Independance Day
As AXN airs Independence Day, the big screen action flick featuring the unreal all out war between aliens and the immense power of the US army, I see the tri-colour fluttering outside my window.
I read jitu’s blog and smile to myself on his honesty and brilliance in bringing out an emotion so deep yet so ‘simple’ to our core being.
On a different note, I feel nohthing but disgust with the way news channels in the country take advantage of every conceivable human tragedy (from domestic murders to petty thievery) – all mish-mashed into a 3 minute pot-boiling thriller – sound effects, amateur flash animations and all. This isn’t bollywood you’re recreating you SOBs...remaking the brutality of a mass homicide through the 17 different camera angles isn’t helping and neither is the account of a once removed neighbor who’s looking for nothing more than his 15 seconds of fame.
Disgusting. These news channels need a check up from the neck up.
The papers aren’t much better. On the bottom side of the front page is the fanatical (and so very important) ‘news’ of Shahrukh f***ing khan’s personal bodyguard shooting another in a case of misplaced anger. I’m shocked to find that the inner page (right next to the business news) has a full page feature on the same. FULL page. Are you serious? Is this what the ‘news’ consumer of India has become? A brainless, worthless,dead-beat with no interest or desire for information with 0.1% importance to his existence?
Happy independence day.
This isn’t supposed to be a cynical post. I am back in my country and happier for it. Just needed to get that off my chest.
Changing Lanes.
The British security departments are about to launch a new ‘demarcation’ program for those who fly. Apparently ‘flying whilst Asian’ is now cause enough to be subject to suspicion, scrutiny and a completely separate security check program. Damnit. I wish I could say I find the situation ridiculous, but with circumstantial evidence turning to hard facts- it seems guys like me , guys exactly like me, are the ones plotting mass terrorist activities across the globe. Educated, with well-to-do families and a ‘good’ upbringing; young muslims across the world are storing their brain-washed, pent up anger and releasing it in a spray of bullet and bomb to innocent civilians worldwide. The only difference- I’m not muslim. That’s not consolation for me however. With the number of Indians of diverse religious beliefs spread across the globe, it can take one extreme action or over-exaggerated prejudice to turn this entire anti-islamic wave into an anti-hindu/parsi/sikh situation. You doubt it? Look back at the communal riots in Ayodhya, Gujarat. That wasn't a one way street. We, as a human race need now more than ever to rise above this deplorable state of communal/religious disharmony through open dialogue and sacrifice. Sacrifice of one's ego and biased beliefs as individuals and communities will be a requirement for any kind of middle ground meeting. Sacrifice is in actuality, not even the correct term; for sacrifice literally means the foregoing of an action/belief/possession for a larger good. I use it simply because I believe that expressing it in this manner is the only way to strike some semblance of the much-sought after chord of common sense. That is going to be the challenge.
The muslim population of the UK is demanding a dual effort from the government and community leadership to solve the ever-rising problems arising out of the crippling fears of terrorism . Getting the language and communication channels on the same page is the first hurdle. Read more here – there’s a task force on managing extremism - in the 21st century. Someone pass a motion to dissuade the usage of ‘civilization’ for our current state. We are far far from it.
Changing Lanes.
India’s independence day is a powerful tour de force of a country so magnificent in it’s diversity that it forgot the concept of unity; only to be brought back to life with the teachings and morality of a handful of philosophers. Thinkers so extreme in their belief that in hindsight, it was the only way to have achieved true svatantrata. (hindi for freedom) A student of history I am still to believe that it was a culmination of the bhagat singhs, raja ram mohan roys and one gandhi that brought the downfall of the empire.
Yesterday on our 59th bday, the horrors and victories of a british rule are far behind us. The excuses are far behind us, the wounds are healed. New challenges face the one billion+ population of bharat. A strong core base of government (democracy rule) to the need for consistent focus on sustainable rural growth in education and health. The arguments will continue and the debates will rage on. If there’s one thing im proud of though – it’s the ever growing belief in the concept of ‘action’ and not words that will convert this nation into a superpower. In 22 years ive been witness to unbelievable levels of bullshit from peers and juniors, senior leaders and fellow colleagues. Those people are the true enemy of the state of India. Emancipation or eradication, whatever the solution may be- let actions prove stronger then words. Ironic that all of this shall soon get etched into time through this blog- a written medium.
