Chocolate, Krautrock, a blindfolded rhino

Various writers describe in the Guardian how they get their creative juices flowing.

Chocolates work for Douglas Coupland. Well, I just had a Belgian Chocolate gelato, and have an article to write tonight that I’ve been struggling to begin. Off to work then.

Posted by Amit Varma on 16 April, 2007 in Arts and entertainment | Personal

Kissing Shilpa Shetty

Richard Gere wanted to demonstrate at a recent function, at which he was speaking with Shilpa Shetty, that the HIV virus cannot be spread by kissing, and he decided “to make his point by kissing first Shilpa’s hand, then hugged her, kissed her cheek, and finally bent over the surprised actress to give her a big kiss, Hollywood-style.” The report that excerpt is from finds this flattering, and begins:

We’ve always known Shilpa Shetty is a pretty woman, but now we have an official endorsement from a visibly smitten Richard Gere.

It also makes the valid point: “The curious thing is why Gere would choose to continually, and emphatically, keep kissing the actress in a show of safety—while neither of the two have HIV, to begin with.” Heh.

Meanwhile, in Varanasi, fans of Shilpa ”burnt effigies of Gere.”

Members of the Shilpa Shetty Fan Club took to the streets raising anti-Gere slogans. They later burnt an effigy of the actor demanding that Gere either apologise for his indecent conduct or else leave the country immediately.

“Shilpa Shetty conquered all racial swipes to win Big Brother in England, but the Hollywood actor—by unnecessarily planting kisses on Shilpa’s cheek—has not only done disservice to the AIDS campaign but has also blemished the rich Indian culture,” Iqbal, who led the Shilpa Shetty Fan Club, said.

I think they’re jealous. They wish Richard Gere had kissed them instead of Shilpa.

Anyway, Indian culture is blemished now. What a pity. It was fun while it lasted.

(First link via email from Prabhu.)

Posted by Amit Varma on 16 April, 2007 in Arts and entertainment | India

Ambush advertising?

MadMan sends me a screenshot of the Hindustan Times homepage—do check out the bit highlighted in yellow.

Contextual advertising is such a delight!

Posted by Amit Varma on 16 April, 2007 in Journalism

Whodunnit? The media dunnit

The shameless Alistair Pereira, sentenced to six months of jail for running over seven people, still denies that he did any wrong. DNA reports:

When DNA caught up with Pereira on Friday, he scoffed, “I will have to go in for six months, all thanks to the media.”

So now you know the truth. The media was driving the car.

Meanwhile, Salman Khan is a hero. Joy to the world.

Posted by Amit Varma on 15 April, 2007 in India | News

Anointing the successor

It seems appropriate that three days after my column, ”The Nehru-Gandhi legacy of shame,” this should happen:

Addressing an election rally in Bijnore, his first in the current assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, the Prime Minister [Manmohan Singh] said “Rahul Gandhi is your future. He is sweating it out for you. Please give one chance to Congress”.

Ah well.

And by the by, many readers have pointed out to me how the new design of the Hindustan Times website is a rip-off of the New York Times design. If only they could emulate the quality of the content as well.

Update (April 16): Abhinav points me, via email, to a Deccan Chronicle piece that quotes Rahul Gandhi as saying:

You know, when our (Gandhi) family commits itself to a task, it also completes it. We never rest till we complete the task and we never retrace our steps. In the past too, members of the Gandhi family have achieved the goals they have initiated, like the freedom of the country, dividing Pakistan into two and leading the nation into the 21st century

As you’d expect, a Pakistan spokesperson has jumped on the remark and said that this proves that “India interfered in Pakistan’s affairs and tried to destabilise it.”

Really, what to say about the man? He’s actually boasting of all the things his family did?

Posted by Amit Varma on 15 April, 2007 in India | Journalism | Politics

Where your taxes go: 19

Subsidies for pilgrimages. The Times of India reports:

In its determination to protect Haj subsidies, particularly in view of the ongoing elections in UP, Centre has told Supreme Court that it was ready to offer similar support, at state expense, to pilgrimages organised by other communities.

Positing its offer as being in sync with the “secular ideals” of the Constitution, Centre virtually made a policy announcement by agreeing to provide financial assistance to Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jains and other religious communities.

This is not secularism. To me, secularism has two implications:

1 A complete separation of state and religion.

2. Every person in this country having the right to follow a religion of their choice, as long as they don’t impose it on others.

The right to follow a religion of your choice, of course, is completely different from a right to having your religion sponsored by other people’s money, which is nothing short of theft. Do remember, after all, that “state expense” comes from my pockets and your bank account and suchlike. Money does not fall from the skies, and even if the government actually printed money to afford these subsidies, inflation would result, which is an indirect form of taxation.

If Sonia Gandhi or Manmohan Singh genuinely believe that pilgrimages deserve to be funded, I recommend that they shell out their own money for the purpose. There is no justification for taking away our hard-earned money and spending it on building votebanks for themselves.

(Link via SMS from little n.

Where your taxes go: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18. Also see: 1, 2, 3.

My essays on taxes and government: Your maid funds Unani, A beast called government.)

Posted by Amit Varma on 15 April, 2007 in Economics | Freedom | India | Miscellaneous | Old memes | Taxes | Politics

Crime reporting meets celebrity journalism

The Times of India reports that an undertrial accused of rape is scheduled to marry his alleged victim at the Baripada Circle Jail. My favourite part of the story:

“Dara Singh, convicted of murdering Christian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons, may also attend it,” a source said.

Well, that’s one guest the Abhishek-Aishwarya wedding can never snag.

Posted by Amit Varma on 14 April, 2007 in India | Journalism | News

Equality of outcome…

... is deeply undesirable. Check out Kurt Vonnegut’s classic story, ”Harrison Bergeron,” which illustrates that beautifully. (Via Cafe Hayek.)

Posted by Amit Varma on 14 April, 2007 in Arts and entertainment | Economics

Politics

The line of the day, from Uma Bharti:

We are working on the modalities to withdraw the candidates whose names are yet to be announced.

It ain’t easy, but it’s got to be done.

(Via email from BV Harish Kumar.)

Posted by Amit Varma on 13 April, 2007 in India | Politics

Sona Mohapatra, and tristesse

I’m off to lunch in Bandra, which feels almost like an outstation trip given how little I commute, but before I go, let me leave you with the video of a lovely song by Sona Mohapatra, “Abhi Nahin Aana.”

What an unusual love song, a woman telling her lover not to come to her yet because she is enjoying pining for him. (The spoken bit at the end is outrageously sexy.) It reminds me of an email Sanjeev Naik sent me a few days ago, in response to this post, in which he quoted this excerpt from Francoise Sagan’s Bonjour Tristesse:

A strange melancholy pervades me to which I hesitate to give the grave and beautiful name of sorrow. The idea of sorrow has always appealed to me, but now I am almost ashamed of its complete egoism. I have known boredom, regret, and occasionally remorse, but never sorrow. Today, it envelops me like a silken web, enervating and soft, and sets me apart from everybody else.

Quite the web Sona spins.

(Comments are open.)

Posted by Amit Varma on 13 April, 2007 in Arts and entertainment