Grave Stones: Kaup and Beyond

by G Vishnu and Ragamalika Karthikeyan

www.TheManipalJournal.com

An eerie calm prevails in Kaup, a small township 12 kilometres from Udupi. The Jamia Masjid premises, still littered with glass pieces, broken bottles and stones, seem to echo the screams of the Sunday night of March 15.

The glass windows have been completely destroyed – the deeds of both ‘miscreants’ and the police, mosque insiders claim. Blood stains adorn the walls of the Madrasa on the first floor. The ‘miscreants’ who also gained entry into the mosque have littered the carpets used for praying, and looted some valuables.

“It has just been four months since I opened the shop, yet I gained a lot of success and gained respect in my business circle. But this attack has just shattered everything that I worked for,” said a visibly broken  Farooq. His mobile shop, which lies right next to the Jamia Masjid, was looted by the ‘miscreants’ of  Sunday night. With numerous cell phones and a laptop stolen, and with absolutely no insurance benefits to claim, Farooq’s losses go beyond Rs 2.5 lakhs. He stands to lose more with compensations to his customers. 

A marriage van with Muslim men and women heading to Haveri in North Karnataka from Belthangady near Mangalore, made a stop at a petrol bunk near Kaup at around 8:00 pm, only to be attacked by ‘miscreants’ - men holding 

saffron flags, returning from the Hindu Samajotsava held in Mangalore on Sunday, March 14. The stones they hurled injured a couple of burkha clad women. The driver of the van – a Hindu – was also assaulted. Seeing an opportunity in the midst of it all, the driver sped away, and expecting safety, drove into the premises of the Jamia Masjid which is right beside the highway. The local residents took the people in the van into the Muslim households near the mosque after consoling them, even as a bus load of people started pelting stones and bottles at the mosque from the outside. The arrival of police...... (Click here for full story)

I dug myself out of the grave

So how much time has passed since I last posted on this blog? I don't the exact number, but I'm very sure it's more than an eternity! Apologies, apologies.

In any case...

What is the most interesting thing to look forward to this month? In a world where rays of hope are so dim, you need to be holding binoculors to spot them; in a world filled with the evil called 'terrorism'; in a world where 'nationalism' is just another term for racism; in a world where 'culture' means beating up people who do what they want to... what is the most interetsing thing to look forward to anyway?

I'll tell you what. Article 19. 

Now, don't dismiss this post as just some publicity stunt - I mean what I say here - and I say what I'm confident about - and for everything else, and all in between, I have my other blog. 

In my final semester at college, when the world is going mad and everyday brings with it some 'breaking news', it is Article 19 that makes me think everyday, and pushes me to do a little more than I did yesterday. Whether it is the basic freedom of expression that Article 19 embodies, or the knowledge that in my final semester as a student in perhaps a long long time to come, I'm part of an event whose main aim is to understand the industry I'm about to enter... Either way, Article 19 is that ray of hope for the students of MIC - in this fucked up world, every one of us wants to actually recognise the talent which lies scattered accross the country. This talent craves for a platform, and we are trying our best to provide just that.

And this year, the best part is that we've gone past just recognising and awarding talent. Article 19 this year will also include Manipal Media Students' Convention (MMSC). The theme this year - Media Management. Well, it really is not enough to be able to be creative with media content - the media industry has to survive. And future media professionals need to understand what is good marketing strategy and how their content can be used to achieve managerial goals. What should the dailies be doing in an age where more and more people are exposed to the 'breaking news before it happens' phenomenon? In the digital era, where information is as fast as light, we believe we need to throw some light on how web entreprenuership actually works. 

These are times of recession. Money is hard to come by, and companies don't really like the term 'sponsorship'. "Why not tone it down a little?" asked an ex-delegate-cum-blogger-friend. It is easy perhaps to think, "Why not?!" But no, we cannot tone it down. This year, Article 19 is bigger than ever. MIC is more ambitious than ever before, and not only will the regular Article 19 sessions be bigger this year, we also have new additions. Why, you ask? Hmmm...

Till some time back (read: a few months), when my friend used to make sure she switched off any un-used light or fan, I used to admire her for her perseverance, but it never rubbed off on me. But ever since we decided to 'Power Off for an Hour', and especially since our research team got back with the data on how much harm wasting electricity actually causes... Well, let's just say my outlook has changed completely. When I said 'new addition', I meant this - we want everyone in Manipal to completely shut down their electricity for one hour - one hour to show that you care, to show that you won't waste this resource anymore... 

If you're reading this, and if you're a) A media student, b) A management student interested in media, c) A Manipalite, well, you should participate you know. If not for the awards, or the workshops, or the resource people, or the social cause, at least to enjoy your fundamental right -

Right to Expression. Article 19. Freedom, your right.

