Never put the price tag…

... on the blurbs.

When will bookshops learn this?

Posted by Amit Varma on 28 April, 2007 in Arts and entertainment | Small thoughts

“Read a blog.  Save a tree.”

Best motto ever!

Posted by Amit Varma on 27 April, 2007 in Miscellaneous

The Ministry of Blogging

We could have one if some chappies in our government read this and get inspired. Can you imagine what would happen if Arjun Singh ran it?

(Link via email from Scribbler.)

Posted by Amit Varma on 27 April, 2007 in Blogging | Freedom

Freedom in Pakistan

The most delightful thing about good satire is that a lot of people inevitably don’t get it. Read this piece, and then read the comments. Joy.

It’s especially bracing to discover that humour deficiency isn’t an Indian ailment alone.

(Link via separate emails from Arjun Swarup and Anand Krishnamoorthi.)

Posted by Amit Varma on 27 April, 2007 in Freedom

The law as a revenue stream

DNA reports:

Sources said a gang of women thieves operating at the Thane station area is increasingly targeting, apparently well-to-do people walking out of the railway station and rob them of valuables and cash. According to information, these women after identifying their target deliberately bump into them and begin shouting for help. The police constables present nearby immediately approach them and start threatening the victim. In full view of the crowd that accumulates to witness the commotion, the policemen whisk away the victim and the woman concerned on the pretext of taking action against him for eve-teasing.

However, on their way to the police station, the constables start negotiating with the victim threatening him with police action followed by legal complications.

A terrified victim usually agrees to settle the matter by paying up. After ‘settling’ the matter, policemen and the lady return to the station in search of their next victim.

In an earlier piece, The Matunga Racket, I’d written about similar blackmail carried out by the police in the context of Section 377. But it isn’t only laws against victimless crimes that the police can exploit to harass people, but absolutely any law out there, as this report illustrates. It’s all a revenue stream. 

Posted by Amit Varma on 27 April, 2007 in India | News

Tears in Jaya Bachchan’s eyes

Ullas Marar writes in:

Your comments on the Abhishek-Aishwarya wedding reminds me of a hilarious news item on IBN7 last night… about the couple leaving for their honeymoon, replete with footage of a dramatic farewell.

The funniest part were the headlines which IBN7 kept on beaming:

“Amitabh ne Abhi aur Ash ko gale lagaya”

“Jaya ke aankho se aansoo chhalak gaye”

Seriously, is this journalism?

Heh.

Posted by Amit Varma on 27 April, 2007 in India | Journalism

“Between a handshake and a kiss”

Have you read The 86 Rules of Boozing yet? You must!

Reading No. 24, I realise that I am always six drinks down. Not good.

(Link via email from Shruti.)

Posted by Amit Varma on 27 April, 2007 in Miscellaneous

Where should Aishwarya Rai stay?

Why on earth does DNA consider that a subject that its readers should weigh in on? Why? Why? Why?

But I really want to see Salman Khan post a message there. No?

Posted by Amit Varma on 26 April, 2007 in Arts and entertainment

Why should Veronica wear a saree?

This news baffles me? Where in India have you seen school and college students wearing sarees, except for special functions and suchlike? Is India’s Riverdale going to be based in an India of stereotype, or the India of 2007?

Having said that, I wouldn’t object if they put Jughead in a saree. The palloo should keep getting trapped in his hat thingie. There’s a story-arc right there.

Posted by Amit Varma on 26 April, 2007 in Arts and entertainment | India

Govinda, Chow and Mow

For some inexplicable reason, immense trepidation comes when I read this:

Govinda is very serious about his comeback and he is practising his dancing like earlier days. His old buddies Narendra and Kaushik, also known as Chow and Mow, of the Modern Dance Academy are teaching the actor how to salsa and jive.

All we need now is Chunky Pandey in leotards and Javed Jaffery in a bikini, and we can tell the Ramsay Brothers to retire. What horror is left?

Posted by Amit Varma on 26 April, 2007 in Arts and entertainment