Thursday, June 18, 1998
Punishment becomes crime
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Republic, in the forgotten corners of dusty police stations, lathi and roller continue to make harsh contact with flesh and bone. So secretly is this done, so discreetly, that the democratic nation which houses these modest citadels of terror can continue to believe that it is indeed a democracy.
Even telegenic pegs are injurious
Football, as we know, is interminably associated with beer, but why should Doordarshan reinforce the machismo of this linkage by airing a beer promo mascquerading as a mineral water ad? It was a rude shock for me two nights ago when I figured out that I was so daft as not to know that there existed something called Kingfisher Mineral Water.
The rotten facts
Bihar is in very bad shape. No one can deny that. The law and order machinery is ramshackle, the government is close to bankruptcy, landlord armies are uncontrollable and the criminalisation of politics grows apace. The killings of a former RJD minister and a CPI(M) legislator in 24 hours for which a political mafia and a landlord army, respectively, are held responsible, are shocking reminders of the rotten state of affairs in Bihar.
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