The Cynic

There's a column in the entertainment supplement of Hindustan Times, "Dil Se..", that allows Delhiites to send in their messages to their, well, loved ones, or to the world at large. For many, Dil Se.. is a genuine, heartfelt mode of contact. For me, Dil Se.. has been, for quite some time now, my daily dose of entertainment and anti-depressant. Its what i read to feel worthy when I’m feeling down in the dumps. Just to give you a tiny hint of what’s in there, here’s what you’re most likely to find in there if you flip to the column on any given day. 1.       Hi I’m a 21 year old lonely good looking male boy from Dehli looking for girlfriend who understands my emotions. Wanna make fraanship with me? Lonely boy. The fraandship seekers are most popular, probably offshoots of a now dead Orkut movement. A lot of lonely male boys and female girls (and female boys and male girls?) launch their hunt for fraands through this column. More often than not, they even end up...

Just a few days ago, I was sitting with a friend, chatting, when he told me he'd recently read Chetan Bhagat's latest, 'Revolution 2020', and launched into an explanation of how it was an amazing narrative about love, set in the backdrop of money and power, and then stopped midway to look at me and say, "Tujhe bilkul nahin pasand na woh?" I assume I'd been making irritated expressions and rolling my eyes all through his little 10-second speech. " Haan , I find him too stupid!" I shot back. "But he sells", my friend answered back smugly, as if that settled it all. And who could deny that anyway? Chetan Bhagat sells. And big time too. But what is the success story? And why is there one anyway? Having written two odd crappy books, Bhagat shot to fame. Suddenly, a man noone knew nor cared about became the 'youth icon' of the country. Wanna know how the youth thinks? Drop in a little of Chetan Bhagat dramatics. And then sudd...