---------- Forwarded message ----------From: Swara Bhaskar <swarabhaskar@gmail.com>Date: Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 12:27 AM

i realise even asi press the send button that i am about to become'pest of the year' for this frantic emailing on this issue- but i sendthis despite wiser counsellet not this days after the taj attacks be a time for mass hysteriaonly, even as we mourn the dead and salute the contribution of oursoldiers and officers...this is an extremely interesting and thought provoking article thatall those of us who consider ourselves reasonably endowed with a mindshould take 5minutes out to read...
bestSwara- the pest
Hotel Taj: Icon of whose India?
Gnani Sankaran- Tamil writer, Chennai.
Watching at least four English news channels, surfing from one anotherduring the last 60 hours of terror strike made me feel a terror ofanother kind, the terror of assaulting one's mind and sensitivity withcameras, sound bites and non-stop blabbers. All these channels havebeen trying to manufacture my consent for a big lie called - Hotel Tajthe icon of India.
Whose India, Whose Icon?
It is a matter of great shame that these channels simply did notbother about the other icon that faced the first attack fromterrorists - the Chatrapathi Shivaji Terminus (CST) railway station.CST is the true icon of Mumbai. It is through this railway stationhundreds of Indians from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, West Bengaland Tamilnadu have poured into Mumbai over the years, transformingthemselves into Mumbaikars and built the Mumbai of today along withthe Marathis and Kolis
But the channels would not recognise this. Nor would they recognisethe thirty odd dead bodies strewn all over the platform of CST. NoBarkha Dutt went there to tell us who they were. But she was at Taj toshow us the damaged furniture and reception lobby braving the guards.And the TV cameras did not go to the government run JJ hospital tofind out who those 26 unidentified bodies were. Instead they wereagain invading the battered Taj to try in vain for a scoop shot of thedead bodies of the page 3 celebrities.
In all probability, the unidentified bodies could be those ofworkers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh migrating to Mumbai, arriving bytrain at CST without cell phones and pan cards to identify them. Evenafter 60 hours after the CST massacre, no channel has bothered tocover in detail what transpired there.
The channels conveniently failed to acknowledge that the Aam Aadmis ofIndia surviving in Mumbai were not affected by Taj, Oberoi and Tridentclosing down for a couple of weeks or months. What mattered to themwas the stoppage of BEST buses and suburban trains even for one hour.But the channels were not covering that aspect of the terror attack.Such information at best merited a scroll line, while the cameras haveto be dedicated for real time thriller unfolding at Taj or NarimanBhavan.


The so called justification for the hype the channels built aroundheritage site Taj falling down (CST is also a heritage site), is thatHotel Taj is where the rich and the powerful of India and the globecongregate. It is a symbol or icon of power of money and politics, notIndia. It is the icon of the financiers and swindlers of India. TheMumbai and India were built by the Aam Aadmis who passed through CSTand Taj was the oasis of peace and privacy for those who wielded powerover these mass of labouring classes. Leopold club and Taj were thehaunts of rich spoilt kids who would drive their vehicles oversleeping Aam Aadmis on the pavement, the Mafiosi of Mumbai foreverfinancing the glitterati of Bollywood (and also the terrorists) ,Political brokers and industrialists.
It is precisely because Taj is the icon of power and not people thatthe terrorists chose to strike.The terrorists have understood after several efforts that the AamAadmi will never break down even if you bomb her markets and trains.He/she was resilient because that is the only way he/she can evensurvive.
Resilience was another word that annoyed the pundits of newschannels and their patrons this time. What resilience, enough isenough, said Pranoy Roy's channel on the left side of the channelspectrum. Same sentiments were echoed by Arnab Goswami representingthe right wing of the broadcast media whose time is now. Can Rajdeepbe far behind in this game of one-upmanship over TRPs ? They allattacked resilience this time. They wanted firm action from thegovernment in tackling terror.
The same channels celebrated resilience when bombs went off in trainsand markets killing and maiming the Aam Aadmis. The resilience of theordinary worker suited the rich business class of Mumbai since work ormanufacture or film shooting did not stop. When it came to them, therich shamelessly exhibited their lack of nerves and refused to beresilient themselves. They cry for government intervention now toprotect their private spas and swimming pools and bars andrestaurants, similar to the way in which Citibank, General Motors andthe ilk cry for government money when their coffers are emptied bytheir own ideologies.
The terrorists have learnt that the ordinary Indian is unperturbed byterror. For one whose daily existence itself is a terror of governmentsponsored inflation and market sponsored exclusion, pain is somethinghe has learnt to live with. The rich of Mumbai and India Inc arefacing the pain for the first time and learning about it just as themiddle classes of India learnt about violation of human rights onlyduring emergency, a cool 28 years after independence.
And human rights were another favourite issue for the channels to whipat times of terrorism.Arnab Goswami in an animated voice wondered where were those championsof human rights now, not to be seen applauding the brave and selflesspolice officers who gave up their life in fighting terrorism. Well,the counter question would be where were you when such officers wereviolating the human rights of Aam Aadmis. Has there ever been any 24hour non stop coverage of violence against dalits and adivasis of thiscountry?
This definitely was not the time to manufacture consent for the extralegal and third degree methods of interrogation of police and army butArnabs don't miss a single opportunity to serve their class masters,this time the jingoistic patriotism came in handy to whitewash theentire uniformed services.
The sacrifice of the commandos or the police officers who went downdying at the hands of ruthless terrorists is no doubt heart rendingbut in vain in a situation which needed not just bran but also brain.Israel has a point when it says the operations were misplannedresulting in the death of its nationals here.

