Window Seat 26.1.20

Window Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee | 26.1.20

Of Cartoons and Cartoonists

I have been in love with cartoons and caricatures since my childhood. Handa Bhoda and Bantul, the Great were my favourite characters. All these characters were created and regularly drawn by Narayan Debnath in a Bengali Children’s magazine Suktara.  I was hero-worshiping the strong muscular Bantul- the boy in a white banyan, who always help the needy and punishes the wicked. He wears an aura of invincibility but he is not arrogant. In fact he has a childlike simplicity. Handa Bhoda- the two kids- one thin and smart and the other fat and stupid were fun.

As I grew up- I was introduced to newspapers. At home we had many avid newspaper readers. They would spend hours reading and rereading newspapers and discussing about the news covered or otherwise. I grew up with the cartoons of Amal Deb, Chandi Lahiri and Kutty in Bengali newspapers and R K Laxman, Sudhir Dar, Abu Abraham in English newspapers. Kutty also drew in English newspapers like Hindustan Standard. But we never subscribed to that.

Initially I could not understand the hidden meaning of the cartoons- the nuances. I was happy reading Sudhir Dar’s cartoons on every day happenings. As I grew old- I could understand the nuances- and I fell in love with the cartoonists all over  again. This time it became a lifelong love affair. However, when I married my wife said: “He loves cartoons probably because he looks like one.”

When I joined IIMC and began teaching- I decided to write a book on History of Journalism in Odisha. One of the chapters of the book was devoted to Cartoonists. I read about the cartoonists, learnt the history of cartooning in India and Odisha. It was fascinating and I decided to write more about them.

So I started writing bio-profiles of the famous cartoonists of India across languages and regions. It was regularly published in Raipur based monthly magazine: Cartoonwatch. This series was translated into Odia and was published in Samadrusti. It was published in Hindi and was published in Daily Deshbandhu.

I am still writing profile of the cartoonists. My plan is to put them togather in book form. I have thought of the title of the book: 50 Great Indian Cartoonists.

Among my future plans are: I’ll do more research and write a fat book on Cartooning in India from the Raj period to say Modi period. I plan to publish the book by 2022.

I also want to write about the Memes. This I guess is providing technology in the hands of the common men to make fun of the high and mighty.

Collecting information about cartoonists has always been a pain in the neck- except for some very well-known and researched cartoonist like R K Laxman and Shankar. I have to go to the archives, ruminate though wades of papers. Internet has been a great help. So were friends, who helped me whole heartedly.

Not many people have done or are doing research on cartoonists. There are not many organisations like Indian Institute of Cartoonists, which is doing a yeoman service in documenting cartoons and cartoonists. Kerala Cartoon Academy is another such organization. Besides these two there are hardly any organization where one can get credible information about the cartoonists. This is ironic. Most of the readers do like to see and read cartoons, enjoy them. Many of them get amused, moved, agitated by the cartoons. But there have been very less serious research on cartoons and cartoonists.

Rural India is changing

The other day I saw an out-door advertisement- a printed flex of a local Dance Group Dhenkanal, a small sleepy town in Central Odisha. It read the group can provide dancers for and performers Stage programme, cheer leading and dancing 'for any occasion'. I had never thought that dancing and cheer leading could be a career option or even a means to earn in a small conservative town like Dhenkanal. It could be possible in big cities. But in small towns?

Things indeed are changing in small towns and rural India. Two factors are driving the change. One is smart phone- which is bringing the world to your palm. Geographical distance is not an issue anymore- when it comes to access to information. The second is rising aspiration, a spin-off of the now faded and jaded globalization.

Delay in Court Cases

Delay in court cases and its impact on poor people’s lives  have been the subject of many stories and award winning feature films. It has a serious financial and sociological  implication. As cases linger and people do not get justice- their faith on the system wanes. They want to get justice or what they think as justice- in any which way. This is dangerous for any society more so a plural and unequal society like our’s.

The government need to take steps to reduce the number of cases pending at different courts and new cases being filed.

Interestingly, government - both Centre and states - is the largest litigant involved in at least 46% of the cases with courts. This includes cases involving two government wings or PSUs. Since government in India furnctions in various shapes and forms, it’s imperative to have a high degree of coordination to lessen intra-governmental issues landing in court. But the least that should be done to unclog the system is not make policies that are sure to end in copious litigation.

Another step that needs to be taken is to increase the working days of the court. Courts have more holidays than any other government offices. That could be reduced.

Fixing a time frame for finalization of a case could be another way. Very often cases either linger or made to linger by vested interest. Fixing a strict time frame will take care of this problem.

Tailpiece: Difference

Difference between talent and God’s gift:

A teacher can deliver lecture for 2 hours on any subject. This is talent.

A wife can deliver lecture for 2 hours  without any subject. This is God’s gift.

