A very accurate viewpoint, according to me, was pinpointed by someone recently, “We don’t want the luxury of 24X7 reporting, we can to with a 6X7 class of quality news coverage.” Since the advent of 24 hour news channels, a different kind of news reporting has taken over the Indian scene. The very definition of news has undergone a sea change. In a bid to keep their 24X7 ventures alive, the news channels have started reporting events like the birth of the seventh child of the ninth son of the oldest village sarpanch in India as ‘exclusives’ and as ‘breaking news’. The euphoria that was whipped up by the media during the ‘Prince’ episode was an apt indicator of the state of journalism in India today. And to top it all, the amount of economic help and general response that was elicited out of the public left me flabbergasted. I have personally seen entire families sitting glued to their idiot boxes watching the rescue operation as if a watching reports of 9-11. Some newspapers have been almost completely converted from intellectual information dissipaters to glamorous P3P centric tabloids and multicoloured in-your-face advertisement collections. Maybe the business aspect of journalism has something (or everything!!) to do with this, but then there’s a certain elegance and respectability associated with journalism and that shouldn’t be compromised beyond a certain limit. The Supreme Court was absolutely spot on to observe that sting operations, so much the craze among news channels these days, were acceptable by themselves but only as long as they were not utilized by the ‘stingers’ for making a quick buck.
Real journalism is taking a big hit in this era of bland consumerism and gossip mongers are increasingly replacing journalists. The pen, it is said, is mightier than the sword. But if the pen is preoccupied perennially busy jotting down the vital stats of the richest porn queen in the world, it is weaker even weaker than Dubya’s hold on his vote bank!!!
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
The filmy part of me...
I am basically an impulsive blogger….man me aaya bak diya!! This is written when all of a sudden I felt like blogging… and couldn’t think of any other topic.
This thing called love…it is the queen of all paradoxes. So much is written about it, so many mellifluous melodies are made out of it, almost everybody claims he/she has experienced it in some form or the other, and yet it’s such an enigmatic entity. (for more details, listen to the song ishq bina from Taal!) In fact, there is no single unambiguous definition of love in this world.
I used to think, at one stage, that the kind of love stories and emotions that are depicted in celluloids and fiction are figments of masala imagination. But I slowly started falling into the trap myself. And the funny thing is, I can’t say when this happened! (so typical!) It just started off as a casual acquaintance… she was my classmate. It was she who made the initial contact. She remembered me from a competition we both had participated in some time back. We started talking to each other and developed a good bonhomie. For some time, the relationship remained completely platonic. But slowly I began to realize that there were strong undercurrents of some unknown emotion that were pushing me towards an unknown realm. I started looking at the relationship differently. I realized I felt very comfortable when I was with her. My imagination started getting monopolized by a single track image that burst into the frame at regular intervals, sometimes at very odd moments, like in the middle of an examination or at a very somber moment. For an inordinately long time, I tried to brush this issue aside as a crush, so common in this age. But that urge to talk to her, the tendency to think about her, the habit of writing the alphabets of her name just didn’t die down. In fact, when I finished my high school and left home to study engineering, the distance magnified my feelings. I knew this wasn’t a run of the mill crush. Once this was established beyond doubt, the next step beckoned me. I had to know if my feeling were reverberating from the other end too. But this was tricky, because if they were not, I would stand the risk of losing a good friend by asking her. So I just waited for my answer to come on its own. But, it didn’t, and I realized she was waiting for the answer to come on its own too!! (so typical again!!) She probably took my silence as a negative and so she moved on…quite the right thing to do.
Right now I can’t comment on the future, or for that matter, even the present of our relationship. I just hope it doesn’t reach an end. But I surely feel the days that we spent together were the best of my life.
This thing called love…it is the queen of all paradoxes. So much is written about it, so many mellifluous melodies are made out of it, almost everybody claims he/she has experienced it in some form or the other, and yet it’s such an enigmatic entity. (for more details, listen to the song ishq bina from Taal!) In fact, there is no single unambiguous definition of love in this world.
