BREAKING NEWS---AMITABH IN TROUBLE – AAACHOOO-- NOTHING TO SNEEZE AT

I recollect a  Hindi news  channel rushing to tell viewers breathlessly in the BREAKING NEWS format that

              ‘AMITABH HAS CAUGHT A COLD’

                          I SWEAR THIS IS TRUE

I hope I am stating the obvious when I say that the Indian English language  media seems to be obsessed with issues affecting the middle and rich classes. Indeed our middle classes and the rich are also obsessed with their own issues to the almost total exclusion of  crises facing the  vastly more numerous poor. Of course there are exceptional empathetic journalists—like P.Sainath for example —but the bulk of reportage  almost totally denies the existence of our desperately poor people.

Take  for example a recent report that appeared  in the Hindustan  Times.This  report was about   a conference of top medical specialists on SLEEP DISORDERS. If the report is to be believed the conference was called to discuss the consequences of sleep disorders of youngsters working in BPO’s[Call Centres]. I can imagine the scene at the conference—detailed Powerpoint presentations, thorough discussions, lot of tut- tutting on the  ‘crisis’ facing these youngsters. Apparently the sleep deficit makes them take to cigarettes,  alcohol. drugs, etc. The report did not tell us if the proclivity for  promiscuous  behavior  [whispered about in society] was discussed or whether that topic was avoided considering the middle class sensibilities involved.

My question is this—for centuries workers in India  have been working in night  shifts in textile and other mills .  I have not heard  about any research  report or seminar on these    and  other issues affecting these workers. Why is it that when ‘ people  like us’  are affected we become very sensitive to their  problems. I agree that most people are more sensitive to issues affecting people  who have a similar background. But why  is the   press or the medical fraternity averse to discussing issues affecting all affected people irrespective of station in life ?

Take the case of the middle  class anger and media  frenzy that was on display in the JESSICA LAL  case. Admittedly this was a case of miscarriage of justice and needed to be highlighted.  But why is it that we are totally  indifferent   to many more issues of  injustice  to the millions of poor in our jails. I can recollect many instances where  a poor man has been and still is  in jail for over 20  years for unproven charges as small as pick pocketing ? In most such cases the accuser is a rich man and the accused does not even know that he is entitled to bail.  Which lawyer will  make the effort to bail him out considering that the poor man cannot  pay any fees?

A paper reported that a middle aged Bihari street vendor  was sleeping on the pavement in Pune after a hard day’s  work  selling  snacks earning , by his own admission,  about Rs. 1000 a month .The  bulk of this was  remitted  to his family  consisting of  a  cancer afflicted wife and three small  kids in Bihar. Last week goons of the   Shiv Sena accosted  him at night and CHOPPED   OFF  HIS HANDS.  The   man’s ‘ sin’? He  was  a Bihari and had no business living in Pune and depriving marathi speaking people of a ‘livelihood’. The media mentioned this tragic incident in  a report so  small that anyone could have been pardoned for not noticing it alongside other reports of a far more serious nature like cricket scores for example. Does anyone care ? Will funds be raised  or lawyers be urged to assist the family to get justice and compensation ? Would the response be as indifferent if the hands copped belonged to a rich man’s son?

I recall that several years ago there was a dispute between the Board  Of Control of Cricket in India and one player on the eve of a Test match. The entire cricket loving public was ‘agonizing’ over the fate of the player and of our performance in the Test if he were not selected . The issue took a legal turn and unfortunately a Sunday intervened and the ‘ nationwide tension became palpable, the courts being closed.To the great relief of the entire nation the matter was adjudged by a   Supreme Court judge AT HIS RESIDENCE ON A SUNDAY ! I wonder if  the Bihari man will get any such justice.  

At a conference   at a 5 star hotel in South Mumbai a journalist asked Sri Sri Ravisankar  if he were a 5 star urban  guru what with his followers   including film stars, multi millionaires and top politicians.  In reply Sri Sri asked the questioner if he would be willing  to meet him at a remote village where he[Sri Sri] and his people were digging toilets  for the extremely poor ! What he left unsaid  was  that it was  the media that preferred  to attend conferences in 5 star hotels rather than travel to  a  remote village.

Few of us may be aware that everyday 6000 kids die of starvation in India. That India has the largest number of slaves in the world even as we pontificate that the US discriminates against African Americans.   

By all means our media ought to tell the world of the many achievements we have to our credit. We do not do this well enough.  But let us also give a voice to the many tragedies facing our poor.

K.R.RAVI

USA