My Filmi Keeda: Stars in the TV Galaxy

Everything that glitters is not gold. Every star who shines on the silver screen may not twinkle on Television. Years back when Amitabh Bachchan made his debut in TV fiction with thriller miniseries Yudh, I was super excited. My fascination with Big B had started with KBC in 2000. Seventeen years on and my love for him has only grown manifold. Despite the KBC memories, I didn’t enjoy watching him on TV.

When film stars act on the small screen, they look very different. Sometimes, less convincing. Not just Amitabh, established actors like Karishma and Anil Kapoor have showcased their acting skills on TV. Karishma’s serial of the same name aired on Sahara One in 2003-2004 and lasted over 262 episodes. It also had many other actors like Sanjay Kapoor, Arbaaz Khan, Arshad Warsi to name a few. Anil Kapoor’s 24 in 2013 was a superhit. I watched all the episodes with equal interest as the plot was too gripping.

Until some years back, television was considered a smaller platform than Bollywood. And every TV actor aspired to be part of the bigger screen. Many actors left their successful TV careers to find a place in films but never made it big. Gracy Singh, Aman Verma, Karan Singh Grover, Amar Upadhyay, Gurmeet Choudhary, Aamna Sharif, Rajeev Khandelwal, Anita Reddy, Prachi Desai are just some of them.

   

But there are some actors, new and old, that never made it big in films but are so adorable on TV. One name that immediately comes to mind is: Vibhuti Narayan Mishra. The character is so lovable and the actor who looks some 20-something is actually 55 plus of age. Aashif Sheikh (Vibhuti) has acted in several films like Karan Arjun, Haseena Maan Jaegi, Army, Pyaar Kiya Toh Darna Kya, Kunwara, etc. We may not remember his roles in these films but his rendition of a jobless man flirting with his brainless neighbour is remarkable. He has been working on TV since 1985. He first appeared in Hum Log which also happens to be India’s first daily show on television.

       

Another name that got immense popularity is Ronit Roy as Mr. Bajaj in Kasautii Zindagi Kay. He was able to impress the producers, landing himself a role in Balaji Telefilms’ Kyunki Saas… He repeated the success story with courtroom drama Adaalat as KD. Off late, he has been doing some work in films like Udaan, 2 States, etc.

From the old school, actor Sanjay Khan made a stellar debut in The Sword of the Tipu Sultan in 1990. Despite a career spanning more than three decades, the actor-director is best remembered as Tipu Sultan. He starred in many hits movies and acted in over thirty films from the 1960s till the mid-80s. Now, his son and actor Zayed Khan is all set to make his TV debut in Sony’s latest thriller show Haasil. Zayed was last seen in Sharafat Gayi Tel Lene in 2015. He has done more than 20 films but the only role worth remembering is that of Lucky in Main Hoon Na.

It’s something to be seen if Zayed is able to create some magic with his role as Ranvir Raichand. The show also stars Vatsal Sheth (Kabir Raichand) and Nikita Dutta (Aanchal Srivastava). The story revolves around two brothers who supposedly love the same girl. While Nikita has done couple of TV shows earlier. Vatsal is a known face on silver screen. His first show Just Mohabbat was a hit and ran for four long years. He has also tried his luck in movies with Tarzan - The Wonder Car – being his first film.

The latest offering by Sony is a romantic drama with love triangle as the backdrop. The promos and teasers seem intriguing. Wait gets over on October 30 at 9:30 PM IST. Hope, Zayed Khan keeps up the legacy.

My Saturday Blog: Don't Pray For Daughters

Sorry for being away, yet again. This week's blog is very disturbing yet it's very real. Not once or twice but several times I feel that the society does not deserve daughters. Saving the girl child in the womb is one thing. And preparing the world for her is another. All we do is prepare her for the world.

We hardly talk about how we can make this world better and more sensitive for her to survive. Yes, survive. A girl is born, some parents are happy some are not, but she survives. She says she wants to study further, some accept but some reject saying it would be a waste of time and money. She goes to school and tells her parents that some boys harass her, they tell her to take few days leave or change the route.

In a village, when the girl says she's got her first periods and there are no toilets. They say don't go to school instead. Now switch to cities where schools and colleges have all the amenities, girls face eve-teasing or molestation at every level. The walls of girls' toilets are full of gross caricatures of men's private parts scribbled on them.

The buses, the autos, the tempos they take to commute are not designed keeping them in mind. A normal CNG auto has capacity of six including driver of which only 3 can be taken by a girl. If the co-passenger is heavy and aged, the actual seat capacity comes down to 2. Girls almost daily commute in pathetic conditions, sandwiched and touched by unknown and unlimited number of male passengers on a daily basis.

