BIN LADEN'S APPEARANCE
Why did Osama pop up around this time - just four days to US election? Would this appearance make any impact on the US voters? Is this going to make any difference to election result?
Conventional wisdom says that Osama wants George W. Bush to be re-elected. Bush, for him and the Islamic world, is the face of the enemy, and he has built this face up assiduously all thes years. A sudden cange in enemy's face would be a problem for his acolytes, if not for him, strategically and otherwise.
Then the Republicans are better bets for him than Democrats who have their own viewpoints of the world.
According to some political pundits here, Osama hands out an advantage to Bush, supporting the latter's threat perceptions by his presence.
But I doubt it would work that way.
MRINAL BOSE
Sunday, October 31, 2004
Sunday, October 24, 2004
DURGA PUJA
Bengal's greatest festival has evolved - or devolved, I'm not sure - to be a mega-event with all glitter and no soul. Sans any humanistic spirit, it has reduced itself to a mindless splurge.
Themed pujas are the order of the day. The organisers select a theme, often innovative and artistic, and spend lakhs of money to build it up, and spare just a small space to house the idol - marginalising it along the way.
This year I saw on TV a pandal the shape of a huge football in which the idol was placed. The theme was to promote the game of football, said the organisers of the puja. A good cause, no doubt, specially in these times when the cricket has cornered such a wonderful game, but how does it relate itself to the essence of the puja?
Gone are the days when the images were made of clay only. To bring novelty in images, they are now using any material - from pencils to marbles to cashewnut.
Perhaps only the Hindu religion can allow such flippant and derogatory attitudes!
MRINAL BOSE
Bengal's greatest festival has evolved - or devolved, I'm not sure - to be a mega-event with all glitter and no soul. Sans any humanistic spirit, it has reduced itself to a mindless splurge.
Themed pujas are the order of the day. The organisers select a theme, often innovative and artistic, and spend lakhs of money to build it up, and spare just a small space to house the idol - marginalising it along the way.
This year I saw on TV a pandal the shape of a huge football in which the idol was placed. The theme was to promote the game of football, said the organisers of the puja. A good cause, no doubt, specially in these times when the cricket has cornered such a wonderful game, but how does it relate itself to the essence of the puja?
Gone are the days when the images were made of clay only. To bring novelty in images, they are now using any material - from pencils to marbles to cashewnut.
Perhaps only the Hindu religion can allow such flippant and derogatory attitudes!
MRINAL BOSE
Friday, October 01, 2004
GOOD NEWS
So, an editor loves my first novel at last. Thanks to John Amen, the award-winning Pedestal Magazine has published in its special political anthology an excerpt from THE DANGLING MAN, which I have been shopping around for more than four years now. The excerpt is the last chapter of the novel.
Curiously, this is the very chapter which many agents, and some editors of publishing houses did not like. In fact, they trashed it, and one British agent found it distasteful.
You can read the excerpt at the following URL:
http://www.thepedestalmagazinecom/Secure/content/cb.asp?cbid=4040
MRINAL BOSE
So, an editor loves my first novel at last. Thanks to John Amen, the award-winning Pedestal Magazine has published in its special political anthology an excerpt from THE DANGLING MAN, which I have been shopping around for more than four years now. The excerpt is the last chapter of the novel.
Curiously, this is the very chapter which many agents, and some editors of publishing houses did not like. In fact, they trashed it, and one British agent found it distasteful.
You can read the excerpt at the following URL:
http://www.thepedestalmagazinecom/Secure/content/cb.asp?cbid=4040
MRINAL BOSE
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