Yet another year comes to an end

Hmm, so the countdown for the end of another year comes to an end. It feels like just yesterday when the year started and we are already seeing it come to an end...my year started like any other year...at home...with family...and dis year is going to b no different...
January 2008 was the turning point of my life...its going to one year since i went to Vidarbha as part of covering deprivation...but even today the images of the villages..villagers...poverty...haunt me...where life is about surviving each day.... Kishore Tiwari...Vijay Jawandia..these people continue to fight..fight to uplift the farmers......even today Kishore Tiwari continues to maintain a 'Suicide Diary'; a few thousand more farmers killed themselves this year too in parts of Vidarbha, Andhra etc... Nothing much has changed...the life of human beings in our country is worth zilt.
No One cares. One wonders where the so called NDTVs and CNN IBNs of this country were when farmers were on a suicide mission..except for making 'documentaries' which capture the 'poverty' of our country, hardly do u hear any channels or even papers for that matter discuss about the agriculture policy of this country. .. Doesn't NDTV think 'Enough is Enough' when it comes to the poor dying? guess not. Coz they don't watch NDTV right? So, a few thousand poor people die..who cares? The trp ratings don come down coz of those deaths right?
This year was also marked with unprecedented violence across the country..blast after blast..the psyche of the people was affected...however that too saw a gradual change from initial fear to a sense of detachment and acceptance that nothing much can be done and terror attacks can;t really be avoided..den November 26 happened..Mumbai got attacked..and the city's already stretched spirit snapped..while media went on a rampage covering the attacks...many crucial questions too were raised on the changing role of the media from a fourth estate to a corporate set up that needs to be regulated... from freedom of expression to the need for curbing this over-expression... 2008 has been the year when media truly touched a new low in India- whether it be the Aarushi murder coverage (which incidentally has been forgotten) to the Mumbai attack coverage.. the year has been a traumatic experience for the viewer, with many wishing for the days of DD news coverage to be back....
From a life changing trip to vidarbha..to mad rush to complete a dissertation in March 2008 to placements in April..to the convocation ceremony in May....this year has been quite an 'eventful' year for me...May 22- I saw Rakesh after 1o whole months..and boy was i happy! :) June was my training at The Hindu...June 2 to December 31- I have completed a few months at Hindu..
There have been days when i have been super frustrated at things..to moments of joy when reports and articles were appreciated..but yea the initial thrill of finding my bylines did slowly weear out..Aug 2008 Rakesh went back to US while in October we completed 3 years of togetherness....this year was also marked with our parents getting accustomed to each other...something that we both wanted... Looking back as i recap the year..i c that 2008 has been an year of learning and unlearning for me....story ideas...and six months in the field has left me looking at everything as a possible 'story idea'..and then there are times when i just want to get out of the monotony of reporting city based stories and want to roam around...
Made new friends this year.. like in any year..retained old friends....got in touch with older friends thanks to facebook....saw friends get married....shared the joy of my first cousin delivering a baby girl...while another cousin got married..while some found love..others lost love... forgave old friends...accepted mistakes and asked for forgiveness..bid farewell to other as they left for higher studies....lend shoulders to friends when they needed it...made new friends online...one such friend is Vatsala-Kappa who was my junior at Francis... i have't met her till date..but i feel protective about her..like i would be of a younger sis.. 
Friendship at Workplace: Something that i thought wouldn't happen..considering the vast age difference and professional experience..but yea i did manage to acquaint myself quite many in the office...while i found friends in three.. proving that age difference doesnt really matter as long as the wavelength matches....SKM, Venky and ADK (the only one in my age group) have been really good..from helping me get accustomed to the place to making me feel at home...Venky and i share the same alma mater..our school...SKM is a good human being who just doesnt say No to anyone...and is always there for anyone ready to help...he is truly a 24/7 helpline :) a man with a good heart...and with an equally lovable daughter... ADK has helped me get used to the nuances of working in a city bureau to lending an ear when i wanted to vent....
It's been a good year over all...an year worth remembering for numerous reasons...

One reason why am looking forward for the new year is that 2 people am really close to in this office have promised me that they would quit smoking. And am glad they are for reasons best known to them and me....

Well, here is wishing all of you a Happy New Year 2009. ... :)

The other day i went to a political rally...that of Chiranjeevi's party- PrajaRajyam. I tagged along a colleague of mine...and boy was it fun..well, political reporting has its own charm i guess...though i am sure it can get monotonous after a while..But yea it was worth an experience..I have been to political rallies before...as a student of journalism in chennai..but unfortunately i could hardly follow half of what the speaker spoke thanks to my limited understanding of Tamil. But here, it was different..the meeting was being held at Dharna Chowk, near Indira Park.. 

