Yawn.....in the time of hypedom!

Morning potty-reading constitutes the newspapers as the start of my day. On days when I am rushing like a mad cat with a burning tail , with the clock ticking ominously and Begum my cat tripping me for fun, I merely glance at articles and headliners before plunging into my studio. But this Saturday was different. Though I had only slept at 6.30 am and was up again the same morning at 8.30  to get back to working on a project I just had to read the articleBore of the Year 2011 by Mihir Sharma. It was as though this young man had telepathically connected up to my brain and had transcribed my horrified reactions to the grand NDTV Indian of the Year Awards night that really was more like a stand up comedy show. I caught a snippet of it and stopped in my tracks in utter disbelief. The event was just so outrageously ridiculously and came across as a trumped up "let's feel good about ourselves" network exercise. Somehow Pranoy Roy just fell in my polls in that instant.

The camera kept panning to the who's who in the audience who all looked a trifle awkward and embarrassed as they shifted uneasily every time Annaji scribbled his repetitive spleege in a note book. The faithful lieutenant of course showed us the notebook each time to prove the authenticity of "good boy doing homework". What was funny is that the notebook looked strangely blank in the glare of the camera lights! Arvind Kejriwal of course looked every inch the common man  in his white shirt and light coloured pants. You could even imagine the sweaty armpits that is a must-have to accompany such an avaatar. Perhaps Arvindbhai had also been warned by Kiranben that his shopping bills may well be traced to the big city malls by nosey fact finders!

All in all, Barka Dutt and gang  cut a sorry figure on stage that night with the "lets wear our halo's act tonight".  The whole tamasha read as  a we made Anna Hazare a popular "white guy" (read that as new lingo for clean guy) pin up idol, so hey, we need TRP ratings in exchange! You owe me-I owe you  appears to be the new deal-breaking mantra. 

Perhaps the show may have received a standing ovation and a 5 star review rating if the NDTV anchors had taken a 24 X 7 vow of silence too! A room full of power hungry people and a puppet show on stage made me realise that the sanity of democracies seem sadly in question.

My ratings for the snippet of viewing that bored me to tears.......a falling star upon which I wished that better sense prevailed!