From shveta at sarai.net Sat May 1 09:13:49 2004 From: shveta at sarai.net (shveta) Date: Sat, 1 May 2004 03:43:49 +0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Lifting the veil Message-ID: <200405010343.49696.shveta@sarai.net> Dear All, Hello :) This is a slightly ambling posting, inspired by many conversations and questions regarding the stifling quality of the ghoonghat (veil), and also by the short debate on the list about the lack of safety for women on Delhi roads because of their attire (and of course, the media). best shveta -0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0- 01-05-04 Saturday In the 'World Notes' section of the International Page of Indian Express, today, is a small news story: France tightens headscarf norms Paris: France tightened proposed guidelines for a ban of religious headwear in state schools on Friday... The new, shorter draft by Education Minister Francois Fillon includes a revised clause forbidding pupils from citing religious grounds for refusing to remove an item of headwear. I had lost track of this story many weeks ago, following extensive reporting, and editorials, which (as I recall) debated whether this was a "secular" move; whether it would protect through hiding religious identity, or if it reveals a certain State intolerance to "minority" religions. Just a day before, on April 30 (Indian Express), was another news item, from Srinagar: Photo-op cuts a sorry picture Voter whose veil Mehbooba lifted says: My family and I are now at risk The image of PDP president Mehbooba Mufti lifting the veil off a voter in a polling booth in Srinagar on April 26 was broadcast on TV as a "courageous step" to detect fraud in the elections. That may backfire. For, that voter was a genuine voter, Shabnum of Malteng locality of Sonwar... But that's not the only reason she has to complain. She says, "By lifitng my veil, she has put me and my family's life to risk. Do you know what it means to cast a vote in Kashmir." Of course, the image of the lifting of the veil would have found its courage and media appeal in the symbolic nature of the gesture. It "reveals" not only a face, a voter's identity, but also the progressive stance of the politician. The steps in both cases are supposed to be "bold" because the hijaab, the ghoonghat, the pagdi, the scarf, are not only religious, and therefore regressive symbols (when its opposite is secular/progressive), in both cases they are also supposed to be connected with identity (religious in the first and voter's, or legitimate, ennumerated state subject in the latter). And it presents a liberal stance of the State/politician, even in its metaphorical resonances. The opposition from the "minorities" against the French law and the lone dissenting voice of Shabnum, however, cut short the jubilation : The veil is also a note of dissent, it is also a tactical move. And, below is a text from a friend: The veil is also a playful provocation, a potential tool. Joy and Fire in the Veil by Yashoda On 9th June, passing through the lanes of Dakshin Puri, I thought of a mischief. I said to Shahana, "I feel like covering my face with a veil while walking." It's something that women are sometimes forced to do. Fixing my dupatta, I covered my head with a long veil. Now no one could see my face. But I could see everyone easily. Shahana was wearing pants and t-shirt. And I was wearing a stylish pirlal jiski moriya bhi bahut chodi thi aaor niche paayhon par kadai hui thi. We walked on, lost in our own worlds, towards the road outside. Some women sitting in the lanes were looking at us, with great interest. They had not paid so much attention to us before, ever! I thought to myself that we had done some strange deed. We reached the bus stop outside, chatting with one another. And then we took an RTV bus. But my veil was just as I had wanted it to be. I had not let the veil slip up or down. Both of us sat down on the long seat in the RTV. There were more men than women in the RTV. I think there were just two to three women. I was the centre of everyone's attention. No one could see me, but I was looking at everyone with great attention. Their eyes were filled with curiosity. They were looking for something. Maybe my face, which had got lost in the darkness of the grey cotton dupatta. This might not have been possible if I had got on the bus without a veil. Two men were sitting right in front of me. They must have been 25-26 years old. They would turn their heads from one side to another, and then start looking at me. They were also looking at my hands and feet with surprise. There was a strange restlessness in them. But for me, this was fun. In it was nothing else but playful abandon. And an unnamed happiness that was filling up inside me. We got off at our stop, that is Pushpa Vihar. The looks of people in the bus were still following us with the desire to see an unknown, unfamiliar object. After two minutes, the bus moved on. After the bus left, I removed my veil. And, looking at Shahana, I started to laugh. I said, "This is so much fun!" There is a different happiness in playing with strangers. I thought to myself, "I definitely must have given the people sitting in the bus something ot the other to think about: Is she married, or not? So modern, and yet why had she covered her face? No bangles on the wrist, no ring in the toes, then why a veil? Maybe she has an ugly mark on her face? Such beautiful hands and feet! How must her face be? I had so much fun today! Because I thought of nothing new today but compelled others to think. Through my being, I raised questions in their minds, and left them to find the answers themselves. Anyway, that is what I am thinking. It's possible they didn't think anything at all! At home I drank cold water. And thinking of all this, I kept smiling to myself. Seeing me smile my sister Laxmi asked, "What happened? Why are you smiling to yourself?" I told Laxmi the whole story. I was certain she would laugh. But instead of laughing, she started looking carefully at me. And said, "So this is a joke? But this joke could set flame to people's houses." I asked, "Why?" I was surprised to hear what she had said. Looking at me, she said, "It's not necessary all of them were bachelors. Some of them must be married. Now some of their wives probably cover their faces, and some must argue about having to cover their faces. Won't the men who have differences with their wives over this tell them, 'When a modern woman, who moves around outside her house can cover her face, why can't you cover yours when you are inside the house?' At this, the wives will say, 'When you travel by bus, do you stare at other peoples' wives?' The men will remain stubborn about their point, and you will be present in the houses even in your absence." I looked at her with rapt attention and said, "But why will that happen?" Picking up the tumblers, she said, "But what if it happens?" She went off to the other room to wash utensils. The matter was not so big, but now I was feeling guilty. I felt as if a mole had turned into a mountain. For me it was just a funny joke. A joke I had uttered, but not thought about how it would mark others... From shveta at sarai.net Sat May 1 09:30:41 2004 From: shveta at sarai.net (shveta) Date: Sat, 1 May 2004 04:00:41 +0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Delhi: Demolition log Message-ID: <200405010400.41316.shveta@sarai.net> Dear All, These are the demolitions the city has seen since Feb 2004. It is likely this list is not comprehensive. (From the press release of Visthapan Virodhak Andolan) 3 Feb Demolitions in Badarpur and Safdarjung 5 Feb Single judge bench of High Court stays demolitions in Pushta 6 Feb Homes destroyed in Raja Bazaar, number not known 10 Feb And near Nizamuddin Bridge, again number unknown 11 Feb 1,500 jhuggis destroyed near Kamal Cinema, S.J. Enclave. Early Feb A woman, name unknown, commits suicide in the Pushta following demolitions 12 Feb Division bench of High Court vacates stay on demolitions 13 Feb 1,000 houses in Gautampuri 2 in Pushta 21 Feb Election Commission orders a halt on demolitions until elections are over 8 March EC changes stand. Approves the removal of more than 18,000 jhuggis from Pushta 15 March Demolitions begin again after the ban is lifted 17 March 1,000 houses demolished in Gautampuri 1 in Pushta. 17 March 50 jhuggis taken down in Petti Market near Red Fort 19 March 292 houses taken down in Koyla Colony in the Pushta 24 March 3,000 jhuggis destroyed in Kanchanpuri. 9 protestors arrested 2 April 1,368 houses destroyed in Indira Colony 4 April 4 people protesting demolitions arrested. Overall, 5 jhuggi residents are still in custody 10 April 1,100 jhuggis in Pushta demolished [The time line is from press releases of VISTHAPAN VIRODHAK ANDOLAN, that Diya has been working with against the Pushta demolitions.] On Sunday evening two weeks ago, there was another fire in the colony (the first was two weeks ago, in which 500 homes were gutted). As before, there was "confusion" about whether the police had a hand in this. Newspapers have been silent. And now, from PUDR reports, demolitions of the adjoining settlements, which do not come under the DDA (and therefore are not elligible for ANY compensation), are also underway. No surveys have been conducted. Just demolitions. Relocation is to Holambikalan, Narela etc. And even this is way out of the question for most (from among the 'surveyed' areas). From the 1500 home demolitions in the settlement near Kamal Cinema, for instance, 600 are not eligible for any relocation. The Indian Express writes about the "routine demolition", that it took a political colouring when the Congress alleged that the Centre was selectively targetting the Congress base in view of the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls. (The DDA, overseeing the demolitions and incharge of most of the land being cleared off, falls under the Union Urban Development Ministry.) [INDIAN EXPRESS, 12 FEB] As regarding Pushta, While the western side is the constituency of Janata Dal leader Shoib Iqbal, the Pushta area falls in the constituency of Congress(I) legislator Tajdar Babar. [Frontline, Volume 21 - Issue 05, February 28 - March 12, 2004, 'A tussle on the Yamuna's banks'] [http://www.flonnet.com/fl2105/stories/20040312003304400.htm] While I'm not sure what good it will do to seek out political motives, the point is things don't look too good in the city. Diya, please keep the list posted. best shveta From ahmed_shakeb at yahoo.com Sat May 1 13:54:56 2004 From: ahmed_shakeb at yahoo.com (shakeb ahmed) Date: Sat, 1 May 2004 01:24:56 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Reader-list] Locally produced media in Jamia and satellite colonies. Indpnt Rsrch Fllw - 04 Message-ID: <20040501082456.95956.qmail@web20801.mail.yahoo.com> Zahne Jadid (The Modern Mind), an Urdu journal of World and Indian literature, Performing Arts and other Sociocultural issues. After a conversation with publisher, Janab Zuber Rizvi. My first question to Zuber sahib was regarding the memory of any one defining moment in his personal history that led him to materially formulate some patterns of his social and cultural thinking into the shape of the journal Zahne Jadid. Zuber sahib used to work with All India Radio, and once he was asked to be on the panel of a UPSC recruiting team that was to appoint program-executives for Urdu language programs. It was in that encounter that it impressed on him how minimal can be the knowledge of Muslim youth educated primarily through curriculums in Urdu language regarding the happenings in world and domestic literature or disciplines of performing and other fine arts. Most of the individuals that were to appear for the interview were holding PhD in the language and their canvas was limited to their taught curriculum only. �Now we were recruiting them for producing Urdu language programs in radio, and not asking them to take up some kind of classroom teaching; and the heterogeneity of the information and knowledge that you require for producing programs on a range of themes and issues then exposed the urgent need in Muslim youth to be made privy to a spectrum of literary and other events happening contemporarily all around the world. It was then that he started thinking of what if he can bring out an Urdu magazine that talks about �our cultural heritage linking Hindustani adab (literature) with Aalmi adab (World literature) and the arena of other arts as well as issues of urgent sociological and political scope. Initially �I thought at least this could help some of the Muslim youth in preparing for their UPSC Civil services exams, or might make them comfortable when sitting amidst a party of educated individuals talking of world literature�what V.S Naipaul writes, what is there in the latest novel of Gunter Grass, or what Brechts plays are all about. Thus that was how I started on the very basic thinking that went behind the Zahne Jadid�. And hence in September 1990 the first issue of Zahne Jadid came out. This Urdu quarterly has been thirteen years in publication till the date, and altogether 37 issues have come out each of about 200-250 pages of content. What makes Zahne Jadid (The Modern Mind) a different kind of Urdu publication is easy to see once you go through the content page of any of its back issues. �Sept. 2003 to Nov. 2003� issue is a commemorative one of Munshi Premchands work, thus the cover carries a portrait of him; cutting immediately into the contemporary reality the inner leaf of the book-cover carries a photograph of participants of World Social Forum, Mumbai, marshaled around a slogan banner, raised hands, shouting slogans somewhere near the Mumbai Municipal Building. In its section, Photography, we are given to see Kim Phuo, a nine year old girl partially burnt and completely naked fleeing the remains of her charred Vietnamese village having just suffered a decimating American attack in 1972; we see a hand brushing dust off the stoned eyes of a little girl who�s bloated tiny head down in a rubble grave became a harsh representative of Bhopal gas tragedy in 1984; we see a picture of a set of confused and shocked men running off for some safe corner as WTC crumbles in the background�there are other pictures as well, and Zahne Jadid, through these photographs serves double purpose of talking about a modern art form, photography, as constitutive of a documentary repository of our human history; and at the same time the journal hints at the urgency of learning through the events freezed by these pictures and developing a discipline of critical thought that should ensure that such historical mistakes be prevented as best as possible. Further in the journal a piece by Anand Patwardhan takes off from Karachi film festival, exposes Urdu language readers to the exciting world of oppositional documentary film making, makes them know the works of individuals like Rakesh Sharma (Final Solutions), Sanjay Kak (Words on Water), Sandi Dubowsky (Trembling before God), Michel Moore (Bowling for Columbine) which are somewhat not so unfamiliar for English press readers but might be new to the Urdu audience and of who�s work there can be a lasting significance in these readers� lives. Another of the article in the same vein was by Kalpana Sharma, Sach Dikhanewali Filmein (Films about Truth). True to its tradition, this issue of Zahne Jadid carries a review of Nanad Kishore Acharyas play Zille Subhani�the journal keeps a special place for perfoming arts like theatre and classical music and instills in its readers a curiousty to explore more in these fields. Responding to one of my questions, Zuber Rizvi sahib confirms that his journal Zahne Jadid (The Modern Mind) is modern in the sense of being informed from the sensibility of Modernist movement as it begin in twentieth century Europe, and strives to carry forward the ideas of people who came together in India under the banner of Progressive Writers and likewise. True to it�s liking this issues builds a bridge to world literature, this time by including a piece on the works of Franz Kafka, Kafka ki Yaadgaar. An obituary-piece for Safdar Hashmi and Hasan Nasir attests to the journals effort at propagating values which Zuber Sahib terms central to the publication, �secularism� and �democratization�. Future, a site of an intense contest for defining the way we would live and would like to read and write about that, is dwelled upon in the piece Mustaqbil ka Maashra-o-Adab (The Cultures and Literatures of Tomorrow) that winds its ways through the concepts of Virtual Reality and Mass Media, Nano Physics and Miniaturisation, BioEthics and Cloning, PostCapitalism and Market Economy and through the array of individuals writing about them as like Baudrillard, Richard Feynman, Stephen Hawkins, Michel Foucault and more. Returning to belle-lettre, there are individual sections for genres poetry and short story showcasing contemporary talent about the writings in Urdu language�And then we return to from where the issue took off, a separate section rediscovering and reappraising the work of legendry Prem Chand. Readership of Zahne Jadid is limited but has grown over the years. Janab Zuber Rizvi does not feel strange or worried. When he started publishing the journal, he was working in radio and hence had clear enough thoughts regarding the concept of �niche audience�. For his journal he wanted to target anybody and everybody reading primarily in Urdu that would have preferred reading a newspaper like Hindu compared to a Hindustan Times, or would have wanted to pick up India Today some or other time. A �Pop concert featuring film artistes can draw upto a lakh or more people, a cricket match can get 50,000, but if it is Aalami Kitab Mela (World Book Fair) you should not expect too many visitors�. And that�s fine with him since he never wanted to bring out �a magazine that would give kitchen recipes, articles on toddlers� health, writing on women�s clothing and fashion all cobbled together�for that would be a family-magazine� whereas he wanted to produce a journal that would act as a Adab, Arts, Culture ka Tarjumaan (translator of literature, arts, culture) for an Urdu reader with an interest and taste for diversity of human expression. The raging debate about the contest between the Popular and High art doesn�t bother him because for him definitions are transient and what starts of as a rowdy street art expression can tomorrow become refined and canonized object of academic reverence, while the opposite holds the truth likewise. �And was that not what happened with Shakespeare?��. SARAI Independent Research Fellow 04 Shakeb Ahmed __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Win a $20,000 Career Makeover at Yahoo! HotJobs http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/careermakeover From marisa at sfcamerawork.org Sat May 1 02:08:20 2004 From: marisa at sfcamerawork.org (Marisa S. Olson) Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2004 13:38:20 -0700 Subject: [Reader-list] POP_Remix @ Camerawork Message-ID: Hello. I'm writing to announce the opening of POP_Remix, at SF Camerawork. A description of the show is below. If you are in town, please stop by our opening, on Tuesday, May 11. It is going to be a TON of fun--with work made from Starsky & Hutch, Super Mario games, and Marilyn Monroe films, among other pop sources, this is probably the most fun I've ever had curating a show! We are also having a number of fun events, including a hacking demonstration by Cory Arcangel & Alex Galloway (5/10 in Mountain View, co-sponsored with Zero1 & Leonardo ISAST) and a screening of "Enjoy!" and "Value-Added Cinema" (5/18, in the downstairs theatre). Check here for more details: http://www.sfcamerawork.org/events.html POP_Remix May 11-June 12, Opening Reception May 11, 5-8pm SF Camerawork-1246 Folsom-SF, CA 94103 USA Cory Arcangel / BEIGE, Matthew Biederman, Anthony Discenza, Radical Software Group (RSG) featuring Alex Galloway, Jennifer & Kevin McCoy, Paul Pfeiffer {{This exhibition is accompanied by an issue of Camerawork: A Journal of Photographic Arts, featuring essays by Lev Manovich, Philip Sherburne, José Luis de Vicente, and others.}} The Pop art era of Warhol and Lichtenstein may have officially come to pass, but the movement has not ended. In today's moving image culture, the context of Pop art is ripe for reconsideration-a "remixing" if you willŠ The creative strategy of appropriation has only grown, in function and in source-material, since the Television experiments and video art of the 1960s. Just as Pop artists of that era lifted logos and vernacular imagery, the work in POP_Remix takes as its marrow appropriated segments of popular films, TV programs, and video games. The deconstructed and remixed results serve as meditations on mainstream image-making and its cultural import. Anthony Discenza is concerned with the engorgement of our lives by the images of "mediated culture." His work thus attempts to realize the decay of the images that work to "decay" our selves. This effort appears to us in the form of often painterly, abstract, or kaleidoscopic video (de)constructions. Here he presents portraits of three "Hosts," the yield of layering footage of seven major network news anchors. Paul Pfeiffer explores the visual histories of the film, TV, and digital/video eras, Pfeiffer's projects often take up issues in (and parallels among) religion, sports, colonialism, racism, masculinity, and power. In his photographic series, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Pfeiffer has "erased" iconic images of Marilyn Monroe from film stills, leaving only a hazy vacant landscape. Through techniques of parody, pastiche, and laborious dissection, Jennifer & Kevin McCoy explore the enculturating impacts of genre and narrative structure. For Every Shot, Every Episode, the McCoys created a database of every shot in every episode of "Starsky and Hutch." Viewers can choose to play disks categorizing the indexed data. In How I Learned, the McCoys similarly catalogued episodes from the show "Kung-Fu," rhetorically asking 'if all you ever knew about the world you learned from this show, what would you know?' Matthew Biederman is also engaged in deconstructing TV clips. In his AleatoryTV, a computer scans a channel of live TV for specific words via speech recognition algorithms. The words form a sentence, pre-selected by the artist. As the agent "hears" the words on TV, it samples the audio and visual content that accompanies it, placing the clip in a loop that is continuously played back on a large television. New utterances of the word replace old ones and the process begins anew each day. In 2x2 Alex Galloway, founder of the Radical Software Group (RSG) "degrades" video clips from popular films and TV programs into linear animations two pixels tall by two pixels wide. The flickering clips are played on GameBoys. Galloway's Prepared PlayStation 2 uses unmodified versions of the PlayStation game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 to exploit "bugs and glitches in the code to create dirty, jolting game loops." Both projects point to an internal collapse of the system within which they signify. In NES Home Movies: 8bit Landscape Studies Cory Arcangel spins a tale about his youth, traced by those images he grew up staring at, thus revealing his identity to be, in a sense "photosensitive." They work effects a reverse of the trajectory of the image's "evolution" from still to film to video to video game by reverse-engineering his 8-bit videos into panoramic photographs.His relayering of self-composed Detroit-style rock or old school raver tunes over remixed clips of Mario and his environs, in Video Ravings, brings new meaning to the work it mimes. In defiance to the commercially-driven "evolution" of machine culture, and in recognition of the formal origin of these remixes, Arcangel saves the new videos on game cartridges and runs them on original Nintendos. In each of these works we can begin to chart the cultural shift from accessing screen-based photographic images in the forms of cinematic projections, to television screens, to hand-held screens. With each shift there have come physical and cultural shifts, among them a change in the allowed modes of representation and access of these images. In each case, the machinery of a work of art dictates the conditions of its production, distribution, and-arguably-its interpretation. These issues are at the heart of Pop art, alongside questions about authorship, the status of the multiple, and interrogations of commodity fetishism. Overall, the exhibition serves as a meditation on mainstream image-making and its cultural import. Each project is at once accessible-even fun!-by virtue of its relationship to pop culture, while simultaneously revealing the deeper cumulative effects of our relationship to its content. Ultimately, we are invited to consider the impacts these popular lens-based genres have had upon the ways in which we choose to look at the world. -Marisa S. Olson, Curator SF Camerawork encourages emerging and mid-career artists to explore new directions in photography and related media by fostering creative forms of expression that push existing boundaries. This year marks our 30th Anniversary. We would like to extend special thanks to the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Arts, Zero: One, Leonardo ISAST, the Hotel Tax Fund of San Francisco Grants for the Arts, Hosfelt Gallery, Lucasey Mounting Systems, Steven Blumenkrantz, Jona Frank, Anthony Laurino, and Thomas Meyer. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 6665 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20040430/a1f79e81/attachment.bin From balu_broadcaster at rediffmail.com Mon May 3 12:41:33 2004 From: balu_broadcaster at rediffmail.com (balu krishnan menon) Date: 3 May 2004 07:11:33 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] EU-India documentary Message-ID: <20040503071133.27173.qmail@webmail29.rediffmail.com> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20040503/fbc4d3ab/attachment.html -------------- next part --------------  Dear friends I am involved in EU-India documentary initiative on diversity and conflict transformation.The project is looking forward to relevant themes and location.You may mail me to balu_broadcaster at redifmail.com.Being the indian participant I am in search of locations in India. M.Balakrishnan. programme Executive.AIR.Thrissur.(KERALA) From jeebesh at sarai.net Wed May 5 01:24:06 2004 From: jeebesh at sarai.net (jeebesh at sarai.net) Date: Tue, 4 May 2004 21:54:06 +0200 (CEST) Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Invitation to the Wherehouse Message-ID: <2098.194.78.106.122.1083700446.squirrel@194.78.106.122> This is to invite you to an opening of our work, The Wherehouse, in Brussels at the Palais de Beaux Art, and to share with you some of the thoughts that we have been engaging in the process of our work on this project. The Wherehouse opens on the 6th of May, as part of the programme of 'Revolution/Restoration' curated by Barbara Vanderlinden and Dirk Snauwert, and we would be very happy if you could find the time to come and be with us for the opening, on Thursday, the 6th of May at 18:00 hrs (if you are in or near Brussels), or take time out to visit the installation during its stay at the Palais de Beaux Arts (7.05. 2004 > 06.06.2004). The address of the venue is - PALAIS DES BEAUX-ARTS BRUXELLES (CENTRE FOR FINE ARTS, BRUSSELS) rue Ravenstein 23, 1000 Bruxelles info: 02 507.84.44 (nearest metro stop : Central Station/Gare Centrale/Centraal Station) To see the online rescension of the project, visit www.the-wherehouse.net For more information on the show, see http://www.bozar.be/fr/wherehouse.html (in French) http://www.bozar.be/nl/wherehouse.html (in Dutch) Below is a brief note by us about the Wherehouse. Looking forward to seeing you, and to hearing from you best, Raqs Media Collective raqs at sarai.net --------------------------------------------------------- THE WHEREHOUSE Raqs Media Collective The Wherehouse is a constellation of images, objects and annotational possibilities designed to posit a speculative archaeology of/for the present moment. It constitutes an assemblage of reflections on time, memory, movement, stasis and location in a world where some people are forced to abandon home, and others can be seen as being imprisoned by their assumptions of stability about their present location. The constellation intends to raise questions about our moorings in the materiality of the world we inhabit, and our certitudes about our destinies. The work emerges from Raqs’s ongoing concerns with multiple forms of legality and illegality in the contemporary world, and a period of engagement in the course of conversations with residents of detention centres for illegal aliens in Brussels, ex-illegal aliens, and recent refugees in Frankfurt am Main and Hanau, as well as by a drive to collect material objects from the inhabitants, and streets, of Brussels. The first phase of the project took place in March in Frankfurt during a Raqs residency in Frankfurt at Das TAT, at the invitation of its artistic director Louise Neri, and involved engagements with refugees, ex aliens and migrants as well as activists working with them, and culminated in a 'reading performance for a listening room' at the TAT in collaboration with AndCompany&Co, a Frankfurt based association of independent theatre practitioners, performance artists, musicians and writers. *********** Refugees, exiles, asylum seekers, or any people who cross borders illegally (without papers), leaving behind situations of deprivation and hardship, often find themselves incarcerated in detention centres where they await assimilation or deportation. They have no way of knowing whether or not their application for asylum and residence in the country they have come to will be accepted. They are imprisoned by the clock and exiled from the calendar. They have no way of knowing whether tomorrow, or next week, or next year, they will be put on a plane that flies them back to the war or the fear or the hunger that they sought to escape in the first place. When they leave home, they are often compelled to leave behind them most of what constitutes the material reality of their lives, carrying with them only that which is most essential, urgent or especially precious. The cities that such people (refugees, asylum seekers, exiles, border crossers) come to are regarded by their legal inhabitants as stable spaces where nothing is going to change drastically. This notion of stability forecloses the possibility of seeing any space as vulnerable to the seismic upheavals of contemporary history. It assumes that the upheaval endemic to Kabul will never touch Brussels. The engagements that we make with the residents of detention centres focus on a body of images of material objects created and collected by us. These object-images may be suggestive, and are open to be read as provocations for memories or thoughts of the abandoned material universe. The 'illegals'/migrants, or ex-illegals and residents of the detention centres are requested to annotate a book of photographs made by us containing images of quotidian objects of general use. These annotations are registered on to the website of the project in the form of a database of narratives linked to images. These registrations can also be made by anyone who wants to inscribe their thoughts on to the website, and be a part of this narrative database. The annotated notebooks and web pages constitute one node of the work. Simultaneously, the project envisages inviting people from the city of Brussels located between the Petit Chateau and the Palais des Beaux Arts. People were asked to gift a single object that they no longer use, or are willing to discard, to the project. The process also involved collecting objects abandoned on the streets of Brussles. These objects, which range from furniture to notebooks to matchboxes, to implements, are arrayed in a grid with tags speculating as to their provenance (their previous custodian) as if in an archaeological site following a dig. The two sets of objects (and the annotations accompanying them), with their two trajectories of provenance, intersect in the work and are offset by projections and layers of imagery taken from the outer walls of the 'Petit Chateau', a detention centre in Brussels. The Wherehouse seeks to engender a reflection on the circumstances in which time thickens to an eternal present, and space is folded inside out. Where the outer wall of a detention centre is the inner wall of a city and when due to circumstances beyond their control, those who ventured out (crossing borders) are cloistered and the plans that they made for the future rendered futile by the casual and catastrophic perambulations of our times. A time for instance, when an entity called Europe, expands it borders even as it raises its walls, contracts, closes in on itself. By locating itself within Brussels, a city at the epicentre of these upheavals, and within the discourse generating apparatus of contemporary art, The Wherehouse seeks to provoke an encounter between abandoned materials and abandoned memories with a view to the asking of questions, to the telling of (and listening to) stories, to the sharing of histories and to the necessary labours of memory and reflection - on realities that are often wished away. Credits A project by Raqs Media Collective Print and Website Design: Mrityunjay Chatterjee Website Coding: T. Meyarivan Sound/Music: Sascha Sulimma (AndCompany&Co) Acknowledgments: Barbara Vanderlinden, Dirk Snauwert, Louise Neri, AndCompany&Co, Abbasin Sher, Hagen Kopp, Rana Dasgupta Fedasil, Brussels Das TAT, Frankfurt Migrants, Refugees, Asylum Seekers and People without Papers in Frankfur, Hanau and Brussels who participated in the project, and many of whom would not like to be named. The residents of Brussels _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From bailey53 at bigpond.net.au Wed May 5 11:54:48 2004 From: bailey53 at bigpond.net.au (Andrew Bailey) Date: Wed, 5 May 2004 16:24:48 +1000 Subject: [Reader-list] Data on Mumbai Migration Message-ID: <000601c43269$aacc7f20$c9448490@vic.bigpond.net.au> My name is Nick Bailey and i am currently conducting a study on internal rural migration in India to the city of Mumbai and the econmoic rationalisations for such migration. My study is intending to focus on poor rural workers migrating to Mumbai in search of higher wages and better standards of living. I have had trouble gathering data on patterns of migration to Mumbai over recent years and i was wondering if you would be able to advise me on where best to gather these sets of data on the internet if possible. Please email me at njbai1 at student.monash.edu.au if you can in any way assist me. Yours Sincerely Nick Bailey -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20040505/bff279a7/attachment.html From jcm at ata.org.pe Thu May 6 14:46:48 2004 From: jcm at ata.org.pe (Jose-Carlos Mariategui) Date: Thu, 06 May 2004 04:16:48 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] MARIOTTI / ATASI in/en Lima (CC San Marcos) Message-ID: ------> english version bellow [SPANISH] ROGER ATASI / FRANCISCO MARIOTTI dos generaciones / una historia breve [video instalaciones] Centro Cultural de la Universidad de San Marcos (Casona), Lima Inauguración: Viernes 7 de Mayo La historia apela a contextos, épocas y relaciones. Es en este sentido que resulta interesante jugar con relaciones en el tiempo para vincular dos contextos históricos de la breve historia de las artes mediales en el Perú. Acudo a los trabajos de Francisco Mariotti y de Roger Atasi para revelar estas dos capas históricas. La primera historia del arte electrónico en el Perú podría reducirse a la sola obra de Francisco Mariotti [1], un artista que ha venido trabajando en nuestro país y en Europa desde los años sesenta. Sin embargo, su trabajo siempre estuvo influido por el contexto local peruano. Su acercamiento metafórico a la naturaleza, utilizando elementos tecnológicos, define su trabajo de una manera mediática y simbólica. La práctica de lo que ahora llamamos media art y ³arte interactivo² en las primeras producciones de Mariotti se asienta sobre un uso correcto de la tecnología ligado a un conocimiento claro de las propuestas científicas y de conceptos tales como la vida artificial, muy asociada hoy en día a las manifestaciones artísticas de vanguardia. La segunda historia comienza quizás alrededor de 1997. Desde entonces uno de los artistas más ³viejos² y constantes ha sido Roger Atasi. Sus primeros trabajos eran absolutamente paradigmáticos de una nueva generación de jóvenes artistas que deseaban utilizar formas creativas y alternativas para comunicar sus ideas. Atasi fue uno de los primeros en utilizar la tecnología, y particularmente el video, sin miedo: él no se preocupaba por buscar una imagen perfecta o si el monitor que utilizaba era viejo, siempre que sus ideas y los espacios que construyese se relacionaran bien. Su manera particular de observar el panorama urbano en su relación con el ambiente humano se traduce en videos donde existe una tentativa de compartir la experiencia solitaria en situaciones cotidianas ligadas a basurales ubicuos, viejas casas, el ³gaste² y desgaste de edificios y el caos urbano. Tomar elementos primarios de las cosas que las personas piensan que son inútiles, para luego hacerlas útiles en un nuevo contexto (mediático) es un método común entre los trabajos de Mariotti y de Atasi: ambos han utilizado elementos reciclados. Atasi trabajó con viejos televisores y electrodomésticos para crear video instalaciones que juegan como paisajes mediáticos locales, mientras que las botellas plásticas de Mariotti sirven para crear luminosos jardines artificiales. ¿Será una coincidencia o no que Francisco Mariotti y Roger Atasi vivan ahora en la diáspora? Paradójicamente, si bien viven y trabajan en Europa, representan en síntesis la historia corta pero intensa de las artes mediales en el Perú. Su participación en diversas muestras internacionales desde que eran muy jóvenes es también un ejemplo de lo que sucede hoy en el Perú en referencia al arte electrónico: se ha difundido mundialmente. Creemos fuertemente que los tempranos años setenta, así como los últimos años noventa, son momentos representativos para el desarrollo de las artes visuales en el Perú. La obra de Mariotti y Atasi representa este período de una manera mediática e innovadora. [1] Aunque hubo otras intervenciones esporádicas es importante mencionar el trabajo en video de Rafael Hastings durante gran parte de los años setenta. **Apostilla a la historia del video arte peruano: Como dato curioso de la historia mundial del video arte, la VideoPoemOpera Planetopolis de Gianni Toti incluye la toma de una pequeña figurilla de Marx producida por Francisco Mariotti y el periodista Gerardo Zanetti titulada Carlos Marx canta y baila para usted la Internacional (1984). De una manera profética, podemos pensar en la figurilla mediatizada de Marx en Planetopolis como el primer rastro peruano en el trabajo de Toti que desembocará después en el latinoamericanísimo Proyecto Túpac Amauta (original asociación verbal entre el nombre de Túpac Amaru y el epónimo quechua de José Carlos Mariátegui). FRANCISCO MARIOTTI "Lo único que te puedo ofrecer es sangre" Esta frase la filmé en video en el año 1996 en el Km. 53 de la Panamericana Sur, detrás del cerro donde se encuentra la 'Sarita Colonia' que hicimos con Huayco (1980). El texto, junto a la imagen de un soldado con metralleta estaba dibujada en los cerros adyacentes en un campo de entrenamiento militar. El sampling de estas imágenes con las de video juegos del tipo 'EGO-Shooter' (Unreal Tournament, Unreal II, Battlefield) son proyectadas en un contexto que busca la inmersión del espectador en un paisaje artificial. ROGER ATASI "Prohibido de hacer" Apropiación de la imagen, construcción de una nueva a partir de un archivo o en otro caso creación de un falso archivo. Selecciono la escena del film "Brooklyn Boogie", al estar prohibido el modificar el film, me rijo en un tiempo estimado de 48 segundos para no exceder lo aceptado por las leyes francesas con respecto al derecho de autor. Contra el Copyright, existe también su contraparte, el Copyleft. El otro es una construcción de un falso reportaje de TV, en el que pongo a las dos más importantes presentadoras de TV en un solo reportaje trabajando juntas." Curaduría: José-Carlos Mariátegui, Alta Tecnología Andina (ATA) Esta muestra estará abierta del 7 al 22 de mayo, 2004 Presentada inicialmente en VIDEOFORMES - 18th INTERNATIONAL VIDEO and MULTIMEDIA ARTS FESTIVAL, Clermont-Ferrand, Francia, 18 a 22 de marzo, 2003. ----------------------------------[ENGLISH] ROGER ATASI/FRANCISCO MARIOTTI two generations/a brief history [ video installations ] Cultural centre of the University of San Marcos Opening: Friday 7 of May Dates: 7 to 22 of May, 2004 History appeals to contexts, times and relations. In this respect is interesting to play with relations through time to connect two historical contexts of the brief history of media arts in Peru. I appeal to the works of Francesco Mariotti and Roger Atasi to reveal these two historical layers. The first history of electronic art in Peru could apply basically to the work of Francesco Mariotti (though they were some other sporadic interventions). Mariotti has been working in Peru and in the European context since the 60¹s . Nevertheless, the work of Mariotti has always been always influenced with the local Peruvian context. His metaphorical approach to nature using technological elements defines his work in a mediatic and symbolic way. The practice of what we now call ³media art² and ³interactive art² in Mariotti¹s first productions are founded over his correct use of technology linked to a clear knowledge of the scientific proposals and artificial life concepts, very associated nowadays to artistic manifestations. The second history of Peruvian electronic art begins around 1997. Since then one of the Œoldest¹ and constant media artist XX has been Roger Atasi. His first works were quite exemplary of a new generation of artists that wanted to use alternative forms of art to communicate their ideas. Atasi was one of the first young artists that began to use technology, and specially video, without any frightening: he didn't care about a perfect video image or if the monitor he was using was an old one as long as his ideas and the spaces he constructed worked well. His particular way of observing the urban panorama in its relationship with the human environment is translated in videos where exists an attempt of sharing a solitary experience through everyday situations linked to spaceless dumps, old houses, wear and tear of buildings and urban chaos. To take primary elements from things that people think are useless and to make them useful in a new mediatic context is a common element present in the works of Mariotti and Atasi: both had used recycled elements. Atasi worked with old TV and electro domestic apparatus to create video installations that play as local mediatic surroundings. Mariotti uses plastic bottles to create illuminated artificial gardens. It is by coincidence or not that Francesco Mariotti and Roger Atasi are now living and working in Europe, and that they both resemble quite well the short but intense history of media arts in Peru? Their participation at international venues since they were very young is also quite exemplary of what is happening today in Peru in relation to media arts. We believe strongly that the early 70¹s decade as well the late 90¹s decade are quite representative moments of the development of visual arts in Peru. In both cases the works of Mariotti and Atasi represent this period in a mediatic and innovative way. **Little note for the history of video art: In the traces of the world history of video art, the videoPoemOpera of Gianni Toti ³Planetopolis² included a little statuette of Marx produced by Francisco Mariotti and Gerardo Zanetti titled ³Karl Marx sings and dances for you The International² (1984). In a way, we can think of the mediatized statuette of Marx in ³Planetopolis², as the first Peruvian trace in the work of Toti that followed then with the ³Tupac Amauta² trilogy (1997 ­ 2002). FRANCISCO MARIOTTI "All I can offer to you is blood" I shoot this phrase in video in 1996 in km 53 of the Pan-American South Hiway, behind the hill where is the 'Sarita Colonia' piece that we did with Huayco (1980). The text, next to the image of a soldier with a machine-gun was drawn in the hills next to a military training field. I've sampled these images with those of video games 'EGO-Shooter' type (Unreal Tournament, Unreal II, Battlefield) which are projected in a context that looks for the immersion of the spectator in an sort of artificial landscape. ROGER ATASI "Not allowed to" Appropriation of an image, construction of new one, in other words the creation of a fake one. I selected the scene of the film "Brooklyn Boogie", since the producers didn¹t allowed me to modify this film, I prevail to to the considered time of 48 seconds so I don't exceed the French laws in respect to copyright. In the counterpart of the Copyright also exists the Copy left. The other piece is a construction of a false news coverage of TV, in which I put to the two most important French TV presenters in a single report." Curator: Jose-Carlos Mariategui, (ATA) This exhibition was initially presented at initially presented in VIDEOFORMES - 18th INTERNATIONAL VIDEO and MULTIMEDIA ARTS FESTIVAL, Clermont-Ferrand, France, 18 to 22 of March, 2003. From sonnet at crimsonfeet.org Thu May 6 19:38:32 2004 From: sonnet at crimsonfeet.org (Prayas Abhinav) Date: Thu, 06 May 2004 19:38:32 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Crimson Feet, Volume 3 : Theme, Scope and A Call for Entries Message-ID: <409A46E0.90102@crimsonfeet.org> Crimson Feet, Volume 3 Theme, Scope and A Call for Entries -----------------------------------------------*** Crimson Feet, the bi-monthly journal of evolutionary art and writing is publishing its third volume in May'04. This note presents a brief outline of the pervading theme, structure, scope and a call for new work. Volume 3 - Theme: *Poof* - the pyramid's gone and so is the mythical underground Approaches: The pyramid as a hierarchy is a classical symbol of the burden the underdog carries on his shoulder. The burden of the need to rise up the hierarchy, the burden of the need to survive, the burden of living with the conscious presence of accomplished and 'risen'. But the pyramid can also be equity, a disintegrated pyramid is a maze, an integrated pyramid is a multi-dimension. The pyramid as a hierarchy is a product of the universal lack of conviction. Scope: Essays, art, poetry, fiction looking at the pyramid structurally. A study of the structure of the pyramid as well as its deformations and mutations can reveal some interesting things about hierarchies, the underground and the *Poof* effect. The *Poof* effect has been felt by numerous individuals and organizations at different points in their life. It suddenly makes you feel liberated and free to do anything, to feel anything, even 'happiness'; some instances of the *Poof* would be interesting. Strains of humour or sarcasm will fit in well. Interpretation can be with any foci. Specifically work which draws similarities and 'cross-solutions' across different genres and fields e.g. open-source, the software industry and the music industry is a ready example. A Call for Entries: We need new essays, fiction, art, a work of graphic fiction and poetry which are vaguely or distinctly related to the above theme. Anyone can send in their work, submissions are accepted only through our online community center ( http://magazine.crimsonfeet.org ) Deadline for the third issue: May 15th 2004. We pay Rs 250 for all work accepted for publication. The-pickup-line: "Owe, you never understand me." -----------------------------------------------*** Other spaces: Work not confined to this theme will be considered for future issues. Other relevant information: Submissions are accepted online only at our community center at - http://magazine.crimsonfeet.org Know and read more about the magazine at http://magazine.crimsonfeet.org , Crimson Feet, is a new short-staffed, resource-starved magazine which is the world's first community owned, community-moderated, community-created print magazine. And yes it is also community-bought, something which we would like to correct, buy a subscription and get somebody to buy one. evolved art & writing, which doesn't try too hard to bore you. -----------------------------------------------*** Crimson Feet Magazine, published from Ahmedabad, India contact: mail at crimsonfeet.org , 91-079-8311979 B2 Shree Krishna Apartments, Near Lad Society, Vastrapur, Ahmedabad – 380015 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From coolzanny at hotmail.com Thu May 6 21:14:48 2004 From: coolzanny at hotmail.com (Zainab Bawa) Date: Thu, 06 May 2004 21:14:48 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Virar Fast - Train Research Posting Message-ID: Dear All, I am sharing with all of you my experience of traveling on trains today. Cheers, Zainab Three and a half hours by Virar Fast Date: 06/05/04 Byculla to Virar and back This morning I decided to travel with the office crowd to see what happens inside the ladies compartment during the morning peak hours. I had a quiet journey from Byculla to Virar starting from 6:55 AM in the morning until 8:40 AM. There were few passengers in the train. Most of them were dozing off. A vendor or two entered the compartment, but nothing unique. Things started happening when the train touched Nalla Sopara station. People began getting inside the train so that they could have seats to themselves when the train would hit Virar and then head back to Churchgate. A young girl came and sat besides me, asking me where I would be getting off. She had a suitcase. She was leaving for her village in the evening and was carrying the luggage to her office. Her plan was to leave office and head straight to the station. She asked me whether she could keep her bag in the space below my seat. I consented. She seemed like a very obedient girl, someone I would call a �good soldier�. I tried to strike a conversation with her and asked her whether she was headed towards Churchgate. She replied in the affirmative and then asked me, �Are your friends going to join you?� I said no. Maybe if I had said yes, she would have moved to another seat. I was surprised at the level of obedience she had. Just the other day, one of the interviewees had said to me, �You should be stern in trains. Don�t be lenient!� I was curious to know more about train groups and train friends. A lot of my interviewees have been talking to me about train friends and train groups, people who may not necessarily work in the same office, but travel at the same hours daily. I wanted to see for myself what happens in the mornings in the trains, what are the conversations like, what is the atmosphere in the trains and what happens to this city. When the train reached Virar, my city was awake, wide awake! I could see people standing like alert hunters on the platforms, waiting for their kill, I mean, for their train! A lot of them are very skilled at pouncing onto the pole of the door and getting inside the stomach of this big animal called local train! At Virar, as the train halted for a few breathing moments, women quickly got into the ladies compartment and organized their seats. Some were dissatisfied at the seats which they had got. They tried to look around for better deals. Some were lucky; they found good seats. Women got into their daily groups and began chatting. �What movie did you go for yesterday?� �Oh, I had a fight with my boss/colleague in office yesterday and this and this happened!� A girl from another group was applying a new shade of lipstick while her companion was explaining details and nuances about this new shade. Others in the group were asking this savvy girl about her jewellery and tips on latest fashion. I had parked myself by a window seat, watching as many people as I could. As the crowd increased by the next three stations, people�s bodies blocked my view. There were many women in my chest and face � a lime green kurta, a pinkish-orangish kurta, a slim waist, a fat waist � women of various shapes and sizes. The first thing I noticed was that quite a few women who got into the train, both at Virar and at the subsequent stations, took out their prayer books and began chanting. Women who were standing were also reading their prayer book very diligently. I looked around and saw that as these women were praying, they managed to have a quiet space around themselves and nobody would disturb them in this act. Once the praying was done, the women got into their act of either thinking, or standing and dozing, or chatting and singing with their train groups. I was curious to notice this. All of these women were office-goers, and well educated (most of them would well have been more than graduates). I asked myself, �what propels these women to pray? Is it faith? Is it a daily routine which gives one a sense of security? Who is their god or God? Is he/she an anchor as they navigate each day of their life?