Santhosh Pandit Phenomenon: Pun Unintended

Our Lord! Condemn us not if we forget or fall into error; our Lord! Lay not on us a burden Like that which Thou didst lay on those before us; Our Lord! Lay not on us a burden greater than we have strength to bear. Blot out our sins, and grant us forgiveness. Have mercy on us. Thou art our Protector.

- The Noble Quran 2:286 

Doordarshan in the early 90's had aired a short but extremely popular satiric comedy series called Flop Show. The extremely well-made show featured Jaspal Bhatti and his characteristic intentional self-mockery. The attributes of the show were evident from the fact that the title credits rolled out under headers "Misdirection", "Over-acting", "Underground Singers", "Hair-Spoiler", "Graphic Defects" and so on.

The individual we're going to read about here has a notable trait of the Jaspal Bhatti show. He has created something which fits perfectly into all those titles Mr.Bhatti had created. Only that the pun here is largely unintended. Yeah,we're going to discuss about the phenomenon, Messrs Santhosh Pandit.

I'm pretty confident that 3.5 crore Malayalees are now familiar with the name 'Santhosh Pandit', who've descended on us via www, grew in stature thanks to the ubiquitous social media, and conquered our Newspapers, News & Entertainment Channels and lastly the cinema theaters, a glowing case-study to what the new-age social media can do to/for you.(Also a case study for Clinical Psychologists and Management students)

In the delirious aftermath of the release of Krishnanum Radhayum and the phenomenal cult-following & theatricality, one begs to answer this riddle: How, why and what the...?

Krishnanum Radhyum is a very amateur 'film' (if you can call you that), from a very very amateuristic wannabe film-maker with an even immature, rare and confusing personality traits, on a shoe-string budget. It's unintentional self-mockery at its best, the art of film-making at its worst.

There is hardly anyone left who hasn't exploited the strange behavioural aspects of this young 'lost' man. The media houses, 'bourgois' film-makers and social media geeks find their own ways to mock and ridicule this avatar, Malayala Manorama taking the matter to pathetic lows. I too plead guilty, for I'm using my blog and Twitter to get some free-thoughts in on this spectacle.

Happened to watch one interview on Reporter Channel the other day. Ironically, Santhosh Pandit managed to shut out even seasoned reporter Nikesh Kumar. Not just Nikesh, all seasoned interviewers and presenters have been overwhelmingly vanquished by the Santhosh Express.



Nevertheless, one thing strikes me: This guy still doesn't get it, does he? I'm certain he'll never get it.

"This film has created a wave  just like 'Subrahmanyapuram' created in TN".

"No one has the right to criticize me. I did 18 works, even Balachandra Menon did only 4-5 works" 

"Current film makers feel threatened by me. They're attempting to create a ruckus by deliberately creating a negative opinion"

Awesome. There lies the basic character of this guy. He is all too confident and proud of his talent, creativity and novelty. The problem is; only he does. Someone said on TV that this is a case of "Narcissistic Personality Disorder". Difficult to argue, there IS evident deviancy.

Saying that, I mean talking about this pride and confidence, these are the same attributes which Ranji Panicker had when he wrote "Praja", Thambi Kannanthanam had when he directed "Onnaman", and Ram Gopal Varma had when he created "RGV ki Aag". I'm not mentioning the quality of the never-ending mega-serials, especially the erstwhile sops from Madhu Mohan, JK, Ananthapuri and co, we were forced to watch before the dawn of Satellite TV. So Santhosh Pandit can be forgiven for feeling good about it. At least he has lived upto his reputation.

An industry which has become some sort of a graveyard for newcomers, Pandit has given role to 100+ newcomers. Although the fact may be that most of them may not be proudly typing Krishnanum Radhayum on their Curriculum Vitae.

I sincerely hope  this won't become a parallel cinema for Malluland. Even if it does, there wont be much degradation in quality. After years of stagnation we're getting to see some new life back in Malluwood. Some seriously fresh themes and actors have come forward to treat the rust slowly evading out industry. Pandit, definitely, is NOT among them but still his success and the debates it kicked off may prompt  some bigwigs to do a self-assessment. Them pointing a finger at Pandit would surely mean the old saying of 3 pointing back at themselves.

Channels and newspapers competed top get this phenomenon aired to improve their TRP and buy a chunk of this internet sensation. In Tamil, a sort of a sensation came and went, called Sam Anderson and his film "Yaarukku Yaaro" which sorta created a benchmark for mock fan following. Nothing as epic as Krishnanum Radhayum though :P



"Yaarukku Yaaro" full film here. (Read disclaimer before clicking the link)

Youth of malluland who thronged the theaters NEVER expected a Dasharadham on screen. This is cartoon, sans the graphics. Call it mock-porn. They've got their 3 hours of non-stop entertainment, don't ask me which way, but still it's full-time enjoyment our mainstream film-makers hardly manage to give us. Let's not talk about the artistic value of the movies we've been receiving in the last one-and-half-decade.

The hard truth is that we're now in a transitional phase where the Gold Standards set by Padmarajan, Lohithadas, MT, Aravindaan, Bharathan have long deserted us, and this is the lowest one could get. We've ceased to make classics, and we can't even create Parody Films mocking the way our Superstars and their 'support' staff get about their job.

Parody Films are serious work of art which sometimes get critical acclaim. They have an intention. Krishnanum Radhayum differs from mainstream parody movies in that it is 'serious'. Except for the comedy scenes, Pandit never for a moment intended mockery, as this has turned out to be. Leave it as it is, but genuine Mockbusters are one area Malluwood ought to explore more to bring some audience interest back. Am I the only one seeing a gold pot here, giving the existing drama and flop-shows going on in the industry?

There has been one "Thamizh Padam" created across the Ghats which won accolades for the way a few new comers dared to mock the contemporary style and theme of film-making.

The one positive out of all this, except for financial success and fame for Santhosh, must be that this may make some serious, talented, original film-lovers 'who know their abilities and limitations', to come forward into out dried out film-scape and hit some random oasis. Parallel film could blossom outside the devilish clutches of a few 'stars' and their cronies. No need to lick the boots of the bigwigs; if you're sure you have it in you, then go for it. At worst, you'll still turn out something much better than Santhosh Pandit. #win-win

Make no mistake about it, many film-makers have turned legends by taking the first step the hard way, without any Godfathers. Christopher Nolan made his first movie 'Following' for a mearge $6000, using the cheaper Black & White reels, working only on weekends when his friends were off work. Nolan learned about film-making for years, carefully planned his debut film by doing most of the works like script, editing & camera. 'Following' was the stepping-stone for Nolan onto movie-magics such as Memento, Dark Knight etc.

