“The world
has changed!” Lulu, my parrot, said with a heavy sigh.
“That’s a
very interesting observation” I replied. “What really has changed?”
“Well, when
you were young, Bollywood movies showed poor committing crimes. And the justification
given by the poor man - and I must tell you that the script writers in
Bollywood could never think of anything other than this one – ‘papi pet ke liye
kya kuch nahi karna padta’ [I am forced to do many disagreeable things to keep
myself alive].”
“And what
has changed? Have the script writers found a better line?”
“No Sir!”
Lulu, my parrot responded emphatically. “The character of the thief has
changed! Ha ha!! Now the thieves are no longer poor people; they are wealthy
business leaders like Rajat Gupta, or political leaders like…. No, no. I am not
taking anybody’s name.”
“It is
okay. Everybody knows who has made money. But you have made a very interesting
observation – the modern day thieves are prosperous people before they indulge in corruption and not after they do it! Ha, ha!! The
modern day thieves do not live below poverty line! Where have the good old poor
thieves gone?” I wondered.
“They have
not gone anywhere; their crime does not make juicy stories on TV channels.”
“It must be
an interesting job to report crime on TV.” I thought aloud.
“Sure. Unless
you are on Zee News TV.” Lulu reminded me of the Jindal - Zee News scandal.
“Oh, Jindal
has caught them by the collar and Zee News is looking for cover. What will
happen if a News Channel staffer is convicted and sent to jail? Will they show
greater responsibility and discretion in their news reporting?” I asked.
“Oh, come
on! The TV staffer will make right connections in jail. He will then be an
invaluable asset to his channel. The real world of crime and criminals is not known to common men, not to the Press too. It is known only to police and to the jail birds.” Lulu laughed as
he circled over my head flying low before settling there.
Vivek