Await action from Eenadu

Team Ramoji is having a marathon brainstorming session in the empire’s citadel –RFC. The top brass has been engaged in intense discussions for the last three days. No idea on the agenda and the progress. Our (lowly-placed and highly-unreliable) sources say the theme for the meet is: What’s the best move for Group to demonstrate the unwavering support and trust it enjoys from the public.
Ramoji’s credibility came to be questioned for the first time in 30 years of his public life, courtesy Operation Undavalli. He went on the defensive, taking columns of space to explain himself to the people. That did not help. After Margadarsi, RFC lands were targeted. Ramoji did more explanation, in paper and on TV. Did not help. Andhra Jyoti said Priya pickles were filthy, based on FDA comments. Eenadu dedicated Page One space to explain the situation. Ramoji was never so vulnerable in his life!
That’s the background. So, what can be done to counter all this propaganda and grandly demonstrate people’s trust in Eenadu & Ramoji? It should be a masterly move that would silence all critics forever. Our (lowly placed, highly unreliable) sources did not get any wind on the outcome but inform that an IPO, initial public issue, was considered. We don’t believe that. Ramoji never believes in explaining anything to anyone. Going public means he would have to face questions from the riff raff, like you and me, who attend the AGM. What says you? Any other ideas for Eenadu group can be posted in your comments! The best idea would be quickly usurped, that’s the secret of success!!

Laxman, Finger them all, once forever!

For ages, lingering fingering problems have been a pain area for players of stringed and reed instruments. In recent times Solos and Homos joined the band! All of them have scientifically analysed the problem, though, and found methods to achieve Clean Fingering.
Fingering problems, however, have bogged down Indian sports. Though every discipline suffers from this at varying degrees, the most popular game, cricket, seems to be the worst hit.
Don't we remember how Kunja Rani accused Karanam Malleswari of engaging in a fingering bout! Or how this Business of fingering caused India's star tennis doubles pair of Paes-Hash to part ways! Our national game – hockey – forever suffers because of too much of this fingering. It is another story that Dhanraj Pillay survived all of that and lasted long in the captain's seat because he could successfully scoop those who had their fingers in plans to see his back.
In cricket, fingering has been a part and parcel, perhaps since WG Grace walked on the hallowed turf at the Lord's. In India, from Lala Amarnath, Vijay Merchant, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi to Kapil Dev and Sourav Ganguly, every captain fingered his predecessor and in turn got fingered later by his players.
The most popular Fingering incident in recent history involved two giants, Little Master Sunil Gavaskar and Haryana Hurricane Kapil Dev. It is still fresh in one's memory as to how the angry Bengali dadas booed Sunny at Eden Gardens after he fingered Kapil Daa out of the team.
We also remember how Jimmy Amarnath, the great hooker, was fingered by the selectors at every stage in his career, to be precise nine times! And final fingering came when he retaliated and fingered them back by calling them "a bunch of jokers".
Indian cricket fans know the zonal quota system as the root cause for lots of talent going unTested and unused in the country. Adding to the problem is the "yeh dil mange more" sponsors who goad the wisemen to keep certain players in despite their non-performance.
Greg Chappell became the Indian team's coach despite being fingered by Gavaskar and once in the saddle he has excelled in the art of fingering. Ask Ganguly if you want.
Red in face, Ganguly then fingered Dalmiya. The old horse recovered too fast and ensured that Ganguly permanently retired-hurt.
Meanwhile, Chappel fingered too much with the team's combination and batting order, so much so the team got de-formed!! The out-of-form team is collapsing like a pack of cards on the field. Bajji is failing to take wickets because he can no longer Finger the flippers and find the fine gaps between bat and pad. Sehwag injured his finger and has just regained shape.
Dravid feared that one more ODI loss would have his career jettisoned like Ganguly, so he fingered himself to take a break.
The BCCI, sandwiched by the coach Chappell and Lok Sabha MPs fingering each other, has summoned VVS Laxman. Special Fingering was always reserved for VVS who was made to bat at all positions from One to Six and was regularly kicked out of the team.
Now, the BCCI, the Coach and Indian team want VVS to Finger the Proteas bowlers on their turf so that Indian fans would not finger them when they return. Laxman, hope your finger is as strong as the Goverdhana Giri!! Remember our Azzu Bhai, he fingered the Sardarji so hard in England that Siddhu hasn't stopped talking since then!!

Fantastic Idea!