If this Pandit phenomenon inspires new talent who're aware of their strengths and weaknesses, to come forward into our industry, then this could be one lone but big positive out of all this.

One thing we need not do is waste more time on our man, he'll continue to 'entertain' us with more tomfoolery. The Internet and social media will do it's job, but when our accredited news channels take up the job to publicly and intentionally mock and insult this man, that is where things cross the mark.

This is a great cause of itch for serious-minded people and film industry experts but that's a general principle: Mayhem in order always gets attention. I've enjoyed every bit of it. Now that the hype is almost over, our 'serious' media houses can gather their thinking hats on and re-assess weather this passing shower needs more coverage.

 All because his tagline appears to be:

"Love me or hate me, you just can't ignore me!"

:)

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Lesson 1: Blowing your own trumpet

3 months into my life Down Under, one thing has pretty much struck me. The intense rivalry between the states and capital cities of this island-nation and the vivacious, uninhibited competition between the cities and the efforts to market themselves.

No rivalry is as pronounced and historic as the one between Sydney and Melbourne, the two largest and most recognized cities of Australia. The proceedings became so bitter that the authorities could not choose between the two for Australia's capital, and eventually it was decided to build a greenfield urbanscape called Canberra, sort of a settlement formula between the two cities. While Sydney has sprinted on to become the best known, global and immediately recognizable face of Oz, thanks to that Bridge and the Opera House, the City Council of Melbourne is behind nobody in taking the responsibility to carve out a distinction for their city.

The video below exhibits how enthusiastically and professionally a City Council goes about doing its job: creating and improving the brand identity of the city.





Wonder, why our cities stay largely immune to this idea. Surely Kerala has more to compete than just one or two cities or states. In fact with all the negativity surrounding the investment scenario of our state, our vying for the IT pie with almost all other notable Indian cities or with a buoyant tourism related brand courtesy the pro Kerala Tourism folks, it is imperative that our cities start thinking to get their names on the placard, and shout their names out loud, louder and louder. Aye, aye Sir!

Brand Kerala needs no introduction, even to the most undiscerning tourist thanks to the industrious Kerala Tourism, or regrettably, even to the most unsolicited investor, thanks this time to the much cliched Kerala political scenario. Kerala Tourism has built a strong and vibrant brand over the years due to some smart and enterprising marketing efforts. Isn't it about time our City Councils start taking a leaf out of Kerala Tourism and get serious with advertising themselves?

First things first, sit down and decide what name you're going to build. Like our own Trivandrum Corporation who're yet to decide between Trivandrum, Thiruvananthapuram, Anathapuram, Ananhtapuri and not to mention the whole strange ways the city is called outside the state.

Is it too hard a thing to stamp your name on what you own and do? I guess not. And I'm sure it is extremely crucial in the present global village set-up. Here is what someone who eats, drinks and breathes Trivandrum has to say:

Ajay Prasad on an earlier post on a similar topic here on this blog, Trivandrum, please.

Building a world-class city is better than just focusing on the name, but in the short term the brand has to be built up around the name.

In all senses, ease of use, length and what not, TRIVANDRUM is head-and-shoulders ahead of the rest. Ananthapuri is a romantic suggestion but even residents of the city wouldn't be using it today.

In a rapidly integrating world, we should be aiming for greater clarity in communication not lesser.

Trivandrum has a lot to offer, though not so much as Melbourne, to show off to the potential traveller, investor or businessman. A city is known for its events, places, institutions and people and those elements could be brought together to create a more robust brand. We've got our calender full of interesting events and places...Technopark or Vizhinjam, Kovalam, Ponmudi or Veli, the Film Festivals, Onam Celebrations, Soorya Festival, Trivandrum Book Show or the Hay Festival being the latest addition.

Brand Kerala assisted immensely in establishing some of these brands while brands like Kovalam did initially help cement the Kerala brand. Commensalism, that's the idea behind it. So now its time we go and build the 'Trivandrum', 'Cochin' or 'Calicut' tag rather than sticking on to just the lone Kerala name.

But the leads ought to come from the Corporation of Trivandrum and from Trivandrum DTPC. A logo or an image which makes the city instantly recognizable to the outside world. Like what Melbourne has done so effectively.

That illusionistic tiled 3D fonts of Melbourne has become a familiar sight world over. During cricket matches, golf and other sports events, during cultural, art festivals, or during the Australian Open, this style of city branding has made it instantaneously recognizable.

Have a look...

Hand over the work of building the Trivandrum brand to people who know the job. Yes, now we're talking in dollars and cents. It may cost some heavy bucks but let me assure you, the results are sure to come and well worth it. Hard part is to convince the lullaby gang called  Councillors, presuming it is the Corporation which takes up the initiative. And certainly the press folks may come out laughing & ridiculing as spending silver on such seemingly outrageous ideas is sure to create a few frowns. Finding an allocation in the Corporation Budget for the name-tag is worth it instead of perennial paper projects like parking plazas, shopping complexes and bus stands which never materialize.

See how Bangalore has successfully promoted itself through namma Bangalore caption! Many major roads, bus stations, and even the new Metro exhibits the brand Bangalore in a thumping manner. 

I almost forgot to mention roping in a brand ambassador. Melbourne is pretty much lucky to have someone like Shane Warne, a person who needs no introduction in any corner of the world, who is very patriotic to drool over Melbourne at every opportunity. Warne duly makes use of every public opportunity; casual Twitter chats, television commentary boxes and TV shows to go bla bla about the articulations of Melbourne. Trivandrum has more than enough celebrities... Mohanlal, Priyadarshan to start with. How about someone like Santhosh Sivan, who with his meticulous photography skills and international fame could be a real asset to patronize brand Trivandrum. Just a thought.

Talking about films and film-stars, another initiative by another Oz local Govt could be an example. Sydney has successfully marketed itself in Bollywood as a favourite filming location through conscious, joint effort by Sydney City Council and NSW Govt. With Chitranjali, Film & Video Park and more than a handful of well-known scenic locations and a rapidly developing uber-urbanscape including the waterfront, isn't it worth an effort to lure in the bigwig film makers of Tamil, Telugu or Bollywood dream-merchants to capture the beauty & essence of the city and surroundings, not to mention the local filmmakers? Film industry is a major fillip for the local hospitality and allied businesses and the silverscreen exploits could be a further shot in the arm for the tourism sector as a whole.

