Desicritics Author: Sathya

Community Photo Frame

Sathya — Thu, 3 Apr 2008 14:39:36 EDT

Not long ago we went to Yercaud, (a hill station near Salem in Tamil Nadu) on a weekend trip. By the time we returned, I was totally in love with the place.

One reason for this was the scenic beauty, the greenery and the varied views that the place had to offer.

There was another reason why I was totally in love with the place. The town was a small one, and what surprised me was that everyone knew everyone else. (I know it cant be true about the whole of the town's 10,000 population, but still quite a few people).

We boarded a bus back from Yercaud to Salem. The bus conductor seemed to know most of the passengers in the bus. To one he would inquire if he was going to his brother-in-law's house in Salem. To another he would ask if the brother had started building his home. This in addition to almost all the shopkeepers whom this guy would wave out to and the other person would delightfully acknowledge with another wave of the hand.

Yes I would like to be a part of a community were each person would be known to the other. I don't like the anonymity that a city imposes on you.

Not long ago, at least in my locality, people knew each other. The next house aunty would know my score in English I and English II. You would mention any distant name and suddenly father would know where Mr X stayed in the locality, with a little work history. Suddenly with the growth of the city the same knowledge is now treated as gross bad manners and infringement of privacy.

In the race for work, we seem to have forgotten the concept of a community. Even 5-6 years back there would be annual cultural festivals held in the local ground, where the whole locality would gather and listen to an orchestra, a few games and general just strengthen the community thread.

Today, I don't know who stays diagonally across my house. You come to my locality and ask for a name 95% chances are that the enquiry would be met with a blank stare.

I still know my neighbours though; it is because they have remained the same for the last 15 years. But nothing more than that.

A city is a burial ground for the concept of a community.

I wish that when some fifteen years later, when it is the generation of my kids, something drastic happens and they grow up as a part of a community where each person knows not only his neighbour but more than that too, and not fall prey to modern race-horse work habits, and western idea of imposed politeness.

One incident yesterday brightened my face though. Yesterday had gone to a gift shop nearby. The lady there smiled and greeted me. She recognized me as the guy who stands at the corner of the road each day for the cab to pick me up for office every day. Spoke about the place. Some history of their shop, a general talk of work. etc etc. Maybe the community concept still had a few embers on.

A city doesn't give these things quite a chance.

The Politics of Language

Sathya — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:20:14 EDT

Hogennekal is home to one of the most scenic waterfalls, on the border between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Hogennekal gets its name from Kannada Hoge - Smoke and Kal - Rock, after the hazy mist formed when the river Cauvery forms striking on the rocky terrain here. Given the tumultuous past that the river Cauvery has shared with the two states, Hogennekal too is not a tale of great amity between the two states.

Given the rocky terrain and inaccessibility of a good portion of the region, delineation - the politicians from both side claim was never accurately done, and hence both sides claim ownership of the region.

Other than the scenic spectacle that this place offers, the bone of contention lies in an island, which both sides claim to be their own, and the Tamil Nadu government wants to go ahead with a hydroelectric project. Rivers and Hydroelectric projects, in India come under the state list, and therefore are always sought after for political oneupmanship.

So what was always a contentious issue, took another turn when the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, came out and issued statements remarking that the project would go ahead at any cost, and even taking a dig at Karnataka's chief minister for 3 days, Mr Yediyurappa; who had staged public demonstrations against this project, asking him not to test his patience.

So at a time, when the state doesn't have a government, the Kannada Rakshana Vedike, has been quick to latch on to this opportunity to protest, and have begun their action by attacking Cinemas screening Tamil movies, in Bangalore.
So before you start picturing the Kannada Rakshana Vedike as an organization very similar to Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Nav Nirmana Sena, there is a difference. Kannada Rakshana Vedike is an organization, which claims itself as apolitical, and doesn't claim allegiance to any political party. However what should be noted, is the rapid pace with which the organization is spreading is tentacles throughout the state. Headed by Narayana Gowda(neither a MLA, nor an MP nor a corporator), the organization is now ubiquitous for yellow-red regionalism(yellow and red being the state flag colours). The organization is the foremost to protest any action perceived anti-Kannadiga. This was the same organization, that protested lack of local jobs at Infosys, and other software companies. This was the same organization broke into Sasken Technologies a couple of weeks back, to ransack the place against an employee at the company defaming the state language. This is the same organization that protested Laloo's Railways giving away jobs to people from other states(read Bihar) by ransacking railway property and computers. This is the same organization that lead the protest against Billboards in English. This is the same organization that is the face of any protest - regional in the state. Remember the violence that gripped the state after the thespian Dr Rajkumar's death, remember the fear that gripped the state after the Cauvery tribunal verdict was delivered in 2007, which thankfully passed off relatively peacefully.

