 |
| Samaja Saptahika 7-13 March 2020 |
Wednesday, 4 March 2020
Sunday, 1 March 2020
Column | Window Seat 1.3.20
Window Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee |
1.3.20
Bhojpuri Music
Come
holi and the lovers of Bhojpuri music can listen to gems like- Ghusal ba Lehenga me Virus Corona.
Meaning: Corona Virus has entered inside the Lehenga. This song is sung by
‘Diamond Star’ Guddu Rangila. Or a slightly simpler: Corona Virus Kaisal ba? How is the Corona Virus? Singer: Jallu
Raja.
Bhojpuri
music industry is amazing. It can churn out songs on any issue for any
occasion. However, the big release time for Bhojpuri music industry is holi,
like it is Rajo for Odia film industry or pujo for Bengali music industry.
Research threw up some interesting facts about
Bhojpuri music industry whose story in our times, is inextricably linked with the
story of Bhojpuri cinema. In 2003, the Bhojpuri film industry was enthused with
the release of Sasura Bada Paisawala. Made on a budget of Rs.
35 lakh, the film made more than Rs. 4.5 crore at the box-office. Since
then, the Bhojpuri film industry has evolved from being a cottage industry to
a behemoth that makes more than 100 films a year, enlisting big Bollywood
stars.
Avijit Ghosh, the author of Cinema
Bhojpuri, examines the coming-into-its-own of the industry in a Times
of India article titled Mofussil’s Revenge. “The Bhojpuri
film industry’s revival isn’t only about a regional genre finding its market,”
he writes. “The [hinterland] audience seems to be telling mainstream Bollywood:
We want our own smells and sights in the movies. As in post-Mandal politics,
regions and communities are asserting themselves through cinema that suits
their aesthetics.” As Bollywood turned its gaze westwards as well as towards a
more urban multiplex audience, Bhojpuri cinema took over some of the ground it
ceded. It fulfilled the desire of a section of Indian rural and rurban populace
for entertainment rooted in the hinterland. Bhojpuri music—both film
and non-film music—is the product of a similar demand and an expression
that most from its home state can easily identify with. Something similar is
happening with Sambalpuri Music in Odisha.
The market for Bhojpuri music and
cinema isn’t just people living in Bihar, but also hunderds of thousands of
migrant Bihari workers across the country or even abroad. These songs remind
them of what home sounds like in a foreign land. Cheap smart phone, affordable
data tariff and social media platforms
like youtube have made these songs easily accessible.
Bhojpuri songs are often accused
of being vulgar. A Google search of the titles of Bhojpuri music CD can provide
you a glimpse of the fare. But some sociologists have a different take on this.
“Playful irreverence, often bordering on vulgarity, has been an ingredient of
folk songs that have been part of the Indian hinterland’s longest held
traditions. For example, Gaari (derived from the Hindi
word gaali, which translates into ‘swear’) songs are integral to
Bihari weddings. One of the many rituals in such a wedding is a Dwar
Puja— performed to welcome the groom as he arrives with his baraat (the
groom’s family) at the bride’s door. The bride is led to the mandap by
her friends and cousins and they sing cheeky, coarse songs, flouting ideas of
conventional familial propriety, to taunt the groom and his family. Gaari songs
are examples of how perceived vulgarity can function instead as an agent of
creativity, possibly, and even social cohesiveness or simply great fun.
Others, however, refuse to buy
this argument and say: it is a blatant attempt to sell the music to earn cheap
popularity and money.
Time to introduce Namaste over handshake
As a form of greetings the Indian style
‘namaste’, is better than a hug or handshake or high five, when it comes to the
question of transfer of viruses from one humanbody to the other. A study shows
in a handshake over 124 million bacterial colony (CFU) could be transferred
from one person to the other. In a high five, 55 million CFU could be
transferred. In a first bump- which is touch fist to fist- about 7 million CFU
could be transferred. In a ‘namaste’ no CFU is transferred as there is no human
touch involved. At a time when corona virus is wreaking havoc worldwide- it is
wise to adopt Asian form of greetings- like Indian Namaste or Japanese deep
bow.
Tailpiece: Strength and Weakness
Seen on the back of a T-Shirt:
My Wife is my strength.
All other women are my weakness.
Dangerous virus
A highly
dangerous virus called "Weekly Overload Recreational Killer" (WORK)
is currently going around. If you come in contact with this WORK virus, you
should immediately go to the nearest "Biological Anxiety Relief"
(BAR) center to take antidotes known as "Work Isolating Neutralizer
Extract" (WINE) or "Radioactive Unwork Medicine"(RUM) or
"Bothersome Employer Elimination Rebooter"(BEER) or
"Vaccine Official Depression Killing Antigen"(VODKA).
