Ajith Nair

Looks like a dog strayed in the path of a Kingfisher airline . It’s interesting to note that dogs seem to have a way of getting through most security cordons. Follow street dogs around any fence and they will show you a breach that no one could anticipate. Dogs have been the most evolutionary creature of our times. They way they have adapted to rapid urbanization is telling of how this animal might be still around when humans as a race are long on, maybe that’s saying too much. Right since when Laika visited space to when Zanjeer sniffed out RDX, the celebration of canines has gone hand in hand with pelting them with stones. In urban centers, you’ll find dogs cluster smartly around where the sources of food are. This could be outside where an animal lover lives to the vicinity of garbage bins. You can also see visible efforts by dogs to mingle. So they’re curled up at bus stops, right there around marriage halls, frequently found at the heels of anyone carrying a food bag and probably ...

Ratan Tata will now drive Jaguar or even a land Rover. His servants servants will drive the Nano. Singur will produce the small car and London will deliver the big ones. Meanwhile, we also have some very rich Indians in the Forbes list and many more Indians buying yachts and islands. A crore is spelt easier than peanuts and doesn’t have too much value unless it has four or more digits in front of it. Personally, I know people who have invested a crore to buy matchbox houses at corners of Mumbai which don’t get much light, what an irony. Everybody wants their kid to have an IB education, a foreign degree and earn the highest salary. Money seems to have overcrowded our minds and our conversations. Off late, in Mumbai’s public transport, you can find ample examples of wannabe noveau riche conversations. Right from ESOP windfalls, to making a killing in the stock market (sometimes being killed by it too), the average Mumbaikar (probably Indian too) is looking at the cash tills all the time...

Don’t look the RSS is changing,. Especially because it’s changing its trousers, to be precise the khaki no longer is mandatory. There are several, reasons that come immediately to mind when one thinks about the Sangh shorts. The first fiendish thought, and there are many more to come, is on the fact that the shorts revealed more than it concealed. True to the vociferous nature of many a RSS spokesperson, the khaki shorts was also flamboyant and expansive. The trouble is, such exposure doesn’t augur too well for a party that has repeatedly stood for adequate clothing as the true indicator of moral character and conversely has violently taken down many a skimpily clad poster and people. There are some other rather obvious connections with the khaki, the notorious one being that with the cops. Given that nowadays, everyone from ex cops (KPS Gill) to encounter specialists are getting the wrong end of the (hockey) stick, the RSS probably wants to distance itself from such peeves. Its worthw...

The Mumbai IPL team is practicing on the eve of their first encounter at Wankhede. Standing by the side, Sachin is chewing on his nails. He awaits a crucial encounter. Enter Raj Thackeray, the local goon, and the bone of contention. He is demanding his pound of flesh and a couple of spots in the Mumbai side for the locals. For the first time, inspite of not being on 99, Sachin Tendulkar is tense. Raj comes straight to the point “Chaila (Marathi expression for what the hell!), I want sons of the soil in the team, not some foreign players. Sachin bhau, I respect you, but this is unfair. Aamcha Mumbai cha team, aani phakt ekas marathi manoos (Our Mumbai side and only one Marathi native!) Sachin tries to leave that argument alone, and raises his arms in helplessness. Mukeshbhai entered the stadium just then, two bodyguards and four petis with other lackeys. “Raj bhai kaise ho, suna hai aapko bhi cricket khelna hai?” “Dekho Mukeshbhai, aapke office mein hamare bahut saare ladke hain isliye...

It is very comic to see movie theatre patrons struggle to keep the sanctity of the national anthem alive. For the uninitiated, all movie theatres in Mumbai, play the national anthem before any movie starts. Am not too sure if it happens with the sleazy Pyaasi Jawani kind of movie halls but I can vouch for the others (smart way of making a clean morality statement!) I can imagine why this whole national anthem rendition started. A self appointed upholder of India’s morals would have decided that our country gets corrupted in the movie theatres. So the national anthem was the anti dote that audiences would consume before they expose their senses to debauchery There are multiple spoilers to the national anthem. The one that comes to mind immediately is the fact that most audiences are not in their seats when the national anthem is being played, they’re still strolling in (blame it on traffic, obesity, bad signs in theatres and lack of civic sense). Some people find sadistic pleasure in cr...