We live in India, every second thing that happens has a degree of shadiness in it. But, this dude takes shadiness to the next level - all we know is that he is a dedicated Congressiya and a chela of Kamal Nath by his own admission and owns unspecified patents and might not even say the truth - his claim of Mongolian companies seems highly shady (Wikipedia is a wonderful thing - click on - ). I'm not going to a journalistic exercise, not even an armchair one, but some of the stuff he says sounds incredulous and a spin on existing technology - next generation networks with internet based access? That sounds like Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to me. Spending Rs 45,000 crore to build a chip fab in Rajasthan, a state apparently with loads and loads of water. Don't you just love it when people expose themselves publicly?
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Since I'm not exactly Mr Human Rights, may I suggest a quick-fire solution to Delhi's driving woes. Humiliate the city's worst drivers. People caught doing the stupidest things - such as driving on the wrong side of the road to save a 100 meter drive, not using indicators, generally driving like a complete moron and all Bajaj Chetak owners should be given a large 20-point sticker that simply says Main Chu*iya Hoon. No need for fines or anything like that. That might not stop blueline and RTV drivers driving like complete dicks but it will be start.
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And while I understand that Sasha Baron Cohen's new movie Bruno is an amazing social satire and makes people face their prejudices, it did mentally scar me. The guy has some balls (literally - no seriously, there is a lot of cock and balls in this movie) but I'm going to have nightmares for a few months and will willingly run into the arms of Mr Wand Mr Chivas, old friends of mine I had forgotten for a while.
Showing posts with label Corruption. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Corruption. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Thursday, April 09, 2009
Thoughts
Is there something fundamentally wrong in Income Redistribution? I mean that is what everybody wants right? Money from the rich going to the poor? So why the entire hue and cry about money being used to buy votes. Because I think of it as ‘income redistribution’, politicians rape the country for all its worth – the environment, its tax-paying classes for years on end and then they pay some money, only some, to get re-elected. You’ve seen how much richer they’ve all become, and I won’t mind a piece of it back. I’m not selling my vote, but I’ll be like a good horse that can traded and then not vote for the guy. I’m not a corrupt man after all and I'm not voting for Ajay Maken (unless Mr. Maken buys my vote), even though the though of voting for Vijay Goel is cringe-worthy.
A couple of interesting things though - Teesta going after the Commies for becoming communal, you've got to hand it to Teesta for not being a hipocrite like Karat and gang!
And the second thing is Anurag Batra's poetry. God spare me - but his site is so horrible and loaded with pointless adverts that it still takes five hours to load and the poem is at the end of a long, tedious rambling post in an extremely small font, a font size that makes this font look big.
I said this yesterday, I don't agree with what Jarnail did, but as someone said, a Sikh man made Varun Gandhi an issue and another Sikh man has put the Congress in Delhi (two Surdies have created the two biggest issues in North India these elections) on their knees (sacrifice two sure-shot seats in Delhi to win quite a few in Punjab?). However, Jarnail has managed with one 'lob' or 'chuck' to do what years of protests by the SGPC and a decade of terrorism could not do - make the Congress virtually disown Tytler and Sajjan Kumar and finally face up to 1984, in a convoluted sort of way.
Did anyone watch the Chelsea-Liverpool stunnerr last night. What a game!
A couple of interesting things though - Teesta going after the Commies for becoming communal, you've got to hand it to Teesta for not being a hipocrite like Karat and gang!
And the second thing is Anurag Batra's poetry. God spare me - but his site is so horrible and loaded with pointless adverts that it still takes five hours to load and the poem is at the end of a long, tedious rambling post in an extremely small font, a font size that makes this font look big.
I said this yesterday, I don't agree with what Jarnail did, but as someone said, a Sikh man made Varun Gandhi an issue and another Sikh man has put the Congress in Delhi (two Surdies have created the two biggest issues in North India these elections) on their knees (sacrifice two sure-shot seats in Delhi to win quite a few in Punjab?). However, Jarnail has managed with one 'lob' or 'chuck' to do what years of protests by the SGPC and a decade of terrorism could not do - make the Congress virtually disown Tytler and Sajjan Kumar and finally face up to 1984, in a convoluted sort of way.
