Out of Race

No doubt there is a race going on among all the news channels nowadays. Every one wants to be ahead of all others, not only in bringing news to people, but also bringing experts and expert reviews. As soon as something happens, there are 'experts' on TV, talking live and on phone on the topic.

But the print media is a quite different. Probably in being good, and more responsible, they do things slowly. I first felt so when I was checking websites of various news channels and newspapers yesterday. As Times of India website was showing 6 blasts, DNA showed 9, whereas Aaj tak and IBN were showing 13 and 17 blasts' news respectively.

Today, when I thought I could read some comments by the best of India's journalists/authors on two days' continuous blasts, I was disappointed to see that Times of India had nothing on blasts by any of them and the entire editorial page, 'All that matters', in their lingo. Then I checked Hindustan Times and DNA, and found that there were no articles on blasts in any of their editorial pages.

It was like coverage of the previous 5 days of the week took away the 6th and 7th days. But the obvious fact is that these authors give their opinions days before these editions come out and nobody tried to change them.

On one hand it's good because had the case been otherwise, there would be only Ahmedabad all over the pages. But then, it's striking that when on one hand everybody is talking about bomb blasts, but these newspaper experts seem to be talking of an altogether different world.

Don't you think they need to speed up a bit?

Blasts

It's 8:56 by my watch. And seems there is a race going on between news channels. Times of India, where I saw the news for the first time had been showing news of 6 blasts and now isn't talking on numbers. DNA is showing 9 blasts on its headlines whereas IBN live claims 17 and Aaj Tak is talking about 13 blasts.

And though they say blasts were low intensity, pictures don't suggest such 'low' intensity. I mean, of course they might have not been high intensity, but the 'low' thing is quite misleading.

As the news came, I was a bit shocked as it was continuously second day for blasts. But the real shock came when I heard my mother saying that there were 14 blasts. I opened the TV and then the sites of IBN and Aaj tak telling me more than I had read.

I still doubts all the figures but one fact is that this day has been really shocking. I had not even changed the 'Are we habitual to bomb blast news now' tag on my Orkut profile when this came up.

I know there is not much going to happen for this except that there will be POTO or POTA again when the next government comes, but I wish the politicians don't politicize this issue and do something positive together. Though I feel this is going to remain just a wish as this is yet another chance of throwing mud at each other for our leaders.

For the rest, may God help us. That's all I can think of.

Next is Where

7 blasts rocked Bangalore today.

After Hyderabad, Lucknow, Varanasi, Faizabad and Jaipur, it's Bangalore. And I think now we have become quite used to such news. We see, look shocked, count the numbers, lament on the situation of country, and change the channel.

Not that I feel we, as general public, can do a lot about it but I feel the way we are getting used to bomb blasts is not only wrong, it's strange too.

I am not sure about others (and welcome others' opinions on this) but when I saw the blasts' news I was soon thinking, rather calculating which town or city could be the next victim now. I also feel this attitude is wrong and I feel I need to change my outlook about this.

Also, I want to know if there is anybody who thinks the same. If yes, please give your opinion.

Bomb Blasts! Again.

LUCKNOW: Bomb blast occurred in Faizabad, Varanasi and Lucknow area here on Friday. A blast occurred in the Varanasi Cantonment area. Another blast outside the Civil courts in Lucknow. The blasts occurred within five minutes of each other. Around six people are reported injured. Around seven lawyers have been injured in the blast outside the Faziabad Civil court. One lawyer is reportedly dead. [From: Multiple blasts in Uttar Pradesh, 23 Nov 2007, 1327 hrs IST,INDIATIMES NEWS NETWORK]

From Mumbai to Uttar Pradesh, no place is safe it seems. It was Mumbai in 1993 that hit the worst, and since then, it has been hitting, time to time. Be it October 2005 New Delhi blasts killing more than 50, July 2006 blasts in Mumbai again, August 2007 Hyderabad blasts killing more than 40 people, or October 2007 in Ajmer, every bomb blast has made clear how unsafe we are. Whenever we are out on the road, in any town or city, we can be a target of terrorists. It can be a cinema hall, an amusement park, a Dargah, a temple or a mosque, a train, or even a government office.

And I really wonder if we can do anything about it. A cycle is there in a court premises and suddenly a blast is there and the lawyers say the police should have been there earlier. But it doesn't look like anybody could really do a thing about it.

Of course, Rahul Gandhi was saved from kidnappers as it was claimed. But I do not think we shall be able to see our country planning in way such that we can save our public also.

Seems that we can only hope. Hope that the next bomb blast doesn't take place in our neighbourhood or in our town, our city, and if possible, our country. Just hope.