Why I followed the 'Baba' Part-1

With the aspirations of joining the electronic media as my career, I began my bachelor degree education in one of the prestigious institutions promoting training for the same! The institute, which boasted of big names in Indian journalism, passing out from its campus was indeed a lively campus to be in. With a year passed now, I had to do a summer project, to sharpen my journalistic skills! We were asked to present a report on any subject we liked, provided the subject had the following in it:

1. A very popular topic to write on, the more controversial the better.
2. No wasting time thinking on sentiments, be those of the people involved, or those of the people who read it.
3. The celebrity angle in your article, the better. Celebrities do not approach you, you have to approach them. If you can't reach them, do not worry about it....there are people who talk about them, who know about them. You can get the details from the people who are aware of the 'celebrity angle' in your project.
4. Don't have any emotions. You are not supposed to think of the 'effects on the society' angle, from your news. Your aim and duty is to provide news to the people.You are not scientists to 'cite' your article....neither you are social reformers to think about the society.

So, keeping in mind the golden rules of modern Indian Journalism, I began my task of selecting a right topic for this summer assignment. The topic of Anna Hazare's fast was pounced on by a dozen 'hungry' journalist students from my batch. Some took care of the world cup victory. I began hunting for a topic, till I landed one day on a piece of news, which I would say affected the entire nation, in one or the other way. A prominent figure in one of the largest, yet under-covered Indian industry had just passed away. This Indian industry represented self-proclaimed, spiritual god-men....who by their claims and names have made a lot of money,and have a lot of followers- classes and masses alike. They claim to know the happenings of the society beforehand, while some of them have gone to the extent of producing gold chains from nowhere for people who at times do not get even a daily meal. But looked onto the other side of this, these god-men had a lot of following from the 'classes' of the society....and this following included people, who by themselves had achieved so much in their life that it was impossible to believe that they could follow such god-men! Needless to say after this, I was the one who unarguably, disapproved of all this 'baba-dom'! But then what about people, whom I considered my idols....it was a bit disturbing that they follow someone who claims that he or she is none other than God! So, after this self-proclaimed God-man died, there was a division in the Indian society. His extreme followers were at their sorrowful best, whereas his critics, preached that the Indian society is now better without this 'man'. I was a rational....but my policy was that 'A Rational is the one who should not only focus on why people should not do a certain thing....but also why people are doing a certain thing! Otherwise there is no difference between a 'rational' and a 'whiner.
Hence, I started to think from both sides of the coin......as why people, who have climbed the stairs of success themselves rely on the blessing of such people, what makes them believe firmly that they require such blessings! At the same time, there is no scientific basis of whatever these god-men did! I was not ready to entertain the fact that, by utilizing 5% of the donations these people got...they were claiming that they had done a lot of social service for the poor, with the allegations of sexual abuse and child abuse withstanding! So, being a rational myself....and going by the quest for 'reason', I decided to interview some of the personalities involved in worshiping these god-men! This became my summer project! This is what I got from my peoject:

1.. A famous Industrialist:

Me: Sir, what is the secret of your family running this company these many generations?
Him: I inherited this huge company from my family. In order to be at the top....in order to run this huge company, and in order to have a high profit margin going, I do and my forefathers always did a constant introspection! We aimed for perfection....and a slight imperfection always irked me! Hence, finer details were looked into, while taking a decision. We never compromised on smaller, finer details...and hence I think we were always at the top!
Me: Will you please elaborate?
Him: Sure! It was this company expansion program! We were planning to open a new outlet at Pune, which was going to be the largest of our firm so far. As a consequence, we had to have a large man-power over there! We invested wisely, so that we could divert the returns in that outlet, and each and every person in the work force gets a fair pay! This finer detail has led us to have a happy work force and we are proud that our 'fine' and 'perfection-oriented' thinking is responsible for this!
Me: And how did you encounter Baba?
Him: Many experiences. When one of my friend told me about Baba, I first did not take him much of seriously. But once, he brought me a 'vibhuti' from him, and asked me to keep that with me. He assured me that it would bring me luck. We were striking a deal with one of the companies overseas, so that we could send our employees to them. The company was not ready to accept our investments, as they were heavily taxed by their government for allowing foreign investments. Then, the next day, in the surprising turn of events, the government in that country waived that tax, and our entry in that country became possible!
Me: Could that be coincident?
Him: I do not know.....may be yes...may be not....it is impossible for me to answer that with surety!
Me: What about the controversies surrounding him?
Him: I concentrate on the positive aspects of him and as far as I know, I have had good experiences of him. Frankly speaking, who has time to ponder over these issues?

