I couldn’t believe I was in the same room as Ted Kennedy, the legendary United States Senator from Massachusetts, whose volume of legislation dwarfs anything his brothers John and Bobby did for the American people.
Did Rediff send some fifth grader (no offence to fifth graders) to cover Manmohan Singh’s visit to United States ? Here are some more gems.
While I spotted hotelier and Clinton pal Sant Singh Chatwal and Republican Indian-American stalwart Dr R Vijayanagar in the same gallery, I couldn’t keep my gaze off the gallery to our left which had some of the Indian members of the CEOs Forum, set up on Monday.
The other person I kept returning to was Gursharan Kaur, dressed in a nice cream Kanjeevaram sari with a red border. Like her husband, her face rarely registers any emotion. But on Tuesday, one saw a trace of nervous anticipation before Dr Singh began speaking, and then more than a hint of pride as the gathering richly applauded his speech. Occasionally, she turned to K Natwar Singh, our flamboyant foreign minister, who was always willing to provide amplification. I can wager the erudite Kunwarsaab knows the process of the US Congress better than some of those who adorn it.[Dr Singh wows Congress]
This man, Nikhil Laxman seems to be amused by everyone and everything as if he has been released from prison after a long term. I am sure he spent the whole night staring at the Washington Monument.
He did try to mention something about him, though.
“She has a steely no-nonsense reputation, but I discovered a pleasant lady who paused to cheerfully sign an autograph for me, even as Natwar Singh flashed what I thought was a withering look, the sort he reserves for fools who he is not known to suffer kindly.”
Understandable that he is awed by the galaxy of powerful people. But does it warrant such slavering-over?
OT, your trackback doesn’t seem to be working. I pinged several entries in the past week, but didn’t see them appear. Curious.
Looks like Nikhil Laxman took his first step outside his house.Good for you Nikhil. Now, can we have some good reporters?
Sandeep, trackbacks have been turned off due to the constant spam. When I upgrade to the next version of MT, which claims to have better trackback management, i will turn it on.
Do you guys get Prannoy Roy’s NDTV 24×7 in the US? You should watch it sometime. Each and every NDTV journo is capable of beating a 1000 Nikhil Laxmans with his/her hands tied behind the back!
Last night on primetime news was a “celebrity” marraige: that of Miandad’s daughter (or son) with Dawood Ibrahim’s son (or daughter?).
A wild-looking, incessantly babbling bimbo came on line. Twisting her neck this way and that, jabbing her fingers often in the direction of the skyline of Dubai in the backdrop, she gushed forth like the Niagara, or perhaps like a raging bull on a double dose of the beastly equivalent of the viagra. A starving puppy eyeing a peace of dogfood dangled at it would probably have looked more composed and dignified. Our journo was _that_ excited. She looked postively thrilled that a scion of the illustrious Dawood family was about to wed into the equally prestigious Miandad khandan. For viewers’ benefit, so that they may partake of the joyous occasion, she launched into a description of the wonderful event that was about to unfold. She took a deep dive into the marriage preparations, swam freestyle into the guest list, glided past the wedding-feast menu with butterfly strokes, and surfaced gasping but happy at the wedding venue. All in all it was one hulluva performance.
Not once, however, did the twit betray any knowledge of the fact that the person she was blabbering animateldy about is no celebrity but a gangland boss wanted in India for several crimes, the most heinous among them being the war waged against India through the Bombay blasts of ’93. Cut the audio out, and you could have believed that the event that caused all that pumping of female adrenalin was the news of engagement of Mallika Sherawat with Atal Behari Vajpayee.
Journalists have become perverts, period.
Last I checked, Nikhil Lakshman is the chief editor of Rediff.com.