When media cries 'Wolf'!

"My prejudices are fine, but your prejudice is just plain prejudice!" - Well, that's the new pot calling the kettle black!

Over the past few weeks I have been reading a lot about the negative effects of social media, the spread of fake news, cyber bullying and the heightening narcissism that the medium is inducing. Much of what is being said and written about the social media and how bad it is, is not totally out of place, just that it has been blown out of proportion.

There is a lot for the human race to take the blame for all the negativity that has been spread across the world, in all spheres and why single out Social Media alone?

I have been a strong advocate for professionalism and have felt that the 'Cult of the Amateur' in today's internet world is killing our culture (line borrowed from Andrew Keen's book of the same name). Read more here: Unbridled growth of social media – the vengeance of the amateur. It is no secret that the social media breeds amateurs masquerading as news providers peddling unverified happenings and in no time the same spreads like wildfire and what they call 'viral' is just that. An unabashed spreading of a deadly virus.

But who is to blame?

What are the professionals doing?

Why are they feeling threatened?

Why is this new advertisement screaming?

"If we don't have the facts,

we don't print the news."

Well, is it GUILT?

"India's Leading Newspapers" recently came together to proclaim (through full page advertisements) that 'if a story doesn't check out for social media it can always be deleted". While they (the print media) take time, verify all information before they call it news. Well, they call it "News that's backed by fact" - Is it still a fact when it is "cropped" to suit their narrative?

What about 'favourable news' peddled by political parties through the print media, when called out - what do they do? Just publish an apology of an apology in a nondescript gutter space corner of the newspaper and get away with it? And what about all those 'actual news' that the mainstream media (read the leading newspapers of India) conveniently ignore to publish, as it does not fit their agenda?

I reiterate News is sacrosanct! The people at the helm of affairs need to bring back the credibility to the profession. Objective journalism is dying in this country, and crying hoarse that "print is proof" is doing no good. For it is the media that created the Frankenstein called social media, and now crying victim is futile!

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Pic courtesy: Advt in India's leading newspapers

The Ear-Witness

Monday 11:00 am

The drumming sound started to get louder. Then she heard the horse hoof beats rising from a dull throb to a sharp, piercing sound, and soon it synchronized with the drum beats… Nikitha started to look around in fear, she wasn’t alone on the escalator.

Her heartbeat grew faster, she wasn’t prepared to hear about another tragedy… was this real? Was another strange coincidence about to unravel? She was perspiring, as another train pulled into the V Metro station and she watched in horror for something to unfold… few passengers got out and quite a few got in, and the train chugged off… she felt relieved… She then walked out of the station and there… it happened!

The screeching sound of a bus braking suddenly. She closed her eyes, and in a fraction of a second- it had happened. A girl was lying in a pool of blood, as a speeding car just drove past the girl. People rushed to the scene of the accident, trying to help the victim. But she was dead. Nikitha knew, or rather expected it!

This was the third incident since morning. Exactly 3 hours after the first one.

Earlier in the day: 8:00 am

Nikitha was a fitness freak and usually jogged two kms to the gym and back. An hour of workout at the gym was her daily routine. It was almost a week since she had skipped her routine of six months. She was recovering from a concussion she had after being hit on the head during a basketball game. She woke up early that Monday morning and looked forward to her day at college.

The workout had her tired and she sat by the roadside bench, to catch a breath, half a kilometre from her house. Suddenly, she started hearing loud noises. There was no one around on the street. But the sound of drumbeats coupled with horse hoof beats got louder and she closed her ears and tried to look in the direction of the sound. It seemed to be coming from the road parallel to the one she was in. She got up and ran to the next lane. Slowly, the sounds started receding and then there was commotion near the park. As she reached the source of the sounds, she saw a big group crowding around something. The noise had now stopped. She reached into the crowd and saw a girl in her teens, lying in a pool of blood. It seemed like murder. Not something new in the crime-infested downtown of the metropolis city.

But the sounds were unusual, she had never heard anything of the kind. Sounds that were totally unusual to be heard in a city, well was it really what she heard? As the police cars pulled in and the ambulance arrived, she went her way.

A half hour later, reaching home, Nikitha showered and had her breakfast and got ready to leave for college. The unusual sounds were still fresh in her memory. Trying to forget the episode, she got into the morning rush and reached the nearby W Metro station to board the train to her College.

