Chicken curry for the soul
Shilpa Shetty must be laughing her way to her bank account, which of course will be booming post all controversies and allegations of racism in the show 'Big Brother' of which she is a part of.The story goes that a 'bully' named Jade Goody called Shipa names and even commented on Indian people's eating habits and other chicks in the house were not too far behind when they all jointly attacked her for uncooked chicken curry.And this news appears in all major News Channels and India's leading newspapers as 'Breaking News' and headlines respectively.And each time you switch on any news channel you could see Shilpa in tears , some scenes of argument between Shilpa and Jade , Indian Government and UK government condemning racism and blah blah playing all the time as if there is no end to it.And at the end of this high voltage drama Miss ' Goody two shoes' Shetty takes back her stand that she was a victim of racism and Miss Jade sheds some fake tears telling she is repenting after she is evicted from the house.There goes- the sensational news- with the wind.
So who is the beneficiary of this whole futile exercise.Channel 4 which airs the show, whose viewership raised by a whopping 2 million in 2 days following the racism controversy.Shilpa, the dame herself who was just a second rate actor here and got her 30 seconds of international fame.The issue has generated so much public sympathy that bookies are betting big time on her chances to become Big Brother's 'Big Sister'.And not to mention the sure shot ads Miss Shetty will endorse after she gets out of Big Brother's house, after all she became a household name in UK.So much for all the unnecessary hype created by media.
That leads me to what I was originally intending to write.Why dont we have a responsible media in India.I mean I really dont comprehend why they should give such news more importance than it deserves.And why on earth should the Gov meddle in individual affairs. Just because it involves some air headed celebrity and for God's sake nobody coerced Shilpa to be on the show.After all 3.5 crores is too lucrative to be turned down especially when one's career is not so happening.Okay, Gov has voiced its concern for her, but tomorrow if some White skin insults an ordinary citizen or bullies him because he is an Indian, will the Gov still interfere or stand up for that person.Racism is a reality that Indian and other brown skinned people wake upto every day in UK.It required one chicken curry and an Indian actress and a stupid show for everybody to react and have a discussion .Beats me!!
I am not squarely blaming news channels as they might have dearth of news to show everyday, after all it has to run 24x7.But just showing this news every half an hour is pretty disgusting.Its not only this, many non issues find its way to our TV sets just because the channels decide to show them.The classic example was the child Prince who became an overnight celebrity when TV channels broadcasted continuously the whole rescue process, and what more his education was sponsored and even he was bestowed with benevolent cash prizes - all for accidentally falling in a pit.I sympathise with that poor kid, but all media attention was uncalled for.The print media is also no less when it comes to hyping things.One lady had written an article on Prince describing him as 'Stitha Prajna' ( steadfast in awareness) as described in Gita. I sympathise with such journalists, if only the lady knew what she was talking about.And not to mention the larger than life importance given to some celebrities.Why O why - I really agree there should be freedom of speech and expression , but how can media publish or show anything and everything that is non important and some times at the cost of far more important national issues.I cant believe people want to read or view only exciting and sensational news items or are the channels just showing whatever they think will raise their TRPs in the facade of giving what people want.
And as for the Gov, the lesser said the better.They have opinion on all non issues.I dont know what meaning their periodic outbursts have.Its just a meaningless exercise to show they are still in power.They have no time to address any of the real issues the nation faces and when some silly thing springs up, all politicians rush to have an opinion on that.And the protests in Patna, its another time pass by some people who have no work other than to march with banners when any issue arises in any God damn country of the world.
We, in our hurry to show we our iron fist on racism forgot the mess back home. Regionalism everywhere and hardly people consider themsleves as Indian, all are Mallus, Tamils, Kannadigas, Northies, Maharashtrians, Assamese, Oriya, Bengali, Telugu etc etc and not to mention Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Sikhs et al.Then we get on a global stage and condemn racism when we cant set things straight in our very own country.When will our media grow up? When will our politicians grow up? When will our people grow up? When will our so called celebrities grow up? Till they grow up let them do what they do the best now - cooking some one's undone chicken curry.
So who is the beneficiary of this whole futile exercise.Channel 4 which airs the show, whose viewership raised by a whopping 2 million in 2 days following the racism controversy.Shilpa, the dame herself who was just a second rate actor here and got her 30 seconds of international fame.The issue has generated so much public sympathy that bookies are betting big time on her chances to become Big Brother's 'Big Sister'.And not to mention the sure shot ads Miss Shetty will endorse after she gets out of Big Brother's house, after all she became a household name in UK.So much for all the unnecessary hype created by media.
That leads me to what I was originally intending to write.Why dont we have a responsible media in India.I mean I really dont comprehend why they should give such news more importance than it deserves.And why on earth should the Gov meddle in individual affairs. Just because it involves some air headed celebrity and for God's sake nobody coerced Shilpa to be on the show.After all 3.5 crores is too lucrative to be turned down especially when one's career is not so happening.Okay, Gov has voiced its concern for her, but tomorrow if some White skin insults an ordinary citizen or bullies him because he is an Indian, will the Gov still interfere or stand up for that person.Racism is a reality that Indian and other brown skinned people wake upto every day in UK.It required one chicken curry and an Indian actress and a stupid show for everybody to react and have a discussion .Beats me!!
I am not squarely blaming news channels as they might have dearth of news to show everyday, after all it has to run 24x7.But just showing this news every half an hour is pretty disgusting.Its not only this, many non issues find its way to our TV sets just because the channels decide to show them.The classic example was the child Prince who became an overnight celebrity when TV channels broadcasted continuously the whole rescue process, and what more his education was sponsored and even he was bestowed with benevolent cash prizes - all for accidentally falling in a pit.I sympathise with that poor kid, but all media attention was uncalled for.The print media is also no less when it comes to hyping things.One lady had written an article on Prince describing him as 'Stitha Prajna' ( steadfast in awareness) as described in Gita. I sympathise with such journalists, if only the lady knew what she was talking about.And not to mention the larger than life importance given to some celebrities.Why O why - I really agree there should be freedom of speech and expression , but how can media publish or show anything and everything that is non important and some times at the cost of far more important national issues.I cant believe people want to read or view only exciting and sensational news items or are the channels just showing whatever they think will raise their TRPs in the facade of giving what people want.
And as for the Gov, the lesser said the better.They have opinion on all non issues.I dont know what meaning their periodic outbursts have.Its just a meaningless exercise to show they are still in power.They have no time to address any of the real issues the nation faces and when some silly thing springs up, all politicians rush to have an opinion on that.And the protests in Patna, its another time pass by some people who have no work other than to march with banners when any issue arises in any God damn country of the world.
We, in our hurry to show we our iron fist on racism forgot the mess back home. Regionalism everywhere and hardly people consider themsleves as Indian, all are Mallus, Tamils, Kannadigas, Northies, Maharashtrians, Assamese, Oriya, Bengali, Telugu etc etc and not to mention Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Sikhs et al.Then we get on a global stage and condemn racism when we cant set things straight in our very own country.When will our media grow up? When will our politicians grow up? When will our people grow up? When will our so called celebrities grow up? Till they grow up let them do what they do the best now - cooking some one's undone chicken curry.
posted by Chitra Shenoy at
10:53 AM
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3 comments
