The next big thing...

A friend of mine asked me just casually today that did I feel any kind of tremors last night. My answer was negative. Incidentally, Satara felt tremors last night and one jerk was felt in certain parts of Mumbai around 1.00 am.

Firstly, I slept late in the night and secondly I never realize if something like this happens. But the point is that earthquake did take place last night.

This friend of mine stays at Cater Road, Bandra and told me that the residents of his building woke up and assembled on the ground floor. The first to run down were people from the 10^th floor. Probably they must have felt the jerk when the earthquake occurred.

Now is this the next big thing to happen? After the bomb blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad and bombs being defused in Surat, are earthquakes the next big thing to happen in our country?

One earthquake has already occurred in Satara, could Mumbai be the next (since it’s within Maharashtra)? As of now Mumbai hasn’t faced any bomb attack or earthquake tremors. But could that happen soon? If that happens then how ready are Mumbaiker’s to face it? All might happen in a surge of time.

With all such incidents happening around the country, I would want you guys to be careful and attentive wherever you travel. The Mumbai police is there to look after the security of the citizens, still we ourselves need to take the initiative and be alert.

Mumbai on alert

Yesterday my journey from Bandra station to home was very interesting. After hearing the news of 18 bombs being defused in Surat, I thought that Mumbai must be on alert by now. But when I reached Bandra station, I was shocked.

There were hardly few police constables on guard. Plus there were no arrangements to check the huge baggages of the people. But the best part was when I reached platform 4 to take the train. I was with my friends and the lady from the railway was making an announcement. Now listen to the announcement. Here it goes…

“Kripya karke aapne aas paas koi bhi vichitra cheez dekhkar hamhe turant suchna de.” It’s really appreciated of the railways to take a step to alert the commuters. Especially when so have blasts have been taking place in our country.

But when it comes to Mumbai, people don’t really pay attention. Yes they do keep their eyes open and if find anything suspicious, move away from it or complain to the railway police. But I don’t think they pay attention to such kind of announcements. Mumbaiker’s are one of those kinds who believe in enjoying their life.

Remember when the floods took place or the 7/11 train blasts happened; Mumbaiker’s were back to their normal life the next day. Mumbai is a known as a city that never sleeps. So you can imagine how many people must have paid attention to the announcement the lady was making.

Most of commuters were waiting to reach home as soon as possible to spend time with their family. Few were with busy chit-chatting with their friends. Some ladies were busy gossiping with their regular group of train friends.

Such is the life. Now tell me how many are seriously interested in such kind of announcements? Hardly anybody. But still do you know what. When trouble is around, this is what matters the most. So thanks to the railways, who on one hand hardly provide any security at the stations but on the other expect people to be alert and complain to them if they find anything suspicious.

Feelings….

I feel you in my every heartbeat,
I feel you within my soul,
You know not what I feel for you,
Coz I am myself not sure.
The day I met you I took you as my friend,
You are not the best of persons I’ve met,
Still you hold something that makes me come back to you each time.
What is it? I don’t know myself.
The feelings have changed, but I’m still the same,
You are the same I know for sure.
Then what makes me feel that you have changed,
My friends tell me to think of you as more than a friend,
But something within me makes me feel that they are wrong,
Why can’t I just try to control all these feelings?
These feelings make me hate you at times,
But I don’t hate you. In fact I can never hate you.
Coz you are the most precious gift I’ve ever received in my life.
I have this feeling that one day you will be mine,
And I hope this time what I feel comes out to be true.

The talkative Indian team

If you face defeat by your opponent than you make sure to give your best the next time you face him/her. Right? But guess what. Our dear Indian cricketers have decided to just talk to the media rather than prove it on field.

The inning defeat against Sri Lanka on their home ground is going to be another learning experience for the Indian team.

I still clearly remember the captain of our team, Anil Kumble (who is also the most senior player) saying that, “We are well prepared for the series. It’s them who will be under pressure, not we.”

Now, the point that I’m trying to make is simple. I have continuously kept an eye on the match. And believe me it was Indian players who were under pressure.

I can say it with confidence because i saw the senior players playing on the field. They were the ones who were playing under pressure.

What’s the point in stating such high statements when they know their calibre? If they feel that by saying this to the media their fans will believe them, then they are wrong.