Monday 9:00 am

The morning traffic on the road under the elevated metro station was quite heavy. The buses, cars, cabs, two and three-wheelers were all jostling for space. It was sheer cacophony. The high decibel sounds were broken by the familiar rhythmic drumbeats and hoof beats. Nikitha became conscious of the sound. She looked around and tried to find the source. There were all kinds of vehicles around, but none that matched the ones she heard. Just as she reached the foot of the escalator to board it taking her to the concourse, she heard vehicles screeching to a halt on the road. There were loud screams and Nikitha’s curiosity got the better of her as she rushed to the scene of commotion. A chill ran down her spine. Another young girl was found killed. It seemed to be a gunshot, one that no one heard. No one saw how it happened or who was behind it. Nikitha began to suspect that the sounds she heard were related to the killings.

Shocked with the developments since morning she waited for the police to arrive and see if she could get some connection. The place was cordoned off by the cops and she had little or no chance to interact with them. The police were questioning for possible witnesses. Nikitha didn’t know if she could help. She had not seen anything, and her only hunch was not going to help.

Assumptions were not what the investigators wanted, for there were many who speculated.

Left with no option Nikitha decided to take the next available train to her college. She was dumbstruck, numbed by the two killings. Was there any connection? Could she approach the police and tell them about the sounds? Why didn’t anyone else talk about the strange sounds? She had a lot of questions. Ones that she had no answers to, and neither did she think she could find any for them.

Already late to college, she picked up coffee at the station and sat sipping it. One train passed by, and then two. She finally got up and boarded the third one. Looking out of the window, as the train chugged along, the young girls lying in a pool of blood started flashing in front of her eyes. She tried hard to deflect her thoughts. 45 minutes later she reached her destination. Slowly, lost in thought, she got off the train and walked towards the escalator going down. It was almost 11 am.

Back, outside the V Metro Station

The loud sirens of the approaching ambulance and police cars drowned the already fading strange noises in her head. Nikitha decided to talk to the cops and see if there could be a connection. The Investigators checked out all possible eyewitnesses and questioned the people about what they saw. None seemed to have noticed anything unusual. Nikitha introduced herself to Sam, who looked like a man with authority. He was the chief of the police and Nikitha told him she wanted to speak to them.

He took her to the stationed police vehicle where she narrated her experiences of the day. The first killing near the park, the W Metro Station and now outside the V Metro station.

Sam called in a dozen other possible witnesses, passers-by at the scene of the murder. No one had heard any unusual sounds as described by Nikitha. While the body of the third murder victim was shifted for post-mortem, Sam took Nikitha to the Police headquarters for further questioning. More witnesses from the earlier incidents of the day were brought in and were all questioned about the sounds described by her. None had heard it. The Police did a check on the two earlier incidents and Nikitha’s presence at the places. The joggers at the park had seen her and the CCTV footage at the W metro station confirmed her presence.

She was then sent for a medical examination, and the doctors ratified that she was perfectly in her senses and was not hallucinating. Nikitha promised to cooperate in the investigation as she was eager to get to the bottom of the strange noises in her head.

She finally reached her college at 1:00 pm and after a disinterested lunch, went to the library to study up the phenomenon of her unusual hearing. Her research threw up many possibilities explained by science. She could have a hearing impairment of sorts, something she could read about but needed expert advice to understand better.

Monday 3:00 pm

Nikitha decided to speak to Sam about her research and called the senior cop on his mobile. Sam was empathetic to her and assured to join her at the super specialty hospital in half hour. Meanwhile, unknown to her, two cops were assigned to follow her at a distance.

Just as she stepped out of the cab in front of the beach facing hospital, the sounds in her head started to ring. The hoof beats were familiar now, so were the accompanying drum beats. They slowly grew louder… she looked around and saw a few two-wheelers and a bus on the road. There was not much traffic, and she started sweating, waiting for another incident. The sounds receded and then she closed her ears and eyes and sat on the pavement.

The two tailing cops came to her to check if she was alright.

Nikitha told them about the recurrence of the sounds and how it peaked and receded fast.

The area was cordoned off soon and all CCTV camera footage of the movement of vehicles and people was secured.