Ideas aside, the complication lies with implementation. Our Govt Depts function within their shells and are notoriously rigid and seldom blend in for a common job. Apart from the state Govt, we have a TRIDA, DTPC, Corporation and a whole bunch of NGOs involved in city development, each one doing their own part. Weather promoting tourism or attracting investments, Trivandrum Corporation appears to say "Oh, that's none of our business, we're only involved with Birth-Death certificates & Vilappilsala". The IT Dept or Technopark themselves does the branding job, Trivandrum DTPC does its own share of nothing, TRIDA doesn't know what they're doing, Kerala Tourism fills some holes and the GoK does some bit and pieces on its own but the essential team work to get the job done is lacking.

Having a Twitter or Facebook Page won't hurt. Trust me folks, this is how people converse and do business in this new age. Just see how vibrant Kerala Tourism has been going about their business.  Step up, being the first city council on social media is a cool achievement ;)

Kerala Tourism on Twitter
Kerala Tourism Facebook page

And the best bit... It costs NOTHING! :)

This could also throw up an opportunity to bring-in like minded citizens to involve in city-building and administration. This is how we could be patriotic and aid in promoting a healthy competition between our cities. At the end of the day a positive competitive strategy will turn out to be productive for the entire state.

A few bucks could be spent in a well way to adore the streets, boulevards, major retail avenues, leisure centers with banners, fliers of this brand image. Also crucially Trivandrum misses to stamp its name and signature to its important and well-known institutions viz the Technopark, Kerala University, Kovalam and even the upcoming Vizhinjam Port. This lack of certainty has been counter-productive for the city at times.

There have been pretty much misadventures for Technopark which has been associated with Cochin and even other Indian cities by our national media. While the Kerala-tag may have helped Technopark build its name and image during its nascent stages its now certainly time to shake free and build a new robust city-themed image for itself.

It's all about helping the city build a name and fame for it. And these days a lot depends on the superficial, media-driven image propelled by the media. It certainly helps weather we like it or not.

Plans aside it takes a good bit of time and effort to built a brand, and results won't be visible overnight. Sure takes time. Good news is that there are a few guys around who understand the importance of city-brand building and these folks at TDF have been going about their business on their own without much official support.

Intelligent Trivandrum presentation at CII Summit (brochure & video)  [Link opens in new tab/ window]





This could well be an avenue to ponder for another familiar and internationally well known face which has been associated with Trivandrum of late, that of Dr. Shashi Tharoor. His initiative for city development, TCAN, could well take the initiative to help build the Trivandrum brand, either in association with NGOs or with the various bodies of Govt. With Dr. Tharoor at helm the visibility could be international.

Talking about funding, the private sector and businesses could well be roped into the plan. They're the ones who're going to benefit directly from a robust and magnetic city. The plan won't finish by clearing the cheque for the logo designers but the real works starts then. The cultural, sporting, entertainment and business events should be continuously propagated with it.

Do we need to talk about souvenirs? While I was on vacation in Kerala last time, one of my colleagues requested me to bring a few Fridge Magnets representing Kerala and my cities. I looked around a lot, but came up with nothing. Small-scale industry job, doesn't it surprise you that we have so less with Kerala imprint on them, let alone Trivandrum, Cochin or Kovalam?

Anyone thinking of souvenirs and fliers to keep the name of the city, especially for the tourists and business visitors? It'd be an interesting survey to conduct to find out how many people outside Kerala are aware of the fact that Kovalam, Technopark and Vizhinjam are actually parts of Trivandrum Corporation?

Those who feel offended by the 'blowing your trumpet' phrase, let me put it this way. Our state and our cities have a lot to offer, so what harm does it do if we exhibit our pride, beat our chest about it or give away a few goodies with our name on it?

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A few privileged gentlemen... and ladies

The earth rotates at over 1600 km/hr, and jeez thats fast! Supersonic. It's quite amazing how fast horoscopes change and caricatures collapse within that small capsule of time. The pejorative called democracy, especially in India is a great pedagogue, for us citizens, because it constantly evolve, epiphanize and epitomize in the way it do things.

In the 2 months of forced-hibernation from this small web-space, mother Earth continued its loop around the sun at 1,07,000 km/hr, Commonwealth Games began (!) and ended (!!!!) without major embarrassments to the host as feared, and then its main organizer-cum-benificiary-cum-perpetrator's head rolled, befittingly, the US President came, danced a bit, buttered a lot, secured work-placements for his countrymen (including for Ms. Pam An) and left, the lady-of-small-things twisted her tongue aimed at usual publicity stunt via misguided anti-nationalism, one CM leads the way in the most infamous of India's BIMARU states, on way teaching a prolific young 'G' that exuberance alone won't always work, 2 Chief ministers got the boot; one for skulduggery and another in default politricks, yet another one getting his butt kicked for land-grab, 2 prolific 'newsmakers' made it into the news for wrong reasons and are in the red-hot seats themselves, and LIC, of all companies, making it into the one-scam-a-day list, all this while the lady-boss and the apprentice play the inert puppet-show roles to perfection.

Yes, the Earth is oblique spheroid; that means what goes around comes around...

First things first, a pack of lions if led by a mule will be as ineffective and sterile as the leader itself. Compounding the conundrum, this mule is destined to steer a bunch of hyenas instead of lions. That makes things worse, doesn't it?

One thing is sure. Our leaders and netas know very well how to step it up. Else, when our stock markets rise and fall as any ordinary nation's, our poverty levels are reduced only by a few percentage every decade, our percapita incomes are painstakingly increasing in single digits whereas the scams involving our babus & netas tend to multiply in geometric proportions.

Not kidding, the latest scam involving some 'G's fused my brain with regard to the no: of zeros involved in it.
17,63,90,00,00,000 to be precise, or 1.76 lakh crore to make it easy. Yes, 1.76 lakh crore! As filmi Thampuran Jagannathan famously said, we can buy the whole Kerala state for 250 crores. But for some people the world is not enough.

Least of all bothers, come, in our own malluland, the vivacious party leader who takes pride in using the law to hunt down extremely dangerous cyber-criminals, to be exact netizens who are satiric with their humour sense. This portraits the real face of the "people's" party, as it is in Cuba, China or Korea, which apocryphally subjects to inject elements of its malignant autocratic character into our democracy; as if that's the only attribute our system lacks!

I present the objectionable, incriminating criminal evidence.

Image courtesy: Janakeeya Aikyavedi

Extremely important Disclaimer: The author of this blog does not endorse the viewpoints presented in the above snap-shot of the 'evidence' and I swear I haven't e-mailed, faxed, laughed, giggled, smiled or talked to my mother, brother, friends, wife, neighbours or to my pet dog about it. I present this evidence just for better understanding of the 'case' and I protest against the unlawful use of the sense-of-humour and hereby request the think-tanks to draft out something on the lines of the legendary 'vetti-nirathal samaram' be advocated against bourgeois neo-media outlets like blogs, twitter, facebook and such anit-social'ist' sites.

