Think Global and Act Local

Remember-Globalization causes loss in diversity.

An individual in masses learn when he has single choice or no choice. Otherwise, if anyone learn for the sake of knowledge,the future belong to that individual. He/She is termed as intellect in the society. Intellect learn to adapt and evolve for future. Thinking is affected by cultural heritage and inheritance. For better future, the man will travel far from his home land to other places.

There was stagnation prior to colonization. Only trade and clashes of civilization brings us together. With the growing economies, U.S.A. and U.K. were two primary nation prevailing in the power game. They attract man power from all over the world. Europe is new model as Indian subcontinent for diversity.

Nationalism to internationalism are coming in scene with constant exchange program between scholars and MNC's. Mobility factor of capital as well as labor came with the industrial revolution. Revolution in transport and communication has lessened the distances between human across the world. Global villa dream is coming true.

Bottomline:Think Global and Act Local is new Corporate Mantra.

What is wrong with Media?

Jean Cocteau once reportedly said "Mirrors should reflect a little before throwing back images". Cocteau would have replaced 'mirrors' with 'media' had he been alive after looking at the homogeneity with which global media - print, electronic, independent - represent any event today, thereby often masking the 'truth'.

India is a country of paradox or paradigm. The relief work in bihar floods was well covered by media. Citizen Journalist and Zindagi Live on IBN7 were only two programs worth watching these days. IBN7 is first Indian media company to start official blogs for journalist and editors. This step is worth welcome.

A phrase is much popular in India: "Fame makes everyone an expert in everything."

Our media reports only these experts on any issues. Drama, Tantrum and TRP ratings play huge role in content of news channel. The English news channel are much better in content and mode of presentation. NDTV 24x7 provides quite balanced coverage of news. Hindi news channel like Sahara Samay, Zee News, IBN 7, India TV, Star News, Aaj Tak and Jain TV are worse in the news coverage and presentation. While Star news give quite a lot of coverage to entertainment package of comedy and India TV preaches jingoism message.Jus check the idiotness of one news channel over here. They don't voice lost cause but serious attention is given to religion, cricket and bollywood.

A death at Agartala must have same effect like a death in other part of India. Sadly, it is not. Media Circus in 14 year old Aarushi and servant Hemraj's murder was really a cause to worry. Considering the kind of questions being asked, over and over and over by the media to person at verge of death or loss of relative in an accident, my personal favorite---'How does it feel'?

Example: The experiment conducted in CERN will cause 'Doomsday' was such a cheap prank (When the LHC is switched on, could it "create a shower of unstable black holes that could 'eat' the planet from within;) but it became a super-breaking news across channels in India.

Crap and over hyped events are produced on the name of fast coverage. Sensational news and random heading of breaking news can make you crazy enough. 24 hour coverage of national news (i.e. entertainment) exist only in India. CNN and BBC are 24 hours channel but international coverage of news is taken there. I was smirking that Indian media is one sensationalized. But then I checked out CNN:"Bush hugs bikini-clad US Olympians".

The Hindi media also erupt in a series of poetic headlines in all situations. "Twenty20 ke sher / Twenty overs mein dher" and "Chhe sau run banane wale chhihattar mein chhitraaye".Link of the match;

People must get what they need not what they want.
I have taken these haunting lines from here"Therefore, the news of an Indian winning an award at Berlin Film Festival needs to be reported, the Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights to Dr. Binyak Sen should be seen and, definitely, the voice of Kashmir should be heard.It’s precisely then there could be a balance between what the audience ‘want’ and what the ‘media’ perceives, because perception in itself is formed out of judgment that is routinely based on surveys and rating. But the mere outline of their ‘research’ is faulty because the mass at large is already blinded that they themselves don’t know what they doing. Since their opinions and perceptions are formed out of ideas and judgment that are routinely formed by the ‘spectacle’ of cinema and television, it gives rise to parochialism; often due to the reiterations of the images projected and opinion transferred through dialogues, as also interviews and text bombarded in terms of superlatives not to mention faux “ Breaking News” blurbs.The word 'Exclusive' and 'Breaking news' have lost their significance due to constant repeatable use at every hour.Even,Images,ads and videos are created and seen more from the point of view of consumerism than as an expression of ideas.So many breakdowns, in so short a span of time.

Interestingly, ‘Idol-worship’ continued to be an important part of the culture: socially and politically, where the ‘matinee’ idol embodied an important place in the minds and heart of film lovers. This ‘spirit’ has continued to grow and today in the age of satellite boom the media has populated the images into a state of fetish (Like offering prayers when their superstar is sick, and the media reports it as breaking news). While a win by a film director, at an important film festival, in the competitive section of the festival goes unreported. This type of fetish is seen across India."

Bottom lime:Look guys, beyond the media roller-coaster of champagne and chappals every human life is priceless. Also Read this covergae about our media achievements in 2008.

Unity in Diversity

Rahul Basu rightly reviews the book 'India after Gandhi' in these lines. I really liked them for clear construction of his thought on such a vast topic. "It has become fashionable to deride and denigrate Nehru and Nehruvian socialism and secularism. But it is the Nehruvian ideal, the cliche of 'unity in diversity' that has precisely seen the country through the shocks of more than half a century. It was precisely Nehru's insistence that every culture, every language, every religion, every creed, every caste would have its own place in the Indian polity that, illogically enough, has kept the country together. There has never been an overarching dominant culture to which all others have had to defer. India might be predominantly Hindu, but by no means is it a Hindu Pakistan. "

We need to understand that the cliche “Unity in Diversity” goes beyond the words. Our rich cultural heritage and diversity extends well beyond language and variety in indian cuisine. Cultural, Linguistic, geographical and wildlife diversity of the region gives a rough idea about it.India is so diverse that one life time is not sufficient for anyone to know what exactly it is. The beauty of it lies in diversity. Just imagine how we will be if we were of the same religion, same caste, same color and ofcourse in a tiny country but we aren't and gifted with vast country, different cultures and ofcourse languages. If we all look same in our way of living, race, color and region then aren't we missing a chance to explore this so many wonderful ways of living.

Indians are intelligent enough and our centuries practiced tolerance for diversity has equipped us with strong skills of adaptation. The diversity is mind boggling to foreigners not only in terms cultures & food but the psyche of the people as well. The difference in the south itself is apparent in the way the society has evolved in the last 60 years of independence, where Kerala has taken strides in the social front and rural infrastructure way better than most of the northern states… Karnataka, AP and Tamilnadu have been successful in the new age industries of IT and biotech. Gujjus and marvaris are predominantly business oriented. Among the troops, there is more representation from punjab, haryana, himachal, UP, MP, bihar, rajasthan. Still, Diversity shouldn’t be sacrificed for the sake of a unifying identity.

Amalgam of ethnicity and races against Indian background. It is Melting Pots: Mosaic [Hybrid Culture and Religion]. India as new model for both bio and ethnic diversity. Place of birth of 4 major religion: Hindu, Jainism, Buddhism & Sikhism. Muslim and Christian are fairly adopted here.Jews were given shelter when they were bashed all over the world. Business, Invasion, Settlement and adaption to provide rich heritage. Indian subcontinent is well diverse in each aspect of culture. India, amidst her diversity still stands incredible to the world because she has the ability to evolve while retaining her uniqueness.

Only Europe can match its diversity but not quality. Look at Europe. It got split into small little countries because of the language and culture differences. And today, amazingly they are uniting again, under the flag of EU. It makes economic sense.

