A glass of steaming milky syrupy tea is best served cut. One by two or two by three, it embodies the spirit of sharing and camaraderie (and more significantly a resource crunch). Come, have a sip.
There is nothing new about the news of news being paid for. I first became aware of this practice as a mass communication student in the early 2000s. To me, then, it seemed that it was not just news but the soul that is being bartered. The feeling still holds true.
Today there was an nice piece in The Sunday Express titled "News, Sponsored." The contents of the article wouldn't be surprising for people who are in the business of the media, we have learnt to take it in our stride. A necessary evil for some.
Friends in the Hindi news channels term such content ad ki khabar (ads as news) and they usually get preference over other genuine news content. Obviously so, because there's money in it.
Such initiatives by the media organisations could be beneficial in these cash-strapped times, but the long term implications may be adverse. News is associated with credibility and when the credibility starts to wash off, so does the bottom line.
Or is it so? There are newspapers that don't give much of a damn to credibility and still sit atop the readership figures. There are news channels that have ceased to be news channels but draw the highest TRPs. We all thought that it was just a passing fad and Indians will tire of such content and see the light. But the light doesn't seem to be coming anytime soon.
Even though being in the media (not the mainstream media, but a wing that'll be the mainstream soon), I have started to rely more on the opinions of individuals who are unassociated with the media: the bloggers, the twitterers, the forums. I think I can still trust them. For me, professionally, it isn't a good signal.
...or at least some people at The Indian Express think so. I wouldn't have otherwise posted about this 'oversight', but for the fact that the news item in question appeared in the 'From the Northeast' page of the newspaper.
The news was about an altercation between two groups of students ('locals' versus 'outsiders') at the North Eastern Hill University (NEHU), my alma mater.
To add to further ignorance, the accompanying photo carries a caption that mentions the name of the university (NEHU) as Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology. It is possible that this photo is possibly related to another unrelated incident.
The Express is one of the very few national newspapers that give regular coverage to the otherwise neglected North Eastern India and I assume that the people in charge of the page would at least be aware of the geography of the area.
I wouldn't blame the reporter Tilak Rai for the gaffe, Tilak has been reporting from the region for quite some and would know where Shillong is.
Though, on IndianExpress.com, they seem to have made amends to the headline but the body of the story still mentions 'Sikkim'.
For those who didn't take their geography classes in school seriously, Shillong is the capital of the state of Meghalaya located south of Assam. Sikkim is a different state, north of West Bengal and the capital of Sikkim is Gangtok.
Also the largest university in Shillong is the North Eastern Hill University (also known as NEHU), a Central University.
Hindustan Times seems to have a thing for makeovers. I remember seeing atleast four different avatars of the newspaper.
Good. Change is good.
Though I didn't quite like their print campaign advertising the all new Hindustan Times, their short TV ads do make a point and hit the paper right on the head, literally.
Here are four TVCs from the Hindustan Times 'it is time' campaign.
Ironically, the 'Better Journalism' ad is also being aired on news channels.
Channel [V] India - is going for a makeover (on August 22) and they are advertising it all over. This 'peek into the changing room' ad is from their change campaign. They even have a website up to drive the excitement.
When I first saw the ad, must admit, it totally fooled me. I thought that someone has uploaded one of those voyeur mobile phone recordings (aka MMS clips) of changing rooms at stores. But it is not (else it wouldn't have been on this blog).
Others who have seen this share similar experiences. Some thought they had accidentally a reached porn site. Good idea. Inexpensive to execute. Good fun.
The producers wanted some controversy around the Jana-Gana-Rann title song for Ram Gopal Varma's upcoming film Rann [Official website], and they've got it. Though some newspapers (surprisingly) treated it differently.
Update: The Central Board of Film Certification (Censor Board) has refused permission for / banned the airing of the controversial Jana-Gana-Rann song. This also means that the promo cannot be screened at theatres.
The two trailers/promos for Rann are essentially the same only the text in the beginning and the end are a little different.
The purpose of the National Anthem is to incite patriotism amongst the citizens, and in these troubled times the Jana-Gana-Rann rendition is appropriate. There is no point praising the motherland where most things are not right, rather the feeling needs to be awakened that there is a lot wrong and it will get worse if we do not make amends. This song does precisely that. And we should brush the controversies aside and listen to this heart-stirring number.
All said and done, Jana-Gana-Rann is an amazing piece. The kind that makes your hair stand on its end. Not sure who The lyricist for the particular song is Saarim Momin or Prashant Pandey. For the music, it is one of these four: Amar Mohile, Bapi-Tutul, Sanjeev Kohli or Jayesh Gandhi.
