Separatists in Manipur shot a man in the knees because he violated their ban on chewing zarda:

Arun Thakur is battling amputation at an Imphal hospital after he was shot at close range on his legs by suspected separatists on Wednesday. One of the assailants reportedly shouted at the barber from Bihar, who has made Imphal his home: “You are punished for chewing paan.” The attack comes a day after the outlawed separatist Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF) imposed a ban on the sale and consumption of chewing tobacco products in Manipur…

Tobacco products locally known as khaini and zarda are a common form of addiction among many Indians, including a vast majority in Manipur… “The ban is meant to counter India’s evil designs of getting the younger generation hooked to such dangerous substances,” an RPF statement said.

Encouraged by the rebels, frustrated desi readers worldwide have threatened to ‘bust a cap in Random House’s ass’ if they publish one more book with mehndi on the cover.

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The abnormally chubby baby about whom Apul posted did not survive his encounter with an Indian hospital:

Eleven-month-old baby Lokman Hakim, who weighed over 20 kgs, choked to death at SSKM Hospital on Sunday…

Lokman’s mother Ganera Bibi was feeding him mashed boiled rice on Sunday afternoon… But he started getting hiccups soon after his meal. Doctors suspect the baby had “overeaten” and food particles had got stuck in his trachea due to the lack of muscular co-ordination.

“I don’t know what happened. My son had never been given rice before. We brought him all the way from Murshidabad for treatment, and now he is no more,” said the shocked mother.

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Wordsmith Dawesar presents her electrifying Babyji in DC tomorrow night:

Reading from BABYJI
Olsson’s Books @ Penn Quarter
418 7th Street NW
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Thursday May 26th, 7 PM.
202-638-7610

I’m almost done with it and it’s fantastic; Babyji may accomplish what even my father couldn’t– it might persuade me to study physics. Intrigued? You should be. What other novel contains a come on like, “I want to collapse my wave function into you.” Now that’s hot. 😉 Continue reading →

Amazon on both sides of the pond has posted cover concepts for the new novels by Salman Rushdie and Zadie Smith (thanks, Sapna). Rushdie fires first on Sep. 5, Smith the following week. As anyone in mass marketing will tell you, new products crowd the first weeks of autumn. Books and babies are best launched after the summer doldrums.

Previous posts: 1, 2

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A while back, SM profiled Mr. Hemant Lakhani, a Brit national accused of trying to sell missiles to Islamo-fundi-fascists. When asked Do You Feel Safer, one SM commenter noted –

I again wonder whether the government will be engaging in similar efforts to target White Christian populations in Michigan

Well, rest a little easier gentle reader, in what appears to be a near perfect copy of the Lakhani “sting”, a 68 yr old PA man (presumably a white christian?) has been arrested trying to sell bombs to an undercover agent posing as an Al Qaeda operative –

A 68-year-old Pennsylvania man was arrested on charges he tried to build a bomb and sell it to an agent he thought was a member of Al-Qaida, officials said Monday. Ronald Allen Grecula of Bangor, Pa., was arrested Friday in Houston during a meeting with undercover FBI agents…

If only Mr. Grecula had read Sepia Mutiny, he’d know that this particular line of biz – esp. if you’re an amateur – isn’t one you wanna dip your toe into… BTW, Mr. Grecula, the racial profiling defense didn’t work too well in Mr. Lakhani’s case, I doubt you’ll have better luck with it. Continue reading →

Karthik explains that Bollywood villains and temptresses are auspiciously named:

… [Saul] Bellow famously gave his characters physical traits that seemed to describe their characters… Indian movies, on the other hand, turned names into characterological maps. Pauls and Peters always had ill-fitting goatees, and took orders from their boss to do bad things, while Ritas and Sonas wore glittering, pointy boobed costumes that showed off a lot of thigh (and there was a lot of thigh to show off) and danced badly.

The Bollywood conception of the bad girl, the westernized one with a kicky English name, bobbed hair and go-go boots, always tickled me. And villains got the best names.

Sith, they’re no worse than ‘Bail Organa‘ — felonious prick? And ‘General Grievous’ has no pretensions above pulp. You’d expect General-ji in the WWE.

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The Gray Lady’s reader advocate shows the back of the hand to a NYT reporter who dissed Padma Lakshmi and Indian fashion (thanks, akhan):

“A semicelebrated hustler Ms. Lakshmi may be.” – Fashion writer Guy Trebay on Padma Lakshmi, Feb. 8.

… gratuitously nasty, and inappropriate in a newspaper that many of us look to as a guardian of civil discussion.

If gratuitous snark were banned, blogs would go begging for want of readers.

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