MxMIndia

Category: NOOSEMAKER

  • The Union finance minister, perhaps inspired by incumbent Pratibha Patil’s wonderful lifestyle, wants a similar retirement plan for himself

    Ranjona Banerji: Will Pranab Mukherjee be our next President?

    Ranjona Banerji

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Do we have a President of India at last in Pranab Mukherjee? The Union finance minister, perhaps inspired by incumbent Pratibha Patil’s wonderful lifestyle, wanted a similar retirement plan for himself. Lovely house and gardens, lots of fuss and protocol and nothing to do – perfect!

     

    This is hardly surprising since Mukherjee is the most hard-working man in the Universe. Not only is he the finance minister, a bad enough job, he is also the go-to man for both the government and the party. If the prime minister’s not there, Mukherjee’s in charge. If some ally is misbehaving, off goes Mukherjee to sort it out. If anything in the government is going wrong, Mukherjee to the rescue. If Parliament needs to be taught a lesson, up pops Mukherjee. Since he is 900 years old and has been part of every Parliament as long as anyone can remember, no one can contradict him. Earlier, in the 1970s, no one could contradict him because he always had a pipe in his mouth, so no one could understand him. Now he has got rid off the pipe but comprehension is still a prerequisite to contradiction. He also has a look in Parliament and if he gives you one, you quail and sit down quietly. This puts an end to the Opposition usually.

     

    In addition to this, he is head of some 8,000 Groups of Ministers and another 8,000 Empowered Groups of Ministers. (I really don’t know what these are but they sound important.) Effectively, this means the government will come to a standstill once Mukherjee moves to Rashtrapati Bhavan. Since we in a form of paralysis anyway, the government is hoping no one will notice.

     

    The main thorn in Mukherjee side is his “sister” Mamata Banerjee, also known as “I am a simple man”. The “simple man” does not want Mukherjee in the top chair. Bengali parochialism has still not recovered. This is akin to Bengalis supporting Kolkata Knight Riders instead of Pune Warriors. Oh, right, they’ve done that anyway. The TV channels are wondering how the man who everyone (except them) knew would get the job, eventually got it in spite of all their best efforts. India demands an answer here.

     

    The two comedy acts running on the sideline are PA Sangma and Arvind Kejriwal. The BJP is wondering whether or not to join this laughter challenge.

     

    The only person laughing all the way to the Mughal Gardens is Pranab Mukherjee!

     

  • Ranjona Banerji isn't amused by the half-jacket innovation by the Wakudoki Times, er, The Times of India

    Ranjona Banerji: What the Whacky-dooky?!

    Ranjona Banerji

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    I understand that advertising is vital to the well-being of a newspaper but just who invented these idiotic “half-jackets” which either split the front page of a newspaper or cover it with some meaningful and wholesome message about a bank or a soft drink?

     

    What I mean is, does one blame an advertising agency or the ad sales department of a newspaper?

     

    My problem however is not to do with the advertising message itself – although I was hard-pressed to understand today’s Wakudoki message on The Times of India masthead. Why this car company had to say Wakudoki to us, I don’t know. What Wakudoki is I don’t know. In some places Wakudoki was one word and in other places Wako-doki was hyphenated. Actually this made me happy in a schadenfruede kind of way – copy checkers in ad agencies are of the same calibre as sub-editors in newspapers.

     

    My primary objection is that they don’t allow you to fold the newspaper properly. This is particularly annoying as you reach the last pages of the paper as the half-jacket page with not enough hold flies off or falls off or slips out. This makes me want to shout something far more robust and potent that “Wakudoki” or even “Waku-doki”. Hyphen or not, the words I’m thinking of do not start with a ‘w’.

     

    Halfway through reading about Leander Paes’s current tantrum to compete with Mahesh Bhupathi’s original tantrum, I suddenly find the names have changed to Drogba and Rooney. These names are as mysterious to me as “Wakudoki” (and “Waku-doki”) and as I wonder if my coffee has some magic mushrooms in it, I realise that the last page of the newspaper has slipped off.

     

    I realise that The Times of India is not the only guilty newspaper here. Everyone does it. It’s just that I was whacked in the face today by this vastly annoying invention. It even beats the detergent bubbles and spouting soft drinks I had to deal with as a young sub-editor.

