Vehla

I am writing this post just to give people a perspective on how vehla (jobless) you get once you are into SR ship. I have watched a lot of telly lately and I somehow always veer towards the most entertaining of the lot : our 24 x 7 news channels. It’s a cocktail of hysteria, hyperbole and fanciful reporting. But no matter which one you tune into you can’t escape the following people.

1) NaMo: He’s everywhere. He has a love hate relationship with our journos but they just cant ignore the man who doesn’t care two hoots about them. From selfies to pinstripe suits he has them in his spell. You could be forgiven if you believe he is their darling for he beams at you no matter what channel you put on. Kudos to the man for having put our snobbish, self-righteous journos in their place.

2) RaGa: He is cute lets give that to him. But boy once he opens his mouth you are transported to a large black and white canvas. The 1950s when Mother India was pulling the plough and do beegha zameen was all one could dream of. His speeches always allude to kisan and mazdoor; the oppression of the landlords and the whims of the Raj( hyperbole). Caught in a time warp is such an understatement. I would hate to be transplanted back to good ol sovietsky era when car meant the lumbering ambassador and you waited  to book the trunk CAAL.

3) Mufflerman: The guy really is the star attraction on TV news. Hailed as the new king of the JNU brigade.  It was believed he would wipe the tear off every face and truly lead a revolution that would reinstate the MAI BAAP sarkar of yore. His ideas are a strange concoction of crass populism, socialism and pragmatism without a solid central theme. His street lingo and that tubercular cough is really what sets him apart. But I love the stings; most of the saas-bahu serials I believe pale in comparison.

4) Peepli Live: Every few days our bleeding heart journos head to some nondescript lil village on the edge of our consciousness if not geography. So you are beamed images of destroyed crops, thick flies and mounds of Dung. In between of course the netas strutting around the fields in starched white kurtas giving the same ol bhashans and the usual two-minute blame-game. Lost in it all is the pain of those who have been failed by the state that couldn’t care less about them.

But there are of course alternatives as well… like the champions league where finally Juventus make it to the final.. more on it some other time…