CSF II

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2006-06-05T05:28:00.000-07:00

Kill a tiger, wear a claw

2006-06-05T02:02:00.000-07:00

The Deccan Chronicle seemed to have forgotten that 'When the buying stops, the killing will too'. See this.

They have since issued a corrigendum (image taken from the e-paper)

Almoayyed Group's Official Statement on Engineer's Murder in Afghanistan

2006-04-30T07:04:00.000-07:00

With profound grief we confirm receipt of official intimation about the murder of Mr. K. Suryanarayan, a cherished ,dedicated and loyal employee of Almoayed Group. At this moment of grief, we are dumbstruck at the inhumanity and cruelty faced by our colleague and declare him a martyr who has given up his life in his belief of the right to a better life for our brothers and sisters in Afghanistan. We strongly condemn this heinous act as inhuman and call upon all religions and countries to join us and pray to the Almighty to punish those responsible for this act in this world and beyond.

As we grieve, our resolve to continue working towards the betterment of the people and children in Afghanistan remains solid and steadfast and is further strengthened. We shall not let the sacrifice of Mr. Suryanarayan go in vain. We call upon the Indian Prime Minister Mr. Manmohan Singh and the President of Afghanistan Mr. Karzai to lead the two nations in furthering brotherhood, respect and love for each other.

We are honoured and indebted to Mr. Suryanarayan for his contribution and commitment to the Company and the country he was working in, and his enthusiasm and dedication towards successfully achieving his goals and targets set for him while undertaking his assignment .He has indeed been a role model that will serve as an example for all. To the departed soul, we can only say that he has not left his family behind. We shall ensure the best of education for his children in order to ensure that one day they become what their father was: A man of immense dedication, zeal and commitment towards his belief...

As a mark of respect the Head Office in Bahrain and all our international offices will remain closed on Tuesday 2nd May. The Indian office will be closed for 3 days from today. All offices will observe a mourning period of one week. The Company further announces an immediate compensation of Rs 20 lakhs to the family of Mr.Suryanarayan and undertakes to take care of the complete education of his three children.

'May the Almighty provide peace to the departed soul, and love to all those on mother Earth.'

'In grief, we stand together.'

(All at Almoayed Group)

Those Dumb Questions (and stories)

2006-04-30T01:29:00.000-07:00

Sevanti Ninan's The Hoot takes apart the Indian TV News Media's tiresome coverage of the Pramod Mahajan crisis in Those Dumb Questions.

My favourite is:

One reporter demanded to know why a mentally unstable man was given a licence for a revolver. "he is mentally unstable now. When he was given the licence he must have been ok. The police gives the licence after due enquiries. It doesn't go to a mental hospital and give out gun licences."

*

CNN-IBN did a story on a polling booth in Kerala where only one voter is registered, and how the election commission has to send 6 people every elections, in case he decides to vote. We're told that the 'This one voter has brought the entire Election Commission to his knees.' Yeah, right.

Then they tell us about the difficulties that CNN-IBN had to go through to get us the story - walk through leech infested jungles. They show us images of the reporters pulling out leeches and tell us patronisingly that this is what the reporters had to go through to get us that story, and CNN-IBN is a channel that'll do 'Whatever it takes'. Quite a sacrifice, innit?

Crossposted here.

N Ram pays back for the Lanka Ratna

2006-04-27T02:03:00.000-07:00

For those few who are unaware of this N Ram the editor of The Hindu was awarded Sri Lanka Ratna, the highest civilian award that can be conferred on a foreigner in Srilanka in Nov 2005. This was for "exceptionally outstanding and most distinguished service to Sri Lanka in particular and\or humanity in general".

N Ram has been a consistent supporter of the Srilankan government in its war against Tamil Tigers. This is unlike most of Tamilnadu which harbours a supportive attitude towards the Tamil Eelam struggle. Nothing wrong with that, each one is entitled to his view.

But what distinguishes N Ram is his use of editorial space to blatantly twist facts in favor of the Srilankan Government. Sample his editorial today

and behind its(LTTE) attempt to foment anti-Tamil ethnic violence in Trincomalee earlier this month

The fact is Tamils were killed in various attacks in Trincomalee. But N Ram feels that Tigers orchestrated the attack on their own men so that there will be violence.

President Mahinda Rajapakse cannot be blamed if his patience is now wearing a little thin. Following the latest provocation, he ordered air and naval strikes in North-East Sri Lanka. President Rajapakse evidently wanted to send a message that he will not remain a silent onlooker as a terrorist group tries to take out the country's army chief. Still, restraint is the Government's best weapon against the LTTE

Reading this you can imagine President Mahinda Rajapakse as a benevolent man, trying hard not to fight, but being forced by the LTTE to fight. But the fact is he was elected on the basis of his hardline stance against LTTE

In a war that has been going on for 30 years both sides would have committed serious mistakes. That is what is war is about, you go to fight against something which you perceive is wrong and end up doing the samething. But according to Mr. Ram there is only one side that is responsible for the mess. And that is LTTE.

Disclaimer: I don't support LTTE or anyother organisation. I am aware of the situation in Srilanka only from newsreports. Even this second hand information clearly shows that Mr. Ram is completely biased towards the Srilankan Government.

Update # 14 Tourist Ship Sinks in Bahrain

2006-04-03T05:44:00.000-07:00

The Prime Minister of Bahrain Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa today ordered stringent safety measures following the Thursday night ferry disaster. He called all ministries and relevant bodies to reinforce tough safety procedures and standards to protect lives and property.

But most important of all, he also pledged that legal action would be taken against all those proved to be responsible for the boat tragedy.

The Interior Minister Shaikh Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, also, reiterated the same point and vowed that all those responsible for the tragedy will be punished - even if they are government organisations.

But he was hesitant to point fingers at anyone at this early stage of the investigation but promised that the results will be announced as soon as possible, in the most transparent manner.

Shaikh Rashid, who chairs the government investigation committee into the tragedy, said that it has been divided into four sub-committees to look into the incident. The committee will look at the incident from technical, administrative, financial and legal angles.