I remember commuting by train during my journalism days in 2004-05. How I was scared to climb up or down the stairs, every time I had to board or deboard the train. It was a task to reach the ladies coach, many a times, the train stopped early and I had to board the general coach. How hundreds of eyes scanned the girls. I heard someone talking in the general compartment: Boys are not allowed in ladies coach then why girls are allowed here. Then we have to give our seat as well. So, this was a compromise which they didn't want to make.

Be it yesterday, today or tomorrow. Till the time people do not welcome women in public domain, nothing is going to change. Be it wee hours of the day or late at night, why can't we make the journey of woman from home to work and vice versa safer and comfortable.    

The gangrape of a 23-year old married woman in Gurugram and murder of her 9-month old baby has left most of us shocked. I say most of us, because a majority of them are still arguing whether she should have taken the shared auto with male occupants or not. Also, that it was a secluded stretch. 

Instead of looking at the atrocity with which the culprits committed the crime, all we have to say is that she should not have left her house at midnight. All three men held the crying infant choking her and causing her death before throwing her on the divider.

Had it been a busy road, and the driver would have been sober, can anyone guarantee that such an incident would not have happened? If you have doubts, read next.

Jun 9, 2017: In Mumbai's Thane, a male co-passenger in a shared auto-rickshaw allegedly molested a 23-year-old woman and then threw her out of the vehicle. The victim sustained injuries and was helped by passersby and taken to the hospital.

Aug, 2014: A 24-year-old software professional had suffered serious injuries when she jumped off a moving auto rickshaw in Thane after the driver allegedly tried to abduct her. The incident had also taken place around 9.15 pm, when she boarded the vehicle at Kapurbawdi Naka. (Source: Indiatimes)

Such incidents only expose the state of public transport in India. Not every woman, working or non-working, can afford a vehicle of her own. And has to take a cab, train, bus or auto to commute. We keep telling our daughters to come home on time but we never thought of making public transport safe for her.

You may say, how can we change the society? Government should do something about it. Well, a good or bad society has nothing to do with politics. Society is made by us not the Government. How many parents discuss molestation, physical assault and rape with their male child. All that we hear is that it's difficult to raise a girl, since she's vulnerable to sexual abuse. This is not her fault, it is our failure as a society. Instead of telling our boys how to behave, we find it easy to find faults with a girl's attire, her body language.

Here's an incident that took place in 2003-04 in broad daylight. I was on my way back from college. Some miscreants boarded the DTC bus, I was in. In just few minutes, they started teasing a girl who was sitting opposite me. Nobody but an aged uncle objected. This guy came close, pulled his eyelashes and twisted back. Uncle shouted in pain. All of us were taken aback. The girl was completely silent. I thought, what that guy would have done had she raised her voice. No one dared to utter a word. After a while, he deboarded. We took a sigh of relief.

Today, when I recall the horror. I feel if the driver had stopped the bus and asked the wrongdoer to deboard immediately, it would have discouraged a lot of other demons in disguise. 

We need to stop this nuisance. And both women and men have to raise their voice. Even till date, I mostly commute by shared autos and 99.9% times there are no female occupants at 9 pm. Once when I boarded a cab from Vaishali Metro station, the driver in the middle of the conversation said: "Madam, don't take shared autos. It is not safe."

If you are bound by work to leave late, how can you decide that the auto, bus or cab you take will be safe. Being self dependent can help but not much. Till the time, males around the country don't accept that women also have the right to earn, right to live and enjoy their life, things will not change. A woman goes out of choice or is forced to go out to feed her children is a subjective matter. 

Majority of men in India, still feel women are better off at home. And they take to rape as way to protest. And I am not referring to any godmen, gurus and fanatic politicians who keep making misogynist comments about working women.

Our policemen, who also come from the same male-dominated society, can help make us feel safe instead of harassing us when something bad happens. Rotten mentality and empty spaces damage more than poorly lit streets and vacant spaces in the city.

Here are few more incidents of rape in India where the evil was completely unexpected. None is less horrific than the other.

Feb 1, 2011: An employee of a Kochi shopping mall was travelling in a ladies coach on the Ernakulam-Shoranur passenger train. She was attacked and pushed off the train by a man only to be raped near Vallathol Nagar. She succumbed to injuries at the Government Medical College Hospital, Thrissur, on February 6 that year. (Source: Times of India)

Dec 16, 2012: A 23-year old paramedical student was brutally beaten and raped on her way back from Saket to Dwarka. After a week of treatment, she died in a hospital in Singapore. All the six people were arrested and one of them Ram Singh committed suicide in trial period in jail. Four of them were hanged, the young boy who was 17 years and six months old on the day of the incident was sent to a juvenile home. The juvenile was released on 20 December, 2015. (Source: Wikipedia)

Aug 22, 2013: A 22-year old photojournalist was gang-raped by five people, including a juvenile, when she had gone to the deserted Shakti Mills compound, in South Mumbai, with a male colleague on an assignment. (Source: Wikipedia)

My Saturday Blog: Blurring lines between Anchors and Actors

The line between Anchors and Actors seems to be blurring. Today, Anchors try to act bringing in all the possible melodrama in their prime time debates. Sometimes they are angry, sometimes emotional. But they hardly look closer to reality. The way they break news itself seems to be abysmal.

