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My Friend Sancho

My first novel, My Friend Sancho, is now on the stands across India. It is a contemporary love story set in Mumbai, and was longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize 2008. To learn more about the book, click here.


To buy it online from the US, click here.


I am currently on a book tour to promote the book. Please check out our schedule of city launches. India Uncut readers are invited to all of them, no pass required, so do drop in and say hello.


If you're interested, do join the Facebook group for My Friend Sancho


Click here for more about my publisher, Hachette India.


And ah, my posts on India Uncut about My Friend Sancho can be found here.


Bastiat Prize 2007 Winner

Recent entries

Prodigy

I feel hugely sorry for this kid. In her world, it might be a huge deal to become “the…

Topless Women and the Indian Government

The Times of India reports: The government has banned Fashion TV for nine days after finding a program it…

The Hollywood Formula

Forget Robert McKee and Syd Field: If you want to learn how to make a successful Hollywood film, watch…

The Empire Strikes Back

Daniel Pepper of CMS has a worrying story up on how RTI activists in India are increasingly facing a…

When the Marshalls Go Marching In

This sentence says so much about the level of parliamentary debate in India today: Finally, marshals were called in…

11 May, 2009

Dear MS Gill

Dear MS Gill

Cricinfo states that you have objected to an SMS competition being run during the IPL on the grounds that it is “akin to betting and gambling.” I have two questions for you:

One, do you not gamble? If you have ever invested in the stock market, or in property, you have gambled. Indeed, every career choice you have made is effectively a gamble. We face choices at every stage in our lives, weigh up the risks involved, and make decisions. All of that is no less gambling than, say, betting that Matthew Hayden will score 10 runs in the next over.

Two, who are you (or the government) to tell people what to do with their money? You are there to serve us, not to rule us. Before you lecture us on how we spend our time and hard-earned money, consider that our taxes pay your salary and perks. What have you been up to as sports minister? Why is every sport administered by the government in India in such a complete and utter mess?

I’ll stop now. The Ministry for Self-Righteousness hasn’t given me a license to be sanctimonious, so I’ll leave that to you.

Regards

Amit Varma

*

Also read: Don’t Punish Victimless Crimes.

More open letters here. Hat tip: Rajeev Mantri.

Posted by Amit Varma in India | News | Sport | WTF

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