What a week it's been! From the highs of the amazing win of an independent low budget movie, Slumdog Millionaire at the Oscars to the lows of Gujarat's Hepatitis B outbreak. 60 people dead, the youngest a 6-day old baby, because unscrupulous doctors were part of a racket of using old syringes, literally syringes of death for unsuspecting patients.

I'm no admirer of Narendra Modi, but the speed with which the state responded on shutting down this racket after our reporter Joydeep Ray tracked down the main dealer, is commendable. In fact, in what's probably a first for a state government, raids began even before the story aired. Yet, it's still a matter of shame that life remains so cheap in our country, many of those doctors are already out on bail.

In our 24/7 news universe, stories like this co exist with stories of unexpected triumph. Forget the debate about whether Slumdog is an Indian movie or not? Who cares? Its a plot straight out of Bollywood, complete with two brothers, one of them bad with a heart of gold, improbable meetings at VT station and an even more unlikely happy ending. In fact so complete was its 'Bollywoodisation', it jarred when the characters spoke in English. However, what's really moved me is not the film, ironically but its real life journey. Here, reality was much much more compelling than the movie and even more unbelievable.

Think of it ....two young children from Garibnagar in Dharavi transported straight to LA, where the Oscar red carpet and a day at Disneyland were all in a day's work . Dev Patel and Freida Pinto and their 'friendship', a jilted fiancee back home and a Woody Allen movie on the horizon...how many times have we seen this on screen, often played by Bipasha Basu, though in reel life, the heroine always realises its the man waiting in the wings who deserves her. All this plus Brangelina rooting for the 'slumdogs', Spielberg announcing the Oscar and an affable Anil Kapoor to provide a touch of stardom...even Vikas Swarup, the MEA mandarin turned author turned Oscar winner couldn't have come up with better. The only worry, no producer may have bought the storyline.

Hero of the Week: AR Rahman. Jai Ho now an international anthem and what a speech. For a man known his for reticence, it was emotional and hit all the right notes, especially the line where he said he had to make a choice between hate and love and he chose love. Are our politicians listening?

Zero of the Week: Congressmen who said the UPA created the environment for achievers to win Oscars. An SMS I received summed it up, 'Politicians should claim credit for Slumdog, they're the ones who ensured that we still have slums in India, 60 years after Independence!