Actors meanwhile are connecting with their fans, also their potential viewers, on their own. Thanks to the new age marvel called social media. Not just film promotions but a glimpse of their fitness regime, their travel journals, latest project or a funny video message has become the norm.

I had decided to become a Television Anchor by the time I was in my late teens. Though, I had absolutely no idea what the job would be like. I had a photogenic face, good voice and decent knowledge of current affairs.

After my graduation in English Literature, I pursued a diploma in TV Journalism. With no contacts in Media and a lot of confidence in myself, I knocked every media house’s door but couldn’t land a job for me. After five years as a Copy Editor with a news agency and a web portal, I did become an Anchor.

Today, many of my old colleagues have their own YouTube channels. They write blogs, some have even launched their own websites. They are a star in their own might with the number of followers increasing by the day. The advent of social media has certainly changed the meaning of communication.

When it comes to Actors, they are no more dependent on entertainment magazines or TV Channels for marketing themselves. Today, they may not have to call for a press conference for any clarification. A-140-character statement on Twitter is suffice. Though, many recent controversies that began by a tweet ended up with a press conference.

A new era of brand building for Actors has begun which has, in some way, reduced the importance of Electronic Media. Also, because Media-shy Actors find it easy to communicate with their fans through pictures and videos on Instagram. Rather than sitting in front of a fierce journalist and answering questions which eventually go beyond the film concerned. This might not hold true for everyone but Anchors, several times, take the film promotion to a different level. These days, Actors prefer to appear on Reality and Comedy shows for promotion rather than give an exclusive TV interview.

A perfect way, however, would be a round-the-clock promotion on all mediums. Actors today choose their own medium to communicate. Some Actors still find it difficult to handle social media since everything here is LIVE, even the reactions, which can sometimes be very rude.

Most of the 90s Actresses like Pooja Bhatt, Manisha Koirala, Karisma Kapoor, Raveena Tandon and Shilpa Shetty are active on Instagram. Recently, when Katrina made her debut on the photo and video sharing App, she received a warm welcome from the film fraternity. For all those who want to (re)connect with their fans, social media seems to be the quickest and best way.

Why am I being raped every day?

I am ashamed yet again. The ugly debate on BBC airing the short film “India’s Daughter”, and the ban that followed, was not even over that a sick nationalist uploaded a cut-copy-paste video titled “United Kingdom’s  Daughter” as a reply to Leslee Udwin’s documentary on Nirbhaya’s rape .

Only if a film for a film, a rape for a rape, an eye for an eye, could justify the whole situation. Udwin, who herself claims to be a rape victim from Britain, must not have imagined the uproar it has created in the minds of millions of Indians. But some have definitely spoken in support. What renowned Lyricist Javed Akhtar said in Parliament on the issue echoed my thoughts. He said, “What was the need to speak to the convict? We don’t like what he says. He says gandi baat. But I have heard the same baatein in this hall (Parliament). Good that the documentary was made. At least some people must have realised that they think like the rapist.”

You know what it signifies? It means we need to ask ourselves before raising an alarm over foreign filmmakers tarnishing India’s image with portrayal of Indian men as pervert, whether or not what we heard in the film reflects the mentality of a significant number of men in India.

It is difficult to accept but the truth remains that men in large majority still don’t like women being independent financially, sexually or even emotionally. Being a working woman myself, I have seen the misogynist attitude of men in general towards their colleagues. From my first job till today, I have hardly seen any man who considers women capable of being intellectually stronger. Let alone the jokes of unmarried girls taking home fat salaries (as they don’t have financial responsibilities). One of the colleagues had even said, “You don’t need a salary, you stay with parents.” As if women have no right to earn money, no right to do what they like.

This whole episode of #NirbhayaInsulted has disturbed me thoroughly. I have been unable to understand how a film based on an incident that has already taken place, could tarnish India’s image. Though, the ban is understandable as the views of the convict are disconcerting, though not shocking. Even more appalling is the claim by Nirbhaya case’s sole eye witness and victim that the documentary is fake. He had done all sorts of dramatized versions of the deadly night of December 16 with Indian TV channels, yet when Udwin approached him he was not sure of the motive behind the film. (Can you recall his show with Aaj Tak a year after the incident telling the anchor all the same things like which movie they watched, what time they took the auto, etc.)

