With the recent attacks in Mumbai, this has been a question that is on everybody's mind, and, it should be if it is not.
It is saddening to have seen how the terrorists troubled and terminated lives of harmless and innocent individuals, who were there at the unlucky location. None of them would have ever imagined that it would be the last day of their life, and far more worse, how it was going to end that day. Each one leading their life happily, each with their own ambitions, all that they had seen in life, all that they could have seen in life, if not for this unfortunate moment. They were not any different from any of us. In the end, a harmless, peace loving individual willing to live in harmony, at the wrong place at the wrong time.
It surpasses any sense, for an individual to be influenced enough to massacre lives of so many individuals and also their own. All this at what cost? What is it that they gained from this?
Though unfortunate, these acts, teach all of us a lesson each time, which we fail to understand or learn whatever so it may be.
Was it the first time that an terrorist act as this has occured. What did we learn from the Mumbai blasts earlier and the numerous that happened all over the rest of India. The question is to each and everyone of us and the answer would be different for each one of us, but needless to say a lesson for us all to learn.
Of all the exaustive live footages that the media was showing during the entire incident, too many disturbing things came to light.
The first lesson to be learnt is having a responsible Media.
How much sense does it require to understand or realise that all the footage that is been shown to the general masses were also possibly seen by the terrorists. The strategy and operations to counter the terrorists were shown live, needless to say that if possibly seen by the terrorists, they would easily make a counter plan to this rescue operation. Is a story more important than the lives of people who are trying to save all those innocent people? This lesson was learnt quite late and thankfully needed steps were taken. But then do we have a advisory committee or a regulatory body that takes care that such incidents dont happen in the first place, or it doesnt happen in the future?
We need smarter reporters. Whats the point in making a mockery of yourselves by asking idiotic questions like "how are you feeling" and more lamer questions to the wives and relatives of those who sacrificed themselves in this operation? Besides was that the time to even storm them with questions? Try to put yourselves into their shoes. If you really had to interview them that desperately, it would have been more dignified if you would have let this sad episode end and let them have some peace at this time of grief.
However, I appreciate all the reporters, who risked their lives out there to cover the entire episode. They are as big a heroes as the ones who were trying to save the people.
The second lesson to be learned is to have a more equipped security. It was saddening to see that the Terrorists were better equipped than the Law. We need to invest in equipping our Law to tackle and retaliate fiercelessly on these merciless creatures. Most countries have a provision of 1 bulletproof jackets per policeman. Any investment that helps us in making more alert and ready to handle situations like this need no justification. They are a need.
The third lesson to be learned is to change our attitudes of "digging a well when thirsty". The last time during mumbai blasts on local trains, I recollect that policemen were deployed at each and every railway station. However, I never saw a single policeman at any stations I noticed in the recent past. Mumbai's Resilience has been taken as an excuse to not take necessary measures AT ALL TIMES. Why do we undo our learnings so quickly. Were the places that needed security so desperately at one time, became unecessary for no reason so fast? There have been no changes in the trains to make them more safe. No barricades were made on adjacent sides of the railway lines at places that lacked them. Security cameras were installed at a handfull of places, when they should have placed them exaustively on ALL railway platforms and In train compartments. Does these investments sound illogical in a City that is the economic Hub of the nation, a most populous city, and the one that gets one of the most tax payments each year, and most importantly is so favoured target towards terrorist acts.
Even as this unfornate incident has now thankfully ended. Are there any developments or statements made on what are the steps that would be taken from now on to handle such situations better.
The fourth lesson to be learned, to stop being a hypocratic nation.
I observe that each one of us mourns these loss of lives by this creatures at every occasion. But then why does it take us ages to procecute these guys when they are caught alive.
There are so many captive terrorists that are still under trail since ages, when evidences against them are so very clear. Who is the law waiting for to punish them for what they have done? We need fast trail courts to that would actually be "fast" unlike the ones that are now claimed to be fast trail courts. Our lethargy to procecute these guys acts as a motivation to people that envy our lives and want to spread terror. It shows how much respect we have for the people that were lost during this episode.
