The Year was l906

THE YEAR 1906 <<

This will boggle your mind.
The year is 1906.
One hundred years ago.
What a difference a century makes!
Here are some of the U.S. statistics for the Year 1906:

************************************

The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years.

Only 14 percent of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub.

Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.

A three-minute call from Denver to New York City
cost eleven dollars.

There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S., and only 144 miles
of paved roads.

The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more
heavily populated than California.

With a mere 1.4 million people, California was only the 21st
most populous state in the Union.

The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower!

The average wage in the US. was 22 cents per hour.

The average U.S. worker made between $200 and $400 per year .

A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year,
a dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per
year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

More than 95 percent of all births in the U.S. took place at HOME.

Ninety percent of all U.S. doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION!
Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which
were condemned in the press AND the government as "substandard."

Sugar cost four cents a pound.

Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.

Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.

Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used
borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from
entering into their country for any reason.

Five leading causes of death in the U.S. were:
1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke

The American flag had 45 stars.
Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii, and
Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet.

The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was only 30!!!!

Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and ice tea
hadn't been invented yet.

There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.

Two out of every 10 U.S. adults couldn't read or write.

Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.

Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over
the counter at the local corner drugstores. Back then pharmacists
said, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind,
regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian
of health." ( Shocking? DUH! )

Eighteen percent of households in the U.S. had at least
one full-time servant or domestic help.

There were about 230 reported murders in the ENTIRE U.S.A. !

--

ter Phillips
> Date: September 7, 2006 9:52:35 PM EDT
> To: Kate Sims
> Subject: Project Censored Announces the Release of the Top 25 Most
> Censored Stories for 2005-06
>
> Project Censored Announces the Release of the Top 25 Most Censored
> Stories for 2005-06
>
> For thirty years Project Censored at Sonoma State University has
> been reporting the real news that corporate media refuses to cover.
> The 250 student researchers and faculty find cutting-edge news
> stories that go under-reported in the mainstream corporate media.
> Real news is not there for the selling of material goods or
> entertainment. Real news can only be measured through its success
> in building democracy, stimulating grassroots activism, and
> motivating resistance to top-down institutions. Democratic activism
> underlies the purpose, reason, and message of free speech. Here
> again is Project Censored’s release of the news that didn’t make
> the news—a compilation of the best examples of journalism that the
> corporate media marginalized in 2005-06.
>
> Full reviews of the stories are published in Censored 2007: 30th
> Anniversary Edition from Seven Stories Press, available at: http://
> www.projectcensored.org/
>
> 1. Future of Internet Debate Ignored by Media
>
> Throughout 2005 and 2006, a large underground debate raged
> regarding the future of the Internet. Referred to as “network
> neutrality,” the issue has become a tug of war with cable companies
> on the one hand and consumers and Internet service providers on the
> other.
>
> 2. Halliburton Charged with Selling Nuclear Technologies to Iran
> As recently as January of 2005 and a decade before Halliburton sold
> key components for a nuclear reactor to an Iranian oil development
> company in violations of US sanctions.
>
> 3. Oceans of the World in Extreme Danger
> Sea temperature and chemistry changes, along with contamination and
> reckless fishing practices intertwine to imperil the world’s
> largest communal life source.
> 4. Hunger and Homelessness Increasing in the US
>
> The number of hungry and homeless people in US cities continued to
> grow in 2005.
>
> 5. High-Tech Genocide in Congo
> The world's most neglected emergency is the ongoing tragedy of the
> Congo, where six to seven million have died since 1996 as a
> consequence of invasions and wars sponsored by western powers
> trying to gain control of the region's mineral wealth
> 6. Federal Whistleblower Protection in Jeopardy
>
> Special Counsel Scott Bloch, appointed by President Bush in 2004,
> is overseeing the virtual elimination of federal whistleblower
> rights in the US government.
>
> 7. US Operatives Torture Detainees to Death in Afghanistan and Iraq
>
> The American Civil Liberties Union released documents of forty-four
> autopsies held in Afghanistan and Iraq October 25, 2005. Twenty-one
> of those deaths were listed as homicides. These documents present
> irrefutable evidence that US operatives tortured detainees to death
> during interrogation.
>
> 8. Pentagon Exempt from Freedom of Information Act
> In December 2005, Congress passed the 2006 Defense Authorization
> Act which renders Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) “operational
> files” fully immune to FOIA requests, the main mechanism by which
> watchdog groups, journalists and individuals can access federal
> documents.
>
> 9. The World Bank Funds Israel-Palestine Wall
> Despite the 2004 International Court of Justice (ICJ) decision that
> called for tearing down the Israel-Palestinian Wall—construction of
> the Wall has accelerated using World Bank funds.
> 10. Expanded Air War in Iraq Kills More Civilians
>
> A key element of Bush’s drawdown plans in Iraq includes increased
> uses of airpower. Expanded air strikes will likely lead to
> increased civilian deaths.
>
> 11. Dangers of Genetically Modified Food Confirmed
> Several recent studies confirm fears that genetically modified (GM)
> foods damage human health.
>
> 12. Pentagon Plans to Build New Landmines
> The US plans to resume production of antipersonnel landmines.
>
> #13 New Evidence Establishes Dangers of Roundup
> New studies reveal that Roundup, the most widely used weed killer
> in the world, poses serious human health threats.
>
> 14. Homeland Security Contracts KBR to Build Detention Centers in
> the US
> Halliburton’s subsidiary KBR has been awarded a $385 million
> contingency contract by the Department of Homeland Security to
> build detention camps in the United States for immigrations surges
> and “news programs.”
>
> 15. Chemical Industry is EPA’s Primary Research Partner
> The American Chemical Council is now EPA’s leading research partner
> 16. Ecuador and Mexico Defy US on International Criminal Court
>
> Ecuador and Mexico have refused to sign bilateral immunity
> agreements (BIA) with the US, in ratification of the International
> Criminal Court (ICC) treaty, despite the Bush Administration’s
> threat to withhold economic aid
>
> 17. Iraq Invasion Promotes OPEC Agenda
> The US occupation of Iraq has been used by the US to acquire access
> to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
> 18. Physicist Challenges Official 9-11 Story
>
> Research by Brigham Young University physics professor, Steven E.
> Jones, concludes that the official 9/11 explanation for the
> collapse of the World Trade Center buildings is implausible
> according to laws of physics
>
> 19. Destruction of Rainforests Worst Ever
> New developments in satellite imaging technology reveal that the
> Amazon rainforest is being destroyed twice as quickly as previously
> estimated
>
> 20. Bottled Water: A Global Environmental Problem
> Consumers spend a collective $100 billion every year on bottled
> water in the belief—often mistaken—that it is better for us than
> what flows from our taps. Worldwide, some 2.7 million tons of
> plastic are used to bottle water each year.
>
> 21. Gold Mining Threatens Ancient Andean Glaciers
> Barrick Gold, a powerful multinational gold mining company, planned
> to melt three Andean glaciers in order to access gold deposits
> through open pit mining.
> 22. Billions in Homeland Security Spending Undisclosed
>
> More than $8 billion in Homeland Security funds has been doled out
> to states since the September 11, 2001 attacks, but the public has
> little chance of knowing how this money is actually being spent.
>
> 23. US Oil Targets Kyoto in Europe
> Lobbyists funded by the US oil industry have launched a campaign in
> Europe aimed at derailing efforts to enforce the Kyoto Protocol
> against global warming
>
> 24. Cheney’s Halliburton Stock Rose Over 3000 Percent Last Year
>
> Vice President Dick Cheney’s stock options in Halliburton rose from
> $241,498 in 2004 to over $8 million in 2005, an increase of more
> than 3,000 percent
>
> 25. US Military in Paraguay Threatens Region
>
> South American countries are concerned that a massive air base at
> Mariscal Estigarribia, Paraguay is designed to be a US military
> stronghold in the region.
>
>
> Contact Information:
>
>
> Project Censored
>
> Sonoma State University
>
> 1801 East Cotati Ave.
>
> Rohnert Park, CA 94928
>
> 707-664-2500
>
> censored@sonoma.edu
>
> Full reviews of the stories are available at:
>
> http://www.projectcensored.org/
>
>
>




Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TriumphOfContent/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
TriumphOfContent-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

Box Office Suicide

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060917/asp/opinion/story_6749706.asp
BOX-OFFICE SUICIDE
- Bombed cultures and the pin-minded First-Worldist
THE THIN EDGE - RUCHIR JOSHI


