Column | Jagate Thiba Jetedina

Samaja Saptahika 30 June-26 July 2018

Column | Window Seat

Window Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee

Remembering Emergency

It was on 25 June 1975 that emergency was promulgated. I was in Class XI then. In the small mofussil town called Charampa in Bhadrak district in Odisha where I lived then it had a mixed reaction. People were scared as there were police vehicles movement, a rare sight in our town- rarer still was the fact that they carried weapons. People were also happy as the trains and buses started running on time and prices of grocery items like cooking oil, sugar and daal came down. In my family my father was unhappy as newspapers we used to subscribe suddenly became insipid. But my mother was happy as the prices came down. 

Next year I went to college- 4 kms from my place. No election was held in our college. We heard that some students were arrested as they protested against the government and emergency. Some students clandestinely brought copies of an Odia publication Pragativadi and Mainstream and insisted we should read it.

Next year 1977- the emergency was lifted. The arrested students came back to the college with a hero's welcome. Some of them fought elections again held in the college and won.

General Elections were held in March 1977. I remember my father listening to the results late into the night on radio. When the news came that Indira Gandhi was defeated in Rae Bareli my father smiled and ordered my mother who was sleeping then- to prepare a cup of tea. Radio was playing the song: Bareli ke bazar mein jhumka gira re... I was awake then. So was half of the town. There was bursting of crackers. After finishing tea my father said: mark my words, she will again come back.

Years later I wrote a novel titled Abhimanyu with the backdrop of emergency times at a small town.

… And Orwell

It is often said history repeats itself. History also in a queer way forewarns. Consider this:  George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair), who was also born on 25 June 1903 in Motihari, Bihar. What he wrote holds relevance in case of emergency and also in the present times.  

Orwell knew the horrors of the twentieth century: the rants of the dictators, the totalitarian societies they unleashed, the wars of unparalleled bloodshed.

Considered perhaps the twentieth century's best chronicler of English culture, Orwell wrote some of the most brilliant literature of the twentieth century, which showed the dark side of dictatorship.

His novels Animal Firm and Nineteen Eighty four showed what authoritarianism can do those who submit themselves to it.

Patient’s’ Rights Day

My friend Ankuran Dutta who heads the Journalism and Mass Communication Department of Gauhati University in Assam is spearheading a movement to institutionalize what he calls Patients’ Rights. As health care is becoming a big business moving slowly into private domain- incidents of patient negligence and financial coercion is increasing. Lack of accountability on the part of the doctors and hospitals makes the patients and their relatives vulnerable. Ankuran is a victim of such negligence which took the life of his wife Anamika at the age of thirty six. Instead of suffering silently Ankuran has decided to fight back for the right of the patients. 
He has started to observe this day 25 June as Patients’ Rights Day to raise awareness about medical negligence.

As I posted this information on my social media page my childhood friend and a respected surgeon Dr. Ibrarullah reacted: It is good to teach patients their rights. But it is equally important to teach then their duties towards their care giver, understand the limitations of medical care, accept failures as limitations of medical science and not consider every failure as negligence and exploitation by the doctor. Empowering the patients should not be the excuse to create mistrust towards the care giver- that eventually manifests in hostile and aggressive behaviour.  

Medical care in India is increasingly getting hemmed between these two sets of opinions. Is there a way out? I guess, there is- if only an implementable legal framework is made and an ethical medical industry plus civil society body is empowered to look into it.

Breast Feeding

Few months ago I was amazed, perturbed and a little enraged to know that a criminal case under the Indecent Representation of Women Act had been filed against monthly Malayalam magazine ‘Grihalaxmi’ for publishing the picture of a young woman breastfeeding a baby on its cover page. 

I failed to understand how feeding a baby could be lascivious or prurient? Several countries including India have been trying to increase the practice of breastfeeding as it is the best for the baby. Several countries including India have issued postage stamps with pictures of mothers breast feeding their babies to popularise the practice.
Thankfully Kerala High court has recently dismissed the case. ‘There is no obscenity in a woman breastfeeding a baby on 'Grihalaxmi' magazine cover, obscenity lies in the eyes of the beholder,’ Kerala High Court said. 

