A reality exercise

submitted by the author to TGF on June 19, 2003

When the going bears you down, step aside, detach, take a break to smell the flowers or, as I often do, let your hair down. Which I did in amchi Mumbai recently on a 15 day indulge-pamper-work-hard-party-harder schedule, partly thanks to friends who made sure I had a busier than normal lunch-dinner-party diary.

This time round, I discovered a city with much bite. There is great sanity in madness, after all. The Mumbai-Pune expressway rocked, the city itself wore a new look with her gardens and fly-overs, a no-place-for-wallflowers attitude, a youthful, confident zing to its young people, and an opportunity to stand apart from the herd, if you believed in your talent. In the buzz of the fast lane, I also discovered heart in the people who cared for their city’s less fortunate, and a young tribe of professionals who knew their minds and their craft and went out and got the brownies for themselves.

Back in Goa, I rushed to face the arclights for a French TV crew who just wrapped up a documentary on Goa for Channel 5; learnt that the infamous rape story almost shook the earth under Parrikar’s feet; while re-confirming my previous stand that the Press in Goa is highly insensitive and parochial when dealing with issues that require a high degree of responsibility and accountability to the audience they are relating to. The average reader profile in Goa (hopefully) does not spell D-U-M-B. Sensationalism is bad taste. Yellow journalism, worse. Surely, our newspapers can rise above hard sell (with news editors who know the difference between good headings and below the belt teasers), personal prejudice and focus on issues that are of concern to the common citizen. We, as journalists, are all here to help make life better, right? To seek justice. Not make normal life impossible by violating the code of privacy of those who find themselves victimised by circumstances, because newspapers must sell their stories. The question the media should ask itself is: Where do we draw the line between ethics and hard sell? And how much is too much? I’m fiercely protective about the right to privacy (mine included), maintaining a balance between how much one should reveal about the person one writes about. I’m all too familiar with how vulnerable people get in the midst of an interview, often telling more than is required. It is then the journalist’s prerogative to decide the tone of his or her article without tampering or sensationalising the content or the context by keeping the copy focused, forthright and forward thinking. Rape or SARS, we’re dealing with people’s lives. They have to live with the consequences of our action for the rest of their lives, while we move on to the next headline. I admit I’ve been accused of being overly sensitive, but sensitive issues require sensitive handling. If it has to rain on someone’s parade, let it rain consistently.

Another issue that has rattled me, and which the Press clearly ignored, is Goa failing to come tops as the country’s hot spot destination to host the prestigious Lakme India Fashion Week (to be hosted next month in Mumbai). A high profile event that gets the world’s largest buyers, fashion gurus and the beauty industry scurrying to the venue in search of the next big fashion inspiration. Honchos from international departmental stores, media personalities, fashion writers, talent spotters, designer careers are launched or broken here under one roof – in other words, an event that gets the attention of the world!

While a few fashion aficionados moaned the loss of a great opportunity to put Goa firmly on the international fashion map – we’ve been doing more than our share to get the spotlight going – it hardly made a difference to those who don’t understand haute from ho-hum. Yes, the Press included. So, why did Goa miss the bus? Simply because we’ve been focusing on the sand, sun, sex paradigm for far too long without strengthening other facets that can get us the moolah or the mileage where it matters. We’re a State that can’t handle anything that is big in dimension because the infrastructures are limited in its scope. And the India Fashion Week is surely one such big event, requiring a hard core sense of professionalism that needs to be backed with the right logistics. Goa falls flat on her face in this department.

And so it will, if the Cannes Film Festival committee ever decides to shift venue to sunny Goa. I find the mere idea absurd and I don’t mean to sound pessimistic. Seriously, let’s get real. Why fob off an excuse to have a holiday, at the taxpayers cost, with grandiose claims. It’s simply not feasible. Right from our airport, to the transport system to the State’s collective infrastructural facilities, Goa does not have the cutting edge finesse. We’re still struggling to have our two baths a day, and complete our washing and cooking as normally as possible, remember? Truth is a bitter pill, so let’s swallow it.

What we can do, is get the government to capitalise on what Goa has to offer in realistic terms, strengthen what we already have and build a force of visionaries who can make inroads into territories that can give the State a new respectability. For example, my new French friends from Channel 5 knew more about Kerala than my sunny State, and I don’t blame them. We’re busy thinking sensational headings. We’re not turning over a new forest, we’re not changing our attitudes, we’re not making way for new ideas to take long term root. We’re busy making paper monsters and pumping the ego of new kids on the block riding the wave (some piggy-backing happily) without the hard work. Ok, so our gardens look great, but the backyards are still dirty. If a beauty routine does not include periodical checks with a beauty specialist, the wrinkles are bound to show. Like they do now. Let’s take our cue from here.




Ethel da Costa
June 19, 2003
 

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