Source: Gulf Daily News

Update # 13 Tourist Ship Sinks in Bahrain

2006-04-03T05:33:00.000-07:00

The Awali Interdenominational Church is holding a memorial service for victims of the Dhow tragedy, tonight, 8pm @ the Rugby Club in Saar.

Contact the Church Office for more details.
Tel: 17400426
Email: office@awalichurch.org

Update # 12 Tourist Ship Sinks in Bahrain

2006-04-02T05:28:00.000-07:00

This morning's Gulf Daily News had this big headline that screamed "Death Dhow Illegal". Once again, it raises questions as to how such a dhow could have been allowed to set sail in the first place.

You can read the original news item written by Mohammed Al A'Ali here.

Update # 11 Tourist Ship Sinks in Bahrain

2006-04-01T22:06:00.000-08:00

The following press release was posted by WS Atkins on their website. It confirms the tragic loss of 9 of its people following the boat disaster in Bahrain on Thursday night.

The nine comprise six members of staff and three relatives/friends, with a further relative/friend missing, presumed dead. A further three Atkins people survived the incident. At this stage, Atkins is able to confirm the details of eight of those who died:

Andrew Debrunner
Resident Engineer
Basanth Kumar
Senior Site Electrical Engineer
Carl Ottewell
Construction Supervisor
Jason James Brett
Assistant Project Manager
Lucinda Lamb
Wife of Jason Brett
Sameer Thorat
Resident Architect
Sandy Belch (Nee Seeger)
Wife of Scott Belch
Scott Belch
Assistant Resident Engineer

Keith Clarke, Atkins' CEO, is among senior members of staff who are in Bahrain to support the families and loved ones of those who died. He says: "The past 48 hours have been incredibly difficult for everybody within Atkins and we are still trying to come to terms with what has happened.

"The nature of our business means the victims of this tragedy have worked closely with and are known by many across the world. As a result, the number of messages of support and condolence received has been truly staggering and a real comfort to those most affected. We are doing all we can to ensure the bereaved receive as much support as possible and this will continue indefinitely."

A book of condolence will be placed at the site office in Bahrain, with further copies to be placed at Atkins' offices around the world. Atkins kindly asks members of the media to respect privacy of those affected by the disaster while they grieve.

Update # 10 Tourist Ships Sinks in Bahrain

2006-04-01T04:38:00.000-08:00

The following are the list of people who didn't survive the ferry disaster. These are the official names of the deceased, and there is every likelihood that the 'names' may not tally with the name you are familiar with. I noticed that my friend Samir was given another name. I made necessary corrections while updating this list but felt I had to inform you about this matter just in case you wonder why your loved ones name was not on the list.

It was compiled by Gulf Daily News and the original news item can be accessed here.

South African: Jimmy Allen, Allan Jeppe, Cathy Judd, Michael Parker Partize,

Pakistan: Ammanulah Ahmaddin, wife Farzina and daughter Hina, Furqan Ali Mehaban Ali,

British: David Evans, Christopher Langham, Carl Andrew Ottewel, William Patrick Nolan, Andrew Debrunner, Stephen Grady

Ireland: Derek James Cunningham,

British/ South African: Christopher Braysher, Lawrence Sulman, Lucinda Brayet, Philip Moody, Jason James Brett,

Singapore: Foong Szechen, LimSing Wee

Germany: Scott Belch

Philippines: Norman Belardo, Edwin Felipe Batacan and Quennie Aboboto Dunca

Thailand: Orathai Cunningham, Narumon Palawat,

A separate list compiled by New Kerala, an online newspaper, posted this statewise breakdown of Indians who perished in this disaster. The original news item can be accessed if you click here.

Kerala: Sikhil Babu, Abdul Latif Abdul Wahab, Santosh Chakra Puthenpurackal, Kuthyil Mohammad. Majeed, Arby Mathews, Basant Kumar and Siru Arby

Tamil Nadu: Saravanan Kumar Murugesan, Chellappan Thirugnam and Muthukumar Murugan

Andhra Pradesh: Nag Bhushan Pilla and Mrs. Nag Bhushan Pilla

Delhi: Alok Kumar Verma and Mrs. Kirit Verma

Bihar: Mohammad Hassnein

Goa: Clarence William and Maryan Vyland

Karnataka: Sayeed Farooq Syed Ahmed and Mrs. Rabiah Farooq

Maharashtra: Samir Suhas Thorat.

And finally, here is a list of all nationalities, and includes the number of those who survived as well as perished in the disaster. The list was compiled by the Gulf Daily News and the original news item can be accessed here.

Nationality/ Survivors /Dead

Indian 30 21
British 9 13
South Africa 8 5
Singapore 2 4
Philippines 5 5
Egypt 3
Bahraini 3
Poland 1
Bangladesh 1
Pakistan 1 4
Nepal 1
US 1
Sri Lanka 1
Thailand 1 2
Germany 1
Ireland 1
South Korea 1
Total 67 57

Update# 9: Tourist Ship Sinks in Bahrain

2006-04-01T02:18:00.000-08:00

A few minutes ago, Brian Bruce, the CEO of Murray & Roberts released the following statement on their company website while 3 more employees have been confirmed as dead:

Last night Murray & Roberts released the names of seven of its ten employees who lost their lives in Bahrain. The families of the deceased have, understandably, expressed their wishes not to be contacted directly and to be shown due respect in this time of grief.

The following Murray & Roberts employees who have been confirmed as
dead, were all residents in Bahrain:

Furqan Ali - Works Superintendent - Pakistan
Mohammed Hasnian - Project Engineer - India
Mohammed Majeed - Project Accountant -India

Read More....

If you require further details or have any information to provide, please get in touch with Brian on +27 (0)11 456 6281 or fax +27 (0)86 637 0113 or email clientservice@murrob.com

Update# 8: Tourist Ship Sinks in Bahrain

2006-04-01T01:57:00.000-08:00

Message from Robin Lamb, the British Ambassador to Bahrain:

The British Embassy extends
its deepest condolences to the families of those missing in the Dhow accident
off Muharraq Island on Thursday night. The Embassy is doing all that it can to
assist those affected by this tragedy.

