My Opinion Matters... well atleast to me, it does !

Issues,incidents and 'kands' are what the news channels have been feeding us non-stop. I happened to get an overdose of them during the sine die vacation.. yes that's what I've decided to call it finally(read my previous post for details). The fact that bothers me most is that these channels, which claim that 'enlightening' the masses is their responsibility, cross all limits and make a mockery of all unwritten ethics of the reporting profession in the race to score better TRPs. Creating absolutely unrelated and over sensationalized headlines to a normal incident and projecting it as a matter of great importance is a very deplorable act in my opinion. Whether it is the rising inflation,the Aarushi murder case or absolutely unimportant events like 'The Great Khali' on his visit to India, the electronic media,especially the news channels made it seem like the event in question is the defining moment for entire humankind and have been telecasting the same innumerable times. A few months back there was this Rizwanur case in West Bengal and at the same time a singer from Bengal had won a singing reality show. The insensitivity of the news channel was clearly reflected when they brought the victim's mother and the winner's mother together to a public function and were trying to establish some vague connection. The reporter contrasts the jubilant mood at the winner's residence to the gloomy atmosphere at the victim's home forcibly bringing tears to his mothers eye who is still in shock of her son's untimely death. Instead of leaving the victim's family alone, the channel keeps interviewing them and this according to me acts like rubbing salt on their wounds.

'Character Assassination', which came into focus during the Aarushi murder case when her friends took out a protest was being done more by the media than by the police department. The media should be made to realize that their job is to inform the people about the happenings in the country and outside with a neutral tone and not by sensationalizing tid-bits of information which they feel will arouse the 'curiosity glands' of the public. The incident happens, police reaches the spot and looks for clues, meanwhile the news editors are already engaged at pointing fingers and reaching a baseless, but 'sensational' conclusion. If this is what private news channels have to offer, I would prefer to listen to Doordarshan's monotonic newsreader who gives news as it comes to him. One expects competition to improve standards, whereas in the case of news channels, the result has been pretty much the reverse. I find absolutely no reason as to why 'The Great Khali' needs to be given so much coverage on prime time when more important matters are at hand. I have no personal dislike for the wrestler. In fact, I am proud that he represents India in the WWE, even though I am very well aware of the fact that its all fixed up, but atleast he's equipped with the right physique which justifies his presence there. But, I would like to watch him in an entertainment channel and not a news channel, but I guess in this age of all-rounders the news channels are trying their best to keep us entertained. This surely doesn't qualify as infotainment. This is simply the lack of content or rather the lack of the willingness to show it.

Usually, when issues need attention, the media is the most effective tool of spreading the word around. But what can be done when the media itself is an issue? Any answers, I am eager to hear some...

Here I am, This is me(obvious,isn't it?)!

The credit of this post goes to one of my classmates whose words of encouragement have given me the necessary push to go ahead and post some more 'pseudo-intellectual' crap! Could start by writing about how I spent my summer... coz nothing else more suitable and apt to write after one comes back from a month and half of vacations! Speaking of the 'vacation' reminds me of why it started at such an early date. In fact what was later officially declared as a vacation by the college management had initially started off as a 'sine die'. No,u've not misread anything.. what started off as a sine die for 'students engaging in in-disciplinary activities and violence' had been later declared as a premature summer vacations. If I sit to contemplate as to what actually caused the violence by considering the information I have from various sources as true,then I can rebuild in my mind a hilarious sequence of events. Well, hilarious would be an appropriate word had the outcome not been so gory. But going by the absence of common sense and the presence of an excessive sense of 'pride' in the people who were directly involved, the violence seems pretty childish,immature and absolutely unnecessary.

Well,whatever happened had happened.. the result was that all the boarders of 6th semester had to vacate the hostels within 10 AM the next morning. On my suggestion, some of my friends decided to come with me for a short trip to vizag, naturally encouraged by the fact that my parents were out of station and we would get the flat and the car all to ourselves. And a good decision did it turn out to be, as we had a wonderful time together in vizag. Enjoying the sun,sand,sea and hills with absolutely nothing in mind except the sole aim of having a great time. All good things come to an end, so did this trip. Friends dispersed to their respective destinations and I headed to my brother's place - Chennai.

Reached Chennai the day after my parents departed for Singapore to join the vessel on a semi-world tour. Decided promptly that I can't waste all the time pretending to be doing something and actually doing nothing. Had joined a networking course - N+(Networking+) and CCNA(Cisco Certified Network Associate) in an institute there. And this is how my afternoons would pass for the remaining holidays. Mornings consisted of reading "The Hindu", breakfast,lazying around,reading books or playing GTA :San Andreas.. yes,I played it again.. right from the start. Evenings included taking rest,snacks and watching T.V. In similar fashion the day ends and before one knows, its time to hit the sack again ! Time literally flies when you want it to stay that way, doesn't it ? Atleast one thing I am glad about is that I paid attention in the classes I attended and used the travel time in the bus to go through the course material. Had been to Queensland one day on the occasion of Dada's birthday.. tried out all the rides that can be in a day's span.. ended up having a wonderful time.

That's nearly summed up my sine die vacation for you... See.. I fooled u guys by promising 'pseudo intellectual' stuff in the beginning ! Not really my fault, will surely get some in the posts to come.. Don't get disheartened guys !