Tail piece 1

Health Insurance Companies are your best well-wishers. They always pray God for your long life with good health and mind. Private hospitals and medicine companies wish otherwise.

Tail piece 2: Wheel of Karma

Time changes fortunes. A king today turns a pauper tomorrow. Look at how winners of World Cup football in one edition have fared in the next.

1998: France wins WC
2002: France out in group stage!

2006: Italy wins WC
2010: Italy out in group stage!

2010: Spain wins WC
2014: Spain out in group stage!

2014: Germany wins WC
2018: Germany out in group stage!

Tail piece 3: Why Germany lost

Everybody is asking this question: how can 2014 World Cup champion Germany, considered to be a powerhouse lose against minnows South Korea? The answer lies in the venue and in the history. How can Germany win in Russia?

Tail piece 4: Drama on the field

The way some players are feigning injury on the field, rolling on the grounds, grimacing and contorting their faces during the world cup football matches, they should be given best actor awards.

***

Mrinal Chatterjee, a journalist –turned media academician lives in Central Odisha town of Dhenkanal. He also writes fiction. English translation of his Odia novel Shakti and compilation of his columns Window Seat have just been published.

mrinalchatterjee@ymail.com

This weekly column is published on Sunday 1.7.18  in Gangtok based English daily Sikkim Times and www.orissadiary.com

Remembering Emergency

Remembering Emergency

Mrinal Chatterjee

I was in Class XI when emergency was promulgated. In the small mofussil town called Charampa in Bhadrak district where I lived then it had a mixed reaction. People were scared as there were more police vehicles movement. People were also happy as the trains and buses started running on time and prices of grocery items like oil and daal came down. In my family my father was unhappy as newspapers we used to subscribe suddenly became insipid. But my mother was happy as the prices came down.
Next year I went to college- 4 kms from my place. Buses were always on time. No election was held. We heard some students were arrested as they protested against the government and emergency. Next year 1977- the emergency was lifted. The arrested students came back to the college with a hero's welcome. Some of them were arrested under MISA. Some students shouted slogans like: Misa-phenrata chartra neta zindabad. General Elections were held. I remember my father listening to the results late into the night on radio. When the news came that Indira Gandhi was defeated in Raibareli my father smiled and ordered my mother who was sleeping then- to prepare a cup of tea. Radio was playing the song: Bareilly ke bazar mein jhumka gira re... I was awake then. So was half of the town. there were bursting of crackers. After finishing tea my father said: mark my words, she will again come back.
Years later I wrote a novel titled Abhimanyu with the backdrop of emergency times at a small town.

Samaja , Odia daily

Indian Express left its editorial blank as a mark of protest.

inviting professional photographers

UNESCO is inviting professional photographers from all over the world to send a sample of their best photographs illustrating journalists while doing their job.

UNESCO is looking for images that depict journalists working in different situations, for example:

• International and/or local journalists working on investigations into cases of corruption or political wrongdoing;
• attending trials, press conferences, demonstrations, or major public events;
• gender dynamics in journalism;
• threats posed by Internet harassment;
• journalists working in digital media;
• the everyday life of a journalist; and
• scenes from the newsroom or TV/radio studio.

Additionally, areas of particular interest include: journalists embedded within police or the military, journalists reporting from a conflict zone, journalists in protected vehicles or in front of media houses with protection or any other case in which journalists are working in challenging situations. The photos selected by UNESCO will include a balanced representation of both sexes. Regional diversity is also strongly encouraged.

As the United Nations agency with a specific mandate to promote “the free flow of ideas by word and image”, UNESCO aims to promote freedom of expression and its corollary of press freedom, and in doing so, to familiarize the world with the everyday lives and issues faced by journalists.

The selected photographs will help to raise awareness on the working conditions of journalists and to illustrate UNESCO activities and programs contributing to the promotion of freedom of expression.
The photographs will be chosen for their artistic, creative and original content. UNESCO will establish a contract with the photographers and purchase the selected photographs, whereby non-exclusive rights for the selected photographs will be granted to UNESCO.

Requirements for proposals:

• Maximum of 12 photographs;
• Color, minimum resolution: 350 dpi, minimum size: A4;
• Photo caption in English or French for each photograph with information (place, time, subject);
• Price per single photograph.

