Uttar Pradesh
Husband Is Now Son
The decree of Muslim clerics wreak havoc again, this time for a 28-year-old woman in Muzaffarnagar raped by her father-in-law while her husband was working in Dubai. Now seven months pregnant, the hapless woman lodged a complaint after her husband refused to accept her version. Clerics meanwhile declared that she treat her husband as ‘son’ since the unborn child would be his ‘brother’. While the case revived memories of another victim—Imrana, in 2005—clerics are quiet on what the Sharia prescribes as punishment for those who rape at gunpoint, so to say.
Maharashtra
Fish For Thought
With pomfret selling at Rs 1,500 a kilo, September is proving to be a cruel month for Mumbaikars. A choppy sea and unseasonal heavy rainfall have meant poor catches and a deserted look for three of the more prominent fish markets in Mumbai at Sion, Malad and Elphinstone. Both Maharashtra and Gujarat reported sharp drops in marine products, sending seafood prices spiralling northward.
Goa
Andar Ki Baat
After a demand to ban bikinis, now BJP MLA Michael Lobo wants a ban on Indian men wearing “dirty underwear” on Goan beaches. The men in briefest of underwear, he declared with disgust, present an ungainly sight, swigging whisky and pestering women to pose with them. “If they can buy liquor, why can’t they buy proper swimming trunks,” asks Lobo. He does seem to have a pint, sorry point.
Telangana
Let Them Have Biriyani
For five-star hotels, charity begins with biriyani. Photographs of filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt among others distributing portions of ‘Hyderabadi biriyani’ to destitutes have raised the hackles of some people. While the ‘well-meaning gesture’ was planned by a five-star hotel and an NGO to ape the ‘Rice Bucket challenge’ daring people to donate a bucket of rice to the needy, the progression to the spicier and more perishable biriyani raised eyebrows. Silly, thought some, while the more outraged termed it insensitive to the poor. Recipients are not yet complaining though.
New Delhi
Modishopped
The ‘merchandising madness’ of Barack Obama’s re-election team had seen mirrors, magnets, cocktail glasses and even nail polish sporting POTUS’s mug to raise funds. Team Modi was quick to emulate and launched an online store to sell T-shirts and mugs with his face on them. But attempts to commercialise the prime minister even after the election has made BJP see red. With billboards advertising ‘NaMo Tea’ and promising unparalleled ‘josh’, fuming BJP leaders have threatened to take the advertiser to court. An unperturbed franchisee, however, says that this was part of the PM’s ‘personal PR campaign’ and that they had his permission. So of course does jadeblue.com, his ‘kurta’ designer in Ahmedabad, to sell them as ‘Modi kurtas’—taking political endorsements and funding to a new height, or for infuriated BJPmen, a new low.
Madhya Pradesh
Saved, But Not By The Bell
While the prime minister’s televised address on Teacher’s Day had some parents and children in the big cities complaining, it saved several lives when the roof of a 150-year-old school at Janakganj caved in on September 5. Because of the late timing of the PM’s address, students were asked to report at noon and teachers an hour earlier. But the roof decided to collapse at 10 am, thankfully resulting in no casualty. There are no reports on the state of the hired television set though.
Karnataka
Humanly Possible
Potency tests can take an ungodly 7.5 hours, discovered godman Nithyananda. His website flaunts a foreign lab’s findings that he flunked the test and was incapable of having sexual relationships. The SC however ordered the test in a desi hospital as part of a trial after several former devotees complained he had ‘exploited’ women. TV stations had a field day explaining the elaborate processes.
