Faris Shows Up Malayalam Journalism!

I watched the interview Faris Aboobacker gave to John Brittas in People Channel of Kairali TV with joy. For once the interviewee was in charge, completely dominating the proceedings and leaving the interviewer struggling to catch up and trying to make some feeble interjections! Also, Faris showed what Malayalam journalists are really worth - blasting them for not doing enough homework and for practicing armchair journalism. And in a not so subtle way Faris leveled the same charge against Brittas, who could not even parry Faris's pointed questions.
The interviewee was clearly calling the shots, and by far a better journalist than the interviewer!
Another piece I loved about it was Faris tearing up Mathrubhumi's self-professed right to take the moral high ground citing its history as a paper founded by nationalists against British colonial rule. Faris said what every impartial Malayali reader had on his mind while reading such lofty claims by Mathrubhumi's nameless journalists: Mathrubhumi cannot pride itself on that count because it is not the descendants of those nationalists who are running the paper now but people who were opposed to the Congress till before the emergency - that one should strike Veerendrakumar in the eye. Kudos!
And Mathrubhumi fumbled repeatedly in its attempt to bat for Chief Minister Achutanandan: claiming there is no photo of Faris in existence and that he is a mystery to people even in his home village, while the truth was one of the directors of Mathrubhumi was a close friend of Faris. The director went on to blast the paper for publishing such reports but the venerable editor thought it prudent to hide that!
Whatever be the merits or demerits of this case, I like this spat for two reasons: one Faris showed up Malayalam journalim; two, Veerendrakumar has ended up with egg on his face!

Achtung! LDF Going The UDF Way In Kerala

The infighting in the Left Democratic Front is actually causing a lot of pain to people who voted them to power. Let us first face the fact that a lot of people who voted for the LDF aren't members of any of the parties. They voted for the LDF because they were tired by the corruption and lack of accountability and complete breakdown of the administrative machinery during the United Democratic Front't rule.
I remember the last days of the UDF government. I had just returned from Delhi, and what I saw was something unimaginable in a state like Kerala which prides itself on its awareness and liberal outlook. Just one example: the police were out in the streets flagging down and checking any vehicle and fining them, trying to extort money from motorists. And if you wanted to complain about it to someone higher up, the officer you approached would ask you to grease his palms! The general feeling was the ruling leaders had let the policemen out on the streets to make money even as they themselves were lining their pockets.
Okay, now the funny thing was while the police were so active on the roads the thieves were having a field day! There were gangs of robbers roaming the streets, even in Thiruvananthapuram, and going about their 'profession' with immunity!
Now, this was one instance of UDF misrule. And the people were tired of it. So the LDF came to power - not because of the charisma of VS Achutanandan or the cadre folloewing of the CPM!
Look at the state of affairs now! The faction war has hobbled the administration. Even as various kinds of fevers ravage the populace the state health minister is not to be seen. The treatment and cleaning drives are non-existent. All that the chief minister and his cronies are worried about is image building, while leaving the day-to-day functioning of the government in the hands of an inept bureaucracy! Even the party machinery which usually steps in to correct such mistakes is split along factional lines and engaged in a game of trying to run down each other.
Little wonder even die-hard Communists are now saying they made a mistake in voting this government to power.
They may be exaggerating: the LDF is still better than the corrupt and divisive UDF; but their feelings can only be ignored to the peril of the current government. That is the most insidious part of the current state of affairs. Public memory is short; the UDF can come back to power if the LDF continues on this track. Will we go back to those days of rampant corruption and extortion? I fear to think of it.

Why All This Noise About Sanjay Dutt?

Why is there so much noise over Sanjay Dutt being put behind bars? I just don't understand it. The man may not have directly planned the Mumbai blasts, but he definitely was pally with the terrorists who did it. And he possessed automatic weapons banned by law.
Now, let us forget all the issues about whether Dutt deserves this or not. Let us just look at how a common citizen would have been punished if he was in Dutt's boots - a common man who would not have the money or the celebrity status to gain media attention or to get an army of illustrious lawyers. None of us would have even given a second thought about the quantum of punishment such a person gets. Therein lies the crux of the issue - celebrities or common people, everyone has to be same before the law. Our justice system has flouted this principle umpteen times, but this time it has not. So instead of throwing stones let us for one celebrate the unbiased justice system and the characters in it who delivered this judgment.
Also, there have been some comments from Dutt's fellow actor community that a celebrity should not be given such a punishment. Come on, look at what happened to Paris Hilton. If the people giving such comments were in Europe or America they would have been behind bars for at least 3 days for the offence!