And he did, after pleading his case inside papa’s room. He did, after crying for an hour on that unforgettable night. And after he really said sorry and promised he would never do the unthinkable again, his mother breathed a sigh of relief. And after she really breathed a second sigh of relief, she was not surprised when she realised that she still couldn’t sleep peacefully that night. She discussed with Kukoo’s father if Kukoo handing over his resignation would help bring her an iota of peace to her. Or if Kukoo could go to the local community centre and apologize in front of the entire village. Kukoo did the latter and guess what, Momma slept well. But only for a few nights.
Loony tunes? (see Barkha Dutt’s ‘Loony Tunes’, 20/12/2008 Hindustan Times) certainly. From the atrocious amount of airtime given to the funny minister to articles in major newspapers expecting A.R.Antulay be hanged or given life imprisonment or stripped from his position, they all need a better platform. Cartoon network, Disney Channel or even India TV for that matter.
Our newly found obsession of seeking apologies is certainly not as ephemeral as candle light marches or slogan shouting or even those revolutions started by many ‘patriotic’ people in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks. It started when we did intensive research for our nation-wide revolution. We recorded videos of many news channels, bifurcated them, took a part of them to the laboratories, applied some image recognition software and found that Ram Gopal Verma was at the ‘iconic’ Taj. Then in the same laboratories we brought in R.R. Patil and Abbas Ali Naqvi for careful examination of their statements. They were given injections of public outrage unless they apologized or gave away their coveted positions.
There is no point in discussing what we really gain by focussing on seeking apologies from such people. Resignation? Yes, no doubt it should be demanded when people cross the line. But in doing so, the media should not cross the line by giving unnecessary air time to people who don't matter much. It is very unfortunate that the news channels think that they are the only ones which a viewer is watching. The fact is that about 60% of all the 55 news channels in India are available to a common man subscribed to cable television. This means that the viewer will hear almost 30 news anchors demanding apologies from the same person in 30 minutes. And imagine when at prime time there are two faces at the desk pouring out news, in a childish turn-by-turn.
It is shameful to see that knowing Kukoo is relatively weak, we still spare not even a single second of airtime to embarrass him. Also, the fact that others like Kukoo have committed more heinous crimes and are still at large makes me hide my face, and no veil is sufficient, neither Manoj Kumar’s nor that of globalisation.
Going through pages of psychology books will certainly help in knowing better what effect do apologies have on both, the seeker and the giver. If this is the way we are going to focus and bring about a revolution, I feel sorry for Jai Prakash Narayan. He worked hard in his revolution and failed but we could have learnt a lot from that episode. If we think we’ll sleep better from now on after listening to apologies, I feel sorry for the All India Radio’s late night edition of ‘Puraane Gaane’, rendered out of fashion years back.
There are so many other things that momma can do to make her house and society a better place to live in. Firstly, by sticking to her values imparted to her by her ancestors. Then, by giving kukoo high quality education. Also, by discussing issues of national importance at the dinner table, rather than inflating Ekta Kapoor’s silk purse. If the argument is that kukoo has grown up and still behaving unethically, momma certainly should look at the way she has educated him instead of scolding him and pulling his ears till he gives an apology. The basic flaws in momma’s way of bringing up kukoo are just not confined to this one house in the village. The corner house in the same street paid less attention to Pragya’s upbringing. Little Narendra in his childhood was never allowed to sit with Suleman in his school bus by his parents. Raj was not stopped at school when he used to harass Rohit Yadav everyday. And most of all, the entire village community was busy buying tickets at the local lottery booth when their children picked up bidis to smoke behind their backs.
I don’t know how many calamities are required to make us look back at our system of bringing up children. Until then, Kukoo may keep on saying sorry for every wrong he does. After all, if he never felt shameful for abusing his brother that night, he may well never feel shameful at all when he is forced to say ‘Sorry’. But I do, because we don’t feel the same when we strive to hear this four letter word, and feel that battles are won or lost on such petty issues.
Loony tunes? (see Barkha Dutt’s ‘Loony Tunes’, 20/12/2008 Hindustan Times) certainly. From the atrocious amount of airtime given to the funny minister to articles in major newspapers expecting A.R.Antulay be hanged or given life imprisonment or stripped from his position, they all need a better platform. Cartoon network, Disney Channel or even India TV for that matter.
Our newly found obsession of seeking apologies is certainly not as ephemeral as candle light marches or slogan shouting or even those revolutions started by many ‘patriotic’ people in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks. It started when we did intensive research for our nation-wide revolution. We recorded videos of many news channels, bifurcated them, took a part of them to the laboratories, applied some image recognition software and found that Ram Gopal Verma was at the ‘iconic’ Taj. Then in the same laboratories we brought in R.R. Patil and Abbas Ali Naqvi for careful examination of their statements. They were given injections of public outrage unless they apologized or gave away their coveted positions.
There is no point in discussing what we really gain by focussing on seeking apologies from such people. Resignation? Yes, no doubt it should be demanded when people cross the line. But in doing so, the media should not cross the line by giving unnecessary air time to people who don't matter much. It is very unfortunate that the news channels think that they are the only ones which a viewer is watching. The fact is that about 60% of all the 55 news channels in India are available to a common man subscribed to cable television. This means that the viewer will hear almost 30 news anchors demanding apologies from the same person in 30 minutes. And imagine when at prime time there are two faces at the desk pouring out news, in a childish turn-by-turn.
It is shameful to see that knowing Kukoo is relatively weak, we still spare not even a single second of airtime to embarrass him. Also, the fact that others like Kukoo have committed more heinous crimes and are still at large makes me hide my face, and no veil is sufficient, neither Manoj Kumar’s nor that of globalisation.
Going through pages of psychology books will certainly help in knowing better what effect do apologies have on both, the seeker and the giver. If this is the way we are going to focus and bring about a revolution, I feel sorry for Jai Prakash Narayan. He worked hard in his revolution and failed but we could have learnt a lot from that episode. If we think we’ll sleep better from now on after listening to apologies, I feel sorry for the All India Radio’s late night edition of ‘Puraane Gaane’, rendered out of fashion years back.
There are so many other things that momma can do to make her house and society a better place to live in. Firstly, by sticking to her values imparted to her by her ancestors. Then, by giving kukoo high quality education. Also, by discussing issues of national importance at the dinner table, rather than inflating Ekta Kapoor’s silk purse. If the argument is that kukoo has grown up and still behaving unethically, momma certainly should look at the way she has educated him instead of scolding him and pulling his ears till he gives an apology. The basic flaws in momma’s way of bringing up kukoo are just not confined to this one house in the village. The corner house in the same street paid less attention to Pragya’s upbringing. Little Narendra in his childhood was never allowed to sit with Suleman in his school bus by his parents. Raj was not stopped at school when he used to harass Rohit Yadav everyday. And most of all, the entire village community was busy buying tickets at the local lottery booth when their children picked up bidis to smoke behind their backs.
I don’t know how many calamities are required to make us look back at our system of bringing up children. Until then, Kukoo may keep on saying sorry for every wrong he does. After all, if he never felt shameful for abusing his brother that night, he may well never feel shameful at all when he is forced to say ‘Sorry’. But I do, because we don’t feel the same when we strive to hear this four letter word, and feel that battles are won or lost on such petty issues.
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