The last two weeks’ news had adulterated cocaine, the Da Vinci Code, Brangelina baby, Quotas, attempts to climb Everest and the World Cup (of course). All of them connected to each other, of course. How?

Observe.

Everest has been a source of news ever since Mallory exclaimed “It is there” in frustration. But never was the news coverage stronger than in 1953 when Edmund and Tenzing climbed up the steep slopes. Tenzing got great recognition in his country, Nepal, and got a teacher’s job (actually Director of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute) in India as well. Edmund of course got a knighthood on his way down. What better to boost post-war, post-empire morale than this?

One reason for the early knighthood could be that his achievements had coincided with the coronation of the new Queen. The coronation party was held in Westminster Abbey, in whose recesses Da Vinci Code’s climactic scene unfolds. The Da Vinci Code has got great publicity in India due to Priyaranjan Das Munshi’s attempts to win friends and influence people. Munshi, who used to make news only while inaugurating some sports tournament, suddenly found himself in a high-profile position. Now he is flying off to the World Cup of course.

The World Cup has always found passionate support from within India and particularly in Bengal, where we have supported and worshipped Brazil and Argentina for decades. Bengalis would shudder before a white-skinned team would win the Cup and thus they hold religious ceremonies worshipping the current teams and the Gods – Pele and Maradona. Maradona’s appeal did not wane even during his cocaine-filled days. Even when he was banned from the World Cup for Ephedrine usage, one part of India sang his praises. Incidentally, his supporters made claims that, prior to the World Cup, Fifa had agreed to Maradona using the drug to recover from injuries as his absence from the tournament would have taken away a lot of sheen. Thus the suspension came as a betrayal.

Whatever the truth may be in this case Maradona has had a history of drug abuse. He got caught in 1991 in Naples snorting coke and was banned for twelve months. Cocaine, heroin and speedball (a mix of both) has been in the news for truly trivial reasons due to antics of a few friends in Delhi. It was also an issue in the 2000 US Presidential race where Al Gore had cited statistics of people getting caught due to drug use and peddling in the US which showed a bias towards African-Americans. This was during the whole affirmative action issue where Gore had supported affirmative action and Bush tried to stay non-committal saying he doesn’t support quotas. In the national debate, Gore asked Bush straight, “Affirmative action doesn’t mean quotas. Are you for it without quotas?” Bush’s reply, in the manner of Arjun Singh, was, “I may not be for your version.”

James Farmer proposed affirmative action in the US in 1960s during the peak of the Civil Right’s Movement. Also during this time Martin Luther King Jr. was bringing the southern civil rights movement to the Chicago area. One important part of this strategy was Operation Breadbasket. This operation consisted of targeting local employers and threatening boycotts unless more African Americans were hired by the business. While none of these battles turned really bloody, discriminatory policies have been a violent bone of contention in US, none more so than during the Civil War.

One of the bloodiest battles of the war was fought in Shiloh. A total of over 23,000 men were killed, wounded, captured, or missing, more than the American casualties of the American Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Mexican War combined. This was the first time carnage of this nature was witnessed in the War and this did shock both the sides. However, this did not prevent Brangelina from naming their baby thus.

Talking of Brangelina, while Angelina has always been a supporter of various causes in the third world, Brad, before Angelina, had not displayed much of the same spirit. His closest approach to the Third World was as Heinreich Harrer, the Nazi prisoner of war who escaped from his prison in India. Harrer then made his way to Tibet and spent seven years there. Harrer did not climb Everest of course; but his adventures as a mountaineer, skier and adventurer, are no mean feats either. What is not known to people is that Edmund Hillary’s partner, Tenzing Norgay, met Harrer in Tibet in 1947 as part of an expedition. This is not revealed in Harrer’s book that was released in 1953 (a bestseller) the same year Hillary climbed the Everest.

News coverage of Everest helped push the sales of Harrer’s book that year (moral being publicity howsoever unrelated helps).

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

(Dhoomketu has stopped reading newspapers to make time for his blogging, because of his hectic day job. Besides watching movies, reading science fiction and trying to find himself, he is furiously reading up on professional wrestling. His passions are quizzing, eating and travelling, all of which get occasional mention on his blog 22nd floor.)

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