MSD and Hounds of Mediavilles

(My younger sister is a big fan of Mahender Singh Dhoni and she has him on “Google alert”. She forwarded me the necessary links on Media coverage of MSD’s marriage based on which I am making my opinion here. Also, out of curiosity I made special efforts to watch some of that drama on various channels. Otherwise, I completely stay away from Hindi news channels. Though I understand a couple of regional languages but I don’t torture myself by watching any of them.)

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Even if – I’m simply making an assumption here - MSD hasn’t read Sherlock Holmes’ spy adventure in Baskervilles, yet he would have easily identified the surrounding hounds of Mediavilles during his marriage! In those “Doon” days the Indian paparazzi phenomenon acquired a new proportion the face of which was pretty ugly. Thankfully the English News channels (I vouch for Times Now, NDTV and CNN-IBN only) maintained their balance otherwise the Hindi ones resembled one big consortium all out on a big game safari! Not that the print was any far behind in the crazy game! And, crazy it was - to use a mild expression!

MSD “faulted” in wanting to have some peaceful and personal moments with his immediate family and close friends during his marriage. Media’s “fault” was it could not digest the fact that in today’s 24x7 news environment it had to lose out on “live” coverage of a “big ticket” event like marriage of the Indian cricket team’s captain. After all, Media is used to getting all-details-provided “special invites” to such celebrities’ weddings.

The funniest part – which was not funny at all - of the whole drama during MSD’s marriage days was the erroneous reporting being indulged into by the Media. Every reporter seemed to have manufactured on-the-spot his or her own version of MSD-Sakshi love story – their childhood, their meeting, their dating and their marriage – their life in totality. Nobody seemed to have any knowledge about most of the things. Still every channel was trying to outdo others by resorting to never-seen-before tactics on television. The “surround scribes effect” was quite hilarious!

I am sure no other “Breaking News” – the “real” ones of big magnitude - would have succeeded in “Breaking” the series of “Breaking News” on MSD’s marriage rituals. The “accuracy” of ritual timings being flashed – ‘broken’ – on the television screen gave an impression as if one was witnessing Olympics sporting events! So what if every channel had a different timing for the same ritual! Every channel was claiming precision of the timings as if they were being fed with updated tweets by MSD himself!

But the biggest problem I had with Media’s “intrusive” journalism – at its worst, I must say! – in those “Doon” days was the “divisive” reportage they had adopted plainly out of revenge. The Media was unabashedly trying to forge a permanent divide between MSD and his team members – all those “unfortunate” and “uninvited” ones. Media’s “divide & rule” policy was certainly unpardonable. The arrogance of the Media was repulsive.

Also laughable was the “response” of a few cricketers to Media’s bait i.e. provocative questioning – Gautam Gambhir in particular. Sadly, though our national cricket team members are exposed to the international sporting ambience, they are yet to graduate to being truly international – global – in their attitude. They are yet to break free from their “Indian” mentality – of being Deewana in Begani shaadi!

Our esteemed cricketers and the esteemed Media need to be made to understand the difference between “personal” and “professional” aspects of one’s life, even if it involves a fellow cricketer or a celebrity. They also need to be regularly updated on the international stature personalities’ weddings: that how those are held, who all are invited and “not” invited, and how the rest of the world – Media included – reacts to a particular occasion.

In fact, today is a big learning day for our Media, and cricketers: The only daughter of the ex-president of the United States of America is getting married. And not every president/prime minister – ex-/current – of all countries, UN officials included, and every diplomat he probably shook hands with on this earth has been invited for Chelsea’s marriage; the entire bunch of current US senators perhaps has also not been invited. And, all hell is not going to break loose on Bill and Hillary Clinton for keeping their daughter’s wedding a private affair and away from the prying eyes of the omnipresent Media.

Even if the western media paparazzi is quite infamous for their extreme brand of “intrusive” journalism, by tomorrow morning the world will know that the “reaction” of the world Media hasn’t been over-the-board even if they were not invited in full numbers: in contrast to the Indian Media’s outrage and outrageous behaviour during and post MSD’s marriage.

In conclusion: Even though the Indian news market and thus the news channels (I have same advice for the print media) have evolved but in numbers only; the Indian Media has to evolve in its conduct as well: from being “hounds” to “humble and sensible”.

Till then: MSD, you did the right thing by keeping the intrusive elements out of your personal celebrations. You are a “public” figure but you are fully entitled to a “private” life and your “personal” life is nobody’s business. Hopefully other celebrities will learn from you. … Congratulations, to you and Sakshi :)

I support Mani Shankar Aiyar on Commonwealth Games

Mani Shankar Aiyar has my solid support on Commonwealth Games.

He is the only parliamentarian – politician – with enough courage to speak bluntly. Rest are simply too busy stashing away common man’s wealth in their Swiss accounts. Then there are many who are too blinded to see India feel “honoured” by staging this no-value Games.

What purpose will this no-purpose Games serve for India? Or even for its sporting community? Or sports in general? Rs. 35,000 crore if spent properly – i.e. honestly - would have helped both players and various sports immensely and then perhaps we could have hoped to graduate from rare solitary medal to a couple of ones in future Olympics.

Then what is this talk of India’s “honour” in successfully hosting of this unnecessary sporting extravaganza? It is akin to “preserving” one’s so-called honour through “honour-killing”! The analogy is not inappropriate. The sports administrators and politicians involved have indeed made a “killing” for themselves in the name of the Games.