Often simple moments are the most revealing. In 1993, I made a film called Tales from Planet Kolkata and was invited to show it at the Oberhausen Film Festival in Germany. The film was a take-off on the different image-straight-jackets Western media have constantly tried to fit around Calcutta, and an examination of the motives from which these attempts came, whether the culprit be a brilliant cineaste like Louis Malle in 1969 or a no-hoper, kino-carpetbagger such as Roland Joffe in 1992. In putting together the film, we used a variety of cinematic quotes and visual languages, from tongue-in-cheek quotes of Ray, Ghatak, Coppola and Antonioni to clips from Sixties British TV newsreels to patua performances by Dukhhoshyam Chitrakar. The film showed in competition at Oberhausen, and the response from the viewers and the jury was gratifying.
As I went into the question-and-answer session the day after the final screening, I had every reason to assume that this international audience and I were on the same page, at least as far as this kind of cinema was concerned: we were all au fait with different non-commercial, anti-narrative strands of cinema that included film-makers such as Dziga-Vertov and (Calcutta’s beloved) J.L. Godard; we accepted that a modern film-maker had not only the right but, somewhere, a moral duty to explore and push the form; we had all, I assumed, gone far beyond the need for simple join-the-dots explanations to be woven into a film itself. It was a foolish assumption on my part. Among the intelligent questions — and the praise, from which no artist’s ego is immune — came this one from a German film critic: ‘How can you make a film like this? How are we here supposed to understand all these obscure references to your culture!?!’ The man wasn’t being merely sharp, he was well and truly furious, completely and utterly incensed. It took me a few moments to process it, and, in turn, his question suddenly turned me incandescent with rage.
I thought of all those film-society screenings, of watching Bergman, Godard, Fassbinder, Tarkovsky et al, and coming out and trying to decipher and decode all those references completely internal to the cultures from which those films had emerged. Why was I, a Calcuttan, supposed to try and make sense of an extremely long-drawn-out slow motion shot of a wooden table in a pine forest overturning, throwing off a loaf of bread and a jug of water as it flipped? What the hell were these marionette-like figures doing, frozen decoratively in a vast palace garden, and why should I have been interested? What was the significance of a woman blowing up herself and her house as she bent forward to light her cigarette from the gas range? What journey had I taken that brought me to a point of thrill when a woman came out of a photo-booth and said, blandly, the words: “Masculin. Feminin.”? I had a good answer to these questions, but my own question was: why were we, all of us, as Indian or Asian or Third World artists, supposed to stay corraled in the narrow pen of the ‘universal humanism’ i.e easily readable, mainstream, Western-structured narrative?
I can’t recall the exact answer I gave the cretinous critic, but I remember it was satisfyingly scathing. Most of the audience laughed and applauded, one or two others even taking issue with the man in impassioned German. But if I thought I was participating in a new dawn of free exchange and fluid transfer of expression between the North by North-west and the South, I was going to be comprehensively and repeatedly disillusioned. What the man had signposted by the tone and content of that single question was the following:
a) The rules applicable to you of the South are different from the rules applicable to us in the West.
b) This is true not just of politics and economics but also of art or any creative endeavour.
c) Political and economic power resides with us — the customers. You, as a supplier from a needy part of the world, are also the supplicant. We, therefore, have a right not only to demand that all exotic artistic fruits of the world be brought to us, but also that they meet our stringent conditions in terms of shape and size. Or, to put it differently, we want a home-delivery of meaning, just as we want home-delivery of pizza, chow mein or tandoori chicken. In future, please make sure we don’t have to make any unseemly extra effort such as reading connected books, seeing additional films, attending lectures or checking the net in order to decipher what you are trying to say.
d) We, on the other hand, retain the right to make and say exactly what we want in the arenas of art and culture, and we expect you, you little parochials, to see, admire, aspire to understand and to genuflect. Because, of course, we are and forever shall be the centre of the universe.
Now, it’s true that for every pin-minded First-Worldist, there are many many Westerners who absolutely do not share this ‘value-system’. But what continues to shock is the way some people, people you would least expect to, unconsciously fall into the trap of cultural racism. Currently, I’m reading a wonderful book called Heat by Bill Buford who was the editor of Granta magazine for 16 years and, before that, the fiction editor of The New Yorker. In this book, Buford’s recounting of his foray into a high-pressure NYC restaurant kitchen is marvellous, his exploration of traditional Italian food fascinating, and some of his dscriptions, of food, of humans, and of the strange processes linking the them, are gripping. But there’s a tiny but telling blip. While researching the development of the Italian corn cereal called polenta, Buford tries out a pre-Columbus, i.e pre-corn, recipe: ‘Traditionally polenta is a winter dish…but after a bowl in its barley form I came away with a grim historical picture of what January and February must have been like for most of humanity, miserably sustained by foods that were colourless and sad, like the season’s sky.’
Most of humanity, Bill? January and February colourless and grey for most of our ancestors? All our food, then, sad? Or do you, by ‘humanity’, mean only the sorry, backward, post-medieval, primarily Caucasian, population of Northern Europe? Yes, he meant just that, and yes, if pushed, Buffardo Bill may even correct himself. And anyway, you could argue, this is trivial, or, if you like bad puns, a trifle. But the fact is, it’s but a short transit from most of humanity eating grey polenta to the words of a widow of a WTC victim speaking to BBC World on the fifth anniversary of nine-eleven: “2, 749 people were murdered that day, and I want a world-class memorial to commemorate those lives,” says the woman, quite understandably in sorrow, yet quite remarkably poised and articulate, “…young, healthy, able people who were murdered here that day, and I want the world to come here and pay its respects.”
Yup. Uh-huh. Sure. Me too, I want the world to pay its respects to innocent victims of butchery. And pay its respects especially at each and every one of those locations wherever young, healthy and possibly able people were cut down in their thousands, never mind all those places where the old, infirm and disabled met an arguably less untimely albeit sudden end. Where shall we start? And from how long ago is allowed? Johnson and Nixon’s Vietnam and Cambodia? Menachem Begin’s Palestine? Ronald Reagan’s Africa? Madeline Allbright’s ‘acceptable collateral damage’ of a 100,000 dead kids in Iraq? Or do you insist we stick solely to Osama bin Laden and George bin Texas’s downtown Manhattan?
Some might find the connection between a critic’s reaction to an Indian art film and a grieving widow at Ground Zero a bit tenuous. So let me put it another way: what Osama and gang did that day was the ultimate kow-tow to Hollywood narrative, a ginormous climax with crashing planes, smoke, fire, collapsing towers, screaming crowds running down the avenues, they took the finale from a mainstream blockbuster (how eerily ironic that word now becomes) movie to its ultimate logic; on the other hand, the slow and meticulous ten-year-long blockage of crucial medicines to Iraq is, perhaps, a hard-to-follow, minimalist, avant-garde performance, and a B-52 bomber, sitting many thousands of feet above the earth, dropping napalm on a carpet of green tropical jungle doesn’t quite have the same narrative payload; perhaps what is also created by these and other acts by Western agencies is a set of references internal to each bombed culture, references which are hard for outsiders to decipher — box-office suicide, in other words, and not something that can compete with the mother of all box-office suicides

Will the English Language Survive Bush?

"The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country. "
- George W. Bush

"If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure."
- George W. Bush

" One word sums up probably the responsibility of any Governor, and that one word is ' to be prepared '. "
- George W. Bush

"I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future. "
- George W. Bush

" The future will be better tomorrow." George W. Bush

" We're going to have the best educated American people in the world. "
- George W. Bush

" I stand by all the misstatements that I've made."
- George W. Bush

" We have a firm commitment to NATO, we are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe We are a part of Europe. "
- George W. Bush

" Public speaking is very easy."
- George W. Bush

"A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls."
- George W. Bush

"We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur. "
- George W. Bush

"For NASA, space is still a high priority. "
- George W. Bush

"Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children. "
- George W. Bush

"It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it. "
- George W. Bush

" It's time for the human race to enter the solar system."
- George W. Bush

Variety Dictionary

Slanguage Dictionary

Almost from its launch in 1905, Variety has used its own, distinctive slanguage in headlines and stories, words like ankle, which refers to someone leaving (say, walking away from) a job, or whammo, which refers to something terrific, especially box office performance. In part it was a device to fit long words into small headlines, but it was also to create a clubby feel among the paper's entertainment industry readers. People in the business understood thrush; those outside the business, well, they weren't Variety's target readers anyway.


Click here to listen to an NPR interview with Variety executive editor Tim Gray, where he provides a boffo summary of what slanguage is.


Now that Variety is being made available to the whole World Wide Web, we offer the following glossary of terms, most of which you're likely to see while scanning this site.


