THE MEDIA
Is anything wrong with the media, the Fourth Estate and the people’s watchdog on the misdeeds of the state? Has the media wandered far away from its basic objective and become more a political tool, a profit driven big business, an expression of the megalomania of the pretentiously self-righteous journalists? Has news become a commodity? Lots of questions need to be answered. Why is the media not interested in discussing openly the role it is expected to play and its present deviations? Are the journalists always above board and deserve the moral high ground they have appropriated for themselves? Has the media entrenched itself as the mouthpiece of particular class interests? Is the media so sacrosanct that it can tear into any reputation but in itself it is above public scrutiny, ridicule and censure? How to deal with journalists who are dishonest and corrupt? How to expose the media misdeeds? Who will expose them? Aren't the journalists alway fighting shy of criticizing their fellow journalists?
Well, people have there own views about the media, but here are four poems of mine that present an image of the media shared by many. You may or may not like this image. But, here are the poems for you to read and comment on.
1. THE WOODWIND ORCHESTRA
Just as a dog returns to its vomit
I turn again and again
To listen to the woodwind orchestra
Every Sunday morning
It’s a seven member ensemble
The pick of players
Engaged by the capital’s select newspaper bands
To reach out to their Sunday listeners
With their tunes on ‘the state of the nation’
The orchestra can play across seven octaves
From the sinking bass
To the screeching treble
From a funeral adagio
To the machinegun staccato
The symphony the ensemble plays
Is one of pure discord
A concert of squirty notes
Always tuned to assault
The ears like washroom music
I wonder
What’s wrong with the players!
A bowel disorder
Flatulence
Dyspepsia
Stomach flu
Dysentery
Diarrhea
Retching
Sickness
Sexual dysfunction
That brings out
An uninterrupted flow of gases
That fills the air with sewage stench
But perhaps
Their stomachs are stirred up
By their sense of duty
As members of the Fourth Estate,
And they can’t help
Opening their Pandora’s box
To cleanse the air
Of all the stink
The rulers constantly let off
It is wisely said:
‘Diamond cuts diamond.’
And consequently,
‘Stink drives out stink,’
Is the motto of this seven member ensemble.
That’s why I turn
Again and again
To this woodwind orchestra
Every Sunday
Like the dog that returns to its vomit
---
Hey, what’s this?
What’s the problem?
Why are you kicking up
This cloud of dust?
Raising another smoke screen?
Another exposure
Another scandal
Murky deals
Money laundering
Match fixing
Tax evasions
Sleaze
Late night orgies
Money! Money! Money! Money!
And all that money can get!
Hold on
You news mongers
You dealers in branded truths
Waving the flags
Of transparency
Of probity
Of uprightness
Of accountability
Of public service
Of national honour
Hold on
Who’re you?
The voice of the people?
High minded whistle blowers?
Washers of dirty linen?
Drain inspectors?
Sniffer dogs?
Compulsive voyeurs?
But the people are 'loving it’
From top to bottom
From end to end
Here’s everything they enjoy
Cricketing gladiators
Hired from four corners
Complete in their battle gear
Engaged in deadly combats
Hurling their missiles
Flourishing their truncheons
The cannon balls
Tearing along the ground
Sailing through the air
Crashing through the legs
Bollywood Shahan Shahs
And Malikas
Blowing kisses
Waving their arms
Revealing their smooth armpits
Scattering their smiles all around
Breaking millions of hearts
The cheer girls
Rocking their bodies
Their chest swells
Flinging their bare arms and legs
Extending the limits of frenzy
And the stadium crowds
Cheering, dancing, screaming
Haa-ing and hoo-ing
Partying to the accompaniment
Of pipes, bugles, drums…
Waving flags, placards, messaging
Now ecstatic, now dejected
The corpo-opulent giants
Surrounded by the glitterati
Backing up their boys
And, add to this the jokers
The string pullers, the game changers
The betters, baiters, abettors
The backseat drivers
There’s everything in it
And everyone neck deep
In this carnival of desires
You self-righteous bums
Rooting for carcasses
Like vultures
Tearing apart bodies
Splattering limbs
Baring entrails
Hollowing up eye sockets
Spreading the stink…
Stop this charade
Take off your squeaky clean mask
Of purity and sainthood
Of purity and sainthood
Of chastity and coyness
Leave it to the saffron-clad babas
We know
You too are in it
Behind the smoke screen
Let the show go on
Without full stops
Leave it to the gods above
To judge
---
( This poem was written soon after the IPL scandal broke out.)
