Devil’s Advocate on freedom and tolerance.

As a follow-up to this post where I linked to a speech that Javed Akhtar gave, I came across this appearance of his recently on Devil’s Advocate. Both Javed Akhtar and Karan Thapar play the lets-see-who-can-squint-more game, but the discussion is superb.

Sainiks are Gandhians.

If you thought Gandhian ideals were a lost cause, look no further than the Sena. They have not only held them in utmost regard, but are now fighting for it to remain alive.

We all know that the Shiv Sena attacked CNN-IBN channel offices — that’s old news. They beat up reporters and staff — big deal. But few people know that a Shiv Sainik too was beaten up in the fracas :

“We have demanded action against journalists, who beat our activists. A party worker was seriously injured and has been paralysed,” Sena group leader in Assembly, Subhash Desai, told reporters here.

I am sure the biased channels haven’t covered this news. Action must be taken against the journalists who have done this. Don’t people even remember what the old man taught us ?

If the Sainiks attack you, you don’t resist. If you do, they’ll beat you up till you don’t resist. So really if you see, they’re just converting us all to Gandhians.

And here we are, criticizing them.

News or reality TV ?

It is sad that for the media, the line between news and reality TV is fast blurring. I came across this very disturbing video shot in the home of a cop who was beheaded by Naxals in Ranchi.

They shot it when his 7-year old son calls up the school and asks authorities to send home his brother, because their father has died.

Then, presumably as an answer to the oft-asked question ‘How do you feel ?’, the kid says, ‘You have killed my father, I will join the police and will kill you people–I will kill you people’ before breaking down on camera.

Good for TRPs, hell great ! But what if the Naxals who are watching this target the child ? You and I would probably not be threatened by a kid, but I don’t know how Naxals think; the ones who beheaded a cop in cold blood.

Whoever said our media had become slightly responsible after 26/11. Added irony is that this was telecast on CNN-IBN, whose Rajdeep Sardesai tried to claim the moral high ground among channels for their ethical coverage of 26/11.

The Ghose effect.

You know an issue is serious when they let Sagarika Ghose loose on it. Ergo, Mr. P. Chidambaram’s advice to Delhiites, which was in bad taste, is a big issue now.

The topic on yesterday’s Face The Nation was : Chidambaram asks Delhiites to behave: Are Indians rude and ill-mannered?

At the beginning, 88% percent agreed. By the end, 95% agreed. The host was Sagarika Ghose.

You conclude. I am not saying anything, I just present facts.

The game changers.

If there is one news channel that has truly mastered the art of delivering news, it is CNN-IBN.

First, they select some news worthy enough to be a breaking news, like all others. Say for e.g., the SRK incident.

Second, they run recurring stories of it, like all others.

Third, and this is what makes them intellectually superior and different, they let Sagarika Ghose loose on their “in-house talkers” like Lord Desai, to debate if the whole  brouhaha was justified.

This technique, which I can only hope they have patented, gives them more mileage off a news than anyone else.

To quote Mr. Barney Stinson, this technique is a game-changer — like the forward pass, the slam dunk, and that haircutting technique where they hold it between their fingers and then snip.

Immense respect comes.

Sir, please get some water.

This is the most fun set of questions asked by a news channel to a minister, courtesy CNNIBN and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar (who is in London presently). Meanwhile, rains are delayed in India and CNNIBN is flustered. Here goes :

CNN-IBN: Sir, people are worried.

Sharad Pawar: I don’t want to create a further panic scare. I don’t want to speak from London without talking to the Met Department. It is not proper for me to talk from here. When I will be back… I will be happy to talk to you.

CNN-IBN: When are you back?

Sharad Pawar: 26th (June 26).

CNN-IBN: Do you feel that your Ministry must be missing you?

Sharad Pawar: I don’t think so. You are unnecessarily creating a fear complex.

CNN-IBN : Sir, will you please get some water along while coming ?

Sharad Pawar : What the @$@#@ !!

Yeah fine, I added the last one, but it could have well been there.

Story of a Push.

CNNIBN reports :

Murder accused NCP MP pushes a cop.

A hotshot MP, caught in a scandal, expelled from the party, pushes an officer in uniform on duty, makes for great masala news .. only if it were true and not more frivolous reporting. See if you can spot the alleged “push” (you know there is a problem when a push is preceeded by alleged).

Looks like some are in the business of creating news, not reporting it.

Quotes.

Election time has ensured that WTF quotes fly all around. Check out these.

1. IBNLive invites Ujjwal Nikam and Abbas Kazmi (prosecution and defense respectively of Ajmal Kasab) for a chat :

CNN-IBN: Mr Kazmi, the accusation is not just of delaying but also Kasab saying he was under 18 years of age despite prosecution documents pointing to the contrary.

Abbas Kazmi: It is clear with the way he is behaving that he is a juvenile [WTF Alert 1]

CNN-IBN: Mr Kazmi, no juvenile goes around shooting people. He is a terrorist. Give him a fair trial but cooperate with prosecution and get this case wrapped up in time.  [WTF Alert 2]

While on IBNLive, did you know that Rajdeep Sardesai and Barkha Dutt were recipients of the Padma Shri last year ? Somehow bloggers let this news be.

2. Good sense and politics still evades Sanjay Dutt :

Sanjay Dutt : During the rally in Pratapgarh, Dutt allegedly said he “will give ‘jaadu ki jhappi and pappi’ (magical hug and kiss) to the chief minister and BSP supremo Mayawati”.

(Dream sequence) Mayawati : Zeher hai ke pyaar hai tera chumma.

