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- The fabricNovember 29
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Last week, my eight year old daughter brought home a book to read from her school library. A comic book illustrating—you will not guess this—French Revolution! And it was fascinating as I read it from cover to cover. I mean I have learnt about the French revolution as part of my high-school history academic curriculum. But not like this.
And just from these graphic images—for the first time really—I realized how the fabric of their society, and eventually, their living conditions eroded to such an extent that life and existence for peasants, and ordinary people became indistinguishable from the animals they domesticated. So heavily burdened, and trodden by their King, and by their Government that revolt was a natural reaction. The rest, of course as you know, is history.
But France is one-fifth the size of India, and much
- Shoddy journalismNovember 27
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Appalling journalism. Absolute blasphemy! As I watch the news from home, I am dumbfounded to see Barkha Dutt of NDTV break every rule of ethical journalism in reporting the Mumbai mayhem. Take a couple of instances for example:
- In one instance she asks a husband about his wife being stuck, or held as a hostage. The poor guy adds in the end about where she was last hiding. Aired! My dear friends with AK-47s, our national news is helping you. Go get those still in. And be sure to thank NDTV for not censoring this bit of information.
- In another instance, a General sort of suggests that there were no hostages in Oberoi Trident. (Clever.) Then, our herione of revelations calls the head of Oberoi, and the idiot confirms a possibility of 100 or more people still in the building. Hello! Guys with guns, you’ve got more goats to slay. But before you do, you’ve got to love NDTV and more precisely Ms. Dutt. She’s your official intelligence from Ground zero.
You do not need to be a journalist to understand the basic premise of ethics, which starts with protecting victims first; and that is done by avoiding key information from being aired publicly—such as but not limited to revealing the number of possible people still in, the hideouts of hostages and people stuck in buildings.
Imagine you’re one of those sorry souls holed-up in one of those bathrooms, or kitchens. A journalist pulls your
- MumbaiNovember 27
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It is paralyzing to see Mumbai bleed this horribly, as we sit stunned, glued to the television watching the gory happenings unfold hour after hour. Oh hell.
- On democracyNovember 24
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Ramesh Ramanathan: “Of all the debates we have had about the challenges of democracy, few have been as disquieting as the one we had with this Indian taxi driver in Dubai.” [via.]
- SnowNovember 23
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It’s early this year. For the last couple of nights we have been experiencing a hail ice pebbles. It finally happened this afternoon.