3. THE WASHING MACHINES
We all agreed
We needed a washing machine
To wash our dirty linen
And lo we are now blessed not with one
But a whole array that’s always on
Sixty into sixty
Twenty-four into seven
All the three sixty-five days of the year
Busy ceaselessly
In the act of cleansing
After all we have so much of dirt to wash
After all we have no sense of cleanliness
And keep on piling heap upon heap
Of dirty, stinking, blotchy linen and undergarments
The heavenly Ganga working for millennia
Having failed to clean up the muck
And in turn having sullied itself beyond redemption
Its task is now taken over by these machines
That promise to clean up every black spot
Like the magical skin lotions, dish-washers and toilet cleaners
And restore the pristine shine and the day-of-creation purity
They are a great blessing, these machines,
Without them we won’t ever know
We have so much washing to do
Without them we won’t ever know
The cupboards that should be ripped open
Without them we won’t ever see
The bed linen that has been sullied
Without them we won’t ever inhale
The stink rising from the soiled unders
Without them we won’t ever know
How squeaky clean we need to be
Without them we won’t ever know
That cleanliness is next to godliness
Their passion for laundering
Is so intense so overpowering
They never miss any blot or yellow spot
Not even a speck of dust
And they never stop
Being ablutomaniacs, these wondrous machines
Will, rest assured, never stop
Until the end of the world
So they go on and on and on
Sixty into sixty
Twenty-four into seven
All the three sixty-five days of the year
---
4. THE VULTURES
Floating space rovers
On a 24-hour prowl
Wings spread out
Scanning the earth below
Eyes zoomed in and focused on
A scene of disaster
A swift sleek descent
A perfect landing
Then a shuffling scramble
For the victim,
Snapping and snipping
With hooked beaks…
The carcass denuded
Of all substance
Its wholeness defiled
In quick bites
Revealing
A messy nakedness –
A head with empty eye-sockets,
A torso ripped open,
Bones
Limbs
Intestines
Hooves
All apart
A rapacious obscenity
Committed in full view
On TV screens,
Lapped up by millions of hungry eyes:
A tribute
To the scavenging virtuosity
Of the Fourth Estate.
---
(In western Rajasthan, which is so frequently drought-stricken, the people, when they see journalists descending upon them to paint their misery, cry out: The vultures have come.)
xxx
Your poems do convey your justifiable indignation against the bulk of ongoing Media, both electronic and print. The anger covers comprehensively almost all the media features and the underlying vulgar commercialisation.
ReplyDeleteBut I will prefer a reasoned critique, rather an aggressive condemnation, an understatement rather an overstatement. There is a media which is wedded to democratic strengthening of institutions, though as always, it is in minority, but still a sterling minority.
You have left out the nexus of which the media is now a powerful part. Identifying the other actors in this unholy nexus would make our understanding more rational, factual and functional than merely emotional. Perhaps the poet in you is too impatient. I do not know.
Yogesh
Puri sahib, Thanks for yr comments.They are well taken. There is always an underlying recognition that there are many good people everywhere, for otherwise life wont be worth living.The problem with the media is it does not always recognize this and goes all out for all. Please recognize that satriic poetry, as in this case, is always one sided and if it were not it would lose its edge and sharpness.If it does not hurt it is of no use. But it does not attack individuals, so why should anyone who is good object to it.A rational and balanced critique of anything is not poetry. In that case one might as well write a dissertation on the subject concerned.That is the domain of the political scientist or the philosopher, not the poet. My poems are directed against the media's attempt to appropriate all the moral space for itself and place itself on a pedestal and pretend to be purest of the pure. I dont know how u react I find discussions on corruption in the media today nauseating, particularly when it is now revealed that everyone is in it for their own reasons, and the whole lot of commentators joining in by pretending that they are above it all. Poetry often is a recognition that we are all floating in the same muck, including the poet.The poet in me is not impatient but disgusted at the pretensions of the journalists and many of us who think that there is or was somewhere a world without corruption,and they will end the present rot in a jiffy. I dont know how far u are convinced by the remedies suggested by all and sundry on the TV.I'm not. But who does not aspire for a purer world, a golden age? TCG
ReplyDeleteI do not agree with you that poetry has nothing to do with rational critique.Poets are philosophers, thinkers and social critics. My only submission was to avoid condemnation. The poems expressing very serious concerns are like torrential rain of words, words, words... without a clear conceptual framework. Corruption is not merely a moral issue, but also a class issue and the latter does not reflect in your poems. Attacking journalists/media in isolation is autonomising media which is in fact a part of the emerging powerful global capitalist system. This understanding, I believe is missing.
ReplyDeleteBut I agree with the spirit behind the poems.
Yogesh
Puri sahib,I would still maintain that a rational critique of any thing is not poetry. I am simply distinguishing between two genres of writing, between poetry and a treatise, a 'balanced and rational critique' of something.I am demarcating a line between two types of writing. Denunciation, is a very acceptable mode of literary writing called satire, and satire must hit hard and hurt where people and institutions go overboard, but within the bounds of literary parameters.But perhaps you are taking the denunciation too critically and missing the humour in my poems, which is the essence of any satiric writing.Ridicule, denunciation combined with humour make up the essence of satiric writing. A dissertation will mostly be humourless.