It is also a pity that these so called "Human Rights" associations take the side of these creatures. The human rights are for humans, not for animals like these. Why does the media not question or know their reaction on this sad incident and question them on why they are supporting people like these.
The Fifth and the most Important lesson to learn is for us all.
We need to understand that everything that we do, somehow has an effect on how this nation is and will be.
Question your leaders on what have they done for your security. Increase your expectations and voice them insistively so that they are noticed.
How many of us use our right to vote. How many of us know or try to know who each and every candidate that stands on the poll is and what his ambitions and agenda are? It is our attitude of not expecting and the loss of hope that things will get better that has led us to this situations.
Our favorisms to candidates and our ingorance to learn more about all the people who stand a chance to be chosen is killing our nation.
Lets learn to vote! Lets learn to vote sensibly!
We also need to learn that we have enough enemies to our nation, lets not fight amongst us on issues of caste and creed. Lets be seen as a peace loving and a united nation, than a nation bound by internal boundaries on lands and hearts.
We all want a change and we all in our own little lives want to be happy. So lets make an effort. It is our nation and our home.
Lets not let these creatures mistake our resiliance with our excuses to never improve and change.
Lets Remember! Lets Unite! Lets Change!
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
The missing Zing!
Recently I read an article where Chetan Bhagat (Five point someone fame), addressed a few freshers in a college as to how to keep their spirits high and not to loose the "sparck" with time.
Amazing piece of a speech, he delivered, I must say. But with deep tought when i tried to reflect on to it with my experiences in this regards, i find interesting interpretations.
Well the zing and the sparc that we all talk about, all begins in an environment where u are totally alien too. Try to recollect the time you joined work. It was totally an alien experience to us. The tough of contributing to something that will affect the experiences of other people(customers / consumers). In my case it was putting in a piece of code that will affect how millions and billions of people in the world get charged for their phone calls. Sounds Amazing for a begginer right!
Recollect instances in your life when you were totally charged to do something. Reflect on what was it that made u go blazing. You will realize that the answer is very simple. It all depends on the motivation you have. Economical, Social, Self or other.
As long as an individual has a motivation, he keeps oozing that zing and does more than what he is expected too.
It is also true that what motivates one may not motivate the other. Also what motivates you now may not motivate you in a different situation or time.
It is this motivation that keeps that zing alive in each one of us. It keeps our mind free and think of possibilities rather than work arounds. Helps us Innovate rather than imitate. Every mind is creative. It only needs something that i call a "powersource" that keeps on feeding it.
The mind creates and innovates in an environment which is alien to you, because then you will think of possibilities rather than the fact. If not prevailing it will try to find ways to convert that possibility in to fact. That is what we term innovation. What needs to be innovated always prevails. All it takes is an open mind to identify that opportunity. An environment where you are not bound in operational activities. This is another problem which we will come to in the later of this article.
It is this motivation that develops expectations within an individual. If you try to reflect, expectations that you had when you joined, kept you striving. Now try to apply the same expectations in your current situation. For most of us, those "carrots" wont work in where we are now.
We ofter hear of the term self motivated, something that i personally believe in and feel keeps me moving. It is when you do not expect or need a "powersource" feeding you from outside. You generate or exude that enthusiasm from what lies within you. Howerver, thinking hard you will realise that there is nothing exceptional about it. So what is it that self motivates oneself. Such individuals derive their enthusiasm from their own beliefs and culture. It can be their commitment , dedication, that is ingrained in them. It can be the desire to make a difference, whatsover, or not to give in to being mechanical as it does not "suit" them so.
Remember, every individual is self motivated, but then it really depends on what the individual's beliefs are or what his or her rationale is. Also the environment, in conflicting situations may deplete this "inhouse" powersource.
Speaking of creativity and innovation, the mind does not always create or innovate. It cannot be thought of as a process or chain of events taht will result in a innovative thought or creative idea. Hundereds of people work in the same environment do the same activities and perform the same tasks. How is it that we there are so less innovative thoughts around then? Are the others ignorant to the thought of being creative?