And…. If your wife is a teacher, then it is a deadly combination.

***

The author, a journalist turned media academician lives in Central Odisha town of Dhenkanal.

An anthology of his weekly column Window Seat, published in 2019 has been published as a book. Should you want a free e-copy, write to him at: mrinalchatterjee@ymail.com

Pathe Prantare 26.1.20

Samaya Taranga

Column | Sabda Chhabi Akhyara

Nitidina (Odia Daily) 25.1.20

COLUMN | Window Seat 19.1.20

Window Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee | 19.1.20

Cinema in the age of OTT

Recently a seminar has been organized at Indian Institute of Mass Communication’s Eastern Regional Campus on ‘Cinema in the age of OTT’ in which I participated. Here is my two bits on this subject:

OTT stands for “over-the-top” and refers to the productized practice of streaming content to customers directly over the web. This precisely means, OTT services circumvent traditional media distribution channels such as telecommunications networks or cable television providers. This is what is being called ‘chord cutting’.  As long as you have access to an internet connection — either locally or through a mobile network — you can access the complete service at your leisure.

Some media-pundits believe that It represents the future of entertainment — one that is already unfolding.  However, OTT is not limited to entertainment alone. The term is commonly applied to video-on-demand platforms, but also refers to audio streaming, messaging services, or internet-based voice calling solutions. So Spotify, Apple or Amazon Music, even certain content in social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram also come into this arena along with familiar OTT video streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Zee5, Hotstar, Alt Balaji.

I look at OTT in today’s seminar’s context at three levels: Creative aspects of production, distribution and the business model.

There is a perception that OTT platforms are democratizing the creative space. They are, in a sense, providing a level playing field for the independent creators and producers and the industry cannot be a monopoly or oligopoly. We have seen production start ups like TVF play, their sister organisations Dice Media, Timeliners are coming up with interesting content meant for the young urban population.

When it is true that these young creators without a strong Bollywood background are coming up and reaching out to their audiences through OTT platforms, it is also true that big names in Bollywood are also tapping this opportunity to collaborate with the OTT platforms. Directors ranging from Anurag Kashyap to Karan Johar, Zoya Akhtar are producing so called ‘web series’ for these platforms. The latest is Ghost Story.

OTT is definitely changing the way the stories are told. The traditional cinema and the OTT platform’s original content are quite distinct. They are more like real life stories rather than the ‘rom-com’ of the silver screens.

Now, coming to the distribution model, we can see two-fold development. One is the mainstream film producers are streaming their content which was meant for the big screen. They are releasing it on the big screen first and then instead of premiering in the traditional TV, they are streaming it through OTT platforms. I have doubt if this distribution model would be beneficial for the producers and the distributors.

In the West, the same distribution model was adapted and it failed. The producers need to create distinct content for different medium. And trust me, the big screen is not yet dead. People love to watch movie on the big screen as much as they enjoy watching OTT content at their own private space and time.

Indian film industry’s biggest challenge has been the dichotomy of under penetration of screens and low occupancy rate. With 8 screens per million population, India is by far one of the most under screened nations in the world so there is still room to grow. India has 30-35 million frequent moviegoers and another 70-75 million who watch movies occasionally.

So, both the creators need to think about producing and distributing unique content for different platforms to tap the millennial audience.

Here, comes the question of the business model. The recent KPMG study shows the Digital entertainment busines has grown at 43.4 per cent in 2019 compared to 2018. Whereas, the TV business has grown at 9.5 per cent. The revenue from advertising has grown at 37.6 per cent compared to TV’s 12.1 per cent.

Along with advertising, OTT services are typically monetized via paid subscriptions, but there are exceptions. For example, some OTT platforms might offer in-app purchases or advertising. There is a popular perception that people love to consume whatever they get free of cost. This is universally true, but as far as OTT content is concerned,  this generation with disposable income is ready to pay for good content. India's video-on-demand market will touch $5 billion by 2023 from $500 million last year. 

There are certain areas which need to be looked into is these OTT platforms need to spread out in more regional languages.

Tail piece 1:  Zoo Story

This guy needs a job and decides to apply at the zoo. As it happened, their star attraction, a gorilla, had passed away the night before and they had carefully preserved his hide. They tell this guy that they’ll pay him well if he would dress up in the gorillas skin and pretend to be the gorilla so people will keep coming to the zoo. Well, the guy has his doubts, but Hey! He needs the money, so he puts on the skin and goes out into the cage. The people all cheer to see him. He plays up to the audience and they just eat it up. This isn’t so bad, he thinks, and he starts really putting on a show, jumping around, beating his chest and roaring, swinging around. During one acrobatic attempt, though, he loses his balance and crashes through some safety netting, landing square in the mid dle of the lion cage! As he lies there stunned, the lion roars. He’s terrified and starts screaming, “Help, Help, Help!” The lion races over to him, places his paws on his chest and hisses, “Shut up or we’ll BOTH lose our jobs!”

