Top Stories……………..

I am a TV Freak……………who loves to watch soaps n cricket matches………..even though exams are there on the very next day. In fact I was a loyal K-Serials (which includes all Ekta Kapoor’s serials…kyunki.., kusum, kasauti…, karam…, kasam…) watcher. I watch all her serials from day one. After 6 long years now I am obsessed :-), but still I watch an episode at least once in a fortnight where in I understand as what has happened in it 15 days back n what will happen in next 15 days. My mum use to always scold me as I watch lot of TV soaps. She use to scold me with extra dose as I don’t watch some useful things like news channel……….But seriously speaking I couldn’t differentiate much between the fictional soaps n real news. If the news headlines have 6 top stories, 5 out of 6 are bad news. It could be bomb blast, accident, political scandal, death sentence (recent news has much of death sentence’s …I wonder whether Indian Judiciary has become finally tough towards the guilty) or India loosing a cricket match. If I sit n watch the nit 9’ O clock news for an hour, I feel I am watching some power packed movie!!!!! Which has lot of political drama, terrorist actions, media hyped celebrity rivalries and a tragic end where in India loosing a cricket match.

In recent news report I saw the political leaders in Karnataka was taking away speaker’s mike n throwing the things that are on his table all over the legislation house. One thing that I don’t understand about politicians is their behavior in legislative houses. Every one would have seen the sessions telecasted live in Doordarshan when we were kids as at that time it was the only option. Thanks to 1000 other channels which saves us from seeing the kinder garden behavior of politicians. In the legislative houses I find Rajyasabha members much descent compared to Loksabha members who literally start of catfights, slogans n never listen to speaker. I really pity on the speaker of the house who keeps shouting whole day n when things goes out of control he just postpones the session!!!!

The other great humans who are always in top stories are our dear terrorists. They keep doing some or the other blasts all over the country on innocent people irrespective of caste, color, culture, mode of transport (bus, train, plane)…u know they treat everyone equally!!!! n will be hitting the headlines for quite a while. Once they fade off from the headlines they again do a major blast, which can be in Kashmir (which is their favorite place) to Assam to Maharashtra to Karnataka. As per Newton’s third law “For every action there is a equal n opposite reaction” the Government of India points its finger just after minutes of blast to our dearest neighbor Pakistan. Police, CBI, Army ends with more or less no conclusion, even after prolonged enquiries. Then again a fresh attack, fresh enquiry n no conclusion n no guilty is punished. If at all by chance some body is caught n found guilty n with great difficulty Indian Judiciary gives an execution order then comes the people, the politicians starts opposing it. Classic example: Hanging of Mohammad Afzal :-)

Next headliner is our bollywood stars. I really pity them, as the rumor around them is stranger than the wildest dreams of any humans. But I guess they get use to tat after one point of time as “Good publicity or bad publicity…a publicity is a publicity” Take an example of baadshah of bollywood Shah Rukh Khan who is sandwiched between the stars who are from his older generation (Mr. Bachan), younger generation (Hrithik). He is constantly compared n the issue is hyped where I guess sky is the limit. One more classic example of media hype is for our own Shilpa Shetty. Post Big brother her every footstep is hitting headlines.And lastly according to media Ms Rai got married to all kind of trees n plants in india including peepal and banana apart from Mr Junior Bachan!!!!!

Last but not the least headliner is the great religion of our nation that makes the whole country crazy about it. Yes…its Cricket. Since I have started loving cricket I am desperate to see Indian cricketers holding the world cup. Hope my dream comes true at least once. The recent emotional drama happened was with our own dada Sourav who was thrown out n taken back n emerged as super hero once he got man of the series reward for his performance in recent series with Sri Lanka.

I wonder what is happening with science n technology of my country as, If I do the microscopic search in news papers I find countable number of articles on them. I remember our prez Mr. Kalam once saying that news paper’s should have good news in the first page as that is the first thing what people read or see in the mornings. But yes, I do understand the pressure of 24X7 news channels as they just cant show only good as there is less drama happening n news wont be sensational. Ultimately if the news is not sensational how will the TRP’s go up? How will they pay their employees? Tell me one thing, aren’t the drama or emotions of tulsi’s, parvati’s or bani’s are much better to watch compared to the news channel’s top stories. End of the day if I feel bad for my soap heroin’s I can console myself by saying afterall its just a fiction. I have read somewhere that Facts are stranger than Fiction………hmm………

When the fence eats the hedge….

Few days’ back my family was returning from a marriage reception in the late evening and suddenly a cop stopped us and asked for lift till his house. Logically that’s ridiculous but yet we did it as he has power. I visited Madurai meenakshi temple few months’ back where I bribed the security officer to get an instant darshan of God. Ethically that’s’ ridiculous but yet I did it because he has power. This may seem as a common thing in our day to day life, but the power of the cop in our country is really taking our country elsewhere.

The recent Nithari killings shook the nation when 26 skulls were found from Lalbagh in Murshidabad town during the excavation of a construction site. The children killed there were from a poor family background and immigrants. More to this, the sting operation carried by tehelka quotes, “The police was paid and were in cahoots with Moninder Singh Pandher. He financed AC IST Class fares and doled out favors. In turn, the law-keepers used powerful connections, even calling the chief minister’s brother to escape punishment. A cover-up is still on”. It is not just in Nithari that children were reported to have been sexually abused. A police constable allegedly raped a 17-year-old girl in Gorakhpur in UP last week. Just few weeks before Nithari killings were discovered, there was media follow up on how Adobe CEO’s son was kidnapped n then rescued. It is still a mystery in this case as whether police rescued him or his family really paid the ransom demanded by the kidnappers. The other major incident happened is J&K fake encounters, where in two senior police officers in connection with the fake encounter killings of at least three persons in the state. A report also says that 1,017 youths in J&K —either detained or arrested by the police—missing since 1990. The investigation is on.

The common people like me, the immigrants in Nithari, 17-year-old girl of Gorakhpur or people of Kashmir; all are the victims of khaki? The bribe, murder, rape, fake encounters, what does all these indicate…fence is eating the hedge……….?