Anyone wishing to provide details of those missing should
call the Embassy on +973 17574100, the Duty Officer
(during silent hours) on +973 39600274, or for emotional support +973 39069995 - helpline.

In addition to the support line being run for anyone wishing to talk about
their experiences, the followingorganisations may be useful in providing further
information and support around bereavement and loss:

Disaster Action – www.disasteraction.org.uk
Cruse – Bereavement Care – www.crusebereavementcare.org.uk
7th July Assistance Centre – 7julyassistance

Update # 7 Tourist Ship Sinks in Bahrain

2006-03-31T23:59:00.000-08:00

This is a list of survivors that I have received today. Will update more - as and when - I get hold of more information.

Filipinos who have survived:
Lilia Hermoso
Bayani Hermoso
Lanette Salgado
Segunda Siena
Hyacinth Dacay Perez
Abigail Silva
Pamela Belardo

Source:INQ7.net

Bahraini Survivors:
Khalil Mirza

Indian Survivors:
Jaikumar George

Source:ABC News

Singaporean Survivors:
Ng Khee Seong
Cindy Liau

Source:Channel News Asia

Update# 6: Tourist Ship Sinks in Bahrain

2006-03-31T15:58:00.000-08:00

I was blogging previously here, but I've decided to pool efforts at CSF II along with Ashish Gorde who's also in Bahrain and lost a friend in Thursday night's boat tragedy.

Following information on the body count was posted by Murray & Roberts Group Chief Executive Brian Bruce, he's the CEO of the company that is the lead contractor for Bahrain's WTC and whose employees had organized the boat party which has unfortunately been ruined by the tragic aftermath:

David Evans - Project Chairman (United Kingdom)
Will Nolan - Project Director (United Kingdom)
Stephen Grady - Finishes Manager (United Kingdom)
Chris Braysher - Commercial Manager (South Africa and United Kingdom)
Jimmy Allen - Design Coordinator (South Africa)
Lawrence Sulman - Project Engineer (South Africa)
Alan Jeppe - Engineering Surveyor (South Africa)
Cathy Judd - Partner (South Africa)

In a statement on the website Bruce has mentioned that the process of engagement with the families of the one Pakistani and two Indian employees is continuing. Murray & Roberts executives have today engaged with the families of the deceased employees from South Africa and United Kingdom and will work with them through this period of tragic loss. The survivors of the tragedy will also be supported as they come to terms with their own experiences and the loss of friends and colleagues.

Based on information to hand, 57 people are confirmed as dead. In all, more than 50 senior employees from various companies working on the World Trade Centre Project have been lost. Commenting on the tragedy, Brian said that they have initiated a process that will investigate the decision leading to the choice of event to celebrate the project milestone of structural completion.

For further information, you may reach Brian on +27 (0)11 456 6281 / fax +27 (0)86 637 0113 or email clientservice@murrob.com

Update# 5: Tourist Ship Sinks in Bahrain

2006-03-31T09:20:00.000-08:00

More hotline numbers are coming in for those who wish to find out more information on missing relatives and friends of the boat tragedy that happened last night here in Bahrain:

The Indian embassy has set up two telephone lines - 00973-39280216 (Counsellor H.R Mohi) and 00973-39745640 (Second secretary R. Ragunathan)

Those passengers who have been rescued are being taken to the Salamaniya Medical Complex - 00973-17-255555 - and the Bahrain Coast Guard can be reached on 00973-39413413 and 00973-17-718888.

Update# 4: Tourist Ship Sinks in Bahrain

2006-03-31T08:26:00.000-08:00

The following hotline information for tracing relatives and missing persons just came in:

British nationals – contact the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (London) on 020 7008 1500 and ask for the Crisis Unit. All other nationals should contact their respective Embassies in the UK.

Enquirers who cannot contact their Embassy directly due to political or personal reasons, can contact the Red Cross international tracing and message service on 0845 053 2004.

Some more pics from last night's rescue operations:

[[my appologies to all the folks who are pulling my rss and xml feed, the previous post had images of 1.4mb eachwhich explains why the feed or page loads very slow]]

Update# 3: Tourist Ship Sinks in Bahrain

2006-03-31T00:11:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics from today morning's relief and rescue operations conducted by the Bahriani Royal Navy and Airforce as well as the Coastguard and US Naval ER Crews, the pics have been captured off witness/amateur video footage and that's the reason they're not quite clear -- my appologies for that. Thanks to Colin at Dictionary.hm for providing the bandwidth and space to host these images:

Update #2: Tourist Ship Sinks in Bahrain

2006-03-30T20:58:00.000-08:00

Today morning, the Gulf Daily News (GDN) have filed detailed reports (design of boat in question, National Emergency Health coordination, search for relatives, majority of vicitms are asians) into last night's boat tragedy. Their report puts the death toll as 48 with 27 people injured and 63 alive. Reuters, however, have placed the death toll at 57 and 67 survivors according to an Al Jazeera report quoting an Interior Ministry spokesperson. Initial reports that had come out last night from sources on the scene had it that there were 150 people on board, the the GDN have the right figure as 130 people. SAR operations are ongoing by the Bahraini Royal Navy & Airforce, Coastguard patrols and the US Naval Support crews.

An AP Wire item states that Bahraini surivior - Khalil Mirza was teh passenger who alerted the Coastguard about the boat capsizing in a call to them from his cell phone. "People were scared in the water," he said. "They were fighting with each other and screaming."

(first person to be rescued after the boat cpasiized)

The boat had capsized in between the Mina Salman Port and Muharraq which explains why parts of the Sitra Bridge were cordoned off, yesterday. The boat had a capacity for 100 passengers, but there were around 130 on board. It has een said that, most of those who died drowned. The boating trip had been organised by Nass, Murray and Roberts to celebrate the completion of the concrete structure of the Bahrain World Trade Center (BWTC). Nass, Murray and Roberts are the lead contractors for the BWTC towers.