Oh, the original version of the "crime", if you havent already seen it. From this I understand that the smear-campaign began way back in 1991! Kudos to Cyber-cell for cracking an age-old case.



This, even after the people of Kerala have pulled down those red knickers to exhibit the nobleness of the people's party. We're moving onto become the original Police State, where, "if you can't beat them, then beat them up" is the motto.

The difference is that the law takes a hypocritical passive stance when it comes to cyber-space. Try the iron fist on any of our traditional media folks and you'll be butchered. Webspace, for our misery, isn't organized or protected by a PTI, and the www doesn't have a union to lock-down the streets, cry their hearts out on the tv and paper and bring the state to a standstill until the politicos come out, apologize, and echo the 'free press' 'free press' mantra after them.

But as I said earlier, the Earth is very very very round. Remember Cheytanya Kunte? He must be a happy chap that his adversary has learned it the hard way :-)

How befitting, the holier than thou 4th estate has finally been blown apart by the cheekiest of scams. Talk about the hunter being hunted, the #mediagate scandal has proven a theory we always suspected. But the pawns in the tale turn out to be lead roles and India see first-hand evidence of how the unholy alliance of the politicians- media- businessmen have inflicted devastating cracks at the heart of what we used to call the 4th pillar of democracy.

Not finished, the media kept the matters well in the black, from exposure to public so that self-made statues of remain so. Except for a few media houses, possible because of their own interests, all major channels chose not to run the story. But elementary gold-plating can't prevent the mucky odour from leaking into the public air. If not for Twitter, the #mediagate would've remained a 'not to be made public' tale.

Real story behind the stories we're shown, told and made to believe everyday, how a few privileged ones pull the chords in the South Delhi puppet-play and how tax-payers' hard earned money end up in Mauritius, cricket teams, oil wells, Jaguars and where not?

Because these are the creme de la creme of our nation; the priviledged ones who can, and will get away with blue murder.

PS: Remembering another 26/11 on way. A moment to remember all the lives lost, including the brave soldiers who laid down their lives, so that we and Kasab could live a bit more longer.

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IPL-Gate: Pun unintended

[Statutory Warning: Some names and associated statements may create severe indigestion. Have some Gaviscon ready if you have]

The dust has settled on the MEA innings of Dr. Tharoor. And as a politically inevitable response, we're going to see the vacuuming of the the dust, dung and dirt from this IPL dinghy which effectively ran-out the minister. But some quarters have brought in the much needed fun-side to the fiasco by letting the world know what they felt about this all. Who else do you think? :P

Lalu Prasad Yadav is literally 'aghast' by the corruption he finds in IPL. He wants the Govt to take over BCCI and IPL, annex it into the Sports Ministry and perform an anointment.  I can foresee which portfolio Lalu will be interested in, if he gets in next time. But Sir, we're impressed by your honest attempt to sanctify our system. C'mon let's commence from Patna. Cattle-fooder for instance?

btw, Mulayam Singh Yadav is also reportedly 'shocked' and 'stunned' into submission by the rampant 'favouritism', 'money laundering' and 'unlawful activities' in IPL. According to the UP Supremo 'Cricket is a foreign game, it ought to be banned in India and Govt should promote desi games instead.'  Seriously, I'd like to know was this fellow is smoking.

"Yeh IPL kya hai, kya haaai yeh IPL" (What is IPL?), explains Hon. Minister Vayalar Ravi. Listen.

"IPL is a glorified gambling with black money. The Govt must look into it to see who is behind all this. Who are these people, where does the money come from? It is a matter of concern."

Moment of Eureka from Mr. Vayalar Archemedes Ravi! But why wasn't there no concern about all this before? Its not as if this IPL had suddenly mushroomed in the last summer rain. It took 3 years, and ultimately cost India a Minister, to open the can of worms that is IPL. I really hope something productive comes out of all this mess. Tharoor mustn't be made a scapegoat for nothing, especially when the High Court rejected a demand for a probe and the IT Dept has cleared him off any gain via this Kochi deal.

The third edition of the IPL is currently underway and in just 3 years its think-tank Lalit Modi has grown from a null-factor to a money spinner, ie in virtually no time. His growth chart, which looked like a rocket trajectory is all set to come crashing down like the WTCs of 9/11(yes, promising to bring down a few surrounding him as well). Someone who is not afraid to take on even the nation's Home Minister, someone whose career credits speaks for himself. Highlights:

The Telegraph

According to documents in possession of The Sunday Telegraph, Lalit Modi was convicted by a United States court in 1985 after pleading guilty to charges of possessing cocaine, false imprisonment and assault.

He was put on five years' probation.

From a school drop out, to a US University student acquiring a criminal record in drug-dealing and kidnapping, carrying on to become the all-in-all of Cricket India, Lalit Modi has it all in himself to make it to a Union Cabinet. What more could BJP ask for? He terminated UPA's poster boy, tainted the Govt and exhibits remarkable ability in multiplying financial assets in geometrical proportions. Oh, I almost missed out on the bollywood-ish traits. Look who is on the ramp, arms all over the former Miss Universe!

image courtesy ibnlive.com

No surprise IPL has openly exhibited its liking for blondes, brunettes and the femmes of especially (and exclusively) the 'white' variety. Like the two black cheerleaders who learned it the hard way, as did Ms. Gabriella Demitriades, neither IPL nor Modi play by the rules of decency, transparency or dignity.

He always has a few tricks up his sleeve as well...like that cock-n-bull tale on television about his Twitter account being hacked and 'some material' being deleted. What material dude, we've not lost our marbles yet hey...

Nevertheless, his business model impressed even the media-gods of our times!  Look at Pronnoy Roy showering the crook with praises when his New Delhi Television heralded him as the Businessperson of the Year 2008.



The Ministry of Finance is going to probe into all sources of IPL funding. (Newslink) Mr. Modi way well take a good few of the team owners, proxys and well-wishers to his grave. The high-flier, I guess, would be hurt pretty badly by the incessant fall from such great heights. Gravity is a cosmic phenomenon, so is Newton's III Law.

Let's wait for the real names behind all these IPL franchisee to come out. Already head-honcho Modi is doing some explaining about his blood relatives and buddies among the owner's list of some franchisee. Something which has been given tax rebates in hundreds of crores may well turn out to be a 'family owned enterprise' altogether. Waiting to watch how many roads actually lead to Pope in Rome.

