Unity in diversity

Call a North-eastern 'Chinki' and you could be jailed for five years ufffd this news report occupied the minds of a number of people for a while

Call a North-eastern ‘Chinki’ and you could be jailed for five years — this news report occupied the minds of a number of people for a while. Harjinder Singh tweeted: ‘By this ‘interesting’ logic, people cracking Santa-Banta jokes should get Kala Paani!’ Divya Rajagopal added: ‘I think the Supreme Court should also criminalise those who address all South Indians as Madrasi.’ A certain Zubin Nalawalla pointed out that ‘Gracy Singh was called Chinki in Munnabhai MBBS,’ while NorthEastBlog had a question: ‘It’s not a new law. Why was it not implemented for so long?’ There was also this tweet from Nigel Britto: ‘Good! It’s time we gave them the respect they deserve. India does not stop at Kolkata.’ And from Arun Verma: ‘Sing Chinki Chameli and go to jail for life.

Toilet humour
The Planning Commission continued to annoy and exasperate people a day after reports showed it had spent an exorbitant amount of money on renovating toilets. Ramesh Srivats put things into perspective thus: ‘By spending Rs 35 lakh on renovating two toilets, India has made it clear that it is an emerging susuperpower.’ A certain Gaurav had another point of view: ‘Big deal. Mayawati spent more than Rs 2500 crore on parks which will soon be used as toilets by homeless people.’ And from The UnReal Times: ‘Monty on Rs 35 lakh toilet for the Planning Commission: It’s not a bathroom, it’s a baaaaaaathroom.’

Open wide
‘Things I can eat anytime’ — this, for no apparent reason, was one of the day’s trending topics that yielded all kinds of examples from roasted chicken and shawarma to sea food, ‘p-i-double-z-a’, ‘my words’, ‘a full English breakfast’ and ‘all the scrumptious dishes cooked by those talented children on Master Chef Australia.’

The last word
From his Holiness, the Dalai Lama: ‘The many factors which divide us are actually much more superficial than those we share.’

— Lindsay Pereira is Editor, MiD DAY Online (twitter.com/lindsaypereira)

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