Unfortunately, this is not about who might be the father of Padma Lakshmi's baby, because honestly I don't have a clue. Though, I guess one can safely assume it isn't Baldie Rushdie (what is it with guys called Salman anyway?) This is more in reference to the controversy surrounding the Padma Bhushan awarded to Sant Singh Chatwal. After it seems a piece appeared in a paper (it seems the US publisher of the paper in question is a rival of Chatwal's and is miffed about the award) a senior Editor not in the employ of the said paper but today more of well, lets not go there, is equally miffed and claims that the award is an insult to the Padma awards. The BJP, which gave out its fair share of very dubious Padma awards during the NDA regime (one Padma Bhushan in particular) is backing the claim.
Sadly, this is what I think. The person, who will rail against blogs again, of this I'm pretty sure, has his claim stink of sour grapes. You know, vinegary and all. I'm sure Sant Singh Chatwal is no saint (but then again, nor is our Telecom minister) - but he does give access to the second-most important person in the US administration and well is a very influential NRI. Nobody claimed that the office of the President of India was sullied by the allegations against the current occupants husband? So the argument being put forward, and I would put money on the fact that a column this weekend will talk about this, is extremely facile. Just because you didn't get a gong, doesn't mean that you bong the gongs.
Just my two cents - and bong the gongs. Hah! I made a funny. I should also now get a book deal. Plus, from what I hear, Mr Chatwal is a rather vindictive man, and while most Padma Shri's might escape below the radar Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan awardees are usually cleared at the highest levels. Hmmm.... There are several other interesting threads here.
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3 comments:
I agree completely with the sour grapes perspective.
It's not just the media who is miffed by the awards. For some time now, the general public has been scratching their heads over some of the nominees from the media space. The folks who did not object then...should not be objecting now. The sanctimonious tone is getting tiresome.
As usual, I enjoyed the post.
Padma for Chatwal - why not. He has done more than Barkha for the sake of the nation.
precisely (to the first comment), neither of the worthies who are planning to submit an rti on the chatwal issue found it odd that barkha dutt should have got a padma award when so many more senior and more illustrious journalists haven't. and didn't pritish nandy get a padma award?
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