Find slanguage word:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z


A&R -- relating to the artists and repertoire department of a record company; "Capitol sent an A&R man to catch the new act at the Troubadour."
a.d. -- assistant director; "Alan Smithee's career began as the a.d. on Warners' 'Gypsy.' "
above the line -- Industry term: Industry term for movies and TV budgets. The line refers to money budgeted for creative talent, such as actors, writers, directors, and producers.
ACE -- America Cinema Editors.
ad-pub -- relating to the advertising and publicity department of a motion picture studio; "Alan Smithee has been elevated to ad-pub VP at Paramount."
ADG -- Art Directors Guild.
affil -- television network affiliated station; "Each broadcast network has an annual gathering of its affils."
AFTRA -- American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. National labor union representing performers, journalists and other artists working in entertainment and news. "SAG's elected leadership looks to be holding out hope for a merger with AFTRA."
Alphabet web -- the ABC television network; "The Alphabet web came in second in last week's Nielsens race."
AMPAS -- Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
ankle -- A classic (and enduring) Variety term meaning to quit or be dismissed from a job, without necessarily specifying which; instead, it suggests walking; "Alan Smithee has ankled his post as production prexy at U."
anni -- anniversary; "American Movie Classics scheduled a night of Elvis Presley pics in observance of the 20th anni of his death."
arthouse -- motion picture theater that shows foreign or non-mainstream independent films, often considered high-brow or "art" films; " 'La Cage Aux Folles' was one of the biggest hits ever on the arthouse circuit."
ASC -- American Society of Cinematographers.
aud -- audience; "Liza Minnelli has always had a special rapport with her aud."
Aussie -- Australian; "The Aussie government will vote next week on budget allocations for indigenous film production." (See also: Oz)
ayem -- A Variety coinage meaning morning (a.m.); "Barbara Walters is producing a new ayem skein for ABC."
b.f. -- an abbreviation for boyfriend, usually used in reviews (also g.f.-- girlfriend); "The story concerns a woman whose b.f. is on the lam."
B.O. -- box office or box office receipts; " 'Boogie Nights' did brisk biz at the B.O." or "The B.O. for 'Men in Black' is whammo overseas
backdoor pilot -- Not a Variety creation, pilot episode filmed as a standalone movie, so it can be broadcast if it is not picked up as a series; Cabler has begun casting its telepic/backdoor pilot "Ichabod and I."
BAFTA -- British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
Beantown -- Variety slanguage for Boston, Mass.; "The Cars were one of the biggest rock bands from Beantown." (See also: (the) Hub)
Beertown -- Variety slanguage for Milwaukee, Wisconsin; "Beertown is the final stop on the current 'Show Boat' tour."
BevHills -- Beverly Hills; "The Museum of Radio & Television held a gala fundraiser at its BevHills branch."
BFCA -- Broadcast Film Critics Association.
biopic -- A Variety coinage meaning biographical film; " 'Coal Miner's Daughter,' about Loretta Lynn, is one of the most successful biopics ever produced."
bird -- A Variety term for satellite; "The proposed channel would be carried by an Asian bird to be launched next spring."
biz -- shorthand for business or "the business" -- show business; "Alan Smithee started out in the biz as a grip" or "Alan Smithee was promoted to VP of biz affairs at Par."
Blighty -- Britain; " 'Bean' is one of the biggest hits to come out of Blighty."
blurb -- TV commercial; "Ridley Scott started his career directing blurbs."
boff (also boffo, boffola) -- outstanding (usually refers to box office performance); " 'My Best Friend's Wedding' has been boffo at the B.O." (See also, socko, whammo)
boom -- Industry term: Overhead microphone used to record actors' voices
bow -- (n.) opening or premiere; (v.) to debut a production; "The pic's bow was in January"; "The Nederlander Organization will bow its revival of 'Wonderful Town' next year."
busted pilot -- Each year, the nets order about 20 pilots a piece (about evenly split, half comedy, half drama), which are then cast and filmed for consideration for the fall skeds. But only about half a dozen pilots are picked up to become the premiere episodes. The other pilots are never heard from again -- and are rarely ever seen beyond network boardrooms. "Idea for pic originated from last year's busted 'MTM' reunion pilot."
(the) Coast -- Hollywood, Los Angeles; "NBC's New York-based Robert Wright will fly to the Coast for meetings next week."
cabler -- cable network or cable system operator; "Cablers were up in arms over Rupert Murdoch's plans to launch a satellite channel."
CAS -- Cinema Audio Society.
CDG -- Costume Designers Guild.
certs -- recorded music album and single sales certifications issued by the Recording Industry Assn. of America; gold albums signify sales upwards of 500,000 copies, platinum is at least 1,000,000 copies. "In the latest round of certs, LeAnn Rimes' 'Blue' went platinum."
chantoosie -- female singer (chanteuse); "Chantoosie Barbra Streisand has a warm and sharp set of pipes." (See also, thrush)
Chi (also Chitown) -- Chicago; "The Goodman Theatre in Chi has spawned a number of today's more accomplished actors."
chirp -- to sing; "Cybill Shepherd chirped a few showtunes during her new nightclub act."
chopsocky -- a martial arts film; "Chopsocky star Chuck Norris will make a guest appearance on 'Seinfeld' this season."
Cincy -- Cincinnati; "The touring 'Phantom of the Opera' company did strong biz in Cincy before moving to Chi."
cleffer -- a songwriter; "Jay Livingston was the cleffer on many Bob Hope films." (See also, tunesmith)
click -- a hit; " Disney click 'The Lion King' is slated to air on ABC this season."
cliffhanger -- a melodramatic adventure or suspense film or TV show; usually a serial with a to-be-continued ending; "The 'Who Shot J.R.?' episode of 'Dallas' is one of the most famous cliffhangers of all time."
coin -- money, financing; "Coin for the production was raised through pre-sales to foreign territories."
Col (also Colpix) -- Columbia Pictures; "Alan Smithee had a three-pic deal at Col before he inked with Paramount."
commish -- commissioner, commission; "The director lauded the local film commish for helping find locations."
competish -- competition; " 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' outdistanced the competish at the weekend B.O."
confab -- convention or professional gathering; "TV programming execs gather annually at the NATPE confab."
conglom -- conglomerate; "Miramax was a privately owned company until it was acquired by the Disney conglom."
corny -- A term in common usage meaning sentimental, obvious or old-fashioned, out of it; "Critics dismissed Bob Hope's last special as corny and stale."
crix -- critics; "While the director's last film was a flop with auds, the crix were in his corner."
d.p. -- director of photography; "Alan Smithee was d.p. on the helmer's last two projects."
deejay (also d.j.) -- Commonly used term originally coined by Variety meaning disc jockey; "The station is changing its drivetime deejay."
DGA -- Directors Guild of America, the union of film and TV directors, assistant directors and unit production managers.
diskery -- record company; "The artist signed a five-album deal with the diskery last year."
distrib -- distributor; "Paramount is the distrib on the project, which will begin lensing in May."
distribbery -- distribution company; "Two former studio execs are forming a new distribbery based in New York."
doc, docu -- documentary; "The new Neil Young doc has scored well with the critics."
dramedy -- A TV show that could be labeled both a comedy and a drama, usually an hour long. Also, a film or theater show that could be labeled as either -- or perhaps fails at both; "Fox Family Channel series 'State of Grace,' a single-camera dramedy about two 12-year-old girls growing up in '60s North Carolina, targets the underserved female tweens demographic with hope of generating a tag-along parental audience."
ducats -- tickets; "Scalpers were selling Rolling Stones ducats for as much as $500 apiece."
emcee -- master of ceremonies; "Billy Crystal is being courted to emcee the Oscars again."
exec, exex -- executive, executives; "Fox execs declined to comment about the recent shakeup."
exhib -- exhibitor (movie theater owner); "Warner Bros. execs trimmed a half-hour from the picture after exhibs complained about the long running time."
Eye web -- the CBS television network; "The Eye web ranked third place in the most recent Nielsen ratings."
f/x -- special visual effects; "The film with have a big budget owing mainly to extensive f/x requirements."
fave -- favorite; "Johnny Carson was a longtime fave with latenight auds."
feature -- motion picture over an hour in length; "The director helmed TV commercials before getting into features."
feevee -- pay TV; "The film will play feevee before going to the broadcast webs."
fest -- film or TV festival; "Alan Smithee's new film will bow at the fest."
first-look -- a deal wherein a particular studio has the first option on a filmmaker's projects; "Alan Smithee has a first-look deal with Par."
flop (also floppola) -- failure at the box office; " 'Heaven's Gate' and 'Ishtar' were two of the biggest flops of the 1980s."
four-wall -- a theater rental contract where the producer assumes responsibility for all of the expenses of a show and gets all of the revenue, especially used in Las Vegas; "Many hotels are no longer willing to financially back their production shows, so four-wall deals are becoming commonplace." (See also, two-wall)
Frog web -- the WB television network, named for its mascot, a dancing frog from a Looney Tunes cartoon. "The Frog features all the hottest new shows, like 'Gilmore Girls.'"
FYC -- for your consideration; "It used to be that studios would take out ads for just about anyone who had ever made a hit movie for them -- or had FYC guarantees written into their deal memos."
Gotham -- New York City; "Film production in Gotham has been on the rise for the past several years."
green Lit -- Industry term: Process that follows after a script has been developed and moves into production
greenlight -- the go-ahead for a film to be made; "The Bruce Willis project was given the greenlight last week."
(the) Hub -- Boston, Massachusetts; "The production tired out in the Hub before moving to Broadway." (See also: Beantown)
H'w'd -- Hollywood; "France B.O. goes H'w'd"
hardtop -- indoor movie theater; "The film is playing in Tampa at seven hardtops and two ozoners." (See also: ozoner, passion pit)
headliner -- the top act or performer on a vaudeville or revue bill; "Judy Garland was the headliner at the Palace on three occasions."
helm -- (v.) to direct a film or TV program; helmer(n.) a director; "Alan Smithee is the DGA-approved pseudonym for a helmer who wants to remove his or her name from the project."
HFPA -- Hollywood Foreign Press Association (They present the Golden Globes.)
hike -- to increase, raise or promote; "CBS enjoyed a ratings hike Saturday night" or "Alan Smithee has be hiked to marketing VP at Par."
history play -- Industry term: Play dealing with a historical subject
hold over -- Industry term: When a director decides to use an actor for an extra day not originally scheduled
hoofer -- dancer; "Mary Tyler Moore was a hoofer before she got into acting."
horse opera -- Western film; "John Carradine appeared in a numerous horse operas throughout his career."
