Category Archives: media

Barkha gate, CWG, media, Radia Gate, scams adarsh

Season of scams

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Haha did we think we’ve had like enough of scams for the year? Not really. There was first Adarsh Society scam. One age old scam that gained momentum yet again, thanks to the immense lobbying by a former chief minister of maharashtra who is now in Union ministry while he wants his MLA son to get a berth in the state.

Congress high command over stepped their line. On what basis have they sacked Ashok Chavan? Because he recommended his in-laws? That according to NO court of law is illegal or criminal. He is NOT involved in any breach of norms, or sanctioning by misusing his powers. The person to have done that is the man who managed this whole episode.

The real reason for ‘scam’ & uproar or outcry was that the plot where this multi-storeyed building has come up was alelgedly reserved for Kargil war widows. Now, this bit of news itself is a scam & needs to be investigated…..only because a leading newspaper said ‘war widows’ it was accepted as a seal. The papers show mention of the society including names of war heroes and the 2 names have little to do with teh kargil war. The 3rd in fact is a nominee. Interesting how this scam wreaks of Babus, armed forces officials & politicians who have breached environmental norms & other norms, like taken exrta FSI, etc. Sad part is there is always a scape goat and here it was ONLY Ashok Chavan, the others have gone untouched.

The 2nd is CWG, but i really don’t intend to get into it. The key person Suresh Kalmadi’s real misdeeds need to investigated even more. the whole Indrayani, shatabdi express started on Mumb-Pune line, the land amassed by Kalmadi and family is really not new. The Sai services agency which deals with Maruti cars is owned by Kamadi. Half of Pune Kalmadi’s taken over, the other half mr Ajit pawar has. So the fight for corruption goes on.

The last one is vv important. The Barkha/Radia/Vir gate. Yes, the tapes leaks of 2 big names in Media. Vir Singhavi & Barkha Dutt. Now need i say more? The names are big, because the media, their respective news organisations have made them super personas. They made them feel good. Obviously the organisations ‘also’ have benefitted, although they may have benefitted the most. considering they have that much more information & are actually not just sources, they seem to be ‘negotiating’ the stakes have been more than one can imagine.

1.journalists can’t have special immunity & say ‘sources’ said or fed rather. 2. Journalists can’t cheat by saying we have creative freedom. 3. Don’t deride people on your platform, we are ONLY moderators, catalysts we are NOT the hallmark that can seal any decision. 4. Journos are not above law-any law. 5. getting info & details is 1 thing. how it is used is altogether something else. 6. this info was ‘used’ bartered. it comes with a cost..7. the means used are equally imp as the end. 8. can journos determine who should or shouldn’t be in any cabinet/ministry? 9. what are their stakes? 10. Journalist including editor reports, you opine in your columns only, otherwise report neutrally.

guess this all is forgotten…lol!

coverage, early hours, media, Obama, prevented, restriction, stupidity, traffic

Baracked media

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OK, so first in between all our Adarsh netas we were told to send 100s of applications, fill 200 forms, send 10 photos to various agencies some overt some secret. All for Barack Obama’s coverage. This was immensely time consuming & frustrating.

When i gave the names of Juniors, i was well aware & in full senses that i did NOT want to be anywhere those venues where Prez’s events were to take place. I have been a sceptic, according to Bellur N Srikrishna sir, ‘lone dissent voice while others are going gaga.” Yes, i had foreseen the soap opera unfolding. Major drama. Also have gone thru’ it all far too often. I’m not excited & Kicked by such routine stories. Like on the 1st day at the airport-10 hours before that the chief minister & dy chief minister are asked for ID proof, despite letters acknowledging them as ‘Honourable CM & DCM” had been dispatched. We lower mortals had to send I-Card, photo, Passport, state accreditation cards proof, etc, etc. suddenly reminded me of my MHADA-Press Club housing application days.

Then reporters who are covering the event have been called just 5 hours before the slated time. Now i remember when Bill gates had come & the PR fella who overslept wt hangover had called me 8 hrs in advance, and i had given him a real dressing down. Simple – my funda being no one is above the President & PM of this country, even then we aren’t called more than 2 hrs in advance, cut this crap dude.. I did NOT want to get into another similar brawl situation. NOBODY is more important than oneself, i believe that IS the mantra for my survival today.

I decided to give gyan, do OB lives, though i DISLIKE it & do NOT think it is journalism. But yes if i can lend a perspective & try to give some analysis then yes, would like to do that. Especially the fact that South Mumbai was half barricaded. People’s movement, I mean residents’ lives were RESTRICTED. While on the other hand the Prez spoke of ‘freedom, democracy.’ Hope he saw & was told what arse holes his American security people along with our jack asses police made a mess of our lives.

Then our own journalist community. One real bunch of jokers. We are incestuous, plain bitchy & somehow don’t seem to grow up. One bunch of Bhaiyya journalists stood on the side gossiping galore. It didn’t require rocket science to know they were bitching abt me & another colleague. with heads turning that would’ve given them a sprain, it was evident they had little work and knowledge. It is good that there are so many journalists one can easily AVOID. More the merrier..

And like as if i’ve retired i had some of them telling me how “its amazing to see you’ve got back to tv!!” lol…ofcourse today’s tv is all about sharing, exchange of videos, news. That’s what we had to do.

Then our news channel. NewsX is rather not so well distributed or in no 1/2 ranking. So we weren’t called to most places. We believe in hand to mouth existence. So we have 5 reporters including me the head while most channels had 30 to 50 battalion of reporters, seniors, etc. We still did NOT miss anything. We still got Ratan Tata on tv. We still managed to get everything. Word of appreciation, none.

the funny part was also irritating trying to get toilets. I’ve crossed all boundaries of patience & holding back. i will NOT. I know there are some faggots on the loose who read my blog & leave nasty comments. But let me tell you i’d rather show my i-card & get into restaurants or residential houses requesting to use their toilets rather then damage my kidneys. I don’t want to put myself through any unnecessary problems.