(Bahrain's Prime Minister at the scene of the accident monitoring a detailed investigation)

Nationality count has been reported by The Telegraph as 25 Britons, 20 Filipinos, 10 South Africans and 10 Egyptians while Bahrain's Health Minister Nada Haffadh in a statement to Al Jazeera has stated that 30 of the rescued were hospitalised including 17 Indians, four Britons, two South Africans, two Filipinos, and one each from Italy, China, Thailand and Bahrain. The British Embassy has confirmed that British nationals are among those missing.

(Injured survivors were taken to hospital, but bodies continued to be brought ashore)

News24 in South Africa has stated that while 7 South Africans have been found, six others are reported to have been among those who died although initial reports indicated that 13 South African were among the 150 passengers on board. This report filed by IOL in South Africa details the scenes of relatives and survivors breaking down the scene last night right after SAR ops had begun.

(At the Salmainya medical centre in the Bahraini capital, Manama, doctors tried to reassure survivors and worried relatives and friends)

Meanwhile the Department of Foreign Affairs in the Philippines have confirmed that of the 20 Filipinos that were aboard the vessel, 3 have been rescued.

This just in: the newsreader on 96.fm - radio bahrain has just announced that those who have been rescued now stands at 70 - 11.01 am.

1) A hot line has been set up by the Interior Ministry for people seeking information about their relatives, friends who were on board, If you're inside Bahrain, please dial 1-777-00000, if you're calling from overseas, please dial
1-777-00000

2) For Singaporean nationals, please call the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who have set up a hotline at their duty office in Singapore and are assisting those affected by the tragedy on 6379 8800 / 6379 8855 if you're calling from Singapore and if you're calling from overseas please dial 0065-6379-8800 / 0065-6379-8855 or email mfa_duty_officer@mfa.gov.sg.

UPDATE#1: Tourist Ship Sinks in Bahrain

2006-03-30T11:39:00.000-08:00

Some reports have the time the incident occured as 8pm while others have it at 9.30pm local time. Both have not been confirmed, also the location has been cited as close to Muhrarraq. Also there is a misleading report going around to news agencies that there have been 1,200 feared dead, this is not at all true, completely false, because there is a confirmed report that there were only 150 tourists aboard the ferry of which 60 have survived. This incident has now made it to Wiki News, you may find more details on it there.

SAR (Search And Rescue) spokersperson on site have confirmed in a statement to CNN Arabia's Correspondent - Caroline Faraj that the capacity on the ferry was 60-70 people at the max and 150 people meant the ferry was overbooked -- this has been cited as one of the reasons behind the disaster.

More details are said to follow in an hour. The vessel is a local daily shuttle. No names have been released yet.

Officials from the Interior Ministry are at the scene and have begun a full investigation into the ship's sinking, the area around Mina Salman is currently cordoned off, so I'd suggest anyone planning to go there not to do so, use alternative roads instead to go to whever you need to.

Majority of the tourists were westerners including locals. Rescue personnel have managed to get most of those who survived to the hospitals, some bodies were seen coming out of the water according to sources at the scene. Majority of the people are still missing, the death toll so far is 44. Focus is currently on search and recue, bare details are being provided to media agencies, not many confirmations of reports that MSM is flinging around.

[yahoo - pic credits]

This just came in that 63 people have been rescued, the Ministry of Health, US Naval Support crews and Bahraini Navy and Coast guard are all coordinating the relief efforts and SAR is ongoing. If you have access to CNN International or BBC World TV Channels, I'd suggest you to tune into them because they both are having live phone calls with reporters on the scene and the officials from the Ministry Of Health/Ministry Of Interior.

Tourist Ship Sinks in Bahrain [Blogging Live]

2006-03-30T10:51:00.000-08:00

At approximately 8pm local time here in Bahrain, a ferry sunk near Sitra. It was a boat carrying around 150 tourists - locals and expats alike. There are about 60 people who have said to have survived thought search and recue operations by the Bahraini coast guard and the US navy is continuing as I blog.

Here's the bbc report

I'm posting pics off the CNN broadcast and will have a link to a short interview with a correspondant from Dubai via a google video soon. I'll continue posting updates till we have something online from teh GDN tomorrow. Thanks to Bala for the heads up on this all the way from New Jersey. Apparenty every other news agency is posting an AP report whcih is making its way around the wires. Google Earth is being used by some of the news agencies to explore the waters of Bahrain and the location of the incident - here's the KML file that's being used.

cheers!

[NOTE: I'm not a member of main stream media, this is citizen media provided for informational purposes ONLY!]

Put the news back in the newspaper

2006-03-28T02:30:00.000-08:00

An opinion is what I ask. Take a stand. Take sides. Kill the neutral. Kill impartiality. Play one against the other. Kill your darlings. Kill mediocrity. Do anything, but for goodness sake, don't ever kill the newspaper!

You see, I grew up with newspapers by my side. I read them like I read my Archie comics. But I no longer like them. I no longer look forward to the act. It's a duty now. Not lust. And that began when you stopped putting news into the newspaper. In its stead, nubile starlets and hefty goons. From Pages 1 to 16. And more.

But we've all covered this territory before. And, dare I say it, we'll be covering it again. Again. Again, till somebody finally realises that no news, is in fact, bad news. And that's when newspapers will no more be Archie’s.

seppuku?

2006-03-02T10:07:00.000-08:00

Doesn't seem to be much enthusiasm for this blog. Time to shut it down?

Shout out for Hossein Derakhshan

2006-01-25T01:33:00.000-08:00

Iranian-Canadian blogger Hossein Derakhshan is visiting Israel as a citizen journalist and peace activist. For those who haven't heard about him, he paved the path for Iranian bloggers by first posting a How-To on Persian blogging using Blogger's free service. From then on Persian bloggers have literally taken off. He and his Iranian journalist and blogging friends have got into trouble with the authorities time and again for their anti-establishment stance. Last November he was also denied entry into USA because of his blog which was checked right at the USA-Canada border. I believe his blog is currently blocked in Iran.

