Alas the 12 tribals killed did not study in IIT, IIM!

The general insensitivity with which the massacre of 12 tribals in Jajpur was treated in the national media once again shows the callouness of urban-based media towards the poor.
Just because they were tribals, poor and the incident happened in Jajpur there was hardly any condemnation. Had a few university/college students injured in police firing it would have led to outrage.
Alas these tribals have no one to espouse their cause, no relatives who study in IITs, IIMs who can mobilise popular opinion of the upper/middle class or create a tsuanmi in blogosphere like in the case of Manjunath, who sadly died while fighting corruption. In no way it is belittling the death of Manjunath or any other upright official.
Just the fact that tribals are on the extreme margins of the state and more so, Media.
The administration had reportedly chopped off their hands allegedly so that they could be used for future identification! They could no take fingerprints, photo copies. Surprisingly, this crime of colossal magnitude has been downplayed by the media.
These tribals were left with no dreams in this Indian state where software companies and BPOs set the standards of morality, truth and liberty. The rape of a call centre girl leads to havoc in Indian media but this barbaric crime just passes off as atrocities on natives during the British Raj.
I am not saying that Media is biased against poor, it is just over concerned about TRPs and too obsessed with Bollywood, cricket, politics, fashion and partying people to show this face of the state to the people. Remember the very police that ought to defend its people fired at the tribals killing 12 in cold blood.

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Look up in anger....

See the picture of kids--a girl and a boy-- the former shining the shoes on page 15 in the Tehelka weekly. You just can't forget the expression in her eyes. The photograph K Satheesh took the photo for the story 'Look up in Anger'. I have not seen many such stories where the story and the photo compliment each other so brilliantly.

Amit Sengupta has written a beautiful piece, straight from his heart. A moving story and the picture is too good. One can't help but cut the story and keep it.

"I you have seen Deewar and if you still remember how the boot polish kid threw the coin back, and if you are still not so obsessively cynical about the fact that Amitabh Bachchan turned from an anti-establishment celluloid icon of the failed idealism of 70s India to a failed tycoon, and then, transformed into a sold-out establishmentarian, post-ABCL, post-KBC, a mindless, money-making machine, selling, selling, selling..then let me tell you, this deception of the camera obscura is not unreal. It is as reas as the eyes of the girl flashing (in the picture). As childhood betrayed, as the dustry hair, as the sleepless, homeless nights, as the condemned history of Indian kid-hood"....writes Sengupta in his typical high-flying mode of activism, but straight from the heart.

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Rajdeep and Barkha. Etemad launched

Both Rajdeep Sardesai and Barkha Dutt interviewed Sonia Gandhi and were telecast at almost the same time on their respective channels viz. CNN IBN and NDTV 24x7.
Personally I felt Barkha appeared too overwhelmed and flattered to have Sonia with her. She was being so soft and behaving alomst like a disciple listening to a revered Saint. And her lower jaw was jutting out and teeth exposed. I think I have done too much post-mortem of the interview.
But you don't expect a journalist of her standing to act like that. You always feel that being a woman she could bring out more from Sonia.
Rajdeep in contrast was sharp, confident. But he did not give Sonia enough time to respond and interrupted Sonia during her reply and jumped to the next question. This irks the viewer. Engery is always good but loudness and cutting short a guest is intolerable. That's why one finds Vir Sanghvi a delight to watch as he lets the person speak without fear of being interrupted in speech. Still, I found Rajdeep's interview as that of a journalist while of Barkha as 'So Madam what dish is being cooked in your kitchen kind'. Meanwhile, the media watchdog The Hoot.org did not find the interview of Rajdeep as sharp and termed it as soft.

ETEMAD LAUNCHED in Hyderabad
Not much attention was given to the launch of Urdu daily Etemad from Hyderabad recently. With the launch of the newspaper, Hyderabad now has three well-known Urdu papers that are read in the country and abroad. Siasat, Munsif are as strong as they were and Etemad is fresh. The launch has proved that Hyderabad remains the City where Urdu-speaking populace remains concentrated in India. In terms of popularity only Urdu Times and Inquilab of Mumbai apart from Urdu Rashtriya Sahara (Delhi and Lucknow) match the newspapers of Hyderabad.

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