Desicritics Category: Media: Television

Poem For Barack, Michelle, Sasha, and Melia Obama

temporal — Wed, 7 Jan 2009 09:54:02 EST

CALLIE SHELL/AP

barak and michelle
m and i share your concern
for the privacy
and well being
of sasha and melia
may your children
get good education
and medical care
and grow up
balanced individuals
ready to take their place
in the affairs of our world
unlike the children in gaza

ASHRAF AMRA/AP

let me add briefly
am disappointed
at your silence
you did speak out
as president elect
on other issues
is apartheid,
ghettoisation
ethnic cleansing
and loss of civilian lives
not important for you?

TV Review: Ridiculous Roadies

Hardik Ruparel — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 01:20:02 EST

Well, first off, I don't watch the show MTV Roadies, and I would advise any sane person not to. But, some months back, I did happen to stumble upon some audition-episodes of MTV Roadies on my college LAN. I will say without any doubts, it was the moment when I was most ashamed to be an Indian.

The Indian adaptation of the American show Road Rules portrays India's youth in such a bad light, that I actually had to reassure some foreign friends that all Indian youth are not so ridiculously dumb.

The show is now hosted by two alien looking bald men, who are twins and look freakishly alike, wear the same clothes and have the same facial hairstyle (God they're identical twins Duh ! Sorry my brain was kinda impeded after watching a Roadies video on YouTube). They take every opportunity to show how they have absolutely no respect for anyone. They say their interviews are deliberately acrimonious so they can test whether the interviewee is a True Roadie. Now that's the most ridiculous piece of crap I've ever heard in my life.

One of the baldies talks too much. And when it's a girl in the opposite chair, he takes every advantage to know everything about the intimate side of her. Of course, our Miss Roadie is raunchily dressed to "press" home the advantage, and has so forgotten what her parents and teachers taught her (or did they ?).
He jumps on every double meaning word uttered, and shows how big a pervert he really is, and all he wants is just adultery. He makes sure every girl admits she's kissed another girl. And when she so deliberately does admit, or lets it slip out, just watch the glint in his eye ( and his head ? ). You can see the satisfaction. All the hard work he put in to ask those shameless questions. Where else would he get his daily dough ?

That's what this show is about.If this show was anything about biking, at least he would've asked something about their experience of riding a bike. But nahh.. who cares about bikes.. There's a half clad female in front of him who'll do "anything" to be a roadie, why let this chance slip ? Eh ?

And by the way, if you want to bike.. Just go to the damn shop. Buy a bike and ride the bike.. Why do you have to go to any audition of any kind to ride a bike ? Just rename the show MTV Come-and-talk-about-your-sex-life. That's what the interviews are about.

If the candidate is a guy, of course he's got to have a girl friend, otherwise why bother interviewing ? Righto ?

I'm just glad so many people find this show ridiculous. I remember the JAM Magazine article carrying a spoof on Roadies, where the Chinappa guy is referred to as mango-head. I swear his head looks like a mango ! Is that why they changed the co-host ?

Anyway, enough of digressions, If you've never seen this show.. Keep up the good work. And if you want to, why bother ? If you really want skin show then just put on FTV or just pop in the latest adult movie you borrowed! Why bother watching a group of young people destroying their lives and wasting their time over something so ridiculous that even my dead pet dog would've crapped over.

It's really shameful of MTV to even start this show. The concept is not bad, but the execution is in a totally different direction. The average Indian viewer gets his skin-show dose from other channels. So why bother starting this show ?

Also, the judges' capacity to analyze people is completely zero. They say that he is boring. Wait. What's so exciting about two bald perverts ? Guess what guys ? You're never going to tap the potential of the Indian youth like this. Roadies is one of the worst things to happen to India, leave alone Indian media. They go on to say "You're coming up against the best in the world !" .. What ? A bunch of idiotic looking boys and girls who bitch about each other is the best in the world. Maybe ! If he is talking about the world of donkeys !

I just pray God blesses the Indian youth with some common sense.
There's another one called "Splitsvilla" or something. I don't know what's it about and I'm glad.

Ignorance is Bliss.

