Corruption and political hypocrisy

Nov 18, 2010

On the 1st day of Winter Session of Parliament JD (U) leader Sharad Yadav got agitated during a discussion on the corruption charges on Telecom Minister A Raja, CWG boss Suresh Kalmadi and Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chahvan.  In the heat of the moment the former Union Minister got so much carried that he made a politically not-so-correct yet candid statement that once being a part of the Union Government he is aware that in India investigating agencies are so much under the clutches of the ruling party that any investigation has absolutely no meaning and corruption & political nepotism remains a way of life.
Though the allegation of Sharad Yadav was meant to target the Congress Party, it actually proved to be a revealing statement on how the respective governments in India have misused the central investigating agencies, and hypocrisy is the only buzz word on the issue. The question here is that whether corruption actually is an issue in India beyond middle class hysteria. Well, your guess could be as good as mine. Had corruption been an issue then the ruling Congress party that has been responsible for institutionalizing it had not been ruling the country uninterrupted for almost three decades since independence.
The fact of the matter is that corruption has never been an issue in India and the governments who have performed even decent on the given parameter of governance (development, social justice or just plain PR) have repeatedly been re-elected even after being declared corrupt by the investigating agencies and the court of law. The political parties that are stalling the parliament year after year seem to have learnt the art of engineering the middle class hysteria over corruption, while they are all hand-in-glove, and collectively determined to laugh their way to banks while plundering the public wealth.
What Sharad Yadav said in the House is only the tip of the iceberg. The malaise runs much deeper in the system. Have not we all seen the then CBI chief Joginder Singh saying in Patna that prima facie there is no case to charge sheet Laloo Yadav in fodder scam and then stating otherwise in Delhi in a matter of few hours? After all, he was only following his boss’ (Prime Minister) order against the wannabe Prime Minster. Did corruption charge desert the massive vote bank of Laloo? There are a number of examples where the corruption and other criminal charges have worked the other way and instead mobilized the gullible voters even further.
With the change of time, corruption has only snowballed into a kind of media trial, with the political parties more interested in engaging the public and engineering vote bank than reaching to a logical conclusion. If that not be the case why are opposition parties today demanding JPC with more members of ruling alliance than a PAC with more opposition members? The fact of the matter is that all they are interested in is a drift of DMK from the ruling alliance and not taking the corruption to its logical end. The ruling UPA alliance is playing equally smart to let the bedlam happen and in due course pass the tide. Public memory, after all, is very short.
Had public memory not been that short, the principal opposition party, BJP would not have gathered morale to raise such a hue and cry over corruption. After all, the track record of their own NDA government has been equally pathetic, filthy and stormy over the issue. The telecom scam is not just confined to the grant of 2G Spectrum; it actually started within the NDA Government. When one of the upright ministers, Jagmohan stood out as whistle blower, he was ungracefully shifted from the ministry and sidelined. Who doesn’t know how Reliance was given license for local loop phone initially and then all the norms subverted to favour the corporate house.
When the corruption scandal had surfaced in the Defence Ministry of the NDA government, did the then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee showed the kind of leadership that the Manmohan Singh has now shown? The BJP had then gone “On Record” saying that it is the prerogative of the Prime Minister to retain and drop a minister, and he is not bound by the wish of the opposition party. It had led to a new precedent in the history of Indian Parliament when throughout the tenure of the NDA government, the opposition kept the Defence Minister George Fernandes boycotted, and never asked any questions. Of course, the common gullible middle class kept wondering that whether our leaders have stood so low that even the coffins of war martyrs at kargil were not spared.
It is due to the all pervasive political hypocrisy that a political party raises a toast over Adarsh Society Housing Scam in Maharashtra, despite the fact that their own Party President is one of the beneficiaries. How conveniently they forget that one of the Chief Ministers of their own party had shamelessly defended corruption with a couplet, “paisa koi khuda toh nahin lekin khuda ki kasam  khuda se kam bhi nahin” (Money may not be god but god swear is no less than god). May be the poor guy was just following the principles set by his Party President who was caught on camera accepting bribe, not leaving even loose currency of Rs. 10.
The country was not so shocked beyond middle class hysteria yet again. The rest had digested the first time whiff of power that brought the greed out of the holier-than-thou political party. They are any way not alone in becoming a poor Xerox copy of the Congress in terms of corruption. The respective Third Front Governments, often a by-product of disenchantment with the two leading political parties, too have been found lusting for the same booty through means fair and foul. Hence when a leading industrialist blew the whistle of being asked 15 crores for airlines license, nobody was surprised or shocked.
The moot point here is that when every political party has been equally shameless then whom to be blamed. The first blame goes to people like us for being hysterical with selective amnesia. So long we are a party to the political vote engineering in the name of whistle blowing on corruption, the soap opera called “war on corruption” will continue. As concerned citizens of the country our agenda should be to boycott the corrupt, and at the same time deplore those who have double-speak on the subject with a holier-than-thou war cry.

