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.

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Words are Weariness

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