Down far South, and a li'l bit to the West, some of the local leaders have expressed their 'sadness' over Tharoor ouster. Ramesh Chennithala's feeble voice was the first to be heard AFTER everything was over. He feels 'Tharoor should have been more careful' and that it shows 'how committed Highcommand is about ethics in public life.'  Newsreport

A big rofl! Ethics in Indian Politics?? First time I'm hearing of such a substance existing, I sure hope this isn't the Dark Matter those space guys are searching for. I presume this Ethics roll is handed over to all the members elected from all Assembly & Parliament constituencies, Mr. Chennithala?

To crown it all here comes a Kerala channel with a 'Vision' which spread the nitrous oxide like wildfire... Someone created a fake Twitter account of the IPL lady 'Sunanda Pushkar' (which has now been erased) quoting that she was 'very hurt by the ongoing allegations'. Our glorious channel guys actually jumped in and made this fake tweet their 'Breaking News' by actually quoting the fakie!!

Seriously mates, who gave you your certificates? Any novice will pass that account as a fake, clearly indicated by the profile picture of the run-of-the-mill media shot of the lady and a multitude of other indicators.

Guys, please. This is enough. This will rank up there, among the now famous hot-dog crack-up of the listless commie paper and the persistent spoofs of Kerala's most circulated newspaper (gulp). Pity. 

As for the IPL-gate and the Pandora's box, open sesame!

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Trivandrum, please

How many of you have an idea about how Kerala capital Thiruvananthapuram a.k.a Trivandrum is being abused the world over? You can shrug, you can frown, you can whinge, you can rofl, or you can do a bit of all these but just go through my experience about the 'international' abuse of my hometown taking place every single day, every single minute on every single continent in the sphere.

image courtesy Rajith Mohan

The tale started with my receiving of my IATA flight ticket where it was printed that I'm travelling from Dublin to Thiruvananthapu... Yes, to Thiruvananthapu, ending in a 'pu' as in Pappu. I think there was also a hyphen (-) after the 'pu', possibly to indicate that the name extends furthur into the outer space.

The name grew a tad more to 'Thiruvananthapura' on my printed ticket I received through e-mail. Not so bad, 'pura' more or less deploys the same meaning. But something tells me that I'm missing something again.

After landing on the swanky new Terminal in Abu Dhabi I started scanning the information screens to locate my Gate for the Trivandrum flight. And here goes! Gate 11 for the 2245 flight to Thiruvananthapu... Again! Anyway the boarding pass was not so irritating as they chose the easier method, AUH to TRV. Simple enough. No torture there.

The real ill-treatment occured in the air when the First Officer was briefing about the flight details. The apparently Eastern European gentleman had no idea where he was flying and was consistently addressing Trivandrum in as many ways as he liked. During the flight the Captain took over and it was even more hilarious, the suave lady carried on announcing that they had now initiated descent into Trivandrapuram! Classical Anglo-mallu name for my city and the first time I'm coming across this.

Whatever, I dont intend to ridicule her. She knew what she was saying better than the lad beside her who was absolutely in the middle of the Pacific. Still both would fail the Std I  fill-in-the-blank test for "Capital of Kerala" question.

I don't know who is to blame here but lets for easy-sake blame it on the Karunakaran Govt who decided to do away with the anglicized names for Kerala locales. A sudden upsurge of patriotism I believe, but is the Govt recognizing the way the world is screwing our place-names? At least the Brits saved the slaughter of my hometown for half-a-century from these travel personnel and tourists.

Leave the foreigners, our own Northie countrymen have their own ways when dealing with Trivandrum. I've seen it spelled Trivendrum many many times and pronounced Thrivendhrum. So those who have a compulsive habit of making mistakes will find a way to commit them, either way.

I fail to see the sense of purpose behind such a move especially because mostly it is the Govt Departments and establishments that name the place as they fancy. I bet you still can find Trivandrum being typed on GoK official documents. Technopark likes to go with Trivandrum, even on their official website. In TIA or Trivandrum Int'l Airport you can easily find both names inside and outside the Terminal. The Indian Railways too indulge in this name-hop. They have huge boards screaming Thiruvananthapuram Central while their LCD Display TVs welcome you to Trivandrum. Many trains also carry the Trivandrum (and sometimes Trivendrum)tags  on coaches in an as-when-comfortable basis.

I'm one among the many millions of Keralaites who think Trivandrum is much more suited for the recognition of our city on a global platform. It may appear childish and trivial, but these small things do count. Even our MP Dr. Shashi Tharoor thinks so, look at the snapshot of his Tweet a few months back. Personally I don't gel with Ananthapuri, but Dr. Tharoor's idea is right on track.  We don't want to see our city screwed left, right, center and on the air by every passing Dick, do we?

I did a bit of research about the longest placenames in the world and voila! Look whoz appearing! Our own Thiruvananthapuram, right up there among the 13 elite places in the world with a hyper-extended nameboard! You happy, or?

Check out this Wikipedia link if you don't believe me. 


Still T-h-i-r-u-v-a-n-a-n-t-h-a-p-u-r-a-m stands pretty when compared to some of the tongue-freezing Polish place names I came acorss. How about Krzeczkowo Szepielaki? A village in  Ostrow Mazowiecki district in Poland! You think it's the worst? Then try Szczedrohoszcze and Zienowszczyzna.

But thank heavens my home is not in Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu, the official record holder for such interminable names. Hold on, the name above is actually a shorter version for the original name 
Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatah! 

Well oh well, lets go home now...

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Earthquake in Trivandrum, lonely man Twitter & more wtf

Consider this a compulsive sequel to the September 17 post on the Tharoor tweet controversy.

I hate to do this again, but the whole nation is on a debate left, right and center about a casual joke of Dr. Shashi Tharoor. I don't intend an autopsy on the ongoing fiddle-faddle but I can't help registering the utterly ridiculous deluge of gibberish from our self-proclaimed common-man's representatives.

Tharoor himself has acknowledged the political incorrectness of his pun and accepted the momentary lack of acumen to give his antagonists a potent weapon to hit him back. And he has said "sorry"!

But some people just don't want to let go.. Especially the ones who are green eyed at the high-speed elevator Dr. Tharoor took to reach the ranks, his closeness with the High-Command, his remarkable ability to hog the spotlight oh him and who're dazed by his flair, finesse and rising popularity among the country's youth.

So what do they do? Roll out a teething attack all in the name of a 71-word joke! Make no mistake here, its Congress leading the official attack on Tharoor, with BJP and the lefties yet to catch up.

