Be Quiet My Child!

You turn any page of the history of man. Not the history of kings and governments, nor that of wars and elections. I mean the history of the mundane life of man. You do find, amidst many stories of family feuds and romance, the stories of the marvellous childhood of man. The incidents from the episodes of childhood are something so capturing and luring to listen to or read about. In fact, that's what you may overhear if you pass by a house which might have temporarily forgotten the tussles of ordinary life. What you hear may contain these phrases: "You know what varun did last night? ...." or "Oh! I can't contain myself laughing. He gave me such a reply that I was dumbstruck for a moment." .... or "These days children are really par excellent when you compare our childhood days, aren't they?" The stories are endless. One more such anecdote, I feel, is worthy of such mention here in my blog entry so that the readers savour the same amusement that we experienced when it occurred.

Here is the naughtiest child of my uncle's family. He is my uncle's grandson. That's his son's son. Now he is around four. Even when he was three years old, I chanced to visit my aunt's where my uncle's family too was present for some occasion. We all were in an air conditioned room chit chatting with each other and eating the sumptuous meal served to us. In the mean while, the 'little master' kept himself busy checking the door of that room closed after every visit of someone or the other to the room. He could not shut his mouth as usual. He kept dictating the rules of confining oneself in the air conditioned room, the important one being that the door should be kept tightly closed so as to save energy and to keep the room cool enough. That's what he had learnt from his maternal grandfather. So he was busy handing down the knowledge to all the members of the family present there.

Not able to stand by it any more, my cousin, my aunt's son and an adult nearing his thirties, said, "For the room to remain cool, it is better you be quiet for sometime so that it doesn't become too hot here." Pat came the reply from our hero: "Hmm.. if that's so, then everyone should be cooperative... all of us should eat quietly without talking to each other!"

Of course, you could hear the blast of laughter ensuing the child's wise reply.

Global rise of Citizen Media.

With more than 70,000 newspapers and over 500 satellite channels and 80 news channels, India is already the biggest media market in the world; but such robust growth has come at the cost of accuracy, journalistic ethics and probity. The mainstream media has been shallow, inaccurate and sometimes damagingly obtrusive.

Dr. Amartya Sen, quoted wrongly by media twice, has strongly condemned the Indian media for its professional laxity which leads to inaccuracies and mistakes, and the class bias in its choice. Most seriously, there is the scourge called paid news, which mainly involves politicians and corporate firms – paying for positive coverage in the run-up to the elections and corporate benefits.

This commonplace situation applies to the mainstream media across the world. Recently, the media in the US has been condemned for under-reporting the number of family members and friends that joined the Obamas on the extravagant VIP tour to Africa which was rather a sightseeing trip than a philanthropic visit.

As common men, we have long heard the journalists through different media. But only a few of us thought of responding to the situation. Thinking can be done on chair; but to act, now with the advent of the Citizen Media, you simply have to come to your fingers on the mouse, follow the technocrati tag of your choice and voice your opinions.

Desi Pundit is one such group blog that covers India related topics and is authored by mostly Indian bloggers who live around the world. Kubana.net is another group blog written by Zimbabwean activists who demand an end to the Mugabe dictatorship. Chinese blogger Roland Soong has become an important bridge between China and the West - thanks to his blog where he translates various newspaper articles and blog posts from Chinese to English. Like these groups, You, I or anyone can write the pages of history of our nation and also the entire world.

We are living in the best of times to realize the long dreamt empowerment of citizens through media. Though there are different interest groups, like literature, arts, music or technology, the global rise of citizen media is in fact attributed to the social renaissance brought about it through thousands of activist bloggers across the world. Let this democratic media be on the rise to realize the dream called democracy to the fullest!