The last RGV movie I liked was Sarkar and am looking forward to Rann. Hope he betters Sarkar this time (the sequel Sarkar Raj was pale in comparison).
In his director's note RGV says:
Rann means battle. And battle is a fight between large organised forces. In the context of a civil society and its deep complexities, large organised forces (read news channels, political parties and industrial czars) are not just involved in a fight with each other, but more importantly and frighteningly, they are battling a war within themselves and this is especially true of news channels.
Making news is not the easiest thing in the world. So the next best thing obviously would be to make anything and everything appear to be news.
The way the news are presented today are much more entertaining than family soaps and thril-ers. What's worse is that we enjoy this kind presentation so much that we have got addicted to them.
There is the government - a system which runs the country, then there are wealth creators like industrialists etc and then there are politicians in the ruling party and the opposition.
All the above in a democratic society are supposed to be working for the common people and the one and only means of the common people having any idea as to what those are up to is through the media. Hence the media has been invented as a truth telling machinery serving the purpose of the common people so that they know they are in good hands or in case they are told that are not, they can hope to exercise the power of their vote to bring about a change.
But in free economy system where there is so much competition the media by default is lost in its purpose.
The media is a reporting agency. It reports news. News is what is new. New is what you hear for the first time. So to be able to be the first to tell you the various newspapers and channels have an intense competition among themselves and this they do on a need to survive, on an ego to be on the top and on a greed to get rich.
To be ahead of competition means more circulation and higher TRPs which in turn generate more and more ad revenue which will translate into making more and more and more money.
Also the fact that in the process the people who run the media realise their power of influencing the common people inevitably makes them power hungry.
To sum up, Rann would expose the behind-the-scenes truth of how a truth telling machinery by the very virtue of its positioning has no choice but to corrupt itself to become a money-making and power-brokering enterprise.
He has a point. Doesn't he?
Here's the lyrics for the song (English translation included):
Jana-Gana-Rann
Jana Gana Mana Rann Hai Is Rann MeinZakhmi Hua Hai Bharat Ka Bhaagya Vidhaata
Punjab Sindh Gujarat Maratha
Ek Doosre Se Ladd Ke Mar Rehein Hain Is Desh Ne Humjko Ek Kiya Hum Desh Ke Tukdey Kar Rahein Hain
Khoon Bahaa Ker Ek Rang Kar Diya Humne Tiranga
Sarhadon Pe Jung Aur Galiyon Mein Fasaad Danga
Vindh Himachal Yamuna Ganga Men Tezaab Ubal Raha Hain
Mar Gaya Sab Ka Zameer Jan Kab Zinda Ho Aagey
Phot Bhi Tava Shubha Name Jaage Tav Shubh Aashish Maange
Aag Mein Jal Kar Cheekh Raha Hai Phir Bhi Koi Sach Ko Nahi Bachaata
Gahe Tava Jaya Gaatha
Desh Ka Aisa Haal Hain Lekin Aapas Mein Ladd Rahein Neta
Jana Gana Mangal Daayak Jaya Hai
Bharat Ko Bachale Vidhaata
Jay Hai Yeh Marann Hai Jana Gana Mana Rann Hai
English Translation
There is battle in every mind And in this battle the future Of India is wounded
Punjab Sindh Gujarat Maratha
Are fighting amongst and killing each other This country made us one And in return we are breaking it into pieces The Dravidians, the Orissa, the Bengal
By shedding blood, we have turned the Tricolour into one just bloody colour
Battles ablaze on the borders While riots burn down our lanes
Acid is boiling in Himachal Yamuna Ganga
Dead is our conscience Who knows when it will come back to life
Yet we chant god's name praying For his blessings
The truth screams as it burns in fire Without a saviour for it
Yet we sing the victory song
This is the state our country is in And the leaders fight within
The salvation of all the people waits in your hand
Oh God! Please save India
Is this victory or is this death? There is a battle in every mind
Open has come up with video commercials to promote the magazine. The theme of the ads is nothing new. We have seen a number of ads that use images of famous people (or incidents) with some messages in text with an underlying theme.
But the first time such ads are interesting to watch and also much cheaper to produce.
It's an international Who's Who list: Mother Teresa, Bill Gates, John Lenon, Mahatma Gandhi, Vincent van Gogh, Martin Luther King, Jr., Lance Armstrong, Barack Obama, AR Rahman, Princess Diana, Albert Einstein, Sachin Tendulkar, Dhirubhai Ambani and Oscar Pistorius.