First of all our Hindi media dudes committed the first purposeful misdeed of translating a perfectly tolerable  slang into Hindi, which immediately erased the humour element and turned it into blasphemy! Instantly lands Mrs. Jayanthi Natarajan, claiming to a Congress spokesperson, who clamours over the 'insensitive' nature of that tweet.



Congress elements are claiming that they are forced to speak out on this Twitter issue because the National Media has made a mountain out this mole. True in a sense; but how did the party handle this, especially at a crucial point when Assembly Elections are approaching? Every Tom, Dick and Harry has voiced their alarm at the insult delivered to common travelling public, and even  Kerala ex-CM Oomen Chandy voices his displeasure saying that  public figures should be compassionate. After Jayanthi Natarajan it was the turn of  Rajasthan CM and senior Congressman Ashok Gehlot to make matters worse by this public condemnation.

This, you must not forget, is when Prime Minister Dr. Man Mohan Singh has brushed aside this matter in the proper way, that this was a joke from Dr. Tharoor and nothing to ponder on.



Times of India columnist Mr. Jug Suraiya has depicted this in a facetious yet factual manner. Our traditional mail, the India Post is termed snail-mail. So can all the people who put a letter into our post-box called snails? And that the business class travellers are called "fat rats" as opposed to "cattle class", so now which one would you mind?

Shashi Tharoor has become the icon of hope for the citizens of Trivandrum as well as the whole nation. He has already acknowledged the situation and voiced that his priority would be the 400 million citizens of India living on just 1.25$ and less per day. In a short span of 3 months he has already started the ground work of strengthening the foundations for a sustained growth, viz the Rai Foundation scholarships for girls from lower economic strata and many more.

Sukumar Azhikode, an acclaimed critic and orator ridiculed the voters of Trivandrum as being "blind" and "foolish" for electing someone like Tharoor to New Delhi. In a stark paradox, IBN Live found out that the blind and foolish Trivandrumites could actually see the lighter side of the tweet which all the politicians failed to note.  Perhaps the 3.4 magnitude earthquake which struck the city yesterday evening could help shake off some clog from the brains of these holier than thou souls craving for Tharoor's blood.

Now, take this Mr. Azhikode!

Trivandrum says LOL! 

Click here if the video-link on top is not working.


A massive boo-hoo arrived from another Congressman and Waynad  MP Mr. M.A. Shanavas who openly remarked on IndiaVision that Twitter, Email and all are Western concepts and we as Indians should discard them!! No comments on that, but it received more than enough clatter from Congress MP Mr. Sudhakaran, interestingly another rare politician who tweets regularly.

The best joke of all came from Mr. Tom Vadakkan, so-called AICC Media Secreatry . And by god, just listen to the great invention he has made about Twitter. He apparently did a research about Twitter when Times Now contacted him and this is what he 'found out' about the micro-blogging site. Hold on to your knickers pals... This one takes the cake!




Did you notice the shock that blogger Amit Varma (the guy in glasses beside Tom uncle) got listening live to  the 'lonely man' stuff? Oh, its priceless! Watch 00:14 in the video..

Click for Full video of Times Now interview. Watch it, its worth it!

I did a bit of research myself about Mr. Vadkkan's interpretation of Twitter and its relation with loneliness, and sorry mates; I've come out blank. Perhaps this is the most plausible explanation I could think of:  Twitter is meant for people who are very lonely and depressed and who doesn't have anything worthy to do. And according to Tom Vadakkan they need psychological counselling. Did you hear that Jack Dorsey?

Now isn't this an instance you truly want to scream STFU!! ?

Tailpiece: Think about it, this guy Vadakkan was under serious consideration as a contestant  from Trichur for the recent Lok Sabha elections! Breathe a sigh of relief my old Trichur folks, that you're saved from colossal embarrassment of calling this dude your MP. God bless Trichur!

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Between cattle and the holy cows

Oh no, my favourite politician has found himself in hot waters again!

Shashi Tharoor is turning out to be the darling of Indian press. Be cautious! When you become the toast of the media you naturally find yourself staring at a big ugly canon because our mediafolks have never a good word to say about anybody or anything, unless you are a bollywood superstar. And the Trivandrum MP has had a fairly rough induction into his new career as an Indian Parliamentarian, pretty rough.

Dr.Tharoor's trackrecord in India exhibits one clear prominent feature. His ability to rake up controversies. It started the very day his name was announced as the contestant to New Delhi from Trivandrum. From the burning of his effigy by his own partymates to the National anthem controversy, he emerged all flags flying, amidst personal attacks pertaining to his American Connection, Israel soft-corner, literary works, Canadian wife and affluent lifestyle, one accusation outdoing the next in absurdity and stupidity.

His life as an MP and Minister kick started with questions raised about his  'strange'  hobby of Tweeting. This came from people who didn't know if Twitter was an animal or a bird. Tharoor's clarification was nodded to by everybody. The mooncalf journo who tried acting the smartass had his ass kicked and the matter was laid to rest. Then came the tiff with the losers at Trivandrum DCC and also a poke- poke back with the NSS. Nevertheless Tharoor won Round One 21-0.

The recent Five Star Hotel issue (or rather should I call it the non-issue?) brought the man again back in frame. It all began with a laughable Austerity Drive by the Congress head honchos by gimmicks like travelling in the Economy Class on flights, cutting down needless expenditures and so on. Laughable, because crores are spent on managing these palatial ministerial bunglows at the taxpayer's expense and Highway Minister Kamal Nath was on a glob-trot for no reason with accomodation in Five-Diamond rated Hotels..I don't know on whose bright head this austerity bulb flashed first but I can tell you where this is headed. Are all our politicians going to travel in the Economy Class forever? Haaaaaah, I'd bet my house on them moving on to the posh upper zones in a hurry, by citing security reasons and whatever crap they could think of. But Tharoor lost a few personal points in this political ploy when he was asked to vacate the Hotel suite where he was staying by paying from his own pocket!

The waves of this Hotel nonsense were just retaliating when the next one has crashed down on all of us, this time with the effect of a Tsunami! And this one seems bad enough, with Tharoor's trendy aide, Twitter, letting him down this time.

It all started when Tharror responded to a friendly light-sided tweet from Mr.Kanchan Gupta, Associate Editor of the Pioneer. His tweet was as follows: (Sept 14, 11:27am)

@ShashiTharoor Tell us Minister, next time you travel to Kerala, will it be cattle class?

Tharoor, as whimsical as he is responded in a so-so manner.

@ Kanchan Gupta, absolutely, in cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows!

