At last count there are 10 news beaming via satellite and other such mass hypnosis technologies into my tv. In a mildly biased order they are BBC, DD, NDTV 24x7, Headlines Today, Aaj Tak, CNBC, NDTV Profit, CNN-IBN, Times NOW, Star News (all languages). This is discounting the vernaculars which are intermittently watched depending on whether the state in question has elections, riots or both. Which reminds me... I'm now an officially registered voter of the Graduates' Constituency. I have absolutely no idea how it happened but I got a letter telling me to vote sometime today and that was followed by another telling me whom to vote for. Thought I'd go ahead and get that inedible ink thing done but then realised that I have little idea who I'm voting for and into what position which would make me a rather irresponsible voter. So if I can find out more in the next few hours will be proudly displaying my black mark to the world at large.
Now digression done and back to the ten channels. I still am not sure what's lurking in VHF band 2 and UHF and other tv related abbreviations but these are the big ten - tuned and ready for viewing. Like most capitalistic enterprises as long as demand equals supply, both price and quality are reasonable. The minute the supply shoots up (notice it never happens for the important things, just news channels and mobile phone companies) the prices fall and strangely so does quality. Now I would imagine that if I had a competitor I would either improve or kill the other guy and not become a cheap whore but it turns out that nowadays things just aren't going as I want them or imagine them to be. Need to have a chat with the puppeteer again I think.
The result of this news channel explosion is this - news items on the blossoming pirated books and cds industry, wardrobe malfunctions on national televison (but still gracias, carol), how and where to get dope, coke, anabolic steroids, rhino horn powder (for that strength and vitality), kiwi eggs and what not. Like the fable about lawyers running behind ambulances it would appear that so are these people. Every little thing gets sensationalised and an abundance of expert opinions will have Ambedkar's son yelling about the persistent need for reservation. and the daily sms polls... Are news channels good? Should wanna-be politicians not do coke? Are sushmita sen's you-know-whats real?
And then one intelligent programming director decided to get rakhi sawant and mika on the phone together. Laughed for exactly two minutes then started looking for something large and hard to throw at the tv. BESCOM intervened and shed load, saving both the idiot box and my savings. In addendum to this controversy, remember the paper I get? It's taken a poll on what's the best party greeting. Handshakes still rule followed by hugs and kisses. I miss the day where there was one black and white channel and 3 black and white papers. This feeling is of course superceeded by the fact that I love the internet and the colour it's brought into my life. Makes me a little bit of a hypocrite but then again did I ever say I wasn't one.
The world, as usual, is coming to an end.
