Aaj Tak Anchor's Faux pas

        When Ved Pratap Vaidik meet Hafiz Saeed , there were numerous TV shows covering the incident, and then running away with it to make up their own story. However, I can recall one such instance when Vaidik himself was on one of the shows, which usually come with the docket of 'exclusive'. It was an evening show, which included a few other dignitaries as well. Somewhere down the line in the show the anchor, I don't know his name, got worked up (as our prime-time journalists usually do). He immediately spluttered to Vaidik saying "Aap khud Hafiz Saeed Sahab se mile the", then he flinched immediately and said "Hafiz Saeed se mile the". It was as if his gaffe didn't even happen, of course he was the anchor so he could choose to ignore his own mistakes, albeit none of his guests have that privilege. No mention of that what so ever, by anyone on that show. Needless to say, he didn't bother giving an apology, it was as if it didn't even happen.

        So, what is so special in this that prompted me to write something about it? Well, it is what happened after the show was over. The very next programme after that debate show was the 'Vishesh' or "Special" of the news channel in consideration. It ironically was a 30 minute ordeal where the theme was the controversial remarks made by many mainstream politicians. It was all about scathing criticism for politicians who don't think twice before letting people know what is on their minds. It was the classic case of the pot calling the kettle back. It also pretty much summed up how the media in India covers, then uncovers, stories. I think it is an incident which is trivial on the face value, but speaks volumes about the media.

Mere Yaar ki Shaadi

Ek baat aise hai jiski yaad aati hai,
Kuch jyada hi tez awaz mein gane sunati hai,
Baraat kaha se kaha kisi ko pahuchati hai,
Yeh toh mere yaar ki shaadi hai,

Jail se zamanat pe aaye kafi barati hain,
Yaro yeh to high profile shaadi hain,
Dekhte hi dekhte bandokein bahar aati hain,
Yeh toh mere yaar ki shaadi,

Aaj amiron ka andaz sadharan pe bhi hai bhari,
Dikhani hai logo ko apni diabetes ki bimari,
Ladkewalon ko toh apni aadate dikhani hai,
Yaroon yeh toh mere yaar ki shaadi hai,

Dahej lena aur dena toh sahi mein apradh hai,
Lekin is desh ke logo mein jyada hi jazbaat hai,
Sarkari office ke table ki yaad aati hai,
Yaaro yeh mere yaar ki shaadi hai,

Dulhe ka paper toh clear hi nahi hua tha,
Pass karne ke liye purane master ko kaha tha,
Phir bhi ladke hone hi shaan nazar aati hai,
Yaaro yeh mere yaar ki shaadi hai.

                                                            - Rajmohan Yadav

A Conscious Corrupt

He works all throughout the regular shift,
Emollient enough to always avoid a rift,
He can always talk his way through,
Without causing any stutter or two,

He is the one accosted for tossing the file,
Getting around the rules in his own style,
The amount which he ekes is not great,
In his parlance, it is called paper weight,

His modus operandi has some of its own rule,
Not averse to climbing the ladder with a stool,
More bribe is coaxed form the rich,
Tries to keep it quiet with a stitch,

The grizzled hair can see who is the needy,
This is where he avoids being greedy,
Bit like a government's Robin Hood,
Not knowing where the moral stood,

He has been around for a long time,
Has a knack of tuning inspectors to his rhyme,
He often wonders about right or wrong,
Typical when conscience is not strong,

Years later he is thinking as he retires,
Being a cog in that maze of the liars,
His middle-class soul begins to show its spite,
Leaving him to address the wrong and right.

                                                  - Rajmohan Yadav

and if the Government was just an FB account....

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               This is a kind of childish scenario where the government of a nation is assumed to be just a Facebook account. Well, it may sound crazy at first, but if you delve into it you realize there is some merit in this assumption. It would first start from an election campaign and then of course follow the work of the government, in all its spheres and then of course in the end with another election.
                Just like any prima donna the parties going at it update their pictures and their covers with the intent of more likes. Number of seats? Well one each for display picture, cover picture and a status update, one who gets more likes forms the government. Falling a wee bit short on majority, they add some new friends to accrue their likes as well and somehow get over the line. Then of course that access to all important user name and password for the account of power. The newly elected government doesn't know much policies so for the time being they such share the posts of the erstwhile government, with their own edits of course. The opposition are critical of the government's foreign policy, claiming that the foreign office folks are offline most of the time and thus unable to have any concerted policy. The government has its own propaganda agenda, the folks are suppose to be on-line all the time because the government wants to share its events(life events) when more people are available on the network and vice versa. Any bills presented for discussion will require at least two-third of the account holders to be on-line.
                The parliament would be an open Facebook group with members added and removed as per the number of like they have garnered in the last election.So, what if the opposition intends to have a no-confidence motion against the government? They just post a message in the group to that effect. Now consider the mundane din that goes on in the parliament all the time. In such a case, the parliament speaker, in this parlance, the 'group admin' simply changes the privacy of the group to closed for a nominal amount of time. The political rallies would be about updating your location. The newly popular year end review would be again the propaganda for the year end achievements. And then the indispensable part of political campaigns, slander. Apparently, Facebook meme are the tool most adept to it these days. Needless to say, the political parties can conjure them up and share it at will. It is a good move because memes can spread themessage, plus it doesn't have to be true either. So this was my take if the government were just a Facebook account, feel free to comment about how other social networks can fit into some of our most conventional social networks.