Weekends O Weekends!

I must say gone are those days when Saturdays and Sundays used to be coveted days for weekly offs. Going by the scenario at the markets and multiplexes, I think it will be better to take weekly offs during week days. It's not from one or two personal experiences that I have come to this judgement.Over the past one year I have had my weekly offs on Saturdays and Sundays at least six times. And pooh! these have been the most irritating. The first time we planned to go for a movie on Sunday evening. When we reached there, we were very obviously disappointed to discover that all the movies in that multiplex were "sold". Then we decided to go to our favourite restaurant. But disapointments one after another! We were told that we will have to wait for about 45 minutes before we could get a table. We checked in atleast 3 restaurants after this. But it was the same story everywhere.Then we just drove to Bandstand and spent the evening killing our disappointment. Our weekend was spoilt. On the following week off we decided to catch a movie on Saturday evening only to be turned back yet again. And once again, there was a serpentine queue at all the good restaurants. Tired and worn out, we decided we could try for the first show on Sunday morning. But guess what, even at that odd hour, all tickets had been sold. We had to settle for a niche movie which we HAD to enjoy for lack of options.I have spent the last two weekends in Delhi. But believe me it's been no different. I have wanted to see a new talked about film. But was shown a red signal by two PVRs last Saturday evening. This Sunday that is yesterday, also I could not get tickets at PVR Noida, which I had thought being away from the main city would atleast have a couple of tickets. I even tried at Satyam but..........On top of all this, the roads are jammed, malls are unusually and irritatingly crowded. There's a mad rush everywhere.So guys think it a blessing if you are being allotted chhutti on week days! Atleast you can enjoy!!!

My Phone's Suicide Attempt!

You know my phone is in love with me. Now how the hell do I know this! It was just a couple of days back that I seriously thought of getting rid of my phone. I had bought it barely eight months back (I know it's a little too much going by the present scenario where people change mobile phone sets every three months). Though there's nothing wrong with my phone as in it gives me no trouble and I also like the look of it, it's just that I had gone to a mobile phone shop with my friend to buy a phone for him. I liked one of the two phones that we zeroed in on after half an hour of scrutiny.
I casually asked the salesboy that if I were to exchange my phone for a new one how much will I be exempt of the total cost. He put the price of my phone at half of what I had bought it for eight months back. I was impressed as then I would get the new phone for half its market price. So though I had many reasons to keep my old phone, yet each time I would find myself desparate to get the new model. But last evening my phone revolted!!
It tried committing suicide!!!! It so happened that I had to wash clothes. As I was expecting a call I thought it wise to carry the phone along. I kept it on the shelf in the washroom. A couple of minutes later, the phone rang. I had forgotten that vibration was active. By the time I could wipe my hands and reach out to it, it vibrated and moved bit by bit and fell under the tap near the bucket and got drenched. I took that call, it worked perfectly. Then I came out and kept it aside.
After about half an hour, when I settled, I picked the phone only to find it dead, yes dead, not working at all. When I tried activating, it woudn't respond. Then finally I hospitalised it.
I opened the battery, took out the SIM card and put it under the fan. After about an hour it started showing some signs of revival. Yet it could not be called alive. It blinked, flickered and was gone again. Then my brother told me of a new therapy. He asked me to put the phone under a burning electric lamp through the night. I discovered there was no lamp. But hold on! another saviour came to the rescue. My hair drier! I blew my phone with the hair drier ay short intervals for about an hour and 20 minutes.
And yes!!!! It survived the suicide attempt! Hhhhhhmmmm........no doubt this phone is company to me for much longer now.
ENDS

One for the Indian Broadcast Media: Mind Your Steps, Keep Your Cool!

Incidents and events are treated differently by different channels in order to be, well, "different" and attract audience. Good enough because viewers also want variety. Channels are even taking tips from foreign media and introducing trends and features which are completely new to India like citizen journalist etc.
However, being different is alright to an extent but going overboard can kill the appeal of the incident or story. Moreover, experiments with routine stories are justified but incidents like the 11/7 Mumbai blasts have to be handled subtly. CNN-IBN has quite a few things which ressemble foreign media. It's commendable! But it would need to draw a line.
The CNN-IBN screen was full of blood during the Mumbai blast coverage. Rajdeep was anchoring the bulletin. He kept on pointing at and showing blood splashed window glasses of the train for a good 10 minutes. As if this was not enough, what followed were blood smeared bodies of injured people. Then there were limbs and other body parts of the dead on the platforms and rail tracks. Blood blood and more blood. One thing needs to be checked: is the Indian audience ready for so much blood on screen? Or better still is it okay to pour so much blood into people's living rooms?
Star News was fine though it missed out on some aspects like following the injured to the hospital. Surprisingly, Aajtak failed to keep up to its "Sabse Tez" image. It was unusually slow. For the first hour atleast all it showed was a map of Mumbai highlighting the blast. Later on when the visuals had arrived, there was not a single reporter at any of the sites. The reporter who was giving live chat on the blasts, was nowhere around the blast sites. She had a background of a calm Mumbai night and in the window next to her were being shown footage of the bombed trains which were shot in the evening light. It was quite apparent that the channel was unable to get live footage at any given time.
Finally about the situation at the hospitals. Tickers were running across the screens on each and every channel informing that the injured had been taken to this hospital and that. But not a single channel showed the situation at the hospitals. In the rush to be fast and win the race, news channels it seems are skipping steps. Watch out you may fall!

ENDS

The Mad TRP Rush

All that the news channels in India are concerned about are their TRPs. They seem to care the least whether they show something which can be called 'News' or just any kitsch. And in the course of it they have started sensationalising any Tom, Dick and Harry's life and showing it with sound and light effects to make it appear like a movie or a soap opera.

Take the case of this Patna professor who was supposedly having an affair with a JNU student. The professor's wife went to the police and registered a complaint against him alleging that he was making obscene CDs. The professor's face was blackened and that provided a juicy footage for the channels to hook audience. But it has not been proved that he was making CDs or he had any such intentions. He was having an extra-marital affair which is not a crime and his wife wanted to get him punished for betraying her so she made up this case.

I fail to understand how mature and seasoned journalists can allow such slip shod material to be aired. If the professor had actually been making CDs then it would have been a matter of public concern. But no such thing has yet been proved. So much hype was given to the whole issue that half-hour programmes were aired on it and live chats were done on the issue.

What should we understand by such sub-standard material that the audience is being served? Is it that reporters have no news sense whatsoever? Is it that the reporters are lazy to go that extra mile to get good stories? Do they shirk away from making sources, good reliable sources who have access into the system and would provide respectable stories? Or that the veterans who are running the show have compromised their news sense and maturity for TRPs?