The punchline "are you Open?" sounds like a not-so-effective pick-up line. Thankfully it isn't "do you Open?"
[Readers who have not yet read the first issue the new weekly magazine Open, might not relate to some portions of this post. You can access the magazine online here.]
The issue dated October 18, 1995 was Outlook's inaugural issue and the cover page read "First ever opinion poll in Kashmir. 77 percent say no solution within Indian constitution." Fourteen years later, another magazine, issue dated 10 April 2009, carries the text on its first ever cover "90% Pakistanis will join the army if there is an Indo-Pak war. Even though only 2% think they'll win." See any similarities? I see two.
When you don't have anything big enough for your launch issue, go for an opinion poll. Some stats would always suit your needs (depending on the way you look at it). And the second, the newer magazine is called Open and the editor is Sandipan Deb, who was also a part of the team that launched the first issue of Outlook. Will come back to fallacies of the opinion polls later.
Apart from Sandipan, the print line has some familiar sounding names (I'm not too good at remembering names) - Manu Joseph, Hartosh Singh Bal, TR Vivek (the guy who didn't seem to have a liking for blogs and bloggers) [1] [2], Jaideep Mazumdar and Shivam Vij.
Two things (actually three) that caught my attention first. The magazine's pages are not stapled but gummed, giving it a bit more expensive look and expensive it is, a wee bit (that is the third thing that I noticed) at Rs 30 a week. The second was the text to the right of the masthed - "The Power of Nonsense" that almost read like a tagline for the magazine and gave the reader a different first-sight opinion about the magazine. But that 'Power of Nonsense' by Manu Joseph was a fun read (I usually like what Manu writes). The layout is clean and elegant, much like the British newspaper supplements that I read at the British Library in Bhopal and so is the selection of the photographs. Something many magazines don't seem to care much about. The layout of the contents page is refreshing, unlike what we see elsewhere. Instead of wasting a page or two dedicated to indexing the matter inside, the magazine cleverly limits that to a top strip and carries stories beneath.
I never liked letters from the editor that read like the contents in prose (they are so boring and have actually nothing additional to say) Would excuse Sandipan this time, it is usually necessary for the first issue.
Not breaking away from the trend of Eye Catchers, Glitterati, VanityFair et al, a page where desi news weeklies serve the celebrity gossip and eye candy. Open has People. But there's nothing too catchy there and the content a little stale.
In his edit Sandipan promised that they will try their "damnedest never ever to insult" my intelligence. But I already feel dumb for not being able to interpret CP Surendran's "interview" with Varun Gandhi as a satire or the real thing (Maybe my level of intelligence cannot ever be insulted, for the simple reason that it doesn't even exist).
Now coming back to the cover story. Basharat Peer's experiences in Pakistan reveals nothing new. We've all been on a journey to the "country of contradictions" many times before via the varied media. And the opinion poll that is the focus of the launch issue was actually carried out in only two cities of Pakistan - Lahore and Karachi, and the sample size was 606. Like Delhi and Mumbai/Bombay cannot ever represent the whole of India, Lahore and Karachi alone do not constitute Pakistan. I might as well ask my colleagues at work and file a story stating that x percentage of Indians believe that y is the right thing to do. How conveniently most of these opinion polls ignore the opinions of the rural masses, who form a majority of the population.
People's expectations from a magazine and a newspaper are different. While it is okay for us to see the text 'Continued on page x' at the bottom of a story in a newspaper, in a magazine to find something similar is irritating. And that's precisely what I found in the inside pages of Open. In a magazine it is an example of bad flow and layout.
Shivam Vij's 'Edifice Complex' on Mayawati's statue erecting spree and the changing architecture of Lucknow is again (don't mind the cliche) old wine in an old bottle (Will Shivam ever get over his Maya fixation?). And having a book co-authored by your business editor as the first feature in the books section smacks of self-indulgence. Could have waited for an issue, the IPL is still a while away.
The Gadgets page is insipid. I hate to see prices in dollars, give us rupees please (so what if we are yet to get a new symbol for that). 99 percent of the readers wouldn't buy their stuff from abroad. And why give prime space to a product that is available only in the US?
And before I forget, I loved the piece by Akshay Sawai 'Ow!zzat!' on the importance of the abdominal guard in cricket. I was hit once, in the wrong place. Not by a bowler but a fielder who attempted to run me out. That the ball involved was what we called 'cork-deuce' made the experience a bit more painful. Ever since, I never forgot the guard.
