Top 10 Television Personalities of 2007

10. Sabrina Lall / Himanshu Sabharwal / Youth for Equality (Activists)
They are not the regular page 3 faces that you and me want to see, but they have so much concrete stuff to say that we just cant resist watching them. Youth for Equality, though not a ‘personality’ has been quite successfull in shaving the leftover hairs off Arjun Singh. Sabrina Lall should get credit for the ‘Justice for Jessica’ campaign, and Himanshu is a brave young man. It may not be ‘fun’ watching these folks on TV, but it is certainly an enriching experience.

9. Rakhi Sawant (Model / Reality TV Star)
I wanted somebody who could portray India’s Paris Hilton. Rakhi Sawant nowhere fits in. Actually, nobody does. But Rakhi comes a distant second. The lady may not have great hits in her kitty (actually, I wonder if she even has a kitty?) but she surely knows how to be in the news. Be it her ‘bust-adjustment’ move in pardesia, or her returning to Bigg Boss by wild-card, or whatever it was called. Controversy is a part of her daily chores: be it the (in)famous Mika Kiss, or the recent allegations she put on Raju Shrivastav for passing lewd comments. Her only appearance in movies is in a forgotten item number, and still she features in almost every second episode of Koffee with Karan, and has even been on the show as a full fledged guest! Rakhi is here to stay (So what if she cant speak english?)!

8. Arun Jaitley (Politician / Lawyer)
Although mine and his views do not match usually, Arun Jaitley is a treat to watch on the News. This Lawyer, who is virtually the ‘face’ of BJP (now that they cant show Advani for calling names to Jinnah which he didn’t deserve, and The vajpayee card doesn’t work. Pramod Mahajan is no more, and Uma Bharti has been fired), literally destroys everybody else in the panel. The closest political opposition he faces is his good ‘ol buddy and Science and Tech minister Kapil Sibal, but he still has to travel a lot for being a kick-ass like Mr. Jaitley. Mind you, there are folks (like Alyque Padamsee and Vinod Mehta) for whom Jaitley is no match, but then they’re not as popular as him

7. Matthew Hayden (Cricketer)
The only non-Indian featuring on this list. Matthew Hayden is an absolute treat to eyes. For many men, Hayden comes just next to porn. It is interesting to see how he blasts the bowlers (side no bar) in any match. His 381* and the highest score in CWC 2007 is just the start of testimonies which speak for this batsman who’s no match for even the “young guns” of cricket. Indeed, Old is Gold. For those who wish to keep malice for not putting Federrer / McGrath / Alonso / Woods in this list, okay I have discriminated. Well, maybe McGrath deserves a chance.

6. Raju Shrivastav (Stand-up Comedian)
Here comes the laughter man! Though Raju did not win ‘The Great Indian Laughter Champions’, he did win the hearts of all the comedy crazy Indians, and is undoubtedly the most popular of that lot. The way he mocks people is just howlarious, be it the famous folks like Gabbar, or the now famous ones like Gajodhar, Raju is The king of TV on Fridays.

5. Smriti. Z. Irani (TV Actor / Political Figure)
Let me honestly admit, I have not seen a single episode of Kyuki… in the last 3 million years. But Smriti Irani is the real ‘Indian Idol’. I remember once she insisted that ‘Narendra Bhai Modi’ resign for something which he did (and refuted, as always). Although she had to withdraw her comment and apologise for it (which left nobody surpised), but ever since her popularity has increased in the self-dependent women of the country. More recently I caught up an episode of ‘Viruddh’, and I must say she acts well. At least well enough to feature at No. 5 in my list.

4. Shah Rukh Khan (Actor)
The King of Big Screen didnt quite make it in the top 3 of small screen. But like always, SRK has earned his position here. And all the credit goes to KBC 3 (and the Omega Wrist-watch). Shah Rukh is a regular material on the news channels for his digs on Amar Singh and Amir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan and… but the popularity of KBC has shut the mouth of his critics (if any of them are left) with the Don’s Duct Tape. Kyoki Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahi…

3. Rajdeep Sardesai (Veteran Journalist / News Anchor)
Many thought when Rajdeep left NDTV, he would have to settle in with some daily or at best with some unknown channel like ‘Headlines Today’. In less than one year, NDTV was struggling hard to maintain its top spot. After one year, CNN-IBN was the No. 1 (English) News Channel of India. With its tagline of “whatever it takes”, The folks have been able to capture over the mindset of the people of developing metros like Ahmedabad, Indore, Jaipur etc, which had till now been captured by the masala providers: Aaj-Tak. CNN-IBN gave them Real News, something which it still continues to. Although there’s one thing where Rajdeep didn’t quite impress me; he left all the ‘beautiful ladies’ in NDTV only. My Bad. Anyway, Kudos to the bronze holder of my list.

