YIPPEE, THERE ARE SOME YUPPIES (Or yeehaa, there is yahoo!)

There's a good possibility that Indian news channels in English have got certain basics completely wrong. They all claim that there is a huge potential for 24-hour news channels; they all say they are targeting the yuppies in the metros. And funny enough, almost all my yuppie friends in Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad - yes, I do have some non-journalist yuppie friends - say they don't like watching news anymore; these guys would rather read newspapers, watch movies and blog. Shocking. None of them ever mentioned it to me when I was still working.

Seriously, is there really so much scope for so many 24-hour news channels? I myself tried watching two channels continuously over the past two days - on live streaming video - and was quite disappointed. And I was expecting nothing out of the world. The only thing that impressed me was the quality of video on broadband. The portals, of course, seem to have a lot of potential. If the TRPs-or-whatever-they-call-it-these-days are really measured on the basis of viewing per minute, do they really count? No wonder, everyone wants more and more breaking news stories, exposes and such. After all, all you are looking at is some eyeballs that will stick with you for a few minutes to boost up your rankings and revenues. Is that what it is all about? Sorry, I would rather give them a miss. (If you leave out journos, politicians and special interest groups, where will the rankings stand? Also, what percentage of the population - yuppies included - really watches news in English?)

Is any of the so-called entertainment channels thinking of going back to the good old days of two or three 15-30 minute long bulletins a day? I think that would be a good idea - you can always put the breaking news on the ticker (which you anyway do) and perhaps, have a special bulletin, if it really merits one. Of course, the thousand or so fresh journalists mass produced at the numerous self-financing colleges every year will lose a few well-paying job options. My advice to them: Guys, remember just one thing. Long after we all die, they will refer to our era as the Internet Age.

WRITER'S BLOG!

Do I want to write? Not sure, really. There was a time when I used to believe that I could be a good writer, if not a great one. But not anymore. Maybe all the time I have spent thinking about what I really want, over the last 8 years, has made me understand myself better. Not that I know what I want, but I do seem to know what I like.

I like initiating thought processes; I like kicking off new projects; I like managing crises - in other peoples’ lives; I like brainstorming for ideas; I like numbers; I like films; I like to read endlessly; I like thinking about what the first line of my first book should be; I like coming up with new titles for the books that I want to write; I like debates and I like to cook.

And, since 2001 I have been doing things that I like doing. Almost everything but writing. I thought I’d start writing like a maniac as soon as I reached Scotland, what with so much free time in hand and all that. It has been 5 full months here and I have written precious few words - discounting the numerous assignments and the few exams. I thought I’d buy a handycam as I landed on the UK soil and film everything I saw. The plan never took off, though. Maybe the mind was just trying to control all distractions till I got into the MBA course I liked. The MBA seemed to be the answer for everything! So, when my admissions were through, with an impressive 50% scholarship, I should have started feeling less restless, right? No’ happenin, mate!

So, what do I want? To BLOG?! Do I even want to share the thousands of cool ideas and the out-of-the-world theories I come up with everyday - with the faceless few who may read this for want of anything else to do? Wonder how so many of them manage to write so regularly and with such confidence. Many of them are even convinced that they are saying the right things. Is there any such thing as the right thing? Is that why I’m so reluctant to write? Do I fear that I won’t be able to write the ‘right thing’? Or have I just run out of opinions? At least, I don’t seem to be running out of ideas!
If there’s a celestial monitor, it (rather than he or she) would have realised that I have spoken more words in the past 5 years than I ever have in my previous years put together; And it would have spotted that I put in more effort to finish off the projects I start. Perhaps, that is what is making a difference - I’m now completing things rather than see them fall off, like I used to.

One at a time, and one by one. Doing everything I like to do because I don’t know what I want! Likes and wants aren’t the same, are they? Not sure. And one day they might even count mine as a success story. Vision and determination, they’ll say, made the man!

HIGHLANDS LOWLANDS

Just checking out how it looks. This is one of the first photographs I took with my new Nokia N70. The above photo is of the Lowlands, taken from the first Highlands spot I set foot on - the Knocks. Planning to convert this into a novel blog soon. Hope I find time and inspiration to write.