Open does manage to fulfil to some the covenant laid down by its editor. But then it is is a tough job to be a please all.
I get a decent newspaper and periodical allowance (not an additional sop, just a tax saving scheme) from my employer and can quite comfortably fit in Rs 120 a month (might drop one of the men's magazines). I'll ask my vendor to add Open to my magazines list. For a month or two to begin with.
As an internet person I will be looking forward to the launch to the magazine's full-fledged website. After all online is the place to be. Other Indian magazine websites disappoint me.
The 'Debonair' here is not to be confused with the adult blog, but the once 'revered' monthly men's magazine. This advertisement from the November 1987 issue invites girls to pose for Debonair magazine.
[Click to enlarge] Show the world what you really are.
How often have you stared at yourself in a mirror - admired your beautiful features and figure - and wished you could let people see the way you really are? Now's your chance. We are looking for models for our colour photofeatures. The photographs will be shot by internationally renowed photographers like Adam Steven, Swapan Mukherjee and Chien Wien Lee. Selected models will be paid handsomely. Many of our models have launched into exciting careers in films and advertising from our pages. Why not you? Send two recent photographs (full length in a bikini and a closeup of the face) to The Editor, Debonair Publications Pvt Ltd, 41A, Dr E Moses Road, Worli, Bombay 400 018, mentioning your vital statistics, height, weight and age.
Be a Debonair girl. Let people see the real you.
Magazines like Debonair found it difficult to get models for their pages and therefore perhaps needed to advertise to find some willing candidates.
Vinod Mehta, Editor-in-Chief, Outlook Group, commenting on the news about Playboy launching an India edition:
The present avatar of Debonair doesn't seem to feature any topless models and has also toned down its content. But the glory days of the magazine are long over.
A couple of interesting bits (the more interesting in bold) about Debonair magazine that I found online:
Vinod Mehta, Editor-in-Chief, Outlook Group (in an interview with Exchange4Media.com):
Many of you would have seen photos of upturned dustbins in the newspapers and websites following the serial bomb blasts in Delhi on September 13. Why? Because a couple of bombs had been placed inside dustbins.
The Economic Timesreports that The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is contemplating new norms for WiFi security. Why? Because the terrorists claimed responsibility for the blasts via emails sent through unsecured WiFi networks.
It's a different tale that our media has been reporting that the WiFi networks were 'hacked' into. Why? Because 'hacking' sounds more sinister or they don't understand technology (many in the television industry and some in the print definitely don't but just simply claim to). Going by the dictionary they might not be wrong, as hacking does imply unauthorised access. But real-life meanings of terms differ more than a little from what the lexicons state. Hacking would atleast involve a bit of more effort than just connecting to an available open WiFi network (That makes me a hacker too)
Coming back to where I began.Terrorists might not be able to plant bombs in upturned dustbins (though it doesn't take much effort to make one upright again), they will simply keep them elsewhere. But then how do I, in the meanwhile, keep Delhi clean? Dump the banaana peel on the foothpath so that a disgruntled mass murderer, looking for an alternative place to hide the bomb, because someone turned his favourite dustbin upside down, would slip and deservedly break a few bones?
By the way, terrorists had also entered the Parliament. It should have been a good idea to keep the place sealed, so that that they cannot ever think of even entering it in the future.
If terrorists have amongst them the 'hackers' that the media and the police claim, it shouldn't be too much of a worry for them to gain access to some 'secured' connections. Else they can simply drop a letter. Or mask their IPs. Too much effort has already been wasted in tracing the source of the emails, nothing much will come out of that. I believe the men, who seem to play their dirty game according to their own rules at a time they wish to, wouldn't be as stupid as our investigating agencies hope they would be.
We have developed an expertise for knee-jerk reactions that border on stupidity. Why? Because we don't seem to have the most potent weapon to disarm such acts of terror - intelligence.
The Indian Express is one of the newspapers that land on my doorstep every morning. I find it to be one of the better dailies around. Like other media outlets the Express also publishes, from time to time, self-promotional ads.
I find the ongoing campaign appealing, because of its simplicity and the strong conect with the brand value. Here are they:
Not politically correct. But political and correct. The Influential Express Not the average paper. Because you're not the average reader. The Intelligent Express
Grey matter in black and white. The Investigative Express
Where opinion leaders get their opinion from. The Incisive Express
We put the ink in think. The Impartial Express
The Left thinks we are Right The Right thinks we are Left The Impartial Express
The first thing on the agenda For those who set one The Influential Express
You care That's why we dare The Investigative Express
Was watching last week's release A Wednesday this morning. Though I didn't find the movie as great as people claimed it to be, but on hearing the news of the serial blasts in Delhi today, I started thinking again. How are we - the common people - supposed to react to such acts?
