Of weeping judge and dead actress

Associated Press recently put out a delightful story on how the US media piled on Judge Larry Seidlin for ‘making a mockery of the system of justice.’ His sin? He wept, no sobbed, as he announced a ruling in the dispute over where former Playboy cover girl Anna Nicole Smith should be buried.
Among the various things, Seidlin was called were these too: ‘Weepy Wacko’ (New York Post), Blubbering Seidlin (Daily News). But the media has not criticised his ruling. He said custody of Smith’s body go to the court-appointed lawyer representing her 5-month-old baby.
Can such a thing happen in India? Never. Not in my lifetime. Here the line that divides what constitutes contempt of court and what’s somebody’s considered opinion is thin. So, no way can the Indian media dream of lampooning any Indian judge whatever his court be. But then, the media here is still in its diapers. They can at best look at buttonholing a few retired Supreme Court lawyers but judges? Holy mother, no!

Race to Rashtrapati Bhavan

Am reproducing below a message from a buddy on my Yahoo! messenger:

Our honorable president period ends by 2007. He had been informed not to continue. Some youngsters of   INDIA set a site given below for   requesting the Indian  government to extend his period for the next five years. If you are willing Dr.APJ to continue as president  then you can enter your  support in that website. Hurry UP. Please forward it to all Indians.

It’s totally shameful to see only 90,000 signatures!! . World powers already started to recongnise India ’s power and strength . We need dignified leaders like  Dr.APJ to lead the world biggest democracy..

I told him we need to give some colour to the campaign…

Will have greater impact amongst the Tamil audience if we can give the campaign a title….I suggest this: ‘Carry on, kutti thatha!’

What say you, guys?

The truth about Valentine’s Day

THERE’s a story that Reuters filed from Bangkok today about how a section of the teenage girls in Thailand think Valentine’s day is a great time to lose their virginity. And, how police is going all out to not let them have the cake and eat it too.

You do a search for the poll and you find several reports on it none of them encouraging about the state of Thai youths. The number of respondents vary from one report to another. But all of them are agreed upon the findings: one out of 10 youth admitted to having sex with strangers they met on the Internet.

Last Sunday I was watching a programme on TV (Vijay TV) that had a debate on whether or not there should be opposition to youths celebrating Valentine’s Day. The anchor put the audience and a section of the youth on one side and invited a local Tamil group’s leader to present his views. The man, clad in white dhoti and matching shirt, waved sportingly at the other side but made his point that he and his organisation condemned the gross levels of indecency that prevails in the name of love. Why should there be a day to celebrate love? Is it love or lust that’s toasted upon that day, he raised too many questions. One youth kept saying in defense that a certain saint had given his life for love and hence there was nothing wrong in celebrating the day? Weird explanation, I thought. He didn’t even know who the saint was!

That brings us to this topic: What on earth is Valentine’s day? Why is it celebrated? What were its origins? If you have, like me, wanted to know the truth then there you go. Check out this link and make your own conclusions. On a closing note I must say this: If the Tamil group leader knew these facts, he would have been been able to present his views strongly with more substance than just heat and fury.

What’s life all about, Alfie?

I know I sound a trifle boring. Talking about life and all that’s beyond. Oops, I almost typed it as Beyonce.  No, no…she’s the last thing on my mind now. I am thinking about Buchwald even now. Did he live a good life? I guess he did. Did he have fun at work and in life? I guess he did. But did he make sense of life? I wonder if he did. I was reading his last column and I came away with this feeling that Buchwald did not quite make sense of his life.

Did he, for instance, think life’s all about humouring others and making a living thereby? Did he think about the beyond that lies ahead? I don’t know. Perhaps, he did. But how many of us ever think about what lies beyond life? If you haven’t yet, I urge you to think about it today. Otherwise, you may have to at some point say like Buchwald did before he went ‘What’s it all about Alfie?’

Me no Buchwald!

THE day Art Buchwald died, I decided to do my own blog. I’d earlier had one but it wasn’t nourished well and as a result the visits to the blog thinned so much so that even the only one who was visiting it ever stopped going there. No prizes for guessing it was yours sincerely who was giving the earlier blog all its clickthroughs.

Now, the Buchwald connection. I’ve been reading him since I was 12. That’s when The Hindu started making sense to me. My dad, who swears by the daily, would generously give me pages of the newspaper to read. The only thing I liked in it was the smell of the newsprint and ink. And, of course, Art Buchwald’s weekly ramblings. The great American humourist did not make you roll down in laughter. But he had a quaint way of subtle humour that would make you smile. Most of the issues he touched upon in his columns – US politics, Vietnam war, Nixon’s mostly folly-ridden policies, snooty Americans – were strange to me. But his humour was like a faint breeze. You didn’t realise it until it went past you. It had the magical quality of making you wanting for more and left you with a sense that you know this guy well, very well indeed.

But that’s not the reason why one wanted to start the blog. The day he died, one had the strong urge to do something – like pick up from where he left. But don’t despair, dear reader. Am no Buchwald and so you won’t get to read any great vignettes of political satire. So, do I tell you what it will be about? Perhaps, you should find that yourself. It’s about life and what lies beyond.