ReplyDeleteYes I agree that corruption is a moral and class issue but it is much more than that and in a more fundamental sense.Corruption resides in the very heart and soul of man. All religions say this but perhaps the Christian idea of the Original Sin(that began with the fall of Adam and Eve from God's Grace and Paradise) portrays this view of man most effectively-that man is born in sin and lives in sin and salvation depends on God's Grace and not in any effort man might put in to cleans himself.I do not subscribe to this view but this is just to state that my view of corruption is not without a conceptual framework.And I dare say that it is also founded in the findings of modern biology. A mere class view of corruption looks somewhat shallow to me, because that gives many of us an easy way out by saying "I'm not involved". This is my objection to the grandstanding by the media, and I'm just having a dig at them to suggest that they are also in it. TCG
Focusing on political economy of corruption or assuming a class perspective, is not, by any standard, a shallow exercise, though we may not get full answers by adopting this approach and that is the reason the other factors in the cultural, human psychology and religious/spiritual domains,including the biblical adage of original sin(you do not subscribe to this, though) also remain relevant.
ReplyDeleteThere is not much use in denouncing the media without denouncing the system in which it operates. The media lends ideological credibility to the powerful post-globalisation socio-economic-political system. This denunciation, I believe is not adequately reflected in your poems which, however, I do consider represent a masterly satire laced with biting sarcasm and pithy humour.
Thanks for clarifying and u may be right, but I dont believe understanding corruption through this perspective will ever end corruption. In fact I feel there will never be an end to corruption for it continues to reappear in many disguises. I wont quarrel with your assessment of my poems as inadequate from your stated point of view.All I can say is that the very title of one of my poems, 'IPL:The Carnival of Desires' addresses the issue raised by you. The whole poem that follows questions the "powerful post-globalisation socio-economic political system' as u put it.In fact the poem arises out of my disconnect with this system and the media is neck deep in this carnival, in fact in so many ways the sustaining force for the carnival to go on and on.. Perhaps u expect a more explicit statement. Poetry often does that but I dont want my poems to be that explicit, even if there is the risk being misunderstood.And I dont , cant, quarrel with a reader who finds a poem of mine inadequate in some way, and he may be right too. So no problems! TCG
ReplyDeleteGhai Sahib,
ReplyDeleteI did not say your poems are inadequate. I tried to draw your attention to the hold of the ruling classes/elites on our media. The real but dismal picture of the media which your poems excellently drew, I think, is largely due to its proximity to the corporates and in some cases its being substantially funded and controlled by the business and this is not adequately reflected in your poems which otherwise, I found immensely enjoyable and as a perfect example of a thought-provoking satire.
Yogesh
I think the line of the dog returning to its vomit is rather disturbing imagery.. at least to me.... much worse than vultures tearing apart flesh...but yes.. in the vultures poem the idea that millions watch the ripping apart of everything does say something about the kind of people we are...not very different from the media itself, after all the media comes from the same stock...
ReplyDeleteand curiously, the title of the poem "The Carnival of Desires" reminds of the fantastic painting by Bosch "The Garden of Earthly Delights"... here..take a look...
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Garden_of_Earthly_Delights
Rohit, Thanks for this interesting connection.I did see this painting at the museo del prado in Madrid and can recollect.The painting is indeed great.
ReplyDeleteFor Puri sahib, It is for the reader to read whatever meaning he can read in a poem. Very often the reader provides whatever is "missing" in a poem. So I am quite happy.
Rohit, I believe your interpretation of the line 'lapped up by the millions of hungry eyes' is very offensive and smacks of elitist arrogance. Can you describe the desirable way of watching the media coverage of draught or any other calamity showing the sufferings and travails of the affected people. By roping in 'people' you are bailing out the rulers and its agency- the media which has been so effectively satirised in these poems.
ReplyDeleteHello Puri Uncle,
ReplyDeleteplease see what the people in calamity themselves think of the reporters (giddh). But media coverage of draught/calamity/human suffering/travails are not the only things that I think about when I read this piece because thankfully we do not have calamities 24 hours a day. What also comes to mind is the manner in which the reporters report events (ad nauseum), because thats their job right? In my opinion they fervently report anything (calamity or not) with equal zeal...which for me removes the human element from their report. If grass and mangoes tasted the same why wait for the fruiting season ? As for the viewers, ( again not talking only about calamity ) are lapping up whatever the 24-hour media is dishing out... they clearly seem to like it...as put nicely in the poem...
Lapped up by millions of hungry eyes...to rephrase marx... television is the opium of the masses...
I agree with your critique of media reporting which is characterised by a pathetic absence of 'human element'. It is mechanical and more often bereft of any pulsating socially relevant ideological analyses and concerns. But your comment rephrasing Marx that television is the opium of... is more true of the middle classes, rather than masses. The former with the active participation of the capitalist-controlled media and co-opted and capitalist-funded non-state organisations is the real creator and sustainer of the depoliticised consumerist values and the masses are the victim.
ReplyDelete