Honeybees and souls

A SCANDALOUS film appeared online this spring showing Salman Khurshid, a former Indian foreign minister, dancing with the wife of Germany’s ambassador to Delhi. The couple shared a picnic, flirted on a park bench and stroked each other’s hair beside a moonlit pool. Rather than outrage, however, the video won roars of approval. Set to a romantic song, it was a clever pastiche of a Bollywood hit, Kal Ho Naa Ho (There May Or May Not Be A Tomorrow). The German embassy produced it to promote cultural ties and prove that Germans have a sense of humour. It has since been watched over 1m times.