Why should Thangals be spared?

If the yardsticks of pouncing on the fraud seers in Kerala are used in the case of Panakkad Thangals, they should also come under the scanner

So it needed one Aryadan Shoukath to say it, at last. Amid the ongoing controversies over the godmen, the politician-cum-film maker has said something one would dread to utter in Kerala.

He challenged the state government to raid Panakkad Thangal's abode, the headquarters of the state unit of Indian Union of Muslim League, the leading constituent in Congress-led UDF in Kerala.

Though Shoukath is as crooked a politician as his father-politician Aryadan Mohammed and his utterance against the Thangals has to do with the ongoing war of words between his father and Muslim League, he has said something that is long overdue in Kerala's socio-political spectrum.

No government, be it UDF or the present LDF government, will dare to touch the Panakkad Thangals, who have been enjoying a smooth ride on the ignorance of Malabar Muslims and a false interpretation of Islam.

What makes Thangals different from other godmen in Kerala?

The arrest of Santhosh, indicted by Interpol for embezzlement and by the state police over a charade of charges including rape, has triggered titillating and shocking media reports about numerous fraud godmen and godwomen from various parts of the state. Papers and channels these days are flooded with the opulent lifestyles and sexual escapades of the fraud seers.

It is in this context that Aryadan Shoukath has challenged the government to raid the Thangal’s home.

If the police can conduct raids at Santhosh Madhavan's den and other godmen in Kerala, the self-proclaimed religious head and chief of Muslim League Panakkad Shihab Thangal and Company shouldn't also be spared.

Because, the Panakkad Thangals also perform stuff like healing like these seers do, thanks to the Thangal tag, a tag arduously and meticulously used for so long not only for advancing the Thangals’ supremacy over the Malabar region but also for making Malabar an impregnable bastion for the Muslim League.

The main service done at Panakkad is healing. And mind you, the service ain't free.

During a press meet by the Muslim League at Panakkad house in Malappuram, I saw Hyderali Thangal (Shihab Thangal's younger brother) 'counseling' an old lady with the help of Quran and then pocketing the fee. All along the course, the poor lady was standing as if she was in front of the God. At Panakkad, you can witness the long queue of people waiting to get `healed' or `counseled' by the Thangals.

Thangals claim themselves to be the true descendents of the Prophet and they consider themselves to be a leg up over the others. The fact is Islam doesn't accord any such kinds of sanctity, not even the loathsome practice of priesthood. (As said earlier, these Thangals are riding on a misinterpretation of Islam’s true teachings.)

Interestingly, in Kerala's mainstream parlance, the Thangals are considered sacrosanct. Now I am reminded of this small incident happened in 2005 during my previous stint with The New Indian Express. The state government came out with a booklet containing the major tourist spots in Kerala. The Panakkad house was mentioned as a leading healing center in Malabar. Enough of government stamp.

The then Malappuram reporter of Express Jabir Musthari, (incidentally he happens to be a Thangal, but doesn't belong to the tribe out to cash in on the supposed Thangal lineage) filed a story taking a dig at the government's alacrity to sanctify the Thangals’ quack biz. But the story was dumped with a changed intro.

Even the newspapers are afraid of touching the Thangals.

All said, the Panakkad Thangals aren't all about quackery and taking advantage of the ignorant people. The ancestors of Panakkad had an illustrious past of contributing to the 1921 anti-British war by the Malabar Muslims. But now, the present-day Thangals have become an embodiment of an elite class in the Muslim community and the new-age 'healers'.

Apart from the healing stuff, these Thangals have also mastered the art of cutting the ribbons. Yea, it’s about inaugurating jewellery shops and similar private ventures. Malabar Muslim entrepreneurs are under the ludicrous impression that Thangal-inaugurated ventures will flourish like anything.

Shihab Thangal’s name can be nominated to Guinness book for having inaugurated the largest number of jewellery shops in the world! (courtesy: K. Rajeswari, Madhyamam weekly).

(This post has inspired Vasthavam Malayalam daily to come out with an editorial: http://vasthavamdaily.blogspot.com/2008/05/blog-post_29.html)

Honey, this is our new national festival!

A hartal-infested Kerala has started loving a practice considered a menace elsewhere

It’s been four months in Bangalore in my new incarnation as content editor.

When I heard about BJP’s plan to hold a dawn-to dusk hartal on May 2 to protest against inflation, I thought it would be holiday just like it often happens in Kerala, where people celebrate it with gaiety and political fervor! But my colleagues told me that the hartal call wouldn’t have any impact on daily life in Karnataka and that everything will go on as usual.

So my hopes of resting at home for a day vanished into thin air.

And on the hartal day, there was nothing unusual unlike in Kerala where any hartal call would bring about a curfew-like situation, and I forgot about the hartal thing.

It was only when my journalist friend from Kochi asked me about the hartal in Karnataka on that evening that I realized that it was a hartal day. When I told him that it didn’t have any impact here, he dwelt at length on the day’s highlights in Kerala: buses almost kept off the roads; thin attendance in government offices, etc…

I am coming from a state where hartal has become a national festival. So I was bit surprised over the lack of any reaction to the hartal call, and that too by Sang Parivar which has considerable foothold in Karnataka.