Over the next hour, the investigators were clueless about the happenings at the hospital gate junction. After consulting the audiologists at the hospital, she took her reports and joined Sam and his team in search of the elusive sound source. None of the vehicles seemed to leave any trail, well not until Nikitha pointed to a huge HD 48 - 1200 cc motorcycle, which she seemed to have seen earlier in the day near the W Metro.

Soon the footage of the morning traffic under the Metro was being scanned. The bike was unmissable – The rider wearing a black jacket and black helmet with dark glass visor. But that could just be a coincidence and the motorbike was known for its heavy-duty thump, heard to all and sundry half a km away too. Big deal if it had been spotted at two scenes of crime?

The investigators were leaving no stone unturned, they soon got the details of the bike and tracked it down to the northern highway. The rider was a calm character and without much ado followed the instructions of the cops and submitted himself and the bike for scrutiny.

Later at the police headquarters: Ron, the biker and his bike were put to test. Nikitha could hardly make out any special noises as the thumping of the bike reverberated in the compound. The biker was let go after severe interrogation on the murders lead to no evidence of his involvement whatsoever.

Monday 8:00 pm

It was a long and tiring day, both physically and mentally. An apologetic Nikitha wanted to go home and rest, Sam offered to drop her home in the police vehicle. The well-mannered Ron too offered to drop her home, and the cops felt it was safe to let him take her home.

Ron dropped her off at the gate and she thanked and waved him goodbye. The biker waited for her to get into her house and close the door behind her. Then he engaged the gear of the bike, revved it a bit, and slowly held the clutch to kill the thumping noise from the silencer. 

The bike stayed in motion even though it had gone totally silent... but for the...

Meanwhile, Nikitha pulled out the medical reports from her bag and it perplexed her. It read: Infrasonic sounds exemplified to high decibels due to injury in the ear.

The next moment she slumped to the floor, cupping her ears tight – the horse beats and the drum beats were back and just growing louder and louder.

A single gunshot and...  ...Silence!

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Epilogue: Sam and his team waited as the ambulance arrived to take the body of Ron to the mortuary!

Pic Courtesy: Internet

Attention Seeking – The Social Media conundrum

Humans basically crave for attention, and they are intelligent to express themselves better which differentiates them from other animals. But in the journey of one-upmanship and trying to be seen as bigger and better than others, we as a race have lost track of the consequences.

Over the past few months the social media has been rife with plethora of intrusive posts. But nothing hit an all-time low as last week’s incidents. The first one that hit me hard was the sharing of the pictures and videos of the Pollachi sexual assault victims. The abject lack of sensitivity among the citizens in their enthusiasm to highlight the issue have caused much harm to privacy of the victims, and is abominable.

Then the New Zealand terrorist attacks. It’s some kind of deranged mind that wanted to live stream the assault through social media, but what is even more distressing is the way the common citizens across the world shared the videos of the assault to all and sundry. It is appalling to note the insensitivity in the posting of grotesque images. Privacy is now a gone thing. People are moving into the next level of attention seeking through their lack of concern for the victims’ privacy.

Social media is fanning the attention seekers, who in the garb of sharing their opinion or their skewed Freedom of Expression have stooped to the level of belittling humane norms.

Political ideologies have created a chasm in the thinking and thus in the social media narrative of the commoners. One case in point is the insensitive post by a serial hater of the current political disposition in India. The said person had the audacity to put up a post on the demise of former Union minister with a “Good day for SwacchBharat”. The death of a human is expressed as a cleansing? Really? Are we as humans so deranged to feel happy in celebrating a death? This is just one of the millions of hate posts that have become a norm in the virtual world.

Humans need attention to a certain extent because we are social beings, but some people seem to be doing everything in order to get more attention? Is morality dying a slow death?

Agreed, attention is other people thinking about you, and if there were ever humans who didn’t need it, they are now extinct. But seeking attention at what cost? Is gaining attention to oneself to be done only by belittling the other humans that matters today? While attention is one of the most valuable resources in existence for social animals, is the current trend fanned by the Social Media obsession causing more harm than good to the individuals, both seekers of attention and the targeted individuals?

In an earlier post on the Unbridled growth of social media – the vengeance of the amateur (https://myvoice.opindia.com/2016/11/unbridled-growth-of-social-media-the-vengeance-of-the-amateur/)  I had written about the malady nurtured by the mainstream media losing track of their ethics and getting opinionated. There seems to be no end in sight to the hate that is being spewed.

