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Sunday 5 December 2010

‘Oh god, what do I have to tell them’ to win back their trust

“Business Journalism is all about money”, is the 1st thing that my Professor who is also an editor for the Businessline, The Hindu told us in our Business journalism course. What my professor tried to do with that introduction was to tell us to be ready to look at the financial implications with every political decision, charitable act by the big names etc. But we couldn’t help but look at the pun in his statement, after class we went on to discuss the five-star-hotel press conferences, sample gifts from corporate, paid holidays etc that was a part of business journalism.

So if we were to think in the same lines as what my professor told us, then is “political journalism all about POWER”. Well maybe not, but the last two weeks of newspaper headlines tells me so.

Barkha Dutt is not any Tom, Dick or Harry in the Indian industry. For many Indians she is to the Indian media what Sachin Tendulkar is to cricket. So hearing power broking and lobbying allegations against Barkha is not digestible in the 1st gulp for many. But then reality is a B****, and the tapes are there for everyone to hear. What to believe and what not to believe is the question.

No I have not taken sides, neither Barkhas nor the critics. But I feel the cover up/clarification technique taken up by Barkha was one taken in haste and has only added to the fire.

Barkha in her personal statement in the NDTV website tried to defend herself by saying “As journalists we deal with different kinds of people, who sometime solicit information and at other times, provide news leads. Unless we believe in only press-conference driven journalism, the need to tap into what's happening behind-the-scenes in the corridors of power involves dealing with a multitude of voices”.

Not only did Barkha try to clean up her image by herself but NDTV too came to her rescue by writing an article against Open magazine’story which put Barkha in bad light with connection to the Radia tapes in their official website stating, “to caricature the professional sourcing of information as "lobbying" is not just baseless, but preposterous.”

NDTV even went on to publish in their website the SMS messages exchanged between Barkha and Manu Joseph, Open magazines editor. These messages try to question Manu’s ethics as a person i.e. telling Barkha something, and doing something else. But if that was supposed to take away the attention from the issue itself, then I can only say “sorry NDTV, the trick dint work”.

NDTV then made a brave move by inviting the main critics and experts in the field to a talk show, where the guests could ask questions to Barkha on the incident, and she would clarify(defend) them on camera. I believe “the idea” by NDTV was a good one, contrary to what many renowned journalists think. NDTV tried to show that they were transparent, and by trying to get all three sides of the story (accused, accuser and expert) they were doing good journalism in the process. Moreover it was a plan to save their senior editor’s face. But unfortunately the plan did not work.

Barkha who is normally seen grilling politicians in her show “the buck stops here” was made to exchange seats and was in turn made to defend herself on the “BarkhaGate” accusations. And that was not not easy for her. As much as she tried to keep her cool, and act a participant in the discussion, she could not hold back her instincts. She did loose it in between, her emotions were evident withevery nod of her head and twitch of her nose.

The Open magazine editor, Manu Joseph infact had a good time, he stole the show and managed in sailing it the way he wanted. He got to ask the question he wanted to ask her, which he knew she dint have the perfect answer for, and thus he succeeded in making the statement he wanted to without saying too much. Barkha tried to bring in the issue of whether publishing “raw material” like telephone transcripts was in the lines of Journalists ethics. That is a debate in itself, but to get to the bottom of the lobbying scandal many of the ethic gurus have made an exception to overlook the ethics of publishing the tapes.

Both the articles in the website, and the NDTV talk show dint serve the purpose they were supposed to. While many journalists have remained silent on the whole controversy, a few have spoken in favor of Barkha. The Hindustan Times has decided to suspend Vir Sanghvi's column Counterpoint after tapes of his conversations with Niira Radia surfaced last week.

Will Barkha suffer a similar plight? Or will she be able to convince the entire nation that she was just speaking to a source to get her story?

All said and done, this is one case that asks Indian journalism to wake up, and start mending their ways or more skeletons in the closet will be exposed and more tapes shall be leaked soon. God save us all. Period

Sunday 28 November 2010

How long will we keep fighting?


