Why you can trust Lonely Planet Magazine India

Here's the Lonely Planet Magazine India "promise" (as printed on the Editor's Page):

Lonely Planet Magazine India provides trusted, independent travel advice and information that has been gathered without fear or favour. We aim to provide you with options that cover a range of budgets and we reveal the positive and negative of all locations we visit.

Because we believe it is important that our journalists experience first-hand what they're writing about and because you require comprehensive information from every corner of the world, at times it may be necessary for us to seek assistance from travel providers such as tourist boards, airlines, hotels, national parks, etc. However, when receiving such assistance, we ensure our editorial integrity and independence are not compromised though the following measures:

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  by publishing information on all appropriate travel suppliers and not just those who provided us with assistance

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  by never promising to offer anything in return, such as positive coverage.

How many magazines in India can make such a promise -- and deliver on it?

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Living up to the Lonely Planet reputation can't be easy but this magazine does it with elan. Pick up a copy (it's not available on the web, sadly) and you'll see what I mean. Also study the readers' photos, and the captions -- the March issue has some superlative contributions from readers. You should send in your pictures, too.

What do you do when your 42-year-old brother...

...is a low-functioning autistic? How do you write about his plight -- and his future -- sensitively?

Read this moving article in Time.

Photo courtesy: Time

Larry King: 50+ years in television

Do you agree with the perception that you ask soft questions? -- Michael West, Copenhagen

Larry King (pictured here at the mike in the late '70s): Don't agree with it. I'm not there to pin someone to the wall. If I were to begin an interview with [speaker of the House of Representatives] Nancy Pelosi and say "Why did you lie about torture?" the last thing I'll learn is the truth. I'd be putting them on the defensive to make me look good. At that point, they're a prop. To me, the guest is not a prop.

To read some more questions and King's perceptive answers in a recent issue of Time, go here.
 
And go here to absorb the seven lessons from King's life.

• Photo courtesy: TV Guide

Some gems from Time Out Bengaluru

1. Tintin in Hindi

Instead of barking, "billions and billions of blistering blue barnacles," Captain Haddock is lilkely to holler, "karodon karod kasmasate kale kachhuve" -- millions and millions of squirming turtles.

2. The gent who sings, "I want to eat Chicken 65 on a Madurai tree"

Time Out tracks down an internet phenomenon.

3. A day in the life of... The Monkey King

The case of a simian climber drawing crowds at the ramparts of an ancient fort.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

The Monkey King is also quite the showman, pretending to slip, or twist his hand when climbing a sheer rock face, while the curious bunch of onlookers that he inevitably attracts gasp in utter horror. Each time that he lands back on firm ground after a climb, his audience crowds around him, clamouring for his autograph and requesting him to pose with them for photographs.

Read the full piece here. (Want to shoot a documentary on this minor YouTube superstar?)

4. How do you review a fitness video?

Arati Rao shows you how.

5. And how do you write a review of a "military hotel"?

Learn from Jaideep V.G.

(That concluding paragraph is one to be savoured.)

6. A brief book review...

...by Joshua Muyiwa, who addressed the First Years at Commits a few months ago. (His last paragraph adds local flavour to the review.)

7. Even the film reviews are a treat to read.

Check out the LSD review by Nandini Ramnath. It's not on the website yet, sadly.

8. You may not walk into these dives for a drink...

...but you will be full of admiration for the Time Out reviewers who did and then came up with these intelligent and spot-on critiques. Go to the home page and under 'Search Bengaluru' type in the keywords Burton Wines, followed by Night Booze Bar. Better still, read the reviews in the magazine because on the web the review of Night Booze Bar is an older version.

The angry young woman

Arundhati Roy went to meet the Maoists in Chhattisgarh recently and wrote a long (thousands of words) essay for Outlook. Read the essay here.

And then read a critique of the essay by Salil Tripathi in Mint:

"Maoists have killed many and manipulated many more. Their latest victim is Arundhati Roy, who uses her gift of writing vivid prose to clothe their trite claims with poetic adornment. She equates their cynical quest for power with the genuine demands, rights and concerns of the people who live in the forests. She gives new meaning to the binary logic of 'us or them', something she ridiculed when George W. Bush used it. Without having been the Maoists’ hostage, Roy has caught the bug called the Stockholm Syndrome."

Read the full column here.

The angry old man

"Amitabh Bachchan has the right to speak out, but we expect more from our greatest icon." Thus writes Sidharth Bhatia in Mint.

Why is Amitabh lashing out on his blog at his critics? Has he become too touchy? Read Bhatia's thought-provoking opinion piece here.