An open Letter to Bihar Chief Minister

Nov 6, 2010

Dear Mr Nitish Kumar
As you are poised to take over the realm of the second largest state in the country, Bihar the 2nd consecutive time, I feel like interacting with you directly over certain issues that I feel deserves due attention. You or even many of my friends may dismiss this letter as a publicity gimmick and question my locus standi to such an interaction. After all, why should a lone person without any political mass base and a non-Resident Bihari who does not even cast his vote in the state evoke your interest? Still I felt like writing an open letter to a man who is my Hero but yet there are shades of grey in his governance that is a matter of concern as well.
Mr Kumar, you may be more concerned with admirers and critics who matter the most as far as the political calculation of the state is concerned. But then all these admirers and critics also have some vested interest that has goaded them to their respective line of ideology. I have none. Still I am one of your ardent fans. As a non-Resident Bihari I have been quite vocal on the issue of Bihari Diaspora and their legitimate rights. And this is precisely the reason that you are my Hero as far as Bihar getting its pride back is concerned. Had it not been you turnaround performance as the Chief Minister of Bihar, the state would not have got its due place back. You have suddenly transformed Bihar into new power centre in this part of the world.
The average non-Resident citizen of Bihar is no longer living with subdued silence in exchange of a decent living across the country. The unprecedented development of the state in the last five years has equipped us with the kind of statistics that the outside world often wonders. Of course, it is also backed by the fact that many of those who left the state in the last couple of decades have made a mark with their impeccable merit, unquestionable hard work and live in a new aspiration driven economy. Still a large share of the credit for the new-found confidence goes to you. After all, it is not just about boasting our individual success, but the issue has been perception and projection of the state at large. 
Though you have absolutely no background in media, you have successfully cultivated the art of media management and the positive perception and projection of the state is a Case Study in itself. It is due to this dramatic turnaround that a section of regional parties mooting the possibility of another Third Front Government at the Centre think of you as the future Prime Minister. If that happens and when that happens, we all will hold our head high with pride. And it is precisely such a big picture in vision that I am compelled to write this open letter to you.
As we at the TRACK2MEDIA Consulting conducted election forecast survey in Bihar, I was wondering as to how opinion on your government’s performance has been diametrically opposite in different pockets. I can understand that normally in any given election there is a sharp contrast between the macro level indicators and micro level sentiments. But in Bihar there has been something more than what average pollsters would have noticed. For the last few days the political commentator in me was trying to figure out whether development always translates into votes. My understanding of Indian polity and electoral politics says that the governments who have performed even decently have got reelected in a democracy like India where political overtones on every nook and corner are most often silenced by the voters at large who are generous with least expectation level.
However, there are very many visible examples where development has not translated into votes. The question is if development doesn’t translate into votes, what else can be done? Well, it is just a matter of looking at development with a holistic vision-development for whom and at what cost? when development is confined into select pocket, when there is absence of inclusive growth and when the fruits of development are not shared equally in the society; it leads to not only the process of political marginalization and resultant mobilization, but also leads to long term social unrest. I wonder whether already divided Bihar (on caste and other socio-political parameters) can afford such unrest.
I understand that by and large you have served your constituency (caste, class, geographical and political) reasonably well. The failure has been more on the part of your alliance partner who remained so clueless with sudden found power in Bihar that they started repeating the same mistakes that Congress did during its alliance with the RJD Government. The BJP failed to either create a separate constituency or serve the section that has been its traditional strength in the state. But then the BJP today appears to be more Congressised than the Congress itself. They are well known to follow the Congress in their quest to understand the intricacies of governance, and their corruption and lust for power at every level is a testimony to it.  
As far as you are concerned, I, and many like me, expect you to be a statesman. A proven performer who can do wonders for the state. And it is in this perspective that I feel your second term as Bihar Chief Minister will be even more challenging. This can well be your make or break innings in the state. I am not saying this because there will be sky high expectations to deliver; rather I am more concerned with the fact that my Hero should set a new benchmark for the overall inclusive growth of the state. Destiny, after all, doesn’t favour those who take corrective measures only when confronted with the crisis. Even Laloo Yadav did his best when dethroned from Bihar to turnaround the Indian Railways. It proved to be too little & too late. I just wish that the visionary Nitish Kumar will not repeat the same mistakes.
Yours….
A Concerned Non-Resident Bihari 

