Impulsive

Viswanath Episode:We have been influenced by TV channels, act impulsively.
We seem to have developed an impulsive syndrome, having supressed the innate instincts of reasoning.We do not have patience to know the truth; and we tend to be influenced by what others or the media say.There was a time to think when till recently the important medium that was serving to convey news and information was the print medium, which generally had time to publish matter relating to a situation and was serving the need of the day .So much so, the readers used to get a fairly good briefing which helped them to form their own opinion on a given situation or an issue based on their thinking faculties and capacity to think and reason.

With the Electronic Media coming on the centre-stage as purveyors of information , equipped as it is , with the technology to break news , contact any person on earth and invite him to comment on the issue that this Electronic Media thinks it to take up , and the so called participants in the discussion , pleased with the invitation , which offers a far reach, hastily react to the questions, not fully comprehending the realties of the situatioin or the topic on which they are asked to comment.Thus some TV Channels, set on a mission to present an opinionated topic .Unfortunately the viewers are instantly swayed by comments on TV and react differently.Some take to streets, the motely of the agitators may be different, depending on the interest groups, interest , in the sense, those who are seeminly agitated over the issue.Ofcourse, if it is a political issue or a political figure, political colour given to the issue.

This is what exactly happened on the evening of Jan 28, when an autobiography of Senior Congress leader and Former Karnatka Minister H Viswanath was to be released by Jnanana Peeta Award Winner Dr U R Aanantha Murthy at a function at 5 pm.Naturally when a politician writes his autobiography one can expect copious references in the book about the contemporary characters that come and go on the political scene.
Among many political leaders who find a place in Mr Viswanath’s “Halli Hakkiya Hadu”, Former Karnatka Chief Minister and presently Maharastra Governor S M Krishna is one.An innocous reference made on a proposed marriage alliance of Mr Krishna with the multi-lingual actress of yesteryears Mrs B Saroja Devi, an alliance that was talked about four decades ago when Mr Krishna was young eligible bachelor, an alliance that did not come through, was picked up by a Kannada TV Channel.This Channel which came on the scene a year back with a big bang, adopting totally an unconventional approach to collect information and present before the readers , with live coverage, also coming up with issues , mostly on contemporary topics, chose to invite discussion on Mr Viswanath’s reference to the alliance just a few hours before the function was to start, went around seeking opinion of general public, who had not read the book or the context in which Mr Viswanath made this remark.For certain, those who offered comments or participated in the discussion had not read the book.Often, even as in the print medium , if the source of the news is questionable, the arguments or comments based on such premise also stand on quicksand.
As a Professional Journalist I can say with a sense of responsibility, some media persons who may not have attended a function or not able to access information do collect information from a journalist who might have attended the function .This information is shared by fellow journalists.There had been occasions when the journalist who had access to the information had taken notes, which were not true to the situation .When questioned we tend to justify our published version , arguing that “all papers have given the same version.One reporter may go wrong, but not all”, we argue.Thus if the source itself is not credible, information obtained by means of off- sourcing itself becomes unreliable.
Congress is a divided house, ofcourse, all of them swearing in the name of the High Command, euphemism for Mrs Sonia Gandhi, Fed on the discussion on TV, those claiming as supporters of Mr Krishna , angrily demonstrated , created ruckus,and saw to the cancellation of the function .Some of the prominent Congress leaders openly identified themselves in the demonstration .If only they had waited and gone through the book , they would have seen that their Leader, whom, they feel, was being pilloried by Mr Viswanath, was, in fact, glorified.Mr Viswanath read passages which speak in quite eulogising terms about the personality of Mr Krishna.
We act impulsively, not realising that all of us are endowed with thinking faculties.
The question whether Mr Viswanath was within his moral bounds to have commented on an incident that had taken place four decades ago is a matter for debate free from prejudices. Some argue whether such a reference , to which Mr Viswanath alludes, was required at all.I do not like to dwell on this.My thurst of this rather too longish blog is that we tend to formulate opinion based on meagre information, unauthenticated one.
Here is what the so called controversial reference to which Mr Viswsanath speaks about in his book.This relates to an incident when Mr Viswanath (who was the Education Minister in the Krishna Cabinet) and Mr Krishna were treavelling in a car .it was an election time for the Lok Sabha and a news paper found in the car speaks about actress Mrs Saroja Devi being tipped as a Congress Candidate to contest the election from Mandya Constituency.(The home district of Mr Krishna ).Mr Krishna exclaims “ what is this? And what do the people think’?In a lighter vein Mr Viswanath asks Mr Krishna “Sir,Shall I tell you the truth.But You should not feel bad”
“Oh, Oh, come on tell me, I will not feel bad, I will like to know the truth.”
Encouraged by this Mr Viswanath says ‘ People are talking about it.They say Krishna would not forget his old numbers.He would give ticket to that “ ammavaru” There is no doubt about it.”Mr Krishna laughed heartily.
“It appeared to me that he did not feel bad.I felt it took him down memory lane, which made him cheerful .
“In a playful mood , he said , Look Viswanath .We should not forget anyone.Is it not”?
“Yes,Yes Sir, I too have not forgtten anyone “ I remarked
Mr Krishna again burst into laughter.
You are free to arrive at conclusions

