Pramod Mahajan got a state funeral, and the nation got one more media-sponsored catharsis. We sat glued to the secondhand grief, and emerged emotionally enemaed. Cruel but true, there?s nothing like tragedy to pump up TRPs. This time we had a ?Never-Before-Never-Again Trio of Family Vendetta, Medical Thriller and Political Drama?. But now that it?s over for all but the numbed family, could we ask for a little more balance the next time we are hit by a similar misfortune? Can we learn to separate a genuine tsunami from what becomes just a tidal bore? Pramod Mahajan?s ambitions matched his initials, and he had all the credentials to get there. He also had a physical magnetism quite independent of power which turns normal women into undiscerning jelly, so his admirers were political, personal, and legion. With the now endemic VIP Syndrome, the hospital lobby has become the preening ground of social, filmi and political fashionistas, all swaggering for the cameras while affecting an air of grim concern. This is the new stew, whatever the crisis ? or celebration. At least, Amitabh and Pramod were critically ill, but now even John Abraham stubbing his toe triggers a stampede of TV crew and their heavy artillery. Are we that Page-Three hungry, or that starved of real news? Which brings me to my major complaint against the coverage of Mr Mahajan?s critical 12 days. We can all qualify for an MBBS degree after our crash course on the diagnosis, prognosis and sepsis of every loop and cranny of the BJP leader?s traumatised insides. Gray?s Anatomy would turn ashen in shame, unable to match the minutiae which swarmed over page and screen with the tenacity of the microbial assault on his wounded pancreas. The Hinduja spokesman became a default star, appearing solemnly in every TV bulletin like the US Army spokesman during the Iraq invasion.

The trachestomy got as much newstime as the Taliban?s brutal killing of K Suryanarayana or the Naxalite butchering of the Dantew-ada tribals. The Vadodra riots and the 35 passengers killed in the Thane bus plunge had to elbow for space with Mr Mahajan?s advancing ARDS. Every ionotrope introduced to make the heartbeat faster was tracked with the dete-rmination of words, phrases and passages purloined by Kleptomaniac Kaavya. We were told that?today he passed a little urine?.

Forget this factoid?s claim to national importance. What would the powerful Pramod-ji have felt had he known of this unabashed expose? We?ve become a nation of ambulance-chasers.

Alec Smart said, ?Is there any truth in the rumour that Kaavya Viswanathan has been appointed brand ambassador for Xerox??

<B>From India

Source: Bachi Karkaria

© Times of India</B>