Chai

Friday, October 17, 2008

Chai
Tuesday, September 16, 2008ChaiOne of my friends wrote a very cute blog about tea. It reminded me of my love for the beverage. One of my earliest memories during my Diwali hols at Jaipur at my paternal grandparents house, were endless cups of morning with toast were had on the dinning table. There was an air of easy banter and combradery. Since me and some of my sibling were too young to dring the tea, we had to do with eating toast. Tea is intergral part of bengali social life. During summer vacations in Cal, my uncle used to take three sleepy heads my brother, his son and me for morning walks to a deer park near the house. We inverably protested when we had to leave the warmth of our beds, but the cup of tea and biscuits at the local tea shops were a real treat. It made me feel very grown up and important. My stint in Australia introduced me to different types of tea, coffee nights at Fenner, had an array of teas of different kind- Earl gray, permint, lady grey, orange piko, black current. So my love affair with tea continous. My only grous against the brew is when i have to make endless cups for my family.Posted by smartgal at 10:40 PM 0

Media and such

So much has happened over the last month, the IPL which really managed to capture the public imagination. The Arushi Talwar murder case, the Jaipur bomb blast, Karnataka polls. In US Obabma finally won the democrats nomination. In India Arushi murder grabbed headlines, the poor 13 year old seemed to really grab public imagination the poor girl photographs, the family videos and even her alleged affair with Hemraj caught the public imagination. Millions of viewers seemed riveted to hear the latest progress in the case. To be completely honest, the drama being unfolded on national television was all engulfing. Her SMS, her tearful mother, the father alleged mistress, it was almost like a live soap opera being enacted out for our entertainment. Scarlets death and her mother lack of parenting skill seems to be mercifully sidelined.

If Arushi belonged to a lower income bracket, I doubt if the media interest would have been quite so hyped. I doubt it. For me Arushi could have been an acquaintance

Meanwhile people seem to forgotten the tragedy in Jaipur seems to be forgotten. The countless terror attacks on Indian soil seem to be completely sidelined. There seems to be very little interest or even public outrage about these repeated attacks on Indian soil. Who cares unless we become victims of the terror attacks ourselves. It seems the poor victims just become another statistic to an increasing list of people affected by terror.

It seems incredible that the Mumbai bomb blast 93 case is still not over, trial goes on and on. No significant headway seems to be made in the investigation of other terror attacks in India as well the bomb blast in Delhi , Hydrabad, Mumbai, Malegaon. Have attacks that could have happened been foiled? Have we as Indian become dehumanised as far as terrorism attacks are concerned?

The media is congratulating itself for getting the CBI into the Arushi case. Should the media apply similar pressure on the government to do something that our nation safer?

My First Ever Blog

NDTV Sunday program on We the people, inspired me to start my own blogs. I have always enjoyed reading blogs, being an intensely shy person, felt a bit apprehensive about putting my self out there. But lets give it a try, since most bloggers said they enjoyed the experience of blogging, so i am here to give it a try.
Last year was a great year for India our economy boomed, stock markets reached record highs, high profile criminal cases were resolved. We won the twenty twenty world cup, defeating Australia and Pakistan in the process, who can forget the nail biting finish. Lets not forget our victory in hockey, Vishi winning in Chess. Great movies starting from Guru to TZP were made. Pancholi organization won a Nobel prize.
Television still has a long way to go. We saw a slew of reality shows, we had two versions of dancing with the stars, each channel seemed to have its own version of American Idol. News reporting was daft, was it really breaking new Aishwara being a maglik, really who cares?
Election Pundits always seem to get the wrong picture whether predicating Mayawati winning UP by a landslide or coverage of the recent Gujarat election has always been shoddy at best.
Why on earth did Sunita Willams get so much coverage. Its okay if you want to profile her as a female astronaut, but news coverage that she took Bhagwat Gita and loved samosas bordered on the ludicrous. The thing that got on nerves the most is the media harping on her "Indianess". She an American with part Indian heritage. The connection is likely to superficial at best. Most of us will be unable to name her fellow crew members. Does she really deserve to be NRI of the year? The coverage on Bobby Jindal was even more crazier. He did not even retain his Indian Name, or anknowledge to it being a part of his heritage will he be making policy decisions favouring Indian interests any time soon? Plenty of Indians are doing excellent work both at home and overseas, and go largely unacknowledged, cover them for a change. Less hope we see some sensible television programs for a change.