Thursday, January 13, 2011

Media is getting irresponsible.

I seriously avoided writing about the Aarushi Story. It’s not my story to tell, to comprehend, to judge or to imagine. I can only feel sorry for a child's lost life, workers family broken and grieving parents. I cannot even fathom the pain the two families might be going through.
But, Today, I read Shobhaa De's take on the whole saga.... and it got me thinking- How freaking inconsiderate. How childish and how inconsiderate!!
She is charging the parents guilty without any proof
.

Quotes and My retorts:
De: "Grieving parents behave in a different manner. They are broken in spirit and rendered almost incoherent with grief at the loss of a loved one. An only child at that. Not these two, though....conduct displayed by Mr. and Mrs. Talwar appears a bit too calculated, even cold blooded to viewers."
Garima: Are you serious, you are charging the parents for the ghastly crime of their kid and you are saying the parents are cold blooded. Ms. De even says the ‘viewers’. I think she summarizes and goes over and talks about her view as the generalization of 'viewers'. Every grieving parent would deal with the issue at hand differently. If anything, I credit the Talwar’s for being steady and talk through it. It shows there strength in finding the truth.

De: "or a mother of a dead girl to project such steely determination during what must have been the most harrowing time of her life, seems a bit unnatural."
Garima: Again, the mother has not gotten a chance to grieve. It’s been over two years and no one knows why her child's life was taken. No one has been found, ever since the death there have been investigations, charges, leads, and more leads and more acquittals. She will have to be determined as to who did it. She has to be, else she will break down and cry and justice will not be delivered to her daughter! Hell yes, bow down to the mother for the steady pace!

De:"Their faces are stony, their eyes, strangely devoid of any emotion. When they mention Aarushi, they could as well be discussing their neighbor’s kid."
Garima: The Talwar's have to. They have not grieved, they have not said there good byes, to achieve the aim of finding the culprit, all they can do is cut off from the situation and deal with the day to day issues. No one will hear them through sniffles. They will only be heard if they shout!

De:"Here are two busy professionals - parents who claim they slept through the murders that were taking place a few feet away from their own bedroom. "
Garima: They had no idea that there kid will be slain in cold blood. They slept keeping their worries away. Probably peacefully knowing that everyone of their family is safe in the house. On any given night, at the end of the day, I am passed out as well. Does not make me irresponsible, just human.

De: "As of now, it’s a case of the perfect murder! "
Garima: This is the only thing I agree with Ms De. It definitely seems like a perfect murder so far.

-----

The reason Ms. De's post pissed me off, is “media trial”. Here is a person, a writer, a legend, in her own right who is going with the band wagon of 'Lets crucify the parents, someone needs to" What right, does ms De or the media, or you and me have to charge anyone guilty or not. They might have done it, they might not have. Don't judge the parents moves, mannerisms. They have a grief which none of us hopefully even have to fathom. They have a right to deal with the situation in the manner which makes them stronger and willed.
For a person like Shobhaa De, who has a huge followership and a respected stand, knowing very well that what she writes, will be considered golden, it seemed rather callous to go and make bold judgments as a third party. If nothing else, it seems very immature.
Where is the age old concept of "Innocent until proven guilty'

12 comments:

Archie said...

This is like the most absurd post I have read on the case, even including those who do not consider the Talwars to be guilty.

Garima said...

@ Archie,
Thanks for stopping by,.. I 'd really like to know why you think this is absurd.. My point simply was.. people in places of power and following should really use there word wisely.
Would love to hear your thoughts.

thoughts@ease said...

Hey Garima, i came here through Shobha's post..!!

m not an avid Shobha De' fan but i agree to the point she made on her take at this story..!!

Aparna said...

hi Garima! Reading this blog of yours for the first time - I wholeheartedly agree with what you said. I read Ms. De's article in The Week and it just made me so angry.
Who is she or anybody else to sit in judgment and decide the guilt of the parents in this case? Even if there's a 1% chance that they are innocent, imagine the trauma they would go through to be assumed guilty, and possibly with the case looking like it'll be unresolved forever, they will go through this reaction from people all their lives!

Garima said...

@ Ease.. I actually enjoy Shobha's posts a lot. But somehow this one rubbed me the wrong way.
@ Aparna, Welcome.. you summarised it beautifully. To be charged "hopefully wrongly" of there own kids death, being under media attention is too much for a normal person to comprehend.

Unknown said...

@Garima: with all due respect, Shobha De is merely stating publicly what many in the delhi police, the CBI and indeed many of Mr.Talwar's own friends had been saying for long.

The volume of evidence against the Talwars is enormous: and yes, to their credit they have been putting up a vigorous defense and our culture, biased in the way that we are, takes this english speaking couple far more seriously as compared to our reactions when the 3 innocent servants were picked up for interrogation. Our reactions were very different then eh?

http://in.news.yahoo.com/the-untold-story-of-arushi-murder-case.html

Surya Kiran said...

All budding investigators ready to crack the case join aarushi_investigation at yahoo groups

Indian Home Maker said...

I agree with you. I also feel trial by media is absolutely incorrect.

About the way any parents grieve, if the Talwars wanted, they could have easily pretended to grieve with crocodile tears. Why didn't they make a great and satisfactory show of their pain? I think they were beyond caring about what anybody thought of them, and they were in shock.

Garima said...

@ Cougar... just because multiple people say the same thing, does not make it right. I am not here to figure out whether they are guilty or not, just stating that we should not judge the Talwar's onhow they grieve or not grive or how they cope up with their pain.

@ Surya... i will let the Indian Police do there bit

@IHM.. Thanks for stopping by, it is an honor. Yes... they were in shock and we only fathom what must be going through there head

padmam said...

I agree with you whole-heartedly. I have just been reading Tehelka's article THE HOUSE WE blew down. It moved me deeply. In my mind, there can be no greater tragedy than the loss of a child. And this couple are being put through so much worse than that. I wish Ms De would have the decency and the sense not to sit in judgment on people she doesn't know.

Shail said...

I agree with you. People grieve differently. Sad that someone like Shobha De cannot see that fact.

Boleyz said...

Even though I have always liked Shobha De's articles, this particular blog of hers irritated me even before I read your comment and post thereafter. You have very aptly stated exactly how I felt. I was shocked reading Shobha De's article and absolutely disgusted that an acclaimed journalist like her could write such an immature and biased article.