The "Prince", the Pit and the Media...

It's late evening, you reach home tired after a hard day's work and switch on the TV to rejuvenate yourself... but to your utter surprise you notice TV channels beaming the news of a small little kid fallen into a 60 feet deep well… and there seems to be no respite in sight... you empathize with the kid and move on praying for his early evacuation... time passes by... u again switch on the TV to find out if the kid has been rescued... but are dismayed to find out that it's not only you who is bothered... but infact the whole nation seems to have gone hysterical over the plight of the kid...

This was simple episode which actually played out with me... except that I was not the one to fall into the well and I was not the one who was frantically praying and keeping fasts for the kid’s evacuation... I just played the part of harried office returnee who gets to see no other news or pictures except of a small little kid in the midst of public attention and having all possible luxuries (of course those that could be made available in that small pit)... I have nothing against the kid and I actually pity the boys the condition... but I do not approve of the way the whole episode was handled by the news channels...

One news channel has sponsored his education, another has given him Rs 5 lakhs, the government has offered Rs 2 lakh and free medical check up, all this because he fell into 60 feet deep pit??? Well… I am willing to fall into a 120 feet pit and that too for over 100 hours... will someone sponsor my MBA fees...??? I am not trying to undermine the media's effort in highlighting the boy's ordeal, but do they need go overboard for this??? If the media and the Government are indeed so bothered about child welfare why do they have to wait for a Prince to fall into a pit.... there are lot of poor children in desperate need of help... why don't highlight their plight... getting hysterical over one child isn't good enough... and the same would go for the public in general... praying, keeping fasts and performing rituals just for the sake of safe passage of one kid would not earn them any brownie points... there are thousands of Prince who are dying a silent death each day... wake up and work for them as well... they deserve as much attention and time as Prince.... Chief Ministers to Prime Minister had been praying for his safe exodus... Prince and his mother are being called by various news channels for a one to one interview... well if this is the kind VIP treatment which is being meted to kids falling into gorges, pits and wells... then I am sure there must be scores of parents and kids willing to fall into them... if you could just ensure 2 simple square meals a day... nothing much...

And media must come forward and the blame for loosing focus and vying for TRP’s instead… Infact this is not the first time that the media has gone overboard in reporting events... in past there have been many incidents for which the media had been at the receiving end... Rahul Mahajan and Mika - Rakhi Sawant episodes are not the ones to be forgotten with ease...