Archie to Get Married!

Come August, our lovable 65-year old freckle-faced Archie will give up his bachelorhood and settle for either Betty or Veronica. The official website of Archie Comics mentions that issue no. 600 will be titled – “Archie Gets Married: Part 1” and will be on sale on 19 August 2009.

The official blog says –
“What would lead Archie to have marriage on his mind? And who would he choose Veronica or Betty? How will Betty react? How will Veronica react? Can Archie shake off his klutzy past and hold down a steady job... for more than a month? One thing is certain: this will be the biggest Archie Comics story ever!”

I find the idea of a married Archie rather amusing, and wonder if this is just a rumour to up the sales. Handling such a story will be tricky. The whole ploy of Archies Comic stories revolves around this cute love triangle with Betty –> Archie –> Veronica. How would Archie Comic Publications handle this big twist in the tale without losing the reader's interest? The news has already divided the readers who are pouring their opinions on the choice of bride.

Most opinion polls and comments left on the website have suggested Betty as the obvious choice for her unselfish love and adoration for Archie. Majority of readers feel Archie ‘owes’ it to Betty. But don’t forget most stories in Archie end up with Veronica getting Archie, so its quite possible it may happen this way in this story as well. Archie himself seems to be more drawn physically to Veronica and runs off to Betty only for emotional support.

Betty’s parents have never opposed to Archie as her boyfriend unlike Mr. Lodge who simply detests Archie. Will Veronica risk losing her father’s love and temper or will she get impulsive and marry Archie even if that means being disowned by Mr. Lodge? Chances are Reggie will also try to play some dirty tricks to keep Archie from marrying

Will Betty be able to keep Archie away from Veronica and other girls after she marries him? Or will she be outwitted by Veronica?

Or will it have a cliché ending where it is shown as a dream bubble bursting when Betty wakes up.

My best guess is Archie will pick neither Betty nor Veronica, how about the red-haired beauty Cheryl, who has in the past walked away with Archie in the end panels with Betty and Veronica watching helplessly.

Tell me what you think?

“Convert to Christianity, you will get admission”

It seems convent-school education is not just overrated but also a means of propagating forced conversion. My domestic help, Parvathy (name changed) discovered this appalling truth after she approached a local church for a recommendation letter for her son’s admissions in May.

The Father (name withheld) of the church saw the opportunity of influencing a vulnerable Hindu family into ‘embracing’ Christianity on the pretext of ‘allowing’ school admission. “If you want school admission in that school, you and your husband should become Christians,” he said to my domestic help who was asked to approach the Church for a recommendation letter by the school where she wanted her son’s admission.

Parvathy was not only taken aback but was scared to further talk about school admission with anyone from the Church or the school.

The stories of forced conversions are not new across India but I never imagined it would be happening in my neighbourhood right in the middle of a posh locality such as Benson Town. The lone church on Nandidurga Road (Opposite to State Bank of Mysore) stands out for its stone exterior. The church however displays no name board outside it so I really don’t know the name of the church.

This incident has not only rattled my belief in convent school admission system but also my faith in the harmonious existence of Christian Missionaries in Bangalore. Last year there were spurts of violence related to religious conversions being ‘engineered’ by few missionaries and the heat was felt in Mangalore and Bangalore.

It seems like some missionaries have still not refrained from ‘forcing’ people to convert either on the pretext of poverty or school admission and god knows what else. Karnataka is yet to approve an ‘Anti-Conversion’ Law aimed mainly to curb religious conversions made by “force, fraud or allurement.” Such a law has already been adopted in states such as Orissa, Arunachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. Human rights groups are however opposed to such laws saying that this could be used by Hindu nationalists to harass Christians. I wonder what Human Rights Groups have to say about this despicable attempt by the Father of this church.

My husband and my mother-in-law have also studied in a Convent school and they couldn’t believe such a barter system existed of exchanging your faith for school education. I reminded them that in their case they were wealthy enough to give donations unlike Parvathy.

This attempt made by the Father of this church only shows how easy it could be to prey on any desperate (SC/ST) Hindu family for conversion. There is plenty of statistics available online on the number of forced conversions across India but I am glad Parvathy didn’t get added to that list. She returned home with her religion and dignity intact and she swears she will never think of Convent education for her sons ever again.

PS: Please do not take this post as a platform to instigate communal disharmony, nor am I against willful conversion. I am reporting a true incident and my comment is restricted to the particular action of this Church. I dont see how or why anyone should get offended on reading this blog. Kindly leave your comments wisely and unemotionally.

“Cant lodge your FIR, we’ve run out of paper”

The Electronics City Police station (Bangalore) it seems has become so modern and paperless in their operation that they don’t even have paper for writing an FIR. We made this ‘paperless’ discovery when we approached the police station to record the accident of our car that was hit by a fast moving Sumo cab coming at right angles just 100 yards from the Police Station.

The cop at the station coolly heard our incident but put his hands up when we asked him to write our FIR before the cabbie driver got the benefit of doing so ahead of us. “Sorry Sar, we don’t have paper to write your FIR” he replied. Could it be because of the grand success of e-drive by the IT honchos that influenced our efficient police force?

Even a week later the FIR has not been lodged by them, our offer to provide them reams of paper from our office was also rejected. Instead the offer of Rs 1000 went down pretty well with them. And so turn the wheels within the wheels.