This one might count as libel, and were this blog any popular, might have ended up in me receiving a defamation suit from Ms. De's lawyers. However, I am sure I do not run this risk and spew out my venom with unabashed abandon.
The ET back cover ran a half a page article by Shobhaa De drooling over our new, drop dead gorgeous RBI governor. Why do I have a problem with that? Actually, I don't. Plus there have been a horde of other columnists who found it more apt to talk of Rajan's impeccable demeanour and 'chiselled' features (This FirstPost article points to some of these) rather than the measures and policies he is trying to put in place.
Although, the fact that the ET editor gave this such incredible amount of print space and topped it up with a front page marquee amazed me no end. But then I thought - Times Group. Sell Out. And the dots connected. What this did, however, was bring forth the copious amounts of bile I had inside me against Shobhaa De and her tribe of desperate socialites, who have somehow been taken rather seriously by the world.
I have read quite a few pieces from her (she is tough to avoid with almost everyone lining up print space for her), and also remember having skimmed through one of the books she wrote for her children 'Speedpost'. To call all her writing 'trash' might be a bit too harsh. Yet, to call a lot of it that, would be plain and simple truth.
Even in the case of the article in question, the part where she behaves like a teenager and goes ga-ga over Rajan is not what is irksome. What pains the reader is her juvenile, sketchy style of writing (I am sure she knew this was going to a premier business newspaper). Humour, or rather the attempts at it, are pathetic at best and horrific in general. I gave her the benefit of doubt and read through her blog.
Sample these witticisms (puns, double entendres, etc.) from this article and her blog.
"... I went ahead and tweeted (will this woman never learn?) about his appointment, calling him the Ranbir Kapoor of Banking (note the spelling — banking, there's an 'a' in this word, not an 'o')."
"... There was another one about Indian guy’s (sic) and their attitude to virginity (they all want to marry one). Bang on, again (pardon the lousy pun)"
Now, I am sure these were funny when Ms. De was in middle school. Not anymore, not fifty years thence. Not from someone who is touted as one of India's leading female columnists.
And I cringe every time writers belonging to the so called 'elite' throw in hindi words to show their connect with the masses. Just scroll through Ms. De's blogs to know what I mean.
Ok, haha, bad grammar, from the article mentioned here:
Well, I am being a bit of a prick here, so I will let my reasons out. I have a bone with her ever since I read one of her article carelessly branding 'Sholay' as a movie with palpable gay overtones. Unfortunately, I cannot trace a link to this article but I remember reading this in an India Today edition some years ago. This, in my opinion, is what writers like Shobhaa De thrive on- writing something brash, nasty, ridiculous enough to grab eyeballs. Alas, she has driven me to stoop to her level with this piece.
We make this mistake often. Handing out people more than their due. It is tough to leave Chetan Bhagat out of this. Now, I am not a Bhagat-hater and actually think he has a certain charm with his novel writing. Yet, to give him authority to talk on politics to morals to sports is really pushing it.
Well, that brings me to the end of my vitriolic rant. I respect all the people mentioned above for certain reasons. Infact, just before I sat down to write this piece, I found this piece De had posted this morning airing her views about the rape case verdict. Well written and completely mirrored my views.
So, anyway, all the best to Indian writing. We need them in all shapes and sizes, don't we? So, we'll let her be.
No comments:
Post a Comment