Hi there! Starting a new blog today. This has been on my mind for a while now. How the media brands everyone with labels and then watches as one label tries to outdo the other.

What bothers me most about the media (be it social media or news channels etc) is if I were to say anything in favour of Modi, just mention one good thing the current government has done, I would be labelled a 'bhakt' faster than getting a view/like/comment on this post. And this label will be stuck with me forever. It will start defining my identity. All others will see is a 'bhakt' and every other opinion that I have will hence amount to nothing because people who identify with other labels will simply not listen. And your label is not like your religion. You see people have the choice to convert from one religion to another. But you don't have that luxury with your label. It will haunt you for the rest of your life.

And its not like this labeling is restricted to politics. Say something in women's favour, *bam* you're a 'feminist'. If you agree with men, *bam* you're a 'sexist'. Which brings me to another part of this branding culture which is playing in extremes. You can either be a 'sexist' or a 'feminist'. There's no middle ground. It does not exist for most of the population. There's just 'black' or 'white', no grey. And now, let's see how fast do they label me as being a 'racist'.

And that's not it. The most trending label in India is '#intolerant'. And if that's not enough for everyone, people are coming up with on daily basis. 'JNU Student' and 'Kanhaiyan' maybe be considered as the best upcoming labels of this country. One thing that I want to set straight is I myself may not have 100% knowledge about the issues in this country. I am not taking sides and in no way trying to glorify one and demeaning other. I am simply upset with how the media uses the weapons of branding and some idiots, when they apparently see signs that someone could be put into a particular label and start defining that person or that group with that label. The other day when there was a person who didn't like the Indian cricket team, said some criticizing things, and got labeled as being a 'Kanhainya' and was asked to repeat Hindustan zindabad and Bharat Mata ki jai. It's incredible how the topic escalated from cricket to that of politics and nationalism. It's like people watching an Indian in  The Simpsons and making up there mind that this is how all Indians are.

To me all this just sounds ridiculous but many take labeling seriously and don't think twice before calling names and defining a person or a community with that label. And as long as people keep labeling one another media will keep controlling their minds.