November 1995
Post-lunch classes were always a drag, so I wasn’t listening to my social studies teacher that afternoon when she spoke about Kashmir issue. Instead, I was looking at the Indian map on the same page of my textbook. I imagined it without Kashmir; I even covered the Kashmir part with my still-growing palm. The image looked weird, like a headless body, I thought with a silly grin.


Was that my own imagining? Or something that was indirectly inculcated into me by my teacher, who just taught us what the book said and didn’t have an opinion of her own? Or from the textbook itself, and from my previous years’ textbooks that told me that Kashmir was a vital part of India that Pakistan tried to steal?
A 9-year-old’s world is simple: You relate to things with your preconceived roles of villain, hero and the helpless soul that needs saving. To me, there was no doubt that India “the hero” would save Kashmir from Pakistan “the villain.” I believed that Kashmir the “head” was an original and essential part of the Indian body, as I was taught. But now as I hear all this controversy about whether Kashmir is an integral part of India, and as I use the “Google god” to learn more, I realised that I was taught a bunch of lies. My conception of the pretty state of Kashmir with the breathtaking mountains and the beautiful valleys was all based on lies.

Thursday 19 August 2010

Avial a few weeks before Onam


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Yes, that's what I had on independence eve night at Bangalore, a good mix of Avial. No, we are not referring to the dish here but the Mallu rock band Avial. My 1st real rock show, so nothing much to compare it to. But yes it was fun for me, and inspired the very malnourished Malayalam singer in me to sing along.

The crowd was very much an Avial crowd in-spite of the organisers move of advertising the show with Parikrama as the main heroes.

Tony, the main singer of Avial very much reminded me of The Devil, with his sexy bald hair, pixie pointed ears, pale skin, sharp eyes, and just fit body. These not so mallu looks, along with his paccha (raw) Malayalam combined his trademark the rebel mallu attire consisting of a school boy white shirt and a black lungi was what the crowd out there loved most about him.

The “Tony, Tony” chants went on throughout the performance, and he dint disappoint his fans one bit. In between the hit numbers he had his own corny malayalam lines like “are we roking, and rolingg makalle?” to keep the crowd entertained.

Thanks to unequal growth hormones between the sexes I was right behind a bunch of tall guys who just kept jumping all the time, making my view of the concert much more difficult. The crowd was very sane for a rock concert, but off course there was the mood of alcohol, mixed with the fragrance of dope every 5 mins a new guy passed by.

The band is a ‘Rang De Basanthi’(with full reference to the movie) type band. In the sense it is one that has the power to make even the ‘Fraud mallu’ sit back, listen, feel proud to be a Malayali, and understand a few issues/stories related with the place he/she comes from.

The popularity of the band’s music is not restricted to just to Kerala, but crosses even the country’s borders. Many compare it to the popularity of the band to that of the German rock band ‘Rammstein’, with the similarity that both sing in strange languages, but the music is as good as ever.

Also called ‘Alternate Malayalam rock’ genre, the band is one that made me tone my tongue to twist it a bit further to sing their Malayalam lyrics. When someone makes you try hard to do something you never bothered to then that is what I call Influential. No doubt Avial is one such band in the history of Malayalam music.

Sunday 16 May 2010

Sania , Shoaib, aur hum

Disclaimer : This post is old news, and I should have posted it 2 months back. Let me apologize for my procrastination.

Let me quote one of the most sought after new age Indian authors of the current generation...
Love marriages around the world are simple:
Boy loves girl. Girl loves boy.
They get married.
In India, there are a few more steps:
Boy loves Girl. Girl loves Boy.
Girl's family has to love boy. Boy's family has to love girl.
Girl's Family has to love Boy's Family. Boy's family has to love girl's family.
Girl and Boy still love each other. They get married.

And now let me add to this a little more for the coveted Sania mirza-Shoiab Malik love story.
The Girl’s country has to love boy. Boy’s country has to love girl.
Girl and Boy still love each other. They get married.

