Aids Sutra:

Untold Stories from India.

"The country takes a back seat to Africa when it comes to world awareness of the disease. Essayists reveal a culture of repression and shame."


Actually, India's epidemic deserves this collection devoted to raising awareness about a third-world catastrophe; however, it seems to me HIV/AIDS doesn't even warrant a back seat in the various media of first-world countries (where it's lucky to catch a lift in the trunk) of the lovely bullet-proof limosine at the ready for members of the celebritocrisy.

(Look no further than the book's provocative title which inspires ambivalence in yours truly. On the one hand, one hopes the book will sell kazoodles; on the other, it borders on poor taste. Put both hands together and say a prayer for the needlessly departed. Does the end justify the means? I can't help but wonder what Jay Scott or Gina-Sue Romero or Freddie Mercury or . . . [^i^] would've thought about it, for example.)

The facts: Every five minutes, a human being perishes from the affliction; statistics indicate two-thirds of the infected reside in Africa; but, it's a global problem rarely making headlines in this, the twenty-worst century (unless the scouraged one happens to be a somebody). Millions suffer; millions die; but, IMO, neither vaccine nor cure exists since BigPharma would go bullistic ipso-quicko. (No punchline could possibly do justice to the carnage wrought by this universal plague.)