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One of the great pleasures of Sunday is to laze in bed reading through a pile of newspapers. Of late, I’ve been more and more disappointed with the quality of news and readable articles in mainstream papers, the TOI of course is the main culprit. I went through 4 papers today, and here are the articles that intrigued me.

TOI has only one. Swami Aiyar draws some interesting parallels between India-Bangladesh in 1971 and the US-Iraq in 2003. His bottom line is chilling: Never expect “liberated people” to be grateful to powerful “liberators” who, using military might, are actually fulfilling private agendas.

Both the Mid-Day and the Asian Age write on censorship. The Age talks about Aakrosh, a documentary on the Gujarat riots being denied a censor certificate (shades of War and Peace again?) Mid-Day’s Khalid Mohammed writes about the censors penchant for banning top quality western films just because it’s members happen to live in the 18th century. Curtis Hanson’s 8 Mile, Oscar winner this year is on the list. He notes the disturbing trend of films (Boogie Nights, Eyes Wide Shut) not even being submitted to the censors because the producers are wary of the censors prejudices. The question to ask is — who decides what adults should see? [Neither article is on the net right now. As and when they come online, I’ll post the URL]

The Age does some indulging in junk science. Fat drivers may be more prone to smash ups. The basis? A study done in New Zealand. The supposed link? Obesity causes disorders like sleep apnea which makes fat people more prone to sleeping on the wheel. The premise seems ok. But could we please follow the simple rules that guide epidemiology before making sweeping statements? Otherwise we have a blurred line between good research that leads to better health and junk science that causes needless scares.

Mid-Day continues with it’s anti-Israel stance. Mahmoud Farooqui’s Why I am outraged by this conflict is a hash. For the pro-Palestinian bleeding hearts, here are a few facts.

1. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East.

2. Israel has an Arab citizenry of more than one million people. That is Arabs who are Israeli citizens.
3. Arab citizens in Israel vote in free elections.
4. Arabs are elected to the Israeli parliament.
5. The Palestinian Authority has not yet held an election.

As I can see, the only place where Arabs enjoy democracy is in a Jewish nation. Perhaps that should be a far more pressing issue to be outraged by. But …

The Sunday Express was the most satisfying read by far. A well written piece on the custom of boys marrying older women in tribal Gujarat shows us an interesting vignette on the connection between land and fertility and the respect women get due to the skills and seniority they bring to the wedded union (they work for it!).

For all you anti-war wallahs, there’s hope after the US victory. Paul Farhi writes on the benefits the film folk have garnered from the media spotlight voicing their (often crass) anti-war views. Susan Sarandon, Michael Moore, Janeane Garofalo, even the Dixie Chicks whose album Home hit No. 1 again last week. [Damn I can’t find the URL of this one too!]

The Express also boasts of top drawer op-ed writers. They’ve got Soli Sorabjee to jump from the TOI, and his Soli-Loquies is as enchanting as ever. P. Chidambaram’s piece on Inflation being the worst form of taxation is good ole Milton Friedman in Indian garb.

Tavleen Singh’s Licence raj, with retro effect is a sharp reminder on how the large number of laws supposedly there to “help” the poor actually do the opposite, creating parasitical babus sucking our blood. Excerpt:

One of Nehruvian socialism’s most unfortunate legacies is that it created an India in which making money legitimately was considered ‘‘profiteering’’ while living off the fat of the land in some official capacity was considered ‘‘serving the nation’’.

The idea so captured the public mind that it went beyond politics into popular cinema, always an accurate gauge of middle class attitudes. Remember those Hindi movies with some villain or other playing the greedy, cruel sethji? Remember the hero, often Dharmendra or Manoj Kumar, as the impoverished, idealistic young government servant working selflessly for the poor and poverty-stricken Bharat Mata? How proud we were of our poverty, how we wallowed in it and how fooled we were by those who “served the nation”.

ET rounds off my Sunday with a piece on blogging. Till next week then.