hotsy -- strong performance at the box office; "The Devil's Advocate" made a hotsy bow last weekend."
HQ -- headquarters; "The meeting was held at the network's HQ in New York."
huddle -- (v.) to have a meeting; (n.) a meeting; "CBS execs plan to huddle with their affiliates in May" or "The exec was in a huddle and was not available for comment."
HUT -- Homes Using Television, a common television industry term for households watching TV; "HUT levels are traditionally down during the summer."
hype -- manufactured promotional buzz; hyperbole; "The picture did not live up to the hype surrounding its bow."
hypo -- to increase or boost; "Producers are offering discounted tickets to hypo the show's word of mouth."
IATSE -- International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (union) (also referred to as just the IA); "Producers and IATSE reps are planning to meet on the issue."
icer -- ice show; "The arena has presented a variety of icers over the years."
IFP -- Independent Feature Project.
IMA -- Institue for the Musical Arts.
impresario -- Industry term: Entertainment entrepreneur
in the can -- Industry term: Phrase meaning the director has the take he wants
in-the-round -- Industry term: A theater in which the audience is seated on all four sides of a central stage.
indie -- independent film, filmmaker, producer or TV station; "The new film festival will showcase indies."
infopike -- information superhighway (Internet); "The studio has formed a new division to develop projects for the infopike."
ink -- to sign a contract; "Alan Smithee inked a deal to produce and star in three pics for U."
insert -- Industry term: Pick-up where a short segment of script is reread from one point to another
INTV -- Association of Independent Television Stations; "The INTV is watching network ownership of syndicated programming very closely."
Italo -- Italian; " 'Fireworks' is a big click at the Italo B.O."
jingle -- Industry term: Short phrase of music usually with lyrics used in commercials
kidvid -- children's television; "New legislation in being considered that would increase the number of hours broadcasters devote to kidvid."
Kiwi -- New Zealander; "Kiwi director Jane Campion is in talks to helm the project."
kudocast -- Variety term for an awards show; "The Academy Awards is typically the highest-rated kudocast of the year."
(the) Lion (also Leo) -- Variety-ese for Metro-Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) Studios, so referred to because of the company's legendary "Leo the Lion" logo; "A spokesman for the Lion declined to comment on the deal."
LAFCA -- Los Angeles Film Critics Association.
laugh track -- Industry term: Audience laughter that is recorded to be played back when a TV show is aired
legit -- legitimate (live) theater. The term seeks to differentiate serious theater (think Shakespeare, think O'Neill) from vaudeville or burlesque; "Choreographer Michael Kidd distinguished himself in legit before working in pictures."
legs -- stamina at the box office; "The film opened big but rival distribs are dubious about its legs."
lense -- to film a motion picture; "The project will lense in Rome and New York."
longform, long-form -- TV programming that is longer than an hour in duration; a TV movie or miniseries; "The company specializes in longform production."
made-for -- a TV movie (made-for-television movie); "The producer has three feature films and two made-fors on his slate." (See also, telepic)
MAHG/MUAHS -- Make-up and Hair Stylists Guild.
major -- one of the eight major film studios (Disney, MGM, Paramount, Sony, 20th Century Fox, Dreamworks, Universal, Warner Brothers).
megaplex -- a movie theater with more than 16 screens; "Cineplex Odeon's Universal City megaplex has 18 screens." (See also: multiplex)
meller -- melodrama; "The company is in pre-production on a meller about a blind woman held hostage on a New York City subway."
mini -- A television miniseries; "John Adams mini is planned to span between 10 and 13 episodes."
mini-major -- Big film production companies that are supposedly smaller than the majors although such companies as Miramax, Polygram and New Line compete directly with the big studios; "The producers are in talks with several studios, including the mini-major New Line."
mitting -- applause; "Bob Dylan's surprise appearance at the benefit provoked heavy mitting from the crowd."
mogul -- the head of a major studio or communications company; from the title of the all-powerful emperors of India; "Media moguls Rupert Murdoch and Ted Turner have engaged in some heated verbal sparring of late."
moppet -- child, especially child actor; "Elizabeth Taylor is one of the few moppets who made the transition to adult star."
Mouse (also Mouse House) -- the Walt Disney Co. or any division thereof, a reference to the company's most famous animated character, Mickey Mouse; "The Mouse's music division is reuniting with talent manager Alan Smithee on a joint-venture label."
MOW -- Not a Variety creation, this stands for movie of the week; "Cable tries MOW wow"
MPA -- Motion Picture Association (international arm of Motion Picture Association of America, MPAA, representing the interests of the Hollywood studios abroad); "The MPA regularly conducts raids on vid pirates around the world."
MPAA -- Motion Picture Association of America (represents the interests of the major motion picture studios); "The MPAA initiated its ratings system for motion pictures in 1968."
MPSE -- Motion Picture Sound Editors.
MSO -- multisystem cable operator, the powerful companies that own large local cable operations; "Tele-Communications Inc.and other large MSOs have signed on to carry the new cable channel."
multiplex -- A movie theater comprising more than two screens but less than 16; "AMC is planning to build four new multiplexes -- an eight-screener and three 12-plexes ï in the Dallas area next year." (See also: megaplex)
n.s.g. -- not so good; "While the film opened well, the outlook for long-term B.O. is n.s.g."
NAACP -- National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
nabe -- a neighborhood theater; "The film has had a long midnight run at the Vista, a Los Angeles nabe."
NABET -- National Association of Broadcast Engineers & Technicians (union); "The webs are due to begin new contract talks with NABET in February."
narrowcast -- network or programming aimed at a specialized audience; the opposite of a broadcast; "Speedvision, which narrowcasts automobile programming, is carried by most Media One systems."
NBR -- National Board of Review.
net -- network; "Many ABC stations were concerned about the viability of the net's fall schedule." (See also: Web)
netlet -- fledgling networks UPN and the WB; any network with less than a full weekly schedule of programming; "With the advent of cable and the netlets, the Big Three networks have seen their audience share erode." (See also, weblet)
niche programming -- TV programming or channels targeting particular demographics or interests; "The History Channel offers niche programming aimed at history buffs."
nitery -- a nightclub; "Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick recently reunited for a nitery gig in New York."
nix -- reject, say no to; as in the famous Variety headline "Sticks Nix Hick Pix," meaning that audiences in rural areas were not interested in attending films about rural life.
NSFC -- National Society of Film Critics.
nut -- operating expenses to be recovered; "On Broadway, most shows need to operate at 60% of audience capacity to cover their nuts."
NYFCC -- New York Film Critics Circle.
NYFCO -- New York Film Critics Online.
(the) o.o. -- the once-over; to examine something; "Sylvester Stallone gave the script the o.o. before passing on it."
O&O -- Network-owned and -operated TV stations; "KABC is the Alphabet web's O&O in Los Angeles."
o.t.t. -- over the top; "An o.t.t. performance by newcomer Alan Smithee marred the otherwise riveting film."
oater -- Western film, referring to the preferred meal of horses; "The Golden Boot Awards are presented annually in recognition of the work of oater stars."
OFCS -- Online Film Critics Society.
off-net -- network TV series repeats sold into syndication; " 'Seinfeld' is currently enjoying big success in its off-net run."
one-hander -- a play or movie with one character; "One-hander 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' is one of the defining films for children of the '70s." (See also, two-hander)
Oz -- Australia; "The film has performed well in Oz and New Zealand." (See also: Aussie)
ozoner -- drive-in movie theater; "The few ozoners that remain operational in the U.S. are in most cases doing double-duty as flea markets." (See also: hardtop, passion pit)
spec(s) (also spex) -- TV special(s); "The company specializes in awards shows and other specs."
P&A -- prints and advertising, the often-sizable expense that goes on a film's financial ledger after production is complete; "The film's budget has soared past $65 million, and P&A costs may add another $30 million."
p.a. -- personal appearance; "Harrison Ford will make a p.a. at the premiere to promote the pic."
pact -- (n.) a contract; (v.) to sign a contract; "The new pact calls for 6% pay raises across the board" or "The actress is expected to pact with the studio by the end of the week."
Par -- Paramount; "The director maintains offices on the Par lot."
passion pit -- drive-in theater, so called owing to their privacy factor and romantic allure for teenagers; "The pic is playing at two passion pits in Miami." (See also: ozoner)
payola -- bribery or under-the-table payments; "The proliferation of payola rocked the music industry in the 1950s."
Peacock web -- the NBC television network, named for its colorful mascot; "Must-See TV has been a highly successful promotional campaign for the Peacock web."
pen -- (v.) to write; "Alan Smithee has been inked to pen the biopic about Abraham Lincoln."
percenter (also tenpercenter) -- agent; "Mike Ovitz was a percenter before becoming a talent manager."
percentery (also tenpercentery) -- talent agency; "The director's previous percentery was the William Morris Agency."
perf -- performance; "Martin Landau was much lauded for his perf in 'Ed Wood.'"
PGA -- Producers Guild of America.
pic(s) (also pix) -- motion picture(s); "The studio plans to release four pics this summer."
pinkslip -- to lay off or fire from a job; "The company pinkslipped 60 staffers in its New York office Monday."
pitch -- Not a Variety creation, anything from a one-line description to a two- to three-page treatment of an idea, and as such, is not yet a script, nor is it a "spec;" "Felines of Death -- "It's 'JAWS' with paws!"
plex -- multiplex theater or cable channel; "The company plans to build three plexes comprising 30 screens in the Dallas area" or "HBO has plexed its programming for the convenience of subscribers."
post-production -- stage at which editing, scoring and effects are executed on a motion picture or TV production; "Post-production on 'Titanic' was escalated to meet the release date."
pour -- cocktail party; "Universal held a pour for the press in New York to promote its upcoming release."
powwow -- a meeting or gathering; "NBC held a powwow with its affiliates last month."
PPV -- pay-per-view; "The fight will be presented as a PPV event in the spring."
PR (also p.r.) -- public relations
praiser -- publicist; "A praiser for the star had no comment on the deal."
praisery -- public relations firm; "The studio is retaining an outside praisery to augment its p.r. chores on the film."
pre-production -- stage at which a motion picture or TV project is prepared to go into production; "The pic has been greenlighted and goes into pre-production Monday."
