Punjabi Antenna
An able anchor
Randeep Wadehra

No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne;
No gall, no glory; no cross, no crown. — William Penn (1644–1718) Founder of Pennsylvania

Dynamic, gumptious and good looking. These words describe her aptly. A graduate in office management, Nirmalpreet Kaur had never envisaged a career in media, but the desire "to do something different and challenging" led her into accepting an anchor’s job in Punjab Today. She did not want to be "a mere newsreader." So she got involved with various aspects of producing news bulletins.

After working for the channel for two years, Nirmalpreet shifted to Zee Punjabi and thence to PTC News. Although she has no professional training as television journalist, she has been able to pick up the nitty-gritty of programme scripting and packaging through practical experience. She thanks her colleagues and employers for their cooperation, and her maternal uncle Jasbir Jassi— the noted singer—too.

If you watch her on television, you would know that she really enjoys doing live news bulletins. Her questions are terse and to the point. She has anchored quite a few news-based shows, too. Her achievements become all the more creditable in the light of the fact that she is polio afflicted.

Election reforms is one of those blow-hot-blow-cold topics that crops up in the media frequently. Masle, on PTC News, came up with the issue on the eve of the byelections to the Punjab Assembly wherein Sukhbir Badal too figured. It all began with the poser whether byelections should be conducted at all; why should not the vacated seat be given to the person belonging to the party to which the previous incumbent belonged? What if the previous incumbent was an Independent? Thence, the discussion turned towards the twin problems of corruption and overspending during election campaigns. Funnily, the two politicians—DS Cheema (SAD) and HS Barsat (Congress)—were keen on putting the onus on bureaucrats and the general public. Talk of political consensus.

One really wished that the recent controversy regarding possible manipulation of electronic voting machines too was dealt in detail. Sooner or later, an EVM-related (potential) scam is bound to hit our polity if claims by certain IT experts are valid.

Nidarr on MH1 is the first of its kind reality show on Punjabi television. Groups of youngsters compete with each other in the display of daredevilry. It would have been quite absorbing had one not seen the shows like Splitsvilla, Roadies etc. The show’s format and the adjudicator-anchor’s mannerisms are similar to the MTV originals. How one wishes there was something original in this genre.

There are, on an average, 40,000 racist offences annually in—no not in Australia but in the multicultural, liberal and democratic Britain. This was revealed on the NRI Show by a British lawyer of Indian origin in an interview with Reeta Sharma, the show’s anchor. The offences range from verbal abuse to more violent crimes like arson and murder.

Interestingly, the lawyer blamed the Indian community as much as the offenders for the situation. The community’s reluctance to become part of the mainstream often provokes retaliations. Another aspect that was discussed threadbare was dowry deaths and marriage-related frauds. Often NRIs do not reveal their true marital and economic status to prospective brides/grooms in India. On reaching Britain when the truth is revealed, it leads to fatal domestic violence. The message is loud and clear—if you cannot check on the credentials of prospective NRI brides/grooms, don’t tie the knot. But, would it go home?