Skip to main content

Window seat to thralldom


“Journalism is unreadable and Literature is unread” is one of Oscar Wildes famous wisecracks.  Journalism of the 'The Hindu' ( or 'The Chindu' as some would prefer) kind is tiresome and full of insidious pontification. Have you ever come across a genuinely humourous article in 'The Hindu' ?
Of all genere of creative work, humour is the most difficult. That is why most wannabe writers settle for the pedantic like yours very truly here.

I have a small collection of rare instances of eminently readable articles in humour and satire that have appeared in the press. Most of them are from Pakistani writers, yes, a society in distress produces the best in its writers, and a few Indian. Here is one that has appeared in the latest edition of “The Outlook”, http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?278250. The writer is one of those directors who are redining Bollywood for us. Having lived in the Punjabi part of Delhi myself for more than a decade, I could live thru these scenes of the muscular Punjabi boy and his skinny 'Bangali' sidekick jostling for window seat and being enthralled by dishyoon-bishyoon bollywood of the '70s and '80s.

Dipankar Banerjee's ' Oye lucky Oye' and 'Love, Sex, Dhoka ( LSD)' are a must watch for any afficiando of changing Bollywood about which more on a separate post.
The jounrlist Dipankar scores the bullseye in his what could be probably his first journalistic attempt. May the gods conspire with the editors to see more of him in print.

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Washing Machine - Short Story by Sujatha

The maid had not turned up again today.  Her husband was immersed in the newspaper as usual.  Even the phone ringing at the most inconvenient moments __ when she was preparing the omelet for swetha, ironing her school uniforms or somebody knocking at the door, did not seem to have any effect on him. “It is for you”, she said. “Say I am not there”. “I am not used to starting the day with lies” “There is no auspicious time for lying, Savithri”, he said. There was again a knock at the door. He deigned to look who it was. It was the man who bought old newspapers.  “Newspaper Fellow”, he announced, reverting to bury his head into the papers. Everything had to revolve around her. “Not today”, she was speaking to the man at the door, “Had I not asked for your wife to come for work”. “She is already working in 6 other houses”, “might come from the first of next month after she gives up on one of these houses”. “First of next month?” How will I manage till th...
6 comments
Read more

RAT - Short Story by Asokamitran

Exora  Asokamitran recently passed away. He chose writing for a living and suffered the economic consequences of it.  Have you seen the Exora flower ?  When I was young , we had an Exora plant ( or bush ?)  near the steps at the front of the house.  If you pluck a few flowers with their long stems in tact from a bunch and reverse them and put the stems in the mouth and gently suck them by pressing your lip to the palate, you will get a fleeting taste of sweetness, of its nectar. .  Asokamitran handles subjects the same way.  His approach to the subject and writing style is as gentle as  the butterfly settling on a flower and the effect on the reader is just as subtle.  Not for him the the heavy handed stuff, not for him the harangue  Nobody captured  the ordinariness of life  like him. Nobody understood the mental make up of middle-lower middle class urban dweller like him.  He saw life as a progression of ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Know thy neighbour

How would you deal with a country that holds a gun to its head as it negotiates with the world? How would you engage with a neighbour whose elite are bent upon creating chaos in their own country out of spite? This is one ring-side view you never wished for.   More on it later.   How things to came to such a pass?   It is a long story. When Pakistani intellectuals discuss their descent, you are reminded of Atticus's children in the Harper Lee's famous 'To Kill a Mocking Bird'.    Some say it all started with Musharraf   joining the Bush's   war on terror, some say it is the fallout of   Zia-Ul-Haq's 11 year rule , his deadly embrace   of US and his wholesale import of Saudi Wahhabism, still others say it was inevitable when even the most charismatic and powerful civilian ruler aka Z.A Bhutto had to play to the Islamic gallery to stay in power, some even go as far back as   the days of Objective Resolution when Liaquat Ali Khan propose...
Post a Comment
Read more