(Courtesy:
Social Media)
***
This column is published every Sunday in Sikkim Express and posted in http://www.prameyanews.com
This week you can find it here: http://www.prameyanews.com/window-seat-ghusal-ba-lehenga-me-virus-corona/
Saturday, 29 February 2020
Wednesday, 26 February 2020
Saturday, 22 February 2020
Column | Window Seat 23.2.20
Window Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee |
23.2.20
Mooknayak at 100
Mooknayak (The Leader of the Voiceless) was a Marathi
fortnightly newspaper Babasaheb Ambedkar started in 1920. He was 29 then. It
was his first journalistic venture. Its first issue was published on 31 January
2020. Ambedkar’s aim in launching this journal was to put forward his own point
of view on matters such as the evils of untouchability, the socio-economic
status of ‘untouchables’, their status in the Hindu society, would swaraj bring
about any change in their status, etc. These issues and questions had hitherto
not found due representation in mainstream Hindi journals. Ambedkar tried to
bring forth these issues to the limelight.
The tone was set
from the very first editorial that he wrote in the opening issue:
“The Hindu society is like a tower of many stories. It has neither
a ladder nor a door to go out. And therefore there is no way to interchange
stories. Those who are born on a particular storey die in that storey. Even if
the lowest storey person is worthy deserving to be promoted to the upper storey
he cannot move to that level. And if the person in the upper storey is most
unworthy and undeserving still he cannot be pushed down” …….
Though
he was officially not associated with it (as he was in government service
then), it was Babasaheb’s paper. In fact he wrote many of the editorials that
were published in this paper. However, Shri Nandra Bhatkar was the first
editor of the paper. Later Shri Dyander Gholap was the editor.
Mooknayak
went through many ups and downs. It remained in circulation just for three
years. Despite its short life, Mooknayak laid
the foundations of an assertive and organised Dalit politics. It announced the
arrival of a newer generation of anti-caste politics that broke the confines of
region, language and political boundaries and coincided with the larger
developments on the nationalist scene.
Good news from Population front
A large and growing population has long being
considered as one of the reason of India’s poverty. Leaders in India tried to
engage with this issue quite early on. In fact India is the first country in
Asia to adopt a family planning programme. It is the first developing country
to do so in 1951. Since then, the country’s population has quadrupled with 1.37
billion people in 2019.
However, for the first time after
independence- we have some real good news in population front. Darrell Bricker,
Author of Empty Planet says, India’s
total fertility rate (TFR) has reached replacement level. Srinivas Goli, Asstt.
Professor of Population Studies at the Centre for the Study of Regional
Development, JNU says that the TFR in India will dip below the replacement level
by 2021.
What is TFR? Population scientists have
postulated a threshold to the number of births to keep the population under
control. This is expressed as Total Fertility Rate (TFR), which is the average
number of children a woman of childbearing age must have. Population above TFR
means growth, while that below2 TFR means decline. At TFR, population is
maintained. For Homo Sapiens a 2.1
TFR would keep the country’s population stable. The UN Population Division
terms this as the replacement-level fertility.
India has either just reached that or is very
close to that point now. The National Family Health Survey (NFHS 4) conducted
in 2015-16, found India’s TFR has reached 2.2. Most Indian States had already
achieved or were below 2.1 TFR. However, the major exceptions were Bihar (3.4),
UP (2.7) Jharkhand (2.6), Rajasthan (2.4) and Madhya Pradesh (2.3). Except
Jharkhand all other states are large and with large population. Once the TFR
dips in these states- the national TFR will dip below 2.1 and that will be good
for the country- for at least three four decades or so.
But if the TFR dips very low (as Darrell
Bricker predicts would happen)- then, we’ll have to rethink and
re-strategize.
Capitalizing Corona Virus
Bhojpuri
music industry is amazing. It can churn out songs on any issue for any
occasion. Looking at the media space Corona Virus is occupying, there are at
least two music CDs releasing on the occasion of Holi- on this.
Consider
the titles: Lehenga me virus corona ghusal ba. Meaning: Corona Virus has
entered in the Lehenga. This song is sung by ‘Diamond Star’ Guddu Rangila. The
other CD has a simpler title: Corona Virus Kaisal ba? How is the Corona Virus.
Singer: Jallu Raja.
Creativity-
thy name is Bhojpuri Music.
Tailpiece: Corona Scare
Two friends met in a jam-packed
local train, no place even to stand properly.
One of them said to the other, a
bit loudly:
"Are Bhai, glad to see you,
but when did u return from China!?"
That did the trick!
In a few minutes the two were
the only ones left in the compartment!!
(Courtesy:
Social Media)
***
A
journalist turned media academician the columnist lives in Central Odisha town
of Dhenkanal. Compilation of his weekly column
Window Seat, published in 2019 has been put together as an e-book. To get a
free copy send an email to: mrinalchatterjeeiimc@gmail.com
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