� I have observed more and more people in this city who pray regularly. What are they protecting themselves from? What are their wishes and desires which god/God could grant? As the train was moving towards Churchgate, at each station, women would stand by the door, crowd around to get off, and when the station came, like sheep (guided by the shepherd of instinct), they would push and squeeze their way out. It�s just that these were two-legged sheep! A group of women (who I could not see because they were seated in the section behind me) were playing Antakshari and were singing old songs. They seemed totally unperturbed by everything else happening in the compartment. I find this to be a very interesting character about the ladies compartment � in the same compartment, there are several events happening simultaneously. Yet, everyone is concentratedly involved in her own activity, whether it is sleeping, singing, chatting with a group of friends, or whatever, totally unconcerned with whatever else is happening around. I feel that some switch-off takes place inside the head where the antennae are shut and the focus is on what is involved in at that time. No one is disturbed by everything else happening around, unless there is a huge fight which then draws everybody�s attention. I am trying to understand what is the cognitive make-up of the human mind when traveling in trains. Equally undisturbed were the women who were standing and thinking. I could observe tired and jaded faces. A sense of monotony was evident on their faces, a deep sense of tiredness. I again asked myself, �what kind of work do these women do in their offices? Most of the times, they are selling something to someone � an insurance, a mobile phone, a loan, etc. We have an economy of sale and perhaps all that these women do is to run after clients and sell them something. What is monotonous and boring in their lives? Is it their job, their lifestyle, their current situation? Are they happy people?� At the same time, I could notice women laughing and chattering. They had a lot to talk and share. For these women, life currently didn�t seem like a cross to bear. At each station, women who entered the compartment would inquire with all those seated � �which station are you getting off?� Accordingly, they would book seats for themselves with the seated person. A couple of women had inquired with me as well. The young, obedient girl sitting next to me suddenly turned around to me and asked, �Where is the woman who had claimed your seat after you got off at Dadar?� For a moment, I failed to understand what she was saying to me. I thought she is trying to sell me an insurance policy (because I had figured out from her conversations with her office companion that she was working in an insurance firm). The word �claim� was buzzing in my head for a few moments until she asked me again, �Where is that woman who had earlier claimed your seat? There is someone there wanting your seat after you get off at Dadar.� I looked at the new claimant and promised to give her my seat since the earlier claimant had already found a seat for herself. Once again I wondered about the notions of space, claim, territoriality � territoriality is a very important part of our mainstream culture. Similarly, there is a vital connection between space and claim. I was once again struck by the obedience of this girl. She was careful enough to ensure that there was no overlap of promises. I am a casual traveler. I couldn�t care who asked for my seat and who finally got it. But I realized from this incident that there are certain rules of train travel and certain commitments which have to be honored. Not everything can be taken for granted, especially if you are regular commuter. Then again, who makes these rules? There is a deep sense of emergence which I am noticing about trains. I am beginning to believe that it is the commuters who make trains what they are � there is a strong interaction between commuters and the way trains have come to be today. Yet, do the commuters feel a sense of ownership towards trains? Do they see trains as belonging to them or do they see it as government property? Stations came and stations went. After a point, some of the seated commuters would get up and let the standing commuters sit, with a tacit agreement that the latter would get up when the former felt like sitting again. The obedient girl got up and offered her seat to a woman who would be getting off at Andheri. Another seated commuter got up and offered her seat to someone else. She was dressed in a maroon salwar-kameez and wanted to chat with someone. She began chatting with a woman who was standing since a long while. Both of them discussed the latter�s house cleaning activities. Their initial conversation centered around what brush is good for cleaning toilets. Then they spoke about cabinets and mirrors. Then they began discussing vacation plans where the latter mentioned that she was going off to Shimla to escape the heat of Mumbai. Both of them spoke of a colleague who had already left for Shimla and they were imagining how she would be enjoying herself. Suddenly, the long-standing woman said, �Oh, but isn�t her husband posted in Jammu?� indicating that he was in a �danger-zone�. The seated-now-standing woman responded, �I don�t know. She was murmuring something about her husband being in the air force. I could not understand. But I have come to know that her husband has relatives close to Jammu and so he is enjoying his posting.� �That�s good,� said long-standing woman, �as long as both are happy, that�s more than enough.� The seated-now-standing woman had a very satisfied look after this conversation. Somehow, she felt a sense of security and importance. The train was delayed between Santacruz and Bandra. The commuters got irritated, wondering what was wrong with the train. A lot of them looked at their watches and worried about reporting late to work for no fault of their own. Others felt that worry would not undo what was happening. They had a sense of acceptance of their faces, a look indicating, �we will face the consequences as they come�. I now had to get off. I indicated to my claimant that I was vacating my seat and that she could take over from me. All the four persons seated made arrangements between themselves and my claimant had a satisfied look on her face after she sat down, even though she was sitting in a very uncomfortable position. Perhaps that�s what they call �something is better than nothing!� As I got off from the train, I asked myself, �are relationships between people in this city very superficial? Or is it that life in itself is stressful and all that people want is an opportunity to have a good laugh and get on with their lives? Who cares about meaning in relationships? What makes life meaningful? Are we leading meaningful lives? Do we have the leisure, as Walter de la Mare had stated in her poem, to simply stand and stare? Would meaningful lives change the character of this city?� As these questions ran through my head, I remembered the importance of cinema houses in Mumbai city. Last year, when the cinema houses had gone on strike, I was wondering that if these cinema houses would not exist, people in this city would go mad. Perhaps cinema is like an antidote which helps us to exist inspite of all the stresses that we face. It is not just a means of entertainment; it provides a very crucial and valuable space for people in this city to unwind. Similarly, the sea in Mumbai provides people with a space to relax and simply be. In the absence of the sea, I cannot imagine what Mumbai would be. I find that these days, people in Mumbai are addicted to work. They do not want to be inside their homes. Young people are constantly looking for avenues to spend more time outside the house. And boredom strikes this city too often. Radio and the FM channels, which were once a big craze, are waning gradually. People want entertainment, new entertainment, more entertainment. Are we bored of ourselves? Or, are we very afraid to simply be with ourselves, without any external stimulation? What�s wrong??? _________________________________________________________________ Contact brides & grooms FREE! http://www.shaadi.com/ptnr.php?ptnr=hmltag Only on www.shaadi.com. Register now! From coolzanny at hotmail.com Thu May 6 21:18:49 2004 From: coolzanny at hotmail.com (Zainab Bawa) Date: Thu, 06 May 2004 21:18:49 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Fourth Research Posting Message-ID: Fourth Independent Research Posting To me, as an observer, trains are very entertaining. But they can be quite an ordeal for people who have to go through the motions (!) daily. In the last one week, there are aspects about train travel which I am suddenly discovering from commuters who travel daily by trains. Interviews with them have revealed that there are old facets about train life which are dying and new facets are emerging owing to the changing work culture. Unlike the past, today there are no fixed timings to leave office in the evenings and hence, train groups for evenings are gradually diminishing. Women have different perceptions of safety when it comes to traveling by trains. The three persons I have spoken to thus far clearly state that it is a courageous act to enter the general compartment all alone � all of them mentioned that they have entered the general compartment only when they were in groups. The interviews I have conducted thus far have led me to dig deeper into the culture of �train groups� and �train friends� which regular women commuters have in the mornings. I am currently trying to talk to members of such groups about their experiences of train travel and how do they perceive the space provided by trains. I have been combining my experiences and observations of Mumbai city in the general with the current research and am integrating the writings and experiences into this research. Currently, I have held interviews with people I know, who, regularly travel by trains. I have also scheduled interviews with architects, urban planners, women activists, and advertising agencies (who put up hoardings inside the trains). I have also started looking up the web for information on New York Subways. There are experiments with train design being carried out in IIT. If anyone on this list has contacts with students/faculty in IIT, please let me know so that I can touch base with the concerned persons. Please feel free to circulate my postings to people who you think may be interested in the topic. It helps to receive more and more feedback. I have a list of questions for readers on this list and for people who you think will be interested. You can respond to me directly: 1). What happens in cities where there are no trains, or which do not have a well-developed system of public transport? 2). What does public transport do to the city life? What is its role in the flow of information through the city and in the city�s ability to self-organize? 3). What is happening or would happen to Delhi life with the Metro Rail System being introduced in Delhi? 4). What is the experience of people from Kolkatta when it comes to trains and the metro system? What influence do these systems have on the women in this city? 5). Does public transport contribute positively to a woman�s experience of freedom? Does it open her mind to new possibilities and play a role in affecting stereotypes? Here is a list of rules of conduct which the New York Subway system has for its commuters. Rules of Conduct MTA New York City Transit subway and bus rules make everyone�s ride better. Failure to pay the fare or violation of any of the rules can result in arrest, fine, and/or ejection. Please do not: � Damage subway or bus property that includes drawing graffiti, or scratchiti � Litter or create unsanitary conditions � Smoke anywhere on NYC Transit property � Drink alcoholic beverages � Panhandle or beg � Play a radio audible to others � Use amplified devices on platforms � Use more than one seat � Block free movement � Lie down � Engage in unauthorized commercial activity � Enter tracks, tunnels, or non-public areas � Carry open bulky items likely to cause inconvenience All of the above rules are conveniently violated in the Mumbai Local Trains. A rule such as �Do not block free movement� does not naturally apply to local trains because there is no choice of free movement owing to the burgeoning crowds. Lying down is a common activity among the unorganized sector and the fisherwomen who travel by trains. Sitting on the train floors and especially by the doors is common with women wanting to relax their feet and have some space to themselves. Even women from �sophisticated� classes lie down when space permits inside the trains. Graffiti and especially scratchiti are very much a part of commuting life. I do not know whether one should label these as bad things to do in a train! Is graffiti a positive contribution to a city? Audio is a part of local train life � it is provided simultaneously by passengers, vendors, bhajan singers, and all and sundry. As a fourth research posting, I am attaching a copy of my interview with Trupti Nayak, currently an HRD Manager, who taught me how to travel by trains in Mumbai when I was in college. Please keep the questions, comments and feedback coming. I am open to the idea of doing web interviews with people who are interested in sharing train experiences. Starting from 15th May, I am traveling to cities of Bangalore, Srinagar, Delhi and Kolkatta. It will be a pleasure to meet with and talk to people on this list based in these cities regarding their experiences in their city and on the above questions. - Zainab Bawa - For communication, email zainabbawa at yahoo.com _________________________________________________________________ Send flowers in 24 hours! http://www.fabmall.com/affiliatehtml/redir/nl7.asp At MSN Shopping. From coolzanny at hotmail.com Fri May 7 16:17:06 2004 From: coolzanny at hotmail.com (Zainab Bawa) Date: Fri, 07 May 2004 16:17:06 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Train Blog Message-ID: Dear All, I now have a blog on which I post my journal on trains. The blog address is: http://www.xanga.com/zainabbawa Please visit the blog and post your comments. Also pass the blog address to friends and people who will be interested. Regards, Zainab Bawa _________________________________________________________________ Contact brides & grooms FREE! http://www.shaadi.com/ptnr.php?ptnr=hmltag Only on www.shaadi.com. Register now! From coolzanny at hotmail.com Fri May 7 16:20:01 2004 From: coolzanny at hotmail.com (Zainab Bawa) Date: Fri, 07 May 2004 16:20:01 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Train Blog Message-ID: Dear All, I have now started a train blog. Please pass the address to people who you think maybe interested. http://www.xanga.com/zainabbawa Regards, Zainab Bawa _________________________________________________________________ Get head-hunted by 10,000 recruiters. http://go.msnserver.com/IN/35984.asp Post your CV on naukri.com today. From joy at sarai.net Sat May 8 08:22:55 2004 From: joy at sarai.net (joy at sarai.net) Date: Sat, 8 May 2004 04:52:55 +0200 (CEST) Subject: [Reader-list] Walking in the city Message-ID: <4237.203.101.2.47.1083984775.squirrel@203.101.2.47> Few days back I went to see the devastated site of demolition near Yamuna Pusta. It was like endless dunes of rubbles. I walked through that with Diya who is doing some work along with other activists. She went there to interview some one, who was still living there. As it was on the bank of river Yamuna, lots of farmers were already staying there for centuries, this man was one of them, and ironically his house was not demolished, as he is a farmer. But those who are staying there as migrants, came to this place in last 30-40 years, all of their houses are demolished and they are pushed out side the city to a barren land. It is like sending bees to flowerless gardens. Though every piece of construction was smashed to the ground but people were still trying to excavate some bricks and stones to rebuild their houses wherever they build it. Saw few people getting trucks to move their belongings to where I don’t know. From one of my friend’s mail could see some of them still working or at least going for routine work in the market place, in one of the major whole sale market in Delhi while struggling to find a new place to stay. Others I could see, some one like hawkers still trying sell their daily stuffs. Though in last few years many such habitations are demolished, people had to move to other places to leave the land for parks and gardens, but here still people are living on the rubbles building temporary cane and bamboo structures. How long I don’t know. Once one of my blazers was altered, it was like exposing the inside and makes it available to the rest of the world. I felt the same way, as if the world, which was closed to the rest, extremely intimate, was suddenly exposed to million-watt light. I was walking with extreme discomfort through the streets, the hardened path on the rubbles. Though few structures were still standing straight, a police station, a mosque, a NGO office, a huge temple complex, which said to be authorized with thin a whole area of unauthorized construction. But the demolition work was still going on, at one corner of the place. Police was also there protecting the bulldozer. For a moment I thought about the person who was driving the bulldozer. He is like an executioner. Whether he likes it or not he has to do it. Though I don’t want to fantasize him as a victim but if he don’t like it then it must be torturous for him I thought. Any way, we couldn’t find one of the person who is a photographer, I saw his camera bag, but couldn’t see him, then we went inside the farmer’s room. It is a small room with just two charpoi, he was lying on the bed, two more people were also in side the room. One of them I think was doctor. Glucose dip was hanging from a rod. The person we wanted to meet was ill. Though he was willing to talk but we insisted him to take rest and Diya promised to come back again. While coming out of the room we cam to know that he was suffering form typhoid. While coming back form the rubbles saw police stationed at every level, in their vans. But for that day there was no resistance. There was complex history of friction for last few days, repeated fires and fights were reported, but today it was display of defeat and helplessness. While going back to our cars I saw lots of rickshaws standing. Diya told me that rickshaw pullers have filed a case against the authorities because the place they are supposed to go, there rickshaws are not allowed on the road. Best Joy From zest_india at yahoo.co.in Sat May 8 17:26:23 2004 From: zest_india at yahoo.co.in (=?iso-8859-1?q?Shivam=20Vij?=) Date: Sat, 8 May 2004 12:56:23 +0100 (BST) Subject: [Reader-list] For Zainab: Bus to Metro Message-ID: <20040508115623.64967.qmail@web8205.mail.in.yahoo.com> Dear Zainab, Have been following your research postings. I have been keenly observing Delhi's transition from bus to metro rail, and every time I hear the word Metro, i get an adrenaline rush! I have travelled on the Delhi Metro four or five times only as an observer, without the need to travel. To some extent I must accept that the urge to explore the metro was borne out of being an immigrant: a joke in India Today said that a true Delhite is one who is proud of the Metro but has never travelled on it. As someone who had live an insular life in lazy Lucknow for 19 years, I observed public transport in Delhi from the very outset. The 'outset' was exactly a year ago, June 2003, when I was exploring Delhi for the first time in order to get admission in DU at the undergrad level. I have been observing, particularly, the bus system. I have found public transport in Delhi more efficient and convenient in Delhi than in Lucknow despite - or because of? - Delhi being a much larger city. In buses in Delhi I have observed the class strata of people who travel on them, and have seen their lives from a tangent. Sometimes a bus gets so crowded that there's no breathing space, bodies hug each other, and at such times I have seen people trying, successfully and unsuccessfully, to touch and fondle people's genitals. This is on both homo- as well as heterosexual levels. Women are mostly at the receiving end, but in one case a girl was taking the initiative. I once met a guy who turned out to be the official kabariwallah of the India Habitat Centre! Because people are so closely thrust to one another, they readily mix with strangers, as in trains. (This is one of the many things the Metro is going to change as far as travelling culture is concerned.) My experience with such strangers has been rather weird. One ageing man insisted I tell him my name. And then what do I do, where do I study, what do I study, which is my native city. I tried to avoid him, I was not interested in him. But my coldness was not enough to put him off. I wondered why he was not interested in my classmate-friend, who was also travelling with me. We were returning to north campus from Kamani auditorium. I made two mistakes: 1) I told him I'm from Lucknow and 2) I felt guilty of being too rude and so asked him in formality what was his name. I don't remember the name now, but I remember everything else about him. He was a poor Anglo-Indian. Much to his delight he was also from Lucknow, and started asking me if such-and-such person was still around in either of the two Christian schools I went to in Lucknow. He started telling me the virtues of missionary education: St. Columbus' Delhi is a school as fine, he said, as La Martiniere or St. Francis' in Lucknow; and being in St. Stephen's, Shivam, you must have seen yourself how... And then he changed the topic to the story of his life: I married a Dalit. I am not casteist. I hate casteism, I married off my daughter to a guy who earns more than me, and so on and so forth. When I got down he shouted out of the window: When you go to Lucknow ask Trevor Savaille at Mart if he still remembers me! In July I met a college student who asked me about myself and behaved stiffly, to impress upon me that i was a fachcha, he was a senior in another DU college, and beta, this was ragging time. In August I met a 'senior' who was bowled over at just knowing which college I was in. The average Indian is very eager about defining him or herself: caste, community, city, school/college, job, locality... these are all parameters, one by one, of one's station in life, and so obsessed are people with their station in life and their upward mobility or the lack of it, that they spell it out in five minutes to perfect strangers. Then the noise of the traffic, the hum of the city, and most importantly the screams of the bus conductor are important to the bus culture of Delhi. The way conductors shout the names of bus stops like is very admirable. It's an art I've been trying to practise for some time now. I once asked a bus conductor what he meant by Bartaniya, and he said it was a place. So even though I did not have to go to Bartaniya, I decided to take a ticket till there. The name sounded as exotic as Timbucktu. And what did Bartaniya turn out to be? A bus stop just outside the Britannia Industries office. Or is it a factory? A strong smell of Glucose biscuits hangs in the air there, as though Parle G biscuits were manufactured inside. All this is being changed by the Metro. A public announcement system has replaced the conductor. "Dilli Metro mein aapka swagat hain. Welcome to Delhi Metro." The Metro is air-conditioned hence closed. You won't smell the city anymore. The Metro is much faster and the ambience far, far more upmarket than that of a DTC or Blue Line bus. Each Metro has a policeman inside it: there you go about safety. Can a rape take place inside the Metro? Not at all, the roaming policeman is a fright even for professional "eve-teasers". The Metro is a new experience and anyone travelling on it for the first time doesn't stop gloating about it. Unless you are used to metros, like my classmate Paromita who hailed from Durgapur/Kolkata. This is more advanced, she said, but the Cal metro has something else about it. The art-work inside... A classmate who hailed from Bangalore/London scoffed at my invitation for a joy ride on the Metro. I later realised she must have travelled on the London tube so many times. Near Shahadara station we looked through the glass window and were reminded of being in India: a slum. Prince Charles must have seen the slum when he travelled on it: or was it removed? But let's not go into socialist contrasting of the slum with the multi-crore awesome metro. Because, I realised, even people from the slum must be using the metro! It was then cheaper than buses, and is now slightly more expensive. The transport authorities in Delhi have stopped running buses in the routes where the metro has become operational. The Metro stations - first-timers should go to ISBT - are so slick, so technology heavy. It's so pleasant to go there, unlike in buses. The people who give you tickets use computers and wear ties. What is going to happen to the bus drivers and conductors and their jobs? The ticket is a plastic coupon to be returned, and it's all automated. There are entry and exit doors in the stations which are electronically operated by the plastic coupons. And when lower middle class people take the metro instead of the bus, they negotiate with technology in ways that even the infamous Chandra Babu Naidu of Ceberabad couldn't have devised. These are people obsessed with their station in lives. These are people who buy a two rupee ticket in the bus when they have to pay Rs 5: saving rupees three is important for them because they have to manage the entire month in 1,500 rupees. Often the lack in what may be class, which comes from their not having access to the English language. These are people termed as 'Hindi medium types'. These are people who couldn't have dreamt of travelling AC in their lives: and now they are doing it every day to office. These are the people most likely to be swayed by the India Shining campaign! I have seen how happy they are to be in the metro, their station in life raised by one point the moment they entered the metro station. The makers of the metro seem to be surprisingly aware of the important of aesthetics. They're putting up paintings in the metro stations, the stations are unbelievable clean. All rules devised by the metro are being followed. This includes the paranoid order of banning photography inside the metro: the policeman confiscates your camera. And once the journey is over you can't linger on the platform for even a minute. A policeman waves his lathi and tells you to get out! This has become very long but I can go on and on about what the metro is doing to travel culture in Delhi. At the same time one cannot but romanticise bus travel no matter how inconvenient it is. In fact I wanted to document this change but needed to do an extensive project on it. A Sarai fellowship would have been ideal but being an undergrad I was ineligible, and so I didn't apply. But I will document this change soon in some other way... I wish I were a filmmaker: the change can be documented with all its complexities ideally in a documentary. Shivam ===== ========================================== ZEST Reading Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-india ZEST Economics: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-economics ========================================== ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online. http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony/ From administrator at kitabmahal.org Wed May 5 23:13:38 2004 From: administrator at kitabmahal.org (KITAB MAHAL) Date: Wed, 5 May 2004 13:43:38 -0400 Subject: [Reader-list] Join the DCM (Doc-Centre Meet) List Message-ID: Dear All: Last month, many of us had a meeting in Mumbai, in which we discussed shared concerns between doc-centres, libraries, and institutes engaged in documentation and archiving. This meeting was called in recognition of the need for smaller voluntary and non-profit centres to exchange support and advice on the increasingly complex demands of creating and maintaining large databases, collections and archives of various kinds. In earlier DCMs (Documentation Centre Meetings) -- which took place regularly for over a decade -- documentalists and archivists used to meet to exchange skills, experience and advice, and network with other peers and resource persons. We decided in our meeting that this network needs to be revived and expanded, to collectively confront new challenges in the practices of documentation and the politics of information. With the increasing use of the Internet, while many organisations want to take their information online, the technical and infrastructural demands are often too complex and expensive, and their choices are unclear with regard to proprietary or open source software, trained staff and reliable service providers. Similarly, legal dilemmas with regard to access, copyright, and distribution of public collections are unclear to many groups that cannot afford costly professional advice. Finally, many organisations are now interested in new means of online dissemination to students, activists, and researchers through shared standards and tools that allow for networking and collaboration over the Internet between centres, while retaining their identity and autonomy. We have set up a mailing list has been set up to discuss these concerns, and also facilitate planning for the next DCM (Doc-Centre Meet). This list is meant for previous members of the DCM network, and other archivists, documentalists, and organisations working with information. Instructions on how to join to this list and manage your subscription are contained in a system-generated mail which you will receive shortly. You can also visit the list page at http://lists.kitabmahal.org/mailman/listinfo/dcm/ Please note that this mailing list is NOT for forwards, general announcements, or postings unrelated to issues of documentation and archiving. This list is moderated by John D'Souza of CED and Shekhar Krishnan of CRIT, who will reject postings unrelated to these concerns, to help avoid floods and bombardment. We look forward to your participation, and please e-mail with contact information for other people whom we should invite to join this list. Regards, John D'Souza CED (Centre for Education and Documentation), Mumbai and Bangalore http://www.doccentre.org Shekhar Krishnan and Ashish Rajadhyaksha CRIT (Collective Research Initiatives Trust), Mumbai http://www.kitabmahal.org Sunil Abraham MAHITI, Bangalore http://www.mahiti.org From coolzanny at hotmail.com Wed May 5 15:59:31 2004 From: coolzanny at hotmail.com (Zainab Bawa) Date: Wed, 05 May 2004 15:59:31 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Fourth Research Posting - Interview with Trupti Nayak Message-ID: Fourth Independent Research Posting To me, as an observer, trains are very entertaining. But they can be quite an ordeal for people who have to go through the motions (!) daily. In the last one week, there are aspects about train travel which I am suddenly discovering from commuters who travel daily by trains. Interviews with them have revealed that there are old facets about train life which are dying and new facets are emerging owing to the changing work culture. Unlike the past, today there are no fixed timings to leave office in the evenings and hence, train groups for evenings are gradually diminishing. Women have different perceptions of safety when it comes to traveling by trains. The three persons I have spoken to thus far clearly state that it is a courageous act to enter the general compartment all alone � all of them mentioned that they have entered the general compartment only when they were in groups. The interviews I have conducted thus far have led me to dig deeper into the culture of �train groups� and �train friends� which regular women commuters have in the mornings. I am currently trying to talk to members of such groups about their experiences of train travel and how do they perceive the space provided by trains. I have been combining my experiences and observations of Mumbai city in the general with the current research and am integrating the writings and experiences into this research. Currently, I have held interviews with people I know, who, regularly travel by trains. I have also scheduled interviews with architects, urban planners, women activists, and advertising agencies (who put up hoardings inside the trains). I have also started looking up the web for information on New York Subways. There are experiments with train design being carried out in IIT. If anyone on this list has contacts with students/faculty in IIT, please let me know so that I can touch base with the concerned persons. Please feel free to circulate my postings to people who you think may be interested in the topic. It helps to receive more and more feedback. I have a list of questions for readers on this list and for people who you think will be interested. You can respond to me directly: 1). What happens in cities where there are no trains, or which do not have a well-developed system of public transport? 2). What does public transport do to the city life? What is its role in the flow of information through the city and in the city�s ability to self-organize? 3). What is happening or would happen to Delhi life with the Metro Rail System being introduced in Delhi? 4). What is the experience of people from Kolkatta when it comes to trains and the metro system? What influence do these systems have on the women in this city? 5). Does public transport contribute positively to a woman�s experience of freedom? Does it open her mind to new possibilities and play a role in affecting stereotypes? Here is a list of rules of conduct which the New York Subway system has for its commuters. Rules of Conduct MTA New York City Transit subway and bus rules make everyone�s ride better. Failure to pay the fare or violation of any of the rules can result in arrest, fine, and/or ejection. Please do not: � Damage subway or bus property that includes drawing graffiti, or scratchiti � Litter or create unsanitary conditions � Smoke anywhere on NYC Transit property � Drink alcoholic beverages � Panhandle or beg � Play a radio audible to others � Use amplified devices on platforms � Use more than one seat � Block free movement � Lie down � Engage in unauthorized commercial activity � Enter tracks, tunnels, or non-public areas � Carry open bulky items likely to cause inconvenience All of the above rules are conveniently violated in the Mumbai Local Trains. A rule such as �Do not block free movement� does not naturally apply to local trains because there is no choice of free movement owing to the burgeoning crowds. Lying down is a common activity among the unorganized sector and the fisherwomen who travel by trains. Sitting on the train floors and especially by the doors is common with women wanting to relax their feet and have some space to themselves. Even women from �sophisticated� classes lie down when space permits inside the trains. Graffiti and especially scratchiti are very much a part of commuting life. I do not know whether one should label these as bad things to do in a train! Is graffiti a positive contribution to a city? Audio is a part of local train life � it is provided simultaneously by passengers, vendors, bhajan singers, and all and sundry. As a fourth research posting, I am attaching a copy of my interview with Trupti Nayak, currently an HRD Manager, who taught me how to travel by trains in Mumbai when I was in college. Please keep the questions, comments and feedback coming. I am open to the idea of doing web interviews with people who are interested in sharing train experiences. Starting from 15th May, I am traveling to cities of Bangalore, Srinagar, Delhi and Kolkatta. It will be a pleasure to meet with and talk to people on this list based in these cities regarding their experiences in their city and on the above questions. - Zainab Bawa - For communication, email zainabbawa at yahoo.com _________________________________________________________________ Post Classifieds on MSN classifieds. http://go.msnserver.com/IN/44045.asp Buy and Sell on MSN Classifieds. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Trupti Nayak Interview.doc Type: application/msword Size: 33792 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20040505/d46fe322/attachment.doc From madhuja_m at yahoo.co.in Fri May 7 21:32:44 2004 From: madhuja_m at yahoo.co.in (=?iso-8859-1?q?madhuja=20mukherjee?=) Date: Fri, 7 May 2004 17:02:44 +0100 (BST) Subject: [Reader-list] Re: 3rd posting , madhuja mukherjee In-Reply-To: <20040507100003.8F40A28E045@mail.sarai.net> Message-ID: <20040507160244.46092.qmail@web8202.mail.in.yahoo.com> 3rd POSTING. Firstly my apologies for the delay . But of course , in the course of my endevour to scan/ examine the glass plates it became somewhat imperative to understand the technique and technology of photography in general and the glass plate cameras in particular. Hence, we ‘wandered’ or branched off into another research area and conducted interviews, took photographs of the plate cameras, read up material that are sort of outside the purview etc. Nevertheless, the findings are exciting. It may be common knowledge that L J Daguerre of France and W H Fox Talbot of England almost simultaneously, made workable photographic processes publicly accessible in 1839. In the daguerreotype method, a highly polished and sensitised silver plate or silver-faced copper plate was used while, another popular technique around 1851 was the ‘wet plates’, in which the glass was coated with a nitro-cellulose solution. The effort to keep the collodion layer wet in the process of work was surely disadvantageous but nonetheless, it produced exceptional images. And, as a matter of fact, the question of high image quality does emerge as a connecting thread in the story of glass negatives. Interestingly, this was also the period of the beginning of news photography as well as beginning of the era of portraits. Soon in 1871, R L Maddox invented ‘dry plates’ by using gelatine as a medium to hold the silver bromide, while sometime later around 1938 (from the point our story begins) “lith” type emulsions were introduced, which produced extraordinarily high contrast negatives. The story of technology and technique of photography is long, but at the moment we wish to tell the story of plate cameras in particular. The plate cameras (photographs of which has been send to Sarai-Archive) were designed to take photographs on coated glass plates. These were specially suited for single exposures that can be removed and processed at once. The heavy, colossal, exquisite yet somewhat inconvenient cameras had one great payoff – the accuracy of images. The movable plate holder and lens panel provided independent front and back adjustments that tilted both vertically as well as horizontally. Bellows functioned as extension system to set the focus. The size of the negatives would vary from 11 x 14inches to the commonest size- 4x5 inches, to the continental size- 9x12inches, 8x10inches and 5x7 inches. However, the popular sizes were the whole plate or 6.5x8.5 inches and half plate or 4.3/4 x 6.5 inches. Smaller negatives were used practically in all cameras by inserting reducing adapters in the camera back. In connection to this, Saral Dutta, the owner of Universal Art Gallery (situated in College Street, Kolkata since 1920), recollects how women would come to their studio covering their faces to get photographed eventually! These were largely attempts to get a ‘good’ photograph done, which would then be circulated in the marriage market. However, couples often returned to be photographed once more after the marriage was consummated. At times, the studio would send photographers to residences for either chronicling some special occasion or to take what is known as ‘group’ photographs of the family members. At times some Raja or the rich Bangali Bhadralok would take to photography as a hobby (like Mahin does in Chokherbali , Tagore), but by and largely being photographed was a distinguished moment in the personal history of any person. Despite the de- glorification of the image in the age of mechanical reproduction, Glass – with a capital G – had retained some of the aura of paintings. By the virtue of the negatives being on glass plates, it had a fragile quality while the huge negatives (at times 11x 14 inches) were somewhat like painting frames that demanded attention. Perhaps, more significantly, the images had a fine “jewel like” quality (because of the nature of emulsions) and the entire process was remarkably different from the ordinary /casual photographs taken on ‘plastic’ negatives. It becomes a question of cultural practices when not only the very instance of being recorded was exceptional, but the glass plate itself as well as photographs or the images had a certain uniqueness. Contrarily, the field camera as the name suggests were used extensively for fieldwork, (and also in film studios) and these were usually made in quarter plate to whole plate sizes. Looking like a wooden box, the camera back took the focusing screen or film holders. As in the case of studio plate camera, the film holders could be inserted either vertically or horizontally. The baseboard carried extending runners to provide a double or even triple focusing extensions. The lens panel moved along these runners and was connected to the camera back by a set of bellows. The lens of the field camera was usually interchangeable and mounted on lens panels, which clip into the front standard. Focal length varied according to the camera format. The main areas of applications of field cameras were landscapes, architectural, industrial and medical work. There was a sense of swiftness, accounting and an accidental characteristic (as seen in the working stills of the films) that were amazingly distinct from the tendency mentioned earlier. Somewhat opposing inclinations did negotiate with each other with the shift in the technique and the technology of different cameras. This is what makes the story of glass plate cameras even more engaging. Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20040507/2a9e546d/attachment.html From mklayman at leonardo.info Thu May 6 05:11:57 2004 From: mklayman at leonardo.info (Melinda Klayman) Date: Wed, 05 May 2004 16:41:57 -0700 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Reminder: Galloway/Arcangel event Monday, May 10, in Sunnyvale, CA Message-ID: *Apologies for cross-posting* I'd like to take this opportunity to remind you about the upcoming event that Leonardo/ISAST is co-sponsoring: A VIDEO GAME SAVED MY LIFE, a Zero:One HOTSPOTS Event Monday, May 10, 7:00 Followed by Reception & Book-Signing at Broadcom Corporation, 190 Mathilda Place, Sunnyvale, California Hosted by Dr. Edward H. Frank, Broadcom VP of R&D Sponsored by SF Camerawork, Zero:One, and Leonardo/ISAST Artists Cory Arcangel (Beige) and Alex Galloway (RSG) frequently draw on video games in making their own work--whether they are remixing them, hacking them, or pointing out strange internal flaws. At this event they will showcase their favorite cracked Commodore 64 games, plus perform live game hacks with the help of the audience. In a reception following their performance, Galloway will sign copies of his book, PROTOCOL, or, How Control Exists After Decentralization, published by Leonardo/MIT Press. For further information or to purchase PROTOCOL, see http://lbs.mit.edu CORY ARCANGEL is a computer artist & musician who lives and works in Brooklyn. He is a founding member of BEIGE, a programming crew and record label who produced the legendary record "8-Bit Construction Kit." His work has been written about in the New York Times, Village Voice, Chicago Reader, and elsewhere. He has exhibited internationally and is currently in the 2004 Whitney Biennial and the Guggenheim exhibit "Seeing Double." He frequently collaborates with the Radical Software Group (RSG). ALEXANDER R. GALLOWAY is Assistant Professor of Media Ecology at New York University. Galloway previously worked for six years as Director of Content and Technology at Rhizome.org. He is a founding member of the software development group RSG whose data surveillance system Carnivore was awarded a Golden Nica in the 2002 Prix Ars Electronica. The New York Times recently described his work as "conceptually sharp, visually compelling and completely attuned to the political moment." Both artists are included in the SF Camerawork exhibition "POP_Remix," open May 11-June 12. ZeroOne HOTSPOTS is a nomadic series of discussions on hot topics in art & technology, hosted by a range of unique venues through the Bay Area. ZeroOne thanks Rx Gallery for hosting the first in this series of events. PROTOCOL by Alex Galloway is part of the Leonardo Book Series, published by the MIT Press. The Leonardo Book Series publishes texts by artists, scientists, researchers, and scholars that present innovative discourse on the convergence of art, science and technology. Recent books include Women, Art, and Technology edited by Judy Malloy; Uncanny Networks by Geert Lovink; and The Language of New Media by Lev Manovich. See more at http://lbs.mit.edu For detailed submission guidelines see http://mitpress.mit.edu/authors/ms-submission.html. The Leonardo Book Series is a program of Leonardo/ISAST. Leonardo/The International Society for the Arts, Sciences, and Technology (ISAST) serves the international arts community by promoting and documenting work at the intersection of the arts, sciences, and technology, and by encouraging and stimulating collaboration between artists, scientists, and technologists. For further information, go to www.leonardo.info. ---------------------------------------- Directions to Broadcom Corporation: ---------------------------------------- 101 South from San Francisco (approximately 60 minutes): Take 101S/San Jose, exit at Mathilda, continue on Mathilda for approximately 1-1/2 miles, turn left at Washington Avenue (Chevy's restaurant will be across the street, the 5 story Broadcom building will be on the left), turn left at Taafee, turn left at stop sign (Capella), the Broadcom building will be straight ahead. The building lobby will be toward your left; underground parking will be straight ahead. 101 North from San Jose Take 101S/San Francisco, exit at Mathilda/South, continue on Mathilda for approximately 1-1/2 miles, turn left at Washington Avenue (Chevy's restaurant will be across the street, our 5 story building will be on the left), turn left at Taaffe, turn left at stop sign (Capella), our building will be straight ahead. The building lobby will be toward your left; underground parking will be straight ahead. There is underground parking for your convenience, pick up a ticket in the lobby for your exit. You can also park on the street. -- LEONARDO HAS A NEW ADDRESS! Please note our new contact information as of May 1, 2004: Leonardo/ISAST 211 Sutter Street, Suite 800 San Francisco, CA 94108 phone: (415) 391-1110 fax: (415) 391-2385 Email: isast at leonardo.info Web: http://www.leonardo.info Did you know that whenever you buy anything through Amazon.com, you could help to support Leonardo? Always access Amazon through the Leonardo portal. That way, no matter what you purchase, Amazon will automatically credit a percentage of their profits to Leonardo/ISAST, at no additional charge to you. Access Amazon via Leonardo at: http://mitpress2.mit.edu/e-journals/Leonardo/isast/leobooks.html _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From zest_india at yahoo.co.in Thu May 6 14:21:20 2004 From: zest_india at yahoo.co.in (=?iso-8859-1?q?Shivam=20Vij?=) Date: Thu, 6 May 2004 09:51:20 +0100 (BST) Subject: [Reader-list] Parday mein rahnay do, parda na uthao Message-ID: <20040506085120.76898.qmail@web8206.mail.in.yahoo.com> Let me know what you think of this, and where I can get it published. Parda jo uth gaya to.... By Shivam Vij Lucknow / 3 May 2004 Have you guys seen the new Times of India ad on TV? The one with ‘Pardey mein rahney do,,,’ as the soundtrack. So what if I hate TOI, I love the ad! The ad pokes fun at the Hindustan Times, but I am no fan of HT either. Both are crap. But the ad is awesome! Now that I am a student of literature, and analysis is my middle name, let me critically analyse the ad, without using critical jargon. Take this as a JAM session without a time limit. It is interesting that a print publication needs to advertise on TV, including news channels. This is not the first time this is happening, but the fact that even the largest selling English daily needs to do it, is most interesting. And TV channels advertise in papers too. Clearly, media planners understand how TV and print are media not mutually exclusive, as some would have us believe. For years we’ve been warned about the impending death of print in the face of the onslaught of 24 hours live news. But this hasn’t happened, because even the market-driven TOI — if you still read it — has more depth than all your new channels put together. The news bulletin gives you a feel of ‘this is happening in the world, NOW!’ whereas the newspaper gives you a sense of ‘this happened yesterday, of course, but do you know what it means?’ Long after the cable TV revolution began, we find that TV, print and the new media (the internet) are all inextricable parts of urban discourse (sorry, the last phrase is academia-de-hyperbola.) This sense of melange of all media in urban life is communicated excellently by this TOI ad. The song begins with a Basanti-like nubile village lass entering the waiting room of a railway station, merrily playing with her knotted hair to the tune of ‘Parday mein rahnay do, parda na uthao, parda jo uth gaya to...’ The ‘parda’ or curtain has several meanings. Most directly, it refers to the newspaper that a ‘suited-booted’ (excuse Indian English, sir ji) urbane man is reading. The newspaper is a ‘parda’ for it hides the man’s face, the all-important marker of sexual appeal — or the lack of it. The girl is eager to see the man’s face. The newspaper’s masthead reads “BeHind Times”, in a typeface similar to the one used by the Hindustan Times. There has of late been a huge imbroglio about circulation figures between the two papers in the Delhi market. This is not an ordinary circulation war, because here the battle is over (mis)interpreting the circulation results released by a couple of circulation audit agencies, whose integrities and methodologies are now under the scanner. Both papers allege each other of trying to hide the truth — the ‘truth’ that you sell less than I do. This is the allegorical (sorry!) meaning of “Parday mein rahnay do” as used by the TOI ad. When the parda is indeed lifted, the man’s face is betrayed, and it’s a comic looking ugly face, a stereotype. This is the reality behind the parda, revealed when the song reaches its crescendo: parda jo uth gaya to...! Shocked by the reality, the Basanti-like village lass (the TOI’s advertiser) sees the face behind BeHind Times, and unable to take in the shock, she trips over a heap of goods and disturbs the harmony of pigeons there. As pigeons fly away, the noise distracts another suited-booted gentleman from reading The Times of India. He sees Basanti fallen on the ground, takes the initiative of lending her a helping hand to get up. She dramatically removes the feathers stuck on her lips, and is bowled over by the polished-looking urbane, handsome man, who seems to be walking straight out of a suiting-booting ad. The two walk out, awesome twosome, of the waiting room, Basanti flinging her knotted hair. A voiceover says in Bambayya Hindi: “Dhoka nai khanay ka, Times of India padhnay ka!” That India’s most popular English daily has to employ such an advertisement is interesting for the history of the English language in India. English has trickled down to villages; even rickshaw pullers in Delhi are comfortable with English words in their vocabulary. And those who were once snobbish about the asset of the English language that they possessed, are now useful only for a call centre in Gurgaon. Hindi on the other hand, has found confidence over time, partly because of the stupendous success of Hindi-speaking professionals in the media. As large masses remain Hindi-speaking, they assert themselves as media consumers. Hindi news channels are watched in Basti and Bahraich, NDTV 24X7 is not. As I write this, I can see the TOI ad again in Aaj Tak, commercially the most successful news channel, the TV news equivalent of the saas-bahu soaps. English daily, ‘vernacular’ TV, Urdu lyrics, retro music, Bambayya Hindi, railway platform, men reading English papers, falling for Basanti... there’s a great sense of melange again, the happy Hindustanis of urban India in the new century are game for both Hindi and English, both languages an inextricable part of our urban experience, both negotiating with each other, and coming to a resolution (closure?) in a TV ad. All those debates about ‘vernacular’ and ‘babu English’ and ‘rashtra bhasha’ have suddenly disappeared. All the theorists of ‘postcolonialism’ and such things are rather bewildered at how Indians are so much at ease with their post-colonial selves. (And a British columnist said Lagaan was an example of how Indians still lack in confidence, they must defeat the white in fantasy. Silly boy, we were just having fun, didn’t you see the yuppies outside PVR mimicking the firangs in Lagaan? Humko dugna lagaan mangta!) But it is not just the multiplicity of media, language and culture that today’s India is at ease with, but also sexuality. The TOI ad again is reflective of this new-found (neo-?) confidence. No longer does one hear of makers of Hindi cinema having troubles with the almighty ‘censor board’ over scenes found ‘obscene’. Baring the body like never before, one movie doing it more than the other, parallels a slow but steady sexual revolution in urban India. Both have happened hand-in-hand, as is always the case with popular cinema. Indian audiences are now ‘ready’ for it, one filmmaker condescended to say in an interview. But in fact the filmmaker has matured too. There was a time — and my mind locates the time in the fifties and the sixties — when repressed sexuality, in both society and cinema, manifested itself primarily in the songs. ‘Pyar kiya to darna kya?’ was an outrageously bold statement in Mughal-e-Azam. ‘Dil cheez kya hai aap meri jaan lijiye’ in Umrao Jaan bears the burden of love-and-death: unattained, unconsummated love leading to suicidal tendencies. Such songs often reach their crescendo in a sudden orgasmic manner. It is to this ethos and genre that ‘Parday mein rahnay do’ (sung by Asha Bhosle in the 1968 film Shikar) belongs, even though it is somewhat more playful and less melancholic than the above examples. For the characters of these films, making sexual choices is forbidden, indeed criminal. But it is the man who faces social disapproval in wanting to marry the woman he loves. In both Mughal-e-Azam and Umrao Jaan, this happens because the man is a rajah, a nawab, an aristocrat, who wants to achieve union with the fallen woman, the courtesan, through marriage. In the TOI ad, however, it is Basanti who is ogling at the men, and making a choice between them. (Practitioners of feminist discourses shed occasional tears of sympathy for the Times of India.) The song in the background is craftily employed to impart the retro effect, taking a swipe at cinema where society would make characters ‘hide’ their sexuality beHind the curtain. We are now a nation not afraid of making fun of its contemporary self or its past. We have the ability to be irreverent towards ourselves. Whether or not India is shining is under a national referendum called general elections. But twenty first century India is definitely confident of itself, which is different from the smugness of Nehruvian India. Parda uth gaya hai, the curtain has been raised. Yeah Allah! Postscript: So will this advertisement affect consumer psyche? Of course. Does this ad make me change my views on The Times of India? Of course not, the Times has prostituted news by selling editorial space. Does this talk of a confident India mean I’m aligned with the BJP’s ‘India Shining’ campaign? Not at all. shivamvij at ststephens.edu ========================================== ZEST Reading Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-india ZEST Economics: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-economics ========================================== Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20040506/934de6a6/attachment.html From zest_india at yahoo.co.in Thu May 6 16:43:17 2004 From: zest_india at yahoo.co.in (=?iso-8859-1?q?Shivam=20Vij?