Did anyone watch the Chelsea-Liverpool stunnerr last night. What a game!
Monday, April 16, 2007
Credibility
On Saturday Vir Sanghvi railed (once again) against Medianet, that insidious division of Times Group which takes money to feature social nobody's and high-class call girls on Page 3. But really, my problem is not with goes on inside the supplements, all supplements, either in the Times or HT are effectively paid for - have anyone even bothered to take a look at the Education supplements? Those things are filled with shady operators - and by shady I mean people who make 'The Ponytail' look half-decent - promoting unrecognised institutes by the dozen - I read of one called the Indian Institute of Human Rights where you get a diploma in Human Rights. WTF is that???
Heck, selling space on Page 3 is better than individuals whacking clothes, having free lunches or dinners, and even of photographers and reporters trying to get some action to get the tartiest women on those pages. Now those tarts and steroid-pumped muttoncakes (we can't have beefcakes in India, can we?) can 'pay' to get some publicity and no harm in paying your way through - just look at Rakhi Sawant - all that money spent has paid off! I would really like to see how 'ethically' and 'morally upright' Inky Media will be, I can hazard a guess, but the answer won't flatter anyone. But at the end of the day, to quote a senior editor - It is a supplement and no-one really cares - so what if it ends up promoting plastic breasts and steroid abuse - hey, the more men with shrivelled up balls there are, the better it is for me!
What I have a problem with is this - which was the anchor piece in The Economic Times today.
This is a piece on the front page of what might qualify as one of the top three English language dailies in India and this is an unabashed plug. This piece is what is not an article, it is an advertorial. I doubt the writer was hiding his/her disgust (though if ET had balls, they should have made the article a signed article - after all free bylines have gone for worse) you can make that out in the language. I know ET does some stories once in a while which test the boundaries of credibility and common-sense, but that happens to every newspaper. Fair enough, you can understand people using their own media vehicles to cross-promote other media assets, but in such a blatant and pretty tasteless manner, I doubt it.
Not done.
EDIT : I hear from friends in Bombay that Gautam Adhikari has put in his papers as editor of DNA. Please refer to this post I made last month, I understand that the Aggarwal's of the Dainik Bhaskar group expected much more from DNA and while the paper hasn't done too badly, maybe the Bhaskar group expected more. This is the second high-level editorial vacancy there is in the country right now, the first being at the India Today Group's new morning paper. From all indications, within the next couple of months there will be a third. All said and done about the Times Group, things do seem a bittle more stable there at the higher echelons, middle-level editorial though is a different kettle of fish altogether. Inky Media has recruited heavily from HT and some people at CNN-IBN are also jumping ship to the new place.
Heck, selling space on Page 3 is better than individuals whacking clothes, having free lunches or dinners, and even of photographers and reporters trying to get some action to get the tartiest women on those pages. Now those tarts and steroid-pumped muttoncakes (we can't have beefcakes in India, can we?) can 'pay' to get some publicity and no harm in paying your way through - just look at Rakhi Sawant - all that money spent has paid off! I would really like to see how 'ethically' and 'morally upright' Inky Media will be, I can hazard a guess, but the answer won't flatter anyone. But at the end of the day, to quote a senior editor - It is a supplement and no-one really cares - so what if it ends up promoting plastic breasts and steroid abuse - hey, the more men with shrivelled up balls there are, the better it is for me!
What I have a problem with is this - which was the anchor piece in The Economic Times today.
This is a piece on the front page of what might qualify as one of the top three English language dailies in India and this is an unabashed plug. This piece is what is not an article, it is an advertorial. I doubt the writer was hiding his/her disgust (though if ET had balls, they should have made the article a signed article - after all free bylines have gone for worse) you can make that out in the language. I know ET does some stories once in a while which test the boundaries of credibility and common-sense, but that happens to every newspaper. Fair enough, you can understand people using their own media vehicles to cross-promote other media assets, but in such a blatant and pretty tasteless manner, I doubt it.
Not done.
