TO SAY that it amounts to trivialisation of television would be to imbue the medium with a dignity that it often does not deserve. Actually, it is a real pain to sit in front of the idiot box, now more fatuous than ever before. One look at Mandira Bedi on Set Max and you know that this lady, with due respect to her obvious charms, is where she is — ICC Cricket World Cup in South Africa — because she belongs to a particular gender. And hails from the entertainment industry.

No offence intended but she only brings an unwanted, undesired, unneeded glamour to cricket coverage. She adds misplaced sex appeal to some serious talk on cricket at the biggest-ever cricketing extravaganza. It is not a part of a larger, grander vision of bringing in women to the game, getting their inputs. If that had been the case, then the likes of Diana Eduljee, the highest wicket-taker in women's cricket, or Mithali Raaj, the highest scorer, would have been called upon to say their bit. Or maybe, we would have got some sound bytes from Anjum Chopra, the women's cricket team captain.

These women of accomplishment obviously lack in `style'. Hence, they are where they are — languishing on the sidelines — while Mandira hogs the limelight. Matters little that Mandira herself claims: "My mandate is to bring in the women audiences."

On the first day of the tournament, she came dressed in an off-shoulder costume that would have been just ideal for the Miss India pageant. The camera focussed on her top, almost but ignored her `attire'. The little girl sitting on my lap and watching her first World Cup cried out in all innocence: "Shame, shame!" She obviously thought that the lady on TV had forgotten her clothes before she came on the screen.

Next day, Mandira Bedi was more traditional. And wore a sari. Only thing is the viewers were left wondering if her blouse was skin coloured. Or was there one at all? And in the Indo-Pak match, the lady wore a choker-like black something with a huge, deep cut. Just like she did in the Lanka-Windies match earlier where the right arm did not know what the left arm wore! Was it a Ritu Kumar creation? Whatever, it clearly was not cricket. And Mandira reminded many of us of those period costumes worn with such dignity by Raveena Tandon and company in "Agni Varsha" last year.

Probably, chastened with an angry viewer response, she played safe the next day during the Aussie-England encounter. Out came a blouse kissing her elbows and panting viewers wondered if she could breathe! No pun intended, no fun desired but this is the image the once-failed actress had cultivated in her first few days as cricket moderator.

Interestingly, while all the commentators, cricketers and other `experts' wore a Set Max-ICC Cricket World Cup logo on their heart, Mandira was the sole exception. Probably there was no apparel to tag the logo onto! Again, you cannot accuse the lady of wearing her preferences on her sleeve. It does not exist!

By the time she decided to end the suspense and get into an attire which would have met with approval for the family pages of a glamour rag, people were talking more about her cricketing knowledge (or the lack of it?) than her dresses.

Matters little that this time, her mega sleeve kissed her shoulders, teased her arms. The lady had done enough when she opened her mouth to detract all attention from her physical endowments. Speaking in an animated way that comes but naturally to the beginners or the gullible, she asked Barry Richards in all earnestness: "Holland scored 140-odd against England. They got 136 against India. Does it mean that our bowling attack is the same as that of England?" Obviously stumped with the sheer `innocence' of the query, all that Richards could say was: "No, not really. You cannot put the two together."

On another discussion, after India had beaten Zimbabwe to stay in the race for the Super Six, she beamed: "This is such a major victory". Clearly, the lady had not been told that Zimbabweans are all but minnows of the world cricket.

There was more. "We saw Zaheer Khan taking a splendid catch today. Can we say now we have three brilliant fielders in the Indian team... Zaheer with Yuvraj and Kaif?" This time before any of the seasoned panellists including the likes of Tony Greig, Venkatesh Prasad, Anshuman Gaekwad or Aamir Sohail, could say some-thing, Bedi's co-host Charu Sharma came to her rescue and saved us some blushes. "It is not done this way. Zaheer has taken a fine catch today but... ." Charu obviously knows a bit more about cricket than the lady he shares the screen space with.