In the movie Naseeruddin Shah plays the role of a common man who uses his own methods to deal with the perpetrators of such acts of terrorism.
A few weeks ago, I watched Mumbai Meri Jaan, that also revolves around the lives of people who were touched directly or indirectly by the serial blasts on Mumbai trains on July 11, 2006.
Films may be fiction, but they draw a lot from what is happening around us. Our desires and our fears and how we react to such situations.
Now I'm trying to draw some parallels between the characters and me, but am unable to find a match.
I know that I cannot be staying indoors because of the blasts, I have to go out and do the things that I need to. There might be more, it has become a way of life. And it doesn't seem that we have been able to do much about it.
What is worrying me now is that I don't understand the emotions that I'm feeling while watching the visuals on live television and reporters and anchors repeating the same thing over and over again.
Perhaps I've become comfortably numb. And that's a dangerous thing.
Many newspapers carried a story about a 88-year-old on-the-run Nazi war criminal called Johann Bach being held in Goa and subsequently deported to Germany.
To be honest, when I read the story in The Indian Express, I didn't find anything amiss apart from the piano part. I wondered for a while why and how would a criminal on the run for half-a-century (across the globe) lug a piano along with him. Then I moved on to the next story.
To be a little fair to the media, there isn't always enough time to cross check all the facts, especially when you are understaffed and there is a deadline looming. And there is always the risk of inviting the wrath of the boss in case you drop the story while the competition goes ahead with a four-columner. But again, this is what the job demands of you.
And yet again, to so many of my friends, if it is in print (TV credibility is already eroded) it isn't necessarily the truth.
Came across this via K's blog (the inspiration for the title of this post).
Yesterday, The Union Minister for Railways Lalu Prasad Yadav tabled a populist Railway Budget for the next financial year in the Parliament and this morning the papers (expectedly) were full of reports on that. Some adulatory, some critical and a quite a few cynical.
Amidst the melee of reports, most of which I just glanced through, I found one on page two of The Times of India (Delhi edition) which made me think. Not because it was an intriguing write-up but because it was an example of present-day standards of journalism (I too am a part of this).
The report headlined "E-ticketing yet to net passengers" doesn't carry a by-line, it is attributed to Times News Network.
I too am one of those who don't buy in whole the Great Indian Railways Turnaround Story, but this is not the manner in which I would like to package my argument.
By what standards can someone term 27 per cent of the millions of bookings done by the Indian Railways as "measly." 27 per cent is more than a quarter, and one-fourth of all reservations done online in a country like India with limited internet penetration is not "measly," it is an achievement.
I agree with the "lying defunct" part having experienced that first hand. But who ever filed this story doesn't perhaps understand the fact that the "seven ticket vending machines," are meant to deliver platform tickets only. Not that it is designed to deliver all kinds of tickets and is presently delivering only platform tickets.
Moreover, common sense tells us that since they are coin operated, you cannot book a sleeper class ticket to Bhopal inserting three hundred rupee coins or one-fifty two-rupee coins (or a combination of both as it doesn't perhaps accept five-rupee coins).
Like it or not, registration is a necessary evil because it helps both - the user and the service providers - to track the transactions made and in case something goes wrong there is an identification procedure to track that.
But it isn't attributed to anyone. Should I, as a reader, interpret this as said by one Sashi Kumar who was quoted two paragraphs before? If yes, I shouldn't.
The few places I worked in and the few stories that I filed while working there, my editors never let a single quote story go live (or to print) unless it was an exclusive or the story itself is wound around that quote. This doesn't seem to be the case here.
And to top it all, actually it was what caught my eye first, the image and the caption.
The image is of a self-operated platform ticket vending machine and the caption reads:
The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation website (irctc.co.in) - the one which e-ticketing is routed through - is listed at No. 26 on Alexa's list of the most popular websites in India while The Indian Railways Website (indianrail.gov.in) is at No. 34 at the time of posting this.
I didn't yet post a post on the recent Tehelka sting (Still am working on it and it'll be up soon). Though it wasn't an expose, it wasn't also a story to be disposed off. Everyone on both sides of the debate cannot refuse to agree with the facts (maybe a tad exaggerated). But there are many who try to see an hidden agenda in the whatever anyone else does. I was reading Chandan Mitra's piece in Outlook on the Tehelka sting and felt that the the editor of The Pioneer was just reflecting the opinions of those stung.
