A a stripy affair

Last night Mahendra wore a tie of purple, white, and pink stripes. It was complemented by a pastel pink shirt, and his trusty navy suit. His hair was immaculate as usual - not a strand out of place.

However, I detected a certain hesitancy in his manner during his usual parting quip: "And that's a wrap for the English news [lengthy pause] tonight!"

Am glad the Raghunath managed to end off with that bright "tonight". Who knows if the sun will rise tomorrow, but at least the news on SABC 3 is a certainty, even if we don't know who'll be reading it...

Btw, missed the news on Tuesday night, but heard Mahendra was wearing a shocker of a tie. Please do add a comment if you happened to spot it.

Of ties, teaspoons and slide guitar

Tonight the Raghunath was sporting a pale pink shirt, and the very same tie he wore for his Top Billing shoot: pink with criss-crossing purple and white stripes. Shame, perhaps he is nostalgic for his 15 minutes of fame (more like three minutes, really!) on a magazine programme, but don't worry Mahendra, you still have your regular news-watching fans to keep you company (albeit of a virtual kind).

What I really want to know is when he'll wear his favourite red tie. Mahendra, if you're reading this, please humour us and wear it soon!

I am guilty of not always watching until the end of the news, but tonight I was glad I sat through it all, even the sport. The quirky "human interest" insert at the end was about a certain Hannes Coetzee, who has mastered the unlikely art of playing side guitar with a teaspoon. Check it out on Youtube.

This seemed to tickle The Raghunath's fancy, and he left us with the immortal line: "I s'pose you could call it 'spoonerism'". Hmmm, not really, but perhaps I'm just being a linguistic pedant?

Where in the world was Joanne?

Joanne clearly has some shifts to make up after her extended vacation, as she was on again tonight.

I wasn't quite sure about the overall affect of her outfit. A blue jacket, fairly standard, but underneath she wore what looked pretty much like a vest. In fact, it looked like the sort of vest that is the top half of thermal underwear. Perhaps she was more adventurous than we supposed, and went to Antarctica for her holiday?

This hypothesis was, however, undermined by her necklace. She wore one of those jobbies that is a simple necklace, but with strings of other beads hanging down from the main circle in strands (I'm sure our jeweller can supply us with a more technical term?). The beads themselves were vaguely circular, and of golden and bronze hue.

Actually, the necklace seemed very Cleopatra. Which begs the question: where Joanne go on holiday? Perhaps a world tour?

Mahendra confuses his seasons

I have a suspicion I may miss the news tonight, so let me quickly fill you in on yesterday's broadcast, so no one can accuse me of shirking my duties.

Mahendra was in top form. His red tie was seemingly tame, if fairly bright. But that was before I noticed the little white diamond motifs that graced said tie.

And then I realised: it was a Christmas cracker of a tie. Sorry mate, wrong season...

He wore a white shirt underneath. I couldn't tell if it boasted minute white ruffles (unlikely?) or if the contrast was created by fine off-white stripes. Forgive me, high-definition television hasn't made it to my house yet. In fact, my television is the very definition of extremely low definition, if you know what I mean.

Butternut soup on the menu again?

Although it's taken me a while to update my readers, I'll have you know last Friday night I managed to catch Mahendra repeating his tie, as he does on occasion.

The repetition had its educational value: previously I had classified this tie as cucurbita moschata, or butternut if you will, but on a friend's television screen, the tie had lost all its vibrancy, and looked but a pale version of its former self.

Considering I caught the news straight after going for a reiki treatment I was very much aware that orange is supposed to be a colour simply bursting with energy, but this particular tie seemed to be draining Mr Raghunath's natural confidence. His face looked wan and sallow, and his elocution was not up to standard, as his tongue tripped over 'the minister of m... m... minerals and energy...'. I am beginning to wonder if he needs work on some of his chakras?

The identity-crisis tie

Only spotted Mahendra briefly last night, as was on my way out...

His tie was a winner though. It featured:
1. broad grey and maroon stripes,
2. a medium-sized gold (his new favourite colour?) stripe, and
3. thin white stripes.

But then there was also a single, lonely, thin white stripe crossing over the other stripes. Check out the picture to see what I mean. All in all, the tie seemed to be making a woefully inadequate attempt at going plaid.

Butternut soup with cream

What was it about Mahendra's tie tonight? It was, dare I say it, subtle. Well almost.

The tie was a light orange - lets call it butternut - and its stripes were of a different texture, while remaining the same colour. It had the unfortunate tendency of making his shirt appear cream, but then, a dash of cream in butternut soup can be delicious, if fattening.

