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Showing posts from November, 2008

Soundbites

People say the darndest things on TV. The whole of Thursday 27th Nov, the news channels have been covering the Mumbai situation almost round the clock. Early in the day, one of the channels (I forget which one) showed a snippet of foreigner responses to the attacks. A guy in New York was condemning the attack and saying this to the reporter - "We know life is cheap in India but this time they have targeted foreigners." I couldnt believe the guy actually said that. Shocked and outraged as I am by the Mumbai attacks, I have been glued to the TV all day, but they havent repeated that clip again. And I am very very sure I didnt dream that up. He said that!! And people brave a lot to get on TV too. Some IT yuppie living near Colaba went out onto the streets soon after Wednesday night's blast, took pictures and posted them to CNN's ireport. They interviewed him on the CNN news. He came on BBC World News too. I am all for the concept of citizen journalism...I just hope no

What to say and What not to say

This whole month has only reconfirmed my belief that most of the problems in this world are due to poor communication. People don’t or can’t express themselves appropriately. The right words elude them. They don’t say what they actually want to say; they blurt out what was best unsaid. And what’s worst is the torrent of words that they let loose when in a tight spot (so not the right time to say anything!) As a species and after all these centuries, we simply don’t seem to learn, do we? What to say and what not to say. Earlier this month, I had a little accident. You know, of the crazy-Bangalore-traffic variety. In retrospect, it was just a stupid, freak collision, of an auto, a biker and me on a scooter, in which nothing was damaged and no one got hurt. Save me. I hurt my leg. Of course, the pain and blood annoyed me. And, in the bedlam, the smart-ass biker peering into my helmet-clad face, saying, "Sorry, madam. But not my fault. That autowala..oh ..he has gone..he ran away..sor