Let me end the topic with few quotes:

Rene Dubos -"Human diversity makes tolerance more than a virtue; it makes it a requirement for survival".

Jimmy Carter -"We have become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic of different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes and different dreams".

Helen Keller - "Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much".

Mikhail Gorbachev "Peace is not unity in similarity but unity in diversity, in the comparison and conciliation of differences".

Brutual Murder of Mr.M K Gupta

This year ends with a sad note about one of our alumni being killed by political mafia. Mr. Manoj Gupta (Civil 1979) was Class I executive engineer of PWD dept. in UP, near Kanpur. He was killed by local mafia and BSP MLA for refusing to donate Rs. 50 lakhs for celebration of birthday on 15 Jan for chief minister, Mayawati. Due to political fallout, the birthday party (for which Rs.1,000 crores were collected) has been canceled. It is a great loss to our IT-BHU community. We are planning to take action on legal, political and media front. An information page is posted on our website by Pramod Joshi, 1979 batch.

http://www.itbhuglobal.org/chapters/geo/delhi/archives/2008/12/manoj_gupta_79.php

Additional links:

1) Mayaʼs claim falls flat: no engineer behind killing

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/mayas-claim-falls-flat-no-engineer-behind-k.../403547/

2) Mayawati cancels birthday celebrations

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1216934

3) Slain engineerʼs son declines Maya's compensation

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1216935

4) 32 torture marks on murdered UP engineer

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1216620&pageid=0

5) Rattled Maya reads out riot act to partymen

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Rattled_Maya_reads_out_riot_act_to_partymen/articleshow/3897843.cms

6) Rahul plea on engineer at odds with ally

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081227/jsp/nation/story_10307906.jsp

Please flash this news to all our Alumni and appeal them for a protest. The form of protest could be signature campaign to the Honorable Governor of UP and The Honorable President of India. Please do the needful at the earliest. looking forward to your kind reply and help.

New face of Indian Cricket

Bollywood and cricket are opium for Indians. Indians were quite influenced by anglo-saxon culture post independence. True face of Indian patriotism was suppressed by white race domination feeling. Image of Indian cricketers abroad was of decent and polite guys in blue. Sunil Gavaskar start the process of reversing and it comes to maturity in Dada's captaincy. Kapil Dev started not only change in fast bowling department but shows way for small town cricketers. Initially cricketer with metro cities background were selected but now scenario has changed completely. An interesting analysis is here about this change.

Rookie from every part of India came and change the face of Indian cricket. After the shambles of booking controversy, Ganguly had taken captaincy in his hand. He was passionate and fusion of new blood in team changes the perspective of cricket in India. The whole career of Dada is of wilderness and redemption. Setback and comeback become inheritance culture of Indian team in dada captaincy. He was committed to change regional attitude to national character of cricketers. The unending passion to win and set he landmark has established him as fierce cricketer in opposition camp. Dada has turned hope of millions into expectation for winning both local and abroad. Dada shows how to win in any condition yet known in this part of world.

Back in 2001, the Oz juggernaut that had crushed everything in its path for 16 games came to a shuddering halt when India refused to be cowed at Eden Gardens despite the hopeless situation that they found themselves in at the end of day three. Then we see the miracle and uncertainty of cricket with exceptional win of India. By the time the teams reached Chennai for the deciding Test, the aura had gone, and India calmly picked off 510 in response to Australia's 391 to set up a series win.

The times, they certainly were a changing. Hope was turned into milestone performance. Natwest trophy 2002 was also beginning of new era and yuvi and Kaif makes the dream chase successful. What this photo did for a nation in war, the image on the left did to a nation in doubt with its expression at success. The half-naked Maharaja's slap on proud Brit cheek was perhaps as strong as the "Half-naked Fakir's".

Talent hunter like Greg has pointed out for younger version of our cricket team. But his cynical tactics make him to pay price of failures. Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble has done real good job after taking reins of captaincy. But nothing magical was achieved except first test win in South Africa. Only tough stand of Anil Kumble against Australian sledging and cheating attitude was worthy remembrance. The heated controversy at Australia shows our national nature to stand together in hard times.

Leadership is a spark not hard work or preparation. Its natural or inherited and M S Dhoni has uncompromising pursuit for victory. Peter Roebuck has done very straight to heart article about current condition of Indian Cricket.Dhoni correctly remarked: "It is all about enjoying each other success". I am enjoying his success feat and is Dhoni enjoying mine?

Message for New Year for Indian Cricket:
" Beyond the skies the hope lies and we see a better tomorrow with open eyes !!"

U.S.A. - Uncle Scam America-2

"Remember", the instructor said to the class,"a 35 year old American's brain and IQ is the same as a 10 year old Indian's brain.... Americans are dumb, just accept it. " - pg 53, One Night in a Call Centre

1- New York taxis, of course, are known for their polyglot driver population - reflecting a country that welcomes immigrants. "Taxi cabs are both loved and hated by New Yorkers" says the NY.com website. Ditto America's sentiments towards immigrants.

2- Thank you for smoking, 9/11 Fahrenheit, Sicko, Fast food nation and Bowling for columbine are best documentaries about deep rooted problem of theirs. Blacklisting of writers with communist background in Hollywood had showed an ugly picture of America. Also, they hate the term communist and ignore the term socialist. They only know free market with unbounded flow of capital and restricted motion of labor force.

3- Outsourcing becomes one of the prime topics of the election. Obviously, the Green Card Lobby is fast becoming the strongest vote bank in the US. FYI, Obama's campaign database is probably being managed by TCS!

4- The American university system, funded by wealthy donors and alumni, for example, is actually bhai bhatijawaad and paisa power at its worst. The stench of money and influence has long been concealed by the heady fragrance of ‘High Up There’ college brand name. But a recent book by Pulitzer Prize winning Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Golden painstakingly unmasks it all. ‘The Price of Admission’ chronicles how America’s ruling class buys its way into elite colleges. And ‘who gets left outside the gates’.

5- Best universities are filled with foreign students as they bring not only quality but high revenue to colleges. Of course, getting a job after a Bachelor's, or Master's in the US is apparently not a cakewalk. An employer needs to prove there is no American citizen or permanent resident skilled for enough to take on that particular job, in order to sponsor your visa. The company must want you pretty badly to go to that much trouble.

6- With Indian IT companies cornering more and more H1B visas in recent years, things seem to be getting tougher.66,000 H1B visa issue is such as example of restricted movement of labor. Only highly skilled or knowledge driven labor can get entry into their market.

7- Contrary to this,American MNCs are plundering third world and developing countries with their product. Giants like Pepsi or Coke exploit local natural resources i.e. water of 3rd world to for their sole benefit. The experiments done by medical companies in poor countries are now open to all world now. The movie 'Constant Gardener' shows such case by drug companies with full honesty and coverage.

8- The comment of Bush Jr. over food crisis was really also shows a new way of mind boggling and height of stupidity.And 'Teach the controversy' programme by Bush Jr. is really a threat to scientific community.

Jean Luc Godard : ‘A film is ‘the truth 24 times a second.’ Hollywood has buried cinema’s search for truth beneath the search for marketable concepts. Most American directors are like orphans, they have no parents, no history. There’s no story, so they have to invent one. I was always accused of doing pictures will no plot. But a picture is first a story, second a story and third a story. The Americans just spread their story all over the world, hoping that a majority of the audience will buy them the history they don’t have.”