If there was only one thought I would want to leave for myself and my fellow Indian today and for our days in the future:
The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
I read jitu’s blog and smile to myself on his honesty and brilliance in bringing out an emotion so deep yet so ‘simple’ to our core being.
On a different note, I feel nohthing but disgust with the way news channels in the country take advantage of every conceivable human tragedy (from domestic murders to petty thievery) – all mish-mashed into a 3 minute pot-boiling thriller – sound effects, amateur flash animations and all. This isn’t bollywood you’re recreating you SOBs...remaking the brutality of a mass homicide through the 17 different camera angles isn’t helping and neither is the account of a once removed neighbor who’s looking for nothing more than his 15 seconds of fame.
Disgusting. These news channels need a check up from the neck up.
The papers aren’t much better. On the bottom side of the front page is the fanatical (and so very important) ‘news’ of Shahrukh f***ing khan’s personal bodyguard shooting another in a case of misplaced anger. I’m shocked to find that the inner page (right next to the business news) has a full page feature on the same. FULL page. Are you serious? Is this what the ‘news’ consumer of India has become? A brainless, worthless,dead-beat with no interest or desire for information with 0.1% importance to his existence?
Happy independence day.
This isn’t supposed to be a cynical post. I am back in my country and happier for it. Just needed to get that off my chest.
Changing Lanes.
The British security departments are about to launch a new ‘demarcation’ program for those who fly. Apparently ‘flying whilst Asian’ is now cause enough to be subject to suspicion, scrutiny and a completely separate security check program. Damnit. I wish I could say I find the situation ridiculous, but with circumstantial evidence turning to hard facts- it seems guys like me , guys exactly like me, are the ones plotting mass terrorist activities across the globe. Educated, with well-to-do families and a ‘good’ upbringing; young muslims across the world are storing their brain-washed, pent up anger and releasing it in a spray of bullet and bomb to innocent civilians worldwide. The only difference- I’m not muslim. That’s not consolation for me however. With the number of Indians of diverse religious beliefs spread across the globe, it can take one extreme action or over-exaggerated prejudice to turn this entire anti-islamic wave into an anti-hindu/parsi/sikh situation. You doubt it? Look back at the communal riots in Ayodhya, Gujarat. That wasn't a one way street. We, as a human race need now more than ever to rise above this deplorable state of communal/religious disharmony through open dialogue and sacrifice. Sacrifice of one's ego and biased beliefs as individuals and communities will be a requirement for any kind of middle ground meeting. Sacrifice is in actuality, not even the correct term; for sacrifice literally means the foregoing of an action/belief/possession for a larger good. I use it simply because I believe that expressing it in this manner is the only way to strike some semblance of the much-sought after chord of common sense. That is going to be the challenge.
The muslim population of the UK is demanding a dual effort from the government and community leadership to solve the ever-rising problems arising out of the crippling fears of terrorism . Getting the language and communication channels on the same page is the first hurdle. Read more here – there’s a task force on managing extremism - in the 21st century. Someone pass a motion to dissuade the usage of ‘civilization’ for our current state. We are far far from it.
Changing Lanes.
India’s independence day is a powerful tour de force of a country so magnificent in it’s diversity that it forgot the concept of unity; only to be brought back to life with the teachings and morality of a handful of philosophers. Thinkers so extreme in their belief that in hindsight, it was the only way to have achieved true svatantrata. (hindi for freedom) A student of history I am still to believe that it was a culmination of the bhagat singhs, raja ram mohan roys and one gandhi that brought the downfall of the empire.