Arnab Goswami on Times Now

Manoj Khatri — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 05:38:33 EST

Ever since the Mumbai terror attacks, I have been watching the prime time 9pm show almost every night on Times Now. Arnab Goswami ropes in eminent individuals from India and Pakistan and an interesting battle of words ensues between diplomats and politicians from both nations. So far I have liked how Arnab has conducted the interviews and managed the show. Except one thing: I find difficult to understand is why Arnab goes overboard when it comes to Pakistan’s reaction. Each time Pakistan denies involvement, Arnab emphatically asks the Pakistani guests on his show to explain why their country is doing so. How can the Pakistan government completely disown the terror attacks in spite of pressure from US, UK, EU and UN?

Is it so difficult to understand? I think it’s predictable and we shouldn’t be surprised at all. I reckon that no democratically elected government can ever admit that its country harbours terrorists, whatever the evidence. Moreover, Pakistan’s current government is not really calling the shots. Trying the get them to react the way India wants is a folly. Pakistan’s political compulsions are much more severe, what with ISI, the army, the Taliban, the Al Qaeda, the Lashkar, and the separatists—all pulling its already weak strings.

Mumbai Musings And Talking Terrorism

Kavita Chhibber — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 14:24:48 EST

The past weeks since the terrorist attacks on Mumbai, have gone in round the clock interviews with people from India and Pakistan from different walks of life, talking to Dr Deepak Chopra, Pakistani cricketer politician Imran Khan, counter terrorism experts, UK businessman Sir Gulam Noon, who defied death for the fourth time when he escaped from the burning Taj in what seemed a miracle in just the way the events built up in his case and of course a cross section of people in India and Pakistan.

While you can read all the outstanding interviews and some other really thought provoking articles on my website (www.kavitachhibber.com) in the latest issue, I remember when the initial reportage came in, having read about the previous attacks, and the flooding that left Mumbai paralyzed and other similar attacks across India, I didn't pay much attention to the headlines for a couple of hours, thinking it was indeed some gang war as the media was reporting; until my brother's email that one of his close friends was missing on the 6th floor of the Taj came in and that his last contact with her was at 2 a.m. The friend was well known journalist Sabina Sehgal Saikia and sadly her body was found 2 days later. Just 10 days earlier, she had gone to Ustad Amjad Ali Khan's house to gift her new book to his wife Subhalakshmi Khan, said the Sarod maestro to me as he was about to leave for her funeral.

Soon burning questions and a burning city captured the attention of both the national and international media. Never, said terrorism expert Dr Robert Friedmann to me, has he seen such prolonged international coverage for an attack in India-not just that, he had not even seen that kind of coverage when Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in what was a clear case of political terrorism.

As I called people from all over, to get their impressions, one thing emerged with crystal clear precision-while the political leaders in India jumped the gun and immediately started pointing fingers at Pakistan, the people of India were really angry with the breakdown of the political and intelligence system in their own country.

I saw a volcanic anger that I had not seen earlier when a breakdown of infrastructure has happened in any part of India.

While there were some people from the Indian and Pakistani community that sent inflammatory articles, emails and comments to my website, by and large the majority of Indians, no matter what their background, understood that there is a need to separate the state and the government from non state perpetrators of the crime. Most Indians also made the point that they have deep love for the people of Pakistan and recalled the unparalleled hospitality they have been offered every time they visit India. They also said that they realize the Pakistani government is too weak, being run with the blessings of the Military and that the country is now as much a victim of ingrown terrorism: but most Indians were adamant that they cannot excuse the apathy of the state in eliminating these terrorists or those members of the Pakistani government or ISI, that is training these terrorists.

On the Pakistani side, the memories of the ravaged Marriot in Islamabad still fresh in their minds, people were shocked and sympathetic at what happened in India. But that shock and sympathy turned into anger and defensive defiance when the blame game began. The media reporting from India was by and large a prime example of tabloid TV and yellow journalism and a blatant attempt at garnering the highest ratings. Even veteran journalists jumped in the fray-and many people turned into self appointed experts passing judgment, giving an analysis and jumping to all kinds of conclusions while the siege was still on, and little concrete information to base those opinions on.

The Pakistan bashing brought retaliation from Pakistani news media and many Pakistanis I spoke to in the first few days, told me they were convinced the terrorists were Hindus from RSS and BJP paid to create mayhem just before the elections. One told me that Geo TV had specifically conducted an investigation and that the lone captured terrorist wasn't even from the village in Pakistan as claimed. All these presumptions of course have been refuted, and even more so when former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif acknowledged that indeed the terrorist was Pakistani and his family has been isolated from everyone a few days ago in an interview.

