Tch, tch, tch.

As a child, I used to get scared of evil spirits, and would often not be able to sleep at night. My mother, who would naturally get rattled by this nuisance, had two options. One, deliver a slap for being moronic, and order me to go to sleep. Or two, discuss my fear, trace the source of it, and then find a way to convince me that the fear was unfounded. And round off by uttering Aamir’s favourite phrase, ‘All izz well’. Which do you think is a better approach?

Too much noise has been made about the star, and as usual, TV debates further muddled the issue. It’s actually pretty simple: What we are saying to Aamir Khan is this: Dude, if you are feeling insecure about life in India, don’t talk about it, just shut up and carry on with work as usual. And if you do, all hell will break lose for you. 

When we do this, aren’t we demolishing the Constitution of India which guarantees free speech to all citizens? How can we take this right away from the man only because he is a popular actor with gadzillion followers? The moment we do this, we turn into an intolerant nation, thus proving Khan’s point. And we end up making him and others feel even more insecure.

The only problem I have with what Aamir said is this: As the spokesman for ‘Incredible India’, he should have first resigned from that job, and then called a press conference to share his reasons. What he did at the event was, I suspect, abrupt and not really thought through. This is something we don’t usually expect from Mr Thinking Actor.

And by the way, no, Khan isn’t taking the first flight out to Damascus anytime soon. He is busy looking to purchase a 200 crore rupee property in good old Bandra West. And jealousy is making me intolerant of him. :)

Pappu fail ho gaya. Again.

Loved the way students of Bangalore’s Mount Carmel College stumped 'young' Rahul Gandhi. Here’s a link:

Click here.

Two points: I am amazed that youngsters in Bangalore believe in the idea of Swachh Bharat. That city is perhaps the dirtiest in India (Mumbai is better, and that’s saying a lot), each time I visit I spot uncollected garbage strewn around one housing complex or another. And their municipal corporation is notorious for its sloth and corruption. Perhaps students of Carmel belong to Bangalore’s most affluent families, and so they have failed to notice the mess. Only that would explain the optimism.

As for Gandhiji, there’s a simple lesson even a basic public speaking course will teach you: When you are caught in a spot, try and be witty or smart. Humour will almost always get you out of a tight situation. In his place, this is what I would have said to the students: Hehe, you guys in Bangalore believe in the idea only because you have a Congress led government here. We are doing the PM’s dirty work, while he is busy entertaining the swachh NRIs. Or words to that effect.  

Am told Pappu likes to hang out in Bangkok. Don’t know exactly what education he gets there, we can only imagine. I would suggest signing up at a public speaking institute in New Delhi. Am sure they have a few.

Idiotic censors

Still reeling from the massive response to my interview with the CBFC chief (for Mumbai Mirror). The interview once again proves that for the Indian government, now and in the past, chamchagiri has always taken precedence over merit. This is the biggest reason why the country progresses at a snail’s pace. For those who missed the hilarious exchange, here’s the link:

Click here.