TELEPROMPT
Grand affair
Mannika Chopra

Women, eh? Can’t really figure them out. You want them to have some control over political levers and yet when some of them do, there’s a collective gasp.

Last week on primetime TV, anchors had been yodelling about equal political opportunities seen in the shape of the Women’s Reservation Bill. Particularly prominent were assorted women anchors, these sisters in arms implied that politics was still a man’s world, essentially a woman-free zone.

Mayawati with the enormous garland made from Rs 1000 notes

But see how the nature of news changed in seven days. On Monday, when a woman politician, Mayawati, celebrated her birthday in Lucknow in the most brazen way possible, it caused collective gagging. The subtext behind this horror that being a Dalit, Mayawati had a monopoly over misery and, therefore, it was not appropriate that she be garlanded by what looked like a enormous python made from thousands of Rs 1000 notes; or that she wear diamonds or subsume Lucknow in a sea of blue, the colour of her party, the Bahujan Samaj Party. The burden of most of the reportage was Mayawati Ki Mayanagari (a title used by NDTV India) with special focus on the garland, which one innocent politician from Karnataka hotly claimed was actually made of flowers and not of currency notes.

But as Vidya Subrahmaniam correctly pointed out on CNN-IBN’s Face the Nation, the orchestrated and ostentatious celebrations should not be the concern. The issue should be whether the leader has been able to deliver at the grassroots level, or whether, as Chandan Mitra said in the same discussion, to what extent there has been a misuse of public funds for the birthday bash and in the building numerous statutes that today dot UP’s landscape.

Mayawati’s birthday, which every cub reporter knew was going to be an over-the-top affair, would have been an ideal opportunity to provide a detailed report on the schemes and policies put in place by Mayawati, the Chief Minster of Uttar Pradesh. But the channels myopically chose to focus on the celebrations per se. Such was the level for misinformation that while Times Now said the garland must have cost a couple of lakhs, Star News said it was worth a couple of crores.

As usual the idea was to shock, amuse rather than inform and yes also to editorialise. Arnab Goswami on Times Now’s News Hour gave us a lecture on Mayawati’s many indulgences even invoking the nation’s founding father’s in his sermon in the studio. Let it be known I have no problem with rage but alongside that there should be reliability and rigourous reporting.

Outside anniversaries, cricket has also started making waves. And though I don’t really love the game, you can’t really help but be drawn into the general sense of excitement when the Indian Premier League 3 kicked off last week. Of course, it is early days yet and the enthusiasm may wither to peak again when the final play offs draw near but having the matches in India certainly brings the magic closer.

Max’s Extraa Innings has undergone some a makeover. Gone is Mandira Bedi, she of the ‘blouseless sleeves’ who in her giddy way provided the required X chromosome to the show. Instead we see Anjum Chopra, a former member of the Indian women national team giving competent inputs and Samir Kochar, also part of IPL 1 and 2. If one can overlook Pommie Mbangwa’s long braids, the Zimbabwean’s commentary is very insightful and intuitive. But sorry sada Gaurav Kapoor needs to do some more homework, forgetting the name of a Sri Lankan cricketer in his initial piece to camera was a tad shoddy.

And what about other channels? On NDTV, Sonali Chander has always been able to graciously provide a perfect foil to Ajay Jadeja’s expert explanations. CNN-IBN has bagged Sunil Gavaskar for his analysis and for comic relief, the channel has bunged in humourist Cyrus Barocha, who I fear is in danger of hamming. On Times Now, being effortlessly irritating is Navjot Singh Sidhu, who gives an overdose of Sidhuisms, mixing commentary with comedy in a segment called Summer Slam. Many may like the ‘asardar sardar’s’ witticisms and roar with laughter, me not so much.

Yes, little Anandi has been critically shot while trying to save Jaggia from his kidnappers. But dear fans of Balika Vadhu, do not lose hope. Because even as she hovered between life and death, her index finer quivered, indicating that there is light at the end of the tunnel and eventually all will be well. But before that, the only doctor who can perform that crucial operation is in ‘Amrika’, finally presenting a paper after a lifetime of arduous research and work. Will he be persuaded by his wife to return to India, thus dashing the doctor’s hopes forever to make an impact on the international medical community? The answer we know, even before we see the next episode of Balika Vadhu and weep copious amounts of tears, is yes.

If you want a high-risk hike, look at an amazing programme being aired on Fox History and Entertainment Channel. I really don’t know if it’s a repeat of an old series or something fresh the network has dished out, but old or new, it’s definitely worth one hour of your time.

Entitled Vertical City, the series looks at the world’s tallest buildings. These vertigo-inducing skyscrapers are just not buildings but often symbols of political ambitions and the result of amazing engineering and architectural feats. The idea is compelling and its execution more so. The episode, I saw, presented by Matt Breman, was on Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Towers, which till 2003 was the world’s tallest building. Thereafter, many have taken over but to see them tune into Vertical City. You won’t be disappointed.