Open thread

Got anything you think I should read? Please slip links into the tip box. Thank you — over and out for the day.

*sigh*

Will they now ban Agha Shahid Ali’s poetry? pic.twitter.com/tZrRn4onTr

— Salil Tripathi (@saliltripathi) February 25, 2016

The least we could do, if the “entire world” is looking towards India, is stop giving the audience fodder for laughter. FWIW:

A story of consequences

Friend, and former colleague, Vaihayasi Pande-Daniel writes in Rediff of a different example of gotcha “journalism” and of the gratuitous demonisation of the other — and its very dire consequences. Read.

A word to the wise…

The BJP should really stop beating the drum about Afzal Guru, and banging on about how questioning his hanging is akin to anti-nationalism and sedition.

Because? It cannot continue down that road while simultaneously making kissy-face with the PDP in Kashmir — not when it is not even a year ago that said PDP was questioning the same Supreme Court judgment, with absolutely no reaction from the BJP.

“PDP has always maintained that late Afzal Guru’s hanging was travesty of justice and constitutional requirements and process was not followed in hanging him out of turn,” said a group of PDP legislators in a written statement circulated to media.

More things in heaven and on earth, Horatio…

The first time I tasted alcohol was when I was about four or five. It was toddy, and it was given to me as prasad — and the deity whose blessings I was consuming was Bhagavathy, the mother goddess (also called Durga, Kali, and various other names, all manifestations of the militant side of Parvathy).

I belong to the Meledath tharavad, a joint family that is based in Bilathikulam, in Kozhikode, Kerala. Our ‘joint family’ is today more a notion than a fact (I wrote about some of it here), but vestiges of the tharavad mindset remain. In the concept of the tharavad karanavar, for instance (that title is now held by my uncle, following the death of my father) — the titular head of the family, to whom all owe allegiance and obedience and who, in family matters, has the deciding voice. It also exists in the kalari (gymnasium, in English), where the Keralite martial art kalaripayattu is taught.

Give us this day our daily giggle

The Telegraph in recent times seems to be on a tear, with arguably the most creative front pages in the English media. Here’s its latest salvo:

Check it out.