Raja's read only memories

The IPL may be over; however, it’s time to examine a TV advert – which did the rounds around the same time – that pitted cricket against football Few in India would dispute that cricket here arouses as much, if not more, passion than the Kama Sutra . When viewed such, Indian society has no room for atheism or differences, for it has a common God aka Sachin Tendulkar (name provided for the sake of the uninitiated), who only recently got elected to the Upper House of the Parliament. The Holy Grail of Indian sport, the sponsors’ and media’s darling, cricket’s popularity also means that its hordes of followers are also its experts. So, pitting this game against any other, howsoever popular, could be viewed as an attempt to either be a trendsetter or a sitting duck to widespread ridicule and criticism. Ergo, intrigue is the watchword when Atlanta’s second cola major, Pepsi, pits Chelsea’s Frank Lampard, Fernando Torres and Didier Drogba against Indian cricketers M S Dhon...

Here’s a sneak-peek into what transpired before the raging debate in our Parliament over an insidious/ thought provoking/ hilarious (take your pick) cartoon Inside the room of the powers-that-be, at 24, Akbar Road, New Delhi, the office of the grand old party of India... “But still, madamji , I don’t understand why he needs to be depicted as flogging a snail, of all creatures.”  “And you say this cartoon figures in our school textbooks. Surely, I hope you are not inebriated, as you were when you made that zero-loss statement on the 2G scam?” “I swear on the Quattrochi’s hefty Bofors commission... (Voice trails as he receives a cold glare that would have frozen a bowl of steaming hot pasta)” “ Madamji , I swear by Andimuthu Raja’s 2G loot that... (Speaker waits for approval from listener which he gets after a momentary furrowing of the eyebrows and a brief rumination) that these books are perpetuating the heinous of the ideologies. The minister who had granted the go-...