=) Date: Thu, 6 May 2004 12:13:17 +0100 (BST) Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Fwd: [Zest] [Events] Muslims or heretics? A documentary Message-ID: <20040506111317.3031.qmail@web8206.mail.in.yahoo.com> Zest Reading Group wrote:To: zest-india at yahoogroups.com From: "Zest Reading Group" Date: Thu, 06 May 2004 09:09:59 -0000 Subject: [Zest] [Events] Muslims or heretics? A documentary MUSLIMS OR HERETICS? A DOCUMENTARY FILM Now screening in Bangladesh - May 6, May 8, 2004 The Ahmadiyas are a tiny Muslim sect that is at the center of a growing storm in South Asia. Highly educated and liberal, they oppose armed Jihad and condemn suicide bombing. Extremist Islamic groups accuse them of "spoiling the spirit of Islam." In 1974, after decades of violent protests, Islamic extremists succeeded in banning the Ahmadiyyas in Pakistan. Today, Pakistani Ahmadiyyas cannot call themselves Muslim, pray, or build mosques. Even in death, there is no escape from the state-- the law prohibits putting Islamic prayers on Ahmadiyya gravestones. In 2003, the anti-Ahmadiyya campaign spread to Bangladesh, which was once part of Pakistan. In January 2004, the government banned all Ahmadiyya books, and followed this with a push for Blasphemy Law. The battle over Ahmadiyyas reflects a larger struggle for Islam's soul-- a struggle between liberal Muslims who believe "Islam is in the heart" and extremists who are fighting for Iranian-style Islamic States. This documentary focuses on the growing crisis, and the resistance that is coming from Bengali activists. ============== This documentary was made with assistance of Drishtipat (NY) and Drik (Dhaka) Recipient of Community Service Award from NYU Law Students Association To arrange screening, e-mail nmohaiemen at mac.com ======================== Screening in Bangladesh : May 8 (8 PM): Academy Film Society, Jhigatola (next to Rifles Square) May 6 (7 PM): BRAC Centre, 75 Mohakhali (opp Gausil Azam mosque), Gulshan See URL: http://www.pinholepictures.com/ahmadiya ==== Event ifo brought to you by ZEST, courtesy: South Asia Citizens Wire | via: www.sacw.net ==== ZEST circulates at the most one article and one event information per day. Did you get this mail as a forward? Subscribe to ZEST by sending a blank mail to * zest-india-subscribe at yahoogroups.com * For queries, comments and suggestions, write to * zest-india-owner at yahoogroups.com * To change your ZEST settings, visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-india/join Post good reading material and event information to * zest-india at yahoogroups.com * and NOT to zest_india at yahoo.co.in No personal hi-hello messages, no ads, no debates! ZEST is a *reading* group. Post articles in *text* format only, with a valid internet URL. See ZEST Economics: * http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-economics * --------------------------------- Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-india/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: zest-india-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20040506/d79d1977/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From sallykenin at yahoo.com Sun May 9 20:57:12 2004 From: sallykenin at yahoo.com (sallykenin at yahoo.com) Date: Sun, 9 May 2004 08:27:12 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Reader-list] 3rd oasting Madarsas of Delhi Message-ID: <20040509152712.51517.qmail@web10702.mail.yahoo.com> This is our third posting , here I would like to share an incident. Once we went to interview a group of maolana with a friend who was wearing a necklace. Maolana saheb looked at the necklace and asked what is this? He replied �sir, this is a gift which my girl friend has given me�� hearing this maolana saheb got fired and advised him not to wear. My friend asked maolana saheb � sir, but why? What is wrong in wearing this necklace?� maolana saheb said this is against the sprit of Islamic . Then my friend again asked � sir, but how?� this time maolana saheb got irritated and went off telling I don�t want to talk to you. It is wastage of time to talk to person like you. Another incident took place with a friend of mine who is also doing his Ph D on madarsa. Once he went to visit a madersa where he asked a student � what is your ambition in life?� the student replied � my ambition is to fight against enemies of Islam� then he asked. Who are they? Student very proudly said. � They are Ahle hadeeth, deobandi, and hanfi �[other various sects of Muslims] Now this has become very easy to understand as to how they are brought up and educated TARBIAT is provided to children in Madersas. This can be one of the several reasons behind not paying required attention to the demands of modern subject and modern method of teaching in madarsa syllabus because maolana saheban think that this kind of thing can inculcate a sense of liberal thoughts and enlightened approach towards Islam which they don�t want. Though Madarsas are contributing as for literacy is concern , But the situation is dismal not only in terms of quantity but in terms of quality also. Take educational climate first. Small buildings over crowded with inadequate and insufficient residential ventilation, accommodation leading to squeezing of 10- 12 boys in one room. And long queues can be seen in morning for toiletting and bathing in every Madarsa harsh discipline has been prescribed for students as well as teachers. Barring one or two most of the madarsa have no play ground. Even lawns, flowerbeds and plants are not there in campus. Educational tours and field trips are never provided to students, poor quality and meager quantity of food is supplied to students. These thing develop inferiority complex among students and when they go back to the society after long segregated life of madersa it becomes difficult for them to adjust with their new surrounding. During our visit to madarsas we come across some experiences which many other eminent scholars like Mr Mohd Shoeb Ansari, Prof Mohd Akhter Siddiqui, and Mr Mohd Talib have also mentioned in their books written on madarsa education system. In madarsa, students of different ages and temperament are grouped together while their individual differences and creative potentialities are not taken into account. Text and bookish knowledge is over emphasized and extra curricular activities are not encouraged. Usually most of the teachers come to class without preparation and become annoyed and distressed when they receive wrong responses from their pupils. Student�s own viewpoints are generally overlooked in the class. Practice of homework is almost unknown. Corporal punishment is generally favoured and practiced by teachers. Students are only passive listeners in the class and no sincere efforts are made by teachers to get them involved in the lesson. Students are not allowed to form any kind of associations or unions and have to show complete obedience to their instructor. Such obedience is not unmixed with fear in this completely authoritarian set up. It is not only legitimate but even impossible to think of any change in any thing that had been going on in the madarsa since its establishment a hundred and fourteen year ago , not surprisingly , the madarsa curriculum continues to be more or less the same as was formulated at the end of seventeenth century by the Indian alim Mullah Nizamuddin . Madarsa syllabus, curriculum, and method of teaching are being discussed for several decades inside and outside of madarsa but outputs of this discussion still seem unacceptable to the maolana saheban of madarsa but now a few maolanas have started to realize the importance of contemporary demands and as a result some madarsa have introduced modern subjects in their syllabus but still they are far away. For some times it is being discussed that madarsa are involved in anti national activities but these allegations seem baseless. In an interview a well known intellectual Dr Zafrul Islam Khan told. There is no evidence to suggest any such campaign on the part of madarsa. A Maulvi here or a student there might have been arrested on some charges but how can you blame the madarsa as a whole, for that matter? Untill now the authorities have not been able to identify a single madarsa in the country providing any sort of military training. The newspapers or authorities some times ambiguously claim that some madarsa are spreading terror but why don�t they clearly name these madarsas if they have the evidence. More detail about terrorism and Madarsa in the next report. Shahabauddin Salahuddin __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Win a $20,000 Career Makeover at Yahoo! HotJobs http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/careermakeover From ohm at zedat.fu-berlin.de Sun May 9 22:14:25 2004 From: ohm at zedat.fu-berlin.de (Britta Ohm) Date: Sun, 09 May 2004 17:44:25 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Cricket in print Message-ID: <20040509234708.70EF028DF7D@mail.sarai.net> Dear all, working on my thesis here a question has arisen that, as it turns out, I have not sufficient material on, and I wonder if one or the other could help me out with a brief information. It is noticable that there does not exist anything like a yellow press in India, the same being intrinsically dependent on the interaction between sexuality and its moralistic condemnation (in connection with politics), and that this complex has been covered by the Hindi film and also related publications (Filmfare, Screen, Stardust etc.) as well as columns on the film business in the mainstream papers. Now I wonder about cricket. It seems to me that despite its immense popularity there does not exist much of a related array of publications, fan-magazines etc. This strikes me as strange, and I wonder if I have - not exactly very tuned into cricket otherwise - overlooked something here. Could anyone give me a clue? With many thanks -- Britta -- Britta Ohm Solmsstr.36 10961 Berlin Germany ++49-(0)30-61621414 (off.) ++49-(0)30-69818368 (res./fax) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http:+AC8ALw-mail.sarai.net+AC8-pipermail+AC8-reader-list+AC8-attachments+AC8-20040509+AC8-9e38dff6+AC8-attachment.html From zest_india at yahoo.co.in Mon May 10 15:29:05 2004 From: zest_india at yahoo.co.in (=?iso-8859-1?q?Shivam=20Vij?=) Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 10:59:05 +0100 (BST) Subject: [Reader-list] Wishing away urban homelessness Message-ID: <20040510095905.66309.qmail@web8207.mail.in.yahoo.com> Slums razed to suit Delhi's middle class Tens of thousands are made homeless to make way for a leisure complex By Raekha Prasad in Delhi The Observer / 2 May 2004 http://www.observer.co.uk http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-india/message/547 Mohammed Ibrahim woke to Delhi's sun and waited for his life to collapse. He had known it was inevitable from the blaring megaphone driven past his door the day before. By 6 am three generations of the rickshaw driver's family had ferried their possessions into the open. Just after 9 am, six bulldozers crushed to rubble the two-room home he had built. With the machines, Ibrahim says, came more than 1,000 police officers carrying tear gas and batons. They destroyed his neighbours' houses too. Up to a third of a million people living in Delhi's biggest slum are being evicted under a government plan to transform the banks of the city's Yamuna river into a tourist and leisure centre. 'Ibrahim said: 'Without my home, I feel like a dead man.' Most of the 150,000 people whose homes have been destroyed in the past fortnight earn around 2,000 rupees a month (£25) as domestic servants, rag pickers, construction workers and rickshaw drivers. They have no option but to live among clumps of rubble, facing police intimidation when they try to erect makeshift shelters. Slum clearances are central to the government's plan to make over the capital. Delhi is India's richest city, with a burgeoning and vocal middle class impatient for the trappings of a twenty-first-century consumer lifestyle. Road building and the construction of a metro have all swept away slums. 'The guilt about inequity and poverty of 10 years ago has vanished with the triumph of the middle class,' said Ravi Agarwal, director of the environmental group Toxics Link. 'Now discrimination against landless, lower-caste people is dressed up in language about a "clean future".' Neighbouring the half-demolished slum is one of the world's great Islamic imperial sites - the seventeenth-century city of Old Delhi. There is the sprawling heritage site of the Red Fort, the Jama Masjid - India's biggest mosque - and the renowned market Chandi Chowk. Slum clearances have proved problematic for administrations trying to reconcile development with the interests of poor people. Their role in authoritarian and violent episodes in Indian recent history has been vividly dramatised in novels such as Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance and Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay. Temples, some dating back 30 years to when the first dwellers moved in, are all that's left of the Yamuna slum. Those still living among the rubble pull out plastic bags stuffed with their voting and ration cards, without which the poor are deprived of everything. India's Tourism and Cultural Minister, Jagmohan, is spearheading the Yamuna evictions and talks of reviving the area. As the right-hand man of Indira Gandhi's son Sanjay, Jagmohan - who only uses his surname - gained notoriety in the 1970s for taking charge of slum clearance programmes during Indira Gandhi's 'Emergency', when India's democracy was suspended. The exercise then, as now, was to reclaim the city from the 'illegal encroachments' that had enveloped many of Delhi's monuments. Dunu Roy, director of the Hazards Centre, a charity that supports community groups, said of the present clearances: 'All citizenship rights have been snatched away. It's ruthless and inhuman.' In the midst of India's general election, activists argue that Jagmohan, a member of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), will benefit from the timing. Delhi goes to the polls this week and the majority of the slum dwellers are Muslims who traditionally support the opposition Congress party. Although contingencies for relocating evicted families were promised by the Government, relief agencies estimate that only a quarter have been moved. For a plot the size of a garden shed on Delhi's limits some 35km away from the slum, they must pay the equivalent of three months' wages. Unable to afford to travel such a long journey, many have lost their jobs. Jai Narayan Mahot is one of them. Standing in front of a brick pile that was once his home on the relocation site of Holambi Kalan, he is waiting to rebuild. His cigarette shop inside the slum was also destroyed. He will travel back to the banks of the river to vote for the Congress party. 'I want to defeat Jagmohan and the BJP for putting us here. They have done nothing for us,' he said. 'They're against the poor.' ===== ========================================== ZEST Reading Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-india ZEST Economics: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-economics ========================================== ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online. http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony/ From coolzanny at hotmail.com Mon May 10 15:33:32 2004 From: coolzanny at hotmail.com (Zainab Bawa) Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 15:33:32 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Thanks Shivam Message-ID: Dear Shivam, Thanks for writing in with such great detail. I had some valuable insights through what you had written, particularly the bit on how the India Shine/ Feel Good Factor Campaign of the BJP govt. acts on people who are now traveling in metros, a luxury they would have only dreamt of at some point in their lives. In fact, we were having a discussion yesterday where a friend pointed out how governments invest in the urban areas/cities because that's where the evaluation/assessment of the government takes place. Someone had once mentioned in a gather that in Mumbai, building more and more flyovers ensures re-election of the government, that's why the success of Shiv Sena and now the NCP government continuing on the same lines (or roads should I say?). I have never traveled on the Delhi metro, but what I have often heard from Delhiites is that the metro is nothing but "an eye-wash". They don't see it making a dramatic difference to Delhi and to the lives of the people. My interest in the Delhi metro emerged from the fact that perhaps, it would end up being some sort of an interactional space because I, as an outsider, have often perceived Delhi to be a cold city, a city where I am constantly watched and judged for my possessions, status, position in society. Bombay has always given me an egalitarian feel and I attribute this, in large measure, to the trains and buses, in which the rich and the poor travel together. The other day, someone who is not a Mumbaiite was talking to me saying, "What amazes me is that girls go for discoes in slinky and chic outfits and they travel back home on local trains. This is unimaginable to me." To me, as a Mumbaiite, this is perfectly imaginable. In fact, when I have had to return late nights, I prefer taking a bus rather than a taxi. The fact of being in the midst of people gives me a sense of security, and perhaps to a lot of women and people. I have traveled on the Kolkatta trains and metro when I was there briefly last year. Kolkatta gave me a comfortable feeling, like I get when I am in Mumbai. But in Delhi, I feel a bit handicapped because of a poor public transport system, though I must say that some of my friends have been saying that the bus services have improved quite a bit in Delhi. Again, the structure of the city is radial, while my worldview has been linear living in Mumbai all my life. My fascination with Mumbai trains is because of the amount of information that flows through trains. There are inputs to the worldview through chats and conversations; the presence of women from diverse castes, classes, religions, traveling together is in itself a flow of information. The sale of goods, each one of them novel to me (I have been collecting some of them as an archive!), gives me ideas about technology. Of course, I have realized that such a good transport system can also be a comfort zone. I crib when I am in other cities, both in India and in other parts of the world where cars are the main means of getting around to places or where public transport is poor and expensive. The other interesting bit that I have found is that trains introduce a sense of structure and comfort in the life of the Mumbaiite. One of my interviewees had said that she likes train travel because it is structured and defined; in her words, "You know that after Borivali station there is Kandivali and then Malad." This made me wonder whether what people want today is greater predictability in their lives given that we are leading uncertain and insecure lives (no secure jobs, a volatile financial market, new innovations). I wonder whether trains give women a sense of control over their lives. I am not a feminist. But my interest is in envisioning spaces where women can interact, meet, exchange information, have unconditional urban spaces, because having a larger worldview is especially important for women, given that increasingly, fundamentalist movements and political campaigns are trying to reach out, influence and condition women's minds. Further, children of tomorrow will learn from the women of today because women spend more time with the children and for the child, the mother is usually the first reference point. It scares me to think of rigid and authoritarian mothers - we would have pathological children!!! Sorry for the deviation. Thanks once again for writing in. Keep the comments, suggestions and questions coming in. Regards, Zainab _________________________________________________________________ Sports, sports and more sports! Keep up with all that�s happening! http://www.msn.co.in/sports/ Stay connected with MSN Sports! From patrice at xs4all.nl Mon May 10 18:14:01 2004 From: patrice at xs4all.nl (Patrice Riemens) Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 14:44:01 +0200 Subject: [Reader-list] Wishing away urban homelessness In-Reply-To: <20040510095905.66309.qmail@web8207.mail.in.yahoo.com> References: <20040510095905.66309.qmail@web8207.mail.in.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <20040510124401.GF77048@xs4all.nl> On Mon, May 10, 2004 at 10:59:05AM +0100, Shivam Vij wrote: > > > Slums razed to suit Delhi's middle class > Tens of thousands are made homeless to make way for a > leisure complex > > By Raekha Prasad in Delhi > The Observer / 2 May 2004 > http://www.observer.co.uk > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-india/message/547 > http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1207995,00.html ;-) From sallykenin at yahoo.com Mon May 10 22:21:03 2004 From: sallykenin at yahoo.com (sallykenin at yahoo.com) Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 09:51:03 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Reader-list] Urgent Message-ID: <20040510165103.10151.qmail@web10703.mail.yahoo.com> Dear frinds one of our fellow member is doing research on call center. i would like to meet to the person and have his phone no. if possible. i will be really obliged to receive a posative responce. thanks salahuddin __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Win a $20,000 Career Makeover at Yahoo! HotJobs http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/careermakeover From ajayraina at vsnl.com Wed May 12 23:10:41 2004 From: ajayraina at vsnl.com (ajayraina) Date: Wed, 12 May 2004 10:40:41 -0700 Subject: [Reader-list] help Message-ID: <004001c4384a$f78af170$1a3341db@ajay> Can anyone on this list help me get in touch with Anand Vivek Taneja...who wrote Lahore via Ahmedabad and dv8 ajay raina -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20040512/3fe2f46f/attachment.html From iram02_g at yahoo.co.in Tue May 11 18:21:29 2004 From: iram02_g at yahoo.co.in (=?iso-8859-1?q?iram=20ghufran?=) Date: Tue, 11 May 2004 13:51:29 +0100 (BST) Subject: [Reader-list] posting. cal centre Message-ID: <20040511125129.63317.qmail@web8204.mail.in.yahoo.com> Call centres: urban work culture in Delhi Name Joshua Love Job profile Call Centre Executive Work Ex. 7 years Age 22 years Paisa bahut dekh liya hai, zindagi mein. Joshua utters these words to me, as he nervously plays with his cell phone. It rings again. This time it need not be a credit card company, but we'll never know. He is 15. Bored with the school system. Joins the Pizza Hut chain in the dough section. Makes his way up to Pasta cutting and finally to CSR (Customer Service Representative), Along the way he earns the coveted `Customer Maniac Star' I was the first in India to get it. I see a glint of pride in his eyes. Joshua amazes me with his enthusiasm each time we meet but today something is not quite right. He seems tired and withdrawn. From Pizza Hut, Joshua moves on to Icon, a call centre. Later he moves to ***, his present company. Amazing company hai. Good food, excellent salary, achchi jagah thi Why did you leave? I ask him. I was bored of calling, calling, calling. Joshua comes across as an interesting guy Exceedingly self-assured. Under graduate Average height Wheatish complexion A cocky devil may care attitude Main crises manager ban na chahta hoon. At Icon, he gets himself transferred from sales to Administration. Joshua's star is rising. Of course he's not Joshua then Admin mein panga tha. Wahaan 40 cabs din ke 6000-km Khati thi. Joshua reduces the number of working cabs from 40 to 25 in three days. Winning Kudo's from the management Main Pizza Hut mein ` Cut Table' champion tha. Joshua can look at a Pizza and tell whether its garlic or onion. He handles orders up to 1 lakh easily. He works 11 hours cutting pizzas, efficiently. Main har cheez ki limit cross kar chuka hoon. He watches 4 shows at PVR saket every weekend. Kai baar aisa hota tha ki hum wahaan jaa ke apna sar pakad lete the saari films dekh chuke, ab kya? Joshua's cell rings again. He ignores it Call centre mein apne Team Leader ke liye 20,000 ka cell liya tha, yaari dosti mein. He was supposed to pay back. Par saale ne paise nahi diye, ab credit card company meri waat lagaa rahi hai. The cell phone rings again. It could be someone else. Us din jab main *** gaya , to maine soch liya.. Joshua quits. After working at *** for 10 months. He doesn’t get the last months salary because he worked for 28 days and not the mandatory 30. He joins regular college. He now wants a degree. I want to become an IPS officer Why, I ask Wahaan pe crises management 24 ghante chahiye hai na, isliye He looks at me, his hand ruffling his hair. An old habit. Pahle kabhi paise ki parwah nahi ki main Agra, Jaipur, kahin bhi bullet se nikal jaata tha. Knowing that it would cost 1000 bucks more Par ab haalat thodi tight hai. He takes out his wallet. An iron nailed leather piece with Harley Davidson set in steel, complete with an eagle set in profile. Her left eye stares at me from her dead centre position. Iram Ghufran Taha Mehmood Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20040511/f7b4fd17/attachment.html From epk at xs4all.nl Thu May 13 03:55:11 2004 From: epk at xs4all.nl (Eric Kluitenberg) Date: Thu, 13 May 2004 00:25:11 +0200 Subject: [Reader-list] Web Dossier & Report: "Cultural Diversity or Cultural Freedom?" Message-ID: Dear Reader List members, Below you find a short report I wrote last Fall, following an international working conference at De Balie in Amsterdam on the theme of "Reclaiming Cultural Diversity". The outcomes of the conference were both interesting as well as problematic. Quite recently the lenghty report on the conference and a follow-up booklet by researcher Joost Smiers, have both been published. They are available as pdf download on-line. The report of the conference, written by Barbara Murray, is also available in the form of seperate web pages per chapter (the text is otherwise too long). These and other materials are now part of a web dossier on the Balie site called "Reclaiming Cultural Diversity". You can find the web dossier here: http://www.debalie.nl/dossierpagina.jsp?dossierid=14988 Since we have recently started to put up materials in the form of editorially filtered web dossiers I also include some general remarks about these dossiers and our ediotorial and copyleft policy around them. I hope some of this material will be of value to you. Kind regards, eric ------------------------------- Balie Dossiers: http://www.debalie.nl/dossierspagina.jsp De Balie has started to provide access to texts and materials collected for programs in its past, as well as registrations, reports and essays on the themes dealt with in recent years. These materials are grouped around themes that are of particular interest to our programs, and we call these collections "dossiers". Currently the Balie site contains 11 dossiers, and new dossiers are already in preparation. The current themes include: Media Archaeology, Visual Culture, In Memoriam: The new Economy, Reclaiming Cultural Diversity, Streaming Media, Dlight Dutch Experimental Cinema, dossiers on migration issues, globalisation, information politics, and more... English and Dutch materials are mixed in the dossiers, although a substantial part of the texts are published in English, and occasionally in other languages. Where possible we publish the materials under a creative commons "non-commercial / share alike / attribution" license, provided we receive permission by the authors to publish texts under this license. (License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/nc-sa/1.0/ ) Dossiers that also contain extensive video-collections are: - Media Archaeology - Network Society of Control - Streaming Media - For an overview of all dossiers: http://www.debalie.nl/dossierspagina.jsp --------------------- Cultural Diversity or Cultural Freedom? A fresh reflection on the international working conference Reclaiming Cultural Diversity, at De Balie - Centre for Culture and Politics, Amsterdam, September 25 - 27, 2003 by Eric Kluitenberg On Saturday morning, on the third day of the conference Jeebesh Bagchi, one of the founders of the innovative Sarai new media initiative from Delhi, India raised probably the most fundamental question of the entire meeting. He wondered if 'we' as we are thinking and talking about cultural diversity in the face of the homogenising forces of economic globalisation are actually not talking about cultural freedom? It was just one of the many problematic questions raised during this three day meeting of minds from 21 countries, who had been gathered by researcher Joost Smiers, of the department for art and economics of the Utrecht School of the Arts, to reflect on protection mechanisms for local cultures and cultural diversity, against the ravages of unleashed globalised capitalism (the wording here is mine). It might be useful to explore the question raised by Mr. Bagchi a bit further to understand exactly what the complexities are we are faced with when discussing such sensitive topics as cultural diversity and "cultural freedom". Politically there is an immediate and obvious problem. It is a public secret that many national governments are happily exploiting the cultural diversity argument to in fact protect national cultural industries and economic interests. It leads many advocates of cultural diversity, whose genuine democratic intentions I do not wish to question in any regard, into an unholy alliance with the worst of what the anachronistic nation state has to offer; protectionism and isolationism... Yet, when considering the concept of "cultural freedom" even more grim memories come to bear. The "freedom" claimed for a culture in distress has often been the instrument for many reactionary political movements to rally a critical mass of supporters to a desperate cause. Nationalism has always flourished with the idea of an identity under threat that needs protection, if not available by civilised means, then by any means possible. In Europe the ferocity of the manifold conflicts on the Balkans, and particularly the break-up of Yugoslavia have imprinted the fatality of this kind of cultural discourse and its exploitation by reactionary political forces upon our memory. In its milder expressions this reliance on the 'imagined' cultural ties might lead to a cultural conservatism that attempts to lock out everything that has originated from beyond its imaginary cultural boundaries. In the Baltic States for instance, cultural tensions are still high between the new nationals and the large Russian speaking communities. Language, so often the cherished object of preservationists of cultural diversity, here is the object and instrument of intense political controversy. The cultural (i.e. linguistic) divides even translate here into a second rate citizenship. Yet, cultural freedom is the biggest price the reappeared Baltic nations have (rightfully) won in their independence struggle from the former Soviet Union. What this cursory examination shows is just how quickly the debate about cultural diversity can end up in murky waters. None of the participants in the conference could be accused of sharing even the faintest of kinships with the regressive cultural politics pointed at above. Why then take this risky concept as the starting point, not only of this particular working conference, but also of an international debate that should lead to the drafting, acceptation, and implementation of an international convention for the protection of cultural diversity? Here we see the dilemma that most participants faced. Culture, and in particular cultural markets - the commodified expressions of cultural forms - have become an explicit topic in the on-going free-trade negotiations that are spearheaded by international organisations such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Current legal instruments (most notably the so-called "cultural exemption" in the WTO) are weak and volatile protection mechanisms for cultural diversity. In a society saturated with media and information technologies cultural products increasingly take centre-stage in processes of economic and social exchange. Yet, the channels of distribution for these exchanges are simultaneously increasingly homogenised and concentrated in the hands of ever fewer media conglomerates. One of the few points that found consensus amongst conference participants was that the opening of cultural markets as proposed by the WTO would greatly intensify this trend and homogenise the distribution channels of culture even further. Experience shows that in a monopoly or oligarchy, the diversity of cultural products and services on offer dramatically decreases. The danger is immediate, as the liberalisation of cultural markets by all signatory nations of the current round of free trade negotiations in the WTO is persistently on the agenda (in the so-called Doha-round, due to deliver such an agreement already in 2005). So what to do then? The protagonists of the International Network for Cultural Diversity (www.incd.net) opt, above all, for a pragmatic approach. Rather than finding a satisfying answer to the many unresolved questions (such as; what does cultural diversity mean in different contexts? what counts as culture in the notion of cultural diversity? which kind of protection mechanisms work at all in which particular political and/or economic context? is content regulation of cultural production not the ultimate excuse for censorship by authoritative states? and even more so in the case of the internet, for unwarranted regulation per se?). Rather, the INCD suggests that the luxury of time to debate these issues to their final resolution is simply not available. Action needs to be taken now, if we are to have the time in the future at all to bring these issues to their resolution. Cultural Diversity was often named in "one breath" (a Dutch saying) with democracy and democratisation. The main point for many was access for the broadest possible public to the broadest imaginable range of cultural offerings. The INCD group proposed that the democratic states of this world had to take the lead and set the example for others to follow: protection to set these high moral stakes. But we were left with a nagging question; can the state really be trusted in this? ____________ This "fast report" was written for the webzine "The Power of Culture": http://kvc.minbuza.nl/uk/index.html Eric Kluitenberg is a cultural and media theorist, and is head of the media program of De Balie - Centre for Culture and Politics in Amsterdam. From iyer_renu at rediffmail.com Wed May 12 13:59:42 2004 From: iyer_renu at rediffmail.com (renu swaminathan iyer) Date: 12 May 2004 08:29:42 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] genocide debate! Message-ID: <20040512082942.21493.qmail@webmail9.rediffmail.com> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20040512/81da9fdd/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- This is about a film I watched a few days back titled ARARAT by Armenian Canadian filmaker Atom Egoyan which was released in 2002. The film is part of a package of anti-war films being screened in Pune, another remarkable one being Danis Tanovic's 'No man's land' about Bosnia. ARARAT is a non-linear fictional reconstruction of the Turkish genocide of 1 million Armenians in 1915, which unfortunately has been little known, worse never really documented- atleast only as recently as a decade back. The film is a multilayered narrative of fictional accounts (EVEN LIES) to substantiate the larger truth/tragedy which has till date been denied by Turkey, and has been widely dismissed as "civil unrest" and "massacre". Ofcourse the film is also not an empirical testimony to what happened, infact a lot of viewers across the globe have panned it for being ambiguous and highly stylised, apart from being a one-sided perspective. The film was banned in Turkey by several extremist groups, without however any counter debate. I came across the following article in the NewYorker which is still debating over the usage of the term genocide to define what happened in 1915 as genocide. best, Renu Issue of 2004-05-03 Posted 2004-04-26 Among the many peculiarities of Times house style—such as the tradition, in the Book Review, that the word “odyssey” refer only to a journey that begins and ends in the same place—one of the more nettlesome has been the long-standing practice that writers are not supposed to call the Armenian genocide of 1915 a genocide. Reporters at the paper have used considerable ingenuity to avoid the word (“Turkish massacres of Armenians in 1915,” “the tragedy”) and have sometimes added evenhanded explanations that pleased many Turks but drove Armenian readers to distraction: “Armenians say vast numbers of their countrymen were massacred. The Turks argue that the killings occurred in partisan fighting as the Ottoman Empire collapsed.” The quirk was not strictly policed, and a small number of writers, intentionally or otherwise, managed to get the phrase into the paper. Ben Ratliff wrote, in 2001, that the Armenian-American metal band System of a Down “wrote an enraged song about the Armenian genocide of 1915.” Another writer who slipped it in was Bill Keller, in a 1988 piece from Yerevan, during his time at the paper’s Moscow bureau: “Like the Israelis, the Armenians are united by a vivid sense of victimization, stemming from the 1915 Turkish massacre of 1.5 million Armenians. Armenians are brought up on this story of genocide.” Keller, who became the paper’s executive editor last July, finally changed the policy earlier this month. During a telephone conversation the other day, he said that his reporting in Armenia and Azerbaijan “made me wary of reciting the word ‘genocide’ as a casual accusation, because in the various ethnic conflicts that arose as the Soviet Union came apart everyone was screaming genocide at everyone else.” He said, “You could portray a fair bit of the horror of 1915 without using the word ‘genocide.’ It’s one of those heavy-artillery words that can get diminished if you use them too much.” Most scholars use the United Nations definition of genocide, from the 1948 Genocide Convention: killing or harming people “with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” But, Keller says, “we were using a dictionary definition that was the purist definition—to eliminate all of a race of people from the face of the earth.” The Times’ position was based on the notion that the systematic killing that began in 1915 applied mainly to Armenians inside the Ottoman Empire. Last July, the Boston Globe started using the term, which, Keller says, “made me think, this seems like a relic we could dispense with.” In January, the Times ran a story about the release in Turkey of “Ararat,” Atom Egoyan’s 2002 movie about the events of 1915. The piece, which referred to “widely differing” Turkish and Armenian positions, prompted Peter Balakian, a professor of humanities at Colgate, and Samantha Power, the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book “A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide,” to write a stinging letter to the editor. Balakian also got in touch with Daniel Okrent, the paper’s new public editor, asking if he and Power could come in and talk to the Times about the genocide style problem. Okrent found the issue “intellectually interesting and provocative enough that I thought Keller and Siegal”—Allan M. Siegal, the paper’s standards editor—“might be interested.” Balakian and Power, joined by Robert Melson, a Holocaust survivor and Purdue professor, met Keller in his office on March 16th. Before the meeting started, Keller told the group that he was going to make the change. “A lot of reputable scholarship has expanded that definition to include a broader range of crimes,” Keller said later. “I don’t feel I’m particularly qualified to judge exactly what a precise functional definition of genocide is, but it seemed a no-brainer that killing a million people because they were Armenians fit the definition.” Siegal drew up new guidelines. “It was a nerdy decision on the merits,” he said. Writers can now use the word “genocide,” but they don’t have to. As the guidelines say, “While we may of course report Turkish denials on those occasions where they are relevant, we should not couple them with the historians’ findings, as if they had equal weight.” Okrent pointed out that “the pursuit of balance can create imbalance, because sometimes something is true.” Although the word “genocide” was not coined until 1944, a Times reporter in Washington in 1915 described State Department reports showing that “the Turk has undertaken a war of extermination on Armenians.” You might say it has been a kind of odyssey. — Gary Bass   From rohini_patkar at hotmail.com Thu May 13 17:48:20 2004 From: rohini_patkar at hotmail.com (rohini patkar) Date: Thu, 13 May 2004 12:18:20 +0000 Subject: [Reader-list] monthly posting Message-ID: sarai monthly posting The network used for the getting work by the women: The third party interviews are meant to give an insight into the channels that are used by the migrant domestic workers for finding work for themselves. These are those networks of people that women have access to (or are approached by) who help them find work, housing, etc, in Delhi; or bring them from their native villages to towns and cities. Delight Consultancy Services, Ashram (Below the Srinivaspuri Flyover) On March 10th, I visited a domestic worker�s employment agency in Ashram called Delight Consultancy Services. I tried to explore the details about the process used in recruiting women. They told that they do not recommend candidates for employment unless equipped with their complete �bio �data�, they do not send minors for employment anywhere and women are not sent to work for single men. Many of the girls come from Calcutta, as the woman, Meenu who is a partner in the agency is herself from a village in Calcutta. She said that the girls who have already been employed through them bring new girls from their native villages to be employed. They match the profile of a girl with that of the employer and then send them to work. The credentials of the employer are checked thoroughly and they are completely responsible for the girl�s well being. In the event of any dissatisfaction, both the employer and the employee can contact the agency. The salary is negotiated by the agency to the satisfaction of both parties and the agency gets a commission depending on the post for which they supply candidates. The proprietors said that they haven�t received any complaints at all in the past one and a half years that they have been running their enterprise. Note: The office was a small cabin- like structure, situated in the basement of a building. It had a partition. When I announced my arrival, immediately one of the several young men who were sitting in a long bench in the front part of the cabin, asked me to sit and wait and offered water. He said that the sir and madam are having lunch, so I will have to wait. Along with the young men, there was one young girl who seemed a potential maid to me. It is a registered agency, so they seemed to follow certain rules and guidelines. But despite asking for some documents or papers of sorts, they told us that they do not keep any of the documents themselves. It seemed unlikely considering the amount of paperwork they told us was involved. At the same time, there were piles of papers lying everywhere which I could not get my hands on in the first visit. It is essential to do an interview with one of the women who has been employed by this agency and if possible, with the employer, to verify the facts etc. Clearly, they realized the potential dangers faced by these women, and even if they had experiences of women having faced problems, it was quite unlikely that they will tell it to me. Next week, I visited the Kotla Chowk where labour is recruited everyday at a daily wage. There we met Rajaram, a small time thekedar who informed us that the �going rate� for men varied between Rs. 100 to 150 a day depending on the nature of work and for women it was Rs. 90 per day. He also told us that women hardly did construction labour or sat at chowks anymore they mainly did domestic labour. He told us he sometimes obtained work for the women in Seva Nagar Basti. Miss Jaya�s employment agency: I visited an employment agency, run by Miss. Jaya, in Lajpat Nagar (I got the address through the Hindustan Times newspaper). The agency supplies not only domestic labour but also tutors, clerks for offices etc. The agency is registered and follows an extremely contractual system of recruiting and placing labour. Women are mostly demanded for nursing, childcare, maid work and housekeeping. Women below 18 are not given employment through this agency and a complete identification and bio data of the candidate is procured before she is recommended for a post. The agent did not seem to know much about where they came from, said mostly Jharkhand, Orissa, Assam and MP. The network is mainly a word of mouth one; women who have been employed through the agency, recommend it to other women. Suitability, salary, nature of work are all settled by means of an agreement signed by both parties (the employers and the employee). The employer is charged a commission by the agency for supplying them with labour. Field staff is employed to regularly check that both parties are satisfied. When asked if any of the candidates had ever faced any problems he said no. We were unable to glean any details about the women themselves, their support networks and their experience of doing domestic labour. Clearly the agency did not concern itself with anything about the women other than the terms of the contract. Note: It was a one- room office and Miss Jaya herself was on leave, off to America, they said. The two people who were manning the office were extremely busy, dealing with numerous phone calls, dealing with some women who had come there for work, etc. When I called them for appointment, they readily agreed for the visit. On Aug 5, Maya went again to the chowk at Kotla Mandi, where labour waits everyday for work. There were about 80-100 men lining either side of the road and one woman who were awaiting a contractor to give them work for the day. I spoke to the woman, but could not get much information as we were immediately surrounded by the men! She said she came everyday and worked for a daily wage of Rs.100. She lives near Kotla and was originally from Jhansi. She has been in Delhi for ten years. When I asked her who helped her get housing and construction work, she replied no one, she had to do it all by herself. Clearly she didn�t get an opportunity to talk with an overwhelming number of men volunteering information all the time. Apparently only 2 or 3 women came everyday and the others had left. I sat there for a while till a Maruti car drove up. Some labourers picked up their implements and rushed to the car. Hurried negotiations were carried out after which the car drove away and the labourers got ready to go. Others dispersed. I went to a construction site at Moolchand. We were unable to talk to the workers that time, but I managed to speak to a woman worker late at night. Her name was Anjali and she lives in a basti in Lajpat Nagar (which we subsequently visited). She, her husband and the entire team of workers at the site were temporary migrants who had come to Delhi to earn money when the agricultural season was lean. They were from Khatiyaari district in Bihar. Every year, their thekedar, a man from their village, brings a group of them to Delhi to supply labour for construction. Here they settle down for about six months, usually in rented accommodation till they return to their villages. they do not find work on their own, only through their thekedar, who takes them to the work site everyday, and brings them back and ensures that they get their payment. Women are required either when its time to construct the ceiling, or to break stones. They get Rs. 100 for a day�s work, about Rs. 1500 a month is spent on food provisions and other houselhold expenses. When asked if she faced problems during work, any kind of problems, the answer was predictable. There were no problems at work, it had to be done. Moreover, she came with her husband and brother in law, so she was never alone. She had one small child with her at work and a daughter who she had left in the village. The entire group comes together from Khatiyaari zila and will go back together. _________________________________________________________________ Is your PC infected? Get a FREE online computer virus scan from McAfee� Security. http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963 From zest_india at yahoo.co.in Thu May 13 19:21:30 2004 From: zest_india at yahoo.co.in (=?iso-8859-1?q?Shivam=20Vij?=) Date: Thu, 13 May 2004 14:51:30 +0100 (BST) Subject: [Reader-list] Thanks Shivam In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <20040513135130.15897.qmail@web8207.mail.in.yahoo.com> coolzanny at hotmail.com Dear Zainab, here is my reply: >>In fact, we were having a discussion yesterday where a friend pointed out how governments invest in the urban areas/cities because that's where the evaluation/assessment of the government takes place. Someone had once mentioned in a gather that in Mumbai, building more and more flyovers ensures re-election of the government, that's why the success of Shiv Sena and now the NCP government continuing on the same lines (or roads should I say?).<< I don't agree with this. Voters everywhere vote on local issues even in national elections. So if drought-hit farmers don't get relief they will vote against the incumbent party, and if new flyovers don't come up in Bombay to reduce traffic stress, Bombay voters will vote out the incumbent. Bombay alone can't bring any party to power: you need the whole Maharashtra. Everyone evaluates the government on how his surroundings change. >>I have never traveled on the Delhi metro, but what I have often heard from Delhiites is that the metro is nothing but "an eye-wash". They don't see it making a dramatic difference to Delhi and to the lives of the people.<< Tauba! tauba! What lies! Those who say the metro is an eye-wash are obviously not in touch with ground realities. These may be people who are staunchly against globalisation (the metro has been built by co-operation between 9 countries and has an upmarket feel, with McD and Dominos inside the ISBT station.) They maay be people who travel in cars and did not / are not going to experience the transition from bus to metro. Or these are people who have never travelled on the metro. Or they're just too plain cynical. Or they want to oppose the India Shining campaign and the politics of "feelgood", which would be a case of noble intent but bad example. These are exactly the sort of middle class people for whose the Yamuna Pusta slums have been razed: rich apathetic middle class of Delhi... >>My interest in the Delhi metro emerged from the fact that perhaps, it would end up being some sort of an interactional space.<< Sorry, it is even less interactional than buses. Because it has the upmarket fee it takes away a sarai-like atmosphere. I use sarai here as in the original meaning and not the institution! sarai as in a networking space for travellers. >> because I, as an outsider, have often perceived Delhi to be a cold city, a city where I am constantly watched and judged for my possessions, status, position in society.