April 26, 2007

Overwhelmed

April 26, 2007 Posted by Vijay 1 comment
This one person from Meerut in UP, has been so tolerant as to go through my blog posts over a length of over three hours. Perhaps counting more even !

I can't be more thankful to this person. It's quite overwhelming honestly, coz, when I check my tracker staistics, more often than not the time at my blog spent is less than a second. Mind you, my site tracker doesn't check for milli or micro seconds. I didn't want to mention the exact four letter number for cipher in arithmetic. Hence the roundabout way :D















April 24, 2007

NEWS - No Essential Watchable Substance

April 24, 2007 Posted by Vijay 4 comments
One of the major factors which has brought about a sense of realisation and awakening in the new age India has undoubtedly been the media. Today, along with the hefty pay packets that a well to do Indian gets, their spending habits have also grown manifold. The sensex boom can partly be attributed to the risk appetite of the young Indian. Daring and Raring probably fits as the right phrase. Willing to invest heavily in stocks, keep track of the markets. The fluctuation, the trends, and every single move of the Government too. A decision or an announcement by the Finance Minister can have so much impact on the decision of these young investors. A budget session carries so much of importance and gains attention never known to India before.

All these, have had to do a lot with how the media has covered these events. Today there are innumerable news channels. Most of them Indian channels. Regional and National. This influx has given a heavy dose of information. It can almost be confusing just like how the UP exit polls by NDTV and Times NOW seemed poles apart. On the one hand, it is refreshing to see the common Indian citizen seek information, and learn the Government's moves, and thus more often than not conclude whether central Government decisions are fair/just/practical. On the other, skewed news items, with various interpretations can lead to the wrong information getting percolated.

Take for example the Face The Nation programme telecast on CNN-IBN yesterday by Rajdeep Sardesai. The topic for the nation was so communally flagrant, I fear for the life of Mr Sardesai now. The topic was - "Is Islam Incompatible With Democracy". That is no way to put across a topic for discussion leave alone have it aired to millions of viewers. There can be nothing worse than stoke up communal sentiments through the media itself. As a viewer who sent an sms to this poll yesterday rightly pointed out, democracy shouldn't be assessed by the religion it thrives on. It was honestly disgusting to see such a topic in a supposedly responsible television media channel.

April 23, 2007

Pointless, Meandering Rubbish !

April 23, 2007 Posted by Vijay , 1 comment
It is not difficult to get one's mind shrouded with thoughts. Atleast that is not very difficult for me. As a warning, I must tell the reader that what follows will have no sense or conclusion or opinion. These are thoughts which run deep, not skin deep or neck deep, but which tries to delve into the psyche of the present, past and the future, to an extent.

Starting with the tragic Virginia Tech killings, it was shocking to see how one person could massacre 33 people in a span of 3-4 hours. Following the news about CNN investigation report, it seemed that Cho the killer had had previous mental illness problems. He was declared as mentally ill in 2005 by a court. But that didn't prevent him from getting license for the guns which would be responsible for pumping in bullets into 33 innocent lives.

Why am I confused, though what I told above was straightforward ? Because, I am lost for words. This post is as meaningless as they get, but when one watches the media attention that the greatest Indian Actor's son's marriage gets, I fail to understand what else is news in India. Even when the trafficking by an MP was supposed to be the news of the nation, media was busy covering the wedding events unfolding at Prateeksha. Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai have been called Abhiash. India cannot ever stop copying how foreign paparazzi refers to alliances in the glitz world. Following in the same footsteps as their contemporaries in U.S called Tom Cruise's and Kate Moss's wedding as TomKat, and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's relationship as Branjelina. Terrible to see Indian media copying without shame. Abhiash it seems.

April 4, 2007

पाना चाहूँ लेकिन ..

April 04, 2007 Posted by Vijay No comments
चाहता हूँ पाने को उसे ।
पर दिल में है एक दर ।
कितनों से और डरूंगा,
खबर नही है मगर।

इस बात पे यकीन है,
पा लूं तो होगी ख़ुशी कि लहर।
इनकार होगा इस बात का है डर,
कैसे यकीन दिलाऊँ प्यार है मगर।

आंखें तो मिलती हैं देखने को,
हुस्न तो देखा है मदहोशी को ।
पता है क्या उसको में हूँ इधर,
उस नज़र को तरसता हुआ इधर।

नज़रें भी मिली नही अगर,
लग जाये तो सही उसे खबर।
है एक दीवाना बैठे बगल,
उसके ख़्वाब में हुए मगन।

Sources Change Courses !

April 04, 2007 Posted by Vijay No comments
Washing dirty linen in public. Sources Say, Sources say... Over the past week or so, lot of relaible sources have been leaking and giving information for our famed media channels. Now, who these sources are God alone knows. So, the very wod called source probably gives the press the freedom to bandy abotu anything and everything. Well, maybe I am being too harsh. But when sources keep giving insinuations of one about another, in the ongoing Greg Chappell V/S Players saga, one fails to understand if these sources are even worth the sound bytes.

Indian media has categorically announced to the entire nation that Indian Cricket has touched its lowest ebb. Come on, how often have we heard the same headline ? Match Fixing brought the same headlines, so did the Chapell-Ganguly face off. Either the media channels need to get a new headline or should just shut their mouth and not float around information which only sources have in hand. That India fared poorly is known to every cricket enthusiast. And no one can hide behind and shift blame on to someone else. But, this precisely is what the media is projecting to the nation.

It is obvious that the media wants the viewers to keep the TRPs high for their channels, so spice up Indian Cricket's poor showing with a new sop opera - Chappell V/S The Boys. Even before the World Cup report has been tabled to the BCCI by the coach and manager, the media has got hold of every possible angle which can give a dramatic twist to the turn of events.