Re-Lee-Jee-On!

Everytime someone says "Do you believe in God?", I don't know what to answer. I know that the cool thing nowadays is to say "I'm agnostic', but I don't think I am. I'm not a believer, I'm not atheist. Its just that, that question holds no relevance to me or my life. Whether or not 'God' exists, makes no difference to the way I live. I don't care for religion, for practicing or not practicing a religion makes no difference to my life. I'm not the kind who will think twice about writing 'Hindu. FC.' on a form, nor am I the kind who's blood starts boiling everytime someone 'discriminates' against 'my' religion.

To put it very plainly and simply, I don't give a f^(k.

I believe in logic. Logically, most religions were formed by people, for people living together at some random place at some random point of time. Today, geographies have changed, cultures have evolved, scientific discoveries have happened. Today, we don't need religion to explain the birth of the universe, or the solar and lunar eclipse. Today, economics define what you eat and what you wear, not religion. An Indian Muslim is different from a muslim from the middle-east. And Indian Christian is different from a Christian living in Great britain. An Indian Hindu is different from a Nepali Hindu.

Cultures have merged, political boundaries have changed, the power patterns have transformed completely.

Then why do we still stick to 'what religion always was'?

Ram says that religion is business today. I don't know whether to agree or not. Do I think the common man is to blame? I don't know.

Like I have mentioned before, what we do today is based on the politics of your pocket - whether or not you have that extra one buck to buy a Center Fresh from Vinayaka Aunty. The common woman (for I'm tired of the common man), cannot care less for religion in the process of a business transaction, under normal circumstances. She buys her center fresh, and her chikki if she has another one buck, and gives two hoots for whether either was made by a person of 'religion'.

The common woman has no issues with who made the money notes she's carrying or who made her kai manchurian at the restaurant.

But at the same time, the common woman is so acclimatised to the religion she was 'born into', that the practices of other religions sound rather silly sometimes, whereas no thought goes into the practices of 'her own' religion.

Like, who owns religion?


****** part of the post I was going to make before last friday. Didn't complete it. I don't think I will now.

Aarushi ne phir se hamara show kha liya!

One fine day at a news channel in Mumbai, an intern was sitting and sipping her coffee, quietly amused about how a producer was complaining. “Aarushi ne phir se hamara show kha liya!” (Aarushi ate up our show again.) There were some new developments in the case, and love it or hate it, you just couldn’t ignore it. The crime reporters in Mumbai were discussing what might have happened at the Talwar residence that night – they were so sure, sitting in far away Mumbai, that this definitely could not have happened in this particular way, and it must have happened in that way. Speculations, speculations, speculations…

“Raga!”
Ouch! I burnt my tongue! “Yes sir?”
“Take this number; this is Tanu. Go to her house.”
“Oh ok. But…”
“Yes?”
“Um, what is the story?”
“You don’t know Kahani Tanu? Get her byte. She’s going to play Aarushi. You know about the twist in Kahani right?”
“Oh… but…”
“Go fast! There’s no time to waste!”

She’s gonna play Aarushi? Isn’t Kahani one of the longest running serials? What does he mean she’s playing Aarushi? Did they create a new character who’ll die??? The intern had a lot of questions in her mind. Obviously the boss wasn’t gonna answer them… Oh well, she decided to find out once she met the girl…
“My character resembles Aarushi a lot; she, the character, is a battameez girl, who parties a lot and never listens to her family. Because of her behaviour, the family is very angry and very unhappy. This is also honour killing.”
What?!! The entire country is still speculating as to what happened, and a production house has concluded that it was honour killing, and that Aarushi was a battameez girl whose family was angry with her??? What do they know about Aarushi?
“Well, my clothes have been designed along the lines of what Aarushi was wearing in those photos, and my new hairstyle is also exactly like hers. Research? No… Everyone knows… The news channels have been telling us what she was like…”
The intern came back to office that day, half-disgusted at what she had heard. But the girl speaking it was only a little older than Aarushi herself, and was excited to be on her ‘first time on news!’
You can’t blame the kid – neither kid. One was dead and the other was a dummy. Who do you blame? Definitely NOT our responsible police force and our respectable media!
The Police did such a great job – they declared the murdered within days of the crime without proper evidence. Speaking of evidence, they were so careful to let the entire world trample all over it, especially the media. They were so careful to not block off the scene of crime, the neighbour saw great scenes of the relatives performing puja and the media celebrating Diwali. How can anyone blame the police? They did a great job of messing up everything!
They messed it up so well infact that the CBI had to step in. Our Investigators decided to go against the police’s decision of letting kids play hop-scotch on the Talwar terrace and warded off the scene of crime for some reason the police couldn’t comprehend. They caught some more people and made the media-diwali even grander. Aarushi had become so famous that our intern was a little anxious. Her seniors in the office weren’t very happy with Aarushi. Oh no. If Aarushi hadn’t died, it would be us going around all over Mumbai for Neeraj Grover!
And then one fine day in Chennai, a college student who had just returned from a month’s internship in Mumbai, was sipping a cup of coffee and watching TV when CBI gave a press conference and told the media that they had ‘narcotically’ found the murderers. The case would be solved as soon as they found tangible evidence, as the narco tests were not going to be accepted in a court of law.
She was half-disgusted to see the reporters pound the father who was not even allowed to grieve for his only daughter; they announced that he had murdered her; they tarnished his image – from being called a man who had an illicit relationship with his colleague, to a man who had killed his daughter who possibly had an affair with her 42 year old household help… The Talwars, Father, Mother, Daughter all, became ‘famous’ quite suddenly, thanks to the media…
At least the Daughter is dead. May the Father and Mother rest in peace!

