Shakespeare &Sainte

 Laughing at the face of coronavirus is getting contagious in that continent With much of Europe abd Britain getting back under lockdown covers with Covid relurking,  the cradle of dodgy pandemic jokes is having a renaissance. The chaps who brought the world the Teutonic Bubonic Plague Jokebook— the Black Death supposedly the prime reason for Germans losing their sense of humour — are already guffawing with fear. The strategy this time seems to be any dearth of mirth will be the birth of death. So, as cracks like the corona virus also keeping their versions of pub and restaurant timings —it's rule-abiding Europe for the critters too, you see— go viral, who knows, one may even have a new healthy obsession with Eros and Thanatos, rather than a prolonged taste for organic food and EU Rules of Origin Laws.  Remember, this is the continent of the original Coveni, Covidi, Covici( I came down with Covid , I saw Covid, I conqured Covid), not to mention the very name ' Coronavirus...

 The vote later this week in the European Parliament on an amendment to ensure words such as 'hamburger' or 'sausage' exclusively refer to non-vegetarian products on labels appears to be a shot across the bows for the 'eat shoots and leaves' lobby. This presupposes, of course, that meat- eating European customers are fundamentally incapable of discerning that items labelled 'veggie burger' or vegan sausage' contain no animal flesh and they are, therefore, prone to be hoodwinked into eating something that violates their dietary beliefs. They will only be adequately forewarned, it seems, if 'burger' is replaced by 'disc' and if non-meat sausages are called tubes. Describing the later even as 'fingers' could probably prove confounding for those ingenuous Europeans. It can be said with some degree of certainty, however, that Indian consumers are smarter than their European counterparts as no one in India will think an aloo tikki b...

 News TV showcased 'nothing happening' in its Rhea Chakraborty coverage There is something hypnotisingly television about the coverage of actor and something Rhea Chakraborty's release on bail on Wednesday evening. Facts and information such as the bail amount, and what her bail conditions are– never mind what she was in jail for— are as important as, if not less than, how she looked inside the white car that took her somewhere. Did she seem forlon enough? Was she looking Unsettled enough?  If not , why not? Rheality TV was made by television, and in this final episode of what looks like the end of the first season, it is being unmade by same gnostic forces.  Never since Amitabh Bachchan skipped q heartbeat has TV media given a blow-by-blow account of an event involving a car with a passenger. A critic once described Samuel Beckett's play, Waiting for Godot, as a production where'nothing happens twice'. Indian TV news tops this by showcasing 'nothing happeni...

 French and English terms in couture and prêt easily balance other anyway English language aficionados have long railed about the plethora of French words in the lexicon, from cliché and carte Blanche to déjà vu and avant-grade. They may be mollified to know that the French have been equally annoyed by the English words that have crept into their language. But the alternative lexic from the French culture ministry, Federation of Feminine Pret-à-Porter and Federal of Haute Couture and Fashion that attempts to exorcise words from across the Channel in that key segment, will prompt irritation and surprise among English votaries. That the French have never bothered to think up words in their own tongue for such fashion basics as T-shirts and jeans, lazily making do with by prefacing the English word with a gender -defining 'le' or 'La', is certainly a faux pas that should have been remedied long ago. Whether Yves Saint Laurent's famous 'le smoking' tuxedo suit w...

 Last month, we noted that Stan the Tyrannosaurus Rex was befittingly right up there with the most expensive works of art at preview for a Christie's sale of 20th century art. That he predated his fellow items on the catalogue be about 67 million years was irrelevant as the fact that he was a work of genius (albeit not human) was undeniable. However, now that the dinosaur skeleton has fetched almost four times its estimated price of $6-8 million at a gullet-choking $31,847,500 at the sale this week, it is evident the auction house had put Stan in the wrong list. He should have been there with those chunks of carbon and other fossilised remains that are cut, polished, set and sold, otherwise known as gemstones. More so as the T Rex roared in an auction that otherwise saw eight unsold and four works withdrawn out of a total of 59, fetching the second highest price of the sale. Stan has clearly established fossils as a valuable new genre of installation art. As the Royal Opera House i...

