(5 Aug ’12)
The Olympics have been
a pleasant change from girls being harassed, Assam being burned, power failure
and train deaths.
I’ve learnt that Indian sportspersons (at least at the Olympics) don’t
lose. They ‘crash’, ‘get knocked’ or ‘get kicked’ out of events. Anyone who has
qualified for an event is an Olympian, that’s something to be proud of. Winning
is the icing on the cake, but the cake itself is valuable. But our channels
haven’t figured it out yet. No doubt, the heartbreak and tension of the
archers, shooters, badminton players and boxers were shared by those like me
who were sitting crossing fingers and limbs hoping hard for good news.
Assam’s riots and deaths kept cropping up. I was surprised this hadn’t
happened earlier, for the area’s been simmering for years now. One reporter
irritatingly said, “the Army made lame excuses” about why it hadn’t reacted
earlier. As a responsible viewer, I’d say sack the guy for homework not done.
It took the channels four days to understand that cops and the paramilitary had
to be called in first. The Army is basically meant to fight enemies, and help
civilian administration only in rare circumstances (in India these ‘rare’
circumstances happen so often that we fail to recognize as not-routine). And
even then, it needs a nod from the Ministry of Defence, who needs a nod from
the Ministry of Home Affairs. Not a single channel asked why or how this hadn’t
happened earlier, the riots. Had the government not known trouble was likely to
erupt? I could guess that sitting here in Goa. What did the government do, what
had it done, to prevent it? No channel asked this question. They were more keen
on putting the blame on who wiped the mess last. A medal for their effort, I
say.
The power collapse eclipsed the big, big disappointment of Mahesh
Bhupathi’s bowing out of his last attempt at The Olys. Silly questions ruled
the screen: ‘Hesh created the row and didn’t play with Paes, what does he have
to say now?’ The answer given by another reporter says: ‘there’s always joy and
sorrow in life,’ etc, etc. Fundas and facts versus talk-talk-talk opinions. The
power collapse news bite was handled better by a regional channel (Marathi)
that wasn’t even affected by it. The Delhi based folks gave us obvious feedback
about office-goers being stranded on railway stations and teenagers not being
able to study (like they weren’t relieved about it). Again, not surprising at
all, for this was yet another disaster just waiting to happen. If you’ve ever
seen the net of wires and cables criss-crossing the Uttar
Pradesh-Gurgaon-Ghaziabad-Noida skies, you could have made an accurate guess
yourself. Specially if you’ve spoken to people who’ve told you their
bijli-bills were in three digit figures in spite of having air-conditioned
kitchens and bathrooms… which weren’t attached to the mandatory diesel-sets
that every factory, farm and home seems to have in those areas.
The thing about girls getting molested: it’s time we raised a Seetha
Sene instead of running off to complain to the government. Learn judo, girls,
or taekwondo. Learn to box, wield sticks, swords, nails, teeth, elbows, wrists,
anything that’ll help keep you safe. What you wear isn’t important. Where and
when is. Be appropriate. After taking care that you’re in the right, if goons
hassle you, be ready to kill them if need be. Then walk out
with your heads held high. (Now my comments on the Assam girl: the channels
said the girl was sixteen years old. Do we have age limits for pubbing? Should
we?). As for the goons labeling themselves as Ram’s sene…. According to the
Ramayana, they were monkeys, right?
At the end of the week, I find that the television channels that I like
to watch are Doordarshan (specially the Prasad Bharati channel which
continuously gives India’s best music and dance) and the Goa channels that tell
us the good that’s happening in the
State. As one who believes that there’s always more good than bad in the world…
Goa has got the JRD Tata award for doing well in Reproductive Health and Family
Planning. And theoretical physicist Ashoke Sen, a string theorist at Allahabad's
Harish Chandra Research Institute, became a millionaire overnight as he is one
of the nine winners of the first Yuri Milner Fundamental Physics Prize which at
Rs 16.7 crore is the most lucrative academic prize in the world. After
the DD and the Goa channels, I flip back to the Olympics to see what mankind is
capable of. Vive la good times.
@@@@@
No comments:
Post a Comment