Pyaar, Katrina , Rita and our Media...!!

Pyaar is not the "Hindi" Pyaar. It is the name of the cyclone that hit Orissa and Coastal Andhra Pradesh during the last week.

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEH20050921115204&Page=H&Title=Top+Stories&Topic=0



It is a Myanmarese word that means `flattened'.

The Cyclone caused a havoc in coastal Andhra.It caused a damage of 18000 Crores and claimed 54 lives, though not a great number as far as Indian media is concerned and 1000 people are missing .10 districts are flooded 1.4 Lakh people are evacuated. See this TOI report

http://epaperdaily.timesofindia.com/Daily/skins/TOI/navigator.asp?Daily=TOIM&login=sunnynu&AW=1127360342640

Our English Language media has just given superficial details of the cyclone. They dedicated "some" screen time for this coverage.

When you look at the Indian News Channels on TV, you really wonder which country you are living in.The screen time they dedicated to cover the news of Katrina in New Orleans is considerably much longer than what they dediceted for the coverage of "Pyaar", which incidentally ravaged our backyard.

I just switched on the TV to see how the relief work is going on...and I dont find a mention of "Pyaar" anywhere. They are busy airing the news of "Rita" that is going to hit Texas soon.

Our Indian govt has announced some aid to for the victims of "Katrina" with in no time. Why are they taking so much time to announce any aid to the cyclone hit areas in Orissa and Andhra? Our PM Manmohan singh is busy visiting the Lord of Tirupathi. Isnt he supposed to supervise the relief work there? What is he doing in Tirupathi at this time? Praying for his power to stay or is it a dictum from Her Majesty to go and check the 7 hills for the occupation of Evangelists??

Ohhh...there were some self proclaimed humanitarians who pledged their solidarity to the victims of Katrina ..all over the Internet. Where are they now? Are they pledging their solidarity to the victims of "Pyaar"?

The cyclone might be small compared to katrina and the aftereffects might be different too. But the loss of 54 lives is not small and the number of people who are displaced from their homes is also not small.

Or is it the efficiency of our Govt which made the cyclone look "not that serious"?