EDIT : I hear from friends in Bombay that Gautam Adhikari has put in his papers as editor of DNA. Please refer to this post I made last month, I understand that the Aggarwal's of the Dainik Bhaskar group expected much more from DNA and while the paper hasn't done too badly, maybe the Bhaskar group expected more. This is the second high-level editorial vacancy there is in the country right now, the first being at the India Today Group's new morning paper. From all indications, within the next couple of months there will be a third. All said and done about the Times Group, things do seem a bittle more stable there at the higher echelons, middle-level editorial though is a different kettle of fish altogether. Inky Media has recruited heavily from HT and some people at CNN-IBN are also jumping ship to the new place.
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Airline tickets.
I hear from sources, well make that readers, that the Times Group has blocked this blog (and some more) in Bombay. I'm genuinely surprised, because I actually wanted to say good things about the ToI, like how their cricket coverage over the last week has shattered the competition - in TV as well as Print. Inside, outside and exclusive interviews - brilliant interview with Greg Chappell yesterday.
Anyway, on the ethics front, I had an interesting insight on Friday. I had gone to visit a senior executive at an airline and while waiting for him in the Corp Comm's guys office, I overheard a phone call. The phone call was made by a journalist from an organisation I once worked at, and he asked for a 'free ticket' - the CC guy laughed saying that the guy would pay the taxes, but I still was horrified. Fair enough, it is a low-cost and a return ticket would be what - maximum Rs 8,000? But still, asking for a free ticket - that is a bit wild even in my opinion. I offered to give the CC guy the number of the guy's editor, but he didn't want it. He told me with a straight face, "If he wants this, if he wants to sell his soul to me, I'll get my own back."
Of course, during the course of the conversation, it became apparent that this was 'not' an isolated incident - quite a few journalists, not particularly senior ones also try to pull their 'PRESS' status for more than skipping traffic offenses, and frankly, I was a bit shocked. I know that one or two certain airlines don't mind dispensing trips, but they give them out to very senior journalists and a free ticket is rarely wasted on those folks - because you never know, during their best Tony Bourdain impressions on Travel and Living they might just mention the airlines' name.
On another note, everybody's favourite minister PRDM now claims the idea of the draconian 'Broadcast Bill' is to save the media from 'vested interests'. Have you seen a more delusional man? Anyway, I will grant him this much, after much humming and hawing, the government has allowed us to watch 'Adult Content' between 11-5. If this means I can see movies where the 'F' word is used is every possible form I will drink to that. Anyway, it is Sunday and the Formula One race is about to begin at Sepang, so till later...
Anyway, on the ethics front, I had an interesting insight on Friday. I had gone to visit a senior executive at an airline and while waiting for him in the Corp Comm's guys office, I overheard a phone call. The phone call was made by a journalist from an organisation I once worked at, and he asked for a 'free ticket' - the CC guy laughed saying that the guy would pay the taxes, but I still was horrified. Fair enough, it is a low-cost and a return ticket would be what - maximum Rs 8,000? But still, asking for a free ticket - that is a bit wild even in my opinion. I offered to give the CC guy the number of the guy's editor, but he didn't want it. He told me with a straight face, "If he wants this, if he wants to sell his soul to me, I'll get my own back."
Of course, during the course of the conversation, it became apparent that this was 'not' an isolated incident - quite a few journalists, not particularly senior ones also try to pull their 'PRESS' status for more than skipping traffic offenses, and frankly, I was a bit shocked. I know that one or two certain airlines don't mind dispensing trips, but they give them out to very senior journalists and a free ticket is rarely wasted on those folks - because you never know, during their best Tony Bourdain impressions on Travel and Living they might just mention the airlines' name.
On another note, everybody's favourite minister PRDM now claims the idea of the draconian 'Broadcast Bill' is to save the media from 'vested interests'. Have you seen a more delusional man? Anyway, I will grant him this much, after much humming and hawing, the government has allowed us to watch 'Adult Content' between 11-5. If this means I can see movies where the 'F' word is used is every possible form I will drink to that. Anyway, it is Sunday and the Formula One race is about to begin at Sepang, so till later...
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