who ever has written this has made such a valid point and he is so true that when the rich got hurt everybody made a noise.Thanx for writing this
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:34:47 -0800Subject: Re: [rti_india] Re: MUMBAI Situation When the good hotels in India were open only for the Whites and Indians could not enter them due to apartheid, Jamshedji rebelled and started constructiung this hotel to be open to all without apartheid. Hence this Taj was an emblem of "Indian identity" in view of British temerity then.--- On Mon, 12/1/08, rti advice <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:From: rti advice <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>Subject: [rti_india] Re: MUMBAI SituationTo: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Monday, December 1, 2008, 9:12 AM* Hotel Taj: Icon of whose India? *by Gnani Sankaran-Watching at least four English news channels surfing from one anotherduring the last 60 hours of terror strike made me feel a terror of anotherkind. The terror of assaulting one's mind and sensitivity with cameras,sound bites and non-stop blabbers. All these channels have been trying tomanufacture 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 botherabout the other icon that faced the first attack from terrorists - theChatrapathi Shivaji Terminus (CST) railway station. CST is the true icon ofMumbai. It is through this railway station hundreds of Indians from UttarPradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Tamilnadu have poured intoMumbaiover the years, transforming themselves into Mumbaikars andbuilt the Mumbaiof today along with the Marathis and KolisBut the channels would not recognise this. Nor would they recognise thethirty odd dead bodies strewn all over the platform of CST. No Barkhaduttwent there to tell us who they were. But she was at Taj to show usthedamaged furniture and reception lobby braving the guards. And the TV camerasdid not go to the government run JJ hospital to find out who those 26unidentified bodies were. Instead they were again invading the battered Tajto try in vain for a scoop shot of the dead bodies of the page 3celebrities.In all probability, the unidentified bodies could be those of workers fromBihar and Uttar Pradesh migrating to Mumbai, arriving by train at CSTwithout cell phones and pan cards to identify them. Even after 60 hoursafter the CST massacre, no channel has bothered to cover in detail whattranspired there.The channels conveniently failed to acknowledge that the Aam Aadmis of Indiasurviving in Mumbai were not affected by Taj, Oberoi and Trident closingdown for a couple of weeks or months. What mattered to them was the stoppageof BEST buses and suburban trains even for one hour. But the channels werenot covering that aspect of the terror attack. Such information at bestmerited a scroll line, while the cameras have to be dedicated for real timethriller unfolding at Taj or Nariman bhavan.The so called justification for the hype the channels built around heritagesite Taj falling down (CST is also a heritage site), is that Hotel Taj iswhere the rich and the powerful of India and the globe congregate. It is asymbol or icon of power of money and politics, not India. It is the icon ofthe financiers and swindlers of India. The Mumbai and India were built bythe Aam Aadmis who passed through CST and Taj was the oasis of peace andprivacy for those who wielded power over these mass of labouring classes.Leopold club and Taj were the haunts of rich spoilt kids who would drivetheir vehicles over sleeping Aam Aadmis on the pavement, the Mafiosi ofMumbai forever financing the glitterati of Bollywood (and also theterrorists) , Political brokers and industrialists.It is precisely because Taj is the icon of power and not people, that theterrorists chose to strike.The terrorists have understood after several efforts that the Aam Aadmi willnever break down even if you bomb her markets and trains. He/she wasresilient because that is the only way he/she can even survive.Resilience was another word that annoyed the pundits of news channels andtheir patrons this time. What resilience, enough is enough, said PranoyRoy's channel on the left side of the channel spectrum. Same sentiments wereechoed by Arnab Goswami representing the right wing of the broadcast mediawhose time is now. Can Rajdeep be far behind in this game of one upmanshipover TRPs ? They all attacked resilience this time. They wanted firm actionfrom the government in tackling terror.The same channels celebrated resilience when bombs went off in trains andmarkets killing and maiming the Aam Aadmis. The resilience of the ordinaryworker suited the rich business class of Mumbai since work or manufacture orfilm shooting did not stop. When it came to them, the rich shamelesslyexhibited their lack of nerves and refused to be resilient themselves. Theycry for government intervention now to protect their private spas andswimming pools and bars and restaurants, similar to the way in whichCitibank, General Motors and the ilk cry for government money when theircoffers are emptied by their own ideologies.The terrorists have learnt that the ordinary Indian is unperturbed byterror. For one whose daily existence itself is a terror of governmentsponsored inflation and market sponsored exclusion, pain