Sparsh

90 के दशक की केबल-टीवी वाली ज़िंदगी आज सोचें तो किसी अलग ही दुनिया जैसी लगती है। एक ही टीवी पर रूसी कार्टून, चीनी धारावाहिक, दूरदर्शन के कार्यक्रम और बीच-बीच में 8-बिट वीडियो गेम की आवाज़ — सब कुछ बिना इंटरनेट के। न वाई-फाई था, न स्मार्टफोन, फिर भी दुनिया हमारे घर तक पहुँच जाती थी… बस एक टेढ़े-मेढ़े टीवी एंटीना के सहारे। 90 के दशक में टीवी देखने का मज़ा ही कुछ और था |  पहले तो हम DD National और DD Metro के भक्त हुआ करते थे।  रामायण दोबारा देखने में भी गर्व होता था।  एंटीना को घुमाकर और केबल का सिग्नल ठीक करने की कोशिश अपने आप में एक गेम जैसी होती थी।  और उसी भरोसे में हमारा बचपन दुनिया घूम आता था — बस केबल के सहारे। दूरदर्शन के बाद प्राइवेट चैनलों के आने का इंतज़ार ही सबसे बड़ी एक्साइटमेंट हुआ करता था।  वो दौर जब “केबल कनेक्शन” लगना किसी स्टेटस सिंबल से कम नहीं था। मोहल्ले की किसी छत पर जैसे ही नया केबल एंटीना दिखता, खबर अपने-आप फैल जाती — “अरे, इनके घर तो अब सारे चैनल आने वाले हैं!” शाम होते ही बच्चे वहीं जमा, रिमोट हाथ में लेने की बारी को लेकर बहस, और चैनल ब...

Sparsh: 50 Pointers - Medieval-Like Fantasy Worlds - First Part While the material foundations examined in Part 1 provide the scaffolding for mediaeval fantasy worlds, this second exploration with remaining 25 pointers delves into the intangible systems that actually hold societies together and tear them apart: 26. Weak Espionage and Intelligence : Inadequate spy networks left kingdoms exposed to manipulation, surprise attacks from rivals, and internal conspiracies, undermining state security. The Delhi Sultanate frequently fell victim to surprise invasions ( particularly Timur's 1398 raid ) due to inadequate intelligence gathering leading to entire populations killed or enslaved. 27.  Prostitution and Urban Underworld:  Prostitution is a common and tolerated feature of city life. The lives of sex workers intersected with the criminal underworld providing vital networks of information and serving as intermediaries for espionage, blackmail, and political intrigue.  28. ...

What is the key reason behind the recent surge in popularity of science fiction and fantasy genres? The authors can  reveal truths about society and politics when direct expression is  suppressed  by an unfavorable political and religious environment. S cience fiction genre is a mirror image of fantasy (sword & sorcery) established from current time reference.  The book is science fiction is when you're depressed about the future, fantasy is when you're depressed about the past, and literature is when you're depressed about the present.   Similarly, fantasy is when the technology the characters use is magic and sci-fi is when the magic the characters use is technology. Common fantasy themes that readers easily recognize include resistance to tyranny, prophecies guiding destinies, hero-centered stories, journey to distant land and rags-to-riches journeys. I will not help the readers on these familiar themes of struggle, hope, and love that form the backb...

Attention span refers to the amount of time we can focus on a task before we start to "zone out". Due to boom of the social media, the average attention span has dropped from 12 minutes to a staggeringly short 5 minutes. People’s attention spans are much shorter now as their interests have moved on to sports, technology and fashion. The attitude of our younger generation has changed so rapidly with the introduction of Twitter and Facebook. Even then social media can't be blamed entirely as knowledge accumulates to people who read Wikipedia on screen that to those who mush their brains with Twilight on paper. “According to UNESCO, the biggest single indicator of whether a child is going to thrive at school and in work is whether or not they read for pleasure.” Growing numbers of children are being turned off books by the end of primary school because of the influence of the internet and lack of reading in the home, according to research. I don't vouch for the Americ...

