Most of us realize that media thrives on sensationalism, whether it is a story of success or failure, wealth or poverty, serendipity or misfortune, exaggeration and distortion of facts is the key to more eyeballs. The one thing that we do not realize is that no media entity is beyond this tactic, not even the ones we trust to bring us the real picture, as I realized one not-so-fine Monday morning.
Usually it would be considered a huge privilege to be featured in the leading story of one of the most widely read and respected newspapers of the world but in my case it came more as a shock, not so much because I was featured in the story but more so because of how it portrayed me and how it made the use of the kind of sensationalism I have talked about above. I think at this moment, let me pause for a while and give you a chance to do some background reading, if you haven't already -
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/05/business/global/05rupee.html
Five years, three jobs, seems wild, doesn't it? What they conveniently forgot to mention is that a few of these changes were due to circumstances and the need to make a livelihood. Most of us post our resumes on to various recruiting channels like websites, consultants, etc. when we are looking for a job. Those resumes stay there even after we find a job, does that imply that we are constantly on the lookout for another one? Just another small piece of information that the New York Times did not consider worth mentioning. They didn't think it worthwhile to run the story by me before going ahead and publishing it.
The article talks about the fact that I bought three cars in three years, though I bought four and not three! - "In three years, he bought three cars, moving up a notch in luxury each time." It fails to point out that all of these were used cars, bought at about one third of their original price and also that I am an automobile enthusiast and I do this primarily because of my love for cars. In fact a few of these cars were bought at prices lower than what I sold my previous car for! If you can call buying a USD 8-10k car splurging on luxury then what the heck, I did splurge! the piece de resistance of this article is that it talks about me buying a motorbike for weekend jaunts, not realizing that this is India, not the United States, where people buy motorbikes to commute and not for fun. I've had this so-called "weekend jaunt" motorbike for more than 3 years, I bought it before I could afford to buy a car, you see and I didn't see the need to sell it. It's the same story with most of the things attributed to me and information is half-baked and incorrect.
Just in case you get the wrong impression, I am not trying to defend myself, no Sir, any kind of publicity for me at this time is only good publicity. Despite being laid off, at some level I also feel sorry for my ex employers, General Electric Co. as even they have not been spared by these sensation seeking merchants, or so called journalists. Yes, things are bad and I am the first one to realize that the going is not as good as it used to be, but that does not give the license to anyone to go around the world proclaiming doomsday is around the corner. As a wise man once said, "With great power, comes great responsibility", though to be honest I have heard this in a movie, I guess most of you know which one!