 The manifest proclivity of some individuals- not necessary part of the intelligentsia— for prolix explication as a favoured form of expression, notwithstanding the availability and advisability of more intelligible and conventionaly pertinent substitutes, precipitates exasperation only in some circles. Instead, in many cases, a cultivated predilection for logorrhoea elicits such veneration that practitioners increase their volume of periphrasis. Those lexicomanes will, no doubt, prefer to disregard the recent study that links the preference for long words and jagron with feelings of insecurity rather than intellectual prowess. That researchers have found an inverse correlation between the scholarly quality of 64,000 academic dissertations and their use of incomprehensible words and phrases certainly points to the use of jargon to compensate for lack of substance.  Since most quotidian interlocutions are commonplace conversations that do not entail a synchronous evaluation of ...

 Cricket in India took off to become the Godzilla it is today arguably not because of its growing success but because of its super success at making a connection with people. A very noisy, reactive, emotive people. The cucumber sandwiches and beer crowd gave way to a flag-waving, face- painted raucous lot. A prissy 'gentleman's game' beacme the people's sport', the spectator's spectator sport. So, keeping this vibrant, subcontinental sport of cricket-watching in mind, how 'turning on' will IPL 2020 be, being played bereft of any spectators at three empty stadia in the UAE? International football already test-drove the Covid-instigated 'no-supporters-at- the ground' car. Knowing that people can now follow matches on their screens (television or phones), canned 'crowd noise' has filled the vacuum of the eerie silence and echoes from match venues. Starting today, IPL will do the same. But what can't be republicated (read:fudged) are the ...

 All those who have battled with greasy locks would surely vouce for the annoying tendency of human hair to attract and retain oleaginous substances, despite dutiful shampooing. Scientists have been talking about this renewable and natural alternative to deal with pinguid substances for a while now, but when a fastidious French hairdresser actually ropes in his colleagues to pool in their business waste— snipped tresses from the salon floors— and stuffs these into nylon stockings to mop up oily residues from a local harbour, hair's other use becomes more apparent. Being a hair stylist, he is obviously not just saying so off the top of his head, there is more than a strand of truth in his assertion. Such hair buoys can absorb eight times their weight in grease and can be washed and re-used up to 10 times.  Hitherto, lopped off hanks were thought to be of cosmetic value only, supplying the wig and toupee industry. That hair has such an important environmental application deserve...

 That work life is no laughing matter appears to be corroborated by a recent study done by two Standford University academics, who found that cachinnations start becoming less frequent from a median age of 23, or about the time when people get jobs. Whether or not the researchers' prime conclusion– that laughter is " under-leveraged" in offices and can be a gamechanger, professionally , if properly utilized — is solid enough to take Humour Seriously (also the little of their book), it is true that laughter is not exactly a common workplace sound. It is heartening at their survey of the daily laughing habits of 1.4 million people from 166 countries showed that four -year-olds did so up to 300 times a day. But their additional finding that 40 years olds clocked up that same number over 10 weeks is a sobering statistic. Of course, if that cohort also laughed as frequently as four year olds, it would be quite alarming, not to mention distracting, in workplaces.  That laughter...

 It is small step for science, but a giant leap for avo-ficionados. Now that scientists have recently successfully applied the technology used to preserve human eggs and sperm to the supposedly more modest avocado-although its name does have anatomical allusions- there is indeed reason to celebrate. For, while it is preponderant in whole or mashed, form in places frequented by the terminally trendy, the future of the world's most Instagrammed fruit once disparagingly called an alligator pear ( and more recently used to refer to Billie Eilish fans given her predilection) had been far from secure. Pests, fungus and climate change had led to fears of Shortages and even an extinction event. After this feat, however, guacamole addicts can rest assured that unctuous green butter- alternative will never run out.  The fertility clinic cryo- technology has been used to good effect on more prosaic victuals such as potatoes and bananas for a while now, but the thought of a future– possib...