Just as in case of motivation, every individual is a innovator. One needs to identify the "bottlenecks" that hinder this openness of the mind.
Firstly, The more you know about something, the less innovative one becomes (most of the times). Repeating myself, when you know less, you wonder about more possibilities, when you know more, you think of more work arounds. However, the trick lies in using the knowledge to turn possibilities into facts rather than identifying work arounds. This is where the innovation lies. No idea is creative no thought is innovative. It is all there, amongst all of us, it is about how the mind "pops out" this thought is interesting, because it differs from individual to individual.
From a personal experience, I am more condusive to positive thinking and "there has to be a better way to do this" and "why do we have to do this again and again" attitude when I am listening to music. Sounds really stupid but works for me. It seems all of it comes to me from lost corner of the mind. Wierd! It is not that I think different when I am listening to music, but then yes i do approach things different in that mode. Point is each one of us has a "presetting" for our minds to turn it on to that mode.
This brings me to the third important factor, which is the spice of it all. It is about routine. Routine depletes creativity slowly and steadily.
The mind is developed to adapt and also to resist a change and it is only human that it will adapt if it finds that the change is inevitable. The more operation or mechanical you become, the less the mind thinks of "switching" over.
Imagine yourself the type of activities you thought are so operational and redundant, then how slowly and steadily you became "addicted" to doing the same activities over time and at one point in time you get used to it and then dont find the need to find another solution.
We all need seldom breaks from routine to sit back and ponder whats keeping us from creating, whats making us robots from humans?
Motivation, Innovation and The willingness to bring a change for the better is where the entire crux of "The Zing" lies and keep feeding it.
The Zing never dies, it is always there, you only choose to ignore or feel that being "zingy" isnt making a difference, or whatever the reason be. It can be any of the lack of motivation, the antithetic environment to being innovative, or becoming mechanical, only to set ourselves in a mode where we dont find the need to bring a change.
The zing can be revived.
[PS: I dont write so well so please do excuse if this initiates a feeling to hit me :). ]
Amazing piece of a speech, he delivered, I must say. But with deep tought when i tried to reflect on to it with my experiences in this regards, i find interesting interpretations.
Well the zing and the sparc that we all talk about, all begins in an environment where u are totally alien too. Try to recollect the time you joined work. It was totally an alien experience to us. The tough of contributing to something that will affect the experiences of other people(customers / consumers). In my case it was putting in a piece of code that will affect how millions and billions of people in the world get charged for their phone calls. Sounds Amazing for a begginer right!
Recollect instances in your life when you were totally charged to do something. Reflect on what was it that made u go blazing. You will realize that the answer is very simple. It all depends on the motivation you have. Economical, Social, Self or other.
As long as an individual has a motivation, he keeps oozing that zing and does more than what he is expected too.
It is also true that what motivates one may not motivate the other. Also what motivates you now may not motivate you in a different situation or time.
It is this motivation that keeps that zing alive in each one of us. It keeps our mind free and think of possibilities rather than work arounds. Helps us Innovate rather than imitate. Every mind is creative. It only needs something that i call a "powersource" that keeps on feeding it.
The mind creates and innovates in an environment which is alien to you, because then you will think of possibilities rather than the fact. If not prevailing it will try to find ways to convert that possibility in to fact. That is what we term innovation. What needs to be innovated always prevails. All it takes is an open mind to identify that opportunity. An environment where you are not bound in operational activities. This is another problem which we will come to in the later of this article.
It is this motivation that develops expectations within an individual. If you try to reflect, expectations that you had when you joined, kept you striving. Now try to apply the same expectations in your current situation. For most of us, those "carrots" wont work in where we are now.
We ofter hear of the term self motivated, something that i personally believe in and feel keeps me moving. It is when you do not expect or need a "powersource" feeding you from outside. You generate or exude that enthusiasm from what lies within you. Howerver, thinking hard you will realise that there is nothing exceptional about it. So what is it that self motivates oneself. Such individuals derive their enthusiasm from their own beliefs and culture. It can be their commitment , dedication, that is ingrained in them. It can be the desire to make a difference, whatsover, or not to give in to being mechanical as it does not "suit" them so.
