Mumbai rocked with terror

Mumbai was rocked by several incidents of firing at four different public places on Wednesday night. All incidents were within a radius of three kms in the posh South Mumbai.
At the time of the filing this report, 3 people were dead and more than 25 were injured.
Details are sketchy but it is believed that groups fired outside the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) Railway Terminus, Hotel Oberoi, the popular Café Leopold restaurant and Cama Hospital all in south Mumbai.
No one including the police will confirm the reason behind the firing except the fact that some unknown people started firing indiscriminately.
Eyewitness also said that some grenades were thrown at a police van and also of two bomb blasts near the Oberoi hotel but it was not confirmed by officials.
The Mumbai police have cordoned off all the areas. A blast was also reported in Vile Parle in suburban Mumbai. Eyewitnesses said that they heard at least 20 shots in CST station. Policemen and ambulances have rushed to the affected areas, they said.
A resident of Colaba and an eyewitness to some of the incidents said, "The police got news that there were explosions at the BMC headquarters in Lion Gate in South Mumbai. When the police arrived, the gangsters/terrorists fired at the police. As the police started chasing them towards the CST station, they opened indiscriminate fire."
In reports by given by news channels it has been stated that, two persons armed with automatic weapons and hand grenades are reportedly holding up inside CST stations. Sounds of gunshots are still being heard. Hundreds of onlookers gathered outside the station. The station and premises has been evacuated. It has also been reported that the five-star Hotel Oberoi is under siege and gunmen are reported to have held the occupants hostage.
It seems to be a new modus operandi has been adopted by the strikers to rock the city and its law and order in a new way. Struggles of mumbaikars, for peace and security seem to be far from over. After a phase of month’s long internal political crisis it is now terrorism that takes them again into a bad nightmare.

Quami Ekta Week: a relief to recent events

Quami Ekta Week: a relief to recent events

Quami Ekta Week (National Integration Week) is to begin from today (Nov 19-25), and Home Minister Shivraj Patil has written to different Ministries under Government of India for organsing programmes/events fitting the occasion.
Every year is observed with a view to fostering and re-inforcing the spirit of communal harmony, national integration and pride in our vibrant composite culture and nationhood.

In a press release issued by Ministry of Home affairs it was said that several programmes, with a specific theme on each of the seven days, will be held during this week. Meetings, symposia, seminars, special literary functions, cultural functions and programmes would be organized to highlight themes under focus. The week would begin with National Integration Pledge. National Integration, Welfare of Minorities, Linguistic Harmony, Weaker Section, Cultural Unity and Environment Conservation are the themes for the week and activities related to a specific theme would be under focus on each day.

This ‘special week’ seems to be coming at a very strategic time this year, as the recent developments in various parts of the country have shaken a considerable faith of people in the idea of ‘ekta or integration’. It seems that there is a need to take all possible measures for dissemination and reaffirmation of these values among all sections of our people.

Social Networking: Beyond Personal Space

Social Networking sites do more than just connecting you to your old and new friends, exposing you to dangers of privacy in personal space, and opening avenues to a number of cyber crimes; these sites now help you in your career side too. Communities created on sites like ‘Orkut’ and ‘Pagalguy.com’, etc now help you to crack exams, answer your queries related to choices of courses, colleges and specializations, etc. communities like “crack CAT exams” etc have been of great help to many CAT aspirants, who are now able to put up questions to a wider audience and receive answers from diverse perspectives. Also those who have cleared the exams before or are practicing professionals from the field are able to guide these aspirants quite successfully.

Students from various fields, courses, colleges, create communities where perspective student can get in touch with experienced seniors and seek their advice. These sites give an informal yet impersonal space for interaction among seniors and juniors of institutes.
Often professors and instructors drop-by on these sites in order to interact with their students in a more personalized environment and even take up questions and queries of aspirants and perspective students.

I know that most of us might have used the social networking websites to connect with our seniors and college at an interpersonal level, when we were planning to enter any new college. It not only helped us in cracking the entrance exams, and in understanding the college and the course better, but also in contacting our seniors (for notes and guidance).

So next time you wish to give the social networking site a pass as another interference with personal space, then remember that it goes much beyond that. Social networking helps you in making informed decisions on your career and other choices. They help you in preparing to crack important exams and move to a professional space.

Winning hearts with sensationalism??

So what is Indian television trying to go for at present? By the look of it I would say its just TRP everyone is after and creating sensationalism to attract viewers. Well ok fine so nothing wrong with that, after all we are all in game of earning profits only…no one creats a channel to incur losses. But does this give them a right to compromise on the content and its packaging?
Entertainment channels have often been criticized off and on for their lack of content and increasing doses of ‘saas-bahu’ operas. Recently even Indian news channels also joined the bandwagon of entertainment. Thus the news channels are increasing the entertainment content on the ‘Idiot Box’. The fight for viewership and advertisements is very literally tooth and nail for Indian news channels.
We, the people have so been dumped with the content of TV programs and of ‘breaking news’ and ‘exclusives on news channels that our mind often fails to detach one from the other.
Where else did we thought that we would believe in aliens abducting humans…where else could we have seen so much blood and gore being glorified for TRPs… where else do we hear the question “aapko kaisa lagg raha hai” for each and every situation, no matter how grave or happy… where else could we see political and regional and religious camps being formed.
Yes, at present this and a lot more is what the India News industry is leading to.

