There was the lady of the hills, appealing, attractive and matching Pranab in years (almost). Suddenly, the most alluring people on TV are over 65. Anita Desai was the guest on NDTV 24x7 following her Sahitya Akademi fellowship. She is soft-spoken, eloquent and charming — even when the questions were more about her daughter Kiran Desai, she managed to play the grande dame, the proud mother, the acerbic old lady of letters who’s allowed her foibles. This was intelligent television. Yeh Dil Maange More.

Not altogether sure if the same can be said for Zee’s cricket carnival. The star at the debut match of its Indian Cricket League was not cricket, but Kareena Kapoor who danced and the fireworks which fired. Why must every event be turned into a Bollywood production? Of course, there was Tony Greig using his hyena high pitch to extraordinary effect every time the ball flew off the bat — which was every ball. Ratings tell us the average viewer (whoever that is) didn’t watch ICL for more than eight minutes. With names like the Chandigarh Lions, the Delhi Jets, the Kolkata Tigers, Mumbai Champs, and Hyderabad Heroes, what did you expect? Sound more like American basketball or football, not cricket teams. Also, without national or club loyalties it’s difficult to feel hot about Brian.

Miss World (Star World). Can you believe it, the Chinese beat us in this too? Hey Miss World and Miss Universe were shows we were good at: we have Sushmita, Aishwarya, Priyanka to prove it but this time, Miss China snatched it away from us, not that Miss India was anywhere in the picture. Literally. Curious how Miss China can become Miss World in China. Maybe we should host it next year?

... contd.