Only in India

Only in India can we come with a show that is for intents and purposes called “Who Wants to marry a Wife-beater (and a dumb coke-head who gives coke-heads a bad name)” Of course, there is also the mystery of ‘Who paid the Hotel Bill’ which has had unintended casualties. The last I heard Nandan was airlifting laundry back to Bangalore to get it washed (rather than at Karnataka Bhavan); even though of all the guilty ‘hotel parties’, Nandan should be able to afford his own bills, even those from Wasabi.
Now, this brings us to the peculiar tale, or non-tale of the ‘wounded soldier’, which though carried in at least three papers has made one the target of a miffed government. But the target may actually not be the paper, but more perversely Anchor-Man; who if he could would have declared war on at least 35 UN States by now. Maybe, they, like most sane (and by now even the slightly insane) people on this planet want him to shut-up. The problem is that Anchor-Man and his arch-nemesis Emotion-Girl cannot shut up, if fact they find new ways of trying to give synaptic shock. Leading me to wonder if televised news in India lives in a Bizarro world.
The one good thing about television outside India, is the quality of coverage. Not that I watched a lot of it, TV in Germany is horribly boring and I refuse to pay for the Hotel porno channel, who pays for porno? But I did watch some sports, F1 coverage on the BBC is just mind-bogglingly superior to the crap Star Sports dishes out (when Karun Chandok isn’t around) – even Eddie Jordan knows more than Steve Slater. And the post coverage, man, that made me cry almost. I was watching the Champions League on French TV – sure I didn’t understand a word of what Desailly was saying but the graphics and analysis didn’t need much translation.
And here we get to see a clown who doesn’t know his drugs. Thankfully, Minister Twat has been told off big time. And read this if you have some time.

Hey...

No, I completely agree that the 'right' of the political spectrum in India needs a serious image makeover, not just to appeal to the foreign media and genteel society but also to improve their appeal to voters at large. Names have been changed before, thirty years ago, and names and identities can be changed again. I wrote in a comment that the terms 'Sabyataa' and 'Swabhimaan' are gloriously misused by people.
Yet at the same time, parts of the organisation have played a critical role in disaster relief and have a more balanced outlook towards economic policies and possibly remains India's sole 'democratic' political institution. In fact, it is surprising that in our 'vibrant' democracy how horribly un-democratic our political parties are. True, what good are roads if you don't know if some goons who think jeans are bad and against India's 'Sabyataa' will beat you up or kill you.
Anyway, why has Rahul Gandhi's image been removed from a majority of Congress vinyls in Delhi (other than the ones where we see a ten foot high face)? I only see Sonia (whose long cherished dream of seeing the man who had her husband killed dead is about to come true) and Manmohan (whose long cherished desire to retire is about to come true). Also, why is my choice of candidate Ajay Maken and Vijay Goel? Is this like the Ugly and Uglier constituency? I mean its New Delhi for God's sake, don't demean it with ugliness! I want to get to post on politics again soon, but I will intersperse that with the latest 'must debate' topic, Ragging. But that is later when I have the time to rant on the rampant homo-eroticism on Indian campuses. For now, I'm linking to two rather interesting stories that appeared on the slightly redesigned 'The Hoot'.
Mumbai Mirror going down the India TV path.
And HT making an ass of itself. Again!
And did anyone watch Andrei Arshavin's brilliant four-goal haul for Arsenal yesterday? I was sure the Gunners would lose, but what a game! And I'm looking forward to F1 this weekend, hopefully it might just rain in Bahrain!

Formula 1 and the ridiculousness of hosting an event!

In an aside, about a topic I care deeply about but see massive amounts of ineptitude all the time.
Tomorrow the papers will carry the news as a 'Famous Victory', but I see see it quite simply as a colossal waste of money. A part of me is still hoping that this is another crazy statement from Suresh Kalmadi, but, despite being an avowed F1 fan and a convert to the Church of Hamilton, I think hosting a F1 event is a great way to lose money, or conversely put money in Bernie Ecclestone's pocket.
See, I must state at the outset that Suresh Kalmadi has done nothing for Indian sports, and I put him and Priya Ranjan Das Munshi on the same page as being destroyers of sport, rather than 'lovers of sport' as they claim. For Gods sake, we won what, one medal in Athens, nd will be lucky to get beyond two in Beijing. While Delhi gets a (much needed) makeover for the 2010 Commonwealth games, what is the betting that the Australians, who have a population equivalent to that of Greater Bombay won't kick us in our balls?
FIFA ranks India 161 in the world in football/soccer, behind St Lucia (a country with a population of 150,000) and ahead of Laos! I hate to say it, but even I am sniggering. The greatest failure of successive governments in the country has been in Sports - so much so that heading sports associations is the exclusive privilege of politicians. Sharad Pawar and his cronies are doing the same to cricket, Jagmohan Dalmiya as the Devil? That man was a Saint compared to this bunch of goons! But, the two men I named earlier are the real villains of the piece, and in another country to our East, they would have been executed by now for ineptitude.
See, don't get me wrong, I love driving, I love speed and I (along with the Anglo-centric English media) think that Lewis Hamilton is the greatest thing to happen to Formula1 since Michael Schumacher, but there is neither any economic rationale for F1, just look at the huge cost that Malaysia has had to incur for building Sepang and hosting a race that barely anyone watches. However, Lewis Hamilton is destined for greatness because his father spotted his talent at a young age - and that can only happen if a country has racing infrastructure from the ground.
Hamilton's father Anthony was truly middle-class in Britain, he had to work three jobs at times to keep his son's dream alive, and thank god that he did. But Lewis Hamilton, who is 22 mind you, the same age as India's current crop of budding star racers, all rich men's sons, managed to go small carting tracks and racing circuits across the UK, and fair enough Ron Dennis of McLaren spotted him, but the infrastructure for making him a star was already there. See, before signing off $100 million to Bernie, spend that money on building quality carting tracks and a few good racetracks, maybe not F1 grade, but racetracks where we could maybe consider training some drivers.
And for God's sake, Mr Kalmadi, bringing Formula 1 in on government money, are you crazier than I thought?Hopefully, the baller in the Sports Ministry will over-rule, I'm no fan of that man either, but he keeps this crazy in check! Spend money improving our sporting facilities, instead of doing that - or paying a cokehead to do a show in Melbourne, as you did last year! Spend money on sport, proper sport, like that country to our East. Because Sport is a tremendous glue that holds the social fabric in place. And maybe, just maybe, if I ever come to power I won't have you shot for treason, because in failing Indian sport, that is exactly what you have done. As for Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, he isn't even worth expending spit on!
A couple of more things tomorrow, the first of them is that there is no massive 'Media Conspiracy' to prevent certain news items of appearing! The second is the crisis at the Indian Express!