Remember, every individual is self motivated, but then it really depends on what the individual's beliefs are or what his or her rationale is. Also the environment, in conflicting situations may deplete this "inhouse" powersource.
Speaking of creativity and innovation, the mind does not always create or innovate. It cannot be thought of as a process or chain of events taht will result in a innovative thought or creative idea. Hundereds of people work in the same environment do the same activities and perform the same tasks. How is it that we there are so less innovative thoughts around then? Are the others ignorant to the thought of being creative?
Just as in case of motivation, every individual is a innovator. One needs to identify the "bottlenecks" that hinder this openness of the mind.
Firstly, The more you know about something, the less innovative one becomes (most of the times). Repeating myself, when you know less, you wonder about more possibilities, when you know more, you think of more work arounds. However, the trick lies in using the knowledge to turn possibilities into facts rather than identifying work arounds. This is where the innovation lies. No idea is creative no thought is innovative. It is all there, amongst all of us, it is about how the mind "pops out" this thought is interesting, because it differs from individual to individual.
From a personal experience, I am more condusive to positive thinking and "there has to be a better way to do this" and "why do we have to do this again and again" attitude when I am listening to music. Sounds really stupid but works for me. It seems all of it comes to me from lost corner of the mind. Wierd! It is not that I think different when I am listening to music, but then yes i do approach things different in that mode. Point is each one of us has a "presetting" for our minds to turn it on to that mode.
This brings me to the third important factor, which is the spice of it all. It is about routine. Routine depletes creativity slowly and steadily.
The mind is developed to adapt and also to resist a change and it is only human that it will adapt if it finds that the change is inevitable. The more operation or mechanical you become, the less the mind thinks of "switching" over.
Imagine yourself the type of activities you thought are so operational and redundant, then how slowly and steadily you became "addicted" to doing the same activities over time and at one point in time you get used to it and then dont find the need to find another solution.
We all need seldom breaks from routine to sit back and ponder whats keeping us from creating, whats making us robots from humans?
Motivation, Innovation and The willingness to bring a change for the better is where the entire crux of "The Zing" lies and keep feeding it.
The Zing never dies, it is always there, you only choose to ignore or feel that being "zingy" isnt making a difference, or whatever the reason be. It can be any of the lack of motivation, the antithetic environment to being innovative, or becoming mechanical, only to set ourselves in a mode where we dont find the need to bring a change.
The zing can be revived.
[PS: I dont write so well so please do excuse if this initiates a feeling to hit me :). ]
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Child Labour Solution - A helping hand or social hypocracy
As goes the old chinese saying , "Feed a child a fish and u will feed him for a day, teach him to fish and u have fed him for life".
With child workers being saved from industries that make them work like animals all day long in inhuman conditions, child labor is definitely a concern of the modern society.
With workforce requirements increasing rapidly, and children being the most "lucrative" option for filling that requirements, they are being targeted by small and mid scale industries, to make them work.
Child labour gives them the so called advantage of bullying them to work more and pay less primarily. Optionally, they can also appraise them very easily so that they do not run away, or better they can bully them to stay.
Although this seems to be a genuine concern on what needs to be done about the issue, but seldom do we think as to why we are facing this problem.
The great Indian legacy of finding a solution to a symptom, and not identifying the root cause, carries here as well. With most talking about the industries that tend to hire them, we seldom talk about why these kids agree or are forced get into this, though unwillingly.
With so many people living below the poverty line and the exploding population, it seems to be an obvious answer. We are a growing country, with our standard of living getting better every annum. However we are not yet successful in closing the gap between the rich and the poor, rather we have fueled it up to an extent where it will soon be at a point of no return.
With every such under privileged household, kids agree to work to help them run their house, and we are not necessarily talking about very small kids but teens. Working for whom is a matter of having their dinner or not. It is but logical that these teens surrender themselves to work for feeding themselves and their family.
