Column | Kathare Kathare

'Ama Sahar Samparka', May 6-19, 2016

Book

'Caricaturing Culture in India: 

Cartoons and History in the Modern World'

by Ritu Gairola Khanduri

Publisher: Cambridge Press, April 2016

In the book, Ritu Gairola Khanduri, an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology in the UT Arlington College of Liberal Arts, reveals how cartoons serve as teaching moments about identity politics and democracy.

“We just have to look around to observe the frequency with which cartoons are debated in our world,”

Here is a short write up about the book by Cambridge Press:

Caricaturing Culture in India is a highly original history of political cartoons in India. Drawing on the analysis of newspaper cartoons since the 1870s, archival research and interviews with prominent Indian cartoonists, this ambitious study combines historical narrative with ethnographic testimony to give a pioneering account of the role that cartoons have played over time in political communication, public discourse and the refraction of ideals central to the creation of the Indian postcolonial state. Maintaining that cartoons are more than illustrative representations of news, Ritu Gairola Khanduri uncovers the true potential of cartoons as a visual medium where memories jostle, history is imagined and lines of empathy are demarcated. Placing the argument within a wider context, this thought-provoking book highlights the history and power of print media in debates on free speech and democratic processes around the world, revealing why cartoons still matter today.

Column | Window Seat

Window Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee

Waiting for rain

This has become a ritual now. Every afternoon we look at the sky. Pieces of slate coloured cloud appear with a burst of cool breeze (or is it my imagination?). We hope it will rain. We hope there will a thunder storm, as it usually happens in mid-summer in this part of the country, particularly at the valley of Paniohala hill in Dhenkanal, where I live. We close the glass windows of our home. Secure the door and look at the sky. There it is - the water bearing dark clouds- now spreading itself, taking different shapes- now an elephant, now a dragon- engulfing the blue of the afternoon sky. 
And then, poof- it is all gone. Almost in nano-second.
The sky is clear again. The sun glares even in the afternoon.
Next day, the same drill.

Kalinga Studio

Recently I went to Kalinga Studio, Bhubaneswar for a Taranga TV programme. I went to that place after probably 6-7 years. Last time I went there for a E TV programme:  'E-TV Adalat' which Nilambar Rath produced and I anchored. 

Kalinga Studio was in a dilapidated condition then. Now, it has further deteriorated. It now wears a weary and sad look. The garden has long turned into unkempt bushes. Used paper plates, polythene wrappers fly by heaps of rubbish.  Inside, the makeup room looks seedy and shabby. The two white sofas have long outlived their hey days. They now look dirty and creak and crib as one lowers his/her posterior on it. The attached toilet is unusable. There is no electricity connection (Tarang TV makes its programmes with the help of their own generator set).  No usable equipment. The studio is in deep coma.

Spread over 25 acres, Kalinga Studio came into being in 1982. Initially, the studio did well. Producers from outside the State and even from Bangladesh came here to shoot. But it gradually lost its sheen and public confidence. By 2007, poor infrastructure forced producers to stop coming to Kalinga Studio.

This is ironic. Odia Film and Television Industry are on a growth trajectory.  As many as thirty Odia films were released in 2015. There are over a dozen TV channels now including several 24x7 entertainment channels. Therefore there should be no dearth of work, if right kind of services in right kind of ambiance is provided. 

Is anybody listening?

Incidentally at present there are two MPs and one MLA from Odisha, who have been Film Stars. OFDC Chairperson also happens to be a former Film Star.

Macbeth in Odia

Ramakanta Mishra translated and staged Shakespeare's Macbeth in Bhubaneswar recently on the occasion of the 400^th birth anniversary of the bard. He presented me a copy of his book yesterday.  As I finished reading the book, I must say that it is one of the finest translations of Shakespeare in Odia that I have read. As far as I know, Mayadhar Mansingh had done the first-ever translation of Shakespeare- Othello. After that many of  the bird’s creations have been translated in Odia. But most of the translations fail to capture both the   story line and the poetry of the great playwright. Mr. Mishra did that considerably well.

Ramakanta Mishra, poet, playwright teaches English language and literature at Ramadevi University, Bhubaneswar. He presently heads the department.

Writing at the back

Many trucks, cars and autos have couplets written at their back, which ranges from hitopdesh (good advice) to sringar dharma kabita (romantic poetry) to samajik byang (social satire).  Found the accompanying photograph of an auto doing its round in social sites. It reads:

Whisky se Visnu mile

Rum se mile Ram

Brandy se Bramha mile

Desi se Hanuman

Mei kis kis bottle ko tyag karu

Sabme base hai Bhagaban.

**

7 May 2016

The columnist, a journalist turned media academician lives on the valley of Paniohala Hill in Dhenkanal. He writes fiction and plays. His latest book Point by Point is due to release on June 2016.

Posted here: http://orissadiary.com/ShowOriyaColumn.asp?id=67054

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Play Review | Adha Adha (Half Half)

Adha Adha (Half Half) 

Language: Odia
Writer-Director: Dinesh Das
Group: C-4
First Performance: 1 May, 2016
Place: Dhenkanal, Odisha 

Written and directed by Dinesh Das the play portrays the life of transgenders. I have not seen a play in Odia on this subject before. The presentation and acting was high class. Das Dinesh in the lead role was outstanding. 
The play tried to put forth the plight of transgenders, who are neither male nor female. Caught with a different mind in different body they find themselves in a strange situation. Socially ostracized, ridiculed and more often than not exploited- the transgenders lead a miserable life. Gradually they are pushed to live in a ghetto- both physically and mentally.  Many of them resort to begging, and often indulge in petty crimes. Some of them also walk the nights- further deteriorating their image and status in the society. 

This play attempts a sympathetic view into their lives. It highlights their aspiration and need for a dignified life as a human being. It subtly touches on the changing perception from the legal perspective thanks to the landmark Supreme Court judgment and also of the society.
This play is a must watch for its unique subject, presentation and acting including some by the transgender actors. Hope it is staged elsewhere in the country and in different languages.

2.5.2016