The Champ On His Peak

SANTOSH DESAI

THE STARS HAVE BEEN misbehaving this week. Shani was upto its usual shaitani while Mangal insisted on doing manmani. I have this on good authority — Aaj Tak said so. Then, Star TV and India TV warned us about the nefarious designs that the grahan had on Raksha Bandhan. Who is the enemy of brother-sister, screamed a headline. Fortunately, we were also told how to avoid this amangal — by choosing the right coloured rakhi, in accordance with our initials.

Abhinav Bindra won India its first individual gold medal and justifiable hysteria followed. Headlines blared At Last (Hindustan Times), Abhinav India Bindra (Indian Express), Goldfinger (Mail Today) and India’s Goldfinger (Times of India). The focus quickly turned to the sad state of Indian sports and the estimated brand value of this new star. In other words, we consumed this news through the filters we find most entertaining — politics, money and gossip. Independence Day brought its usual India.

Rocking stories. For some reason, the film Rock On was seen as a stellar example of Indian freedom, and we saw Farhan Akhtar and his team of merry musicians on every channel, trying to establish some link between the freedom struggle and their film. NDTV’s Jai Jawan has been a consistently good show and this week’s episode with MS Dhoni was no exception. By far the best part is where we get to see the families of the soldiers. It is interesting that we, otherwise, never get a glimpse of how ordinary Indians lead their lives, so full of gloss is the usual coverage.

Speaking of which, CNN IBN had an Independence Day special on the Indian urban family, with the usual mix of celebrities holding forth. Anchored by Sagarika Ghose, it featured Prahlad Kakkar, Pooja Bedi, a popular RJ, Sathya Saran and a sociologist. As to how this group represents urban families is not clear but at least they spoke good English. That should count for something. The Times Of India reports that up to 35 percent of young adults in India suffer from strokes. Actually, if you read the report, less than one percent do, but why let some pesky detail come in the way of a scary number?

Note to myself — must go easy on those hallucinogens I must be having. Came back home after a three-hour crawl from the airport to find Aaj Tak breaking the news that there was no traffic jam in Delhi. Yes, traffic was slow but not unusually so, and that was because of police barricades on account of terrorist threats. Of course, I came across not one policeman or barricade, but that just tells you about the evils of psychotropic substances. Thank you, Aaj Tak.

Desai is the MD and CEO of Futurebrands