But you have to give credit to America for standing tall as symbol of democracy and free voice in the changing times. It supports the views of  Noam Chomsky and P Krugman even after their economic and political opinion. People like Michael Moore & Al Gore are real pioneer of bringing change in America.

Alexis de Tocqueville quotes (French Historian and Political scientist. 1805-1859)---“The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.”

What India can learn from America
http://youthcurry.blogspot.com/2005/03/what-india-can-learn-from-america.html
For comparison of family values read:
http://youthcurry.blogspot.com/2005/02/great-indian-family.html

U.S.A. - Uncle Scam America

Half of people in America do not read news paper and remaining half does not vote;we hope they are same bunch of people or god help that mighty country.

Stereotype truths that all blacks are prevailed in crime. While truth is almost 33% of black youths aged between 18 to 25 are involved in crime.They are either in prisons or roaming in society on parole. Yaa, it is true that now multi-ethnic races residing there are following the same American dream.

Consumer culture is at peak in America than anywhere n the world. The sub-prime crisis in America surfaced when defaults were reported in payments for housing mortgages. The 5% population consumes 25% resources of the world. 90% of GDP is consumed in loans (Sources: Business India 5,October 2008). It is the real face of the capitalist economy of America which wants bail out package from the government now.

Ancient Indian had described consumerism as tendency to "Rinam kritvaa ghritam pibet "/"Take a loan and drink the ghee". Take a car loan or home loan or even a holiday loan. Live for today - but, make sure that you are not in debt tomorrow. America has 115 million such suicidal loan bombs who carry forward credit card debt every month. That is one aspect of consumerism that no Indian certainly don't want to emulate from the Americans. For better present, they are dumping their future. Hence, next generation similarly dumps their previous generation ideas and values. Hippie culture was born by these hypocrisy of western values. Indians don't consider shame in poorness and self content is far more characteristic of east. Read my take on consumer culture for more detail.

Most of the development in U.S.A. is achieved by foreign immigrants struggling hard to acheive green card or citizenship. Insecurity among originals is nothing new here. Red Indian extinction shows the real face of west and condition of Aborigines in an Oz country follow similar track. These migrating workers form the major head of American economic and political position in coming decades. Either the Jewish lobby of business groups or German and Russian scientist community had given best years of their life to reach success as individual and community. Chinese make rail road there when Irish and British settlers were fully Americanized. Then Jewish, Italian and Deustch intellects or labor class flow to U.S.A. in world war times. Russians, Iranian and Afghan flow for better future in cold war times. Japanese came through trade routes and established their supremacy in electronics market. African American involvement in crimes are now known to whole world thanks to Hollywood.The constant influx of Latino has feel their presence in drug and human trafficking. Irish, Italian, Chinese and Russian mafia are now better known to us through film and fictional novels. In between Indians also got entry through green cards except sardars coming for cheap labor by illegal means.

Facts about America:
Land of conspiracy theory: JFK murder to UFO case.
Buy burgers and sell guns to dictators around the world.
Hate speech and gang violence between races is now a major problem.
Bill Monica scandal was a gossip to read....
Donkey is the perfect sign of republic party and stands tall with George Bush Jr.

This America is far from the dreams or philosophy of Thoreau and Emerson. I am sure that even most of Americans would not have heard the name of Henry David Thourea. Continued bashing in the next post....

Reality Shows in India

The first ever music reality show was- Popstars. And the nation was hooked on to the fortunes of Viva, long before Abhijeet Sawant of Mumbai or Silchar Assam ke Debojit and Sanjaya Malakar of Mohawk hair fame! But I recalled due to age limit that there was a dance show named Boggie Woggie. It was the first dance show that changed the idiot box viewers interaction. It was the first popular show across India that made the participation of an average Indian possible. Even S. Sreesanth danced to its tune in his childhood days.

Apart from the past, the airing program reminded me of unlimited potential spread across our land. India is beautiful nation and full of colors in each aspect of life. Brilliant Performance by children shows the changing attitude of previous generation towards dance, songs and cultural values. Ethics are changing with time (Degrading according to previous generation).

A new type of show is spreading across cable channels: Reality Show for talent hunting.

Until now, so called 'reality shows' have really been talent shows. Indian Idol, Fame Gurukul, Sa re ga ma,Great Indian Laughter Challenge - all of them promise to make a star out of an unknown quantity.On one hand rich cultural heritage and diversity are expressed to us by competition and on other 'Make a name of yourself fast & big philosophy' is in full flow in masses. Mainly dance, songs, comedy or mimicry is limited to bollywood. Folk culture is dying in fast rush of population for city culture or consumer culture. Leave alone the Drama, Tantrum and TRP ratings. For nonjudicial and biased decision of reality shows, read this brilliant article:

From youthcurry blog, one line thrashers for this trash shows:

Rock n Roll Family: They flirt shamelessly with the judges, and debate on saali being aadhi or poori gharwali. All scripted for sure but there is no sharam or lihaaj in either the banter or the matkas and jhatkas.

Big Boss: It may be trivial, perfectly "yeww" in parts. But even discussing how much you supposedly hate it... is fodder for canteen conversation.

MTV Roadies:The irony of each rounds is that if you ask a junior to do this kind of thing in college, it's called 'ragging' and you could go to jail.

Splitsvilla: The I & B ministry recently issued a notice to MTV for 'denigrating women' .
In my(yayaver) opinion 15 girls to seduce 2 boys is really cat fight not to miss by each boy/guy at home alone.Truly,all of them are one more step ahead for voyeurism,vulgar language and dirty politics on idiot box.And all things are done in the name of reality.

My opinion: We are feeding upcoming generation with "reality TV" obsessed culture. The way the real-life viewers ignore the real lives of their compatriots and customers while focusing on a false life on screen; whose life is more real and whose is worth living? Instead, the insight aspect of the reality show has been catapulted by a society that would more readily watch "reality" than live it.Notable watch for understanding and future of reality showbiz: The Truman Show in this genre.

Message for die hard reality shows fan: The audience that watched the reality show is a self-indulgent audience of consumers who wanted to be entertained no matter what the cost to characters, reminded me of the soaps opera & Paparazzi, of how we like to know about the celebrities, and ultimately of how the product could be the death of someone such as Princess Diana.

Rashmi Bansal quotes in her post about sad state of affairs---
"The whole idea of the new generation of 'reality' shows is to create an 'emotional infection'. While the characters in a soap opera act and evoke emotions, reality shows set up a showdown of some kind which induce emotions, spontaneously. The ultimate irony, isn't it? 'Reality shows' and their contestants are becoming more real and newsworthy for viewers ... than reality itself."

Bottomline: Life is not fair - that is reality. Neither are reality shows which are actually not real at all...

American Desi

American Consular Officer: "How do we know you'll come back to India?"
Student: "Sir, my roots are here - my family, my property, my business... I want to study in America, but I will come back and put my education to good use."

I read this conversation from someone'sblog and idea about state of indians living abroad struck me. Thousands of Indian students have given this earnest answer at their visa interview. A significant number never return to their motherland. You have to wonder - why bother to ask? Because the idea of America, to a large extent, is to attract the brightest and the best from around the world. NRI ideally stands for Non Resedential Indians. Practically NRI means- Non Returning Indian or Non Reliable Indian.