Proposed photographs can be send to IDEI@unesco.org(link sends e-mail)

Applications are due by midnight (GMT) on 15 July 2018.

https://en.unesco.org/news/call-proposals-photographs-illustrating-journalists-doing-their-job?mc_cid=799087ce28&mc_eid=34a54c5399

Patients Rights Day

My friend Ankuran Dutta is spearheading a movement to institutionalize Patients Rights. As health care is becoming a big business moving slowly into private domain- incidents of patient negligence and financial coercion is increasing. Lack of accountability on the part of the doctors and hospitals makes the patients and their relatives vulnerable. Ankuran is a victim of such negligence which took the life of his wife Anamika at the age of thirty six. Instead of suffering silently Ankuran has decided to fight back for the right of the patients. 
He has started to observe this day 25 June as Patients Rights Day to raise awareness about medical negligence.
I am with him. Are you?

Column | Satrangi Batein

Cartoon Watch, June 2018

Bhupen Hazarika's songs in Odia

Bhupen Hazarika's songs in Odia

Bhupen Hazarika

Bhupen Hazarika(1926-2011), widely known as Sudhakantha, singer, lyricist, musician, singer, poet and film-maker has been and continues to be a cult figure in Assam. His songs, written and sung mainly in the Assamese language by himself, are marked by humanity and universal brotherhood and have been translated and sung in many Indian and Foreign languages.

Nahid Afrin

 For the first time an attempt has been made to render his songs in Odia. An album with ten of his iconic songs have been recorded by Assam's singing sensation Nahid Afrin of Indian Idol fame.

Here are the ten songs, which have been recorded.

01. MUṄ GOṬE JĀJĀBARA (1968)

02. MAṆIŚA, MAṆIŚA PĀIṄ (1961)

03. SĀGARA SAṂGAME (1952)

04. ĀKĀŚĪ GAṄGĀ CAHEṄNĀ MUṄ (1963)

05. ŚIŚIRE BHIJĀ ŚĪTA RĀTI (1970)

06. PRATIDHWANI ŚUṆE MUṄ (1953)

07. KEUṄ EKA AḶASUĀ MEGHA (1969)

08. SEDINA SAKĀḶE (1957)

09. MUṄ ĀU MO'RA CHĀI (1965)

10. MO'RA GĪTA HEU (1969)

Review | Shakti

Common Times, 10 June 2018

Column | Pathe PrantareSam

Samaya Taranga 24.6.18

Call for Articles for Monographs

Calling all Media Educator and Practitioner friends! I am trying to put together essays and articles in the form of monographs on two subjects.
1. Mahatma Gandhi as an Editor and Journalist 
2. Data Journalism
Please send in your contributions. Published articles also welcome, if there are no copyright issues. No word limit. 
Send contributions by 9 July 2018.
mrinalchatterjeeiimc@gmail.com

Column | Window Seat

Window Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee

Rain

The monsoon usually hits Odisha on 13-14 June. There is a festival also in Odisha to usher the rainy season called Raja (pronounced Rawjaw), about which I wrote last week. Bengal too gets monsoon rain around that time. But this year, monsoon rani played truant. There was no rain during raja festival. Whole of Odisha and large part of Bengal literally sizzled with temperature in many places crossing over 40 degree centigrade.

Location: Bhubaneswar Secretariate. Photo: Ashok Panda 

Rain of rather lack of it dominated public discourse at the grass root level (called adda in Bengal) despite world cup football in Russia and BJP withdrawing support from PDP. Everybody kept looking at the sky and expecting to see dark clouds. But the clear blue sky showed a fiery sun determined to keep the clouds away.

And then, one evening the dark clouds made entry- slowly but steadily. Soon, the sky was covered by slate-grey clouds, bearing rain. There were lightning followed by rumbling sound of thunder.  The electricity went off plunging the entire town where I live into darkness.

Lightning

In a dark night at the campus of IIMC, where I live, the hills suddenly become visible when there are lightning. It is kind of surreal. You are suddenly aware that you are surrounded by hills. You look at those hills illuminated in split second electric-blue lights. Looking at those mighty hills, you feel humbled. You feel one with the force of nature.