Narcissism seems to be the sole cause for the obsession to claim the “15 minutes of fame” and more!

Where does one start the cleansing?

Let’s look inside first, for charity begins at home!

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Motorcycle diary - down memory lane!

Sunday, February 03, 2002

Just a few weeks old, my Royal Enfield was still as brand as new. I was working then working in the newspaper advertisement department.

That Sunday morning, I got a call from Arunangsu Roy Chowdhary, our Business newspaper photographer who wanted a picture of a corporate employee for a feature. They wanted a representative picture of an executive attending an interview. I was to be modelling for the HR feature, and I was excited. Dressed in formals, Tie and all, I drove done on my 'Bullet'. 

After quite a few pictures clicked in various postures, I asked the photographer to click one with me on my new bike. The picture, the first of the many clicked over the years continues to be one of my favourites.

(Year 1 - 2002)

The next week’s LIFE column in BL featured my picture in the bright yellow shirt, I wish they had published my pic with the bike rather. 

Link to the 2002 article: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/life/2002/02/11/stories/2002021100130100.htm

Later that afternoon I went on a long drive on the bike to Sangareddy, the first of the many long drives across Telangana region.

(At 10 years)

In its 18th year now, it still stays Royal as a King!

(17 years and counting - 2018) 

There is only one thing bigger than the bullet, The pride of owning one!

Worrisome waning of reading habit

“The man who does not read good books is no better than the man who can’t.” – Mark Twain

Over the past year and half interacting with youngsters, through continuous mentor-ship at a youth literary organisation, I have learnt with sadness that the youth of this generation has lost touch with books. Reading among the youth has deteriorated so much that it raises concern.
The reading habit has been a great help in developing knowledge for the people of my generation.But today, in an age when browsing the internet, playing with smartphones throughout the day has had its debilitating effect on reading and also the quest for knowledge. Technology is taking firm control over individual lives, and reading is fast vanishing into thin air.

Not just reading good books, but even reading the daily newspaper is considered archaic. NO I'm not making a fleeting generalisation from limited observation. The malady is rampant.

One of the recent obsessions is the game of PubG. A majority of time each day is taken up by this addicting game, and its effects are alarming.

Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds or PUBG has become one of the most popular online multiplayer games ever seen and since the game was released for smartphones in form of PUBG Mobile, it has seen a massive reach among youngsters as well as gaming enthusiasts. With the increasing popularity of PubG, a debate has also started around the world where people are worried about addiction to this online game and the kind of mental damage it can cause. Schools have started warning parents against letting their kids play the game for extended hours after cases of addiction came to light. Here I am not talking about the ill effects of the game or advocating for its restraint, I am more worried about how reading newspapers and books don't get the same type of addiction?
There is no denying the fact that today’s students are under pressure for performance and the academic pursuit, with extreme peer pressure, leaves little or no time for quality reading. However, what baffles is the amount of time spent on mobile phones and dedicated time for non-physical sport - PubG and the like.

Reading books is crucial for gaining knowledge and lifelong learning. It builds in a person the essential attributes for self-advancement and development. But today, most free time that the youth have is taken up by social networking, smartphone games, TV and entertainment. The more the youth is taking to social networking sites, the less time they have for the printed word. While Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites are far more appealing to the youth, it is sad to see that these are used more for entertainment rather than knowledge enhancement.

The appalling fall in readership numbers of daily newspapers and the equally dwindling sales of leading booksellers and publishers confirm the growing apathy of the youth towards reading.

The youth of the day is totally oblivious to the fact that book reading not only nourishes the soul but rejuvenates the human intellect in probing deeper, analysing things, and providing guidance to people, to instances of life that they have not yet been exposed to.

The habit of reading enables the mind to think over objects of interest and helps a person in making informed decisions. Unfortunately, the number of book readers is continuously decreasing, which is an indication of scarcity of knowledge in future.

So, what is the solution?

Mandatory reading sessions in schools and colleges. Speaking forums that give impetus to inculcating the habit of reading. Celebrities championing the cause of reading – the youth follows by example, leading icons can create awareness for their fans/followers to emulate.

A revolution is needed, indeed!