Udwin, who had appealed to the PM on one of the shows on NDTV to watch the film, has now fled the country on fear of being arrested.

“India’s Daughter” which was supposed to be an awareness campaign to understand rape from a social perspective has been misinterpreted so badly by several men (and women alike) that we have deviated from the actual issue.

I am not bothered about the ban, nor am I advocating the Freedom of Speech here. But I have been saying it for years that men don’t respect women enough. And rape is a serious thing not just in India but worldwide. India’s comparison to any other country be it Britain will not be correct as the social milieu is not the same. Here women are taught to be second class citizens right from the birth. What the Defence Lawyers handling the case have some said in the documentary is just a reflection of many men in power including our revered politicians. If justice is denied or delayed further, this would actually be an insult to every woman who has gone through this ordeal.

Never Let Your Dreams Die

Where have you been the entire year? Asked a fellow blogger. Well, 2012 was a busy yet amazing year. Not only because my elder sister bought a house in Hyderabad but also because I finally got a chance to appear on Television.

Picture Courtesy: Google

Seven years back, when I passed out from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, I had just one dream. I wanted to Anchor Shows on TV. But with time, my passion for the camera slowed down. I tried my luck with All India Radio and managed to present LIVE shows for Yuvavani.

While studying, I read 30-min news bulletins for local channels that appeared on Cable Network between the breaks. Oh! How much we curse those ad breaks watching our favorite movies. Though, my mother religiously watched my bulletins along with me. (Only your Mother can bear your amateur news reading!)  

Many of my old chums recalled at a School Reunion, how proud they felt watching me. It was a strange feeling. My goal was still far away. I tried for a job at Aaj Tak twice but never got a call. My audition tape for the weather Anchor at NDTV (2005) went missing. The India TV security men never let us enter the reception. We were allowed only to drop the resumes in the box created at the entrance (Only to be thrown in the bin, when the box was full). Twice again at BAG Films and no success. And I just can't forget the audition for S1 Tadka (I could have easily won the Out Of Place Award. Why the hell had I gone for this one, I feel now. There were boys and girls who were bothered more about the makeup and clothes, rather than the script).

Last, but not the least. Through a classmate, I got a meeting fixed with someone at Total TV (Delhi's own 24 hours junk News channel). They denied giving even an internship. Anyways, I continued my search that ended at Zee News. I did a 15-day internship with the Programming Desk at the channel.

December, 2005: I got my first job. This was not neither TV nor Radio. I joined as a Trainee Sub-Editor with United News Of India (UNI). This was indeed special. Everything I know about Editing, I learned it here. Then in July, 2007 I moved to Online Media, as this seemed to be the future of Journalism. My dreams of a TV debut started fading. I thought I was best suited for the Internet but then I got a call from Zee News in September, 2010. I gladly accepted the offer. It was when I believed the dust had settled, a miracle occured.

2012: The Year That Was

I anchored my first show on Television on July 24. The feeling can't be expressed in words. Though, the wait was more explicit than the actual moment when I first faced the studio lights.

There Is A Little Me In Every You

This is my entry for the HarperCollins–IndiBlogger Get Published contest, which is run with inputs from Yashodhara Lal and HarperCollins. Please vote : http://www.indiblogger.in/getpublished/idea/515/

Pic Courtesy: weheartit.com

Prerna Anand, a lower middle class girl from Meerut city, wanted to be a Television Anchor ever since she passed her intermediate. Her mother insisted, the world was murky out there. But she just won’t listen. Her father felt, teaching was the best a woman should do after marriage.

Prerna’s dreams got bigger when she met Pratik at her Mass Communication college. She was immensely in love and was clear in her mind to have a life with him. Pratik’s confidence in her and his promises gave wings to her desires. “I have so many contacts. You can get a job any day in Media,” he said. Life would have been perfect had he not disappeared leaving her forsaken on the last day of college. She felt humiliated. Her trust had shaken and so was she from the inside. No one at home wanted her to leave for Delhi, where her destiny awaited. Finally, her best friend Kashish convinced everyone and took her to her mansion in Sundar Nagar. Rounds of interviews and auditions began. Prerna was undoubtedly beautiful and a hard-working fresher. She didn’t get a job for six months. Her father was adamant to call her back to Meerut. “Maine toh pehle hi kaha thha, mere paas faltoo paise nahin tumhare dilli ghoomne ke liye. Chup chaap wapas aa jao,” and he hung up the phone.

