I think therefore...

Diwali is here!

 

It was during these days centuries ago, that Lord Rama came back to Ayodhya (his kingdom). He had endured 13 years of exile, killed the demon king Ravana (who ruled Sri Lanka) and freed everyone from the evil and darkness. The people of Ayodhya rejoiced his home-coming with festivities and lighted up the entire city. Thereafter, Indians celebrate this festival of Diwali as festival of lights.

The story is recounted in the great Hindu epic The Ramayana. Ramayana is essentially a story of the ideal. Even the villans live ideally. Ravana, the villan, also seems ideal - within boundaries set by his role as a villan. He abducts Rama's wife Sita and treats her respectfully. Rama is sent to exile on insistence of his warrior step-mother who manages to save her husband. Her husban promises to grant her wish. She exercises this wish to enthrone her son and Rama's step- brother Bharat. Rama dutifully obeys his step-mom and goes off. Bharat on the other hand is forced to rule but rules as stand-in keeping his brothers slippers as token on the throne. Other step-brother Laxman follows Rama and has to stay away from his wife.

 

Laxman is most famously known for drawing a line on the ground - the Laxman Rekha -within which Sita can remain protected. Sita oversteps the line to help an ailing begger who turns out to be Ravana. Ravana there abducts Sita and takes her to Sri Lanka. The Laxman Rekha later became synonymous with restraints on womens freedom under the name of preventing threats - though I doubt if such symbolism is intended in the original. To me it represents a thin line

 

The idealism is carried a little too far when Sita, later when she is reunited with Rama, has to prove her chastity by a fire test. It is a little idiotic for such a great epic. But apart from a few things - Ramayan describes an ideal way of life.

 

Rama, the hero and incarnation of Lord Vishnu, sets the moral and ethical standard. He believes in monogamy (in the age of polygamy - his father has 4 wives). He believes in honouring his word. He believes in justice, non-violence and even heroic acts of violence if its forced on himself. Why he chooses to keep mum when Sita is asked to take the fire test is a mystery.

 

Any mention of Ramayana is incomplete without mention of Hanuman. Known in west as monkey warrior - reverned in India for his strength - mental and physical. Hanuman is best devotee or rather disciple of Rama. He moves mountains (literally in search of medicine for Laxman) and acts as Rama's messenger to Sita. Hanuman is famous for wanting to eat  the Sun at a very young age - and he managed space flight. He is also known for his strict abstience since birth- but he has a son without his knowledge (sperm transmission through sweat!).

 

The depcition of Sri Lanka - the capital of Ravana is interesting. The epic remembers Lanka as an affluent economy based on forced labour. Ravana uses his might to capture resources across various lands and space. In his palace all the nine planets are aligned as stairs to his throne. In effect he regularly kicks them on his way to his seat of power which is at tremendous height. Hanuman, when he confronts Ravana as a messenger, actually increases his tail and makes a huge stool. Hanuman sits atop this high stool and then speaks to Ravana at eye-to-eye level.

 

Ravana has few brothers and warriors of repute. His brother Kumbhakarna sleeps for 6 months and eats for other 6. Ahi Ravan and Mahi Ravan can recreate copies of themselves from each drop of their blood. Indrajeet - son of Ravana is famous warriour magician. It leads to Indrajaal - which is his magic maze which noone escapes. Laxman later defeats Indrajit in gigantic battle.

 

It is said after Ramayana - the people of India went into excesses of goodness and misspplied those leading to lot of misunderstanding. This set Mahabharata - an epic that deals in realism. Ramayana and Mahabharata have been one of the most powerful influences in my life. And each character taught me something. Both have lot to offer. I hope to recount some stories on Ramayana and Mahabharata in later posts in a separate blog. Meanwhile, if you want a good story with a moral - read them both.

Long ago, in 1993, Michael Crichton made a prediction about demise of media in 10 years. Jack Shafer interviewed him in 2002 when media industry appeared to be healthy. Today, 15 years after Crichton made his insightful forecast, the signs of decay are evident and even Jack Shafer agrees.  Media industry globally seems to be doomed. As with his books, his forecast was way ahead of time. Let me highlight a few signs of decay relevant to Indian media.

 

The fourth estate decadence

Here are some points where I cringed at the quality of reporting.

• In the recent Arushi murder case, almost all major news channels were playing songs from bollywood movies expressing emotions on behalf of the little victim.
• Try following the same case in newspaper. Not one bit of information is added to your understanding. I cannot “follow” a story, subject, or anything that can improve my knowledge. The information availability is sporadic, erratic and erroneous.
• Yesterday NDTV interviewed the chairman of planning commission Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia. The number of times the reporter arrogantly interrupted this distinguished man was appalling. I wanted to slap her across the face and tell her – let him completely share his view with you!
• I cannot bear the way CNBC interviews people. The interviewer loudly asks, nay drawls, a 5-minute, convoluted, repetitive, dumb question that get monosyllable answers. That he is an editor makes me sick.
• Almost all reporters shout on TV, interject while experts are voicing and explaining their views.
• Media does not understand statistics. If you come across a phrase “India believes” don’t believe it. Last time I noted it referred to a majority percentage (media definition is anything above 30%) of a fraction of population (like 10 or 20 people out of 1.5 billion population) randomly selected on sidewalk of their office!

 

Blogs are weighing in

The best thing I did was get my favourite blogs on my Google Reader. Since then I don’t feel the need to read the newspapers except for gossip and trivia. Last Sunday we had a programme “We the People” by prominent journalist Ms Barkha Dutt about blogging. The show was so poorly researched that it focused totally on blogs that share intimate personal details. She was skeptical about blogs competing with “main-stream” media. As usual she interjected when important points were being made and answered her own question. In my experience – I have found well developed and evolved analysis and opinion expressed on blogs. The great Mr. Amitabh Bacchan blogs clarifies a lot about how media misquoted him. The blog, often, gives more real and complete information to us fans than the media did for decades.

 

In Sum

Media has become too rude. They have taken the philosophy of “hard-hitting” journalism too literally. And this when the army of editors and language experts are at their disposal. In fact, debates on the BBC and their reporting are saner and analytically better than what I find in India. As Michael Crichton notes, Mediasaurus is dead! Welcome to the new media.

 

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