A fine journalist not afraid to speak his mind and one who's clearly influential over the Iranian cultural landscape, Hossein says:

"As a citizen journalist, I'm going to show my 20,000 daily Iranian readers what Israel really looks like and how people live there. The Islamic Republic has long portrayed Israel as an evil state, with a consensual political agenda of killing every single man and woman who prays to Allah, including Iranians..."

"...As a peace activist, I'm going to show the Israelis that the vast majority of Iranians do not identify with Ahmadinejad’s rhetoric, despite what it looks like from the outside.

I'm going to tell them how any kind of violent action against Iran would only harm the young people who are gradually reforming the system and how the radicals would benefit from such situation.

During my visit, I'm going to blog in both English and Persian, take a lot of pictures and record numerous video and audio reports and make a few podcasts."

I've followed his blog for quite sometime and I'm eagerly looking forward to his output from Israel. If you feel the same, you too can make your own little contributions by Paypal or simply spread the word. [Link]

Stoned...

2006-01-07T21:27:00.000-08:00

A front page article in the Daily News in Sri Lanka recently carried this headline, broken at the exact same point in the sentence:

Policemen on drugs
raid stoned

So here's the real story, at least what I figured out from reading the bloody article with the headline: A bunch of cops went into a slum area to bust some people for heroine possession. The people in the slum got mad at the cops and threw stones at them.

But let's see what else this headline could mean. The possibilities are endless.

1. A bunch of policemen who were on a drug-raid had been smoking a joint.
2. A bunch of policemen on drugs raided some people smoking a joint.

and my favourite...

3. A bunch of policemen on drugs went on a raid while smoking a joint.

Brilliant bit of headlining I thought. Would make anyone read the article :)

Blogsmsmblogsmsmblogsmsm...forget it

2005-12-30T02:39:00.000-08:00

Don't newspapers have blogs? It seems like the easiest thing to have. It seems like something people will enjoy having. It seems like something newspapers that have an online focus ought to have. And that explains why newspapers do not have their own blogs; well, at least, most newspapers. Will the Indian newspapers ever become powerful online entities? Newspapers abroad are losing audiences offline and finding more audiences online. Will the Indian media go the same way? A lot of intelligent people don't think so. These intelligent people believe the Indian newspaper audiences are not destined to go the way newspaper audiences in the West have. Or are they? If not, why? The way we see it blogs are going to become the next newspapers. In which case, what's the big difference between the two? Even more so, considering what blogs seem to aspire for is pretty much the same thing any media aspires for: more eyeballs. Confusing and muddle-headed, eh? For sure. Kinda like the media scene, we think.

The Importance of Numbers

2005-12-26T10:40:00.000-08:00

The power of the media lies in its reach; it's a power derived from the belief that if a large number of people know about an issue, someone's conscience (or shame) will force its way through the rubble of accountability and lead to action. Repeated questioning and efforts by the media to keep an issue alive are important tools to this end. But while we know conscience and shame don't always find a way through (politics is a convenient example), numbers are everything.

Of course, if you don't have the numbers and are a small, little-known website, or if your GRP's are declining, then you need to do something drastic that forces the other (often bigger) players to take notice and jump on to the bandwagon while you take the credit, albeit deservedly. But, but, but - numbers are everything.

My first reaction to this post by H.R. Venkatesh on the IBN Blogs was to feel sorry for Sepoy Shukla, not as much because of what was done to him, but of what Venkatesh did/didn't do. The sepoy's story:

Shukla, frustrated at not being alloted living quarters, had dared to question his superiors, who were allegedly sub-letting their own quarters to civilians to make that extra buck. For his troubles, Shukla was beaten up and charge-sheeted. He was also given temporary transfer orders to Jammu & Kashmir.

Shukla said he wasn't even allowed to complain to his superiors' superiors and had been ordered not to leave the company HQ.

The sepoy wanted the story to be aired on TV, but unfortunately CNN-IBN was not on air yet. It seems that he mistook Venkatesh's suggestion to seek an Aaj Tak/NDTV reporter as being brushed off. Eventually, Ventakesh took the sepoy's sound bite and with the sepoy's best interests in mind, informed the army spokesperson. Venkatesh ends the post by saying:

Shukla may have received justice. But just as easily, he may have lost his job. If only we'd been on air then...

I'm going to be a cynic and say that I think the sepoy may have lost his job, since what his superiors were allegedly doing was illegal. The spokesperson might not have taken the news seriously because at that time, the story wasn't backed up by numbers, which denied his conscience the necessary fillip; Sepoy Shukla probably suffered even more.

*

While on CNN-IBN - I love the idea of reporters blogging on the CNN-IBN site. For long, there has been a cold war between the MSM and the Indian Bloggers, and this is a step in the right direction. Truly - if you can't beat them, join them. Better still, make them join you. It almost seems as if an MSM rule is being broken here by bridging this gap, but this is a positive and healthy move, and seems pathbreaking. Also, I sincerely hope the idea doesn't die out, because the story behind the story often doesn't get told, and blogs give issues a sense of permanence that 24x7 TV can't provide. TV, however, has its advantages because (Indian) blogs still lack numbers.

Crossposted at Mixed Bag

Isn't all media marketing?

2005-12-24T21:27:00.000-08:00

If media is a means to disseminate a particular point of view, all media is marketing. Right? Yes. In which case, what makes some media 'good marketing' and others 'bad'? Or is the problem with MSM not the fact that it is, like other media, a marketing channel more than much else but the fact that...umm, I'm not sure. We militate against MSM because it is a marketing channel or because it is a 'bad marketing' channel? Weird question, eh? Stupid question, eh? Non-question, eh? Feel free to ignore it. We're just trying to understand what the problem with MSM exactly is. Thank you for indulging us.

Is MSM just a marketing channel?