Condoleezza Rice arrived and added fuel to the fire by jumping on the "blame Pakistan" wagon. Rice reprimanded the government like a school Principal scolding an errant child, instead of trying to cool tempers and act as a mediator, and as a representative of a global super power, that would in times such as these, be expected to want peace in the subcontinent and would work towards that-especially when the two countries are nuclear powers. And of course accept that US has to accept a lot of the blame for the current chaos in Afghanistan which has flowed into Pakistan.

But then the reason why a large part of the world, hates America, is because America, said Dr Deepak Chopra to me in a conversation - has only self interests and no allies or friends. He made a lot of sense when he said to me "Right now America's interests are the World's interests; our economic system, the economic melt down is telling us now that there is only one economy, the weather patterns are telling us that there is only one ecology; when are we going to learn that there is only one humanity?"

There were many discussions on global terrorism and its Islamic face. Imran Khan the cricketing legend and now the only Politician people of Pakistan and India respect, because of his honesty and integrity, said for the umpteenth time that terrorism has no religion - a sentiment shared by many across the board. He also added that the youngsters many of whom are university graduates, and from middle class families don't even fit the stereotypical image of the so called Islamic terrorist with a beard. There is a lot more to learn why things are the way they are today.

The spirit of Mumbai was invoked by some, and dismissed by others who said every big city has a similar spirit, where people want to get back to normal, but what remained simmering was an anger at the political system that nurtures corruption and is caught napping again and again at times of need.

The good thing, said one interviewee is that the elite have been hit this time, and so those who fill the coffers of these politicians, especially the corporate head honchos are now taking a second look at security and terrorism. There are also lawsuits asking for regulation and a strong criticism of the way the media handled coverage, disclosing crucial and sensitive information, that may have caused the death of many in the two hotels as their location and how many security personnel was involved in counter attack came tumbling out on real time reporting.

There was a conciliatory email by Barkha Dutt, a journalist I used to admire once upon a time, but who has joined the ranks of tabloid reporters, where she said that the media reported only what was told to them. At no point were they briefed to keep things off record. While she has a point and this opens a new discussion on how to train the media and have a close relationship with it in case something of this nature occurs again-it does not take away from the disservice Dutt and similar veteran journalists like her have done. Someone with her experience, should instinctively know when crucial information if reported, can endanger the lives of others and not wait to be spoon fed by those in authority at what she should and should not say. Unfortunately, her apology came a bit too late and as a preventive measure because public opinion against her may make her head roll as well.

I would like to share some lines from 3 of the interviewees that sprung out at me when the interviews were being conducted.

Dr Deepak Chopra:

The first important question is- why is global terrorism predominantly an Islamic phenomenon? Secondly, what is it that radicalizes young Muslim men in relatively middle class families in Europe, Britain and other places? Where is the money coming from? It's very obvious this takes a lot of training, this takes a lot of organization and it is clear that the money pipeline starts in Saudi Arabia in which case we should be asking- what role does the US play in this,

So as long as America thinks only of its own interests, its never going to have a complete understanding. Right now America's interests are the World's interests and they don't understand that; our economic system, the economic melt down is telling us now that there is only one economy, weather patterns are telling us that there is only one ecology; when are we going to learn that there is only one humanity?

Imran Khan cricketing legend and Pakistani Politician:

Terrorism has nothing to do with religion. All root causes of terrorism lie in politics

When they say Islamist terrorists and start looking for a cure in Islam, they are surprised to find that these young terrorists don't fit the stereotype of the Islamic terrorist with the big beard. Then they are even more shocked when they find that most of the suicide attackers-one half of them according to one estimate-are university graduates. What is happening is that Muslims are getting radicalized and it's not because of Islamic extremism, it's because of political issues which are unresolved.

You can always talk about moderate Islam but the struggle between Israel and Palestine is not going to go away unless there is a political resolution; All religions-not just Islam, preach about compassion and justice-no religion wants anyone to kill innocent people or patronize injustice.

To blame a religion is the biggest injustice we do on people of a certain religious community. So when you say Islamist terrorist and try to find solutions in religion you actually make the situation much worse because among the Muslims this war on terror after 9/11 is being perceived as a war against Islam, and when it is perceived as a war against Islam, there will be no shortage of Muslims willing to kill themselves may be to protect their religion. So terrorism needs to be de linked from religion.