     

    In my view, I would rather the newspaper just sold its front page, self-respect and identity in one go rather than in half-measures. That way you can just turn the page, know that it will fold obediently and carry on with the latest Purno, Pranab, Nitish, Narendra fight.

     

    Instead of wanting to start the day by whacking whoever comes close because the newspaper begins with some cheapie corporate who only wants to pay for half a sheet of paper.

     

  • What a fine example of India's famous familial feeling we have here – and dare we say it, India's long traditions of patriarchy

    Ranjona Banerji: Crazy, like a fool; what about Daddy Cool?

    Ranjona Banerji

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    If you are an aging tennis star in India, one element vital for your success is a Daddy. Without a Daddy, you can win on the tennis courts. But as we all know, that is not where wars are won, that is where minor skirmishes are fought. The big fight is in the media. You need a Daddy to defend you, speak for you, put forward your point of view – do all the things you are incapable of or couldn’t be bothered to do yourself.

     

    Which is why in the fight between Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, it is the Daddies who have taken centre court. Why is Bhupathi behaving like such an ass? Out pops Daddy Bhupathi to explain. What is Leander actually going to do? Only Daddy Paes can attempt to answer that.

     

    There are plenty of theories put forward about how men and their fathers operate and many experts use the Oedipus tragedy (son kills father to marry mother) to explain the tension between sons and daddies. But not for the old men of Indian tennis, all this psychobabble poppycock. Compete with their Daddies? Whatever for, when their Daddies are their biggest allies, wiping their botties, filling up their juice bottles, putting on their bibs and interpreting their baby babble for the public.

     

    In women’s tennis, daddies are usually more famous for teaching their daughters some hubble-bubble tennis based on their own crackpot theories and then stealing all their money. Heaven forbid that the Daddies of India’s most famous male tennis players could ever be accused of such reprehensible behaviour. Instead, here they are, speaking up for their adult sons who threaten, bully and sulk their way to the Olympic Games – or not.

     

    What a fine example of India’s famous familial feeling we have here – and dare we say it, India’s long traditions of patriarchy. Birds you know are quite cruel to their babies and push them out of their nests so they can learn to fly. But these tennis Daddies are not wicked birdies – they love their sons and will do whatever the sons want.

     

    I know many daddies who would give such sons two put-puts on their large almost 40-year-old botties and make them fight their own battles. Er, maybe if we had such grown-up, speak-for-themselves tennis stars and less protective Daddies, we might not find ourselves in this Olympic mess?

     

  • Although we are often accused of being jingoistic (by me), when it comes to football, it is the beauty of the game which gets us

    Ranjona Banerji: India’s great football triumph = Viva Espana!

    Ranjona Banerji

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    So who was bigger this week? European football or the prime minister as the finance minister? In spite of how much we love the Indian economy and can now all speak knowingly about repo rates and supply side economics, actually it is the question of whether Spain is really the greatest sporting nation in the world or not that concerns us.

     

    Since everyone stayed up all night on Sunday to find out – all the newspapers that is, not me – we can now safely say that football is the second biggest sport in India, after cricket. In fact, sometimes newspapers do not stay up all night to bring us the results of late night cricket matches, especially where India is not playing, so…

     

    I point this out because the chances of India playing at the Euro Cup are, of course, zero but the chances of India playing football at the international level are also, er, zero.

     

    No one, however, cares. Although we are often accused of being jingoistic (by me), when it comes to football, it is the beauty of the game which gets us. All these European countries fighting each other as they chase a ball around a field affects us deeply. We take on loyalties that are deep and meaningful, we become close to all the players and we have no compunctions about fighting with our friends who support the wrong team. I see “we” in a generous sense that has nothing to do with me, since I don’t understand any of this.

     

    Funnily enough, we don’t even care that we can’t even make tenuous Indian connections which make us so happy at other times – the white mayor of Pigsknuckle, Arkansas once ate an Indian meal made by second-generation Indian immigrant Lucky Kohli, thus proving how great India is.

     

    Spain is now top country for India (I make this arbitrary judgment based on Twitter), even though I don’t think that Spain has many of the celebrity footballers who make the news the rest of the time when they play for clubs (Messi, Ronaldo, Rooney are the ones who pop up all the time for philistines like me). Also, once the World Cup arrives and the South American teams take part, all these loyalties will shift again.