I used to think, at one stage, that the kind of love stories and emotions that are depicted in celluloids and fiction are figments of masala imagination. But I slowly started falling into the trap myself. And the funny thing is, I can’t say when this happened! (so typical!) It just started off as a casual acquaintance… she was my classmate. It was she who made the initial contact. She remembered me from a competition we both had participated in some time back. We started talking to each other and developed a good bonhomie. For some time, the relationship remained completely platonic. But slowly I began to realize that there were strong undercurrents of some unknown emotion that were pushing me towards an unknown realm. I started looking at the relationship differently. I realized I felt very comfortable when I was with her. My imagination started getting monopolized by a single track image that burst into the frame at regular intervals, sometimes at very odd moments, like in the middle of an examination or at a very somber moment. For an inordinately long time, I tried to brush this issue aside as a crush, so common in this age. But that urge to talk to her, the tendency to think about her, the habit of writing the alphabets of her name just didn’t die down. In fact, when I finished my high school and left home to study engineering, the distance magnified my feelings. I knew this wasn’t a run of the mill crush. Once this was established beyond doubt, the next step beckoned me. I had to know if my feeling were reverberating from the other end too. But this was tricky, because if they were not, I would stand the risk of losing a good friend by asking her. So I just waited for my answer to come on its own. But, it didn’t, and I realized she was waiting for the answer to come on its own too!! (so typical again!!) She probably took my silence as a negative and so she moved on…quite the right thing to do.
Right now I can’t comment on the future, or for that matter, even the present of our relationship. I just hope it doesn’t reach an end. But I surely feel the days that we spent together were the best of my life.
Saturday, September 16, 2006
The Vandemataram hullabulloo
The Vandemataram episode and all the fracas surrounding must have really been an eyesore for any self-righteous Indian. It clearly exposed, on the one hand, the BJP's desperation to ride on an issue into public attention & the shallowness and insecurity of the self-proclaimed Muslim leadership, and on the other hand, the absolute sad state of affairs of our motherland. If this is an issue which grabs political attention and imagination at a time when farmer suicides are on the rise and foodgrain imports are soaring, we can very well kiss the dream of a developing India goodbye.
The views of eminent writer Javed Akhtar really set the issue in perspective, “If a Deoband maulvi asks me not to recite the song, I’ll recite all the verses. If the BJP says I sing the song, I’ll not recite even a single line.” The self-appointed Muslim leadership is still in the medieval and fundamental mould and can’t in the least claim to be the representatives of the Muslim fraternity. They are just disillusioned personalities who want to push an entire fraternity into an abyss of backwardness and self-ghettoisation. They are hungry for publicity and are basically insecure. It was this fact that was leveraged by the BJP to somehow prove they were still in existence. All they have managed to do is dent their already dismembered amour and stand exposed as a party facing its nemesis. This worries me all the more because such a state of affairs means that there is no competent alternative to the ruling power at the centre and that can be disastrous for the country.
On a personal note, I have a strong query. Just how many Indians know the entire Vandemataram by heart???
The views of eminent writer Javed Akhtar really set the issue in perspective, “If a Deoband maulvi asks me not to recite the song, I’ll recite all the verses. If the BJP says I sing the song, I’ll not recite even a single line.” The self-appointed Muslim leadership is still in the medieval and fundamental mould and can’t in the least claim to be the representatives of the Muslim fraternity. They are just disillusioned personalities who want to push an entire fraternity into an abyss of backwardness and self-ghettoisation. They are hungry for publicity and are basically insecure. It was this fact that was leveraged by the BJP to somehow prove they were still in existence. All they have managed to do is dent their already dismembered amour and stand exposed as a party facing its nemesis. This worries me all the more because such a state of affairs means that there is no competent alternative to the ruling power at the centre and that can be disastrous for the country.
On a personal note, I have a strong query. Just how many Indians know the entire Vandemataram by heart???
Friday, August 04, 2006
Interim phases..........student to professional
Errr.......ummm......just thought of updating my blog.....no particular subject in mind. Its been a while since I posted something and some significant events have happened since then.
To begin with, the end. I was always fearing the phase when my BHU days ended, and when the phase arrived, I reacted just the way I had expected I would. To top it all, I was the last one to leave BHU among my classmates which, I tell you, can drive you crazy.
Then came a phase when I was just out of college and waiting to get on with my professional life. This was the phase when neighbours regularly turned up, armed with enormous volumes of advice, some really helpful and some really……interesting, to be polite!! This was a time when I fell terribly ill, just mounting the tensions on my family members who were already worried about how I would handle my life once I started working, that too as a site engineer in a company known to reward its engineers with even more challenging (read tougher) working environments when they perform well at one site!! This was a time when even I was circumspect about my future. This was a time when all the shopping done was only for me and all my whims were overlooked……I really enjoyed that preeminent status in the household!!
Then came one of the phases that can be termed as one of the punctuating points of my life. This was the time when I joined the company I had dreamt of joining ever since I started my engineering education. But I’ll tell you I wasn’t excited totally because of this reason, in fact this had faded somewhat into the background because of another prospect. The company had arranged our accommodation, during the first week of orientation, in one of the finest hotels in Chennai. For a middle class chap like me, this was like a dream!! Enjoying the facilities that the hotel provided, without having to pay for it gave me, as also most of my fellow joinees, a sense of childish excitement and a vague sense of fulfillment. I also made new friends, which was another wonderful “free gift”!!