<< I think this attitude of surveilance changes in the metro: it makes the people more insular. But perhaps this is because the metro has just begun, people are too busy watching the metro to watch the people. but one point is that the metro takes much less time than a bus, upto one-fourth in some cases. It's too fast. That reducestime for both interaction and surveilance. >>Bombay has always given me an egalitarian feel and I attribute this, in large measure, to the trains and buses, in which the rich and the poor travel together.<< The metro will increasingly do this, because it's more respectable than the bus. It has AC. Metro authorities have made provisions for people to park cycles, scooters and cars at the metro stations, take the metro to their destination, come back by the metro, and go back home on your parked vehicle. Even in buses the travellers ranged from lowest of the low class to lower middle class and students of even middle class backgrounds. But the car-travelling arrogant elite hates the very mention of 'bus', and now you know why they even dismiss the metro. >>But in Delhi, I feel a bit handicapped because of a poor public transport system, though I must say that some of my friends have been saying that the bus services have improved quite a bit in Delhi.<< The bus service keeps improving in Delhi all the time! But the rate of improvement is too slow, and if one aspect improves another crops up. The issue of buses in delhi is very complicated and the local press can play a positive role. but the press gets heated up only when a blue line bus kills a man or two. >>Again, the structure of the city is radial, while my worldview has been linear living in Mumbai all my life.<< And a delhite's view becomes radial! >>My fascination with Mumbai trains is because of the amount of information that flows through trains. There are inputs to the worldview through chats and conversations; the presence of women from diverse castes, classes, religions, traveling together is in itself a flow of information.<< Not so in delhi >> The sale of goods, each one of them novel to me (I have been collecting some of them as an archive!), gives me ideas about technology.<< Some times people too come to sell in delhi buses. If i meet you i will enact who they sell, because i was in splits when i first saw that performance. But these good are hardly collectible. They always cost 10 Rs flat. Plastic tablecloths, petty paamphlet-like books on ayurved or astrology or hinduism, or a set of five penss, a ruler, a notepad - all for ten Rs, all of which lasts five minutes. and there are sometimes people to sell coconut, peanuts etc. and beggars, but only some times. once in ten journeys. and once a singer came in - he was so talented! he was singing about life and death, some folk song. but the bus was too crowded for me to give him some money like others were doing, moved by his voice. >> The other interesting bit that I have found is that trains introduce a sense of structure and comfort in the life of the Mumbaiite. One of my interviewees had said that she likes train travel because it is structured and defined; in her words, "You know that after Borivali station there is Kandivali and then Malad."<< This happens in delhi buses too. u know that after mall road will be khalsa college, then Camp, then model town, then azadpur, then shalimar bagh - if u know ur bus routes. >> This made me wonder whether what people want today is greater predictability in their lives given that we are leading uncertain and insecure lives (no secure jobs, a volatile financial market, new innovations).<< i'm a student of literature and i read the same about the victorian age in england, and my teacher also says today's india is a lot like victorian britain. but i'm wary of such arguments: the urge to control has always been there in man, even in pre-historic societies... as a student told a teacher: for every age u say that the middle class was rising and there was insecurity and people were suffering... >> I wonder whether trains give women a sense of control over their lives.<< Not just women, but everyone. Not just trains, all media of transport. >> I am not a feminist. But my interest is in envisioning spaces where women can interact, meet, exchange information, have unconditional urban spaces, because having a larger worldview is especially important for women, given that increasingly, fundamentalist movements and political campaigns are trying to reach out, influence and condition women's minds. Further, children of tomorrow will learn from the women of today because women spend more time with the children and for the child, the mother is usually the first reference point. It scares me to think of rigid and authoritarian mothers - we would have pathological children!!!<< Perils of generalisation and over-reading. Not your faault, we all do this! Women will always find some or the other interactional space, but what is even more important is to have uninhibited hetrosexual interaction spaces without the fear of sexuaal assault/ discrimination/ violence/ prejudice/ sexual repression.... Hope this helped, Shivam PS: Sarai please do something about viruses i get attached in mails that sound like sarai mails on my other ID (shivamvij @ ststephens.edu), on which i don't take the sarai list! ===== ========================================== ZEST Reading Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-india ZEST Economics: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-economics ========================================== ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online. http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony/ From indirabiswas at hotmail.com Fri May 14 11:36:51 2004 From: indirabiswas at hotmail.com (Indira Biswas) Date: Fri, 14 May 2004 11:36:51 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] third posting from indira Message-ID: Hello, I am rather late in sending my 3rd posting. In fact, last few weeks I was too busy looking for my research materials in the National Archives and the AIR library of Delhi. In both the places I got plenty of documents related to my research and was overwhelmed by the co-operation of the respective officers. In the AIR library, I found the Indian Listener radio magazine of several years (Since 1936) along with other radio journals in regional languages. I am not sure whether the earlier issues of the same (1927 � �35) are available or not. The journals are just lying in the dusty racks. It seems I was the only reader who wanted to consult those books! Some books tied in ropes were beyond my reach in the tall racks. I would like to explore this library again during my next visit to Delhi. The vernacular programme division of the Calcutta Radio Station was in the hands of few enthusiastic Bengali youths without any prior training and experience of broadcasting. They gained experience of the new media only while working for it. This situation changed gradually when the British government began to tighten its control over the media since the pre war period and the first controller of broadcasting Lionel Fielden (1935 � 1940) laid down some general rules regarding broadcasting of programmes and selection of programme assistants. For example, Fielden�s decision prohibiting �the rise of clerks who knew nothing about broadcasting� marked fundamental changes in the employment structure of the CRS. People, who were the heart and soul of the CRS were sidelined and new group of AIR officials came up. The reading of day-to-day programmes of the CRS reveals many interesting points. It shows that the programmes of the Calcutta Radio Station was planned to satisfy a heterogeneous audience. For example, in the year 1939, while on Saturday nights �Dance Music� was relayed from the Grand Hotel Prince�s Ballroom staged by the Grand Hotel Dance Orchestra or from Firpo�s restaurant performed by Francisco Casanevas and his Spanish Orchestra, Assamese play was broadcast in the short wave for the Assamese speaking people. I am also finding many interesting materials on the music programme of the CRS. I would tell you more about this in my next posting. Bye till then. Indira Biswas _________________________________________________________________ Contact brides & grooms FREE! http://www.shaadi.com/ptnr.php?ptnr=hmltag Only on www.shaadi.com. Register now! From benjamin_lists at typedown.com Fri May 14 16:50:11 2004 From: benjamin_lists at typedown.com (Benjamin Fischer) Date: Fri, 14 May 2004 13:20:11 +0200 Subject: [Reader-list] DVD-Presentation: EXPERIMENTAL NARRATION - X-PILATION 3 Message-ID: <20040514112011.2D92B6440E4@s4.mittwaldmedien.de> English version see below Filmgalerie 451 und Wand 5 e.V. praesentieren ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- EXPERIMENT ERZAEHLUNG - X-PILATION 3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kurzfilme von Mark-Steffen Goewecke, Oliver Husain, Ulrich Koehler, Eva Koennemann, Stanislaw Mucha, Jan Peters, Corinna Schnitt Vorgefuehrt beim Stuttgarter Filmwinter und zusammengestellt von Giovanna Thiery und Ulrich Wegenast Termin & Uhrzeit: 19. Mai, 21 Uhr Ort: TurmForum Stuttgart 21, Ebene 3, im Stuttgarter Bahnhofsturm Nach der grossen Resonanz von X-Pilation 1 - deutscher Experimentalfilm der 80er und 90er Jahre - arbeiten die Filmgalerie 451 und Wand 5 erneut zusammen und veroeffentlichen eine DVD mit narrativen, experimentellen Kurzfilmen und -videos aus Deutschland. Die aktuelle Kompilation umfasst preisgekuerte Kurzfilme, die sich auf unkonventionelle Art und Weise mit dem Thema "Erzaehlung" auseinandersetzen. Das filmische Spektrum reicht von persoenlichen Reflexionen ueber Oral History und Marienerscheinungen bis zu Campy Storytelling ueber Erfolg und Niedergang eines Popduos. Die Narrationsformen sind heterogen. Stehen Reduktion bei Corinna Schnitt und Ulrich Koehler im Vordergrund, schwelgen Oliver Husain und Jan Peters in Bildern und Worten. So vielfaeltig die Erzaehlstile sind, so vielfaeltig sind auch die Aesthetiken und Techniken: Waehrend Jan Peters seinen Diary Film auf Super 8 drehte und ungeschnitten aneinanderreiht, bestehen Schnitts und Koehlers Filme aus einer einzigen, praezise durchkomponierten Kamerafahrt. Oliver Husain kombiniert computergenerierte Kulissen mit Realfilm und kreiert ein besonders kuenstliches Ambiente. Eva Koennemann uebernimmt Computerbefehle, um eine Option filmischer Narration zu suggerieren: Love and Hate im digitalen Zeitalter. Stanislaw Mucha und Mark-Steffen Goewecke widmen sich mit besonderer Hingabe den Erzaehlenden... Eva Koennemann: Null - Eins 1995-96, 9 Min., 16mm (Preis der deutschen Filmkritik fuer Experimentalfilm 1996) Corinna Schnitt: Das schlafende Maedchen 2001, 8:30 Min., 16mm (Norman 2002 beim Stuttgarter Filmwinter) Oliver Husain: Ron & Leo 1999, 12:47 Min., Beta SP (Hessischer Filmpreis 1999) Ulrich Koehler: Rakete 1998, 10 min, 16mm Mark-Steffen Goewecke: L'hotel 1997, 12 Min., 16mm (Preis der deutschen Filmkritik fuer Experimentalfilm 1997) Jan Peters: Aber den Sinn des Lebens hab' ich immer noch nicht rausgefunden 1996, 20 min, Super 8/16mm Stanislaw Mucha: Ein Wunder 1998, 7 Min., Beta SP (Norman 1999 beim Stuttgarter Filmwinter) Ausserdem beinhaltet die DVD Zusatzmaterial der Regisseure sowie die Trailer des Stuttgarter Filmwinter 2000-2004. Bei der Vorfuehrung sind mehrere Regisseure anwesend und Giovanna Th. veranstaltet ein spannendes Quiz! Getraenke kommen von Frau Schreck. Der Eintritt betraegt 5 Euro. Die Herstellung der DVD wurde mit freundlicher Unterstuetzung des Medienteams der Landeshauptstadt Stuttgart realisiert. Wir danken dem TurmForum Stuttgart 21 e.V. fuer die Unterstuetzung bei der Premiere. Filmgalerie 451 and Wand 5 present ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- EXPERIMENTAL NARRATION - X-PILATION 3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Venue: TurmForum in the tower of the Stuttgart railway station Date: Wednesday, May 19, 2004 After the success of X-Pilation 1 (German Experimental Film of the 80s and 90s) Filmgalerie 451 and Wand 5 cooperate once again and publish the DVD with German short films and videos which deal with strategies of narration. The compilation includes award winning short films by Mark-Steffen Goewecke, Oliver Hussain, Ulrich Koehler, Eva Koennemann, Stanislaw Mucha, Jan Peters,and Corinna Schnitt. The programme ranges from oral history and personal reflections to campy story telling and religious visions. For further information please contact the Wand 5 office (wanda at wand5.de). The DVD X-Pilation 3 has been realized with the support of the Mediateam of the state capital Stuttgart. Thanks to the TurmForum Stuttgart 21 for supporting the presentation and premiere. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WAND 5 E.V. - ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTION OF FILM AND MEDIA CULTURE ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friedrichstr. 23a 70174 Stuttgart Germany Tel.: + 49-711-993398-0 (NEW!) Fax:+ 49-711- 993398-10 (NEW!) email: wanda at wand5.de www.wand5.de media-space 04 www.media-space.org October, 22-24, 2004 18th Stuttgart Filmwinter - Festival for Expanded Media www.filmwinter.de Festival: January 13-16, 2005 Warm Up: January 6-12, 2005 -- Benjamin Fischer | http://www.typedown.com/?RDCT=f333b35aa11703108329 From jeebesh at sarai.net Fri May 14 17:48:24 2004 From: jeebesh at sarai.net (Jeebesh Bagchi) Date: Fri, 14 May 2004 17:48:24 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] The Museum in the Age of Mass Media Message-ID: <40A4B910.5000300@sarai.net> The Museum in the Age of Mass Media Boris Groys Translated by Matthew Partridge It's true: there is still a large audience that enjoys visiting museums these days. But in general, as an institution the museum is increasingly being viewed with scepticism and mistrust by the selfsame audience. On all sides one repeatedly hears that the institutional boundaries of the museum ought to be transgressed, deconstructed or simply removed to give contemporary art full freedom to assert itself in real life. At first glance these attacks on the museum in the name of some or other contemporary, living art have a very familiar ring about them - they sound rather like a sequel to the demands voiced by the various avant-garde movements of the twentieth century that called for the art system and, in particular, the museum to be demolished, transcended and disbanded to make way for new art. Such appeals and demands have meanwhile become quite commonplace, even to the extent of now being regarded as a cardinal feature of contemporary art. But as we all know, these avant-garde demands in fact led merely to the emergence of new art forms that in the course of time also found their rightful place in the museum. So, as an institution the museum has adopted a relaxed, if not blatantly benevolent attitude towards these appeals and demands that once threatened its very existence - in the expectant hope that new and interesting art might be directly fostered by such attacks. Present-day calls for the abolition of the museum appear to take up on these earlier avant-garde strategies and so continue, virtually unchallenged, to be whole-heartedly embraced by the museum. But appearances are deceiving. The context, meaning and function of the calls to abolish the museum system have undergone fundamental change since the days of the avant-garde, even if at first sight the style and diction of their formulation seems so familiar. Prevailing tastes in the nineteenth and the first part of the twentieth centuries were defined and embodied by the museum. The criteria on which the museum based its choice of 'good' art were generally accepted as the social norm. So in these circumstances any protest directed at the museum was simultaneously a protest against the prevailing norms of art-making - and by the same token also the basis from which new, groundbreaking art could evolve. But in its present context the museum has indisputably been stripped of its normative role. In our own era it is the mass media that dictate aesthetic norms, having long since dethroned the museum from its crucial social role. The general public now draws its notion of art from advertising, MTV, videos, video games and Hollywood blockbusters. Whether this notion of art is good or bad is a mute question: it is what it is. All that matters is that in the context of contemporary, media-generated tastes this call to abandon and dismantle the museum as an institution has taken on an entirely different meaning than when it was voiced during the avant-garde era. Nowadays this protest is no longer part of the struggle waged against prevailing normative tastes in the name of innovation but is, inversely, aimed at stabilizing and entrenching currently prevailing tastes. When people today speak of 'real life', what they generally mean is the global media market. This is why art that enters life under such conditions can never really be 'new' art, because the demands and criteria practised by the media market have always been broadly familiar. Anyone calling for the museum to be transcended is no longer remonstrating against prevailing norms or the dominance and censorship institutionally practised by the museum. Instead, such an outcry represents populist repudiation of a minority, of any deviation from the norm and of aesthetic positions that differ from those currently propagated by the media. In order to properly assess the predicament of the museum as an institution one must first acknowledge the fact that, rather than representing the majority of those interested in art and culture as it did in the past, the museum now only speaks for a minority. Art institutions, however, are still typically displayed in the media as places of selection, where specialists, insiders and the initiated few pass preliminary judgment on what is permitted to rate as art in general, and what in particular as ‘good’ art. This selection process is based on criteria that to a wider audience seem unfathomable, incomprehensible and, in the final count, also irrelevant. Accordingly, one wonders just why anyone at all is needed to decide what art is and what is not. Why can't we just choose for ourselves what we wish to acknowledge or appreciate as art without recourse to an intermediary, without patronizing advice curators and art critics? Why does art refuse to seek legitimation on the open media market just like any other product? From a media perspective the traditional aspirations of the museum seem historically obsolete, out-of-touch, insincere and somewhat bizarre. And contemporary art itself time and again displays an eagerness to follow the enticements of the mass media age, voluntarily abandoning the museum in the quest to be disseminated through media channels. Of course, this readiness on the part of art to become involved in the media, in broader public communication and politics, in other words to engage in life beyond the boundaries of the museum, is quite understandable. This approach allows it to address and seduce a much larger audience; it is a decent way of earning money - which the artist previously had to beg for from the state or private sponsors. It gives the artist a new sense of power, social relevance and public presence within his or her own time - preferable to eking out a meagre existence as the poor relation of the media. So the call to break loose from the museum also amounts de facto to a call to medialize and commercialize art by accommodating it to the aesthetic norms generated by today's media. But given that the museum has been divested of its function as the arbiter of taste, one is nonetheless left wondering why it still continues to hold such strong attraction for the general public, including the media. Firstly, seen from a media perspective, the criteria for the evaluation of art as practised in museums appear, as mentioned above, to be totally obscure, incomprehensible and even somewhat mysterious. Curiously, though, this does not mean that the media automatically denigrate museums since they are equally fascinated by all that is hidden, dark, obscure and marginal. The museum-trained eye itself is fascinated by life outside the museum, by reality and the media. By contrast, the media is intrigued by the idea of casting light on the hidden and closed-off recesses of the museum, of enlightening the public about its dark secrets and rendering the museum's isolated and private inner precincts accessible to media-based communication. On the whole, the strategies behind museum collections and exhibitions are treated in the media as the workings of a shadowy conspiracy, as an intrigue masterminded by insiders, as a display of the hidden power of curators and museum directors far removed from any form of democratic legitimation - in other words, as an impenetrable swindle. But at the same time this dark secret exerts a magnetic attraction on the media: they suspect it might hold an interesting source of information in store. This aspect, incidentally, is corroborated by the introduction of film and video installations into the museum, which is accompanied by the darkening of museum space. This development has extinguished the museum's traditional light, casting the museum space in darkness and transposing the viewer into a nervous trance. Here the museum is directly manifesting itself as what it has come to represent in the age of mass media, as a tenebrous location of secrecy, conspiracy and half-visibility. Thus, in its new role the museum has maintained its appeal for the media and the broad public precisely as site of strangeness, deviation and inexplicability - as a 'kunstkammer' of the contemporary world which has lost its licence to define prevailing aesthetic norms. By the same token, however, there is also something about the museum that clearly irritates the media, namely everything that has to do with theoretical discourse addressed at art in general or the museum in particular. Almost every time a museum exhibition is suspected of voicing a theoretical, critical claim the media react with unveiled animosity, The sole excuse that can save an exhibition in such circumstances is if 'in spite of its theoretical pretensions' it can be said to be sensual and attractive - and hence ultimately irrelevant. At first glance this reaction by the media might seem rather odd. After all, being theoretical surely means being open to communication, and the media is in fact supposed to welcome all communicative endeavours. But in reality, the only artistic and curatorial decisions truly celebrated the media are those that appear to be purely subjective, ungrounded and intuitive. Nowadays the media have ceased to celebrate the individual artist as a genius. Instead, we now witness how the entire museum system per se is hailed as a genius, as a place where arbitrary, incomprehensible decisions are made about what constitutes art and what does not, about what is rated good art and what is not. This is nothing less than a bizarre continuation of the cult of the genius in the wake of the 'ready-made' principle. Whereas on the one hand post-Duchamp art is criticized and ironized for its allegedly random display of artistic and curatorial power on the other the media are mesmerized by this same power, ready to salute anyone who seems capable of achieving success by pulling off such purportedly arbitrary and gratuitous decisions. The ready-made procedure is now considered to be the last enigma of our age, a last possible act of pure subjective choice - and even more so if people are not ready to comply with the arbitrariness of this choice. In the media we are now witnessing a strange aestheticization of the museum as a place of enigma, mystery and quasi-religiosity. Accordingly, every instance of theoretical or critical reasoning is treated like an objectionable act of secularization aimed at robbing the museum of its enigmatic aura and thereby, so it would seem, definitively draining it of appeal. Most significantly, however, theoretical discourse calls into question the fundamental ideological premise underlying the way today's media operate. For, as those running the media ceaselessly claim, far from promoting their own norms or propagating tastes of their own making (let alone even having 'their own' tastes), the media simply provide what their audience 'wants to see' - in the proverbial manner of: bait is meant to attract fish, not fishermen. It is precisely this notion that leads people in the media to believe they have the upper hand, to feel they are historically more progressive than the classical museum they denounce as normative, didactic and authoritarian. Thus the key perceived difference between the traditional museum and contemporary media lies in the assumption that museums try to imposetheir aesthetic agenda on people, while the media merely wish to lend expression to existing mass-democratic tastes. But on closer inspection there is something highly problematic about the view the media have of themselves. Anyone familiar with the workings of the media today knows that they are constantly promoting their latest array of products by claiming them to be different, new, up-to-date or even pioneering. Novelty, or rather topicality, is presented in the media as a value in its own right to which the consumer is expected to subordinate his personal tastes. So on the one hand the media profess they are simply satisfying existing tastes, while on the other they are directly and indirectly canvassing for these tastes to be revised and adjusted to the zeitgeist. Consequently, it can hardly be claimed that the media market provides the consumer only with what he 'really' wants to see and hear - without any form of patronizing control. On the contrary, at every turn he is being lectured and instructed about what supposedly constitutes the current zeitgeist - and what does not. The question is, however, can one really learn from the media what is specifically contemporary about the present? In my view the answer is no - and for one simple reason: the global media market lacks the historical memory which would enable it to compare the past with the present and thereby determine what is really new and genuinely contemporary about the present. The old product range in the media market is constantly being replaced by new merchandise, barring any possibility of comparing what is on offer today with what used to be available. As a result, media commentary has no choice but to turn to fashion. But fashionability itself is by no means self-evident or indisputable. While it is perhaps easy for us to admit that in the age of mass media our lives are dictated predominantly by fashion, how confused we suddenly become when asked to say precisely what is en vogue just now. So who can actually say what is fashionable at any given moment? Passing any kind of judgement in this is highly problematic, particularly in these times of globalization. For instance, if something appears to have become fashionable in Berlin, one could quickly point out that this trend has long since gone out of fashion measured against what is currently fashionable in, say, Tokyo or Los Angeles. Yet who can guarantee that the same Berlin fashion won't at some later date also hit the streets of Los Angeles or Tokyo? So, when it comes to assessing the market, we are de facto at the blind mercy of advice dispensed by marketing and fashion gurus, the purported specialists of international fashion. Yet such advice cannot be verified by the individual since, as everyone knows, the global market is too vast for him alone to fathom. Hence, where the media market is concerned one has the simultaneous impression of being bombarded relentlessly with something new and also of permanently witnessing the return of the same over and over again. The familiar complaint that there is nothing new in art has the same root as the opposite charge that art is constantly striving only to appear new. As long as the observer has nothing but the media as a point of reference he simply lacks any comparative context which would afford him means of effectively distinguishing between old and new, between what is the same and what is different. It is the museum that gives the observer this opportunity to differentiate between old and new, and to critically challenge with his own eyes what the media insist is novel, up-to-date and ground breaking, For museums are repositories of historical memory where everything is kept and shown that has gone out of fashion, that has become old and out-dated. In this respect only the museums can serve as sites of systematic historical comparison that enable us to ascertain what really is different, new and contemporary - and to discover what is making false claims to be so, something that, although produced in the present, might in fact merely be repeating long-established patterns. The same, incidentally, applies to the assertions of cultural difference or cultural identity that persistently bombard us in the media. In order to critically challenge these claims we again require some form of comparative framework. Where no such comparison is possible all claims of difference and identity remain unfounded and hollow. Indeed, every important art exhibition in a museum offers such a comparison, even if this is not explicitly enacted, for each museum exhibition inscribes itself into an entire history of exhibitions that is documented within the art system. Naturally, the strategies of comparison pursued by individual curators and critics can in turn also be criticized, but such a critique is possible only because these too can be measured against various other curatorial strategies in evidence within the art system. In other words, the very idea of abandoning or even abolishing the museum would remove the possibility of holding a critical inquiry into the claims of innovation and difference with which we are constantly confronted in today's media. This also explains why the assessments and selection criteria in museum art shows so frequently differ from those that prevail in the mass media. The issue here is not that curators and art initiates have exclusive and elitist tastes quite distinct from those of the broad public, but that the museum offers a means of comparing the present with the past that repeatedly arrives at other conclusions than those implied by the media. An individual observer would not necessarily be in a position to undertake such a comparison if the media were all he had to rely on. So it is hardly surprising that the media also end up adopting the museum's diagnosis of what exactly is contemporary about the present, simply because they themselves are unable to perform a diagnosis of their own. It is primarily the museum of contemporary art that offers a framework for this diagnosis. Although the concept of the 'museum of contemporary art' is now broadly familiar, it nonetheless still represents a fundamentally new angle in our way of seeing the museum as an institution. Traditionally, the museum used to function as a place where evidence of the past was stored and assembled into an overall picture that was then held to be a socially binding representation of history. From this perspective, though, the museum of contemporary art would appear to be a paradox. However close to the present moment new art is being collected, this practice of collecting will always seem to arrive just a little too late - and will inevitably remain at least one step behind the present. Accordingly, 'real’ contemporary developments in art seem never to be caught up by the collecting process or by museographical re-presentation. It is often said that the museum might perhaps be capable of collecting yesterday, but never today. This, by the way is precisely the point where media claims appear most plausible. For, as is frequently claimed, new art first has to establish itself in life - in the global media market, to be precise - before it can then be enshrined in the museum, in other words, only once it has achieved success and endorsement in the market and therewith also social legitimacy. Yet the historical relevance of any art is clearly not identical with its propagation in the media. As mentioned above, the 'now-ness' of art only becomes apparent in historical comparison, not by being circulated in the media. It is still pertinent to talk about the age of enlightenment or the era of the artistic avant-garde in spite of the glaring fact that both the enlightenment or the artistic avant-garde were only of concern to imperceptibly marginal minorities and by no means reflected the mentality of the absolute majority of the population at the time. This means that today's museums are in fact machines designed not merely to collect, but also to generate the present through their comparison between old and new, between identical and different. There is no basis to the notion that the process of creating art occurs first in the media before it is subsequently represented in the museum. Instead, we only recognize something as being up-to-date, truly contemporary and thus 'real' art once we realize that this art has yet to be collected by or represented in the museum. Rather than reality coming first, with its museum re-presentation following on in second place, it is the museum collection that tells us what in the here and now may be considered real. In other words, the museum of contemporary art is ultimately a producer of contemporary art by the way it establishes what has not yet been collected and thus what, by implication, must be 'contemporary'. By contrast, in the context of mass media art is condemned to constantly reiterating certain external features in an attempt to make art publicly identifiable as art. Thus the media promote a kind of art that is often erroneously called 'museum art', in other words, the kind that strives to be demonstrably artistic, spectacular and extraordinary - which is why such art never manages to cut itself free from traditional genres. Admittedly, among all the media-tailored appropriations of traditional artistic prototypes there are also examples of shifts, modifications and reinventions that do indeed have aesthetic appeal. Yet, here too, all such shifts and deviations can only be recognized as such once they have been held up for comparison in the museum with their historical precursors. When shown in the media, these appropriations merely spawn a sense of malaise since there is no aesthetic framework at hand to properly assess them by. But even when the media with their plethora of reality shows endeavour to present unspectacular, everyday life, all they are doing is quoting the 'ready-made' procedure that was embraced by the museum long before, thereby revealing their debt to museum tradition. In the age of mass media the museum seems likely to perform the following task. It has lost its traditional role of setting aesthetic norms and defining public taste, a function that is now been assumed by the media. But for their part, the media have proved incapable of reflecting upon their own role. For a start, they lack any historical memory that might enable them to lend precise definition to the current norm as such - and, most importantly, the media are trapped in a state of permanent self-denial. They might prescribe aesthetic norms by invoking the zeitgeist, but in the same breath they would rather not admit to this accomplishment being their own, pretending instead that they are merely following audience tastes. Hence, for all their loquaciousness the media in fact cultivate a strange zone of muteness that manifests a deep-set incapacity to discuss their own role as active norm-setters - let alone to critically examine these norms in the light of their own claims that they embody the zeitgeist. It would be a disastrous mistake if the museum were also to emulate this strategy of self-denial and likewise strive to fulfil the claim that it is only showing people 'what they want to see'. For in stark contrast to the mass media, museums possess the means and possibilities to be sites of critical discourse. Furthermore, given our current cultural climate the museum is practically the only place where we can actually step back from our own present and compare it with other eras. In these terms, the museum is irreplaceable because it is particularly well suited to critically analyze and challenge the claims of the media-driven zeitgeist. From iyer_renu at rediffmail.com Sat May 15 12:20:29 2004 From: iyer_renu at rediffmail.com (renu swaminathan iyer) Date: 15 May 2004 06:50:29 -0000 Subject: Re-[Reader-list] The Museum in the Age of Mass Media Message-ID: <20040515065029.24658.qmail@webmail9.rediffmail.com> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20040515/d5633bbb/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- chk out this example and analogy to the artlicle- deploying the internet(Intel)as the medium and the department store as metaphor!! The Museum in the Age of Mass Media-- One-Stop Warhol Shop “When you think about it, department stores are kind of like museums." --Andy Warhol It makes perfect sense for The Andy Warhol Museum to join forces with Internet giant Intel to forge a unique Internet project, the One-Stop Warhol Shop, scheduled to be launched October 1, 2000. This web project is not a literal “shop”--rather it will be featured on www.artmuseum.net - a division of the Intel Corporation dedicated entirely to online presentations of art exhibitions and projects. The goal of One-Stop Warhol Shop is to open up Warhol’s “(re) inventive and multi-faceted” world to anyone on the planet who has a computer. “The idea of personal choice inherent in ‘shopping’ and in Warhol’s own aesthetic practice are mirrored by the ‘open’ environment of the World Wide Web,” says Warhol director Thomas Sokolowski. “Like a contemporary ‘net surfer,’ Warhol searched through the myriad worlds of popular culture and chose or ‘shopped’ for the most potent images, ideas, and technology. He then made them his own. "One-Stop Warhol Shop also builds on Warhol’s artistic practice and acts as a metaphoric ‘open work,’ enabling users to navigate or choose their own path of information and surprise. In this way users construct their own Warhol as they engage with the art, ideas, and people surrounding him, and 'shop’ for information, experiences, and ‘products.’” “One-Stop Warhol Shop is one of the most adventurous in this series of online projects which artmuseum.net has developed," says Jessica Arcand, director of education at The Warhol. "In the past few years artmuseum.net had established itself as a kind of publishing house for online art exhibitions.” The site presents web exhibitions ranging from traditional paintings to multi-media presentations (such as video installations), all of which can be experienced in full, with the assistance of different audio and visual programs (which are explained on the site). “In the past artmuseum.net has connected with institutions that have a physical exhibition in place, and has produced an online presentation of that exhibition. They’ve worked with the Van Gogh Museum and the exhibition of Van Gogh at the National Gallery, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, the American Century exhibition, and with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. "One-Stop Warhol Shop is unique in that it is being created specifically for the web. The museum and artmuseum.net chose leading web development and advertising company Modem Media to design and produce the site. An important aspect of this whole project has been the collaboration between, not only a large technology corporation, web developer and a museum but also the collaboration of museum staff. I think it gave us an opportunity to bring diverse perspectives together and to break down some traditional departmental modes of working. The Shop has been conceived as an in-depth resource tool on Andy Warhol, but it also plays into the re-inventive, playful spirit that typifies Warhol. Information can flow across different areas and ideas--that's one of the things that reflects the way the Shop was created.” The home page features three main sections: “Supermarket,” "The Factory," and "Warhol." In Supermarket you find “People,” “Places,” and “Things”—each area featuring subjects that were important to Warhol. “The Factory” looks at Warhol’s artistic processes, and in “Warhol” you examine Warhol the person, his life and career together with frequently asked questions. When you enter “Supermarket” you are greeted with supermarket-like music and Warhol’s voice from a tape recording of the artist going shopping, and see a “shopping list” of different “People”, “Places”, and “Things” to explore. If “People” is chosen, you find subcategories such as “Marilyn Monroe”, “Edie Sedgwick”, and the “Velvet Underground.” The “Marilyn” section features images of Marilyn along with perspectives on Marilyn from critics, journalists, and Warhol.. The premise is, as Arcand puts it, “different people, in different places, looking at and commenting upon a particular work or person.” In "Edie Sedgwick” you can hear audio tapes of Warhol and Sedgwick talking about making movies, and in “Velvet Underground” there are audio samples of Lou and company, images of the Velvets performing, and lots of information about the Velvets. “Places” offers such subsections as “Fifties New York,” wherein you find images of Warhol in The Big Apple in the 1950’s and read about his experiences there. “The Factory” has an actual map of Warhol’s Factory and gives you explorable subcategories such as “Documenting,” “Collecting,” “Collaborating,” “Experimenting,” and “Reproducing.” Each category offers a selection of images, film and video clips, audio clips and diverse points of view on different aspects of Warhol’s artistic practice.. You can read and hear about his collaboration with different people, learn about his silk-screens, and hear audio clips from Warhol’s videotapes--such as his talk about photographer Man Ray where he repeats the phrase, “I took a picture,” over and over. "Space on the web is essentially “free and limitless,” says Arcand. “It’s not so ownership. And as a fairly new space in the museum world it offers really interesting potential. You can engage and collaborate with people in different ways, because there’s less of a sense predefined traditions.” One-Stop Warhol Shop also tackles something else difficult to do in any museum: exhibiting work from disparate media in the same place at the same time. On the site, visitors have instant access to Warhol’s drawings, films, paintings, video work, collecting work, and audio tapes. In a museum, physically presenting all of these different elements becomes complex for a variety of reasons such as the light levels for paintings aren’t the same as those for drawings, and having a screening facility for films alongside paintings is difficult to do. The Shop brings all these to your own house, and in the process breaks down traditional museum categories. “People look so determined entering a department store.” —Andy Warhol “The web can be a great leveler. Traditional museum content areas and categories, such as archives, film, painting can be presented together in a less hierarchical model,” Arcand continues. The One-Stop Shop brings all these categories into play without privileging one or the other, in this way it is totally appropriate to Warhol’s own work in diverse media and also allows visitors to draw upon their own associations, make their own connections, and freely to explore the site at their own pace, in whatever order they choose. “One-Stop Warhol Shop will be hosted on artmuseum.net for three years,” reports Arcand, “after which time it will then migrate over to warhol.org; at that point it will be almost like a whole resource section for the museum. So when a visitor goes to warhol.org four or five years from now, there will still be a link there that will take him or her to the One-Stop Warhol Shop” “It’s a wonderful opportunity,” Arcand says. “The Warhol Museum staff had evolved great dreams for the museum's web site, but we were never really sure if we’d be in a position to realize that. Working with Intel allowed us to have the funds to move forward on our vision of the web site. It's an integrated, collaborative project that combines elements of a playful re-inventiveness that is wholly Warhol. But it also allows for full exploration of Warhol’s work and life, the kind of indepth resource idea that we wanted. It combines creative experience with an informative resource. It’s been an amazing process of development – we’re looking forward to the response” What's New at http://www.warhol.org In conjunction with the opening of the One-Stop Shop site, The Warhol Museum also unveils the revamped version of its own web site (http://www.warhol.org), which will be accessible from artmuseum.net. “If one goes to artmuseum.net on October 1,” says Arcand, “at the same time, there will be a revamped Warhol Museum site (http://www.warhol.org),”which will continually be updated to reflect ongoing programs—as well as goings-on—at The Warhol. It will feature different artists’ projects, a Warhol Museum web-cam, and the opportunity for visitors to partake in museum-related polls. From iyer_renu at rediffmail.com Sat May 15 12:57:41 2004 From: iyer_renu at rediffmail.com (renu swaminathan iyer) Date: 15 May 2004 07:27:41 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Re: genocide debate! Message-ID: <20040515072741.5303.qmail@webmail10.rediffmail.com> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20040515/d5c0a9bb/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- Hi Sarang, I tend to believe that the genocide happened, nevertheless if you watch the film(which i agree is a brilliant film)it focusses on the sentimental/emtional and tends to romanticize the actual event. There are characters who are part of a film within the film(also the making of ararat!!) who tell the story from varied perspectives, myth/lies etc. for instance the renowned artist arshille gorky's character is central to the entire event of the genocide for a woman who plays an art historian in the film, interspersed with her own real-life narrative. while it is a fantastic fil;m in its own right, there are instances when it gets unnecessarily clumsy with the credits, abt authenticity of events, documentary proof etc!! On Sat, 15 May 2004 Sarang Shidore wrote : >Hi Renu: > >Have you seen any of Egoyan's other films? He's an excellent director. "The Sweet hereafter" is one of my all time favorite films. > From zest_india at yahoo.co.in Mon May 17 16:23:34 2004 From: zest_india at yahoo.co.in (=?iso-8859-1?q?Shivam=20Vij?=) Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 11:53:34 +0100 (BST) Subject: [Reader-list] Museums can educate Message-ID: <20040517105334.55717.qmail@web8201.mail.in.yahoo.com> A Lesson from History By Shobita Punja The Telegraph / 12 May 2004 http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040512/asp/opinion/story_3233547.asp The election results are awaited and may the best people win, may the winners take their new roles with humility and losers live on gracefully, and may everyone realize that some good lies in everyone. It’s a prayer, but it’s also an introduction to a story about the importance of museums, about the value of their collections. We have over 700 museums in India, and each one boasts of the uniqueness of its collection. Each object tells a story — we only need people who can hear their story and grasp the vital role that museums can play in our everyday polity. The significance of one object in the collection of the Bharat Kala Bhavan in Varanasi is the centre of this story. Bharat Kala Bhavan is one of India’s finest and this world-famous museum is located in the throbbing, vibrant city of Varanasi within the Banaras Hindu University campus. The sprawling campus has shady avenues and huge faculty buildings. The museum originated from the private collection of a single visionary individual — Rai Krishnadasa. When the museum was transferred to the university in 1950, just after independence, several other donors continued to enrich the museum’s collection. Unfortunately, no Indian government has ever clearly understood the role of museums in the education of its citizens. The museum has an outstanding collection of sculptures of the Mauryan, Sunga Kushan and Gupta periods. The painting collection of the museum is spectacular with Buddhist manuscripts, and exquisite Mughal paintings from early Akbar period, works like the Hamzanama and also delicate miniatures from the Pahari school. If one were to vote, one of the most maligned characters of Indian history would definitely be Aurangzeb, the third son of Shah Jahan. The creator of the beautiful Taj Mahal, Shah Jahan, did what no father should ever do to his sons and that is to publicly favour one son and belittle another. We are told that Shah Jahan so loved his son Dara Shikoh that he openly criticized his son Aurangzeb. Anger, jealousy and court politics ensured that Aurangzeb took revenge on his father and imprisoned him and killed his rival brother. Aurangzeb also inherited from his lavish father a bankrupt empire, from which large sums of money had been spent on an extravagant lifestyle and building works. Aurangzeb, in reaction, and trying to be a responsible ruler, professed a simple, austere, lifestyle and tried to do so by example. Yet Aurangzeb is always depicted in history as an intolerant, insensitive man. But one of the most important objects in the collection of the Bharat Kala Bhavan is a farman or royal decree of Aurangzeb’s inelegant calligraphy, signed and sealed with his insignia. The farman proclaims that “in accordance with the Holy Law, we decided that the ancient temples of Varanasi shall not be overthrown but that new ones shall not be built. “No person will disturb Brahmins and other Hindu residents in those places so that they remain in their occupation and continue with peace of mind to offer prayer. For the continuance of our god-given empire that is destined to last for all time you are instructed to follow this decree immediately.” Would it be possible to hope that politicians will change? That they will decide to leave residents of India to continue to live “with peace of mind”? To hope that India will be a place where ancient historic buildings can live in peace in their surroundings, that they will not be stormed by the army, or reduced to rubble in anger or out of political rivalry? Would it be possible to stop building new places of worship till we have learnt to care for the ancient ones that make every nook and corner of India a sacred land? Let us hope that whoever wins this election will value human life and the creative spirit that constructs significant buildings, and crafts objects of art. Museums showcase astounding samples of human creativity, which reflect how the human mind can refine and improve itself. Museums can educate. ===== ========================================== ZEST Reading Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-india ZEST Economics: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-economics ========================================== ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online. http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony/ From basharatpeer at rediffmail.com Tue May 18 12:10:53 2004 From: basharatpeer at rediffmail.com (Basharat Peer) Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 02:40:53 -0400 Subject: [Reader-list] An article from The New Yorker has been sent to you. Message-ID: <200405180640.CAA29109@gnr.mgmt.advance.net> Dear Monica Narula, Basharat Peer has sent you the following article from Newyorker.com: undefined (undefined) a must read for us all For more articles from the magazine, and for Web exclusives, visit www.newyorker.com. From basharatpeer at rediffmail.com Tue May 18 12:17:01 2004 From: basharatpeer at rediffmail.com (Basharat Peer) Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 02:47:01 -0400 Subject: [Reader-list] An article from The New Yorker has been sent to you. Message-ID: <200405180647.CAA31198@gnr.mgmt.advance.net> Dear Monica Narula, Basharat Peer has sent you the following article from Newyorker.com: undefined (undefined) a must read for us all For more articles from the magazine, and for Web exclusives, visit www.newyorker.com. From basharatpeer at rediffmail.com Tue May 18 12:17:32 2004 From: basharatpeer at rediffmail.com (Basharat Peer) Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 02:47:32 -0400 Subject: [Reader-list] An article from The New Yorker has been sent to you. Message-ID: <200405180647.CAA31349@gnr.mgmt.advance.net> Dear Monica Narula, Basharat Peer has sent you the following article from Newyorker.com: undefined (undefined) a must read for us all For more articles from the magazine, and for Web exclusives, visit www.newyorker.com. From basharatpeer at rediffmail.com Tue May 18 12:17:55 2004 From: basharatpeer at rediffmail.com (Basharat Peer) Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 02:47:55 -0400 Subject: [Reader-list] An article from The New Yorker has been sent to you. Message-ID: <200405180647.CAA31479@gnr.mgmt.advance.net> Dear Monica Narula, Basharat Peer has sent you the following article from Newyorker.com: undefined (undefined) a must read for us all For more articles from the magazine, and for Web exclusives, visit www.newyorker.com. From nc-agricowi at netcologne.de Tue May 18 13:07:06 2004 From: nc-agricowi at netcologne.de ([R][R][F] 2004) Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 09:37:06 +0200 Subject: [Reader-list] Pescara:// media art from Chile, Malaysia, Northern Europe etc Message-ID: <01a101c43caa$ebc59d40$0300a8c0@NewMediaArtNet> [R][R][F] 2004 --->XP ~ E-Journal - Vol.5 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// editorial at the end of this text---> /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Features . 