I can only lament on the state of our newspapers today.
Case in point The Bombay Times . Feb 27 2005
Page 1 An article about toursim in kashmir,an ode to dilip kumar, A question and answer on the mill lands by a sangarsh samiti representative and the views of some film personalities about the due budget
Page 2 and 3 devoted exclusive to celebrities. Though perhaps celebrities is too strong a word. sample the names of the people do you even know what they do ?
ashwin deo,dj aqeel,archana,gul panag ,harmeet gulzar and shefali jariwala,shonali shroff,shravan shroff,zulfi sayed
Page 4 ah the comics strips. something worth reading at last
page 5 news about the british royals prince charles wedding. Oh no i thought i had escaped then when i returned to india from london!
Page 6 and 7 cinema ads though page 7 has more celebrity interviews some western some local
Page 8 full page cinema ads
Page 9 interviews with vishal bharadwaj and shah rukh khan
Page 10 full page ad
And no this is not a Sunday Special. The only feature of note is the Question on Answer on Page 1 and the comic strips
Perhaps Bombay Time should rebrand itself as Bollywood Times.
Now i wonder how do i get an email of to malavika sanghvi
Sunday, February 27, 2005
Slum demolition
There is recently a furore against the BMC's drive to clear Mumbai of its illegal slums (but only those after the year 2000). Evidently this drive is not humanitarian and the governement should not be going out demolishing the slums without providing them free alternative housing.
I find myself on the side of the demolitions.
It is simple the slums are illegal. By providing free housing/land whatever we are encouraging more slums. It is akin to catching a thief and on hearing his sad life story saying go ahead rob me and heres the keys to the neighbours house as well. The maid in our house , herself homeless but whose son lives in an illegal slum tells us how her son pays 4000 a month to a corporator. Poor indeed. It is also heard from the same source how these people sell the home they have got and go back to live in the same slums till the next time they are given another home.
Which is not to say that we should kick these people out and do nothing else . The skewed development in India has to be halted. It is silly that so much wealth is concentrated in so few places. And Mumbai is one of those places. We have to develop other places so that the people there do not feel a need to migrate to Mumbai to earn their living. We must do something about our population. While it continues to increase at this rate no amount of development will serve any purpose. And finally we must stop allowing politics and politicians to interfere in all our public bodies.
I find myself on the side of the demolitions.
It is simple the slums are illegal. By providing free housing/land whatever we are encouraging more slums. It is akin to catching a thief and on hearing his sad life story saying go ahead rob me and heres the keys to the neighbours house as well. The maid in our house , herself homeless but whose son lives in an illegal slum tells us how her son pays 4000 a month to a corporator. Poor indeed. It is also heard from the same source how these people sell the home they have got and go back to live in the same slums till the next time they are given another home.
Which is not to say that we should kick these people out and do nothing else . The skewed development in India has to be halted. It is silly that so much wealth is concentrated in so few places. And Mumbai is one of those places. We have to develop other places so that the people there do not feel a need to migrate to Mumbai to earn their living. We must do something about our population. While it continues to increase at this rate no amount of development will serve any purpose. And finally we must stop allowing politics and politicians to interfere in all our public bodies.
The times they are a changing
I just finished reading Tamas by Bhisham Sahni
It is a sign of how much India has changed that i do not think such a book could be published today .Or a TV serial made. There would be protests , probably the producers office would be burnt and the matter referred to the courts . Complaints from all the communities that they are portrayed in a bad light (How do you portray communities participating in a riot in a good light?). Complaints that this will stir feelings of hatred to various communities. And so on and so forth. Over the years we have become less tolerant towards fiction/art/literature. The rise of people who feel that they should choose for us to places of power where they can actually do so is troublesome.
And i now know the answer to a question
"India is not secular it is multi-religious. And I do not know whether that is a good thing or a bad thing"
The answer is No it is not a good thing. The tragic part is this were it any other way , it would not be India.
It is a sign of how much India has changed that i do not think such a book could be published today .Or a TV serial made. There would be protests , probably the producers office would be burnt and the matter referred to the courts . Complaints from all the communities that they are portrayed in a bad light (How do you portray communities participating in a riot in a good light?). Complaints that this will stir feelings of hatred to various communities. And so on and so forth. Over the years we have become less tolerant towards fiction/art/literature. The rise of people who feel that they should choose for us to places of power where they can actually do so is troublesome.
And i now know the answer to a question
"India is not secular it is multi-religious. And I do not know whether that is a good thing or a bad thing"
The answer is No it is not a good thing. The tragic part is this were it any other way , it would not be India.
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