Monthly Archive for September, 2008

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Lehman Check

Published on September 18, 2008 in Cricket and Silly. 72 Comments

Darren Lehmann, ex-Australia cricketer and ace beer-drinker is sitting in his living room lovingly caressing his beer gut. As he lifts a Fosters to his lips, the bell rings. Ever since he joined the Rajasthan Royals as a stop-gap player covering for Graeme Smith and dropped two catches and overall looked as match-fit as Guddi Maruti , Lehman has stayed clear of the cricket pitch as a player and instead concentrated on landing a coaching gig with Laxman’s Chargers. So who could it be that was ringing his bell at 5 in the afternoon?

He opens the door and finds three men standing there. Three men he has never seen before.

One of them says: Khuda ke liye, kuch paisa de do baba

Lehmann, who learnt Hindi to understand the Indian sledging, especially from Nayan “Aigaaa” Mongia says: Go go you beggars, you wont find anything here.

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Durga Durga

Published on September 16, 2008 in Calcutta. 49 Comments

[Inspired by this article in the Telegraph about sponsorship strategies of Durga Pujas including a Puja committee that has sold all branding rights to an US company and another that has a promotional music video and about Zee Bangla coming up with the ultimate business plan, telecasting live the beautiful people at Maddox Square, my field of Pujo dreams.]

Setting: A Puja committee meeting, somewhere in Kolkata. Circa 2010.

Sujit-da (Mamata-fan and president of Puja committee) : Nontu, so have the people from Sheyal TV Bangla (Fox TV’s Bangla venture) sent in the 30 lac check for the Pujo sponsorship?

Nontu, secretary: Sujit-da this year we decided to do things a little bit differently. Do you remember Habla?

Sujit-da: Of course how can I not remember Habla? A Jadavpur engineer but still so committed to the cause. During the Singur andolon, he was a front-line warrior with us, beating up the people who tried to enter the plant. I still remember Habla standing in the afternoon sun, throwing stones at the Nano plant and shouting Tata-Bye Bye. So what about him?

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And Yet Again

Published on September 13, 2008 in Politics. 190 Comments

The Indian Mujra-hideen sends a terror email from an insecure wireless network, an act the press respectfully informs us ” as hacking into a wireless account”. Bombs go off. People die. Which city was it today?

Jaipur, Varanasi, Bangalore, Surat, Delhi, Mumbai or somewhere else ?

Does it matter to you or me as long as our loved ones are safe (for the time being)?

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The US Presidential Elections–the Story So Far

Published on September 12, 2008 in Politics. 62 Comments

After more than a year of heated warm-up with a lengthy and dramatic primary season, the US presidential election campaign is ready to enter the last lap. Finally. The Indian media’s coverage of the US presidential election has been most perfunctory and that is to be expected . I myself would not have been particularly interested in it had I not been in Uncle Sam’s own country where it is impossible to be not assailed by the elections as soon as you switch the TV on, unless of course you watch only “Lost” and “Gossip Girls”.

But tuned into it I am. And here below is my round-up.

Warning: this is a long long post.

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Rock On—The Review

Published on September 8, 2008 in Reviews. 112 Comments

I am sorry. I know I am supposed to love “Rock On” considering how much it has been appreciated and adored by the hep and the happening crowd, if only to show how “with it” I am and to prove that my brain has not become “down market” after endless listenings of “Humra Hau Chahi“.

But somehow, and you can blame Guddu Rangeela for that, I just could not bring myself to have any kind of fondness for “Rock On”, particularly after all the hype about how good it was.

Maybe it was the genre that was the problem. “Rock On” is an unapologetic chick flick. For guys. Which makes it technically a “dick flick”. Which is why I hoped it would have been called “Cock On” , if for nothing else than for the sake of truth in labeling.

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