Blogs

Late last week, a Reuters creed about the US-Iran nuclear standoff appeared in a number of newspapers. The fourth para was: The first sanctions resolution seeking suspension of Iran's uranium enrichment program was approved by the Security Council in December. It took the United States and its partners several months of bitter wrangling to pass the resolution and the Americans, at least, are keen to avoid that kind of division this time. Bad and commonplace mistake. Resolutions are either...

A few days back a former colleague of mine called me up. She now works with a magazine, and seems to be doing well. She just has that one problem only — she is not quite sure whether she works with a specialty magazine or a speciality magazine. I don't blame her — not many people do. Someone told her the first is the American way of writing it, and the second British. She also looked up a few dictionaries, and ended up even more confused. Merriam-Webster differentiates the two this way...

All good journalists make mistakes. All good desk hands make typos. No mistake is acceptable, but some can be understandable. And some are simply not admissible even as oversights. One such confusable pair of words people invariably make mistakes with is affect vs effect. To affect means to have an effect on. Effect is usually the noun; effect as a verb means to bring about in an effective manner. In a less common usage, one can affect (show off) something in an ostentatious manner. Elementary...

Information & Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi made AXN go off air. Now he seems to be dish out the same treatment to Fashion TV. For once, the Congressman and his friend in the Bharatiya Janata Party, Sushma Swaraj, seem to be thinking likewise. Great minds think alike. [ Link] “I have got the highest number of complaints from schools, colleges about Fashion TV operations,” said Dasmunsi, the information and broadcasting minister. “The kind of things they show, even in school-time...

Hey, AXN is going to be back again. From its coerced hibernation. The two-month-long ban imposed on it following the telecast of the ‘World’s Sexiest Advertisements’ has been lifted 15 days. Yeah, a good 15 days before-hand. AXN Country Head Sundar Aaron told exchange4media, “We are happy that the ban has been lifted and our channel will be again watched by million of viewers.” We are very happy too. The ban was imposed in January after AXN refused to pay heed to the warnings of the Informationa...

We Bongs are Anglophiles. We laab Ingreji. And we laab kobita. Someone forwarded this to me. And I must share this with you too. Through the jongole I am whent On shooting Tiger I am bent Bashtaard Tiger has eaten wife No doubt I will avhenge poor darling's life Too much quiet, snakes and leeches But I not fear these sans of beeches Hearing loud noise I am jumping with start But noise is coming from damn fool's heart Taking care not to be fright I am clutching rifle tight with eye to sight...

Being a Bong, I love jokes about Bongs. This one came as a forwarder a day back. Sometimes I love being spammed. Read on... The A to Jed of the Bengali Alphabet From a poor benighted Kolkatan soul ... A is for Apish(Office). This is where the average Kolkakattan goes and spends a day hard(ly) at work. If he is in the Government he will arrive at 10, wipe his forehead till 11, have a tea break at 12, throw around a few files at 12.30, break for lunch at 1, smoke an unfiltered cigarette at 2...

If you look at the photograph, you will know why I wasn't able to resist from putting this up on my blog. This photo provided by the Archaeological Society SAP in Mantua, northern Italy, on Wednesday, February 7, 2007 shows a pair of human skeletons found Monday February 6 at a construction site outside Mantua. Archaeologists unearthed the skeletons, believed to be a man and a woman, from the Neolithic period, buried between 5000 to 6000 years ago. It could be humanity's oldest story of doomed...

This is what has happened in the aftermath of the Katrina-in-a-short-skirt incident. From a PTI report in the Daily News & Analysis: [ Link] Dargah Committee vice-president Sayed B Chisti said it was the duty of office-bearers of the Anjuman Committee that is accompanying the Bollywood team to ensure the maintenance of the sanctity of the shrine. The Dargah Committee will write a letter of protest to the Anjuman Committee and seek an explanation, Chisti said. Fair enough. Writing protest letters...

Katrina Kaif may have nice legs, but devotees at Khwaja Moinudeen Chishti's shrine, Ajmer, are not quite taken in by them. Many have objected to Katrina wearing western outfits inside the shrine, which did not cover her legs completely, when a large number of people were offering their prayers, IANS has reported. [ Link] Oops, distracted, were they? The silence maintained by Anjuman secretary Sayed Mohin Hussain Chisti over the issue is being objected by others. Anjuman is a representative body...