Mahendra was not the only object of fascination tonight though... During an insert showing Tony Blair, I observed that the British PM's tie was nowhere in sight. The shot was cut off abruptly, just under his chin, and I had to wait until the last few seconds of his interview to catch even a glimpse of his tie. (It could have been red and blue, but don't count on it - this is not a tip for the quiz).

What was up with the dodgy camera work? Did Tony issue the television crew with specific instructions to shield his tie? Is he trying to hide from our scrutiny?

Next up was the erstwhile JC Engelbrecht, dressed in a reddish tie (with a modest knot), a navy sweater, and a plaid scarf jauntily flung over his shoulders. When he announced the third cold front that will be hitting later this week, he won my sympathy for the scarf.

Mahendra - the red peril?

Tonight I sighted Mahendra's new haircut for the first time; it certainly brings out his inner schoolboy, and highlights the naughty twinkle in his eye.

The Raghunath was sporting a dark jarket of indeterminate hue, a white/off-white shirt, and a bold red tie. The tie was printed with white circle-like graphics, which looked like 'tribal swirls', as a fellow Mahendra watcher astutely observed.

Watching the insert about the untimely death of Percy Sonn, I was delighted to see the late Percy also had a fetish for brightly coloured ties. Archival footage showed him wearing one with broad stripes in hues of pink, gold, green and blue. Perhaps he was Mahendra's original style guru?

Normally I put down my pen during the inserts, but they seemed ripe for interpretation tonight. During the piece about the striking workers, I couldn't help but notice the many red banners carried by members of Nehawu.

The workers with red banners. Mahendra with a red tie. Could this be a subtle signal to his many admirers? Will he be running for president on a trade union ticket?

I had to switch off the television before my imagination got the better of me. Apologies to the weatherman: I will make an extra-special note on your attire the next time I tune in...

Mahendra enters succession race

Friday lunchtime news: Mahendra shifts focus from his new schoolboy haircut by wearing his presidential ensemble. That's right: a sensible dark jacket (black or navy, but who knows what the colour-balance settings on the cameras were), a white shirt, and a dark blue tie with a small white motif (or was it gold or grey - see comment on balance settings):



Now those of you who follow national and international news will notice that this kind of ensemble is favoured by presidents infamous and famous all over the world. Both Thabo Mbeki and George Bush have been spotted in similar shades of power. Could Mahendra be holding an ace up his sleeve? Will he run for president of South Africa? What would Sexwale do?

Raspberry Swirl

"He wears nice ties, sometimes," noted an acquaintance of mine earlier today.
"He also has funny ones," she added, which I thought was more on the mark.

I didn't ask her if she meant funny(strange) or funny(haha): Mahendra's ties switch with ease between the two categories, often occupying both simultaneously.

Tonight I found not only his tie, but his entire outfit, 'funny'.

His jacket was a shimmering silver (although perhaps that was just my television; it could have been merely a light grey), and curiously striped. The stripes themselves gave the effect of standing out from the jacket, reminding me of those hologram pictures that were all the rage in the early '90s. I had to keep blinking my eyes to see if they would go away, but they didn't.

I know quilted jackets are in this winter (again) - but an embossed jacket?! I'm not quite sure that Mahendra is on trend with this one.

Then there was the so-not-subtle stitching detail around the buttonhole on his lapel, which I suspect could become a trademark of Mahendra's style. This time it was in black (and when I went up close to the screen, there appeared to be white stitching, around the black stitching, around the buttonhole). It matched his microphone, but did not go at all with the light tone of the jacket.

Mahrendra's shirt was plum-coloured, and the most mundane part of his attire. It only gets one sentence. Or two, or three...

The tie itself? It was a showstopper! My guess is it was chosen in a well-intentioned attempt to match the jacket, the shirt, and the microphone, all at once. I can't swear I remember all the colours (my eyes were bamboozled at the time), but I noted tones of royal purple, grey, black, white, light pink, and maroon.

It looked like raspberry-swirl ice cream, when it is still in the container before you have disturbed its pristine, striped glory.

Sometimes I feel as if Mahendra is teasing us all...

[See also "Goeie Genugtig..."]

Graeme Mahendra Simon

Last night, Mahendra appeared in a deep-black jacket, a cloudwhite (or is it light blue?) shirt and a tie that needs to be seen to be believed. Half-inch diagonal stripes in red, gold, pink and blue-gold. As Mahendra moved, some of the stripes changed colour! Thus blue-gold, thus the northern lights tie!



'Have a super weekend,' he said, 'Good night.'

'But not good luck,' said AT.

But now, what's going on with Simon Weatherman Gear? In his black jacket a la Mahendra, blue-grey (battleship grey?) shirt and dusty pink tie? He be trying hard, but the man not the Mahendra.