Times Of India, we said, is a profoundly frivolous paper. Living up to our epithet, the ToI, in its editorial titled Republic of Cricket (Nov 28) has this to say:

"Just as Indian citizens get to elect their representatives, and shareholders vote on company policies, cricket viewers should be allowed to select their team as wells as coach. Why let the ham-handed BCCI run the show and, in fact, ruin it? In this day of Internet and mobile phones, fans could just vote for their favourites at the click of a button. This would have the advantage of doing away with BCCI and a selection process that lacks transparency. It would also solve the problem of accountability of players and the question of linking performance with salary. Since cricket fans are in effect paying the salaries of cricketers, they should decide the players’ pay packets. …."
That, dear reader, is heights! Unthinking juvenile idealism in the edit!! By the way, how about extending the same logic to newspapers, ToI to being with: Deciding news focus, priorities, based on readers’ feedback and judging the edit and editorial team’s performance based on readers voting? After all, readers' patronage is what fetches ads and helps them earn their salaries!? How many at ToI Hyderabad would retain their jobs should such a system be introduced? Who would have the honour of being voted out first?
Don't you think the blog is doing just the same? What's your word on the new look? Write to apmedia@rediffmail.com. Please, keep your comments brief... We have to reject some that were longer than the posts!

Mirror, Mirror on the wall Who is the cruelest of them all?

Media head honchos are known to be dictatorial, sometimes bordering on lunacy. Naturally, those who fall foul of their dictums have to face their ire. We did a straw poll to find out who among the media big shots in the twin cities are the cruelest of them all.
The Hindi and Urdu Press get off lightly, because no one in the trade back answer the big bosses. Poor guys, they know that one kick and they would be out on the street without a job. The Telugu media is the next on the block and here both Girish Sanghi and Ramoji Rao share the honours, While Ramoji is known to be a man who likes his men to be servile, the Sanghi is known to slap and beat up his employees. Poor guys, you have no choice but to look for greener pastures. Hope Ramoji will be brought down from his ivory seat and the Sanghi man gets back to Hyderabad without an extension as an MP.
What do our trade union friends, especially the rabble-rousing, and chest-beating communists have to say about harassment employees face at work. Worse, Girish Sanghi has till date never paid his employees their salaries on time. Will the Labour Department do anything about it? Or will they continue to turn a blind eye to this naked violation of labour laws? Or, as some one said, Vaartha employees would be ignored as they are not labourers but slaves, like the rest of us?
Coming to the English Press the situation is a bit better. Don’t celebrate, that is just a bit. The Mahavinshnu on Mount Road is a shade better than a government office and works just like that! The employees troop in by 11 am and are not visible after 5 pm. Must be a great place to work! But the Kasturi family does keep a hawk’s eye on the happenings through their pointsman here. Our favourite punching bag JS discovered that, albeit a little late.
The Indian Express is on its last legs and there is nothing much to do when the print order is low. Nobody knows who the boss is and nobody wants to know. Which brings us to the big two. DC and Times.
The DC owners think that they ought to be running the State, while the Resident Editor thinks she should be running the country. Her boss, Akbar bhai obviously thinks that he will be the next American President. The DC employees feel that they ought to be the ones who have to wield the scepter, considering the harassment they undergo! Ask ex-advertising head of DC, Mr Vijaykumar about it.
The man who ran DC like his personal fiefdom was chased like a hound when DC owners realized that he made a neat pile from their loot. Sources say, the Reddy brothers used third degree methods to learn where the pot of loot was hidden. The God-fearing Baptist Vijay Kumar, fled to Malaysia à la Kosaraju of Krushi Bank, but has since made peace with the Reddy brothers.
On the other hand, the DC editor according to their employees is a paranoid personality who has a compulsive disorder. It is good DC is not a ten-storyed building or else, many would have jumped off the building after having been subject to mental harassment of the worst kind. Poor Pushpa Iyengar waited in the wings for long hoping some one would push the lady editor down the stairs. That did not happen and Pushpa ended up in Goa, discovering her DNA.
Which brings us to the worst guy in this business in Hyderabad. Voted as the most foul-mouthed, bad-tempered editor is Kingshuk Nag, the local editor of Times. His employees say working under him is worse than the Chinese water torture. Nag arrived in Hyderabad, courtesy Narendra Modi, who kicked him out of Ahmedabad after our old man went on a Modi-bashing crusade, post the riots. He thought he would become a Rajdeep Sardesai, but ended up as a big zero. The Times bosses were told by a furious Modi to pack the Nag in a bag and banish him from the State.
Since his arrival in Hyderabad, Times lost a number of credible journalists who in all probability would have taken the newspaper to greater heights. The short-tempered Nag is on the prowl looking for unsuspecting victims (read that as journalists). Profanities include, four-letter words that come like a torrent.
Last heard, the Human Rights Commission might be asked to suo moto take up cases of harassment against the old man. Surely Ram Karan would agree to that, for it was the verbal abuse of the worst kind that forced the back bone of Times edit to put in his papers.
The Nag is out to prove that he is the best editor Times had till date, but has ended up as a millstone around the neck of the Hyderabad edition. He writes a column in his name, the content for which is generated by junior stringers. Imagine Nag talking about Telengana and Andhra when he has no idea where Karimnagar or Kadapa is. The old man must be give an honourable VRS by the Jains and sent home to wherever he came from.
Which reminds us that due credit must be given even to the devil. Despite all that raving and ranting in our blog, JS should get the medal as the best editor Times had till date (ignoring the first two who had short stints). Maybe, the Jains need to bring him back, if they are to take the Times past DC.

