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Fact
is stranger than fiction. But it is awfully
painful to say, sometimes.
It is a coincidence, but a very tragic one. This
month, Pankaj Kappor’s famous tele-serial
“office office” has already shown what poor and
hapless Manoj Mishra did in actuality.
Everything seems identical: the theme, the
actors and the tragic end. In the serial, Pankaj
Kapoor (the protagonist) is provoked to immolate
himself against government’s apathetic policy.
What happened next is that a media channel took
him over and how they try to present before the
viewers. The protagonist does not even speak a
word whether he would actually immolate while
giving an interview to the anchor. His replies
are dramatically subdued in the din of
loquacious interviewer.
All the while the protagonist is thinking that
he is going to enact the action to send a threat
to the government rather than actually
self-immolating. When the D-day comes, he
reaches the intended place where he is supposed
to immolate himself begging all the way to a few
enthusiastic audiences who accompanied him to
save once he pours diesel over his body. All of
them nodded in agreement. When the hero climbs
up the raised platform to set himself on fire
with a tin of diesel and match box, he shivers
with fear and anxiety looking round with
pleading gesture as if saying not to make
mistake in covering him with a big blanket once
the fire is lit.
The channel that instigated the protagonist for
this act is ready for “live action”. Once on the
raised platform with encouraging audience
behind, the protagonist has no choice but to
commit the act. With trembling hand, he pours
the diesel all over his body and looks for a
matchbox. So many hands come forward to give him
the matchbox. Meanwhile, the camerapersons are
guiding and egging him how to keep his face in
front of the camera, so that the “live picture”
would be the cleanest and the closest, which
ultimately is going to give extra edge to the
channel in addition to making it “the only
channel” that has this kind of cutting-edge
outreach.
As he lights the matchstick looking around with
a begging face, his mind was in sheer doubt
whether these people would run and cover him
with the blanket before he could be least burnt.
All the camerapersons are ready to catch the
rare incident with reporters ready to shot back
the “live” report. The protagonist did act. All
on a sudden, an explosion of flames engulfed his
whole body and he started writhing in
excruciating pain. The audience was
flabbergasted. The TV staffs were busy shooting
the “action” from different angels. For them, it
was a professional job to shoot the event rather
than act to stop the suicidal mishap. Meanwhile,
the people were taken over by fear of the police
and started running away from the scene though
the protagonist was crying for help, as his body
was frying against enraged fire. Nobody dared
touch it till the man died down on the ground.
And then, there was complete silence. The media
persons did their job. The people did their job.
And fire did its job as well. But the human was
roasted alive right in full view of audience.
That was the whole story in the tele-serial. It
is enacted in Gaya with Manoj Mishra as its real
victim, not hero. The only difference was that
the hero in the serial appeared again to tell
how it feels when is treated like that while the
common man who died due to public negligence
would never appear again. But there are
questions, some big questions, which the persons
present on the scene will have to answer when an
enquiry will be conducted, and anyone, if found
guilt, must be punished. The gory incident also
puts a question mark on the integrity of media
persons as well the people who care human values
more than anything else, leave alone the human
life.
Who cares about the everlasting pangs of Manoj’s
bewailing sons and wife? Will they get justice?
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Comments: |
Media has a very important role to
play in deepening the roots and then
nurturing democracy. That is why
freedom of speech is such an
important fundamental right. Much
before and since Watergate scandal,
media has placed crucial role in
exposing many corrupt government and
the high handedness of rich and
powerful. Since the explosion of
news media and channels in India,
increasingly there is a cut throat
competition among these journalists
to be part of important breaking
news and find fame, fortune in the
process. Sadly some of these
journalists exceed the limit and
they try to "create" instead of
report the news. What a tragic
incident it has been and I clearly
empathise with poor family. He must
have thought the media has empowered
even a common man so much so that he
can do something so that his voice
can be heard in the corridors of
power. Hardly did he know that he is
just being a pawn in the hands of
some greedy journalists.
Some of the news reports on media
channels is so ridiculous that it
sensationalises even trivial
matters. I remember one news where 6
bodies were found in Gujarat and
IBNLive was reporting that a mass
grave has been found. Even three
days before Indian cricket team
selection, CNN-IBNLive was reporting
that Ganguly would be dropped and
the reporter was writing eulogy for
his career. Lo and behold, three
days later he was selected in
probable 30 and IBNLive reporting it
as a surprise selection. Yuck! How
low can just they go. For God sakes,
just report the news in an unbiased
manner so that the fourth estate can
be a true champion of democracy and
voice of common man. However, I have
seen enough and I know that in the
long term, such reporters would lose
their credibility to so much so that
nobody would care to read what they
report and write. Like I treat all
this breaking news coming every two
minutes from CNN-IBN with so much
apprehension that I want to make
sure by checking BBC and some other
credible media outlets to make sure
this guy is right this time at
least. - Ravindra Kumar - Aug.
18, 2006
This is a tragic incident and those
who watched the drama unfold right
before their eyes and failed to stop
Manoj from taking the extreme step
should be held accountable for their
dastardly acts.
Having said that, I can't help but
wonder where is an individual's
personal responsibility in India? It
is always someone else's fault. I am
sure you all have been told by your
mothers at one time or another: "koi
chhat se koodne bolega to tum kood
jaoge?" Where are your own senses of
right and wrong? Where is your
common sense? It turns out, mother
was right all along!
Where was Manoj's personal sense of
responsibility and judgment? He had
a wife, two children and yet he
wanted to be a hero, or a 'martyr',
as our netas and their brain-numb
chelas tend to describe it. In all
likelihood, Mishra was probably
pulling a bluff. Some media-men
called his bluff and he got trapped
in it.
We tend to blame the government for
everything. No job? The government
is to be blamed. No education? The
government is to be blamed. You get
run over by a speeding bus. It's the
government's fault. No one dares to
ask them why weren't you looking
while crossing the street when the
bus or car hit you? I admit bus and
cars drive like maniacs in India but
take the owner of the bus or car to
the task; not the government. Do you
think the government is everywhere
to save you from every disaster in
the world?
Indians are the victims of 'victim
mentality'. We are always the
victims. Everyone is a victim - the
man who lost his son because someone
shot him to death is a victim of
crime and the man who shot his son
is the victim of our society.
Society made him a criminal. It was
never his fault. We are all victims
- that's what we have been
indoctrinated from birth to think.
We Indians have been brainwashed for
generations by our so-called
Socialist leaders to depend on the
government for everything with no
encouragement to personal
responsibility or accountability.
When will we learn to say: "It was
stupid of me to act this way and I
take full responsibility for it?"
But why own up to my idiotic
mistakes when I can easily pass on
the blame to someone else!
Again, while I feel for the family
of Manoj Mishra and wish those
media-persons held accountable for
failing to save his life, somehow I
cannot sympathize with the victim
himself for the extremely stupid
decision he took to gain national
attention. I don't consider him a
hero, much less a martyr. He was a
coward and his act of
self-immolation was the height of
his stupidity. - Arun Mishra -
Aug. 18, 2006 |
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