The media in 'emergency' mode

There was a time one month back when there was not a news bulletin on the Indian TV channels which did not mention swine flu. It was at a time when the cases worldwide had plateaued. Let us put the whole issue into perspective.

6050 people have been affected with the swine flu in India out of which 173 died (as of 13 September 2009). Most of the people who have been infected are ones who either had been abroad or had been in contact with someone who had been abroad. In simply words, it was predominantly among the more affluent. And that is exactly the reason it managed to get such a proportion of prime time coverage in the media. The media houses catering to this stratum of the society went into ‘emergency’ mode.

I would have been happy with the media’s vociferous take on swine flu if they had not been turning a blind eye to the Indians dying every minute due to TB or to the 1250 Indians dying daily because of diarrhea-related diseases, both of which are very much curable. The media do not see such ‘uninteresting’ statistics.

Navarathri

Patience, flexibility, love, and the ability to soothe are some of the qualities we would very easily associate with our mothers. These are the same virtues we glorify during the nine days of Navarathri (Nava = nine, rathri = night) as nine different manifestations of the Universal Mother. The Universal Mother is commonly referred to as Durga (or Shakthi or Devi), which literally means the remover of the miseries of life. In the Hindu culture, God is looked upon as our Mother, and vice versa. ‘The first manifestation of God is the hand that rocks the cradle’, as Swami Vivekananda aptly puts it.

Navarathri is divided into sets of three days to honour three different aspects of the Mother. During the first three days, we pray to Durga (or Kali), who is the destroyer of all our impurities, our vices. Then for three days, the Mother is worshipped as Lakshmi, who bestows upon us spiritual wealth. The final three days are spent in worshipping Saraswati, the Goddess of wisdom.

According to the great Hindu scripture, the Ramayana, Lord Rama performed a Holy prayer to invoke the blessings of Durga Maa to ensure success in bringing back his wife Sita from Ravana who had abducted her. The day, in Ramayana, when Rama vanquishes Ravana is celebrated as Dusshera (also known as Vijayadashami), which is the day after the nine nights of worship. During the nine days many in India fast. Fasting is seen as one of the best methods to improve one’s self control and overcome one’s desires. The fast, which is performed in the name of Durga, is akin to the prayer by Lord Rama. On Vijayadashami, Ravana, who symbolises our vices and desires, is finally conquered.

A prayer for the Mother –

Ya devi sarva bhooteshu matru roopena samsthita
namastasyai namastasyai namastasyai namo namaha - Devi mahathmyam

Salutations to the divine mother,
Whose art manifest in every being's existence.
As mother, I worship thee, over and over and over again.

Letters from Edinburgh V

I have started getting used to spelling out my name whenever I call someone on the phone here. I had to do it so many times - with the British Airways, British Gas, British Telecom, Royal Bank of Scotland. A for alpha, N for number, U for up, P for Pakistan, and then NAMBIAR.

Spelling out 'Sainath Lakshminarayanan' for the Natwest bank was the best training I could get. I got so lost that evening. I could not get any word for L. L for ... for ... LOVE! Yes that is the only thing I got to say to that Natwest lady.

Letters from Edinburgh IV

The most noticeable structure that can be seen from my kitchen window is a church tower. It stands out from the large number of small houses that my neighbourhood is studded with.

One evening, I was watching the sun set, sipping some tea. The church clock’s bell rang, which caught my attention. I looked in its direction, expecting to see the old church tower. I could not see it that day. I thought my senses were failing me. I knew that the Edinburgh Council, which does not allow us to even change a broken window (that is how they ‘preserve’ their heritage), would never bring down a church tower.

It is then I observed something. There was a huge tree that had come in the way. I had never seen the tree earlier. Or had I? Maybe I had seen the church tower through the skeletal structure of the very same tree. That evening, dense green foliage stood in place of the life-less autumn tree.

Someone knocked at our door that evening. It was spring.

The blank slate

One of the things I had in my mind, even before leaving for Edinburgh, was to buy a cycle once I reached here. I had this Famous Five style ‘riding through the meadows’ picture in my mind which complemented my love for cycling.

When I reached here, I learnt that there is a bicycle recycling and cycling promotion charity called the Bike Station at Edinburgh. There, they take old and discarded bikes out of landfill, repair as many as they can, and put them back on the roads. Every Saturday, between 10 am and noon, they sell these refurbished cycles to people. I thought of going there to buy a second hand cycle (when a new cycle would cost greater than £150, second hand cycles can be bought for as less as £40).

I went there on three consecutive Saturdays. The first time I reached the place at 10:30 or so. There was a huge queue. I hadn’t foreseen the demand for second hand cycles, especially during the time of the year when a lot of new students like me had landed in the city. I stood in the queue for some time and then, realizing that there was no way I was going to get a bike that day, left. The next week, I went there early. That week the number of cycles they had to sell were very few and by the time my turn came, there weren’t any cycles left.

The third Saturday, I went even earlier, to make sure that I get a favourable place on the queue. For a change, I was in the first group that was allowed to enter the garage. It was a square room, with cycles kept along the walls. I kept looking at the price tag (the most important factor to be considered!) of the cycles along one side. I saw one for £55. It looked in good condition. I knew the cost was reasonable. But my mind said, ‘Check out the other bikes too. There might be something cheaper, better’. I went around the room looking at the other cycles kept. Did not find anything that suited my budget. By the time I came back for the £55 cycle, someone else had taken it. The Bike Station had taught me the first lesson I learnt in Edinburgh.

How many times in our lives have we kept things waiting for the proverbial sunnier day? We keep living with the want – the want of a better day. We seldom see the beauty of the blank slate given to us each morning.

A sad day

Today I felt sad. All I could see in our news channels was the tirade which was traded between L K Advani and Dr. Manmohan Singh. Ideological differences kept aside for a moment, I do not think that two Indians, who are as old as my grandparents, must share such sharp words. I yearn to see the respect they ought to have for each other. When such mature, responsible people begin to speak thus, I start losing hope.

Your vote counts!

I am writing this in urgency. We have another 4 days before our people go to poll booths around the country to vote for the first phase of the elections to the 15th Lok Sabha. Two experiences over the past few weeks have forced me to write something of this sort.
1. During a talk show in CNN IBN, which Rajdeep Sardesai hosted, one of the panellists, when talking about the middle class of West Bengal said, ‘The middle class of India is the most untrustworthy. More than half of them do not even come to vote.’(Not quoted verbatim).
2. Tarun Vijay (columnist for the Times of India and editor for an RSS weekly) spoke of the ‘English speaking and writing middle class’ as being ones who ‘discuss big issues, but do little; expecting others to make the changes’. (Again, this is the gist of an article he had written).

Now, if you are reading this message, you are a part of the ‘untrustworthy English speaking and writing middle class of India’.

I do not want the ‘middle class’ to prove these commentators wrong. But I want our people to get involved. Let’s make the choice today, which will define where we stand tomorrow. Let’s all go to the polling station on Election Day. Jai Hind!