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Time of India
4 days ago
- Health
- Time of India
What procedure did Stalin undergo? It doesn't matter
If Indian politics is a theatre, Tamil Nadu is a multiplex. Where cigarette flicks and dark glasses are the perennial symbols of style and substance, sycophancy does a tandava over psephology. And with the players ensconced in the ministerial thrones in Delhi, it is no longer just a southern delight. Arun Ram, Resident Editor, The Times of India, Tamil Nadu, who alternates between the balcony and the front row, says it incites as much as it excites. During the intervals, he chews on a bit of science and such saner things. LESS ... MORE Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin has been in hospital since July 21. Newspapers, including The Times of India, quoting medical bulletins from the hospital, said he underwent investigations, including a diagnostic angiogram and a therapeutic procedure to correct variations in his heartbeat. Soon, there were discussions in some circles about why we hadn't specified the therapeutic procedure (as a Tamil daily had). Some said newspapers didn't have the 'guts' to report the details. I beg to differ. We knew exactly what the procedure was. It was an informed decision not to go into the details, following guidelines on patient confidentiality. Would we have followed the same guidelines if the patient were not a VIP? The answer is yes, unless the procedure is news (here, again, the patient's identity would be revealed only with consent and if it adds value to the story). Has the media always followed these guidelines? No. In the early 2000s, a news magazine had A B Vajpayee on the cover, with the headline that read something like this: How healthy is our PM? It had a photograph of Vajpayee – as in an anatomy textbook – with a dozen body parts marked with specific ailments. I don't remember Vajpayee protesting. He lived another 15 years or more. Things have changed. Today, the mainstream media follows internationally accepted guidelines while reporting on the health status of people. Shouldn't the public know about the health of public figures, especially those who make decisions that impact public life? I believe we should know how healthy our lawmakers are, but we aren't entitled to their diagnosis sheets. And here comes the importance of official health bulletins that give out ample and accurate information without breaching patient confidentiality. The medical bulletins on Stalin kept this promise. It said the results of the procedure were normal and the chief minister would resume work in two days. Not all medical bulletins are forthcoming when the patient is a high-profile person. Senior journalists who have covered former chief minister M G Ramachandran's health remember the hospital putting out regular health bulletins that gave necessary information. But after his return from the US (where he underwent treatment) in Feb 1985, information dried up and speculation ran high. MGR made several more visits to the US for treatment and died two years and 10 months later. Medical bulletins during J Jayalalithaa's hospitalisation were sometimes inaccurate and misleading. On September 22, 2016, a bulletin said she was hospitalised with complaints of fever and dehydration (it turned out that she had fainted at home); two days later, it said she was on a normal diet. On September 29, the hospital said the CM was recovering well. On Oct 6, a bulletin said she was on respiratory support. Her condition see-sawed between then and her death on December 5, 2016 (On November 13, Jayalalithaa released a statement saying she had 'taken rebirth because of people's prayers'), but probably on orders from the patient or her caretakers, the hospital sometimes played down the criticality of her condition. The worst a bulletin can do is give inaccurate information. We don't expect the hospital to go on record when a public personality undergoes such a critical procedure as, say, ECMO (when machines take over the functions of the heart and lungs), but it is imperative that the media is informed about the seriousness of the condition. A good health reporter has no difficulty in keeping track of a VIP's condition in a hospital. What a newspaper does with the information depends on how responsible it is – to the patient and the public. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
Time of India
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
How politicians and public figures are fighting fit
If Indian politics is a theatre, Tamil Nadu is a multiplex. Where cigarette flicks and dark glasses are the perennial symbols of style and substance, sycophancy does a tandava over psephology. And with the players ensconced in the ministerial thrones in Delhi, it is no longer just a southern delight. Arun Ram, Resident Editor, The Times of India, Tamil Nadu, who alternates between the balcony and the front row, says it incites as much as it excites. During the intervals, he chews on a bit of science and such saner things. LESS ... MORE The counting started at 22. Twenty-three … twenty-four … the announcer went on, as the 73-year-old man in a white T-shirt and black tracks did pushups on a school stage in Madurai on International Yoga Day past Saturday. At the count of 51, governor R N Ravi stood up, dusted his palms, and walked away. Purists may say push-ups aren't part of yoga, but then the former IPS officer had just demonstrated how yoga helps him keep fit – and strong. Politicians have a gruelling routine, waking up early to meet and greet people, holding endless meetings and traveling extensively. The daily schedule itself is physical exercise, but for politicians to keep going, they need to inculcate the habit of structured workouts. And many of them are doing it in good earnest. Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin walks, cycles and occasionally does weight training. When he came for The Times of India's Happy Streets at Anna Nagar on Aug 23, 2022, I asked him if he wanted to walk just half the street and go back. 'I want to do the whole thing,' he said, and went on to walk the almost 2km stretch, stopping intermittently to play basketball, badminton and table tennis. When I told him I was impressed by his fitness level, Stalin whispered a joke: 'You know, when I go abroad with my son (Udhayanidhi), some people who don't know us wonder if we are brothers.' I pulled his leg: 'Who's the elder brother?' Udhayanidhi, 47, says his busy schedule as deputy chief minister has robbed him of his gym hours, but he plays badminton. Actor-politician Vijay, who has worked himself out for his first profession, may find it useful to maintain his physique for the more taxing second profession. Unlike many politicians who don't play the game despite presiding over the apex bodies of those sports, PMK leader Anbumani, who is the president of Tamil Nadu Badminton Association, is a regular at the badminton court. NTK leader Seeman's gym videos have gone viral, not just because of his comment 'I do a thousand reps (of bicep curls with dumbbells) when I get aggressive'. Among the previous generation politicians, Vaiko, now 81, kept himself fit playing volleyball even when he spent 18 months in prison during 2002-2003 for making pro-LTTE speeches. According to Sudesh Verma, the author of 'Narendra Modi the Gamechanger, the 74-year-old Prime Minister rarely skips his morning walk. He also finds time for yoga and meditation. Among the younger lot, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, 55, is a black belt in the Japanese martial art of aikido. Union sports minister Kiran Rijiju is a fitness freak who posts workout videos on his social media handles. Congress leader Sachin Pilot, 47, runs marathons, and plays cricket and football. NCP MP Supriya Sule, 55, cycles and does yoga regularly. Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy, 55, is a football enthusiast. BJP's Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya, 34, trumped them all, completing the Ironman 70.3 challenge in Goa last Oct that included 1.9km swimming, 90km cycling and 21.1km running. The caricature of politicians as potbellied old men in white kurtas is passe. It's high time our cartoonists drew politicians as fit and fashionable men and women. Our politicians have realized the need to be in shape and flaunt it as part of image building. And that's a healthy trend that should inspire people to follow suit. Increasing scientific evidence points to how physical fitness fosters a sharp mind – and that's something a politician cannot lose, should he remain in circulation. As for our lawmakers, if a healthy body is a prerequisite to having a healthy mind, being fit should leave them with one less excuse for bad decisions. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
Time of India
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Take this pre-poll survey, win exciting prizes
If Indian politics is a theatre, Tamil Nadu is a multiplex. Where cigarette flicks and dark glasses are the perennial symbols of style and substance, sycophancy does a tandava over psephology. And with the players ensconced in the ministerial thrones in Delhi, it is no longer just a southern delight. Arun Ram, Resident Editor, The Times of India, Tamil Nadu, who alternates between the balcony and the front row, says it incites as much as it excites. During the intervals, he chews on a bit of science and such saner things. LESS ... MORE The next assembly election in Tamil Nadu is less than a year away, and political parties have kick-started their poll machines. Some of them sputter, some buzz. Some others grind, knock, chug and squeal. Beneath these noises, IT wings and strategists are at work, churning out videos glorifying their leaders and clients, and memes ridiculing their rivals. Before the big bandwagons roll out to kick up dust on roads less taken during non-poll years, here are a couple of new tricks up the strategists' sleeves. Surveys as strategy: Politicians – and their strategists – know that an election is, at the end, a game of numbers – the number of votes, the number of seats. So, why not throw some numbers at the voters before the actual ones are cast and counted? And often the answer is a survey. There are no good surveys and bad surveys; there are only true surveys and fake surveys. A survey is only as good as its purpose: If the idea is to understand the pulse of the voter and find some fundamental data for a SWOT analysis, you do a true survey. If the idea is to manufacture a fictitious strength of a party or a leader to boost his public image – and the confidence of the cadres – you cook up the numbers. Despite the hygiene of the numbers, both surveys have their utility. When it comes to surveys for internal analysis, confirmation bias and wishful thinking can jeopardize a party's strategies. Hence the importance of apolitical professionals (though sometimes a veteran politician with his ear to the ground can read the public pulse better than a young professional armed with AI and a battalion of data crunchers). Propaganda surveys are a different ball game where who delivers the message to the public is sometimes as important as what is delivered. How many of us would believe if a party says its internal survey shows a clear victory for it with a 40% vote share? Here comes the utility of a third party who is apparently not connected to the party. Wouldn't it be better if the propagator belongs to – or has a façade of belonging to – another group? So, here it was, a bunch of social media posts from a handle that identifies itself as a BJP supporter that says Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) will win the polls with a vote share of more than 40%. No prizes for guessing who was sending these links to journalists. Politicians as authors: Political leaders writing Op-Ed pieces in newspapers is a growing trend since Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bylines started appearing in mainstream media, including this paper. I find this a healthy development, irrespective of whether the pieces are ghost-written. There are a few decent writers among politicians; for those who aren't good at it, there is no harm in using a professional writer to put across your views in a newspaper to reach a discerning audience. When a strategy group approached me to contribute a political leader's article in this paper, I agreed, with the condition that it should be a piece of either opinion or analysis (that meets our standards), but not one masquerading as the other. If the politician's idea of having his name in the newspaper is to blame his opponents and launch a political campaign, we could well interview him (and there's always the option of advertising). Nobody expects an unbiased analysis from a politician, but every reader expects logic, reasoning and perspective from an Op-Ed writer, even if one doesn't agree with the author's points. The same applies to opinions. Here's wishing our readers a year of some engaging political stories. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
Time of India
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Let Kamal Haasan be loud and clear in our Parliament
If Indian politics is a theatre, Tamil Nadu is a multiplex. Where cigarette flicks and dark glasses are the perennial symbols of style and substance, sycophancy does a tandava over psephology. And with the players ensconced in the ministerial thrones in Delhi, it is no longer just a southern delight. Arun Ram, Resident Editor, The Times of India, Tamil Nadu, who alternates between the balcony and the front row, says it incites as much as it excites. During the intervals, he chews on a bit of science and such saner things. LESS ... MORE In Feb last year, this column analysed the possibility of Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) getting into an electoral alliance with DMK and Kamal Haasan being offered a Rajya Sabha seat. Kamal campaigned for the DMK-led front that swept the polls. Now that DMK has kept its promise, 'Ulaganayagan' is set to make an entry into Parliament. Whether one agrees with his politics or not, Kamal can perform well as a parliamentarian. Proud of his 'non-schooling', the actor is also a man of letters – written and spoken. Parliament, however, is not just a platform for oration. This is where Kamal will have to be more articulate. Drop that frown, let me explain. Oration and articulation are different skills, though one needs knowledge to employ both. Someone like Shashi Tharoor embodies a perfect marriage of oration and articulation while being a fountainhead of clarity. Articulation, in simple terms, is the art of expressing one's ideas clearly. And what makes an effective parliamentarian is his ability to express not just clearly, but substantiate his arguments too (indeed there are scores of MPs who make hit-and-run remarks under the name of parliamentary privilege). Was Kamal clear at the audio launch of his latest movie 'Thug Life' In Bengaluru last week when he said Tamil gave birth to Kannada? Yes. Did he substantiate it? No. When Kannadigas burst out in protest, Kamal said his was a 'statement of love' for Shivanna (Kannada actor Shivarajkumar). 'His father (Rajkumar) is like my father. We are a family, and so are the other languages.' Was there clarity? No. Kamal later said the debate should be left to historians and language experts. Touché! Kamal is at his best when he delivers straight messages, sometimes through storytelling. I consider some of his best performances have been on the Bigg Boss stage as the anchor showing overzealous participants their place (and it's not always prompted). Those skills may come handy in Parliament. Our Rajya Sabha has been vibrant with different voices, but most of the members from the fields of art, culture and sports have been virtually mute (Jaya Bachchan has been a delightful exception). Do you know that Olympic sprinter P T Usha is a member of Rajya Sabha? Ilaiyaraaja, who is heard in opera houses, is diligently silent in the house of elders. Sachin Tendulkar's debut speech in Rajya Sabha (demanding financial security for national-level athletes) was never delivered, owing to opposition bedlam over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's comments on his predecessor Manmohan Singh. Kamal's advantage is he is more political than any other film personality. His party may be conveniently called 'Maiam' (centre), but Kamal has been a proud rationalist and an unapologetic leftist, never shy of flaunting his ideology in his movies. 