How Journalism becomes Powerless!

A report on the Deccan Herald daily said that in Kengeri area of Bengaluru, power supply was disrupted after a 40-year-old tree fell on a couple of electric poles.

In the last paragraph of the story, it says, "The electricity poles were expected to be replaced and power restored by late Saturday afternoon.".

I was reading this report on Sunday morning. That is, nearly two days after the incident happened. So, was there was no one in the newspaper who could confirm whether the power supply was restored on Saturday evening?

Would it have been better if the reporter had verified this and asked the desk to update the story? How difficult was this verification?

What does this silly lapse say about Indian journalism? Irresponsible or shoddy?

Read more at: https://www.deccanherald.com/city/bengaluru-infrastructure/a-dark-night-for-parts-of-kengeri-after-tree-fall-783655.html

The real state of Bengaluru parks

Bengaluru was known as 'Garden City' because of its greenery, tree-lined avenues and parks. Officially there are 1247 parks and many 'undeveloped' parks.

There is a park right opposite to my house. There are trees with bushy crowns, small trees, benches, and play area for children. In the mornings, I can see people of all ages walking, running, jogging. In the corners, lovers cuddle, pinch, squeeze, kiss and hug their emotions. In the evening the park gets noisy as children go wild, as expected like an unknown script.

But the nights are dangerous. As the yellow streetlights are switched on, lumpen youth get in. in the dark corners, they scream, smoke and drink and smash the liquor bottles. Youth gone wild.

The bottles, cans, and plastic covers are thrown around the trees and benches. A few are thrown out directed at someone's cars or bikes outside. Some are really creative: they throw the bottles under parked cars. Planting or destroying evidence.

The residents know. The tenants know. All have complained to the relevant authorities. No use.

There are dark areas in the park and anybody can do anything in there.

Typos in Job Ads?

Typos are everywhere. You know it better than me.

But typos in job portals? How can a well-known company justify it?

This one is from the lord of job networking, Linkedin:

This one is from a list in another job portal:

It is laziness that is 'written' over typos and not lack of knowledge. It does affect your brand. It is not a 'small thing' as developers and QA say. It is serious.

Is there a right to generate waste in our cities?

One of the reasons why garbage disposal remains chaotic, inefficient and unscuccessful in India is the fact that the people think they have a right to generate waste.

Once we create waste, we then decide to dump it on public spaces and wait for the municipal authorities to dispose it.

The following waste appeared one fine day right opposite to my house. Why did someone dump it here?

It took three weeks, multiple calls to BBMP, and then political help to remove the waste, as the corrupt garbage collector refused to remove it. If the responsible citizen had done some due diligence, should this tree waste could have been avoided?

Citizens get the garbage disposal they deserve. They should understand that they have absolutely no right to create waste, dump that waste onto the roads, and lament that the municipal authorities did not remove it. 

Redundancies in Newspaper Reports

In their enthusiasm to report the fire at the Bengaluru Aero Show 2019, the city's own Deccan Herald published a badly subbed copy with redundant expressions.

In a report titled Over 300 cars burnt as massive fire engulfs Aero India, the newspaper copy trieds its best to sell the story, but with some stale expressions.

The reporter does like the word, billow, which appears multiple times in the story.

Then comes a slew of expressions, just to hype the disaster.

In the Times of India also, there were redundancies galore in reports about the fire. The report says "an unextinguished cigarette butt or a short circuit" as probable reasons for the fire.

Cambridge Dictionary defines Butt as the "part of a finished cigarette that has not been smoked!"

Good English and Social Media

For such a simple sentence, this grammatical error is unpardonable.