Jhumpa Lahiri

Move over, classics

Authors across the UK and US, including Jhumpa Lahiri and Amy Tan, recently came together and wrote a letter to TV host Oprah Winfrey, asking her to pick new novels for her influential Book Club. Oprah used to be a major source of publicity for exciting new books, and fiction sales have dropped since her Book Club abandoned new books and took to promoting classics. Is there any hope for publicity-starved Indian authors on the idiot box? What should they do ? appear on Shekhar Suman’s He-Man Show? They wouldn’t have much of a chance of reaching younger viewers even then, if Ahmedabad is anything to go by. A group of school children recently went on a protest march there, campaigning to kill TVs.

Hi-tech Hindu rides

One place that’s sure to get a lot of attention, though, is a novel project that’s being executed in Hardwar ? a Hindu theme park called Gangadham. A project headed by Shiv Sagar, whose grandfather Ramanand Sagar produced the immortal Ramayana TV megaseries, this 25-acre park on the banks of the Ganges will have hi-tech rides, a ‘temple city’, an animated mythological museum, a centre for NRIs to set up remote pujas and much more. It should be ready in 2007, well ahead of 2010’s Kumbh Mela, which should see crowds of 50 million or more from all over the world. If Sagar’s genes are anything to go by, this mixture of religion and entertainment should be a massive success, though I wonder what the rides will be like. Slightly more mainstream Disneyland-style Indian theme parks are rumoured to be on their way as well ? Disney’s head, Michael Eisner, toured India recently.

Here’s Aishwarya rai again ? or is it? Turns out Sneha Ullal (in pic above) wasn’t the only clone around. Ash V3.0 is called Ashwini Kale. She stars in the upcoming, slightly ominous-sounding Banke Rahoongi Aishwarya. The film is directed by an Anil Kapoor lookalike.

 

Buy and use

Stress-buster

In case you thought your tax rupees were being squandered, think again. The Delhi police top brass, appalled by the constant spurt in crime rates, has come up with the ultimate way to fight crime ? with condoms. All police stations in Delhi are soon to get their own condom-vending machines. Why? Because stressed-out policemen are embarrassed to go to shops in uniform. This scheme has already been tried on at the Delhi Secretariat, where it has reportedly increased work efficiency dramatically. The West Bengal government should take note ? this could be a pleasant solution to the Calcutta policeman’s world-class pot-belly.