     

    Indian TV news does devote some time to football but not as much as Indian newspapers which even sent correspondents to Poland and Ukraine. That is why newspapers are at the vanguard of identifying the sports which fascinate the new India.

     

    TV news is involved in saving India night after night so sport, unless it involves scandal, is not really that newsworthy. No?

     

    PS: The prime minister as finance minister? Boring!

     

  • As for all you analysts in the Indian media, why do you bother? Clearly, no one pays attention to all your criticisms and opinions

    Ranjona Banerji: Don’t bother, Indian analysts… let Time do it

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    The Indian media has taken a round beating here. Day after day, print and TV criticise the government and politicians. Columns, analysis, debates and discussions focus on the weakness, incompetence, “policy paralysis” of the current government. Does anyone care or pay attention? Of course not – unless the criticism comes in cartoon form about a person or issue long dead.

     

    But an article in the Asia edition of an American newsmagazine criticises the prime minister and the whole political community goes into a frenzy? Let us not be unfair to Time magazine, but the fact is that no one considers it to be a respected analyst of Indian politics. Nor indeed is the magazine the powerhouse it once was. Now if the Economist were to get so seriously critical, since it is known for its carefully considered views, then you might want to sit up and take notice.

     

    Time’s “crime” is to call Manmohan Singh an “underachiever” and ask whether it is time for him to move over and let someone else become prime minister. This made the Congress jump to his rescue and the BJP to behave as if they’d won Uttar Pradesh.

     

    The Congress then looked back at an old Time article which had said Atal Behari Vajpayee was “asleep at the wheel” as prime minister. This was supposed to shut up the BJP as the same newsmagazine had also criticised them. Sigh.

     

    The BJP however could point out that Time’s tally is still higher since last year the magazine appeared to favour Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. Then the Congress can point out that Modi did not make it to Time’s poll of the greatest people in the world or whatever because of negative voting.

     

    And so we can go on and on about the various articles and activities of a barely read newsmagazine and the political classes can carry on doing even less than they do normally.

     

    As for all you analysts in the Indian media, why do you bother? Clearly, no one pays attention to all your criticisms and opinions. Congratulations are due to Time for having successfully upstaged the entire Indian media. Henry Booth Luce would be happy.

     

  • We cannot fully assess if a politician is good or bad until a foreign journalist pops by, talks to a few taxi drivers and Indian journalists and then writes a complimentary (good) or scathing (bad) comment piece

    Ranjona Banerji: Foreign media is only credible observer of Indian politics

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    There is now only one credible observer of Indian politics – the foreign media in India. We cannot fully assess if a politician is good or bad until a foreign journalist pops by, talks to a few taxi drivers and Indian journalists and then writes a complimentary (good) or scathing (bad) comment piece.

     

    Now, you’re thinking, aha, sour grapes but far from it. It is all a question of perspective. Indian journalists, especially in Delhi, are too close to the centres of power. They are so familiar with what’s going on and party to so many secrets that they now spend more time discussing whether the blue in Manmohan Singh’s turban has changed in the last eight years. (Some say yes, some say no and the rest are fence-sitters.)

     

    The foreign media however comes in from far away and has no clue about all this inner stuff. They attend a few parties (these are vital sources of information and political analysis, as those who read through the diplomatic cables made public by Wikileaks will know), meet a few Indian print journalists (bluer, paler, maybe both), they may meet a few TV journalists but that’s for entertainment since they have no political perspective, although I hear they throw really good dinner parties. And, obviously, the few taxi drivers. This is imperative as every traveller knows – one taxi driver can be equal to at least five other potential interviewees.

     

    Yesterday, I met a cabbie in Mumbai who told me that Indian politics turns on Uttar Pradesh. Now I know. If these foreign political commentators are really smart however, they will never even leave whichever country they come from (usually the USA or the UK). How else have I become a world renowned expert on Barack Obama and David Cameron? (Actually, by watching Comedy Central and Graham Norton.)

     

    Therefore we now know that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is a poodle, useless, confused and steeped in doom and gloom. Everyone has said it from Time to the Economist to The New York Times to the Independent.

     

    The poodle reference can be translated in Indian terms to a puppet. Yes I know, Indian commentators have been saying that for years. But what do they know, eh? (On the other hand, their view has now been authenticated!) Meanwhile I must be off to watch a few more skits on Comedy Central so I can hone my analytical skills.