The long post - Part II

But it was an oral confirmation one month before the stipulated internship was supposed to begin, and I got the scare of my life when they told me later that it wasn’t like fixed fixed. I had to go to Mumbai for an interview and only then…

This was, of course, pretty logical. What was not very was travelling from the west coast of India to the east coast, dump some luggage and carry some, and come all the way back to the west coast, all the time knowing that it was still in the maybe stage. Well, we did it anyway, me and Ram. And no, they didn’t ‘reject’ us. Phew!

This is the part which I call ‘bursting the bubble’. I learnt a lot of things – not all ideal, not all happy-happy. I saw and experienced what I had earlier only heard or read about. It’s not like I didn’t believe people when they told me that it’s like this, but when you actually see it for yourself, it hits you full in the face.

It hits you hard. Imagine a fist with some constrained veins and pointed knuckles, coming at the speed of sound… Imagine it in slow motion, Bollywood style, with some Kollywood style gold rings on those big, big, fingers… and it reaches your face and SMACK!

Ouch! Yea, it hits you that hard.

On a more serious note – everybody was a little surprised that their two new interns were both from Manipal, were classmates, were Tamilians, and were both from Chennai. For some people, this was immensely amusing!

But for two people who are so ‘similar’ (and as Anadi puts it, pun intended.), I don’t think we ‘experienced’ the same things. Every shoot is different, every day in the edit-room is different, every train journey is different, and every chai-outing is different. People are different, and so are their ‘response to stimuli’ ;)

There was a point, somewhere in the middle of the internship, where I seriously thought nothing was right. I was whining, and believe me, I sound ridiculous when I do that. I was behaving differently from how I usually behave – symptoms include talking very very little, drinking too much coffee, and, yes, whining. (To be very very honest, it wasn’t the drinking too much coffee part, or the whining part that worried me :P )

And at the end of one very ridiculous whining session, I realised something. It was my multiple personality disorder. And the only person who chooses which one of the multiple comes up and shows her head is, well, me.

Sounds very filmy no? No? Sounds like serials? Whatever!

I like coffee, and there’s no use whining unless that gives you a brainwave. Use what you have to get what you want, but never over-do it in a very obvious way. Lesson learnt in the latter part of the internship, and voila! It’s time to go home. Of course I learnt a lot about the media too – but I aint gonna list ‘em out here, cos I’m incapable of separating the good, the bad and the ugly; so I’ll just leave that for my other blog, for some other time, eh?

But Mumbai is a crazy, crazy place. My last few hours there, I saw the city truly flooded and I saw the selfish people. But I also saw the good ones coming forward to help the taxi-guy when his front brake went pop. I saw the people on the roads telling him which direction to not go in, without him asking them, for that road is really flooded. And there was the taxi guy who, through all that, somehow got me to Bombay Central and didn’t ask for anything more than what the meter read.

Only, Bombay Central was not the station I was supposed to go to. It was 12:30 in the afternoon when I checked my ticket to see that my train left from CST at 2:00 pm. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t!

Thank you, Anadi and Niranjan, for getting me to CST on time. Thank you, Indian Railways, for delaying my train by an hour and not cancelling it. Thank you to the 47 people who cancelled their tickets on that train and my RAC became a berth. Thank you, old lady, for being old and not wanting the upper berth, and trading it for my lower.
And I’m back home

The long post : Part I

This post is long overdue, and I think it’s gonna be long. Yea, it’s gonna be very, very long…

This semester was probably the best one I’ve had till now in college. Of course, I always have the feeling of ‘it-could-have-been-better’. I mean, I think that’s one thing that’ll remain constant. Goes with my motto – Satisfaction is death!

