Once upon a time, there was ‘the’ Prince……

Article By : Amit Abhyankar
……..who fell in ‘the’ pit…..a very deep pit (55 feet to be precise…….53.29834 feet to be more precise………..16.1582 inches wide to be even more precise!!!), while playing, while running from North direction……or…….may be from North-West direction.

No, I am not joking. It’s just a glimpse of media coverage this event received. On Kurukshetra, while the little prince was fighting battle of his life, electronic media was busy marketing (or rather commercializing) the event, competing for maximum coverage.

I am not against media coverage of events such as these. I also fully admire the extent of rescue efforts taken up by the military and yes, they deserved the pat on the back. Value of every human life is immense; then it may be of ‘our’ Prince or ‘of Prince of Persia’.

But what bemuses me is the extent of electronic media coverage it got! 50 hours of almost non-stop media coverage! News as important as the ones related to Mumbai bomb blasts, Israel attack on Lebanon, the well-being of Indian people therein, Election Commission’s stand, Naxal attacks…………where were these news? May be in even deeper pit of disregard!

There’s no fault of the child in this. True. It was an accident. May be it was. But may be it could have been avoided. Were not family members, especially the mother, guilty of being careless enough to allow child to wander away? However, with so many children of her own and concepts like family planning, population control going for a ride, it might be easier said than done! Wasn’t it a mistake, a mistake which eventually earned the family a fortune? Yes accidents do happen inspite of all care. And even if we assume this was the case of pure accident, beyond anyone’s control, the aftermath of the event bewilders me even more!

No one (including the believers of ‘investigation journalism’) is bothered to find out who was at fault behind keeping the tube-well open or at least unprotected. There may be thousands of such open, dangerous pits all over the country waiting entry of thousands of more ‘prince’. But government isn’t exactly bothered about that. Giving couple of lakhs of rupees to ‘whipping boy’ must be easy for them rather than spending crores on prohibition measures.

I can understand the reward for the rescuers. They deserved it. But what’s the achievement of Prince or his family?…….that they allowed him to fall down the pit? Why was the ‘mistake of recklessness’ rewarded with a cash prize of lakhs of rupees? And too by the governments and some sections of media? Won’t this send a wrong message to the society?………Can’t maintain your child? Go ahead, push him down a pit, the government would rescue him & provide for his welfare! It may sound as a rude joke, but mind you, reality isn’t far away either.

Media often covers the pathetic condition of families of talented, yet neglected artists, of soldiers who died for our country, of social workers who spent their lives just to enlighten others’. If the media channels have lakhs of rupees rotting in their kitty, why don’t they spend them here, where they matter most? Had they given the same amount of money to farmers committing suicide in Maharashtra, may be they could have saved dozen of more lives!

But ifs & buts don’t dictate life, do they? The boy, thankfully, was saved this time and what’s more his family got undeserving reward for the mistake. But isn’t it a high time our government & media realise their responsibilities and live up to that?

The ordeal of Prince remains a part of history now, raising many questions for the future to answer!