pre-sales -- Territorial sales of planned motion pictures to distributors worldwide; usually conducted to raise funding for lower budget, independent pictures; "The producers conducted pre-sales to Australia, the U.K. and the Far East at the recent film market."
preem -- (n.) an opening-night or premiere performance; (v.) to show a completed film for the first time; "Several of the pic's stars were on hand for the preem" or "The pic will preem Dec. 18."
prep -- to prepare; "The studio is prepping for the premiere of its new pic."
prexy (also prez) -- president; "The studio has no plans to fill the prexy post in the wake of the exec's resignation."
product -- completed film or TV productions; "TV series usually are not sold into syndication until the producers have at least three years' worth of product."
production -- Industry term: This involves building sets, designing costumes, measuring and fitting actors for costumes, and rehearsals.
promo -- sales promotion; "The pic has promo tie-ins with Burger King and Nike."
pubcaster -- government-owned broadcaster; "The PBS exec declined to comment on the pubcaster's plans for fall."
put pilot -- A deal to produce a pilot that includes substantial penalties if the pilot is not aired; a virtual guarantee that a pilot will be picked up; "CBS is getting back into business with Jerry Bruckheimer, inking a blind put pilot deal with the mega-producer."
Q rating -- ad research rating that gauges how easily a celebrity is recognized -- and how well the celebrity is liked
R&B -- rhythm and blues; "R&B influences are clearly evident in the performer's work."
reissue (also re-release) -- a film released again by a studio after its initial release; "The reissue of 'Star Wars' catapulted the pic back to the top of Variety's All-Time Rental Champs chart."
rentals -- portion of film grosses that goes to film distributors; also refers to videocassette rentals; "The film has returned over $60 million in rentals to the studio" or "Video retailers report rentals on the title have been strong."
rep -- (n.) a representative; (v.) to represent; "A rep for the actress had no comment on the deal" or "The actress is repped by the William Morris Agency."
retro -- retrospective; "The film festival is unspooling a retro of Julie Andrews films."
reup -- to renew an employment contract; "The exec is not expected to reup when his contract expires in June."
RIAA -- Recording Industry Association of America; "The RIAA certifies the sales of compact disks and cassettes."
SAG -- the Screen Actors Guild, the union for film and TV actors.
scatter -- the TV network commercial time left over after upfront (before season) sales are made; "The network source said scatter sales have been so-so to this point."
scribbler -- writer; "Neil Simon was a TV scribbler before becoming a playwright." Also "scribe."
scripter -- screenwriter; "Joe Eszterhaus was the scripter on the project." Also "scribe."
SDMM -- Set Designers and Model-Makers Union.
SDSA -- Set Directors' Society of America.
seg -- segment or episode of a TV series; " 'ER' made its season debut with a live seg."
sell-through -- prerecorded videocassettes priced lower to be sold rather than rented; "The next batch of Disney releases will be priced for sell-through."
sellout -- sold-out performance; "The U2 tour was a sellout the day tickets went on sale."
sesh -- session or meeting; also a time frame, such as a weekend; "The convention will hold a sesh on film financing Tuesday afternoon" or "The film was down 36% at the B.O. this sesh."
sex appeal -- a term coined by Variety now in common usage meaning to be attractive to audiences owing to sexual aura; "Jean Harlow's sex appeal put the picture over."
shingle -- A small business, often set up by an actor or established player at a larger company; "Tom Green has launched production shingle Bob Green Films."
showbiz -- show business; "The annual Oscar ceremony is one of the biggest events on the showbiz calendar."
showrunner -- executive producer of a television series.
shutter -- to close a legitimate play or musical; "Moose Murders" shuttered on Broadway the night it opened."
sideman -- A member of a band or a session musician; "Virtually every member of the 'Tonight Show' bands --- from Conte Candoli to Kevin Eubanks --- has had his fair share of local gigs as a leader and sideman."
sitcom -- a term now in common usage originally coined by Variety, shorthand for situation comedy TV series; "A new Tom Selleck sitcom is in the works."
sked -- schedule; "Alan Smithee's new sitcom is expected to be added to NBC's fall sked."
skein -- a TV series; "It is not known whether ABC will renew the skein for next season."
sleeper -- a film or TV show that lacks pre-release buzz or critical praise, but turns into a success after it is released, usually due to good word-of-mouth, "Sixth Sense was the surprise sleeper of the summer of 1999."
soap opera -- radio (now TV) serial originally sponsored by soap companies; "The networks still rely heavily on soap operas to anchor their daytime schedules." (See also sudser)
sock (also socko) -- very good (usually refers to box office performance); " 'My Best Friend's Wedding' has done socko B.O." (See also, boff, whammo)
solon -- an authority; someone in the know; from the ancient Greek wise man, Solon; "Solons say the deal is likely to go down by the end of the week."
spec script -- a script shopped or sold on the open market, as opposed to one commissioned by a studio or production company; "Alan Smithee sold a spec script to Fox for a mid-six against high-six-figure sum."
spesh -- a television special; "HBO has pacted with Britney Spears to do a live concert spesh."
sprocket opera -- film festival; "The actor plans to attend the annual Sundance sprocket opera next year."
SRO -- standing room only; a sold out show; " 'Rent' has been SRO since it opened on Broadway."
STCPDS -- Story, trailer, cast, production notes, downloads and stills -- the basics of every movie Web site ever; "MGM's Goodboy! Web site offers the standard STCPDS."
strip -- a five- or six-day-per-week TV series, usually in syndication; "Roseanne will return to TV in a talkshow strip next fall."
sudser -- soap opera; "Sudser star Susan Lucci was nominated for an Emmy again this year."
suspenser -- suspense film; "The studio is planning a remake of the Audrey Hepburn suspenser 'Wait Until Dark.' "
syndie -- syndicated television programming, those sold to stations, rather than provided by one of the networks or netlets; " 'Xena: Warrior Princess' was at the top of the syndie ratings last week."
30-mile zone -- Within a union-defined 30-mile radius (often measured from the Beverly Center in West Hollywood), a production company can shoot without paying travel expenses or a per-diem. Not coined by Variety.
tabmag -- tabloid-style TV magazine show, e.g., "Hard Copy"; "George Clooney has come down hard on the tabmags over the past year."
tap -- to select or name; "Alan Smithee has been tapped senior VP of production for Warner Bros."
telefilm (also telepic, telepix) -- feature-length motion picture made for TV; "CBS' Cicely Tyson telefilm did well in the overnight ratings." (See also, made-for)
tentpole -- Movie expected by a studio to be its biggest grossing blockbuster of the season, usually summer. Often the pic is the start of, or an installment in, a franchise; ""Armageddon" was a successful tentpole in 1998."
terp -- to dance (as in Terpsichore); "Suzanne Sommers' nitery act consists of some singing and a little terping."
terper -- dancer; "John Travolta was a terper on Broadway early in his career."
theatrical -- feature-length motion picture; "The actress has plans to make a theatrical while her TV series is on hiatus."
thrush -- female singer; "The cabaret scene in New York is dominated by thrushes Barbara Cook and Julie Wilson." (See also, chantoosie)
title role -- Not a Variety creation, the lead part in a movie or other production for an actor that is named after the title of the film; Angelina Jolie was played the title role in "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider."
tix -- tickets; "Tix for the new musical are priced at a $75 top."
toon -- cartoon; "CBS has ordered a toon version of 'Men in Black' for its Saturday-morning schedule."
topline -- to star; to be billed above the title of a show or film; "Julia Roberts will topline the director's next pic."
topliner -- a star of a particular show or film; "Harrison Ford is the topliner of 'Air Force One.'"
topper -- the head of a company or organization; "The company topper was unavailable for comment."
tubthump -- to promote or draw attention to; from the ancient show business custom of actors wandering the streets banging on tubs to drum up business; "Disney is planning a big parade to tubthump the opening of its new release."
tuner -- a legitimate musical; "David Merrick produced numerous Broadway tuners."
tunesmith -- songwriter; "Tunesmith Burt Bacharach will be given a special award at the ceremony." (See also, cleffer)
turnaround -- no longer active; a project put into "turnaround" has been abandoned by one studio and may be shopped to another.
two-hander -- a play or movie with two characters; " 'Love Letters' has been one of the most popular two-handers of the '90s." (See also: one-hander)
two-wall -- a theater rental contract where the host property and artist share expenses and share revenue, expecting to recoup from the success of the show; (See also, four-wall)
twofers -- coupons that discount admission price to "two for" the price of one; "The play has been on twofers for the past three months."
tyro -- in general, someone new to a field or activity; in Variety, a first-time director, writer, etc.; "Written by tyro scribes Dan Wilson and David Gilbreth, pic is the story of two genius brothers."
U -- Universal Pictures (compare to U., which refers to a university); "Barry Diller has just finalized a deal to acquire U's TV operations."
unspool -- to screen a film; "More than 30 films are set to unspool at the upcoming festival."
upfront -- commercial time sold in advance of the TV season; "A CBS source said the upfront market has been unusually strong this year." (See also, scatter)
veep (also veepee, VP) -- vice president; "Alan Smithee has been named marketing veep at TriStar."
VES -- Visual Effects Society.
vid -- video; "The film will not go to vid until it completes its overseas theatrical runs."
VOD -- video on demand; "Home Shopping Network has been developing a VOD division that will allow customers to order specific programming."
voiceover -- offscreen narration; "Tom Bosley provided voiceover for the animated production."
warble -- to sing; "Margaret Whiting warbled a pair of tunes at Tuesday night's fundraiser."
warbler -- singer; "Under its new policy, the nitery has booked a string of warblers."
web -- network; "The webs have instituted a policy of rating their own programming." (See also, net)
weblet -- fledgling networks UPN and the WB; any network with less than a full weekly schedule of programming; "The weblets are making inroads in the weekly ratings race." (See also, netlet)
WGA -- Writers Guild of America.
whammo -- a sensation (bigger than boffo); " 'Men in Black' has done whammo biz internationally." (See also, boffo, socko)
whodunit -- a mystery film (or show); "The director's next project will be a whodunit for Warner Bros."
wicket -- box office (usually foreign); "Queues are forming at the wickets for the new Andrew Lloyd Webber musical."
wrap -- to finish production; "The picture will wrap in the next two weeks."
yawner -- a boring show; "Despite a stellar cast, the play is a yawner and doesn't look to have a long run."
zitcom -- a television comedy aimed at teenagers.


