#189

They say, no life is an uneventful life.  Everyone has an interesting story to tell.  And what a charming story has been told by former India Test cricketer and arguably one of the best commentators in the game today, Sanjay Manjrekar.  He has been refreshingly honest and candid not only about himself but also about other people who touched his life one way or the other.  Something quite unusual for an Indian celebrity.  What I also find most pleasing is that he writes with the self- assurance and confidence of a seasoned writer.

#188

In the last week or so, the law and order in the four BJP ruled states have all but collapsed. It's Chief Ministers have surrendered their authority to the criminal gangs of the Rajput Karni Sena. It is quite apparent from their mealy-mouthed and proforma statements that these leaders are very much in the tacit endorsement of the ideological formulations of these lunatics. Let me just say one thing to these pompous men and also one woman. 'कुर्सी ही तो है, कोई जनाज़ा तो नही. कुछ कर नही सकते तो उठ क्यों नही जाते?'

The Attractiveness of Unhappy Looking People

#186

Well, she will be completing 70 on Sunday.  It is nobody's case that she has got the writing skills of Arundhati Roy.  But there is no doubt something compelling about her catty, not to mention a

chatty style that is quite impressive.  I have always considered her to be our very own Jackie Collins.  I still remember years ago, I and my sisters somehow managed to get our hands on a couple of her paperback titles.  Much before there was such a thing known as Amazon in India.  So what if the plot was convoluted, and sex was uniformly bad, at the time it seemed nothing short of an accomplishment.  Since then, we are all older and wiser, but in those days, trying to procure those slim books of her was our way of pushing the envelope on societal mores.  Thank you Shobhaa.