Friday, April 10, 2009

This shoe does BITE!

IT missed again! I am talking about the extremely popular online games of hurling a shoe at a minister — a new medium journalists have acquired to get their anger/hatred across.

First an Iraqi reporter did it to former US president George Bush and now Indian journalist has done it to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram.

Well enough of jokes. But seriously it was definitely one of the most atrocious things to happen in journalism recently.

I don’t know whether it was right for the Dainik Jagran journalist Jarnail Singh to hurl his shoe after not getting a convincing reply to his question from Chidambaram on the 1984 Sikhs riot issue.


I can’t say because lets not discount the fact that journalists are also human beings (I am not trying to defend Jarnail Singh’s act by saying this). He is a Sikh and I sympathise with him, as with other Sikhs for whatever happened in the 1984 riots.

More so after the CBI gave a clean chit to main accuse Jagdish Tytler, when everyone knows his involvement. It hurts. It will hurt you if you or your community is affected.

I know journalists are under huge pressure from the whole community, friends, family and almost everyone around, who want them to do something against the injustice done.

So, probably this would be one of the reasons that may have led a generally calm Jarnail Singh to hurl his shoe at the minister.

However, let’s look at this from a constructive point of view. Did it solve the purpose? Did the CBI reopen the investigations?

Instead, what it did was made the whole issue political with opposition parties banking on Jarnail’s action. A political party also announced to award the journalist with Rs 2 lakh prize money.

I am sure this was not the intent and outcome Jarnail would have thought off. I, however, wished he had given a thought before hurling his shoe.

I am afraid the shoe-throwing incident will set a bad precedent for the young crop of journalism students who aim to be there one day, especially after seeing a senior journalist doing such an act on national TV throughout the day.

It is not too far when journalism students may have to answer a critical question like this: What is mightier than a sword?
Option A: Pen
Option B: Shoes
Option C: Both

Monday, March 9, 2009

Should Tendulkar follow Sir Jackie?

LEGENDS lead by examples. And that is what Sir Jackie Stewart, the former Formula One racing champion did.

The 69-year-old, three-time F1 champion, offered to fulfill his contractual obligations with the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) without payment for 2009, after RBS posted Britain’s biggest-ever corporate loss last month — 24.1 billion dollars — and shifted risky assets into a government insurance scheme.

Reports said that the Scot was on a contract from 2004 to 2011 worth four million pounds (4.5 million euros, 5.6 million dollars).

What an apt gesture from Sir Stewart in such trying times. In February, Scottish tennis star Andy Murray agreed to renegotiate the value of his deal with RBS.

Incidentally, Indian cricketing icon Sachin Tendulkar is also the brand ambassador for RBS. He was the recent sporting icon to sign a contract with the Scottish bank during the last November-December India-England series.

We have known Sachin as a humble human being and his deeds are as great as his records. So, in these difficult times for RBS, wouldn’t it be wise for our sporting hero to renegotiate his contract or follow Sir Stewart’s footstep?

For the record, Tendulkar said he was honoured to be in the company of great Sir Jackie Stewart during the announcement of their association.

The ball is in your court Sachin!

Friday, November 14, 2008

What an idea, Sirjee!

HAVE you noticed how acceptable and widely-used English has become? Even when people are speaking Hindi, English words keep popping up.

I’m sure this is equally true of conversations in Bengali, Tamil, Telegu, Assamese or Kashmiri. In contrast, Hindi purists seem to have faded away. There was a time when the Mulayam Singh Yadavs were sticklers for ‘klisht hindi’; now I can’t remember when he last objected to the use of English.

My case, however, is established by simply listening to how people speak and pausing to think about the words they use. Consider a few examples. No one — not your mates, nor the sabji-wallah or the taxi driver — reels off their mobile number in Hindi. People may still say ‘ikees’, ‘arsath’ or ‘ninyanbe’ but a mobile number is always spelt out in English, regardless of how misleading the pronunciation maybe! Actually, that’s also true of ordinary phone numbers.

Better still, eavesdrop on conversations and notice how frequently English words crop up. Here’s a selection of sentences I’ve heard in the last week alone: “Aap ke liye message hai”, “Woh hamesha late aatein hein”, “Mujhe medicine leni hai”, “Phir kaam pe no-show hoge’, “Meri salary bahut kum hei”, “Promotion nahin mila”, “Mujhe loan chahiye”, “black aap ko bahut suit karta hai”, “uski baby girl hui hai”.

In each case the English words were used deliberately but they sounded natural. That’s because they seem to fit in, they feel as if they belong.

Now consider how people describe themselves. When your door won’t shut the guy who’ll come to fix it calls himself a ‘carpenter’. When the tap won’t shut it’s a ‘plumber’, the chap at the gate is a ‘guard’, and your letters are brought by a ‘postman’. ‘Mistri ‘, ‘chowkidaar’ and ‘dakya’, which were common in my childhood, aren’t used anymore.

In fact, omnibus English words such as engineer, mechanic and operator are used by Hindi-speakers to describe a variety of professions; only the bijleewala stays the same! In contrast, certain Hindi words like daftar, rasoi, gaddi, kameez and diya-salai have been comprehensively replaced by office, kitchen, car, shirt and matches. In other cases, so common is their usage that pant, pen, picture and party have virtually become Hindi words!

Twenty five years ago when my Cambridge chum Satish Aggarwal would call his parents ‘Mumji’ and ‘Dadji’ I would laugh. It seemed such a strange combination of Brit affection and desi respect. Little did I realise Satish was way ahead of his time. Today, young cricketers call Tendulkar ‘Sachin Sir’ whilst junior correspondents call their boss ‘Rajdeep Sir’ and it feels perfectly right. Even ‘Neelu Madam’ and ‘Rinku Madam’ doesn’t raise eyebrows.