     

  • The award for Noosemaker/Whiner/Tantrum Thrower of the week is divided between PA Sangma and Sharad Pawar

    Ranjona Banerji: NCP ties itself for Whiner of the Week award

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    The winner of the presidential election maybe Pranab Mukherjee but the award for Noosemaker/Whiner/Tantrum Thrower of the week is divided between PA Sangma and Sharad Pawar. One is former NCP, the other current NCP and both founders of the NCP.

     

    Pawar suddenly decided that he was very upset with the sort of musical chairs being played at Cabinet meetings. I quite sympathise because I never liked musical chairs as a kid at birthday parties. Today’s children will not understand, but in the olden days birthday parties were an elaborate form of torture for children, who were forced to compete with each other and make fools of themselves in order to get a slice of cake and a few chips. Sounds a bit like today’s political parties actually.

     

    Anyway, Pawar felt that every time the music stopped, he was forced to sit in another chair. Sometimes it was the second chair (first being the prime minister) and sometimes it was chair 3 or 4. This was clearly insulting. He might have only nine MPs but why should that other chap from a much smaller state holding a job that Pawar once did get the second chair?

     

    Later we were told he was not so petty to be worried about chairs. All he wanted was a coordination committee. Whatever.

     

    PA Sangma, former Lok Sabha speaker and the country’s best known Tribal and Christian – according to him – wanted to become President of India. This is a legitimate goal, but Sangma, one might say, went about it the wrong way. He approached, of all people, Naveen Patnaik and J Jayalalitha for help. However powerful they may be in their own states, they did not have the numbers to make Sangma President.

     

    Since Sangma was part of the UPA, he could have at least spoken to someone within the coalition. Instead he chose to go out of it. After much reluctance, the BJP decided to support him. The UPA and two NDA allies supported Pranab Mukherjee. Everyone except Sangma saw Mukherjee’s victory as a foregone conclusion. Not because Mukherjee is much loved or the greatest person ever but because the UPA had the numbers. Then Sangma and the BJP said he wanted to be the loser with the highest number of votes (this is a strange award category known only to Indian politicians).

     

    Then Sangma said that he had to win for India’s Tribals and Christians. Most Tribals and Christians were silent. (As it turned out, not all of their representatives voted for Sangma.) Then Sangma said that Mukherjee had used a comma where it was not needed in his nomination form and had not used the right kind of nib in his pen. Also, he did not stand on the right side of the table when submitting the form (unlike Sangma who seems to be heading quite firmly to the right). Since Sangma was by now advised by the world’s biggest litigator Subramaniam Swamy, the plan was to go straight to the Supreme Court with 1,000 public interest litigations. The Election Commission blocked that route.

     

    So now that Sangma has not become president, he is nibbling away at sour grapes. He should not, because he is now eligible for the Best Sore Loser and Most Ungracious Defeat speech awards, with a good chance of winning both. The Congress used bribery, extortion and threats to get Mukherjee to win and the North East states (which elected Mukherjee by the biggest margins) betrayed him.

     

    Boo hoo hoo.

     

  • Who would have guessed that there is life after death, asks Ranjona Banerji as she writes on 'noosemaker' of last week: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

    Ranjona Banerji: When the PM sprang back to life

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    And suddenly, Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh sprang back to life, with no warning. He had more or less been accepted as defunct and obsolete, a non-working part of the government. The last time he spoke he said he preferred silence, whatever that means.

     

    Here we were, one Parliament session wasted and the Opposition licking its chops. The coal allocation scam was getting dirtier and murkier and allegations flying fast and free. And then, the government announces, in quick succession, a rise in diesel prices and a cap on subsidised LPG cylinders for home use, 51 per cent FDI in multi-retail and 49 per cent FDI in civil aviation. This was an attack that came out of nowhere.

     

    The media and the Opposition were taken aback. Who would have guessed that there is life after death? Now what was someone to do? The media found itself in a piquant position. The journalists who understand the economy are small in number anyway and almost none of those work in TV. The so-called business channels are cruelly stock market channels (although the stock market was happy with these decisions so they were happy). Then there was the prospect of letting go of the deliciousness of “Coalgate” and jumping into the economy.

     

    The diesel price hike and LPG were great though. Immediate manufactured outrage over the plight of the common man (also known as Mamata Banerjee) and the middle class person makes for great TV. This works as long as some economist is not invited by mistake who then goes on about fiscal deficit and GDP and other big words which no one on TV can understand.

