Newsflash: Indian boy fools BBC, Indian government with forged NASA-Oxford document

while I generally don’t post Wacky News, this little beauty has been a pleasure to stumble upon. It’s not because I revel in the humiliation of the Indian government, or in the humiliation of any Indians at all – as far as I’m concerned, I’m glad they’re out there doing what they do. The mass deception, though, and the near meeting with President Kalam are both pretty impressive. But such details can only really do it for the unimaginative. The turn of the screw in this story is in its details - and in that he managed to pull the government for money without having even done basic research. One, the kid claimed he took a taxi from London to Oxford every day, two, he misspelled the name of the former administrator of NASA (O’Keefe) as “Kif,” three, he included his father's name on the forged document, four, he said he took a non-existent flight on Indian Airlines to London, and five, he told a newspaper that he stayed in Buckingham Palace. But the greatest part of the forgery is the phrase: "You are the member of NASA" – which belongs in a textbook warning ESLers on the consequences of mixing up articles.