Is this anglicisation? No, it’s Englishification. Although that’s a pretty dreadful word, what it points towards is three important and, I suspect, irreversible facts.

First, an increasing number of people are deliberately using English words either because they are better suited to what they want to say or more impressive.

Second, modern lifestyles encourage people to use modern speech which, simultaneously, sounds casual, cool and cosmopolitan. And English fits the bill. Third, English — or, at any rate, English words — is both the link between different Indians and, paradoxically, the distinction between our use of English and that of the English-speaking world. It cuts both ways.

However, I would go a step further. The ever-multiplying reliance and acceptability of English shows that we have become comfortable with ourselves and our unique history and circumstances.

The colonial hangover which led an earlier generation to protest against English is past and forgotten. We’ve internalised the language. It’s no longer ‘phoren’, it’s become Indian. Second, we’re now sure of our identity. Borrowed phrases or concepts don’t undermine it. In fact, we often prefer foreign words to express ourselves.

And, third, being Indian is an umbrella concept, an omnibus idea, it embraces many, often contradictory, qualities and we’ve become well adjusted to and increasingly happy with that.

Well, what do you say about all this? My answer is: ‘What an idea, Sirjee’!

(This piece was written by eminent journalist and columnist Karan Thapar in Sunday Hindustan Times)

Monday, November 3, 2008

A cracker that burst too loud...

IT was a Diwali that my colleague-friend would like to forget as soon as possible. The festival of lights has doomed darkness for him; that charm has evaded though trying hard to keep a smile on his face.

He is trying to keep himself occupy with work, but still the thoughts somehow sneeks into his 'busy' mind.

Just a few days before the Diwali, his life was rocked with the news of his fiancée's sudden death. I don't know the exact cause but that incident came like a storm in which everything got blown away. He says, "Mujhe abb pata chala ki dukh kise kehte hai.

"Till now, whatever I have seen is nothing as compared to this. Nothing has hit me so hard." He has always been a big flirt in his entire life, that is what he used to tell me. He has had affairs with en number of girls.
"But this was one girl for whom I was ready to spend my entire life," he confesses. "I never felt like looking at any other girl after meeting her."

This is one of the wonders of having your Mr/Ms Perfect in life. It's a magical and the best feeling one can ever experience. My heart goes out to him especially because it was a match he had to wait for 35 years to find. He was really struggling to find a proper arrange-marraige girl. And when he finally got it, destiny gave death in return.

It comes as a shock for me because those things are still fresh in my mind when he announced his engagement a month ago.

My friend still thinks it was one of those bad dreams in his sleep. But unfortunately, it isn't. Almost a week has passed since Diwali but all is still not well with him yet.

I don't know what he will decide for his future... Will he think of marrying someone again? Will he have similar feelings for anyone else? I sincerely hope he comes back to normalcy soon.

When tragedy strucks, we tend to put off living. I hope it is not the case here.

Monday, October 6, 2008

When I sold my guitar…

WE often miss those things most when they are not there. I am in a similar state these days after I sold my guitar.

It was one of the toughest decisions of my life. It was certainly not easy for me to let away my guitar after taking care of it for almost five years. I used to always ask for another chair to keep my guitar, whenever I hanged around with my friends in hotels or anywhere. It was like my girlfriend.

There are so many sweet memories that are hard to detach from me. Like playing it all day in college and in between the lectures; getting dedications from friends and even from professors and teachers sometimes. Playing the guitar for my girlfriend on my first official date at a restaurant in Bandra was so special. At times I might forget to carry a book to college but never my guitar. It was that special.

My guitar was very much part in establishing my identity. Apart from just being getting noticed, it helped immensely in developing my confidence.

We would be the toast for the inter-collegiate and youth festivals. Fresher’s or farewell party were the prime days when we were loved and adored with all the attention and accolades. It was such a great feeling. An artist, after all, thrives for a round-of-applause.


But suddenly, it all ended after my college was over. My guitar hanged behind the cupboard of my bedroom where no one would notice it.

In all these years after passing out, I hardly remember the last time I opened my, forget even playing it. I don’t know why I did this. Time was just an excuse. There was no motivation left, in fact.
Probably, that is why I decided to sell it off because it was just not happening. There was no more that touch left in it. Or perhaps I am now concentrating on my classical singing, which may have prompted me to take this step.
I handed my guitar to a dear friend at a musical instrument shop near Metro theatre in town after a little repair. Coincidentally, it all ended from where it had started.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Hats off to America!

I AM not an American fan or anything of that sorts. But I am impressed with the way they have handeled terrorism.

I was astonished when I found out that there were 34 blasts in India since May 2008 (including the Delhi blasts on Saturday, September 27), which killed at least 150 people (official figure) and left hundreds injured. Imagine THIRTY FOUR bomb blasts.





And look at America... can you remember any terrorist attack after 9/11 in 2001? There haven't been any infact. This goes on to show how efficiently they have not negotiated with security of their people. It is the will of their government to mainatin high security measures throughout. But sadly, it is not the case here.

I was surprised when home minister Shivraj Patil said this after Delhi serial blasts, "We knew that blasts will happen. We had prior information."

So, what were you'll waiting for... the bombs to ripe! This is such an irresponsible state of act by our government. By this it is clear that we can't rely on them to help us out if there's another terrorist attack.

India is clearly becoming as vulnerable as Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan where a bomb blast is a natural phenomenon.

It's time we take care of our selves. Be alert.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Maan gaye Mckee...

Wanna know why... just check this link.
Superb guitar driffting.

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=Ddn4MGaS3N4