Prerna felt isolated. She committed suicide but survived. This infuriated Kashish’s businessman father to issue an order not to allow any friends to stay at their place. She had to move out. She managed to get a PG with Kashish’s support. She cut off from her family. No one came to see her hearing about her suicide. Her mother had only wished she could, as she whispered over the phone.

She was down but not out. She kept looking for jobs. Heartbreak had made her pursue her dreams more passionately. She grew more and more egoistic looking at the world around. When everyone else was busy thinking about themselves, why should she compromise with her dreams?

Some more interviews and then came a job that changed her life forever.

She met Sanjay Jumani, Channel Head, Indian News. He was a through professional. She spent two years at this job. Growing from an intern to a reporter and then finally becoming the face of the channel. Sanjay was fond of her and her hard work. He often gave her gifts in appreciation for her achievements. Prerna had now moved in to a society flat in Greater Kailash. Sanjay had alone decided to get married to Prerna. He thought she was okay with the idea. He came often to pick her up for office. And drop her without fail. Sometimes, he stayed back. Prerna too liked him but had not decided on marriage.

When she declined his proposal, Sanjay couldn’t take it. He pulled her by her hair and shouted, “Why were you feeding on my gifts for two years? If you were not ready to marry me?”

Again, the same ‘me’ had come on her way. Why was every one so bothered about the ‘me’ that they had completely forgotten about the other ‘you’. She disappeared from Sanjay’s life just as Pratik had, without giving him any explanation.

For five years, she remained ardently anti men. But now, the lines between hatred for men and her love for women were blurring. All this had happened because she was finally in love.

When every man in her life, beginning from her Dad, had refused to understand her, she had begun to think about marriage. She had finally met a man who was sensitive and mature. When she expressed her desire to settle down with him, he refused.

Was it because of her family background or her credentials? Had Siddhartha come to know about her past? What deterred him to tie the nuptial knot with her?

When all humans relinquished her, only her pet, Tubelight, stood till the end. May be because only dogs don’t see the “little me in every you.” If you wish to read the full story, please vote http://www.indiblogger.in/getpublished/idea/515/

What Makes This Story ‘Real’ – 

The glamour world is unkind, more so if you are a woman. Millions of small town girls with dreamy eyes come to join the Television industry but are forced to go by the rules. Those who refuse to compromise are either left half-hearted or go through a lot of muck.

Extract - She met all sorts of people at various Production Houses in Delhi. Most of them wanted to offer her a job but with some preconditions. One of them promised her one time payment of Rupees 5,000 for presenting a celeb night at Shimla, provided she had to stay a day extra after the event. Prerna had just faced the harsh realities of the glam world.

End-note: "This is my entry for the HarperCollins–IndiBlogger Get Published contest, which is run with inputs from Yashodhara Lal and HarperCollins India."

Tremors In My Heart

Few seconds of tremors in the capital on Wednesday night made me think how emotional independence was no less important than being financially self-reliant.

I was alone at my rented flat in Delhi, all set to decide which shirt to wear to office the next morning. As I stood before the steel almirah, it started making a shattering sound.

Before I could judge the situation, I heard an electric spark followed by a total blackout in the colony. I groped for a torch and went out in the balcony. People had come out and were discussing the fear they had just witnessed for less than 10 seconds.

I called up my mom but disconnected the phone, thinking it was too late as she might have fallen asleep. A friend called asking if I was fine after the quake.

Staying alone for almost four years now, I thought I was all too brave. But panic struck after I hung up the call. I felt a strange disconnect with the world, none to call and look for strength. Yes, I felt weak. Tears rolling on my cheek, my voice almost choked. I felt I was still dependent on others, betraying my own belief that economic independence freed one from social bondage.

I had been an emotional child, an impulsive teenager till my college days, but became more and more confident as I started working in 2005. I commuted alone in trains and buses from Ghaziabad to Delhi for work, waited for autos at 10 in the night. Facing and killing my fears, I never gave discount to myself on the basis of being a woman.

Lengthy commuting time and odd shifts at work brought me to Delhi in 2007. It wasn’t easy convincing my mother, though.

This was the second time I panicked, last being “intimidated” by a street dog at 11.30 pm some three years ago (at my building’s stairs).

Coincidentally, that was also a second floor apartment with an attached balcony.

Last night’s fear was not of being buried under the debris or harassed by someone at night but the feeling of being alone (without any friends around).

This almost questioned my strength as a woman living in the city alone. Why was I scared? Why couldn’t I lock the door and go downstairs like most other people? Was I waiting for an external help? Who could have saved me from the horror? No one but my inner self could have helped me. But in my fit of emotions, I almost tried to escape the situation and look for support outside.

