Blogging Spree

I've been on a blogging spree this weeekend. Wrote 3 posts and also uploaded an old one. Plus, i created a new blog Kiran's Reviews. This is supposed to be the blog where I'l post my comments and reviews about books, movies, TV programmes and more.

But its not limited to the "reviews". In some cases, an article that we read or a movie that we see sets us thinking about serious issues. This new blog is where i'l post such issues, i.e., those issues on which I was influenced by books or TV etc.

Finally, I hope to be much more active as far as blogging is concerned. There are a whole bunch of issues I thought I'd write about, but felt lazy and disguised it under a veil of "I'm Busy". I have resolved to put an end to this negligence and blog any serious issue as soon as I consider it.

JAI BHARATH.

Innocence Snatched

I was thumbing through a back issue of Reader’s Digest. An article that eventually caught my attention shocked me like nothing before. The article was about the child flesh trade in Cambodia. The author of the article was a journalist in disguise. He masqueraded as a “customer” and must have been utterly shocked at what he witnessed.

There is supposed to be a “belief” in South-East Asia that sex with a virgin child is the “cure” for impotency and also that it “enhances” the potency. Apparently, the younger the child, the more the “healing power” or whatever and the more the money people are ready to pay for it. I was moved to tears on reading that children as young as 6 years old are offered in this trade. First of all, some village girls are lured to the cities with promise of good jobs. Then, they finally end up in this net after running out of options. Most of them don’t even return home because they know they will not be accepted back by their families.

By the time the girls reach an age of 12, they are oblivious to the childhood that they are missing out on. At an age when they should be playing in the grounds and attending school, they are satisfying the needs of cold-blooded monsters. This is the only life that they know of. They are unaware of the fact that most of them will never make it past the age of mid-30’s. AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases are rampant.

The Government has supposedly done a lot to clamp down on this to erase the image of Cambodia as a pedophile’s paradise. In spite of all the measures, the most horrific crime on earth still exists. And flourishes.

Of course, the future appears to be brighter than the present. Many girls have been rescued and are now involved in small scale industries. There is some degree of self-sufficiency and self-respect returning to them.

Now the burning question. What can be done to prevent this? For once I’m at a loss. I have no idea how this can be stopped. As long as perverts exist in this world, they will continue to engage in what I describe as the most heinous crime under the sun. Of course one way would be stringent punishment if caught. I strongly believe a person who is as merciless as to snatch the virginity of a pre-pubescent 10 year old deserves absolutely no mercy himself. He should be given death penalty and not by hanging – he should be killed in the most inhumane manner. Not only that, all the people who are involved like the "suppliers" deserve a similar punishment.

As for the prevention, well, I’m hanging my head in shame. Because I have no answer for this. I can only HOPE that all this stops sooner than later. And hope that somehow we make this world a better place for our children to live in - for starters: free of perverts.

Maniacal Media

“Zee News ka pardaafaash”.. “Prince ko Bachaana hai”… “Ye aaj [xyz] ke saath hua hai..kal aapke saath bhi ho sakta hai”…

The newsreader’s voice screams at you in a sinister voice.. the creepy feeling that you get is worse than any “Aahat” or “Zee Horror Show” … and I ask myself: “Whatever happened to good old news reporting??” Gone are the days when news reporting used to be just that – reporting the events and occurrences worldwide to the viewers. In today’s competitive world, news channels attempting to capture market share are taking the fun out of watching news.

Instance 1:

A couple of days after the Bombay blasts, I saw a reporter in a private news channel (don’t remember which), outside the house of one of the victims. There were all mourners dressed in white and the reporter asks one of the kin of the deceased: “Kaisa lag raha hai aapko? Kya kehna hai aapko is haadse ke bare me?” What the hell does she expect the reply to be? “Ji bahut khushi ka mauka hai.. hum mithai baatne waale hain..aap khaayengi?” I mean how bloody ridiculous can you get? Cant you leave the bereaved family alone in the moment of grief? What exactly are these news channels trying to prove?

Second thing that strikes me about this is the double standards that the journalists follow. I know that the reporters would be under pressure from above to do this, so I’l target the big bosses instead. I challenge them to give an interview during the funeral of one of their dear ones. Chances are that the reporter will end up in jail!


Instance 2:

A 5 year old kid had fallen into a 60 ft deep pit in Haryana. Many news channels made most of the situation. They covered the entire thing LIVE.. 60 hours of rescue operations et al. Lets give them the benefit of doubt. There were people who actually watched the entire thing. People from all walks of life and all faiths offered prayers for the child’s safety. So maybe, just maybe they were justified in airing the thing live. But some channels like Zee News were more keen on marketing themselves than in the well-being of the child. They repeatedly kept boasting that they had coined the phrase which supposedly united the whole country “Prince ko bachaana hai”. And wherever they interviewed people, the public started off with “Hum Zee News ke aabhaari hain” message.

This IMO, illustrates another example of bad taste as far as reporting and journalism is concerned. I was afraid some other news channle might push a kid into a well twice as deep as this one; and then rescue him just to have the upper hand!

Instance 3:

The way celebrities are treated by the media always scares me – it always reminds me of Princess Diana. I mean agreed that they are public figures, but they should be given atleast some space. Some stars are so worried about their children that they have kind of a pact with the media – you promise to stay away from my child and we promise to present ourselves to the media periodically. This is not the way they should be treated.

I have made this point before – every right is accompanied by a corresponding duty. The media has freedom of expression, but its their duty to use this freedom responsibly. Somehow someone has to put a stop to all this madness before things get out of hand. The ridiculous and double-standards must all be stopped. It only harms the societal fabric.

Disclaimer: This is my personal blog. All the views and opinions expressed on this blog are entirely my own and do not reflect the views of my employer, organization, relatives, friends, acquaintances or any other person/entity.