Miles to go..

This is going to be a no-frills post. I am not able to find any fancy words. I am deeply touched, moved…

We tune in to watch reality shows once in a while for relaxation during dinner time. We do have a few favorites in this genre. Many a times they come up with more tragedy in terms of elimination, or a depressed candidate due to a failed performance or a brutally mutilated song we love.

Here comes a new reality show. A real path breaker. Not the kind of path breaker introduced by “Rakhi ka swayamvar”.  This is the reality show of the 17 street singers around us. Yes, those people, as thin as skeleton, blind, crippled, who sing around us in Railway stations and bus stands. Those people, whom we ignore and sometimes laugh at for their mediocre rendition. The specialty of the show does not end there. There will be no elimination rounds for the show. Instead, the sponsor of the program will build houses for all the 17 participants!!

“hmm.. Novel Marketing Tactics!!” That was my first thought when I heard about the program  in Indiavision channel. Yet, I was curious to search for the timing, for a glimpse of the program due to the novelty of concept.

Today, I stumbled upon the videos in Internet.  I would like to share those videos with all my friends across the world. See this one :

If your eyes become wet after watching this video, its not the program’s fault. Its because you are still human…

For the benefit of the non-malayalees reading this post, let me introduce a few contestants along with the links to their performances.

Saraswati

She used to share stages with  eminent musicians like Dr. KJ Yesudas in her early life. A Ganabhooshanam (degree in music) graduate, she says that she finds no difference between singing on street, or on a stage. For her, music is all that matters.

Listen to Saraswathi’s Alaippayuthe…

Suku, Kunjaava, Hamsa

This is a rare story of friendship.

Suku has a 16 year old daughter, who is handicapped. While, changing rented houses often, Suku  is helpless with his daughter. Kunjaava, is Suku’s friend. Though Kunjaava himself is very poor and blind, he has come to sing in this show, for a house for Suku !! Kunjaava’s wife and two children also accompany them. Suku is a support for many blind singers in the street, like Kunjaava. He plays Tabla while they sing.

Watch Kunjaava’s song here.

Watch Hamsa’s song here.

Pushpa & Rajesh
Pushpa’s mother tongue is Kannada. She was born and brought up in Kerala, and speaks excellent Malayalam. Pushpa and Rajesh met each other while singing in train, fell in love with each other and got married. On asking how she came to know about the show, she answered – “One day, I was singing in a train, and the director of this show, Sudheer Sir saw me and talked to me. A few days later, Sudheer Sir came to our  rented house and saw the home and circumstances. He told me about this show, but I didn’t believe at first. I never expected I will get a stage like this, to sing”

Listen to Pushpa’s “Ovvoru Pookkalume”…
Listen to Rajesh’s song here…

Subhash

Subhash came for the show for a shelter to protect them from the sun during summer and rain during monsoon.

Watch Subhash’s song here.

In the Judge’s comments, music director Jassie Gift pointed out, “This is not a song. This is a voice the society should hear and be an eye-opener to them”

See the other performaces :

1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m-TDjiU6aQ – Ravi

2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDIohd59R30 – Chaman Lal and Family

Another speciality I have noticed in the show is, the judges (rather celebrity guests) or the anchor are not downgrading the term “street singing”. Instead, they are considering it as a job, a platform for delivering the artistic skills of the singer. It was kind of amusing.

In Kerala alone, if we take 5 mainstream entertainment channels, there are atleast 20 reality shows going on. Senior singer, Junior singer, dancer, dance troupe, genius, show for moms, cookery contests, adventure contests, competition for colleges and what not.. If all the 5 channels host one reality show like this, and participate 17 contestants,  5 *  17 = 85 people are going to get houses in an year!! And, all the saregama’s going on for many seasons, imagine a “street light” show running in every channel for 4 seasons. 85 * 4 = 340 houses in 4 years…!! Now, multiply this number with the number of Indian States and the number of all the regional and national channels who host reality shows. What a beautiful dream!! :-)

All reality shows are imitations from the west, or from another channel in the same region. Hope the imitations happen for good.  Let the above number multiply and multiply, for a prosperous country of our own.

“Little drops of water, Little grains of sand

Make the mighty ocean, And the beauteous land

Little deeds of kindness, Little words of love,

Make our earth an Eden, Like the heaven above”
- Mrs. J. A. Carney

PS: Another report about the show – Click here to read.

“Please pray for your brothers in Palastine… They are suffering there, and please do whatever you can. Don’t you have a mobile phone with you? Call any authorities and ask whether Israel is acting right and plead them to do something to stop them!!”

The man was virtually on top of his voice. His speech switched fast between English and Arabic.

I was too taken aback.

Friday.

