What singing competition?

Well, am I glad that Sanjaya Malakar is out of the American Idol contest! Nah, I'm not following it or anything, but a few days back, the newspapers caught my attention when there was all that nonsense talked about Sanjaya of the American Idol fame. The funny point is, if Indians or whoever it is that voted in bulk for him, whose fault is it? If people vote in a show that bases winners on votes, you can't define who votes for whom. Why have such a show in the first place if all people can think of is making racist remarks later, in support or against!

Till the last airing, if Sanjaya was leading, it was said to be due to the *outsourced Indians* voting for him or even faking votes since he's half-Indian!!! Now that he's out, they seem to be saying that justice prevailed. Back here in India, we call such nonsense as "chit bhi meri, pat bhi meri" or put in the Andaz Apna Apna way, "chit main jeeta, pat tu hara". (That is, heads I win, tails you lose!) :)

Now for my own perspective on Sanjaya. Only today, I came across it while switching channels, and incidently it was returning home time for Sanjaya. I just heard him sing "Let's Give Them Something To Talk About" after his losing cry and I *liked* his singing, not the weird hairdos that he presented himself in the recap shown! In recaps, I also saw that quite a few judges and singers liked him. I think the judges do understand that he's a 17 yr kid and has a lot of growing up to do. However, I did read his answers on American Idol website and he's done a fair job at it. I'm not sure if he deserves to be the American Idol; if he really likes singing, thats the wrong show to compete in anyways!

For closing remarks, I don't care if Sanjaya rocks or sucks, what I do care is to note that shows such as American Idol or the Indian version of it, Indian Idol, are not *singing* competitions since they are not on the *quality* of singing, but a *popularity* show based on votes and votes alone. Had it been a singing competition, we would have had quality judges judging singing and not those stupid hairdos or questioning races, again, whether for him or against!

PS: By the way, if all of you missed the big point that these shows are all about, here it is: money. Ads, news, interviews, telecom companies, etc... sell it while Sanjaya's case is still hot! Let whoever hate him, people who are making money using him really must be loving him! :)