Friday, February 20, 2009

Carelessness of magazines

Of late I have observed great carelessness in newpapers, magazines, and other publications who seem to get away with almost anything that they print. I think people are too busy with their own lives to take note of errors, and have them rectified. And the magazines exploit this tendency. They feel that nothing they print will be questioned.
Recently I came across a photofeature in a prominent English magazine published from Delhi. It gave a totally wrong caption to one of the photographs, which showed Sardar Vallabhai Patel in serious converstion with one of the Indian princes during the integration of the Indian States. The prince was wrongly mentioned as being the Maharaja of Patiala, when in fact it was actually Maharaja Jagatjit Singh, the Francophile ruler of Kapurthala. I immediately sent them a letter, pointing out the mistake.
To the magazine's credit, I must add that they acknowledged the error and had my letter published in a subsequent issue. That was indeed very good of them and I appreciate their gesture.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Noise Pollution

The levels of noise pollution in our small town of Kottayam have to be heard to be believed! There is a temple near my house which begins blaring out supposedly 'holy' music and songs at the unearthly hour of 5.15 am. And of course, during the festive seasons (which in India seems to be almost all the time), there is hardly any respite. Loud music, bhajans and chants are perennial. The nearby church is slightly better, in the sense that there is no daily noise. Fortunately for us, there is no mosque close by.

If only the pujaris, priests and moulavis would realize that God is not deaf! How wonderful it would be for us citizens. But who is to bell the cat? Who will dare to tell the priestly classes that what they are inflicting upon the hapless public is nothing but torture?