Animal torture

As I was watching the gory details of the visuals of a Hindu ritual in the taluk headquarters town of Indi in Bijapur District in North Karnataka, in which bulls offered as sacrifice to “please” the deity are subjected to a torture of a kind, which has no parallel in the history of any ritual practised by any rerligion in the world.
The ritual begins with smearing of kumkum on the bull, and later the four legs and the mouth of the animal are all tied with strong ropes, and “devotees” forcibly lift it up and make it “stand’, a posture it finds it difficult to do.A deep cut is made with a sharp sickle on its neck.The first flush of blood as it oozes out is collected in both the hands of a person , who offers it to small images of gods and goddesses kept closeby.
Then begins an orgy, an unrestrained indulgence in the worst kind of cruelty, amidst wild scenes of celebration.As the blood oozes out , one after another “devotee”sucks the blood from his mouth.The crowd will not allow it to lie down , even as it is dying, unable to suffer the torture.But the devotees quench their thirst with blood.Finally the animal finds rest in death.As I know it is only the wild dogs, as they hunt their prey in a pack, go on take out flesh from their prey .Even the big cats, tigers or leopards are relatively kind towards their prey.
After one bull rests in peace, an another one is brought and this orgy of violence continues.Seven bulls were sacrificed in this most cruel manner.
Lakhs of people were witness to this barbaric ritual telecast by E TV Kannada On January 22 2008. This comes on the close heels of an another ritual of a differeent kind of torture of animals.While the controversy over jallikattu (bull fight) in some villages in Madurai District of Tamilnadu on Sankranthi Day(Jan 15) was hogging headlines in the national and international media, a far more shocking ritual that happened in Melapura village in Yadgir Taluk of Gulbarga District of Karnataka on the Sankranthi Day came to light.Over 6000 sheep and goats, all young one, were literally thrown from the top of the buildings and hillocks towards the village deity, which was being taken in a procession from the temple to a lake.These offerings were being made by “devotees who had “vowed” to do so.Many of these panick stricken animals got killed or were trampled upon by those in the procession.It was shocking the Governemnt was the indirect participant in this barbaric ritual, for after the event the Governmment in a bid to dispose of the animals auctioned them and the successful bidder “enriched “ the State Exchequer with Rs 2.6 lakhs.The Yadgir Tahasildar sought to playdown the ritual and claimed that only a few anilmals died
I want to ask the District Administration in Bijapur and Gulbarga as to what it was doing when the animals were being subjected to torture and whether it was not a serious dereliction of its duty on its part.They owe an explanation to the public.
































































































