Then you hear the rumbling sound of the thunder. Am I scared? At times I am. But most of the times I enjoy the sound, as it heralds rain. Nectar from the sky pour down quenching the thirst of the earth. As the rain water enters deep into the earth- life erupts in its finest glory. The grey hills turn green. The small streams spring into life.

Seed

As my books 'Window Seat' and 'Shakti' was released at Kalinga Literature Festival in Bhubaneswar mango seeds taken from Dhenkanal, where I live were distributed among the audience. Dhenkanal, for your information is a prime mango growing district of Odisha, which produces almost one fifth of the total mango produced in the state. It grows some exotic variety of mangoes.  We requested the audience to plant these seeds in coming rainy season, which was just round the corner.
Any seed, like any window indicates possibilities and potential. Sow the seed, take care and it grows into a tree and may realise its full potential. Similarly window shows you the outer world and draws into an engagement with the unknown- which eventually brings out the best in you.
Both have the 'shakti' to transform you and probably the world around.
Many present during the book release ceremony took the seeds with great interest.

I do not know how many seeds would be planted would grow to its full potential. But I am hopeful that some of them will definitely be planted and grow.

Dependence on Mobile Phone

The degree to which we depend on phones to complete basic tasks and to fulfil important needs such as learning, safety and staying connected to information and to others is increasing every passing day.  Smartphones have increasingly become the tool we use to navigate and organize our daily lives. From keeping our calendars, getting directions, and communicating instantly with others, to helping us answer any questions we might possibly have about the state of our world or the people in it, our dependence on devices is clearly increasing.

This dependence has important psychological consequences. For example, research on transactive memory finds that when we have reliable external sources of information about particular topics at our disposal, then this reduces our motivation and ability to acquire and retain knowledge about that particular topic. Consider a simple fact:  in earlier times we remembered at least ten twenty telephone numbers. Now hardly anybody remembers any. In the past, the primary sources of information on which we could depend to outsource our knowledge have been other people. But now we have a source of near omniscience in our pockets. Why bother remembering anything when you can always just ask Siri or google? Indeed, research finds that when it comes to the acquisition and retention of information, our brains treat our devices like relationship partners. So perhaps it is not surprising that we should experience such distress when this relationship is lost because your phone is out of order or has run out of battery. You suffer from an anxiety as to how would you function without your trusted partner. Go one step further and you are scared of losing your phone, now called nomophobia and suffer from stress and anxiety because of this.

My student Samarpita Das has posted this on her facebook wall that I think is quite illuminating: For two days when my cell phone stopped working, I realized what stole my peace.

Tailpiece 1: How long do you use your Toothbrush...?

A Doctor was conducting a survey : How long do you use your Toothbrush...?

Chinese: 6 months...!

American: 3 months...!!

Indian: There is no fixed time limit doctor, may be years...!!!  Initially we use it for brushing our teeth; then we use it for dying our hair, cleaning ornaments and cleaning machine parts of our vehicles. Then when there no bristles left on the brush, we use it for pushing 'Naada' in our Chaddis, Pajamas and Petticoats...!!!

Dentist fainted.

(Courtesy: Social Media)

Tailpiece 1: World Cup Football

FIFA World Cup Football is ideal for us Indians. Support as many teams as you want, change loyalties on a daily basis, support multiple teams a day, even two in the same match, cheer every goal. Perfect, no?

(Courtesy: Nanda Gopal Rajan)

***

Mrinal Chatterjee, a journalist –turned media academician lives in Central Odisha town of Dhenkanal. He also writes fiction. English translation of his Odia novel Shakti and compilation of his columns Window Seat have just been published.

mrinalchatterjee@ymail.com

Article in Odia

Anubhaba June 2018

Article in Odia

Sobhana June 2018

Media Job/Paid Internship

Paid Internship

PPR South Asia (part of WPP group) has a vacancy for one intern at its Bengaluru office.

Position: Intern

Vacancy: 1

Location: Awfis, Raheja Towers, MG Road, Bengaluru.

Duration: 3 months (Paid)

Eligibility: UG/PG in media studies. Should be good with English and abreast with current affairs. Knowledge of Kannada will be an added advantage. Working knowledge of PPT, Excel and social media will be a plus.