Brand Bihar shines against odds

October 27, 2010

When a prominent journalist made a faux pas on Bihar being a liability on tax payers’ money and Brand Bihar ignoring it, he was made to eat his own words by the strong reaction of the well placed Bihari community across the country. Prima Facie what seemed to be the new age technology and networking sites like Facebook giving a voice to the pride of the otherwise detached class of Bihar, had something more than that. A very close follower of the diaspora of Bihar and their sensibilities, it was heartening to see the emergence of “Brand Bihar” in true letter and spirit.

Had the resurgence of Bihar as a truly power centre of India been only for the academic purposes, the diaspora of the state would not have erupted with such a strong reaction. But the voice of the Non Residents Biharis (NRB), who may not have any plans of resettling in home state, was as curt as the residents of Bihar. This is a clear indicator of the fact that the resurgence of Bihar has come of age. 

 The economics of “Brand Bihar” is not the only indicator of the hidden potential of the state. Of course, the GDP rate of 11% at a time when the world economy was reeling under recession and even the national economy slumped to around 6% will always remain a matter of pride for a community that has been at the receiving end of reverse racism in its own country for nearly three decades.

However, what gives me a sense of satisfaction is that the economics of “Brand Bihar” has been equally supported by the sociology of emotional pride for the state. A History Graduate in me clearly understands that the civilizations turn into Great & Role Model for future only when the economics and sociology of the land and its people are inter-linked. I have time and again raised my voice at various forum that what is missing link in harnessing the true potential of the state of Bihar is the sociology, and not economics.

The unfortunate reality thus far has been this lack of emotional chord. There are two reasons responsible for relegating the Bihari identity into dustbin. I may be rubbing some of my own brethren the wrong way here, but it is high time that we look into the deep rooted malaise, if Brand Bihar has to be positioned like never before. Let’s face the facts bluntly. The curse of caste has been the bane of Bihar, as deep rooted in polity as in society. But the rising economy & high aspiration level is certainly reducing the caste divide. A strong focus on “Bihar Pride” will further cement the gaps.

Our own acceptance of fate as second class citizens in exchange of a decent living is something that the migrant Biharis had to live with. The poor projection of the state at various human development indicators led the collective consciousness to shape up against the residents of Bihar. An average working class somehow started learning to live with this crude reality of being under the social scrutiny for no fault of theirs. The strengths of the state of Bihar was not even allowed to be discussed in public for quite some time.

The wheels of fortune turned in the last few years when the state started showing signs of development and improved ranking of state on human development indicators. A catalyst to this undercurrent has been the fact that the thinly spread vocal working class with relatively better consciousness of their rights and pride started networking. Even though such networking has mostly been on the sites like Facebook, it subconsciously gives every other Bihari that he is not alone and can’t be cornered.

The moot point here is whether this emergence of Brand Bihar has been accepted beyond Bihar. It is here that I find graceful acceptance of this social reality few and far between. I can say with my own experience in Delhi that the people, who accepted us as one among equals, only accepted the elite class in us while their subconscious mind always gave them pseudo assurance of being more than equal and added superiority complex. 

While reservations against the state have always been borne out of perception, the rise of Brand Bihar has not diminished it. It has actually further intensified among a larger section who see the state as a threat to their own existence. The detaste against Brand Bihar may not be vocal like a few years back, since calling somebody a Bihari with negative connotations is fraught with danger now even in public transport of metro cities. But the silent resentment is even more dangerous because you never know who is actually a frienemy.

It is not unusual to find people in metro cribbing that their children can’t compete in premium services like the IAS and IIT, since most of the seats are occupied by the students of Bihar. While the grudge to not competing in this meritocracy has always been there, the rise of Brand Bihar has inculcated a new fear psychosis in them. It may be silent, it may be hidden…but then Vinod Dua is not the only person who thinks Bihar is a threat, can’t be competed against and hence the only option is to demoralize the state with a negative perception created around it.

I wish they could see the new power house called Brand Bihar, and get benefited by acknowledging it. Come on guys….since you can not beat us, join us. Brand Bihar invites all Indians with arms wide open. We have been doing so since ages and our academic excellence in Nalanda has been a testimony to this. 