  Donald Trump as a Nobel Prize Peace Prize nominee? Well, why ever not? You'd be reaching for your PPEs if he was nominated for the Nobel Literature Prize, so.... If you thought the most ardent Trump bhakts were in the US, think again. Christian Tybring-Gjedde, a Norwegian parliamentarian leader cited, adding that he hoped the Nobel Committee considers what Trump has 'achieved' internationally' and that it does not ' stumble in established prejudice against the US president'. Trump can be construed in countries outside the US– baring Mexico, Iran and China, perhaps— as ' lion at home, lamb abroad,' an old description once given to the Indian cricket team. So, a peace award established by a rich Swedish man who made his fortunates by inventing dynamite isn't the worst thing you can can present Trump with. Plus, if former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger could have won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 after playing a pivotal role in the US decision ...

 Literally on the face of it, a Rs70,000 plus ($961) anti- Covid plastic face shield, makes no common sense. But it's not the sense of common-ness that Louis Vuitton (LV) will be taping when, from October30, it starts selling this haute PPE couture with gold studs, monogrammed strap and bearing the French luxury brand's 'LV' mark. Ridiculous? Sure. Savvy? Oh yes. For, at the core of such na consumer model lies creating desire and meeting it.  The importance of manufacturing desire(outside politics) eludes Indians, many of whom are otherwise healthy, wealthy consumers of Dream Factories. The Department for Promotion of industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) is now discussing making desi toys, focusing on 'freedom fighter' dolls. An anti- Barbie BJP MP even stated' Shivaji and Laxmibai figurines will certainly be better than bikini-clad dolls'. Barring government departments buying stocks of Bhagat Singh, etc. Paying patroits are unlikely to spend buying more...

 After gauging all the pros and cons of sharing our most valuable opinion on the matter, we decided to weigh in a week after Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic accidentally hit a line umpire with a ball and was removed from the US Open. Our verdict? The Joker, indeed, deserves being suspended. Many armchair umpires believe that since Djokovic's action was unintentional, he should have been spared. In response, we summon. Harvard sociologist Robert K Merton's 1936 paper, "The Unanticipated Consequences of Purposive Social Action' a.k.a the theory of unintented consequences. Yes, three-time Us Open winner had no intention to hurt the official. But the world's No.1 ranked player does have a history of rash, impulsive on-court behaviour. So, while many have argued that sports in general would be in peril if unintentional action causing injuries was penalised, the risk Djokovic poses to others when he b'emotes' is high. A person, for instance, having a few dri...

  Fairness has been coloured by its association with creams, lotions and discrimination against darker skin tones. However, the word does have several other non-racial connotations, and in that context it is heartening to note that the findings of recent research in the US corroborates that women - Regardless of ethnicity- are indeed the fairer sex. And the difference is more than cosmetic, as among the 3.3 lakh people surveyed in 67 countries, women outnumbered men on prioritising fairness, purity(of intention, that is ) and compassion when it came to taking ethical decisions. While the finding makes a case for putting more women in places where fairnessvl counts, the fact that the divide between the sexes on this matter is more pronounced in the supposedly more gender-equal western nations comes as a surprise. After all, the conventional wisdom is that shades of opinion on fairness are more fraught in developing economies. Another recent study conducted in the US concluded that w...

  Superstition is justifibiably dismissed as regressive and rooted in unproven beliefs. How can walking under a ladder or having a black cat cross your path bode Ill? Hanging lemons and chillies- or those blue and white turkish talismans- to ward off the evil eye are equally swiped from the ruins of Pompeii 15 years ago because of the bad luck that had apparently beset them ever since, indicates that superstitions can sometimes prove beneficial. Unlike the tomb of Tutankhamen- whose opening in 1923 supposedly activated an ancient curse that led to the deaths of many associated with its excavation- or even the malediction attached to the Kohinoor diamond, there has been no long-standing, well-known hex on Pompeii and most other ancient sites. That ciuld be why shards, fossils, artifacts and other remnants have been filched from historical sites with impunity and continue to be stolen. But the bad luck narrative associated with Pompeii resulted in some 100 conscience- stricken visito...