Friday 23 September 2016

Brangelina Split: A High Brow Take


When the first couple of Page 3 universe Brangelina decided to part ways this website of a little known London based free newspaper City A.M. decided to turn much maligned dumbing down on its head. 

While the media and blogosphere was awash with the news about this celeb divorce with jazzy headlines and reporters and analysts were busy splitting hairs over the 'other woman' behind this Page 3 show stopper and the number of zeroes in the impending divorce settlement of this Hollywood power couple, City A.M took a different course.

It decided to give a high brow touch with a bland headline "London School of Economics lecturer to divorce actor husband". It brought to the fore a little known fact of Tomb Raider star being a visiting lecturer at a 'respected' London university, a post she took up as recently as May. However it did display her picture prominently in order to ensure that the reader does not forego the story completely.

Wonder how many lecturers get this kind of publicity when they divorce their spouses?

Also Read: Bangalore Beat

Sunday 11 September 2016

An Immortal Click



While the world was observing the 15th anniversary of 9/11 terror attacks, a 92-year-old woman Greta Friedman passed away in the US. The name hardly rang a bell, but the accompanying picture did.

Like the iconic picture of plane crashing into one of the twin towers, which epitomized terrorism in 21st century, her photo of being kissed by a sailor at New York's Times Square went on to acquire an iconic status to evoke the end of a turbulent era in the 20th century.

The photo was taken on Aug. 14, 1945 - the day Japan agreed to surrender and it marked the end of World War II. Known as V-J Day (victory over Japan), it evoked relief and euphoria in the backdrop of cataclysmic events such as Nazi concentration camps and the nuking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Since then this particular photograph has been a regular fixture at photo exhibitions and photography classes. Apart from those pursuing serious photography, I mean those clicking beyond selfies, not many knew about the photographer or the people featured in the photo.

Photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt randomly clicked the photo amid the crowded revelry in the Times Square and he had little idea who the people were.The photo was first published in Life magazine without much fanfare, in the inside pages, and gained recognition (or 'got viral' to use a social media term) much later. It was widely reproduced by various publications and so did the reader curiosity regarding the couple.

There were many claimants to be the kissing couple and it was only around 1980 it was confirmed that it was George Mendonsa and Greta Friedman, an Austria-born nurse who lost her parents in Nazi concentration camps.

Those days photography was coming of age, stepping out of the shadows of painting to be an art form in itself. The cameras had become less unwieldy and user friendly (though still primitive by current digital standards), but colour photography was still many decades away. 

As only black and white photos were possible Eisenstaedt was looking for contrasts. In his book 'Eisenstaedt on Eisenstaedt: A Self-Portrait' he said, “If she [Friedman] had been dressed in a dark dress I would never have taken the picture. If the sailor had worn a white uniform, the same.”

And the rest they say is history. 

Also Read: Bangalore Beat

Saturday 3 September 2016

Rained In With Awards, Honours

It's now raining awards and other goodies like BMW cars for the three members who tasted some success at Rio Olympics, out of the 119-strong Olympics contingent that returned after an overall disastrous outing. Compared with last Olympics tally of six medals this time it has been much slimmer pickings with just two medals - a silver and bronze.

However it may be argued that the previous outing was an honourable exception than rule. India's Olympic performance is nothing home to write about. Barring hockey in the pre-astroturf days, the country never made any lasting mark in this global sporting extravaganza.

In this medal starved country such accomplishments call for king's reception, something Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt may envy. They may come home with cart loads of gold medals, but I doubt whether they get the kind of reception which say an Indian bronze or silver medallist, or someone who came close to it, may get on arrival at the New Delhi airport.

It is almost as if for this country of billion people, which has little or no sports culture and treats sportspersons with scant respect, organising such a spectacle is its way of atoning for its sins of ignoring these athletes all these years.

For our sports ministry babus and mandarins, it works out perfectly well, as it is much easier to shower awards and goodies, with the procurement department guys pocketing commissions, than suffer the toil of setting up training facilities and maintaining them good enough to churn out world class athletes.

This mindset is very much evident when Indian contingent goes to participate in the Olympics. The number of officials is always higher than that of athletes. It has been our hallowed tradition and no government could ever overturn it. For most of them it is an all expenses paid pleasure trip with shopping for extended family thrown in.

For most athletes and their support staff official high handedness is a professional hazard. The latest story to tumble out this Olympics was of gymnast Dipa Karmarkar's physio being flown to Rio only after she made it to the finals. After every Olympics we get to hear such stories and this one is not going to be the last.

But it would be naive to assume that only bureaucrats and politicians had a good time. Some athletes too have perfected the art of fleecing the system. According to an Indian Express report as per the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) some of them tried to claim huge amounts of money ostensibly for training, often in foreign shores, and some even managed to make the government pay for  their family members accompanying them to Rio. 

Ironically the country’s only two medallists were among those who received the least funding from the government, trained in India and under an Indian coach. Bronze medallist Sakshi Malik took just Rs 12 lakh under TOPS while silver medal-winning shuttler P V Sindhu was allocated Rs 44 lakh. Dipa Karmakar, who lost a medal by whisker, only claimed Rs 2 lakh from the government.

When someone does well in Olympics the state governments too wake up from their reveries and try to play cheer leaders. They loosen purse strings to indulge in competitive populism. After all it is only public money and those making these announcements are not paying from their pockets.

Also Read: Bangalore Beat