De-greasing India

“Flavour salt lassi with Worcester Sauce
Mix Chaat Masala in your Bloody Mary
Fry Madrasi keyley as a second course —
When you hear the word ‘fusion’ be very wary”
From The Hymns of
Feromonus by Bachchoo

At the beginning of the Anna Hazare agitation a young friend of mine wrote a piece in an influential space voicing his disapproval of extra-parliamentary action. He said Mr Hazare and his associates were resorting to blackmail.

Personal vs political

“Challenge your fate
Toss a coin
Heads means death
Tails means death...”
From Cool-dhan-sakh by Bachchoowalla

In the Sixties and Seventies, the feminist movement coined a slogan: “The personal is the political!” I tried this out on my, now, 17-year-old daughter and though she studies English and politics, she didn’t quite get the meaning of it.

Misdirection

“No poison can kill poison,
Live and friend, let live.
Beware the lure of balancing
The double negative!”
From Warnings of Stale Mornings by Bachchoo
There are very many historical mistakes that won’t be corrected. The population, for instance, of the islands of the Caribbean, “pieces of dirt” in the armpit of America as my friend the Caribbean philosopher C.L.R. James labelled them, are universally known as West Indians.

Scottish Salmond

“The sun has no significance,
The eclipse full of meaning.”
From The Boogoo Diaries
of Bachchoo
One sometimes gets the feeling that Britain is an overdeveloped democracy. The representatives of the people are kept on a tight leash and sometimes, in a libertarian fantasy, a mood induced by introspection or other substances, I feel it may be a bit too tight.