When the race for food, clothing and shelter becomes over, then green card migrants try to find a identity for themselves. Next generation faces issues like choosing their sides between Indian family and American culture. Desi Indians may perceive herself as 'American' but the colour of her skin and country of birth still make her/him a 'foreigner who's done well' as far as (a section of) right-wing America is concerned. It is about finding identity in a country that will treat you as alien if you are born there. They become like pendulum bob swinging between Indian family and American social surroundings.

Desi is all about rediscovering your roots. Generally, Desi is turned usually associated with Indians living abroad. Now, a new term is framed for the generation born there: ABCD .

ABCD: American Born Confused Desi ;American Desi is used in short for them. The movie 'American Desi' was really upper view of lifestyle and relation of Desi youths. For cool pass time watch it with open mind and heart....

The Namesake as a novel and movie is one of the original and first attempt to address this issue from American perspective. The settling of a family in alien land for the search of livelihood. Their gradual acceptance of the new land. A bemused incomprehension of their extended family to appreciate their better (different?) way of life. Clinging on to certain customs while leaving others. The alienation of the second generation from the first. The second generation's assimilation into a more modern way of life. Halted communication of the first generation to the second. Three hardly identifiable characters mostly lost in a distant land from their own makes Namesake a passable attempt at winning western audience. And i will not spoil the plot here.

Lets put our attempt to understand about Indians living abroad. We were not much aware of America before 90's as brown skinned natives who didn't elect George Bush and live 3000 miles from Graceland. With the globalization era, the periphery of an average Indian with outside world has increased dramatically. The journey starts with Bollywood.

“Watan se chitthi aayi hain” (sung on screen by Pankaj Udhas) was NRI anthem from film 'Naam' but the movie was mainly targeted to middle east based Indians. Forget Purab aur Pachim, now bollywood can make film like Salaam Namaste, Kal ho na ho, Namaste London, Kabhi khushi kabhi gum and Dostana (list cont...) . But movies like 'Provoked' gives also other face of the reality. They are entirely based on NRI life with fictional Indian value embodiment in them. Now,an overseas market are targeted with Desi junta as potential consumers. Swades was genuine Indian attempt to pull the strings of NRI to their motherland. Sivaji was also on footstep of swades but on a much broad fictional stance. Some are worth mentioning here as they have done Real Life Swades.

Worthy to mention Punjabi NRI who's mixed bhangra rhythms with hip-hop and reggae to create new genres of music altogether. I am mere observer here. Its flight of elites and plight of masses in mine motherland India.

Death of Parallel Cinema

There are now two decades over after the demise of parallel cinema.Literature and Theater are the main sources of parallel cinema in India.The turbulent situation of the 1970's gave birth to the ‘parallel cinema’ movement in India.With the open market policy in film industry and decay in government funding,this movement dies out slowly after economic liberation.Indian Cinema is thriving today thanks to an audience who is hungry for films, however, our works have degraded over the years, and regional cinema and few great filmmakers are marginalized to the film festival or art house circuits.

Regional films constitute of high percentage in parallel cinema. The regional cinema, obviously in majority formed the alternate cinema. Ever since the decline of regional cinema throughout the nation, and the dying out of the parallel movement, the viewers have been feed with repeated image, sound and music.Most of us had used to watch regional films on DD on Sundays. With the advent of cable and dish culture, the regional cinema has suffered huge setback. There is no information either in the print or electronic media about alternate films.Dish Channels do not show off alternate movies even in non prime time.

Today, the films of ' New Wave' are hard to find, and the aesthetics of these filmmakers were never carried forward, meaning, the tradition not only got lost, but never translated or taken further- explored in new avenues. Not only that, the lack of availability of the films of ‘New Wave’ in the market is another important factor which slowly spelled death for the filmmakers and their films. It’s sad, because, even when one wants to rescue these films most negatives are either lost or destroyed or its in hands of people who are not willing to part away with them for reasons unknown.

For,deep view in the subject:

-To each his cinema.
-Wikipedia Link about Parallel Cinema.
-Indian New Wave- a potrait.
-Old vs New Parallel Cinema.
-Parallel or New Cinema in India.
-The demise of parallel cinema.
-Demise Of A Different Kind.
-Parallel Cinema not getting visibility at global festivals.

While other directors other mainstream directors usually try to be time consumer and economical by saving on cuts and indulging into unnecessary zooms and moves of the camera, it feels positive that there existed what we call Indian Parallel cinema, wherein the directors were at least trying to find their style with a sense of aesthetics .

As Andrei Tarkovsky once said, "Cinema can never be a true art form till it’s confined by the constraints of money."

Training & Placement Cell, IT-BHU

After long time a great change has came taken place in TPO website of ITBHU.
http://www.itbhu.ac.in/tpo/index.html
This is really cool stuff from administration after long time of hibernation.

Saga of Mechanical Engineer from ITBHU

As stated before, I was great fan of opening scene of RHTDM. A firing dialogue was delivered -“Mechanical Engineer mein fire hone chahiye”. Then in next scene of the movie, R. Madhavan ignites a lighter for smoking cigarette. That snap makes mechanical engineering as a coolest and macho field of engineering. Mechanical department is more cussed fore lesser grades and strict professors than any other department irrespective of engineering college.

A really handy research predicts the stronger aptitude – between verbal and numerical – in children by the relative lengths of their fingers. Now, how cool is that? Apparently, if your index finger is shorter than your ring finger, then your numerical aptitude is expected to be stronger. And if the index is longer, then your verbal ability is stronger. Of course, my longer index finger explains – in hindsight – why I scraped through four years of Mechanical Engineering. And do not miss the use of middle finger used for sign language....

I walked into the massive building for the first time while a long guided tour of Department of Mechanical Engineering was given to us. It was a really long procession – as there were almost all 60 of us although Roll no. 42,'Sagar Singh' was missing.

Academically, it was probably the best decision of my life to study Engineering and I realized that after studying(just enjoying) 1st week in college. This decision also looks back firing when in the first thirty minutes of the first Engineering Drawing class. R S Singh and his company makes life more difficult than ED (Engineering Drawing). R S Singh is a good teacher, it was just that I was lacking imagination for 'plan' and 'elevation' with possessing scary drawing skill. One class was just not over when few of us were literally scolded for being 1 minute lab at Engineering mechanics lab.

The curriculum in the third semester in department, at its best, has the same level of complexity as the mandatory seat-belt instruction 'training' prior to takeoff. Every day we fled the department faster than a fire-alarm would evacuate Pentagon. We went to many more places than the first generation Aryans went to find newer pastures in gangetic planes. The lanes of BHU were well covered by our cycle trips and never to forget the nostalgia of Cafeteria in 15 minute break. However mass evacuation of mech students at 10:15 due to arrival of G-9 is also a scene to remember forever. However, the clear winner was an ambiguously named place called "Limbdi Corner". I know it is named after limbdi hostel but who the hell is limbdi? It was neither air-conditioned, nor really hygienic. But the taste of Samosa and Khasta is unforgettable.

When other departments finished the only mandatory "fitting" lab - where one has to build a T-joint with cheap wood pieces, we still had 13 more left where temperatures of burning metals could often exceed 500 degrees. And people call our sufferings at workshops as true and evergreen engineering. Only other 'labs' from rest of the departments had either chemicals or computers with as 128MB RAM. The main mechanical lab had, and still do, a Wesson lathe machines - always reverently garlanded on the day of "Viswakarma Puja". Try that with your jar of Sulphuric Acid, Chemical!

