Connecting the dots...

But first, kudos to the Supreme Court for standing up for 'true' secularism rather than the Muslim-pandering that typifies those like the CPI(M) who want to keep communal forces out. I mean even The Hindu editorial team disapproves. I don't condone Varun Gandhi's statements, but the fact remains that his statements have found an eerie resonance outside the 'liberal' classes. Why?
I think the Muslim minority in India is being badly let down by its leaders, voting en masse as a religious block rather than for those who want to help them progress. And the attacks, even those not inside our borders are beginning to scare people shitless. Yesterday's attack happened 12 kilometeres from our international border (and I'm scared that it isn't a question of 'if' another attack happens in India but 'when', and honestly dying for someone elses twisted political cause is not how I want to go), and when 'Too-scared to run for Election' Singh meets 'God' (a.k.a #44 Barack H.Obama) they won't be discussing the economy and outsourcing and why the Indian government should pitch in to save General Motors India (fantastic PR plant one must admit to PTI, no questions at all about how they're sinking), which is flailing about pretty much as badly as the parent company. Nope. They'll be discussing Af-Pak and the fact that India is sitting down right next to a powderkeg.
Now back to the 'dots' thing I mentioned. Remember as a kid sometimes you never followed the numbers in sequence when connecting the dots just to see what happened? Well I did. Yes, I was a twisted kid. Now, yesterday's post spoke of the editorial and marketing tie-up between Mint and CNBC-TV18. Now, and this I must clarify is complete speculation and I could be totally off the ball here, but what if this signifies the first baby steps towards Raghav Behl's acquisition of Mint?
Think about it, RB is deperate to build a print empire, his acqusition of Infomedia prove that. Many of those publications are floundering and delays in the launch of Forbes India make ET Now's delays seem ordinary. Now, RB failed with the FT India launch and Mint could well lose the WSJ tie-up because WSJ wants to launch a facsimilie in India. Now, what if, TV18 takes over Mint, obviously there will be jostling over the price and all that, but think about it for a second? See, HT Media's results will show that Mint is a bottomless money pit and despite getting rid of several high-profile, high-cost and lazy people, Mint still bleeds far too much money. Worse still, while Mint does fantastic features, as a 'News'paper it is falling further and further behind. RB buys Mint, HT Media manages to make some money or at least save face, RB can position CNBC's agenda and the FT content into Mint which has a ready-made brand. Win-win for everybody.
Just my two paise here, and I could be skipping far too many dots, but I have been thinking about this possibility. Anyway, I have a lot of work over the coming few days, so there might be fewer posts than usual. Have a great week, and did anyone catch the Australian Grand Prix, what a race!

Hmmm...

I watched a first day movie yesterday after ages, and I must admit I felt a bit iffy after Quantum of Solace. Brilliantly executed action scenes but the first 30 minutes seems like this endless action sequence. Daniel Craig betrays no emotion and does a brilliant job, I mean the guy is a fantastic actor. But, it is as if, 007 has to be more intense than anything before and my god the scenes are intense, its just that the movie feels like a blur of action at times. This is a great movie to watch again, but on a nice home theatre. But it felt good to go to a movie hall again, it really did. Watching the Arsenal beating Manchester United right now, but given our recent form I just hope we can hold on.
I drove the Audi R8 today, smoked the tyres a bit and had an absolute blast, and before that ran about with the new Maruti A-star, which wasn't bad at all. I'm wondering if I should go down to the Renault F1 run down Rajpath tomorrow morning. Plus, if any event guys are watching this, please, please skip the dancing girls at events. Getting a team of badly dressed hookers to dance does not make your event a success. Enjoy your weekend, and if you haven't been reading Newsweek's insider account of the US Elections you're missing something.
Just one last thought, now that Barack Obama has won what happens to Newsweek's resident twat - Fareed Zakaria? I've heard rumours that he might get an administrative post doing the rounds of Delhi journo circles, which is scary. But the man writes badly and is extremely irritating, but anyway...
Ten minutes to go and the Arsenal still lead!

Fly Kingfisher drinking RC!

The honorary Doctor (and he who selects air-hostesses 'personally') contends that he would have bought MSD, Uthappa and McCullum instead of his 'fantastic' team (though with RD still being an icon player) but since the IPL has a 'salary cap' this year, he would have had to play with a team of four. Add up the salaries of these three players, plus the fact that RD would then be getting $1.8mln since MSD would be paid $1.6mln, and you would touch the $5mln limit. Of course, I get to hear from friends in Bangalore (many of whom now support the Shah Rukh - Akhtar show) that people are not pleased with the honorary Doctor bad-mouthing Bangalore's greatest son - RD. To be fair, if I were the hon. Doc I would be pissed too, but so are the owners of the Hyderbad team and they aren't throwing a hissy fit like a spoilt brat.

But then again, when your Formula 1 cars advertise your airline well by flying in the very first lap, what can you expect? Obviously look at the softer target, making sure the media ignores flying stunts. The hon. Doc wants to be a mid-field player in F1 soon, but with the teams back to base in Europe (showing their true pace) and Super Aguri out of the reckoning, the hon. Doc is sullying India's name (why Force India???) through the mud (with flying Fisi admitting as much), of course, Bangalore's rep is in the mud already. But then again with such god-awful uniforms what did you expect.

The flying fish - or Kingfisher's new jet?

Though, it appears that the hon. Doc will make sure the salary cap will be removed next year and he will go all guns blazing for some big names from the other teams, which means the IPL might actually become profitable for everyone else. Of course, for the poor shareholders of United Spirits however, it is a different matter.

Heck, even I'm drinking Carlsberg nowadays! I quit RC a long time ago, though Mallya still gains since the IPL is an even better surrogate ad for booze than the airline.

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!