Journalism

For a long time I have been been interested in Journalism and news especially as it applies to India. If someone were to to give me a copy of a newspaper dated anytime in the last 20 years (with its date of publication hidden) and if I were to to read it end to end, I don't think I would be able to guess the date with any level of accuracy. 

To explain this, I have to quote the last dialog (actually a voice over by Amitabh Bachchan) from the 2005 Hindi movie Parineeta: "Haan raat tho Shekhar ki shaadi ki hai, bas ek aadh paatra badal gaye hain" ("Yes, Shekhar's Wedding will still take place tonight. Just that couple of characters/roles have changed").

It IS kinda unethical to write sensational news and then be forced to go about creating it (this was the theme in Irwing Wallace's interesting novel "The Almighty"). What we writers do instead most of the time is to dish out the same new wine in a different bottle. 

B(K/T)olloywood actress Deep*** Pa****ne / Fr**da **nto / Pri***ka Chop** has now ditched Mallya/Singh/Chintu/Pintu/....

Sal*** Kha* has now hooked up with Kat*** Calf/Sang***** Bij****. His favorite song is now Pet Shop Boys' "It's A sin" .

C**ina/Y*na/Mona/Sona/Pooja (any of the 8,300 starlets/heroines) had a wardrobe malfunction today. Last 5 of her 6 movies had bombed at the box office.

Tamil Nadu political party head Thiru ***/Selvi *** has said he/she wont stand corruption. And he accused the previous government of leaving the government coffers empty. 

Thaiya Thai Tha Banerjee was dancing outside Writer's Building in Kolkata. She wanted the West Bengal government to reduce inflation/create more jobs/make city more beautiful etc.

Congress Party Chief said in Delhi today that incidents such as Bofors / 2G / CWG / DG / YG... are a bane and she has asked the external affairs minister to look into these and prepare a report. (Well most of India's activities seem to be decided outside.)

Vidya B**an/Rakhee S**ant has announced that she will/will not wear a backless dress in the Le Cannes film festival. 

Army personnel from Pakistan fired a few shells and infiltrated Indian territory. Actor Kuchel Singh (Ranbir Singh's grandson and a 7th generation actor of the Kapoor family) says it's a shame that such things could be allowed to happen.

China claims that the Indian state of Kerala is an extension of Tibet.

********* Berlusconi, who is the greatgrandson of Raji Gandhi and greatgreatgrandson of Indira Gandhi, has been unanimously elected as the new head of the All India Congress Party. He says he will uphold all the virtues of Jawaharlal Gandhi and follow the footsteps of Mahatma Nehru.

Pakistan/Sri Lanka arrested Indian fisherman because ... Speaking about this incident to the pressmen, Mr Thakre (no not that one, this is the nephew of the grandson of another one) said Orissa should be only for Assamese.

2450 people died in Nagpur because of Tsunami/Accident/Food Poisoning. Sachn hits a record 102nd century. First time in history that father and grandson play together.

Fashion Diwa Sabyasachi Motwani who did her schooling at the Institute in New York and who works for Eeeek St Laurent said that people should be more conscious of what they wear. She added "What people wear sends a message as to who they are. It is imperative that we change our wardrobe frequently, else the world will think that we are stagnating". Mr Ambani's granddaughter Ms Choksi concurred with this sentiment completely.

Israel, quoting the Dead Sea Scrolls, claims that Ayodhya actually belonged to the Jews.


Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Mr Ramakrishnan, says that the bidding (aah voting) process will be made completely transparent. CEC has tied up with EBay. All persons standing for election can bid transparently for votes of each constituency. He avers that this will avoid rigging of votes, save millions in taxpayer's money and that the whole process of voting and counting will be quicker and cheaper. The government has announced that it will deduct 10.2353% service tax and 5.3892% education cess on the winning amount and the balance will be paid to the constituency.


The dollar has fallen 15% against oil because of unrest in the Middle East. Last month it rose 20% against oil because of unrest in the Middle East. Our economics correspondent says that the OPEC nations have decided to use oil as a currency because it is more liquid than the dollar.

Kind of repetitive, I would say. And as Amitabh says in Parineeta, Bas Ek Aadh Paatra Badal Dete Hain.