For those who came to ITBHU after 12 years of "boys only" schools, counting - or other related number crunching - would only involve girls. At least on that very first day, we had only one dream about gender ratio. But it was thrashed due to grass root realities of IIT JEE system. Mechanical Engineering was the hotbed (pun not intended) of activity, being the home base of a few thousand technically-inclined, hormonally-charged, muscular people. Most of them were totally unable to comprehend how girls fell for wimps who recited Pablo Neruda and had no time for macho men who thought nothing of hammering a cast iron flange for three hours straight. As I write these lines, I get a feeling that people must be wondering if Mechanical Engineers are a modern version of Spartans.

Before anybody tries to protest at what seems like an exaggeration, let me add that we never let anybody finish a match we had the remotest chance of losing. The constant boycott on losing the match was sight to watch again and again in memory lanes. So, every single Arena followed a predictable path for Mechanical. For these modern-day Spartans to flex their sporting muscles, there was an aptly named tournament called CS and AOE Arena.

For Chemical, it was time to show off that they had the maximum girls in the department. For Ceramic, it was time to show off that they had really good dancers. For Meta, it was time to show their bench strength in theater performance. And for Mechanical, it was a time to pulverize the rest of the Engineering faculty into dust, swallow them with a gulp of Thumbs Up and pee it out in the center of the pitch. We had shown it countless in time in cricket or CS and AOE match. The random and chaotic dance of our seniors at cult fest KY-07 was such memorable event. Also, KU & Technex were managed by our passionate batchmates despite of consistent sarkaari type hindrances from the administrative system.

We have done cuss word fights several times in CS match against final year Cera Branch (2006). Lot of words were exchanged between us but they never bothered us with their super senior attitude. 3rd Electrical Branch(2007) do not have courage to stand our outrage. The fight was much a scene and video recording by JD of pre-arguments before dispute between us and them was sensational. It was shared on LAN with more input of Student Language than English or Hindi. Even it was test of VKS next day, our batch of Mechanical Engineering attacked the Electrical Engineering Department with stumps over a small case of mess in hostel only. That day, even Warden watched from the sidelines!)

Socially, it was probably the best because in those four years. I had the privilege of knowing most intelligent and entertaining people. Even though it is a engineering college, there are bond guys in field of academics, music, sports, theater & technology. I was lucky to be part of such geniuses as college mates. This lengthy tour de force cannot end without paying tribute to Photocopy machine at which we have spent more time than Guttenberg has done at his inventory printing press.

However, graduating in Mechanical Engineering was like being perpetually in a place that's a homogeneous mix of a crowded men's locker room and a sports bar that does not allow females. Hell, we did not even have a "Ladies" toilet in the buildings that our department owned in our first year. I read the below lines in some one's blog about Mechanical Department,ITBHU-- "If You have passed your 4-5 years course here at IT-BHU,then you can survive yourself in any condition of your life". I am not saying these words but students of this department say together.........."

3 Idiots (Based on Chetan Bhagat's novel Five Point Someone)

3 Idiots:Wikipedia and Imdb link.
A new movie is directed by Raj Kumar Hirani which is based on the novel "Five Point Someone" written by Chetan Bhagat. I hope that some decency will be maintained by Hirani in the movie, i.e.exact representation of certain scene will cause turbulence in young generation. Certainly, all of us know that this novel is best seller by Indian Standard and based on the backdrop of IIT campus. A rare place to study in student life. 4500 selected in 0.3 million of students choose between 7 IITs, ITBHU Varanasi and ISM Dhanbad. This movie will remove the myth that only studious student can make it top notch. 3 idiots are students of mechanical engineering, the worse and macho branch of all fields of engineering.

The gender ratio may be little to worry about but graduating in Mechanical Engineering was like being perpetually in a place that's a homogeneous mix of a crowded men's locker room and a sports bar that does not allow females. But we have even then one girl in our batch in 1st year.

Perfectionist Aamir Khan, cool R. Madhvan and cheeky Sharman Joshi are there for full fun of audience. I am dying to see Boman Irani as HOD, Mechanical. My only complaint is Kareena Kapoor as heroine of the film. But, you have to make lot of compromise in making bollywood film. Wase, Aamir Khan’s character in 3 Idiots is named Rancho.

Idiots will definitely have something meaningful to say, with gentle humor and zero pretension. Aamir Khan has been quoted as saying that 3 Idiots is very different from 5 Point Someone. I don’t know why, but that makes me very happy. Maybe because Bhagat’s One Night at a Call Center filmed as 'hello' bored me to death. Wase bhi student life is not all about uni-dimensional thinking about grades.

Thought of the Year:
American politics is like ITBHU Engineering.
Democrat is Computer Engineering --- full of geeks and philanders.
Republican is Mechanical---You are always looking for a scrape. No matter how much you screw up, you are proud of yourself. And of course, if there is a good-looking woman standing for election, you vote for her.

Calcutta Chromosome

I was going through all post of Calcutta Chromosome and after reading 100 posts from archives, posting some of the funniest lines here. FYI, I and that great guy has a similarity that we have degree in mechanical engineering.

1-'I hate Ekta kapoor fans' will find it interesting.

"Religion is the opium of the masses – Karl Marx.
Karl Marx did not know about Ekta Kapoor – Anonymous."

2-Manmohan Desai fans will love and hate it for same reason.

" Manmohan Desai wrote only one story in his life.
x (where x = integer greater than 1) siblings and y sets of parents (where y = integer greater than 1 but not equal to x) are separated due to evil relatives or natural calamities. They have a unique common trait in physical (locket, letter, tattoo) or metaphysical (secret, habit, song) form. They grow up (old) while coming in contact with each other at regular intervals but are unable to recognize each other. They are united after 7 songs, 4 fights and one drunken scene featuring Amitabh Bachchan.

Manmohan Desai: At least two brothers separated at birth. Three religions. Shuddering Nirupa Roy. Doddering Pran. Amitabh Bachchan. One gibberish song. One trained dog/hawk/cow/Easter egg/heroine's bodyguard. One operating theatre scene. One natural calamity (not including Kader Khan's wig). Divine intervention to cure blindness/TB/AIDS/obesity. Fourteen coincidences, each having odds of 786,000,000 to 1.
And he directed 21 films, of which at least 16 were box-office record-breakers."

3-X rated article(not for everyone.....)
I find that after 'Garv' the pride,its gay pride coming into our bollywood by Karan Johar,the fighter of lost causes.Lot of Dostana here.....
"Konkona Sensharma has already become to this what Nirupa Roy was to motherhood! She has already done in twice (Page 3, Life in a Metro) and looking good for more. With more and more films being made on a realistic gay relationship, it is only natural that the most dominant theme – closet homosexuality – will have to be depicted pretty regularly.
What will make it tiresome is the way it will be shown. In both the films mentioned above, the scene unfolds in exactly the same manner in which the hetero partner (cuckold?) arrives at the apartment of the closet-gay for a celebration (Konkona was even holding exactly the same things – a bottle of wine and flowers) and sees her lover in bed with (an)other man.
How long before a man walks on to a lesbian couple? I can bet the expression would not be the aghast look which Konkona had!"

For more post like this just wait for few days or read the blog of that guy only....