And Graeme Hyperactive Richards? In a fudge shirt and chocolate pullover vest? WTF, as the yoot might say? Fudge and chocolate!?

Mahendra ruffled?

I flicked to the news just in time to hear Mahendra reading the headlines: '...while protests continued... etc.' I was excited that I had managed to spot him at last, but his tone of voice struck me as unneccessarily gleeful for the subject matter.

Yes, Mahendra was back!

His hair was done in his customary '50s style; his jacket had the usual sheen; his tie was a muted pink (well, truth be told, it was fairly bright in tone, but these things are relative); yet it was his shirt that perturbed me most. Faint salmon stripes that (on my old television set) could easily be mistaken for miniature ruffles, or tucks? Whatever they were, the effect was decidedly odd.

It's snowing here, Live!

I have an 80 000 word thesis to write before the morning, so quickly: The Mahendra was spotted through a light snow (coldfront moving in) in his black jacket, white shirt and a not too obnoxious pink tie. AT, however, is deeply ambivalent about it, and the crimson buttonhole, AT says, clashes a bit with the tie.

AT was also concerned with a certain ashened look to The Raghunath's eyebrows. I couldn't discern it through the snowy set. Perhaps, I mused, he had to contend with Joanne's make-up artist.

Back!

Mahendra was spotted last night. What a sharp-looking image he cut in his black jacket, white shirt and deep red tie. Am my eyes deceiving me or did I notice a slightly more modest knot in that tie?

My own bloggocism of course wants me to believe that the Mahendra might be checking in here (who hasn't googled themselves, ey?), and perhaps one should be more supportive of his attempts at moderating his style - if a slightly modest knot is evidence of such. But Mahendra might be alarmed to learn that ties are going in a completely opposite direction: the stringy bit is making a comeback, according to a piece at IOL.

I am alarmed. Give us modest ties, not spectacles veering from too wide to a piece of string!

LIVE! LIVE! LIVE!

Mahendra!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's AT on tonight's spotting: "Oh no. That Pick'n'Pay's Choice Mixed-berry fruit juice shirt is not his colour. Makes him look pallid. Hate his tie. It's a disgrace."

Dis grys, I say. Aloemenum.

That's that plummy shirt with that aluminium jacket. Silver shivers... it's the first noticed repeat performance by the Raghunath! I'm sure I missed many, but this is one not difficult to spot.

BTW, one for the statisticians and egos: Readers or bots from as far afield as Modesto and LA, CA, as well as Babson Park (?welcome, I guess?), yes, that's Babson Park, FLA, have pondered Mahendra's fashion felonies. In London too, a reader-bot looks in on Mahendra's fashion faux pas. Durban has a bot or two as well.

David Bullard, alas, has not signed on.

Mahendra by VCR Proxy

AT, a fellow Mahendra-watcher is experiencing a glitch in the system, so hereby a proxy report on Mahendra spotted VCR-Live! as ever on 2 May:

"[I]magine my surprise to find our man on my video tape reading the 'News in 60 Seconds' just before 'Hard Copy' with the promise of being back at 10pm! And he wore his Northern
Lights tie with a Broken Pink shirt, which is like Broken White only
Pink, and a fetching Grey jacket. I nearly mistook the huge tie knot
for his head but common sense prevailed and I did not panic...so
nearly 100% Mahendra." -AT

Spotted!!!!!!!

Mahendra spotted in a black jacket, white shirt and a striped tie. Half-inch diagonals alternating between bloody red and what looked like marbled pink. He looked fine, and would have looked finer as a newsreader if he could only tone down on that tie. The tie, Mr Mahendra! Really!

Matinee Mahendra

It looks like Mr Mahendra may after all have gone off to a matinee disco because he was back reading the evening news last night in the same aluminium and plum combination. What AT calls his ringmaster's outfit.

Fellow-watcher AT also pointed to a slight discoloration under Mr Mahendra's left eye and what looked like swelling on his cheeks. Is it bad make-up, too little sleep? What's up with the puffy face? He has been away from the box for a few days... was it plastic surgery?

Goeie genugtig! Is dit aloemenum?

[Good Lord! Is this aluminium?]

That's the colour of his jacket, people, Live! at lunch. With that deep plummy shirt and plummy striped tie. My gawd! It's lunchtime Mahendra, not disco-time!

A fleeting glimpse...

...that lasted about 15 seconds. Mahendra looked good, as if he was glad to see us. His tie, however, was disappointing. In my consternation I managed to make out something in red and black diagonal stripes. Could he be going to the tote after work tonight? A tie like that can only lead to betting on horses.