Bum-Lickers of West & Proud Slaves of English language/culture: SOUTH ASIANS

Tim Sebastian runs a programme called ``Hard Talk`` on BBC. Admittedly he does a good job. There are several of his kind in European countries and in the United States, but it is the BBC that is seen on Indian TV, which inevitably has made Sebastian a well-known face. Sebastian was in Mumbai the other day on an assignment. One would have thought that his arrival would at best be dismissed in one paragraph. But no, the English elite media fell head over heels in welcoming him. For nearly ten days he was constantly in the news as if he was some kind of celebrity. Had he visited Hong Kong or Shanghai or Beijing he would have been ignored totally. But in India he has to be made into some kind of hero. Bootlicking a white man is in Indian tradition. Just consider what news coverage Bill Gates got during his stay in India. In Mumbai both Gates and Sebastian were the talk of the town. Mumbai`s local celebrities wanted to be photographed with them. Poor Sebastian must have wondered what sort of country he was visiting. Can one ever imagine a Prannoy Roy or even lesser lights like Karan Thapar or Vir Sanghvi getting the kind of adulation even in Sri Lanka, let alone in the West? But then whose fault is it? Obviously of the English media, too often presided over by the `London-returned` or `Oxford-returned` and latterly of the `Harvard-returned` kind of bootlickers. Writes Gangadhar: ``If Indian media stalwarts were ready to sing the praise of Timji, they will surely get plum assignments from the (BBC) network which is now heavily India-oriented. New Delhi, for instance, is crawling with editors and former editors who would do anything to do a bit of lucrative `stringing` for the (British) Sunday Times or The Daily Telegraph.`` And for good measure Gangadhar added: ``If, by some miracle, Gen. Dyer came back to life, the Indian media would hero-worship him, feature him on Page 3 and recount his achievements over Jallianwallah Bagh. Former Governor Warren Hastings who faced impeachment in Britain for his corrupt dealings with the Indian princes would be lionized`` May be a little exaggerated, perhaps, but Gangadhar is right when he writes about the current crop of journalists whose colonial hangover continues to be a reality, fifty five years after the British left our shores. The Indian media still laps up stories of the sexual escapades of Princess Diana. In what way is she relevant to India, may one ask? The truth is that our media leaders seem to have little self-respect. When the European Union representative in Delhi issued a nasty attack on Gujarat and its Chief Minister Narendra Modi, The Times of India lapped it up instead of telling the representative to mind his own business and attend to the anti-Jewish activities of the EU`s member states. But no, The Times of India must respect the views of the white man. Fancy a Chinese newspaper permitting a foreigner`s anti-Chinese views to be published in its columns! Even for making fun of the newly-appointed Communist Party leader Hu Jiantao and calling him a `puppet` of his predecessor, the editor of a Southern China newspaper Shenzhen Weekly was sacked. The West fears China; but it has only contempt for India. And can anyone blame it for that?