1 [R][R][F] 2004 --->XP - News!! 2. Pescara://Young media art from Chile, Malaysia, Northern Europe etc //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 1. News 2nd physical presentation suite in May 2004 . a) After at Salzburg Basics festival http://www.basics-festival.net [R][R][F] 2004 --->XP is now guest at Pescara/Italy. The second May presentation event is--> Electronic Art Meeting Pescara/Italy - PEAM 2004 a New Media art festival taking place the 2nd time at this Adriatic city between 19 and 23 May 2004 www.artificialia.com/peam2004/ b) [R][R][F] 2004 --->XP is a featured work on Audiohyperspace, the online portal for soundart by SouthWest German Broadcasting (SWF) http://www.swr2.de/audiohyperspace [R][R][F] 2004 --->XP announces a new "Memory Channel" to launched in coming September. --->SoundLab Channel, which will be dedicated exclusively to soundart in its various forms. --->Call for soundart submissions www.newmediafest.org/rrf2004/call_soundart.htm Deadline 27 August 2004. 2. ~E-Journal - Vol.5 is featuring "Young media art from Chile, Maylaysia and Northern European countries", further--->a net based work by Glorious Ninth (UK) The participation in the Adriatic Pescara based festival was an excellent occasion to do this a) by including the third and forth curatorial contribution to Video Channel, ---> from Chile, curated Isabel Aranda Yto (Santiago) featuring following video works "F-16" by Néstor Olhagaray "News" by Klaudia Kemper "Each teen-ager has a price" by Aldo Peredo & "La "chiva" expiatoria. (Scapegoat)" by Isabel Aranda Yto and --->video works from Malaysia, curated by Roopesh Sitharan (Kuala Lumpur) featuring Tan Chui Mui and her video "Hometown", and Seng Tat Liew and the video "Reflection?" The streaming video works and detailed biographical info about the curators and artists can be accessed via VideoChannel on www.newmediafest.org/rrf2004/ or www.le-musee-divisioniste.org/mediacentre/ or directly from this email via www.newmediafest.org/rrf2004/vchannel.htm DSL broadband Internet connection required!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ b) by featuring netart from Northern Europe.i.e Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Estonia and Lithuania, entitled, "I - Fjords" organised and contributed to [R][R][F] 2004 --->XP by JavaMuseum - Forum for Internet Technologies in Contemporary Art www.javamuseum.org. The show is based on the results of an open call and includes following artists/groups . -->Sweden Sachiko Hayashi, Yvonne Martinson Eric Sandellin, Magnus Torstensson, Bjørn Wangen -->Estonia Tiia Johannson, Raivo Kelomees, Dagmar Kase -->Lithuania Mindauags Gapsevicius -->Finland Erkki Kirjalainen, Paivi Hintsanen -->Denmark Thomas Petersen, Mark Polishook, Peter Lind Marianne Holm Hansen -->Norway Eva Sjuve, Jørgen Larson, Arne Rygg & (Atle Barcley) This feature can be accessed via www.newmediafest.org/rrf2004/ --- ProgramChannel or www.javamuseum.org or direct access from this email via www.javamuseum.org/nordic.htm d) by featuring this new addition to Program Channel --> "Flaming" by the UK based artists group Glorious Ninth Flaming (our/your/their rage) 2004 All debate about ownership and empowerment, democracy and accountability, long term perspectives and global, environmental issues are trodden underfoot and a chilling efficiency in dehumanising whole societies and populations, is allowed to remove any possibility of debate and empathic shared existence with those about to die. Flaming (our/your/their rage) is a release of anger and frustration against the powerful. Power and rage smashes a country already suffering. A lack of power to control everything provokes this rage. Artist, activist, freedom fighter, terrorist - where do our liberal values start and stop? Rage of the new yorkers, rage of america as they experienced violation. Rage at our collective lack of insight and our/your/their crouched/couched response. Rage that they/you/we want revenge. Rage at the twittery of politicians, their sell-out, and our stupidity to think they might be something they could be. Rage at our own hypocrisy. Rage at the defeat of the left, and at the utter abandonment of real hope. Rage at the inadequacies of intellectual arguments. Rage that there isn't an easy answer. Rage that it¹s complex and there's not enough time in a life-time. Rage that there's no serious debate about what we actually want and about how it can be achieved and about how we understand the world. What is dished out from our representatives is simplistic, fundamentalist medieval crap. How can it be that I am either with you or against you? How can the means justify the ends justify the means? How can there be an axis of evil? How can this axis of evil shift so much that it obliterates Oallies¹ who Ostood by our side¹ so recently. How can this be the path of righteousness and the act of a democratic society when carpet bombing, depleted uranium shells and the full might of the very latest technologies - which we spend so much time discussing in terms of the alienating nature of its inherent logic - is used to incapacitate people/countries/societies in the name of progress and future generations? About the artists Glorious Ninth is a collaboration between Patrick Simons and Kate Southworth. Through the process of producing Internet based art, we have both found a space that suits our ongoing investigations into a variety of social and historical phenomena. Combining the pursuit of a clear (if complex) understanding of how the world Oworks¹ with the desire to communicate that understanding to others, our projects are located at the nexus between art and social science. We investigate the material world and communicate our findings using many different approaches to Oknowing¹. "Flaming" can be accessed via "Program Channel on the artistic body of [R][R][F] 2004 --->XP www.newmediafest.org/rrf2004 or directly via http://www.gloriousninth.com/flaming.html /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// The next edition of ~E-Journal Vol.6 will be published on occasion of the third physical presentation suite in June---> VI Salon y Coloquio International de Arte Digital Havanna/Cuba 21-24 June The International Festival of New Film/New Media Split/Croatia 26 June - 02 July 2004 /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Editorial ~~~~~~ [R][R][F] 2004 --->XP global networking project by Agricola de Cologne, media artist and New Media curator from Cologne/Germany www.newmediafest.org/rrf2004/ rrf2004 at newmediafest.org . As a corporate part of [NewMediaArtProjectNetwork]:||Cologne, the project will develop and operate until deep in the year 2005. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// In case, you missed one of the email ~E-Journals, all volumes of ~E-Journal can be found on www.newmediafest.org/rrf2004/ in the section ~E-Journal As an extension of the global networking project, [R][R][F] 2004 --->XP ~ E-Journal will be edited periodically in order to feature projects, curators, artists and other networking instances on a textual information basis. . copyright © 2004 by Agricola de Cologne. All rights reserved. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// From iram02_g at yahoo.co.in Tue May 18 11:02:19 2004 From: iram02_g at yahoo.co.in (=?iso-8859-1?q?iram=20ghufran?=) Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 06:32:19 +0100 (BST) Subject: [Reader-list] posting. call centre Message-ID: <20040518053219.2215.qmail@web8206.mail.in.yahoo.com> CALL CENTRES Extracts from her diary Saturday May 9,2004 It was again a hectic day, but now people are getting used to it. We didn't find it 2 boring. We practised some mock calls. More or less, it was just like any other day. We had 2 stretch till 1:30 am in order to mugg up the things. And 2day 2 our surprise we were introduced to the secret chambers of our seniors. And after knowing the full technique, it seemed as if ` HEAVY CBI' is after us!! But again, as per company rules and regulations, it was quite superb! Today, we had 2 dinner breaks, as the dinner was not ready in time for the first break at 8pm Conclusion: `We are on the way of getting success so things R pretty tough. Day was quite informative' SV 9th may04 Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20040518/ae28195e/attachment.html From feedback at seagullindia.com Tue May 18 09:13:25 2004 From: feedback at seagullindia.com (feedback ) Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 23:43:25 -0400 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] (no subject) Message-ID: <200405172343.AA214630560@mail.seagullindia.com> BOLO KYA BANOGE TUM PeaceWorks hosted the Jana Natya Manch to perform their play Bolo Kya Banoge Tum for schoolchildren in Calcutta a brief report at : http://www.seagullindia.com/updates/janam.html _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From quraishy at sarai.net Wed May 19 15:16:22 2004 From: quraishy at sarai.net (quraishy) Date: Wed, 19 May 2004 15:16:22 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Independent Fellow Monthly Posting Message-ID: <40AB2CEE.8050008@sarai.net> It is the posting of Rohini Patkar , I am posting it on behave of her he network used for the getting work by the women: The third party interviews are meant to give an insight into the channels that are used by the migrant domestic workers for finding work for themselves. These are those networks of people that women have access to (or are approached by) who help them find work, housing, etc, in Delhi; or bring them from their native villages to towns and cities. *Delight Consultancy Services, Ashram (Below the Srinivaspuri Flyover)* On March 10^th , I visited a domestic worker’s employment agency in Ashram called Delight Consultancy Services. I tried to explore the details about the process used in recruiting women. They told that they do not recommend candidates for employment unless equipped with their complete “bio –data”, they do not send minors for employment anywhere and women are not sent to work for single men. Many of the girls come from Calcutta, as the woman, Meenu who is a partner in the agency is herself from a village in Calcutta. She said that the girls who have already been employed through them bring new girls from their native villages to be employed. They match the profile of a girl with that of the employer and then send them to work. The credentials of the employer are checked thoroughly and they are completely responsible for the girl’s well being. In the event of any dissatisfaction, both the employer and the employee can contact the agency. The salary is negotiated by the agency to the satisfaction of both parties and the agency gets a commission depending on the post for which they supply candidates. The proprietors said that they haven’t received any complaints at all in the past one and a half years that they have been running their enterprise. Note: The office was a small cabin- like structure, situated in the basement of a building. It had a partition. When I announced my arrival, immediately one of the several young men who were sitting in a long bench in the front part of the cabin, asked me to sit and wait and offered water. He said that the sir and madam are having lunch, so I will have to wait. Along with the young men, there was one young girl who seemed a potential maid to me. It is a registered agency, so they seemed to follow certain rules and guidelines. But despite asking for some documents or papers of sorts, they told us that they do not keep any of the documents themselves. It seemed unlikely considering the amount of paperwork they told us was involved. At the same time, there were piles of papers lying everywhere which I could not get my hands on in the first visit. It is essential to do an interview with one of the women who has been employed by this agency and if possible, with the employer, to verify the facts etc. Clearly, they realized the potential dangers faced by these women, and even if they had experiences of women having faced problems, it was quite unlikely that they will tell it to me. Next week, I visited the *Kotla* *Chowk* where labour is recruited everyday at a daily wage. There we met Rajaram, a small time thekedar who informed us that the ‘going rate’ for men varied between Rs. 100 to 150 a day depending on the nature of work and for women it was Rs. 90 per day. He also told us that women hardly did construction labour or sat at chowks anymore they mainly did domestic labour. He told us he sometimes obtained work for the women in Seva Nagar Basti. *Miss Jaya’s employment agency:* I visited an employment agency, run by Miss. Jaya, in Lajpat Nagar (I got the address through the Hindustan Times newspaper). The agency supplies not only domestic labour but also tutors, clerks for offices etc. The agency is registered and follows an extremely contractual system of recruiting and placing labour. Women are mostly demanded for nursing, childcare, maid work and housekeeping. Women below 18 are not given employment through this agency and a complete identification and bio data of the candidate is procured before she is recommended for a post. The agent did not seem to know much about where they came from, said mostly Jharkhand, Orissa, Assam and MP. The network is mainly a word of mouth one; women who have been employed through the agency, recommend it to other women. Suitability, salary, nature of work are all settled by means of an agreement signed by both parties (the employers and the employee). The employer is charged a commission by the agency for supplying them with labour. Field staff is employed to regularly check that both parties are satisfied. When asked if any of the candidates had ever faced any problems he said no. We were unable to glean any details about the women themselves, their support networks and their experience of doing domestic labour. Clearly the agency did not concern itself with anything about the women other than the terms of the contract. Note: It was a one- room office and Miss Jaya herself was on leave, off to America, they said. The two people who were manning the office were extremely busy, dealing with numerous phone calls, dealing with some women who had come there for work, etc. When I called them for appointment, they readily agreed for the visit. On Aug 5, Maya went again to the /chowk /at Kotla Mandi, where labour waits everyday for work. There were about 80-100 men lining either side of the road and one woman who were awaiting a contractor to give them work for the day. I spoke to the woman, but could not get much information as we were immediately surrounded by the men! She said she came everyday and worked for a daily wage of Rs.100. She lives near Kotla and was originally from Jhansi. She has been in Delhi for ten years. When I asked her who helped her get housing and construction work, she replied no one, she had to do it all by herself. Clearly she didn’t get an opportunity to talk with an overwhelming number of men volunteering information all the time. Apparently only 2 or 3 women came everyday and the others had left. I sat there for a while till a Maruti car drove up. Some labourers picked up their implements and rushed to the car. Hurried negotiations were carried out after which the car drove away and the labourers got ready to go. Others dispersed. I went to a construction site at Moolchand. We were unable to talk to the workers that time, but I managed to speak to a woman worker late at night. Her name was Anjali and she lives in a basti in Lajpat Nagar (which we subsequently visited). She, her husband and the entire team of workers at the site were temporary migrants who had come to Delhi to earn money when the agricultural season was lean. They were from Khatiyaari district in Bihar. Every year, their thekedar, a man from their village, brings a group of them to Delhi to supply labour for construction. Here they settle down for about six months, usually in rented accommodation till they return to their villages. they do not find work on their own, only through their thekedar, who takes them to the work site everyday, and brings them back and ensures that they get their payment. Women are required either when its time to construct the ceiling, or to break stones. They get Rs. 100 for a day’s work, about Rs. 1500 a month is spent on food provisions and other houselhold expenses. When asked if she faced problems during work, any kind of problems, the answer was predictable. There were no problems at work, it had to be done. Moreover, she came with her husband and brother in law, so she was never alone. She had one small child with her at work and a daughter who she had left in the village. The entire group comes together from Khatiyaari zila and will go back together. From basharatpeer at rediffmail.com Wed May 19 12:33:03 2004 From: basharatpeer at rediffmail.com (basharat peer) Date: 19 May 2004 07:03:03 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] new yorker-abu ghraib link Message-ID: <20040519070303.15274.qmail@webmail25.rediffmail.com> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20040519/0cd99e8a/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- hi friends, here is the link to the new yorker article on abu ghraib. the page has links to the magazine's entire coverage of iraq, especially the crimes in abu ghraib. you will find those pictures of infamy too. http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040524fa_fact best, basharat From kalpagam25 at rediffmail.com Wed May 19 19:17:57 2004 From: kalpagam25 at rediffmail.com (kalpagam - umamaheswaran) Date: 19 May 2004 13:47:57 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] May Posting-Roadside Temples in Chennai Message-ID: <20040519134757.3143.qmail@webmail10.rediffmail.com> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20040519/9b41914a/attachment.html -------------- next part --------------   Here is the posting for May a few days in advance U.Kalpagam Chennai's Roadside Temples This time I will share with you the perceptions of women residing in slums and low income neighbourhoods about roadside temples in their localities. I had two rounds of discussions with the members of an NGO in Chennai called Working Women's Forum. My discussions with them revealed new facts and has given leads to what I should pursue in my fieldwork in June. Kalyani from Triplicane complained of two problems in her neighbourhood-metrowater distribution and the two roadside temples, one of Ganesh and the other Mariamman, both of which have given scope for rowdies to be active. She resented the annual vazool made by the rowdy elements from the neighbourhood people including the Muslim population towards temple expenses such as flower decoration and so on. Sometimes they extort money more frequently she noted. Anbarasi's mother was earlier working in a factory doing odd jobs and when she could no longer do that, she starting saying "kuri" or predictions in her temple near her house and for the last ten years has been solely dependent on her temple for her sustenance. She set up the Amman temple some twenty odd years before. She even recently spent 1.5 lakhs, more of it her own money with some collections added on to put up a construction. She apparently has faced police harassment with more than 25 policemen descending at her place in the night and threatening her over some property dispute and she was compelled to approach a lawyer to settle the issue. A few women told me that in the Amman temples in their localities they still had devotees who on occasions thrust needles in their throats and other such feats. Muslims in their neighbourhood also had fire walking ceremonies. The origin of most of the Mariamman temples are in some ways related to the appearance of snakes and snake pits in reality or in dreams. Saraswathi of Sharmanagar locality in North Chennai told me of the origin of a roadside temple in her locality. Apparently the lady who initiated the temple had a snake appear in her dream one night and told her to put up a temple there, the snake was followed by the neem tree and the arasam tree in the dream. So she put up the temple. A similar story was narrated by Mallika of Annanagar of an Amman temple now in the Meenambakkam airport. There was apparently a snake pit there and once a Rickshaw puller had a dream when a snake appeared in his dream and asked him to put up a temple there. He put up a small shrine. When the airport was going to be expanded they were about to demolish the shrine. It seems then a large number of snakes came out of the shrine and so they decided against its demolition and the shrine is now enclosed within the precincts of the airport. People hold a number of beliefs about Nagamma's powers and make a distinction between "divine snakes" and "ordinary snakes". In one temple they found the idol growing, in another they found the neem tree shedding milk, in yet another a school boy observed the temple shaking, in another the Amman came out of the earth. There are also such stories of the past in popular memory. In Koalvizhiamman temple in Mylapore that has existed for long, popular memory has recorded the incident of how a British officer tried to remove the idol and of how he subsequently became blind. In all these Amman temples the Tamil months of Aadhi and Panguni are festive months when neighbourhoods collectively celebrate many pujas and distribute porridge to all. I was surprised to hear of a number of women who not only initiated the setting up of temples but also served there as pujaris. Loganayaki of Vyasarpadi told me of how she became the pujari of the Angalaparameshwari temple there. The owner of the temple left the area and went away to Panmal. The previous caretaker of the temple who was a rowdy element wanted to buy it but the owner got angry and threw away the keys. The temple was locked for a while without any pujas being performed for the idol. Then one day the goddess appeared in Loganayaki's dream and told her the temple doors would soon open. The next morning she went to a flower seller nearby and told him of her dream the previous night. To their surprise the owner from Panmal appeared the very same days with the temple keys and gave it to Loganayaki and asked her to be the caretaker and perform the pujas everyday. Apart from the Amman there are numerous Ganesh temples at every nook and corner. No such belief in snakes are associated with this. It was proposed to me that the number of Ganesh temples was on account of the widespread belief that worship of Ganesh signifies auspicious beginnings. Which is why I was told that these days as soon as an apartment block is constructed they put up a Ganesh temple there to facilitate convenient worship rather than have to walk long distances to a temple. Whereas Amman worship is associated with the non-Brahmin castes, Ganesh temples mobilize the faith of all Hindus. While I did see Christian images and figureines adjacent to compound walls in a few places, no such evidence was present for the Muslims so far. From rohinipatkar123 at rediffmail.com Wed May 19 16:16:27 2004 From: rohinipatkar123 at rediffmail.com (rohini patkar) Date: 19 May 2004 10:46:27 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] monthly posting Message-ID: <20040519104627.5500.qmail@webmail6.rediffmail.com> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20040519/9c6eb0df/attachment.html -------------- next part --------------   monthly posting The network used for the getting work by the women: The third party interviews are meant to give an insight into the channels that are used by the migrant domestic workers for finding work for themselves. These are those networks of people that women have access to (or are approached by) who help them find work, housing, etc, in Delhi; or bring them from their native villages to towns and cities. Delight Consultancy Services, Ashram (Below the Srinivaspuri Flyover) On March 10th, I visited a domestic worker’s employment agency in Ashram called Delight Consultancy Services. I tried to explore the details about the process used in recruiting women. They told that they do not recommend candidates for employment unless equipped with their complete “bio –data”, they do not send minors for employment anywhere and women are not sent to work for single men. Many of the girls come from Calcutta, as the woman, Meenu who is a partner in the agency is herself from a village in Calcutta. She said that the girls who have already been employed through them bring new girls from their native villages to be employed. They match the profile of a girl with that of the employer and then send them to work. The credentials of the employer are checked thoroughly and they are completely responsible for the girl’s well being. In the event of any dissatisfaction, both the employer and the employee can contact the agency. The salary is negotiated by the agency to the satisfaction of both parties and the agency gets a commission depending on the post for which they supply candidates. The proprietors said that they haven’t received any complaints at all in the past one and a half years that they have been running their enterprise. Note: The office was a small cabin- like structure, situated in the basement of a building. It had a partition. When I announced my arrival, immediately one of the several young men who were sitting in a long bench in the front part of the cabin, asked me to sit and wait and offered water. He said that the sir and madam are having lunch, so I will have to wait. Along with the young men, there was one young girl who seemed a potential maid to me. It is a registered agency, so they seemed to follow certain rules and guidelines. But despite asking for some documents or papers of sorts, they told us that they do not keep any of the documents themselves. It seemed unlikely considering the amount of paperwork they told us was involved. At the same time, there were piles of papers lying everywhere which I could not get my hands on in the first visit. It is essential to do an interview with one of the women who has been employed by this agency and if possible, with the employer, to verify the facts etc. Clearly, they realized the potential dangers faced by these women, and even if they had experiences of women having faced problems, it was quite unlikely that they will tell it to me. Next week, I visited the Kotla Chowk where labour is recruited everyday at a daily wage. There we met Rajaram, a small time thekedar who informed us that the ‘going rate’ for men varied between Rs. 100 to 150 a day depending on the nature of work and for women it was Rs. 90 per day. He also told us that women hardly did construction labour or sat at chowks anymore they mainly did domestic labour. He told us he sometimes obtained work for the women in Seva Nagar Basti. Miss Jaya’s employment agency: I visited an employment agency, run by Miss. Jaya, in Lajpat Nagar (I got the address through the Hindustan Times newspaper). The agency supplies not only domestic labour but also tutors, clerks for offices etc. The agency is registered and follows an extremely contractual system of recruiting and placing labour. Women are mostly demanded for nursing, childcare, maid work and housekeeping. Women below 18 are not given employment through this agency and a complete identification and bio data of the candidate is procured before she is recommended for a post. The agent did not seem to know much about where they came from, said mostly Jharkhand, Orissa, Assam and MP. The network is mainly a word of mouth one; women who have been employed through the agency, recommend it to other women. Suitability, salary, nature of work are all settled by means of an agreement signed by both parties (the employers and the employee). The employer is charged a commission by the agency for supplying them with labour. Field staff is employed to regularly check that both parties are satisfied. When asked if any of the candidates had ever faced any problems he said no. We were unable to glean any details about the women themselves, their support networks and their experience of doing domestic labour. Clearly the agency did not concern itself with anything about the women other than the terms of the contract. Note: It was a one- room office and Miss Jaya herself was on leave, off to America, they said. The two people who were manning the office were extremely busy, dealing with numerous phone calls, dealing with some women who had come there for work, etc. When I called them for appointment, they readily agreed for the visit. On Aug 5, Maya went again to the chowk at Kotla Mandi, where labour waits everyday for work. There were about 80-100 men lining either side of the road and one woman who were awaiting a contractor to give them work for the day. I spoke to the woman, but could not get much information as we were immediately surrounded by the men! She said she came everyday and worked for a daily wage of Rs.100. She lives near Kotla and was originally from Jhansi. She has been in Delhi for ten years. When I asked her who helped her get housing and construction work, she replied no one, she had to do it all by herself. Clearly she didn’t get an opportunity to talk with an overwhelming number of men volunteering information all the time. Apparently only 2 or 3 women came everyday and the others had left. I sat there for a while till a Maruti car drove up. Some labourers picked up their implements and rushed to the car. Hurried negotiations were carried out after which the car drove away and the labourers got ready to go. Others dispersed. I went to a construction site at Moolchand. We were unable to talk to the workers that time, but I managed to speak to a woman worker late at night. Her name was Anjali and she lives in a basti in Lajpat Nagar (which we subsequently visited). She, her husband and the entire team of workers at the site were temporary migrants who had come to Delhi to earn money when the agricultural season was lean. They were from Khatiyaari district in Bihar. Every year, their thekedar, a man from their village, brings a group of them to Delhi to supply labour for construction. Here they settle down for about six months, usually in rented accommodation till they return to their villages. they do not find work on their own, only through their thekedar, who takes them to the work site everyday, and brings them back and ensures that they get their payment. Women are required either when its time to construct the ceiling, or to break stones. They get Rs. 100 for a day’s work, about Rs. 1500 a month is spent on food provisions and other houselhold expenses. When asked if she faced problems during work, any kind of problems, the answer was predictable. There were no problems at work, it had to be done. Moreover, she came with her husband and brother in law, so she was never alone. She had one small child with her at work and a daughter who she had left in the village. The entire group comes together from Khatiyaari zila and will go back together. From zest_india at yahoo.co.in Wed May 19 18:16:53 2004 From: zest_india at yahoo.co.in (=?iso-8859-1?q?Shivam=20Vij?=) Date: Wed, 19 May 2004 13:46:53 +0100 (BST) Subject: [Reader-list] Neither Positive, Nor Interaction Message-ID: <20040519124653.58976.qmail@web8202.mail.in.yahoo.com> Please circulate this widely. Neither Positive, Nor Interaction By Shivam Vij It is astonishing how the practice of ragging, despite being outlawed by the Supreme Court of India and the UGC finds so many defenders amongst students, parents, and academics. Too many people concentrate on what are their personal views on the subject, without being aware that ragging is now a punishable crime. But the law, of course, is an ass — unless it matches your ‘views’. When a fresher enters a college hostel, he enters a new, unfamiliar world. Instead of hospitality, s/he gets hostility. It begins from fetching seniors’ luggage from the college gate to his or her room, to brutal sexual abuse that has lead to countless suicides. Yet ragging finds defenders. They say that ragging makes freshers strong, and yet the process of getting ragged actually weakens them. (They compensate for this by becoming raggers from the next year.) A fresher is ragged not once, and not by a single senior: s/he is ragged again and again, day and night, and more in the night. Just when s/he thinks the worst is over, comes another ragger whose name the fresher does not know. Ragging, even when it is not sexual, can be traumatic because it operates on the basis of the fear of the future. ‘Do this or we’ll make you do that...’ is how every senior behaves. And a senior is not satisfied by ragging you once: s/he rags you again and again, as many times as s/he wants, until the ‘official’ ragging period is over. So even if a fresher is just made to fetch water, s/he is troubled because s/he doesn’t know if s/he will be asked to undress yet again when s/he returns. A college hostel under the curfew of ragging is a situation other than ‘normalcy’; it is a situation of a social breakdown. But popular discourses on ragging never focus on such trauma, leave alone recognise it as a violation of human rights. Popular discourses on ragging — be it newspaper coverage of the issue every year in July-August or representations of ragging in films like Munnabhai MBBS (2003) — insist that ragging is ‘fun’. They don’t elaborate that ragging is fun only for the ragger, not for the ragged. They don’t elaborate that ragging arises from repressed sexuality and results in forced homosexuality, or that ragging is a debasing activity that does not stand any kind of intellectualisation. Is reciting under duress limericks composed of incestuous expletives at three a.m. in the morning ‘fun’? Not to me. But it’s fun for the ragger to see how he was able to exercise control over me. Then how did ragging benefit me? The defenders are not short of answers. No college hostel calls ragging by its name. The pseudonyms are phrases like “positive interaction”. Positive it certainly is not, but it cannot be called ‘interaction’ either. Interaction is a two-way process that may involve debate and dissent. Ragging, however, is a series of dramatic monologues where the bullying, bellowing senior takes it upon himself to “psyche out” the fresher. The purpose of this exercise is sadistic pleasure and that only. A senior asked me: “All first years are dead afraid of me and you say leave me alone? Either you’re mad or you’ve been sneaking.” Had it been ‘interaction’, I would have asked: “Why do you want people to be afraid of you?” I still want to ask him this question, but we are estranged. Then there is this thing about ‘introduction’. Every fresher begins to be ragged afresh by giving his ‘intro’ which consists of, amongst other things, names of the people who occupied his room before him. The senior does not even provide his or her name. So whose introduction is it anyway? The fresher, because s/he is under duress, does not reveal him or herself honestly. S/he tries to give an answer that is likely to please the senior. Introduction? Interaction? Another myth is that your worst raggers become your best friends. Not necessarily. But even if s/he does, why should every friendship in college begin with ‘Oye fachch! Come here you mother*****’? That the initial phase of ragging (which may occupy anywhere between one week to the whole academic year) contributes to a closely knit hostel community is a myth. For example, in a college which is supposed to foster ‘liberal and secular values’ several seniors, surprisingly, insisted on asking me if I was a believer. I honestly said I was an atheist, for which they ragged me all the more, and are still prejudiced against me for my lack of faith. Had it not been for ragging, faith or the lack of it could well have remained a private matter for both of us. But privacy and ragging are strange bedfellows. Defenders of ragging firmly believe in something called “mild ragging”, which, in short, is asexual ragging. But any form of ragging involves subjugating a fresher for he made the fault of having taken birth one year after the senior. Any kind of subjugation and domination hurts one’s self-esteem and dignity. Inability to survive ragging is termed cowardice. Giving into one demand after another of irrational seniors is bravery. Freshers who are ragged the most should be bestowed with the Param Veer Chakra along with a citation that reads extracts from the Supreme Court’s anti-ragging law. Then ragging is justified with that hollow word, tradition, which might be a synonym for colonial hangover. Sati too is a tradition. So is hypocrisy. This talk of tradition also has to do with alumni nostalgia. One example. In an essay called “The Lessons of Rudra Court”, Amitav Ghosh describes how ragging in St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, brought him close to a senior called Rukun Advani and a junior called Mukul Kesavan. Ghosh shows how his association with the two was germane for his literary career. Amidst this romanticisation of ragging there is only one line that gives you a larger picture: that he and his batchmates often had to sleep in pipelines in Kamla Nagar to escape ragging. People tend to forget that pain and remember only how their friends ragged them as seniors. The pain of first year is more than compensated in second and third years, and so the vicious cycle continues. Defenders of ragging say it is necessary to go through this vicious cycle as a rite of passage to manhood. “Ragging nahi hogi to mard kaisay banogay?” Now who or what is a ‘mard’? Such notions of gender are highly problematic. Besides, boys who are day scholars and never live in a hostel, don’t they ‘become men’? If a fresher refuses to be ragged and/or complaints to the college administration, s/he can face anything ranging from marginalisation from the hostel community to violent reprisals that may also be sexual. S/he may be at the receiving end of the classic power strategy of blaming-the-victim. His local guardians may be told that your child is seeing ghosts, or that s/he is hyper-sensitive. An insensitive world sees hyper-sensitivity as a crime. When people condescendingly sympathise with him or her as a victim figure, it hurts his or her self-esteem all the more. S/he is made to feel that the fault lies with him/her and not with the system. The system has no exit clause. But ragging does serve one purpose. Walking four kilometres at dawn to fetch parathas for a senior does introduce you to popular eateries around the college. Raggers unwittingly introduce you to all aspects of college life. This means that elimination of the practice of ragging will have to be replaced with a more civilised institution. This should be on the lines of what many countries follow, and some Indian institutions like IIT Kanpur, follow it too. This is the system of student guides, where every fresher, or a group of freshers, is under the charge of a senior, who helps these freshers settle down and be at ease with their new environment. Thanks to ragging I was afraid of exploring all parts of my college several weeks after admission. A senior who hadn’t got the chance to rag me and later became my friend, asked me to meet him at the back gate in the evening, but I didn’t know where the back gate was. He said I was in this pitiable state because I hadn’t been ragged. He then showed me the way to the back gate. Now I know that part of the college without having been sent there by raggers. And the senior who ultimate took me there is one of my closest friends now, even though he never ragged me. Ragging has been gradually declining across the country, thanks in part to the Supreme Court judgement which says that if a college can’t eliminate ragging, government grants to it can be reduced or stopped altogether, and the college may even be disaffiliated. This does not mean that ragging suicides have stopped taking place. They still do, and find a one-column space in a local paper. Scenes of freshers dancing in DU colleges in the middle of July finds lead photos in all the Delhi papers, with articles that mourn the decline of ragging. Seniors invariably tell juniors: this is nothing, we faced worse. This may be exaggeration in order to justify ragging, but if it’s true, why are we morning it? If the perverse practice of ragging has been tottering to a fall we must assist it to a peaceful demise. We owe this to countless teenagers who went to college in another city with hopes of a bright future, but became a part of the past. If there is no Amitav Ghosh to write their obituaries, we must fill the gap. I have tried to indicate in this article that ragging is not restricted to the male sex. In my involvement with an anti-ragging NGO I discovered cases of abhorrent sexual ragging in girls’ hostels. Heterosexual ragging exists too, but it never gets as bad because hostels of boys and girls are mutually exclusive zones in a society that doesn’t trust its children with their sexuality, but is happy with homosexual ragging. shivamvij at hotmail.com ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online. http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony/ From mirzachhotoo at yahoo.co.in Fri May 21 01:06:09 2004 From: mirzachhotoo at yahoo.co.in (=?iso-8859-1?q?nisha=20-?=) Date: Thu, 20 May 2004 20:36:09 +0100 (BST) Subject: [Reader-list] Oxford University Hindu Society in 'militant fundamentalist' controversy Message-ID: <20040520193609.77423.qmail@web8301.mail.in.yahoo.com> http://www.oxfordstudent.com/2004-05-20/news/1 Hindu Society in 'militant fundamentalist' controversy Matt Trueman Oxford University Hindu Society (HUM) was dramatically forced to drop a charity that was set to benefit from its 'Mumbai Rouge' fundraising event, after alleged links with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a militant Hindu fundamentalist group, came to light. The event, billed as an "elegant evening of dance, song and fashion", had been due to split proceedings between the British Heart Foundation and SEWA International, the latter of which describes itself as "dedicated to the cause of Humanity". However, just two hours before the event was due to begin, associates of St Hilda's College, where it was to be held, coerced the organisers into ditching SEWA International. This resulted from the receipt of what HUM described as "hate mail", in the wake of a report detailing its contentious connections. The report, first made public in the House of Lords by AWAAZ - South Asia Watch - associates HSS UK, the funding arm of which is SEWA International, with the RSS. It states both are "UK branches of the Indian RSS family, dedicated to promoting the RSS and its ideology," whose "primary aim... is to create physical and ideological training cells" in the UK, with a "reported 72 training cells" currently in practice. Suresh Grover, president of AWAAZ, described his organisation as "the first permanent structure to look at fundamentalism in South Asia", "secular" and consisting of "academics, lawyers and students". The RSS, formed in the 1920s, is an all-male group dedicated to turning India into an exclusively Hindu state. It has been banned three times in India, twice for its role in fomenting religious hatred and serious anti-minority violence, and is thought to have played a large part in the 2002 Gujarat mob killing of 2,000, mostly Muslims. Mahatma Gandhi's assassin was also once an "activist" in the organisation. Despite the report's existence for almost three months, and an ongoing investigation launched by the Charities Commission in November 2002 following "allegations... that the charity was supporting militant organisations in India," HUM committee members Chirag Sanghrajka and Praajakta Thackare told The OxStu that the accusations were "not really [considered by the committee as a whole] before the event". They said that HUM is "affiliated to the National Hindu Students Forum and chose SEWA International purely because it is the national charity they support." A spokesman for HSS UK dismissed the AWAAZ report as "all anti-Hindu propaganda." Shantilal Mistry, chair of SEWA International, said: "We're not that kind of secret organisation, sponsoring fundamentalism. We openly invite donors to come and see the work that is being done. We're not involved in any kind of politics or discrimination." HUM, which similarly "does not affiliate itself, nor promote the agenda of any political party", was described by its Secretary, Praajakta Thackare, as a "very small religious, cultural and social society". However, Grover told The OxStu, "There are members of Oxford Hindu Society that are members of the HSS both in this country and in India", although HUM itself denies any of the committee are members. 'Mumbai Rouge' consisted of "music, catwalks and a variety show" and drew"expected numbers of about 100", each paying £8-9. Sanghrajka described it as "really good fun". However, some students who attended the gala took a dim view of the original support of SEWA International. Gemma Avey, a first year Modern Languages student, told The OxStu: "I probably wouldn't have wanted to pay £9 to it, but, then again, I only went to support a friend." Peter's student William Pearce stated that he "certainly would have had second thoughts", and expressed some disappointment at the seeming "lack of research". While Oxford's HUM, which had "never given money to SEWA International", has "not been banned" from supporting the group, Sanghrajka said: "I don't know if we will be supporting them again." Shantilal Mistry of SEWA International, stated he had "nothing to say as it's their decision. Manchester Student Union has just raised some money for us. We don't influence anyone and have nothing to hide." Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20040520/44f669a0/attachment.html From zest_india at yahoo.co.in Sat May 22 20:00:27 2004 From: zest_india at yahoo.co.in (=?iso-8859-1?q?Shivam=20Vij?=) Date: Sat, 22 May 2004 15:30:27 +0100 (BST) Subject: [Reader-list] Saving Mostakina Message-ID: <20040522143027.25586.qmail@web8203.mail.in.yahoo.com> Saving Mostakina By Shamim Ahsan and Kajalie Shehreen Islam in Dhaka Daily Star (Bangladesh) / 2 May 2004 http://www.thedailystar.net/magazine/2004/05/02/coverstory.htm Down the long corridors of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) at the One-Stop Crisis Centre sits a little girl with a plastic doll in her hand. In her orange and red floral printed dress and two little ponytails at the top of her head, she could be anyone's child. Except for the claw marks all over her young cheeks, the nasty gash at the corner of one eye, the severe burns down both her arms. Who would tolerate such abuse silently in this day and age? What kind of a person would inflict such torture on anyone, let alone a child? Mostakina is the ten-year-old domestic "servant" girl everyone saw on the news last week, with blood oozing out of the side of her face. Rescued from the house of her employers, Dr. ABM Jamal and Dr. Fatema Doza, Mostakina had been suffering such cruelty for the past one year. "I never told anyone," says Mostakina, when asked whether she had gone to anyone for help. "I was afraid she would beat me even more." As any child would, Mostakina sometimes broke a few things or thread would come out of a piece of clothing she had washed. Considering the age of the girl, and the fact that she did practically all the housework except cooking -- from cleaning the floors to washing and ironing clothes -- it really wasn't much. But Fatema Doza, a doctor at DMCH, beat Mostakina for the most minor mistakes. She would claw at her face and hit her with anything, from sticks and brooms to bread rollers. The "Bua" would also be hit and slapped and made to drink dirty water when the dishes weren't washed clean enough. Mostakina was made to drink Doza's children's urine. "She would even spit on my rice," she says. Mostakina was not paid any monthly salary, usually on the pretext of it being extracted against the price of the things she had broken or ruined. She would also not be given anything to eat the day she broke anything. Even when she was, it was a bit of one piece of fish split many ways. Two months ago, after Doza put a heated electric iron to Mostakina's arm, the girl tried to run away. But before she could get very far, the darwan caught her and brought her back. Last week, when some thread came out of another apparel, Doza hit Mostakina on the face with a bread roller and burnt her other arm with the iron. It was only when the injured girl went to put out the garbage that a conscientious neighbour saw her condition and called the police. "I want her to be punished," says the little girl. "I don't want Phupa (Dr. ABM Jamal) to be punished. He never hit me. He asked Phupi not to hit me. But she wouldn't listen. She would beat me when he was at the hospital. If he protested when he got home, she would beat him too with a broom.” "The last time she did this," says Mostakina, "he told her not to hit another person's child. If I died, how would they face the consequences, who would pay for the court case, he asked her. She said it would be good if I really did die.” Sub-Inspector Baqui was loitering in Katabon intersection when he received a call from the police headquarters at around 12.30 pm. He was instructed to go to an apartment building at 2/10 Paribagh behind PG hospital where a minor girl with serious injuries was to be found. In 15 minutes Baqui was at the apartment building gate and the darwan led him to the particular flat. But he couldn't enter the house as it was locked. Upon instruction the girl readily came to the verandah and talked to Baqui who stood on the street. Baqui was confirmed about the incident. He then decided to wait in the second floor in the landlord's apartment as he was told that Dr. Jamal, who went to bring his son back from school, would return soon. At around 1.20 pm Jamal came back home and when asked about the beating up of their housemaid, he simply denied that any such incident had taken place. Baqui then told that he had already talked to the girl and Jamal didn't have any option but to allow him in. "I was shocked when the girl was brought before me the scar with a diametre of about one and a half inches, just a couple of inches beneath her left eye was still fresh, with a blackish shadow all around it", says Baqui. "There were also burn injuries, perhaps one or two days old, long and straight on both her forearms. When I asked her she related how she was burnt with a heated iron, her voice choking with suppressed tears. I found marks of beating on almost all over her body; The woman seemed to have beaten her with virtually everything she could lay her hands on. I have never seen such inhuman torture on such a small child in the six years of service," Baqui narrates. Around 2.40pm the housewife returned home upon her husband's phone call. "She first denied of ever putting the iron on her face, and started to scold the girl right before me asking her why she lied to me. Upon my insistence she later conceded that she sometimes gave her 'mild beatings', but that was due to Mostakina's intolerable naughtiness or when she committed some 'grave sins' like breaking a tea-cup or for not sweeping up the floors as good as the woman wanted. Her husband also corroborated her accusations saying that Mostakina was by nature a little naughty but he admitted that it wasn't right for his wife to treat her that way. He then tried to condone his wife's behaviour saying that she sometimes couldn't keep her cool and did these things in the heat of the moment," Baqui. The couple was arrested and brought to Ramna thana and Baqui lodged a case under the Special Act for Prevention of Women and Children Repression 2000, as the plaintiff. Mostakina is, in a sense, lucky. Unlike many others who have been subjected to similar kind of brutality and will continue to suffer indefinitely Mostakina has at least been rescued from her tormentors. But the big question now is will her tormentors be brought to justice? If past records are any indication there is almost no chance to see the perpetrators get punished. In March of this year, Shirin, a 14-year-old domestic worker in Rajshahi was raped and killed. Though her employers said she committed suicide and hung herself, police suspected they had something to do with the murder and arrested them. Shirin's mother said she did not want any trouble and that the money she could get was all that mattered. But the next day, Shirin's employer Sharmin Sultana Dipa, who often used to beat her, confessed strangling Dipa to death and hanging her. It is still not known who raped the teenager. Hasna Hena worked for a woman in Mirpur. Another maid at the house would do things wrong and blame Hasna for it. When one day she put too many tea leaves in a cup of tea Hasna had made for her mistress, the woman tossed away the cup, beat Hasna and threw her out of the house. Hasna's uncle later took her to the police and the hospital. After two months at the hospital, Hasna joined a shelter home, Proshanti. Banu is another domestic worker who joined the shelter home after spending a month in the hospital after being beaten by her employer. The list -- of only those who have actually filed cases -- goes on. Bangladesh National Women's Lawyers Association, better known as BNWLA, a human rights organisation that provides legal aid, is handling Mostakina's case and has the experience of conducting more than two hundred such cases of repression on domestic workers over the last two decades. But it has succeeded in getting the offender/s punished in only seven or eight cases. The data provided by Mominul Islam Shuruz, Senior Investigation Officer of BNWLA, lists various reasons for such a piteous record. A large number of cases fizzle out even before they are taken up in the court while many more end midway after good initial progress. Money does the trick in most cases. The only thing an offender has to do is get hold of the parents or guardians of the victim and offer a few thousand taka, and everything is settled. For a father who is forced to send his nine or 10-year-old daughter away from home so that she can earn her own food, money matters a lot. "10,000 taka for some bruises here and there appears too tempting an offer to reject," says Shuruz. Besides, he adds, for a poor, illiterate villager, police and court are jhamela (trouble), and compromise in exchange of monetary compensation seems a logical and even profitable option. Shuruz then relates an incident involving a brutal killing of a 14 year-old domestic help who was slaughtered by a kitchen knife by the housewife. After one or two hearings the victim's father stopped co-operating with us. We kept watch on him and one day we found him having lunch in the very house where his daughter worked and got brutally killed. When I asked him why he gave up the fight he seemed to have his answer ready: 'Shaheb has given me 40 thousand taka. Besides, what is the use of going to court? I am not going to get my daughter back.'" What many might find impossible to imagine is that simple to some. And once there is a settlement between offenders and the victim's family, the third party, that is BNWLA, which is providing legal aid, has to simply wash its hands of the case. "If we still persist, which we can technically do, we might find ourselves in more trouble. There have been cases where we were made to look as if we had ulterior motive or some profit to make out of the case in the guise of helping the victims," Shuruz explains. Police, as everywhere, play their dirty tricks here as well. Since they are directly involved in all the different stages of a case, from submitting the FIR (First Information Report) to submission of the charge sheet and it is they who conduct the entire investigation, they can influence the fate of a particular case to a great extent. "Police often intentionally leave big gaps while framing charges so that they can allow criminals to get off the hook in exchange of money. On the other hand the accused party -- in this case the doctor couple -- has a lot to offer. And if money fails to deliver they will wield their social, and if need be, even political influence. That they will escape punishment is almost a certainty," Shuruz cannot help being pessimistic. An interesting pattern can be detected in the incidents of violence against domestic help. Once the initial shock subsides, a conscious or unconscious urge to paint the 'brutal offence' as a 'mistake' begins to gain strength. The police who have rescued the victim, the doctors who have treated the serious wounds, the lawyer who is contesting on the victim's behalf and finally even the judge who is deciding the case, start to believe in the 'mistake theory' with growing conviction each day. But why does it happen this way? No doubt, poverty of the victim and corruption of the law-enforcing agency are often responsible for justice being denied, but there is another underlying force, far stronger and more complex in nature, at play. Abusing domestic help is not just another form of violence. It ensues from a very acute sense of class-awareness that is deeply buried in the collective consciousness of the so-called half-educated, middle-class bhodrolok. Once the vision gets blurred, he cannot see a person as a human being, but tends to differentiate between human beings using artificial criteria. Many of us, members of the so-called middle class, are thus quite biased and prejudicial in our judgement when considerating something we consider below our status -- domestic workers are easily relegated to lesser human beings who don't deserve equal treatment. Even after seeing the 10-year-old bearing such ferocious, raw marks of brutality comments like "you see, domestic workers are such a trouble", "whatever you say maidservants are also no dervishes", "sometimes, you just cannot bear with them", "they are all ungrateful thieves" are common. "I have even heard judges talking about how roguish these domestic workers really are," says Shuruz. No law, no honest police officer can solve it unless we rectify our corrupt, partial perspective. Mostakina's future is uncertain. Her mother passed away before she can remember. She was brought up by a neighbour. Her father later remarried and someone from her village brought her to the doctor couple. Her father hasn't visited her in the past year. After her treatment is completed, she will go into BNWLA's shelter home, Proshanti. Beyond that, as is the case with many other girls there, no one really knows. ===== ========================================== ZEST Reading Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-india ZEST Economics: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-economics ========================================== ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online. http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony/ From ysaeed7 at yahoo.com Sun May 23 16:30:49 2004 From: ysaeed7 at yahoo.com (Yousuf) Date: Sun, 23 May 2004 04:00:49 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Reader-list] Religious Posters & Talisman (posting 4) Message-ID: <20040523110049.15115.qmail@web51406.mail.yahoo.com> Sarai Fellowship 2004, posting No.4: Syncretism in Muslim Religious Posters in India: Iconic Devotion in an Iconoclastic Religion Islamic tantras for everyday problems A politician once came to a much sought-after spiritual healer at the dargah of Nizamuddin in Delhi and asked for a talisman and special prayers for his success in the elections. The Sufi Baba prescribed a complicated occult treatment of his problems and charged him a whopping 51,000 rupees for the whole affair. The candidate however lost in the election. Furious, he came back to the Baba and asked for a refund. The Baba�s reply was, �if you pay a doctor for the treatment of a disease and do not get treated, do you ask the doctor for a refund?