I have no qualms with any organization, seeking protest to express their dissent, against acts perceived to be unjust. I even see no harm in a so called non-political organization leading the protest, but what I oppose is acts of hooliganism, and violence passing of as patriotism and worst of all - "love of the land", and that precisely is what Kannada Rakshana Vedike is guilty off. But the kind of fervour, and sheer numbers that the organization manages in some of its demonstrations, sometimes scare me. Maybe there is an underlying lava of discontent, which organizations like these feed of.

If you were a theatre owner screening Tamil movies, in Karnataka, I empathize with you.

Prasar Bharati, Cricket and a Free Lunch - Not!

Sathya — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:18:42 EDT

Expecting Prasar Bharti to screen test matches on Doordarshan; is it our way of seeking refuge in socialistic benefits, when being chased by capitalistic behemoths? I would nod my head in agreement and say, “yes it is.”

After all whether we like it or not, Doordarshan is a free lunch, where unlike the BBC in Britain, we don’t pay a license fee to the public broadcaster. In England, every citizen possessing a radio or television is expected to pay a license fee to the BBC. But aren’t we doing the same in our telecom sector, each of the private players pays an Access Deficit Fee to the state carrier – BSNL, for provision of rural connectivity. It is common knowledge that this is passed on to the end user, who probably doesn’t complain much, thanks to the cut-throat competition that has resulted in a geography which boasts of the lowest telecom tariffs. Worthy of mention here is the strategy adopted by Virgin Mobile, a new player in the telecom space. They claim to pay you one tenth of a rupee for every minute of an incoming call. And to think, when you are in Big Brother’s land you would wonder why you are having to pay for an incoming call – The merits of a fledgling market!

Back to the rant. The same Prasar Bharati that would fight in Madras High Court with some of these broadcasting companies, the same Prasar Bharati that would push the parliament for legislations about what it called “Sporting events of National Interest,” this time folded without giving a fight. This time it is not fighting with the Nimbus promoted Neo Sports, for broadcasting the India South Africa series.

The socialist in me is crying foul.

One, I feel the broadcasting rights in our country are extremely overrated. I don’t have any numbers with me, but the amount that broadcasting rights for these matches fetch can be only described as vulgarly excessive.

Two, the way every inch of the television space is littered with advertisements in an effort to monetize every pixel, can just be described as obscene. I didn’t complain, when advertisements between overs overshot the available time. I didn’t complain when a logo of a sponsor was embedded into the on-screen graphics. I didn’t complain when another graphics appeared for a replay, cutting off one corner of the screen. And then another one appeared, and then one more.

Today when I see a ticker/advertisement ticking over the top end of the screen taking along with it a good amount of the players’ faces, I want to look away from the game. The game doesn’t deserve me anymore.

The only way, this overrated broadcasting bubble would have been deflated to a more manageable size would have been if Prasar Bharati had put in a fight for the free signal. The companies would realize that it is not so profitable, if they were to share the signal with the state broadcaster.

Before I get onto how the bubble is only being inflated further by the emergence of the two cricketing leagues, I think I should stop and ask – Does your cable operator provide Neo Sports? Maybe he says it's overpriced. Maybe he says you would have to pay some amount more by way of monthly subscription. Maybe he is the sort who pilfers a signal and ensures that you get to watch the game. Maybe I dream of a day when I can get to see a cricket match, with fences for boundaries unlike advertising hoardings, where the ground is of green grass not painted with the motifs of some corporation and maybe a telecast sans that annoying commercial.

But alas! Like that cliché goes – There ain't nothing called a free lunch!