As another Bhutto dies a violent death- the comparisons between that tragic dynasty in Pakistan and our own Gandhis have become the cliché with the most currency. I succumb too, because the similiarities are just incredible.

Both Rajiv Gandhi and Benazir Bhutto had a parent who was a Prime Minister- a Pakistani friend pointed out to me in fact that Indira Gandhi was killed by her bodyguards, and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was sent to the gallows by the man who was in a manner of speaking was, as Army Chief, in charge of his protection. The death of both Indira and Zulfiqar didn't just change their children's lives, they changed the course of their countries' destiny.

Like Benazir, Rajiv Gandhi died in a suicide bombing. Like her son Bilawal, Rajiv's son Rahul was just about twenty, just beginning an undergraduate college degree abroad. Rajiv lost his brother in an aircrash that was a mystery for years, Benazir lost two brothers at a young age, both dying mysteriously.

While still in mourning for Indira and Zulfiqar respectively - Rajiv and Benazir had picked up the reins of their parties, leading them to victory in the first election they ran. The honeymoon with their electorate then souring as charges of corruption came to the fore. Both Rajiv and Benazir died while campaigning, the real tragedy in their deaths that both seemed to have learnt much from the mistakes they made during the first terms in office. Their unrealized potential, I think, was the biggest loss for the nations.

Outside Naudero House, where the Bhuttos live is the really unfortunate comparison. The similiarities between the way Larkana and Amethi remain undeveloped. Both constituencies of our dynasties are poor, with unbuilt roads, bad sanitation, erratic electricity and unfinished promises of modernization. Like Amethi, Larkana is dotted with technical institutes named after some member of the dynasty, but more often than not they represent a grant given to a favoured local leader of the party, and not a genuine initiative for change. I have also always wondered about the immense power of these families- that are known for their lifestyles abroad, yet are able to strike such a chord with the poorest person within their country. Rajiv had his Rolex, Benazir died with her Chanel glasses on- but both families can claim the underprivileged Aam Aadmi as their most ardent supporter. In Amethi, so many speak of their Tyag and Balidan, In Larkana, they repeatedly talk of Qurbani.

And as I walked into Naudero House Larkana- I saw the next parallel. In a corner of the yard outside what's known as Bhutto House (strangely, it was the maternal home of Zulfiqar's first wife Begum Ameer Bhutto, and not his at all), sat young Zulfiqar Jr. He is the son of Benazir's brother Murtaza and his wife Ghinwa. Relations between Ghinwa and Benazir had been bitter, and like Maneka Gandhi and her son Feroze Varun (also named after his grandfather), Ghinwa had been turfed out of the family home. The Gandhi-Bhutto mystique, is only transferable down one line, it seems.

Watching Asif Ali Zardari at the press conference that followed reading out Benazir's will, I couldn't help feeling Zardari had studied many of the parallels I had. And true enough, like Sonia Gandhi, he stepped down from the big position, perhaps to wield even more authority from behind the throne. I asked him the question directly, and Zardari smiled. He said Sonia was much more experienced than him, but his admiration for her clearly showed.

Young Bilawal too seemed aware that the odds of history remained stacked in favour of high office but against survival. In an answer to my question at the press conference he addressed, he said, "As we know, the chairmanship of the party is a position which is occupied by martyrs (exact quote)".

That then will remain the defining common chord of our political dynasties. With all the world at their command- they live with the constant knowledge it could end any day. And every event, personal or otherwise plays out on a screen that's much larger than life.