Mitra calls it a 'failed sting.' Failed because that the contents revealed as a result of that are no longer shocking and Narendra Modi was not directly implicated. But the findings, irrespective of the desired 'results,' needed to be released in the public arena.
He also questions the timing. My observation is that whatever time the sting might have been aired, detractors would always look for one or the other timing stick to beat their argument drum with. It is the easiest thing to do. 'Politically motivated' - it might have been (you never know) but if it is the truth (or even close to it), the movation is of secondary importance. And what motivates The Pioneer and the man behind the newspaper is no secret.
I don't feel like providing any more counter arguments to that piece as to an intelligent reader the truths would be quite obvious. But what surprises me is the quality of the column, something that I didn't expect from someone of Chandan Mitra's stature and calibre. Hope he didn't get it ghostwritten and forgot to edit the draft.
Ideologies and beliefs stand would exist and different people have different views, but how these views are expressed is very important. It is necessary to engross the reader and potentially raise doubts in the minds of an otherwise non-believing reader. The piece, unfortunately only expouses ideology, nothing more.
I'm not the only one who doesn't totally approve of Mitra's arguments. Mahesh Peri the publisher of Outlook writes,
It was the dawn of the new millennium, and a website added another word (though presently much maligned) to the Indian public's vocabulary, sting operation. Then came (though not entirely unexpected) the witch hunt. Tehelka managed to put the pieces back together and came up with a tabloid-sized weekly. Then there was "a rumour doing the rounds that the magazine is dying." Whether it was because of the truth behind the rumour or the limitations of the existing format, Tehelka has attempted yet another phoenix act, this time as a magazine.
I was going somewhere in an autorickshaw, when I noticed a little girl at a traffic light trying to sell a magazine with the Tehelka masthead, but the size looked different. Before I could get a closer look, the lights turned green. Then came a mail from Shivam announcing the transition. I picked up a copy in Shillong (where I had gone for a little break) and on my return to Delhi asked my newspaper vendor to deliver a copy on my doorstep every week. Though for a official subscription I would have paid only Rs 200 a year, then the copies would've arrived late - a compromise I'm not willing to make. Even though it might be the end of the next week that I pick up the copy to read.
One thing is for sure with the new Tehelka - it is by far the best designed of all of the mainstream weekly newsmagazines. The blue-grey theme looks sophisticated. Liberties have been taken regarding the layout and there's considerable white space play like I have seen in some of the newspaper supplements published from London (I read them at the British Library in Bhopal). Even Frontline made an attempt towards this direction (but the magazine somehow fails to sustain my interest). And page one is not the usual contents and the printline, but 'In Cold Blood' - excerpts from an in-the-face interview. I first thought that some pages were missing.
Flip through a few pages and there are some innovations. One is 'Ask?' and the experts will answer. There have been similar initiatives in the newspapers, but I didn't notice one in a newsmagazine. Though there are the mandatory (and sleazy) agony aunt/uncle columns in the other magazines.
The next is what I liked the best - 'Whatever Happened To...' - which traces the present status of stories which had once hogged the headlines. Stories like the Purulia Arms Drop, Kashmir Sex Scandal, Imrana... a good attempt at recalling important happenings which a so easy to forget where everything is breaking news.
Other pages do not reveal much of a departure from the Tehelka that I've known since the last three-and-a-half years. The necessary eye-candy corner is there towards the end (one of the reasons why I read magazines from rear-to-front).
Though I had expected a revival in the new format, I was a little disappointed (but just). Had expected a more vibrant Tehelka. But the chilli has given way to the crow. Even the printing is a bit gloomy like Ram Gopal Varma's frames.
The good thing is that the new size makes it handier to read and the price at Rs 10 a copy is far lesser than the other weeklies of the genre. Though I wouldn't like Tehelka to come up with a stupid sex survey issue, I want it to be able to turn a casual reader to a concerned reader, who wouldn't just flip through stories which deserve to be read.
The space given to the news of the week is limited to just a page. Atleast two pages would do a little justice to someone who has been away for the madness of 'breaking news' or someone who wants to know which amongst the hundreds of 'breaking stories' are actually worth the airtime (And the ones which remained unbroken). Excuse my peevishness towards today's television news, I just cannot help it.
Tehelka has also launched a Hindi website - tehelkahindi.com - which promises to raise the bar of Hindi journalism. Hope it does and would some at least promise to do the same to our 24-hours news channels.
