Directions to the TV9 office

This is a google map view showing the road route to reach MIDC area close to the TV9 office. If you need any help in locating the office, please call on the following number.

9820521108

Finalized plan for the protest against TV9

(Details courtesy Pallav Patankar)

ACTIVITY PLAN

Address:
TV9 Media Maharashtra Pvt.Ltd.
110, Silver House, 13th cross road, MIDC, Andheri East
Mumbai, India
Time : 5.30 pm -8.00 pm

Activity:
We can start individually/in groups to TV 9 offices from 5.30 pm onwards. Pallav , Sonal , Vivek Anand , Gautam Yadav (others welcome) will carry letters of protest to TV9 at 5.30 pm. We will present ourselves at the reception desk and politely ask for the higher most authority present in the office. If we are successful in meeting him/her , we will handover the letters of protest. Currently the letters issued will be from QAM, HST, INFOSEM mentioning the shameful act of TV9 Telegu. We will hand over white flowers to the official. All those who wish to protest can come with a letter and white flowers (of any sort) and present their letters at the reception.

Each one can can ask for the highest ranking official in TV9 present and give their letters of protest. The higher the number of protests and protest letters the better.

Code Of Conduct:

1. There shall be no violence , aggression or bad language used in TV9 offices.
2. Please be appropriately dressed.
3. Conduct should be graceful and explanation as to why we are protesting should be given.
4. Each group that enters can decide if they wish to take other TV crews along while registering the protest.
5. Post depositing our letters at the reception desk we can continue to congregate outside the premises and display banners, as well as sing the song “Aaaj kal tere mere pyaar ke charchey har jabaan par “(we sang this on 2nd July Azaad Maidan)

Peaceful protest against TV9 Hyderabad

This is a "copy-paste" of the details of the protest against TV9 from an LGBT mailing list. Credits go to Sibi Mathen.

TV9's slanderous and malicious story of gaymen of Hyderabad and Planet Romeo is a wake up call for the LGBTI community to make sure we don't let the media or any individual invade on our personal rights for dignity and privacy

Join us for a PEACEFUL protest at TV9 Maharashtra's office. Join us in huge numbers with banners, protest letters(to be given to the channel) and flowers (with a get well soon message)....no screaming, no violence, no Naarebaazi!!

Time : 7pm 5.30 to 8 pm

Date : Friday, 25th Feb 2011

Location : TV9 Media Maharashtra Pvt. Ltd.

110, Silver House, 13th cross road MIDC, Andheri East Mumbai - 400 093

Please be there on time. For any queries (directions etc) call 9820521108.

Send us your mails on unitedagainsttv9@gmail.com.

Please pass on this message to friends, even if you can't make it, and help spread the word around.

TV9 Hyderabad's evil exposé

Yesterday, TV9 Hyderabad's YouTube channel uploaded a video of a slanderouos, maligned news story titled "Gay culture rampant in Hyderabad." Apparently, undercover reporters from TV9 went to a gay party and covered it. They also created a fake profile on PlanetRomeo.com and called some of its users and recorded the conversations that they had with them. These were used along with private pictures of users on PlanetRomeo.

The LGBT community in India has united and has condemned these actions by the TV channel. The YouTube video has been flagged and YouTube has taken in down, and although I'm sure that this video will be uploaded at other locations soon, it is a positive step in protesting against the channel which has invaded the privacy of innocent people. The latest on the news story is that one student who was exposed in the news story has committed suicide. I don't have any official confirmation for the same.

Apparently, as a knee-jerk reactions, hundreds of members of PlanetRomeo have deleted/moved profiles and taken off their photos from the site. LGBT community members in Mumbai are planning a peaceful protest at the TV9 office in Mumbai on Friday. This will be against the ridiculous story run by the TV9 Telugu division. The details will be posted soon.

Please help the community in protesting against this serious issue of invasion of privacy. Thank you!

What you can do:

• Flag video/copies of the story online
• Write to the TV channel
• Express solidarity to our friends from Hyderabad
• By talking about this on various social media platforms
• By changing your FaceBook profile picture to a picture which displays protest to TV9
• By changing your Planet Romeo profile to "Hyderabad" and post your pictures on it
• Join the community in our peaceful protest against TV9 on Friday evening at TV9's office (Details on my next post)

Please do as much as you can. Let this be a movement to prevent such stupid journalism from raising its head again.

The Circles of Life

The gig at Hyderabad was wonderful. It felt really good to be performing on a big stage in front of a sizeable audience. But even more important for me was my life had completed a circle - one that had started in Y2K.

Back then, I was in Kerala, was in my Final year of MBBS and I had been playing guitars for a couple of years. S. was studying in Kochi and I had gone to visit him. S. took me to meet his friends from the band named Evergreen. We had gone up to their rehearsal pad - a room on the fourth floor of the building in construction that had been converted into a cozy jam pad.

I still remember standing (and in due course, sitting) in awe at the professionalism with which the band was doing their rehearsing. The drummer sounded like a metronome, the guitarists were playing on fucking huge amps, and the bassist was trying to pen in some lines - right in front of me!

I was mesmerized by what I saw and was inspired enough to make me feel that I too needed to reach this level of musicianship and professionalism. This, somehow coincided with the demise of the music TV channels from not just my life, but from our entire generation.

 

Thankfully, I found an immensely satisfying replacement in WorldSpace, the satellite radio service that had infiltrated majorly into my life. I was a big fan of - I still am - the modern rock station BOB. I was listening to Linkin Park, Nickelback (the good old days of the Canadian band), and Coldplay.

Around the same time, I heard a compilation CD called the Great Indian Rock. That CD featured the song PSP 12'' by the band Zero. That was the first time that I had fallen in love with an Indian alternative rock song. It reminded me of what Indian rock music could do – make groovy modern rock. Suddenly, things fell into place. I wanted to write songs like that - I did actually, not quite the same standard, but that's beside the point - some of them are online!

That song was written by the drummer of the band - the multi-talented musician/comedian, Sidd Coutto. Ironically, I hadn't realized that until really late, from the horse's mouth actually, on one night when he was performing at a gig in Mumbai this year.

Now, how does the friggin' circle get completed?

At the Hyderabad gig, I performed on the same stage with both Evergreen and Sidd Coutto (with the band Ankur Tewari and the Ghalat Family). Not only did I perform, I drank, ate, fooled around - all with my rock idols, who inspired me to be what I am.

Now, isn't that sweet!

I'd like to take this opportunity to credit all the idols/icons who I've performed/played with or shared the stage with, in the order idol-hood attainment:

• Rex Vijayan (Avial, former Motherjane)
  
• Sunil and Evergreen (the entire band band)
  
• Sidd Coutto, Bobby Talwar, Rajiv Talwar (from Zero)
  
• Jai Row Kavi, Johan Pais, Sidd Coutto (Helga's Fun Castle)
  
• Teemer Chimulkar, Aniket Waghmode, Janus Sayal, Gilroy Fernandez(Sceptre)
  
• ZomB Menon, Sheldon Dixon (Metakix)
  
• Tony John, Rex Vijayan, Mithun Puthenveetil, Naresh Kamath (Avial)
  

Thank you all for inspiring me me and making me realize my dreams. I hope I can inspire someone to be/do something someday. I'd love to be tagged if you decided to write about it!