The story of Rushdie's non arrival

The Events

Jan 4th, 2012: Word is out that Salman Rushdie has been invited to the Jaipur Literature Festival, an annual event that has grown by leaps and bounds in its popularity since its inception in 2006.  

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-04/books/30588541_1_salman-rushdie-midnight-s-children-jaipur-literature-festival

Islamic groups across India protest his invitation to the festival and demand that he not set foot on Indian soil. Apparently, a ban on his "blasphemous" book in a country  that believes itself to be secular and also in free speech, just wasn't enough. On confrontation with these facts, they cite the American Govt's act of cancelling Narendra Modi's US visa as exemplary. (Yes. They'd like to equate the Gujarat pogrom to the writing of Satanic Verses.)

Jan 19th, 2012 (Thursday): Islamic groups that were planning major protests on Friday, the 20th of Jan, to coincide with the festival's opening, announce that these protests are cancelled. The reason: A Congress MP from Jaipur's assurance that Mr Rushdie would be kept away throughout the festival period.   

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/article2816193.ece

Jan 20th, 2012 (Friday): Rushdie announces the cancellation of his visit to India citing rumours of paid underworld assassins set loose after his life. Livid authors at the festival start reading out from Satic Verses, his book that has been banned in India.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/satanic-verses-read-at-jaipur-literature-festival/222731-40-103.html

The Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi issued the following statement: "If an individual author feels threatened about his own security, I think you and I must all respect his right not to take chances with his own life and liberty."

Cited from the video on this link. http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/salman-rushdie-skips-jaipur-literature-festival-says-he-was-warned-of-paid-assassins-168919

Mr Singhvi makes this statement in an attempt to sound like a magnanimous person respecting the rights of an individual's concern for safety. However, he conveniently fails to highlight that his government, whose duty it is to snub these Islamic extremists and ensure Rushdie's safety (and liberty!), has pitifully failed to do so.  

Summing Up

On the surface, the government tries to assure its citizens that it did nothing to prevent Mr Rushdie's arrival and that the author's decision not to arrive in India was his own, trying to score points on how it is being large minded in respecting that decision. 

Beneath the surface, the Congress tells the protesting Islamic groups that it has successfully prevented the arrival of the blasphemer, Salman Rushdie, on Indian soil. (Sure to be used for brownie points in election rallies.) 

News on Indian Television: Endangered Species

All through my life, I've been hard-wired to switch on the television at 9 PM and spend the next half an hour looking at the news. Each day spent without completing this ritual would feel a little incomplete. Off late, however, I've been steadily losing interest in the 9 o'clock news so much so that it even repels me on some days.

The reason: televised debates hosted either by incompetent anchors or by blatant bullies whose only motives are to throw their weight and their opinions around these debates. Debates you say? Opinions? Weren't we just talking about the news? Well, the boundaries between news and opinions have completely dissolved in the world of Indian news channels. And what's more? These debates sorely lack any intelligent quality. They are just shout-offs where the panellist with the mightier voice always has the last word (However, on Times Now, Arnab always does).

The country we live in is mighty large. There is enough news to report in any one of our cities to sustain whole news channels and newspapers. There is clearly no dearth of good material that wants reporting. Instead, must we spend 25 out of our precious 30 news minutes watching a discussion on whether the Govt of India's ego is bigger than its chief of army staff or whether the seniors in the Indian cricket team are mollycoddled? (Yes. Arnab, who makes no bones about expressing his passionate take on every news item, does think so.)

The root cause of this affliction is the average Indian's love for melodrama. It is as if everything on television that is worth watching must resemble a Saans Bahu soap opera. Even news! In the absence of any other examples, the success story of TV9 alone is a major facepalm moment for the Indian television audience. It is as if we have a penchant for having our intelligence insulted.

I hold that the last bastion of good reporting in India is the existence of newspapers like The Hindu. The content published in a newspaper is a subjective matter and varies with the taste of the reader. However, the style of reporting and the professionalism that goes into it can be put more easily to judgement. The firm stance that the editors of The Hindu have taken on how its content is to be published is inspirational. Rather than bow down to an abyss by catering to the baser tendencies of the masses, they've maintained a calibre that has given them a faithful niche of unswervingly loyal readers. Niche markets are clearly the way forward in services that cater to a large section of any population. Only that way you can ensure that not too many people outside of the majority are left out. Whether it be music, books or other hobbies, I always find myself outside the circles that are crowded with the vast Indian majority. However, niche markets in all these domains have ensured that I'm not left out.

Televised news needs a channel that is dedicated to good, neutral reportage, rather than sinking to whatever depths the thirst for popularity drags it down to. The Hindu could probably start its own news channel. I am tired of scripted melodramas being passed off as news. We need a channel that doesn't look at every incident as an opportunity to gain TRPs and subsequently make a killing in the advertising market.