The thought behind the recently released book titled, ‘101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived’ is simple; it basically aims to explain “how characters of myth, legends, television, and the movies have shaped our society, changed our behaviour and set the course of history”.

And what prompted the authors to come up with this idea?

Authors Allan Lazar, Dan Karlan and Jeremy Salter say: “The idea came to us that influential characters didn’t have to exist, that fictional characters were just as important in our lives, even in some cases more so than real people.”

Topping the list in a book is surprisingly The Marlboro Man - a 1950s marketing creation to boost cigarette sales. The book’s three US co-authors say that his biggest influence has been to cause the death of millions from cancer.

Only characters that have managed to “shape society, change our behaviour, and set the course of history” made the list. For example, the ever popular Barbie is ranked 43rd and is blamed for “setting an impossible standard for beauty and style”. Santa Claus is placed at number four position because he “makes us believe we are entitled to goodies just for living in an affluent society, and governs our entire economy for the last quarter of the year”.

Even the dreaded Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde made it to the list and that too at number ten position.

Now if the same philosophy is given a touch of our desi-tadka then the following fictional characters would definitely top my list.

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The word ‘Justice’ in the Indian context has been twisted and molded by the ones with power and money for many years now. A regular citizen is continuously made a mockery off or a scapegoat by our judiciary system and its enforcers. In today’s day-an-age where an educated person is so easily twisted and broken in the web-of-law, one cannot even begin to imagine the struggle of an illiterate women hailing from a small village in UP. Many in her situation would have either bottled up the pain or easily succumbed to the pressure of those responsible for her ordeal.

But Imrana chose to take her destiny in her own hands and fight for her sanity. She was not only up against her own people but also defied the ruling of a Muslim community panchayat who had asked Imrana (a mother of five children) to treat her rapist as her husband. They declared her marriage with Nur Ilahi as haraam or illegal, since the rapist was her father in-law.

Finally after a year-long struggle, her courageous act paid off. A Muzaffarnagar district court yesterday convicted Ali Mohammad of the charge of raping his daughter-in-law Imrana and sentenced him to 10 years imprisonment. The judge also directed 70-year-old Mohammed to pay a compensation of Rs. 8,000 to his daughter-in-law. On a separate charge of criminal intimidation, he was sentenced to three years in prison and fined Rs. 3,000.

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Jerome Taylor flying high

I mean from the past couple of matches that have been played in the current Champions Trophy it seems like the (so-called) under-dogs are taking over the game.

First we had New Zealand beat South Africa fair and square, then we saw Pakistan in a way thrash the daylights out of the Sri Lankan team and just yesterday the West Indian slammed a victory across the invincible Australian Team.

The Guardian reports:

Any doubts concerning the intensity of the competition in the ICC Trophy were dispelled last night when West Indies, humiliated in their final qualifying match against Sri Lanka after being bowled out for 80, defeated Australia by 10 runs in Mumbai last night. Their young fast bowler Jerome Taylor took his side’s first hat-trick in a one-day international.

The defending ICC Trophy champions were in early trouble at 63 for four before Lara and Morton came together to put on 137. Lara, who was applauded all the way to the crease by the predominantly Indian crowd, began circumspectly, but gradually gained in confidence to score 71 in 94 balls. Morton made 90, although the general feeling at the end of the innings was that the West Indies’ total of 234 for six was perhaps 20 or 30 runs short.

Gilchrist had eschewed his natural flamboyance for, as Lara had demonstrated, it takes time to get a measure of the slow Indian pitches. He waited for bad balls and punished them severely. However, once he had gone, Australia had nobody else to follow suit, and West Indies displayed some commendable bowling discipline. “We were pretty happy chasing that sort of total, but we didn’t play well enough,” said Ponting.

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