TELEVISTA
TV is a great leveller
Amita Malik

One cannot switch on the TV these days without running into the word ‘debate’ in different contexts. It started with the nuclear debate, which has now been promoted to a national debate. In the process, the implications of India’s equations with the USA are looming larger than anything else. While the prime minister and the government are claiming to take a wide view of the benefits which can come up, the Left, naturally, is more bothered about India becoming dependent on the US.

The various nuances of the agreement have been spelt out by the government, but the Left remains unconvinced. So all these days, we have had the spokespersons of all parties giving their points of view, but, regretfully, not all of them are star speakers, and some of the speeches have been boring. But there were unexpected lively moments. One of these was when Dr Manmohan Singh, normally a soft-spoken and undemonstrative person, gave a V sign and lifted his hands in triumph before entering the House for the great debate.

When it came to voting, the Manmohan Singh government survived. But neutral analysts kept on saying that the government had a distinct edge. So we went along with it. Then all of us had to go back to school and do some simple additions and subtractions together with these so-called neutral analysts. The figure 272 kept on moving up and down and so did our own calculations, with expected varying results.

So what else is new? Well, for one, Mayawati being seriously discussed as a future prime minister, the last woman prime minister being Indira Gandhi, very different in background, education and style. But Mayawati scores in one respect. She is a professional, having been a school teacher in her own right. But one thing is for sure. Women at the top are far higher in numbers in India than in the most advanced western countries.

If we have dowry deaths, the West equally has wife-beating cases high on its list of social crimes. This just shows that even in these modern days, male chauvinism is an important factor in community life. That is where TV comes in as a great leveller. If the most vocal anchors happen to be women, they also more than hold their own when interviewing top politicians, the most famous example being of Barkha Dutt and the normally stern L.K. Advani shedding tears, or at least wiping them away, during an emotional moment ruthlessly captured on camera.

So politicians are human, after all. But when it comes to Mayawati, she not only has a formidable upright walk on high heels, she also strides along in a style very different from Sonia Gandhi’s.

On the sports front there has been excitement about Sachin Tendulkar overtaking or not overtaking Brian Lara’s Test record. Some gloomy speculation about Mahesh Bhupati and Leander Paes being able to give their best at the Olympics, not only because of both being in their mid thirties but also because of their unfortunate—some would say unpatriotic—rift, which never seems to go away altogether.

This is one area where India had a real chance, but memories of what happened at Athens still haunt us. Indeed, it is the less romantic sports, such as wrestling and boxing which seem to be doing better. The lost causes of Usha and other contestants are small comfort. Still, we can only keep on trying. And hockey, which was very much a lost cause, has made a dramatic comeback with 2010 coming our way, in spite of KPS Gill and others still hanging around.