� This story, told by a local resident, reflects the state of decadence and commercialization prevalent today in institutions such as the tombs of saints in much of south Asia�s Muslim localities. But the traditional practice of treating or solving day-to-day problems of health, business, family, security and so on, through the use of talisman, amulets, wazaif (invoking the divine through special incantations), and even shaman-like rituals, have existed in the Muslim societies since ages, despite being disapproved by the tenets of Islam. When all possible efforts fail to solve a particular problem in the people�s lives, they are ready to go to any extreme � any god, deity, priest or house of worship that may resolve their crisis (the reason why they are also exploited by some god men). Women in distress often help each other with a little talisman. �I prayed for you�take this prasad from Tirupati; I have got you some holy water from Bibi ka Roza; here take this cross from Velankanni, put it under the pillow; take this taweez from Nizamuddin for your son � it will bring him a job.� The complex labyrinth of aalims, god men, their occult methods, and their clients may need a more detailed sociological analysis and is being avoided here. This write-up deals mostly with the commonly available religious posters that depict the Muslim talismans and astrological charts for everyday use by the devotees. However, a brief introduction to the Muslim systems of spiritual healing, known by various names - taweez, ganda, amal, tilism, jyotish, tantra, najoom, and so on � is interwoven in the write-up. The contents and scope of a taweez depend upon the belief of the aalim (priest) who wrote it, which may range from strict monotheism to liberal polytheism. Those who believe in a refined Wahhabi type Islam use mostly the excerpts from the Qur�an, or the authentic prayers prescribed by the Prophet himself. But others may use complex elements such as astrologically calculated numbers, geometrical designs, names of the prophets, angels, spirits, and saints, sometimes along with the use of medicines, precious stones, sacrifice of animals, burning of clothes, or other odd rituals. Needless to say that even though some of the Muslim talismans may have originated in Arabia or central Asia, the later influences of the Hindu or local shaman practices of south Asia in them are almost indistinguishable now. Among the simplest and most commonly used and available taweez are the Quranic texts called Ayat al-Kursi (verse of the chair), and the Chahar Qul (four short surahs or chapters called Qul), beautifully calligraphed in many posters. Ayat al-Kursi (so-named as it mentions that the God�s kursi or chair extends over the heavens and the earth) is considered one of the most important, and spiritually potent, verses of the Qur�an. It is used by many for the protection from evil, enemies, accidents, theft and so on. The Chahar Qul are four of the most concluding short chapters of the Qur�an � not longer than 4-5 lines each � but considered to be carrying the potency of the entire Qur�an in them. These two prayers, besides being used in the talismans, are also incanted by most believing Muslims for treating health-related problems and for the success in exams and other hardships. These are also available printed on CDs (for your car), shiny stickers, metal plates and so on. Their use could probably be compared to that of the Hanuman Chalisa by the Hindus. (Incidentally, the Chalisa or repeating a prayer or ritual forty times is very common amongst Muslims.) Numbers play a very significant role in the shape of a tantra. In some cases, the numbers are easily translatable into geometrical shapes � the four Quls can simply be composed/calligraphed into the four equal parts of a square, a circle, four corners, or any other symmetrical alignment. The four corners or sides are then assigned the four directions of the earth, the four constituents of the world (earth, fire, air, water), four colours, and so on, for symbolic potency. Interestingly, the names of India�s four major Chishti saints, Khwaja Moinuddin Ajmeri, Hazrat Bakhtiar Ka�ki, Baba Farid, and Nizamuddin Aulia are treated as four pillars of Indian Muslim faith, and decorated in many posters in geometric arrangements. Another favourite amongst Muslims iconographers is the number five or khamsa. The shape of a hand with five fingers symbolizing the five members of the holy family � the Prophet Muhammad, his cousin Ali, daughter Fatima, and grandsons Hasan and Husain � is a very dear icon for most Shias, and a favourite subject for our posters too. The value of numbers in Islamic folklore acquires further significance as each digit has an equivalent in Arabic letters in a system of encryption called the abjad or chronogram. Hence �alif� is equal to one, �bay� to two and so on. Any verse, word or phrase can be translated into numbers, which carry the same potency as the words themselves. The most famous example of this is 786, the chronogram (numerical equivalent) of Bismillah arRahman arRahim (in the name of God�). It works the other way around too � the numbers of certain dates or measurements can be encrypted into Arabic words, verses or names, and used in talisman. �Basically, the taweez are supposed to be the means of communication (letters) between man and supernatural, hence they use complex language and actions which the ordinary people cannot understand,� says an experienced aalim. The Qur�an mentions 99 names or attributes of God, which is a major fascination for the iconographers. Besides using the 99 names in calligraphy, some of these have also been illustrated to depict those qualities of the God, of course, without making any apparent sign of God himself. While His name al-Razzaq (the One who nourishes) is depicted with the crops of food grains and fruits, al-Qawi (the Strong) is illustrated simply by a mighty mountain, and so on. Many specific talismans use only those names of God which serve their purpose � �Ya Razzaq� is repeated many times in a popular poster you can spot in many Muslim shops, which is meant for �makan aur dukan ki khair-o barkat� (the welfare and prosperity of the home and the shop). The small print at the bottom of the poster says, �the enemies of the householder/shopkeeper would bite the dust; the shop would prosper, the profits would soar; the home would be secure from diseases; (other�s) spells would be ineffective�� For its utility, one can�t help but compare it with Hindu posters of the goddess Lakshmi with coins dolling out from her hands, and small numerical charts on the top corners of the frame. One of the most important centres of Muslim spiritual/occult healing and �production� of talismans, is the town of Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, which houses the tomb of Imam Ahmad Raza Khan, whose north Indian followers are popularly called the Barelvis, or those who (according to the purists) indulge in all sorts of bidd�at or innovations in Islam. Many colourful talismans with complex geometry, numerals, some undecipherable words and syllables, found on the posters have been issued by the muftis of Bareilly. One of them worth mentioning here is a shield against the attack of an enemy � apparently a very old talisman. It has one large circle followed by further circles inside, divided by radial lines into small sections, each having an Arabic letter or a number. Further inside is a square divided into hundreds of geometric cells with tiny letters, numbers or prayers in them. From outside it does look like the shape of a shield � the kind used with a sword in wars. The small print at bottom says: Meant to shield from enemies, jinns, fairies, theft, fire and accident; prosperity at home, shop, and factory; safety of trucks, buses etc., and fidelity of friends. Most of the taweez are specifically issued for specific problems and users. But do they still remain effective when they enter the arena of mass duplication in our urban milieu? Since the large sized posters are also meant to decorate the walls, their artist, who are usually not the original designer/writer of the talisman, add their own visual elements of decoration and attractiveness, �which may not be a part of prescribed symbolism, and may even affect the potency of an amulet�, says an experienced aalim. Most old talismans were drawn or written by hand in one colour. But when the publisher decided to print these for mass consumption, the artist copying them added colour, floral patterns, and of course, the necessary elements of Muslim iconography � shrines of Mecca and Medina, crescent and star, names of Allah, Muhammad, and other saints. The common believers buying them do not pay much attention to these, as long as the poster describes in small print the benefits of the talisman. For them, something that looks beautiful on the wall and �benefits� their lives is even better. Hence a compact disc printed with the safar-ki-dua (prayer for a safe journey) hanging from your rearview mirror is the most attractive way to show off your car as well as guard yourself from horrible accidents. ----- I must admit that the above text provides only a brief overview of the subject � a sort of tip of the iceberg that the Indian Muslim iconography is. It is an enormous subject that requires documentation, decoding, and analysis by historians, linguists, and visual anthropologists. If someone has already done some work, or is working, on this subject, kindly enlighten us some more. Yousuf Saeed New Delhi, India ysaeed7 at yahoo.com For those who missed the first 3 postings: this project seeks to collect the contemporary religious posters and calendar art, depicting Muslim themes, mostly in north India, and analyze their content, focusing on the symbols of multi-faith or composite culture, besides studying briefly the industry and the artists who manufacture and sell them, the devotees who buy them, the milieu where they are adorned, and the reverence they evoke. This posting is only a section of the research and may not represent the holistic picture or the chronological sequence of the findings. More details, updates and a colourful poster gallery of the project can be seen at: www.alif-india.com/popart __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Domains � Claim yours for only $14.70/year http://smallbusiness.promotions.yahoo.com/offer From zest_india at yahoo.co.in Sun May 23 20:47:21 2004 From: zest_india at yahoo.co.in (=?iso-8859-1?q?Shivam=20Vij?=) Date: Sun, 23 May 2004 16:17:21 +0100 (BST) Subject: [Reader-list] EU-India Documentary (radio & TV) Initiative intensive course in documentary production Message-ID: <20040523151721.77025.qmail@web8201.mail.in.yahoo.com> EU-India Documentary (radio & TV) Initiative intensive course in documentary production From: "George Lessard" Date: Wed, 19 May 2004 EU-India Documentary (radio & TV) Initiative intensive course in documentary production in New Delhi, India Fully Funded EU-India Documentary (radio & TV) Initiative intensive course in documentary production skills & techniques in New Delhi, India Application form available at http://www.cba.org.uk/euindia.htm Deadline extended for applications to 31 May, 2004. The Commonwealth Broadcasting Association and the Thomson Foundation invite applications from young broadcast professionals for an EU-India documentary training and production programme on DIVERSITY AND CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION. It is a fully funded exchange programme during which participants will receive training and produce cross-cultural documentaries. THE EU-INDIA DOCUMENTARY INITIATIVE ON DIVERSITY AND CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION (DID-ACT) Applications invited from young broadcast professionals in India or an EU member state Deadline; 31 May 2004 for radio applicants from the EU and India The Thomson Foundation and the Commonwealth broadcasting Association invite applications from young broadcast professionals for an EU-India documentary training and production programme. The EU-INDIA DOCUMENTARY INITIATIVE ON DIVERSITY AND CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION (DID-ACT) is being undertaken by The Thomson Foundation and the CBA and other partners with the financial assistance of the European Union. It is a fully funded exchange programme during which participants will receive training and produce cross-cultural documentaries. The Thomson Foundation, based in Cardiff (UK) is a premier media training organisation ( www.thomsonfoundation.co.uk ) that trains journalists and media professionals in dozens of countries every year. The CBA is a membership-based organisation that carries out broadcasting training in Commonwealth countries, as well as running conference, bursaries, magazine and website. The course is open to professional broadcasters with at least two years of continuous experience in radio in India or an EU member state. The upper age limit for applicants is 35 years. They must possess good working knowledge of English. The number of scholarships available for European radio professionals is 4. Successful applicants will attend an intensive course in documentary production skills and techniques in New Delhi, India. They will then produce documentaries during a workshop that will entail travel to locations in India and the EU. Participants will be chosen to attend a workshop in August 2004. Full-time attendance will be required for 3 to 4 weeks in addition to preparatory work before the course begins. A series of broadcast-ready television and radio documentaries will be produced during the programme. The deadline for the application process is 31 May 2004. E-mailed applications are acceptable, but an additional hard copy of the application must be mailed to: Commonwealth Broadcasting Association, 17 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1AA cba at cba.org.uk Queries may be addressed to Savyasaachi Jain at saachi at thomfound.co.uk . They will be answered only by e-mail. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Q. What is the deadline for applications? A. The deadline for the television applications from nationals of EU member states is 31 May 2004. Q. Where should applications be sent? A. Television applicants from the EU member states should apply to: Ian Masters, Controller, Broadcasting, The Thomson Foundation, Cardiff CF10 3BB UK e-mail: mastersir at thomfound.co.uk Radio applicants from the EU member states should apply to: Elizabeth Smith, Secretary-General, The Commonwealth Broadcasting Association, 17 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1AA, UK Radio applicants from India should apply to: Savyasaachi Jain, EU Project Editor, India, A - 147 Sector 40, Noida (UP) 201 303, India Television applications from India have not yet been invited. Q. What is the schedule for the courses? A. The radio courses will be held during the summer of 2004, and the television courses later in the year. Q. Where will the courses be held? A. The courses will be held at the Indian Institute for Mass Communication, New Delhi Q. What are the topics the documentaries will cover? A. The documentaries will focus on diversity and its management, as well as on situations of conflict and their resolution/transformation. Q. Where will the documentaries be produced? A. Each documentary is expected to be recorded partly in India and partly in Europe. Q. Who are the trainers? A. The Thomson Foundation will provide the television trainers and the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association will provide the radio trainers. Q. I don't work in a broadcasting company, I work in an independent production house. Am I eligible to apply? A. Yes. Q. How much does it cost to participate? A. The programme is fully funded by the European Union and the contributions of the partners. The participants are not expected to pay anything. Q. What is the scholarship amount? A. The participants will not receive any money but their basic expenses on the course will be met by the programme. Q. Who will own the documentaries? A. All rights will be vested in The Thomson Foundation. Q. How many scholarships are available? A. A total of 32 places are available on the programme, divided equally between radio and television, India and the EU member states. Q. What should I do if I have any further queries? A. E-mail saachi at thomfound.co.uk Issued by: Bisakha Ghose Commonwealth Broadcasting Association 17 Fleet Street London EC4Y 1AA UK Tel: +44 (0) 207 583 5550 Fax: +44 (0) 207 583 5549 email: bisakha at cba.org.uk website: www.cba.org.uk ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online. http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony/ From grade at del6.vsnl.net.in Sat May 22 09:40:02 2004 From: grade at del6.vsnl.net.in (Rakesh) Date: Sat, 22 May 2004 09:40:02 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Review: Gender in the Hindu Nation, RSS women as ideologues by Paola Baccheta Message-ID: <005001c43fb2$af932080$980110ac@net> Books & Reports Mother goddesses and warriors: RSS women as ideologues By Rakesh Shukla Gender in the Hindu Nation: RSS Women as Ideologues By Paola Baccheta, 2004 Feminist Fineprint Published by Women Unlimited, an Associate of Kali for Women Price: Rs 200 Paola Baccheta's new book explores the minds and ideological constructs of women who are part of the nationalist Hindu movement Foreigners may not become prime minister but they do pretty good research in this country! Gender in the Hindu Nation, RSS Women as Ideologues, a recently released collection of essays by Paola Baccheta, Associate Professor of Women's Studies at University of California, is a case in point. Baccheta, who published her MPhil thesis, 'From the Mother Goddess to the Warrior: On the Shifting Place of Women in Communal Discourse in Contemporary Ahmedabad, Gujarat' in 1986, almost 15 years before the 2002 violence in Gujarat, is almost prophetic about the role played by Hindu women in the recent communal violence in Gujarat. Baccheta's essays have been published under the 'Feminist Fineprint' series brought out by Women Unlimited, an associate of Kali for Women. Judging by the price of Rs 200, the claim of being a moderately priced new series with essays with theoretical and political insights on issues of significance within India and South Asia seems authentic. The founding of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in 1925, its rigidly hierarchical structure with the Sarsanghchalak at the top and the system of appointment of leaders rather than elections is well-known to an Indian audience. Though the Sangh is open to married men, the 'Grihastha' (householder) is on a slightly lower footing than the 'virile but celibate' son of Bharatmata embodied in the 'Pracharak'. Ironically, like the exclusive Lords club, the scene of many a cricket battle, the Sangh accepts no women members. The first essay, 'Hindu Nationalist Women as Ideologues' focuses on the first-ever member of the Sangh Parivar (family), the Rashtriya Sevika Samiti for women. The Parivar never looked back and is by now an extensive family including the present Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the earlier and now defunct Jana Sangh, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) for students, the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) for workers and others covering almost all sections of society. At the very beginning, Baccheta deconstructs the absence of the word 'Swayam' (Self) in the name of the Samiti and its presence in the Sangh: "Man's self is individual while a woman's implies not only the individual self but also family, society, nation, religion and culture." She goes on to explain the differential conceptual constructs and symbols of the Sangh and Samiti within the overarching militant Hindu discourse. Interestingly, the English language publication of the organisation offers as the reason for the formation of the Samiti the impact of westernisation leading to the women's struggle for equal rights with the risk of women becoming less committed to love, sacrifice and service integral to imparting good 'samskaras' (culture/values) to the family. Addressing a different constituency, the Hindi language text offers founder Lakshmibai Kelkar's increasing awareness of the sexual exploitation of Hindu women and the need to fight back as the reason for the formation of the Samiti. In fact, harking back to the abduction of Sita by Ravana in the Ramayana, the text concludes that Hindu men cannot defend Hindu women and therefore the need for the Samiti to train women to defend themselves. To the three reasons -- Hindu disunity, Muslim invasions and British colonisation -- given by the Sangh for the decline of the nation, the Samiti adds marriage of Hindu men to 'non-Aryan' women, subjugation of Hindu women to Muslim men and reification of Hindu women in the British period. The depiction by the Sangh of geographical territory as a chaste female body (often a mother) along with the threat of violation by foreign invaders in order to whip up nationalism is well worked out. The Samiti on the other hand represents 'Bharatmata' not as victimised mother in need of virile sons but as the 'protector of saints', 'the very source of all power' and 'originator of all divinities'. Male apprehensions of women's power gone out of control and trampling masculinity have been interestingly linked by Baccheta to Kali dancing in celebration of victory over demons and trampling Shiva almost to death. Compared to the presentation of women, regardless of age or marital status as mothers and little sisters by the Sangh, the wider representations of women by the Samiti as pracharikas, citizens, warriors like Rani of Jhansi, daughters or the use of symbolism of Ashtabhuja, the eight-armed goddess carrying weapons, are shown to be divergences for wider appeal but falling well within the Hindu nationalist discourse. This brings us to the second essay, 'All the Goddesses are Armed: Religion, Resistance and Revenge in the Life of a Militant Hindu Nationalist Woman'. Though based on the life, personality and psyche of one woman alone, the essay manages to bring out the spaces offered by militant Hindu nationalism for greater independence and autonomy of women than are permissible in the general model of domestic femininity. Kamlaben, the protagonist, wears jeans and shirt, often travels alone in connection with the work of the Samiti, is trained not only in unarmed combat but also in the use of weapons! The acceptance of these departures from notions of a saree-clad, husband-devoted Hindu woman through expression within the discourse of non-demure armed goddesses slaying enemies offers a possible pointer towards the appeal of the Samiti for a section of young women. Travelling across the country in the cause of serving the Hindu Nation and protecting Hindu women does seem to offer a chance of greater autonomy and a life less controlled by family and society. Ironically this space is dependent upon a venomous hatred of Muslims and 'Muslim invasions', 'vivisection of Bharatmata', rape of Hindu women, demonisation of the Muslim male, justification of para-military training and ultimately violence and killing of Muslims essentially as defence, revenge and in fact a duty along the lines of the slaying of evil demons. Even though the interview with Kamlaben is extensive, too much can't be hung from a single peg. The last essay is 'Communal Property/Sexual Property: On Representations of Muslim Women in a Hindu Nationalist Discourse'. Emphasising the elimination of the feminine and homosocial conception of the material world by the RSS, Baccheta draws attention to the fact that from the beginning of the Sangh in 1925, all through the first Sarsanghchalak Dr Hedgewar's reign upto 1940, Hindu women found place only in an idealised symbolic form like Saraswati. Muslim femininity was totally absent as the Muslim 'race' could have no ideal symbolic dimension for the women to inhabit. During Golwalkar's reign from 1940 to 1973, the representation of Muslim women through articles, stories and satire takes the shape of 'baby-producing factories' making a 'population bomb' against the Hindus. Ignoring the widespread prevalence of bigamy among Hindus, the favourite hobby-horse of polygamy among Muslims is flogged to stoke fears of a burgeoning Muslim population which would soon outnumber Hindus in the sacred land. Muslim motherhood is reduced to a biological act and in sharp contrast Hindu motherhood is glorified. In a parallel discourse, Muslim women are also portrayed as victims of Muslim males, to be rescued by nationalist Hindu male heroes. Outlawing of polygamy and purdah within Islam and a call for the emancipation of Mulsim women also find place in that period. Interestingly, Hindu women demanding rights in relation to Hindu men are represented as westernised and non-Indian! During Sarsanghchalak Balasaheb Deoras's regime from 1973 to 1994, mass conversion of lower-caste Hindus to Islam led to the projection of Muslim women as luring Hindu women into their community using their sexual charms. Satire and modified mythological stories represented Muslim women as overly sexual, desiring Hindu nationalist men who are too chaste and committed to the Hindu nationalist discourse to desire them. The Shah Bano case, which led to the passing of legislation exonerating Muslim men from any responsibility for maintenance for the wife in the event of a divorce, saw the Sangh take on the mantle of protector of victimised Muslim women from the perceived evils of Islam and Muslim men. Articles about 'progressive' Muslim fathers wishing to marry their daughters to Hindu males to protect them from the evils of polygamy and talaq (divorce) appeared periodically in publications. Interconnections between the emasculation of virile sons by the existence of the Babri Masjid as a phallic symbol which colonises the Hindu Mother, and the destruction of the Masjid for the restoration of Hindu male virility and Hindu feminine purity have been well made. Written before the 2002 Gujarat violence, it tries to explore violence against Muslim women through the incident of gang-rape in Surat which was simultaneously videotaped. Interviews with Hindu men would have added significantly to the conclusions and enriched and deepened the understandings of the processes at work. Nevertheless, all in all, the book is a must for those interested in engaging with the underpinnings and direction of current militant Hindu nationalist discourse. --Rakesh Shukla is an advocate at the Supreme Court, New Delhi (InfoChange News & Features, May 2004) http://www.infochangeindia.org/bookandreportsst66.jsp -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20040522/a42b508d/attachment.html From iram02_g at yahoo.co.in Sat May 22 12:52:09 2004 From: iram02_g at yahoo.co.in (=?iso-8859-1?q?iram=20ghufran?=) Date: Sat, 22 May 2004 08:22:09 +0100 (BST) Subject: [Reader-list] call centre-posting Message-ID: <20040522072209.8146.qmail@web8205.mail.in.yahoo.com> Call Centre: Urban work Culture Encounter: Saurabh Tuesday night.10: 30 pm. An unexpected discovery. Saurabh. I was going through my customary ritual of flicking through magazines at the local roadside bookstall, after dinner. My ears picked up rather unexpected voices They were three young men. “ Viru honeymoon ke liye England jar raha hai wahan se Europe jayegaa phir Australia ” (Viru is going to England for his honeymoon from there he’ll go to Europe then Australia ) The banter went on for quite a while I became interested in this speaker. At the first look he seemed like a morphed image of a smiling bespectacled Harsha Bhogle super imposed on Arunabh Goswami, only slightly wheatish in complexion. " Call centre mein 20-30 hazaar mil jaata hai...try karna chahiye..." (One can get up to 20- 30 thousand rupees working in a call centre one should try ) That hooked me. His hair was jet black, forming neat curves and stuck to his scalp as if fixed by glue. His face was thin with a light stubble. But he unmistakably had Harsha’s teeth, which were followed by a jaded copy of his fixated grin. Appended to this was Arunabh’s large forehead with drooping cheeks. Clad in a clean red and white checked shirt and cotton trousers he looked ready to quiz Pramod Mahajan on Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin while commenting on the technical aspects of Muttiah Murlitharan’s bowling. Saurabh is no average Joe. 22 years young B.Com (Hons) from DU Successfully runs his father’s wholesale books business. There was something about him he was a walking talking replica of a 24 hour news channel minus the ad break. “ Aapko pata hai India ka tax law sirf Reliance ke liye har saal change hota hai woh tax hi nahi dete hain saale!” (Do you know that India’s tax laws are changed every year to accommodate Reliance they don’t pay tax!) Why do you think so? I asked. But I was late in my response. Time out. The next lead. “Nirma ka owner Karsen Bhai Patel Harvard gaya tha padne ko, par use nickel diya cycle pet norms beecha karta tha aur aaj dekho Harvard waale uska distribution policy padhate hain ” (The owner of Nirma, Karsen Bhai Patel went to study at Harvard they chucked him out he sold Nirma while cycling through the country peddling his wares today Harvard teaches his distribution policy ) But why does he want to join a call center? “Mainly to night shift hoti hai, baki time enjoy karo Pay acha hai Personality groom hoti hai” (There are mainly night shifts one can enjoy the rest of the time The pay is good The personality is groomed ) He says, while donning the characteristic Harsha smile. I prod him on. “Banda hi-fi ho jata hai... Links ho jaate hain jaise mere eik dost ke papa ACP hain " (The person becomes hi fi One can make contacts one of my friends father in an ACP ) Aur kya kya hota hai call center mein? I ask engagingly. But like the unending unstoppable ticker at the bottom of my TV screen he surged ahead with his bulletin. “India ka stock market crash ho gaya aaj . Pata hai kyon ?” (The stock market crashed Do you know, why?) Without waiting for a reply he surges ahead “Sonia disinvestment ministry haatene ki baat kar rahi hai ... isliye...” (Sonia is thinking of dissolving the Disinvestment Ministry ) “ Eik lakh byyeyasi hazaar krore rupiyaa khatam ho gaya ” (1 lakh 82 thousand crore rupees just gone ) He rues almost mournfully. Aur kya kya hota hai call center mein? I repeat the question stubbornly ignoring the break in the control track. “call center mein jayeenge to pata chal jeyeega” (You’ll know if you join a Call Centre ) He answers looking rather annoyed. His face suddenly turned grim. Arunabh like. But the very next second Harsha returned smiling generously. “Call center mein phone receive karne hote hain aur business process karma hota hai...masti wala job hai.." (One has to receive calls in a call centre and process business it’s a fun job ) “Hamme bhi Fame aur Fortune chahiye... Yahan mil jayeega to bahut excited ho jaoonga ” (I also want fame and fortune I’ll be really excited if I can get it here ) He says, while rolling his eyes. I thought it was my cue to wrap up. While leaving amid name exchanges and goodbyes I casually asked what does he like doing best? “Hame comics padhna acha lagta hai - astix, tin-tin, archies ya phir star dust vagerah” (I like reading comics- astrix, tin- tin, archies or Stardust etc) Aur khelne mein “ Hmm... khelne mein football acha lagta hai ... lekin sirf jab baarish ho rahi ho tab ” (Humm... I like playing football but only when it rains ) Rain. The magic word. The never failing charm. Monsoon is still a long time away Taha Mehmood Iram Ghufran Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20040522/d737d811/attachment.html From zest_india at yahoo.co.in Sat May 22 11:07:48 2004 From: zest_india at yahoo.co.in (=?iso-8859-1?q?Shivam=20Vij?=) Date: Sat, 22 May 2004 06:37:48 +0100 (BST) Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] CURE: Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education Message-ID: <20040522053748.78407.qmail@web8206.mail.in.yahoo.com> CURE: Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education The menace of ragging has decline but not become extinct after the landmark Supreme Court judgement that puts the onus to stop ragging on colleges. Ragging is a criminal practice followed in college hostels throughout India, resulting in a couple of ragging suicides every year. The media and human rights organisations have not been playing a pro-active role to curb this menace. The Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education, or CURE, is an NGO run by students who have themselves been victims of ragging. CURE invites you to join this effort. The CURE website is at www.noragging.allhere.com . The site contains, amongst other things, full text of the Supreme Court judgement that bans ragging and heart-wrenching stories of ragging victims who have approached us in these three years that we've been around. Write to CURE at noragging at rediffmail.com or noragging-owner at yahoogroups.com Join the CURE mailing and discussion list by sending a blank email to noragging-subscribe at yahoogroups.com OR by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/noragging/join Read the mailing list archives at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/noragging Looking forward to hearing from you! Please circulate this widely. ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online. http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony/ _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From sastry at cs.wisc.edu Mon May 24 16:37:17 2004 From: sastry at cs.wisc.edu (S Subramanya Sastry) Date: Mon, 24 May 2004 06:07:17 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Monthly Posting Message-ID: <1085396837.40b1d765d7cd9@www-auth.cs.wisc.edu> Hello all, This is my second monthly posting about the work I am doing for the FLOSS independent fellowship (first posting on reader-list). Subbu. ############################################################################# AUTOMATING NEWS GATHERING AND CLASSIFICATION -------------------------------------------- Abstract of proposal: --------------------- Several organizations in the social development sector monitor news that is relevant to their work. This is a time-consuming and laborious process for some groups, especially when the news is monitored, marked, cut, and filed using hard copies of newspapers and magazines. Prior experience with the press clippings page on www.narmada.org indicates that some of this work can be automated. This simplifies the task of news monitoring and also saves time. This project attempts to automate news monitoring, and aims to provide tools for classifying, filing, and long-term archiving of news. The project will deliver a tool that can be installed, and will also provide all the same services on a website for those who do not want to (or cannot) install the tool. Current status of project ------------------------- There are 2 distinct pieces of the problem. The first problem is that of news gathering. The second problem is that of filtering news and filing them into user-specified categories. The second problem is the more difficult one. In order to experiment with ideas related to news filtering and filing, I have begun experimenting with an already-existing archive of narmada news. This archive is available on http://www.narmada.org/pressclippings.html Using this archive, I am experimenting with techniques for automatically classifying them into categories. In the rest of this posting, I will describe this. Example classification structure -------------------------------- Let us suppose I want to classify news in the narmada pressclippings section into several narmada categories shown as a tree below: narmada dams -> sardar sarovar dam -> maheshwar dam -> other narmada dams other dams -> tehri dam -> koel karo dam -> other non-narmada dams rehabilitation issues -> narmada-specific rehab-issues -> tehri-specific rehab-issues -> other-dams rehab-issues financial issues -> project costs -> misuse of funds -> international institutional funders -> indian institutional funders -> corporate funding narmada court cases -> narmada judgements -> contempt case alternatives -> water harvesting -> other narmada-specific alternatives global linkages -> world commission on dams -> world bank funded dams Defining news filters for the above category structure ------------------------------------------------------ As a user of this news filtering and filing system, I will have to specify rules to classify news into these categories. For example, let us take the case of the 'narmada-specific rehab-issues' category. One possible rule could be: Add article to this category if it contains "narmada" and "rehabilitation" However, the article might never use the term rehabilitation. It might talk about "cash compensation" or it might talk about "R&R". The rule has to capture all these cases. So, if we wanted to capture these cases, the rule will now become: "narmada" and ("rehabilitation" or "R&R" or "cash compensation") However, there are several other possibilities. The article might discuss the plight of "project affected people", or about "PAFs" or about "displaced people" or about "oustees" and so on. In this case, the rule will continue to grow and become unwieldy. The solution here is to recognize that the intent behind specifying the first rule was to capture the concept of rehabilitation and the concept of a narmada dam. The specific phrases used might vary from source to source, author to author, and article to article. So, if somehow the system were able to recognize these concepts, the rule will simplify to: [narmada-dam] and ([rehabilitation] or [displacement]) where [narmada-dam] represents any possible phrase used to talk about a narmada dam, [rehabilitation] represents any possible phrase used to talk about rehabilitation, and [displacement] represents any possible phrase used to talk about displacement issues. However, there is no way for the system to know all the phrases that are represented by a concept. The user has to specify this separately. Thus a different file could specify that the concept [rehabilitation] covers all the following phrases: "R&R", "R and R", "rehabilitation", "resettlement", "rehabilitation and resettlement", "cash compensation", "land-for-land", "master plan", "resettlement and rehabilitation", "NWDTA". 2-step process of defining news filters --------------------------------------- Therefore, the process of specifying news filters is a 2-step process: STEP 1. Concepts are defined along with all the phrases that the concept represents. STEP 2. The concepts are used to compose news filtering rules. Besides making the news filtering rules clean and easy to understand and modify, the concepts defined in STEP 1 could be used by others. That is, if the concepts I define are made available publicly, others could reuse those concepts directly without having to go through the trouble of redefining them. Current status -------------- At this point, I have developed code to read in concept definitions and category definitions (which together specify the necessary news filters). Currently, I am using XML as the specification language. At a later time, I will develop a graphical user interface (GUI) to specify these news filters. The GUI will then generate the necessary XML news filters. I have been experimenting with these news filters on the narmada news archive. On the basis of these experiments, I have been modifying the news filter definitions as well as fine-tuning the news filtering technique I have implemented. In the interest of keeping this posting small enough and readable, I have not included the news filter specification I am using for narmada news. On request, I will available the concept definitions, category definitions, or the XML DTD definitions for the news filters (for the technically minded). Next steps ---------- In the coming month, I will work on developing a news gathering tool. I will start with news sources that provide RSS feeds and then move on to news sources without RSS feeds. I will also work on filing the filtered and classified news into Pantoto (http://www.pantoto.com) which uses a MYSQL as its underlying database. From cugambetta at yahoo.com Mon May 24 21:54:14 2004 From: cugambetta at yahoo.com (Curt Gambetta) Date: Mon, 24 May 2004 09:24:14 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Reader-list] virtual borders Message-ID: <20040524162414.85394.qmail@web12204.mail.yahoo.com> Somehow this has slipped past any public debate in the US. One can imagine the magnitude of 'mistakes' (and thus wrongful detentions and deportations) endemic to this system of virtual borders... It seems a flipside to the dissolution of the sovereignty of national 'borders' (and the identities therein) in a globalized world, a process made available by the very technologies that will allow these new 'virtual borders' to extend themselves flexibly around the world. i hope this will not set a global precedent (we can only hope it never sees the light of day!) -curt > U.S. Nearing Deal on Way to Track Foreign Visitors > > May 24, 2004 > By ERIC LICHTBLAU and JOHN MARKOFF > > > WASHINGTON, May 22 - The Department of Homeland > Security is > on the verge of awarding the biggest contract in its > young > history for an elaborate system that could cost as > much as > $15 billion and employ a network of databases to > track > visitors to the United States long before they > arrive. > > The contract, which will probably be awarded in > coming days > to one of three final bidders, is already generating > considerable interest as federal officials try to > improve > significantly their ability to monitor those who > enter at > more than 300 border-crossing checkpoints by land, > sea and > air, where they are going and whether they pose a > terrorist > threat. > > But with that interest have come questions - both > logistical and philosophical - from Congressional > investigators and outside experts. Will a company > based > outside the United States, in Bermuda, get the > megacontract? How much will it end up costing? What > about > the privacy concerns of foreign visitors? And most > critical, for all the high-end concepts and higher > expectations, can the system really work? > > Interviews with government officials, experts and > the three > companies vying for the contract - Accenture, > Computer > Sciences and Lockheed Martin - reveal new details > and > potential complications about a project that all > agree is > daunting in its complexity, cost and national > security > importance. > > The program, known as US-Visit and rooted partly in > a > Pentagon concept developed after the terrorist > attacks of > 2001, seeks to supplant the nation's physical > borders with > what officials call virtual borders. Such borders > employ > networks of computer databases and biometric sensors > for > identification at sites abroad where people seek > visas to > the United States. > > With a virtual border in place, the actual border > guard > will become the last point of defense, rather than > the > first, because each visitor will have already been > screened > using a global web of databases. > > Visitors arriving at checkpoints, including those at > the > Mexican and Canadian borders, will face "real-time > identification" - instantaneous authentication to > confirm > that they are who they say they are. American > officials > will, at least in theory, be able to track them > inside the > United States and determine if they leave the > country on > time. > > Officials say they will be able, for instance, to > determine > whether a visitor who overstays a visa has come in > contact > with the police, but privacy advocates say they > worry that > the new system could give the federal government far > broader power to monitor the whereabouts of visitors > by > tapping into credit card information or similar > databases. > The system would tie together about 20 federal > databases > with information on the more than 300 million > foreign > visitors each year. > > The bidders agree that the Department of Homeland > Security > has given them unusually wide latitude in > determining the > best strategy for securing American borders without > unduly > encumbering tourism and commerce. > > Whoever wins the contract will be asked to develop a > standard for identifying visitors using a variety of > possible tools - from photographs and fingerprints, > already > used at some airports on a limited basis since > January, to > techniques like iris scanning, facial recognition > and > radio-frequency chips for reading passports or > identifying > vehicles. > > "Each of these technologies have strengths and > weaknesses," > Paul Cofoni, president of Computer Sciences' federal > sector, said of the biometric alternatives. "I don't > know > that any one will be used exclusively." > > Virtual borders is a high-concept plan, building on > ideas > that have been tried since the terrorist attacks of > 2001. > > But homeland security officials say making the > system work > on a practical level is integral to protecting the > United > States from terrorist attacks in the decades to > come. "This > is hugely important for the security of our country > and for > the wise use of our limited resources," Asa > Hutchinson, > under secretary for border security, said in an > interview. > "We're talking here about a comprehensive approach > to > border security." > > But the General Accounting Office, the investigative > arm of > Congress, concluded in a report in September that > "the > program is a very risky endeavor," given its > enormous scope > and complexity. "The missed entry of one person who > poses a > threat to the United States could have severe > consequences," the report said. > > An update issued by the accounting office earlier > this > month found that while homeland security officials > had made > some headway in meeting investigators' concerns > about > management and oversight problems, the progress "has > been > slow." The update said major questions remained > about the > project's cost and viability. "I don't think there's > any > less concern today," Randolph Hite, who wrote the > reports, > said in an interview. > > "This program is going to get more and more complex > as time > goes on, and you can't count on human heroes bailing > you > out to ensure that the system works," Mr. Hite said. > With > the program to be phased in over a decade, he said, > "the > question you have to ask is: What value are we > getting for > these initial increments, and is it worth it?" > > Indeed, the costs are enormous, and Congressional > investigators said they did not believe officials > had a > clear handle on the financing. The bid request set a > maximum of $10 billion, but the accounting office > found > that some of the cost estimates were outdated and > the final > price tag - when financing from agencies like the > State > Department is considered - could reach $15 billion > by 2014. > > > The idea of virtual borders originated in 2002 with > a group > of researchers at the National Defense University's > Center > for Technology and National Security Policy. The > group, led > by Hans Binnendijk, the center's director, was > trying to > find new ways to secure the nation's shipping > containers. > > "We got interested in this soon after 9/11 as a > fairly > obvious problem," he said. > > The group wrote an article discussing the need to > inspect > cargo long before it arrived in United States > harbors. They > then briefed a range of government agencies. > > The virtual border is similar to the idea of an air > traffic > control center, officials note. In this case, the > system > would allow homeland security officials to monitor > travel > on a national level, shifting resources and > responding as > necessary. > > The air traffic control analogy is significant in > part > because Computer Sciences and Lockheed Martin have > traditionally been the nation's two largest > contractors for > the Federal Aviation Agency in the development and > maintenance of the nation's air traffic control > system. > > The air traffic control parallel worries some > executives. > More than $500 million and 15 years were squandered > on the > effort to modernize the nation's aging air traffic > system > beginning in the late 1980's and a prime contractor > was > I.B.M.'s Federal Systems Division, now part of > Lockheed > Martin. > > Another problem the system faces is the potential > inability > to get access to all needed data from foreign > countries and > from the United States' own intelligence community. > Experts > agree that no matter how good the technology, the > system > will rely on timely and accurate information about > the > histories and profiles of those entering the country > to > detect possible terrorists. It will have no direct > impact > on illegal immigrants. > > The system will lead to a broad interconnection of > federal > databases, ranging from intelligence to law > enforcement as > well as routine commercial data. > > Officials say they will work to ensure that the > privacy of > foreigners is protected and that the system will not > be > used to profile travelers, but civil libertarians > say they > are nonetheless alarmed that databases could be used > to > monitor both foreign visitors and American citizens, > and > they have already challenged it in court. > > Yet another issue irking some lawmakers is the fact > that > Accenture is incorporated in Bermuda. > > "I don't want to see the Department of Homeland > Security > outsourcing its business to a Bermudan company," > said > Representative Lloyd Doggett, a Texas Democrat who > has > pushed to close a loophole allowing foreign bidders > on > federal contracts. > > Federal officials say they are satisfied that > Accenture, > which has about 25,000 employees in the United > States and > less than a dozen in Bermuda, meets the definition > of a > United States company and is eligible for the > contract. > > Accenture, for its part, sees the issue as > irrelevant. > > > Jim McAvoy, an Accenture spokesman, said, "The real > question is: Should the federal government be forced > to > select an inferior bid because the bidder is > incorporated > in the U.S.?" > > http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/24/politics/24VISI.html?ex=1086414591&ei=1&en=bc6368ad88cbb55e > > > --------------------------------- __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Domains � Claim yours for only $14.70/year http://smallbusiness.promotions.yahoo.com/offer From eye at ranadasgupta.com Tue May 25 11:26:18 2004 From: eye at ranadasgupta.com (Rana Dasgupta) Date: Tue, 25 May 2004 11:26:18 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] British report on Indian education, 1854 Message-ID: <40B2E002.8030609@ranadasgupta.com> Educational Despatch of 1854 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ /Despatch from the Court of Directors of the East India Company, to the Governor General of India in Council, (No. 49, dated the 19th July 1854)/. It appears to us that the present time, when by an Act of the Imperial Legislature the responsible trust of the Government of India has again been placed in our hands, is peculiarly suitable for the review of the progress which has already been made, the supply of existing deficiencies, and the adoption of such improvements as may be best calculated to secure the ultimate benefit of the people committed to our charge. 