Don’t get me wrong.

There is one amusing ad making the rounds of the idiot box just now. Its subtext is completely out of kilter with its own original intent. In trying to persuade the Indian metrosexual to take to a fairness cream, it unintentionally pokes fun at two desi demigods: cricket and people born with safed chamdi, preferably from abroad.

In it, the pretty girl busses the metrosexual businessman because he has apparently used the product with positive results. In the process, she pointedly ignores a star Indian cricketer as well as two white skinned colleagues of his.

Kya yaar, Doni?

The new apple in Mumbai’s eye? (Hint: It puts Mumbai on par with the Big Apple.)

One lives and learns, I guess. A little over two years ago, I first read in the press about a brand new social animal that had infiltrated the Indian Page 3 milieu. Can you guess who? I shall give you a hint in the form of a definition: “A dandyish narcissist in love with not only himself, but also his urban lifestyle”. Mark Simpson, the original inventor of this social prototype, defines it as “a young man with money to spend, living in or within easy reach of a metropolis – because that's where all the best shops, clubs, gyms and hairdressers are. … [also] … officially gay, straight or bisexual, … [which is] utterly immaterial because he has clearly taken himself as his own love object and pleasure as his sexual preference. Particular professions, such as modeling, waiting tables, media, pop music and, nowadays, sport, seem to attract them but, truth be told, like male vanity products and herpes, they're pretty much everywhere.” (Sounds pejorative, almost scurrilous, and scarcely desirable, does it not?) Apparently, the arrival of this exotic and exclusive life form in our midst has now blessed Mumbai with a global status on par with the Big Apple. How very fortunate! We’ve our world-standard fashion industry as well as our widespread urban prosperity to thank for the new arrival, I’m told. And, who is the beneficiary of this bonanza? All those who come under the ‘grooming industry’ umbrella, who else? Find more enlightenment on the new social phenomenon here: http://www.wordspy.com/words/metrosexual.asp