Dr Robert R Friedmann: nationally renowned expert on criminal justice and counter terrorism:

The implication then is that just because someone is poor they have a justification to become a terrorist. That is atrocious and a tremendous mistake to suggest that. One has to look at political interests, ideologies, who benefits, what are the strategies; just because someone is poor they become terrorists is simply not backed by any facts.

The first distinction is that all terrorist groups have local interests, though I hesitate to say that about Hamas and Hezbollah because if you look carefully at their writing and ideology they clearly veer into the globalization of terrorist objectives.

Society cannot afford to let terrorism become a part of normal living and treat it like vehicular fatalities and do not do too much about it.

I don't believe that US, Europe, South Africa or Australia, for that matter anyone else can influence Islam and I don't think it's their duty either. I would shy away from religion or religious wars. I think what needs to be done is to let moderate voices within Islam carry that battle inside and not to have outsiders tell the Muslims what to do.

Today there is no safe place in the world....While the public safety community understands the threat, I don't think the public does, in any part of the world-even in Israel."

While questions, allegations continue, I believe that in the end it boils down to personal responsibility whether it's a journalist or a politician or the common man who chose the corrupt or inept politicians who rule, who adds to the ratings of sensational programs by watching and listening to them, the rich who pay to get things done. We have in the end become victims of our own apathy and our own disability, to be , as Gandhi said, the change we want to see in the world.

The buck begins and stops with us all.

Mumbai - Does the Media Decide our Response?

Abhinandan Mishra — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 10:24:51 EST

After the 26-11 siege of Mumbai ended, the post mortem going into the conduct of the electronic media during the whole sixty hours of operation began to surface.

There are two thought processes which have gained wind as we move more into analyzing the media coverage of the whole incident. The first one says that the media did its duty in a commendable way and the second one which also has equal followers, says that they were inherently biased. Even in that time of 'War on India' as they described it, they were not able to move away from the magnetic force of TRPs.

The first notion is out there in the open for anyone to judge. We all were glued to the TV, we watched every second of the operation. And we can all make out what was happening.

The second one though needs to be elaborated. The terrorists before being surrounded in the Taj and the Trident caused mayhem at the CST railway station. But none of the media personnel were present at the CST to bring out the details of those who died. Some people will attribute this to the great socio-economic difference that separates someone walking in the Taj and someone at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus

The other reason which comes into mind is that perhaps at CST the action was already over, those who had to die, were dead. The marauders had moved to the Taj. I can well imagine that an editor instructing his reporters, for obvious reasons, would have told his crew to focus on Taj where the action was still unfolding.

As we watched in disbelief, reporters and camera persons waited for hours, ducked for cover whenever a blast occurred as they brought out the real picture to us. Even if nothing was happening, the news-anchor, would move to the reporter on-site and ask him to update on the current situation. While people were searching for their dead ones at the CST, the media continued its focus on Taj.

According to those who were entrusted with the job of bringing out the news, Taj was a more visible face of Mumbai, known to the world, visited by the 'elites'. Is not CST a part of Mumbai? I am sure that the ordinary Mumbaikars have spent more hours in and around CST then they have in Taj.

In the midst of all this, the idea of unbiased reporting was forgotten. Also lost was the sense of empathy and compassion. Perhaps overtaken by other materialistic considerations.

Questions about how long will the Taj be shut, who will renovate it, will MF Hussain's painting don the walls again, will the guests be able to forget 26-11 once they enter Taj - many such questions were asked. But not even a single question about who died in CST was ever heard.

The who's who of the electronic media, seasoned journalists, and veteran editors found themselves moving with the more vibrant side of the whole incident.

It was not an operation that got over in matter of minutes or a couple of hours, but as we all know, it lasted sixty hours. Taking every practical consideration, the networking with the authorities, the sound bytes, the updates, Sixty hours was more than enough for one to focus on CST and VT Hospital. Only if they wanted to.

In one of the articles that appeared in the Washington Post after the Mumbai attacks, the writer has emphasized this very disparity, which even in such testing times, failed to corrode. The article talks about the serial blasts in the Mumbai trains that took place more than 2 years ago and says that since it affected the common people, the media sensitiveness was subdued. Even we as common citizens were subdued, no candle light protest, no 'awaken India'.

Have we started perceiving things as projected by the media? Does the media's response decide our response?