'Anbe Sivam' (Love is God), the 2003 Tamil movie that he scripted, is classic Kamal the communist. It sends the core message that's famously attributed to him much before the movie was made: I don't say there's no God; I say it would be good if there is God. And he has fought many a political battle even before entering politics in 2018. When some sections protested against Kamal naming his 2004 release 'Sandiyar', a term that colloquially connotes a rowdy of a 'dominant' caste, the actor put out a home-made video that dripped of caustic sarcasm at his adversaries. 'I may now name it 'summa' (nothing),' he said. Finally, he had to change the title to 'Virumaandi'. With such righteous anger and some rigorous homework, Kamal, 70, as a rational votary of Dravidian ideals and an advocate for greater federalism would find Rajya Sabha a new stage for his new avatar. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
Time of India
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Caste, corruption and coalition: How elections are fought and won
If Indian politics is a theatre, Tamil Nadu is a multiplex. Where cigarette flicks and dark glasses are the perennial symbols of style and substance, sycophancy does a tandava over psephology. And with the players ensconced in the ministerial thrones in Delhi, it is no longer just a southern delight. Arun Ram, Resident Editor, The Times of India, Tamil Nadu, who alternates between the balcony and the front row, says it incites as much as it excites. During the intervals, he chews on a bit of science and such saner things. LESS ... MORE Most Indian elections centre around three 'C's — caste, corruption and coalition. The Tamil Nadu assembly election of 2026 won't be different. And the winner will be the one who plays the three cards strategically, not always overtly. The two big players – DMK and AIADMK – which have their roots in an ideology that spoke of a casteless society, have been adept at political calculations based on caste. BJP is catching up. PMK and VCK have vanniyars and dalits as their vote base. NTK, the perennial loner, has made inroads into some dalit pockets, but Tamil sub-nationalism remains its core slogan with a limited appeal. DMK has made a head start on the caste front with the recent cabinet shuffle. The removal of V Senthil Balaji and K Ponmudy was inevitable given the potential harm they posed to the party, and M K Stalin used the opportunity to 'balance' his cabinet ahead of the polls. S S Sivasankar being given the additional charge of electricity was one way of placating vanniyars. S Muthusamy, who gets back the revenue-rich excise portfolio, hails from the gounder community (to which AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami and former BJP state president K Annamalai belong) that has considerable electoral say in the western districts. R S Raja Kannappan, a Yadava, has been moved to the forest ministry, making available the dairy ministry for the reinduction of T Mano Thangaraj, who can reach out to Christian Nadar voters in the south. AIADMK, which has been doing a balancing act, with gounders and thevars in leadership roles, too has enough representation from all castes to be fielded in the next election. BJP leader Amit Shah is known for his mastery of what is euphemistically called social engineering. So, it wasn't a surprise that when the party decided to move Annamalai out of the state party chief's post, the first choice became Nainar Nagenthran, an influential thevar and a former AIADMK minister from Tirunelveli. Dalits, who constitute more than 20% of the state's population, haven't been able to consolidate as a political force; what's left after divisions between sub-castes and supporters of different parties have aligned with VCK, making Thol Thirumavalavan a crucial ally of DMK. PMK, which has its prime vote base among vanniyars who constitute around 12% of the population, may not have many options than go with NDA as Thirumavalavan wouldn't be part of an alliance that includes PMK. The internal power struggle between its founder S Ramadoss and his son and party president Anbumani Ramadoss has diminished its bargaining chips. Coming to the next 'C', corruption is an issue that every opposition party loves as a poll plank. Though corruption in govt hasn't reduced, DMK has so far been able to dodge charges against some of its ministers. While the governing party may keep the tainted ministers out of the fray, silently communicating that the cases against them are from their alleged past deals and not during the present tenure, corruption may not become the deciding factor unless Enforcement Directorate succeeds in building a case out of the alleged `1,000-crore Tasmac scam and provide admissible evidence against any of the incumbent ministers. The third 'C' can work as a double-edged sword for major parties, especially DMK. As long as it is an electoral alliance, parties are happy with it; once it becomes a proposal for a coalition govt, worry lines show. In 2021, DMK won 133 of the 173 seats it contested, allowing it to form the govt on its own. If its tally falls below the 118-mark in the 234-assembly in 2026, coalition will cease to be a sweet word for Stalin. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
