THE MEAT IS MISSING!!

Kaavya Viswanathan, 19, is a Harvarad sophomore. She has written a novel called “Opal Mehta Got kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life”.
Kaavya got great publicity and half a million dollars in advance. Turns out the Tamil wannabe lifted stuff from another writer’s!
This other, more famous American writer writes novels for young adults. Her publishers are very angry with the copycat.
Viswanathan now says the copying was “unintentional” and “unconscious”, whatever that means.
The American author, a woman named McCafferty, says it’s not that simple. Kaavya could have lifted as many as 20+ parts from the original work!

Both The Times of India and Hindustan Times front-paged the story. Smarty pie Chidanand Rajghatta for TOI and S. Rajagopalan for HT, both writing from the U.S.

Ok, let me recap: this story is about an Indian origin girl in the U.S. who is accused of plagiarising in her first novel that’s brought her fame.

What must a news story on this development contain? The following, at least –
(1) The plot outline for both books (Kaavya’s and the original)
(2) One (if not more) matching excerpt from each book to highlight the alleged cheating

But neither Rajagopal nor Mr.-About-Town Rajghatta cares to tell us the story outline or what was copied and how!!
And no one – not the sub-editor, not the chief sub-editor, not the resident editor, not the editor-in-chief of either newspaper – finds it wrong that the dispatches don’t contain the plot outline or a single example of Kaavya’s alleged cheating!
This, when the cheating story has been scooped by Harvard campus newspaper, The Crimson, and is freely available on the Internet!

Can you believe it?!

I finally found an example of Kaavya’s cheating – and cheating it sure seems! – in (where else?) but the New York Times. This delightful excerpt is given at the end of this post. Immediately below are dispatches from Rajghatta/Rajagopalan. If you don't want to read their dull prose, just scroll down quickly to read the NYT stuff –

THE TIMES OF INDIA

Kaavya ‘sorry’ beyond words
By Chidanand Rajghatta/TNN

Washington: Oops! She ripped it. It was unconscious and unintentional. Didn’t mean to. Just happened. Whatever.
Kaavya Viswanathan, the Indian-American teenage novelist and Harvard sophomore at the center of a plagiarism storm, said sorry in not so many words for filching from previously published books.
In a statement released Monday through her publisher, Little, Brown and Company, the Chennai-born teenager, who was paid $500,000 advance for her literary debut, explained the flap thusly: “When I was in high school, I read and loved two wonderful novels by Megan McCafferty, Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings, which spoke to me in a way few other books did. Recently, I was very surprised and upset to learn that there are similarities between some passages in my novel, How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life, and passages in these books.
“While the central stories of my book and hers are completely different, I wasn’t aware of howmuch I may have internalised McCafferty’s words. I am a huge fan of her work and can honestly say that any phrasing similarities between her works and mine were completely unintentional and unconscious.”
Kaavya said she and her publisher plan to revise her novel for future printings “to eliminate any inappropriate similarities” and also apologised to McCafferty and “to any who feel they have been misled by these unintentional errors on my part.”
In a separate statement Little Brown publisher Michael Pietsch backed Kaavya saying she “is a decent, serious, and incredibly hard-working writer and student, and I am confident that we will learn that any similarities in phrasings were unintentional.”
Kaavya’s agent Jennifer Walsh of William Morris Agency also stood up for her saying teenagers tend to adopt each others’ language.
But the flap is far from over. It now transpires that there are far more than the dozen “influenced” passages in Kaavya’s book than initially discovered – perhaps as many as 30 passages.


