You see, this is why you begin to mistrust journalists. The passive sensationalism is, ironically blatant. I am referring to an article in the Indian Express .

Before I begin I’ll reproduce the article here….

China considered India ‘bottomless pit’ for foreign aid

Agencies Tags : Jawaharlal Nehru, Richard Nixon, Indira Gandhi

Posted: Sunday , Jan 24, 2010 at 1217 hrs

New Delhi:

While former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru coined the famous slogan ‘Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai’, China considered him ‘discourteous’ and India to be ‘bottomless pit’ for foreign aid.

It also held the view that it was a ‘pity’ that late prime minister Indira Gandhi "has also taken as her legacy the philosophy of her father embodied in the book Discovery of India," which China believes revealed his idea of a great Indian empire encompassing Malaysia, Ceylon among others.

The comments were made by former Chinese Prime Minister Chou En Lai to former American President Richard Nixon, who famously called Gandhi a ‘bitch’ and a ‘witch’ while his National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger called Indians ‘bastards’.

The comments are now a part of the book ‘Nixon, Indira and India: Politics and Beyond’ written by a senior journalist Kalyani Shankar.

What this article is actually talking about, is a Cold-War-era conversation between a United States president and a Chinese Prime Minister, about India. India was all buddy-buddy with the Soviet Union at this time, much to the dismay of the US, and of course, China had already gone to war with India over territorial ambitions. In effect, these two political figures were talking about their counterparts in what they essentially considered to be a hostile country. It is rather tame language when talking about someone you think is your enemy, no?

Yet, this article (and that is it in its entirety) , provides only the juiciest tit-bits, without any context whatsoever – no doubt to rile up the sentiments of those Indians who read it upon seeing their leaders being insulted.

Of course, this is excellent promotion for the upcoming book, although if Mr.Shankar has a shred of decency as a political writer, he will want to give the journalist a piece of his mind, and I hope that includes some expletives.