www.variety.com

Bushisms Precede Bush to India

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060225/asp/frontpage/story_5894610.asp
Bushism precedes Bush to India
- Presidential jitters in Washington, optimism in Delhi
K.P. NAYAR
Washington, Feb. 24: US President George W. Bush’s penchant for malapropisms
and for putting his foot in his mouth will keep Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh and senior members of his cabinet on tenterhooks during the 60 hours
or so that Bush will spend on Indian soil next week.
That nervousness is something the Indian leadership will share with the US
President’s aides, if the last three days of preparations here for the Bush
trip are any indication.
Bush nearly turned America’s long-standing Kashmir policy upside down on
Wednesday when he spoke at the Asia Society about his upcoming trip to India
and Pakistan.
The President said: “America supports a resolution in Kashmir that is
acceptable to both sides.” And in saying so, he dropped a bombshell.
For more than 40 years, America’s policy on Kashmir has favoured a solution
that stresses three elements: India, Pakistan and the wishes of the Kashmiri
people. In one stroke, Bush jettisoned four decades of finely-crafted US
diplomacy on Kashmir when he eliminated Kashmiris from the entire dispute
and made it an issue solely between India and Pakistan.
As soon as he got off the Asia Society’s podium, state department and White
House aides pulled Bush aside and told him to do quick damage control,
according to sources in the Bush administration.
Their stakes were high. With that single statement, the entire presidential
visit to India and Pakistan could have become mired in controversy.
Precisely one-and-a-half hours later, Bush used an interview in the White
House to set the record straight.
“America supports a solution that is acceptable to all sides,” he hastily
clarified.
“As you might recall, in my remarks, I said ‘to both sides’. I would like
the record to be so that the world hears me say ‘all sides’. I fully
understand that the deal has to be acceptable to the Indians, Paks, as well
as the citizens of Kashmir.”
But in making the clarification, Bush further put his foot in his mouth.
“Paks” or “Pakis”, like “Japs”, are derogatory terms, carefully avoided in
public, though commonly used in private to reflect the true feelings of
someone towards the Pakistanis or the Japanese.
And he offended the Indians by talking about the “citizens of Kashmir”
without obviously realising that Kashmir is not an Independent country and
that its people are Indian or Pakistani citizens depending on which side of
the Line of Control they live on.
What followed during the White House interview was like the late night
comedy shows that Americans are glued to every night.
Singh and Pervez Musharraf may read the transcript to prepare themselves for
the bricks Bush might drop on their feet during conversations in New Delhi
and Islamabad next week.
“Is the US more comfortable dealing with dictators and monarchs?” one
journalist asked Bush.
THE PRESIDENT: Do what now? Do I feel comfortable doing what?
Q Dealing with dictators and monarchs?
THE PRESIDENT: Do I feel comfortable dealing with them?
Q No, the US.
THE PRESIDENT: The US feel comfortable with dealing with dictators?
Q And monarchs.
THE PRESIDENT: And monarchs? Well, I mean, I have got a great relationship
with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain. (Laughter) She is a
lovely lady and a great figure in a country that is an important ally. And,
of course, that monarchy is very supportive of a free and open and
democratic system.”
When Bush wanted to terminate the interview and sought the final question,
one of the journalists tried to get the President’s view on cricket and
Bollywood.
Q Between a cricket match and a Bollywood movie, what would a —
THE PRESIDENT: Cricket match and a —
Q You like watching?
THE PRESIDENT: What was the second?
Q It’s between a Bollywood movie and a cricket match.
THE PRESIDENT: I’m a cricket match person. (Laughter) I appreciate it. As I
understand it, I may have a little chance to learn something about cricket.
It’s a great pastime. (Laughter)
What took the cake, however, is this segment.
Q Mr President, what is your earliest memory of India?
WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: We have got to go to the next one.
Q What is your earliest memory of India and Indians?
THE PRESIDENT: My best memory?
Q Earliest.
THE PRESIDENT: At least memory?
WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: Earliest.
THE PRESIDENT: Earliest. (Laughter)
Q Earliest.
The exchange, which is typical of Bush’s conversations in private and public
would be funny, not tragic, if the person at the centre of it all was not
the most powerful man on Earth.

Focus

http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=183562006
Publish and be damned
FOCUS
ARTHUR MACMILLAN
IT WAS always intended to generate a debate about freedom of speech but, buried innocuously in the culture section of a newspaper, no-one guessed it would spark global protests, the burning of effigies and the unlikely cry of "Death to Denmark".
The subject matter, admittedly, was contentious, involving a writer's struggle to find an illustrator for his book about the Koran, and in particular the sacred prophet, Muhammad. There were warning signs. Three cartoonists turned down the job. One cited the murder in Amsterdam of film director Theo van Gogh, slain in broad daylight in 2004. Another complained that a lecturer in Copenhagen had been assaulted by a mob who disagreed with his decision to give a reading of the Koran to non-Muslims.
We now know that the worried cartoonists' reticence was well judged. That satire and religion can be an unholy partnership was never more clear than last week, when radical Muslims reacted with fury to 12 cartoons of the prophet that appeared in the Copenhagen daily Jyllands-Posten.
The artist behind the most 'offensive' cartoon, of Muhammad wearing a turban that looks like a suicide bomb, has reportedly gone into hiding. Fatwahs have been demanded; hatred has marched on streets across the world, including London, with billboards demanding beheadings and vengeance; Muslim children have been paraded in prams wearing "I love al-Qaeda" hats.
The contention of the protesters is simple: the prophet Muhammad had been portrayed as a terrorist. There appears no prospect of compromise. Leaders of the al-Ghurabaa group, members of which have previously praised terrorist attacks, including the London bombings last July, led a demonstration in the capital on Friday. "The only way this will be resolved is if those who are responsible are turned over so they can be punished by Islamic law, so that they can be executed," said protester Abu Ibraheem, 26, from Luton. "There are no apologies... those responsible have to be killed."
The crowd carried banners that read "Europe, your 9-11 will come", "Annihilate those who insult Islam" and "Freedom of speech, go to hell" as they marched past Harrods, in leafy Kensington. At the Danish Embassy, cheers were heard as protesters set two Danish flags alight and then tore down the remains. In Africa, tens of thousands of Sudanese demonstrators in Khartoum filled a downtown square, calling for a boycott of goods from Denmark.
Some shouted: "You Danish satan, the Muslim people are now out after you!" Some even shouted for al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to retaliate for the insult to their prophet. "Strike, strike, strike, bin Laden," the frenzied group chanted. "We are ready to die in defence of you our beloved prophet."
There is much about the furious row that seems puzzling to those in the West who have been reared in a society that treasures free speech. But one of the strangest aspects is that the issue took so long to catch light. The original cartoons were published on September 30, last year.
It took Muslim ambassadors three weeks to complain to the Danish prime minister, and even then the anger was largely limited to Denmark. When the images were reprinted in Norway last month the row began to spread, igniting in violence when it became widely reported in the Middle East last month, leading Saudi Arabia to withdraw its ambassador from Copenhagen on January 26.
Any hope of a diplomatic resolution was quickly replaced with images of AK47-clad gunmen storming the EU compound in Gaza, partly in reaction to the decision of European newspapers to reproduce the controversial cartoons - an act of defiance in defence of free speech that was deemed by many Muslims as an overt act against Islam.
In response, a statement attributed to the Mujahideen Army calls on fighters to "hit whatever targets possible" in Denmark and Norway. Sweden has also warned its citizens against travelling to Gaza and the West Bank. The Swedish consulate in Jerusalem received a fax from a group claiming to be Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades demanding citizens of Sweden and Denmark leave. "All Swedes and Danes that exist on our soil have 48 hours to leave our country, or else," it warned.
Images of Muhammad have long been discouraged in Islam. To the faithful he was a prophet and religious reformer who united the scattered Arabian tribes in the seventh century, founding what went on to become one of the world's five great religions. To Muslims, he was the last in a line of figures which included Abraham, Moses and Jesus, but which found its supreme fulfilment in Muhammad.
They believe that he was visited by the Angel Gabriel, who commanded him to memorise and recite the verses sent by God which became the Koran - and that he completed and perfected the teaching of God throughout history.
But it is because Muslims believe Muhammad was the messenger of Allah, that they believe all his actions were willed by God. When speaking or writing, his name is always preceded by the title "Prophet" and followed by the phrase: "Peace be upon him." Attempts to depict him in illustration are strictly forbidden. Criticism of Muhammad is criticism of Allah himself, equated with blasphemy, which is punishable by death in some Muslim countries.
To many, last week's events have an unnerving resonance with the fatwah issued on Salman Rushdie, following his novel The Satanic Verses. The 1988 work depicted Muhammad as a cynical schemer and his wives as prostitutes. The impact of the fatwah has played a part in the decision of most of the British media not to follow their European counterparts in reproducing the cartoons - though the BBC did broadcast them on Thursday.
Throughout history Muslims have cast out, destroyed or denounced all images, whether carved or painted, as idolatry. Despite that, hundreds of images of Muhammad have been created over the centuries. Today, iconic pictures of Muhammad are sold openly on the street in Iran. The creation, sale or owning of such images is illegal, but the regime is known to turn a blind eye.
The current fury stems from the belief that the cartoons published first in Denmark set out to ridicule the prophet. As such, they helped fuel the feeling, encouraged by radical Islamists, that Muslims across the globe are threatened and routinely picked-upon by the world's great powers. Massoud Shadjareh, chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), said: "The decision by papers in other countries to reproduce these cartoons is unprecedented. Anti-semitism in 1930s Europe, although rife even in the British press, did not simply replicate Nazi propaganda. The level of systematic hatred that the replication of these caricatures evidences is, we fear, now part of an inevitable prologue to systematic violence against Muslims in Europe."
Shaykh Ibhrahim Mogra, of the Muslim Council of Britain and an imam in Leicester, added: "This is the most offensive thing - even the vilification of God is not as offensive as this."
The tone of world leaders is more measured but no less serious or condemnatory. Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, an ally of the West and a moderate Muslim leader, said: "Any insult to the Holy Prophet is an insult to more than one billion Muslims."
Muslim groups applauded the sacking of the managing editor of France Soir, one of the newspapers that carried the cartoons, on Wednesday night. Jacques Lefranc said he may challenge his dismissal. Circulation of the newspaper, which is being sold out of bankruptcy, almost doubled to 100,000 copies after publishing the images of Muhammad.
Robert Menard, secretary-general of Reporters Sans Frontieres, said "the government should be standing up for France Soir's right to publish" the cartoons, and criticised Tunisia and Morocco for putting bans on the newspaper. In Britain, newspapers indicated that their decision not to print the cartoons was an attempt to balance the freedom of the press with the principle of not gratuitously insulting those with whom you disagree.
World figures tended to agree. Former US president Bill Clinton described the cartoons as "appalling" while Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw went further. He said: "The republication of these cartoons has been insulting, it has been insensitive, it has been disrespectful and it has been wrong."
The climate of protest and threatened reprisals upon Danes and Norwegians have forced Jyllands-Posten into a qualified apology. A leader article in the newspaper last Friday said: "If we had known that it would end with death threats and that the lives of Danish people could be put at risk, we would naturally not have published the drawings. It is clear that the price for this journalistic initiative in the light of this background is too high."
But it added: "We could not have known that a group of imams would travel to the Middle East and spread lies and disinformation."
According to a poll taken among 1,047 Danes last week, 57% of the nation supports Jyllands-Posten's decision to publish the cartoons, while 31% disagrees. Almost two out of every three men and 61% of those aged between 18 and 25 years supported the decision. But the government is in retreat. The prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, met ambassadors on Friday - something he refused to do when the pictures were originally published. The issue has gone beyond Denmark to become a clash between Western free speech and Islamic taboos - a struggle the latter's protagonists now appear to be winning.
IS BELIEF REALLY THREATENED BY THIS EXPOSURE?
CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS Author and polemicist.
"I am glad there has been a confrontation. In my old neighbourhood in Finsbury Park there is a mosque run by a man with no hands and an eyepatch who allegedly calls for the murder of non-believers. I am just about willing to tolerate that but I am not willing to put up with their protests that they have been offended by those who speak about, but do not share their beliefs."
MARTIN ROWSON Cartoonist and novelist.
"This is a typical example of religious leaders using the excuse of being offended to go on the attack and to make themselves immune to any kind of criticism. Some followers of Islam are insist-ing on a monopoly of being offended. I am just as offen-ded by their taking offence."
BASHIR MAAN
Scottish spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain.
"I don't think the pictures should have been published. It only widens the gulf between Islam and the West. Maybe they don't appreciate the reverence Muslims have for the prophet."
MORAG MYLNE
Convener of the Kirk's Church and Society Council.
"It would be wrong to ban or prevent, through legislation or otherwise, the expression of opinion just because it is in poor taste or causes offence. Belief itself is not threatened or undermined by this sort of exposure. Faith can withstand insult. There will be times when the better judgement is not to publish something when it is known that it will cause offence. But that judgement should never compromise the fundamental value of free speech."
ASHRAF ANJUM
President of the Islamic Centre in Glasgow.
"The people who published these cartoons have taken liberty too far. Muslims hold the prophet sacred in their heart. His face should not be shown."
TIM JENSEN
Professor of the study of religions at the University of Southern Denmark.
"[Muslims] have managed to prove they want to be resp-ected. They don't want to be second-class citizens. They don't want people to say what they like about Muslims."
This article: http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=183562006
Last updated: 05-Feb-06 01:10 GMT

