Something must be wrong,the NDTV anchor said,I have never seen the two of you (Mani Shankar Aiyar and,as NDTV described him,a senior journalist sympathetic to the BJP) agree so much. Something was wrong. Not what the anchor said. And not whats usually wrong with news TV chats. Our talk TV is mostly a prime time reminder of our primordial selves you hear noise,fervent pleas and extravagant denunciations,you sense that everyone involved has a blind belief that theres a higher being,even though he or she frequently cant set things right (the anchor).
That wasnt the case here at all. The NDTV anchor,Aiyar and the journalist with BJP sympathies (lets shorten that to BJPJ) were in,how do I put this,we-are-in-the-living-room-having-a-nice-natter mode. You could almost smell the single malt (you can substitute this with a fine beverage of your choice). Now,theres nothing wrong with that. A nice,even tempered chat on prime time can do a power of good to news TV. I would rather watch news TV and entertain the illusion that I can smell single malt than think,as I usually have to,man,they must have all had spiked masala chai.
The lemonade in the single malt was this: NDTV never quite asked whether elegantly articulated non-arguments,from Aiyar and the BJPJ,are of any real value as a response to the undoubtedly sloppy execution of an ongoing public project. The anchor asked the right question of Aiyar: granted all the things that are wrong with CWG preparation,isnt expressing happiness at the prospect of failure a bit over the top? Aiyar said thats up to the anchor,who is the commentator,to decide.
Nope. Thats for Aiyar to explain. Ask him again,gently and nicely,quote a great poet if you have to,but ask him was he OTT or not? NDTV didnt. The BJPJ said he wouldnt be happy if the games were botched,but that his problem was that Delhi is dug up in so many places and that CWG is one of those events that has alienated the local population. Having set out that premise,the BJPJ concluded that he had nothing but fulsome praise for what Aiyar had said. NDTV seemed fairly content with that,too.
But one moment,gentlemen. As we understood the BJPJ,he doesnt want the games botched but how lovely it would have been if all the construction had been executed better,and the locals were oh-so-excited. Fair enough. But if you say that,should you say Aiyar was fundamentally wrong or should you say Aiyar made a cracking good substantive point? Wheres the logic if you choose the second alternative,as the BJPJ did?
Lets laugh at Kalmadi,but lets not just laugh,even if,as Aiyar said,he (Aiyar) has wit and the BJPJ has a sense of humour. Wit and a sense of humour are in short supply on news TV. But so are solid arguments. The presence of the first cant hide the absence of the second. Not even if you can quote Eliot,or appreciate Eliot being quoted.
The BJPJ also said his problem was the spending on CWG is a waste of scarce resources. Oh! So he then agrees with Aiyar,does he? Or was he saying that it is the fact that Delhi hasnt been rendered prettier that marks out the spending as wasteful? What was he saying? What was Aiyar saying when he said as sports minister he had tried to create a different organizational structure for CWG construction that it wasnt the games per se that he had a problem with? Why did NDTV not find any of this odd?
Even if you dont have wit,a sense of humour and you think Eliot is a name of housing project in Noida,you can figure out CWG prep work is in a shambles. That was more or less the only real point that emerged from the NDTV chat.
Hes a man of god,Aiyar said of the BJPJ,and added,so am I. If hes anti-national,said the BJPJ of Aiyar,we are all anti-nationals now. Witty,witty. But I wasnt looking for god or the true meaning of nationalism that evening when I watched the NDTV chat. I was looking for a little logic. And I was looking for NDTV to step in when that was in short supply.
Thankfully,as is always the case,theres single malt to dilute your disappointment.
saubhik.chakrabarti@expressindia.com