 I was left wondering as to what motivated people to come to such meetings...i mean even after so many years of non-governance and corruption, how is it that political parties, new and old, and leaders continue to attract people in hordes? Something about the whole atmosphere was charged and i had a zillion questions running in my mind..the issue being discussed in this particular meeting was about the attacks on women..following the acid attacks (which i will discuss in my later posts)...this speaker went on and on blaming the government the police for the lack of safety...and i was wondering..oh so is the government responsible for the sexual violence that is perpetuated against women in their own homes..as ever..my mind was digressing and couldnt remain focused..i was too captivated by the whole atmosphere..of women listening to men and women on a pedestal...the words sounded hollow to me...a cynic that i am..but i saw the hope and admiration in the eyes of those gathered there and i was left pondering and wondering..what does it take to be a politician or a leader in this country?and then i wondered..if these women r so awestruck by a moderate speaker like who ever was on the stage (forgive my ignorance..i am bad with names more so those of politicians!) ...and i was thinking what a great speaker Hitler must truly have been...my thoughts were digressing in the same manner as they are now!! There was this man...a truly irritating one at it.....the meeting which was primarily a women centric meeting had this man openly bossing over the so-called women leaders.. it was an open show of male chauvinism.....but those gathered there didn think so. And that's when my thoughts shifted towards how ingrain some gender stereotypes are...how many women just seem to accept men 'crowning' over them..under the pretext of a 'safety umbrella' and so on and so forth......

Anyways all in all..the experience was a different one..a thought provoking one..inspite of the painful time my poor ears had thanks to the blaring loud speakers...which had me wondering about the effects of loud noises on people in the vicinity!!!! It will remain a wonder to me...how and what makes or pushes people to sit in front of politicians, daring heat (thankfully PRP had put up a tent)...it's quite an interesting study of human psychology....half the people sitting there are aware that most of the promises made will not be lived up to..yet they come...i guess its all about hoping against hope....like a fellow journalist from an urdu daily said today "if the king is a thorough businessman what more can u expect from those under him? "..he said this in response to another journalist's statement that all voters need is a packet of biryani and a bottle.....politics is indeed business..u elect me make me powerful...i will give u at least 1/4th of what was promised to u..just bring me to power to give me that 1/4th and every 4 years when u a different leader...atleast 1/4 of 4 of ur such wishes will come true..that's the funda.....Journalism is quite fun..i must say.....political, non political, science anything..a journalist...a true journalist like my grandfather says is a 'social scientist'.

Hotel Taj: Icon of whose India?

Picture courtesy: Nytimes.com

An interesting read..Food for thought... 

Gnani Sankaran- Tamil writer, Chennai.

 Watching at least four English news channels, surfing from one another during the last 60 hours of terror strike made me feel a terror of another kind, the terror of assaulting one's mind and sensitivity with cameras, sound bites and non-stop blabbers. All these channels have been trying to manufacture my consent for a big lie called - Hotel Taj the icon of India.

 Whose India, Whose Icon?

  
 It is a matter of great shame that these channels simply did not bother about the other icon that faced the first attack from terrorists - the Chatrapathi Shivaji Terminus (CST) railway station. CST is the true icon of Mumbai. It is through this railway station hundreds of Indians from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Tamilnadu have poured into Mumbai over the years, transforming themselves  into Mumbaikars and built the Mumbai of today along with the Marathis and Kolis

 But the channels would not recognise this. Nor would they recognise the thirty odd dead bodies strewn all over the platform of CST. No Barkha Dutt went there to tell us who they were. But she was at Taj to show us the damaged furniture and reception lobby braving the guards. And the TV cameras did not go to the government run JJ hospital to find out who those 26 unidentified bodies were. Instead they were again invading the battered Taj to try in vain for a scoop shot of the dead bodies of the page 3 celebrities.

  In all probability, the unidentified bodies could be those of workers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh migrating to Mumbai, arriving by train at CST without cell phones and pan cards to identify them. Even after 60 hours after the CST massacre, no channel has bothered to cover in detail what transpired there.

The channels conveniently failed to acknowledge that the  Aam Aadmis of India surviving in Mumbai were not affected by  Taj, Oberoi and Trident closing down for a couple of weeks  or months. What mattered to them was the stoppage of BEST buses and suburban trains even for one hour. But the channels were not covering that aspect of the terror attack.  Such information at best merited a scroll line, while the cameras have to be dedicated for real time thriller unfolding at Taj or Nariman Bhavan.

 The so called justification for the hype the channels built around heritage site Taj falling down (CST is also a heritage site), is that Hotel Taj is where the rich and the powerful of India and the globe congregate. It is a symbol or icon of power of money and politics, not India. It is the icon of the financiers and swindlers of India. The Mumbai and India were built by the Aam Aadmis who passed through CST and Taj was the oasis of peace and privacy for those who wielded power over these mass of labouring classes. Leopold  club and Taj were the haunts of rich spoilt kids who would  drive their vehicles over sleeping Aam Aadmis on the  pavement, the Mafiosi of Mumbai forever financing the  glitterati of Bollywood (and also the terrorists) ,  Political brokers and industrialists.

 It is precisely because Taj is the icon of power and not people that the terrorists chose to strike.
 The terrorists have understood after several efforts that the Aam Aadmi will never break down even if you bomb her markets and trains. He/she was resilient because that is the only way he/she can even survive.

