Blasts in Bombay and a few things I learnt today
Kudos to the people who could not have done better. For example, the traffic policemen who made sure that the traffic kept on moving. I learnt that efficiency and empathy can be balanced well by police as well. I also learnt that:
- Commercial spirit is alive and well. The newspapers and tabloids will come tomorrow. Thus, it's time to rant about TV. Close ups of the dead bodies, which should be captured and pasted all over Rajdeep Sardesai's house were not the only distasteful sight on TV. Advertisements for houses (Flats at Bhiwadi, Lucknow etc. from Mtech developers, thank you, on IndiaTV), underwear (Dollarclub Innerwear on Aajtak) and education institutes (Coaching classes on Zee News) proved that whatever happens in this world, the commercial spirit will not flag.
- Where there's a WiLL (wireless in local loop), there's no way you will get through. Reliance network proved impossible to penetrate. While Hutch and Airtel gave adequate challenges in getting through to people, difficult to get into but always possible in the end, it seemed like a couple of bomb blasts happened in the heart of the Reliance CDMA network. Wonder what Sehwag ki Maa would have said about this?
- It is okay to talk in a movie hall in certain circumstances. People can crane their necks and perk up their ears for breaking news, forgetting the action on screen. If the movie is ordinary*, this becomes even easier. However, next time, some of you should think twice before asking for the score. That word is not on. No, not even on Reliance CDMA.
- People will search for angles on days of disaster. Suddenly, my sitemeter shot up because people were searching for "Bombay vs Delhi". I still don't know why.
5 Comments:
DK2 - thanks for the exceptional work at Mumbai Help. Great effort. Thanks.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006 11:16:00 PM
For Mumbai vs. Delhi, I have only one thing to say. I wish people would travel more like me :) and claim 'musafir hun yaaro.' At such a time Mumbai vs. Delhi sounds very very shallow, even in your post as a reaction. And a lot of people landing on it could be a quirk of google search? if not I do not know what to say.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006 11:19:00 PM
BA, thanks to you too.
Mridula, Travel is a nice place to be in. As far as the dig at shallowness is concerned, perhaps it is a google quirk.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006 1:37:00 AM
I don't know about the commercial spirit bit. The fact that advertisements were still running doesn't prove that the commercial spirit doesn't flag, necessarily, it suggest simply that organisational routines continue to run through a crisis unless someone has the intelligence, foresight or delegation to correct them. It's not like Dollarclub Innerwear said - let's advertise today because more people will be watching given the blasts. It probably simply didn't occur to anyone at Aajtak that perhaps airing these ads might not be appropriate.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006 6:57:00 AM
Falstaff, what you say is quite possibly true. I was not saying that people tried to get extra mileage. But actually that TV channels didn't bother removing ads (they would have lost money in the process).
Wednesday, July 12, 2006 8:45:00 AM
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