Consumer Culture

We are really living in the age of consumerism aka modern times. Today consumers have been turned into dustbins for private enterprises to discard their innumerable list of products manufactured more with a view to creating new needs rather than fulfilling needs. It is rather the creation of comfort zone or luxury than needs for few that converts the life of thousands into hell.

Even Images, ads and videos are created and seen more from the point of view of consumerism than as an expression of ideas. The shot of C. Chaplin working frantically in the factory to keep up with the assembly line of production in Modern Times spoke about the basic nature of consumerism and the death of the normal worker. Today, it really speaks volumes about the basic nature of any industry and the effect of consumer culture on our human society.

The sub-prime crisis in America surfaced when defaults were reported in payments for housing mortgages. The 5% population consumes 25% resources of the world. 90% of GDP is consumed in loans (Sources:Business India 5,October 2008). It is the real face of the capitalist economy of America which wants bail out package from the government. Ancient Indian had described consumerism as tendency to "Rinam kritvaa ghritam pibet "/"Take a loan and drink the ghee".

"This consumerism is not the problem with everyone in India, but there are enough such folks to make the issue a cause for concern. This is literally the first generation of young people freely using credit cards - without realizing the consequences. They see it as a necessary self indulgence. Lifestyle is their life. There are worrying stories of call center employees who are clueless about managing their money. By the 15th of the month, they've spent their salaries and continue shopping on credit cards. Then, instead of paying off the monthly balance in full they pay the minimum amount. Not realizing the horrendous 2.5-3% interest a month they're being charged. A few months down the line they are deeply in debt."(Source)

A must read for all of us : The article "Non Efficient Citizen" by Tomas Kavaliauskas on 'consumer culture and capitalism'. It was originally written in Lithuanian but it is transliterated in various languages due to its universal theme and impact. Here is brief paragraph from article -

"The capitalist order implies that the ultimate objective of citizens is to be consumers. Yet consumerism grounded in indebtedness means financial dependence as opposed to democratic freedom, writes Tomas Kavaliauskas. In the consumerist system, the individual who asserts him or herself through authentic freedom is regarded as a non-efficient citizen."

PDF LINK is here.
We often forget that "One should eat to live, not live to eat." - Cicero

The Strange Case of Female Bloggers

I am not keen supporter of feminist point of view. Really, I have feeble idea about feminism but believe in same opportunities and rights irrespective of gender to all human. In the blogging world, I find that number of blogs written by female were quite low than their male counterpart. I do not agree at all that less creativity or intelligence is behind that scenario.

Here, I read these female bloggers regularly: Rashmi Bansal, Nimmy, Piyul, AM and Gunj. I read their views on various topics because of their professional creative writing skills; not due to being of opposite sex. The point is that female bloggers or profile on social network gets more attention (profile view or album view) in internet world. I read some comments on female bloggers that are purely made to impress her by showing wit. You can find lot of clash between male in discussion at internet world but chances of getting male and female in heated arguments are quite low (by checking at orkut communities). I may be wrong or right but I sincerely believe females get more respect and liberty to express themselves in virtual than real world.

PS:This is link of Top 100 female bloggers list.

Eight Point Someone

Hi,I want you to take a look at: ITBHUGlobal.org: The Chronicle: Eight Point Someone (by Praharsh Sharma, B.Tech. Part-III Electronics Engineering student) .I am a 6 pointer but really admire this post for honest and hilarious opinion on serious matter of grades.

I was deeply influenced by paragraph below taken from the given article.These lines are gospel truth for me and hope it will be same for you.

In the course of our four years at IT BHU, we engineering undergraduates should be proud of one thing to which I am sure, all of us agree unanimously. The ability that gets perhaps, best incorporated in us during these quadruple of years, is to manage anything (that is desperately needed) out of nothing, as and when required. We all manage to learn and exercise this well in due course of our time and efforts here. In the sort of situation we are made to live, the most beautiful part is undoubtedly that, this life teaches us how to keep our cool on, when we are right about to fall into the middle of nowhere but hell. This is only because, just when we are living on the last edge and are about to be busted, life subjects us to an experience where in, a pseudo helping hand just saves us from falling into the hell. Thus, when we are in any situation of almost death, we always assume that there would be a way out and this illogical confidence is the best thing, which engineering undergraduates learn to have during their four years. We here call it the engineering preamble, truly stated by someone –

“We, the unwilling, lead by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much for so long, with so little knowledge that we will one day qualify to do anything with knowing nothing..."

Indian Ocean Music Band

I am here enlisting all the prominent articles about Indian Ocean Music Band.I am great admirer of their music.I have first heard them in KY,cultural festival of ITBHU in 2005 and afterwards on PC.I became fan of their down to earth music,lyrics and ideology.Here are the various links:

Official website of Indian Ocean Music Band
Indian Ocean Music Band in Wikipedia
IMDB Profile of the band

Good and Detailed review of Kandisa Album on this blog.

Web link of the prominent bloggers about this band:
Post from Sepia Mutiny & Post from Balancing Life(Prof. Amardeep Singh)

Detail about this Music Band

Two articles in All about Jazz-Interview of Susmit Sen in 1st and Biography in 2nd;
In Samar Magazine,good article for non technical music lovers.
Unofficial Biography of music band,
Short Interview with Indian Ocean on Sulekha,
Interview by The Live Music Report,
Short Article on the music band;
Subscribe for free and Watch the Interview on Chordvine.

News and Archives:
Indian Ocean Performance in Chennai,
Indian Ocean interview on Black Friday,
Currently in news for Aamir Khan Venture;

Various Images of this music band are here.

Meaning of Sparsh

Often, I analyze various people arriving on my blog searching for the Meaning of Sparsh (by FEEDJIT). They were getting link of my blog for meaning of the word 'Sparsh'. I have named my blog 'Sparsh' aka 'Touch'. This touch is often mistaken with Midas or golden word. I do not support that combination with blog's name.

Meaning of 'Sparsh' is Touch. It is inspired from article below:

प्रभावित होना और प्रभावित करना जीवंतता का लक्षण है .कुछ लोग हैं जो प्रभावित होने को दुर्बलता मानते हैं. में ऐसा नही मानता. जो महत से,सुंदर से,साधारण में छिपे असाधारण से प्रभावित नही होते,में उन्हे जड़ समझता हूँ. चेतन तो निकट संपर्क में आने वालों से भावात्मक आदान-प्रदान करता हुआ ही जीवन पाठ पर आगे बदता जाता है.

These lines are taken from the introduction of book "Smaran ko pathey banane do" by "Vishnukant Shastri". Sparsh is the touch (motivation) of that chetan (consciousness) for sensitive exchange of emotions. Hoping that my point is taken crystal clear by reader. Also Check, not original review of a movie 'Sparsh'.

13 Movies I will see again before I die

13 is very suspected number in the common masses. Hence, I prefer to choose 13 against mainstream choice. I am great movie viewer from my childhood by watching "The Adventures of Milo and Otis" on DD but real dream of watching mainstream and foreign language gems were fulfilled in my graduation years. I had started from scratch i.e. "The Mummy" on HBO to zenith i.e. "Pather Panchali" on PC. I present here list of 13 feel good films before you.

