One can understand it takes a lot of creativity to keep a news hungry population well fed 24x7. Creativity because, there isn't enought actual events occuring that can qualify as news. So, what the news channels have to do is pick a topic or personality that the people can connect with and magnify a seemingly trivial matter to an extent that it becomes a national issue. Some weeks back, lady luck presented the scribes with an opportunity they couldn't say "I'll pass" to.
Shahrukh Khan stood up for the Pakistani cricketers; yeah, the same ones he chose not to pick, and then made a couple of statements that were no longer important to anyone. The crouching tiger of Maharashtra (in desperate need for mileage) pounced.
In all fairness, the above sequence of events deserve no more than 120 seconds of air time; but the 4th estate dropped everything else there were doing and whipped up a story so big that every ticker on every bulletin only ran non-stop updtes on the Sena's demand for a retraction. With so much media attention the Badshah Khan't really let discretion be the better part of valor, can he? So he quipped back and what followed was absolute pandemonium.
Now let's take an objective view of what happened. The actual events were and would have remained mere sparks, had it not been for the media Stoking the fire. But it wasn't to be. Now my TV set is full of images of dumb people alleging their support to the actor and explaining to me that how "elements" like the Thackerays are bad for the Nation.
What baffles me is how come no news channel; while interviewing the public bumped into a person who thought that Thackeray was right in his anti-pak stand. Isn't it the same public that took to the streets post 26/11. Isn't it the same news channel that ran a campaign called "lest we forget." But when a politician tried to rein in an amnesiac actor, we all termed the politician the Bad guy.
Let me ask you this, if SRK had said he wanted Pakistanis to play in IPL on 30th September 2008 (4 days after 26/11), would his thought find resonance in your head??
Moral of the story : Don't let the media color your thought.
PS - A week after I initially wrote this blog, Pune got bombed and the controversy saved MNIK from bombing at the box office.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Saturday, January 2, 2010
DOWN NORTH
I woke up an hour too late only to read a ticker stating "Match abandoned due to poor pitch conditions". But the match was being played in Delhi not in a far flung non cricketing venue like Gangtok. Come to think of it, wasn't so much of a surprise, was it?
Over a period of time, owing to my habbit of following current affairs, I have started realising that the Northern part of our nation is in the news for all the wrong reasons. Didn't notice it? Turn on the TV, switch to a credible news channel, and when I say credible I mean English News Channel, what you see will make you believe; that there are more kids trapped in bore wells than there are in schools; that kids who don't get trapped in bore wells are mowed down by buses on their way to school; that kids who manage to get to so called good schools (Read DPS) end up getting murdered or are caught on camera sucking at wrong things!! Ok. So I am exaggerating. Not all Kids die young. Some grow up (atleast physically) and fall in love and get married... to a person from a different caste... nothing wrong with that, except that I am not from the North, which leaves me at a disadvantage of not understanding the absolute necessity of "HONOUR KILLING". Here I go again. Ok, not all North Indians subscribe to Honour Killing; some of them are just content killing women in discotheques and up class restaurants! I won't delve into the innovative uses of Tandoor as illustrated by an affluent Northerner some year back nor do I want to disgust my readers with abundant stories of rape and molestation! Why oh why dear Northie? Can't you live like civilized human beings?
The culture of a place can be fathomed by the way people treat their women and children, and you certainly aren't fooling me by merely putting women in charge of the state, a prison or a good for nothing political party.
What the North needs is a crash course on civil behaviour, lesson or two on the importance of being humble, a stint at the rehab for all I care. What it needs is a cultural overhaul. But all this would come by, only when the avarage North Indian gets used to living without the generous helpings of the Ego massage doled out every hour by the person below him in the pecking order. It's not as important as "Roti Kapda aur Makaan". It is not important that you recite the names of all your influential Taayajis and Fufajis each time you are stopped by the mundane traffic cop. The DJ can't always play your (Punjabi) song, so put the gun away and wait your turn. But alas, all this is a tall order and can't be fulfilled anytime soon and certainly not before the CWG.
The powers that be, seem to have realised some of the things I have tried to emphasize upon, but their counter measure in the form of "DILLI KI BITIYA" is too little too late. As far as the games go, there isn't an iota of doubt in my mind that we are about to witness the worst organised event ever. What can you expect from a city that couldn't flatten 22 yards of soil even with crores of rupees riding on it. In the meantime I'll just hope that "Bitiya" stays clear of runaway buses and stray bullets.
Over a period of time, owing to my habbit of following current affairs, I have started realising that the Northern part of our nation is in the news for all the wrong reasons. Didn't notice it? Turn on the TV, switch to a credible news channel, and when I say credible I mean English News Channel, what you see will make you believe; that there are more kids trapped in bore wells than there are in schools; that kids who don't get trapped in bore wells are mowed down by buses on their way to school; that kids who manage to get to so called good schools (Read DPS) end up getting murdered or are caught on camera sucking at wrong things!! Ok. So I am exaggerating. Not all Kids die young. Some grow up (atleast physically) and fall in love and get married... to a person from a different caste... nothing wrong with that, except that I am not from the North, which leaves me at a disadvantage of not understanding the absolute necessity of "HONOUR KILLING". Here I go again. Ok, not all North Indians subscribe to Honour Killing; some of them are just content killing women in discotheques and up class restaurants! I won't delve into the innovative uses of Tandoor as illustrated by an affluent Northerner some year back nor do I want to disgust my readers with abundant stories of rape and molestation! Why oh why dear Northie? Can't you live like civilized human beings?
The culture of a place can be fathomed by the way people treat their women and children, and you certainly aren't fooling me by merely putting women in charge of the state, a prison or a good for nothing political party.
What the North needs is a crash course on civil behaviour, lesson or two on the importance of being humble, a stint at the rehab for all I care. What it needs is a cultural overhaul. But all this would come by, only when the avarage North Indian gets used to living without the generous helpings of the Ego massage doled out every hour by the person below him in the pecking order. It's not as important as "Roti Kapda aur Makaan". It is not important that you recite the names of all your influential Taayajis and Fufajis each time you are stopped by the mundane traffic cop. The DJ can't always play your (Punjabi) song, so put the gun away and wait your turn. But alas, all this is a tall order and can't be fulfilled anytime soon and certainly not before the CWG.
The powers that be, seem to have realised some of the things I have tried to emphasize upon, but their counter measure in the form of "DILLI KI BITIYA" is too little too late. As far as the games go, there isn't an iota of doubt in my mind that we are about to witness the worst organised event ever. What can you expect from a city that couldn't flatten 22 yards of soil even with crores of rupees riding on it. In the meantime I'll just hope that "Bitiya" stays clear of runaway buses and stray bullets.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
