BRIC POP: The Blog

India is one of the few countries in the world were the media are thriving, even traditional media like newspapers and magazines.  As businesses, they’ve been growing in readers and advertisers, but in terms of journalism I’ve never been impressed much.

However, absence makes the heart grow fonder, and I’ve come to appreciate the wide range of competency and decorum (and respective lack thereof!) that make British or American media look kind of narrow.  Plus, I love Indian newsstands.

Every once in a while, I just surf around the major newspaper and magazine websites for a look at just what they’ll print next.  English-language media is barely a microcosm of a nation as diverse and expansive as India, but it’s a fun place to start.  Here’s what I learned from and about India over the weekend.

• Savita Bhabi = Barbara Cartland x Emmanuele/Desperate Housewives + Chris Ware.  Not the best masala for mainstream Indian values, and its banning is sure to only make it more popular.  (DNA)
• Swine flu is more communicable than being gay.
• Michael Jackson was really Indian: reading Tagore, eating veg and working with Rahman, and signing up for Shiv Sena.  I knew it!
• Artist Tyeb Mehta dies, made tons of money, didn’t care about it like the press do.  Why can’t anyone write about the art?
• Everyone in Hollywood wants in on Bollywood.  But I’m waiting for Shahid Kapoor to replace Shia Leboeuf in “Transformers 3: Shiva Takes Care of Michael Bay”.
• Arundhati Roy is spoiling the fun.  We’re not supposed to hear about the non-so-Shining stuff.

Oh, and I stand corrected on the vitality of the print media.  Seems that stimulus packages know no borders.