I am an Information Science Analyst working in London and on my way to office, I pick the newspaper lying in tube station racks available free of cost.
All I read is local news about English paedophiles, father accused of beating his wife, gun and knife crimes, typical western diplomatic politics shaped to loot and harass developing economies like China and India, student killing teacher out of boredom and, more recently, inundation of England, Scotland and Wales.
When I encountered floods for the first time in UK, It came to me as a surprise as this was hyped as a country where everything is supposed to be perfect. While I was growing up in India, I was told that if you spit in London, you would be fined and such is the discipline, but on the contrary, it’s a common sight to find arrogant English boys pissing and vomiting on Friday and Saturday nights. May be I was not told the truth in my childhood.
Coming back to floods, I can remember when Mumbai suffered, an English businessman came to me and told me that he is interested in investing in India but not in Information technology, one of the preferred areas of investment, but in sewage system and drainage-related projects. He wanted me to pull some strings for him as I am an Indian. He laughed about Indian infrastructure and tried to indicate that India needs him more then what he needs from India.
The recent floods in UK have opened the severe lacunae in England's infrastructure. It’s unbelievable to imagine that drainage lines in UK were of Victorian times and so fragile that even three inches of rain and that, too, for not more than two hours can bring the entire country’s system to a halt. So much so that electricity is gone for more than there weeks. Over 150,000 homes have been without water for more than a month. Government tried to provide water in bottles and tankers much after what could have been called as a good and prompt response. To top it all, someone pissed in the water tank for fun.
It's only India which can survive rains as severe as 30 inches and still laugh, common man helping others and again getting up on its feet.
My intention is not to pinpoint lack of regulations in developed countries as there are too many and any amount of space can be short for it but to highlight the failure of Indian media to showcase it, especially when all the Indian news channels gave sizeable coverage to one of the most bland children entertainment epic, Harry Potter. Yes, Indian media made it an epic. I got a chance to discover this hype of Harry Potter, but I found it so boring as compared to all the Panchtantra kathas and Tenali Rama, Shekhchilli and all the editions of Amar Chitra Katha.
I might be sound as one rejected piece of a museum but that’s how I amused myself when I was a kid. May be that’s why I am in the best position to compare the creativity in Harry Potter and our own world of fantastic mythological world. I feel Hanuman is much better to read then Harry potter.
What’s surprising to see is that Indian news channels didn’t care to cover anything about floods in UK but had it been the case of Shah Rukh Khan getting immortalised in Madame Tussuad's museum, all the news channels would have sent their special team to make sure, they miss as little as nothing.
It’s high time for media to accept their responsibility not to glamorise these countries beyond an extent. Be fair! Help Indian kids to take pride in whatever they are having and don’t let them grow with an ambition that one day they have to be successful enough to bag a job in Silicon Valley or Canary Wharf.
(Praveen Goyal is an Information Science Analyst Project Manager and Business Analyst in London)
Comments
0 comment