Common Dreams

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0121-22.htm

Should the President be King? Reflections from the Deep Origins of America

by Robert Freeman

When he wrote the Constitution in 1789, James Madison had a specific goal in
mind: to create a system of government that would constrain the tyrannous
behavior of an unaccountable executive. Only in this way, Madison knew,
would the "blessings of liberty" be able to flourish and grow in the new
United States.

The essential features of the government he envisioned to carry out this aim
included representation of the people, separation of powers, checks and
balances, the rule of law, and protection of the citizenry from unwarranted
intrusion by the government.

But many of those ideals are at risk today in President Bush's breathtaking
assertion that he is accountable to no one in his determination to spy on
American citizens. Indeed, according to the theory of the "unitary
executive" espoused by Samuel Alito, there are literally no limits to
presidential actions so long as they are couched as part of the "war on
terror."

Yet claims of unchallengeable authority rooted in the Constitution are
belied in a straightforward understanding of what Madison intended to
create. The founders had just fought the Revolutionary War to free
themselves from the tyranny of an unbridled King - one who would not even
deign to obey his own laws. And before that, in the 1600s, the English
people had fought a Civil War to prevent their own subjugation to a series
of despotic monarchs.

It is preposterous, therefore, to imagine that Madison would then turn
around and design a government where the Executive, the president, had
uncontrollable powers in any circumstance. Only a fantastically licentious,
indeed, deceitful reading of the history of the time can produce such an
interpretation.

Democracy first died when Augustus Caesar overthrew the Roman Republic in 28
B.C. It was not reborn until the 1600s when the English people confronted a
new king, James I, who claimed to rule under the doctrine of "the divine
right of Kings."

James was an arrogant man. He had members of Parliament arrested for
questioning his conduct of the war with Spain. Parliament responded that
such arrests challenged its very existence and that that existence was not
subject to the king's whim. This was the first statement of the inherent
right to legislative representation independent of the authority of the
king.

James' son, Charles I, was even more imperious than his father. He extracted
"forced loans" from wealthy members of Parliament and threw 76 of them in
jail when they refused to pay. Parliament responded in 1628 with the
Petition of Right, a landmark in western constitutional law. It stated that
the king could not force money from people without the approval of
Parliament. This idea would become the rallying cry of the American
Revolution: no taxation without representation.

Unbowed, Charles began imprisoning adversaries on trumped-up charges
including treason and even murder. Parliament replied that before such
charges would be taken up, the king would have to "show us the body," habeas
corpus. This became the foundation of the due process of law, one of the
most important protections of the citizenry against a vengeful or renegade
executive.

In 1637, Charles started a war with Scotland. But he did so without
consulting Parliament, something that had not happened since 1323. The war
ended before Parliament could rebuke Charles but when the Irish rebelled
four years later, Parliament refused to grant Charles an army. It was a
harbinger of the U.S. Congress' power both to declare war and to allocate
monies for public purposes.

Charles' conflict with Parliament escalated into Civil War. Charles lost the
War and in 1649 Parliament cut off his head. It was the first time in the
western world that a sitting monarch had been executed by a rebellion of his
own people. It signaled an astonishing reversal in the historical
relationship between executive and legislature, and between citizen and
sovereign.

In 1685, Charles' son, James II, became King. His conflicts with Parliament
harkened back to those of his father. But by 1689, Parliament had wearied of
James' contemptuous treatment and threatened him with the same fate as his
father: beheading. James abdicated and quietly quit England for France.
In his stead, Parliament invited James' son-in-law, William of Orange, then
king of Holland, to become king of England. William and his wife, Mary,
accepted the position, but only after they had acceded to the creation of
the English Bill of Rights.

This "Glorious Revolution" of 1689 was a peaceful, bloodless coup d'etat.
For the first time in history the rights of an entire people were enshrined
into a Constitution and a Bill of Rights-a framework of laws that define how
a king may govern and how a government must relate to its citizens.
Over the course of this century, then, England made the
first-time-in-the-history-of-the-world transition from an absolute monarchy
based on the claim of the divine right of kings to a constitutional monarchy
based on the twin ideals of the rule of law and the consent of the governed.
It was a breathtakingly noble ascent to political maturity, the willingness
of a people to govern themselves by laws rather than submit as cattle to the
autocratic dictates of a single man.

It should come as no surprise that the two leading theorists of modern
government emerged from this epochal conflict. Thomas Hobbes was appalled at
the disorder of the country and wrote Leviathan, claiming that the highest
duty of the King was to protect the security of the citizens. Hobbes, a firm
believer in the divine right of kings, is the philosopher on whom George
Bush relies to legitimize his peremptory actions.

John Locke, on the other hand, theorized that a government was made
legitimate, not by divine right, but rather by the "consent of the
governed". Locke believed that people had "natural rights" that could not be
taken away and that among these were "life, liberty, and private property."
Pointedly, it was Locke and not Hobbes who Thomas Jefferson was channeling
(however imperfectly) when he wrote the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

The colonists, of course, were Englishmen. The American Revolutionary War
occurred because a new King, George III, refused to honor these ideals,
denying the protections of English law to his own citizens, the colonists.
As Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence, Americans had
"suffered a long train of abuses and usurpations.designed to reduce them
under absolute Despotism.

In the Declaration, Jefferson listed 27 specific offenses including, among
others, the facts that the King had:

. Dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly.
. Obstructed the Administration of Justice
. Quartered large bodies of armed troops among us
. Imposed taxes without our consent
. Deprived us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury

So grave were these violations, and so intransigent was the King in
remedying them, that the colonists had no recourse but to go to war.
There is no room for interpretation here: the Revolutionary War was fought
and the Constitution was written to free the colonists from the abuse of
"absolute Despotism." The manner of securing such freedom was the system of
separation of powers embodied in the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial
branches of government and the checks and balances attendant on each of
their roles.

Given this history, it is startling, even brazen, that some try to claim a
"unitary executive" that cannot be challenged by Congress, at least in times
of war. Challenging the executive in time of war is precisely the way that
America was born. Madison himself could not have been more lucid on this
point.

In 1795, he wrote, "Of all the enemies of true liberty, war is, perhaps, the
most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every
other. In war, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its
influence is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds are added
to those of subduing the force of the people." A more prescient description
of the allure of war - at least for the executive - could hardly be written.

The supreme irony - if not hypocrisy - of the theory of the "unitary
executive" is that it is espoused by the very same people who purport that
the Judiciary should be bound by an equally phantasmical theory of "original
intent." Under this theory the Supreme Court should interpret the
Constitution according to the intent of its authors, an intent only these
latter-day "originalists" claim to be able to accurately divine.

But the Executive, on the other hand, should be freed entirely from such
original intent, liberated to pursue a starkly post-modern vision of a
virulently anti-democratic authoritarianism that would have been wholly
repugnant to the very same founders. Either Madison and the founders were
schizophrenic or the current "theorists" are duplicitous. They can't have it
both ways.

The most dangerous of George Bush's formulations surrounding the issue of
unwarranted wiretapping is that his own usurpations must continue so long as
the country is at "war." Bush's "war on terror" is effectively endless
because it is inherently self-catalyzing, spawning more terror than it is
capable of eradicating.

Before Bush's invasion, Iraq was not a source of terrorism. Today, it is the
world's pre-eminent trainer and exporter of terror. Major incidents of
international terrorism have tripled since the invasion in 2003. Perhaps it
is this auto-inflammatory dynamic that Dick Cheney referred to when he
claimed we were facing a war, "that will not end in our lifetimes."

Tellingly, Madison wrote, "No nation can preserve its freedom in the midst
of continual warfare."

The confluence of these two startling facts, the claim for unlimited power
based on war, and the endless nature of the war itself, poses grave threats
to the American Constitutional order. And the threat is made all the more
dire in the realization that the war had been planned since the first days
of the Bush administration and that it was sold to the American people
through a vigorous, sustained campaign of Executive deceit.

Shorn of all distractions, the "unitary executive" and Bush's claim to
legitimacy in spying amount to this: that one man can lie the country into
war and then, on the basis of that war, declare himself above the law -
essentially suspending the Constitution. It is a legal prescription for the
self-destruction of democratic government.

