Mohandas Gandhi died fifty-nine years ago today. He was killed by a lone gunman, Nathuram Godse, who fired three bullets at close range. The South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA) has put together a page with links to PDF files of the original press (mostly from The New York Times) coverage on that day.
Check it out here.
Last month I was in India and as is customary (at least for us) we went about visiting all our relatives. As a parting gift, my aunt gave us a live goose for our dinner table. This kind of gift giving used to be a lot more common a couple of decades ago but this was the first time in a few years that I had been the beneficiary of such an enthralling boon.
When I was a kid, we used to visit India quite regularly for summer holidays. In my grandfather’s house we used to have cows that my cousins used to milk. Now, that was fresh milk. The hen would cluck and before you knew it, the eggs were served. I recall the yolks were more orange than they were yellow.
Then there was the killing of the chicken - the faint hearted can skip over the next couple of paragraphs. As I watched on, my cousin would catch a chicken (or I would catch one for him). He would immobilize it by laying it on its side and stepping on its wings. Then he would slit its throat all the while keeping it pinned - for everyone knows what a headless chicken does. When the bird was dead, we would dip it into a pot of boiling water and then proceed to pluck out its feathers. It was a lot of fun as I recall, except for the slitting the throat part.
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As the New Year starts off (gosh, has it been three weeks already?), no two words have been more prominent (in the US at least) than “exploratory committee.” These “testing the waters” committees have been around for a long time though I haven’t paid attention before. The District of Columbia Campaign Finance Guide defines an exploratory committee as:
Exploratory, draft or “testing the waters” committees are formed solely for the purpose of determining the feasibility of an individual’s candidacy for office. The activities of exploratory committees may include polling, travel, and telephone calls to determine whether the individual should become a candidate.
These are just one of what NPR calls the seven veils for a presidential campaign. The better known you are, the more of these seven veils you can use to great effect like Clinton, Obama, or McCain. All of these hopefuls have announced the formation of exploratory committees rather than coming out and saying that they are in. Virtual unknowns like Vilsack (he reminds me of the quacking duck in the commercials) have to go the latter route.
I think we can also use an exploratory committee as a great mechanism for procrastination. I am forming one right now to look into my new year resolutions: work out regularly; eat less trans fat; take more photographs; clear the dust off my guitars; travel to new places; drink more scotch; blah blah blah.
Like a lot of other Keralites I know, I grew up enjoying hard rock and heavy metal (especially during a phase in the late ’80s) and I still enjoy a good head-banging song. But apart from a band called 13 A.D. (which was semi-decent), I don’t know of any good Kerala rock bands. 13 A.D. sang in English. Then of course there’s Kim Thayil of Soundgarden but he doesn’t count as he was born in Seattle (to Keralite parents).
Now comes an interesting band tantalizingly named Avial. (Avial is a mixed vegetable curry that’s a specialty in Kerala.) They sing in Malayalam. Check out the stylish video of their debut song called “Nada Nada” (walk, walk):
[via occasional rantlust commenter Sanu]
The Australian Open quarter-final between Israel’s Shahar Peer and comeback queen Serena Williams was one of the best tennis matches I’ve seen in recent times. While Williams seemed lost for most of the first set and Peer lost it after a double fault at 2-2 in the second, the final deciding set was so gripping that I doubt if any of the remaining matches can produce such nail-biting tension. In the end, experience won over teenage grittiness as Williams prevailed 3-6, 6-2, 8-6. Peer amazingly didn’t give up until the very end against a seven time Grand Slam champion even though this was her first Grand Slam quarter-final. For once, I wasn’t favoring either of the players. In the end, I was sorry it was over.
Is it just me or does women’s tennis have more breadth and depth than men’s tennis (Federer, Nadal, Roddick… yawn) these days?
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A TV show in Great Britain has brought racism (what else) to the front-page. The row involves Shilpa Shetty, a well known Bollywood sex-symbol and a few Z grade actors. One London wag characterized them as a has-been, an also-ran and a also-ran has-been. Apparently in one of the shows Ms Shetty made references to her servants and drivers in India and from then on things boiled over on the show with Ms Shetty being subjected to frequent verbal abuse. True to form, Indians have taken to the streets in a few cities and burnt Blair, among others, in effigy. While most see this as an issue of race, I agree with Alexander Chancellor of The Guardian when he asserts that this involves - “a certain amount of old-fashioned class hatred towards this privileged Indian princess”. Race after all is an American obsession, Brits on the other hand are terribly obsessed with class.
Responding to public outcry the vitriol on the show has turned the corner and in what seems to be a tableau vivant moment, hugs and apologies have been dished out. All this may be a tad too little, too late for the has-beens and the also-rans since their careers have taken a nose-dive. One of them has reportedly lost out on a 6-figure modeling contract and another is facing similar decline in fortunes. As for Ms Shetty - she is laughing all the way to the bank - since her contract is reported to be £3,50,000 to participate in this spectacle)
For that kind of money you can wake me up in the middle of the night and call me a “Poppodam”.
Wolfman learns about the Grameen Bank.
Are we sending a rep to attend the Porn convention (oh okay, Adult Entertainment Expo) in Vegas (where else?)? Wolfman? The BBC refers to the people attending the show as “shameless.” These shameless people are nevertheless laughing all the way to the bank. Apparently, 200 (only?) pornographic movies are shot in the US every week. The adult industry brings in more money to the US economy than Hollywood. It’s a bigger industry than all professional sports in the US… combined. And the maturity of the industry shows in the timing of the show: it’s held the same week as the Consumer Electronics Show. The Ron Jeremys and the Jenna Jamesons are trolling the streets of Sin City at the same time as the Bill Gateses and the Ed Zanders. As for the lucky people attending these shows, they can spend the morning learning the ropes of the latest camcorder at the CES and then head off to the Porn show to see how they can put that camcorder to good use. Symbiosis in action.
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