is something he haslearnt to live with. The rich of Mumbai and India Inc are facing the painfor the first time and learning about it just as the middle classes of Indialearnt about violation of human rights only during emergency, a cool 28years after independence.And human rights were another favourite issue for the channels to whip attimes of terrorism.Arnab Goswami in an animated voice wondered where were those champions ofhuman rights now, not to be seen applauding the brave and selfless policeofficers who gave up their life in fighting terorism. Well, the counterquestion would be where were you when such officers were violating the humanrights of Aam Aadmis. Has there ever been any 24 hour non stop coverage ofviolence against dalits and adivasis of this country?This definitely was not the time to manufacture consent for the extra legaland third degree methods of interrogation of police and army but Arnabsdon't miss a single opportunity to serve their class masters, this time thejingoistic patriotism came in handy to whitewash the entire uniformedservices.The sacrifice of the commandos or the police officers who went down dying atthe hands of ruthless terrorists is no doubt heart rending but in vain in asituation which needed not just bran but also brain. Israel has a point whenit says the operations were misplanned resulting in the death of itsnationals here.Khakares and Salaskars would not be dead if they did not commit the mistakeof traveling by the same vehicle. It is a basic lesson in management thatthe top brass should never t ravel together in crisis. The terrorists, ifonly they had watched the channels, would have laughed their hearts out whenthe Chief of the Marine commandos, an elite force, masking his face sounprofessionally in a see-through cloth, told the media that the commandoshad no idea about the structure of the Hotel Taj which they were trying toliberate. But the terrorists knew the place thoroughly, he acknowledged.Is it so difficult to obtain a ground plan of Hotel Taj and discussoperation strategy thoroughly for at least one hour before entering? This issomething even an event manager would first ask for, if he had to fix 25audio systems and 50 CCtvs for a cultural event in a hotel. Would not RatanTata have provided a plan of his ancestral hotel to the commandos within onehour considering the mighty apparatus at his and government's disposal? Aresatelite pictures only available for terrorists and not the governmentagencies ? In an operation known to consume time, one more hour forpreparation would have only improved the efficiency of execution.Sacrifices become doubly tragic in unprofessional circumstances. But the AamAadmis always believe that terror-shooters do better planning thanterrorists. And the gullible media in a jingoistic mood would not raise anyquestion about any of these issues.They after all have their favourite whipping boy - the politician theeternal entertainer for the non-voting rich classes of India.Arnabs and Rajdeeps would wax eloquent on Nanmohan Singh and Advani visitingMumbai separately and not together showing solidarity even at this hour ofnational crisis. What a farce? Why can't these channels pool together alltheir camera crew and reporters at this time of national calamity and sharethe sound and visual bites which could mean a wider and deeper coverage ofevents with such a huge human resource to command? Why should Arnab andRajdeep and Barkha keep harping every five minutes that this piece ofinformation was exclusive to their channel, at the time of such a nationalcrisis? Is this the time to promote the channel? If that is valid, thepolitician promoting his own political constituency is equally valid. Andthe duty of the politican is to do politics, his politics. It is for thepeople 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 ofpolitics by proper means needs constant fine tuning and improvement.Decrying all politics and politicians, only helps terrorists and dictatorswho are the two sides of the same coin. And the rich and powerful alwaysprefer terrorists and dictators to do business with.Those caught in this crossfire are always the Aam Aadmis whose deaths arenot 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 amonthly salary that would be one time bill for their masters.Postscript: In a fit of anger and depression, I sent a message to all thechannels, 30 hours through the coverage. After all they have been constantlyasking the viewers to message them for anything and everything. My messageread: I send this with lots of pain. All channels, including yours, mustapologise for not covering the victims of CST massacre, the real mumbaikarsand aam aadmis of India. Your obsession with five star elite is disgusting.Learn from the print media please. No channel bothered. Only srinivasan Jainreplied: you are right. We are trying to redress balance today. Well,nothing happened till the time of writing this 66 hours after the terrorattack.[Non-text portions of this message have been removed][Non-text portions of this message have been removed] _________________________________________________________________ Explore the seven wonders of the world http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=7+wonders+world&mkt=en-US&form=QBRE [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