We – Team TMJ! – came back home from the holidays with a sack full of plans. Plans that might have sounded quite impractical to many, and thankfully we’re not in the many. We kickstarted with expanding TMJ. We all had more responsibilities now, and I personally enjoyed every bit of it. A lot of new kids joined us – my children, as I told a potential competitor once, when he wanted me to trade some of them to him. These guys, well, they did good. They complained, they whined, they did all of that, yes, but in the end, they got the work done, and that is what matters. In the process, I’m sure I learnt a lot – I hope each and every person who is a part of TMJ did, too, and I hope they had fun doing it!

And then part of the plans was the ‘new venture’. The whole idea couldn’t stop there, it had to grow bigger and better, it had to grow deep roots and stand strong. We started working on it, and the work we started with was good. But we didn’t finish it, and that was my only disappointment. No worries though. We get back this semester to finish it and do a whole lot more!

MMSC 2008 happened. And how! It was an experience I would never forget. The last few weeks leading to the event were so hectic, it wasn’t even funny. There were so many disappointments – at so many points during the 2 weeks leading up to the event, I was constantly thinking about how maybe, just maybe, I was a little over confident… What if it didn’t happen? What if not a single delegate turned up in the end? What if the experts decide to not turn up? What if flights are delayed and trains are cancelled? What if…

Fuck, my mind acts so darn funny sometimes!

And then in between there was the whole worry about fixing up an internship… I’ll come to that part later!

MMSC 2008 happened. And it was good. Of course, it-could-have-been-better. But so could the IPL final. No hard feelings! The important thing was, at the end of the day, I could say that I’ve learnt something that I didn’t know earlier. And as part of the organising team, I’m happy my delegates went back happy!

So coming back to the more personal – as in individual, personal – issue. The all important internship. So many phone calls and so many emails later, I get an affirmative one day, and I was happy. Headlines Today/Aaj Tak was ready to take me in as an intern.
But it was an oral confirmation one month before the stipulated internship was supposed to begin, and I got the scare of my life when they told me later that it wasn’t like fixed fixed. I had to go to Mumbai for an interview and only then…

Happy Fathers' Day!

Here it is. Again. Another western concept holding the world by its neck and screaming out loud – America! America! Uncle Sam rules the world! But of course, that’s the skeptic talking. It aint a bad concept man… I mean, when you have a day for the mother, it only makes sense to have one for the father, no?
But that is not exactly the logic behind fathers’ day. I googled the ‘concept’ and it seems, long long long ago, some female whose dad was a single parent, decided that she should honour her dad, and that all dads should have a day. So she comes up with this kickass idea of Fathers’ day, which will be celebrated in honour of all the fathers.
During this googling session, I came across this – “Through the observance of the love and the sacrifice of fathers about her everywhere, her idea of Fathers Day crystallized in 1910, through a formal Fathers Day petition asking recognition of fatherhood."
Dude! Recognition of ‘fatherhood’? Formal Petition??? I thought it was just some random thing, and everyone just followed it… Had no clue this stuff had formal petitions and blah! I mean, which son of a radish approved a formal petition to observe cats’ day?????
Well, I shall introspect on that later… Coming back to fathers’ day… My dad does not believe in days – so much so that he purposely forgets his own birthday. He ‘doesn’t believe in giving any importance to any particular date’… But we – my mother, my sister and I, don’t give up. At all. Because this attitude of my dad’s isn’t inborn. It’s only since a few years ago that he’s held this philosophy. My mother swears that it was because of me. I don’t agree, but this is what, according to mom, made my dad go against all days.
A few years ago, on Fathers’ day, my sister and I gave him this very emo card. Needless to say, my sister, three years younger than I am, was too young to pick out a card, and this most important job fell on my responsible shoulders. I picked out, carefully, the sweetest card that was there in all the shops around my house. It said such nice things… It told him how old he was getting, how we love his balding head, how his paunch was very cute, how his gray hair had atlast exceeded his blacks………
I’m sure my mother got it all wrong. I don’t know what the reason behind my dad’s transformation is, and I shall definitely investigate, but that, surely, was not.
Well its fathers’ day again, and this time, I’m not at home. My sister is, and she’s old enough to buy a gift in the absence of the responsible older sister. Of course I gave her suggestions – a jack in the box, hair dye, a pen that squirts ink in your face… But she told me that those things are not available in the shops – and I’m sure that’s true. They’ll be so much in demand! So she says she’s gonna choose between a T-shirt, a Pen Set, a Sweater and a box of chocolates. Oh well, my ideas are the best, but the situation is such that we have to go with my sister’s, less interesting ideas…
Cheers to you dad! You’re the Bestest Father Ever! Happy Fathers’ Day!!!

Not yet dead.

This blogpost is to reassure myself that this blog aint dead yet! I'm interning in Mumbai (city of dreams!) right now. Hoping to come back with a decent post soon. Be sure, I do have a lot to blog about - but am just not finding the right time.