Was 26-11 more deadly than 11-07 just because the electronic media thought it that way?

India as we all know has more number of the poor and the voiceless. And it is always unfortunate that it is the rich and the vociferous, however less in number, get the attention. 26-11 was no different.

In an open letter, one of the journalists who has been in the line of fire, says that "Surely, India has bigger lessons to learn and larger points to mull over, than to expend energy over which television journalist tops the charts or falls to the bottom."

I sincerely hope that the media too has learnt its part of the chapter and hopefully they will practice what they preach and see the bigger picture.

But then it has never been about the common Indian. Or is it?

Indian Television Media: Things going wrong?

Chandra — Wed, 3 Dec 2008 07:56:25 EST

The advantage of an active media is that other elements of society are very careful about how they conduct themselves. A vigorous media is important for the very survival of society. However, I am increasingly fed up with our TV channels are operating.

a. Most TV Channels are stuck by ideology. Before the attack, most of them were left of centre, out of touch with most people. After the attack, most of them have moved right of centre, again out of touch with most people.

b. Improper coverage: I am not an expert but providing information like ' five commandos are in the front, twenty are in the back' is not the kind of information I should be sharing, more so with terrorists having access to the same information. Some degree of editorial control is required.

c. Agenda: NDTV and CNN IBN are running a specific agenda to save the Govt in the current elections and the General elections as well. By converting a failure under the watch of this Govt to a larger issue of anti-politicians, I see nothing but a strategy to protect the current Govt. The Govt has failed and in a democracy they should be punished. Why drag the opposition parties into this?

d. Sensationalism: A week before, all news channels were publishing salacious details of the Malegaon investigation. Most of this information was from 'sources'. Sorry, ALL the information was from unnamed 'sources'. The same trend continues with this investigation. Can't these media channels invest in resources to investigate on their own? Till date nobody has been able to find out where Terrorist Kasav is from.

e. Candle lights: Fashion of the day that has been foisted on us by the media and now fashionable amongst our educated elite. I feel embarrassed that when we get whacked the way we did, candle lights are our best response? Most of us donot even want to vote or contest elections.

Reality Show: Terror Mumbai

IdeaSmith — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 13:31:55 EST

I got home at around 10 PM on Wednesday night. The television was blaring its usual cacophony of detergent operas and soppy suds. Then a relative called to tell us that 'something big was happening'. We flipped through the channels in quick succession, passing a panel discussion on the consistency of chewing gum (or something that seemed to stretch on similarly), an 80s potboiler complete with gyrating Govinda hips and a tear-jerker selling the benefits of pension plans.

Then we landed on the news channel band. And there it stayed and hasn't moved since.

Of course we started watching something described as a gang war. This built up into a chase behind the elusive truth of what was happening, trying to piece together the tracks of someone (some people?) who'd turned up at C.S.T. station with guns, popped up five minutes later at the Taj Mahal hotel and then apparently transmogrified a few meters away at the Oberoi/Trident. Abrupt cut to assemble a whole lot of other details.

Nariman House

Grant Road station

Rubber boats

AK47

Vile Parle

DockyardStolen Skoda

JJ School of ArtRDX

Hijacked police vanIt was well past 1 AM before I realized I hadn't budged from the seat in front of the television set. In those three hours we'd absorbed and internalized all the starting details and figured out enough to relay them to others. By 2:30 am, I was tweeting away, weaving myself intricately into the drama that the whole city, a few minutes later the whole country and within a few hours the whole world would become a part of.

Well past 3:30am I collapsed into bed from sheer exhaustion. Emotional roller-coasters are tiring and I'd been riding for over 5 hours nonstop.

I awoke four hours later and for a virginal 20 seconds, my consciousness was devoid of any sensation. Then I remembered and raced to the living room where the television was already on. I'm not normally a TV person, even less in the morning and I only meant to get a fix on the day's situation to take a call on going to work or not. I looked away ten minutes later to find four hours had passed.

The day is otherwise a blur to me. I don't remember eating or sleeping. But I do remember flipping channels when one started going on a loop and finding another angle on the story within a fraction of a second. I remember phone calls and left-hand-typing SMSes with the right hand tapping out on the TV remote control. I remember watching a video shot on a cellphone, reading the ticker text at the bottom of the screen, listening to my caller at the other end and relaying a super-quick analysis of it all to my family. I remember tweeting, retweeting, replying, reading tweets, following tweeple and all of it on that woefully inadequate application called m.twitter on my superslow GPRS connection. I remember shifting into gmail every couple of hours for quick checks and having to reload each time since the phone doesn't allow for multiple windows. And I remember feeling enraged at my computer internet connection going down at such a time.