2. Baba Ramdev (Yoga Guru)
Love him or hate him, you just cant ignore him. An estimate says that Baba Ramdev is among the richest persons in India. Anyway, that’s not why he’s been featured here. He is here because he is your daily dose for good morning remedies. This man claims to make you thin if you are fat and fat if you are thin. He can cure cancer, and explains that in a couple of years he would find a cure for AIDS. His comments on Aerated Drinks (specially cola) have created a storm in media. More recently, he was in news facing allegations that his meds have human bones as ingredients. He created news when his security was breached last year. No matter what, the difference between Baba and Rakhi Sawant is that Baba doesn’t need to be in news. Baba Ramdev is the news. And people cant get enough of him. If he’s not on the news, he can be found doing Pranayam and kapalbhaanti on every channel at 6 am. Ladies and Gentlemen, Baba Ramdev is holding silver in our list.

1. Karan Johar (Filmmaker / TV Show Host)
This man can best be described in a line as “Versatility is just one of his many traits”. From being the director of two of the most famous movies in the last 10 years to featuring on numero-uno in this list, Karan Johar has been there, done that. We remember the fatso Roby of ‘Dilwale…’ who went on to become half his weight and a million times more popular. The combination of his amazing on-screen charm and gutsy questions makes a heady cocktail for TV viewers. So much that Star world retained Koffee’s previous slot of Friday Primetime AND alotted a new slot for Sunday Primetime. Coffee (oops, Koffee) has never been served so hot!

LoL. Laugh Orkut Loudly.

Read this.

Let me begin my honestly accepting that this is the most rubbish thing I’ve heard this year. Rubbish, as in RUBBISH.

Ok. So, first of all, joining orkut is absolutely voluntary. Nobody forces you to join orkut. Until a few months ago, access to orkut was strictly through invitation, which meant that somebody whom you knew sent the invite. And chances are that the same somebody must have had created a community which is offending you (not ‘you’, Reader) so much. So, before voicing against the sheer existence of hate communities (which is unfortunate, agreed) why dont you first snap your ties with your friends who called you in there at the first place?

Secondly, there is always a trigger to report any community or user as bogus if it/he is showing obscenities or objectionable content. Orkut Community standards clearly indicate the following;

“a community should not contain material, such as child pornography or pedophilia, which violates real-world laws.

Additionally, images displayed on orkut.com should not contain nudity, sexually graphic material, or material that is otherwise deemed explicit by the orkut team.

A community should not display material, or be used for activity, that is hateful or offensive based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.

A community should not contain direct threats of violence against any living person, nor should it promote any dangerous and illegal activity.”

If anything of this sort is reported to orkut, the folks in Mountain View, CA are smart enough to handle it on their own. They dont need Mumbai Police to help them out, do they?

Third, Keep orkut hate communities aside, there are actual full time websites employed for some hate effort. Most of the militant outfits have their websites running and what have you done about it? You cant possibly do anything but block them, in which case, anybody who can click the little icon of Internet Explorer from the quick launch, can also access them using a proxy.

As far as the question of bringing the creators/owners/moderators of such communities to book, this is what Google says in its Privacy Policy of October 14, 2005:

“Choices for personal information

When you sign up for a particular service that requires registration, we ask you to provide personal information. If we use this information in a manner different than the purpose for which it was collected, then we will ask for your consent prior to such use.

If we propose to use personal information for any purposes other than those described in this Policy and/or in the specific service notices, we will offer you an effective way to opt out of the use of personal information for those other purposes. We will not collect or use sensitive information for purposes other than those described in this Policy and/or in the specific service notices, unless we have obtained your prior consent…”

Yes, they’re gonna ask you “Can we sue you, buddy?”

And this is what the document says about Information sharing with third parties:

“Google only shares personal information with other companies or individuals outside of Google in the following limited circumstances:

* We have your consent. We require opt-in consent for the sharing of any sensitive personal information.
* We provide such information to our subsidiaries, affiliated companies or other trusted businesses or persons for the purpose of processing personal information on our behalf. We require that these parties agree to process such information based on our instructions and in compliance with this Policy and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures.
* We have a good faith belief that access, use, preservation or disclosure of such information is reasonably necessary to (a) satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request, (b) enforce applicable Terms of Service, including investigation of potential violations thereof, (c) detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues, or (d) protect against imminent harm to the rights, property or safety of Google, its users or the public as required or permitted by law.”

In any case, an ‘informal tie-up’ cannot possibly equip the great Mumbai Police to take penal action against anybody. They should really spend some infrastructure to provide technical training to the cops. It would atleast save us from a hearty laugh!