Whatever. It's cool and happening. Reality TV at it's best

wI wish I had a T-shirt that could say: I love Parliament. I would wear it, be different, feel different. I feel a sense of pride in institutions these days. The emotion lies somewhere between nostalgia and self-empowerment.
When Hugh Grant said he felt cool and powerful as PM in a recent flick, he was simultaneously echoing the thoughts of two generations: present and past.He was indicating how cool power should be. He was thinking of the cool-and-empowered generation he was representing.
I thought of Hugh when I started taking sides in the current debate and the questions it has spawned: Should MPs be role models? Has the quality of debates in the House declined? Was the 4th Parliament better than its 14th avatar? Has the Parliament become a noisy place? Should in-House proceedings be televised live? How should India project itself to global audiences?
It all began when Parliament went live. Bored with cricket, which was flexing its muscles in Bangladesh, I took to watching the decision-making, destiny-deciding, show. Believe me, I find it instructive and entertaining. There is never a dull moment in a citizen''s life. It is as good as it gets. My friends call me fuddy-duddy. They say that when I watch Hitchcock too. I feel cool and different.
I tell them it''s the only genuine show on TV. It''s reality TV at its best. No editing. No recording. No acting. It''s also a true representation of India — its concerns, its paradoxes, its beliefs, its intentions. An MP of 2004 can''t bury her anguish in the felicity of language; she can''t enrich every local issue with a global perspective; she can''t repaint a miniature into a panorama because the audience demands it. Truly, this is one TV show that is free from all pulls and pressures.
And it wakes up couch-potatoes.
So, digest the noise if you have to. Arguments must be heard. Speech must flower. Talk must triumph. Angst must liberate. What''s a House that does not speak and talk its own tongue? Interestingly, online dictionary etymonline says Parliament comes from the Old French ''parlement'', which, in turn, originates in the French ''parler'' (to speak, to talk). So much for origins.
To savour the live telecast, you must detach yourself from the debate. Don''t try to answer the question: What should a Parliament Live be like?
There''s nothing more entertaining and heartening than seeing an unscripted real-time show which does not live in the shadow of the past; where be-what-you-are and just-speak-it are democratic truths; and where democracy is not ashamed of herself.
Ain''t that cool, powerful?