This one’s too special to delay posting :

Air India breaks sarod, Ustad Amjad Ali’s heart

For the last 25 years, this instrument has been Ustad Amjad Ali Khan’s constant companion. It has travelled with him far and wide, earning applause for the maestro and laurels for the country. On Thursday, however, the jugalbandi between the Ustad and his beloved sarod ended somewhat abruptly. The instrument came out of the belly of an Air India flight — cracked and broken and perhaps unplayable for ever — after about an hour of spending time there.

The polite-to-a-fault musician does not intend to sue or ask for compensation from the airline. “Had it been any other international airline, I would have sued it. But the damage has been done by our national carrier and I want to appeal to the officials to at least learn to take care of musicians like us,’’ he said.

Right from the headline, to the first paragraph — reading which the writer would’ve learnt yoga for a month and then patted himself on the back — every detail of the article is delightful. I can also envision future headlines :

Air India breaks Hariprasad’s flute, heart.

Air India breaks bat, Tendulkar cries at airport.

Air India breaks Sreesanth’s balls.

More power to you Air India, as long as you don’t use the power to break things. As for Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, may I suggest writing a song on these lines :

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