Tail piece 2: Happy Home

It takes thousands of workers to build a castle. Million soldiers to protect a country. But just one woman to make a Happy Home.

Let’s thank…..

Kaamwali Bai

(Courtesy: Social Media)

***

The author, a journalist turned media academician lives in Central Odisha town of Dhenkanal.

An anthology of his weekly column Window Seat, published in 2019 is being published as a book. Should you want a copy with introductory discounted price, write to him at: mrinalchatterjee@ymail.com

column | Pathe Prantare 19.1.20

Samaya Taranga 19.1.20

Column | Jagate Thiba Jetedina

Samaja Saptahika 18 Jan. 2020

Column | Pathe Prantare

Samaya Taranga 12.1.20

Column | Window Seat 12.1.20

Window Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee | 12.1.20

Future of Children’s Literature

I was a panelist at the panel discussion on Future of Children's Literature at the New Delhi World Book Fair organised by National Centre for Children’s Literature (NCCL) of National Book Trust (NBT) on 4 January.
My take was: in a digital ecosphere, it is difficult to make people read, more so children. The attention span is decreasing. Distractions are increasing. Therefore though Children’s book bazar is booming across the world, our children are probably reading less and enjoying whatever they are reading even lesser.

There are three categories of books for children- with some overlapping. One: text books. Two: books providing information, which enrich their knowledge and/or help them to become better informed person; and three: story books, which children read for pleasure, which fuels their imagination.

 As people are becoming more educated and earning more money- they want their children to be 'more educated'- more focused on the 'studies'. They want their children to read less number of books that do not fall in their 'areas of study'. As a result children are reading more - on their subject of study (mostly text books), and reading less about other subjects thereby knowing less about other areas in life. Reading for pleasure is not encouraged by most of the first-generation educated parents. This leads to a serious setback in developing the personality of the children. Children are made to develop a need-focused, goal-oriented personality. Pleasure, happiness takes a backseat. They tend to ignore simple pleasures of life going after the elusive 'success'.
Now what are the ways out:
Parents, teach your kids to read for pleasure. Don't only ask them to read text books and books to get information.
Teachers, encourage children to read variety of books. Nudge them to explore and ideate.
Writers, focus on 'story telling'. Write well. Write for the children.
Publishers, experiment with form. Mix and match text, audio-video, even virtual reality and gaming. This is one of the major trends in children’s books to watch. Penguin Random House is entering the children’s ebook arena with Bookful, an app that combines books with augmented reality (AR) to provide kids with an immersive and interactive experience. We’re going to see a lot of development in this area over the next few years.

But ‘telling a story well’ remains the soul of good children’s literature.

No Marriage Women

The other day I read in a newspaper an interesting news: A growing number of South Korean women are banding together and embracing radical feminist movement ‘4B’ or the four Nos. No Dating, No Sex, No Marriage and No Child-rearing.

The effects risk reinforcing the country’s looming demographic disaster. South Korea’s total fertility rate- the number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime- dropped to 0.98 in 2018, far below the 2.1 needed to keep a population stable.

The situation is completely different. We need to reduce the number by reducing the fertility rate. It is good that that is happening. The fertility rate in India is at 2.2 (in 2017) after being stable at 2.3 for the four years from 2013 to 2016, according to the Sample Registration System (SRS) compiled by Registrar General of India (RGI) for 2017.

However, our problem is regional imbalance. Among the states, Bihar reported the highest TFR (3.2), about twice that of Kerala (1.7) and Delhi (1.5), which scored the lowest. The findings indicated that the average fertility rate went down primarily in southern states such as Tamil Nadu (1.6), Andhra Pradesh (1.6), Telangana (1.7), Kerala(1.7) and Karnataka (1.7) as well as the hill states — Jammu & Kashmir (1.6), Himachal Pradesh (1.6) and Uttarakhand (1.9). Delhi (1.5), West Bengal (1.6), Punjab (1.6) and Odisha (1.7) also fared well.    
One of the key reasons for the decline in fertility has been education, more precisely that of women.

Tail piece: Our News Channels

What will America do next in Iran?

To decide that whole of US think tank is watching Indian News Channels and closely following the experts airing their views.

Jai ho.

***

The author, a journalist turned media academician lives in Central Odisha town of Dhenkanal.

An anthology of his weekly column Window Seat, published in 2019 is being published as a book. Should you want a copy with introductory discounted price, write to him at: mrinalchatterjee@ymail.com

Column | Window Seat 5.1.20

Window Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee | 5.1.20

Happy New Year

The last decade has been described by many as the decade of protest. As several countries embraced ultra-nationalism after the heady days of liberalization came to a close- there were protests. Me-too movement spread across several countries. So did protests against discrimination against LGBT communities. In India there were violent protests against CAA and police brutality. There were protests against price rise.

