Who thought that Aravind Adiga winning the Booker Prize would have such serious after shocks.? Our beloved New York Times Delhi bureau chief Somini Sengupta is leaving her position. The news of the transition of this South Asian reporter was published on the SAJA forum, a site covering “South Asians”, an imaginary species.
For almost four years Ms. Sengupta worked tirelessly to prove to fellow “South Asians” that “India” was not shining. Her propensity to cover the downtrodden and the ones who were stomped on by upper class members of the Hindu caste system was unparalleled. Sadly that nectar is insufficient for winning awards these days.
The new man in town is Pulitzer Prize-winner Jim Yardley who comes from the Beijing bureau. A person from any other bureau would have been highly insulting. We hope Mr. Yardley realizes that the cheat sheet has limitations – it cannot even win you a Nehru-Gandhi peace award.
Ms. Sengupta spawned a cottage industry of satirists and social scientists who won’t have, to paraphrase an American President, “Somini to kick around anymore.” The revival of our cottage industry depends on Mr. Yardley’s ingenuity; we will be watching with bated eyelids. Ms. Sengupta meanwhile is moving to Amsterdam, an arcadia, where countless people have found salvation thinking about “social” issues.
Uh oh! I am sure many will rush in to fill the vaccuum she has left 🙂
Good riddance !!
“The revival of our cottage industry depends on Mr. Yardley’s ingenuity”
🙂
I stopped reading the tabloid a while ago so this is news to me! I am sure Yardley has comparing to do – how great the Chinese are and how Indians are all dufuses…
Also the Amsterdam posting is interesting. While I doubt I’d be reading any reports by Smt. Gupta, it would be interesting to see how she parses the islamic radicals taking over Holland and Holland whites fighting back and how that differs from her reporting from India..
I am running the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon on 9th November under Dream team category. I am running it for a cause, running it for Koshish.
The rules of this category are:
– Has to be one man show
– Contribute at least 1lac to the organization by 31st October (Just a week left,so far contribution – Rs 11501)
– There are currently 6 online Dream Team members including Kiran Bedi.
Please click on the link below and scroll down to support. There
I will ensure that funds collected are utilized appropriately. Click on the link below to support.
http://www.concernindiafoundation.org/i-pledge/help_ipledge_page.asp?dreamid=DT67&session_id=sXOa61Dqp3
It’s not about Dollar, not about Rupee,
Please donate as Team effort
Its not I, its We
Please revert for any clarifications. Donation greater than 250 Rs will get 80g tax redemption.
Regards,
Gaurav