Sitting at home the entire day,doing nothing is very boring.Since I had nothing to do and almost the entire day at my disposal,I decided to kill time by doing what I do most often;switch on the idiot-box.So many channels to watch..umpteen news channels...how does a viewer choose a channel to watch...I have always wondered how channels manage to keep high TRPs.I was alien to the concept (of TRPs) ..decided to google it and find out..Apparently they have a people meter which measures the amount of time a channel is being watched on a television set.So..this is how TRPs are measured..!!Then something cold struck me!!
Boy-oh-boy!!...Do people really watch saas-bahu sagas so much??..I remember 5-6 years back when Ekta kapoor stormed almost every entertainment channel and how every entertainment buzz crowned her the Empress of small screen entertainment.Even my mom was hooked to those pathetic serials but luckily for me, she got bored of them eventually.All of these serials seemed to have almost the same story...the story of a joint family fighting against all adversities together.....spiced-up by gal and ego fights!!!
I have to say the era of saas-bahu serials was one of the worst milestones for the Indian entertainment industry..At the same time however we had a 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' which was a genuine hit with a host like Amitabh Bachchan who mesmerised the audience of almost all age-groups with his oratory skills.Sadly there has not been even a single programme which has come close to being called 'entertaining' since then.'Roadies' does seem to fit the bill though(but not for all age-groups!).Reality shows seem to rule the rooster these days except for the part that the probability of events being real is as good as the probability of finding water in the Sahara!!
Lets move onto news..Theres been a flurry of news channels..Sahara,CCN-IBN,Star,NDTV ,AajTak,..india TV!!!(if you can call that a news channel).Now these guys are really funny..you flash any news which you feel is good enough to capture the attention of the 'junta' ..create a furore over it..grab TRPs...endless discussions with so called "experts" in news studios....then wondering why the news has actually become an issue!!..Now thats plain common-sense..its you guys who made an issue out of a non-issue..It doesnt take an "Einstein" to figure that out!!! Are they testing the intelligence and patience of an average literate person??
The swine flu epidemic was crassly overplayed by news channels..Yes, it was a new disease without a vaccine or cure..It definitely helps in spreading awareness but theres a limit to which you can show these things on TV...Being in the Swine flu capital of India(Pune) I could easily notice the panic among people for a week or so..but after a week , all those N-95 masks simply vanished..people started caring lesser..Now,people in India have a habit of getting used to things very quickly..blame it on our "chalta hai" attitude...News channels called in experts on swine-flu....the whole day was devoted to such discussions..neglecting any other news which might have been otherwise important..Similarly when theres a statement on Indo-Pak relations from diplomats from either countries it plays in the news channels almost the entire day!!..As Rahul Gandhi rightly pointed out in todays press conference..Pakistan doesnt deserve half the importance which we give it,,there are many more things to take care of..illiteracy,child-labour,corruption..the list is endless...All these issues deserve equal importance.Whatever happened to responsible journalism!?
The most recent piece of crass journalism....portraying Mr.Venkatraman Krishnan as the sixth Indian to win the Nobel prize.We are so quick at taking credit for such things..without even checking the facts..Mr.Krishnan did his research in the USA and all the credit must go to the him and the institute where he did his research..but the media doesnt think twice before delving into false jingoism which it did even when VS Naipaul won the Nobel..media ran helter-skelter to find his Indian connection.But theres still a ray of hope..I saw a story (albeit a 2 min. one) by Vinod Dua emphasising on exactly the same point on how we dont shy away from taking credit for other peoples success and making their lives hell(in this case Mr. Krishnan)...perhaps all is not lost!
