A recent string of events has led me to believe that in India, only the smallest, most insignificant happenings get glorified to no extent by the attention craving media.
A famous comedian once quoted that, "The media is there here even before the incident occurs". Though said on a lighter vein, it does tend to get one thinking how on earth these microphone toting, irritating journalists are ever ready on the spot to shoot baseless, inconsequential questions to the dumbstruck witness or detainee or whoever the poor chap is.
Let's take the Sashi Tharoor event. What did the poor guy do anyway? He tweeted. Big deal. Like the Kerala Government and the Central Government do not publicise their conduct. Tharoor, being more educated than the average politician in India, and also being somewhat tech-savvy has taken to 'tweeting' his opinions on the net. Great way to involve the youth into politics, as the so-called politicians keep saying,'Youth are the driving force of the future India'. But then, we don't like tweets, Nu-uh. Let's just let the 'youth' figure out what stance the government takes rather than tweet about it and give them an idea. GASP. What an affront to the serving purpose of the Indian Government! Atrocious. How could you Mr. Tharoor? Couldn't you have just left the youth hanging in the air rather than educate them? See how you've angered the biggies.
So, a 'tweet' gets all the attention. Popular News channels have their 'breaking news columns' as follows:
"Tharoor garners support for his tweets"
"Tharoor's 'tweet' surprise' (If that wasn't lame...)
What the hell is wrong with Indian media today? Ruchika and 'Kasab' have been sidelined amidst this tweet frenzy. Really people. Wake up. Justice has to be served and in fact no one gives a damn about Tharoor's tweets. There is no need to get your old harrowed bones to stick out over a harmless tweet.
Oh, and every other incident, be it small or big becomes a 'BREAKING NEWS'! What on earth?! Of course, Aishwarya Rai's wedding to Junior Bacchchan is as important as the 123 deal made by India! GOD. The genuine attempts by the media to highlight an important happening are non existent any more. Everything is glorified to an unnecessary level, every small minute happening is recorded on tape, every private ceremony made public and every mishap sorely punished by advertisement to the nation as a whole.
The entity of the media has become a joke today. What was once THE most powerful weapon has today been reduced to a shambles fraught with the desire to publicise an event much before the other news channel does. Is this what the country banks on? Unreliable news information sought from further unreliable sources? Reuters and the World press can only look on and wonder at the amount of publicity each channel gets by openly and shamelessly advertising themselves as better than the rival channels. What happened to gaining information from said channels? Oh wait, they get lost amidst the frenzied advertisements and celebrity gossip that has become predominant in all the so-called chains of news material.
To add on to this utter embarrassment, we have branches of the same channels, that half heartedly publish the trends in the stock market. Lo, and behold, we also meddle there and every increase or decrease in the nifty becomes a small event considered to the 'other' breaking news. It's laughable really, save for those one or two rare, incredibly earnest individuals, striving to publicise the truth and nothing but the truth that makes one still turn on the switch to watch the parody.
When will this competition to gain the top position end? When will the media stop being a spotlight craving entity and become the provider of the current status to the country? The answer lies in the strife to eliminate such questions from being put forth. And that will be the day when the media is reinstated in all its former glory.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Absence and the heart!
It's the season for the reds and the greens, the mistletoes and hollies, the chocolates and cakes and the beginning of a whole new eventful year.
Breaks from schools and colleges are mandatory and mostly looked forward to at this time. Nevertheless, our bunch of Randoms has found the depth and the magnitude behind the saying "Absence makes the heart grow fonder". Now, now, we aren't getting mushy here. All it takes is one, sarcastic member of said group to vanish amongst the backwaters, and the remaining three start with the 'Where are you?' writings.
Normally, this adage will be attributed to estranged lovers who eventually find themselves and fall in love all over again. BORING. But in our case, it's a whole world different. A relief break form taxing, over bearing profs as much as needed has also shown to us that distance from friends can also make your heart grow a tad bit more mushy than you'd like. I'm sure all you guys would agree with me on this.
It's not that we need to see each other everyday, meet on a regular basis or talk on till the wee hours of the morning. It's knowing that the person is going to be there when you need them at a phone call's distance that makes this relationship all the more worthwhile to have. Having said this, i would also like to establish that people when bored are not always this rational in their thinking. Sure, it's a given that we will be there for the others, but that doesn't mean that one can go on a vacation, other to cycle everyday and break a bone or sprain a muscle, another to oversee construction work and another to just be busy doing god knows what!
We need the everyday quarrels, tripping on each other and just having mind blowing conversations that are unimaginable to a common man. Not to discredit the various social networking sites that have made this possible, but there is nothing like the physical presence of the person that gives even the smallest of tasks the greatest of pleasures.
Miss you randoms!
Breaks from schools and colleges are mandatory and mostly looked forward to at this time. Nevertheless, our bunch of Randoms has found the depth and the magnitude behind the saying "Absence makes the heart grow fonder". Now, now, we aren't getting mushy here. All it takes is one, sarcastic member of said group to vanish amongst the backwaters, and the remaining three start with the 'Where are you?' writings.
Normally, this adage will be attributed to estranged lovers who eventually find themselves and fall in love all over again. BORING. But in our case, it's a whole world different. A relief break form taxing, over bearing profs as much as needed has also shown to us that distance from friends can also make your heart grow a tad bit more mushy than you'd like. I'm sure all you guys would agree with me on this.
It's not that we need to see each other everyday, meet on a regular basis or talk on till the wee hours of the morning. It's knowing that the person is going to be there when you need them at a phone call's distance that makes this relationship all the more worthwhile to have. Having said this, i would also like to establish that people when bored are not always this rational in their thinking. Sure, it's a given that we will be there for the others, but that doesn't mean that one can go on a vacation, other to cycle everyday and break a bone or sprain a muscle, another to oversee construction work and another to just be busy doing god knows what!
