Delhi’s Vada Pav Girl and Kumari Aunty – where are we heading?

 

There was a time when journalism was a noble career and journalists worked for years without becoming famous. We have had very few known faces.

Smartphones made everyone a journalist, a video editor, a TV producer, an anchor, and the deliverer of News and importantly judgements. There is no course on Smartphone journalism, and it is like the Wild West – Anything goes. People simply shoot what they want and upload. There is no editing and everything is extremely raw.

The example of smartphone vultures feasting on businesses is a dime a dozen. The small businesses thrive on whatever publicity they can get and invite these vultures to take videos and reels of their businesses. After all, it is free publicity. The business owners have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Some small businesses may give paltry sums or a free meal, but most don’t.

Kumari Aunty a small street food vendor  gained prominence over the last two years in social media with her witty commentary and the way she serves her customers. No one knows about the taste, but the cost of a meal was very reasonable.

But things spiralled out of control and her place of business became a traffic hazard. GHMC moved in and seized her business. This led to a hue and cry and Chief Minister Revanth Reddy intervened and let her restart her business.

The flip side is Kumari Aunty has become a celebrity and many real and wannabe celebrities queue up at her stall. Kumari Aunty appeared  in a  TV show, Suma the well-known anchor spoofed her and Netflix wants to do a documentary.

There are also news items that people are coming over from neighbouring states and even from Bangladesh to savour the dishes made by Kumari Aunty. Is it worth it?? I am sure it is not, but this is the hype that social media creates.

The problem with untrained smartphone journalists is that they have minimal comprehension of the actual issues that the society is facing like corruption, the elections, women's safety, environmental pollution and water scarcity.

They see Kumari Aunty getting famous and hundreds take their mobile phone and raid her humble food joint. It is a great inconvenience to the customers, the traffic on that road and poor Kumari Aunty herself.

Has Kumari Aunty gained? I would say yes, and no. Gained publicity but made many enemies too. She now regrets her popularity and her latest videos show a very sober and restrained Kumari Aunty.

The recent hype created around Rameshwaram café in Hyderabad came up a cropper. Many felt that the taste was not the same as in Rameshwaram, Bangalore and that the prices were high. But the food vloggers made their money, and no one was wise that most of the reels were paid for. The social media posts  were as synthetic as plastic roses.

The other social media sensation is the Vada Pav girl from Delhi. Vada Pav, dubbed the Mac Pav of India is the humble, cheap, and fast-moving street food snack from Maharashtra. There the Vada Pav sells for 10 - 15 rupees.

Delhi’s Vada Pav girl realized that there was a gap in Delhi Street food. Delhi street food fare is mostly North Indian, with roti served with many side dishes. Otherwise, it is the traditional South Indian snack food, Idly, Dosa and Vada.

The Vada Pav girl cashed in. Her charming persona her story (came from a middle-class family) her struggles captivated the social media journalists.

So far so good. All the buzz and fame attracted more vultures and more customers who wanted to bask in reflected glory. Her videos where she is beseeching  the customers to come in two lines made it to the top of social media charts. Yesterday she got into a huge fight with a YouTuber which gave her a lot of negative publicity.

Just like any new celebrity she is not able to handle the fame and gets into frequent fights both with her customers and with the social media journalists. And the Vada Pav at her place cost a whopping Rs 50. But Indians being Indians they shove, push, and create bedlam at her street food joint.

They all want quick service, and the Vada Pav girl is not able to control the crowd. The beauty of street food is that the overheads are low, places are cramped and the owner himself/herself  handles everything themselves.

The minute it becomes a regular hotel the charm is gone. Ram ki Bandi has posh outlets in many places including one in KPHB. The KPHB “Ram Ki Bandi” has the spic and span look of any upmarket hotel but hardly has any crowd.

The charm of Ram ki Bandi is the bandi itself. Mithun’s (Mithun Chakravarthy is often called “Poor man’s Amitabh Bachchan) fan base is different from Amitabh Bachchan, If Mithun pretends to be Amitabh, he will lose his loyal clientele and will not attract  Amitabh’s fans. 

