A weekly column on stories that didn’t make it
Spare parts?
This reporter was at a fish market when she saw strangely shaped red bits hanging from a hook. When she enquired about them she was told those were the “spare parts” of a goat. Apparently, that is how the liver, heart and brain are referred to there!
Tough luck
Day Without Art (December 1) suggests the opposite of what happens on the day. It’s marked by artists drawing attention to HIV/AIDS, through their works. Looking for an outstanding artist sensitive to the AIDS issue and who could be featured in an article about the Day, this reporter zeroed in on one in North India. After a tough search that lasted close to two hours, he got the artist’s phone number and got connected. It was immediately evident the interview could not be done — the artist was comfortable only in Hindi, and the reporter has extremely basic knowledge of the language. When the reporter walked into his office and was asked about the pending story, he had a very short answer for his boss: “Day Without Luck!”
Twitter help
With less than 60 minutes to the premiere of Life Of Pi , I wait at the Media Centre for my registration to the International Film Festival Of Goa. I had mailed the PR team three days earlier with details of my registration and had asked them to help me, to avoid exactly this sort of last-minute confusion.
At the Media Centre, I am told that only senior government officials can clear registration and they are all away for the opening ceremony. I would have got that earlier, except that my flight just got in an hour ago.
And now, with no sign of officials returning until after the film and with the PR executive not taking calls, I had no option but to call for help through Twitter. I ping the official Twitter handle of IFFI Goa about my situation, and help arrives. Within the next 20 minutes, the executive who wasn’t taking calls, calls back and sends a car to have me picked up.
I get dropped at the VIP entrance as the PR executive smuggles me in without any registration and gets me a ticket to Life Of Pi .
All thanks to the faceless good Samaritan handling the Twitter account at IFFI!
Synthetic, naturally!
We’ve seen fake Louis Vuitton, fake Prada and fake Ed Hardy, sure. They flood every market from Goa to Hong Kong. But stumbling on a fake Hidesign was unusual. More so, because it was discovered by a friend in Accra, Ghana! However, founder and president of Puducherry-based Hidesign, Dilip Kapur was not surprised when he heard about it. He says they have come across entire catalogues of fake bags from China bearing the Hidesign logo.So is imitation the best form of flattery? Well, not always. “They copied the words ‘natural’, ‘ecological’, ‘vegetable tanning’ etc.,” says Dilip, adding with a laugh, “and then they actually made their bags out of synthetics!”