Hey Ram...Save Rama from his fanatics

October 2, 2010

Immediately after the Ayodhya verdict over Ram Janmabhoomi Babri Masjid, a young man’s chat completely turned me off. “Sir Hindu Jeet Gaye” (Hindus have won)…This was not just a statement, rather reflected the thought process of a generation whom we expect to be progressive. I was all the more ashamed by the tenacity of this idiotic statement since it was coming from an educated person who is also a qualified lawyer. Legality of the judgment and ethics & plurality of the nation apart, the statement reflected an undercurrent of the psyche which still believes India should not move ahead of the medieval act that happened on the fateful day of Dec 6, 1992. 
While the country eagerly awaited the verdict on Ayodhya, it was heartening to see the vocal class of India pleading peace and harmony over religious bigotry. If various social networking sites were any indication, the mood of the nation seemed to be in favour of moving ahead of the controversy over temple & mosque that has seen the turnaround of India’s polity in the last two decades. However, the big question remained: Will it be the same goodwill after the verdict? After all, a win-win solution for all the parties (consciously calling them parties and not religion) seemed to be only a wishful thinking.
However, while the questionable verdict was accepted by and large by the nation with an appeal for moving ahead, stray and loose comments in-between has got alarming proportions. It is true that 2010 is not 1992, an entire generation has been exposed to a different and progressive society; there is no devilish P V Narsimha Rao, conspirator L K Advani or idiotic Kalyan Singh at the helm. But then what is more dangerous to the humanity in general and plural character of the nation in particular is the thought & ideology than the individuals.
Coming to the ethics of the dispute and legality of the judgment, I wonder had it been the other way round then whether the fanatic Hindus (who are still vocal with war cry) would have agreed for moving ahead? Moreover, if it is Hindu victory (as believed by a few educated idiots) then why the hell is Hindu Mahasabha challenging it in the apex court? I am myself a devout believer of Lord Rama and believe that he is very much part of the nature, hence exists everywhere.  After all, Sanatan Dharma and Vedic Living advocate the worship of even trees of Peepal, Banana and others. The fact of the matter is that Lord Rama’s existence and reputation is today more in danger from his own followers than the followers of other sects fighting over the Babri Masjid rights.
I am equally perplexed by the judgment which, according to me, raises more questions than answers the given dispute. Of course, the three bench judgment itself is divided and a clear answer was only a wishful thinking. However, one wonders whether the illegal demolition of the Babri Masjid has been legalized by the judgment.  What would have happened had the mosque not been demolished as yet? Had it then been a legal sanction to the demolition of a religious shrine? What about the constitutional assurance to the minorities that all the religious structures should stand the way they stood at the time of independence?
But I suppose the jurisdiction of the court was confined to the title rights over the land. Under the given circumstances, with Archaeological Survey of India findings also inconclusive, the honorable judges confined their decision over the title rights of the land only. However, the socio-political nature of the dispute demanded that the state should have intervened over the issue to not only address the issue but also set a precedent.
Had there been a timely state intervention, it would have saved Lord Rama being victimized, traumatized and de-glorified. May be a national monument on the disputed site would have done no harm to the reputation and international image of India. It would have also acted as a deterrent to the lumpen fanatics who think Ram Janmabhoomi judgment is the run-up to Krishna Janmabhoomi.    Most importantly, India would have really moved ahead in the true sense of the term.