2005-12-24T03:06:00.000-08:00

After all, if nobody writes or talks about the things they write and talk about will the people still care and buy into what they write and talk about? Example: A sports channel. And that's wht makes bloggers better -- nobody pays them to do what they do. The question is would this change if and when bloggers start getting paid for what they do? Would a blogger who gets paid for what he/she does become a spokesman for the people who are paying him/her? In which case, is it just about the money? Agreed, agreed that there are tons of gaps in what we are postulating. Still, is there a grain of thinking in what we are trying to get at but failing miserably? Hmm.

Geographically Challenged

2005-12-23T22:42:00.000-08:00

The Business Standard ran a story today about Country Club India Ltd buying some property in Sri Lanka. It says:

"Country Club India Ltd (CCIL) has acquired a seafront property in Kandy,
Sri Lanka's most popular tourist destination."

Please note that this property was bought in Kandy and that it was seafront property.

Here's a map of Sri Lanka:

Can everyone spot Kandy? Does anyone realise why it's a little tough to have seafront property in Kandy? I don't know anything about this deal, but I would guess that it's in Galle, which you can see is on the Southern coast. (even if it's not in Galle the seafront property bought by CCIL is most probably on the South coast)

My question is who messed up? Did the reporter Rajendra Palande substitute Galle with Kandy when he was writing his report? Or did CCIL actually mess up on the press release they sent out? Or does CCIL Chairman Rajeev Reddy have no clue?

Let's look at another line from the same report:

[CCIL Chairman] Reddy said Kandy and Colombo are accessible by air from Chennai and Bangalore in an hour and from Mumbai in a couple of hours, making it an attractive destination for Indian tourists at reasonable cost.

Sri Lanka has one international airport and that is situated one hour out of Colombo. Kandy does not have an international airport. All the people who fly into the country have to come to Colombo first and then figure out transport to Kandy, unless of course your travel agents have made plans to have directly transported to Kandy, which is still a 3 hours(upto 5 if there's traffic) journey.

So who's Geographically Challenged?

WeddingCutter

2005-12-23T21:57:00.000-08:00

Is this for real?

Apprently, yes. If you are familiar with this software forgive me for not knowing of it's existence. It's been around for about a year and it's supposed to quite a hit. The 'Pro' is supposed to be an improvement on an earlier version (Version 5) that I had not heard of at all.

Pinnacle Wedding Pro "from Pinnacle Systems India is the latest version of Pinnacle's video editing solution for wedding video professionals." says CIOL.com.

Raju in Jodhpur, the only Indian I've worked with who also covers weddings (We rented his suite for 2 days for some editing) used Edius, a Canopus thing. Good for video, but shit when it comes to working on the audio. I guess it's a budget editor. Smaller editors do the job when it comes to editing something as basic as a wedding. And the average wedding video does not require any serious color corrections or multi format exports or anything so it's a pretty much problem free edit. When the better editors like Avid and Premier and FCP are all too damn expensive (unless you approve of piracy), smaller cutters work.

So, I can understand people who spend their lives covering wedding getting used a cheaper, more user friendly editor like Edius or any one of the million other little video editors that are out there. The work they do most certainly does not justify the use of something a little high-end like an Avid or a Premier or FCP. But why on earth would someone go through the trouble of making a seperate wedding editor software? That is what I find hard to understand. Does Pinnacle believe there is a market for this? And are they right?

It's about 60,000 INR a pop. You can buy a working (pirated) copy of Primier Pro 1.5 anywhere in India for about 50 INR. You get Acrobat, Photoshop, Aftereffects and Encore thrown in for free. And I don't know how to say this without sounding judgemental and holier-than-thou, but the average wedding cameraman can't really be too concerned about protecting intellectual property.

But what do you get for 60,000 INR? What would make something like this attractive to the small time wedding filmmaker? The only thing I can think of is the breakout box and the USB compatibility Pinnacle throws in. The hardware comes with the software. So you don't need to buy a fancy video card (which costs a helluva lot), and the interface is supposed to be uniform, from capture to DVD authoring. You don't have to switch from this to that for different tasks. And the fancy titling, P-in-P, and the effects are all a part of the same package so it's a lot easier for someone to do all that bling on a wedding video.

If you read this article on Channel Times you'll find out exactly how much demand there is for an editor like this. Just read the comments left below the article.

But really, it's still wierd. I know it's perfectly normal for something like this to evolve when the market for it is clearly there, but it's still wierd. NewsCutter and other editors designed for specific useage is understandable, but a wedding editor?

Oh my god there's a Chinese version too (it looks Chinese to me). Help!

And Digital Juice makes one as well!

Crossposted on timecode.

The Doggies

2005-12-23T12:25:00.000-08:00

Norman Solomon writing in FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) (also in Outlook) , announces the 2005 P.U.-litzer Prizes.

They include:
“FIRST DO SOME HARM” AWARD -- Radio reporter Michael Linder
SELF-PRAISE STEALTH PRIZE -- William Kristol and Charles Krauthammer
PUT THEM IN CHAINS AWARD -- Bill O’Reilly
MICKEY MOUSE JOURNALISM PRIZE -- Correspondent Mike Barz and ABC
OUTSOURCED TO THE PENTAGON AWARD -- New York Times reporter Judith Miller
ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MAN PRIZE -- Bob Woodward
PRIME SLIME NEWS AWARD -- Nancy Grace and CNN Headline News
(Read the article for the citations. And here are the previous years' winners: 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004)

Now, fellow canines and readers, your nominees, please, for the first Doggies awards, brought to you by your very own CSF-II. What media acts, media organisations and media persons would you say deserve to have our mascot (over there, on the right) slipped off her chain?

Your nominees, please!

The comments section is open. Nominations close on the 31st December.

And please use this Technorati Tag if you're posting about this: MediaDoggies

And now, the Express

2005-11-26T01:18:00.000-08:00

Are you still wondering why MSM-bashing is a favourite pastime of the blogosphere? They deserve it every bit.

In remembrance of Manju Nathan

2005-11-21T21:11:00.000-08:00

I think educated Indians need to know about this. I shall write more about this later. For now, I stand in respect for a someone who apparently died for his ideals.

Gaurav's post on Manju.

The Indian Express report

Blogs on timesofindai.com's frontpage?!