Comment at apmedia@rediffmail.com

Our first post was on Ram Karan’s exit from The Times of India. His exit, we said, would be a loss to ToI. Our idea of loss is shabby editing, lazy headlines and skewed news priorities. We had to define it because ToI management will surely have a different view on what amounts to a loss in selling a product. Now that it’s almost three weeks since RK quit Times, let’s take a look at the Paper without him.

The Times are a-changing, for the worse!

The Times has re-introduced its Tambola (Tamasha), a marketing gimmick, almost coinciding with Ram’s exit! Coincidence? Let’s see! We hear Times is likely to announce another old scheme -- Combo Offer (Times of India and Economic Times at discount price). They better, after all ToI Hyderabad needs harder marketing push to retain its numbers in the face of deteriorating standards in editorial content.

The paper does not write on issues any longer. Telangana, Naxalism, Irrigation projects, free power etc don't matter! Instead, they focus on real estate and the like — SEZs, Outer Ring Road, Huda land auctions, IMG deal — indicating where its interests lie. (Hope you checked Srinivas’ comment to our first post)
So, reporters cold-shoulder key issues. That’s not all, editing slip-ups happen on a daily basis (it can’t be more frequent than that). The front page, the face of the newspaper, is a shame for “the largest circulating daily”. In Page One, the copies have more than a healthy dose of bloomers, and headlines and photo captions too are not error free!
The subs, spoiled by Ram’s indulgence, know not a hyphen and its use! So “six nation” something goes without a hyphen. “On the evening before” is left unedited to “on the eve of..”. They will “launch” not just products and services but also departmental stores, Reliance Fresh for instance.
And look at this opening sentence of a Page 1 report headlined 'CM takes train to Guntur. "In perhaps the first time in a decade and a half, the state chief minister.."
Worst, however, was saved for the delegates attending the annual bankers conference early this month. In the day's lead report headlined 'Chidu has a macro view on micro fin', we read:
'The cost of delivering credit through micro-finance route involves cost."
"Preparation of a bill on micro finance is in the final stages of preparation."
But what takes the cake is a headline:
'Top Maoist among 11 naxals killed'.
And it’s not even a month since Ram’s left!

I'M Gonna fix you, YSR!

YSR either miscalculated the power of IMG or has been advised poorly. The haste with which the land was re-acquired through an Ordinance will now land the government in deep trouble.
YSR has failed to take into account the clout IMG wields in its home ground, the United States. IMG is a big contributor to the election funds of both the Republicans and Democrats. Moreover, Bob Kain and Alastair Johnston who now run IMG, have powerful connections. News is now coming in that the lame duck US government has been persuaded to put the plans for a US consulate in Hyderabad on hold.
Further the US government MIGHT issue an advisory to US companies to think twice before investing in Andhra Pradesh. Of course, it can do the same on the sly as well! And that bodes ill for the state.
YSR should have known that IMG is not a Ramoji. But now it’s a tad too late.

Who's in the fray?