Sania Mirza has always been a media favourite in India. She has made headlines for reasons in and beyond her control, be it because the Islam extremists decided to voice out loud that they thought her skirt hemline was too short for a modest Muslim girl, or her link up with a special bollywood star who was famous for being dumped at that time. But now she is in news for a reason everyone loves to hear, for love, for marriage, for a controversial marriage.
The perfect Indian marriage is one with no controversy, but the exciting and memorable one is one which has maximum controversy as it can take.
In most of the controversial Indian marriage the controversy, confusion, rejection, etc comes from within the family. The parents don’t approve of the guy/girls caste, the religions don’t agree with each other, parents choose totally poles apart partners for their kids etc, etc.
Sania has been spared that part of the great Indian dramatic wedding, but instead her anti-cupid forces are external, external from immediate family. There are two main enemies to this marriage. 1st is the ‘Other girl’ from Hyderabad, who is taken care of for now (hopefully). Let’s not talk about that part, because as far as we know that part has been taken care of and that girl will never interfere with the new brides life (or so we hope).
I would like to talk about the second enemy here, that is the ‘Other’ people who aren’t happy with the marriage. The reason they don’t agree with the marriage is the very famous ‘they aren’t a perfect match’ and this has nothing to do with personal interests, character or favourite ice screams, but more to do with nationalities, countries and borders.
Coming from a family where a few ‘not so perfect in the others eye marriages’ have taken place, i have seen how difficult the bride and the groom struggle to get the families consent, forget the society consent. Here we are talking about a whole country, a few people in the country feel that Sania’s matrimony is a national issue, and to asking Sania to get the blessings of every uncle ansd aunty in the country is ‘mission-impossible.
On a TV talk show almost 2 weeks before the marriage happened I had seen Sri Rama Sene chief Pramod Muthalik voice his opinion that he thought Sania Mirza choice of a Pakistani was an insult to all Indian Muslim boys. I really don’t know how that is relevant here, was it a competition here? In Muthalik’s view is every single adult Indian Muslim boy ranging from the tea-shop boy to the businessman who has just flown in from Switzerland after making a billion dollar deal supposed to feel like a failure in Sania’s eyes?
So finally they married after a lot of hue and cry. But is the drama over? I fail to think so. Lets wait for the next major tennis tournament to come, and hear if Sania wants to play for India. Then many self appointed tennis experts will come out to coach Sania on patriotism and betrayal.

Saturday 24 April 2010

More than a ball game


A month Pune and Kochi were dancing. Why? Because they were getting their own IPL team, but today slogans of ‘Ban IPL’ are being screamed all over.
A month back IPL news meant ‘KKR thrashed again’ or ‘Sachin proves he is god in all forms of the game’ or ‘Yuvraj angry over captaincy issue’, but today it means ‘Was Shashi Tharoor really playing a foul game or is he another victim of controversy’ or ‘Modi not going down without a fight.’
So ultimately who is the joke on? Is it on Sunanda who was forced to give up her share in the Kochi team? Is it on the newly ex-president of the IPL Mr.Lalit Modi ? Is it on the million cricket fans who religiously followed every match, only to realize that it was all fixed in the 1st place.
Tharoor’s little secret game has now become a major issue involving many big names in the underworld, and questioning the credibility of many politicians and the government. It all started with Modi’s casual tweet about Tharoor wanting to be all hush-hush about his girlfriend Sunanda holding free equity in the Kochi team, and that ironically has got Modi himself under the axe.
When Tharoor who claimed to be ‘only a mentor’ to the Kochi team found himself at the receiving end of the IPL and political blows, with no ‘team’ to support his case, he bailed himself out by resigning as foreign minister, with grace. His resignation speech was classy to say the least, and only a fool would think that was his vote of thanks to political life. Lets all hope that will rise from the dead.
Lalit Modi was the next victim of the IPL hurricane, but for all we know of him, he wasn’t one to give in so easily, the IPL was his brain child, his baby. For the past 3 years Lalit Modi has taken centre stage of the IPL, he hasn’t had to share the limelight either, because the rest of the world didn’t care for the supporting actors. Modi took the all the right and wrong decisions associated with the IPL unilaterally, and always thought it a better idea to tweet about it as soon as he decided.
But one who has lived by the axe must die by the axe, and ultimately at the end of IPL-3 Modi has been reduced to just another twitter fanatic. Most of the in-house people in the BCCI who Modi trusted he could depend upon has let him down. But then Modi’s best friend Sharad Powar had to play Brutus here, lest he dirties his hands and poses a threat to his own position as the next ICC president.
Modi’s top crime is that he was involved in betting and match-fixing allegations. The IT department has proof for that, but investigations have come out with more surprises, putting the whole IPL brand name into shame. Names were dragged in, denials were in plenty, and the media saw to it that no one was spared.
Earlier Preity Zinta had a lot of explaining to do over the alleged ‘proxy ownership’ of the Punjab kings XI. Now its Shilpa sheety’s turn to save Rajasthan royals face, and she has opted to do that by the language IPL best understands by now, tweeting.
The tax department and the government are determined to get to the bottom of the IPL mysteries. This has become bigger than a national issue, and the government knows that if they do messy job here the ICC will step in along with the international paparazzi and that could turn really ugly.
Except for the bookies no one likes the word match fixing, irrespective of the result of the matches. I remember the match fixing controversy during South Africa’s tour of India 2001. Too many hearts were broken when the secret was out, including mine. So if any hint of match fixing is whispered we want to know the truth.
I was watching Preity Zinta’s interview with Barkha in which Priety stated that, “everybody is talking about the IPL which is great in a way but I wish they would focus on the game, I wish they would focus on the sport which everybody's completely ignored.”
Yes Preity we wish for the same, we would also rather talk about and watch the game, than the dramatic IPL circus show. But we would also like to be assured that whatever happens on the field is the result of those 22 guys who toil is out in the field—The same guys who we idolize, the same guys for who we prayed, and not the result of a raw deal made between a bunch of high profile businessmen in the luxury of a 5-star hotel room. If the latter is found to be true then we definitely won’t be laughing, as the joke would undoubtedly be on us the fans.

