Thursday, November 27, 2008

Terror attacks at the Taj Hotel in Mumbai...

I couldn't believe my eyes this morning when I saw a familiar hotel with blazing fire from its rooftop. It was the Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai. It was burning yellow and red with lots of dark fumes arising from the blaze.

The first person I thought of was Ratan Tata, a good friend of mine. I immediately rang him at his residence and asked if he was doing ok. Thankfully he picked up the phone almost instantly with only one ring. He must have been by the phone all night as he mentioned that he didn't catch sleep at all. I managed a sigh of relief.

The Taj Mahal Palace brought me pleasant memories of Mumbai. It had a beautiful architecture and the service was just splendid. I wondered why was the Taj Mahal Palace chosen as the place to execute such terror acts. Afterall, it belonged to the House of Tatas.

Tatas are one of the very few conglomerates left that believes much in corporate responsibility. They are one of the few drivers of the Indian economy so why hit them? Wasn't this hotel built for Indians to show case that they weren't inferior to the British during the Commonwealth days? Did Indians forget that while other foreign owned hotels rejected them, the Taj Mahal Palace welcomed them?

It is sad but that is life. We know the House of Tatas will grow from strength to strength and after this ordeal,they can only grow bigger.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Horrible report

The New Paper published photos of an unsightly incident that took place at the Singapore Zoological Gardens and I felt really disturbed seeing those pictures of a man being mauled by the ever popular exhibits – the white tigers.

 

We don't know for what reason the man entered the exhibit area of the otherwise tame tigers but we know the reason TNP decided to splash such horrific photos and that was to boost sales.

 

I think it is very selfish on the part of the papers to publish these photos which might have already traumatized many visitors who witnessed the incident and what about the victim's family members? Do they want to be reminded of the visuals that they missed? I really don't think so.

 

Singapore's media authorities should step up with stricter controls of its contents published even on tabloid papers. I simply cannot believe a 6 page write up on the incident with full color is acceptable.