• Golmaal
• Truman Show
• Dead Poet's Society
• Malena
• Groundhog Day
• Spirited Away
• Cinema Paradiso
• Stand by Me
• Lage Raho Munna Bhai
• Khosla ka Ghosla!
• Ferris Bueller's Day off
• The Good, the bad and the Ugly
• Kung Fu Panda ;

They are 13 movies to watch again before I die. I have already watch each of them atleast 20 times or more. They are the movies touching to the heart, not of being brain only. Films are not all about playing with light and shade and creating conflict between characters or depicting twisted and unpredictable stories. It is not bloody science but mere combination of art and technology. Technology is just medium of presenting idea but viewers/audience will always be affected by the raw emotions only. In short, I love these movies not due to technology and end result but due to their inspiring and refreshing nature. They contain unfiltered raw emotion affecting me deeply in some uncorrupted part of soul. They remind me that we are more than a speck of sand in the universe.

Pre-KASHIYATRA 2005

KASHIYATRA 2005

KASHIYATRA, our annual All India Cultural Festival is back in all its glory and fervor. This academic session it has been planned for February, 2005 (tentative dates: 24-27). CROSSWINDZ, the Rock Fest will also be held as a part of KY, as done last year.

The team of KY 2005

Convener:
Abhishek Agarwal (IV Mining)

Co-conveners:
K. Arvind (IV Ceramics)
Saurabh Lahiri (IV Civil)
Yashvir Chauhan (IV Chemical)

It was summarized news of the KashiYatra-2005 in the new ITBHU chronicle (e-magazine).Then, internet was not available in the hostels.Most of us 1st yearites did not go to internet café for surfing. So we missed the official news.'Jhankaar' was only pre- preparation before KY.

I do not remember the date but there was a movie show [by projector] in G-11.It was hosted by seniors to gather crowd from hostels.Movie ‘Final Destination’ was shown to us by KY team.Then, they give a brief for coming annual cultural festival “KashiYatra” .

I will now extracting the lines from my personal diary of that days.More information is added to give whole account of KY-2005.

KashiYatra-1st Day (24/02/2005)

I have enrolled myself with KY team as volunteer in event management.I was lucky enough not to enroll in security management. My batchmate Govind Jalan enrolled into it and was standing on the gate of Swatantrata Bhavan (SB). 2^nd half of classes were off by short notice from director. I was involved in decoration and various team registration at help desk inside SB. I was helping in putting banners on SB main gate,entrance and in hall. DD bhaiya was managing the volunteers. My room mate AGP was with me. I quoted in my diary-

“There is lot of heated discussion between us like each day. It feels like head on collision on each topic with his counter-views. I do not know problem of that person.When I do not work, he has problems with me; when I deliver the job, he has got bigger objections. I have different style of work than him but is ok man…”

The condition of volunteers was such that we were remembering the name of event coordinators. Such was our preparation for organizing event. People were claiming last year KY (2004) was very good.We have now given responsibility to at lesat maintain that standard.

New director of our institute, SNU came exactly at 4:30 P.M. on the time of inaugral function.At 5:00 P.M. inaugural function started in G-11 due to typical delays by timeless ITBHU, Varanasi. He became angry due to delay in starting. So, our ‘esteemed’ director addressed partially fulled hall in English. It was more about Indian culture and Varanasi than of the cultural festival. The chief guest (do not remember his name) gives speech in Hindi. Then, our director reliazes his iconic fault and lectured again but in Hindi (the mother tongue). Heck, the drama was over soon.

Kavi Sammelan was awesome. I was inside SB with my volunteer card on the name of event management. Inside, I was just capturing seats for my friends only. It was mine first live interaction with poetic event. There was a Sardarjee from Punjab. He was a teacher and I find him most entertaining. I do not even remember the name of rest poets. It was over till midnight.

KashiYatra-2nd Day (25/02/2005)

I woke up at 10:00 AM.Upendra bhaiya and Sonam bhaiya (Mech 2007 batch) came at our hostels for pushing us to SB. The whole day was spent on the help desk.Sushant, Chandu, Mishra, AGP and gaffar were with me. Lot of registration of participant was going on, hence was quite busy. I was just able to watch few dance shows by various teams.I also motivated AGP for participating in Mr and Miss KY event( Original name is not in memory).There was a girl from NIT Allahabad participating in KY. I chatted with her for ½ hour. Then got warning from Chandan Sharma (Mech 2007: Just senior batch) to leave that girl or be ready for consequences. Fashion was also organized. Just got the glimpse of it. I also enjoyed night at the DJ. It was organized in front of G9. 1-2 hour of our fusion dance with hands and legs shaking in each direction makes me laugh today....

KashiYatra 2005-3rd Day (26/02/2005)

Indian Ocean captured my soul (official website)..........
This day was fill with artistic events. I watched theater with Abdul Gaffar and really praises ITBHU team for their effort. Most of the guys in theater were from Meta branch. I do not recollect any more memories of that day. I walk down to G-11 for watching some event. I come to hostel in evening for change. Then I walk down to open space beside SB for next event. It was Rock show by Indian Ocean music band. It was told to me as a legend that they have performed here in 97 and gained huge popularity afterward. Still most of us were unknown to this band potential and music. First, local and visiting rock teams performed, it appears boring to me.Only a crowd of 20-30 people was there to encourage them.Then, comes the band of fusion music.

There was crowd of 50 people in start to watch them. Then the performance began. It was one of the most entertaining night of life.Kandisa, Hille re, Jhini and Bande were mesmerizing. Some times, I do not even understand the lyrics of the song but music was driving me to another realm. With 5 m away from such a music band with free spirit. They performed like auteur without any hypocrisy around them. I have never feel the power of music before that night. It was folk+Sufi+rock fused in music of love.

KashiYatra 2005-4th Day (27/02/2005)

PS:Above photos are of bad quality

Euphoria was coming[Official site]. It was the last day of the event.I rested whole day in my room. Surya snatched my blanket in morning and captured my sensitive pose in camera.I do not have done shave for 1 week and feel very exhausting after 3 days.I do not attend any event that day.I take a shower in evening and become ready to attend Euphoria show.I got the front row with my event management card (jugaad).It was heavily crowded show and got tussled up with huge push from crowd.The barricades were down after few minutes.1000-1500 junta was attending the fusion nite.Our few batch mate attending Techkriti 2005 came back and party becomes rocking...

I have taken few snaps of the event with my prehistoric camera.Digital camera was not even available in our branch then. Summer of 69 was first English song in live concert for me. The show was very good and music flows through our veins.Performing euphoria in our background of college was like dream coming to true.This KY was best in my 4 year span in ITBHU. Really, those were my best days of my life.Last but not least, the official report was published in ITBHU reverberation magazine.

“The annual cultural fiesta of IT-BHU, organized by IT Gymkhana, KashiYatra 05, was held from 24-27th February 2005 at various indoor and outdoor venues in IT-BHU. 17 outstation teams with 288 participants competed with IT-BHU students for excellence in more than 35 different events of art, culture and frolic. The professional performances included a Rock Show by Indian Ocean, a Fusion Nite by Euphoria and a Hindi Kavi Sammelan comprising of seven state and national level poets.”

My Favourite Snap

A poet is someone who stands outside in the rain hoping to be struck by lightning...