Had I stood there and told myself that I have to take care of my own, I would have been proud of myself. Instead, I took refuge by speaking at home and became normal (on the surface level), not sure if my brother read the pain in my choked voice.

Friends, not even family, can be with you 24x7. And if we choose a life that demands solitude and introspection, we have to be fearless in all situations.

The tremors taught me a “great lesson” only if I could make it a pillar to carve a story of strength for every woman wanting to be independent. After all, I was not the only one alone in the city.

Why Is Anna Such A Hit?

The newspapers are filled with life and time of a 74-year old man, who loves to talk and doesn’t quite like it if a politician calls him “old”.Well, there has been a deluge of editorials and views off-late on the “second struggle for freedom” as the man in focus, Anna Hazare, calls it. And believing in the same ideal of “democracy” that this man has stood for, I have dared to write this article.

Brilliantly using the Indian Media and cashing in on the current anti-Congress (political) sentiments a social activist launched a fast unto death on April 5, 2011. (Did I say just 2 days after Team India won the ICC World Cup and TV news channels were looking for their next big kill? Oh, come on, that was something I read in another Editorial.)

Irrespective of whether he made any ideological sense or not, the Media jumped into the Anna bandwagon. The whole Anna phenomenon, also being tagged as “August Kranti” by some of my fellow media persons, created a sense of erroneous belief that he was the biggest crusader against corruption.

Suddenly, the entire focus shifted from other important issues like rising prices and escalating crime against woman in the capital to humungous scams India witnessed in the first 2 years of UPA II.

People were so moved by the appeals made by Anna that they even forgot about the lakhs of rupees struck in the “land acquisition controversy” in Greater Noida.

The April 5-9 campaign was a success. Government agreed to form a 10-member joint committee to draft the Jan Lokpal Bill. Almost everyone from the urban middle-class learned the term “civil society.” Not even bothering to know if there was any difference at all between society and civil society. Five (only male) representatives including an eminent father-son duo of lawyers, a Justice (Retd), a former IRS officer and a social activist formed a group named as “Team Anna”.

They held a series of meetings with “Team Manmohan” which included our Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, a veteran Congress leader and a taint-free Cabinet ranked minister.

After several deliberations on an anti-graft bill or the Jan Lokpal Bill, the two sides exchanged their drafts of the same. The discussions were not kept to themselves rather Media was called after almost every meeting to accuse and abuse the ruling political class.

The movement started to change colour from an anti-corruption campaign to an anti-Congress one. As if all the previous non-Congress governments had been corruption free.

There were accusations and counter-accusations among politicians and the new-found representatives of the civil society. Some of the Congress men went to the extent of calling Anna an agent of Hindu nationalist organisation RSS (as a backlash of Centre’s show down on emerging “saffron terror” in the country). There were reports of free meals at Anna’s 12-day battleground, Ramlila Maidan, being funded by one of the affiliates of the right-winged Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The Sangh and its associates, however, denied any direct links to the campaign.

It was after the government referred their version of the bill, bypassing Team Anna’s draft of the Jan Lokpal Bill, in the Parliament that the campaign turned more aggressive and in many ways one-dimensional.

Why Anna Is Not Gandhi

The whole Anna movement spoke of either standing with them or being pro-corrupt. This in itself is “undemocratic”. There is always a space for debates and disagreements in a democratic set up. But this seemed to disappear in the second campaign. Anna declared: “You pass my bill, or I shall go on fast-unto-death”.

The theatrics and the symbolism used by Team Anna during the entire campaign made the comparisons with Mahatma Gandhi an anomaly. Gandhi led India’s biggest freedom movement by spreading awareness among the common man.

Here, the situation was completely different. Public emotions played a great role. Most of the people joining the campaign either didn’t know what the Jan Lokpal Bill was or didn’t bother to quantify the implications of implementing all the conditions proposed by Team Anna.

Only a select few could see the castle of “unrealistic” expectations this movement built. A single piece of paper (The Jan Lokpal Bill) promising billions of people including the corrupt ones to rid the country of up to 70% corruption. Amazing, isn’t it?

Ignorance can mobilise crowds, even as the Media can make anything look “larger than life”. Thousands of people pledged support to Annaji without getting into the feasibility aspect of the Jan Lokpal Bill.

The campaign now changed from anti-Congress to anti-Parliament with Anna telling the crowd about how the Jan Sansad was above the real Sansad i.e. The Parliament. People were moved, some celebs and some wannabe activists shared dais with the star campaigner.

People used the stage to vent anger against the ruling Congress. Forgetting that corruption was as much rooted in state politics, as it was in the politics of the Centre.

Policies are made at the Centre but (not) implemented at state levels. Anna never spoke about the corruption in BJP-ruled Karnataka during his entire campaign. (Some of us had not been able to forget his praise for BJP poster boy and Gujarat CM Narendra Modi).

