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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
Check out this piece by Shikha Dalmia on the role that market forces play in perpetuating the caste system.…
Our right-wing lunatics are so funny sometimes that it’s hard to hate them. Balbir Punj has a bizarre (but…
Having resumed blogging, it was natural for me to head over to the ToI site for the potential double…
The Hindustan Times reports that two Karnataka ministers were caught watching pornographic videos “when the house was in session.”…
This personal essay by me appears in the winter edition of Forbes Life India. I feel the ground sway…
15 September, 2008
Dear Mumbai Malls
Dear Mumbai Malls
I enjoy visiting you, and I support your new initiatives to tighten security in the wake of recent terrorist attacks. I don’t mind being frisked or having my bag checked: the few extra seconds we all wait individually are worth the collective safety we gain.
But why do you think that terrorists enter only from front entrances?
If someone drives into the parking lot and takes the lift up to the mall, there is no check on him at all. He could walk in holding a bazooka, with bombs strapped to his body and grenades in all his pockets. All the security guards are busy at the front entrance.
I know even a pretense of security can act as a deterrent. But terrorists aren’t stupid, and there’s no pretense in the destruction they try to cause. So, as Amitabh Bachchan would say on KBC, ‘please take good care of yourself’.
Regards
Amit Varma
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Hat tip for this observation: Ulrik. More open letters here.
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