Cricket is the only sport which is not taken as a sport but is worshipped as God. In fact it’s now a part of our religion. So the cricket lovers very well know that how the team will perform. So they making such statements are of no use.

“Mendis will be under pressure when we come on filed,” was another statement that Anil Kumble made. When he was asked how was the team gearing up and what strategy they would use against him.

This bowler was the one who took maximum wickets and restricted India to such a low target. In fact, India was unable to hit fours or sixes in his overs. The senior and the most experience players failed which was a shock for me.

Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly played only in the 1^st innings. What went wrong in the second then? Well I guess even they don’t have an answer to this.

If you want have an answer, then please for God sake don’t make any promises to your fans. Because trust me they have huge expectations and when the team fails, they too loose their faith.

It’s high time you guys talk less and perform more. The media has eyes and will see for them and write down your performance in words.

The ‘BREAKING NEWS’

I still remember the time when dad explained me the meaning of ‘breaking news.’ Breaking news is nothing but a sudden incident/event that has occurred and you get first informed about it. But look what’s happening today.

I will not hesitate in holding the media responsible for this. They are the ones who introduced this term to us and now they are the reason behind this change. Just see what they have done with the news today. If news has broken in afternoon, some channels have the guts to show it as breaking news in their evening bulletin.

I completely agree that the channels run the news time and again as they are unaware when a viewer might click on their channels. But that nowhere states that they must carry that news as breaking news throughout the day.

Updates are what each channel does on that story. But for heaven’s sake it’s not breaking news. You are simply informing the viewers and summarizing the entire incident in your bulletin. One channel came up with this trend and the others followed.

Here are few funny headlines/stories which I can recollect that were aired as breaking news:

1. Kurukshetra mein hui Prince ki jeet. (6 year boy, Prince from Haryana was trapped in a bore and was rescued after 50 hours. This story was aired by Zee News and Star Plus for almost the entire day). Agreed it’s a big story, but it doesn’t mean that other stories are spoken about at all.
2. ‘My lips are still hurting’ says Rakhi Sawant. (The most controversial and talked about kiss between Rakhi Sawant and Mika Singh. Again Zee and Star were the lead channels to air the story. Deep inside all of know what kind of personality Rakhi is. Still she was given major importance the entire day).
3. ‘Chaand ulta nikla.’ God this was the heights when Aaj Tak (once upon a time the most responsible channel) carried this story in the afternoon slot. They went to the extent of showing a group of people standing and checking out the position and shape of the moon. And that too during bright daylight.
4. Yesterday there was another funny story (this time it’s not Aaj Tak, Zee or Star). It was India TV. Imagine they went on to show a graphic representation of UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) taking cows and buffalo from some village as their population was increasing. I guess the reason must be shortage of milk on their planet. So, they decided to kidnap cows and buffaloes from Earth.

You can see which direction our Television journalism is heading. Only to earn TRP’s the editors of these channels have forgotten how to term a story as breaking news. I think rather than following what the other channels are up to, they must concentrate on creating awareness about important issues. Which in the in matters the most to the aam janta.

The happening episode in the Indian Parliament

A certain law and order needs to be maintained by the members of the Parliament as they are our representatives.

But recently what I saw was beyond my imagination and I’m sure all of us must have felt the same. I’m shocked that such a day can occur in Indian Political History. In fact I read online that one member himself termed it as a ‘Black Day.’

The bribery episode that happened in the Parliament on 22^nd July is something that has not only surprised all of us but the Members of the Parliament also. And why shouldn’t they be surprised? After all what they have been doing under the table has come out in public. And that also live on Television.

What I feel was that the entire episode was planned. Imagine a bag carrying crores of rupees is taken inside the parliament and no one is there to check it? It’s just impossible that with so many guards at the entrance a bag is taken without getting noticed.

This can best be compared with IPL that happened few months back. The only difference was that, there the cricketers were being auctioned and here it is our dear MP's.

Just look at the change that’s happened over a period of time. I’ve heard of shoes, chappals, chairs been thrown on each other. But standing tall with a bundle of cash in your hand is quite interesting. And interesting for whom? Off course our broadcast media who had live coverage of the entire episode.

Why fingers are pointed out to the media? In the end they are just doing their job. And that’s what they did on that horrifying day. So let’s be ready to watch some more drama as the elections are not far….and media will cover it the way these politicians want them to.