Just-a-Pause : How Much Is Too Much?

The media circus that we are witnessing since of late is drama at its height. 'Media Circus" - it all amounts to some monkey business or the other. You have it all; the lions jumping through the ring of fire, the horses galloping around, we also have the clowns passing remarks on the sidelines; all following the whip of the ring-master. Yeah!

Everything starts as a new innovative idea till the novelty wears off, because of nothing else but an overload of whatever it was.

Take the most popular medium - Television. Be it the Saas-Bahu serials, or for that matter the flood of reality shows : the many many dance and song contests with half of the scripts rigged just for one-upmanship publicity stunts, Indian Idol (American Idol), Kya aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hai? (Are you smarter than a fifth grader?), Big Boss (Big Brother). So much for entertainment, we have a few more channels dedicated exclusively to showbiz and celebrities. Besides that, we also have more than a dozen 24x7 news channels, which is both, a boon and a bane. Bane - because the same news is shown again and again, sometimes adding fuel to fire and at other times putting the fright of day into people.

Next is the mobile war. On one had we have the handset brands such as Nokia, Samsung, LG, etc. and various models within the brands. On the other hand, we have the service providers – Reliance, Tata, Vodafone, Airtel, BSNL, etc. The latest to join the bandwagon is the Direct-to-Home service providers – Tata Sky, Big TV, DTH, etc., all vying for their market share.

We also have the many beauty products, cosmetic brands, shoes, clotheslines, furnishings, fast foods, cars, bikes, retail stores, malls, etc. cropping up two-to-a-dozen.

In a country where the citizens have been so protective of their traditions and customs, international trends and cultures have invaded this space too, only by sheer force of overload. Be it the controversial Valentine's Day, Rose Day, Daughter's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Friendship Day, etc., the markets are flooded with relevant cards and gift articles enticing consumers with offerings in all price ranges.

"Forced conversions" and "marathi manoos" are a couple of new and already overused phrases that have cropped up over the last month or so.

While we are talking of the numbers game, how can we forget the many political parties eyeing that one chair "Kissa Khursi Ka". In fact, Ekta Kapoor can make another "K" series of it. Besides, this would make an interesting reality show too!

The lay man is not a fool and can easily see through all the hogwash. Some much later than others, but we all get it eventually. No one can deny that information is good, but only as long as it is healthy; otherwise it sickens the very people to whom it is fed. We do not want to be known as a nation that has major digestion problems now, do we?