2. A top rated Vocalist:

Me: Congratulations Panditji, for getting the Bharat Ratna award! How does it feel?
Him: Every day is the same, man! I just have to be perfect in my notes....make sure that the notes are not even a fraction improper. You know, my guruji taught me that if you hit a slightly improper note, it is like you are committing a serious crime!
Me: So, what is the reason for you getting the notes perfect?
Him: Practice! And more importantly introspection! After every concert, is a session of introspection......to see if I hit the perfect notes.....what combination of notes did I miss out...what combination of notes I will use tomorrow and so on! It is a never ending process for sure! Even I hit one note improperly, it results in sleepless night for me!
Me: To whom will you give credit for continuously being at the top and consistently giving hit performances?
Him: To my guruji.....as I always say....whatever good I am, it is because of him....and whatever bad you see it is because of me! Also my wife...who stood by me....my family...and all you people from the audience!
Me: And what about Baba?
Him: Oh yeah! His blessings are always with me! He has always blessed me and stood by me! Once during an interaction with him, I found his preaching motivational. He also gave me a sacred thread to wear. Tell you what.....after a couple of years, I experienced some problems with my voice. I used to hit notes....but notes...that did not appeal my 'self'. People used to appreciate....but within me...somewhere I found that there was imperfection. And as I said....imperfection for me is a crime! I began to grew restless. Frustration started creeping in, and then I planned to take Baba's darshan. Baba gave me a 'vibhuti', and surprisingly...within 3-4 months, I began to gain my confidence back. My voice found a new 'voice'....my music found a new direction. Desired notes, with the desired intensity began to flow...and most importantly, I gained my 'perfection' back!
Me: Could that be a coincident?
Him: But that did happen 3-4 months after I got the vibhuti....you cannot deny this fact! I experienced it myself!
Me: Ok! Let us accept that it did happen! But then what about the controversies that surround him?
Him: I go by my own experiences! I cannot deny what happened to me.....that is the reason...I do not generally believe in a controversy. And even Ram and Krishna did not escape controversy....did they?
Me: Alright Panditji! Thank you for the interview!

Beaming after getting an interview of two special people.....top in their respective fields.....I returned to my professor to submit a final report! But I was surprised to get his response! He had the following 'suggestions' to my report, as to have my base built for a successful journalist!
1. This report lacks people who have a huge fan following! Hence, if you make a news out of it....nobody is going to read it!
2. Search for a personality....who is loved by people all over India.....and write about him, such that people in a way get affected after reading. As a consequence....your article will be shared on social networking sites. And social networking site users have a tendency of desiring maximum comments and likes for their shared articles!
3. Such a personality has a very good fan following...but there is a section of people who are also 'irked' by the success of this personality. They have a tendency to criticize even a smallest 'error' by these personalities. They are also irked by the fact that these personalities earn too much, or are famous....whatever it is! But by writing an article about such a personality, you would invoke his/her critics as well as admirers! And what do we as journalists want? Debate!!! You will be famous instantly!
I still had two weeks for my submission. Hence, I decided to interview a famous cricketer.....whose fame had reached nooks and corner of the country. He, through his play and most importantly....conduct....had won accolades from an eight year old slum-dwelling kid to an eighty year old retired industrialist. What could be a better option that this....to gain some publicity....to be a trusted, favorite student of your professor...and also an upcoming, successful journalist of the future! I began to dream......my article getting shared on people's facebook walls.....it receiving....say...50o likes....or say....600 comments...700 shares......I was gonna be famous!!!