Really? Brahmin?

It's a bag company. Rather delicious ones, actually. But surely they could have come up with a better brand name? Casteist and provocative to the very same caste.
Ignorance is no excuse in a world waiting to trample on you the minute you open your mouth about, well, anything really. You want to make a film? Trample. You want to draw a cartoon? Trample. You want to write a book? Trample.
The real problem is that very few of us have lives so anything that can distract us is welcome. Or worse, we're just cretins.
Now let me get back to my crochet.

It's pretzeling ALL my buttons

You gotta hand it to OPI. Love the names in the German Collection Fall 2012:
Schnapps Out of It!
Danke-Shiny Red
Don't Pretzel My Buttons
-  (and my favourite) -
 Nein! Nein! Nein! OK Fine!

Reflected glory du jour

                                                   Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2012

One Horseman is right here

TLC's "What Not to Wear India" should be a lesson on why Western TV shows can never be successfully replicated in the subcontinent. We're just different animals.
Soha Ali Khan is great. She has the personality and the smarts, not to mention the good looks, to host something like this. Aki Narula, although flinging his hands about indiscriminately, is palpably sincere. So where have they gone wrong? The first client was enough for me to know instantly: It's in the people they've chosen to reinvent. The woman had only one thing to give her a passport to the show: A stunning absence of style. She also had a corresponding absence of a single accent, it being a mixture of Surat and the States. Apart from that, she was inarticulate, dull and never underwent the emotional transition that made Trinny and Susannah's chosen few such a hit.
There is also one other rather inexplicable element: The clothes Soha and Aki choose for the client are horrendous. I cringed every time she appeared in another tasteless, badly-tailored, cheap outfit. What the hell was going on. Especially as Soha herself was dressed beautifully. Then, of course, I got it.
This is India. We don't have anything like Topshop or Forever 21 or H&M. Yes, we have Zara and Aldo but what, that's it? And no one not associated with Bollywood can buy designer labels like Jimmy Choo and Vuitton. The rest of what's available to us, exemplified by the most downmarket malls it's been my misfortune to be surrounded by (in the south of India, admittedly Delhi's are good), is tacky in the extreme.
Which is why this programme is like hearing hooves thundering in the distance; it feels like it's being brought to our screens by one of the Horsemen destined to usher in the Apocalypse.
Like we needed any more.

Material Girl

When all the happiness on hand comes from material possessions, you know you've either discovered the meaning of life - what else but to enjoy worldly goods - or, as the great philosopher said, the abyss has finally decided to stare back. Whatever, I'm currently gloating over my new Zara black suede bag with gold accents, and black pumps from Debenhams.