Thursday, May 22, 2008

Kannada is IN

Have you ever noticed? The number of Kannada songs played in the FM radio stations has dramatically increased. Before fever 104 was playing mostly Hindi and some English songs, but slowly it turned the Kannada way. The RJs started speaking in Kannada and the number of Kannada songs increased. Radio city has suddenly changed its face, from the past 1 month or so its mostly playing Kannada songs as against an hour of Kannada program. I wonder what triggered this change. I read somewhere that Radio Mirchi (which was incidentally one of the first channels to becomes pro-Kannada) wooed most of the listeners its way because of the Kannada flavour. I feel except for few parts of Bangalore where there is huge population of cosmopolitan crowd... hardly anybody else would listen to Hindi and English songs. Also off late the Kannada movie industry has suddenly woken up; as though it was just in deep slumber like kumbhakarana... the movies are better, the songs are even better; It has even managed to attract the biggies from bollywood.
Though I am proud of the fact that Kannada movie industry is doing so good... This pushing of Kannada through your nose is tad getting too much. I love the new songs no doubt about it.. but I can't hear the same song thrice in a span of 2 hours. If you tune into any station between 5:30 and 8:30 in the evening (at least that's when I listen to radio) you can hear the same old songs... "Jinke marina", "ninindale", "mugaaru maleye"... etc etc.., How much ever you like a song how many times can you hear it in a day?

Saturday, May 10, 2008

When a protective hand abuses you ...

I am touching on a very sensitive topic today. It was the shock of my life when I came to know that one of the girls I know has been sexually abused from a long time... when she was as young as 12. I am still trying to come to terms with the news. I know her family very well. They are very cultured and very well-to-do kind of family. She is hardly 16 now... and the culprit is none other than her own grand father. Yes the one she used to adorably call as "Thaatha". She is scared to death now to be in the house alone with that man. Initially she had not realised what has been happening to her. She thought he was just being "nice" to her. When the "niceness" crossed the limits she knew something was wrong. The man (I hate to call him even that. I would prefer to use the B word for him!!!!) threatened her that if she ever told this to her parents he will get them divorced. Being in a naive age she believed him. She shut her mouth. But this obviously affected her studies... pray tell me who can study well in such a state of mind? But then she had to bear the brunt this time as well... her parents scolded her for not studying properly. She started getting seizures.
She finally poured all her vows to me today. It is beyond my imagination that such a thing can happen in such a close proximity. I have somehow managed to convince her to focus on studies and try to avoid this man as much as possible. She has finally told her father about it a month back when her grandpa was visiting her uncle. Have to see now whether her father will let his father come home again and stay with them even after knowing everything or will he not.
I am trying to solve this to the best of my ability. I hope she gets the strength and confidence to come out of it and make a nice life for herself.
I wish the man rots in hell!