HINDUSTAN TIMES

S. Rajagopalan in Washington

KAAVYA VISWANATHAN, the Harvard undergraduate who made waves with a $500,000 book contract a year ago, has now admitted to some “unconscious” copying – nay, “internalising” – from the works of an American author.
The oblique admission came close on the heels of an expose by The Harvard Crimson, the celebrated campus newspaper, which reproduced several passages from her recently published novel that were “strikingly similar” to ones from two books by Megan McCafferty.
The 19-year-old Viswanathan apologised to McCafferty and promised to make changes to future editions of her 320-page book, How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life.
But she did not quite confess to the charge of plagiarism, copying or borrowing.
She put it differently. “While the central stories of my book and hers are completely different, I wasn’t aware of how much I may have internalised Ms McCafferty’s words,” she said.
“I’m a huge fan of her work and can honestly say that any phrasing similarities between her works and mine were completely unintentional and unconscious. My publisher and I plan to revise my novel for future printings to eliminate any inappropriate similarities.” In a statement issued by her publisher (Little, Brown and Co), Viswanathan said McCafferty’s two “wonderful novels” – Sloppy Firsts (2001) and Second Helpings (2003) – spoke to her in a way few other books did.
And then, she went on to dwell on how “surprised and upset” she was to learn about the “similarities” between “some passages” in her novel and those of McCafferty’s books.
The Crimson’s website had juxtaposed 13 passages from Viswanathan’s book and McCafferty’s novels to make its point on “nearly identical” ideas and language.
The Chennai-born Viswanathan had migrated to Scotland with her parents Mary Sundaram and Vishwanathan Rajaraman when she was three. Nine years later, the family moved to New Jersey.
But she did not quite confess to the charge of plagiarism, copying or borrowing. She put it differently. “While the central stories of my book and hers are completely different, I wasn’t aware of how much I may have internalised Ms McCafferty’s words,” she said. “I’m a huge fan of her work and can honestly say that any phrasing similarities between her works and mine were completely unintentional and unconscious. My publisher and I plan to revise my novel for future printings to eliminate any inappropriate similarities.” In a statement issued by her publisher (Little, Brown and Co), Viswanathan said McCafferty’s two “wonderful novels” - Sloppy Firsts (2001) and Second Helpings (2003) - spoke to her in a way few other books did. And then, she went on to dwell on how “surprised and upset” she was to learn about the “similarities” between “some passages” in her novel and those of McCafferty’s books. The Crimson’s website had juxtaposed 13 passages from Viswanathan’s book and Mc- Cafferty’s novels to make its point on “nearly identical” ideas and language. The Chennai-born Viswanathan had migrated to Scotland with her parents Mary Sundaram and Vishwanathan Rajaraman when she was three. Nine years later, the family moved to New Jersey.

Finally, the most wonderful example of “unconscious” copying –

NEW YORK TIMES
By Dinitia Smith

(Picking up the story from the middle)

The Crimson cited 13 instances in which Ms. Viswanathan’s book closely paralleled Ms. McCafferty’s work. But there are at least 29 passages that are strikingly similar.
At one point in “Sloppy Firsts,” Ms. McCafferty’s heroine unexpectedly encounters her love interest. Ms. McCafferty writes:
“Though I used to see him sometimes at Hope’s house, Marcus and I had never, ever acknowledged each other’s existence before. So I froze, not knowing whether I should (a) laugh, (b) say something, or (c) ignore him and keep on walking. I chose a brilliant combo of (a) and (b).
“ ‘Uh, yeah. Ha. Ha. Ha.’
“I turned around and saw that Marcus was smiling at me.”
Similarly, Ms. Viswanathan’s heroine, Opal, bumps into her love interest, and the two of them spy on one of the school’s popular girls.
Ms. Viswanathan writes: “Though I had been to school with him for the last three years, Sean Whalen and I had never acknowledged each other’s existence before. I froze, unsure of (a) what he was talking about, or (b) what I was supposed to do about it. I stared at him.
“ ‘Flatirons,’ he said. ‘At least seven flatirons for that hair.’
“ ‘Ha, yeah. Uh, ha. Ha.’ I looked at the floor and managed a pathetic combination of laughter and monosyllables, then remembered that the object of our mockery was his former best friend.
“I looked up and saw that Sean was grinning.”

Here's the link to the full piece in case you want to read it – http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/25/books/25book.html?ex=1146196800&en=8acbe323281e291a&ei=5087%0A

You want to know the plot outlines of Kaavya’s “Opal…” and McCafferty’s works?

Here’s ASSOCIATED PRESS wire agency with the details in a dispatch –

Viswanathan’s novel tells the story of Opal, a hard-driving teen from New Jersey who earns straight A’s in high school but who gets rejected from Harvard because she forgot to have a social life. Opal’s father concocts a plan code-named HOWGAL (How Opal Will Get A Life) to get her past the admissions office.
McCafferty’s books follow a heroine named Jessica, a New Jersey girl who excels in high school but struggles with her identity and longs for a boyfriend.