Beyond Baba Ramdev

The media came in for another round of bashing a regular occurrence in our time of 24x7 coverage following the death of Swami Nigamananda Saraswati.



He died after a 114-day fast demanding action against quarrying in the holy Ganges at Haridwar.

Varun Bhardwaj pointed out that 'Baba Ramdev lay in a bed not far from Nigamananda, in the same hospital, but no one reported about the Ganga Crusader because that wouldn't generate TRPs.'

Kiran Kumar added: 'Nigamananda was fasting even as the Indian media drooled over the British royal wedding. What a sense of priorities!'

There was also this, from a certain Soumik Sen: 'Now, a multi-crore project will be announced and tenders will be floated.'

Speaking of rivers
India said it was seeking more details from China on reports that it was planning to divert waters of the Brahmaputra. Naturally, it became the second river to clog Twitter timelines. Sample comment: 'Could the Chinese actually divert the Brahmaputra? The day is not far when they will be able to empty the Pacific.'

Being Bill
The co-founder of Microsoft witnessed a surge of popularity following his 'pledging conference' for donors and partners of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation. The conference marks the culmination of a drive to raise billions to vaccinate 243 million children in the world's poorest countries.
u00a0
Most comments on Twitter were of this nature: 'What Gates is doing is amazing. Imagine if other rich people followed his lead? They could solve so many problems and still be rich.' There's a lesson there somewhere, for our many millionaires.

The last word
Here's why some celebrities ought not to have a Twitter account. I quote Preity Zinta: 'Busy as a bee these days. But never to busy to say a quick hi to my favourite people. Hi guys! Gotta run now. Bzzz Bzzzzzzz (sic)!t yet! Not satisfied!'

Lindsay Pereira is Editor, MiD DAY Online