The day ended around midnight for my family as they retired with the news that the Taj Mahal hotel had been recovered. I stayed glued to the set and Twitter. When 45 minutes later, came the news that it had been a hasty wire and there was still unidentified gunfire coming out from Taj, I actually rushed back to wake everyone up. Finding them asleep, I hastened back to my couch-seat, unwilling to miss even a minute of the drama. My brain gave out at 4 am.

In this interim while I watched a panel discussion among semi-celebrities being intellectual and socialist about the attack.

I (with a number of other blogger/tweeters) panned the politicians and sneered at the PM's address. I had a lump in my throat as I watched the minute-to-minute battles of the firemen, the cops and the NSG commandos.

I watched replays of the highlights of the feature like the firing from the police van, the interview with the Navy chief, the soundbytes from the British hostage who'd escaped.

I tsk-tsked at Barkha Dutt's insensitive questions to the relatives waiting outside for their loved ones trapped in the buildings. I listened with an almost indecent glee to the frenzied statements by celebrities and the dead-toned voices of the junta on the roads.

I processed numbers of hostages, prisoners, casualties, terrorists, commandos and mulled over them all.

And I also contributed to the mass panic, the collective griping, the unified expression of support, the unanimous indignation. I dissolved into and became one with everyone around and outside the terror situation - the media; the social media.

This morning my frenzied participation was interrupted by having to get out to go to work. Even so, I found myself holding my phone camera ready to capture anything that might contribute to the drama. Zilch (mercifully, in retrospect). The minute I got to office and was connected, I was back. Twitter, email, blogs and the news streaming feeds kept us very much plugged into every nuance. With every fake rumor, we reverberated along with the collective panic in the city and breathed a synchronized sigh of relief when they were proven false.

This might have continued ad infinitum. After all, I can't see any end in sight just yet. From what I hear, hostage situations in terrorism aren't quick-and-dry deals and rather tend to drag out to exert pressure on both sides. But I spent an hour with a friend. Though our conversation started with our sharing our fears, our mutual outrage and our common jaded-by-now analysis of the situation....it gave way smoothly into the more mundane details of our daily lives, our own little soap operas.

And as I made my way home, I realized I was breathing smoothly for the first time in two days. Reality shows are tricky things. They're interesting and engaging simply because of how well we identify with them, how involved we get with them. And we get our emotional adventures as we swing up and down and get rattled about by the situations we find ourselves in, by proxy. We connect and we're thrilled to the bone. Yes, I said thrilled, not chilled. It's an adrenalin rush.

Don't get me wrong, I'm just as outraged by the indignity of fear perperated on us as a city and as a nation by a handful of terrorists. My heart still aches for the bravery of the people who fell defending us yesterday as it does for the broken people staggering out of the Taj, Nariman House and Trident. But I can't stand anymore thrills from chills. I'm disconnecting from the most vivid reality show I've ever been a part of. This is too much reality for me and I'm ODing. I think I'd rather go live my own mundane, selfish little existence for little while just so I can survive. Enough, already.

Disjointed Questions on the Bombay Blasts and Its Aftermath

Kim — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 12:11:12 EST

Being in a distant country while Bombay is under siege, is nerve wracking at best.

My first long stay in Bombay was for my first job, with MBA degree in hand. The first weekend trip we took together as Management trainees was a local train ride from Andheri to South Bombay. We caught up with other batchmates in town for a movie at Metro Cinema and headed over to Cafe Mondegar for a drink and later carried onto Cafe Leopold because we had heard so much about these Bombay favourites. We then walked over to the Gateway of India and gazed at the iconic Taj Palace and towers. Gathering courage we felt we could project enough confidence to walk in and use their washrooms, which we managed.

Since this was the late 90's, B-School salaries weren't as astronomical as they were at the turn of the millennium and we obviously couldn't afford to eat in there, so we headed over to Bademiyan's for more affordable fare.

All these locations were under the media spotlight for the last 48 hours, for reasons one would never have dreamed about.

