I'm not a big fan of Sainath myself. He came across as too loud too often to me but hey, this is a personal opinion! However, I shall also at this point say that not all criticism of a man you're not too fond of comes across as a pleasant reading. I have problems with Mr. Tripathi's views. A couple so glaring that I lost my interest reading the whole of his piece. It is preposterous to firstly compare the two issues that he has, specifically speaking, fashion pageants and Vidarbha. Thereafter actually referring a fashion event as an example of "Shining" India and farmers' suicides as "Declining" India. Personally, Mr. Tripathi, I'd call this journalistic callousness more than anything else. Do not mistake me to be a part of the moral brigade who'd cry foul at the mention of fashion shows and the likes. In reality, they bore me and I wouldn't really think they signify "Shining" India to me. Bringing up issues like the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, the Sikh massacre, the Gujarat riots and putting it up against Vidarbha is outright naive, if nothing else. I do not think there are any more people dying in Bhopal, or any more Sikhs being burnt alive, or Hindus and Muslims chopping each other in Godhra. But famers are still dying in Vidarbha! Asking if that is the most important story of the day; I would like to believe that maybe not the most but a rather important one. What's coming of the debt waiver by the Finance Ministed? How is it impacting the farmers? I'd like to think the issue is far from being trivial. I wouldn't have dared become a journalist if like Tripathi I too thought that a scribe is just a machine to puke facts; maybe being a financial reporter keeps me from sharing the "Shining" perspective of Salil Tripathi but I think I'm better off this way....