Vultures Behind Lenses

Dear Friends,

Its been almost one full month as Sr.DSO Agra. And what a month it has been! Even as I was trying to settle down after being suddenly transferred out of Lucknow, the biggest railway accident on my territory, in my career happened. On the 21st of this month, in the early morning hours, Mewar Express was Dashed from the rear by Goa Express. In railway terms, it is known as a Rear-Collision. Understandably,it instantaneously became the subject of intense media scrutiny and criticism.

I was there at the accident site within a very short time after getting to know of the accident through the divisional control (As were the other officers of the Division). But, sure as hell, the media guys were there as well almost at the same time that we reached the site of the accident. All sorts of media vans with round dish antennas mounted on their roofs soon choaked the makeshift parking created at the accident site. The reporter, photographers, corrospondents, special corrospondents etc. were practically climbing over each other to get the best (and the most damning) shot of the dead/injured. Indeed, their devotion to their duty was more than visible. But what was more visible was their complete disreagard and callousness towards the enormity of the incident and loss of human life. I heard two 'reporters' brandishing a video camera talking to each other. (they were talking in Hindi, but I have translated their dialogue into English). It went thus

The first one said "Pal look at that dead body stuck in the wreakage, next to the window"

"Yes I can see it" his friend replied

"Just try to get closer and get a good shot when it is extracted. It will make lovely footage.."

Yes, this is what they were saying to each other. It was the overhearing of this dialogue that forced me to think about the role of media in such disasters. Its an ode to the efficiency of the Indian Media that they are almost always the first ones to reach at the site of a disaster. But having reached there, are they the first ones to help? The answer to this question is a thumping 'NO'. In fact, if a person is dying of his injuries, our media persons will cover his/her dying moments and the pain in minute detail and bring you the best pictures and bytes. Most of them would love to ask such a person "sir, how does it feel like to be dying of injuries"? Even when I try, I am unable to recall even one occasion when someone from the media has come forward to help in any such disaster. All they do is to click photographs and collect bytes from all and sundry. The greater the death and destruction, the happier is the guy behind the lens of the camera and the one holding the mike. And this is precisely why I have called them 'Vultures Behind Lenses'. Media persons are like vultures . Vultures gleefully descend in a pack on dying animals and start tearing on their innards even before they are dead!! Similarly meida persons also descend on the site of a disaseter and start filling the bellies of their cameras and recorders with the choiciest morsels of the sights of the death and destruction around them without ever lending a helping hand. In fact, my qustion is that why should media-vultures be allowed at the site of a disaster if all they can do is to click photographs and criticise? All that these people do is to add to the crowd and chaos at the site. Any person who is not at the site with the intention and the means to help in the relief and restoration should be evicted from that place. In fact, it should be made illegal to reach the site of a disaster armed to the teeth with cameras and recorders but without a single vial of medicine and a single box of first-aid!! It should also be made compulsory for all the media houses sending their 'corrospondents' to the accident site to send an ambulance along with the van containing their equipments. If the media has the ability to reach its vans at the disaster site much ahead of any other responder, surely, it is a most valuable ability. It must therefore be utilized in national interest and an ambulance with every media-van should be made compulsory by means of suitable legislation and, any media house violating this law should be heavily and publicly punished!!

It is all very well to criticise others but its time the media took a good look at itself in the mirror. I am sure that if it does that it will surely see not the face of a human, but the face of a vulture.

Here is a poem that I have written. Perhaps it will illustrate the point that I am trying to make:

Beautiful Vultures

I watch those vultures,

Flying up in the sky,

Never flapping a wing,

As they soar so high;

How beautiful they seem,

From this distance great,

They glide on the winds,

As they patiently wait;

For something to die,

On the earth below,

They watch from the skies,

And they come to know...

I watch those vultures,

Descend in a pack,

On a helpless-dying,

Creatures Back;

They tear it to pieces,

With joyful screeches,

They devour it,

Their fury fuelled by its pain;

Then gently they rise,

Back up in the sky,

And seem oh-so-beautiful,

So beautiful again........

The uncomplaining Indian

Dear Friends,

This is in continuation to my earlier posts on the unethical business practices being followed in the private sector. Well to some extent the consumer is also responsible for this state of affairs. Let me give you the example of an experience that I had today. Swati (my wife) and I went out in the evening today. On our way back we felt like having some Chhola Bhatura. We decided to stop at Ritz Continental, which is one of the prestigious resturants of the city, in order to have Chhola Bhatura. When we entered the restuarant, we found that the inside of the place was hot and suffocating. Clearly, the air-conditioning was not working. The resturant was not empty mind you. In fact it was quite full, with a lot of people braving the hot and suffocating interior of the place and eating their snack/dinner in silence. I decided to approach the guy on the cash counter and asked him the reason behind the dead air-conditioning. He had no convincing reply to my query, save "it has been switched off due to some problem". Well, I told him that either he should tell me the exact nature of the problem or he should switch on the ACs. Sensing trouble, he went and switched on the Air Conditioners and, to my surprise, I found that there was nothing wrong with them. Within a few minutes, the interior of the resturant was cool and comfortable. We then sat down and had our Chhola Bhatura in peace. However, all the time I was in the resturant, all I could do was to wonder at the tolerance of our fellow Indians. I was amazed at how willingly and uncomplainingly all these people eating in the Ritz were paying for a facility that was being denied to them not because of any technical snag but due to the greed of the resturant management. In any Air Conditioned eatery, the customer pays not only for the food but also for the ambience, cleanliness, service and Air Conditioning. However, in the Ritz, today, the Air Conditioning was deliberately switched off in order to shortchange the customers and save on the power bills. The cleanliness was also nothing to write home about. But none of the people sitting there complained. Consequently, they were forced to sit there and eat an exorbitantly priced meal in extremely uncomfortable and suffocating conditions.

This uncomplaining and 'adjusting' attitude of Indians is one of the major reasons why the average consumer in India is shortchanged-even robbed-by unscrupulous vendors in broad daylight. The least that we can do as consumers is to complain when we find that the value of our money is being denied to us. In case of substandard goods/service provided to us by a vendor/service provider, the least that we can do is to educate our fellow Indians. Now, with the advent of so many networking sites, it is easy for us to share our experiences as consumers. Each of us now possesses the power to tell hundreds of others about any case of cheating by any vendor/service provider. We can even call for a bycott of such businesses who cheat their customers in order to boost their profits. Friends, I call on all of you to become slightly intolerant. Stop adjusting, Start complaining!!