Don't be so Paranoid — II

Paranoia has no limits. And when you are paranoid, everything and everyone is dangerous. Everyone is targetting you; you are the victim. Ah! This feeling of self pity. Ask Americans and Israelis and if they are honest they will tell you that the reason behind their oppressive belligerance is deep-seated paranoia. Well! We need not go so far looking for credible examples of paranoia in order to understand it.
A year ago or so, a hard-working and honest Tehelka journalist who is now with NDTV and doing pretty well was working on a fairly known, but untouched, story about the financial embezzelments committed by the owner of Amity, Dr Ashok Chauhan, and how he had been evading a red corner notice issued by the Interpol. Chauhan got a wind of it and panicked. He rushed to the Tehelka office and hugged the reporter. "Arey aap to mere bhai hain. Kahiye hum aapke liye kya kar sakte hain." The reporter did not budge. He offered ads but Tehelka did not relent and the story was published. Chauhan still had a few tricks up his sleeves. He picked up all the copies from the stands. So the story was published but no one read it. For the next one week, Chauhan was the butt of jokes at Tehelka and elsewhere. Precisely because it was laughable to see a man with so much money and political connection be so scared of an adverse press report, which would have anyways gone unnoticed owing to Tehelka's poor circulation at that time. And even if it was, it wouldn't have had much effect on his flourishing business, leave alone leading to his arrest. As it was fairly clear when later certain TV channels picked up the story, made popular by Chauhan's over-reaction, but nothing happened and the matter was settled on the margins of full-page Amity ads in mainstream newspapers.
But Tehelka, probably, picked up a lesson or two. A few hours ago, a friend (also a bitter ex-employee of Tehelka, now with India Today) posted her personal rantings on her blog, which is hardly read by anyone—I am one of the few forced readers. Certainly, a few harsh words for Tehelka. Some unparliamentary too. Tehelka gets a wind of it. The news spreads like fire in the kitchen garden. Panic calls.

"Does India Today have a blog."
"Is she writing on it."
"Tell her to stop all this."
"What is her problem."

Dr. Chauhan! You have company.