A toast to Tarun Tejpal!

So, just when you thought you had heard enough stories of  rape and sexual assaults and all that s**t coming of India, here comes yet another headline: Tarun Tejpal, chief editor of Tehelka - an Indian  news magazine that is known for its bold and honest journalism - has sexually assaulted one of his woman colleagues.

Now, sexual assaults are no laughing matter. And yet this one has me in splits. The reason is, this man Tarun Tejpal - one of the country's 'most respected' journalists (and also often seen as a panelist/speaker/chief guest at events organized to condemn rapes/violence against women etc) has figured out the punishment for his crime all by himself :  a 6-month long holiday which he calls "atonement".

Let Us Go Deaf!

Call it my sickness or obsession, but a day for me isn't complete without reading a bunch of  about 20 newspapers. Today, one of them, published from Bhutan, caught my eye with a headline: Deaf Nation puts Bhutan in it's travel map. Curious, I was soon digging into it. Turns out, Deaf Nation is a community of deaf people. Founded in 2003, deafnation.com - the website of the community calls itself "a trusted one-stop center for deaf and hard of hearing news." The site, among others, has travel videos shot on different locations across the world - all in the sign language. 

Its both sad and stupid that for over ten hundred thousand strong deaf community, not a single TV channels has an iota of space. Photo courtesy: Loghi Dei Progetti

As I toured the site, I was suddenly reminded of our good old state broadcaster Door Darshan (DD); every Sunday, on DD there used to be a half-an hour news show for people with hearing problems. As a kid, I always found it very amusing, to hear a newscaster reading the headlines of the week and then to watch another newscaster translating the same in hand movements that seemed both strange and mysterious.

I have not watched DD channel on a Sunday for ages and don't know if the show still continues. But what I know, and realized as a shock, that out of the 200+ Satellite and cable channels that we have today, not a single one has a single show for deaf people!