Even as the world serenades India for its magnificent accomplishments, Indians, especially the media, have turned churlish, almost carping, about the country. It is a measure of our distorted vision that we compete with one another to run the country down in every sphere. The media takes vicarious pleasure in depicting India as a place where a crook lurks in every nook and sexual predators stalk women night and day. It would be naïve to suggest that much of what is brought to light is untrue. But, with TRP-hungry TV channels jostling for eyeballs, such stories are often deliberately blown totally out of proportion and footage played repeatedly with the intent to titillate rather than reform mindsets. Perhaps "national interest" is rather a clichéd term and rightly berated by informed citizens because successive Governments have used this umbrella phrase to cover up their murky doings. However, there are occasions when we react with disproportionate indignation to issues without pondering their implications.

For example, during the 2001 standoff between India and Pakistan following the terrorist attack on Parliament, the media went to town speculating what would happen to Delhi if a Pakistani nuclear device were to hit the National Capital. No Editor in his right mind would have actually believed this to be a serious possibility. But we all fell for it and portrayed a completely unreal doomsday scenario, which in turn impacted foreign investment and tourist traffic. I, too, plead guilty of running a cover story in our Sunday Agenda section on this theme, although on sober reflection I should not have succumbed to the herd mentality. The Pioneer takes pride is standing apart from most mainstream publications by virtue of its commitment to a value system and this was a rare occasion when we slipped.

Some years back, several publications went on an overdrive to prove how unsafe India's BPO industry was because some jerk in the employ of one such organisation was tempted by a hefty bribe to sell confidential data to an undercover British journalist. For days, we were bombarded with reports on the absence of integrity of BPO workers; we virtually canvassed with foreign companies to abrogate their contracts with Indian firms. Only when it was revealed that the story was planned by a tabloid with the sole purpose of adding muscle to the anti-outsourcing campaign in his country, did some sanity descend on the India media's hysteria. By then, the version of Indian firms had been treated with utter disdain despite their assertion that data was perfectly safe and mere sale of some names and bank account/credit card numbers would not enable anyone to access those and withdraw funds.

Indians get swindled every day by all manner of charlatans including foreign crooks who lure people on the Internet with fake claims of huge legacies left behind by fictitious millionaires. While those who fall for such patently spurious offers deserve no sympathy (for a fool and his money are easily parted), isn't it the duty of the media, police, political establishment and others operating in the public domain to raise a hue and cry and act firmly to banish the scourge? That never happens, but if any Indian indulges in underhand activity especially in sunrise sectors of the economy, all hell breaks loose.

That brings me to the provocation for this article. Much as I feel extremely sad about the shameful rape and murder of teenage British tourist Scarlett Keeling in Goa, I am also distressed by the masochistic pleasure we are deriving in running India down as a holiday destination. That Goa has become a rotten place with drug and sex peddlers pouncing on foreign tourists is a fact and a serious problem -- but it is our problem. We were not unaware this was happening right under our noses. What did we do to try to stop this? Every policeman, politician and mediaperson in Goa seems to know beachfront shacks where drugs are freely sold, paedophiles fix deals and frustrated middle-aged men and women buy sex. I am astounded that the Goa Police issued bland statements about the Scarlett murder stating that so-and-so "drug peddler" was seen with her frequently. If the police knew that "so-and-so" was a pusher how come he was merrily roaming about perpetrating the crime? And why are such sleazy beachfront shacks allowed to stay open all night and entrap foreign tourists when the law-enforcing authorities seem to know everything that goes on there? Is it any wonder that the police tried to cover up Scarlett's rape and murder by dismissing it as a case of drowning under the influence of drugs and alcohol while making light of her injuries saying she must have hit against submerged rocks while swimming in darkness?

The media has not even asked these questions. They are happy to repeatedly show the wayward teenager's semi-nude body lacerated by injuries. While blowing the incident out of all proportion the media has not even remotely pointed out that the girl was hopelessly addicted to all wrong things, probably because she had no family to exercise moral control and was done in by a "hippie" mother who disappeared to Bangalore leaving the teenager in the care of her freshly-found barman boyfriend. As the London correspondent of The Pioneer reported last Thursday, the British media has been more critical of Scarlett's mother than Indian authorities. The Daily Mail's columnist scathingly pointed out Fiona McKown's actions "in our planet is known as dereliction of duty". So, while insisting that the Goa authorities clean up the place without any further delay, demonstratively acting against all drug pushers, paedophilia promoters and other heinous criminals as well as their political patrons, we have no business scaring away foreign tourists from Goa or any other part of India. Without condoning the disgraceful molestation of some NRI women in Mumbai and two Swedish girls in Kochi during New Year's Eve celebrations, I wonder whether similar behaviour by hoodlums against Indian women in Europe and the US ever gets reported in the media there. And I know for a fact this happens routinely, especially in London.

Arguably, most Indian men consider white women willing recipients of sexual advances. Some reports from Rajasthan in particular suggest that many single women from abroad discover to their horror that their friendliness is interpreted as consent for sex. While promoting tourism the Government needs to tell visitors to observe some cultural caution, but it also needs to be pointed out that similar stories abound other tourist attractions including Thailand even now, despite the Bangkok's sustained effort at ridding the country of the "sex paradise" tag. When India is poised to emerge as one of the world's preferred holiday destinations, the much-maligned "national interest" demands the media stop exaggerating incidents with an eye to titillate and put such unfortunate incidents in perspective, demonstrating the maturity expected of a vibrant but responsible Press.

Courtesy: www.dailypioneer.com, March 16, 2008