Hit Morning with Sarthak

I was recently at the Delhi studios of Hit 95FM radio to participate in a live game-show with their star RJ Sarthak.
" Hit Mornings" is their morning show which I listen to regularly, and it is because I love listening to Sarthak and really respect him for his skills.
Oratory skills are of course a given in an RJ. Still, I rarely find people these days equally proficient in Hindi and English. Not only proficient, but respectful towards both the languages. Oh, how I cringe when I listen to grammatically bad English and even worse Hindi, spoken almost contemptuously.
And then, his decency and respect towards the listeners. His treatment of the phone-in listeners (incidentally, Hit 95FM has an impressive listener participation) shows it is not necessary to be irreverent and crass if you want to have fun.
But a voice is, after all, a voice. So I was frankly a bit apprehensive before meeting the person behind it. To my pleasant surprise, however, I was not at all disappointed. He is as graceful and decent as he sounds over the radio. During the time we were together inside the studio, he made us (me and my son Yash) comfortable, and at the end, he generously came out and saw us off at the elevators. And of course we were shown that famous Chinese Bhompoo, the ghanti et al. A thoroughly pleasant experience it was. Sarthak is entitled to a little more than "ghamand".
While thanking Sarthak and wishing him all the very best, I share with you a couple of photos:

Tailoring History

Renaming of historical places is a pet peeve of mine. Every time some place is renamed, the liberal in me wakes up and is deeply offended. I consider every such exercise as an ostrich like attitude towards life - refusing to acknowledge the truth and face the consequences.
A fortnight back, Delhi Development Authority announced their decision to rename the Coronation Park in Delhi, which was the site of 1911 coronation of King George in the British times. This is not unusual. DDA, after all, is run by the government, ergo, by the politicians who normally chose populist moves over any  erudite ones. Here is where I read this:

What I found unusual was various academicians and historians agreeing that Coronation Park in its present name " is inappropriate and glorifies a British event".
My wife accuses me of being a pseudo when I give this "liberal" argument. She says keeping original names  indeed glorify the British and is being regressive rather than being liberal. This is a part of history which might well remain in the books but not needed to be shouted from the rooftops. I frankly do not know how to respond to this. May be she is right and I am being only naive.
Nonetheless, I shot a letter to the Indian Express, which I share with you here below:

Meanwhile, the debate at home continues...

The Power to Question - Milan Kundera

Its been almost 3 months since I last put up a post here. This unplanned interlude has not been entirely  unwelcome, because lately the blog was turning in to a sort of film review portal only. Even though I love films, "और भी ग़म हैं ज़माने में......", as Chacha Ghalib would say. 
The well-read among you would know Milan Kundera as the noted Czech novelist who writes on politics, history and human relations. I have been introduced to this genius quite late in life, courtesy a fulsome recommendation and priming by my friend Rahul J. 
I have recently finished reading his "Immortality", published in 1991, and find it akin to a detailed travelogue on a journey in to one's mind, something like watching self from afar. Here is something which I found pertinent to share with you in these times when we are questioning the role of media:

"Journalists realized that posing questions was not merely a practical working method for the reporter modestly gathering information with notebook and pencil in hand; it was a means of exerting power. The journalist is not merely the one who asks questions but the one who has a sacred right to ask, to ask anyone about anything. But don't we all have that right? And it is a question not a bridge of understanding reaching out from one human being to another? Perhaps. I will therefore make my statement more precise: the power of the journalist is not based on his right to ask but on his right to demand an answer.


Please note carefully that Moses dis not include among God's Ten Commandments: 'Thou shalt not lie!' That's no accident! Because the one who says, 'Don't lie!' has first to say, 'Answer!' and God did not give anyone the right to demand an answer from others. 'Don't lie!' 'Tell the truth!' are words which we must never say to another person in so far as we consider him our equal. Perhaps God only has the right but He has no reason to resort to it since He knows everything and does not need to know our answers.

The inequality between one who gives orders and one who must obey is not as radical as that between one who has a right to demand an answer and one who has the duty to answer. That is why the right to demand answers has, since time immemorial, only been accorded in exceptional circumstances. For example, to a judge inquiring in to a crime. In our century, fascists and communists states have appropriated this right, not only in exceptional circumstances but permanently....

The election campaign is on, the politician jumps from plane to helicopter, from helicopter to car, exerts himself, perspires, bolts his lunch on the run, shouts into microphones, makes two hour speeches, but in the end it will depend on Bernstein or Woodward which of the fifty thousand sentences that he uttered will be released to the newspapers or quoted on the radio.That's why the politician would prefer to address the radio or TV audience directly, but this can only be accomplished through the meditation of an Oriana Fallaci, who sets the media rules and asks the questions. The politician will want to exploit the moment when he is finally seen by the entire nation, and to say everything that's on his mind, but Woodward will ask him only about things that aren't on the politician's mind at all and that he has no desire to talk about. He will thus find himself in the classic situation of a schoolboy called to the blackboard, and will try to use  the old schoolboy trick: he will pretend to be answering the question, but in reality will use the material he has specially prepared at home for the broadcast. This trick may have worked on his teachers but it does not work on Bernstein, who keeps reminding him mercilessly: 'You haven't answered my question!'