Mythical perception of communication

September 15, 2010 

Communication strategy can be a funny business and the mythical perception about what constitutes an effective communication makes the job even more ridiculous for the serious practitioners of the business. More often than not the conventional wisdom that communication must aim at creating mutually beneficial relation between the organization and its stake holders goes for a toss, when the client reminds you that there are other agencies waiting to grab the account on the clients’ dotted terms. It may not shock me anymore, but definitely disappoints bitterly with the dogmatic ideas that collective consciousness of the business community carries as far as communication is concerned.
There seems to be a definite lack of understanding of how business relevant and business beneficial communication strategy can be. My failed brain storming with the management of a soon-to-be-launched consumer product reminds me yet again that India Inc communicates more to impress than to express. This lack of foresight results into a complete emotional disconnect with the audience for whom the product has been conceptualized. I fail to understand the point why a metro kid with all the polished Ps and Qs should be the face of a brand which has the least possibility to be consumed by that given segment.
I can understand a “method” into it if the product is aspirational in nature. But with a consumer product that would be mostly consumed by the tier II and tier III kids in their given comfortable budget, such an endorsement hardly reflects any serious thought process or strategy. As Ad man Suhel Seth recently said during FICCI’s “Brand Talk” that marketers who resort to Celebrity Endorsement of their products are the laziest people in the business.
With my academic perspective and market exposure of over a decade now, I often end up arguing, even at the cost of losing business, as to why all the communication (Advertising & PR) should be in the national English dailies. To an extent this is necessary from branding perspective, but the question is how much market share can be earned by shouting in a market where decibel levels are already too high. Based on my experience with TRACK2MEDIA Consulting where we always suggest for a market survey/research before any new communication campaign, I personally feel the Indian businesses still have to go a long way before they bank on expertise at every level.
In the absence of a scientifically evolved methodology, most of the board room decisions are based on perception than ground reality. A friend heading the corporate communication of a pharma major recently shared how they exhaust 80 per cent of the budget in the mainstream media and only 10-15 per cent in the vernacular media. Keeping in mind the fact that major product of the company is prescriptive medicine; this clearly defies any logic in a country where 50 per cent of the doctors are from Bihar.
But the think tank of the said pharma company is not the only one that seats in the ivory towers from where Ground Zero is more often than not invisible. No wonder, many of such management are pretty happy with their advertising in page 1 of national dailies, often with a jacket cover; while the PR campaign fails to take off. I would blame equally to the PR agencies for cutting a sorry figure before the clients. The day they stop overpromising on coverage in the national dailies, they would earn some respect for themselves and the profession as well, even if it means loss of business at times.
There seems to be an obsession of the clients to get published in the national English dailies, even if they don’t have a news value and their product does not address the readers at all. Many of them are not even open to the idea of any out-of-the-box strategy, which can earn them more reputation in terms of brand building, connect directly to the target audience and ensures more market share. But the medium is ever evolving, and it is the job of a brand strategist to make them understand that old school of communication is changing the world over.
If advertising used to be the king of communication till around a decade back, with a lion’s share of 80 per cent of the marketing budget, the rise of the branding tools and methodologies suggest it should not be more than 40-45 per cent now. Public Relations, Corporate Sponsorships, Corporate Social Responsibility, Online Reputation Management, two-way seamless communication to connect with stake holders……the medium is ever evolving. But the moot point is--before we put our foot down and say NO to the clients who believe in self medication, are we as communication consultants convinced that we are strategists and not vendors to the clients? Well, my guess is as good as many others who are in the business of communication consultancy.    

Class as Caste turns sociology upside down

Aug 15, 2010

A request by one of the followers of my blog, a young journalist, has evoked the sociologist in me to rethink the way we interpret caste and class. Even though my journalistic and migrant background has always goaded me to activism on issues ranging from caste, class, diaspora and regionalism, my understanding of Indian society and culture made me believe that caste is more often than not class in this part of the world. And hence the rebellious writer in me has always been up against challenging the class conscious society which has by and large stood shamelessly by its commitment to status quo.
The query that whether class has turned out to be caste now in the modern India actually led me to introspect as to whether the class & caste conundrum needs a fresh perspective. Has the conventional wisdom of sociology that caste is class not been relevant in today’s market driven elitist society? Certainly if the young generation like Abhishek Kumar of Political & Business Daily feels offended when asked as to how much he earns as his first class identity, I feel it is time for a serious discussion on the subject. A young man’s offence to his class in question also gives a ray of hope that the market driven society has not completely captured the class the way they would like to.
After all, the class conscious society in Delhi would have easily cornered a young migrant from non-descript city like Raxaul in Bihar. But my objection to the class as caste runs much deeper. Of course, I come across almost on a routine basis with such class conscious elitists for whom one’s address and swanky cars are the only introduction to the individual’s class. The more shameless breed doesn’t even mind getting into the economics of whether the flat that you live in is a rented accommodation or you own it.  The car you drive is on loan or purchased with down payments….the list can be filthy disgusting.
However, the above examples are just tip of the iceberg and this shift from traditional school of sociology is merely the symptom, not the disease. If free market economy believes in currency as the new class, the social divide on grounds of rural-urban, native-migrant, English-vernacular and many such chauvinistic parameters make the notion of class even more profound. It seems the larger section of the society that has been at the receiving end of class ostracism will continue to suffer. It is just the fact of academic interest that while earlier their respective caste had been relegating them to that class, now the class (socio-economic) is relegating them to caste, or better to call them outcastes.  
There are certain other parallels to be drawn out of this class and caste conundrum. While the social barrier still remains the same, the prerequisites to switch to the other side of the fence have not changed either. Of course, it has to meet the acid taste of not rubbing the sensibilities of the so-called upper class. Earlier it was the elevation of the lower caste in economic stream (read elite government jobs) that was qualifying them to rub shoulders with the upper castes, now it is the same professional ladder that provides them acceptability and turns their caste as per the elitists.
We as migrant professionals in Delhi and other metro cities witness this class turning out to be our caste day in and day out. The very same class which pretends as upper caste and disapproves our presence in the city wants to rub shoulders with us once we rise up the professional ladder. This may not be an acceptance of our migrant identity or our regional identity, but the acceptance is for our elite class, that suddenly turns out to be our new caste. 
I know the truth is a bit bitter but there are a number of friends in Delhi who are neither comfortable with a migrant in me who has proven intellectual and professional sharpness over them, nor have they accepted a resident of Bihar. But then a communication professional in me is welcome to the very same people whose profile of CEO, TRACK2MEDIA Consulting defines his elite class to them, which in their perception is also his new caste. Call it fair or foul, but class has become the new caste today and it is definitely turning the conventional sociology upside down.