Neither did he spoke on how the present provisions under the law could be strengthened to curb corruption.

How his bill would stop the local policewala to take bribe from hawkers and street vendors. How it would stop shopkeepers at Railway stations and other public places from overcharging consumers. How it would contain the root cause of corruption i.e. malice and sheer poverty? 

Several questions were left unanswered. The entire attention diverted to long speeches, melodrama and extensive live coverage. Some musical bands performing at the venue took care of the rest. Popular youth poet Dr Kumar Vishwas was the stage manager, sometimes citing his famous lines (Koi deewana kehta hai).

Anna’s fast-cum-campaign, criticised of being highly rightist, ended with two Dalit and Muslim girls (hand-picked from the crowd) serving him coconut water with honey. This was the perfect ending to a well choreographed show backed by large-scale SMS, social media campaigns to make sure they did not miss out on the “Youth”.

The August 16th fast-unto-death movement gathered maximum eyeballs on news channels even as the TRPs of TV soaps slumped.

Anna seemed to be the face of the campaign with others like Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi being the real voices behind. The exit of Swami Agnivesh and Justice (Rtrd) Hegde gave force to this belief.

Secondly, Anna’s announcement of a campaign for electoral reforms has left me pondering as to where would this hijacking technique end?  This self-proclaimed Gandhian chose to suggest people to reject an elected representative Govt than to encourage the urban non-voting middle class to vote for the right candidates.

Looking at the huge public support behind him, he should have encouraged people to come forward and join Politics. After all, this government or any government in the next General Elections needs people who want to work for the country, on or off the camera.

Also Read: Does Lack Of Political Will Or Ignorance Kill A Social Moment?

Why is Marriage so inevitable in India?

Views expressed here are personal. Not intended to offend anyone willing to marry or already married. Read on.

The vicious circle

People marry for sex? People marry for financial security? Or, people marry because it’s vital for survival and acceptance in society. Whatever the reasons may be, marriage in itself has no meaning. It is a means to achieve goals, not an end in itself, I feel.

Mostly, we marry for self-gratification, to prove our worth to the world. People who marry late or don’t marry at all have to face irksome questions. Despite all efforts, they fail to satisfy others of their choice of single hood.

People who remain single are either judged as sadists or psychic. Except those who dedicate their life to a cause. Rest for everyone, staying unmarried is looked upon with suspicion.

The problem is with the age-old mentality that has been obsessed with the tradition of kinship. For years, women have been an integral resource to extend the family tree, of which they are not even considered a part. They are supposed to serve as a silent spectator. This is the core reality of most of the rural India. The irony is that women themselves are content to play this role.

Despite all this, women love to marry. For many, marriage seems to be a “safe passage” to break the monotony of a tiresome middle-class life. By the time they reach 25, it becomes almost indispensable for them to leave their homes and “look outward”. It may also be due to the family members’ changing behavior towards them. A new home, new room (though, with a partner) and a whole new wardrobe seems exciting. For men, the reasons may be otherwise.

But as they say, nothing comes for free. All the fallacy associated with marriage vanishes after the encounter with reality. Be it a working woman or a home-maker, challenges are myriad. But she accepts it in exchange of the other benefits.

Those unable to cope up with the changes either land in divorce or an embittered marriage.

Family upbringing and cultural background play a great role in an individual’s perception about marriage. Looking at the number of cross-culture marriages in my family, I have come to believe that marriage should be considered a “personal” rather than a “family affair”.

However, even if a person marries for family's sake, ultimately he/she becomes part of the larger section of society that advocates marriage. Marriage is a legal arrangement between two people to stay together without being poked by the society. That's what differentiates it  from a “Live-in” relationship. 

“Live-ins” do not come with a bond nor garner the same respect as marriages in India. A married couple, however estranged, gets more societal support than a live-in couple in love.  The trend we say is catching up, but the patriarchal mindset hasn’t changed much. When I say “patriarchal”, I am referring to every man and woman who may possess this mentality.

When two people stay together, under marriage or Live-in the need for a child is inevitable. To have a child out of wed-lock in India has legal implications. Moreover, both the partners may not even agree.

Therefore, one needs to marry to have a child. Again marriage becomes a "means" to get your need fulfilled. Adoption is seen as an alternative but every child deserves the love and care of both the parents. Hence, I do not advocate being a single mother if there is an option to marry.

For men, passing on the family name is a responsibility. They have to marry for family’s sake. It’s not that boys don’t fight for love marriages; they might be few who fight for marriage. They do not face as many questions as girls do, even if they marry at 30.

