Tsunami news second to sex, money, murder
Catchy heading, isn't it? Well, this is the headline that was carried in 36 pt bold. And that's the reason why my Friday, which started with a bang, ended with a whimper _ mine!!
To entertian their avid readers, the DomPost decided to take this huge story on the sordid sex, money and murder drama and I am called in as the expert. Why, you ask? Because, firstly, the story is on India. And secondly, yea gods, it is all about Tamil Nadu (although my friendly neighbourhood sub isn't aware of the TN connection here)
The main players in the drama? Our very own JJ & Jayendra Saraswathi. Our PM Manmohan Singh makes a guest appearance.
Ooh, I can tell you, I wished I could sink through the floor. Although we know how bad this story is, it sound simply awful when put down from an objective, western and sensationalised perspective!
Some gems from the article:
A CM who as the former CM's mistress and who now has a very close female friend reveals the reporter, in the very first para.
A 'priest' (that's what JS is refererred to in the story) who instigated murder and committed sexually inappropriate (for a man in his position) crimes.
Gosh, it may all very well be true (how can we ever tell for sure?), but have we ever in our Indian newspapers called JJ someone's mistress? Or implied anything more about the sassy Sasi?
Wait, the worse is yet to come. TN is referred to as a banana republic and as headed by a bunch of ego-maniancs (the second I cannot really deny). It is also referred to as a embarassing southern cousin to the technically-suave PM, who wants to get rid of graft in India.
Bah!! I did try to do my bit. I offered to tone down a few things, but my offer in some cases was politely rejected as it would make the story "too staid".
And in any case, the reporter has very happily sensationalised the whole thing, building on a grain of truth.
End result: (Indian & esply Tamil maanam kaapalil pogiradhu, pogiradhu, poye pochu!!(going, going, gone).
Collective NRI BP here has shot up. I expect a few intelligent ones to fire a couple of salvos in the form of letters. I will keep you posted..........
2 comments:
Not that I want to condone what was written in DomPost, but isnt sensationalising the only way to get Kiwis to read what is essentially only a local news story from TN? :)
Laksh. Being a proud citizen of India, despite all its adversities and negatives, it is indeed very depressing, frustrating and sad to read this post. A lot has been achieved in this country with its huge population which can be remembered for all times to come in the annals of history, but unfortunately a handful of unpatriotic, uncivilised politicians have tarnished the image of this country to an extent that an insigficant country like New Zealand takes a dig at us.
Post a Comment