Retiring Sourav Ganguly: no, not another GD

It seems like every time the name of this man will be dropped from the squad, every Tom, Dick and Harry would start speculating about his retirement. Recently I saw that one of the channels conducting poll on whether Sourav should call it a day now. This is preposterous. Conducting polls to make someone take retirement and putting a player of Sourav’s stature in a spot position.

We belong to a country where we boast of knowing ways of treating our seniors well. But Sourav Ganguly’s case tells me of something else. We must have known it in the past but TRP and Bytes have made us forget those mannerisms. Electronic media, especially the 24×7 news channels, are pushing the society to be judgmental about every issue. Whether it’s the Arushi-Hemraj murder case or Roger Federer slipping from no.1 spot hence starting to write his career off, until he defends his US Open title; the electronic media just wants to pass judgment on each and every issue and sometimes without doing proper research. Because of this kind of trend, the print media also have to fall into the line to cater to the needs of the audience or reader, to keep their paper going.

Newspaper and news channel, whose job is to give news and not to speculate, have suddenly changed its role. It’s now more into speculations and rumor mongering. In the times of crisis the govt. must take the news channels off- air. As speculation ends, things can function properly. It would avert a disaster for sure. Because for exclusive footage, god knows they can go to any extent, just as they stage manages sting operations.

If the media has run out of issues, why don’t they call it a day? Instead they should not discuss people, their life or career on primetime to fill the slot. What kind of new arguments can they come up with in defense and against the dropping of Sourav from the Irani trophy? The forums have not sounded any different from the last ones, since he was dropped at the behest of the then coach and selector, Greg Chapell and Kiran More respectively. He has been picked up and dropped quite a time and all those discussions haven't come up with any new suggestion. May be Navjot Singh Sidhu have quoted different proverb each time; that would be the only difference.

Don’t the anchor and the producer get tired of this business; certainly the audience does including me. Give the audience and Sourav a break. When he will have to retire he will, but this kind of pressure tactics can make his determination to play grow stronger and inspire him to better his form. So, media must stop speculating and start reporting, for a change.

Is journalism the best profession around?

In his rare public comments, Columbian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez, on 2 September 2008 in Northern Mexico, hailed journalism as the best profession. Is it so?
Choosing to become a journalist, one is always hounded by one’s friends and relatives, even at interviews, why on earth are you choosing this profession? One needs to give a thought to this question, as it is unlike other profession and usually thought as low paying one involving ‘risks’. But that has not deterred people from selecting this as their career. What is the attraction that has been drawing people to this field, which also is growing at a tremendous rate; is it really the best profession?
Bob Woodward once being asked the same question, has suggested that it is the nature of work that makes this profession the best: “ Everyday is interesting……when things get uninteresting you don’t have to cover them…you get to cover the next interesting thing.”
As a journalist you are covering ‘news’; the term itself makes it clear. Like any other working person, a journalist will also be going to the office, but the nature and content of work is going to be different everyday for him. A reporter covers new things. He will be tracking an old story and will report it only when there is some new development. This close relation to newness is what attracts people to this profession. Probably this is one of the rarest of professions in the world, where you get to passionately follow newness. As Marquez has expressed: “we enjoy it when we find jewel (of a story)…”

Not only this, this profession also allows serving the society and nation to prosper towards a better present and future. A journalist is the ‘prime mover’ of his society. He educates and enlightens the citizens by bringing new information to them. And as Francis Bacon has said, ‘knowledge is power’, thus empowers them. As the fourth estate of a democracy it also keeps check on the functioning of the government, thus ensuring prevalence of democracy.
A journalist enjoys no privileges. His rights are same as that of any ordinary citizen of a country, but he is shouldered with lots of responsibilities which are challenging and exciting at the same time. After all who wouldn’t like to be part of a profession where one gets to serve society, educating it, and also where monotony or boredom or lull never sets in? Isn’t it the best profession to be part of?

V–J day in Times Square

Whenever i have a look at this picture, the only thought that pass through my mind is: how special and relieving was the news of end of Second World War. This famous photograph taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt captures the mood that was in the public, especially those who were serving in the armed forces--the sailor kissing the nurse-- on 15th August 1945 after the victory over Japan, marking the end of Second World War.

According to Eisenstaedt, when he came in the Times Square, he spotted a sailor on a kissing spree, "grabbing any and every girl in sight". But he waited for him to kiss someone wearing a light colored dress, which will create the perfect contrast. Eisenstaedt was running ahead of him, "Then suddenly, in a flash, I saw something white being grabbed. I turned around and clicked the moment the sailor kissed the nurse."

This is one of the best photograph published by Life Magazine. The magazine has accepted the claim of nurse Edith Cullen Shain of being the nurse in the photograph. She was identified on the basis of her legs by Eisenstaedt. But the sailor has not been identified yet.

I believe, it is one of those rare pictures which captures the immense amount of joy a common individual feels when something terrible is over.

Reality TVs: Encouraging ‘peeping toms’

Recently, Nicole Kidman and her husband requested Australian media and paparazzi not to hound them for photographs as they want to show their kid the places, they grew up in. In short they asked for privacy.

They didn’t want the ‘peeping toms’ around the world to have access to their private family moments. They deserve to keep things like that private. So does every star, whether in Hollywood or Bollywood or Sarkozy-Bruni, anyone deserves to have their privacy. But, what wonders me the most is that none of these stars protest against reality TV programs like Big Brother, Big Boss brought out by the entertainment industry, which does nothing but encourages our ‘peeping tom’ instincts.

In these programs celebrities live in a studio/house, without any contact with the outer world (huh!), where every activity of theirs is recorded and telecasted on TV as daily soap. So, you get to see what the celebs (though most of the time B-grade actors or some what extraordinary common people are roped in as contestants, who becomes celebrities, as the show begins) do when they are not in make-up, gloss and designer outfits.

This is what the paparazzi tries get for the audience, readers worldwide. They want to show the fans, what their stars and heroes do when they are doing acting. Does the pay check that the contestants of such reality TV shows get make all the difference? I won’t jot the universally accepted answer. Because these same contestants would object to paparazzi and media not allowing them live peacefully once they become ‘known’. After all, participating in shows like these can catapult one to a celebrity status that acting and singing in dozen of films and songs cannot do. Like Indian actress Shilpa Shetty, who got international fame after winning the UK ‘Big Brother’ show. Her tormentor in the show, Jade Goody, whom Shilpa accused of being racist will be participating in the Indian equivalent of ‘Big Brother’, Big Boss (season 2), which Ms. Shetty would be hosting.

One cannot ask for privacy, at the same time very well tolerate shows which actually show the stars when they are not wearing make-up. If some one believes that the media frenzy to get exclusives about the private life of stars and people is crossing all boundaries, then one must also voice against such reality shows like Big Brother , Big Boss which records the activities of its contestants all round the clock.