At present the situation in Kerala is that any Tom, Dick and Harry can pronounce a hartal. People are so happy accepting it because it is a paid holiday.

There was this particular case happened not so long ago in Kerala. When some devils in this God’s own country spread a rumour that some petty organization has called for a hartal the next day, it was almost like a hartal the next day; vehicles kept off from the roads and people refused to go out.

On this BJP hartal day there was one news item in a Malayalam TV channel about how people of Kerala have started celebrating the hartal. According to the report, Keralites consider hartal as a best occasion to unwind; special dishes are made and all family members sit together and dine. The report had testimonials of shopkeepers who described about the rush of people and increased sale of stuff like chicken on the day before the hartal day. There are also a couple of testimonials by a few chaps who said they used hartals as merry-making occasions with the family.

A hartal roundup has become a staple new item for the newspapers and TV channels in Kerala because it is happening at frequent intervals. And invariably it has become a mundane and bland exercise.

This hartal saga is just another ironic but interesting story from Kerala, touted as the highly literate state with living standards on par with Western level.

The real estate dealer

By pushing through its real estate agenda, Times of India has put its commercial interests ahead of journalistic values

“The Good Doctor”. That was the head of Times of India editorial dated 1-5-08, taking a dig at PM Manmohan Singh for having called on companies to “discourage conspicuous consumption and pay only moderate salaries to executives”.

The editorial, in Times of India’s inimitable fashion, takes on the PM’s attack on the corporate world by drawing attention to the opulent and extravagant ways in which he (Manmohan) and country’s president live in sprawling Race Course Road and Rashtrapati Bhavan respectively.

The paper says: “Few nations in the world can match Rashtrapathi Bhavan in terms of the vastness and magnificence of the housing accorded, rather conspicuously to its heads of state.”

It also draws the irony of criticizing the corporate world at a time the government has effected a pay hike to the country’s babus.

Quite a reasonable argument indeed as regards the opulent and royal ways in which the PM and president live; for, it is unbecoming of a country of thousands who go to bed empty stomach to waste money just to sustain the vestiges of British Raj which we are happy scorning day and night.

But Times of India’s real intention is revealed only at the end of the editorial as it exhorts Manmohan Singh to focus on the “conspicuous consumption” in central Delhi where the “best real estate” has been occupied by “sprawling ministerial bungalows” and other “government properties”.

The editorial says that Delhi has no dearth of space, but is still among the top 10 cities in terms of “expensive commercial property.”

And finally the paper doesn’t hide its real intentions as it says: “Imagine the impact of revenues if most of the properties owned by the government in Delhi and state capitals could be sold at their true commercial value.”

There you are! It’s all about real estate, honey. Real estate. That is the one word repeated in several areas in this edit piece.

See how the paper has made it so clear and loud. Straight talk. Isn’t it? The Times of India has no qualms in pushing through its real estate agenda through its editorial columns.

But, there shouldn’t be any room for surprise, given Times of India’’ interests in real estate business, with its parent company Bennet & Coleman running its own real estate firm.

Look at the way the paper has cornered in to a subject of its commercial interest by picking up an issue that has no direct link to it and blatantly putting ahead its profit motive above journalistic values.

So Times of India wants the “prime real estate” locations in Delhi to be sold out at the earliest. Are the powers that be in the country’s capital listening?

Coming together on Pangea Day

BANGALORE: They call it Pangea, the name referred to a wonderful idea of what has been called people-to-people diplomacy aimed at working towards a world sans strife, borders and conflicts.

The word Pangea means a single continent. Once upon a time earth was stuck together as a single continent. But modern world divided it with mistrust, conflicts and violence. Noted documentary filmmaker Jehane Noujaim conceptualized the idea, Pangea Day, to bring the world together through films. On May 10, a section of techies in Bangalore witnessed to a clutch of powerful short films and live music as part of Pangea Day, which envisages the congregation of people at different parts of the world simultaneously.

People gathered at different locations such as Cairo, Rwanda, London, Los Angeles and Mumbai, watched the films simultaneously. In Bangalore, the Pangea the film screening became a reality thanks to IT firm ThoughtWorks. Techies gathered at its office at Diamond District way ahead of the scheduled screening at 11 p.m. The casual performance by a local band added spice to the event.

A total of 24 short films were shown, selected from 2500 entries from over 100 countries in an international competition. The show started with a short film, Pale Blue Dot in which American astronomer, late Carl Sagan spoke about a photograph of the earth from a distance of four billion miles.

"The portrait of our home as a tiny, fragile speck of blue adrift in an unimaginably vast sea of space." When he reminded us that earth is a "mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam", it served a stark reminder of all those absurdities humans indulge in these days: wars, conflicts and boundaries.

Some of them were as short as a TV commercial -- powerful enough to stir one's soul and rekindle a sense of awe, hope and oneness. No film went without receiving prolonged applause from the crowd, awed with the powerful messages contained in them.

