Sacred Cows

The Big B is not so BIG!

-By Anu. Greetings and apologies for the LONG delay! Tarquin and I were on holiday in the southern Indian paradise of Kerala.
    Anyway, I hereby reinstate this blog with a Sacred Cows Exclusive:
Amitabh Bachchan, the King of Bollywood, slayer of bad guys and disco dancer extraordinaire.... is not that tall!
   As you can see here in this exclusive photo, he's only a few fake hairs taller than Tarquin! When I was a little girl living in Queens, New York, Amitabh Bachchan was the tallest, coolest man alive. I guess like most things, the Big B has slowly diminished in my imagination as I've grown. I was - probably like so many of you-  an enormous Amitabh Bachchan fan. Who can forget his brooding, powerful performances in films like 'Zanjeer' and 'Anand'? How many times have you sang 'Rang Barse' or mimicked his moves in 'Mere Angane Mein'? (click here to play the video of that song.) But, of late, I am embarassed and dismayed by him. His movies are frankly crap. In each one, he plays an overtly wealthy, well-heeled, well-dressed, dancing buffoon who has to cope with (gasp!) some middle class dilemma like marriage, divorce... or, well, marriage. It seems the 'Angry Young Man' has become the overfed yuppie.

10 million people

Ardh Kumbh Mela, Allahabad, 2007

Ten million people bathed in the confluence of India's two holiest rivers on one single day.