And Kanchan Gupta followed it up with the safe-journey wish. (note the emoction) (Sept 15, 10:11pm)

@ Shashi Tharoor, Have a nice journey. And since there is no austerity out there, have fun.. :)

Now, I first heard about this issue when a friend of mine pinged me about this in Gtalk. He asked me if I had heard what Dr. Tharoor had just said. On briefing me, I just asked "What! Did he really say something like that!?"  My initial stress was on the 'holy cow' part of it becuase it, in all probability, was meant to aim the Congress think tanks and it wouldn't be digested well.

The indigestion would be for a few good reasons. First it would be interpreted as a poke at the "Austerity campaign" undertaken by his party bosses. Secondly the humour element in a harmless off-topic conversation between two individuals would be dissociated when the Press and public interpret his words. Lastly and most obviously,  English is not the first, or even the second language of a mammoth chunk of our countrymen and Tharoor's colloquial Oxford English usage won't be taken in the exact sense a Scottish teenager would've seen it.

That's exactly what happened here. Lost in translation, lost in context...

In all fairness to Tharoor, Cattle Class is an accepted and widely frequented synonym for Economy Class travel. Tharoor used it as a run-of-the-mill response, remember, but this is where the words and phrases find new and out of context meanings when in translation.

Remind you of something? The now infamous 'dog remarks'  by Kerala CM Comrade Achutanandan. Same settings, same ploy, same error.. Now if Achumama was wrong there, Tharoor is wrong here. You take out the 'if' from the previous sentence, it still holds its fact, sadly.


What I understand from this is that you needn't be wrong to be deemed wrong. The omnipresent television folks are ready to spring upon anything, and under the present Indian circumstances the media verdict is kinda interpreted as the people's opinion. Doesn't matter if you're right or wrong, what the media vomits and excretes are sacred offerings... Our billion-strong population can very well be taken for a ride, like the ongoing China-India war! I don't know whats going on there, do you?

A high profile personality like Shashi Tharoor is always under the microscope. It is news if he says something, its news even if he doesn't say anything. So when he rather speak, he may well weigh his words before letting it out. His tweets are for me, you and the whole world to see. So as a man of high honour it may well be prudent if Dr. Tharoor pays a little more attention to his words and deeds. Sadly, humour sense and common sense is not something very common in our set-up, as he has learned the hard way.

I hope senses prevail among the leaders and Tharoor not be reprimanded for being witty. He is a league ahead of some of the mainstream leaders we got up there and perhaps that's his main fault: being ahead of the curve.  And as for Dr. Tharoor, he may better learn this lesson well, and quick!

Update 18/09/2009 0330 hrs IST
-----------------------------------------------
What began in Twitter hopefully will end in Twitter. Shashi Tharoor has expressed his regret and apologies for the inattentive(!) and insensitive(?) use of jargons. From Twitter:

learned belatedly of fuss over my tweet replying to journo's query whether i wld travel to Kerala in "cattle class". His phrase which i rptd

it's a silly expression but means no disrespect to economy travellers, only to airlines for herding us in like cattle. Many have misunderstd

i'm told it sounds worse in Malayalam, esp out of context. To those hurt by the belief that my repeating the phrase showed contempt: sorry

i now realize i shldnt assume people will appreciate humour. &u shouldn't give those who wld wilfully distort yr words an opportnty to do so

And as an explanation to his "holy cow"  usage, Tharoor replies to the querry of a fellow tweeter.

@dilnawazpasha holy cows are NOT individuals but sacrosanct issues or principles that no one dares challenge. Wish critics wld look it up

So Dr. Tharoor, hope the ones crying for your blood will be satiated by this. And appreciate the courage shown to accept the tactical or political error you've commited. You said it, ours is not a funny country and we have to live with it.

Suggested reads on the same issue.

Its a joke, you stupid cretins!
Congress's sense of humour is pathetic
Austerity 09: Random thoughts
A Cattle-class country?

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The feeling that is INDIA

Just a timely coincidence that I chanced upon this piece of journal from a Frenchman: 10 things I love about India, just on the eve of our 63rd year of freedom, courtesy Twitter and Mani Karthik.

Before you turn all peppy and keyed-up let me remind you that it was a forced sequel to a rather uneasy but realistic portrayal of our country by the same author. Its the 10 things he disliked about India, the original link here. I've chosen not to highlight the original link because, obviously, the term 'hate' is an easy word to use but is as dangerous as it is counter-productive.

Nevertheless it is interesting to see a Frenchman's perspective of the country we know too well. An excerpt from his love-hate feature would be something like this:

India is an incredible place and I have never regretted, even for one day, to have settled here.

...the kindness and the smile of the villagers around. They were poor but they had such dignity; a quality of being which made them a hundred times richer than wealthy Europeans or Americans.

If one balances the 'hate-able' and 'lovable', the irritating aspects are just superficial prickly heat; the deeper one goes, the more one sees the inner qualities of Bharat

We all know what he is speaking about, don't we? Let's be honest to ourselves, the article is fair if we have the courage to call the spade a spade. The encouraging thing is that our country is acquiring the power to put the kibosh on those negatives, one at a time, because as of 15th August 2009, India's positives grossly outclass our shortcomings.

The West still harbor the shocking images of India circulated all around the world during our infamous drought, or rather the Famine of 1966. We've come a long way since, but the terrible pictures of those years still linger in the minds of many Westerners. For them, the IT Parks in Bangalore or Gurgaon, Metro in New Delhi or the Chandrayaan are just as unlikely as Moon Landings are for Bill Kaysing.

India's growing profile in collage. Clockwise from 12o clock, Ashoka Sculpture; Imperial Towers, Mumbai; INS Vikrant; Mumbai-Pune Expressway; Bandra-Worli Sealink; Technopark, Trivandrum; Delhi Metro; Chandrayaan launch vehicle;

It is encouraging to see our country shrug off the stereotypes and put its good feet forward. There is a vibe of positive energy in the air, commanded by the multi-million-strong youth of the country. We have personalities like Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam who knows that inspiring a few thousand young brains is enough to usher in brighter tomorrows. We have inspiring leaders like Shashi Tharoor who have made the youth of Trivandrum think and act beyond the sooty curtains of caste-ism and politics. We have cities like Bangalore and Hyderabad who pip the alpha-world cities in attracting investment. We have institutions like the ISRO and VSSC which are proud enough to show that we can do it! We have educational facilities like IIT and IISER which churns out some of the most sought after brains of the planet. We have the bravest of the braves like Capt. Jerry Premraj and Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan who taught our foes the virtues of a real soldier. We have industrialists like Mittal and Tata who are making it loud and clear as to who call the shots in the business-world today!

Lastly India is a proof that money and material are not the only things you need to see genuine happiness on a face... Look at Pooja, she has the most radiant smile you'd ever see, according to the photographer. Source.