The assembly elections in the state are quite a few months away, but from the look of the narrow and winding roads of Shillong it seems that canvassing is on in full swing. And all the parties are rooting for the same candidate.
On entering the city a huge hoarding sponsored by the state Youth Congress Chief asks you to vote. Further down into the city, the BJP has also put up banners appealing you to vote for the very same contestant - Amit Paul.
Many television viewers are by now quite familiar with the name. Amit Paul is the Shillong lad who has made it to the final two in one of the numerous TV musical talent shows - called Indian Idol. And for the hill state of Meghalaya and its sleepy cosmopolitan capital Shillong it seems to be the best thing to happen since January 21, 1972 - when the state of Meghalaya was carved out of Assam. For a city with its soul soaked in music the zeal expressed in support of a local lad coming to the verge of getting a ticket to the 'big league' might not seem surprising. But the feverish excitement over a TV show is something that someone like me finds tough to comprehend.
People from other cities from where boys and girls have been contenders for the big promises of the talent shows might have been witness to similar phenomenon. I also had, last year, when Debojit Saha from south Assam had gone to the SaReGaMaPa contest on Zee TV (he was the eventual winner but not necessarily not the most talented of the lot) and I happened to be on a visit to that part of the country.
Amit Paul is already an icon in Shillong. Almost everyone is talking about him all the time. From the barber to the taxi driver, the point of discussion is Amit. Giant screens have been put up all over the city so that people can watch 'their boy' in action. MLAs and MDCs (Member of District Council) are falling over one another to sponsor free PCOs from where the public can punch in their votes for Amit.
Rallies in support of Amit are a daily affair and the crowd at the one when Amit came visiting home is said to be the largest that the city had ever witnessed. The last time Shillong saw people turning out on the roads voluntarily in huge numbers was when the body of Kargil martyr Captain K Clifford Nongrum was brought home.
Amit t-shirts line shop windows and his posters are best sellers (though some organisations have urged them to be distributed for free). Wherever you look in the city you cannot possibly miss one face with a slight stubble looking at you from all directions.
The swanky touch-screen mobile phones are no longer the latest show-off here, it is the number of votes that one has cast for Amit. An elderly gentleman who occupied the seat next to me in a local taxi (taxis in Shillong usually ply on a sharing basis) said that he voted 500 times. Others have reportedly sent over a thousand votes for their home-bred contestant. And the voting continues throughout the night.
To have a first-hand look I walked through the semi-deserted streets to one of the free PCOs at around midnight to discover a huge crowd there. People of all ages, pre-pubescent girls and elderly grandmothers all queuing up in a pleasant September night to vote for Amit. Occasionally some slogan shouting in support of Amit breaks the silence of the night.
For a city which is used to shutters downing a couple of hours after dusk (the sun sets early in the east) these energetic midnight ventures by the young and the old is indeed welcome.
What else is also welcome is that in a communally divided and sensitive society like Shillong's the success of Amit Paul has brought about an unprecedented sense of togetherness.
Amit Paul is Bengali, his family owns a renowned clothing outlet in the centre of the city - Shankar Brastalaya - and at the forefront of the campaign in support of Amit are the Khasis (both communities - Khasis and Bengalis - over the last few decades haven't shared the best of relations). Now both, along with the numerous other communities who inhabit Shillong are making a collective effort towards realising the recently realised dream of a city-bred Indian Idol.
But then there is also a dark side to this tale. Amit's competitor for the title of Indian Idol is Prashant Tamang, hailing from Darjeeling, and sceptics believe that Shillong's Nepali community (a sizeable one) is voting for Prashant, while according to them the loyalties of of all the people of Shillong should be with the city and not the tongue one speaks in.
In case Prashant betters Amit in the vote count there are apprehensions of disturbances in Shillong, which has fortunately been quite peaceful (communally) for the last few years.
To add to all the confusion are rumors of free SMS services being provided by mobile operators leading to many people sending as many SMSes as possible. Apart from the freebie seekers there are many deep pockets abound distributing free pre-paid cards to anyone willing to punch in the SMSes in Amit's favour.
Amidst all the brouhaha it is obvious that there would be a few who can see though this maniacal euphoria (thankfully there are). These few realise that the producers of the show are merely triggering the upheaval of regional emotions and filling their (and the mobile operators') coffers and are also aware of the real value of such talent hunts at a time where every channel boasts of one, if not more such shows. They also try to recall the previous winners of such shows and the oblivion where most of them have disappeared into and also the process of multiple public voting which turns a so-called democratic exercise into a farce.
