Few minutes to fame

Some give ...give away without announcing just like the air does. Others make it a point to make public every pie they give. Thats why so many name plates in marble in temple premises showcasing the names of major donors to the temple management. No celebrity donates a golden throne to the Tirupati Balaji temple without attracting TV camera. It has two connotations: One, the donor does a work in public interest. But by giving names it appears it is in ' personal interest'. Two, it prompts others to give which serves both public as well as personal interests. This is a part of the evolution of man as a publicity-seeking creature, a creature who does not mind indulging in plagiarism, copyright violation etc to garner popularity, a creature who does his best to ensure a byline for every piece of work. Of late, television camera has become a potential tool in feeding/addressing that publicity hunger. And during my experience as a small-time reporter I could feel it.

The invitation letter on that day was good…..the idea of the organizers ( as was mentioned in the invitation) was even better. A local pooja committee in Bhubaneswar old town area had organized 'only youth' Rathyatra. The invitation suggested the idea was to create awareness on Jagannath culture among the youth who otherwise are moving away from the roots. My senior colleagues prompted me to make a beautiful story. I was only seven days old in reporting by that time. And to my shock, when we went to the spot we saw the teenagers enacting the Dahuka tradition of Puri ( a group of servitors scold Lord Jagannath using slangs if His chariot stops midway during Rathyatra and this practice has been criticized over the years by intellectuals). It was a purely local Rathyatra. The youths were speaking aloud in vulgar language in the presence of neighborhood children, girls and women. In the name of installing cultural ethos among the youngsters, the pooja committee was doing just the opposite. When I as a sensitive being queried about it, the priest explained in clear terms that the Car Festival was more for publicity than for anything called 'culture'. We took the bite of the priest and left. But before that we had to witness an ugly scene as the poor priest was intimidated by the local councilor for he could achieve the feat of getting shown on TV whereas the more influential councilor could not.

This craze for appearing on screen was more pronounced in post-flood Orissa IN 2008. We received frequent calls for the coverage of relief operation by small and big organizations, no matter whether their 'benevolence' was of any help to the needy people. One day a lady called and told ''Madam, is it ETV? We are at Potala village near Teishpur....we have come here to distribute relief since ten this morning....but the operation is yet to get a start as we are not finding a single TV camera. Can your people come within an hour?'' She was speaking without a pause. My answer was in negative. We in the desk used to reply, ''See, thousands of villages in Orissa are inundated. And ETV has only ten reporting teams in Bhubaneswar. So its not possible to get pictures from every village though we are trying our best to show the plight of people at large.'' We had to receive verbal wrath at times. All this because all those relief operations could not be recorded on TV camera. Our politicians had their share in appealing the television crew during the days of devastation. The leaders who keep mum or turn away by simply saying 'no comments' left no stone unturned in making the video cassettes available in media offices, the cassettes which showed them distributing relief packets and meeting the flood victims though for only five minutes.

Not only these politicians, majority of the human beings want to find a place in various 'halls of fame'. And TV camera has become a shortcut to the fame. I saw it in a gathering of 50-60 children participating in the 'Krishna attire' competition on the Janmashtami day at the ISKCON temple. Noteworthy was the attitude of their mothers. For me, they were no less than the warriors of the Mahabharata, one fielded against the other to take home the winning trophy. There was a chaotic situation. Those city-bred, highly educated ladies were trying to outdo one another in persuading the TV reporter in taking the bites of their respective kids. We had to disappoint them as it was neither possible nor necessary to take the bites of 60 children.

Here I am using the 'Hall of fame' as a perception and unfortunately for many the on-screen persona only fulfills the criterion. Thats why a senior lady gynecologist of the Capital Hospital refused to give a bite for our Health Watch program on breastfeeding because she did not have her head bath and was wearing a very dull saree. Similarly people are so much concerned about the 'publicity' part that the very essence of the program takes the backseat. For example, an 11year child painter from a very rich family was exhibiting his paintings at the Soochna Bhawan in Bhubaneswar. Soon after the chief guest and renowned sand artist Sudarshan Pattnaik inaugurated the exhibition, the child's parents started the mega celebration. It was more of a corporate party. We struggled for hours to get the visuals of people taking a glance of the paintings as everybody was busy gossiping and taking the snacks. As a result, masterstroke of a child painter lost its charm though his parents could meet their corporate needs. On our part we missed the required visuals.

The drifting apart from the 'essence' has its reflection during bandhs and roadblocks. The roadblock continues till TV camera arrives. During the nationwide strikes over the Amarnath land row, the VHP and Bajrang Dal activists continued the road blockade at different places of Bhubaneswar until ETV team reached the spot. After we left there was no sign of protest. Interestingly many are ready to pose before the camera hours after the real roadblock making it a matter of symbolism.

And finally a little boy barely three years old surprised one and all with a similar symbolism. He came with a lion-shaped piggy box to donate it to the chief minister's relief fund. But before going to the Chief Minister the tiny tot was guided by his grandpa to the ETV office in Bhubaneswar. Before the babe could speak anything, his grandpa started narrating how the boy was moved by the plight of the flood victims , thats why he was keen to donate his savings for the neediest. (Three days prior to this, another child had hogged limelight by donating his piggy box to the CM's relief fund) Praiseworthy though, the incident reflected a subtle longing in the boy (read the grandfather) to get fame by giving few hundred rupees.

These incidents are enough to convince that television crews here and there must be experiencing similar situation every now and then. When it comes to the idea of loyalty, the publicity-hungry mass don't mind shifting loyalty. So if not ETV, then call a rival channel to quench the thirst. How to react to this? Be happy ? Because the taste of fame propels many people to act good Samaritans? Or I should be disappointed as they simply 'act and stage manage' without putting their heart in what they do?

There is money, there is the desire to help.....

But the stream of goodwill dries up if the TV crew don't turn up.....

This tryst with 'few minutes to publicity' puts me in hours and hours of dilemma.

Kalyani Sanghamitra is a freelancer.