We were at the second speech (Qutba) before the namaz.  The man got into the dais after the first speech and started off in English. The rest was an emotional outbreak. I was surprised. Till today, I have never seen Imams loosing their grip over emotions during Friday speeches. The preachings are always  in controlled tones, perfectly modulated and never loosing the gist. If you look at any sermon in any religion, it is done the same way.

That is why I was surprised. On our way back, my husband told me that the person was a Palestine.

Now, that sounds more like it. I could translate the emotion to anguish. The anguish you feel when your brothers are being hunted in flocks. The anguish you feel when your brothers loose their home and live in terror. The voice which automatically raises when you think of your home. The same anguish we felt when Mumbai burnt and bled on 26/11. continue reading…

I remember reading an Arabian comic story of Aboo Kasim and his shoes. Aboo Kasim was a miser, who didn’t want to spend money for a second pair of shoes. So, he constantly mended his shoes on his own by striking nails and stitching wherever required. As time passed,  the leather-bound shoes turned to a skeleton with nails sticking outside from all sides. People could easily recognize Aboo Kasim’s shoes, whether it is in Mosque, or in courts and they made fun of him too. When the ridicules turned unbearable, Aboo Kasim decided to give up his shoes and buy a new one.

He bought a new pair of shoes and gave up the old one in front of the mosque and came back relieved. But remember, any kid in Baghdad recognized Aboo Kasim’s shoes. They saw his shoes lying abandoned, and brought it back to him.

Fed up, he threw his old shoes out of his house and sat relieved. No, not yet.. his bonding with the old shoes was not to be ended so fast. A stray dog bit it, and the nails on the shoes struck in its mouth. With the unbearable pain, the dog jumped onto the roof of Aboo Kasim’s neighbour’s house and dropped the shoes. The shoes fell on the head of an old woman, and she had to be hospitalized. People didn’t have to search much for the culprit. Any kid in Baghdad would identify Aboo Kasim’s shoes. The judge summoned him to the court, and decided on a penalty, ie, bear the hospital expense of the injured.

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Yes, you guessed it right. I have not quit writing on the topic, mumbai and its aftermath. I was going through ibnlive.com and the citizen’s comments there under each article. I do post there my opinion occasionally too. Anyhow, the following is one post I came across, which made me think. Posting it for you to read too.

User: abhigyan_dg

Post:

Hi Rajdeep,

I watched Mumbai being shattered by 10 so called ‘motivated’ people. Undoubtedly it was painful, to see a few fanatics holding a 10 billion strong country at ransom! Like most, I blamed the government, the politicians, the administration, the intelligence … et all. Until last evening when I was pondering over the crisis we currently are in. 
And … I blamed myself, a citizen of India, a common ‘urban’ man (I use the term ‘urban’ purely because it is primarily urban India which is under threat from terrorism). Zillions of questions cropped up!

- Vigilant: I scream of in-efficiency of the security forces. How much did I as a common citizen contribute towards keeping at least my neighborhood if not the city or the country safe?

- Co-operation: Airport security, if tightened for some reason, passengers are the first to protest, with arguments that they were ‘harassed’ and ill treated. It is only now, after the recent Mumbai attacks, that we are slowly coming to terms with the extra security measures.

- Votes: I blame the politicians and rightly so, because they have failed in performing their duties. Question is, was I a part of the voting system to start off with? Sadly, the answer is NO! Am I not shying away from my social duties as well? I come up with excuses like, ‘it is a difficult process to ensure the name appear in the voting list’. Tax filing in our country is an equally difficult process. But since I expect gain out of it (refunds), I will go to any extent of this difficult process, without complaining.

- Casual: I have been hearing about the Spirit of Mumbai since the 1993 blasts. It is said that nothing can dampen my spirits, the spirit of a Mumbaikar, the spirit of an Indian. But do high spirits mean putting everything behind me and carrying on with my day-to-day activity from the very next day, as if nothing had happened? The list can go on, but due to paucity of space, I have highlighted just some of the points which I felt needs attention. 
This is purely what I feel about myself. But, I am certain that there will be many like me who will have similar thoughts. Yes, our agitation against terrorism and corruption is completely justified, but along with that, as responsible citizens, we need to sit back and think of ways of becoming a part of the ‘cleaning process’. No country can be sanitized by the police, intelligence, politicians or the armed forces from terrorism, without the contribution of the citizens of that country. Things are changing, India has woken up, authorities are being questioned, but with all of this, let us, as individual citizens, wake up as well and contribute to a safer and cleaner society. Let us not wait for the next eventuality to happen. However little it might seem let us act NOW.

The blast over, the tryst with terror over and all the noises are settling down…

Thanks to media, right now our emotions are expressed with two or three curt phrases. NDTV says “enough is enough”… CNN-IBN asks, “How much is too much?”