A local columnist Patricia Mukhim is believed to have ignited the fire for Amit through her columns in the local newspapers. Then socio-cultural organisations took over and even the government couldn't resist from staying behind. The Meghalaya government has declared Amit Paul the 'Brand Ambassador of the State of Meghalaya for Peace, Communal Harmony and Excellence' (see the adjacent image of a copy of the letter from the Chief Secretary) and even the Governor signed his fan book.
With many of Shillong's lasses already publicly expressing the desire to marry him, Amit might just face another problem of plenty. A Sikkim-based businessman has announced a Rs One crore funding for voting in favour of Prashant. There are also rumors of the government employees of Sikkim contributing a day's salary to the kitty for Prashant.
May the best man win, but they seldom do in the farce that these talent hunts are.
Special addition: [September 19, 2007] In fear of excommunication by fellow Shillongites and the possibility of being denied entry into the city in the future for daring to question the concept of TV talent shows at a time when Amit Paul has made it to the finals of Indian Idol 3, here's an attempt towards pacifying the die-hard fans of Shillong's latest singing sensation - some childhood and teenage photographs of him (Don't ask me whether I voted for him or not).
The news is that I have quit my present job (don't say not again!) and am taking (a well deserved) break at home in Shillong. The national news media didn't inform me, but this part of the country is displeased with the plenty that the rain gods had to offer. Large parts of Assam is underwater and even Shillong (a hill station) witnessed flodding.
Landslides accompany the rains and take away the life and property down the hill. The Guwahati-Shillong highway (National Highway 40) is in a mess. The skies are perpetually overcast but the mood is upbeat. Because of a TV talent show called Indian Idol, now in its third season. Interesting experiences here, will post the details later.
...or for that matter for anything else on the world's latest mass marketing gimmick - 'The New 7 Wonders of the World.' I didn't even vote for Debojit despite my family's cajoling. There are no moral, ethical or monetary reasons to compel me to vote. My sensibility vouches for my sentiments.
As pointed out before by some bloggers and a little resultantly by some sections in the mainstream media, that this latest craze is just but an international money minting venture trying to cash in on the emotions of people. In advertising class we were precisely taught this. For India the Bhaskar Group's I Media Corporation Limited had won the exclusive marketing and media rights for the campaign, and they went about it with dexterity.
First there were reports that the Taj was lagging behind and unsentimental Indians were doing nothing about their heritage. It was followed by yet another reminder that Indians weren't doing anything for their dear Taj. Then came stories about the voting picking up, but there weren't enough to push it through the final seven. See the trend here? Very well thought of and well executed. Internet, TV, radio, print everything was made a part of this publicity blitzkrieg. In between two lilting numbers the sweet-voiced RJ doesn't forget to remind us Indians of our duty - to vote for the Taj. There's nothing wrong with making money, it is an open market. I too try to make some. SMS polls for 'talent shows' have shown Indians another way to blow their money away. But I am within my rights not to contribute to this frenzy and so are you. Think of this, realistically. What benefit will the Taj Mahal and India garner with this 'new found' 'Seven Wonder' status? An influx of tourists? Taj Mahal is already the face of Indian tourism around the world and people do not need to be told an old story again. What difference would it make if the monument didn't feature on some obnoxious list? I went to see the Taj twice-over. I don't need someone else with a brilliant marketing idea to tell me that the Taj is beautiful, I know it is.
I would've liked to see the response within the country if an Indian organisation like the INTACH and not a Swiss-Canadian had initiated this?
Here are a few tidbits that you might want to savour:
* Another gem from the Swiss adventurer's blog, "the national animal, in this case the Indian elephant." Who knows our foreign-fixation might just lead a change in the national animal from the Royal Bengal Tiger (who is rarely visible) to the more present and easily accessible elephant. You can't take a ride on a Royal Bengal, that's bad for tourism.
* The New 7 Wonders project isn't just limited to a list and a promise of restoration of monuments. It is a full scale business empire in the making consisting of merchandise sales and international tour operations. And the prices, definitely not reasonable.
Very rightly the UNSECO has refused to give any credence to this gimmick and its observations show the true picture:
There is nothing new about the news of news being paid for. I first became aware of this practice as a mass communication student in the early 2000s. To me, then, it seemed that it was not just news but the soul that is being bartered. The feeling still holds true.
Hindustan Times seems to have a thing for makeovers. I remember seeing atleast four different avatars of the newspaper. 