Interested candidates can mail their resume to supreet.wahi@pprww.com and dhiren.dukhu@pprww.com

***

Media Job

Vacancies for the position of Reporter and Copy Editor for My City Links (English Tabloid) and Samparka ( Oriya Weekly), both Bhubaneswar based periodicals.

Contact: Prapti Biswal
+7381631000
Email: recruitment.bbsr@kaapro.co.in

***

Posted as received.

Posted on 18.6.18

Review | Window Seat (Odia)

Review of Window Seat published in Odia daily Nirbhaya today. Review by Soumya Ranjan Bihara.

'Window Seat' and 'Shakti', are available now in Oxford Book Store, Bhubaneswar.

All my books are available including 'Yamraj Number 5003' are available in Modern Book Dept, Master Canteen, Bhubaneswar, Kitab Mahal, College Square; and in leading e-commerce sites including www.orikart.com

Column | Window Seat

Window Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee

World Cup Football

By the time this column is published the 21^st FIFA World Cup Football championship in Russia fever must have caught the entire nation. Though India remains a cricket-crazy country- world cup football makes us stay glued to the television sets to see twenty two men fighting to put a ball past the opponent’s goal post.

Football remains one of the oldest and the most popular sport across the world. The very earliest form of the game for which there is scientific evidence was an exercise from a military manual dating back to the second and third centuries BC in China.

This Han Dynasty forebear of football was called Tsu' Chu and it consisted of kicking a leather ball filled with feathers and hair through an opening, measuring only 30-40cm in width, into a small net fixed onto long bamboo canes. According to one variation of this exercise, the player was not permitted to aim at his target unimpeded, but had to use his feet, chest, back and shoulders while trying to withstand the attacks of his opponents. Use of the hands was not permitted. 

Another form of the game, also originating from the Far East, was the Japanese Kemari, which began some 500-600 years later and is still played today. This is a sport lacking the competitive element of Tsu' Chu with no struggle for possession involved. Standing in a circle, the players had to pass the ball to each other, in a relatively small space, trying not to let it touch the ground.

The Greek 'Episkyros' - of which few concrete details survive - was much livelier, as was the Roman 'Harpastum'. The latter was played out with a smaller ball by two teams on a rectangular field marked by boundary lines and a centre line. The objective was to get the ball over the opposition's boundary lines and as players passed it between themselves, trickery was the order of the day.

However, the contemporary history of the world's favourite game spans more than 100 years. It all began in 1863 in England, when rugby football and association football branched off on their different courses and the Football Association in England was formed - becoming the sport's first governing body.

(To know more about the history of football see: https://www.fifa.com/about-fifa/who-we-are/the-game/index.html)

Going into the etymology of the words,  'Sport' stems from the Old French expression desporter or se desporter – derived from the Latin de(s)portare meaning, to amuse oneself. Sure, a sports' buff amuses oneself. But, once out on the field or court, one comes face-to-face with competitors to compete. The word 'compete' derives from two Latin roots 'com', meaning 'with' and 'peter', meaning 'to strive' or 'to seek'. True competitors 'strive or seek together' for excellence. We have much to learn from competitors who shake hands, embrace, or share a meal after an intense contest.

Football highlights this part more vividly than any other competitive sports. That is perhaps the reason of its popularity across the world.

Book Reading

Last week I had been to Mahima Book Fair at Dhenkanal, Odisha as a speaker to deliberate on the role of market to popularize book reading habit. 
The points I tried to make were:

1. Basically market provides an interface between the product and its buyers. It will always have a bias towards any product/service that sells fast and easy or gives more profit. Therefore market’s role in increasing book reading habit is limited. What market can do is to make the book visible and accessible to the potential buyers and help to plough back money invested in the production of the product back to its producers. In case of the book it also includes the author. Popularity of book as a product will always depend on its buyers. The buyers/readers need to show interest and willingness to spend money/time. Otherwise market will lose interest and shut shop.

2. Market needs scale for profit. For upping scale one needs to homogenize the product to suit the wants of more number of people. In case of books- it precisely means books that sell more will enjoy the support of the market. It will gradually push those books, which probably are necessary but not mass-friendly out of the market. Therefore book publication or for that matter knowledge creation cannot be entirely left to the market. The State must play a role here.

