Televista
Swearing in and swearing
Amita Malik

There are some moments which only television can capture. Such as the all-rhetoric Narendra Modi visibly speechless. During his swearing in, the hitherto all-blustering Modi got all emotional and there were actually tears in his eyes as he said the party was bigger than him. Then there was dead and unusual silence. Modi took a sip of water from a glass. Then again, dead silence. At this point, the crowd got restless and started clapping. And Modi recovered himself and started all over again, but in more subdued tones. A very far cry from the way he has dominated the TV news to such an extent that the channels seem to have forgotten that is life beyond politics and, indeed, Modi.

For instance, I was wanting to know what had happened to the exhibition of M.F. Husain’s paintings at the India International Centre which had got stalled for a day due to threats by fundamentalists. The theme of the paintings was Indian cinema, one of Husain’s special interests (and mine) which goes much beyond being a Madhuri Dixit fan, which continues. Husain booked a whole cinema in Dubai to invite everyone to see her latest film, Aaja Nachle. But there was nothing except Modi from morning till night on every screen and I evetually had to ring up India International Centre to find out if the exhibition had reopened. And at the time of writing, luckily the small screen is actually ringing to the tune of Jingle Bells, Silent Night and other Christmas carols. This is the one time of the year that we are reminded of the splendid choral singing tradition of India, which starts in Meghalaya and beyond in the North-East and travels all the way to Chennai and the South. Some of our choral groups have travelled to the West and astounded everyone there by their performances.

However, after the swearing-in the swearing. One was very amused to find the Australian Cricket Board, all set to wipe out racisim from the crowds, asking the Indian Cricket Board for a list of Indian swear words so that they could remove swearers from the crowd during the forthcoming matches in Australia and after. I was amused because I was wondering in which language the Indian board would oblige. Only Hindi, or also Bengali and Marathi, considering the stars of the Indian team. And if so, which swear words. The most common are monkey and donkey, childish but popular. The really nasty, and possibly pornographic swear words will be difficult to put down on paper. I agree with the cricket experts who say this is going too far. Banning swearer for life from watching cricket is really the limit. After all, it used to be a gentleman’s game and still remains largely so. Just look at Kumble.

As the year draws to a close, I would love to say that there has been some revolutionary progress in the media. Well, beyond the birth of more channels, there is little that is different from before. The media are getting more light and less serious. But in the middle of all the reality shows and some channels constantly telling us that they are the bestest and the mostest until we become really suspicious about whether they are whistling in the dark, we come across dedicated programme people, who go in search of important sociological subjects and do in-depth documentaries on them. They are recognised by international awards. And prove to us all over again that all is not lost in the Indian media and that they can also take their place among the world’s best at times. A cheering thought to start the new year. So, to all our readers, a happy media year.