Archive for category Media Watch'

Swami Nithyananda or Spycam Journalism

Since day before yesterday, the media and large sections of the public is having a gala time over Swami Nithyananda’s bedroom antics with a Tamil actress. Everybody is outraged. “Shocked,” “devastated,” “how can he do this?” “betrayal of trust,” “Fake Gurus,” is the typical reaction from what we call the “layman.” But here’s the thing: [...]

Blood Over Burqa

An Introduction of Sorts
Question: What’s common between Nicolas Sarkozy, Taslima Nasrin, free speech, and the Indian media?
Answer: The Burqa, the veil, the headscarf, the chador, the purdah, which is regarded by various people variously as “dignified,” “protective,” “secure,” and “comfortable.”
Those who hold any view that opposes these positive connotations are given a taste of what [...]

The Charioteer is Krishna (Devaraya) Himself

Writing about the recently-concluded Hampi festival, the SpIndian Express boldly asks:
Who’s the Charioteer?
The Hampi festival is an annual cultural extravaganza that began 15 years ago with the Hampi Ustav in 1995. This year’s festival holds a special significance because it marks the 500th year of Sri Krishnadevaraya’s coronation in 1509-10. But the festival per se [...]

Queasy Disquiet in the Media or a FAQ for Vir Sanghvi

Two fine posts, the first, a well-crafted crafted response to Vir Sanghvi’s mention of a mysterious Blogging Elite and the other, a gentle but firm rap on the media’s superiority complex represented again by Vir Sanghvi and Sagarika Ghose (whose choice of words in her tweet is quite heartwarming).
So here’s an FAQ of sorts that [...]

The Professor Who Preaches Child Love

So when I read this email exchange between a certain Professor Ashley Tellis and Nitin earlier this evening, I merely smiled. I attributed the Professor’s venomous tirade to either of these: uncontrollable blood pressure that blasted through his keyboard, or a naive assumption that Nitin is his student. And such venom on a really trivial [...]

National Integration: Slimes Style

Slimes Productions proudly presents! Phir Mile Sur Mera Tumhara. This 16-minute digital affront from the Slimes of India group singlehandedly eclipses the candle-lit darkness of the eminent dolts who were awarded various Lotus Awards for Family Loyalty on Republic Day. The Slimes of India is on an urgent mission to show ‘em who’s the worst. [...]

Strength of Sanatana Dharma

Today is Makara Sankranti, celebrated across India to both herald the beginning of longer days, and reap the harvest of months of backbreaking work in the fields. But the greater significance of Makara Sankranti like most Hindu festivals, is to highlight another living instance of the amazing cultural unity of India. People in Karnataka exchange [...]

How Hindus are bled by a 1000 cuts

A brief pictorial representation showing the links between the weapons and how they’re connected.
Legend: The ones in large font in Red show the biggest threats.
Click here to view the full size of the image.

Most Loathsome People of India 2009

It’s that time of the year again. You might want to check where and how it all started or simply scan the awardees that made it to the 2008 list. Presenting the Most Loathsome People of India circa 2009. Truth be told, the folks who made it this year fiercely vied with each other in [...]

Vishnu, Minarets, and Labelling

For those who of you not in the Twitter world, here’s a great illustration of why serious bloggers give a huge margin of humor and chagrin to the media. A certain Mr. Jaideep Kulkarni asked NDTV’s news anchor, Vishnu Som the following question:

@VishnuNDTV why should we care if they ban Minaret or a mosque. Does [...]