As usual, I tuned into Times Now and CNN before going to bed a couple of nights ago. Times Now Breaking News was of the appointments of new chiefs for RAW, IB as well as armed forces. I didn't wait to find out if the tenure of the previous chiefs was coming to an end. It could very well be so but I am not able to get rid of the unsettling feeling that all this is in preparation for the war with Pakistan that many believe the present Indian government plans to wage during the last year of its power. After all, the reason why Dr. Raghuram Rajan wasn't asked to continue as RBI governor became crystal clear when Dr. Urjit Patel was seen mostly in the background during the whole demonetization exercise. Of course, I would be happy to be proven wrong because God knows war never did any good for anyone. Guess there is nothing more to be done but to wait and watch. :-(
The footage on CNN was even more unsettling. It seemed to be some hospital in Syria.....probably in Aleppo. A Muslim woman, her face covered in blood and dust, was repeatedly talking about someone being gone. A kid, maybe 13-15 years old, was carrying a bundle in his arms while doing his best to console the woman. I was afraid there was a baby in that bundle and prayed fervently that it wasn't dead or injured. The kid kept saying that the God will avenge Assad for what he has done to them. There were two more children covered in dust, their faces devoid of any emotion, who had got separated from their mother. They blankly tagged along with a woman who was searching for their mother. I knew I didn't want to watch but I couldn't move. And a tiny part of my brain was protesting that there was something inherently wrong about broadcasting people's suffering for the entire world to see. We want to celebrate happiness with others but most of us prefer to grieve alone. And most would resent if that grief became Breaking News. And yet I couldn't help but feel that that kid's comment about God punishing Assad was calculatedly made for the benefit of the cameras. I hated myself the moment that thought crossed their mind. But there it was - no getting away from it.
That's when the tiny letters in the top left of the screen caught my eye. It said something to the effect that the footage might be disturbing. With the sordid state that the world has been in for several years now, I wonder if people even know what being disturbed feels like anymore :-(
The footage on CNN was even more unsettling. It seemed to be some hospital in Syria.....probably in Aleppo. A Muslim woman, her face covered in blood and dust, was repeatedly talking about someone being gone. A kid, maybe 13-15 years old, was carrying a bundle in his arms while doing his best to console the woman. I was afraid there was a baby in that bundle and prayed fervently that it wasn't dead or injured. The kid kept saying that the God will avenge Assad for what he has done to them. There were two more children covered in dust, their faces devoid of any emotion, who had got separated from their mother. They blankly tagged along with a woman who was searching for their mother. I knew I didn't want to watch but I couldn't move. And a tiny part of my brain was protesting that there was something inherently wrong about broadcasting people's suffering for the entire world to see. We want to celebrate happiness with others but most of us prefer to grieve alone. And most would resent if that grief became Breaking News. And yet I couldn't help but feel that that kid's comment about God punishing Assad was calculatedly made for the benefit of the cameras. I hated myself the moment that thought crossed their mind. But there it was - no getting away from it.
That's when the tiny letters in the top left of the screen caught my eye. It said something to the effect that the footage might be disturbing. With the sordid state that the world has been in for several years now, I wonder if people even know what being disturbed feels like anymore :-(
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