2005-11-20T03:08:00.000-08:00

Yup, check it out! I wonder if they're paid blog writers, just
promoting Indiatimes' blogging service? Or is there a larger agenda of
co-optiong the blogosphere?

Law unto the land?

2005-11-19T09:54:00.000-08:00

Fine, you elect a guy. He seems to be a decent, intelligent hardworking guy who has the best interests of the people at hand. His very integrity seems a nice bargain for all the crazy ideas.

But what if he pushes on to make a law which to all intelligent standards sounds so absolutely dumb that no-one dares to oppose it?

I wrote this way back in June, after reading this in the newspaper did in my morning absolution, despite my not smoking, and not having a spot of film ever.

from ONE MAN

Somehow the power of a single man dawns on me not after I see exemplary achievements by strong willed individuals who change the world, but when I see complete buffoonery of one man's dumb mind changing everything sane about the world. And the rest of the world made to suffer through it.

"Smoking scenes will be banned in films and television serials to be shown from Oct 2, the government said on Wednesday. An understanding to this effect was reached after a hour and a half meeting between information and broadcasting minister S. Jaipal Reddy and health minister A. Ramadoss."

So now in the special cases it is allowed, theatre owners shall be obligated(with the threat of a 2 year imprisonment) to show warning slides when such scenes are being shown. In case of old TV serials, broadcasters will be required to put out scrolls(during the objectionable scenes) to warn of consequences of smoking.

Like the dumb fucker who decided that playing the national anthem in theatres would fuel patriotism. Why don't people screw their asses? Is it only me who feels that attacks upon one's aesthete(sensibilities) is much more than attacks on material ones?

On a different though related thought, I am rather fond of a fictious anecdote between God and a person who was very perturbed with the state of the world. The person was questioning. He says, "Lord you are all powerful. You MADE all this. You KNOW how this is all wrong. Why don't you do anything about it? Don't you see people suffering? Why don't you do something?"

The Lord answered, "I did do something! I sent you"

Arghh, can't believe i actually wrote that!

Now, i hear(read?) in yesterday's newspaper of a proposal to fix up minority reservations in IITs and IIMs. Nehru would be turning in his grave. In his adjoining speech to the parliament with the first reservation bill, Nehru mentioned that the coming generations of all classes who have been provided reservation quotas shall feel their pride crumpling and hence shall get off all shackles of reservation themselves. Within 50 years, india shall be a equal state in all aspects.

I shall not waste my time in deliberating on the virtues and sins of so and so. Yesterday's editorial in The Economic Times did an excellent bit about talking that reservations were meant to benefit the generation next, and all this would enable doing is to favor the current minority elite, while poor muslim kids still attend grossly inefficient madarssas. Putting reservations for the elite in merit based institutions, while the poor still do not get any benefit is unfair(he used a more effective word) politics. I just wanted to cuss it out.

Just what does one do when he disagrees with a politician? My school civics teacher used to say, "Wait for the next election". Presuming that one gets the government out of the way in the next election. So what? Laws, once made have a way of sticking on. It is many many many many times more difficult to repeal or abolish a law than make it.

All ye virgins, make merry NOW. They are going to make a law to abolish premarital sex soon.

Will MSM take corporates head-on?

2005-11-19T08:19:00.000-08:00

It's official now: The Indian media does not like attacking corporates. And you thought that Aye Aye Pee Yum was an isolated case where a corporate could buy its way through ads and advertorials and the Slimy paper's stake-buying strategies?

I am referring to a conference of Delhi editors where they have unanimously declared that the media is not aggressive enough, especially with corporates.

I think it's not just advertising. It's also that the media hasn't yet fully realised what a post-socialist India amounts to: it amounts to an economy where the resources have been shifting from the public to the private sector. So it must imply that the private sector also needs a watchdog - one beyond the daily commentary of the business press. If the media is the fourth estate in a democracy, it should consciously rise to a similar responsibility in a free-market economy.

There's no reason to believe that it will not. Sooner or later sting journalists and the like will move their attention to the vast greay are of corporate social irresponsibility and start exposing unethical business practices, thus making for a freer, fairer 'free market'.

Naxalwatch Blog

2005-11-16T03:19:00.000-08:00

While searching technorati for news about naxalites, came across this blog naxalwatch.blogspot.com. Seems pretty comprehensive.

TV Talk

2005-11-14T23:18:00.000-08:00

So I've become very good at plugging my channel, which has been in the "launching in a few weeks" stage for the last seven months. So I've become really great at PR these days. A question I face the most, second only to "When the F are ya guys launching?", is "How effing different can ya guys be?"And that's when my true brilliance shines forth.

That's when I talk about C*** and their intra-day stock market movement based content.

That's when I talk about N*** and their eminence in the general news space because they were the first to get sexy graphics and a sexy anchor. (Another matter altogether, that the sexy anchor now needs a face lift desperately.)

That's when I snigger about HT's superb look and their superb looking anchors currently. And drool about them. But laugh at them, otherwise.

That's when I wonder why SS hasn't gone off the air as yet.

Ok, so a large part of the PR speech is about being bitchy. But, like a blogger friend pointed out, that's life in the media bizz world.

So what's the plug for my channel-in-the-ever-launching-stage? That it's a cross between C***, with its boring stock discussions, and N***, with its old-sexy-anchors-who-need-a-face-lift.

Now who can resist that combination, eh?

;-)

... appeared first in Timecode

TOI's "Sting Operation" on the Delhi Bloggers' Meet

2005-11-10T10:24:00.000-08:00

A TOI journalist goes undercover to the Delhi Bloggers' Meet and blows the whistle on the smallness and ineffectualness of the Desi Blogosphere.

Unfortunately, looks like he is going to end up with some egg on his face.

