News: New Sense or Nuisance

 

 

If you don’t read newspaper, you are labelled uninformed. If you read one, you are more likely to be mis-informed. In this age of non-stop verbal and visual diarrhoea, there is a growing tendency to become aggressively prejudiced, highly opinionated on anything and everything, whether connected or otherwise. Covering every inch of TV space with pictures, events, both horizontal and vertical scrolling bars, your eyes straining to catch everything, your mind becomes a minefield trying hard to decipher and analyse. Ironically at the end of it all you are none the wiser! In fact you are even more confused than ever. Such is the havoc wreaked by the 24*7 news channels.

While some watch TV, some read newspapers to stay abreast with current situations – be it political, social, academic or sports. They do so with the fond hope of being entertained or enlightened or attaining both. It is a tragedy of infinite proportion that instead of being a source of sober, rational and analytical reporting, the media has allowed itself to be sucked by a vicious whirlpool of one-upmanship. Sensationalizing news, ear-splitting debates cause more damage than heal. Provocative statements, high pitch and inflammatory arguments, selective outrage have become the norm. Panel discussions are meant for gathering different views, finding solutions. Instead they are being used as platform for spewing venom and scoring political points.  

Fourth estate is a very powerful player. It influences the minds of people. Word is mightier than the sword. The media uses its (s)word so effectively that its readers or viewers remain glued to it. Of late, it is disappointing that it is blinded by instant popularity by excessive use of strong adjectives to catch your attention. Such is the power of today’s media  - particularly the electronic media – that it has created unrest among family members, with each one taking sides, adding to the sound pollution. Instead of creating and enabling an atmosphere of social harmony, it is slowly but surely achieving exactly the opposite.

Graphic description of crimes, repeating visuals continuously, zooming effects all these and much more have tremendous effect on the impressionable minds. You hardly get to see sober reporting of news. The tone and tenor is always on sensationalizing and attention grabbing. Snappy and catchy phrases, generous use of hashtags, simultaneous display of viewer’s response via twitter, response counts make a heady mix, leaving no scope for dispassionate analysis. Merely reporting news is no more a virtue. Pick and choose, selective narration to promote or discredit a particular ideology appear more newsworthy!

There appears to be no place for tranquillity. The world is moving at a fast and furious pace. In business, workplace, profession and every field, you see people passionately pursuing success in their respective field. No problem. But pursuit of success is slowly being replaced by ‘success at any cost’ which is really worrying. The irrational craving for becoming rich and famous overnight is corroding the very edifice of humanity. With your mind already crowded and thereby clouded with all the strategies, this continuous news stream only add to your tension. Ever increasing negative news is another reason for the psychological trauma faced by people young and old alike.

Freedom of expression is the holy-grail of democracy. Is it absolute? Should it be moderated? As a responsible citizen, you need to draw a line of self-control. Assuming there are two options before you: voicing your opinion in public to derive political mileage or cheap popularity with total disregard to its consequences OR maintain saintly silence which will go unnoticed. Which will you pick? Licence to kill is also a licence not to kill – to borrow the lines of a James Bond movie! As a corollary, ‘freedom to express is also a freedom not to express? Instead of bringing ‘new sense’, news is becoming a ‘nuisance’!

Working In Tandem

 

My little darling has the uncanny ability to wake up the moment the alarm bell rings unlike me. With such clinical precision she begins her day, ever mindful that she has to leave for work by 9 in the morning. By the time I join her, she is ready with steaming coffee. We decide on the breakfast and lunch while sipping coffee. If there is one decision which is taken unanimously, it is what we have for breakfast and lunch, of which neither of us is fussy or choosy. It is sheer coincidence that the division of work is so smooth because of the fact that she likes to exactly what I am reluctant and vice-versa! Slicing onions is a ‘tearful’ act which I like and she doesn’t. My lit. da.is a multi-tasking expert. Even as she is placing the vessel on the gas stove she picks up from where she left off earlier on the innumerable incidents – some funny, some outrageous – and goes on to narrate them. I am amazed about her multi-tasking ability because she goes about her job with clinical precision not once faltering on the right measure of rice or the flame controller. Or rolling ‘rotis’ and frying them simultaneously! I tried several times to match her. I was a miserable failure as  I either forgot to turn the ‘roti’ over in my attempt to roll it or kept turning it over the pane and forgot to roll the ‘roti’. I thought it wise to confine myself to what I do best – listen! The clutter of the vessels went well with the ‘chatter’box. While her multi-tasking continued, I would help her doing sundry things like scraping coconut, running grinder and cleaning up the utensils. Both of us enjoy working in tandem, seldom showing disinterest. Even on our return from office, we share the work. While she does all the work that requires skill, I complete the other part – like dish washing, cleaning up the wash basin and tidying up the kitchen. This sharing of work has allowed us to work in relaxed manner which is a luxury to most working couple. Both of us derive immense joy in sharing the work. This has helped us cope with the pressure associated with working couple where unfortunately the balance is heavily tilted in favor of one community – usually male.

Writer’s Gambit

 

It isn’t easy giving expressions to your thoughts. When you do, it gives you immense joy. Reining in your racing mind to give proper shape to your thought flow is as challenging and skilful as a game of chess. Chess is a mind game. So is writing. Both involve deep analysis, sound reasoning and logical sequence.

Analysing and visualizing atmosphere, events, situations, experiences and crafting them together to create a world of words is the essence of writing.

How do writers manage to write voluminous novels? How long do they take to write such big novels? Which is more difficult – writing a novel or a column for a news paper or a magazine? While a novel has no restrictions on number of words, a column confines your writing to a specified length – ranging from 400 to 800 words. Confining your writing to the word count is a serious challenge because you are faced with twin challenges: not missing on important details and not crossing the word limit. Timely submission is again a challenging task. In a magazine or a newspaper, space is premium. This is where your skill as a writer is put to severe test. Economy and choice of words are of essence. Also, you will notice how skilfully the freelancers, columnists delight you with their articles, saying everything they want to say and yet not crossing the writer’s line of control! An enviable lot, surely.

Novelists have no such compulsions. It is in fact the opposite. If it is a 100-metre dash for columnists, it is marathon for novelists. Some authors use long, loopy sentences, sometimes running to almost half page. Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’ is a classic example where she casts such a mesmerizing web of words that will leave you spellbound. She has the uncanny knack of alluding to and mixing several things in between, the beginning of a sentence and its end sometimes consuming 6-8 lines! A daunting task for an infant reader because by the time he reaches the end of the long paragraph, he will be compelled to re-read the beginning and connect the dots in between to finally get a sense of the author’s mind. Imagine if it is 500-pager, the number of times he ends up reading and re-reading.

From a writer’s viewpoint, playing with words is sheer joy. You have so many options to choose from and select those that will best express your thoughts. A successful writer is able to make the reader visualize and feel the sequences, scenes, characters in exactly the same way as a visual display, like watching a television. Such is the power of writing. Pain and pleasure, joy and grief, hope and despair, writer’s job is to create all these emotions that run through the lifecycle.  

The flow of thoughts and their sequence to hold the reader’s attention are yet another set of challenges for a writer. Readers are of different mindsets. Some enjoy the choice of words. Some look at the content. Capturing the reader’s attention throughout is the acid test for a writer. ‘Give me a piece, I will turn it into a masterpiece’ is a writer’s gambit – a la ‘queen’s gambit’ in Chess. Accepted? Or declined?