Charu and Ram Madhvani

I’ve never quite liked Charu Sharma’s moderation. A little too smug for his own good on television. But he’s refreshing to have around when idiocy is starring on television. The other night on NDTV, Latika Khaneja, Ajay Jadeja, and Ram Madhvani were tossing up various reasons why the league would and wouldn’t work. Madhvani almost fell of his chair trying to make a point. He was forceful, and persuasive. But Charu, who wasn’t in the studio, wouldn’t bite. “Ram,” he began, “we know you have an IQ of 444[ed-something like it], but…” I forget the rest. But before he began, as he listened to Sonali, he had a smile I’d seen somewhere before on television. The kind of smile that says, “You fool, which world do you live in?” It was by Harish Thawani, early last year, on a split screen with Dasmunshi, with the minister raving about India not being a “banana country” [he meant republic], and that everyone had the right to watch cricket.

Charu finally has a good place on television.