Personally, this attack was very hard hitting because of the sheer numbers of family and friends who live in the area, who were working late in the area, or were eating in the area after work. As is usual after every such attack in India, we started calling and smsing, then emailing and scrapping (when the phone lines were jammed and over loaded) and everyone we knew in the location to check on their status. This time it was a much, much longer list of people we were checking on.

Some were barricaded inside their houses and offices in the area while their lifts were shut down and they were advised not to leave the premises. Many spent that first night in the office while the rest of us helplessly spent the night hoping and praying for their safety and that the violence wouldn't spread to the surrounding buildings.

We stayed glued to the television and kept refreshing news sites on our computer screen and anxiously followed the sequence of events. Coherent thought was not easy and plenty of questions and inconsistencies kept popping up in my mind.

First of all: kudos to our NSG, army, hotel staff and police for their heroic efforts.

Why/How did this happen:

Intelligence failure is something the foreign media has been harping about in relation to these attacks, but as someone else mentioned: weren't 9/11 and the London Subway attacks, intelligence failures too.

Could we have done anything more to secure the locations?

How many locations will you secure? We have a country of a billion+ citizens, so I don't think it is about securing locations. Terrorists target any and every location. The only way every place can be secured is if citizens take responsibility of being aware of their surroundings and people around them.

We need to stop cribbing about and finding innovative ways to avoid security measures at malls, cinema halls etc. They are there for our security.

Our government should focus on stemming the problem at its roots: training camps, poverty, education, unemployment.

The terrorists were armed with AK47's while a lot of the police and railway police were equipped with nothing more than a lathi. Do they even stand a chance?

Why were 3 top cops traveling in the same vehicle?

Rescue efforts:

The staff at the hotels responded admirably and heroically. Some even lost their own lives while saving the guests. I am not sure if they receive training drills for terrorist situations, but they did their best.

Politicians have no business being anywhere in the area when such situations are ongoing. Having them around, means that security and armed forces are forced to divert their attention to the "security of the politician"

What business did Gopinath Munde have to be at the Nariman House today?
Same problem when they visit hospitals were the wounded are taken. Doctors and nurses are forced to stop tending to their patients and clear the area so the politician and their entourage of news crews and security personnel royally stroll through the area and promise tax payer funds (other peoples money) as remuneration.

Media:

While NDTV was the most restrained of the lot, our media still behaved as irresponsibly as always.

People whose family members were stuck inside, is it fair to thrust microphones at their faces and ask them how they are feeling?

Rescued people being brought out of the hotel after a horrifying ordeal, is it fair to thrust microphones at their faces and ask them how they are feeling?

While Right to Information is a wonderful act, some lines should be drawn when it comes to National Security. Broadcasting the immediate moves of the security forces, dissecting their rescue maneuvers, having ex army personnel describe helicopter rescue operations in detail - this only gives more intelligence to the terrorists holed up inside who could be in contact with anyone with a cable connection outside the location, even if cable connection at the hotels had been cut off.

Broadcasting false reports of the operation being over when it isn't because they see a thumbs-up being exchanged between two NSG personnel.

We need an appointed official spokesperson who is the only authority allowed to speak to the media when an operation is ongoing. This person needs to receive reports from all relevant sources and be advised on what news can be released and what cannot. Press should only be allowed at this location and not crawling around the affected area causing more security hazards or getting caught in the cross fire. This should give controlled information and hopefully control the rumour-mongering too.

If the press are controlled in one location, it will also prevent the crowds who were at the locations today not to show solidarity or out of concern but were there for the sole reason of getting their face on camera. (This is a reality in India)

Role of Politicians:

They haven't done anything to prevent the situation, they should stay away from the situation as mentioned above.

Where has the champion of Bombay, Mr Raj Thackeray disappeared to? Which safe location is he hiding in?

Our Home Minister was ineffectual as always. Surprisingly, our Prime Ministers speech didn't induce confidence either.

Politicians need to rise above their petty politics of deciding whether to hold a bundh on December 1st or not.

They should instead be visiting the homes of the brave security personnel who lost their lives and appreciating the efforts of their husbands, sons and fathers (not to be sexist, but no female personnel casualty has been reported yet in this case) who lost their lives in the service of the country. This is one of the few useful things that they can do at this point of time.

I also pray that they do not use this attack to further communalize our country for their own vote bank politics.

Future Action:

It may seem insensitive to say this at this point, but as a country we should take advantage of the terrorists targeting Americans, British and Israeli citizens.
The US previously tried to restrain India when they spoke about retaliation after the parliament attacks.

