Media

Have you ever wondered what you would find, if 24x7 news channels were shut down? Or the over flowing print journals, newspapers were all reduced to just one? NEWS!

If this sounds too cynical, open your today’s newspaper and start counting facts. Have a look at the ads and then look at the headlines. Observe how Cricket, Salman Rushdie with new arm candy, sensex and even new sex surveys find their way to the main pages with alarming regularity.

The question that comes to mind is – Who decides what we need to know? Is media dictating our culture or is our culture dictating the media?

Does it function as a medium to voice the concerns of the common man? Does the common man matter even in the most accommodative system of democracy? Let’s look at Noam Chomsky’s definition of democracy - An alternative conception of democracy is that the public must be barred from managing of their own affairs and the means of information must be kept narrowly and rigidly controlled. That may sound like an odd conception of democracy, but it's important to understand that it is the prevailing conception...

In Chomsky’s book “Manufacturing consent” he talks about the art of democracy as a means of to bring about an agreement in the masses using propaganda as a tool.

To give you an example, Hindustan Times headline reads “India beats China in battle of billionaires” This gives the masses the idea that, with India’s booming economy and growing global stature, sky is the limit with the billionaires as a token of its prosperity. That is indeed a very narrow perspective of growth isn’t it?

The other headline in HT reads “India wrap up series, but Sachin jinx continues” First, this assumes that the masses watch cricket, almost compelling them to keep a track of it.

And the headline, in just one sentence elevates Sachin’s loss to the same platter as India’s win, giving the form of both sufficient headline spaces.

Let’s look at DNA, one headline reads “Tallest building in India to come up in Dadar” How many people will benefit from this headline? Certainly the dying Vidarbha farmers or the slum dwellers a few feet away I suppose. This brilliantly orchestrates how commercialization of news has made a comfortable place in media. The rich, privileged class is thus the ‘specialized class’ that calls the shots. They may not be a majority but they take all decisions – economic, political and ideological for the masses. Walter Lippman calls these masses as a bewildered herd which needs to be controlled or they can turn dangerous.

This may seem too ominous to digest. After all, we would all like to believe that life is a big Page 3 party with the press as mild intruders with a miniscule role. We could as well avoid the larger scheme, the distortion of fact and history to live peacefully.

Broadcast media is in a league of its own. And with 24 hours news channels, it is evident that the lines between news and propaganda are blurring. “Breaking news” is the most striking (laughable even) feature of these news channels.

There is alternative media also available on the periphery but it’s hardly accessible. If you ask me, news has fallen into a commercial trap. It’s become one homogenous mass which shows no sign of pushing its own set boundaries. But again, can we change that? Do we have any power to change that if we don’t belong to the privileged class? Is our role in society redundant?

These are questions, so many of them which realistically hold no value except creating awareness. I wonder if I got my point across. I would really appreciate to get a more holistic perspective as well.

- Janvi Gandhi
janvi.87@gmail.com

Subconscious

Sleep, oh sweet sleep
Envelopes me, like a blanket
Stubs out the halo around,
Illuminates the mystic.

Transported to another mass,
My movement is featherlike,
Inhabited by my stung past,
Wonder why it surrounds me so.

Expertly, this world laces itself,
Blending different people,
Tearing into my fears
And placing me in improbabilities.

Jerkily, it draws me out
Like a tree reminded of its roots,
Forced to return to the ruins,
Why does it humour me, my subconscious?

- Janvi Gandhi
janvi.87@gmail.com

I Write

For the few cherished dreams,
For the elegant smiles I've seen.
For the lost glory, I write;
to tell my story, I write.

At times to get back the same,
and to relive some moments again;
to embellish my thoughts, I write.
to beat the odds, I write.

For the melodious music,
and for the life that's plastic,
I write for the harmony of the rain,
I write for the truth in my pain.

To kill the fear of the sorrow I bear,
To shut all the lights, with nobody around to share;
I write when the old breeze visits me,
I write when the dreadful thoughts haunt me

For the increasing darkness,
For happiness that's evanesced,
For the dimming hope, I write;
in the nothingness of life , I write day and night.

- Mihir Chitre
mihirmumbaikar@gmail.com

Simple Reflections

Remember not I that when was it last
That I let myself lose, drift into my past

That I lost my sanity to behave insane
Went out for a stroll or bathed in the rain

Or to celebrate my day I took out some while
When was it last that I had an effortless smile?

Time I have not to pamper my soul
Accomplish I something only to set another goal

Deaf have I become to hear my heart weep
Have no moments to cherish or memories to keep

Dead with emotions I am alive
I wanna live and not just survive

Where am I going, from where did I start?
Mindlessly going on, just dragging my cart



- Priyanka Rathi
prynkrth@yahoo.co.in

Indian Politics and its Pseudo Dynamism

When the British parliamentary system was launched in India, everyone thought that alike the former rulers we might have the sophisticated ‘House of commons’ and ‘House of lords’. But since India is famous for its great elephant walk i.e. doing every thing in its own style. We not only had loud-chirpy rajya sabhas and lokh sabhas but also had the political saga written in its own Rajneetik style.

India is said to be diverse in every aspect; be it its dignified foreign policies or our very own cultures and religions. A unique example of this historical diversity is the revolutionary freedom fight in which some preferred literally attacking the antagonists of the story, whereas others were led by non-violence. With such historical and geographical diversity, India had to be strategically and politically diverse as well.

The Indian politics, characterized by ‘democracy’, generated its own political concepts moving away from the usual diplomatic science. If the western have the Democrats and the Republican, India has its very own SANHGHS and PARIWARS, who not only influence the central government planning but also go on to write history in the form of riots.