Talk with Puneet Jain

10/03/06
Immortalism cannot be attained with the help of destructible(mortal) ways.
The true meaning of art is to search for truth with false symbols.
We assume that truth is perfect for each individual at each time and space.
The curiosity for discovering the truth is never ending chase.
---Himanshu Rai & Puneet Jain

Life,Curiosity etc are like an asymptote.---Puneet Jain

27/04/08
There is nothing immortal in this world.---Himanshu Rai & Puneet Jain

Warzone Mumbai

After Black Friday, 26/11 turns to be Black Wednesday for whole India. The Mumbai has been struck by the terrorist attack. CST, Nariman House, Taj Hotel and Trident (Oberoi) hotel were prime targets of this attacks.59 Hours of operation with over 182 death and 327 injured people. Jewish people were targeted in India and Israel declares that it is a clear attack on Israel. That's the spirit of real nation...

This is the time to stand together and end the terror regime. Enough is enough; this blood shed of innocent must be stopped. It is a national cause above all mutual difference between political or regional differences. Dirty politics by each party must be punished by people in election. Shivraj Patil was an impotent home minister appointed by Sonia Gandhi on the pure basis of favoritism. Ridiculous talking of home ministry after every bomb blasts has shown nation absurdity of the comments. With this line written, the news of bomb blast in Assam is flashing on news channel. Also, V S Achuthanandan(CPI) has really made cheap comments about martyr family at this time of National crisis.

We care more about distorted image of India projected in USA or UK. We are more worried about external support than internal unity of this country. There is enough proof of Pakistan hand. This fidayen style of training and planning at POK is worth shocking. The diplomatic and internal security efforts must be made with rapid pace (before election).

Currently, we need a strict federal law to deal with this kind of proxy war. The federal agency is needed to coordinate various intelligence and security measures. Either we can laid back to old attitude or help families of victims and brave cops. The terrorist said anonymous mail forging themselves under name of Deccan Mujaheeden.No negotiation policy with the terrorist is best suited for India now. The security forces must be backed with modern ammunition and rifles.

1-Formation of Federal Agency.
2-Reamendment of security acts and laws.
3-Police reforms implementation.
4-Use of CCTV camera at sensitive places.
5-Curbing the economic resource of Terrorist (Join F.A.T.F.)

Feel the backbone invertebrate political leaders .Do not disgust nation with vote bank politics !!!
A nation becomes weak first from inside and attack is done afterward from external enemies. NSG, Marine Commandos, ATS and Mumbai cops make a team effort to save life of so many people. GRP at CST or hotel staff also did tremendous job in the hour of terrorist attack. Salute to them.

Regional Cinema in India

India is a large country where many languages are spoken. According to the 1991 Census of India there are about 10,400 'raw mother tongues' in India.If closely related and mutually comprehensible dialects are grouped, the number can be reduced to 114 main languages. These 114 languages are the ones surveyed in the Indian census. Indian film producers have made films in thirty of the largest languages. However, only the very largest language groups support major regional industries. These are: Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Marathi, Kannada, Odiya & Malayalam. Official statistics categories Indian films according to the languages in which they are distributed.

Masala movies are made both in regional and Bollywood film industry. But regional films constitute of high percentage in parallel cinema. The regional cinema, obviously in majority formed the alternate cinema. Ever since the decline of regional cinema throughout the nation, and the dying out of the parallel movement, the viewers have been feed with repeated image, sound and music. Indians do not watch movies made in other part of India itself but able to watch latest flick of Hollywood. Why?

Firstly, I personally don’t think language should pose a problem but it does, not a lot of work has been done when it comes to movies. Frankly people need to get over this as subtitling as an art has really developed. Still people are irritated & afraid at the though of reading subtitles. If we can watch Japanese, Chinese and Iranian films with subtitles, we can watch home productions too. If subtitles are available there is no issue in watching good regional films. Subtitles are not easily available for any films and it’s not easy for everyone to get access to any foreign or regional films through P2P or torrent client.

Secondly, film education is nonexistent in India. If we were to educate people in films studies Bollywood masala films might just be a subject of history. I believe that a lot of good regional films are not of excellent production (technical) quality like Hollywood or Bollywood. That is also where they score less... but unless regional filmmakers find financial backing, it is very difficult for them to produce good production quality.

Lastly Media has glorified Hollywood and Bollywood. Regional films are not given so much coverage in the media slots. The marketing and distribution system is under developed. The major problem is being lack of availability not due to the fact that such movies don’t exist but because they are not marketed properly.

Indian Cinema is thriving today thanks to an audience who is hungry for films, however, our works have degraded over the years, and regional cinema and few great filmmakers are marginalized to the film festival or art house circuits. Most of us had used to watch regional films on DD on Sundays. With the advent of cable and dish culture, the regional cinema has suffered huge setback. There is no information either in the print or electronic media about regional films.

Language Barrier:
Language controversy has nothing to do with the topic which is primarily a problem of socio-economic & cultural conditioning in which media is responsible to a great extent. Regardless of the language, a film is a film and must be regarded as a work of art. Some films are language less, soundless but are classics. The point is only this that statistics cannot determine quality of a film and regardless of how many people speak a language, a language is a means of communication and nobody can decide on a superior and inferior language.

A good movie is a good movie whether it’s being made in Hindi or Tamil or other foreign languages. But many talented directors like Hriskesh mukherjee, Basu chatterjee, Shyam benegal made many films in Hindi the reason being that it reaches over to larger audience. Many good directors make movies in Hindi or English irrespective of their mother tongues. Even legendary Satyajit ray made a film 'satranj ke khiladi' in Hindi.

I am saying Hindi is just like any other language and is grammatically similar to all devnagiri languages. The point here being that when someone puts his efforts in making a film it’s quite logical he expects it to reach more audience. I'm not getting into this language debate.Back to movies!!!

Obsession with Bollywood/Hollywood(Studied from above Link)
"Our bureaucracy and the ruling class (irrespective of political affiliations) are mesmerized by the glamor and dazzle of Bollywood, quite ignorant of the fact that it is the strength regional cinema primarily that the true picture /reality our vast country is reflected or represented. No doubt I.F.F.I. was shifted from New Delhi to Goa to create a carnival atmosphere on the lines of Cannes film festival oblivion of the fact that evolution, nature & utility of the two are entirely different. Besides after 200 years of domination by the Anglo-Saxons culture we still in our subconscious mind feel whatever comes from foreign/ Hollywood is superior(though technologically they are, yet cinema is not only about technology). "

Even Satyajit Ray’s "Pather Panchali" was appreciated only after it got recognition from abroad. A new and independent thinking pattern is needed with clever marketing strategy for upheavel of regional films.There is huge growth in overseas market of indian films. It provides basic investment needed for people working in regional film industry to move to other regions. Now, the good point is mobility and exchange of technical crews and artist with different regional background. There is a great deal of mobility between the regional industries. Many workers in other regional industries, once their talent and popularity is established, move on to work in other film industries, nationally as well as internationally.

In end, simply it’s just that not a lot of smart people have invested themselves in this marketing and commercial aspect of film industry.

Quotable Quote

"Salim-Javed never went to a screenwriting school but still ended up becoming a screenwriting school for all of us. Too much education can kill a perfectly smart brain forever. But it's desirable in terms of craft, in basic things like creative writing classes in every university which most people in the west take for granted.

We spend our childhood dreading our Physics-Chemistry-Math scores and hundreds of entrance exams instead, which is a pity for those who are not so inclined.

It's strange, I always say I never went to a film school, I went to Jungle instead-and recently Anurag told me the same thing-that he never went to a film school, he went to Satya instead".

- Jaideep Sahni, in an interview to India FM