The mainstream Indian media is obsessed with the five C's – cricket, consumerism, controversy, cinema and crime, though not necessarily in that order. So much was happening on each of these fronts during March and April that the New Delhi newshounds hardly took notice of a small meeting of unassuming Southasians at the India International Centre, called Imagine a New Southasia (with the last as one word).
Mediapersons need to be forgiven their preoccupation. Even though almost everybody in Southasia knows by now that cricket matches can be fixed in advance, it was as if editors and TV producers had just discovered this uncomfortable reality. While audiences in Pakistan and India were clamouring for the heads of their fallen heroes, the TV channels were perhaps correct in prioritising the agony of the commercial celebrities of the colonial game.
Taking advantage of a balmy springtime in New Delhi, the Hindustan Times had also hosted a summit of its own, during which the owner of a French super-brand took it upon himself to declare that the opposite of luxury was not, in fact, poverty, but rather vulgarity. As if there can be anything more vulgar than a conclave on extravagance in a country that is home to the majority of the planet's poor.
Half-hearted journey
Nearly suspended
Expected destination
Almost abandoned
– Rameshjung Sijapati in Asanchit Bhav