2. Among many subjects of importance, none can have a stronger claim to our attention than that of education. It is one of our most sacred duties to be the means, as far as in us lies, of conferring upon the natives of India those vast moral and material blessings which flow from the general diffusion of useful knowledge, and which India may, under Providence, derive from her connexion with England. For although British influence has already in many remarkable instances, been applied with great energy and success to uproot demoralising practices and even crimes of a deeper dye, which for ages had prevailed among the natives of India, the good results of those efforts must, in order to be permanent, possess the further sanction of a general sympathy in the native mind which the advance of education alone can secure. 3. We have moreover, always looked upon the encouragement of education as peculiarly important, because calculated "not only to produce a higher degree of intellectual fitness, but to raise the moral character of those who partake of its advantages, and so to supply you with servants to whose probity you may with increased confidence commit offices of trust" in India, where the well-being of the people is so intimately connected with the truthfulness and ability of officers of every grade in all departments of the State. 4. Nor, while the character of England is deeply concerned in the success of our efforts for the promotion of education, are her material interests altogether unaffected by the advance of European knowledge in India; this knowledge will teach the natives of India the marvellous results of the employment of labor and capital, rouse them to emulate us in the development of the vast resources of their country[,] guide them in their efforts and gradually, but certainly, confer upon them all the advantages which accompany the healthy increase of wealth and commerce; and, at the same time, secure to us a larger and more certain supply of many articles necessary for our manufactures and extensively consumed by all classes of our population, as well as an almost inexhaustible demand for the produce of British labor. 5. We have from time to time given careful attention and encouragement to the efforts which have hitherto been made for the spread of education, and we have watched with deep interest the practical results of the various systems by which those efforts have been directed. The periodical reports of the different Councils and Boards of Education, together with other official communications upon the same subject have put us in possession of full information as to those educational establishments which are under the direct control of Government; while the evidence taken before the Committees of both Houses of Parliament upon Indian affairs has given us the advantage of similar information with respect to exertions made for this purpose by persons unconnected with Government, and has also enabled us to profit by a knowledge of the views of those who are best able to arrive at sound conclusions upon the question of education generally. 6. Aided, therefore, by, ample experience of the past and the most competent advice for the future we are now in a position to decide on the mode in which the assistance of Government should be afforded to the more extended and systematic promotion of general education in India, and on the measures which should at once be adopted to that end. 7. Before proceeding further, we must emphatically declare that the education which we desire to see extended in India is that which has for its object the diffusion of the improved arts, science, philosophy and literature of Europe; in short of European knowledge. 8. The systems of science and philosophy which form the learning of the East abound with grave errors, and eastern literature is at best very deficient as regards all modern discovery and improvements; Asiatic learning, therefore, however widely diffused, would but little advance our object. We do not wish to diminish the opportunities which are now afforded in special institutions for the study of Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian literature, or for the cultivation of those languages which may be called the classical languages of India. An acquaintance with the works contained in them is valuable for historical and antiquarian purposes, and a knowledge of the languages themselves is required in the study of Hindoo and Mahomedan law, and is also of great importance for the critical cultivation and improvement of the vernacular languages of India. 9. We are not unaware of the success of many distinguished oriental scholars in their praiseworthy endeavours to ingraft upon portions of Hindoo philosophy the germs of sounder morals and of more advanced science; and we are far from under-rating the good effect which has thus been produced upon the learned classes of India, who pay hereditary veneration to those ancient languages, and whose assistance in the spread of education is so valuable, from the honourable and influential position which they occupy among their fellow-countrymen. But such attempts, although they may usefully co-operate, can only be considered as auxiliaries and would be a very inadequate foundation for any general schemes of Indian education. 10. We have also received most satisfactory evidence of the high attainment in English literature and European science which have been acquired of late years by some of the natives of India. But this success has been confined to but a small number of persons; and we are desirous of extending far more widely the means of acquiring general European knowledge of a less high order, but of such a character, as may be practically useful to the people of India in their different spheres of life. To attain this end it is necessary, for the reasons which we have given above that they should be made familiar with the works of European authors and with the results of the thought and labour of Europeans on the subjects of every description upon which knowledge is to be imparted to them; and to extend the means of imparting this knowledge must be the object of any general system of education. 11. We have next to consider the manner in which our object is to be effected, and this leads us to the question of the medium through which knowledge is to be conveyed to the people of India. It has hitherto been necessary, owing to the want of translations or adaptations of European works in the vernacular languages of India and to the very imperfect shape in which European knowledge is to be found in any works in the learned languages of the East, for those who desired to obtain a liberal education to begin by the mastery of the English language as a key to the literature of Europe, and a knowledge of English will always be essential to those natives of India who aspire to a high order of education. 12. In some parts of India, more especially in the immediate vicinity of the presidency towns, where persons who possess a knowledge of English are preferred to others in many employments, public as well as private, a very moderate proficiency in the English language is often looked upon by those who attend school instruction as the end and object of their education rather than as a necessary step to the improvement of their general knowledge. We do not deny the value in many respects of the mere faculty of speaking and writing English, but we fear that a tendency has been created in these districts unduly to neglect the study of the vernacular languages. 13. It is neither our aim nor desire to substitute the English language for the vernacular dialects of the country. We have always been most sensible of the importance of the use of the languages which alone are understood by the great mass of the population. These languages, and not English, have been put by us in the place of Persian in the administration of justice and in the intercourse between the officers of Government and the people. It is indispensable, therefore, that, in any general system of education, the study of them should be "assiduously attended to, and any acquaintance with improved European knowledge which is to be communicated to the great mass of the people- whose circumstances prevent them from acquiring a high order of education, and who cannot be expected to overcome the difficulties of a foreign language- can only be conveyed to them through one or other of those vernacular languages. 14. In any general system of education, the English language should be taught where there is a demand for it; but such instruction should always be combined with a careful attention to the study of the vernacular language of the district, and with such general instruction as can be conveyed through that language; and while the English language continues to be made use of as by far the most perfect medium for the education of those persons who have acquired a sufficient knowledge of it to receive general instruction through it, the vernacular languages must be employed to teach the far larger classes who are ignorant of, or imperfectly acquainted with English. This can only be done effectually through the instrumentality of masters and professors, who may, by themselves, knowing English and thus having full access to the latest improvements in knowledge of every kind, impart to their fellow-countrymen through the medium of their mother tongue, the information which they have thus obtained. At the same time, and as the importance of the vernacular languages becomes more appreciated, the vernacular literatures of India, will be gradually enriched by translations of European books or by the original compositions of men whose minds have been imbued with the spirit of European advancement, so that European knowledge may gradually be placed in this manner within the reach of all classes of the people. We look, therefore, to the English language and to the vernacular languages of India together as the media for the diffusion of European knowledge, and it is our desire to see them cultivated together in all schools in India of a sufficiently high class to maintain a school-master possessing the requisite qualifications. 15. We proceed now to the machinery which we propose to establish for the superintendence and direction of education. This has hitherto been exercised in our presidencies of Bengal, Madras and Bombay by Boards and Councils of Education, composed of European and native gentlemen who have devoted themselves to this duty with no other remuneration than the consciousness of assisting the progress of learning and civilization, and, at the same time with an earnestness and ability which must command the gratitude of the people of India, and which will entitle some honoured names amongst them to a high place among the benefactors of India and the human race. 16. The Lieutenant-Governor of Agra has, since the separation of the educational institutions of the North-Western Provinces from those of Bengal, taken up himself the task of their management; and we cannot allow this opportunity to pass without the observation that, in this, as in all other branches of his administration, Mr. Thomason displayed that accurate knowledge of the condition and requirements of the people under his charge, and that clear and ready perception of the political measures best suited for their welfare, which make his death a loss to India, which we deplore the more deeply as we fear that his unremitting exertions tended to shorten his career of usefulness. 17. We desire to express to the present Board and Councils of Education our sincere thanks for the manner in which they have exercised their functions, and we still hope to have the assistance of the gentlemen composing them in furtherance of a most important part of our present plan; but having determined upon a very considerable extension of the general scope of our efforts, involving the simultaneous employment of different agencies, some of which are now wholly neglected, and others but imperfectly taken advantage of by Government, we are of opinion that it is advisable to place the superintendence and direction of education upon a more systematic footing, and we have, therefore, determined to create an Educational Department as a portion of the machinery of our Governments in the several presidencies of India. We accordingly propose that an officer shall be appointed for each presidency and lieutenant-governorship who shall be specially charged with the management of the business connected with the education, and be immediately responsible to Government for its conduct. 18. An adequate system of inspection will also, for the future, become an essential part of our educational system; and we desire that a sufficient number of qualified inspectors be appointed, who will periodically report upon the state of those colleges and schools which are now supported and managed by Government as well as of such as will hereafter be brought under Government inspection by the measures that we propose to adopt. They will conduct, or assist at, the examination of the scholars of these institutions, and generally, by their advice, aid the managers and schoolmasters in conducting colleges and schools of every description throughout the country. They will necessarily be of different stamps, and may possess different degrees of acquirement, according to the higher or lower character of the institutions which they will be employed to visit; but we need hardly say that, even for the proper inspection of the lower schools, and with a view to their effectual improvement, the greatest care will be necessary to select persons of high character and fitting judgment for such employment. A proper staff of clerks and other officers will, moreover, be required for the Educational Departments. 19. Reports of the proceedings of the inspectors should be made periodically and these, again, should be embodied in the annual reports of the heads of the Educational Departments, which should be transmitted to us, together with statistical returns (to be drawn up in similar forms in all parts of India), and other information of a general character relating to education. 20. We shall send copies of this despatch to the Governments of Fort St. George and of Bombay, and direct them at once to make provisional arrangements for the superintendence and inspection of education in their respective presidencies. Such arrangements as they make will be reported to you for sanction. You will take similar measures in communication with the Lieutenant-Governors of Bengal and of Agra, and you will also provide in such manner as may seem advisable for the wants of the non-regulation provinces in this respect. We desire that your proceedings in this matter may be reported to us with as little delay as possible, and we are prepared to approve of such an expenditure as you may deem necessary for this purpose. 21. In the selection of the heads of the Educational Departments, the inspectors and other officers, it will be of the greatest importance to secure the services of persons who are not only best able, from their character, position and acquirements, to carry our objects into effect, but who may command the confidence of the natives of India. It may, perhaps be advisable that the first heads of the Educational Department, as well as some of the inspectors, should be members of our Civil Service, as such appointments in the first instance would tend to raise the estimation in which these officers will be held, and to show the importance we attach to the subject of education, and also, as amongst them you will probably find the persons best qualified for the performance of the duty. But we desire that neither these offices, nor any others connected with education, shall be considered as necessarily to be filled by members of that service, to the exclusion of others, Europeans or Natives, who may be better fitted for them; and that, in any case, the scale for their remuneration shall be so fixed as publicly to recognise the important duties they will have to perform. 22. We now proceed to sketch out the general scheme of the measures which we propose to adopt. We have endeavoured to avail ourselves of the knowledge which has been gained from the various experiments which have been made in different parts of India for the encouragement of education; and we hope, by the more general adoption of those plans which have been carried into successful execution in particular districts, as well as by the introduction of other measures which appear to be wanting, to establish such a system as will prove generally applicable throughout India, and thus to impart to the educational efforts of our different presidencies a greater degree of uniformity and method than at present exists. 23. We are fully aware that no general scheme would be applicable in all its details to the present condition of all portions of our Indian territories, differing so widely as they do, one from another, in many important particulars. It is difficult, moreover, for those who do not possess a recent and practical acquaintance with particular districts, to appreciate the importance which should be attached to the feelings and influences which prevail in each; and we have, therefore, preferred confining ourselves to describing generally what we wish to see done, leaving to you, in communication with the several Local Governments, to modify particular measures so far as may be required, in order to adapt them to different parts of India. 24. Some years ago, we declined to accede to a proposal made by the Council of Education, and transmitted to us with the recommendation of your Government for the institution of an University in Calcutta. The rapid spread of a liberal education among the natives of India since that time, the high attainments shown by the native candidates for Government scholarships, and by native students in private institutions, the success of the medical colleges, and the requirements of an increasing European and Anglo-Indian population, have led us to the conclusion that the time is now arrived for the establishment of universities in India, which may encourage a regular and liberal course of education by conferring academical degrees as evidences of attainments in the different branches of art and science, and by adding marks of honour for those who may desire to compete for honorary distinction. 25. The Council of Education, in the proposal to which we have alluded, took the London University as their model; and we agree with them that the form, government, and functions of that University (copies of whose charters and regulations we enclose for your reference) are the best adapted to the wants of India, and may be followed with advantage, although some variation will be necessary in points of detail. 26. The Universities in India will accordingly consist of a Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, and Fellows, who will constitute a Senate. The Senates will have the management of the funds of the universities, and frame regulations for your approval, under which periodical examinations may be held in the different branches of art and science by examiners selected from their own body, or nominated by them. 27. The function of the universities will be to confer degrees upon such persons as, having been entered as candidates according to the rules which may be fixed in this respect, and having produced from any of the "affiliated institutions" which will be enumerated on the foundation of the universities, or be from time to time added to them by Government, certificates of conduct, and of having pursued a regular course of study for a given time, shall have also passed at the universities such an examination as may be required of them. It may be advisable to dispense with the attendance required at the London University for the Matriculation examination, and to substitute some mode of entrance examination which may secure a certain amount of knowledge in the candidates for degrees without making their attendance at the universities necessary, previous to the final examination. 28. The examinations for degrees will not include any subjects connected with religious belief; and affiliated institutions will be under the management of persons of every variety of religious persuasion. As in England, various institutions in immediate connexion with the Church of England, the Presbyterian College at Caermarthen, the Roman Catholic College at Oscott, the Wesleyan College at Sheffield, the Baptist College at Bristol, and the Countess of Huntingdon's College at Cheshunt, are among the institutions from which the London University is empowered to receive certificates for degrees; so in India, institutions conducted by all denominations of Christians, Hindoos, Mahommedans, Parsees, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, or any other religious persuasions, may be affiliated to the universities, if they are found to afford the requisite course of study, and can be depended upon for the certificates of conduct which will be required. 29. The detailed regulations for the examination for degrees should be framed with a due regard for all classes of the affiliated institutions; and we will only observe upon this subject that the standard for common degrees will require to be fixed with very great judgment. There are many persons who well deserve the distinction of an academical degree, as the recognition of a liberal education, who could not hope to obtain it if the examination was as difficult as that for the senior Government scholarships; and the standard required should be such as to command respect without discouraging the efforts of deserving students, which would be a great obstacle to the success of the universities. In the competitions for honors, which as in the London University, will follow the examinations for degrees, care should be taken to maintain such a standard as will afford a guarantee for high ability and valuable attainments,-the subjects for examination being so selected as to include the best portions of the different schemes of study pursued at the affiliated institutions. 30. It will be advisable to institute, in connection with the universities, professorships for the purposes of the delivery of lectures in various branches of learning, for the acquisition of which, at any rate in an advanced degree, facilities do not now exist in other institutions in India. Law is the most important of these subjects; and it will be for you to consider whether, as was proposed in the plan of the Council of Education to which we have before referred, the attendance, upon certain lectures, and the attainment of a degree in law, may not, for the future, be made a qualification for vakeels and moonsifs, instead of, or in addition to, the present system of examination, which must, however, be continued in places not within easy reach of an university. 31. Civil engineering is another subject of importance, the advantages of which, as a profession, are gradually becoming known to the natives of India; and while we are inclined to believe that instruction of a practical nature, such as is given at the Thomason College of Civil Engineering at Roorkee, is far more useful than any lectures could possibly be, professorships of civil engineering might, perhaps, be attached to the universities and degrees in civil engineering be included in their general scheme. 32. Other branches of useful learning may suggest themselves to you, in which it might be advisable that lectures should be read, and special degrees given; and it would greatly encourage the cultivation of the vernacular languages of India that professorships should be founded for those languages, and perhaps also for Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian. A knowledge of the Sanskrit language, the root of the vernaculars of the greater part of India, is more especially necessary, to those who are engaged in the work of the composition in those languages; while Arabic, through Persian, is one of the component parts of the Urdu language, which extends over so large a part of Hindoostan, and is, we are informed, capable of considerable development. The grammar of these languages, and their application to the improvement of the spoken languages of the country, are the points to which the attention of those professors should be mainly directed; and there will be an ample field for their labors unconnected with any instruction in the tenets of the Hindoo or Mahomedan religions. We should refuse to sanction any such teaching, as directly opposed to the principles of religious neutrality to which we have always adhered. 33. We desire that you take into your consideration the institution of universities at Calcutta and Bombay, upon the general principles which we have now explained to you, and report to us upon the best method of procedure, with a view to their incorporation by Acts of the Legislative Council of India. The offices of Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor will naturally be filled by persons of high stations, who have shown an interest in the cause of education; and it is in connexion with the universities that we propose to avail ourselves of the services of the existing Council of Education at Calcutta and Board of Education at Bombay. We wish to place these gentlemen in a position which will not only mark our sense of the exertions which they have made in furtherance of education but will give it the benefit of their past experience of the subject. We propose, therefore, that the Council of Education at Calcutta and the Board of Education at Bombay, with some additional members to be named by the Government, shall constitute the Senate of the University at each of those presidencies. 34. The additional members should be so selected as to give to all those who represent the different systems of education which will be carried on in the affiliated institutions-including natives of India of all religious persuasions, who possess the confidence of the native communities-a fair voice in the Senates. We are led to make those remarks, as we observe that the plan of the Council of Education, in 1845, for the constitution of the Senate of the proposed Calcutta University, was not sufficiently comprehensive. 35. We shall be ready to sanction the creation of an university at Madras or in any part of India, where a sufficient number of institutions exist, from which properly qualified candidates for degrees could be supplied; it being in our opinion advisable that the great centres of European Government and civilisation in India should possess universities similar in character to those which will now be founded as soon as the extension of a liberal education shows that their establishment would be of advantage to the native communities. 36. Having provided for the general superintendence of education and for the institution of universities, not so much to be in themselves places of instruction as to test the value of the education obtained elsewhere, we proceed to consider first, the different classes of colleges and schools, which should be maintained in simultaneous operation, in order to place within the reach of all classes of the natives of India the means of obtaining improved knowledge suited to their several conditions of life; and secondly, the manner in which the most effectual aid may be rendered by Government to each class of educational institutions. 37. The candidates for university degrees will, as we have already explained, be supplied by colleges affiliated to the universities. These will comprise all such institutions as are capable of supplying a sufficiently high order of instruction in the different branches of art and science in which university degrees will be accorded. The Hindoo, Hooghly, Dacca, Kishnaghur and Berhampur Government Anglo-Vernacular Colleges, the Sanskrit College, the Mahomedan Madrassas, and the Medical College, in Bengal; the Elphinstone Institution, the Poonah College, and the Grant Medical College in Bombay; the Delhi, Agra, Benares, Bareilly and Thomason Colleges in the North-Western Provinces; Seminaries such as the Oriental Seminary in Calcutta, which have been established by highly educated natives, a class of places of instruction which we are glad to learn is daily increasing in number and efficiency; those, which, like the Parental Academy, are conducted by East Indians; Bishop's College, the General Assembly's Institution, Dr. Duff's College, the Baptist College at Serampore, and other Institutions under the superintendence of different religious bodies and Missionary Societies, will, at once, supply a considerable number of educational establishments worthy of being affiliated to the universities, and of occupying the highest place in the scale of general instruction. 38. The affiliated institutions will be periodically visited by Government inspectors; and a spirit of honorable rivalry, tending to preserve their efficiency will be promoted by this, as well as by the competition of their most distinguished students for university honors. Scholarships should be attached to them, to be held by the best students of lower schools; and their schemes of education should provide, in the anglo-vernacular colleges for a careful cultivation of the vernacular languages; and, in the Oriental colleges, for sufficient instruction in the English and vernacular languages, so as to render the studies of each most available for that general diffusion of European knowledge which is the main object of education in India. 39. It is to this class of institutions that the attention of Government has hitherto been principally directed, and they absorb the greater part of the public funds which are now applied to educational purposes. The wise abandonment of the early views with respect to native education, which erroneously pointed to the classical languages of the East as the media for imparting European knowledge, together with the small amount of pecuniary aid which, in the then financial condition of India, was at your command, has led, we think, to too exclusive a direction of the efforts of Government towards providing the means of acquiring a very high degree of education for a small number of natives of India, drawn, for the most part, from what we should here call the higher classes. 40. It is well that every opportunity should have been given to those classes for the acquisition of a liberal European education, the effects of which may be expected slowly to pervade the rest of their fellow-countrymen, and to raise, in the end, the educational tone of the whole country. We are, therefore, far from under-rating the importance, or the success, of the efforts which have been made in this direction; but the higher classes are both able and willing in many cases to bear a considerable part at least of the cost of their education; and it is abundantly evident that, in some parts of India no artificial stimulus is any longer required in order to create a demand for such an education as is conveyed in the Government anglo-vernacular colleges. We have, by the establishment and support of these colleges, pointed out the manner in which a liberal education is to be obtained, and assisted them to a very considerable extent from the public funds. In addition to this, we are now prepared to give, by sanctioning the establishment of universities, full development to the highest course of education to which the natives of India, or of any other country, can aspire; and besides, by the division of university degrees and distinctions into different branches, the exertions of highly educated men will be directed to the studies which are necessary to success in the various active professions of life. We shall, therefore, have done as much as a Government can do to place the benefits of education plainly and practically before the higher classes in India. 41. Our attention should now be directed to a consideration, if possible, still more important, and one which has been hitherto, we are bound to admit, too much neglected, namely, how useful and practical knowledge, suited to every station in life, may be best conveyed to the great mass of the people, who are utterly incapable of obtaining any education worthy of the name by their own unaided efforts, and we desire to see the active measures of Government more especially directed, for the future, to this object, for the attainment of which we are ready to sanction a considerable increase of expenditure. 42. Schools-whose object should be not to train highly a few youths, but to provide more opportunities than now exist for the acquisition of such an improved education as will make those who possess it more useful members of society in every condition of life-should exist in every district in India. These schools should he subject to constant and careful inspection; and their pupils might be encouraged by scholarships being instituted at other institutions which would be tenable at rewards for merit by the best of their number. 43. We include in this class of institutions those which, like the zillah schools of Bengal, the district Government anglo-vernacular schools of Bombay, and such as have been established by the Raja of Burdwan and other native gentlemen in different parts of India, use the English language as the chief medium of instruction; as well as others of an inferior order, such as the tehseelee schools in the North-Western Provinces, and the Government vernacular schools in the Bombay presidency, whose object is, however, imperfectly it has been as yet carried out, to convey the highest claim of instruction which can now be taught through the medium of the vernacular languages. 44. We include the anglo-vernacular and vernacular schools in the same class, because we are unwilling to maintain the broad line of separation which at present exists between schools in which the media for imparting instruction differ. The knowledge conveyed is no doubt, at the present time, much higher in the anglo-vernacular than in the vernacular schools; but the difference will become less marked, and the latter more efficient, as the gradual enrichment of the vernacular languages in works of education allows their schemes of study to be enlarged, and as a more numerous class of school-masters is raised up, able to impart a superior education. 45. It is indispensable, in order fully and efficiently to carry out our views as to these schools, that their masters should possess a knowledge of English in order to acquire, and of the vernaculars so as readily to convey, useful knowledge to their pupils; but we are aware that it is impossible to obtain at present the services of a sufficient number of persons so qualified, and that such a class must be gradually collected and trained in the manner to which we shall hereafter allude. In the meantime, you must make the best use which is possible of such instruments as are now at your command. 46. Lastly, what have been termed indigenous schools should, by wise encouragement, such as has been given under the system organised by Mr. Thomason in the North-Western Provinces, and which has been carried out in eight districts under the able direction of Mr. H. S. Reid in an eminently practical manner, and with great promise of satisfactory results, be made capable of imparting correct elementary knowledge to the great mass of the people. The most promising pupils of these schools might be rewarded by scholarships in places of education of a superior order. 47. Such a system as this, placed in all its degrees under efficient inspection, beginning with the humblest elementary instruction, and ending with the university test of a liberal education, the best students in each class of schools being encouraged by the aid afforded them towards obtaining a superior education as the reward of merit, by means of such a system of scholarships as we shall have to describe, would, we firmly believe, impart life and energy to education in India and lead to a gradual, but steady extension of its benefits to all classes of the people. 48. When we consider the vast population of British India, and the sums which are now expended upon educational efforts, which, however successful in themselves, have reached but an insignificant number of those who are of a proper age to receive school instruction, we cannot but be impressed with the almost insuperable difficulties which would attend such an extension of the present system of education by means of colleges and schools entirely supported at the cost of Government as might be hoped to supply, in any reasonable time, so gigantic a deficiency and to provide adequate means for setting on foot such a system as we have described and desire to see established. 49. Nor it is necessary that we should depend entirely upon the direct efforts of Government. We are glad to recognise an increased desire on the part of the native population not only in the neighbourhood of the great centre of European civilisation, but also, in remoter districts, for the means of obtaining a better education; and we have evidence in many instances of their readiness to give a practical proof of their anxiety in this respect by coming forward with liberal pecuniary contributions. Throughout all ages, learned Hindoos and Mahomedans have devoted themselves to teaching with little other remuneration than a bare subsistence; and munificent bequests have not frequently been made for the permanent endowment of educational institutions. 50. At the same time, in so far as the noble exertions of societies of Christians of all denominations to guide the natives of India in the way of religious truth, and to instruct uncivilised races, such as those found in Assam, in the Cossya, Garrow and Rajmehal Hills, and in various districts of Central and Southern India (who are in the lowest condition of ignorance, and are either wholly without a religion, or are the slaves of a degrading and barbarous superstitions), have been accompanied, in their educational establishments, by the diffusion of improved knowledge, they have largely contributed to the spread of that education which it is our object to promote. 51. The consideration of the impossibility of Government alone doing all that must be done in order to provide adequate means for the education of the natives of India, and of the ready assistance which may be derived from efforts which have hitherto received but little encouragement from the State, has led us to the natural conclusion that the most effectual method of providing for the wants of India in this respect will be to combine with the agency of the Government the aid which may be derived from the exertions and liberality of the educated and wealthy natives of India and of other benevolent persons. 52. We have, therefore, resolved to adopt in India the system of grants-in-aid which has been carried out in this country with very great success; and we confidently anticipate, by thus drawing support from local resources in addition to contributions from the State, a far more rapid progress of education than would follow a mere increase of expenditure by the Government; while it possesses the additional advantage of fostering a spirit of reliance upon local exertions and combination for local purposes, which is of itself of no mean importance to the well-being of a nation. 53. The system of grants-in-aid, which we propose to establish in India will be based on an entire abstinence from interference with the religious instruction conveyed in the school assisted. Aid will be given (so far as the requirements of each particular district, as compared with others, and the funds at the disposal of Government, may render it possible) to all schools which impart a good secular education, provided that they are under adequate local management (by the term "local management" we understand one or more persons, such as private patrons, voluntary subscribers, or the trustees of endowments, who will undertake the general superintendence of the school, and be answerable for its permanence for some given time); and provided also that their managers consent that the schools shall be subject to Government inspection, and agree to any conditions which may be laid down for the regulation of such grants. 54. It has been found by experience, in this and in other countries, that not only an entirely gratuitous education valued far less by those who receive it than one for which some payment, however small, is made, but that the payment induces a more regular attendance and greater exertion on the part of the pupils; and, for this reason, as well as because school fees themselves, insignificant as they may be in each individual instance, will in the aggregate, when applied to the support of a better class of masters, become of very considerable importance, we desire that grants-in-aid shall, as a general principle, be made to such schools only (with the exception of normal schools) as require some fee, however small, from their scholars. 55. Careful considerations will be required in training rules for the administration of the grants; and the same course should be adopted in India which has been pursued, with obvious advantage by the Committee of Council here, namely, to appropriate the grants to specific objects, and not (except, perhaps, in the case of normal schools) to apply them in the form of simple contributions in aid of the general expenses of a school. The augmentation of the salaries of the head teachers, and the supply of junior teachers, will probably be found in India, as with us, to be the most important objects to which the grants can ordinarily be appropriated. The foundation, or assistance in the foundation, of scholarships for candidates from lower schools, will also be a proper object, for the application of grants-in-aid. In some cases, again, assistance towards erecting or repairing a school, or the provision of an adequate supply of schoolbooks, may be required; but the appropriation of the grant in each particular instance should be regulated by the peculiar circumstances of each school and district. 56. The amount and continuance of the assistance given will depend upon the periodical reports of inspectors, who will be selected with special reference to their possessing the confidence of the native communities. In their periodical inspections, no notice whatsoever should be taken by them of religious doctrines which may be taught in any school; and their duty should be strictly confined to ascertaining whether the secular knowledge conveyed is such as to entitle it to consideration in the distribution of the sum which will be applied to grants-in-aid. They should also assist in the establishment of schools by their advice, wherever they may have opportunities of doing so. 57. We confide the practical adaptation of the general principles we have laid down as to grants-in-aid to your discretion, aided by the educational departments of the different presidencies. In carrying into effect our views, which apply alike to all schools and institutions, whether male or female, anglo-vernacular or vernacular, it is of the greatest importance that the conditions under which schools will be assisted should be clearly and publicly placed before the natives of India. For this purpose Government notifications should be drawn up and promulgated in the different vernacular languages. It may be advisable distinctly to assert in them the principle of perfect religious neutrality on which the grants will be awarded; and care should be taken to avoid holding out expectations which from any cause may be liable to disappointment. 58. There will be little difficulty in the application of this system of grants- in-aid to the higher order of places of instruction in India in which English is at present the medium of education. 59. Grants-in-aid will also at once give assistance to all such anglo-vernacular and vernacular schools as impart a good elementary education; but we fear that the number of this class of schools is at present inconsiderable, and that such as are in existence require great improvement. 60. A more minute and constant local supervision than would accompany the general system of grants-in-aid will be necessary in order to raise the character of the "indigenous schools," which are, at present, not only very inefficient in quality, but of exceedingly precarious duration, as is amply shown by the statistics collected by Mr. Adam in Bengal and Behar, and from the very important information we have received of late years from the North-Western Provinces. In organising such a system, we cannot do better than to refer you to the manner in which the operations of Mr. Reid have been conducted in the North-Western Provinces, and to the instructions given by him to the zillah and pergunnah visitors, and contained in the appendix to his first report. 61. We desire to see local management under Government inspection and assisted by grants-in-aid taken advantage of wherever it is possible to do so, and that no Government colleges or schools shall be founded, for the future, in any district where a sufficient number of institutions exists, capable, with assistance from the State, of supplying the local demand for education; but, in order fully to carry out the views we have expressed with regard to the adequate provision of schools throughout the country, it will probably be necessary, for some years, to supply the wants of particular parts of India by the establishment, temporary support, and management of places of education of every class in districts where there is little or no prospect of adequate local efforts being made for this purpose, but where, nevertheless, they are urgently required. 62. We look forward to the time when any general system of education entirely provided by Government may be discontinued, with the gradual advance of the system of grants-in-aid, and when many of the existing Government institutions, especially those of the higher order, may be safely closed, or transferred to the management of local bodies under the control of, and aided by, the State. But it is far from our wish to check the spread of education in the slightest degree by the abandonment of a single school to probable decay; and we therefore entirely confide in your discretion, and in that of the different authorities, while keeping this object steadily in view, to act with caution, and to be guided by special reference to the particular circumstances which affect the demand for education in different parts of India. 63. The system of free and stipendiary scholarships, to which we have already more than once referred as a connecting link between the different grades of educational institutions, will require some revision and extension in carrying out our enlarged educational plans. We wish to see the object proposed by Lord Auckland, in 1839, "of connecting the zillah schools with the central colleges by attaching to the latter scholarships to which the best scholars of the former might be eligible," more fully carried out; and also, as the measures we now propose assume an organized form, that the same system may be adopted with regard to schools of a lower description, and that the best pupils of the inferior schools shall be provided for by means of scholarships in schools of a higher order, so that superior talent in every class may receive what encouragement and development which it deserves. The amount of the stipendary scholarships should be fixed at such a sum as may be considered sufficient for the maintenance of the holders of them at colleges or schools to which they are attached and which may often be at a distance from the home of the students. We think it desirable that this system of scholarships should be carried out, not only in connexion with those places of education which are under the immediate superintendence of the State, but in all educational institutions which will now be brought into our general system. 64. We are, at the same time, of opinion that the expenditure upon existing Government scholarships, other than those to which we have referred, which amounts to a considerable sum, should be gradually reduced, with the requisite regard for the claims of the present holders of them. The encouragement of young men of ability, but of slender means, to pursue their studies, is no doubt both useful and benevolent, and we have no wish to interfere with the private endowments which have been devoted to so laudable an object, or to withdraw the additions which may have been made by us to any such endowments. But the funds at the disposal of Government are limited, and we doubt the expediency of applying them to the encouragement of the acquisition of learning by means of stipends which not only far exceed the cost of the maintenance of the student, but in many cases are above what he could reasonably expect to gain on entering the public service, or any of the active professions of life. 65. We shall, however, offer encouragement to education which will tend to more practical results than those scholarships. By giving to persons who possess an aptness for teaching, as well as the requisite standard of acquirements, and who are willing to devote themselves to the profession of schoolmaster, moderate monthly allowances for their support during the time which it may be requisite for them to pass in normal schools, or classes, in order to acquire the necessary training, we shall assist many deserving students to qualify themselves for a career of practical usefulness, and one which will secure them an honorable competence through life. We are also of opinion that admission to places of instruction, which like the Medical and Engineering Colleges, are maintained by the State for the purpose of educating persons for special employment under Government, might be made the rewards of industry and ability, and thus supply a practical encouragement to general education, similar to that which will be afforded by the educational service. 66. The establishment of universities will offer considerable further inducements for the attainment of high proficiency, and thus supply the place of the present senior scholarships, with this additional advantage, that a greater number of subjects, in which distinction can be gained, will be offered to the choice of students than can be comprised in one uniform examination for a scholarship, and that their studies will thus be practically directed into channels which will aid them in the different professions of life which they may afterwards adopt. 67. In England, when systematic attempts began to be made for the improvement of education, one of the chief defects was found to be the insufficient number of qualified school-masters and the imperfect method of teaching which prevailed. This led to the foundation of normal and model schools for the training of masters and the exemplification of the best methods for the organisation, discipline and instruction of elementary schools. This deficiency has been the more palpably felt in India, as the difficulty of finding persons properly educated for the work of tuition is greater; and we desire to see the establishment with as little delay as possible, of training schools and classes for masters in each presidency in India. It will probably be found that some of the existing institutions may be adapted, wholly or partially, to this purpose, with less difficulty than would attend the establishment of entirely new schools. 