Murthy wedding coverage
By Techgirl

Her dad is an iconic tech tycoon who prefers a simple life and her mother a gifted writer who has devoted much of her energies to social causes.  So, when Akshata Murthy got married to Stanford colleague and investment banker Rishi Sunak, there was much public interest in the nuptials. Tens of thousands of Indians searched Google and Yahoo seeking more news of the matrimonial alliance. 

Are such events news?  Are they entertainment? Or are they anyone’s business at all?

It was interesting how the Indian media covered the wedding and reception held at Bangalore.

Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy is also one of the Directors of NDTV.  NDTV Chairman Prannoy Roy and powerful journalist Barkha Dutt were invited.  So, was Hindu founder and Editor N. Ram.

Neither Hindu nor NDTV covered the wedding in any detail. Nor did Indian Express.

Would other national TV stations be reluctant to cover such a function because Mr. Murthy is professionally associated with NDTV? Hard to be sure.  But probably yes.

Deccan Herald has a simple 2 paragraph report. which said “Among the celebrities who attended the event were Wipro chief Azim Premji, Biocon CEO Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Rohini and Nandan Nilekani, S Gopalakrishnan, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Mohandas Pai, Captain Gopinath, Trilochan Shastri, Som Mittal, Congress leaders Siddaramaiah, N Dharam Singh, Mallikarjun Kharge and R V Deshpande, cricket icons Anil Kumble and Syed Kirmani, historian Ramachandra Guha, journalists N Ram and Prannoy Roy. With little paraphernalia and the traditional “Sathvik” South Indian cuisine on buffet, the Murthys avoided a lavish show of wealth. “

Bangalore Mirror also had a short report on the actual ceremony being a smooth affair. The report read “Though the venue had securitymen, it did not appear intrusive to guests. Airport Road was not crowded and the famous traffic jams were also absent. It helped that it was a Sunday morning and there was no office-hour traffic. According to guests, the event was well-organised. The interiors were decorated with flowers in the traditional Indian way. Guests were served a South Indian buffet lunch.”. Bangalore Mirror has done some in-depth reports leading up to the actual ceremony.

Mid-Day had one of the most detailed reports with many interesting pictures.  The Mid-Day report titled ‘Hey! Hey! Hey! I'm not the groom’ by B V Shiva Shankar reported that “Rohan Murthy was the centre of attraction at sister Akshata's wedding. Blame it on his choice of outfit, complete with the Mysore Peta that delighted mom Sudha. Rohan Murthy, rigged out in ethnic Mysore attire, stole the show at his sister Akshata's wedding yesterday. It was a study in contrast as Rohan stood beside his father N R Narayana Murthy to receive the guests.”

The Mid-Day report quoted ‘sources close to the Murthy family’ as saying that “Rohan could have worn a blazer or a sherwani, but he preferred to go with the traditional Mysore style, with mom Sudha Murthy supporting the idea.”

Sources close to the family is journalistic code that this information was leaked to him by the family or close friends who wanted to pass on the news but prefer anonymity.

The Mid-Day report and its picture is one of the best sources of what actually happened at the wedding.

1 wedding.  10 different media perspectives.  A bit like India.

Techgoss note: Techgirl is a senior Tech journalist who reports on the IT, KPO and KPO Sectors for a leading media house.  In her spare time, she dabbles in satire in her blog http://techgirltalk.blogspot.com