indiascribe satire

Finally, Taslima has had enough of "athithi devo bhava" of the "incredible" Indian government. She has decided to choose the cooler climes of Canada or the US than remain in the hot house in Delhi. She feels her creativity is wilting by the day, in fact, every hour she spends away from her beloved Kolkata. Fair enough. Our Taslima may have her faults. She may not be anywhere close to the best writers in Bengali and pushes her point a bit more forcefully than the "Bhadralog" would have liked. But that doesn't quite explain why the left barons felt that she has to be kept out of the city for good with just one loony protest against her. The question is, why should governments turn weak-kneed the moment a mob hits the streets protesting against this or that? Especially works of art, literature or cinema. Instead of laying down the law to protect fundamental rights of speech and action, why should the ill conceived views of a few hold majority opinion...

Fashion shows at one time was all about the latest rage in Paris, the colours, silhouettes and what not. Stony-faced models sashaying down the catwalk, most of the time adorned in outlandish and impossible to wear costumes were the staple of such shows. If something unmentionable was revealed, everyone took it in their stride. All this changed the day Janet Jackson suffered a wardrobe malfunction. The entire global media zeroed in on the incident as if it was the first landing on the moon or a revelation paralleling "discovery" of a lone woman in Mars. The event was analysed as if no one has ever seen such a fixture on a woman in the entire history. Ever since, every media person worth his/her salt has been specifically asked by their bosses to keep an eagle eye on such possibilities. Once it happens, they are to click pictures, post videos and report highlighting it/blurring the strategic part/condemn it as deliberate, attention grabbing tactic. Of course, it is a deliberate...

The problem with cartoonists is that some of them tend to take themselves too seriously. So much so that they end up looking like a caricature. That seems to be what has happened to the old codger in that rotting city by the seaside. One fine day, he throws down his brush and decides to become the self-appointed guardian of his community. He then proceeds to appropriate the legacy of a great warrior and forms nothing less than an army goons and the image of a big cat as the party symbol. Now, finding himself as endangered as the animal on the party logo, he spews his venom yet again at a community that had done him no harm. In trying to regain lost ground from his nephew, he has made himself look ridiculous and out of touch with reality. The world has changed Mr T. Your kind of politics will soon lose out as the country is progressing towards a knowledge based society. Of course, there would be disgruntled elements and people who want to fish in troubled waters. So it would an act of m...