Marriages Made in Hell
Everyone in Delhi is talking about Vivaha 2005, an annual marriage exhibition. This year's exhibition seems to have wowed more people than last year's edition, mainly because of the higher prices and more outrageous items on display (including a Ganesh worth Rs. 1,60,000, and edible body paint for couples for Rs. 2,400), and the prospect of higher returns for the exhibitors and organisers ($ 16 million this year as opposed to $ 12 million in the last one). Here's what upsets me most about this event and the media coverage of it -
1. None of the articles covering Vivaha 2005 which I have come across as of 07/08/05 comment on the propriety of holding such an event in light of the losses in Mumbai. Perhaps the socialite segments don't have much to do with the real-life segments of our media?
2. The organisers are moving this event to Mumbai after the Delhi show, and yet there's still no mention of the poor taste displayed by hosting such an event in that city right now.
3. There is no indication in these reports about whether any part of the proceeds from the event (or from the exhibitors' revenues) will go towards relief or charity.
This inspite of the Maharashtra CM's appeal for more relief resources.
Please let me know if any of this changes in the next few days.
Prithvi.
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In India the moolah is in the wrong hands. And what do you do with the black money which the System compels you to generate? How much of it can you hoard? So, you must spend it- and uncouth minds can only spend it in vulgar competitive displays.
Why should the government take steps to curb its generation when the entire machinary known as the government itself needs this money to hold on to power or even form a government comprising of our "desbhakt" peoples' representatives? Today,such culturally defunct Indians fall into the category of "neither fish nor fowl". Look at the marriage bashes of "Sahara" Roy's two sons or even the Mittal marriage. We should not judge India by what floats to the top of the dung heap. Least of all what can be called a media driven value system. Many doctors are telling their patients to stop reading newspapers or watch TV news so that they avoid packing their heads with garbage! It has serious repercussions on the health of those who take the media reports seriously. Most of it is a con game anyway, like cricket matches played by the Indian team in which the crowd screams for its side to win despite the results being foregone conclusions as already decided by the bookies.
Here is a suggestion for anyone interested in bringing in some semblance of sobriety in the uppity media. Every time a host interviews a celebrity he does a lot of homework on the subject and puts him/her through the wringer and makes him/her squirm to the perverse pleasure of the jealous viewers who are enjoying the discomfort of someone who unlike them has "made it" or "has arrived" according to the media. Those being interviewed should insist that it be a live telecast or else there is no interview. Next the subject should hire a good detective agency and do an equally throrough backgrounder on the guy/gal who is interviewing them and come out with equally spicy stuff on the journo who usually assumes the high moral ground of propriety. The media believes in the freedom of the press. They do not believe in freedom BY the press! We are all control freaks and despots just waiting for an opportunity to strike like the proverbial mother-in-law in the Indian household. Its in our blood. Any wonder the likes of Rupert Murdoch are called Media Czars?
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