     

    The newspapers however were all thrilled. They immediately saw more money and in some cases, more ads. If FDI can revive the economy then maybe it can help the media industry too. Journalists in TV are probably more pure or perhaps more innocent.

     

    The Opposition was not so much confused as in a quandary. The BJP when it was in power had to deal with this whole oil company deficit thing. It had also mooted FDI in retail. But now it was in the Opposition. So it had to oppose. It also felt all the “Coalgate” advantage was about to slip away.

     

    The other parties also felt they had to have their say. Bandhs, strikes and whatnots are on the cards for Indians. The media does not like bandhs and strikes and don’t be mean and say because it means more work. The media is disapproving of such laziness in general when the future of the nation is at stake.

     

    Whether the economy has woken up or not or whether Manmohan Singh has proved that rumours of his ‘demise’ were exaggerated, foreign direct investment has sent us on another merry-go-round of excitement and confusion.

     

    Some people of course are just thinking about all the things they can buy!

     

  • After sympathising with the media at his rally, the MNS leader's love for the media didn't last long. Now, it's directed against the Hindi news channels who he finds irresponsible

    Ranjona Banerji: On how Raj Thackeray finds Hindi news channels ‘irresponsible’

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    And once more, into the limelight, Shri Raj Thackeray of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena: having basked in a bit of public attention after his rally last month, why not milk it?

     

    After all, a police commissioner was shunted out soon after he made just that demand and some members of the media actually said that his speech at the rally was not that bad. Plus, he even pretended to sympathise with the media, since they suffered at the hands of protesters at the Raza Academy rally, which Thackeray’s rally was protesting against.

     

    Of course, this love for the media was not going to last long. And now, here it comes: the famous Thackeray rage directed at the media. In this instance, it’s just the Hindi media. (The English media is exempt from rage this time but not from contempt: it apparently operates from a different planet.)

     

    Thackeray has objected to the fact that many criminals in Mumbai are from Bihar (huh? Vijay Palande, anyone?). And then these criminals infiltrate (either to or from, I didn’t quite understand this) Nepal and Bangladesh. And the Bihar police must control its own criminals and stop them coming to Mumbai (which has criminals of its own).

     

    Then he got angry with Hindi news channels for reporting what he said. He said their reporting was irresponsible (irresponsibility is something that Raj Thackeray understands very well). Having himself started a Mumbai-versus-Bihar debate, Thackeray is angry with the Hindi media for taking it further.

     

    He is also angry with the Bihar police for objecting to the Mumbai police, which did not follow some procedures when it arrested people from Bihar. This is the same Mumbai police that Thackeray had slammed at his own rally but how dare Bihar criticise anything or anyone from Mumbai?

     

    Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is hopping mad and has called Thackeray insane.

     

    Thackeray meanwhile is not just protecting Mumbai from the evil Hindi media and Biharis, but also from singer Asha Bhosale and Pakistani singers. The borders of Maharashtra are to be kept safe from all such elements. Bhosale has refused to listen to Raj Thackeray even though she loves him very much. The Hindi media never listens to any criticism or they would have stopped news broadcasts about ghosts and alien landings long ago (although perhaps when they talk about alien landings, they mean the English media). Nitish Kumar is furious. And Thackeray is overjoyed that he’s back in the news again.

     

    Incidentally, in Tamil Nadu, chief minister J Jayalalitha is saving India from young Sri Lankan football players.

     

    Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She is also Contributing Editor, MxMIndia. The views expressed here are her own.

     

  • Yes, panic can spread through a mass communication system but stopping the system will not stop the panic. Humans have been victims of mass panic as long as they've been human and will use whatever means possible

    Ranjona Banerji: Shooting the messenger

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    As usual, it was shoot-the-messenger time during a crisis. And this time, instead of the perennially wicked journalist, it was social media which was deemed the villain. Of course, the social media can be villainous or it can be sweet (if sickeningly sweet then it is a villain in my eyes anyway) or it can be bland, informative, helpful and so on. What I’m trying to suggest is that it can be as good or bad as the people who use it.

     

    Anyway, given all the horrors of people being killed and people running away in terror and inflammatory pictures and messages being spread around, it was decided that the medium of the information was responsible. As a result of all this human bad behaviour, Twitter and Facebook have been looked at askance, websites have been blocked and no one is allowed to send more than five text messages a day.