Photo: Subhojit Sarkar

Protest has vibrancy and a possibility- of ending the concerned problem or issue or at least framing and highlighting it. But it also has the risk of going off tangent and turning violent- as has been seen in many issues across the world.

Let us hope that the New Year will bring an end to the protests by ending the occasions giving rise to the protests.

Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah
Sarve Santu Niraamayaah |
Sarve Bhadraanni Pashyantu
Maa Kashcid-Duhkha-Bhaag-Bhavet |
Om Shaantih Shaantih Shaantih ||

May All be Happy,
May All be Free from Illness.
May All See what is Auspicious,
May no one Suffer.
Om Peace, Peace, Peace.

Competition Mania

During the winter holidays, I see announcements of different kinds of competitions. I see people taking part in those competitions, parents egging their children to take part and win. This is good up to a point. Beyond a point it turns into a mania.

Take for example the Fart Competition organised in Surat in Gujarat, touted as the country's first ever in September 2019. The competition was to find out who can let out "longest", "loudest" and "most musical" farts. Sixty people had registered to display their prowess. It is different issue that only 20 turned up at the venue and only three participated. They too, however, failed to pass the test as they could not find the courage to pass wind. According to the organizer, of these, only three took to the stage, in front of 70 people in attendance, along with a few media channels, and ended up failing to "perform".

(To know more about this bizarre competition see: https://www.indiatoday.in/…/world-s-best-fart-championship-…)

The point I am trying to make is about this madness to compete and win, that urge to grab 10 minutes of fame, that fleeting lime light. Compete to do what and win what- this question is gradually becoming irrelevant.
Next in line we may have poop competition or pee competition. In fact in our childhood we used to have this pee competition- who can pee to what distance. Now that could be packaged into a grand championship. Like hyped boxing matches, two competitors will pee and there would be referee with a measuring tape.
Who knows it might just happen. Whoever had thought, there could be a fart competition.

Why Journalists are attacked?

Journalists are often intimidated and attacked while they are on duty- like it happened in Bhubaneswar, Odisha recently where a lady journalist was attacked. Many of the journalists have been killed. Committee of Protect Journalists, an international body in its 2018 report says that “In the past decade, at least 324 journalists have been silenced through murder worldwide and in 85 percent of these cases no perpetrators have been convicted. It is an emboldening message to those who seek to censor and control the media through violence,” Every year CPJ comes out with Global Impunity Index- a list of countries where journalists are under threat. India ranked 14th on the list with 18 murders of journalists with impunity from 2008 to 2018.

As a former journalists myself, I know why journalists are attacked. There are basically four reasons:

1.      Darkness does not like light. People do not like unpleasant truth about them to be brought into open.

2.      Journalists are considered as soft targets, increasingly so.

3.      Our civil society organizations do not value the role and contribution of the journalists to the extent of physically or otherwise take steps to protect them or protest when journalists are attacked.

4.      The Govt. feels it can ignore the journalists as it has 'good relation' with the media owners and can intimidate the journalists as the owners consider the journalists as expendables.

Adda

In Bengali there is a word called ADDA. Pronounced: AAD..dda. This word is there in Odia language also. Somebody has defined it as the sublime activity of being busy without doing nothing. That is closer to the meaning of adda as meant in Odia, where it has a derogatory hue. In Bengali it has a different and up-scaled connotation. One can look at it as the midway between a gupshup and a serious discourse. Anything under the sun and beyond could be the subject of an adda. Usually there is a fixed place and loosely fixed time. Though an adda usually has familiar faces, anybody can join at given point of time and has the freedom to change the subject altogether and start a new one. It usually continues for hours till the friendly neighbourhood chaiwala closes his shop or the participants are constrained to go home.

What are you doing?

Friend 1: What are you doing?

Friend 2: Just finished dinner with wife… and now holding Scotch

Friend 1: Wow, which one? Black label or Red label?

Friend 2: ‘Scotch Brite’ re bhai… bartan dho raha hu. (Washing the utensils)

(Courtesy: Social Media)

***

 The author, a journalist turned media academician lives in Central Odisha town of Dhenkanal.

An anthology of his weekly column Window Seat, published in 2019 is being published as a book. Should you want a copy with introductory discounted price, write to him at: mrinalchatterjee@ymail.com

Column | Point by Point

Pratibimba 29 Dec-4 Jan.

Column | Jagate Thiba Jetedina 4-10 Jan. 2020

Samaja Saptahika 4-10 Jan. 2020

Column | Pathe Prantare 5.1.20

Samaya Taranga  5.1.20