Two meetings on the same day. Slightly different wardrobe.
Wednesday 24 September, 2008
Sunday 13 July, 2008
A man's reputation
That the reputation of Dr. Rajesh Talwar has taken a beating from the Noida police is beyond question. But the treatment of this story by the media has also left much to be desired. The demonification of the 'father who killed his daughter' in the press and television raises questions as to whether there can be redress to such treatment by the press. So have the media defamed Dr. Talwar? In civil law, defamation is a tort which includes both slander and libel. Slander is spoken or transient defamation while libel is defamation that has been recorded in a more permanent form.
To successfully defend against libel, the press has to fulfill two requirements. Not only must the press prove its claims to be true, it must also prove their publication to have been in the public interest.
In this case, newspapers and television news channels have put out shows and stories making outlandish claims dreamed up by overactive imaginations sitting in the newsrooms trying to figure out ways as to how best to feed the monster of voyeurism next. The common element in many of these newspaper and television stories was they simply had no basis in truth.
Generally speaking the news media runs on speculation. But that speculation has a rule, especially in a newspaper. News should be true, true enough, as long as it is true enough until tomorrow. Generally speaking, even speculative stories require a foundation of fact to be legitimately speculating about the truth. There are people in television news channels who have repeatedly done entire shows on complete fabrications on the elements of this case.
The news media in recent years started taking an active interest in criminal cases, recognising how they get ratings and feed polls, especially when the victim is a member of that elite grouping PLU*. So Jessica Lal's murder case, Nitish Katara's murder case collectively became a cause celebre. The news media aggressively pursued these cases seeing that it sold, both in terms of ratings and those premium-rated SMS polls. And of course yes, to try and get justice for the poor PLU victims. In the process, reporters and editors got the misconception they were crusaders pursuing the ends of justice. Their sanctimonious self-righteousness was no longer in doubt.
And so they treated the murder of Arushi. Invading privacy, using innuendo, using the girl's text and scrap messages to portray her as possibly a maneater and flushing the reputation of a man down the toilet. Dr. Talwar's real action for libel lies against the media.
* People Like Us
To successfully defend against libel, the press has to fulfill two requirements. Not only must the press prove its claims to be true, it must also prove their publication to have been in the public interest.
In this case, newspapers and television news channels have put out shows and stories making outlandish claims dreamed up by overactive imaginations sitting in the newsrooms trying to figure out ways as to how best to feed the monster of voyeurism next. The common element in many of these newspaper and television stories was they simply had no basis in truth.
Generally speaking the news media runs on speculation. But that speculation has a rule, especially in a newspaper. News should be true, true enough, as long as it is true enough until tomorrow. Generally speaking, even speculative stories require a foundation of fact to be legitimately speculating about the truth. There are people in television news channels who have repeatedly done entire shows on complete fabrications on the elements of this case.
The news media in recent years started taking an active interest in criminal cases, recognising how they get ratings and feed polls, especially when the victim is a member of that elite grouping PLU*. So Jessica Lal's murder case, Nitish Katara's murder case collectively became a cause celebre. The news media aggressively pursued these cases seeing that it sold, both in terms of ratings and those premium-rated SMS polls. And of course yes, to try and get justice for the poor PLU victims. In the process, reporters and editors got the misconception they were crusaders pursuing the ends of justice. Their sanctimonious self-righteousness was no longer in doubt.
And so they treated the murder of Arushi. Invading privacy, using innuendo, using the girl's text and scrap messages to portray her as possibly a maneater and flushing the reputation of a man down the toilet. Dr. Talwar's real action for libel lies against the media.
* People Like Us
Thursday 12 June, 2008
Thursday 22 May, 2008
Nepal, the International Criminal Court and the Gorkha Rifle Regiments
Thursday, the 22nd of May, 2008, Metro Now
Sunday 11 May, 2008
Mimoh No More
Yesterday, while checking out the movie listing in the paper I came across something called Jimmy. There was a person called Mimoh on the poster who is the son of Mithun Chakraborty. I was morbidly glued to that picture of him, awed at his audacity and stupidity.