Yes, questions are all what remains. I can ask you, and you can ask me. But who will give the answers? I think that was the root cause of all the frustrations. We lacked someone. Someone who could come up and say, “Don’t worry, Mein Hoon Na?” Someone from the authority, who could say, “Yes, I know we could have done better. Still, let me correct the situation first and then let us talk”

What really mattered in the first few hours , we lacked a few A’s…

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4 days, we spent in front of the computer, switching between live telecasts of ibnlive and ndtv on Mumbai. The news was shocking. The amount of details contained in each report was even more shocking. Each moment we were asking between us, “Will this kind of live reporting fail the mission?”….

We felt it would, so also a lot of others.. and somebody has decided to make a change, by moving a public interest litigation over the issue. If you also feel that the media coverage of the Mumbai attack was a way bit outrageous, sign the petition here – http://smallchange.in/

The news is  here – http://www.rediff.com/movies/2008/dec/02mumattacks-vishal-versus-the-news-channels.htm

When I say “change”, it reminds me of Obama’s campaign for “change”.  Let me borrow his words, “yes, we can!!”

Right now, I feel it – “Yes, we can”…

Just 12 hours after I wrote about revealing truths here, wow, I am hearing more and more interesting news. 1 hour ago, the ndtv reporter outside Nariman house reported:

“I saw the NSG officials planting something looking like wired ladders. I asked them what it is and they said its a wired system to communicate among themselves and also to intercept the communications inside the house”.

Wow, news..!! Isn’t it??

I still pray that everything ends well, and that we will not pay the price for the excess news we are bound to hear.

PS: I know my blog is circulated in a very closed circle of friends, so I went ahead and voiced my opinion in ibnlive.com and ndtv.com. I see that there are still others who has the same fear and voice it there. Hope it helps.

For the past 7 hours, we are in front of the computer, switching between ibnlive.com and ndtv.com, occasionally browsing Times of India and New York Times, listening to the live reports from Mumbai. What happened was indeed something scary and a very disturbing fact that a bunch of intelligent terrorists have landed upon us. A bunch, who knew the power of divide-and-rule policy, a bunch who scattered the whole city with multiple attacks, a bunch who knew whom to take hostage, by attacking the elite places.

I can go on and brag about the technology advancement we have which empowers me with the news from across the globe, live. But, right now I am angry and scared. The same technology can bargain the lives in an entire city, if used foolishly.  Listening to each update given by the reporters, I am more scared. If I, an insignificant citizen sitting in US get this live piece of update now, doesn’t it also go to all those villains out there who planned and executed this terrible attack?

I don’t think what all things I have heard so far. So many reports, and the mind doesn’t register all of it. Still, it went like this.

“The NSG is about to arrive in 1 hour”

“The NSG has arrived and they have started operations”

“I am hearing gun shots, ofcourse something is happening.”

“Looks like the operation at Oberoi is nearing an end”..

I even saw the positioning of the NSG commandos through live cams. I heard about the replenishment of force. I heard about the army and navy joining hands..

NSG has specifically instructed the media not to discuss the strategy. All the reporters use it as their starting statement and then move onto blurt out whatever they wanted to, zooming their camera to all directions of their choice. Only one person dealt with it in the true sensible way. Its Rajdeep Sardesai of CNN-IBN, who was reporting from outside Hotel Taj . Whoever it is, he is the true citizen of India. May be, his age made him take wise decisions.

I am scared of each minute. I am scared of a moment, where some stupid reporter blurts out that one of the missions (out of many for the day) is accomplished. I am scared, that will be the end of all other hostages. Its high time media redefine their social commitment, instead of sensationalizing their surroundings at the cost of others’ lives.

At this point, my thought is: Do we really need extensive live coverages EVERYWHERE? When is the media going to distinguish between a cricket match and a war against terrorism?

My friends, do you have an answer?

They are also doing so many good things. I see flash news requesting for blood in Mumbai hospitals, I see helpline numbers from Taj and Oberoi hotels, and a lot more.. All these helps should not be clouded by the “extreme reporting” due to media competition.

I hate advertisements. Still, I wouldn’t mind watching advertisements, rather than knowing that the information I hear may be deadly to hundreds of lives and will be favorable to a handful of villains. I am sure every sensible Indian would think the same. Dear channels, please put some advertisements for us till you get solid result from Mumbai.

“Na bruyal, sathyam apriyam” – Don’t say truth, if it hurts others.

Keeping my fingers crossed, for the success of great India and its harmony, defeating all the villains out there.

Usually, I find something to write first, and then only open the notepad to start typing. Today, its the reverse, I don’t have anything to write. “Then, why are you here, idiot, to waste our time?!!”, you may ask. The thing is, I suddenly remembered this was situation which made the start of everything.

As I started off, or rather kicked off, everything started because I badly wanted to write. When I was a small child, my only desire was to become “famous”. I admired and adored each famous lady. One day I may start becoming mother Teresa, and next day I wanted to seek IPS, following Kiran Bedi, the very next day I would be flying to moon :-) The madness went on, as I grew up.

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