Grooming and nurturing at Tagore International school

August 01, 2010

After spending more than a decade into audio-visual medium of communication it is hard to impress me with the kind of patchy work that is being taught in various media institutes nowadays. It seems mass communication schools that have mushroomed across the country are only mass production factory of low quality jack-of-all-trade stuff. And thanks to the television revolution in this part of the world, where the journey from one Doordarshan to 400 odd TV channels has not taken more than a decade, creativity and out-of-the-box thinking has been relegated to the dustbin.
Over the last few years of my professional life in various capacity, the first thing that I have always told to these young mass media pass outs is to unlearn on the job what all has been taught to them in their respective institutes. And hence when a friend of mine asked me to be one of the judges on the panel to evaluate the work of school children, I had a mixed feeling. Even though I have a natural love for children, I was not sure as to what sort of animation and television production the young kids could have done. Worst even, I had this apprehension that it will be more of schools competing against each other in the name of their students’ work.
However, the obligation to the friend drove me to the Tagore International School in the early morning of a working day on Thursday, July 29th. The cultured grooming and discipline of the children here is something that reflects in the overall ambience of the school. In an age when many of the schools, especially in the NCR region are in the news for all the wrong reasons, this school stands out in terms of class and quality of its students. The general feeling that I have carried home is that the children here are not taught but nurtured.
It was an inter-school competition with students of around 20 schools from India and abroad being invited to showcase their talent in the respective categories. Though the first impression in the school had already made me all the more curious to see whether their works also has the substance to stand out, I kept my expectation level way below with these kids. But the screening of the inaugural film that was supposed to be “of the children, by the children, for the children” was an eye opener. At least I have not seen any amateur group coming out with such creative work with perfect finesse in the last few years.
This is no mean achievement by a bunch of school going children who have no formal education in film making at any professional level. I wish the young professionals who come out of various media institutes and are desperate to make a career in the profession, show the same kind of creativity, passion and zeal. But then the differentiator here will always be the quest to make a career by every possible short cut routes and innocent passion by the kids.
The Ordinatrix Event has been one of the most fascinating experiences in recent times. The feeling is not just because the event was very neatly organized, but in a much larger context it also reflects the fact that the mass media revolution in this part of the world has not completely gone haywire. At least the animation and television production of school going children suggest the same. Some of the concepts, ideas and interwoven social responsibility in it were indeed an eye opening for me.
Even though these children completely stand out with their class act, their feet has been firmly rooted and they don’t seem to mature and overgrow their age and experience. No wonder, the journalist and sociologist in me was equally eager to figure out whether the overt courtesy and politeness was an inherent part of their grooming or it was all plastic emotions meant for the day.
The post event interaction with the core students’ team that organized the event along with the Principal Tagore International, Madhulika Sen, dispelled even this doubt. The innocent children admitted that many of them may have to leave the creative hobby as parents want them to become successful with Engineering and likewise socially accepted degrees. Probably they don’t value even the fact that along with their routine academic curriculum they have taken the best advantage of the computer lab set up by the school and honed their creative skills. Given more opportunity they can work wonders.
I just wish these children are allowed to do whatever they enjoy doing in their lives. I wish somebody would suggest the parents of these children to watch the movie 3 IDIOTS and take a leaf out of the experience. I wish Principal Madhulika Sen replicates the same role with these children as Aamir Khan did with his other two idiot friends. My wish list is a bit too long, may be, but my expectation level has been exceeded by the experience with Tagore International school.