This social media circus must stop. Let us not like, share, and subscribe to these types of YouTube channels. Once they don’t get what they want this type of unsavoury social media reporting will cease. 

The Human Mind is a tricky Thing - To Watch or not to Watch!

The Human mind is a tricky thing. It makes us believe what we want to and what we believe becomes a fact and later a theory and finally a stereotype.

This in marketing is referred to as the trinity of Selective Attention, Selective Retention, and Selective Absorption. Let me illustrate.

I always believed that watching a sports match live or even a live telecast is bad luck for the team that I support. I remember Sachin scoring 186 at Rajiv Gandhi's Cricket Stadium in 1999. Dr.C.R.K Reddy and I had tickets but I refused to see Sachin in blood as I believed that my attending the match would give him bad luck.

I am not alone in this belief. Anand Mahindra of Mahendra and Mahendra and Amitabh Bachchan also believe the same. It is said that Amitabh would sit in the adjacent room and Jaya or Abhishek would relay the score.

Now with the internet, we sometimes sneak in the score surreptitiously but let me assure you with a guilty mind. To cut a long story short, Sachin scored a magnificent 186 and CRK Reddy was thrilled to watch it live. I was delighted too. I felt that It was my not seeing that allowed Sachin to score 186. If I had attended the live match he would have scored a zero (I sincerely believed that).

So I refuse to see any match where there is a lot of stress, Which means that when India is facing difficult times I would switch off. The same is the case with SRH matches or any other teams that I support. I prefer watching the highlights. The tension of close matches is too much to bear.

But things don't work out the same way as we want. Recently I had inspite of my apprehensions watched the European Championship semifinals first leg match between Real Madrid and Manchester City (I am a big fan of Manchester City). To my delight, Man City won the first leg 4-3.

The second leg was slated at 1230 hours midnight and I gave it a miss, citing to myself the famous excise "If I watch they would lose".

The next day morning the news was very disappointing. Man City lost and that too in a very dramatic fashion. They lost in a cranage that lasted just 3 minutes in the end. Real Madrid pumped in 3 goals from the 89th minute to the 92nd minute.

I was disappointed and my theory is not proving to be correct always. I even consoled myself by saying that the team lost during the regular time itself. That is in the injury time. That I declared was "pure bad luck".

But when I watched the highlights today on Sony LIV, I was taken back. At the end of the regulation time, the teams were tied 5-5. Extra 30 minutes were given and Real Madrid scored in the 2nd minute of the 30-minute extra time. So the loss was not as dramatic as I imagined. Manchester City has 28 minutes to claw themselves back into the contest but could not. So the better team won, Better luck next time Manchester City. And me, I am confused, "to watch, or not to watch"!

Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) - the new Avataar!

Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) is back and it is nice to see the debonair and suave Amitabh Bachchan guiding the gawky, sometimes terribly insensitive and awestruck contestants through their paces in the hot seat.

One contestant in her nervousness referred to his goatee as a Bengali flower and it almost threw Amitabh off guard. Amitabh being the street smart performer that he is parried the quip effortlessly and carried on with the show with aplomb.

But the way the show is being conducted has changed and changed drastically. Amitabh takes on issues like women empowerment and waxes eloquently. I wonder if KBC the right forum for such issues. KBC is a fun filled jackpot laced with tension and drama and let’s keep it that way.

Amitabh is pouring on the glycerin and KBC is like a tear jerking soap. The effort of a lady who overcomes all odds to come to the hot seat is great theatre but Amitabhji the veneer is wearing off! And some of his cues are not being taken up.

Amitabh was at his best when it came to his tribute to a legend – Rajesh Khanna.  Amitabh very magnanimously commented that Rajesh Khanna was the best and the most idolized and mobbed film star ever and expectantly looked at the contestant. The contestant looked on.

A trifle disappointed Amitabh said that he and Rajesh Khanna acted in many blockbusters including Anand. He may be expected that the contestant would ask him about the famous dialogue of Rajesh Khanna in the movie Anand. Again the contestant did not pick up the cue and with a resigned look Amitabh carried on with the show.

It would be very interesting to find out if the show would get good TRPs this time around or would it be an also run.