Audacity in daring to be in the public eye and stupidity in not eschewing movies and starting a business instead. I don't know, import-export, computer hardware or something.
Abraham Lincoln is said to have been considered ugly. But he was classily ugly. Mimoh is an eyesore on the planet. His crass ugliness takes your breath away. (Perhaps he could think of doing villainous roles with lots of make up, even a mask, no more) He should be fined and made to apologise for appearing in public.
Changing the subject, I saw that old lady in Khan Market again last week. She's found a station. There wasn't a mad rush to buy her puppets or anything but at least she had a place and she wasn't being chased off. If puppets appeal to you, buy from her. There is also a blind man who walks around Khan Market selling the most delicious incense sticks. Any time it strikes your fancy, buy from him.
Audacity in daring to be in the public eye and stupidity in not eschewing movies and starting a business instead. I don't know, import-export, computer hardware or something.
Abraham Lincoln is said to have been considered ugly. But he was classily ugly. Mimoh is an eyesore on the planet. His crass ugliness takes your breath away. (Perhaps he could think of doing villainous roles with lots of make up, even a mask, no more) He should be fined and made to apologise for appearing in public.
Changing the subject, I saw that old lady in Khan Market again last week. She's found a station. There wasn't a mad rush to buy her puppets or anything but at least she had a place and she wasn't being chased off. If puppets appeal to you, buy from her. There is also a blind man who walks around Khan Market selling the most delicious incense sticks. Any time it strikes your fancy, buy from him.
Saturday 5 April, 2008
India TV
India TV was just running an afternoon special on how the world is about to end because the Mayan civilizational calendar had prophesied this 5,000 years back.
Yes.
History Channel shows similar features but THC never says the world is actually going to end on such-and-such date. India TV makes it difficult to go against Priyaranjan Das Munshi when he tries to bring in a broadcasting code to regulate content on so-called TV news channels.
Yes.
History Channel shows similar features but THC never says the world is actually going to end on such-and-such date. India TV makes it difficult to go against Priyaranjan Das Munshi when he tries to bring in a broadcasting code to regulate content on so-called TV news channels.
Wednesday 2 April, 2008
The Old Man of Defence Colony Market
I started going to the Defence Colony around a year and a half back. I was trying to make myself agreeable to a girl who lived there. It didn't happen. But in that process I often ended up at the market there. Long coffees, elaborate suppers and almost ceremonial dinners (The things we do).
And after every beverage or meal, I would come across this really old man, wheeling his bicycle around. The bicycle had a wooden box mounted on the carrier and a brass bell hanging from the handlebars. The bell he would ring intermittently, trying to get the attention of the passers by. Everytime I saw him I was filled with rapt curiosity. And admiration at his persistence. Tinged with despair at his probably lack of choice.
Now Defence Colony is in South Delhi. And it has a fairly upscale market. That's why this old man stuck out. I'd seen one else like him. And I know for a fact that he came with his bicycle in the morning when the market opened and left after it closed at night.
I'd often wondered why he came here. I'd never actually seen him make a sale. He probably got three or four customers a day. I doubted the shoppers at DefCol Market wanted to buy. He probably thought this was a place where people had money and would buy his stuff. But I couldn't see the those people buying. I still can't. Shouldn't he have gone to a less upmarket market, so to speak? He'd probably have found a lot more customers next to the Jalebi thelas at a cheaper market.
He's still there. I saw him the other day. Ringing his bell. Selling Ghanta Chaap Churan. I just don't see it selling in DefCol Market.
And after every beverage or meal, I would come across this really old man, wheeling his bicycle around. The bicycle had a wooden box mounted on the carrier and a brass bell hanging from the handlebars. The bell he would ring intermittently, trying to get the attention of the passers by. Everytime I saw him I was filled with rapt curiosity. And admiration at his persistence. Tinged with despair at his probably lack of choice.
Now Defence Colony is in South Delhi. And it has a fairly upscale market. That's why this old man stuck out. I'd seen one else like him. And I know for a fact that he came with his bicycle in the morning when the market opened and left after it closed at night.