3. Karunanidhi on LTTE supremo Prabhakaran :

“Is Prabhakaran a terrorist? No, I don’t see it that way. Prabhakaran is my good friend. I am not a terrorist. I will deeply regret it if Prabhakaran is killed. I will regret it. I will say it happened because of a lack of unity among the Tamil groups in Sri Lanka.  Some people in Prabhakaran’s group might be involved in terrorism. But that is not Prabhakaran’s fault.”

Yeah last heard innocent Prabhakaran was sucking on a lollipop and riding around on his tricycle. Sitting behind was an unknown kid with dark glasses for unexplained reasons.

4. Hema Malini while campaigning for BJP :

Vote for BJP, ye Basanti ki izzat ki sawal hai: Hema

 

Mumbai contd.

No humour or sarcasm here.

I wasn’t really going to write anything today considering I am already in my finals week. But I wanted to write about a few things when the matter was relevant (and partly to make up for the guilt of having posted some humour recently).

The last couple of days I read responses by Rajdeep Sardesai and Barkha Dutt to allegations by the public that the media was irresponsible. Rajdeep’s response is here, while Barkha Dutt’s is here.

As expected they try to make sense and successfully defend themselves against having broken any rules.

Unfortunately, that is not what we were trying to tell.

Being stupid does not necessarily mean being wrong. While it made sense to argue that the media at all times respected the security cordon and hence prove that the media did nothing legally wrong, that does not prove that the media was ethically right (let us forget the stupid for a moment). I am sure you heard of something called ‘media discretion’ when you were studying to be serious journalists. How many times are you both going to stick to the ‘holier than thou’ attitude after every allegation ? I can assume for some time that the problem might be scaled down on your television channels (assume, I said), but somewhere, sometime let’s all own up our mistakes. Isn’t that what we are accusing the politicians of doing anyways ?

Composer Vishal Dadlani has started a campaign to not just bash the media, but help form guidelines for future crisis situations. Please spare a moment to let him know that you support the petition : smallchange.in

Let us shed our cynicism and contribute to the efforts of a united India, when it lasts.

On that subject, for readers from Pune, there is a rally this Sunday at Nal Stop around 10 a.m.somewhere in Pune sometime (someone please correct me here if I am wrong. Beat that). I am sure the rally might not change things overnight, but then again you could just be down the wrong thought process.

While on this point and mainly owing to the Mumbai attacks being hailed as India’s 9/11 (again something that attracts attention, but didn’t necessarily have to be so), here is a video everyone must see. It was Jon Stewart on The Daily Show, 9 days after the Sep. 11 tragedy, it is truly one of the most honest pieces of television you might ever come across :

Video

Jon Stewart, apart from being one of the most unbiased political commentators (which is quite a big achievement in the USA), is arguably one of the wisest men you will come across. For people who think war or violence is the only solution, here is what he quoted when British PM Tony Blair was on his show :

Jon Stewart: 19 people flew into the towers. It seems hard for me to imagine that we could go to war enough to make the world safe enough that 19 people wouldn’t want to do harm to us so it seems like we have to rethink a strategy that is less military-based, in general.

Worth stopping there for a second and thinking.

But the tragedy in all this :

Jon Stewart is a comedian.

His show airs on Comedy Central.

Lastly before I end, I heard this beautiful Kabir bhajan sung by Kailash Kher dedicated to the Mumbai martyrs at a recent function honouring them. Titled ‘Ud jayega hans akela’ , his version is here. Originally composed and sung by Pandit Kumar Gandharva, it is here :

The lyrics are pasted below for convenience and its meaning is here :

Ud jayega hans akela
Jag darshan ka mela

Jaise paat gire taruvar ke
Milna bahut duhela
Na janu kidhar girega
Lagya pawan ka rela

Jab hove umar poori
Tab chootega hukam hajoori
Jam ke doot bare mardoot
Jam se para jhamela

Daas kabir har ke gunn gave
Bahar kou paar na paye
Guru ki karni, guru jayega
Chele ki karni chela

P.S. : My posts heavily rely on the readers not being in China or who do not associate the term ‘Websense’ with their daily life.

Next, the elite.

A particular blog from Mr. Gaurav Kalra on CNN-IBN has been getting quite some attention recently : Link

Suddenly, those buildings where the soothing sound of a distant piano provided the comforting solace of security; have become battlegrounds. Guns were meant to go off elsewhere, weren’t they? In busy market-places or railway stations that stench anyway. So no wonder the elite are enraged. Suddenly terrorism isn’t just a dinner table conversation.

Where was this elitist angst when a brave bus conductor lost his eyes saving others in Delhi? Or those who have had their legs amputated after the blasts in Ahmedabad? Did elite India find the shrillness in their voices to demand what they are asking for now? Was a fund set-up to support government in fighting terror ?

My first wondering is, what is wrong with not reacting when it doesn’t affect you ? In fact, it is perfectly rational behaviour. Why do you think the Hindus did not react to the Orissa and Karnataka incidents, Maharashtrians did not react to the MNS mischief, naxalites in the north-east did not react to the Vidarbha suicides, all the non-Dalits did not react to the Khairlanji massacre ?

Putting that aside, the overall reaction from an ordinary Indian has been stronger this time (proven not just by the constantly changing status messages on instant messengers and forwarded mails), because we could see some things gone horribly wrong that lead to the attacks being successful. That was the bottomline and nothing else. 

In a bid to dig deeper in the analysis of an incorrect target, which philosophically speaking might not hold much ground, we have identified another enemy apart from the terrorists. The elite.

There itself we lost the battle of unity we so proudly started a couple of days ago.

And we didn’t even start our innings.

P.S. : Meanwhile, if you want to do some serious thinking (else you could get seriously confused), do read this piece written by Siddharth G : Article here.