It's been there for quite some time now. This entire vote for Taj Mahal movement. I have had ambivalent views on this entire saga.Increasingly, many of us have been exercising arm chair voting on various topical issues. Be it the NDTV initiated voting on the Jessica Lal trial or now this Taj Mahal(Top 10 wonders of the world) vote.
1. As an Indian, maybe I should feel proud about it. Somehow, I don't. I would rather not scribble messages on ASI protected monuments. Or litter on bandstand/ Juhu Chaupati, than indulge in littering but still sms to a short code for some global rating of ancient monuments...
2. Conspiracy theory - Maybe all voting patterns are initiated by mobile phone service providers:-)After all they are the biggest beneficiaries!!
3. Why does most voting happen for dead glamorous models and/or beautiful monuments. It rarely happens for road rage and drunken driving victims and poor farmers committing suicides!!
4. I feel more and more we are part of a larger matrix where bigger issues, real problems are sidelined by the topical TRP-hugging ones. Be it Prince, Buddhia, Shilpa Shetty, Chappell imbroglio...
5. More than a year ago, I had picked up a book on 'manipulation by media' by Noam Chomsky. It was quite a heavy read and I never got around to reading it much. Must dig into it for insights and answers now...
6. Well coming back to the 'Vote for Taj' ad. It actually worked. With all the ambivalence and cynicism in my head, I felt like finally voting for it:-)
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2 comments:
wrote something related here:
http://tangled-up-in-views.blogspot.com/2007/06/2-meaningless-headlines.html
Manish, you've hit the nail on the head. Who gains? Who owns this private body that wants to put India on the map, for something that India is already on the map for?
Apart from elephants, I mean.
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