They clapped their hands in conjunction with the applause of crowds sitting in Rwanda and Cairo on seeing these films, which tell true stories human lives, their tribulations, angst and hope. One woman techie could not help wowing at the sight of a little African boy, who lost his arms and legs in conflict, writing on his notebook.

There were more such similar 'wows' and expressions of awe and disbelief on seeing such stark reminders of life, perhaps a virtual realization for the techies to know that there is life beyond the comforts of home-delivered pizzas and perks.

Despite all odds, few souls from Sierra Leone refugee camp came up with a band and sang their misfortunes away. The band, Refugee All Stars, must be a source of inspiration for anyone, felt down by the little hiccups in life.

The event gave the techies an opportunity to realize that there are people on the other side of the earth, victims of endless chains of conflicts, poverty and war.

Hypernova, an Iranian band was a revelation. The band sang about one love and one world, while telling us that though they don't have answers to all the problems of the world.

It was not just films: there were thought-provoking ideas and revelations about the complexities of human lives, the meaninglessness of boundaries, etc. by psychologists and other experts.

"It is a indeed a good attempt as we come to realize through these films about people who are born to drink the bitter pills of life. Pangea is a good idea as it tries to bring together people through these wonderful films," said Sivakumar, working with a semiconductor firm.

The exotic idea of Pangea brings with it lot of novel concepts which includes promoting people of different nationalities to sing other countries' national anthems so as to imbibe a sense of respect to others' cultures and feelings. So you have Kenyans singing Jana Gana Mana with the same fervor and enthusiasm as that of Indians.

First published in http://www.ciol.com/News/News-Reports/Coming-together-on-Pangea-Day/12508105918/0/

Jackie Chan, latest media victim?

Media reports that he brought his own mineral water and refused to eat Indian food on a flying visit to Chennai had the kung fu star fulminating

There's this story taught in journalism classes, which goes something like this:

On landing in an US airport, the Pope was surrounded by reporters and he was asked this question: “What is your opinion about night clubs here?”

The Pope paused for a while, as he was well aware that these street-smart scribes are adept at the art of making news out of thin air. He knew whatever he’d say could be twisted and polished as a news item. So he threw back a question in the most innocuous way possible: “Oh are there are night clubs here?”

Next day newspaper reports on Pope’s visit were something like this: “On landing the airport, the first thing the Pope asked was whether there are any night clubs…”

I am reminded of this story - often repeated to talk about journalists’ quest for sensationalism - on reading a posting by action hero Jackie Chan on his website dated April 27.

His lengthy posting was meant to clear up a controversy caused by media reports that he refused to eat Indian food and that he declined to talk to anyone and dismissed Indian stars during his recent visit to Chennai for an audio release of Kamal Haasan-starrer Tamil movie Dasavatharam.

“One article accused me of ridiculous things like refusing to drink India’s bottled water – they said I brought my own imported mineral water - and of traveling with my own personal chefs because I refuse to eat Indian food,” he wrote.

Terming all the reports “complete nonsense”, he said that he had nothing but respect for Indian culture and Indian cinema. “And saying that I won’t eat Indian food! Nothing could be further from the truth; I adore Indian food, and in fact had two excellent meals on this trip and was so full I could barely leave my seat!,” he said in the website.

The actor has challenged the reporters to prove that he actually brought his own water and asked them to check up with the housekeepers at the hotel whether he did such a thing.

“What brand did I bring? You say I refused to eat Indian food. Do your research and talk to the three butlers the hotel assigned to my room and ask them what I ate! You say I holed up in my air-conditioned hotel room, ignoring my hosts. Why would I travel all the way to India and refuse to leave my hotel room?”

He said that he had put up with a lot of ridiculous things written about him as he had been in the public eye for many years and that he seldom attacked anyone. But, it seems that he couldn’t hold it anymore. He said that few “irresponsible reporters” had spoiled the memory of his trip to India. “I am so afraid that when my gracious and wonderful hosts read the lies, they may get the complete wrong impression of me and my feelings about them and about the event. Therefore, I am posting this message on my website immediately to set the record straight.”

So this is not the end of it all. He also narrates one more instance of how journalists’ innate penchant for sensationalism can be damaging.

When some reporters asked him about his participation in the Olympic torch run, he jokingly answered that “no one had better try to come near me while I’m carrying the torch.” “I said it as a joke, and believe me, I made it quite clear that I was fooling around,” he wrote on his website.

But his comments were more than enough fodder for the media as the next day, news reports poured in with headlines like “Jackie Chan Threatens Olympic Protestors” and “Kung Fu Star Will Chop Down Protestors.”

This is a classic case of how media’s senseless actions can vitiate things; in this case adding fuel to the Tibetan cauldron, (His participation in the torch run had grabbed media headlines worldwide on account of his pro-Chinese stand.)

I don’t think even the most cynical would completely disbelieve in Jackie Chan’s version, at least his argument with regard to the Olympic torch run.
This is just another case of media indulging in the obnoxious practice of sensationalism.

Should there be an authority to rein in such practices that run contrary to journalist ethics?

(Appeared in Hoot)