[Assam] an IIM-A grad's bias against NE contestant in SaReGaMaPa show

[umesh sharma]

http://sify.com/news/othernews/fullstory.php?id=14147233

Sa re ga ma pa? Na!
By Rashmi Bansal
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The ‘finals’ of any sporting event is fraught with glorious uncertainty. Anybody can win. Even if the contest is lopsided, even if one team is far more fancied than the other. Upsets can and do happen. And that’s why we tune in.

The finals of a ‘reality show’ however, are quite a different story. Friday night is the final showdown on Zee’s Saregamapa Challenge . But no matter how well 17-year-old Vinit sings, the result is a foregone conclusion. His rival Debojit has been getting a record breaking number of SMS votes for many weeks now. Nothing wrong with that, except that 80 per cent of those votes come in from Assam. And Debojit is Assamese. Check out the latest videos from Saregamapa Challenge

I’m not saying Debojit is untalented. But is he the most talented? We’ll never know, because a huge number of people are choosing to vote not for ‘India ki Voice’ but ‘the boy from Assam’. Without giving the other contestants a fair hearing, a sporting chance. Listen to Debojit's songs

In that sense, the show is truly mirroring reality. India votes for its singers the way it votes for its politicians! Merit matters less than the fact that the candidate is from my mohalla/ community/ state. Discuss: Public voting in reality music shows is a joke

The only difference is that in political elections, you are allowed only one vote (at least in theory). Here, you are encouraged to stuff the ballot box i.e. send in as many SMS votes as you want! And those taking advantage of that offer, sadly, are voting for all the wrong reasons. Listen to Vinit

Take the choice of Qazi Touqeer for Fame Gurukul. His puppy dog eyes and vote-for-me antics made him the darling of SMS voters. Never mind that he -- literally -- could not sing! Anyone who has seen his first video with the equally untalented Rooprekha will vouch for the fact that his fame ain’t gonna be very long lived!

Is this wise? In his book Wisdom of the crowds author and columnist James Surowiecki argues that “under the right circumstances, groups are remarkably intelligent, and are often smarter than the smartest people in them”. In short, a crowd's “collective intelligence” will produce better outcomes than a small group of experts. Find out who will be the next Indian Idol

He proves his point by citing several examples. Like the TV studio audience of Who Wants to 'Be a Millionaire' guesses the correct answer 91 per cent of the time, compared to 'experts' who get it right only 65 per cent of the time. Of course, the idea of ‘wisdom of the crowd’ is an old one, first advanced by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle in the fourth century BC. In fact, it is the very basis of democracy.

The wisdom of the crowd operates on a simple principle: while individual every member of the crowd could be hopelessly foolish, in a crowd the mistakes are likely to run in all directions and cancel one another out. Thus leaving a sound judgement in the final analysis. But, when one set of people is determined to vote led by a personal bias or passion, these mistakes don’t get cancelled out. For more columns CLICK HERE

The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) not only launched an all-out campaign for Debojit across the state, it has roped in several organisations to drum up support for him in the north-eastern states. While Vinit from Lucknow has no such ‘fans’.

Because to people in UP he is a merely a singer, a conestant. To the people of Assam, Debojit means something more. He is a new and potent symbol of hope in the strife-torn state.

Apparently, Debojit’s presence on Saregamapa has helped to bridge the decades-old linguistic and cultural divide between the two geographically distinct regions of Assam — the Assamese speaking Brahmaputra Valley and the Bengali speaking Barak Valley.

Unfortunately, it is also a symbol of the deep disconnect between the North East and the rest of India. “There has been a conspiracy to oust him from the show. This is yet another instance of how north-easterners are neglected and sidelined in mainland India,” said AASU Advisor Samujjwal Bhattacharya to the Deccan Herald.

He goes on to exhort: “Let us all vote for him so he can foil these conspiracies and win the contest.”

If only it could make a difference Qazi Touqeer was voted the winner of Fame Gurukul – and he received over 4.4 million votes from people all over India, not just Kashmir. Did that convince the people of Kashmir that we think of them as ‘one of our own’ and vice versa? Unfortunately not…

The rest of India did not donate as generously towards earthquake relief in Kashmir as it did after Gujarat, or the tsunami. And the Hurriyat has once again rejected talks with the Indian government. One Qazi cannot bridge decades old distrust! And yet, as Malcolm Gladwell argues in the ‘Tipping Point’, sometimes small things do make a difference. Perhaps the fact that separatists are using their thumbs to send smes instead of pulling the trigger does offer a ray of hope.

The AASU leader is quite correct in lamenting that the Northeast has not got its due. The equation must be fixed. The wounds must be healed. Debojit will have to play the role of healer, in addition to singer. As for the contestants who have been voted out – perhaps unfairly so – they have nothing to worry. Although it may sound like a cliché, ultimately everyone is a winner.

Last year’s Indian Idol runner up Amit Sana charges Rs 2-5 lakhs for a show and is also doing playback singing. Vinit will surely do the same. The objective of ‘getting a break’ has been achieved. It is, in fact, Debojit who will have to work far harder to prove himself in the industry. To counter the feeling that use toh jitaya gaya hai.

Reality is – after all - far more complicated than reality shows. Here’s hoping Debojit does not end up winning this battle but losing the war. I say this, on behalf of all Indians.

The author is an IIM Ahmedabad graduate, co-founder and editor of the popular youth magazine JAM . She can be reached at rashmi at jammag.com


Umesh Sharma

Washington D.C. 

1-202-215-4328 [Cell]

Ed.M. - International Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University,
Class of 2005

http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html (Edu info)

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ (Management Info)




www.gse.harvard.edu/iep  (where the above 2 are used )
http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/



http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/