Feel-good optimism has become the mantra of the corporate media in rising, shining, roaring India.
Don’t worry, this too shall pass. Poverty, disease, death, illiteracy, corruption, casteism, communalism… all the woes confronting us will vanish if only you train yourself to look at the bright side of things; if only you consume the right kind of media; if only you buy the right kind of products; if only you aspire in the right kind of way…
How very refreshing to come across somebody who says just the opposite; who says things are bad, yes, but it will only get worse; and who has no qualms of being seen as a cynic?
Anuradha SenGupta: You have commented over the years on traffic jams, on corruption, on indifference by elected political representatives, lack of implementation of schemes. Many of those things have not changed, they have remained as they are. Does that make R.K. Laxman a cynical man?
R.K. Laxman: I am a cynical man… I am a born cynical man.
SenGupta: You are not an optimist. You believe that this is the way we are and this is the way we will be.
Laxman: Optimism is one which says that everything will be all right. So, I feel things will get worse, not better. Roads, potholes, traffic, traffic jam, all that have not changed….
SenGupta: I thought there would be hope…
Laxman: How? Sense of humour does not give hope. It has nothing to do with it. Hope means what? Tomorrow everything will be all right? There would be no nuclear war? There would be no Iraq, there would be no Bush… that kind of hope? Things are getting from bad to worse.
SenGupta: The hope that we will be one day conscious enough and active enough to change things the way to what we want them to be.
Laxman: You can’t change, that’s it. It’s not because they are not aware of it. You mean to say politicians are not aware of what is going on? They are aware of it but they are helpless because they want to become leaders. That is the idea – to stand for the elections and get it, that’s the idea of the politicians.
Read the full text: ‘It’s nice to have double standards’
churumuri 
Sorry for cross posting but I saw an entry by Pulikeshi the Last about the sting operation on gigolos in which i was defamed. I have to clarify the point. Hence. Plse bear.
I saw the post just now. The sting operation was carried out jointly by Agni, Udaya TV and Central Crime Branch. There was no undressing etc as reported in the papers. The entire operation was being filmed and telecast without cuts and crores of people saw that there was no such thing. As soon as the man walked in, the plaincloths police who were waiting outside pounced on him and the agent and arrested them. The entire conversation from the previous day was being recorded so there was no need for any “action”. The Escort service is a very big network and the big pin is in Mumbai. He operates in six cities. He lures youth, Housewives, college students, widows, and single women to earn more money in flesh trade. Middle class women and men are sucked into the racket. NOt just gigolos but all sorts of sexual favours are organised by him. It was a sting to expose him and it followed the DElhi girl rape case. The CCB bungled up in issueing the press note for which the POlice Commissioner, JOint commissioner tendered an apology to me and also clarified on TV 9. However the damage was already done. I threatened to sue CCB but CCB chief Mullah, who was responsible for the goof up apologised to me and begged me not to. This is the fact.
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No need to feel sorry. Sometimes somewhere communication gaps will be there. But we should congratulate Smt. Prathiba Nandakumar for taking risk in exposing the racket. In such operations there will be always the danger, sometimes the not-so-honest police people will forewarn the concerned parties. But, what I feel is that media in its enthusiasm sometimes will become hyperactive. Once, the Tv people were asking a Superintendenft of Police as to how they got the information of a particular case. First of all, the principle is that you should never reveal the source of information. And in an on line interview if you ask these questions how to answer. Hurry sometimes causes unnecessary worry. Allow people t work.
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thanks. after hearing all rumours and reading reports in news papers I was shocked.
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R.K.Laxman is simply a genius. I wonder why no one has done Ph.D. on his cartoons! It is a pride for us that he is from our land – Mysore.
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i too have the same thought, even being in IT industry
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Wondering what is more interesting, the article or the cross post…
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