Sunday 14 February 2010

Happy (Ignore)Valentines day

When does one inherit the right to moral police? Where do we draw that line?

The law says an individual past the age of 18 is free to live at one’s own will. But then reality is an ass****

I am not new to moral policing, in fact most of us aren’t. We spend most our lives following other individual’s ethics and principles.

I did my undergraduate studies in a college about which people talked more for its dictatorial rules than the quality of education. A written order to ‘keep an arms distance from the opposite sex’, and a rule which said that you could not use the loo after a certain time were some of the outrageous rules there. Being a religious institution free spiritual thought and practises were shunned upon.

In time I learnt to ignore the tantrums they made for every little rebel act, and learnt of ways to live my own life in spite of all the drama around. Then again there were a few who said that when one runs one’s own business (the business of selling education) then the right to design a rule system came by default.

But what does one do when a group of eccentric, irrational morons decide to discipline the country???

Well it’s Valentines day, the day of love, making out, heart shaped balloons, hand in hand couples, moonlit dinners, discovering the romantic in you. But none of that should happen in this country, not on this day.

Why?

Because some ‘speacial someones’ do not like it, and they feel the very idea of a valentine’s day is going over the top. So I say well, if so don’t celebrate it, don’t acknowledge it, and don’t wear red, wear black or rather don’t follow any dress code at all.

But no, they have a better plan of making things work their way, they spit on women in pubs, forcefully marry any guy and girl seen walking together on that day, it doesn’t even matter if they are siblings, beat up the guy in front of the girl. So even if you are a married couple who wants to celebrate Valentine’s Day, you better do that at home.

The irony is that Valentine’s Day is supposed to be all about love and happiness, whereas what’s happening here right now is bloodshed and fear.

A few days back an anti-Valentino activist was giving one of his ‘we are watching you, don’t try any funny stunt on D day’ lectures, when one young man came up and rubbed some ink on his face. Now in a way it’s funny, but I wonder if that was supposed to be a taste of one’s own medicine thing , like in ‘you don’t like the idea of teenagers dating, so you get them married, likewise we don’t like listening to your crap talk so we decide to decorate your face’.

One thing led t another and in the end of the day plenty of buses were burned, people murdered, and the legal police are all over the place trying to restore some peace. I guess St. Valentine never in his wildest dreams thought he would be the excuse for so much violence.

So can keep on lying to ourselves tagging this as moral policing? Will we ever see an end to this re named hitlerism?

I don’t know.

So on this day I wish you all not a happy or romantic valentine’s day, but a peaceful and uneventful one.