Kya har ek NEWS zaroori hota hai?

In our country everything makes news, and I mean literally everything. From the moment we wake up in the morning to the time we roll under our blankets in the night, each moment of our day is blasted with overdose of news. Right from the infamous, dramatic events of bollywood to the twisted tales of politics and countless cases of corruption - news pieces keep fluctuating on our mental graphs. At times their volatility strikes our day with thoughts and contemplation and other times they crash our minds with the sheer absence of their irrelevance in anyone’s life.

Multimedia has further heightened the extent to which news can penetrate into our lives. Even if you wish to leave your newspapers aside for a day how will you escape the TV channels, social networking websites and smart phones which won’t let your mind rest in peace. Our lives were already traumatized with dedicated news channels, which present every miniscule thing like a “never before seen” event. Not to forget the theatrical impact which is accorded to all the news items for creating the thrills and frills of daily soaps. I mean who cares if SRK slapped some hippy looking father of triplets (does he have any other claim to fame?) on a drunken night and then patched up like characters from Suraj Barjatya’s family sagas. Don’t we see enough of such acts on televisions and in movies that now we have to read about these as well?  And why should we poke our nose into the health and wealth of Yuvraj Singh? We all sympathize with his condition and hope and pray that he recovers soon from the clutches of Cancer. However we do not want to know what injections, chemicals and rays are being administered to him every day and what state of mind he is in, while undergoing all this. Aren’t we already sniffing too much into his life by prying on his health and might-sink career that the media is further attempting to bring alive his daily woes to public.

With social networking websites a new genre of users has burgeoned – that of wannabe journalists. Every person tries to propagate (read: report) news in most uncouth manner killing the very spirit of journalism. Forget the gravitas of the language chosen, most of these people don’t even verify the veracity of the information, they come across, before posting it for others to read. Things get worse when such rumours come accompanied with individual’s stinking thoughts laced with hinted expletives. We all like to be aware of things happening inside and outside our country, but when any random information occupies the slot in breaking news ticker to an extent of becoming a trend, our minds automatically get switched off.

Whether or not Sunny Leone is doing Hindi films or why Mayawati allows only bare footed people to meet her or if the Vastu of 27 floors Antilla is preventing Mukesh Ambani to shift to his dream home, are merely pieces of information, which do not require to be tweeted, re-tweeted, posted, scrapped about or flashed in the top headlines and breaking news section of any form or media or multimedia. We can of course choose to laugh about such news or turn deaf ears to them, but wouldn’t it be better if media stopped perceiving every incident as sensational or scandalous and focused on issues which are relevant to us. And if you believed that relevant news can’t be funny, entertaining or amusing then check out the latest headline in today’s newspapers which reads “Two Karnataka ministers caught surfing porn on cellphones”. 

To Social Addicts, with Love

Disclaimer:
All instances mentioned in this post are based on real people (whom I have met in the journey of my life) and there is nothing fictional about it. This post is not for those of you who are die-hard fans of networking and are living your lives through the much talked about web pages on the Internet. If you know how to live your life with a pinch of salt and can manage to look at its farcical aspects then you can enjoy the pricks and thorns attached with this post albeit in a good humor – Read, compare and laugh at yourself!

Dear Faceple & Tweeple,

Hope you are enjoying the dynamic life of your metaphysical electronic world and sharing some very insightful thoughts with its not-so-connected real section. I have always admired the unceasing enthusiasm with which you live and spread your infectious effervescence while clocking the time.

From past few days I have not being feeling well and I blame it all on you. With your unfading energy and much happening life my enthusiasm and optimism levels seems to have fallen below the quintessential mark and hence it’s now that I have decided to pour out some of my precious and highly confidential thoughts before you.

I have often wondered about the almost mass hysterical impact created by certain sudden phenomenal things in life. It seems as though we have all been born on earth with a single minded dedication to endorse that thing and eat, sleep and drink it with every passing moment of our life.

Few days back I was asked by a very dear friend of mine, via an email, if I was enjoying a good health or not. After my assurance that I was hale and hearty I became curious to know what made him worry about my health and his plain and unpretentious reply came as “You have not been active on Facebook for a while so I was wondering if you have fallen sick!”.

Someone had once said that the world is shrinking, but who knew that the wide network of webs will act as catalyst in further hastening this process. There are millions of websites on Internet today and now almost every tom-dick-harry can boast of a web page belonging to him and her!

I was under the impression that social networking sites were meant for connecting with our friends and keeping the concept of “keep-in-touch” alive in a less formal manner. But I was hopelessly wrong. My silly brain did not know that these websites are more casual form of “Aaj Tak” and need reporting of everything I do or think in my day – or I would be categorized as either orthodox, introvert, antisocial or a distasteful combination of all.

In your world one’s degree of affability is measured against how many friends you have on Facebook or how many people are following you on Twitter, whether you actually possess a charming personality with a pleasant demeanor is of course entirely immaterial. Suddenly the whole equation of relationships gets changed measured by your status on these websites. If you are seeing someone but are projected as single on Facebook, then it is only a matter of time when your love life would either get exposed to the world through some highly excited (read: bean spiller!) friend of yours or it would succumb to its natural death due to your inability to accept it in the public (so would your partner feel).

Don’t you dare think that this networking bug has infected only our social life. While Facebook and Twitter rule the roost in our social circles the corporate world isn’t far from being sabotaged. LinkedIn has opened up platform for people to display their professional credentials, achievements and aspirations in full public glare. For centuries what was considered personal and confidential is now being flaunted with a dash of arrogance. This website also allows you to massage your ego by showing off the recommendations from your colleagues, clients and bosses! Whether you are actually hard worker with passion to learn new things and are also focused and detailed oriented is again reduced to the puny status. Your recruiters are happy as long as their senses are cajoled with your recommendations oozing perfection (read: manipulations).

Some nincompoops are so smitten by social media that a day or two away from these would certainly put them on life saving ventilators. At times it becomes difficult to figure out whether people are actually dumb or are simply unaware of the absence of other people’s interest in their life. How else would you explain situations where they blurt out every single thought cropping up in their minds or slap every picture of their holidays and vacations on our face! I don’t care whether you went to Honolulu or Bermuda triangle with your girlfriend or bought a sexy dress at discounted price from DFO or had a new hair cut. How on earth would your home grown tomatoes or garden peas stir up my soul when a picture of your latest tequila shots in some glitzy pub could not invigorate my mind to say the least?

It is quite amusing when people report every breath that they take on such websites and then cry foul about the privacy issues haunting them. Gone are the good old days when mails or even emails formed the basis for exchanging pleasantries and a phone call would just be a gratifying event. If you have not wished your friends on their birthdays, anniversaries, promotions and weddings on these sites then you certainly don’t care for them! So what if you wished them in person, a public display of affection is a must to reaffirm your continuity in that relationship.

How much is too much is yet to be defined for majority of us especially for the class of people who aren’t yet clear about the boundaries of networking and bombarding!

While I am confident that the population from my part of the world would continue to drift towards your part, I am also hoping that few crazy souls from your world would get some sanity into their heads and join our side of the world to echo my sentiments and prevent the concept of real from blurring into surreal.

Look forward to hear from you soon (not immediately).

Yours Sincerely,
Reaple (Real People)