SIGHT & SOUND
Drama in real life
Amita Malik

Well, all I can say is: Long live television. Had the rescue of little Prince not been reported on TV, he could well have died in that deep pit in some obscure village. But the nearness of Kurukshetra to the Capital and the stiff competition amongst TV news channels ensured that Prince got nation-wide coverage worthy of royalty.

But the best part of the rescue effort was that it was a human-interest story. By now viewers are weary of train blow-ups, the killing of innocent civilians by Israel in Lebanon, and the exciting disclosures by Jaswant Singh. All news faded into the background as the nation waited with bated breath and prayers were offered in gurdwaras, mosques, churches and temples. And in the midst of it all was the amazing sight of Prince, deep underground at the end of a narrow tunnel, calmly eating chocolate and drinking milk while anxious rescuers saw to it that he had enough oxygen. A sophisticated fellow villager even sent a camera down so that we could see every movement of Prince in a TV within a TV. All kudos to the media.

Channels such as Aaj Tak devoted entire transmissions to Prince and every other channel kept a corner of the screen free so that we could watch Prince simultaneously with Jaswant Singh, or whoever. From the PM to the humblest villager, in every corner of India, every Indian felt this was their child. For me, after all those hours of suspense, the most touching sight was of Major-General Bannerji, the head of the army rescue team, carrying Prince tenderly once he came up, and handing him over to his weeping mother. Of such drama is real life made, and no saas-bahus can rival that.

On the international front, there was Lebanon. And the first Indian journalist in Beirut was Sanjay Hirwal, a bi-lingual reporter who has not always been given the credit for some excellent reportage down the years. He was soon followed by Ajai Shukla, also of NDTV. Meanwhile, in this age of intrepid women reporters, Suhashini Haidar made it to Cyprus to cover the Indian Navy rescue operation and later went to Beirut. Equally professional was NDTV reporter Nidhi Razdan who interviewed the Foreign Minister of Iran, head demurely covered with a scarf.

Meanwhile, channels were having a field day with Jaswant Singh. Barkha Dutt followed by Rajdeep Sardesai, again claiming an exclusive. Since most channels cover the same important events, this claiming of firsts and exclusives is becoming very tiresome and seems a defensive measure by channels trying to establish themselves as the best and mostest.

Meanwhile, competition is hotting up in other directions as well. The sleuths of CNN-IBN have traced down Bharti Yadav near London, but when they called, she was not there and her angry landlord asked the team to shut off their camera and leave his compound. In fact, sleuthing has become the first priority of the new channels. What with Times Now also making momentous discoveries every half an hour. It seems the TV channels are doing half the work for governments and getting precious little thanks for it.

Oh yes, everyone also had a take on the Sanjay Manjrekar remarks about Sachin Tendulkar, which some people called a publicity stunt. Of course the one who shouted loudest was Sidhu, who never lets anyone, including the anchor talk, so fond is he of his own voice. Pity many viewers are not too fond of his voice, but he seems unaware of the anti-Sidhu line-ups.