Somerset Maugham advised the writers to sit in front of their typewriters everyday for one hour. Maybe it was to open the geyser of imagination. But again Valmiki, Dantes, Milton, Kalidasa or Tolstoy did not have a typewriter, but they wrote well. As such, the power of the pen was first demonstrated on the papyrus leaves during the early Egyptian and Babylonian civilizations. A king wanted to put his subject to death through his friend in another town. So he gave a note to his unsuspecting subject to deliver it to his friend. The King wrote on the banana leaf: “kill him, not spare him”. But the king’s subject met a Samaritan by nightfall (those days there were no cars) and the latter shifted the punctuation thus “kill him not, spare him” and saved a life.

English language, as such, is very funny. P-U-T is put and B-U-T is but - the sounds of the vowel ‘u’ are different. American English and Indian English is different regarding certain words like valor and color as we spell it with a ‘u’ after ‘o’. That apart, we Indians, those who work for newspapers and others who are groomed in the English language from birth, excel any European or American country in writing very good English and that too with an in-depth analysis. We learnt the English language from British colonial rulers, but today our media – newspapers like The Times of India, Hindustan Times, Indian Express can easily outshine the western press that is more of tabloids and lacks serious international news coverage. We mean to tell the world what Omar Khayyam said ‘ Oh ye wise, we arise, out of failures, dreams and disasters, we arise to be your masters’.

Our newspapers are planned in proper perspective. The Editor has power over the proprietor of the newspaper where the dissemination of news according to its importance  is concerned. As such this is ingrained in our Constitution, where the freedom of the press is minutely spelt out and no one can gag it. But there are exceptions. Newspapers and television channels and the radio may follow the dictates of the party in power in cases of natural calamities or war to refrain from creating panic. Cases like this do not infringe on the freedom of the press as it is done for the greater good of a great multitude of people. But, again, the freedom of the press, was infringed during Emergency by Indira Gandhi, in the ‘70s.

Certain news items referring to drugs, sex, promiscuity, rave parties could also come under the hammer, as these are read by adolescents. Here again this could be done with a joint meeting of the publication heads and Government. 

The English language newspapers have special columns like ‘wellness’ that deals with doctors’ advice on health problems, the commercial page that analyses and advises on  investment opportunities and gives a critical insight into the health of the Indian industry and business establishments and many more interesting features. Besides the editorial page exposes morals, corruption, indiscipline or even government irregularities. None is spared.

Our English language dailies rely on news agencies like PTI (Press Trust of India),  ENS (Express News Service),  TNN (Times News Network) and many others.

India has introduced a lot of media  graduate courses where a wide exposure for practical  reporting after visiting ‘breaking news’ sites is undertaken. TV journalism and radio commentators are also trained to deliver the goods. Voice, poise, personality, all-pervasive knowledge and of course high qualifications are the requirements that propel the aspirants on the national hook-up. Prannoy Roy, Sardesai and Barkha Dutt and many more like them are blazing a trail as fearless newsreaders and leaving a legacy of TV journalism for the posterity. Incidentally Barkha Dutt has visited the trenches where our jawans are fighting the enemy and defending the country on the snowbound slopes of the Himalayas.

The BBC and CNN have recruited Indian newsreaders and that shows the caliber of media graduates and enterprising youngsters that are churned out from English speaking schools and colleges.

We could have done much better but the unfortunate division of India on linguistic basis prompts the locals of a state to start their primary education through regional media, but when some of them realize the mistake a little damage is done as when they take English language seriously the accent is affected and some of them find it difficult to understand the language in full grammatical form. I remember an incident where an airhostess from Mizoram serving on Air India, was told by a passenger to serve him whisky on the rocks. Well she had to consult her supervisor to find out the meaning of the idiom to save the embarrassment.

I have visited the United States and Canada and the morning papers never impressed me - both in layout and news coverage. Indians, in general, share my view as here in India we get jam and butter on both sides of the bread. Foreign media does not give much space for the international news, and most of the newspaper carries local news like weather, traffic status on highways, trade and commerce of the country, market bargains and so on. We, in India, give a lot of importance to foreign news. For example, when the first WTC tower was hit we saw it live on our TV news channels and then we witnessed in disbelief the accurate hit on the second tower and the confusion and turmoil that levelled both the towers to their fiery grave alongwith thousands of Americans that had started work that fateful morning of 9/11.

Foreign media does not give much importance to happenings in Asian countries and seems to be biased. Maybe they think that whatever happens in Asia is of little consequence to their way of living or existence. Of course some news items that are damaging to our country and society and way of living are published and this does disservice to us. For example our illiteracy and poverty is highlighted with exaggeration. Maybe, now, as America enters the recession phase with criminal mismanagement of funds, they will  look up and see that Indian financial institutions were doing a better job with proper checks and balances.

Besides the media, our knowledge of the English language has helped us in our successes in the field of Information Technology.  Also  hundreds of call centers and BPOs  all over Bangalore and Mumbai, and other Indian cities process American migration of jobs to our shores due to globalisation. President-elect Barack Obama wants to maintain the status quo confirming our dexterity and their satisfaction of the work we do.

The highlights of English language media progress from inception: Print media started in 1780 when the dailies like Bengal and Calcutta Gazette and the Madras Courrier highlighted the British Raj in India. Screening of  moving pictures was started in 1895 with the advent of Lumiere brothers, and radio broadcasting started in 1927. The Times of India was started in 1838 and following the economic reforms in the 90s the foreign satellite  and cable channels were introduced and these added to our entertainment and  general knowledge. Around this time Rajiv Gandhi, the Prime Minister of India gave a boost to electronics and telecommunication industries and today we have 50 million telephone lines, 60 million internet users out of which 4 million are broadband internet users. Television is taken to rural swathes to educate the rural poor with projected TV screens. Besides India has satellites in orbit the INSAT series that relay many important English language programs.

Television and the radio host a lot of competitions and reality shows in English and this gives confidence to the participants to get rid of the stage fright and subsequently  after graduating they turn out to be very good news readers, orators, disc jockeys and master of ceremonies at prestigious shows.

Media in India, especially in the English language can break or make a person as it happens anywhere nowadays. President Clinton case was  highlighted due to the active media. Terrorism in India is controlled through active media as people are told through the TV and the press to be vigilant of their surroundings and report any suspicious persons or objects. Recently 29 unexploded bombs were found in Surat, Gujarat by the inquisitive public after they were told on the TV to beware of  the terrorist activities.

Thank God for media, we know what is happening around us and we can always preempt the next move made by the traitors of our land. Indeed, India, has come of age through the blessings of the English language media.