But the American form of government is a legacy that belongs to all
Americans, indeed, to all humans. It is the product of four centuries of
human aspirations for protection from an abusive executive. It is not Bush's
to take away. Which is not to say that it cannot be lost. Hannah Arendt once
wrote that, "Although tyranny may successfully rule over foreign peoples, it
can stay in power only if it first destroys the national institutions of its
own people."

Bush has openly declared and imperiously acted out his preference for a
dictatorship-provided, of course, that he is the dictator. But dictatorship
stands against every value, every virtue that lies at the heart of America.

It will require a fierce determination on the part of the people to keep
what is their most long lived, hard won, and (hopefully) deeply treasured
gift. But it is a fight that can and must be waged. The alternative is a
return to a medieval darkness of divine right, autocracy and oppression.
--------------------------------
Robert Freeman writes on history, economics, and education. He can be
reached at robertfreeman10@yahoo.com.

Hindu Textbooks

Amitava Kumar on English Textbooks
The Hindu, Literary Review, October 2, 2005

Textbook of Laughter and Forgetting

We have repeatedly witnessed in recent years, almost like the seasonal outbreak of a distressing form of cholera, controversies over the contents of history textbooks.

But why is there no discussion about what school-children are asked to read in their English textbooks?

I have very little memory now of what I had read in the books used in my history classes, although I do remember the attention with which I would copy out on clean sheets of paper the line-drawings that represented the portraits of emperors. Akbar's moustache drooped. Humayun was thin and wizened, already preparing, it seemed, for a premature death. The rounded lines in the portrait of Shah Jahan contained all the sorrow of love's futile striving. Nearly everything else in those books escapes me at the moment.

This might be entirely because I was a mediocre student and, like the uninspired everywhere, I found my classes stultifying. But the fact remains that I still have vivid and exact memories of what I read in my English textbooks. It was there that I read George Orwell's account of shooting an elephant in Burma, Dom Moraes on a trip to the Thar, Khushwant Singh's depiction of life in the village of Mano Majra, Somerset Maugham describing the solitude on his seventieth birthday.

When I was sixteen, I left my hometown Patna to go to school in Delhi. The school where I got admission, Modern School on Barakhamba Road, was a prestigious enclave where the children of the rich and the powerful came each day as if they were visiting a familiar club. Our teachers, for the most part drawn from the Punjabi middle-class, could only use a puritanical and unimaginative pedagogy to prop themselves up against the display of wealth. They knew in their hearts that they were superfluous and stuck to the dull routine of making us read and repeat the words in the textbooks prescribed by the school board.

Nevertheless, the English textbooks that I read and reread during those two years gave me a sense of language and an idea of how to express my own sense of the world that I inhabited. This is what literature can do, even without your knowing it. Shouldn't there be wider debate, then, on what our students read in their books?

I recently received a letter from an editor at Macmillan-India. He had written to say that he was preparing a textbook for the Intermediate level students in Bihar and he wanted permission to use an essay of mine in which I had written about a visit to the Khudabaksh Library in Patna. *

The letter brought back the mixed memories from my youth. In my reply to the editor, I readily granted permission. I didn't ask for any payment. It seemed to me that even one poor student reading me in Bihar would be worth a thousand readers in South Delhi or abroad.

When I remembered my own alienating classroom experiences, it gave me pleasure to think that now a reader in Bihar would be able to rediscover his or her own world in my writing. The names of places as well as the people, the sentiments shared by the writer, even the dust on the streets—all of this would be familiar to the student in towns like Ara or Motihari. How many times before had Bihari students found their lives reflected in the English textbooks prescribed for their courses?

Then, just last week, the postman brought a registered package from India. It was the textbook with my essay in it. I read the book quickly. The search for relevance by the education council had meant not only the inclusion of Bihari writers like Tabish Khair among the contributors but also pieces that provided urgent social critique. A good example was a poem "Voice of the Unwanted Girl" by Sujata Bhatt, written in the voice of a destroyed foetus, presenting a protest against female infanticide. Textbooks elsewhere in India should include writings like this that touch the heart and challenge the mind.

Our students need to be freed from the claustrophobia of the classroom. The prose and poetry that we offer them should appear to them fresh and enlivening. The Macmillian-India book began with a brilliant, hopeful piece by Jawaharlal Nehru, its elegant rhetoric paying homage to the arrival of Gandhi. I felt my senses lift while reading the essay. However, I'd like to see students also reading well-written critical pieces on subjects as seemingly trivial as Bombay films. Let's give them Ashis Nandy's incisive essay on P.C. Barua and Devdas. It will engage—and educate—students as much if not more than Shakespeare and Blake.

Why is it that English textbooks, including the one I was sent, are top-heavy with hagiographies of our national leaders? I have rarely seen letters printed in these books. There is very little travel-writing. There is no space ever for quality journalism. In general, we should also be publishing more women writers. To my students in America, I have taught Mahasweta Devi, Ismat Chughtai, Urvashi Butalia, and Arundhati Roy. Why are these writers not being taught in the places where I studied in India?

In the textbook that sparked these reflections, I found a story by O. Henry called "After Twenty Years." I had read this story in my English class twenty years ago. The lines of dialogue and the characteristic, surprising O. Henry twist at the end of the story came flooding back as I turned the pages. But this experience also made me distrust my pleasure and my nostalgia. Why are textbooks so remarkably unchanged even after decades?

The most disturbing aspect of the controversies over the history textbooks has been the extent to which current political interests determined what was taught in the classroom. That was detrimental, no doubt, but in the matter of English textbooks the opposite has been true. Our textbooks have remained for the most part trapped in the bubble of their own past. They continue to be hodge-podge collections of quaint pieces, somewhat suspect in their usefulness, a bit like the clay-objects strewn beside a corpse in a ceremonial grave. It is no surprise that in our professional use of the English language, as a people, we remain stiff, formal, awkward. Unless these textbooks are radically changed, our teachers will remain mummy-makers, wrapping cotton around our children's mouths.


****

* In the same issue of the Hindu, the following commentary on Amitava Kumar's Bombay-London-New York was also published. The writer is Pradeep Sebastian.

On an impulse, I decided to read Amitava Kumar's Bombay, London, New York again. I read it in a hurry when it first came out in 2002, noting with pleasure that it was, among many other things, the first really good book on reading written by an Indian. Reading it this time, I discovered with excitement that it is not only still the best Indian book about how and why we read but also an original, riveting piece of non-fiction. (His last book, Husband of a Fanatic is another brilliantly sustained work of literary non-fiction). Bombay, London, New York is a meditation on the self, the home and the world as experienced in books — a sort of "Amitava Through the Looking Glass of Books." It had been a long time since I read a book with such absorption. When I first began to reread it a few weeks ago, I read chapter after chapter hungrily, admiring its quiet brilliance, taking pleasure in its prose. I realised I would finish it too quickly and wanted to savour it. I took to rationing the chapters — two a day, I decided. One day I found myself returning eagerly from wherever I had gone to get back to the book.

While the theme of Diaspora runs memorably through his work, Kumar uses it to explore what home means in poignant, complex ways. "What I am always going back to is the moment when I was going away," he writes in Bombay, London, New York. "The movement I am most conscious of now is the movement of memory, shuttling between places. One place is home, the other the world." The different journeys Amitava Kumar makes in the book — actual and from memory — are insightful, deeply moving and clarifying for both the reader at home and the reader abroad. His perspectives are tough minded, unsentimental, nuanced. For instance, in the chapter "Traveling Light," he writes that what he is asking for is not that we turn our backs on the past but, "Rather, the point is to ascertain what our narratives of travel are going to be... what I'd like to know more about are the day to day struggles, successes, failures, and confusions of the ones who leave home to seek better fortune elsewhere. And equally crucial, what I want to see are accounts of what is suffered as well as celebrated in the most ordinary of ways by those who do not leave, those who stay behind, whether because they want to or simply because it cannot be otherwise... What if we were to replace all the hypocritical, self- mythologising accounts of expatriate fiction... with imaginative maps of toils and tales of small, unnoticed triumphs?"

The book's structure is beguiling: moving back and forth in suspenseful and surprising ways from personal narrative to marginalia on contemporary Indian fiction to cultural and political criticism. The photographs (by the author) that accompany the book are lovely — both the pictures themselves and the idea to use them that way. (One photograph in it — two young, striking looking South Asian women taking a cigarette break on a stoop — is something you almost want to own: It feels like a favourite still from a favourite movie.) The epilogue titled "Indian Restaurant," an account of an older, burnt-out academic, Shastriji, befriending a younger Kumar at an American university, reads like a wonderful chapter from a novel you don't want to see end. (His new, eagerly awaited, yet-to-be-out-book is a novel!)

I have a favourite passage in the book: a visit Kumar makes to the Khudabaksh library in Patna, his hometown. With my love for descriptions of the holding and handling of books, I found myself seduced. The library, the author tells us, is perhaps the richest manuscript library on Islam in the world and it is full of hidden treasures, such as 22,000 handwritten books, out of which at least 7,000 are rare manuscripts. The old, gentle librarian with his shaky right hand shows Kumar a "priceless book of poems by the Persian Hafiz that was presented by the Mogul ruler Humayun to the emperor of Iran... The librarian's dark finger hovers over the lines that the emperor had inscribed. The page is filigreed in gold, the bare portions stained with age. I want to touch the page myself. I ask the librarian's permission, and he says yes, I gently place my index finger where the emperor has signed his name."

What is particularly remarkable about Amitava Kumar's writing (to read his essays look at http://www.amitavakumar.com/) is the way he puts himself on the line over and over again in a way few Indian writers would. He writes in the tradition of the best personal essayists such as Philip Lopate, Joan Didion and Vivian Gornick, who write about the self and the world with a sense of discovery and intrepid candour. Kumar takes himself as the starting point and then goes on to examine his relationship with the world with even rarer, brutal, moving honesty. And yet the personal details in his books don't amount to self-absorption or self-promotion: more remarkably, his presence in the narrative, because of the risks he takes, feels self-effacing, illuminating, heroic.