Even though how pitiful people sound about banning teens from working, no one helps them feed their family or give them other better options to help them do so. It is an irony that of all the voices that are raised to ban these kids from working do not come forward to help them financially or prepare these kids for the world.
Lets have a better picture.
Imagine a child, who comes from a unprivileged background, capable of working, in his late teens. Decides to work at a tea stall. He works for a person who looks after him and takes good care of the kid.
On the other hand, we have a kid, 8 years of age, who also happens to act for an advertising agency. He has a busy schedule, right from jumping to school, to coaching, to acting and other activies.
Who do you think is more burdened?
Why do we only think about the kid working in the tea stall and want him to stop working there? Is it only because he is under privileged, more unassuming, more susceptible to being influenced?
He does not have a family that is financially stable?
Is the Other kid not being exploited, even though it gets overshadowed in the glamour?
We have 2 different perspectives of looking at the same problem. It is high time that the ones against it realize that the fight is not against child labour primarily but against the atmosphere and the social evils that surround this devil.
So what do we do?
The solution may lie in identifying these kids most importantly. They can be educated so that they can stand on their feet.
Additionally to aid their financial issues, they could be hired in a safe work place where they can be trained in a skill and also are paid for it. Organizations that come up in helping the cause are given financial support to pay such kids, and these should be registered and inspected from time to time, to see if they are being exploited.
With every solution come new problems but we need to move on for the better.
With child workers being saved from industries that make them work like animals all day long in inhuman conditions, child labor is definitely a concern of the modern society.
With workforce requirements increasing rapidly, and children being the most "lucrative" option for filling that requirements, they are being targeted by small and mid scale industries, to make them work.
Child labour gives them the so called advantage of bullying them to work more and pay less primarily. Optionally, they can also appraise them very easily so that they do not run away, or better they can bully them to stay.
Although this seems to be a genuine concern on what needs to be done about the issue, but seldom do we think as to why we are facing this problem.
The great Indian legacy of finding a solution to a symptom, and not identifying the root cause, carries here as well. With most talking about the industries that tend to hire them, we seldom talk about why these kids agree or are forced get into this, though unwillingly.
With so many people living below the poverty line and the exploding population, it seems to be an obvious answer. We are a growing country, with our standard of living getting better every annum. However we are not yet successful in closing the gap between the rich and the poor, rather we have fueled it up to an extent where it will soon be at a point of no return.
With every such under privileged household, kids agree to work to help them run their house, and we are not necessarily talking about very small kids but teens. Working for whom is a matter of having their dinner or not. It is but logical that these teens surrender themselves to work for feeding themselves and their family.
Even though how pitiful people sound about banning teens from working, no one helps them feed their family or give them other better options to help them do so. It is an irony that of all the voices that are raised to ban these kids from working do not come forward to help them financially or prepare these kids for the world.
Lets have a better picture.
Imagine a child, who comes from a unprivileged background, capable of working, in his late teens. Decides to work at a tea stall. He works for a person who looks after him and takes good care of the kid.
On the other hand, we have a kid, 8 years of age, who also happens to act for an advertising agency. He has a busy schedule, right from jumping to school, to coaching, to acting and other activies.
Who do you think is more burdened?
Why do we only think about the kid working in the tea stall and want him to stop working there? Is it only because he is under privileged, more unassuming, more susceptible to being influenced?
He does not have a family that is financially stable?
Is the Other kid not being exploited, even though it gets overshadowed in the glamour?
We have 2 different perspectives of looking at the same problem. It is high time that the ones against it realize that the fight is not against child labour primarily but against the atmosphere and the social evils that surround this devil.
So what do we do?
The solution may lie in identifying these kids most importantly. They can be educated so that they can stand on their feet.
Additionally to aid their financial issues, they could be hired in a safe work place where they can be trained in a skill and also are paid for it. Organizations that come up in helping the cause are given financial support to pay such kids, and these should be registered and inspected from time to time, to see if they are being exploited.