CSF's blog feed mobilized

2005-11-09T14:04:00.000-08:00

Now that we have CSF (II) back online again, I've gone ahead and converted the atom blog feed into a readable format that can be accessed by cell phones and other mobile devices (thanks to PhoneFeeds). This way, those who either super busy and get no time to site in front of a computer or are mostly on the go can always read the latest blog feeds at CSF by keying in the following url into your cell phone or mobile device and start browsing through all the recent blog postings: http://pfeeds.com/a96

Something that blog administrators of aggregator services might want to do is, mobilize or phonelize their rss/atom blog feeds, whereby, one could stay up to date on the latest in blogosphere via their cell phone or mobile device through just one mobile rss/atom feed that already would be aggregating many blogs (according to location/taste). I've done this already for BahrainBlogs (Blogs from/about Bahrain) & Kottu (Blogs from/about Sri Lanka).

Some techical notes: the above mobile feed for CSF currently supports the following:
- WML
- HDML
- i-mode
- MML
- Wap 2.0
- AvantGo, PalmOS
- Pendragon, Windows CE
- ReqWireless, Windows CE

Keep it Blogged!

Let's CUT the Faff, did I hear you say?

2005-11-08T11:37:00.000-08:00

Let's talk about the games mediapeopl e play. With each other, no less. We share a love-hate relationship with each other. when it's time for a drink, there's no better place than the Press Club and its discounted liquor, and when it's time for a screw, it's a no-holds barred contest.

The funny thing is, it's so no-holds barred, you feel like laughing.

Cut to Scene One: Busy press conference, where Mr BigWig is hurrying away, followed by a swarm of cameras and reporters. It is an unwritten rule among TV journalists that in such circumstances, when the BigWig is giving bytes, all the cameras will face him from the front, and the person asking the question will also be there - in front. That's when Mr Extraordinaire from N*** comes from the left and asks his dumb question, and BigWig turns thereon! Everyone else curses and mutters, because then they realise that the N*** cameraperson had slunk away to the left earlier, in a preplanned move, and is the only one getting frontal pictures of BigWig yapping, while the rest have a shitty profile.

Cut to Scene Two: A big cement company has just declared its results in a fancy press-con, and bytes are being taken all around. Finally, it is our turn. Now, I'm not really in this beat, but since I was in the neighbourhood, decided to tag along. My colleauge sits with Porky Lech, the MD of the company, who never takes his eyes off her boobs while answering her questions about operating profit margins. After he goes, she gets Beanstalk, the CFO of the company, to talk to her. Meanwhile, high-flying Diva Bitch from C*** walks over to Porky Lech, takes his hands in hers, clasps them tight, presses them against her heaving bosom, and says raucously that C*** and Big Cement Company share such excellent ties, that next quarter they must get exclusive info prior to the normal media release. As if this weren't bad enough, Diva Bitch's l'amour provokes Porky Lech into raucous laughter of his own, whereupon he starts guffawing like a pig in a barn full of fodder - HAWHAWHAW! You can imagine what happened to the soundbyte my colleague was taking.

I swear: I saw that damn sly vixen Diva Bitch actually steal a smirk in our direction.

Copycat

2005-11-07T09:24:00.000-08:00

First came to know of this here.

Indiatimes reporter copies, verbatim, a paragraph from a blogger without giving any credit.

Now it can be argued that the blogger copied from Indiatimes. However, the article in Indiatimes appeared after the day the blog was posted. So unless both of them copied from a common source (and we have no reason to think that)..........QED.

The "noise" that is the blogosphere [ according to Sucheta Dalal ] is proving to be of some use to the MSM after all.

2005-11-07T01:08:00.000-08:00

They are back, snarling..
Mutts and musts.
Hope it hurts like it did,
when they howled, the last time
here is to you bitches
grrrrrrrrr...welcome back.

Long live the king

2005-11-06T06:37:00.000-08:00

While it is about first posts and starting anew, let me start with personal introductions. When I climbed onto the bandwagon at Desi Media Bitch, it was just starting up, and i had some vociferous comments to make about the generalities of certain articles. I was really really pleased with just how sportingly they were abused and fought for. I was a B school student, and already quite getting disillusioned with the blog space. Most public blogging spaces had the 'I suck yours-you suck mine' air about them. I was grumbling all over about those "tea-party" spaces, as most of the active bloggers know everyone around, and the air of geniality.
DesiMediaBitch was not that. I loved it for the debates it generated, the savage fights, of how every time I would discuss it outside, in the offline world, there were opinions every time.

Someone who then didn't even read the newspaper(no time), and had no experience or leanings into the main stream media, and yet had opinions, and loved looking at perspectives. DesiMediaBitch gave me all this and more. If I should say, it had the air of the Bombay slums, with the camaraderie fought for, and respected.(This last perspective picked up from "Shantaram" by Gregory David Roberts).

I am working in Sales now. A back breaking job with rarely much time to assemble and connect points in your head. And then comment in my blog. You do not realize the importance of easy internet access until you are denied that. I still can only provide perspectives from the other side. But I am glad to be here.

We might not change the world, but at least we want to. And desperately at that.

The king is dead. Long live the king.

To the left, to the right, MSM's alight!

2005-11-05T09:19:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

Funny how CSF went off the blogosphere for some time.. and then what d'ya know i get a blogger invite today! :D Sweet! Anyways, I'm currently covering the disaster relief efforts of the Pakistan/India earthquake at QuakeHelp blog, involved with the live yet remote blogging of the ongoing Chineese Blogger Conference 2005 in Shanghai (we got done with Day 1, tomorrow's day 2 see the blog for more info) via the CBC2005-Live blog and to top it all am still having a hearty laugh over the whole IIPM fiasco!

Aurevoir Mes Amis!

Warchalking anyone?

2005-11-05T07:58:00.000-08:00

So there I was, about to go to sleep, when a blogger invite lands in my Inbox. Hmm.. CSF2? Sounds like fun. I sort of missed all the noise really. So who's aboard, and how have things been with everyone?

Right now I'm working on popularising Wardriving and Warchalking in Sri Lanka. Anybody had any luck with this in other parts of the subcontinent? We did a few preliminary runs this weekend and found a lot more WLANs than we initially expected. More research (and perhaps some stats) will follow.

woof

2005-11-02T20:54:00.000-08:00

The bitch is back.