Anything Under the Sun!!!

Happy Women’s Day!!!

This day belongs to the Women of the world,  women who have been called the “fairer sex”, “weaker sex”, “the better half”, etc etc. But what are women actually?

Are we the “fairer sex”? Not really… How can a person’s skin colour determine what sex they belong to? Or the sex determine what colour they should have? (ahem ahem…) So, calling us the “fairer sex” doesn’t make any sense, does it?

So, are we the weaker sex? Definitely not (guys can shake their heads negatively as much as they want to). Women may be physically weak (though not all) but their mental ability to withstand all problems has to be appreciated. And even in the area of physical strength, it’s only because not all of us have been trained to be physically strong (its feminine to be weak!!!). Now whose fault is that?

And how about being the “better half”? Well, I would agree to that only if it didn’t sound so sarcastic (it does sound sarcastic). It’s not that I am trying to look at the darker side of everything, but the “worse half” always love to indulge in sarcasm.

So, what are we actually? We are the ‘wo-men’ from where the ‘men’ come. So, why do we need all these adjectives? Let us be what we are – WOMEN!!!

“Why did you leave journalism?”

I have been hearing this question from the time I dropped the idea of pursuing my higher studies in journalism and instead landed in a completely different job. So why the big leap? And that too at a time when media’s the most sought after career.

Well, we are taught a lot of things in the classroom. But its not the real thing. You get to know the real thing only when you land up right in the middle of the s**t. Not that I had the “chance” of getting stuck there. I wanted to get into television; news scripting or editing. But the plight of the news channels today made me reconsider my decision. On second thoughts, I realized, “Why should I compromise on my values and be trampled on by some money-loving ‘news makers’?”

They are ‘the news makers’; they create news if there isn’t any. Or just exaggerate any news story, unnecessarily hype it so that people are stuck to the news channels. If there’s a main news story, it would be shown on the channel the whole day, pushing the viewers to desperation to look for other options (though people love to devour “interesting” stories, but it becomes unbearable after some time). Why don’t the media barons realize this?

News channels are the most viewed ones especially during a crisis or disaster. So, why not make it effective journalism? Something worthwhile, something that would really help people. But does anyone care? Do people like us-ME and YOU-really care?

“JMM MP Mahto, 41, was killed by suspected Maoist rebels on Sunday evening near Narsingh village of Jamshedpur district, about 140 km from here. “

This news has been flashing on all the news channels from yesterday. Saw it in the newspaper today morning. Well, to be frank didn’t read the whole news story but was trying to link it to my friend. My friend and room mate is from Jamshedpur. But didn’t give much thought to it.

Later, when I met her after coming back from my uncle’s place she told me that her uncle had died, her dad’s sister’s husband and that he has been murdered. That’s when it struck to me that she was talking about Sunil Mahato. Though he’s her dad’s cousin’s husband they are a close-knit family.

The whole of Bihar and Jharkhand is protesting. But how far does all this high-tension drama go? There will be investigation and then maybe CBI probe. Will it give the desired results? Will the real perpetrators be punished? Or will it be like those scores of incidents which go unpunished every year?

Sunil Mahato leaves behind his wife and two young children-the youngest one is only a year old. So, what happens next???