     

    This is not the first time this short-sighted method will be applied and it won’t be the last. Yes, panic can spread through a mass communication system but stopping the system will not stop the panic. Humans have been victims of mass panic as long as they’ve been human and will use whatever means possible. The same methods can be used to spread peace, love and good will as well (okay, that’s a stretch but technically it is possible).

     

    Anyway, the government of India went on its blame-the-messenger spree, TV anchors thundered for action against the culprits (stretched on the rack Torquemada style or stuck in the stocks so that village people can throw potatoes at them) and the rest of India put up with it. A few people tried to point out that in recent memory, rumours of a murderous monkey man caused panic in Ghaziabad in the pre-Twitter era and before that, the Ganesha-drinking-milk story sent people into a massive frenzy. No mobile phones and no internet in those days.

     

    But facts must never stand in the way of truth, as a Twitterer said to a journalist who dared to point out that figures in Assam do not match stories of recent mass migration of Muslims.

     

    And so it is on Twitter. And on the receiving end of the rage of the social media’s users was Sagarika Ghose of CNN IBN. She suggested in her tweets that the government needs to look at hate-spreaders on Twitter and Facebook as well. This may have been an emotional response but it was ill-thought-out and made her the brunt of enormous outrage. As is usual with the internet, the attacks were vicious, rude, cruel and far beyond the norms of accepted civilised behaviour. It is a fact that the anonymity of the internet prompts people to behave in ways they would not in normal social settings. At the same time, you also see how easily all our veneers of civilisation can be stripped away. Ghose’s tweets may be contestable but the attacks on her were unwarranted.

     

    Nature of the beast. The problem, though, is not the media. It’s the humans who use it. Now what to do?

     

  • The British feel that Indians only feel welcome when they see other Indians. In this case it backfired – as cultural determinism normally does

    Ranjona Banerji: Honey, you stole the show!

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    It’s hard to choose the biggest noosemaker of last week. Was it Danny Boyle for his quirky, funny and very British opening ceremony for the London 2012 Olympic Games? Was it Madhura Nagendra aka Madhura Honey for gate-crashing India’s flag march in the parade of nations and not being colour coordinated at the same time? Or was it our old friends, the various members of Team Anna in their fight against corruption and the people of India who support them?

     

    This Honey or Nagendra person, depending on how affectionate you feel about her, has got no affection from the people of India – even less than they have for Anna Hazare. She smiled as she stole the show from our athletes but since then she has apparently even cancelled her Facebook page. The crime was double-fold: walking in the parade as if she belonged there, smiling away and then wearing bright red and turquoise which clashed horrible with the yellow of the Indian team. This is a rule which all gate-crashers must follow – at least attempt to blend in.

     

    Her daddy in Bangalore has tried to defend her (daddies are vital for the defence of all those connected with Indian sport as we discovered in the Bhupathi-Paes face off, especially daddies from Bangalore) and so funnily enough has Lord Sebastian Coe of the London Olympics. Nagendra got “over-excited” he said. She was supposed to be a performer which is why she was lurking about, but was not eventually selected which is why she had no business lurking about. Then there’s the other suspicion (mine) of the British propensity for cultural determinism. Someone put her there to make the Indians athletes feel welcome as they entered the arena, it was hinted at somewhere. This is because the British feel that Indians only feel welcome when they see other Indians. In this case it backfired – as cultural determinism normally does.

     

    So where does it leave Danny Boyle? Probably wishing he had selected Honey-Nagendra. What is this Honey thing anyway? The Indian press applauded the opening ceremony as did most of the world. Most even forgot that there was some speculation about AR Rahman being part of the show -which he wasn’t and no one cared.

     

    Mumbai Mirror’s headline “Tepid London Boyle’s Over” upset firstpost.com which pointed out that the headline and the body copy did not match.

     

    * * *

     

    That leads us to the latest fast by Anna Hazare and his anti-corruption crusaders. Last year over one lakh people supported him in Delhi and that was a lot and this year 6,000 people supported him and that was a lot. In Mumbai last year when 5,000 turned up in Bandra that was too little, and this year 2,000 people in VT is a lot.

     

    Thus proving that even mathematics is relative: If only my maths teacher had bought that argument when I was in school.