Kakares and Salaskars would not be dead if they did not commit themistake of travelling by the same vehicle. It is a basic lesson inmanagement that the top brass should never travel together in crisis.The terrorists, if only they had watched the channels, would havelaughed their hearts out when the Chief of the Marine commandos, anelite force, masking his face so unprofessionally in a see-throughcloth, told the media that the commandos had no idea about thestructure of the Hotel Taj which they were trying to liberate. But theterrorists knew the place thoroughly, he acknowledged.
Is it so difficult to obtain a ground plan of Hotel Taj and discussoperation strategy thoroughly for at least one hour before entering?This is something even an event manager would first ask for, if he hadto fix 25 audio systems and 50 CCtvs for a cultural event in a hotel.Would not Ratan Tata have provided a plan of his ancestral hotel tothe commandos within one hour considering the mighty apparatus at hisand government's disposal? Are satellite pictures only available forterrorists and not the government agencies? In an operation known toconsume time, one more hour for preparation would have only improvedthe efficiency of execution.
Sacrifices become doubly tragic in unprofessional circumstances. Butthe Aam Aadmis always believe that terror-shooters do better planningthan terrorists. And the gullible media in a jingoistic mood would notraise any question about any of these issues. They after all havetheir favourite whipping boy – the politician the eternal entertainerfor the non-voting rich classes of India.
Arnabs and Rajdeeps would wax eloquent on Nanmohan Singh and Advanivisiting Mumbai separately and not together showing solidarity even atthis hour of national crisis. What a farce? Why can't these channelspool together all their camera crew and reporters at this time ofnational calamity and share the sound and visual bites which couldmean a wider and deeper coverage of events with such a hugehuman resource to command? Why should Arnab and Rajdeep and Barkhakeep harping every five minutes that this piece of information wasexclusive to their channel, at the time of such a national crisis? Isthis the time to promote the channel? If that is valid, the politicianpromoting his own political constituency is equally valid. And theduty of the politician is to do politics, his politics. It is for thepeople to evaluate that politics.



And terrorism is not above politics. It is politics by other means. Tocome to grips with it and to eventually eliminate it, the practice ofpolitics by proper means needs constant fine tuning and improvement.Decrying all politics and politicians, only helps terrorists anddictators who are the two sides of the same coin. And the rich andpowerful always prefer terrorists and dictators to do business with.
Those caught in this crossfire are always the Aam Aadmis whose deathsare not even mourned - the taxi driver who lost the entire family atCST firing, the numerous waiters and stewards who lost their livesworking in Taj for a monthly salary that would be one time bill fortheir masters.

Postscript: In a fit of anger and depression, I sent a message to allthe channels, 30 hours through the coverage. After all they have beenconstantly asking the viewers to message them for anything andeverything. My message read: I send this with lots of pain. Allchannels, including yours, must apologise for not covering the victimsof CST massacre, the real mumbaikars and aam aadmis of India. Yourobsession with five star elite is disgusting. Learn from the printmedia please. No channel bothered. Only srinivasan Jain replied: youare right. We are trying to redress balance today. Well, nothinghappened till the time of writing this 66 hours after the terrorattack.

Dear friends
We're all feeling the shock of the awful attacks in Mumbai. All our hearts go out to the victims and their families.
The attacks were aimed at our people, our prosperity and our peace. But their top target was something else: our unity. If these attacks cause us to turn on each other in hatred and conflict, the terrorists will have won. They know that hatred and chaos feed on division. As radical extremists, their only hope of winning is by turning the rest of us against each other.
Let's deny them that victory. We're launching a message to extremists on all sides and all our political leaders, one that will soon be published in newspapers across India and Pakistan. The message is that these tactics have failed, that we're more united than ever, united in our love and support to each other, determined to work together against terror and call on our leaders to do the same. If millions of people sign it, our message will be unmistakable........ sirf Hangama khada karna hamara maksad nahi Koshish hai ki ye surat badalani chahiye... Indian people