In the post - independence era, the Regional parties have sowed more seeds of discriminations than what racism and caste system could ever do in the pre -independence period. Regional parties in the form of the Senas and Janta parties are kind of underworld dons in their own constituencies. Their major contribution to the great ‘tamasha’ has been the induction of the ‘Bandhs’. Bandhs, ironically, are enjoyed by many as they are like some ‘unofficial surprise holidays’ as the supreme court has declared them illegal.

The new trend, which has hit the Indian political scene, is the ‘Coalitions Governments’. Last time these parties agreed on something was while forming the majority. The seemingly eternal fight between the ruling parties and the Lefts reminds us of the famous conflict between Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. B R Ambedkar.

From poets to Cambridge returns, corporate workers to criminals, filmstars to sportsmen and doctorates to school drop outs; India has had its leaders coming from every section of it. Unfortunately, only a few managed to make a difference. And of course not forgetting the important ‘C’ in politics lately, ‘corruption to politics’ is like ‘terrorism to humanity’ – Simply destructing.

A long ago, when our politics was spotted at its vulpine best; we had the epic, ‘Mahabharata’ written. ‘Shakuni’ and ‘Krishna’ both played tricks to make things work their way; though we know that there was only one ‘God’.

We may be 20000+ in Sensex or having jumping GDPs every year or our smart brains may be all set to dominate the worldwide software industry; but in governance, we still need another tryst with Destiny.

- Mamta Pandya
mamtapandya007@gmail.com

No Shanti, No!

Those of us, who love extravagant star casts, lavish sets and of course, Shahrukh Khan, will have a lot to look for in this latest Farah Khan flick, ‘Om Shanti Om’; though if at all you are one of those rare Indian movie goers, who try to grab some sense from the movies they watch, OSO will turn you down as much as any other usual bollywood movie ever has, with its supremely boring screenplay, juvenile ideas and to say the least, a ‘not good enough’ director.

After ‘Main Hoon Na’, it would have been stupid of me to expect anything that can even be called, ‘not bad’ from Mrs. Farah Khan (or Mrs. Shirish Kunder or whoever) and OSO maintains the class (third class) of Main Hoon Na quite efficiently. Nonetheless, ‘Main Hoon Na’ was a big hit at the box office and I, believe, so will be Om Shanti Om.

Coming to the movie, there is not much worth revealing about the plot; since it’s just another Farah Khan – Karan Johar – Aditya Chopra kind of a movie. It all starts with a very childish and insipid spoof of the 70’s Bollywood. Om Prakash (Shahrukh Khan), an aspiring star, is a junior artist who has dreams of making it big one day. He roams around with his friend, (I don’t remember the name of his character) Shreyas Talpade on the sets of various films and on various different roads, checking out posters of his dream girl Shantipriya (Deepika Padukone). Shantipriya is an established actress and the lover boy in Om Prakash finally gets a chance to have a glimpse of the stunning lady at the time of the premier of one of her films. The plot goes on like a typical bollywood story and many usual things as Om Prakash’s and Shantipriya’s death occur because of the antagonist of the film, Mukesh Hrishi (Arjun Rampal). The age - old idea of reincarnation is once again repeated in this movie and it’s as boring as it has become, lately. It seems that the director has desperately tried to implant humour in this ‘boring as Himesh’ (it’s a new phrase in Indian English) screenplay; and except for a few scenes that manage to get a grin on our face, she has failed miserably as the script turns out to be placid rather than amusing.

You, actually, have to sit and think to figure out what is appreciable in this movie. ‘Shahrukh Khan’ is the only answer that you may possibly get. He is charming as ever and his flamboyant screen presence is unavoidable once again. Deepika Padukone looked good as an actress but she still has a lot of scope to improve, nonetheless ‘gorgeous’ would be the right word to describe her. She comes across as a stunning, perfectly in-shape young lady who can make any young boy go crazy for her. Arjun Rampal has acted well; though without much of a scope. Shreyas Talpade, a fine actor who has proved himself in movies like ‘Iqbaal’ and ‘Dorr’, too, doesn’t really have a scope to act in this movie and same is the case with Kiron Kher. The script and screenplay are such that they just don’t allow any sort of creativity or talent to flow through.

The music is not great but most of the songs are hummable. ‘Ajab Si’ is the best song in the movie to me. Even after considering all the good things about the movie that I managed to figure out; I conclude that unfortunately those things are not good enough for the film to impress me. The film is neither entertaining nor intellectually appealing.

Despite of saying all this, I’m sure that OSO will be a big hit at the box office, largely because of the existence of a huge crowd puller called Shahrukh Khan and also because of our age old love for childish humour, repetitive ideas and the mere presence of numerous film stars, dancing their way to stupidity. It’s probably not always correct to blame the makers for making such a film. They will, obviously, make what sells. I, on the other hand, feel that it’ high time we changed our expectations from a film. We should rather look for something that appeals to our brains or something that’s truly creative or artistic than expecting larger than life characters, completely unrealistic screenplays, banal ideas or a hero that jumps from the 10^th floor of a building on a horse and rides away in style, without damaging either of the two - the horse and his own urinary system.

- Mihir Chitre
mihirmumbaikar@gmail.com

Optimum

You can write in this much light;

It'll suffice to see your thoughts.

Don't throw open the windows;

The sun might blind you.

And don't shut them all either;

Your words may veer off the line.

A slit is what you need.

And you can write in that much light.

I write too. And well at night.

With just enough light for me to write.

- Siddhesh Inamdar
siddhesh.inamdar@gmail.com