Vaishveekaran, Sinha style!

Union finance minister Yashwant Sinha delivered the ‘Dr Rajendra Prasad Memorial Lecture 2001’ on Globalisation: Opportunity and Challenges in the capital last week. Nothing exceptional about that, of course. But scribes and assorted others who sat in on the talk were in for a shock when Mr Sinha began speaking. For, they were totally unprepared for a lecture in shuddh Hindi: Mr Sinha has been known to speak mostly in English.

Well, Hindi was done so much justice by the finance minister that quite a few among the enthusiastic audience had trouble following him. To make matters worse for the journos tryin’ to do their jobs, the only transcript of the lecture that was made available was in chaste Hindi too. And while a few colleagues valiantly tried to read it, they ran into rough weather with the first word ‘vaishveekaran’ itself. Er, it means globalisation. Some of ’em eventually gave up and began scrounging around for a non-existent English translation! No prizes for guessing why the RSS, Bajrang Dal and VHP lot are grinning from ear to ear.

Love thy neighbour
The weeks gone by have seen quite a few Pakistani celebrities enthralling Indian audiences. There was Asma Jehangir, the fire-brand human rights activist, the always-in-the-news Benazir Bhutto (who incidentally shopped for a pair of shorts for son Bilawal alongwith chairs and a folding table while in Ajmer), the evergreen ghazal singer Ghulam Ali, and finally, the popular folk singer, Reshma.

The lady was in New Delhi to perform at the Swara Utsav organised by a prominent media house. And her simplicity won her a few hearts. While expressing her love for India, she said, “Mujhe to London aur America ke gaon se bhi bulaya tha” (I was called from the villages of London and the US). But since it was India she felt most close to, here she was. A tune refreshingly different to one’s accustomed to hearing from across the border, what?