Vinod Mehta publishes a long, unflattering anecdote about Shobhaa De in his book Lucknow Boy. India Today gives the book to De to review and she trashes it without mentioning the personal angle upfront. IT giving the book to De to review was the act of a rival magazine being petty. Imagine if Outlook had given the book to De to review. Now that would have been a sassy thing to do, in keeping with Vinod Mehta’s tradition of playing up criticism of the magazine, in the magazine.