Pooja from Calcutta; photograph by Dey Alexander

This is where the real Indian spirit lies... finding the sense of joviality in even the paradoxical of living states. Far cry from the rich and high-fi countries where depressive disorders are part and parcel of existence, people take their own lives when the value of their stocks crash on a Black Monday, when mothers have to be 'trained' and 'encouraged' to get emotionally attached to their own babies and where barbie-dolls and teddy bears become the only solace for those at the dusk of their lives... I'm seeing it all...

But they have their own strong points, and so do we.

So in a nut-shell folks, I always feel how incredibly lucky I'm for being a part of this part of the world. Never a day passes in my life without the urge to see how things are improving in my country and my state, so is the case with millions of Indians back home and abroad, I'm sure. Once you're exposed to the outside world and you get to realize some of the good things we miss back home (read efficient bureaucracy, equality in laws, obedient and socially responsible citizens, care of environment). You tend to become temporarily frustrated at the state of things in India...only temporarily.

Because at the back of our mind we know that it is only a matter of time before our society evolves into a better one for its citizens.. The British didn't shed Colonialism overnight, racism didn't evaporate from the US in a flash, Nazism took a while to move into oblivion and it took Kuwaiti women decades to earn their right to vote... All good changes take time...

So, the Earth revolving, we can bring about changes to our society. The charges in Claude Arpi's article doesn't demand a huge effort to tackle, except the politicians, the bureaucracy and the corruption. Well, as I said, this triplet may take a bit longer...

But there are more teething problems than those mentioned in that article. It may not be pleasing for anyone to see the sea of ghettos that spoil the Mumbai urban-scape when you take-off or land at the CSIA. Yes, still 25% of our countrymen live below poverty line, ie they earn less than 10 Rs/day/head. Don't ask how someone is going to survive @ Rs.300/month but if you consider the World Bank cut-off point of 1.25 $ per day, then 70% of our countrymen turn BPL! Gosh...

Looking at the official figures, do you see any silver lining? Look, the graph shows an obvious declining trend.

% of population below poverty line

But the road is still a a long, steep winding one uphill and all we've got is a moped with heavy load. Perhaps its the time to be pragmatic and lets join hand to bring in some real sunshine to the lives of children like Pooja. So why not take inspiration or determination from a few of our friends around us, a few of fellow-bloggers and colleagues for instance?

Kenny Jacob and his wonderful MAD volunteers, the exuberant youth of tidycity working to keep our environment in check, are all some of the efforts people I know undertake. If you're abroad and your heart still yearns out, why not consider signing up for something similar to Child Fund Ireland? Don't you realize how huge a difference you can make, for such a small sum?

So have you decided how you are going to share the feeling that is called India!!?? C'mon lets all join hands and pull that graph down to the trough!

image courtesy santabanta.com

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!

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The Pen, the ink & the colours PART I

The millennium Bond flick "Tomorrow Never Dies" conceptualizes a media mogul who schemes up dicey stories for his news channel and turns them to reality. Keralites were introduced to this then seemingly wild concept of 'tomorrow's news today' by Mammooty in New Delhi, as early as in 1984.

Seems this idea has inspired a few newscasters of our times, in a different form though, where we get to see and hear pre-set, formulated news and even ingeniously manufactured scoops, totally dissociated itself from the real tale.

With a dearth of options, I've been jinxed to watch some of the crappiest of English/ Hindi newschannels over here. I don't know what drives the sense of purpose behind channels like Star News. Its like a Cricinfo + B4U mixture, with ads and current news as fillers. They air some of the strangest current events programmes dubbed as news, hosting a herd of amateur clueless journos. Oh, if you are a cricket lover don't be mulled into tuning into this frequency, because 'prolific' cricket experts like Saba Karim and Sandeep Patil will do your head in by scrutinizing, criticizing and exposing technical deficiencies in the front foot cover drive of Sachin Tendulkar and the foot movement of Herschelle Gibbs at Point. Saba Karim even takes an extreme step forward by exhibiting with a bat how Sachin should have really played the shot to pierce the gap. Ahem!

Up on the Bollywood half, its gossip, gossip and gossip for the Star nincompoops, on who's looking down the boobs of whom, speculations about the marriage blues of star couples and predictions about 'what will happen in a weeks time'.

I'm not sure if Aaj Tak has improved, it was one channel which had the maximum scope of improvement, in other words it sucked the most. I had the privilege of watching Aaj Tak breaking news a couple of years back; spooky, theatrical headlines and reports with ear-aching background scores which would put the lousiest of Saas-bahu dramas to shame.

NDTV, CNN-IBN and aamchi DD are some other channels in contention, and surprisingly Doordarshan has managed to maintain its previous standards, even though it has always been below-par. But it certainly is shocking that some of the mainstream news channels have stooped down to hit such lowly troughs.

A sigh of relief it is, to think that Malayalam Channels still maintain some sort of a gauge in telecasting happenings around us. Forget the tear-jerker mega-serials and eternal reality shows, the current dominant channels like Asianet, Surya, Indiavision and Amritha needs a pat on the back for commendable reporting of current events. These channels, in my opinion, have managed to strike a balance in voicing their own opinion against what actually transpired on mother earth, without of course turning the goat into the dog. Afterall media has evolved in such a way that the element of favouritism and bias cannot be wiped out fully.

Kairali Channel, with its background, has a greater affinity towards cherry shades and so the news reporting follows a predictable pattern. Kairali pits itself against the identical twin losers among Malayalam Channels, Jeevan and Manorama News.

Manorama News carries forward the saga of its elder sibling, the original Malayala Manorama newspaper. The channel, although hosts a few appreciable current events programmes, follows the same tradition of news invention, news twisting and news trading for which the papyrus MM is infamous for. Malayala Manorama has grown into such a legend that I need one full post to appreciate their finer qualities. You can read about it here, in a few weeks time.

But again the silver lining is that Kerala News Channels and journalists are still head and shoulders above their New Delhi counterparts in the quality of reporting, and the substance and reality in the reports.

Whereas, Malayalam channels are yet to realign themselves with the changes happening in this "Media Business", where 'as it happened now' is the new motto. Blogs, and lately microblogs like Twitter have brought live news to new unthinkable levels. The way BBC, Sky News and co reported Mumbai 26/11 with live tweets and links must be a reference for our local media barons.

The pen still remains mightier than the sword, but the current media has lost the prophecy attributed to it over the years. Its now just another business, with most of its divine qualities gone down the drain, forever.

How can I stop without a few words about our print media, which we compulsively gulp down with our morning cup of tea. Ever wondered what exactly you are reading? Continuing here in Part II

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