I struck a rapport with a elite restaurant, today was bad. Sulabh & azad maidan. Pathetic. But the way the police had PREVENTED us to move around it was sad. Thankfully we captured on camera Vivek Vaswani arguing with the cops at Nariman Point junction. He kept asking them show the route to get home. Why have they done this. They stopped vehicles from plying normally, stopped public from moving on our roads. We pay tax for this. Hello have the politicians forgotten?

And our police. LEss said about them the better. We heard Obama talk of freedom, rights, democracy. All of it was curtailed by his secret service people & our bloody cops. The good part was the communists comrades put up a demo of protest. Mumbai police who otherwise wld’ve shoved them with batons, allowed them to put up protest they too were miffed to miss their diwali.

we were sama dukhi. NO diwali, out on the streets fm wee hours in morn. Oily, spicy, intestine burning food that units are given. I struck a rapport with restaurant, so finally ate a Lasagne. Yess…needed it, with some mushroom soup. THE only fine point in 2 days of sun-burn. Skin is in patches, looks like disease. My legs feel they are separate , disconnected from rest of my body. I need rest, oil, heat pad & a good foot massage!

Dalit, media, Molestation

New Year began with more questions…why???

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The night before a newly wedded youth lady was molested outside JW Marriots. Why? The many politicians first jumped the gun criticising ‘outsiders.’ Who are the POLITICIANS to call anybody outsiders? Aren’t the politicians outside our mainstream life, our radar & our bloody lives?

And what is this theory, presumption & foolish ideology that locals do NO harm while migrants, so-called outsiders who are even born in this city are held responsible for all social, criminal, civic evil?

Then they all did an U-turn, suddenly they petitioned for the ‘arrested’ youth who turned out to be Maharashtrians, locals. What happened to all their ‘good cultured’ sanskruti youth? Problem is like many families, the Marathi families have suddenly become extra aspirational. They want their children, youth to excel, make fast money & be IN with the mainstream, something that typical Maharashtrians have NOT been. We are mainstream in our own city & state? But that also has a flip side, our very own youth have botched their thinking outlook to life.

U will see these very people standing at the end side of foot over bridge at stations to take a peek at women’s chaddis, while they walk up the stairs. They will make lewd sounds like ‘chaksa chaksa’ or pass vulgar comments at us endowed women. I’m sure their families they are ‘good’ boys/men.

That apart & the fact what happened was not good, I feel we went over board with this whole coverage of this issue. This was a raging issue even when I was college. We were getting molested even then…we had to fight men at all corners…we still do, especially on the platforms & roads…still have male friends & colleagues saying why am I so aggressive…that too for standing up for my own rights, for respect for my body!

The real issue is if a Dalit or Muslimgirls is raped, killed- wc is sooooo frequent- that will NEVER get the kind of coverage wc is deserving. English media is aversive to the word DALIT. A Dalit family was butchered, hacked to death in Khairlanji by upper caste men, the wife of Bhotmange was gang raped, and metal shoved up her arse, NO paper wrote about it…except DNA. But here again these details were missing.

The detailed pic of the NRI Gujju girl’s panties were spread across a leading National. Bhotmange’s family pic was never seen…the gory pix were uploaded on Orkut & blogs where Dalits in their frustration & outburst against the indifference of our society.

This brings me back to the basic point…bias against deprived, lower caste atrocities & our obsession to elite people & their lives or problems..

blasts, coverage, media

blast from past

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the July 11, 2006 blasts in Mumbai surely rocked the city…whatever anyone may say….damn all those ‘spirit of Mumbai’ ball talks…people have NO goddamn choice but to go for work. We work for shit organisations where bosses are complete arse holes whether govt, NGO or otherwise…anyone person says they can’t make it either they cut half day or full day pay. this is the fate of a normal working class person in our city.

As for us journalists forget…we are breed that sucks!! we want to milk the cow but in such a shoddy manner that the cow gets bored and either dies or just sleeps halfway. Most of the channels went on about the helping hand…wc was true..but NO ONE showed or spoke of how the dead were not spared by the public. The late hockey player who died was fleeced by the very public that tried to save the victims!!

His gold chain, credit card, money??? we don’t even leave the dead alone, why blame Mahesh Bhatt, at least he’s pulling out the skeletons fm his own closet.

As for the investigations?? so much left said the better. Within two hours (thanks to the pressure fm Media & public) trains resumed. London metro was closed for 10 days. I agree we can’t afford to close down all our lines. But that part of track should have been cordone off for 10 days. No trace we have…

Later people who were with SIMI, some active some former were picked up left right & centre. thousands have been rounded off & taken to jail…illegally detained. Some beaten & abused. Even siblings of the arrested were NOT spared…i can vouch that in one family there are black sheep & often the relatives need not know what the trouble maker has been upto. Sometimes they may be aware but have distanced themselves…its possible & very normal…

May be the ivnestigating officers are from some other planet or world..who believe the alleged offender’s family is equally responsible!!

who are the REAL culprits?? What is their Main crime?? does the ATS know? we wonder. Worse still are the immature abso ridiculous journos who have been writing & showing…8 days & ATS has had NO breakthrough…10 days & no arrests still???? what is this a merry circus?

Do these journalists realise a terror attack may take years or NEVER to get to the root of this whole act/crime? How nonsensical is this pressure campaign?? Do the editors who are supposed to be seasoned journos even ask their reporters to file such stories? in fact these silly editors should be pulling up their reporters for reporting so immaturedly…

But when u hire novices and don’t train them this is what one should expect.