Quick, who’s contesting the bypolls in Karimnagar and Bobbili. No, you are wrong. It’s Ramoji versus YSR! Eenadu readers are already wondering if it were not Assembly or Lok Sabha elections on the cards instead of just bypolls. The knives are out and Ramoji has announced: Make no mistake guys, it’s Me versus Him. If only you noticed the strategic shift in Eenadu’s news focus in the last three-four days ---- Exclusive focus on Karimnagar and Bobbili (One Special Page!) Margadarsi and Assigned Lands issues are sidelined. KCR gets VIP treatment…. Almost matching the urgency and priority with which Ramoji treated NTR in 1983! The most intelligent and practical sections of the voters, the youth are with drama artist KCR, Eenadu tells us! Botsa is its favourite punch bag! On ETV, footage of Congressmen buttonholed by angry people is shown, reshown and reshown and…! So at 70 Ramoji is alive and at his favourite game – using the paper to settle personal scores! “I thought of handing over the responsibility of tackling YSR to my son (Kiron)… but he (YSR) has provoked me into combating him at this age and I am game for it,” Ramoji told select senior Eenadu reporters on the day Undavalli dropped the bombshell. (Of course, the selected ones were those who he trusted to leak the message to the rival camp!!). So, he is now vigorously engaged in a mission, not bringing TDP back into power, but to defeat the Hand that rocks his boat! Seen Sreedher cartoons? The man reflects the pungency of his boss!
As of now, we learn Congress is on a losing wicket in both the constituencies. Ramoji is smiling! Let him, for now at least… till, maybe, YSR raises the curtain for his next move… mind you we are yet to hear the last word… from the RBI!
Undavalli, we hate you!: That’s from Eenadu employees folks… not because he dared to taint Ramoji but because he spoiled their party! Poor folks, the Margadarsi controversy came at a wrong time for them. They were expecting a bonus on the occasion of Our Master’s Birthday… Ramoji turned 70 but no bonus. BTW, even the book that we talked about earlier, a collection of Ramoji portraits done by top artists, has also not seen the light of the day. The lackey who planned it is frustrated. Poor Undavalli would not have imagined such collateral damage!

Sunday Musings

Sunday is the time for confessions, reflection and resolutions. So let’s indulge and see what we come up with!
Media Games: Who’s made the most of l’affaire Undavalli? Nah, not Congress! TV9 and Andhra Jyoti! The channel and the publication allotted too many hours / columns for the issue and kept it live. We learned that a week before Undavalli’s PC in Delhi, Ravi Prakash and Vemuri Radhakrishna were summoned to CM’s office by KVP. They were given wind of the bombshell that Undavalli dropped on Ramoji. YSR knew that without their support the issue would end up being a damp squib, drowned in the counter blitzkrieg by Eenadu and Etv. So, YSR sought their support, and they promised, each for different reasons. Eenadu’s articles exposing the purposelessness of SEZs has hurt Ravi Prakash for his management is an interested party! Vemuri’s Andhra Jyothi which was leading over Eenadu in demonizing the YSR government was beaten hollow when Eenadu had Peddala Gaddala special. Vemuri had to do something quick to be one up again. Eenadu would become a soft target for him if Ramoji’s credibility gets weakened. He was more than willing to help. You know the results! Andhra Jyoti has certainly benefited. Reports say Jyoti's circulation spurted post the Margadarsi episode. If you'd noticed, post the Margadarsi issue, Andhra Jyoti has also slackened its anti-government reportage!! Eenadu, reports from a few districts say, is witnessing fall in retail sales of the paper — alarm bells again for Ramoji!

Presenting news, Eenadu way: Noticed the big, er mega font Eenadu used for Volkswagen deciding to set shop outside Andhra? Boy, the paper seems to take sadistic pleasure in AP losing out on the prestigious project! In this it sees an opportunity at hitting YSR! The big font almost looks like evil dance… karaala nrutyam… Illu Kaaali okadu yedustunte.. suttaku nippu adiginatlu… heartless and shameful!
TD leader’s killing: Unidentified assailants killed TD leader in Kurnool district Vaikuntam and his wife. English media reported police version that prime suspects is Vaikuntam’s sister. Her son was murdered sometime ago and Vaikuntam’s sons are the accused in the case. It’s a clear case of family feud. The sister too is a TD supporter. Eenadu and Andhra Jyoti don’t mention these details and make it look like a killing of TD leader by Congressmen! And Ramoji boasts of being wedded to truth!
We have more to say, on Eenadu’s new strategy of news focus and treatment. We will spare that for tomorrow.
Vemuri’s double game: As already discussed, Vemuri went into an overdrive over Undavalli-Margadarsi affair and reaped the benefits. But the man himself would want to be seen as impartial. So, he penned that Page One Signed editorial of his (Nov 11) that said the stringer in him is still alive, even after becoming the MD. He got the lead at the bottom! The editorial continued into Page 2 and interestingly, the Page One part (in colour and bigger font), was laced with insinuations against YSR and the continued portion (B&W, regular font) raised valid and more pertinent points that ought to be said at the outset. Vemuri, who attempted to inflict maximum damage on Margadarsi with his Special Analytical report that suggested depositors should withdraw monies from the company on Day One of l’affaire Undavalli, expressed profound concern for their welfare in his editorial. However, the paper continued its dose of 200-font headlined stories that had potential of triggering panic among depositors! Vemuri, you can’t have your cake and eat it too!

