‘Why again—we’ve already spoken about the dangers for children—we can’t harp on the same thing every week,’ Ed says.

‘It’s not the same thing. Ratan is getting an interview with this airhostess—someone had put up a fake profile of hers with her phone number and residential address on Facebook. The woman and her family received many harassing phone calls and emails. Ratan has somehow managed to track her down,’ Sinha says.

‘Where is Ratan?’ Ed asks. ‘He should be here discussing his stories at the edit meet instead of—’

‘He’s not in for the edit meeting today because he’s tracking some other people who’ve been traumatized through Facebook,’ Sinha explains.

‘I also have a feeling this whole social networking thing will get bigger—the police seem to be taking a lot of interest; there’s talk of banning content on Facebook,’ Sinha says.

‘I am not convinced, but if you insist, go ahead with it. However, the Facebook story cannot be lead—unless we have naked pictures of that airhostess,’ Ed says smugly.

Comma looks at him disapprovingly, Sinha merely shrugs.

‘Mita has a couple of story ideas too and since she is present, I’ll let her tell you about them,’ Sinha says and nods at Mita.

Mita looks extremely pleased at being singled out.

‘I had two stories really. The first is about a couple; they were murdered near Karnal—honour killing … to have honour killings so close to the capital—you know, India shining?’ Mita ventures hesitantly.

She looks around at the faces and realizes everyone looks interested in what she is saying, she beams at the attention.

‘I also have a lighter story: Bollywood item girl Sakhi Rawat was kissed by that pop singer Kuka—’

‘Done to death,’ Ed interrupts Mita. ‘The channels have been all over it—Barkha Dutt had a go at it, Vir Sanghvi chatted about it, Suhel Seth and Mahesh Bhatt said their two bits and it was even mentioned in that coffee show. As I said, it’s done to death—we don’t have anything new to add.’

‘The story has exactly what you ask for Ed—provocative action,’ Sinha says.

‘And how is that?’ Ed asks peeved.

‘Every channel and newspaper has reported the incident as a news story—Kuka kisses Sakhi, Shiv Sena reacts etc. We take it a bit further—we use it as an example to show the chasm between the youth and the political system,’ Sinha says.

Ed looks blank.

‘The political system of India still has its head stuck up its arse while the Indian youth is going increasingly digital—they talk with friends online, play games online and even have their matrimonials online. A mere kiss—like the Kuka-Sakhi-kiss—does not offend the youth; in fact they’re not even bothered about it. However the right-wing parties treat it as if someone has outraged Mother India’s modesty—’