys engineer; while Mulayam's son, Akhilesh wed an Uttarakhandi Thakur girl. But, let's face it; we were wrong. Mark our words: "Marriages of convenience define Indian politics. Leave alone strange bedfellows; there are never any permanently estranged bedfellows. However, what the two Yadav chieftains of North India are planning takes the exercise to a hallowed plane. The capital is buzzing with the ``news'' of former chief ministers Mulayam Singh Yadav (Uttar Pradesh) and Laloo Prasad Yadav (Bihar) taking their newfound bonhomie to a new level. That being? Getting their children married. Nothing strange in that, except they are to be married to one another." But not entirely. A certain lady came between the jodi. A lady called Sonia Gandhi; the lasagna mein haddi. Mulayam wanted the Congress decimated and Laloo had an electoral understanding with the Congress. In that process, their political and filial alliance-in-the-making sank.
Next, we predicted the demise of Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal. But he's still alive, though another forecast, that of Gurcharan Singh Tohra causing him some torment, has proved correct. One on count, we stand correct: After the Shiromani Akali Dal's disaster in the Lok Sabha elections, Badal's political demise is certainly approaching.

Than, there was the bit of Cat Stevens, that, fortunately, still holds: "Okay, here's the dirt. Cat, in his avatar as Yusuf Islam, is a gung-ho fundamentalist. He heads an organisation named Muslim Aid, which is based in London, and apparently works for the uplift and education of deprived Muslim youth. Of course, it is good for them if they are deprived of his muzak.
Mr Stevens was in Peshawar during mid-to-late 1992. Remember the bomb blasts in Bombay in December 1992-January 1993? Well, the intelligence honchos in the Home Ministry believe that Cat had something to do with them. No, not that they were trying to annihilate his albums, something more serious (and, no, we don't mean another album).
Our sources say that Muslim Aid was ``funding'' the perpetrators of the bombings, along with the sureally named International Brigade for the Spanish Civil War.
Another tale that speaks for itself. "Insurgency may be failing as an alternative to mainstream politics in India. Yet it is undoubtedly a success for some of its "leaders" who are able to enjoy La Dolce Vita, unlike their lesser comrades-in-arms who are left to face the ire of the State, and the fire-power of the Army.
Each movement needs leaders to articulate their cause to sympathetic ears in the West (it is the dregs of their society - the plumbers, sweepers, barbers, etc, who do the dirty work of shooting and bombing). These people base themselves in foreign capitals, and avail of the best that the globe has to offer, whether it be universities in the USA, skiing vacations in Switzerland, and lucrative business opportunities at the millenium's modern marketplaces. As they are wanted in their native countries, there is no question of returning home, and none seem perturbed at the prospect of their movements lasting indefinitely."
Another bullseye was the turbulence in Orissa politics; not caused by the cyclone. "So JB (Patnaik) is out and Gomango is in. And for Gomango, a numerologist by hobby, it's a question of counting the number of days till he follows JB up the garden path.
Then, there's our spiel about the Bharatiya Janata Party bending over backwards to satisfy the United States; to get Bill Clinton to visit India even if it means signing the CTBT. We were right. To quote our lucid text: "Many in the BJP have in fact once again started to propagate Samuel Hungtington's clash of civilisations theory, in which India is suggested as an anti-Islamic ally of the US in the next century. Thus the fact that India has forfeited an independent security option will be played down, and the hope that India will become a major trading and security partner of the US will be played up."
A month later, we were back soothsaying that Mulayam would even join hands with the BJP to have the Congress defeated in the Lok Sabha elections. That was virtually the case; except that he secretively teamed up with former Chief Minister Kalyan Singh to sabotage the BJP's and the Congress' prospects. Now that Kalyan is dumping the Babri Masjid agenda and ditching the RSS, the Sakshi Maharaj brokered "understanding" could go even further.
So, all right; we weren't always right; but we were right some of the time; more than can be said of the current bunch of our country's rulers. And, also, we were just re-relating whispers that coursed through the Capital.