3. Primary and secondary schools can and ought to play greater role in increasing reading habit of children and adolescents. There should be institutional mechanism to encourage children to read more and varied subjects. This includes provision for buying new books by the individual institute as and when required. This would boost the market and provide an impetus for books on varied subjects to be published.

4. Civil Society needs to play a role to create 'good market' for the book by constantly creating a demand for 'good' books, which may not always be popular. I have seen parents asking their kids to read only the text books, as they think spending time on other books will be ‘waste of time’. Let me put this very bluntly: these kinds of parents do not know how learning takes place and they are causing irreparable cognitive damage to their children.

Present Day Indian TV Journalism

Here's how the Indian TV news channels would report the 'Jack and Jill' nursery rhyme. All names (except those of Jack and Jill), are fictitious.

Prashant - TV Anchor: Two persons have been injured in a freak climbing accident. Jack and his companion Jill had gone up a hill to fetch a pail of water when Jack fell down and broke his crown. Jill came tumbling after. Live from the hill, our reporter, Amrita Shah, takes up the story.

Amrita Shah: Thank you Prashant. Well, as you say, two persons - Jack and Jill - had gone up a hill to fetch a pail of water. Suddenly, Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after. Prashant…

Prashant: Thank you Amrita. What do we know about the hill?

Amrita: Not too much. Jack was going up the hill to fetch a pail of water when he fell down and broke his crown. Jill came tumbling after.

[Headline appears at the foot of the TV screen: "Hill breaks crown of pail-boy Jack"]

Prashant: What news of Jack and Jill?

Amrita: Prashant, it seems that Jack had gone up the hill to fetch a pail of water. We know nothing about the pail, or how heavy it was but it seems that Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after. I have here with me, an eyewitness to the accident, Mr Shahid Trivedi. Mr Shahid, tell us what you saw.

Shahid Trivedi: Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after.

[Headline appears at the foot of the TV screen: "Boy and girl tumble downhill. Water spilled"]

Amrita: Jack and Jill. What do we know about them? Are they brother and sister? Are they married? Just what were they doing on the hill together?

Shahid Trivedi: Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water.

Amrita: And what happened next?

Shahid Trivedi: Jack fell down and broke his crown.

Amrita: Go on.

Shahid Trivedi: And Jill came tumbling after.

Amrita: Prashant, there you have it. Two people innocently going about their business to fetch a pail of water when one of them falls down, breaks his crown, and the other comes tumbling after. Back to you in the studio. Prashant.

[Headline appears at the foot of the TV screen: "Water errand ends in tragedy"]

Prashant: I have with me in the studio now, Professor Chandrashekar Belagare from the Indian Institute of Applied Hill Sciences. Professor,  a hill; Jack; Jill; a pail of water. A tragedy waiting to happen?

Professor: Well that depends on the hill, the two persons, the object they were carrying and the conditions underfoot. Let us look at the evidence so far.

Jack and Jill

Went up the hill

To fetch a pail of water.

Jack fell down

And broke his crown

And Jill came tumbling after.

Clearly, one would suspect that if Jack's fall was severe enough to break his crown then the surface of the hill must have been slippery or unstable. But I think we're overlooking something quite fundamental here. Who was carrying the pail? Jack fell down and broke his crown and - this is the key - Jill came tumbling after. If Jack and Jill had been carrying the pail together, would they not have fallen at the same time? The fact that Jill came tumbling after suggests that Jack lost his footing first and perhaps knocked Jill over as he slipped.

Prashant: Professor, thank you very much. So there we have it, two persons - Jack and Jill - went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after.

We’ll presently have a commercial break. Do join us after the break for a studio discussion about hills, boys and girls and whether water-fetching trips should be supervised.

We'll be right back...

(Courtesy: social Media)

Have you noticed…

Have you noticed how in life, you end up spending more time looking around for things, than you do using them?

***

Mrinal Chatterjee a journalist turned media academician lives in Dhenkanal, Odisha. He also writes fiction. English translation of his Odia novel Shakti and a compilation of his columns titles Window Seat has just been published. mrinalchatterjee@ymail.com

17.6.18

This column is published every Sunday in Gangtok based English daily Sikkim Times and www.orissadiary.com