I assume myself as a scholar and dreaming to become a revolutionary’. I am willing to infuse soul rather than image in writing. Even after listening the lecture embedded below, I don't know what invokes creativity. Creativity might just be a term to describe accepted dysfunction of the norm. A bad phase in writing has been going on as I am becoming compiler these days. One blogger commented also: Once you start getting 'inspired', you may never realize the extent of your 'inspiration'. The tilt between adaptation, copying and original ideas shifts from one end to another. I am writing for awareness of the whole world and gathering all existing knowledge. I have been advised to generate some positive wave. Otherwise there are hell lots of things wrong in world and we have to pick the priority. Still, a positive news should be balanced with showcasing negativity around. Its very hard to maintain a truly moral perspective on anything in the writing. The ambiguity and...

Motivation is the factor that keeps us going in hard times. I am not good in writing on serious topics with metaphorical sentences. I work hard on compiling an article, when I have something to say. It’s a hybrid of response to a moment of the life with what I read, heard or viewed previously to what I want to express. There are so many thoughts to tell. That’s why I edit the writeup may times until it make any sense. But an urge to improve content and flow is taken to engage readers in the reading process. There should be continuity and increasing depth as the article proceeds. Not everyone knows how to express creativity, but everyone has the capacity to be creative. Now, turning towards real heated issues. Always in the human history, the sense of realism is overtaken by popular notion of mindless entertainment and belief system. Until, we realize the truth by questioning the popular practices, we are bound to be caught in the circle of violence and intolerance. We use religion, cu...

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? "Does observation affect outcome?" Yes, it does in writing. We can assume the unobserved event functions the same as the observed event in a rare case of writing where external observation is not needed. Sometimes event is self-conscious. That is the beauty of writing, it makes you reflective... I insist everyone to write and to clear their point of view or express experiences. Or it may serve the purpose to inflate weak ideas, obscure poor reasoning and inhibit clarity. This has happened to me long back ago. A great fellow from 'downsouth' had given me his valuable time and comment to improve my writing skills. I got a mail on asking his opinion on one of the blogpost . The email can be traced back on the date of 16th June 2007 when my blog was just 3 months old with full of spelling and grammar mistakes (Later I edited and republished blogpost on his advice). The person has asked to k...

I am highly addicted to the Internet and word 'diversity'. I have recently started 2 blogs with my same ' yayaver ' profile. 1-For the sake of study --- http://fusedvision.blogspot.com/ It is just prepared for academics and professional purpose by me. 2- For the love of cinema --- http://hybridchoice.blogspot.com/ It is just created for maintaining the database of the films watched by me. We didn't imagine that somebody takes breathe and live in his own way 10,000 miles away from your home until now. -   Ankur Joshi . It was line spoken by Ankur to whom I met in Germany. That becomes an inspiration to understand universalism in world. I will now trace the history of my reading habit. There was an awesome article on Kolkata long ago in 3quarksdaily taken from Eurozine . Since then, I had become reader of both these online magazines with focus on 'culture' tag. As interest evolved, I started reading articles on diverse topic about my college, cinem...

A blog is a medium which can and does foster creativity and original writing on burning topics and bring up concrete reality completely ignored by the mainstream press. It can also be used for providing information and inspiration about career {in IITs & IIMs}. In my words a blog is a creative license in form of online journal, public diary or e-documentation of your thoughts. You have to keep seeking and striving, learning and thriving. Reading and writing are in symbiosis with each other. Equating the writing of comments with writing a blog is misplaced but a potentially powerful idea. Its clever marketing, since the term 'blog' has come to stand for the unfettered expression of opinion. But blogging is not something that you do only as a reaction to what other people write! It is about being proactive than reactive. The challenge is to hybrid creativity and commercialism. To achieve impact in terms of sales, or at least influence thinking / behavior is real goal of a...