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Thursday, February 15, 2007

Valentine's Day protests, among other things.....


The morning newspapers have an expected tale to tell-- Bajrang Dal and ABVP activists (ABVP is the students' wing of the BJP, as we know) 'counseled' young couples in parks against celebrating Valentine's Day because it was against 'Indian culture'. SIO (Students' Islamic Organization--the students' wing of Jamaat-e-Islami) and Muslim Girls' Association did the same thing telling young couples that it was against Islamic culture and way of life. The TOI has a story and a photograph of Bajrang Dal activists, while 'The Hindu' has a story on them and a photograph of MGA activists holding posters saying celebrating Valentine's Day was 'Haraam' or forbidden. 'The Munsif' has a three-column story on the MGA and SIO campaign detailing how the 'teams' of 'counselors' had visited parks, fast-food joints and other places where they confronted 'erring' couples.
'The Munsif' has come out with an excellent supplement on the great Urdu poet, Mirza Ghalib to mark the poet's death anniversary. Among the features in the supplement are a piece by one of the great masters of Urdu poetry, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, a feature on the poet's time in prison, a lengthy and very informative piece on the plays written on Ghalib and an article on the influence of the Persian master 'Bedil' on Ghalib's work This was of course, acknowledged by the poet in the couplet:
tarz-e-Bedil meiN reKhta kehna
Asadullah Khan qayaamat hai
(To adopt Bedil's style in Urdu
Asadullah Khan is a great feat)......

The TOI has a well-researched piece on the firing policy of big players in the IT industry in the city--'IT bytes: Techies in the firing line'. But the rewrite desk seems to let howlers pass. The same story has the bit--''Menon pegs it between 400 to 500'' and the gem at the end of the story--"When talent was scarce, companies were liberal, but now no that's not the case".....
Both the DC and the TOI have front-page stories on terrorists trying to use ghost companies with addresses in the Middle East, to manipulate stock market operations in India.

3 comments:

M Taher said...

Happy V. Day
Ghalib ki yaad kya kam thi, ke chicha Faiz bhi isi din yaad areyn kate.
KHOOB GUZRAY GI JO MIL BAITHAIN ge DIWANE DO

Anonymous said...

Wow is that still happening in India...........

Saty Ji
Although I feel like I already know you but it was equally nice to visit your blog and read through it.
Was surprised to find my blog address on your main page, thanks for that, its an honour, my blog as you know is far from harsh realities of life although I am not and really appreciate reading blogs like yourself and Mr Taher's likes where there is more chewy material.

Good Work - enjoyed ma first visit and will keep in touch

Good Luck

Saty said...

All the effort (behind the dashboard) ia courtesy Tahersab (my editor-in-Chief).Sadiya SaHeba,thanks for being here.
saty