  Resilience was another word that annoyed the pundits of news channels and their patrons this time.  What resilience, enough is enough, said Pranoy Roy's channel on the left side of the channel spectrum. Same sentiments were echoed by Arnab Goswami representing the right wing of the broadcast media whose time is now. Can Rajdeep be far behind in this game of one-upmanship over TRPs ? They all attacked resilience this time. They wanted firm action from the government in tackling terror.

 The same channels celebrated resilience when bombs went off in trains and markets killing and maiming the Aam Aadmis. The resilience of the ordinary worker suited the rich business class of Mumbai since work or manufacture or film shooting did not stop. When it came to them, the rich shamelessly exhibited their lack of nerves and refused to be resilient themselves. They cry for government intervention now to protect their private spas and swimming pools and bars and restaurants, similar to the way in which Citibank, General Motors and the ilk cry for government money when their coffers are emptied by their own ideologies.

The terrorists have learnt that the ordinary Indian is unperturbed by terror. For one whose daily existence itself is a terror of government sponsored inflation and market sponsored exclusion, pain is something he has learnt to live with. The rich of Mumbai and India Inc are facing the pain for the first time and learning about it just as the middle classes of India learnt about violation of human rights only during emergency, a cool 28 years after independence.

 And human rights were another favourite issue for the channels to whip at times of terrorism.
Arnab Goswami in an animated voice wondered where were those champions of human rights now, not to be seen applauding the brave and selfless police officers who gave up their life in fighting terrorism. Well, the counter question would be where were you when such officers were violating the human rights of Aam Aadmis. Has there ever been any 24 hour non stop coverage of violence against dalits and adivasis of this country?

 This definitely was not the time to manufacture consent for the extra legal and third degree methods of interrogation of police and army but Arnabs don't miss a single opportunity to serve their class masters, this time the jingoistic patriotism came in handy to whitewash the entire uniformed services.

 The sacrifice of the commandos or the police officers who went down dying at the hands of ruthless terrorists is no doubt heart rending but in vain in a situation which needed not just bran but also brain. Israel has a point when it says the operations were misplanned resulting in the death of its nationals here.

 Kakares and Salaskars would not be dead if they did not commit the mistake of travelling by the same vehicle. It is a basic lesson in management that the top brass should never travel together in crisis. The terrorists, if only they had watched the channels, would have laughed their hearts out when the Chief of the Marine commandos, an elite force, masking his face so unprofessionally in a see-through cloth, told the media that the commandos had no idea about the structure of the Hotel Taj which they were trying to liberate. But the terrorists knew the place thoroughly, he acknowledged.

 Is it so difficult to obtain a ground plan of Hotel Taj and discuss operation strategy thoroughly for at least one hour before entering? This is something even an event manager would first ask for, if he had to fix 25 audio systems and 50 CCtvs for a cultural event in a hotel. Would not Ratan Tata have provided a plan of his ancestral hotel to the commandos within one hour considering the mighty apparatus at his and government's disposal?  Are satellite pictures only available for terrorists and not the government agencies?  In an operation known to consume time, one more hour for preparation would have only improved the efficiency of execution.

 Sacrifices become doubly tragic in unprofessional circumstances. But the Aam Aadmis always believe that terror-shooters do better planning than terrorists. And the gullible media in a jingoistic mood would not raise any question about any of these issues.  They after all have their favourite whipping boy – the politician the eternal entertainer for the non-voting rich classes of India.

 Arnabs and Rajdeeps would wax eloquent on Nanmohan Singh and Advani visiting Mumbai separately and not together showing solidarity even at this hour of national crisis.  What a farce? Why can't these channels pool together all their camera crew and reporters at this time of national calamity and share the sound and visual bites which could mean a wider and deeper coverage of events with such a huge
 human resource to command?   Why should Arnab and Rajdeep and Barkha keep harping every five minutes that this piece of information was exclusive to their channel, at the time of such a national crisis? Is this the time to promote the channel? If that is valid, the politician promoting his own political constituency is equally valid. And the duty of the politician is to do politics, his politics. It is for the people to evaluate that politics.

 

 And terrorism is not above politics. It is politics by other means. To come to grips with it and to eventually eliminate it, the practice of politics by proper means needs constant fine tuning and improvement. Decrying all politics and politicians, only helps terrorists and dictators who are the two sides of the same coin. And the rich and powerful always prefer terrorists and dictators to do business with.

Those caught in this crossfire are always the Aam Aadmis whose deaths are not even mourned - the taxi driver who lost the entire family at CST firing, the numerous waiters and stewards who lost their lives working in Taj for a monthly salary that would be one time bill for their masters.

 

 Postscript: In a fit of anger and depression, I sent a message to all the channels, 30 hours through the coverage.  After all they have been constantly asking the viewers to message them for anything and everything. My message read: I send this with lots of pain. All channels, including yours, must apologise for not covering the victims of CST massacre, the real mumbaikars and aam aadmis of India. Your obsession with five star elite is disgusting. Learn from the print media please.  No channel bothered. Only srinivasan Jain replied: you are right. We are trying to redress balance today. Well, nothing happened till the time of writing this 66 hours after the terror attack.