Be a Loser??

I read today's editorial page of TOI and came across the Be a Loser article in the Devil's Advocate column by A Srinivas and i must say i was shocked to say the least. He starts with Australia's crushing 5-0 ashes victory over England and goes on to ask, doesn't Ricky Ponting and Co get tired of winning?? According to him winning at all times is dehumanising. The real victors in sport or life need to taste defeat at some point or the other to be decent folks. He even goes ahead to state articulately that there is exquisite delight in defeat and misery even if it concealed in the loneliness of success.

What a load of bull i say. Especially coming from a newspaper that's been tom tomming about India Poised for 2 weeks now. Is this how Indians will take over the world.By being exquisitely relishing defeat in all areas of life? Does he think we will produce the next World Champions or World Business Leader by accepting defeat as the right thing. This world only remembers winners and not the also rans.

Everyone knows Charles Lindenberg crossed the Atlantic first,can anyone tell me who crossed it second? I think the author is confusing aiming to be the best at everything you do with letting success get into your head.These are two different things.Anyone who lets his /her success get to their heads will fall down hard and fast in today's world. But one who keeps his head inspite of his successes is the real champion.

Does defeat make me less arrogant and help to to love and to be more tolerable? Does defeat make you more mature,human and able to enjoy life's little happinesses more than someone who have tasted victory?Should he be ashamed of his victories? Should he be ashamed of having done something better than anyone else is able to do consistently over a period of time? Should Ricky Ponting be ashamed that his team beats the crap out of every team in the world?

The answer is obvious but I must say we have really hardcore Indian cricket team fans out there who would find such an article inspiring. Go on Indians who are poised,taste defeat and become a forgiving saint. I personally would like India to savour victory.

Firangi Tehelka Sting on Indian BPOs

We all have seen the Tehelka sting operations on the various Bollywood actors,politicians and Lt generals...Now we have firangis coming in with their sting operations to bring India's most successful business over the past decade,the BPO business, to shame.
UK's Channel 4 reporter Sue Tarton( Not the "Sue kar" from RDB fame)conducted a sting operations on a few Indian BPOs and she was provided with info on the credit details of thousands of individuals,proving that the Indian BPO scene was not all that rosy-rosy as it seems from the outside.
Anyways new headaches for one of India's shining stars and NASSCOM caught with its pants down.

Statutory Warning – Reading TOI can be injurious to your Brain!!!!

The Times of India or the Old Lady of Boribunder as the sobriquet goes is one of the oldest newspapers in India and the largest selling English broadsheet in the world. But over the past decade this erstwhile newspaper of reasonably good quality has degenerated into a 3^rd class rotten tabloid format newspaper.

All serious news and content is trivialized by giving it a Page 3 look and feel. With headlines which talk abt the popular NRI names to Britney to wed Mr someone or the other being given more importance than a blast in Kashmir its no wonder that this downhill movement in the quality of this broadsheet is gathering more and more momentum.TOI has become more and more of a glam mag than a newspaper. If u ever needed to get the latest dough on Amisha Patel and Priety Zinta or Boris Becker’s girlfriend then TOI is a must read for you.Messrs Jain and co , please get out of the impression that everyone of ur readers is into the habit of reading only whets the latest lipstick color in vogue or where the Bollywood princesses had their hair cut.

Do u know whats the worst thing of all this is? People are actually getting addicted to reading this crap. The huge increase in sales for TOI just goes to prove my point. Are we going so brain dead that we are not able to differentiate between quality news coverage which is the responsibility of any newspaper and the despicable pieces the TOI hands down to us.

Im sure all of u remember the NASA exam topping student of India whom the President congratulated on TOI. The journalist didn’t even have the sense to check with NASA first if the there was any such exam in the first place. I must congratulate that kid,instant celebrity overnight. Way to go dude!!!

Im all for marketing, heck thats gonna be my chosen profession but selling editorials and headlines to the highest bidders is pushing on the limits of extreme marketing. Why don’t u just make an Ad mag instead then. At least have the guts to call a spade and spade.

A decent newspaper should also allow for critical feedback from its readers. But does TOI do that? No Sir they don’t. Not only do they not take the critical evaluation in their stride but they actually go to the extent of slapping their readers with libel suits to shut their gobs. The most recent point in case being the blog mediaah by one Pradyuman Maheshwari. These incidents will insinuate readers all the more. People from all walks of life have come out in support of Pradyuman ,as is clearly evident from the signing of petition for his cause and hundreds of blogs coming out to support him.

I guess what Vir Sanghvi said in his article in the Brand Reporter is true, the Newspaper wars between TOI,HT,DNA etc have just concentrated on increasing readership at all costs for the sake of attracting more and more advertising. For this purpose they had to make the newspapers so general in its appeal that the masses buy it in large numbers. And sadly those general features are fashion, movies and page 3 parties.

The day when the newspapers stop fighting for just readership numbers and concentrate on quality of articles and these advertisers start supporting them will being upon us the News revolution. All newspapers can co-exist on the basis of quality of their articles and the analysis they provide. Maybe then and only then will the heads of our youth be cleared of this entire Page 3 ruckus which is stagnating their highly capable minds.

Let hope the TOI can still be saved and prevent it from becoming the The Whore of Boribunder!!!