Celebrating the Rich: Not long ago one American daily that discussed the contrasting realities of dazzling prosperity and abject poverty in today’s India titled the piece: India: One nation, two planets! Well said. The news of Andhrawala GMR making to the list of India’s Rich, ignites the same thoughts. Andhra Pradesh aptly fits the description of being one place with two worlds. We see an extremely small club of people adding wealth at a stunning pace while a huge section of populace suffer the tyranny of poverty. Suicides by farmers continue unabated. Indigent families in Anantapur have found a way of making the ends meet — husband and wife together hit the highways, husband solicits customers for his wife, mostly truck drivers. Theirs is not a shameless act but a helpless one — no means of income and kids to feed at home. Hyderabad is a knowledge capital but farmers run into debts because, in the absence of hydrological guidance, they dig multiple bores and end up with dry pumps. Hyderabad is health care capital but hundreds of tribals in Agency die of malaria and unidentified diseases, all unaccounted deaths. The anomalies are several and as striking as black-and-white combination. Yet, gloom shall not be reason to ignore success! Let’s celebrate GMR’s success. (Suggested reading: A tale of two Indias, The Guardian Wednesday April 5, 2006; http://www.guardian.co.uk/india/story/0,,1746948,00.html)

Who’s Grandhi? BTW, who’s this GMR?. Till recently he was an unknown quantity. Today, he stands tall after beating Goliath Ambani, both in corridors of power and in the portals of justice. Like Ramoji, he too is a self-made man, built a business empire after odd jobs in the beginning, maintains a low profile and has unlimited ambition! But that’s an uncharitable comparison at this happy hour. So let’s leave it at that!

Ramoji’s Biggest Lie in 70 years!

Birthday boy Ramoji told us the biggest lie of his lifetime! Of the 2000-acre film city (NOBODY KNOWS FOR SURE ITS EXACT AREA…AP govt website says its 1200 acres) Not a single acre has been encroached… Not a single assigned land bought.. not a single acre of tribal land taken over. So, he has neither violated RBI norms in Margadarsi dealings nor did he overstep the law in developing RFC….! Ramoji, we all know the genesis of Vaartha… Girish Sanghi and you started occupying land from opposite ends on Hyd outskirts and when you two met, you got the last piece the two of you vied for.. It was then that Girish Sanghi realized that financial muscle and political clout account for nothing without media presence and started Vaartha.. The witty then commented: Kabjakor Kabjakor raasukunte Paper pudutundi!

Ramoji now has the audacity to tell us not a single acre has been occupied. Can we believe him…. It only tells us he has covered his tracks well.
Ramoji’s statement is like…. Swaranjit Sen, Director General of Police: All encounters are real… We did not kill a single Naxalite in fake encounters!
YSR, CM: Undavalli acted on his own. I did not know of his allegation till I saw it on the TV!..

Can you think of more post or send to apmedia@rediffmail.com

Jayaprakash Narayan exposed: One of our readers said in his comment that Margadarsi episode has exposed what a phony character Lok Satta’s JP is. Indeed! He is the creation and puppet of Ramoji. SriRamana expressed the same view in Andhra Jyothi yesterday (Thursday). If you missed it, please read the edit page anchor article.

Cheating case against ETV: In an earlier post, we mentioned about the Tambola Tamasha at Times, remember? Winner of ETV’s Yahoo programme went to the court charging the channel of shortchanging him…. The gold chain he received is worth one-third of the promised value, he accuses. Nothing new. All marketing gimmicks are con games. Times announces Rs 50 lak worth prizes for Tambola winners. Want some sadistic pleasure? Just hang around Times office… those guys who drive down all the way to their office in anticipation of a good gift get a shock when they see the item in the attractive pack… not even worth the fuel expenses, for some.

Ramoji promoting bonded labour

Shrinivasa M, Parjanya, Kanyadi II, Dharmastala, (Karnataka) shrinivasam@rediffmail.com Mobile: 9886983489 has sent an SOS. Please read his mail in the comments posted below the Ramoji Birthday item and see if how you can help. A hundred former employees of ETV group are facing legal action from Ramoji. They left the sweatshop at RFC without fully realizing the implications of the Rs 100 bond Ramoji made them sign. Our appeal: Pls help them out. Political reporters, sound out Undavalli plzzzz!

Click, Click and read

We got complaints about difficulty in reading the Telugu content. Please note: 1) First click on the image. 2)After the image expands and settles down in the left corner of the screen place your cursor on it… An arrow will appear at the right hand bottom of the image.. click on it and the image will be fully blown up.
For those who thought it’s penned by a sycophant, our request is to re-read it… Post comments at apmedia@rediffmail.com