And, if we were so concerned about increasing India’s ratings on the Global Honour Index - !!! - then we should have ensured every penny from Rs. 35,000 was spent honestly in developing required infrastructure so critical for success of the Commonwealth Games. Why nobody is pointing towards colossal levels of corruption indulged into by all involved in the Games? Can’t everybody see those gaping holes and already blown away roofs of the newly built stadia? Is there any doubt lingering in the tortoise-paced preparedness of India? Only a blind person can be fooled by all those rhetoric of Suresh Kalmadis and Shiela Dikshits. … I wonder why the Government of India is feigning sleep. For sure, Commonwealth Games conduction is its prime responsibility as well.

If little bit of rains could expose the real picture of India’s preparations for the Commonwealth Games, then I wish Delhi gets “real” rains this monsoon. At least, the world will know beforehand what they are getting into by agreeing to participate in the forthcoming Commonwealth Games. I also pray Delhi’s monsoons get prolonged till October so that all illusions about the so-called Grand stature – honour – of our nationare washed away and India comes out in its “true” colours in front of everybody – Indians and international community as well.

I am also thankful to these more-than-usual level of rains in Delhi which forced the Indian media to wake up eventually and “break” the “facts” before gullible Indians, so conveniently called the “aam-aadmi”.

To all those who think I am a “detractor” like Mani Shankar Aiyar: For God’s sake, the massive amount of money taken out of our country’s coffers in name of the Commonwealth Games is “our” money – we taxpayers’ money – your and my money; we work hard to earn and pay huge taxes every year. The Games could be called “Commonwealth” but the money (being) spent - ??? – is not “Commonwealth”. And as an honest & honourable citizen of India, I feel enormously pained and extremely angry at the wastage of my tax money.And that is the reason why I fully support Mani Shankar Aiyar on the Commonwealth Games issue.

Mr. Prime Minister, tell us how long are we supposed to suffer your Railways Minister?

If God gave me just one wish, I would pray India – my country; our country - gets rid of its entire bunch of politicians, forever.

Tonight I ask India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh: "Tell us, how long is our nation supposed to suffer your appointed railways minister? How many more train accidents and how many more lives lost – of aam aadmi, of course – will make the UPA’s grand coalition wake up?"

My question is also to Mamata Banerjee: "Tell us, Ms. Minister, till how long are you going to subject India to the torture of tolerating you as the Railways Minister – a Non-Resident one, of course?"

And, also to Media / Times Now / News Hour / Arnab Goswami in particular: "Keep up your relentless pressure on the GOI so that it ultimately “relents” and removes Mamata Banerjee and hands over the responsibilities of the railways ministry to a more mature and accountable member of the parliament."

A utopian wish? …

Arnab Goswami has a new fan - youngest, perhaps!

Below given is the detailed account of my “ordeal” in which the News Hour turned into an intensive session of “Question & Answer Hour” for me recently! I am sure, while going through the narration you too would be transported into ‘your’ time spent similarly somewhere, sometime. :)

“Who is he?” was my kid niece’s first question from her inexhaustible inquisitive brain’s armour.

“Arnab Goswami,” I replied without showing much interest as I was deeply engrossed in the ongoing debate.

“Ornot Goswami?” my just turned 5 years old niece couldn’t follow me properly.

“Not Ornot; Arnab, Arnab Goswami.”

“Ornot, Orshot, Arnab are rhyming-words!” she shouted with her kindergarten enthusiasm.

“What does he do?” quickly came the second query.

“You tell me what is he doing?”

“He is reading news; Oh, then he is the news reader!” she exclaimed at her own ‘knowledge’. “But why there are so many people in the news?” she was perplexed seeing numerous panelists’ faces on the Television screen.

“You like them?”

“No,” she was straightforward in her response.

“Not even Arnab?”

“No, I like Arnab Goswami; he is very good!” she sounded like a real admirer. “What is his “spelling”?

“You try.”

“O.R. – Or; K.n.o.b. – Knob; G.o. – Go; S.w.a. – Swa; M.e. – Me!” she was clearly delighted at her spelling-skill.

I corrected her, “A.r.n.a.b. – Arnab; G.o.s.w.a.m.i. – Goswami.”

“He has an interesting name! He is Orknob but writes Arnab!” she was amused in her own childlike way without actually understanding the pronunciation of a Bengali name.

“What is the meaning of Arnab?"

“Arnab means “Ocean” .

"Like Indian Ocean"?! ... "Yes."

"He is Indian Arnab!"

"And, Goswami means?"

"Goswami is his surname,” I was almost exhausted by then.

Her curiosity was still not satisfied and I had to bear her barrage of questions till the News Hour was over. And, as you must have guessed it right, I couldn’t watch it in real sense even for a moment.

“News Hour means?” … “One hour of News.” … “News Hour had started at 9o’clock and will finish at 10o’clock?” And, when the NH didn’t end at 10pm, I had to explain why the show was called News “Hour” and not News “One-&-Half Hours”! Naturally, she was laughing loudly all the time!

“Arnab has written “Breaking News” just like that but he is not taking any ‘break’,” she said matter-of-factly in her all-observant style reading the words at the bottom of the screen.

I really didn’t know how to make her understand the “Breaking News” phenomenon! Honestly, I didn’t even want to try.

“I will write Arnab’s name in my diary!” was her open proclamation of her newfound admiration for Arnab Goswami. The next day itself “Arnab Goswami” got included in her “list” of “luminaries” like Barack Obama, Shakira, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Michael Schumacher.

Yes, she has only “international” personalities in her “diary” and they are her favourites. Arnab Goswami is the only exception – written in his “correct spelling”, of course! :)

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P.S.: Chinki - my kid niece’s “daak-naam” - has now been permitted by her mother to stay awake beyond 9o’clock for a few minutes and watch the News Hour – whenever she is with me, of course, which is mostly on Friday nights. :)