The pope’s demise and consequent succession, provided some fodder for my blog.
My landlady stuck to her television like glue. This was true reality TV for her, hence the monopoly over the remote control. Sigh!
The Bandra Metro which features all the local news and views of the Bandra public, ran numerous headlines on the credentials of Bishop Ivan Dias, a contender for the top of pope. Lots of testimonials from Bandraiiates etc, because he happens to be from Bandra.
When the moment finally dawned and the new pope was elected, I happened to be in office where the newsdesk was going berserk over all the ecclesiastical suspense.
The television set ( we have two in the office) blared and a little group congregated around to catch the moment when the spewing of white smoke would symbolise the successful selection of the new leader.
Corny jokes were cracked, particularly about how all the Catholics in the office must give a treat, if the Bishop from Bandra was chosen. In fact, even if he wasn’t.
When the audience created a ruckus, one of the senior editors clamboured on top of her desk, lest she miss the first glimpse of the new church leader.
Hhowever it was a false alarm.
A couple of false alarms later, the man showed himself and the crowd cheered and they continued to interject every line he said, with lots of cheers, sort of like as if they were witnessing a show.
The newsdesk typed away furiously.
And the office comedian said,” You may now kiss the bride!”.
The landlady has now lost interest in The Vatican and is back to watching her Mother-In-Law versus Daughter-in-law soap operas on TV.
Such is the transient reality of life.
my hubbie brought home yesterday the german paper most read by the masses ( Bild Zeitung) , guess what it said in capital letters: WE ARE POPE! Like: we are champion… He bought it just for that line- you have to see it to believe it !
Damn… I tot it would be some new face from Asia or Latin America. Anyway… we are lucky. Lucky cos the entire process could take place as planned. Anything could have happened. George Bush could have nominated John Negroponte for the position and had his way.
Nopes, my landlady is catholic, she attends church everyday and in fact I am Catholic too…however don’t exactly practice.
I don’t think it needs to be celebrated or feared…the most important thing is that the media should follows stories to their logical end.
A girl is raped…the reports are splashed across for a few days, but will justice be met? The media must keep a tab and ensure that it’s not turning into a frivolous estate.