With every solution come new problems but we need to move on for the better.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
The Desi Journalism
Rajdeep Sardesai, Barkha Dutt, Rajat Sharma, Pranay Roy and the likes of them all names of the people who have achieved kingship in Journalism today in India. With all the other aspects of country, India's media has taken a big leap. From the sole Doordarshan news to the huge wave of new news channels today, we have come a long way.
But sometimes it really makes me wonder about the direction where our media is headed. It has always been an open debate about the quality of journalism we have in our country, but as even this debates rides with the media as a carrier, a few issues never see the light of the day. Some arguments go unnoticed, some issues never get corrected.
If I were to speak of an incident, On 26th January, India celebrated its Republic Day. It was a very proud occasion at the Flag hoisting ceremony on the RedFort, when a glorious 2007 India looked back upon. A clear sign that India's footprint is getting better day by day.
However, late evening I sat down for a quick look at the news on this day and I was shocked.
On Aaj Tak (sabse tez), (Best news channel award winner 6 times in a row), there was a story (which they say is fictitious, and obviously could be closely harmonized with India's current political scenario).
On a day as that, it seems they took great pride to portray how a certain General X (fictitious character), would be psychologically imbalanced to wage a nuclear war (do these guys even know the implications of making such a statement) against India. Their supposed goal was to portray how prepared or unprepared India was for this.
The show was so precisely planned, with not only the development of the idea but with visuals and graphics depicting how our cities would be targeted, and that the cities would be wiped of from the face of the earth. Their war strategy seemed to be a well built war tactic which they assumed the neighboring country would have used against us.
It started of with a head count comparison of the Indian soldiers against theirs which continued to a comparison of the military equipments (tanks, submarines, ships, etc) of both the countries.
Depicting how the other country was not potent enough for a head to head attack over us would have resorted to a strategy put up earlier in this blog.
Their predictions even accounted for the number of lives and property losses that we may have seen lost during the war. Imagine all of this being put up on our republic day, when India is still striving hard to achieve peace with them and that these news channels and shows are being broadcast all over the world. What message are we putting up guys, and are you even giving it a thought.
However, this did not end, the next day say another story which acclaimed the entire world would end after an asteroid being hit somewhere in the 2020's . The story does not hurt as much as the way it has been portrayed.
Another incident was of the famous IBN 7 where in life on Mars issue suddenly erupted from an Image of the Mars surface with an impression of a woman on the surface seen from an extremely long distance.
The image was "supposed to" be released from NASA. Nows lets take a break and think about it. How would NASA let such an opportunity pass by of not declaring such a great discovery, and the news did take no responsibility of testifying their story. This clearly depicted the story's integrity and they did not want to reach the bottom of it because they knew it would not be true.
There is one more incident, a day or 2 back when Aaj tak spent a lot of time explaining how the Iceage is soon arriving. They even put up a deadline of 2055 to 2060. Lets just rethink, 2 days back they show up an asteroid story which would kill most of our race by 2020's and the next day we have an IceAge approaching. I fail to understand why would it be a news if I was to be extinct much before the "supposed" IceAge.
On the other hand, Doordarshan news stuck to showing how the states India had their Parade on the 26th January. It just making me think as an Indian about the direction of media today.
I am personally a fan of all the people I started my blog with and I consider that they are the Icons of Indian Media today. Lately, NDTV distributed Indian of the Year awards which was a very inspiring program to have been an audience to. Pranay Roy and Barkha Dutt hosted the occasion and it was an amazing piece of coverage.
All said and done, why are the bloopers to media still exist.
Firstly, because we all watch it! The spicy news gives us great entertainment and we watch it to discuss the stupidity with others. Secondly, a majority of people in India still resides in Rural areas, and even though their understanding may still be a little subdued their access to media is very much as ours and they do not give a thought to what is being shown to them. Imagine the General X story being watched by someone in Jammu and Kashmir. The implications and rules of the game change. Thirdly, because India does not have a body that can monitor such issues, solely for the purpose that news channels don the media today and have gone from being journalists to influencers.
The monitoring body simply does not work because of the fact that we all enjoy the right to express and speak. Agreed. But when you are showing a "convincing" story which you are not yourself sure of its integrity, to large masses in the rural India, they would neglect that the story is fictitious and would very much believe on what is being shown to them. This is where you abuse the integrity of using your power of speech to influence the people less rational than you.
