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My Friend Sancho
My first book, My Friend Sancho, was published in May 2009, and went on to become the biggest selling debut novel released that year in India. It is a contemporary love story set in Mumbai, and had earlier been longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize 2008. To learn more about the book, click here.
If you're interested, do join the Facebook group for My Friend Sancho
Click here for more about my publisher, Hachette India.
My posts on India Uncut about My Friend Sancho can be found here.
Recent entries
This personal essay by me appears in the winter edition of Forbes Life India. I feel the ground sway…
I’m amazed that India hasn’t yet woken up to the fact that Himesh Reshammiya is the new Govinda. I…
If you thought Ponytail’s speech the other day was funny, wait till you see this: Vishwa Bandhu Gupta, former…
The New York Times reports: A video of a dog apparently mourning the death of his owner at a…
Huffington Post reports: Glenn Beck called Hurricane Irene a “blessing” on his Friday radio show, saying it would teach…
15 April, 2008
An Overdose of Puns
One of the worst fashions in Indian journalism is to put puns in headlines. Occasionally it can work, but most of the time, it is cringe-inducing. For a perfect example of this, check out this shocker from Rediff:
Cong ‘son rise’ in poll-bound K’taka?
I’m sure the kid on the desk who wrote that must have been rather pleased with himself, but he should note that not only is it an atrocious pun, it is also a cliché—as you’d expect in a country with such a tradition of dynastic politics and poor headline-writing. The above story is about local Congress leaders in Karnataka promoting their children, but in the context of Rahul Gandhi alone, see how often this pun has been used.
Meanwhile, in a parallel universe, I’m considering possible headlines for this post. My options include “Punny Business”, “Not all Pun and Games” and “Pun-jabi headlines”. Sikh Sick, no?
Posted by Amit Varma in
Journalism |
Media