Yesterday on our 59th bday, the horrors and victories of a british rule are far behind us. The excuses are far behind us, the wounds are healed. New challenges face the one billion+ population of bharat. A strong core base of government (democracy rule) to the need for consistent focus on sustainable rural growth in education and health. The arguments will continue and the debates will rage on. If there’s one thing im proud of though – it’s the ever growing belief in the concept of ‘action’ and not words that will convert this nation into a superpower. In 22 years ive been witness to unbelievable levels of bullshit from peers and juniors, senior leaders and fellow colleagues. Those people are the true enemy of the state of India. Emancipation or eradication, whatever the solution may be- let actions prove stronger then words. Ironic that all of this shall soon get etched into time through this blog- a written medium.
If there was only one thought I would want to leave for myself and my fellow Indian today and for our days in the future:
The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Unfortunately dude, it is cheap sensationalism that sells. For the millions of Indians like you who loathe it, there are tens of millions of Indians (and billions worldwide) who believe that hearing about Tom Cruise's baby is more interesting than the first democratic elections in Congo.
Yup - a random 'awareness' poll of those two stories in any city on the planet, will tell you why advertisers pay good money to keep crap like this on our T.V. screens and on the front pages of our newspapers.
It's hard to think up solutions when the controllers of the system are so deeply in-bed with each other.
Posted by
Pierre |
2:55 PM, August 16, 2006
somewhere, someone has got to take a stand....maybe the fact that the indian consumer isnt given a 'choice' in the matter...
think about it dude. put together the best findings on nomadlife, write up a 1 page 'thriller' on the website you said came closest to the illimunati, fire up an introduction to the wars waged on aiesec.net and nomadlife on the middle eastern crisis and i daresay we would create a little more enthusiasm in the average indian then what we credit them for....
Posted by
chitgo |
3:04 PM, August 16, 2006
I've been thinking about this for a while dude. I've seen a lot of blogs questioning the media, Amit's, Prabs, nomadone, a couple on my own too some time ago.
The problem definitely doesnt lie with the consumer alone - the biggest problem is that advertisers pay a lot of money to have certain stories take preference over others. If audiences continue to watch this dumbed-down programming coming in from all angles, TRP ratings won't go down and media channels (and advertisers) will feel doubly secure that their programming content is popular. (sic)
At this point, i'm fairly sure of what I will do as someone who will get into the field in a couple of years... I'm not so sure my stand will have a lot of support. Either way, this is something I'm thinking a lot about - a journalist alliance for real news (check out warfornews.blogspot.com - they're right up there on criticizing India's big 3 news channels), alternative means of funding news media companies, special programming sections...
fuck, if the whole Indian media were as independent in deciding content as Doordarshan in the 70s, "India" herself would be a different story - and i mean that from a journalistic point of view. No bullshit about guards in a shoot-out, some stupid politicians accusations of imaginary moles, Wright's personal problems with the selectors... we'd have more stories about our scientists solving real-world problems, and women like Nooyi who're making it against the odds...
Posted by
Pierre |
7:18 AM, August 17, 2006
agreed....the point for me at some philosophical level is going to be at the point where the monetary goals of mass-attractive news begin to take a backseat. there would be no country in the world that doesnt suffer from idiotic 'reporting' in one or many of its distributory channels...what differentiates them from the current state of the indian media is that they have a well defined audience that is willing to pay good money, that is a consumer class and that has a say in the way brands are viewed , ultimately having a consequence on their purchasing trends.
thats the bottom line for advertisers right? (for the purpose of this discussion lets say they are the root cause assholes)
if india is 1.6 billion as it stands now (or more?) and if we have a blossoming middle class and a ever populating upper class that has more care for the influence of their existence on the world at large and vice versa, what's stopping a proactive agency from reaching out to their mental faculties.
a lack of R&D in this area would be one. a complete disrespect for what our consumers gain online- i personally already read more online then i do on print/visual media channels...do i still represent too small a 'margin' or are these ominous signs for the fourth estate to be taking note of?
Posted by
chitgo |
7:39 AM, August 17, 2006