On 71st Independence Day, while passing through Lucknow station, picked three Hindi magazines- India Today, Outlook, Aha! Zindgi. Read two newspapers- Dainik Jagaran and Hindustan. Hindi society and Hindi print world has changed dramatically, indeed. The liberal mindset is no longer dominant. All kind of community ties -religious, social- are obvious in newspapers. Ramnagar area of Uttarakhand gave me the impression that the community links are most important in marketing space. The overwhelming impression one gets while roaming on roads is that the people are living and thinking very differently from the way we tend to believe they are. Survival is the key issue for most of the people. But even the people who are bit secured the life is all about living with comforts. Interestingly, the entertainment of 'low levels' and religious festivities have not lost any appeal. All seemed dying to live with comforts and power. The issues which dominated the contributions of our writers -Ashis Nandy, Irfan Habib, Khilnani, Sashi Tharoor and many more -have talked in terms of values, ideals of the liberal world... India Today seemed to focus on the corporate world view with which people's dream world has a connection. Somehow, a conversation between two youths- one from Ramgarh area and the other from Bihar -which I over heard last night, while taking dinner seemed missing in our print, is not getting out of mind. The two youths, struggling for getting a sustainable salary, were eating and sharing things which gave me the impression that we are still living in the dark world about which Dostovyesky and others have written -a world where there is no real hope. It was so depressing that I could not eat properly. The conversation ended with a coaxing by UP lad. He was telling his friend that he is still not learning properly. The other lad was visibly shaken. He was not saying anything...
With the realities of our country the ideals (Aadarsh) do not seem to survive unless we make necessary adjustments. Thinking of Premchand's 'Aadarshounmukh Yatharthavad' ( ideal driven realism)...
With the realities of our country the ideals (Aadarsh) do not seem to survive unless we make necessary adjustments. Thinking of Premchand's 'Aadarshounmukh Yatharthavad' ( ideal driven realism)...