Author Tom Wolfe dead at 88
New York, May 16: Award winning writer and journalist Tom Wolfe, who is noted for works like "The Bonfire of the Vanities", "The Right Stuff" and "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" has passed away in the US. He was 88.
Wolfe who pioneered "new journalism" passed away in Manhattan on Monday, his agent confirmed the news to the New York Times on Tuesday. He had been hospitalised with an infection.
Wolfe, who began working as a journalist for the New York Herald Tribune in 1962, was a pioneer of "new journalism", which melded traditional reporting methods and literary fiction techniques.
Born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1930, Wolfe attended Washington and Lee for undergraduate and Yale for his Ph.D. before moving to New York in the 1960s, the New York Post reported.
Wolfe worked as a reporter at the Springfield Union in Massachusetts and as the Latin American correspondent for the Washington Post.
His first book "The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby" was a collection of essays originally published in Esquire magazine.
While the stories have no connecting theme, this is the first book that gave early examples of New Journalism.
Wolfe's other books include "The Pump House Gang", "Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers", "The Painted Word" and "Mauve Gloves & Madmen, Clutter & Vine" which includes his well-known essay about the "Me Decade."
His best-selling book "The Right Stuff" which is about rocket airplane experiments after World War II and the Project Mercury astronauts, won the American Book Award for nonfiction, the National Institute of Arts and Letters Harold Vursell Award for prose style, and the Columbia Journalism Award.
Wolfe's first novel "The Bonfire of the Vanities," was first serialised in Rolling Stone magazine and came out as a book three years later. It followed the greed, racism and social classes of New York City in the 1980s.
Wolfe is survived by his wife, Sheila, and two children, Alexandra and Tommy.
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Porsche car crash case exposed systemic corruption: Pune police commissioner
Pune (PTI): The Porsche car crash case exposed "systemic corruption," but the Pune Police have successfully uncovered the nexus behind the replacement of the accused juvenile's blood samples with those of his mother, Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar said on Wednesday.
The case made national headlines after the high-end car allegedly driven by the 17-year-old boy in an inebriated state mowed down motorcycle-borne IT professionals Anish Awadhiya and Ashwini Costa in the Kalyani Nagar area on May 19 last year.
"Last year’s Porsche car crash case sparked widespread discussions about Pune’s deteriorating social culture, alleged police corruption, and several other issues. Amid all the criticism, one positive aspect stood out: the case exposed systemic corruption.
"It also demonstrated how the police, working within the same system, managed to uncover the entire nexus behind the replacement of the juvenile’s blood samples with those of his mother," Kumar said while addressing Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan, an initiative aimed at raising awareness against drug addiction, organised at Modern College.
He added that the juvenile has been released since he was a minor.
"However, his mother has remained in jail for over a year, and his father continues to be behind bars. Doctors from Sassoon Hospital and others involved are also still in jail," Kumar said, adding that one mistake by a child, and an attempt by his parents to cover it up, destroyed an entire family.
He said the police will follow up on this case until every guilty person is punished.
Kumar also appealed to students to stay away from intoxicating substances and drugs.
"You are not only endangering your own life but also putting your entire family at risk," he said, urging the youth not to fall prey to harmful addictions.
"Instead, stand strong and act as a force to ensure that drug abuse is curbed in your surroundings. We assure you of full police support," he added.
He further stated that if youth from all colleges unite and decide to end this menace, "the day is not far when not even one gram of drug will be sold in the city".
The investigation into the car crash had revealed that the juvenile's blood samples were replaced with those of his mother.
The roles of Dr Ajay Taware, head of the forensic department, Medical Officer Shreehari Halnor, and a hospital staffer came under scrutiny.
While the mother is currently out on bail, the juvenile’s father, Sassoon Hospital doctors Taware and Halnor, staffer Atul Ghatkamble, two middlemen, Ashpak Makandar and Amar Gaikwad, and others remain in jail for the alleged blood sample swap.