The new God Cult on Indian Entertainment Channels

Well god are the newest entry to channel rivalries, no I m not talking about viiting temples or astrology sessions before shows. This time god is been packaged off in form of content on almost all of the major channels. We have ‘Jai Ma Vaishno Devi’ on 9X, ‘mata ki Chowki’ on Sahara, etc.
It’s like one channel decided to TV a new genre on viewers and all the others caught-on to mint the gold in this. Though there have been certain off and on attempts by channels before to cash in on such concepts before but this the major attraction is sale of God for TRPs and viewership, which is no less than a cult following. India has always bee a very religious land, and television has always been a major escape from reality and to entertainment. Now the channels have got their Midas touch by combining the two for its viewers. But well gimmick or no gimmick, no one complains as finally we are getting some quality content on TV.
Recently NDTV imagine launched there new campains to promote their show “Ramayan”. The TVC shows how present day TV content has taken its toll on our younger generation’ values and morals and then comes in “Ramayan”- ek acchi aadat.
Well though I know that the campaign is just a way to woo the audience emotions yet what it showcases is infact a situation based in our real life situations. So if the channel’s gold digging attempt is actually able to inculcate some’Acchi Aadat’ in the younger generation of the country then we don’t mind thee overdosage of such programs on the television.

Media- Industry or Profession? Both?

Being a journalism student, we often sit in classes and read about media ethics and responsibility and other such ‘heavy duty’ words. And well for most of us these set the general precedent of entering the field of media and journalism. We come here with certain “aadarsh” and hard head- strong ideas…. like to bring out the truth and help the society and its people. But well often we see the direction in which this field is heading to especially since the advent of the ideas like- 24 hour news channels, breaking news and sting operations, etc. at 1st these brought a very positive energy and light into the field. However, slowly and steadily, the positivism started to ward off and this became a mere game of TRPs, viwership and advertisements. Sensationalisation and yellow journalism became the new set of rules here to achieve success. In our classes, we often have guest faculty who are eminent personalities from the media industry coming in and talking to us about the ‘on the job’ scene and media as a profession as well as an industry. We often get into the discussion of what is ‘ethical’ and what content is considered as for public good and welfare, etc. Even amongst ourselves when we get into a discussion on the same issue. We get stuck on one point- if we are working in an organisation and we are asked by our editor to cover a story that we know is a mere mean of sensationalism and only for TRPs then what will we do. Will we be ready to get sacked and easily replaced for refusing on a bout of consciousness or go ahead and do what is asked because the editor asks us to do so?
I do not know about others but an honest confession that I would like to make here is that I would go ahead and cover the story. A bout of consciousness will not get me very far in this “media industry.” Here I am quite replenishable until and unless I niche a position or status for myself that is hard to be fulfilled or replaced. With a media institute at every nook and corner of the country and fresh batch of students passing out almost every month, it will not be difficult for any media organization to fill up a vacancy in less than a fraction of seconds (literally).What should I follow the profession or the industry? I guess following the profession in the industry is a case for lucky few only. The only thing that is left in this field are people who are trying to make industries out this profession.

IPL MANIA: PRESPECTIVE ON DILEMMA OF A ‘FAN’.

Suddenly I realize what dilemma I’m caught up in…n all thanx 2 IPL frenzied country of ours. Well not tht I m a cricket buff- no…believe me, but wid d entire country,& y go so far, even my family and frnds r going ga-ga over this IPL Fever.
I m being forced into all this just so as to be a part of d crowd. But that’s not even my real dilemma. My real point is what sud I support in IPL…cricketer? Teams? Or celebrities?
Mixing of all these 3 is making it all go haywire 4 me.
See normal cricket I get…one-days and test matches n even 20-20s.
But aren’t v all alrdy so divided in name of cricket- national team, international teams, this cricketer or that one, etc. then I don’t get it y would 1 like to bring in more elements in this gap?
Well in this IPL, even further divided is d fact that here even cricketer taking part r a mix of national & international stars. Teams r being owned by either bollywood celebrities or big business magnets. Even bollywood stars r going in different directions to provide support (as brand ambassadors) for either their hometown teams or their friend’s teams.
IPL mania is catching up like a fire in d jungle. Save yourself from dis alignment, is all I can think of as of now. So far, it is the inspiration drawn from d ‘non-alignment movement’ initiated by certain developing and underdeveloped countries of d wrld, during the time of Cold War. This solution is appealing to me d most 2 save myself from these dilemmas.

Whom should I follow…
Cricketers- national or international hotties that I love 2 see(rather stare at…hehehe)?
Teams- my hometown team or the teams of the place where I earn my livelihood (gladly 4 me both r one…but this can b a question 4 others, I guess) or one that my favorite stars own.
Or Bollywood?

Like I would now cite my example here.
Home team- Delhi- Delhi daredevils.
Favorite star- SRK- his team Kolkata Knight Riders.
Now which should I support being an ok-ok fan or cricket but a a great lover of Delhi and also of bollywood as well.
Where should, or rather where do, my ‘loyalties’ lie in such scenario.

Delhi daredevil or Knight Riders?
Akshay kumar or SRK?
Sehewag or Ganguly?

Mumbai Indians or Kings XI?
Ambani or Priety Zinta?
Dhoni or Yuvraj?
Bollywood or Bhangra?

Why do I still ask…..its all IPL.