Quite an eventful week this past one has been. Ms Winfrey arrived in the country and a burp in an espresso cup gripped the chatterati up at the Jaipur 'Glit' Fest. Things were read that apparently should not have been read. I say 'apparently' because I am yet to be offended by said piece of 'offensive' literature. Unlikely assassination plots were revealed concerning individuals with positively farcical sounding names. There were denials and protestations of innocence and eventually all blame settled on the elusive 'central intelligence'.
The 'offending' author eventually said his piece by video interview with a certain Ms Dutt. Everyone and their mother spoke of freedom of expression. A bunch of fundamentalist cretins showed their disapproval of god knows what ( as all evidence points to no one involved having read a word of what they were protesting) by bursting on to the venue of the lit fest and doing a namaz! For pity's sake - get a life!
Ms. Winfrey got it absolutely right when she called India 'the greatest show on earth'. We love making fools of ourselves it would seem even as we take ourselves too seriously. How we manage such extreme paradoxical behavior is beyond me. We can in the same breath extol the virtues of cleanliness in every country we visit and yet seem completely complacent with public urination in our backyard ( sometimes quite literally in our backyard!) . Gentlemen , public urination is NOT a fundamental right- just so you know. We preach ritual purity in a hundred ways and yet cannot seem to stop the practice of public spitting.
Okay maybe these disgusting behaviors are the result of some kind of pandemic of incontinence of oral and other varieties. But what about space? What pray explains the need to stick like a limpet to the back of the person standing in front of you in any number of lines waiting for any number of things? A word of advice to those who think it's perfectly okay to stand 'that' close- it is absolutely disgusting . An arm's length is a respectable distance. And I would say that it's an economical distance considering that we seem to be really pushing the envelope as far as the population is concerned and showing no signs of stopping- EVER!
End of rant.
The current week began on a sad note with Sukumar Azhikode, that giant of Kerala public life passing away. He will be missed.
Also waiting to see what happens at Tahrir today. Cannot believe it's been a whole year!
The 'offending' author eventually said his piece by video interview with a certain Ms Dutt. Everyone and their mother spoke of freedom of expression. A bunch of fundamentalist cretins showed their disapproval of god knows what ( as all evidence points to no one involved having read a word of what they were protesting) by bursting on to the venue of the lit fest and doing a namaz! For pity's sake - get a life!
Ms. Winfrey got it absolutely right when she called India 'the greatest show on earth'. We love making fools of ourselves it would seem even as we take ourselves too seriously. How we manage such extreme paradoxical behavior is beyond me. We can in the same breath extol the virtues of cleanliness in every country we visit and yet seem completely complacent with public urination in our backyard ( sometimes quite literally in our backyard!) . Gentlemen , public urination is NOT a fundamental right- just so you know. We preach ritual purity in a hundred ways and yet cannot seem to stop the practice of public spitting.
Okay maybe these disgusting behaviors are the result of some kind of pandemic of incontinence of oral and other varieties. But what about space? What pray explains the need to stick like a limpet to the back of the person standing in front of you in any number of lines waiting for any number of things? A word of advice to those who think it's perfectly okay to stand 'that' close- it is absolutely disgusting . An arm's length is a respectable distance. And I would say that it's an economical distance considering that we seem to be really pushing the envelope as far as the population is concerned and showing no signs of stopping- EVER!
End of rant.
The current week began on a sad note with Sukumar Azhikode, that giant of Kerala public life passing away. He will be missed.
Also waiting to see what happens at Tahrir today. Cannot believe it's been a whole year!
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