Indeed a greatly sensitive writing. Had you provided a link, I could've forwarded this to may others while chatting etc.
D.Prasad On Sun, Nov 30, 2008 at 9:38 PM, Venugopalan K M <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > > > > *Hotel Taj : icon of whose India ?* > > Gnani Sankaran- Tamil writer, Chennai. > > Watching at least four English news channels surfing from one another > during the last 60 hours of terror strike made me feel a terror of another > kind. The terror of assaulting one's mind and sensitivity with cameras, > sound bites and non-stop blabbers. All these channels have been trying to > manufacture my consent for a big lie called - Hotel Taj the icon of India. > > Whose India, Whose Icon ? > > It is a matter of great shame that these channels simply did not bother > about the other icon that faced the first attack from terrorists - the > Chatrapathi Shivaji Terminus (CST) railway station. CST is the true icon of > Mumbai. It is through this railway station hundreds of Indians from Uttar > Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Tamilnadu have poured into Mumbai > over the years, transforming themselves into Mumbaikars and built the Mumbai > of today along with the Marathis and Kolis > > But the channels would not recognise this. Nor would they recognise the > thirty odd dead bodies strewn all over the platform of CST. No Barkha dutt > went there to tell us who they were. But she was at Taj to show us the > damaged furniture and reception lobby braving the guards. And the TV cameras > did not go to the government run JJ hospital to find out who those 26 > unidentified bodies were. Instead they were again invading the battered Taj > to try in vain for a scoop shot of the dead bodies of the page 3 > celebrities. > > In all probability, the unidentified bodies could be those of workers from > Bihar and Uttar Pradesh migrating to Mumbai, arriving by train at CST > without cell phones and pan cards to identify them. Even after 60 hours > after the CST massacre, no channel has bothered to cover in detail what > transpired there. > > The channels conveniently failed to acknowledge that the Aam Aadmis of > India surviving in Mumbai were not affected by Taj, Oberoi and Trident > closing down for a couple of weeks or months. What mattered to them was the > stoppage of BEST buses and suburban trains even for one hour. But the > channels were not covering that aspect of the terror attack. Such > information at best merited a scroll line, while the cameras have to be > dedicated for real time thriller unfolding at Taj or Nariman bhavan. > > The so called justification for the hype the channels built around heritage > site Taj falling down (CST is also a heritage site), is that Hotel Taj is > where the rich and the powerful of India and the globe congregate. It is a > symbol or icon of power of money and politics, not India. It is the icon of > the financiers and swindlers of India. The Mumbai and India were built by > the Aam Aadmis who passed through CST and Taj was the oasis of peace and > privacy for those who wielded power over these mass of labouring classes. > Leopold club and Taj were the haunts of rich spoilt kids who would drive > their vehicles over sleeping Aam Aadmis on the pavement, the Mafiosi of > Mumbai forever financing the glitterati of Bollywood (and also the > terrorists) , Political brokers and industrialists. > > It is precisely because Taj is the icon of power and not people, that the > terrorists chose to strike. > > The terrorists have understood after several efforts that the Aam Aadmi > will never break down even if you bomb her markets and trains. He/she was > resilient because that is the only way he/she can even survive. > > Resilience was another word that annoyed the pundits of news channels and > their patrons this time. What resilience, enough is enough, said Pranoy > Roy's channel on the left side of the channel spectrum. Same sentiments were > echoed by Arnab Goswami representing the right wing of the broadcast media > whose time is now. Can Rajdeep be far behind in this game of one upmanship > over TRPs ? They all attacked resilience this time. They wanted firm action > from the government in tackling terror. > > The same channels celebrated resilience when bombs went off in trains and > markets killing and maiming the Aam Aadmis. The resilience of the ordinary > worker suited the rich business class of Mumbai since work or manufacture or > film shooting did not stop. When it came to them, the rich shamelessly > exhibited their lack of nerves and refused to be resilient themselves. They > cry for government intervention now to protect their private spas and > swimming pools and bars and restaurants, similar to the way in which > Citibank, General Motors and the ilk cry for government money when their > coffers are emptied by their own ideologies. > > The terrorists have learnt that the ordinary Indian is unperturbed by > terror. For one whose daily existence itself is a terror of government > sponsored inflation and market sponsored exclusion, pain is something he has > learnt to live with. The rich of Mumbai and India Inc are facing the pain > for the first time and learning about it just as the middle classes of India > learnt about violation of human rights only during emergency, a cool 28 > years after independence. > > And human rights