Wednesday, January 05, 2005

Matters Of The State

My favourite anchor - Karan Thapar. My favourite Politician - Arun Shourie. So what happens when both sit together across a table for a chat show ?

Absolute Sold Out.

Yep, though I am late on this. Matters Of the State is an one hour chat show hosted by Karan Thapar on CNBC TV18 at 6.30 PM, Sundays. His guest for the past three episodes is Arun Shourie. I missed the first one, but luckily, was able to watch the next two. They were on problems in Disinvestments and Planning Commission, respectively. The fourth and last one, next Sunday, will be on solutions to these problems.

One learns so much just listening to Shourie, and the icing on the cake is the anchor like Thapar, who is not only a good listener(very important), has good understanding of the issues, but also, with his unique questioning skills and research, he elicits the most out of his hosts.

I remember his phenomenal interview of General Musharraf four-five years ago for Doordarshan( he was especially selected for that), which took place in Pakistan. He had with him, the print of each and every relevant event or statement given by Musharraf. Whatever hypocrisy General tried, it was tore into shreds by Karan citing factual contradiction to his own previous statements.

By the end of forty minutes Tete a Tate, he had taken the winds out Musharraf, exposing to full scale his hypocrisy and ambiguity. The defeated look on hapless Musharraf's face clearly suggested that he wanted to get over with it ASAP. Unfortunately, not many have seen that gem of an interview.

In contrast, his camaraderie with Shourie is terrific. These are one of the most (rare)honest and capable men in their respective professions. They have nothing to hide. Therefore, both are complete at ease, and conversation just flows. In the process, the audience is the ultimate winner.

So those who have the luxury of a TV and CNBC at your home, and are not doing much that evening, then don't miss the last episode. It will talk about the solutions to the problems of governance in disinvestments & planning commission till now suggested. Believe me, it would be fun.

My Previous Post On Arun Shourie - Another Feather In His Cap
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