Friday, May 8, 2009

One week more.

It's only a week to the declaration of results and to be honest, I feel underwhelmed. On one hand, there is the relentless and suffocating, yet immensely absorbing coverage and on the other, there are the tons of sanctimoniousness thrown around by every 'concerned' celebrity. So it's no wonder that an avid spectator of the political scene like me is into hair-tearing mode by now.

My first brush with election coverage came in 1996 when I began watching the declaration of results because I was terrified after watching the movie Kalapani. Those were the days when Doordarshan ruled the roost and viewers had to do with the sober and controlled narration of news(imagine Arnab Goswami in Doordarshan). While I would never even dream of, or want a return to those times, I sure would love a reduction in the volume of coverage. Random shows with politicians spouting random answers to random questions is not my definition of quality news although most of what we get to see today is just that.
Sample.
Arnab Goswami talks to Sachin Pilot and Rajiv Pratap Rudy on 'which party has gen next'!
Sachin Pilot talks about why the turnout in the fourth phase of the election is not so bad.
Rajiv Rudy goes on an extended rant about the Congress.
WTF!

Instances like these will not, of course, stop me from gazing into the screen with the ardor of a mystic or from bitching, ranting and (hopefully) blogging about news programs but someday, some rare, far, remote day..don't we deserve better stuff?
But then, don't we deserve better politicians as well? :P

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm never going to be one of those annoying kids who advocate staying at home on election day, but this kind of hullabaloo is ridiculous - the search for the Indian Obama is beginning to resemble some kind of witchhunt... if they don't find one, I have a feeling they might set fire to somebody's house or something. Yech.

Prasanth said...

@indiequill
And once again, Barkha Dutt appeared yesterday on NDTV's The Big Fight with the question "Who is India's Obama"!

It was so much easier in the older days. Rishi &*%%++y would bless a king and gift him a divine pomegranate. The king would burn it in a sacrificial fire and lo a golden handsome youth would emerge.
How I miss those days!
Prasanth

Anonymous said...

There's something very surreal about this election, no? I remember in AP in 2004, when Naidu lost, there was a general sense of a revolution, of a man who had lost touch with the masses being brought down to earth with a crash. (Supreme irony: The parties that joined hands with YSR then are now with the TDP!) So too the BJP and its 'India Shining' nonsense.

But this time there seems a hollow kind of curiosity over winning and losing with no real issues. Given that 'alliances' will prolly decide the shape of the beast, where is democracy in all of this?

Prasanth said...

It's true that this election seems purposeless but that's partly a sign of how relatively successful(if boring) the Congress has been. There is no single narrative this time and this, I think, is how India's democracy truly is. A collection of disparate issues and trends, many voices and waves and absolute clueless-ness.
To be honest, I would rather have a government leave such kind of a legacy than the kind of legacy the BJP left in 2004.
And as for Andhra, I guess the huge increase in the money involved has transformed the face of politics in the state. It will be really interesting to watch what lies ahead.
Cheers
Prasanth