Guilty, Three years, solitary...

If you were sentenced to three years, but were given one week off before you went it, what would you do?
Running away is not an option. You do not want to run forever.
Do you spend the time weighing the cost of every minute detail that you will miss out on?
Do you spend every minute living it like it was your last?
Do you just hold your loved ones and say sorry, again and again?
Do you steel your mind and heart and begin the sentence even before it begins?
Do you die?
What do you do?

And then there were ten...

I now need ten fingers to count the great musicians of my era left for me to see.
Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Stevie Wonder, The Eagles, Dire Straits, Eric Clapton, Tina Turner, AC/DC, Billy Joel and Rod Stewart.
That reads like a heavy to-do list, but consider, the rest I have seen.
The latest being Axl Rose and his version of G’n’R.
Jaded and old, but with three spectacular guitarists and the best rock voice for 20 years still in fine screech, the rocker was a blast from a once-great past.
And a reminder, that we are all getting old.

NDTV: Barkha Dutt has to go

I was reared as a young colt in the journalistic stable of one of the toughest, meanest and almost-fanatically puritanical master trainers.
Then, as a budding thoroughbred, I joined the Times of India and for three years – lost the plot. At least on the journalistic front.
I abused my power as a journalist and now when I look back cringe like Gollum in Lord of the Rings.
My former trainers would’ve hung and quartered me, not bothering to draw.
So, when I say NDTV is disgracing journalism by not sacking/removing Barkha Dutt, I know what I’m talking about. Disgraceful.

That's not the story, guys!

I am amused this morning at the Indian press’ praise for Sachin Tendulkar refusing to endorse an alcohol brand, despite being offered billions.
In a true Barkhaesque tradition, the press missed the real story – an alcohol brand thought it made sense to have Tendulkar as its brand ambassador.
The truly smart story to do was: why is it ok for Sachin to advertise Pepsi? More harmful to more people by far.
Still, I can’t imagine his pip-squeak voice and less-than-macho image selling booze.
There was a time when PR ran behind the Indian media – now PR runs the press.

Pyrrhic victory

Life destroys, decimates, dismembers, disavows.
I mortally fear time.
It scathes, scalps, scythes and seethes.
While you spent your life getting a life, I spent mine, pissing it away.
And now I stand (or sit, mostly), quarter of half the man I used to be.
And that vision comes back: of the knight on a battlefield;
Carnage all around, bodies littered, blood splattered.
The knight stands alone and as the mist lifts, he looks around.
Has he won? If he is standing, he must have.
Except, all the dead are his. His own. His people.
Pyrrhic, pyrrhic, pyrrhic.

Fried about Freida

I’ve often said my wife is better looking than Freida Pinto.
Like about a 100 times better. And that is a purely social, anthropological observation.
So, imagine if any passion was involved.
Being at the right time, in the right place, with the all the stars and whatnot aligned in your favour is understandable.
I have not seen her act yet after Slumdog. I’m going to.
But, even for a person like me, who is naturally jealous of anyone from the Catholic-western-Indian-urban-landscape that makes it big, watching a recent TV interview of her’s was mind-boggling.
She is utter crap!

What now, Eminem? You ain't no Slim Shady no more

I love Eminem. One of my close friends and I, both as fat as Friday, used go beserk on the dancefloor, everytime Slim Shady played.
But the question is, what do you do when you’ve grown up? When all the angst has been sucked dry by years of platinum-selling, Grammy award-winning, aggressive rap lyrics?
What does the Slim Shady rap about five years on… when the drugs are gone, the guns are slient, the ghosts of the past laid to rest.
As Eminem threatens to sweep the Grammys the real test is the evolution of Marshal Mathers from here.

Barkha and Vir have slapped us all awake

I watch the Indian English media quite closely. Living abroad gives me a different, sometimes, more panoramic perspective.
However, anyone with half a brain could tell that Barkha Dutt lost the plot two years ago. In fact, as prophetic as this blog is, much before the Radia tapes, I have been keeping track of NDTV’s decline.
Watching Barkha Dutt’s defense on NDTV and reading Vir Sanghvi’s defense in the Hindustan Times I feel like I have been slapped out of my lethargy – the classic wake-up call.
Why did I become a journalist? What is the role of journalism today?