It's been the kind of week that comes in a country's history but once in while. The kind of week which makes your chest swell with pride and shrivel with shame. When was the last time an Indian hockey team reached a World Cup final? That an Indian cricket team beat Pakistan in Pakistan _ and then got more soundly lashed than criminals in Saudi Arabia? That an Indian rocket launched an Indian satellite into space (never mind, that it's a bit spaced out at the moment); and that there is, meanwhile, a major flare-up along the Line of Control in Kashmir?

Most of these events have been recorded on television. Imprinted on our minds as visual momentoes. We saw the PSLV rocket shoot into the sky; we saw Chauhan's shot sail into the silent crowds, we saw smoke from shooting across the Kashmir border. When Mr I.K. Gujral was asked in an interview with editor, Hari Jaisingh (DD1) to name the most memorable moment in his six months as Prime Minister, he said it was seeing the PSLV /satellite launch. Ask almost anybody else, and the reply would have been seeing Rajesh Chauhan do a Javed Miandad by swatting Saqlain Mushtaq for six. That one blow, redeemed Chetan Chauhan and erased forever from a nation's memory, a most cruel defeat in Sharjah even as it ensure victory at Karachi. Shame might have followed when Ijaz Ahmed singlehandedly humbled the entire Indian team, but we'd gone, we'd seen and we had conquered.

Television allows us to experience such moments of national catharsis. Anyone who says that its influence is slight, piffling, should meet a 9-year old girl who declared with some passion that she hated Pakistanis. Why? Because they threw stones at the Indian team and cheated at the game when Afridi was declared not out. She'd seen it on TV and no amount of sweet talking from anyone, beginning with our Prime Minister, was immediately going to change her mind.

The killings in Kargil would have only convinced her that she was right to hate. And television news, across channels, responded with some flag flying - a little, forgivable, jingoism in this 50th year of Independence. Channels like DD, STAR Plus, Zee, TVi concentrated on the Indian side of the story, clearly conveying the message that it was all Pakistan's fault. Meanwhile, PTV was roundly blaming us. Viewers on both sides of the fence could only respond with righteous indignation. Add the ignominy of defeat experienced by both sides on the cricket pitch and you end up with a lot of patriotic fervour and not a little ill will.

The present Prime Minister has been interviewed more often on TV in 6 months than Rajiv Gandhi or Narasimha Rao were in 10 years. He seems to treat these occasions like the fireside chats of US President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, sharing an intimate moment with his countrymen. There's a discernible change in him: in the beginning, he was visibly shy and retiring; gradually, he gained confidence and now there's a new assertiveness. In the Jaisingh interview, an `I' wanted to stand up and be counted. Repeatedly, Gujral would refer to himself "you called me a humble gentleman...'', "...I am a very humble man...'', "the India of my vision...'', "(the PSLV launch)... makes me proud of India...'', "I can assure Indians (of the country's unity)...'', "I am the first Indian Prime Minister (to be visiting S. Africa)...I go to pay homage...'' This `I-me-myself', appears to be an attempt to project a man of quiet strength who's also firmly in control.

Tavleen Singh (Ek Do Ek Jeevan, STAR Plus) needs to relax and ease into a few smiles. Interviewing the likes of designer Tarun Tahiliani shouldn't be serious business. Tahiliani, didn't agree: he smiled about as often as a corpse does. The entire programme is staid and tedious. Tavleen was too straight, he was too long in the talking. He should have been peppy, funny, with a zest for life. So should her commentary. And the music should have been rock'n roll not classical western: this guy is meant to be a flamboyant, fashion designer not the Pope.

Simi Garewal arrived with her new show Rendezvous With Simi Garewal (STAR Plus) almost holding hands with guest, Ratan Tata. They chatted like the old friends they were. Now, he, smiled a lot. Disaarmingly. And so did she. That helped the flow of the interview. It wasn't a bad little tete a tete; it's just that Rajiv Mehrotra's In Conversation Today is much better. Mehrotra, understated and soft spoken nicely offset his famous guests. It's been the best of the talk shows and deserved a long innings.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.