a worst kind of torture to animals
A worst kind of torture to animals
As I was watching the gory details of the visuals of a Hindu ritual in the taluk headquarters town of Indi in Bijapur District in North Karnataka, in which bulls offered as sacrifice to “please” the deity are subjected to a torture of a kind, which has no parallel in the history of any ritual practised by any rerligion in the world.
The ritual begins with smearing of kumkum on the bull, and later the four legs and the mouth of the animal are all tied with strong ropes, and “devotees” forcibly lift it up and make it “stand’, a posture it finds it difficult to do.A deep cut is made with a sharp sickle on its neck.The first flush of blood as it oozes out is collected in both the hands of a person , who offers it to small images of gods and goddesses kept closeby.
Then begins an orgy, an unrestrained indulgence in the worst kind of cruelty, amidst wild scenes of celebration.As the blood oozes out , one after another “devotee”sucks the blood from his mouth.The crowd will not allow it to lie down , even as it is dying, unable to suffer the torture.But the devotees quench their thirst with blood.Finally the animal finds rest in death.As I know it is only the wild dogs, as they hunt their prey in a pack, go on take out flesh from their prey .Even the big cats, tigers or leopards are relatively kind towards their prey.
After one bull rests in peace, an another one is brought and this orgy of violence continues.Seven bulls were sacrificed in this most cruel manner.
Lakhs of people were witness to this barbaric ritual telecast by E TV Kannada On January 22 2008. This comes on the close heels of an another ritual of a differeent kind of torture of animals.While the controversy over jallikattu (bull fight) in some villages in Madurai District of Tamilnadu on Sankranthi Day(Jan 15) was hogging headlines in the national and international media, a far more shocking ritual that happened in Melapura village in Yadgir Taluk of Gulbarga District of Karnataka on the Sankranthi Day came to light.Over 6000 sheep and goats, all young one, were literally thrown from the top of the buildings and hillocks towards the village deity, which was being taken in a procession from the temple to a lake.These offerings were being made by “devotees who had “vowed” to do so.Many of these panick stricken animals got killed or were trampled upon by those in the procession.It was shocking the Governemnt was the indirect participant in this barbaric ritual, for after the event the Governmment in a bid to dispose of the animals auctioned them and the successful bidder “enriched “ the State Exchequer with Rs 2.6 lakhs.The Yadgir Tahasildar sought to playdown the ritual and claimed that only a few anilmals died
I want to ask the District Administration in Bijapur and Gulbarga as to what it was doing when the animals were being subjected to torture and whether it was not a serious dereliction of its duty on its part.They owe an explanation to the public.

The Emergency thoughts

I got lost going through the interim report of the Shah Commission when the New Year ticked by, Indian Standard Time. Not the best way to bid 'bye, bye' to 2007, but it wasn't my conscious decision to spend this moment refreshing myself about our days during the Emergency (1975-77).

I stumbled on the Shah Commission report (1978) while rummaging my attic in search of newspaper clippings of my Deccan Herald pieces on the Mysore campus unrest in the 70s. The search was prompted by the on-going controversy over the alleged irregularities in the Mysore University. Some of these clippings were pasted on oblong books (printed for annual Mysore University convocation and distributed to the media) And many more , wrapped in newspapers, were stacked on the attic, and on shelves above the kitchen; which explains why many of my archive bundles have acquired a black tinge on the cover.

It isn't easy to lay hands on the exact clippings you look for at any given time. Left to my wife, the bundles would have found their way to raddiwala long back, depriving resident cockroaches a safe haven from human interference. To me their value is incalculable (the bundles, not the coakroaches). It was during my search at the attic, standing on a ladder, a thick book whose colour was once green, slipped from my hand and fell down to the floor. It was the first interim report of the Shah Commission.

Excited by this discovery I gave up my search for the university clippings and got engrossed in the commission report. As 2007 ticked by , my thoughts traveled back in time, to that Black Day in June , 1975, when President Fakruddin Ali Ahmed was woken up in the middle of the night to sign on some papers, that paved the way for suspending the fundamental rights, initiating state sponsored excesses, gags on the media, and for jailing the critics of Mrs Indira Gandhi.

Reading about it, again, strengthend my conviction to educate, in my limited way, our young journalists about what it means to be free. Much water has flown down the Yamuna since the dark days of the Emergency. Prolific growth of TV channels; the coalition of politics having come to stay; the absence of a leader of the stature of Mrs Gandhi, in whose name the Congress men, from the grass-roots worker to chief ministers , central ministers and even the Presidents of India swore their implicit loyalty; and unseen pressure from US against such misadventure, would all combine to ensure that India does not experience ever again the Emergency of the kind the country witnessed in the 70s .

Such were the thoughts that occurred as I re-read the Shah Commission report, utterly oblivious of the New Year revellery out on the midnight streets. A related item in GVK’s blog : The Emergency:The Indian Media’s shameful era