SAMADOORAM – A TALK SHOW WITHOUT A TRUE PURPOSE & HOW I WASTED MY TIME!

Last week I was invited by Mazhavil Manorama channel to participate in the program ‘Samadooram’ as a panellist on the subject of pension age of Kerala Government employees. It is in the aftermath of the pronouncement of pension age of government employees being raised by the Finance Minister of the state; Shri. KM Mani, in his budget speech recently that this show was being shot. The person who invited me said that I have been invited to present the view of a private employer and an IT specialist on the subject. In fact I had been invited by Monorama News TV in the past on many occasions for participating in its news programs, particularly those related to Central/State Budget pronouncements. All the while I had been treated with respect and courtesy by the channel people and thus I didn’t have any apprehension in taking part in Samadooram.

On last Monday, as promised, I reached the studio by 10.30 AM. The person received me at the entrance and took me to the new studio built specifically for Mazhavil channel and to the makeup room to have some touch up done on my face. Thereafter I was led to the reception area with a request to wait for a few minutes. The reception area was very crowded and noisy. I also saw some of the co-panellists among the crowd. Then the wait started. In between I saw a person coming in and taking the panellists who are representing the political parties away to some place. Being an impatient person by nature and always one who keeps time and promises, I found this careless and casual attitude of the channel staff very annoying. I tried to talk to the person who invited me and he replied that the shooting will start ‘just now’. After 15 minutes, I walked up to the Production executive and expressed my annoyance. He said coolly that programs like this will have its delays. It sounded as if I desperately wanted to me in the shoot and he was doing me a ‘favour’! I simply walked out of the studio to my car to go back to my office and by then the person who invited me ran up to me requesting me not to go saying that the shooting is starting. With him I came back inside the studio and waited for another 15 minutes more to see the politician panellists being led to the studio. Obviously the survival instinct of the channel people was evident that they took care of the politicians well during the delay. Later I understood that the delay was on account of the program anchor reaching the studios late.

The shooting started at 12.45 noon. By then, I had waited here for more than 135 minutes! The program as cited earlier was ‘samadooram’ - a debate show. It was shot continuously without any break. The anchor person is the well-known Sreekantan Nair who was doing a similar program in Asianet TV channel for more than a decade. Fundamentally, it is a fun centric, satire sort of a show which is purely aired to give what the Malayali wanted, ‘sensationalism’. There is no real value for the content, facts and figures. It is about how the questions are asked and how the answers are elicited. I found Sreekantan Nair to be a street smart, witty person but very quick on the uptake. His presence of mind is very sharp too. He just picks up the tickling aspect of the answer and counters it with more tickle. The show had 8 panellists on one side and audience on the other who too could participate in the debate. In fact, except me, every panellist came with his cronies who sat in the audience to support and howl at the panellist as he or she spoke.

The subject was whether it was right for the government to raise the pension age. There were panellist from Youth Congress, DYFI, Yuva Morcha, Leaders of the Government staff unions belonging to UDF & LDF, a newspaper person and a candidate who is on the rank list of Public Service Commission and me. When it started, one or two questions were asked of me and I had answered the same. I wanted to partake in more and sought permission to speak but it was always the political people who were given preference over. Combined with the cadre in the audience, they were scoring brownies against each other and people who spoke facts were truly ignored. Particularly in the second session, I was just sitting there with no role to play with the UDF-LDF shouting match going on. By then, I did realize that the anchor was interested in that only. His mandate is not to prove or disprove anyone or anything but to make it more ticklish and sensational. The objective was higher TRP. The very reason for this channel to pull out Nair from Asianet to work for it, itself was to improve the viewer ratings.

It was by 2.30 PM the program ended. I just got out as soon as it was over. For me, it was an eminently forgettable show. It is not because I did not have the answers to give or matters to speak but it was not designed for me. It was just to make the politicians fight in front of the TV with cronies supporting them from the audience. In that objective, the show had succeeded but for me, what a waste of time it was!

I had taken part in many TV talk shows, news shows a, quiz programs & panel discussions in the past and had enjoyed being there. The very structure and objective of samadooram is different from the rest. It actually is a shouting match with controversial remarks that is never factual or content centric. Neither is it debated to find solutions. When I talked about IT employment, the DYFI members sitting in the audience howled at me to shout me down, saying that all the ills of the society is thanks to IT employment. (In a way he is true, for, subsequent to people getting into IT employment, its cadre strength is depleting periodically; yes, he has reasons to worry).

I must be careful in future while deciding to take part in similar programs. As a person who values time more than anything else, I felt truly annoyed by this channel guy’s casual attitude to other’s time.