Sometimes...

I did science in school, therefore I can still possibly make a decent circuit but I'm not a genius at reading account books. I'm decent at it, because the job demands it, but that said you would have to be one hell of a genius accountant to pull off what Ramalinga Raju claims he did. The accountant in question tried to commit suicide today. Maybe as a direct result of the country's largest newspaper in essence calling Raju's bluff, though to be fair Mint was the first paper to talk about the possibility on Day 1. This affair has completely taken the heat off Nimesh Kampani, who is hiding from the Andhra Pradesh police! Sure, so these guys can go after Kampani but seemingly don't want to chase one of their own.
And it has also thankfully, well along with the fact that the Pakistani's who work in our oil companies going on strike and holding the country to ransom, managed to bury news of a senile 80-year old man. Anyway, the way I understand it, teh man went to all and sundry and wanted his people to take over the Rajasthan BJP after Vasundhara lost the polls. But the BJP stuck with Raje and her acolytes in the Rajasthan BJP which led to this dinosaur trying to show his fangs. The BJP has a serious dinosaur problem - take Delhi for example where they replaced one generation of dinosaurs with even older dinosaurs - forget that lovely cliche 'Gen Next' the BJP seems to be adopting 'Gen Last'. Is there someone in that party who studies demographics? India is getting younger not older - forget my tendency to lean towards the right here for a second, I would like my member of Parliament to live out his term not die in saddle for heavens sake. I sincerely believe that there should be a retirement age for politicians, and that the BJP should start applying it before the General Elections.
And what on earth is up at Metro Now, if anybody here works there or knows someone who works there, drop in a comment or an email or a comment with updates. From what I've understood from a couple of people is that the product might well be shuttered ahead of a possible 'relaunch'. Personally, I have no clue just yet. But then again, they survived for two years without ever launching anything resembling a news site. But maybe there is money in a contrarian way of thinking - no internet news. However, we'll always remember the Geetanjali Nagpal story - and how one of the parents of the tabloid made the story their own.
Yes, and I'm so bored I'm listening to the Human (Remixes) album. Not bad actually.
And the breaking news I read on telly is that now Bharat, like Hindustan has Petrol. India doesn't. By the way, this is my line, if anyone steals it...

Historical Context...

GreatBong gives some historical context of spoofs, hoaxes and the like. What I don't get is the fact that sometimes there is absolutely no research done at all, if something looks too good to be true, it probably is. A former colleague to whom I owe a lot for helping me through the troublesome and irritating first few months as a journalist, since my then (acting) bureau chief had taken it upon himself to screw my happiness (but I had my revenge!) once told me that 'Byline Diarrhea' was the worst disease in journalism, much, much worse that 'Ego-itis', and sometimes the lure of an easy byline is just too tempting.
I'm pretty sure this isn't the end of the story, but then again as the 'Akon Fraud' case teaches us, lies and hype can pretty much befall anyone. What is all the more stranger is that Google exists, a well targeted search (instead of just big, bad search terms) which includes going through cached stories and information can be really useful. Nobody is asking you to go to the British Council and research the mating habits of Gnats or something like that.

To answer the comment that I'm soft on UndieTV, I will answer that I'm not soft, I just can't bother to watch the channel since it has become extremely boring - even when people with little or no understanding demand 'blogs' should be banned. However, I was tremendously angry, as a technology reporter to see FUD on mobile phones (though I will admit that DG's powering cell towers are polluting - but that is due to a total failure of governance to provide adequate electricity) being spoken as fact. If you have 20-year olds doing your research, hire smart ones. And I have never agreed with NDTV's politics since I find it extremely hipocritical.

Plus, today's ToI lead by Diwakar has led to ruffles in the FinMin, but I don't think the FM will be fired just yet. But, it might be that Chiddu will be made a scapegoat for the price rise sooner or later.