Column | Window Seat

Window Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee

Water as a teacher

As winter recedes and spring descends, the upper Himalayan region witnesses birth scores of streams. The thick slate of snow begins to melt and scores of thin streams spring to life and begin their downward journey.

The journey of water as it flows upon the earth can be a mirror of our own paths through life. Water begins its residence on earth as it falls from the sky or melts from ice and streams down a mountain into a tributary or stream. In the same way, we come into the world and begin our lives on earth. Like a river that flows within the confines of its banks, we are born with certain defining characteristics that govern our identity. We are born in a specific time and place, within a specific family, and with certain gifts and challenges. Within these parameters, we move through life, encountering many twists, turns, and obstacles along the way just as a river flows.

Water is a great teacher that shows us how to move through the world with grace, ease, determination, and humility. When a river breaks at a waterfall, it gains energy and moves on, as we encounter our own waterfalls, we may fall hard but we always keep moving on. Water can inspire us to not become rigid with fear or cling to what’s familiar. Water is brave and does not waste time clinging to its past, but flows onward without looking back. At the same time, when there is a hole to be filled, water does not run away from it in fear of the dark; instead, water humbly and bravely fills the empty space. In the same way, we can face the dark moments of our life rather than run away from them.

Eventually, a river will empty into the sea. Water does not hold back from joining with a larger body, nor does it fear a loss of identity or control. It gracefully and humbly tumbles into the vastness by contributing its energy and merging without resistance. Each time we move beyond our individual egos to become part of something bigger, we can try our best to follow the lead of the river.
(with inputs from an email forward)

Mass Media (ganamadhyama) and People's Media (janamadhyama')

Recently I took part in a stimulating discussion (on the occasion of First Satya Mohapatra Memorial Lecture) in Bhubaneswar, Odisha on the plural character of media.

Writer and Human right activist Guru Mohanty attempted to differentiate between 'janamadhyama' (people's media) and ganamadhyama (mass media) and tried to drive home the point that with market forces playing increasingly dominant role, mass media is moving away from the mass and cosying up to a particular affluent section of the mass.  

Bidu Bhusan Dash, who teaches cultural studies in Pune University focused on how mass media mainstreams dominant culture often at the expense of other cultures, especially of the subaltern.
I tried to elaborate on how and why mass media will always go for the larger scale, and thus try to mainstream dominant culture; although it would always provide a platform for other voices. Therefore people's voice (read subaltern media or alternative media) is important for preservation of the different facets and hues of culture, especially in a country like India, which has such wide diversity. And there will always be a space for that.

Saraswati Puja

Saraswati is the Goddess of learning, especially of fine arts and aesthetics. She is worshipped in almost all schools and colleges in Odisha, West Bengal and other states of Eastern India.

This is one puja we were eagerly looking forward as school kids as there used to be feast in school with puri, aloo dum or cabbage curry, tomato chutney and bundia. The smell of puri being fried in giant kadei was enough to whet our appetite and we used to eat like, well, mini-rakhyas.

 Ma used to tell me not to eat berries (kul or koli) before Saraswati Puja, as she said it could impede our learning system. And I used to wait for this day, so that I can eat sour sweet berries to my heart's content after the puja was over.

 It used to be the day when girls of local Girls High School used to visit our school, dressed like fairies (other days in school uniform all of them looked alike) and we could get an opportunity to talk to them without attracting teacher's stern attention.

 It used to be the day, when I was looking forward to get up early in the morning.

 Some day... those days.

Tailpiece: Difference between Fine and Tax

-          What is a Fine?

-          Fine is a tax for doing wrong

-          And what is tax?

-          Tax is a fine for doing right.

***

6.2.17

Mrinal Chatterjee, a journalist turned media academician lives in Dhenkanal, a small Dist. HQ town in Central Odisha. He can be contacted at mrinalchatterjee@ymail.com