We are the biggest hypocrites in this world.
For more than 60 years now, since our Independence, we have only heard some drawing room rumblings of dissastisfaction about the obscene manner in which our politicians have displayed their wealth to a nation which has battled poverty since.
Now it's about a few months since the Congress party went on an auterity overdrive to show to the people of India how serious they were about equity in growth, when almost at the same time, BJP went to a convention in Indore, where each member was put up in 5 star tents and made to land at their centre in a helicopter or a private jet.
Nobody raised an eyebrow and the media went on to portray the coming of age of a dilapidated party where their young General Secretary even entertained his members by singing a song.
When Mayawati does the unheard and gives the rest of them a run for their ideas, everyone collectively goes up in arms with the support of the media.
The last two days have been filled with information about her crores of 1000 rupee threaded garland, conveniently relegating the Nuclear bill presented on the floor of the Lok Sabha, a day before it goes on vacation, to the back burner.
We may go on screaming from the rooftops about auterity and equity and inclusive growth, and keep putting on facades about how serious we are about drawing poverty out of the depths of the well of corruption, but finally we have to admit that most of India which lives without basics like electricity and water, doesn't care about anything but wealth, because they know that it is nothing but money which will pull them out of the dregs of hell that they are at present forced to live in.
And for them, Mayavati has got it right, and the rest of leadership is nothing but a farce.
If she spent 200 crores to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Bahujan Samaj Party, it was to show to her people that she too can put up a circus like the rest of her opponents who perhaps would blow up the same or maybe more, on the wedding of their son or daughter alone, and where stars would come and dance and sing and where designers and planners would stand to benefit.
The only difference is that then, the media would dare not complain of the debauchery because it feeds on that entertainment.
The media's livlihood depends on the ostentatious display of wealth which their viewers devour because it makes them chase a false dream and makes them aspire the same, the impossible.
For whom which the media scavenges off, Mayawati is a star.
And for those viewers doom is mispelt.
Mayawati made no pretentions to be austere, and she did not collapse with the lie because she knows what her people want.
It's because we trivialize issues to suit political motives which demand the media to divert attention of people to irrelevant things so that serious issues which need debate be sidelined, we go on to embedd a schizophrenic psyche which comprises of a completely confused India today.
We will be rid of every problem India faces today, terrorism, illitracy, povery, lack of health services, suffering and all, if we were to focus on reaching out to the poor and educating the wealthy, and it is only an honest administration and a committed government which can deliver that, which unfortunately, we do not have.
The communication through all technology has to be skewed in the right direction only slightly.
Media has to highlight stories of the good things that happen around us, which are in plenty, while letting law take it course for all the bad.
For a while, if the recipients do not care about it because we have vandalized their minds and altered their expectations over the past so many years, then we will have to take it with a pinch of salt.
When they turn off their TV sets, radios and shut papers and magazines because they are not littered with fake ideals, and because they are laden with the truths about the values which should be administered to out society, we will have to wait.
We will have to wait, till they realize that there is some sense in what is happening and come back to recieve us with good intentions.
The entire industry of communications, from advertising to media, from the Government to Bollywood and Indian Cinema across all technologies, has to be represented at atleast one convention which would not cost so much as those of our political parties, which can last for as many days as need be, where standards, practices, guidelines and the works are put in place at one time, and where a pledge needs be made by all to follow.
Those who are getting it right must share their strategies with those who do not know the extent of the damage they are causing with what they are doing wrong.
Somehow, we have to pull these industries of communications out of the race for mega bucks and make them see the sense in austerity and commitment to the viewers whom they have the power to reach out to and change.
And this has to be collective effort, or else we are doomed.
For more than 60 years now, since our Independence, we have only heard some drawing room rumblings of dissastisfaction about the obscene manner in which our politicians have displayed their wealth to a nation which has battled poverty since.
Now it's about a few months since the Congress party went on an auterity overdrive to show to the people of India how serious they were about equity in growth, when almost at the same time, BJP went to a convention in Indore, where each member was put up in 5 star tents and made to land at their centre in a helicopter or a private jet.
Nobody raised an eyebrow and the media went on to portray the coming of age of a dilapidated party where their young General Secretary even entertained his members by singing a song.
When Mayawati does the unheard and gives the rest of them a run for their ideas, everyone collectively goes up in arms with the support of the media.
The last two days have been filled with information about her crores of 1000 rupee threaded garland, conveniently relegating the Nuclear bill presented on the floor of the Lok Sabha, a day before it goes on vacation, to the back burner.
We may go on screaming from the rooftops about auterity and equity and inclusive growth, and keep putting on facades about how serious we are about drawing poverty out of the depths of the well of corruption, but finally we have to admit that most of India which lives without basics like electricity and water, doesn't care about anything but wealth, because they know that it is nothing but money which will pull them out of the dregs of hell that they are at present forced to live in.
And for them, Mayavati has got it right, and the rest of leadership is nothing but a farce.
If she spent 200 crores to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Bahujan Samaj Party, it was to show to her people that she too can put up a circus like the rest of her opponents who perhaps would blow up the same or maybe more, on the wedding of their son or daughter alone, and where stars would come and dance and sing and where designers and planners would stand to benefit.
The only difference is that then, the media would dare not complain of the debauchery because it feeds on that entertainment.
The media's livlihood depends on the ostentatious display of wealth which their viewers devour because it makes them chase a false dream and makes them aspire the same, the impossible.
For whom which the media scavenges off, Mayawati is a star.
And for those viewers doom is mispelt.
Mayawati made no pretentions to be austere, and she did not collapse with the lie because she knows what her people want.
It's because we trivialize issues to suit political motives which demand the media to divert attention of people to irrelevant things so that serious issues which need debate be sidelined, we go on to embedd a schizophrenic psyche which comprises of a completely confused India today.
We will be rid of every problem India faces today, terrorism, illitracy, povery, lack of health services, suffering and all, if we were to focus on reaching out to the poor and educating the wealthy, and it is only an honest administration and a committed government which can deliver that, which unfortunately, we do not have.
The communication through all technology has to be skewed in the right direction only slightly.
Media has to highlight stories of the good things that happen around us, which are in plenty, while letting law take it course for all the bad.
For a while, if the recipients do not care about it because we have vandalized their minds and altered their expectations over the past so many years, then we will have to take it with a pinch of salt.
When they turn off their TV sets, radios and shut papers and magazines because they are not littered with fake ideals, and because they are laden with the truths about the values which should be administered to out society, we will have to wait.
We will have to wait, till they realize that there is some sense in what is happening and come back to recieve us with good intentions.
The entire industry of communications, from advertising to media, from the Government to Bollywood and Indian Cinema across all technologies, has to be represented at atleast one convention which would not cost so much as those of our political parties, which can last for as many days as need be, where standards, practices, guidelines and the works are put in place at one time, and where a pledge needs be made by all to follow.
Those who are getting it right must share their strategies with those who do not know the extent of the damage they are causing with what they are doing wrong.
Somehow, we have to pull these industries of communications out of the race for mega bucks and make them see the sense in austerity and commitment to the viewers whom they have the power to reach out to and change.
And this has to be collective effort, or else we are doomed.
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