That gave way to the time I got my posting and started working. The comforts of “the” hotel have since vanished, but the respect that I elicit out of the staff and the comments of appreciation that I bring out of my seniors more than make up for that. I have now well and truly settled into my pro-life!!
This is all friends……….just ramblings of my mind. Do feel free to add your experience to this piece. Cheers!!
To begin with, the end. I was always fearing the phase when my BHU days ended, and when the phase arrived, I reacted just the way I had expected I would. To top it all, I was the last one to leave BHU among my classmates which, I tell you, can drive you crazy.
Then came a phase when I was just out of college and waiting to get on with my professional life. This was the phase when neighbours regularly turned up, armed with enormous volumes of advice, some really helpful and some really……interesting, to be polite!! This was a time when I fell terribly ill, just mounting the tensions on my family members who were already worried about how I would handle my life once I started working, that too as a site engineer in a company known to reward its engineers with even more challenging (read tougher) working environments when they perform well at one site!! This was a time when even I was circumspect about my future. This was a time when all the shopping done was only for me and all my whims were overlooked……I really enjoyed that preeminent status in the household!!
Then came one of the phases that can be termed as one of the punctuating points of my life. This was the time when I joined the company I had dreamt of joining ever since I started my engineering education. But I’ll tell you I wasn’t excited totally because of this reason, in fact this had faded somewhat into the background because of another prospect. The company had arranged our accommodation, during the first week of orientation, in one of the finest hotels in Chennai. For a middle class chap like me, this was like a dream!! Enjoying the facilities that the hotel provided, without having to pay for it gave me, as also most of my fellow joinees, a sense of childish excitement and a vague sense of fulfillment. I also made new friends, which was another wonderful “free gift”!!
That gave way to the time I got my posting and started working. The comforts of “the” hotel have since vanished, but the respect that I elicit out of the staff and the comments of appreciation that I bring out of my seniors more than make up for that. I have now well and truly settled into my pro-life!!
This is all friends……….just ramblings of my mind. Do feel free to add your experience to this piece. Cheers!!
Monday, February 27, 2006
Before we forget
In a faint sense, this is a continuation of my previous post. The RDB plot revolves essentially about a talented and responsible young services officer who lays down his life performing his duty but gets nothing but rebukes from the "representatives of the Indian people" (what he gets from the Indian people is obviously a different matter, an absolute reflection of the state of the world’s greatest democracy). Time and again, movies like Border, LOC and, now, RDB have reminded the public of the real life heroes who worship valour and prove to be worthy sons of the soil. I have always been a strong admirer of the defense establishment in our country due to its ability to stay immune to politics and treat the members of its family with the respect they deserve without any malaise or high handedness. But of late, even this highly revered organization has been mired in extremely embarrassing controversies that have clearly dented its shining armor of righteousness and transparency. The Anjali Gupta chapter is definitely a black chapter in the history of the IAF, irrespective of whether the premise is genuine or not. The pivotal issue raised in RDB is, of course, a serious indicator of malevolence.
But the issue that has drawn my attention quite strongly recently is the observation that the career graphs of officers who led the Indian soldiers to spectacular and heroic victories during the Kargil combat have flattened out as they have been bypassed by other officers who clearly are benefiting from the power politics of the defense establishment. Let us consider one such case, though there are many others of this nature.
“You have achieved a miracle”, General V.P.Malik, the then Army Chief had told the troops of the 70 Infantry Brigade on the first anniversary of the Kargil war. The 70 Infantry had valiantly fought one of the most difficult battles of the conflict in the Batalik sector in hostile conditions which were both natural and anthropogenic. Over 300 enemy soldiers had been killed and six POWs were captured alive. Brigadier Devinder Singh, who led the 70 Infantry, had been lavishly praised in the Heroes of War, the Indian Army’s official history of the war. The book stated that “the tactical HQ of the 70 Infantry Brigade was deployed well forward throughout Operation Vijay” and that “Singh himself operated ahead to keep abreast of the developments during each battle and to inspire his battalions to give in their best.” Six years on, the same Brigadier Devinder Singh has been passed over for promotion on the grounds that his conduct of operations was not good. Other officers who commanded different units to victory during the conflict have met similar fate while unexpected names have been promoted.
This disturbing chain of events may be deeply rooted in a two-pronged skullduggery high up in the defense establishment. One part of the cover up was related to the absolute failure of the defense top brass to gauge the magnitude of danger and potential flashpoints created by the enemy intrusion into
The second part of the scheme was to create heroes that could be presented to the public. Thus, officers commanding units to inconsequential victories were glorified while the critical and savage theatres of war were screened from the public eye. The culmination of these actions is the case of Devinder Singh and others.