Thus, as any other, both sides of media will co-exist, great gossips to showbiz paparazzi, to weird stories. This not being a debatable issue but certainly an issue we all need to be aware of and we already are.
But one thing is for sure. Some day, some time people will rise and people will realise :)
But sometimes it really makes me wonder about the direction where our media is headed. It has always been an open debate about the quality of journalism we have in our country, but as even this debates rides with the media as a carrier, a few issues never see the light of the day. Some arguments go unnoticed, some issues never get corrected.
If I were to speak of an incident, On 26th January, India celebrated its Republic Day. It was a very proud occasion at the Flag hoisting ceremony on the RedFort, when a glorious 2007 India looked back upon. A clear sign that India's footprint is getting better day by day.
However, late evening I sat down for a quick look at the news on this day and I was shocked.
On Aaj Tak (sabse tez), (Best news channel award winner 6 times in a row), there was a story (which they say is fictitious, and obviously could be closely harmonized with India's current political scenario).
On a day as that, it seems they took great pride to portray how a certain General X (fictitious character), would be psychologically imbalanced to wage a nuclear war (do these guys even know the implications of making such a statement) against India. Their supposed goal was to portray how prepared or unprepared India was for this.
The show was so precisely planned, with not only the development of the idea but with visuals and graphics depicting how our cities would be targeted, and that the cities would be wiped of from the face of the earth. Their war strategy seemed to be a well built war tactic which they assumed the neighboring country would have used against us.
It started of with a head count comparison of the Indian soldiers against theirs which continued to a comparison of the military equipments (tanks, submarines, ships, etc) of both the countries.
Depicting how the other country was not potent enough for a head to head attack over us would have resorted to a strategy put up earlier in this blog.
Their predictions even accounted for the number of lives and property losses that we may have seen lost during the war. Imagine all of this being put up on our republic day, when India is still striving hard to achieve peace with them and that these news channels and shows are being broadcast all over the world. What message are we putting up guys, and are you even giving it a thought.
However, this did not end, the next day say another story which acclaimed the entire world would end after an asteroid being hit somewhere in the 2020's . The story does not hurt as much as the way it has been portrayed.
Another incident was of the famous IBN 7 where in life on Mars issue suddenly erupted from an Image of the Mars surface with an impression of a woman on the surface seen from an extremely long distance.
The image was "supposed to" be released from NASA. Nows lets take a break and think about it. How would NASA let such an opportunity pass by of not declaring such a great discovery, and the news did take no responsibility of testifying their story. This clearly depicted the story's integrity and they did not want to reach the bottom of it because they knew it would not be true.
There is one more incident, a day or 2 back when Aaj tak spent a lot of time explaining how the Iceage is soon arriving. They even put up a deadline of 2055 to 2060. Lets just rethink, 2 days back they show up an asteroid story which would kill most of our race by 2020's and the next day we have an IceAge approaching. I fail to understand why would it be a news if I was to be extinct much before the "supposed" IceAge.
On the other hand, Doordarshan news stuck to showing how the states India had their Parade on the 26th January. It just making me think as an Indian about the direction of media today.
I am personally a fan of all the people I started my blog with and I consider that they are the Icons of Indian Media today. Lately, NDTV distributed Indian of the Year awards which was a very inspiring program to have been an audience to. Pranay Roy and Barkha Dutt hosted the occasion and it was an amazing piece of coverage.
All said and done, why are the bloopers to media still exist.
Firstly, because we all watch it! The spicy news gives us great entertainment and we watch it to discuss the stupidity with others. Secondly, a majority of people in India still resides in Rural areas, and even though their understanding may still be a little subdued their access to media is very much as ours and they do not give a thought to what is being shown to them. Imagine the General X story being watched by someone in Jammu and Kashmir. The implications and rules of the game change. Thirdly, because India does not have a body that can monitor such issues, solely for the purpose that news channels don the media today and have gone from being journalists to influencers.