We need the everyday quarrels, tripping on each other and just having mind blowing conversations that are unimaginable to a common man. Not to discredit the various social networking sites that have made this possible, but there is nothing like the physical presence of the person that gives even the smallest of tasks the greatest of pleasures.
Miss you randoms!
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
On a boring lazy Sunday afternoon!
What is with exams and prep holidays that make even the most un-prolific of writers turn 'prolific'? Maybe it's all that "doing nothing" catching up,or it's the let- out pipe whereby pent-up emotions and never ending boredom reach a standstill! Well, whatever it is, this particular period has opened up fascinating conversations that gave way to part 2 of Random-ness!
And the thing that started it all: "Finally saw a cobra up close". I mean how harmless can this status message get? Not much. The person who posted that status would have expected comments that go on the lines of : "Oh, how did the cobra look" or "Wow man, that's awesome!". Instead, all the person got was absolutely hilarious and scandalous(GASP) comments that ranged from:
1. Foot bites
2. V.Ws
3.APs (SIGH)
4.Hunger in African continents
5.Green eyes
6.Gay people and Men who have sex with each other( according to Ankita, there is a difference O_O)
7.NGOs
8.Teena Geroge(DOUBLE SIGH)
9.Mallus
10.200 useless comments
And the end result: Half a day of gasping, laughing, prank calling, colour identifying and total ribbing!!
So, Random? Yes. Fun? Double Yes! So, at the end of the day, for all those involved in this- HIGH5!
For all those who read this- Hope you understood!
Cheers!!! :D :D
And the thing that started it all: "Finally saw a cobra up close". I mean how harmless can this status message get? Not much. The person who posted that status would have expected comments that go on the lines of : "Oh, how did the cobra look" or "Wow man, that's awesome!". Instead, all the person got was absolutely hilarious and scandalous(GASP) comments that ranged from:
1. Foot bites
2. V.Ws
3.APs (SIGH)
4.Hunger in African continents
5.Green eyes
6.Gay people and Men who have sex with each other( according to Ankita, there is a difference O_O)
7.NGOs
8.Teena Geroge(DOUBLE SIGH)
9.Mallus
10.200 useless comments
And the end result: Half a day of gasping, laughing, prank calling, colour identifying and total ribbing!!
So, Random? Yes. Fun? Double Yes! So, at the end of the day, for all those involved in this- HIGH5!
For all those who read this- Hope you understood!
Cheers!!! :D :D
Let's get started!
Hello all!
The first ever Random blog and here it goes.
College life is so easily hyped that many are blown away with the 'OOOhs' and the 'AAAhs' and fail to see the minute, tiny, small, and inconsequential events that actually make college life what it is.
The conversations of a bunch of 'Randoms' at a renowned university would go on the lines of:
1.Irritating and annoying professors, whose aim in life is to render all and sundry stunned at their amazing prowess of the English language. Excerpts:
a)"If you keep polluting the environment you'll cause 'agitating' worries to the mankind. Haven't heard of 'agitating' have you?
b) "How much do you reveal?" on the revealed preference theory! (We are economists, you see)
2. Boys. Can any college be complete without this species? Of course not! But the discussions on this very interesting topic ranges from perverseness to ultimate seriousness:
a) "What do i do now? He's being really authoritative!!" Our relationship expert says: "Dump him, man! No use being with guys like this". Whoever the guy was, i hope he never meets HER!
3.Heard of birdies pools, crows that peck your food, and horny cats that eat Frito Lays! It all happens here. Amazing random events that one would kill to enjoy.
But, even in the midst of all this, there are sadly only a certain group that truly enjoy these bizarre occurrences,love to laugh at their own foibles, smile at the most common mishaps, frustrate at a fellow companion's regular clumsiness, growl at each other for no reason, be depressed but know that 'they' are there for you always and feel complete and utter happiness in the presence of those who make all this worthwhile.
'Random'- a word so simple and common, yet one which makes life uncommon and unique.
Here's to Random-ness!
The first ever Random blog and here it goes.
College life is so easily hyped that many are blown away with the 'OOOhs' and the 'AAAhs' and fail to see the minute, tiny, small, and inconsequential events that actually make college life what it is.
The conversations of a bunch of 'Randoms' at a renowned university would go on the lines of:
1.Irritating and annoying professors, whose aim in life is to render all and sundry stunned at their amazing prowess of the English language. Excerpts:
a)"If you keep polluting the environment you'll cause 'agitating' worries to the mankind. Haven't heard of 'agitating' have you?
b) "How much do you reveal?" on the revealed preference theory! (We are economists, you see)
2. Boys. Can any college be complete without this species? Of course not! But the discussions on this very interesting topic ranges from perverseness to ultimate seriousness:
a) "What do i do now? He's being really authoritative!!" Our relationship expert says: "Dump him, man! No use being with guys like this". Whoever the guy was, i hope he never meets HER!
3.Heard of birdies pools, crows that peck your food, and horny cats that eat Frito Lays! It all happens here. Amazing random events that one would kill to enjoy.
But, even in the midst of all this, there are sadly only a certain group that truly enjoy these bizarre occurrences,love to laugh at their own foibles, smile at the most common mishaps, frustrate at a fellow companion's regular clumsiness, growl at each other for no reason, be depressed but know that 'they' are there for you always and feel complete and utter happiness in the presence of those who make all this worthwhile.
'Random'- a word so simple and common, yet one which makes life uncommon and unique.
Here's to Random-ness!
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