Superman turned 70 this month... and wouldn't you know it, he's not aged a day on celluloid - in fact he's gone back in time - at least judging by his latest avatar in Smallville. And it's there, as a young Super-teen that he faces some pretty daunting challenges (there's probably nothing scarier than a US high school!) But the man who epitomised Superman, and who wore the cape best, would have to be the late Christopher Reeve, who then showed some of that formidable iron will after a horse-riding accident left him paralysed... Krypton's ambassador struck the world with his grit, even in his vulnerability. But it's Superman's invulnerability that was his claim to fame -and in post-World War II USA, through the Cold War, that's not half-surprising... The need of the hour was precisely a Man of Steel who knew that Justice and the American Way were more than worth protecting. He didn't have to be profound, didn't need to be...

Before you start frothing at the mouth, all you self-declared guardians of all that's pure, it's a quote from Heroes (Tagline Season 1...But I digress.) Why cheerleaders are the centre of a moral debate, is beyond me -- besides the obvious that is, the usual chest-beating, vote-banking, playing on insecurities and other nonsense the country has come to expect and take in its stride...and almost forget that there are real issues out there. Is there nothing better to talk about in this whole cricket revolution? Apart from entertainment vs sport. Vs masala. Vs girls in short skirts. I mean, are they immoral? Are they taking part in something immoral? I don't even want to get started on all that's wrong with the comparison to bar girls... there's no winning arguments with the irrational. Why are the players in this debate getting it all in a twist over this of all things? Have they even been watching your Bollywood stars of late?...

A 15 year old is raped and murdered ... preyed upon in her youth, in her weakness. Preyed upon by a society whose fabric has been so badly decimated that not even a veneer of civilisation remains. A deeply repressed, lecherous mindset that pervades the country, even the most touristy of tourist hotspots... that more than three decades of drugs and the Israeli and Russian mafia can do nothing about - never mind the beaches, the steady influx of tourists. And this is Goa. A world away on the outskirts of the murderous Capital, a 10 year old boy is burned to death by a marriage party. Because he allegedly wanted compensation for the damage done to his bicycle. A 10 year old. And there's no shortage of sleaze here ...The same day, a smaller headline, a smaller victim. A two and a half year old boy is sodomised and murdered in southwest Delhi. A labourer goes to jail. A two and a...

So you don't exactly expect to see Aamir Khan at a literature festival - that too, in Jaipur. Sure, he was scheduled to "hold a session" with Tehelka Features Editor Shoma Chaudhury, but before that session? And after that session? After giving the media the slip, I might add ... sitting quietly in the audience, listening to other people speak? Making a quiet entry - this is my 2 feet moment - followed by his bouncer/security detail, to listen to the Oscar-winning Christopher Hampton, or the three lovely Pakistani authors Moni Mohsin, Shahbano Bilgrami and Kamila Shamsie ... and there he was sitting in the audience, listening as they spoke. Which really shows you the beauty of the entire Jaipur Literature Festival, in a nutshell. A nutshell, I say, because it was spread over 5 days, so for people who were actually working there - media, organisers, etc - by the end of it, it was like being dead on your feet. Not...