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Pics courtesy: Internet

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The Metro

10.44 pm: It was the last blue line train and she hurriedly boarded it.

Moments ago she was rushing out of the high-decibel party zone in the building abutting the B Metro Railway station. They had just celebrated the birthday of her best friend from college.

Nikitha was alone, she was to travel to the far end of the city and was fortunate to be living close to the last Metro station on the route. Huffing and puffing after climbing almost a hundred steps, Nikitha barely got into the coach, when the doors closed.

It was quite deserted, hardly about fifty people, mostly late returnees from work heading home after a tiring Monday. Most people were busy lost in their mobile phones, either listening to music with earphones plugged in, or just simply sifting through their smart phones.

Nikitha sat alone at the far end of an empty row of seats and looked out of the window. The dark cloudy sky was constantly enlivened by constant flashes of lightning. A thunderstorm was brewing. As she gazed out of the elevated metro, she could see the lights from the towers that abutted the city. The fun and mirth of the evening brought a smile on her face, soon to be lost in thoughts of what lay ahead. She was embarking on a journey that would take her far away from her home and friends. To a world different from where she grew up and a culture, she was excited to experience, was soon to be a reality. A career path that she charted for herself was going to take her to the west for higher studies.

As she was reflecting on what to expect in the weeks ahead, the train passed four stations and quite a few people got down. She looked around and found just about a dozen people left, most of whom were now almost half asleep in their seats.

As the train pulled out of the ‘East’ station, it started raining, the drizzle soon turned into a huge down pour and the sound from the water beating down on the windows got louder. Slowing down to engage the curving path over the junction beneath, the train was now at the highest altitude on its path. The flashes of lightning accompanied by thunder grew. Just as Nikitha looked out of the window, the train was passing beside the cemetery. A bright big flash of lightening hit the solitary tree in the cemetery and it caught fire. It seemed eerie out there, the bright white light bathed the entire area and she could clearly see every tombstone as if it were mid day on a summer afternoon.

She also saw something strange! Bewildered she moved her eyes away from the exterior and looked inside the train, and was shocked to see that there was no one, except her in the coaches. It was totally deserted. A chill ran down her spine.

The silence was broken by the automated voice that announced the arrival of the next station. The voice tapering off “… doors open on the right side”, is all she could hear. Her heart started beating faster.

“Should I get down here and take a cab home? Six more stations… could there be more people getting in? Would I have some company? Let me wait in here”, she told herself, grabbing her bag tightly.

At the next Metro stop, the doors opened and she saw about four or five people walking out from the train and about the same number getting in. She wondered, “Where were they? How did I miss seeing them, Invisible people?”

An old lady, who just got in, came and sat in the empty row of seats in front of her. Nikitha smiled at her. The lady did not acknowledge and gave her a cold stare. Nikitha was fine with it, she was glad to have company.

Over the next few stations, she just shut her eyes and didn’t bother to look out on to the platform. The penultimate station was one of the busiest junctions in the city and almost everyone, of whoever was left, got down there. With a late urge to join them, she got up from her seat, only to see the doors closing and the train pulled away from the platform.

For the next hundred-and-twenty seconds she could hear her heart pounding. The last station was approaching and it seemed to be dark, there were no lights on. “Is there a power break down, then why is the train still moving, if so? Is the place haunted?” thoughts were flashing in her mind.

HAUNTED? Nikitha just couldn’t get over the thought. It came like flash, and it stayed… the next few seconds seemed like eternity. She started fearing for the worst.

Flashes from her past rendezvous with the abnormal, the hallucination of travelling in a horse drawn cart and the strange phenomenon from her train journey started to play in loop at high speed.

Nikitha started perspiring, she wished it was a dream and it would end soon. The old woman sitting across was not be seen either. “Did she get down at the previous station? Why didn’t I jump out before the doors closed?”

Then, suddenly the lights in the train went out, it became totally dark and it was frightening. A streak of lightening in the sky brightened the compartment, but only momentarily. The thunder that followed rattled her and she shrieked out loud.

Just as the train was about to halt, a lady tapped on her shoulder. “Last station Miss, you’ve got to get down”.

She opened her eyes to the bright lights in the Metro station, even as dozens of people walked out into the crowded platform. Nikitha realized, she had dozed off after a tiring party!


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Pic: Internet