were another favourite issue for the channels to whip at > times of terrorism. > > Arnab Goswami in an animated voice wondered where were those champions of > human rights now, not to be seen applauding the brave and selfless police > officers who gave up their life in fighting terorism. Well, the counter > question would be where were you when such officers were violating the human > rights of Aam Aadmis. Has there ever been any 24 hour non stop coverage of > violence against dalits and adivasis of this country? > > This definitely was not the time to manufacture consent for the extra legal > and third degree methods of interrogation of police and army but Arnabs > don't miss a single opportunity to serve their class masters, this time the > jingoistic patriotism came in handy to whitewash the entire uniformed > services. > > The sacrifice of the commandos or the police officers who went down dying > at the hands of ruthless terrorists is no doubt heart rending but in vain in > a situation which needed not just bran but also brain. Israel has a point > when it says the operations were misplanned resulting in the death of its > nationals here. > > Khakares and Salaskars would not be dead if they did not commit the mistake > of traveling by the same vehicle. It is a basic lesson in management that > the top brass should never t ravel together in crisis. The terrorists, if > only they had watched the channels, would have laughed their hearts out when > the Chief of the Marine commandos, an elite force, masking his face so > unprofessionally in a see-through cloth, told the media that the commandos > had no idea about the structure of the Hotel Taj which they were trying to > liberate. But the terrorists knew the place thoroughly, he acknowledged. > > Is it so difficult to obtain a ground plan of Hotel Taj and discuss > operation strategy thoroughly for at least one hour before entering? This is > something even an event manager would first ask for, if he had to fix 25 > audio systems and 50 CCtvs for a cultural event in a hotel. Would not Ratan > Tata have provided a plan of his ancestral hotel to the commandos within one > hour considering the mighty apparatus at his and government's disposal? Are > satelite pictures only available for terrorists and not the government > agencies ? In an operation known to consume time, one more hour for > preparation would have only improved the efficiency of execution. > > Sacrifices become doubly tragic in unprofessional circumstances. But the > Aam Aadmis always believe that terror-shooters do better planning than > terrorists. And the gullible media in a jingoistic mood would not raise any > question about any of these issues. > > They after all have their favourite whipping boy - the politician the > eternal entertainer for the non-voting rich classes of India. > > Arnabs and Rajdeeps would wax eloquent on Nanmohan Singh and Advani > visiting Mumbai separately and not together showing solidarity even at this > hour of national crisis. What a farce? Why can't these channels pool > together all their camera crew and reporters at this time of national > calamity and share the sound and visual bites which could mean a wider and > deeper coverage of events with such a huge human resource to command? Why > should Arnab and Rajdeep and Barkha keep harping every five minutes that > this piece of information was exclusive to their channel, at the time of > such a national crisis? Is this the time to promote the channel? If that is > valid, the politician promoting his own political constituency is equally > valid. And the duty of the politican is to do politics, his politics. It is > for the people to evaluate that politics. > > And terrorism is not above politics. It is politics by other means. > > To come to grips with it and to eventually eliminate it, the practice of > politics by proper means needs constant fine tuning and improvement. > Decrying all politics and politicians, only helps terrorists and dictators > who are the two sides of the same coin. And the rich and powerful always > prefer terrorists and dictators to do business with. > > Those caught in this crossfire are always the Aam Aadmis whose deaths are > not even mourned - the taxi driver who lost the entire family at CST firing, > the numerous waiters and stewards who lost their lives working in Taj for a > monthly salary that would be one time bill for their masters. > > Postscript: In a fit of anger and depression, I sent a message to all the > channels, 30 hours through the coverage. After all they have been constantly > asking the viewers to message them for anything and everything. My message > read: I send this with lots of pain. All channels, including yours, must > apologise for not covering the victims of CST massacre, the real mumbaikars > and aam aadmis of India. Your obsession with five star elite is disgusting. > Learn from the print media please. No channel bothered. Only srinivasan > Jain replied: you are right. We are trying to redress balance today. Well, > nothing happened till the time of writing this 66 hours after the terror > attack. > > > > Peace Is Doable > > ------------------------------ > Explore your hobbies and interests. Click here to begin. > <http://in.rd.yahoo.com/tagline_groups_6/*http://in.promos.yahoo.com/groups/> > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