Marriage is a single word holding different meaning for different people at different points in their life. Still I would say, it has implications in the long run but no meaning on the surface.

Waiting: Endless Slumber

I have been thinking for the last 10 days, why am I waiting. Waiting to get my first story book published, waiting for a change in professional life. That coveted 'creative satisfaction' in life.

This waiting is endless. I know I can write, and express situations and feelings through words. But aren’t there millions waiting to be the next Booker Winner! So how does one quantify the importance of waiting?

Who cares, if my books don’t turnout to be a ‘Bestseller’. At least, it would satisfy my quest to write. A walk inside a book store today made me feel guilty, guilty of not doing enough for myself.

I don’t want to wait anymore. Those who wait, never reach their goal. Waiting is like an endless sleep. We wait for that special moment, that special person but fail to address it when it actually arrives. And sometimes, waiting underplays the goal itself. Waiting for things beyond our control seems worthless to me. 

We can make it, only when we are awake. So if you have a target, don’t wait. Start working for it. I am a bad manager with time. And that’s what is coming between me and my goal.

But I have woken up from the slumber. I shall begin my work now.

What Kills A Social Moment? Power Play or Ignorance

Even before the Hazares and the Ramdevs hogged the limelight, there were several others leading silent protests in different parts of the country.

Irom Sharmila is the first name that comes to mind, a lady on a fast-unto-death since 2000 against Armed Forces (Special Forces) Act in Manipur and other Northeastern states. Neither has the Media been too generous in showing her plight to the ignorant minds nor has the Centre sent anyone to talk to “the world’s longest hunger striker”.

Not even a veteran social activist like Medha Patkar of the Narmada Bachao Andolan could get the kind of “political mileage” these modern-day heroes, ranting against corruption, have garnered in recent days.

Are the causes raised by them more important than their contemporaries? How do we differentiate between one movement and the other? Why are we so moved by “highly publicized” media campaigns even as we turn a blind eye on those which fail to appear on social networks like Facebook?  

Media, surely, has a bigger role to play than just being a toy in the hands of wannabe social activists. For the aam aadmi it is virtually impossible to lead a social movement. And for large-scale public support one has to resort to social networks, media and PR (here, I mean Political Relations).

The Baba Ramdev Movement that started as a public outcry for justice apparently turned into a battleground for power. Too much politics at both ends killed the purpose. And that is my intention of writing this piece. What is the “purpose” of any movement? Not only waking up the Government and the masses from their long slumber, but also bringing “substantial changes” in the present social order. For any campaign to be successful it’s important for the leader to tread the political path with care, maintain complete transparency and credibility.

All those self-proclaimed “Gandhians” must not forget that Bapu’s conditions and his intentions for “Satyagraha” were reasonably different. Neither was the then Government our own, nor were we in a democracy.

Even after Independence, several have fasted to death for prominent issues like creating separate linguistic states. The recent death of a Swami fasting against illegal quarrying near Ganga in Haridwar and the lack of “political empathy” towards him has raised grave concerns on the thin line between social and political movements. By latter, I mean movements with political aspirations of an individual or group under camouflage of a social movement. What make a movement successful are the support it generates and also the final outcome.

Most of the movements in recent times have been state-centric, at least to the casual observer. However the anti-graft movements for black money and Lokpal have been of a different nature.

Anna Hazare, a veteran activist himself, may have got 360 degrees support from civil society members, former bureaucrats like Kiran Bedi and the Opposition. But the controversies surrounding other members of his Team and his noticeable differences with Baba Ramdev drifted away the attention from the real goal.

Both the Anna and Ramdev Movement, despite being lead by two distinct personalities, have come down to be counted as one.

“Power play” is the best word I get to explain my stand.

People coming in support of the two men gave more attention to the fact that the movements were essentially “anti-Congress” and failed to quantify the possibilities of some of the claims made. Now that one of the two is left with just “allegations” and no fruitful results, it needs to be seen what way does the Anna Movement takes us to.

With the Govt all set to go ahead with its draft of Lokpal Bill in the Parliament anytime next month, Hazare has announced  a “Second Independence Movement“ to call for a strong Lokpal Bill.

Now, this raises questions about the authenticity of “hunger strikes” itself. Is this theatrical approach to the issue avoidable? Can the Parliament like the politicians in power be “blackmailed” on the pretext of changing the socio-political order?

No doubt the issue is important and is in the benefit of common people. But there are things beyond this and until every individual partakes in chucking out the roots of corruption no movement can actually turn out to be totally social.

The saddest part is that people are least interested in what affects them the most- the politics of the country. Even a strong protest falls silent without proper “political care”. By politics I mean good leadership, accountability and a vision. Not the distorted version we are witnessing in an era of coalition politics.