The truth of the entire allegation has not been verified yet, and an interrogation is definitely required into the matter. But the fact that the rotten state of affairs has even engulfed our defense establishment is disturbing enough. When a soldier lays down his life fighting or achieves something great while in service, the least he expects in return is that his contribution is recognized by his country. The only thing that the family members of a dead soldier lament is that they didn’t have another son to serve the nation. Is this what they deserve in return? That brings me back to my original point. If a politician treats a soldier wrongly, he is doing what he does best. But if the defenders of the nation cannot defend the dignity of their heroes, we need to take a hard look at our conscience. Those who have watched the Anil Kapoor starrer Pukar would probably be able to gauge the agony of a soldier and his near and dear ones when he is wrongly court-martialed. General J.J.Singh is the first army Chief since Kargil who was not directly involved in the war. So it is expected that the General will show the right will and commitment to get to the truth regarding this cover up. We owe at least this much to the spirits that guard our nation and a people who don’t know how to respect their heroes don’t deserve to exist, if I were to have my way.
Kal parbaton pe kahin, barsi thi jab goliyaan,
Hum log the saath me, aur hausley the jawaan,
Ab tak chattanon pe hain, apne lahoo ke nishaan,
Saathi mubarak tumhe, ye jashn ho jeet ka,
Bas itna yaad rahe, ek saathi aur bhi tha……..
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Na koi padhne waala, na koi seekhne waala
Watching Rang De Basanti was an experience that left me in a daze. The couplet that flashes at the start of the movie keeps growing on you as the film progresses. I entered the hall expecting a regular youth coming of age potboiler but was in for a jolt. The magic of the movie, cinematic finesse apart, is to bring home the present day significance and necessity of the ideals and passion our freedom revolutionaries represented. I dont know if I got too carried away by the presentation of the movie, but it did make me stand back and stare at myself. We regularly keep hearing about MiG crashes and passing away of our soldiers in ambushes and battles but treat it with a characteristic impersonal attitude. Its funny how such an event hits you hard when you can relate to the person involved. It is then that all the news reports, talk shows, criticism and mud slinging that you take in mechanically otherwise, with an air of a person keeping himself abreast of current events, assumes a whole new dimension. I recall here the character of Paresh Rawal in the Anil Kapoor starrer Nayak, where he remarks that any average Indian's dream involves a good job, a happy family, and a comfy bungalow or flat relaxing on whose terrace, he can remark with an air of concern while reading the newspaper ,"Darling, politics ne is desh ko barbaad kar diya." How true!!
The deft interplay of past and present in RDB helps you to feel the outrage that led youth like Bhagat Singh to become what he was at such a raw age and how the present is crying out for a similar revolution. The question is, has today's youth lost its conviction, passion and fighting spirit. A student travelling in a train today without a confirmed ticket would rather pay off a ticket examiner and travel comfortably than confront the man. The rationale given is, why take the trouble - I can pay the requisite amount anyway and my bravado wont change anything, it would only get a birth to the next briber while I'll be left shivering near the door without a place to sleep. People like Manjunath are looked upon with pity as an upright lad who dared to challenge the system. Such a situation is, at the very least, alarming.
Tears welled up in my eyes numerous times while watching RDB, and I noticed many of my peers were in a similar situation. If somebody can tell a story so convincingly, he deserves kudos. I sincerely hope the message of the movie doesnt get lost and the film is not remembered only as a hit with catchy ARRahman music.
"dhuaan chhataa khula gagan mera
nayi dagar naya safar mera
jo ban sake tu hamsafar mera
nazar mila zara"
The deft interplay of past and present in RDB helps you to feel the outrage that led youth like Bhagat Singh to become what he was at such a raw age and how the present is crying out for a similar revolution. The question is, has today's youth lost its conviction, passion and fighting spirit. A student travelling in a train today without a confirmed ticket would rather pay off a ticket examiner and travel comfortably than confront the man. The rationale given is, why take the trouble - I can pay the requisite amount anyway and my bravado wont change anything, it would only get a birth to the next briber while I'll be left shivering near the door without a place to sleep. People like Manjunath are looked upon with pity as an upright lad who dared to challenge the system. Such a situation is, at the very least, alarming.
Tears welled up in my eyes numerous times while watching RDB, and I noticed many of my peers were in a similar situation. If somebody can tell a story so convincingly, he deserves kudos. I sincerely hope the message of the movie doesnt get lost and the film is not remembered only as a hit with catchy ARRahman music.
"dhuaan chhataa khula gagan mera
nayi dagar naya safar mera
jo ban sake tu hamsafar mera
nazar mila zara"
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