TFI Footloose (travel diaries): I was watching Al-Jazeera yesterday; the news forced me to think that everything in the world is just wrong; yes, such tragic is the presentation from channel. As if the world will end tomorrow with the growing atrocities. Then I meet these German soldiers in a bar, introduced by another friend who I had just met. We quickly catch up and one among them starts sharing their story about how he was posted in Afghanistan for a year when they were supposed to reclaim a gas station held by Taliban. Their officer from home base asked repeatedly if the area was clear of civilians. After hours of to-and-fro of confirmation, they finally charged and killed the Talibans. The next day Al-Jazeera was claiming in the news that many civilians were killed in the attack, which according to the soldier was absolutely baseless. “This is how channels confuse the civilians”, he said. He also shared how they had to convince civilians there that the German army was there to help them. It was quite thrilling to listen to all those stories! For my return to hotel, I got in to a cab. In a few seconds the driver asked “Aap India se hain?”, one can imagine the happiness that stems from familiarity. Yes, I replied, “Aur aap?”. The driver was from Afghanistan! He was staying in Hamburg with his family and could use some lines in Hindi; a warm and courteous man. He shared his stories from Kabul and how he ended up in Germany for well-being of his family. Starting from news in Afghanistan, meeting the executioner and the victim, quite something for a coincidence! It was a different experience to understand the ground realities from real people, unlike what we get from government owned media, that are out for an agenda deviating significantly from their primary responsibility of providing genuine information – the Reality. - Yogi Raj
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 04:30:00 +0000
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