I'd often wondered why he came here. I'd never actually seen him make a sale. He probably got three or four customers a day. I doubted the shoppers at DefCol Market wanted to buy. He probably thought this was a place where people had money and would buy his stuff. But I couldn't see the those people buying. I still can't. Shouldn't he have gone to a less upmarket market, so to speak? He'd probably have found a lot more customers next to the Jalebi thelas at a cheaper market.
He's still there. I saw him the other day. Ringing his bell. Selling Ghanta Chaap Churan. I just don't see it selling in DefCol Market.
The Puppet Lady in Khan Market
The other day, standing in the parking lot in Khan Market I saw a poor old Rajasthani-attired lady trying to quietly sell puppets to foreigners and the top 0.1 % of the affluent. She had a slight smile as she displayed her wares, routinely seen at every Indian handicrafts exhibition and tourist trap.
My girlfriend was waiting, but I was watching the puppet salesman fixedly, a hack/voyeur, to see what would happen next. No one stopped to evince interest in her puppets. The puppets were so run-of-the-mill, I shook my head condescendingly, almost wanting to tell her to sell something less stereotypical that people around here weren't ambushed with all the time.
Needless to say she had no success at all. She was selling something everyone had seen a billion times. She wasn't an exponent of the pushy-urchin/beggar-at-the-red-light style of salesmanship. She was mild and had a softly pleasant smile.
And then three men, perhaps minions at some shop or perhaps at the market association there told her to leave. She stayed a heartbeat and then, giving a heartwarmingly embarrassed smile
and walked away towards the parking lot.
And I wondered about the socio-economic dynamic at play here. She wasn't bothering anyone. Often one can be chased by people trying to force their wares on you. But not she. She was no competition to the shops that employed the three men who shooed her off. She wasn't a hindrance to anyone, not the obscenely rich shoppers nor the shops. She wasn't even standing in front of a shop.
But she did stick out didn't she. Her clothes were the sort worn by poor women in rural Rajasthan. Not the sort of clothes often seen in Khan Market. If she'd been wearing an ordinary salwar kameez would they have bothered her? Perhaps, but as an equal. As it happened, they hushed her away in loud voices as if she were an embarrassing truth.
Again, if she'd been a Delhi lady? She'd have fought back some, probably.
But here she was out of place and station. Poor. Differently and rurally clothed. Out-of-towner. Unsophisticated. Unaggressive.
Her last smile was heartwarming.
My girlfriend was waiting, but I was watching the puppet salesman fixedly, a hack/voyeur, to see what would happen next. No one stopped to evince interest in her puppets. The puppets were so run-of-the-mill, I shook my head condescendingly, almost wanting to tell her to sell something less stereotypical that people around here weren't ambushed with all the time.
Needless to say she had no success at all. She was selling something everyone had seen a billion times. She wasn't an exponent of the pushy-urchin/beggar-at-the-red-light style of salesmanship. She was mild and had a softly pleasant smile.
And then three men, perhaps minions at some shop or perhaps at the market association there told her to leave. She stayed a heartbeat and then, giving a heartwarmingly embarrassed smile
and walked away towards the parking lot.
And I wondered about the socio-economic dynamic at play here. She wasn't bothering anyone. Often one can be chased by people trying to force their wares on you. But not she. She was no competition to the shops that employed the three men who shooed her off. She wasn't a hindrance to anyone, not the obscenely rich shoppers nor the shops. She wasn't even standing in front of a shop.
But she did stick out didn't she. Her clothes were the sort worn by poor women in rural Rajasthan. Not the sort of clothes often seen in Khan Market. If she'd been wearing an ordinary salwar kameez would they have bothered her? Perhaps, but as an equal. As it happened, they hushed her away in loud voices as if she were an embarrassing truth.
Again, if she'd been a Delhi lady? She'd have fought back some, probably.
But here she was out of place and station. Poor. Differently and rurally clothed. Out-of-towner. Unsophisticated. Unaggressive.
Her last smile was heartwarming.
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