The season for objections

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Shailaja Bajpai : Feb 07 2013, 03:30 IST

are decked out in finery like jewellery shop mannequins, but how, when it’s the first thing we are made to notice? Why are they wearing heavy fake jewels in the first place? We’re told told TV is aspirational, but are these the cultural aspirations we want viewers to aspire to? Ban them all.

In the real world of TV, while English TV news channels discussed cultural intolerance from Tamil

Nadu to Kashmir, Monday and Tuesday, the Hindi channels were warning us what we were in for: the big chill or “maha thand” (Aaj Tak). So before the deluge on Monday night, we had been forewarned, which is just as well. Otherwise, we might have thought that the cultural wars were being fought out in the open with all that thunder and lightning.

On Tuesday morning, ABP was wading in ankle-deep water as it showed us pictures of north India snowed under or rained out. It also informed us that Rajnath Singh had cancelled his Lucknow meeting due to the rain. Odd... have you noticed that Hindi news channels lend much more space than English news to matters that concern our daily lives?

Watched Malala Yousafzai’s first public statement on BBC World, and while we could not take our eyes off her face, which bears evidence of the brutal attack on her, she spoke with fluency and simplicity. Now that’s aspirational in every way.

shailaja.bajpai@expressindia.com

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