This is the right opportunity to use this joint sentiment against these terrorists to take a stand and launch a forceful offensive against terrorist camps targeting India.
Use the Israeli intelligence and their expertise to stem the flow of terrorists into India and destroy their their training camps.

We need a single security network that is pan-country, not disjointed co-ordination between multiple agencies.

We need to make our country safe again. Where people do not flinch at a loud sound, where people do not have to think twice before leaving their houses to catch a train, shop for groceries or watch a movie. We need to feel safe. It is our right as citizens.

TV Review: Apparitions

Aaman Lamba — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 10:46:05 EST

The ghost-hunting/horror genre in television has seen an uptick in recent years. From Sci-Fi Channel's plumbers turned Ghost Hunters to Showtime's True Blood. A new BBC series, Apparitions takes the adventure to its source, as it were, with the lead character a member of the Vatican's society of exorcists and the blasé attitude of the Roman church to wonders.

Martin Shaw, who played Judge John Deed on the BBC for six years, dons the role of Father Jacob, whose primary focus is validating candidates for the sainthood under the auspices of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. His current case is that of Mother Teresa, who, as the series never fails to remind us, was beset by doubts, fears and died possibly after battling demons. He is also an active exorcist, in the sense of the New Testament actions of Jesus driving out demons. Demons beset him, at least nominally to prevent his becoming Chief Exorcist.

The demons are the hardcore sort, not shy of peeling the skin from a sinner-turned-martyr, and capable of quoting scripture or working wonders that to the casual eye, might seem miraculous. The Christian demonology referenced in the series is well-defined and adheres to the standard canonical principles. These are very ancient demons, the leading one appears to be that who beset St. Bartholomew, first missionary to India.

The series does not shy from confronting thorny issues for the Church, whether it is Pope Pius' silence in the face of the Nazi horror or the contemporary implicit fear of parents to entrust their children to the care of priests. A disbeliever who later turns out to be possessed keeps Richard Dawkins in his library, and a key character, who took into himself Mother Teresa's demons is beset by homosexual thoughts, and Father Jacob performs a blessing on him before casting him to the demons, as it were. His piety is rewarded by being flayed alive, just as St. Bartholomew was, in canonical tradition.

The series has started promisingly, if quite disturbingly, and the concept of exorcist gunslingers defending the modern world against ancient monsters is an interesting one. The DSM-IV or the ICD-10 does not recognize demonic possession as a valid psychiatric or medical diagnosis, preferring instead to ascribe such symptoms to dissociative identity disorder or another related phenomenon demonomania or demonopathy. All the same, as Hamlet reminded Horatio, "There are more things in heaven and earth, ... Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

Ashutosh the Big Boss 2 Final Winner

DeeptiA — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 15:11:34 EST

So, after a lot of drama, the winner of Big Boss Season 2 is finally in. The last few weeks must have been nerve-wracking for the inhabitants of the house, since they would be so close to the prize, and in tension of getting evicted at any point. The last 4 included those who a lot of people had speculated would always be in, and these were Zulfi (not so sure), Ashutosh, Rahul, and Raja (all these 3 always seemed like contenders). And then came the one night that essentially meant that Rahul would no longer be in the show.

In a fit of insanity, when wracked by hunger and by egging each other on, they decided to revolt and broke out of the house by climbing the fence. They were encouraged to go back in, but somebody had to pay for this. The Big Boss started the nomination procedure as a punishment, and finally Rahul decided that he would be the one who would leave, especially since the others all regretted their actions.

The show was helped a lot by the ongoing strike, since all other shows were off due to the television workers strike, and only Big Boss was excluded from this strike since the inhabitants of the house had already spent months inside, and hence they were exempted from the re-run show.

With the final 3, it must have also got very boring for them, and the television all the time was showing them that they have just a few days left, and the money involved was all of Rs. 1 crore. Finally, the 22nd of November came, and Shilpa Shetty got into the act. After almost 3 hours of drama (including with performances from the previous participants), first Zulfi was eliminated, and then Akshay Kumar joined the show to make the final announcement, and he then announced that it was Ashutosh who was the winner. For me, the show ending was a disappointment since I used an interest in this show to prevent the usual insane serial from showing up.

Video of Ashutosh winning the Big Boss Season 2 on youtube: