Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Frightening disconnect

The article "Where India shining meets great depression" (April 1) is a reality check for all of us, well-heeled city dwellers. The headlong rush into high profile consumerism that has overtaken us in recent times, the nonchalant references to luxury items that were once everyone's envy, and the sudden morphing of the lingua franca of wealth from lakhs to crores and more are truly alarming.

The disconnect between the well-off and the working class is absolutely frightening. The juxtaposition of Lakme Fashion Week with the Vidharbha suicides is a tragic reflection on how far apart we are drifting, and the lack of empathy on the part of the media and the people with a large segment of our country.

Ravi Katari,
Chennai

* * *

The article, which bemoans the neglect of livelihood issues by mainstream media, is bound to remain a cry in the wilderness. The media are in the grip of commercial compulsions. Newspapers are bound to give what those who pay for them want. This is probably why even serious newspapers find space on page one for cricket pictures while soul-stirring pictures like that of Medha Patkar pleading with policemen get tucked away in an inner page. Instead of expecting the media to provide more space for issues involving the poor, other ways of bringing them within the ambit of public consciousness should be explored.

Manohar Alembath,
Chennai

* * *

The article brings home how dominant forces in society conspire to leave behind the rural population, mainly dependent on farming for sustenance, in the march towards globalisation. As rightly pointed out, the urban population hardly exercises its franchise but ends up having its cake of power because of the lopsided priorities and distorted vision of our policy-makers.

A.P. Govindankutty,
Cheruthuruthy, Kerala

* * *

The middle class needs to come out of its self-imposed seclusion and see reason. Or else, we will forget that the country is made up of millions of depressed and dying people and not just of stockbrokers and glamour people.

K. Sivakumar,
Hyderabad

* * *

It is a well known but ignored fact that the media give more importance to insignificant events and incidents. It is ironical that happenings that affect a negligible percentage of the population, especially the urban lot, get flashed across television screens while the less fortunate are ignored. It is perhaps time our media followed certain ethics, so that the people and the government start looking beneath the superficial shining India that we all believe exists.

K. Krishnaraj,
Bangalore

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