The Return

"So, Prasoon! Not writing blogs nowadays? Didn't see any Facebook posts asking people to share.  Anyways , good thing only. You won't torture us to read it, though you know we will never ever bother to read even the title :P", Rahul told with a tongue in cheek expression. Yes, it has been some time since I have put pen to my thoughts .Though I badly wanted to write the manifesto behind my return or prepare atleast a YouTube interview video describing my efforts to write one more blog so that the interviewer gets some publicity and in turn, gets interviewed by hundreds, if not thousands, being a humble person, I have decided against it magnanimously :)

Himesh was also returning not to blogging but to India, after being away in the land of the United States for several years on an onsite assignment. There were stories that only a very few in his current project had seen Himesh at offshore as it had been some time since he traveled. Like everyone, his promise to his offshore team when he traveled was "Don't worry. I will be back in a year as I won't be able to stay away from my motherland for long." The team was sad not that they would miss Himesh but knowing that he might not return soon and in turn block their travel chance.

After almost a decade, Himesh decided to return because of various intricacies (read visa problems). It was his first day back after a short vacation.The office building had changed. The canteen vendor had changed but the taste of the Upma remained the same. After entering his floor, he looked around hoping to find some familiar faces. He then happened to meet one of his seniors from his offshore days. "Hey Ravi! How are you? Are you still at offshore? Better get moving , dude. When is your visa expiring? Make sure you travel once and not waste the chance. Also, Nowadays, our onsite assignments are not that stressful and all , like when I initially went there. All is easy now. Just go, party and chill".

Ravi didn't respond anything but managed a sheepish grin as he was used to such advices mixed with boastfulness for past few years from every Tom, Dick and Harry who were getting down from their planes.  He had been slogging day and night for his project at offshore but couldn't get to travel on-site anytime. He was seen as the not-so-lucky guy in the project, thanks to the myth that you need to travel on-site, spend years there(the way you work there is irrelevant :P), get 'the card' to be praised and worshipped by the poor junior blokes in your team who would welcome you cheerfully on returning not for your heroics but for the chocolates.

"Nice to meet you Himesh after such a long time", Ravi politely finished the conversation and reached his cube. He then opened his notes and jotted down "Met that idiot who blocked my onsite travel all these years. Thank you Almighty! I learnt that the idiot will now report to me from today. :P Thanks to you Mr. DT for making this happen. Ini singa paadha thaan(It's gonna be the aggressive route hereon). After all, 'All is fair in love and on-site' :P"

Just in!!

"Ravi! Lets go to our desks. We have been here in the canteen for almost an hour for the morning coffee. If we sit for another 15 mins, lunch will be served. So, lets go to our desks now, work hard for 15 mins and come back again for lunch :) " " Two mins boss. Look there is a breaking news scroll in the TV. Let's see what it is and then leave". Ravi pointed to one of the LED TVs in the canteen where the scroll read "The AYZK party launched yesterday has got around 10 new members. Is this a sign of change in the political landmass?" in the middle of various scrolls like 'The day dawned first on our TV office' , ' The country is fortunate to have 'The Breaking' channel'.

There is nothing breaking(obviously. New  political party is anyways a daily affair nowadays) about this news. The only thing that comes somewhere close to the usage of 'breaking' is those self-proclaiming scrolls appearing 73 times(more than your heart rate)a minute, seeing which you might get tempted to break the remote and sometimes the TV . 

Eye-catching graphics, use of animations to recreate and show what could have happened during a disaster and the pace at which the news is reported are certainly things that I hope everyone would appreciate in the modern news reporting. But without all this, I still remember how eagerly we used to wait for the clock to tick 8:30 pm to watch the DD news in the regional language. Though we would have hoped for  better than the plain background with the monotonous rendering of the news with file pictures and clips, I believe some of us are having a thought that atleast the news was reported those days and not that a news is created, interpreted, judged and branded like now in few channels.

People are busy 'breaking' news in their channels all through the day now, whereas they use the evening/dinner time to debate(That is how it is called) on the one news that would garner more interest. The dos and don'ts in these debates may look something like "Do not allow anyone to talk more than 30 seconds without interruption; Do tell that you are asking this as someone wants to know; And the last thing 'Shout!' (Read it in the same time as Cap America told Hulk in Avengers I -Smash :) )"

Gone are the days when elections were fought in campaigns, now the actual fight during elections happen in channels in reporting the most inaccurate lead status while counting. Gosh! The power that news reporting wields now is so great that they can make or break any individual's career through one interview/debate.

Though there is some blame attached to the people who serve us these, we who consume this also are to be blamed. After all, we the people look for entertainment in news channels and not news/facts . We get what we wish!