"The five traits of a successful writer"

I am usually wary of most of the self-published content on the net, but this Aussie blogger seems to have given some thought to what goes into the making of a successful writer. Here are his views (you must read the comments too).

Headline howlers and other bloopers

UPDATE (October 15, 2013): Friend and former colleague David D'Souza has helpfully posted a link on Facebook to a website that has unearthed more publishing howlers. Check it out here: "Unfortunate publishing layouts of our time".

UPDATE (June 18, 2014): Commitscion Ashwin Shanker (Class of 2015) posted this link on my Facebook timeline today: “Homicide Victims Rarely Talk to Police,” and Other Horrible Headlines. Thanks, Ashwin! 

UPDATE (July 2, 2014): Sai Sir has just e-mailed this list to me with the subject line, "Have fun in class!"

58 Headlines They Didn't Mean!

Headlines are important. They advertise and market the information that follows. Sometimes, it goes horribly wrong...

1. Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says
2. Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers
3. Safety Experts Say School Bus Passengers Should Be Belted
4. Drunk Gets Nine Months in Violin Case
5. Survivor of Siamese Twins Joins Parents
6. Farmer Bill Dies in House
7. Iraqi Head Seeks Arms
8. Is There a Ring of Debris around Uranus?
9. Stud Tires Out
10. Prostitutes Appeal to Pope
11. Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over
12. Soviet Virgin Lands Short of Goal Again
13. British Left Waffles on Falkland Islands
14. Lung Cancer in Women Mushrooms
15. Eye Drops off Shelf
16. Teacher Strikes Idle Kids
17. Reagan Wins on Budget, But More Lies Ahead
18. Squad Helps Dog Bite Victim
19. Shot Off Woman's Leg Helps Nicklaus to 66
20. Enraged Cow Injures Farmer with Ax
21. Plane Too Close to Ground, Crash Probe Told
22. Miners Refuse to Work after Death
23. Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant
24. Stolen Painting Found by Tree
25. Two Soviet Ships Collide, One Dies
26. Two Sisters Reunited after 18 Years in Checkout Counter
27. Killer Sentenced to Die for Second Time in 10 Years
28. Never Withhold Herpes Infection from Loved One
29. Drunken Drivers Paid $1000 in `84
30. War Dims Hope for Peace
31. If Strike isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last a While
32. Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures
33. Enfields Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide
34. Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge
35. Deer Kill 17,000
36. Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead
37. Man Struck by Lightning Faces Battery Charge
38. New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group
39. Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft
40. Kids Make Nutritious Snacks
41. Chef Throws His Heart into Helping Feed Needy
42. Arson Suspect is Held in Massachusetts Fire
43. British Union Finds Dwarfs in Short Supply
44. Ban On Soliciting Dead in Trotwood
45. Lansing Residents Can Drop Off Trees
46. Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half
47. New Vaccine May Contain Rabies
48. Man Minus Ear Waives Hearing
49. Deaf College Opens Doors to Hearing
50. Air Head Fired
51. Steals Clock, Faces Time
52. Prosecutor Releases Probe into Undersheriff
53. Old School Pillars are Replaced by Alumni
54. Bank Drive-in Window Blocked by Board
55. Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors
56. Some Pieces of Rock Hudson Sold at Auction
57. Sex Education Delayed, Teachers Request Training
58. Include your Children When Baking Cookies

Speaking with authority

Mint has this great series called Spot Light for advertising and marketing professionals. An expert is asked to comment on an ad campaign, the new Adidas TVC, for example, and his or her views convey a great deal to us about why something works (or doesn't).

Here's Prakash Varma (the Hutch pug, the Vodafone zoozoos) on the Adidas campaign.

Advertising and marketing students will benefit from bookmarking Spot Light and reading the comments every week.

Real? Staged? The NYT Public Editor weighs in on a serious journalistic issue

"The front page of Sunday’s Times carried an arresting photo atop an investigative article about the dangers of driving while distracted by a cellphone. Shot from the back seat of a car going more than 60 miles per hour — the speedometer is plainly visible — the picture showed a 16-year-old driver texting with both hands while another youth in the passenger seat steadied the steering wheel with his left hand.

"Readers wondered if the picture was real or staged, whether the photographer did anything to stop the risky behavior — and who these teens were and how they related to the accompanying article, which never mentioned them and focused on another young man living with the consequences of causing a fatal accident while talking on his cellphone."

Go here to read the full column:

See how this column incorporates readers' reactions and then clarifies the position by talking to the photographer involved. What do you think?

• Photo courtesy: The New York Times