The monitoring body simply does not work because of the fact that we all enjoy the right to express and speak. Agreed. But when you are showing a "convincing" story which you are not yourself sure of its integrity, to large masses in the rural India, they would neglect that the story is fictitious and would very much believe on what is being shown to them. This is where you abuse the integrity of using your power of speech to influence the people less rational than you.
Thus, as any other, both sides of media will co-exist, great gossips to showbiz paparazzi, to weird stories. This not being a debatable issue but certainly an issue we all need to be aware of and we already are.
But one thing is for sure. Some day, some time people will rise and people will realise :)
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Lead India?
The lead India campaign promo's have suddenly been a rage.
I am sure most of the ones must have seen it and would have forwarded it to 100s of people with all the patriotism and with the intent of spreading an awareness.
The kido in the promo was suddenly an inspiration for the modern India. A fallen tree was suddenly an issue everyone could relate to. The will of the child suddenly an act of heroism.
It was a genuinely credible act by the TOI to have begun this campaign and that we all agree it did instigate out patriotism.
But to see did it really serve purpose, is what the other side of the story is about.
What did we do after watching the promo that really helped our nation in whatever small way we could. A few months from now,for many, it will be just another amazing video by TOI and nothing more than that.
Be it Vande Mataram, by A R Rehman,
be it the TOI Campaign and a lot other such things that have come around once in a while, and created a big buzz, it all boils down to this one thing, are things really changing?
What do we need to move India from a developing nation to a developed nation?
How would the growing poverty, unemployment and a lot other such social issues be solved?
How would things change?
It is not about denying the fact that motivation is needed and that the current attempts are not appreicable, but its about what more do we need to get spin the wheels.
Lets share our opinions on both the sides of the story, the content on the post is not my opinion but an direction to the discussion.
I am sure most of the ones must have seen it and would have forwarded it to 100s of people with all the patriotism and with the intent of spreading an awareness.
The kido in the promo was suddenly an inspiration for the modern India. A fallen tree was suddenly an issue everyone could relate to. The will of the child suddenly an act of heroism.
It was a genuinely credible act by the TOI to have begun this campaign and that we all agree it did instigate out patriotism.
But to see did it really serve purpose, is what the other side of the story is about.
What did we do after watching the promo that really helped our nation in whatever small way we could. A few months from now,for many, it will be just another amazing video by TOI and nothing more than that.
Be it Vande Mataram, by A R Rehman,
be it the TOI Campaign and a lot other such things that have come around once in a while, and created a big buzz, it all boils down to this one thing, are things really changing?
What do we need to move India from a developing nation to a developed nation?
How would the growing poverty, unemployment and a lot other such social issues be solved?
How would things change?
It is not about denying the fact that motivation is needed and that the current attempts are not appreicable, but its about what more do we need to get spin the wheels.
Lets share our opinions on both the sides of the story, the content on the post is not my opinion but an direction to the discussion.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
ragaSpeaks
A rather funny name to a blog right?
Well not if you have been reading my other blogs :P
After having written a lot about Tech stuff on ragatech.blogspot.com and maintaining my personal blog, me and my friends came up on this discussion.
India if I were to quote is a land of controversies, with each one of us with a comment about anything that goes around us. Even though our actions may not compare to the views we have, we still have our voices and we still have our opinions.
With this blog I intend to bring out all your opinions about the issues we have around us.
Each week I will try to bring up an issue or a controversy, and will try to highlight both sides of the story. Followed by your replies and votes we will see the India today thinks about it.
Well not if you have been reading my other blogs :P
After having written a lot about Tech stuff on ragatech.blogspot.com and maintaining my personal blog, me and my friends came up on this discussion.
India if I were to quote is a land of controversies, with each one of us with a comment about anything that goes around us. Even though our actions may not compare to the views we have, we still have our voices and we still have our opinions.
With this blog I intend to bring out all your opinions about the issues we have around us.
Each week I will try to bring up an issue or a controversy, and will try to highlight both sides of the story. Followed by your replies and votes we will see the India today thinks about it.
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