Girl...uninterrupted

Once upon a time, when Ms. Dutt was hot and credible enough, I took the flashes of breaking news on screen seriously. I still do. Otherwise how will I learn about Sunanda Pushkar's fetish for orchids? or for that matter when Mr. Goswami screamed that they were bringing you exclusive image of some kitten being born by cesarean methods (I made that up, but it will fit the mode). This Pakistani chick Veena Malik's hyperventilation on television was no different. Needless to say Mr. Goswami was her knight in shining armour again. Truly speaking her allegations and more importantly the timing of it made me wonder whether Rakhi Sawant was so popular across the border also.
But I was wrong. And I must say thank you Prof. Dhanda. Your classes really made me look beyond the served fare and 'problematize' the issue. I am no cricket enthusiast, but India Pakistan matches always remain special in any form of the game. Spot fixing or not, the charges remain to be proved. The Pakistan Board refuses to act. I am almost appalled at their level of non action. Also, it's high time the ICC decides to strip them off their test status. The failed state is not only an economic, administrative and political failure but the public viagra of cricket is no longer there to save their day. Wonder how will Kashmir alone do the balancing act?
But my point was not that. There have been substantial coverage on the issue and Veena Malik has rushed from one channel to the another. One channel played parallel interviews of Malik and Dheeraj Dikshit. and just like any other issue, as the initial hoopla settles down, people have started questioning Malik's credibility which the accused are always entitled to do. But my primary concern remains- On what ground? That Veena Malik played an interlocutor between her ex and the bookie needs to be probed in to, but that her allegations are being looked in to just because she is eye candy? sorry! err....we still remain in the 1940's. I amindifferent to this supposed Pakistani showbiz star who is needless to say attractive. But why do we have to tag along success/ failure equations of women in society with their looking good or not. and to take it to a 'risque' level on their ability to flirt with the sensibility of men? Dheeraj Dikshit claimed that Malik's footage was being shown to provide visual relief to audiences from the boring newsdesk presentations? I am sorry to say he was not wrong. I was in Calcutta last week. Eastern India's biggest English daily The Telegraph's widely read supplement t2 carried a photo feature on the lady of the moment. Apart from her portfolio pics what found substantial space where here alleged nude pics from the internet. What kind of journalism are we into?
In case Malik is a fraud star cashing on the Spot fixing scandal while seeking revenge from her ex, then prosecute her by the law. But it is no ground to attempt to discredit her evidence by saying that she is of loose moral characters just because some of her morphed images are being spread on the net. It is a very patriarchal school of thought to stifle voices of dissent just by maligning ones character. and to tell the truth it's a very easy ploy. Time and again, we all have faced it somewhere down the line. Men can't handle the fact that they are being dumped so they spread stories of the woman in question to be a master in the art of two timing. And when the facts are corroborated, the truth points to some other direction. Trust me, am speaking from personal experience. But keep hope, I have seen 'real' men who are way out of the league of the hanky pankys. So just keep faith.
But can we keep faith on the media. Yes, am thoroughly against their pointless journalism at this point of time. I have read up a bit on the feminist theories across times and truly speaking none of our "aisha" loving brigade stand a chance to be called one. But this is about basic human dignity. I support Malik when she says what does her moral character has to do with her allegations. Why aren't the evidence that she passed on to the ICC detectives being taken seriously, looked into and discussed as vividly as her nude images on the net or her wild affairs. I mean come on we can expect that from Pakistani media, but editorial team of Telegraph? am sure you must be knowing that our codified law of rape makes provision for consent of even a sex worker. Isn't it your duty to point out that the discussion is listless whether she posed for those pictures or not? Right or wrong, that's a very different moral issue. But what has her rumoured affairs, nudity has to do with spot fixing scandal? Her initial role as an interlocutor surely needs to be investigated, not her filmography and the allegations of casting couch.