68. We cannot do better than refer you to the plan which has been adopted in Great Britain for this object, and which appears to us to be capable of easy adaptation to India. It mainly consists, as you will perceive on reference to the minutes of the Committee of Council, copies of which we enclose, in the selection and stipend of pupil-teachers (awarding a small payment to the masters of the schools in which they are employed for their instruction out of the school hours); their ultimate removal, if they prove worthy, to normal schools; the issue to them of certificates on the completion of their training in those normal schools; and in securing to them a sufficient salary when they are afterwards employed as school-masters. This system should be carried out in India, both in the Government colleges and schools, and by means of grants-in-aid in all institutions which are brought under Government inspection. The amount of the stipends to pupil-teachers and students at normal schools should be fixed with great care. The former should receive moderate allowances rather above the sums which they would earn if they left school, and the stipends to the latter should be regulated by the same principle which we have laid down with respect to scholarships. 69. You will be called upon, in carrying these measures into effect, to take into consideration the position and prospects of the numerous classes of natives of India who are ready to undertake the important duty of educating their fellow countrymen. The late extension of the pension regulations of 1831 to the educational service may require to be adopted to the revised regulations in this respect; and our wish is that the profession of school-master may, for the future, afford inducements to the natives of India such as are held out in other branches of the public service. The provision of such a class of school-masters as we wish to see must be a work of time, and in encouraging the "indigenous schools," our present aim should be to improve the teachers whom we find in possession, and to take care not to provoke the hostility of this class of persons, whose influence is so great over the minds of the lower classes, by superseding them where it is possible to avoid it. They should moreover, be encouraged to attend the normal schools and classes which may hereafter be instituted for this class of teachers. 70. Equal in importance to the training of school-masters is the provision of vernacular school-books, which shall provide European information to be the object of study in the lower classes of schools. Something has, no doubt, been done of late years towards this end, but more still remains to be done; and we believe that deficiencies might be readily and speedily supplied by the adoption of a course recommended by Mr. M. Elphinstone in 1825, namely-"That the best translations of particular books, or the best elementary treatises in specified languages, should be advertised for and liberally rewarded." 71. The aim should be, in compilations and original compositions (to quote from one of Mr. Adam's valuable reports upon the state of education in Bengal), "not to translate European works into the words and idioms of the native languages, but so to combine the substance of European knowledge with native forms of thought and sentiment as to render the school-books useful and attractive. We also refer with pleasure upon this point to some valuable observations by Mr. Reid, in his report which we have quoted before, more especially as regards instruction in geography. It is obvious that the local peculiarities of different parts of India render it necessary that the class books in each should be especially adapted to the feelings, sympathies and history of the people; and we will only further remark upon this subject that the Oriental Colleges, besides generally tending, as we have before observed, to the enrichment of the vernacular languages, may, we think, be made of great use in the translation of scientific works into those languages, as has already been done to some extent in the Delhi, Benares, and Poonah Colleges. 72. We have always been of opinion that the spread of education in India will produce a greater efficiency in all branches of administration by enabling you to obtain the services of intelligent and trustworthy persons in every department of Government; and, on the other hand, we believe that the numerous vacancies of different kinds which have constantly to be filled up, may afford a great stimulus to education. The first object must be to select persons properly qualified to fill these situations; secondary to this is the consideration how far they may be so distributed as to encourage popular education. 73. The resolutions of our Governor-General in Council of the 10th of October, 1844 gave a general preference to well-educated over uneducated men in the admissions to the public service. We perceive with much satisfaction from returns which we have recently received of the persons appointed since that year in the Revenue Department of Bengal, as well as from the educational reports from different parts of India, that a very considerable number of educated men have been employed under Government of late years; and we understand that it is often not so much the want of Government employment as the want of properly qualified persons to be employed by Government, which is felt at the present time in many parts of India. 74. We shall not enter upon the causes which, as we foresaw, have led to the failure of that part of the resolutions which provided for the annual submission to Government of lists of meritorious students. It is sufficient for our present purpose to observe that no more than 46 persons have been gazetted in Bengal up to this time, all of whom were students in the Government colleges. In the last year for which we have returns (1852), only two persons were so distinguished; and we can readily believe, with the Secretary to the Board of Revenue in Bengal, that young men, who have passed difficult examinations in the highest branches of philosophy and mathematics, are naturally disinclined to accept such employment as persons who intend to make the public service their profession must necessarily commence with. 75. The necessity for any such lists will be done away with by the establishment of universities, as the acquisition of a degree, and still more the attainment of university distinctions, will bring highly educated young men under the notice of Government. The resolutions in question will, therefore, require revision so as to adapt them practically to carry out our views upon this subject. What we desire is that, where the other qualifications of the candidates for appointments under Government are equal a person who has received a good education irrespective of the place or manner in which it may have been acquired, should be preferred to one who has not; and that, even in lower situations, a man who can read and write be preferred to one who cannot, if he is equally eligible in other respects. 76. We also approve of the institution of examinations where practicable, to be simply and entirely tests of the fitness of candidates for the special duties of the various departments in which they are seek employment, as has been the case in the Bombay presidency. We confidently commit the encouragement of educated, in preference to uneducated, men to the different officers who are responsible for their selection; and we cannot interfere by any further regulations to letter their free choice in a matter of which they bear the sole responsibility. 77. We are sanguine enough to believe that some effect has already been produced by the improved education of the public service of India. The ability and integrity of a large and increasing number of the native judges, to whom the greater part of the civil jurisdiction in India is now committed, and the high estimation in which many among them are held by their fellow-countrymen, is, in our opinion, much to be attributed to the progress of education among these officers, and to their adoption along with it of that high moral tone which pervades the general literature of Europe. Nor is it among the higher officers alone that we have direct evidence of the advantage which the public derives from the employment of educated men. We quote from the last report of the Dacca College Report on Public Instruction, with particular satisfaction, as we are aware that much of the happiness of the people of India depends upon honesty of the officers of Police: "The best possible evidence has been furnished," say the local committee," that some of the ex-students of the College of Dacca have completely succeeded in the arduous office of darogah." Krishna Chunder Dutt, employed as a darogah under the Magistrate of Howrah, in particular, is recommended for promotion, as having gained the respect and applause of all classes, who, though they may not practise, yet know how to admire, real honesty and integrity of purpose. 78. But however large the number of appointments under Government may be, the views of the natives of India should be directed to the far wider and more important sphere of usefulness and advantage which a liberal education lays open to them; and such practical benefits arising from improved knowledge should be constantly impressed upon them by those who know their feelings and have influence or authority to advise or direct their efforts. We refer, as an example in this respect, with mingled pleasure and regret, to the eloquent addresses delivered by the late Mr. Bethune, when President of the Council of education, to the students of the Kishnaghur and Dacca Colleges. 79. There are some other points connected with the general subject of education in India upon which we will now briefly remark. We have always regarded with special interest those educational institutions which have been directed towards training up the natives of India to particular professions, both with a view to their useful employment in the public service, and to enable them to pursue active profitable occupations in life. The medical colleges in different parts of India have proved that, in despite of difficulties which appeared at first sight to be insurmountable, the highest attainments in medicine and surgery are within the reach of educated natives of India: we shall be ready to aid in the establishment and support of such places of instruction as the medical colleges of Calcutta and Bombay in other parts of India. We have already alluded to the manner in which students should be supplied to those colleges as well as to those for the training of civil engineers. 80. The success of the Thomason College of Civil Engineering at Roorkee has shown that, for the purpose of training up persons capable of carrying out the great works which are in progress under Government throughout India, and to qualify the natives of India for the exercise of a profession which, now that the system of railways and public works is being rapidly extended, will afford an opening for a very large number of persons, it is expedient that similar places for practical instruction in civil engineering should be established in other parts of India, and especially in the presidency of Madras, where works of irrigation are so essential, not only to the prosperity of the country, but to the very existence of the people in times of drought and scarcity. The subject has been prominently brought under your notice in the recent reports of the Public Works Commissioners for the different presidencies, and we trust that immediate measures will be taken to supply a deficiency which is, at present but too apparent. 81. We may notice in connexion with these two classes of institutions of an essentially practical character, the schools of industry and design, which have been set on foot from time to time in different parts of India. We have lately received a very encouraging report of that established by Dr. Hunter in Madras, and we have also been informed that Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, with his accustomed munificence, has offered to lay out a very considerable sum upon a like school in Bombay. Such institutions as these will, in the end be self-supporting; but we are ready to assist in their establishment by grants-in-aid for the supply of models, and other assistance which they may advantageously derive from the increased attention which has been paid of late years to such subjects in this country. We enclose you the copy of a report which we have received from Mr. Redgrave upon the progress of the Madras school, which may prove of great value in guiding the efforts of the promoters of any similar institutions which may hereafter be established in India. We have also perceived with satisfaction that the attention of the Council of Education in Calcutta has been lately directed to the subject of attaching to each zillah school the means of teaching practical agriculture; for there is, as Dr. Alouat most truly observes, "no single advantage that could be afforded to the vast rural population of India that would equal the introduction of an improved system of agriculture." 82. The increasing desire of the Mahomedan population to acquire European knowledge has given us much satisfaction. We perceive that the Council of Education of Bengal has this subject under consideration and we shall receive with favour any proposition which may appear to you to be likely to supply with the want of so large a portion of the natives of India. 83. The importance of female education in India cannot be over-rated; and we have observed with pleasure the evidence which is now afforded of an increased desire on the part of many of the natives of India to give a good education to their daughters. By this means a far greater proportional impulse is impartedto the educational and moral tone of the people than by the education of men. We have already observed that schools for females are included among those to which grants-in-aid may be given and we cannot refrain from expressing our cordial sympathy with the efforts which are being made in this direction. Our Governor-General in Council has declared in a communication to the Government of Bengal that the Government ought to give to native female education in India its frank and cordial support; in this we heartily concur and we especially approve of the bestowal of marks of honor upon such native gentlemen as Rao Bahadur Maghuabhai Karramchand, who devoted Rs. 20,000 to the foundation of two native female schools in Ahmedabad, as by such means our desire for the extension of female education becomes generally known. 84. Considerable misapprehension appears to exist as to our views with respect to religious instruction in the Government institutions. Those institutions were founded for the benefit of the whole population of India; and in order to effect their object, it was and is, indispensable that the education conveyed in them should be exclusively secular. The Bible is, we understand, placed in the libraries of the colleges and schools and the pupils are able freely to consult it. This is as it should be; and, moreover we have no desire to prevent, or discourage, any explanation which the pupils may, of their own free will, ask from the masters upon the subject of the Christian religion provided that such information be given out of school hours. Such instruction being entirely voluntary on both sides, it is necessary, in order to prevent the slightest suspicion of an intention of our part to make use of the influence of Government for the purpose of proselytism, that no notice shall be taken of it by the inspectors in their periodical visits. 85. Having now furnished the sketch that we propose to give of the scheme for the encouragement of education in India, which we desire to see gradually brought into operation, we proceed to make some observations upon the state of education in the several presidencies, and to point out he parts of our general plan which are most deficient in each. 86. In Bengal, education through the medium of the English language, has arrived at a higher point than in any other part of India. We are glad to receive constant evidence of an increasing demand for such an education, and of the readiness of the natives of different districts to exert themselves for the sake of obtaining it. There are now five Government anglo-vernacular colleges; and zillah schools have been established in nearly every district. We confidently expect that the introduction of the system of grants-in-aid will very largely increase the number of schools of a superior order; and we hope that before long sufficient provisions may be found to exist in many parts of the country for the education of the middle and higher classes independent of the Government institutions, which may then be closed as has been already the case in Burdwan, in consequence of the enlightened conduct of the Rajah of Burdwan, or they may be transferred to local management. 87. Very little has, however, been hitherto done in Bengal for the education of the mass of the people, especially for their instruction through the medium of the vernacular languages. A few vernacular schools were founded by Government in 1844, of which only 33 now remain, with 1,400 pupils, and upon their transfer in April 1852, from the charge of the Board of Revenue to that of the Council of Education, it appeared that they were in a languishing state and had not fulfilled the expectations formed on their establishment. 88. We have perused, with considerable interest, the report of Mr. Robinson, Inspector of the Assam schools, of which there appeared to be 74, with upwards of 3,000 pupils. Mr. Robinson's suggestions for the improvement of the system under which they are managed appear to us to be worthy of consideration and to approach very nearly to the principle upon which vernacular education has been encouraged in the North-Western Provinces. We shall be prepared to sanction such measures as you may approve of to carry out Mr. Robinson's views. 89. But the attention of the Government of Bengal should be seriously directed to the consideration of some plan for the encouragement of indigenous schools and for the education of the lower classes, which, like that of Mr. Thomason in the North-Western Provinces may bring the benefits of education practically before them, and assist and direct their efforts. We are aware that the object held out by the Government of Agra to induce the agricultural classes to improve their education does not exist in Bengal; but we cannot doubt that there may be found other similar solid advantages attending elementary knowledge, which can be plainly and practically made apparent to the understanding and interests of the lower classes of Bengal. 90. We perceive that the scheme of study pursued in the Oriental Colleges of Bengal is under the consideration of the Council of Education and it appears that they are in an unsatisfactory condition. We have already sufficiently indicated our views as to those colleges, and we should be glad to see them placed upon such a footing as may make them of greater practical utility. The points which you have referred to us, in your letter of the 5th of May, relative to the establishment of a Presidency College in Calcutta, will form the subject of a separate communication. 91. In the North-Western Provinces the demand for education is so limited by circumstances fully detailed by the Lieutenant-Governor in one of his early reports, that it will probably be long before private effort will become energetic enough to supply the place of the establishment, support and management by Government, of places of instruction of the highest grade where there may be a sufficient reason for their institution. 92. At the same time, the system for the promotion of general education throughout the country, by means of the inspection and encouragement of indigenous schools, has laid the foundation of a great advancement in the education of the lower classes. Mr. Thomason ascertained, from statistical information, the lamentable state of ignorance in which the people were sunk, while the registration of land, which is necessary under the revenue settlement of North-Western Provinces, appeared to him to offer the stimulus of a direct interest for the acquisition of so much knowledge, at least of reading and writing, of the simple rules of arithmetic, and of land measurement, as would enable each man to look after his own rights. 93. He therefore organized a system of encouragement of indigenous schools by means of a constant inspection by zillah and purgannah visitors, under the superintendence of a visitor-general; while, at the headquarters of each tahsildar, a school was established for the purpose of teaching "reading and writing the vernacular languages, both Urdu and Hindi accounts, and the mensuration of land." A school house is provided by Government, and the masters of the tahsili schools receive a small salary, and are further entitled to the tuition fees paid by the pupils, of whom none are educated gratuitously, except "on recommendation given by village schoolmasters who may be on the visitor's list." A certain sum is annually allotted to each zillah for the reward of deserving teachers and scholars; and the attention of the visitor-general was expressly directed to the preparation of elementary school books in the vernacular language, which are sold through the agency of the zillah and the purgannah visitors. We shall be prepared to sanction the gradual extension of some such system as this to the other districts of the Agra presidency, and we have already referred to it as the model by which the efforts of other presidencies for the same object should be guided. 94. In the presidency of Bombay the character of the education conveyed in the anglo-vernacular colleges is almost, if not quite, equal to that in Bengal; and the Elphinstone Institution is an instance of a college conducted in the main upon the principle of grants-in-aid, which we desire to see more extensively carried out. Considerable attention has also been paid in Bombay to education through the medium of the vernacular languages. It appears that 216 vernacular schools are under the management of the Board of Education, and that the number of pupils attending them is more than 12,000. There are three inspectors of the district schools, one of whom (Mahadeo Govind Shastri) is a native of India. The schools are reported to be improving, and masters trained in the Government colleges have been recently appointed to some of them with the happiest effect. The results are very creditable to the presidency of Bombay; and we trust that each Government school will now be made a centre from which the indigenous schools of the adjacent districts may be inspected and encouraged. 95. As the new revenue settlement is extended in the Bombay presidency there will, we apprehend, be found an inducement precisely similar to that which has been taken advantage of by Mr. Thomason, to make it the interest of the agricultural classes to acquire so much knowledge as will enable them to check the returns of the village accountants. We have learned with satisfaction that the subject of gradually making some educational qualification necessary to the confirmation of these hereditary officers is under the consideration of the Government of Bombay, and that a practical educational test is now insisted upon for persons employed in many offices under Government. 96. In Madras, where little has yet been done by Government to promote the education of the mass of the people, we can only remark with satisfaction that the educational efforts of Christian missionaries have been more successful among the Tamil population than in any other part of India; and that the presidency of Madras offers a fair field for the adoption of our scheme of education in its integrity by founding Government anglo-vernacular institutions only where no such places of instruction at present exist, which might, by grants-in-aid and other assistance adequately supply the educational wants of the people. We also perceive with satisfaction that Mr. Daniel Elliot, in a recent and most able minute upon the subject of education, has stated that Mr. Thomason's plan for the encouragement of indigenous schools might readily be introduced into the Madras presidency, where the riotwari settlement offers a similar practical inducement to the people for the acquisition of elementary knowledge. 97. We have now concluded the observations which we think it is necessary to address to you upon the subject of the education of the natives of India. We have declared that our object is to extend European knowledge throughout all classes of the people. We have shown that this object must be effected by means of the English language in the higher branches of institution, and by that of the vernacular languages of India to the great mass of the people. We have directed such a system of general superintendence and inspection by Government to be established as well, if properly carried out, give efficiency and uniformity to your efforts. We propose by the institution of universities to provide the highest test and encouragement of liberal education. By sanctioning grants-in-aid of private efforts, we hope to call to the assistance of Government private exertions and private liberality. The higher classes will now be gradually called upon to depend more upon themselves; and your attention has been more especially directed to the education of the middle and lower classes, both by the establishment of fitting schools for this purpose and by means of a careful encouragement of the native schools which exist, and have existed from time immemorial, in every village, and none of which perhaps cannot, in some degree, be made available to the end we have in view. We have noticed some particular points connected with education, and we have reviewed the condition of the different presidencies in this respect, with a desire to point out what should be imitated, and what is wanting, in each. 98. We have only to add, in conclusion, that we commit this subject to you with a sincere belief that you will cordially co-operate with us in endeavouring to effect the great object we have in hand, and that we desire it should be authoritatively communicated to the principal officers, of every district in India, that henceforth they are to consider it to be an important part of their duty, not only in the social intercourse with the natives of India, which we always learnt with pleasure that they maintain, but also with all the influence of their high position, to aid in the extension of education, and to support the inspectors of schools by every means in their power. 99. We believe that the measures we have determined upon are calculated to extend the benefits of education throughout India; but, at the same time, we must add that we are not sanguine enough to expect any sudden, or even speedy, results to follow from their adoption. To imbue a vast and ignorant population with a general desire for knowledge, and to take advantage of that desire when excited to improve the means for diffusing education amongst them, must be a work of many years; which, by the blessing of Divine Providence, may largely conduce to the moral and intellectual improvement of the mass of the natives of India. 100. As a Government, we can do no more than direct the efforts of the people, and aid them wherever they appear to require most assistance. The result depends more upon them than upon us; and although we are fully aware that the measures we have now adopted will involve in the end a much larger expenditure upon education from the revenues of India, or, in other words, the taxation of the people of India, than is at present so applied, we are convinced, with Sir Thomas Munro, in words used many years since, that any expense which may be incurred for this object "will be amply re-paid by the improvement of the country; for the general diffusion of knowledge is inseparably followed by more orderly habits, by increasing industry, by a test for the comforts of life, by exertion to acquire them, and by the growing prosperity of the people." We are, etc., (Signed) J. OLIPHANT. E. MACNAGHTEN. C. MILLS. R. ELLICE. T. W. HOBB. W. J. EASTWICK. R. D. MANGLES. J. P. WILLOUGHBY. J. H. ASTELL. F. CURRIE. From indrani_majumdar at rediffmail.com Tue May 25 12:49:23 2004 From: indrani_majumdar at rediffmail.com (indrani majumdar) Date: 25 May 2004 07:19:23 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] posting Message-ID: <20040525071923.4224.qmail@webmail36.rediffmail.com> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20040525/5adc9153/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- First film advertisements by Indrani Majumder One of the first film advertisements I have found are the advertisements of first series of public shows of bioscope published in the Statesman (Calcutta) dated 19th November 1897 onward. Similar advertisements can also be found in other newspapers from the same period. Along with the first advertisement the Statesman also published a technical article explaining its readers what cinema really was and how it worked. The advertisement itself highlighted cinema as a new technological device and sited a list of visual ‘attractions’ it offered. It was designed as an announcement: the arrival of a new scientific marvel, a modern wonder that was bound to mesmerize everyone. The first series of advertisements did not carry any photograph of the machine itself or any stills from the films but just depended on textual matter for communication. These were simple typeset advertisements that used one or more fronts of different sizes and were primarily designed as interesting texts for reading and not emphasized on visuals at all. The first film advertisements were modeled on contemporary product advertisements, which were usually presented as announcements for the reading public. They incorporated the ‘direct address mode’ of public announcement in order to intimate the arrival of a new scientific ‘wonder’. Early cinema at the beginning of 20th century yet to become a new form of cultural commodity and the first generation of entrepreneurs were not very sure of its marketability. Because of this uncertainty, these advertisements read more like appeals directed to the general public in a very straightforward manner emphasizing on what they would miss rather than what they will gain. Words were selected carefully to arouse interest of the reader. Some of the words were repeated two or three times to emphasize on the value and significance of new scientific experience in the offering. The objective was rather clear: cinema had to be experienced as a ‘scientific marvel’ as it was not a consumable good.. The language of cinema advertisement started changing as cinema became more and more popular and entertaining. As I study the early film advertisements of the first decade I realize that the texts of the ads evolved very dramatically from ‘announcement’ to ‘advertisement’ as the cinema acquired the status of a new form of commodity. Films were being mass manufactured for public consumption and it required to reach the largest possible audience. Accordingly the advertisements were modified to appeal to popular sentiments. This transition is noticeable in contemporary theatre handbills, which contained advertisement of films of short duration and scenes from different plays and were presented as added attraction to the theatre going public. The arrival of cinema in the public domain proper – first in popular stage which considered the spectacle of cinema as an extension of the illusory stagecraft, and then in separate tent shows or private screenings which presented cinema as an independent form of entertainment – created the urge to design new advertisements exclusively for film marketing. From mklayman at leonardo.info Tue May 25 04:42:00 2004 From: mklayman at leonardo.info (Melinda Klayman) Date: Mon, 24 May 2004 16:12:00 -0700 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Leonardo Electronic Almanac: May 2004 Message-ID: *sincere apologies for cross-posting* Leonardo Electronic Almanac: May 2004 ISSN#1071-4391 art | science | technology - a definitive voice since 1993 http://lea.mit.edu *Public News Network by Jack Stenner* A computer-based artwork giving viewers "the power to interrogate corporate broadcast media." Using a 3-D navigable space, with Internet-transmitted objects representing news broadcasts, to synthesize ideas from multiple disciplines the work encourages the audience to question their preconceived understanding, providing the "opportunity for a new understanding via chance juxtapositions and a re- sampling of existing content." *Toward the Glass Bead Game by Joshua Fost* A realization of writer Herman Hesse's "Glass Bead Game.” The piece associates small images with ideas in ordinary prose developing a new vocabulary of glyphs, which are later "assembled in special ways, such that their spatial arrangement asserts symbolic relationships between the corresponding ideas." http://mitpress2.mit.edu/e-journals/LEA/GALLERY/ glassbeadgame/index.html *Escuela Rural Andina de Cajamarca by Sabine Vess* Seeking to activate the talents of rural Peru's artisans through the creation of permanent training facilities for weavers, ceramists and jewelers. *Leonardo Reviews: May 2004* Filmmaker/theorist Coral Houtman reviews Peter L. Rudnytsky's “Reading Psycho-Analysis: Freud, Rank, Ferenczi, Groddeck”, examines the relationship between psychoanalysis and literature through a textual analysis filter. David Surman looks at Patricia Pisters' latest powerful foray into the writing of Deleuze, *The Matrix of Visual Culture: Working with Deleuze in Film Theory”. Other reviews: http://mitpress.mit.edu/e-journals/ Leonardo/ldr.html Also in this issue, Julio Bermudez’s editorial: “Art and Design: Cures for Society's Growing Data Perceptual Blindness?”, the upcoming International Art and History Conference, remembering Iba Ndiaye Diadji and Piotr Kowalski, and much more Editorial ideas / proposals: lea at mitpress.mit.edu ************************************************************** ****************** LEA Information and URLs ------------------------------------------- Receive your FREE subscription to the Leonardo Electronic Almanac e-mail digest at http:// mitpress.mit.edu/lea/e-mail -- just provide your email address, name, and password, and check off that you'd like to be added to the Leonardo Electronic Almanac monthly e-mail list to keep on top of the latest news in the Leonardo community. How to advertise in LEA? http://mitpress2.mit.edu/e-journals/Leonardo/isast/ placeads.html#LEAads For a paid subscription (to become an ISAST member and access archives dating back to 1993): http:// mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=4&tid= 27&mode=p The Leonardo Educators Initiative ------------------------------------------------------- The Leonardo Abstracts Service (LABS) is a listing of Masters and Ph.D. theses in the art/science/technology field, for the benefit of scholars and practitioners. LEA also maintains a discussion list open only to faculty in the field. Students interested in contributing and faculty wishing to join this list should contact lea at mitpress.mit.edu What is LEA? ---------------------- For over a decade, Leonardo Electronic Almanac (LEA) has thrived as an international peer-reviewed electronic journal and web archive, covering the interaction of the arts, sciences and technology. LEA emphasizes rapid publication of recent work and critical discussion on topics of current excitement. Many contributors are younger scholars and artists, and there is a slant towards shorter, less academic texts. Copyright© 1993 - 2004: The Leonardo Electronic Almanac is published by Leonardo / International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology (ISAST) in association with the MIT Press. All rights reserved. -- NEW ADDRESS! Please note our new contact information as of May 1, 2004: Leonardo/ISAST 211 Sutter Street, Suite 800 San Francisco, CA 94108 phone: (415) 391-1110 fax: (415) 391-2385 Email: isast at leonardo.info Web: http://www.leonardo.info _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From pbkasturi at usermail.com Tue May 25 19:07:36 2004 From: pbkasturi at usermail.com (Poonam Bir Kasturi) Date: Tue, 25 May 2004 19:07:36 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] 3rd srishti posting Message-ID: Our third posting since we started work on the Sarai Fellowship. We are finding that "to provoke" and to "inform" is all easy to imagine but seriously - does it really really help? Is change gradual and gentle and uncontrollable or is it immediate? Anyway, looking at the Karnataka IT directory on CD rom and the hard copy that comes with it, and looking at other guides like the Bangalore Active Citizenship guide we feel that we like the quilt approach. Its lighter and consolidated without being preachy. Also every decision is now being checked against the Bangalore reality or the Bangalore context is layered onto the debate or point that needs to be communicated. This has helped bring a coherence to the sessions we all have had - otherwise the vastness of the whole thing can be scary. Tanushree, Radha and Kaniyka are onto creating visuals and we are refining the cover of the print version of the Eco-source at the moment. Anyone travelling in Bangalore is most welcome to see the work so far - and give use feedback srishti team From pbkasturi at usermail.com Tue May 25 19:07:35 2004 From: pbkasturi at usermail.com (Poonam Bir Kasturi) Date: Tue, 25 May 2004 19:07:35 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] 2nd posting from srishti team Message-ID: Our second posting since we started work on the Sarai Fellowship. work is happening at a slow pace, but things are emerging nevertheless. we have a new person Radha Chanchani (radhas_postbox at yahoo.com) a student of architecture who has joined us in our efforts to come up with a pilot for the eco directory, if we could please add her to this group. by august we would be presenting this PIlot. three students have randomly picked on three eco products respectively namely solar water heater, Compressed Earth Blocks (CBEs) and milk packets and are trying to compelete the product cycles starting with queries such as how can i? what is? where does this go? etc... stories, experiences, problems, facts gathered en route will then be represented visually in such a way that reflects connectedness and being a part of a city. this perhaps is the big challenge and something we spend time brainstorming and sketching on.this process shall then feed into the eco directory in what do we see the directory to hold and how must we see what it contains in order to communicate this very feeling arising from a fact. the second group tackling home waste management have decided to use focus groups to collect some data and then create a plan of which are they would like to tackle first. as far as the compost bin prototype is concerned, the product and process has been selected for the Biela exhibition coming up this october in France, so by then we have to finish the work on it, finalize the design, test it and patent it. sorry for the delay in posting srishti team From surekha at servelots.com Tue May 25 22:21:47 2004 From: surekha at servelots.com (surekha at servelots.com) Date: Tue, 25 May 2004 12:51:47 -0400 Subject: [Reader-list] Monthly posting Message-ID: <265000-220045225165147101@M2W091.mail2web.com> Hello all, I am sending a monthly posting for the project titled "Multilingual support in web applications using server-side java". Surekha. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monthly Report May’2004 Multi-lingual support for Web applications using Server Side Java ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------- A collaborative work with K Srinivasa Raghavan Abstract of proposal: -------------------- Whether it be e-mail or a project like PANTOTO [http://www.pantoto.com], internationalization [i18n] allows the application to work in a specific local language. Multi-lingual applications however, go a step further and enable the user to switch locales (language) dynamically at run-time. The proposal is to investigate the issues involved in localizing a web application and providing multilingual support using server side Java and popular browser based scripts. Current status of project: ------------------------- 1. Input Method Editor (IME): An Input Method Editor (IME) in JavaScript has been developed which allows users to type in any of the Indian Scripts (Devanagari [Hindi, Marathi, Sanskrit], Bengali, Gurumukhi, Gujarathi, Oriya, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam) in Web applications (Browsers). This Input Method is platform and browser independent. It has been tested on Netscape7 and Mozilla 1.1 on Linux and IE6.0 and Netscape7 on Windows. There is a problem in rendering Indic content in Netscape7 on windows and Mozilla1.1 and Netscape7 on Linux. The IME is developed for two keyboard layouts namely “WX” and “Inscript”. “WX” is a notation developed by NLP team at IIT-Kanpur. We have also integrated this Input Method with the PANTOTO Communities Software. 2. Data storage: Indic data can be stored at the backend either in ISCII encoding scheme or in Unicode encoding scheme. Presently we are storing data in ISCII (Indian Standard Code for Information Interchange) at the backend to analyze the problems associated with this encoding scheme. In case of multi-lingual content, we need to prefix a language tag whenever there is a change in language. This required us to make changes to the conversion utility (http://www.sarovar.org/projects/codeconverters) developed earlier, to store multi-lingual content in ISCII encoding scheme. The updated conversion tool will soon be made available in the public domain. We have been able to store data in ISCII encoding scheme for two Indian Scripts (Devanagari and Kannada) successfully. Road ahead: ----------- 1. Input Method Editor (IME): We are also planning to make this IME as an independent tool that sits on the browser at the client end and can be invoked on any web page. 2. Data storage : We will try storing data in Unicode at the backend and will analyze the issues involved in this encoding scheme. -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web - Check your email from the web at http://mail2web.com/ . From clapstick2002 at hotmail.com Tue May 25 20:02:44 2004 From: clapstick2002 at hotmail.com (clapstick 2002) Date: Tue, 25 May 2004 14:32:44 +0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Madan Theatre Ltd Message-ID: Madan Theatre Ltd: Knowing the Company Better Posting by Biren Das Sharma Madan and Sons entered in entertainment business in 1902 first by acquiring two theatre companies in Calcutta and then in the film exhibition. Jamshedji Framji Madan, a wine merchant who came to Calcutta from Bombay at the age of 12, started its film venture in 1902, when he introduced tent shows of films in the maidan in the vicinity of the Esplanade. The films shown were all foreign imports. Earlier Madan had introduced glamourous Parsi theatre to the city of Calcutta for the first time and his own theatre house, the Corinthian Theatre, became a well-known place of popular entertainment. Parsi theatre introduced painted backdrops and all sorts of stage gimmicks with high production value and also cast women in female roles which was a taboo then. By 1910 Madan had constructed the first permanent show house in Calcutta and became a familiar name in the entertainment business. In 1916 Mad produced the first Bengali feature film �Jamai Sasthi� directed by Jyotish Banerjee who was the manager of the Corinthian Theatre. After the end of the First World War the company witnessed rapid growth and became a joint stock company in 1919. The Formation of the Madan Theatres Ltd indeed was an important event in the history of Indian cinema because in the following years the company developed into an empire. �By 1920, the total number of theatres either run solely on our accord or in association with us was 37. Besides this number, 14 theatres took films on hire from us. This makes our circuit 51 theatres in 1920� said J. J. Madan, who was the managing director of the company. By the end of 1927 this had increased to 85 of which 65 houses � each showing twice daily � were own by the company itself. Which meant that the company had a sole control on a quarter of all cinema halls in India. The distribution of films in the 1920s were controlled by several distributors and importers including the Madan Theatres Ltd. There were two American distributors who were directly marketing films produced by their parent companies. In addition to feeding the companies own chain of cinema halls Madan also was supplying films to 20 Indian distributors regularly. In 1927 the company took the initiative of importing the Furlitzer Theatre Organ, famous for its sound effects and music, for its own theatres spending over Rs. 65,000. The Company owned 10 cinema halls in the city of Calcutta alone each had nearly 30 to 40 employees. Altogether nearly 2500 persons were under the company�s payroll and were engaged in the film business alone. Around this time the Universal expressed its desire to buy the company and had offered a lucrative sum. J. J. Madan recalled, � When I was abroad there was some talk of American as well as British houses buying our circuit. Well, it meant a great publicity for my firm and it enhanced the prestige and popularity of my firm.� Madan Theatres Ltd was producing an average of 6 films per year and had list of nearly 60 films produced by the company itself till 1927. Among them Pati Bhakti, Jayadev and Ramayan was the most popular titles. Also produced 9 educational films for other agencies and public bodies such as Bengal Public Health Department. It would be interesting to note that the usual practice was to send the negatives of Indian film abroad and getting prints made there and shipped to India. The negative were not brought back immediately. >From 1925 to 1927 the company had censored a huge total of 5,629 reels � mostly films imported from America � which was nearly 1200 more than its nearest competitor the Universal film Corporation of Bombay. Rental of films supplied to other exhibitors varied from Rs. 75 to Rs. 300 depending on the population of a particular locality. According to the company a cinema hall would not be a viable business if the local population was less that 40,000. Being the single largest importer the Madan enjoyed a significant control on the distribution and exhibition market in India. So far as imported prints were concerned the usual practice was to destroy the old prints and furnish the producer abroad an affidavit that the film had been destroyed. Madan�s aggressive business policy drew a lot of criticism. Yet the company�s motto was simple enough, �Quality tempered with price in production will always determine the film market of the world. Excellence in product alone is the factor of success. Whose product? Anybody�s, any country�s product so long as it is best and at the right price.� _________________________________________________________________ Contact brides & grooms FREE! http://www.shaadi.com/ptnr.php?ptnr=hmltag Only on www.shaadi.com. Register now! From dknitenine at hotmail.com Wed May 26 12:02:51 2004 From: dknitenine at hotmail.com (dknite nite) Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 06:32:51 +0000 Subject: [Reader-list] (no subject) Message-ID: dear ma'am, i enthusiastically recieved your suggestion about the reference of the work of K Weston. i will soon go through it. i am going to Patna for about two months for consulting the archieval materials in the Bihar State Archieve. following this field-work, i will further improve upon the respective paper. Dhiraj Kr Nite. _________________________________________________________________ Get a Citibank Home Loan now. http://go.msnserver.com/IN/49351.asp Build with Citibank Home Loans. From abshi at vsnl.com Wed May 26 16:11:07 2004 From: abshi at vsnl.com (abshi at vsnl.com) Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 15:41:07 +0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Search for a Fund Raising Coordinator: Ummeed Child Development Center Message-ID: <36e7ad836e86bf.36e86bf36e7ad8@vsnl.net> Ummeed Child Development Center 7A Chinoy Mansion Warden Road, Mumbai 400 036 Search for a Fund Raising Coordinator The Organization Ummeed is a Mumbai based non-profit organization formed with the specific objective of providing coordinated inter-disciplinary care to children with developmental disabilities such as Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation, Learning Disability, Autism, Attention Deficit Disorder, etc. Ummeed provides both diagnosis of these disabilities and follow-on care. Ummeed has a team of 12 part-time professionals including developmental pediatricians, speech therapists, occupational therapists, psychiatrists, a physical therapist, a special educator, and a counselor. These professionals have trained at institutions like Harvard University, City University, London, Northwestern University, Washington University, and Bombay University, and all of them have significant experience in working with children with developmental disabilities in India. Ummeed is unique in India because of the quality of its team, its inter-disciplinary approach (resulting in much better care for the child) and its focus on empowering parents to take a more proactive approach towards their child (which allows the professionals at Ummeed to benefit from the parent’s knowledge of the child, leverages the time of the professionals and helps motivate parents). Ummeed has gone from a start-up organization seeing 5 patients a week in November 2001 to a unit seeing over 70 patients a week in January 2004. It has also been active in supporting other organizations and public bodies build awareness and advocacy. It has also started two research projects. For more details on Ummeed, see Ummeed.org However, given there are over 150,000 children with developmental disabilities in Mumbai alone - we would now like to grow the organization and expand its operations. By the end of 2007, we would like to be seeing over 800 children a week (using a central core facility and five satellite centers), executing on four research projects a year, running an early intervention center, disseminating information to parents and professionals across the country, training professionals to work in the field, and developing new more cost and resource effective ways to help children with developmental disabilities. As we scale up, we need increased funds. One of our board members, Ashish Karamchandani, CEO, Monitor Group (a leading international Management Consulting and Merchant Banking firm) has taken the lead in helping generate these funds. We are looking for a Fund Raising Coordinator to work with him on this task. Note, while the task is primarily helping in fundraising, there will be opportunities to work with the team at Ummeed on other areas as described below. Job Responsibilities  Working with the board member in charge of fund raising (primary responsibility) – Following up on potential funders (sending emails to test interest, following up with those who are interested, responding to data requests, etc) – Following up on existing funders (keeping them updated, sending them info they want, periodic updates on Ummeed and areas where they are helping, etc) – Identifying new areas of funding and finding prospective funders (using resources like contacts, internet, proposals, presentations etc) – Maintaining a database of funders that keeps track of whom we have approached and the status – Preparing and supporting grant applications (to foundations and corporates in India and outside India) – Monitoring the overall portfolio of fund-raising activities to assess likely funding and “key areas to fill” – Coordinating presentations to various institutions and corporate organizations to raise funds  Developing support material for Fundraising / PR / Image building – Writing up case studies, getting photographs and other visuals that communicate the work being done at Ummeed and its impact, etc. – Supporting other individuals (senior professionals at Ummeed or external experts) preparing brochures, videos, etc.  Other tasks (25 – 40% of time) – In addition to fund raising and related tasks described above, the individual will also have the opportunity to participate in other tasks like research projects, supporting new programs, working with the Executive Director on growth initiatives, etc. The actual tasks will depend on the individual’s interests, areas of expertise and opportunities at Ummeed. Note: (1) A core part of the job will be working closely with the Board member responsible for fundraising. He is a experienced business leader and much of the learning and development on this job will come from working with him (2) The Fund raising Coordinator is not expected to know health care or developmental disabilities. Ummeed has an experienced medical director and a number of very well trained professionals who will provide all the “technical knowledge” required. In fact, the coordinator will go through a “training programme” to help them understand the world of developmental disabilities (3) The coordinator is expected to be a full member of the Ummeed team. She/He will participate in team meetings, get involved in building awareness and advocacy, etc. Candidate Profile  Good verbal/written skills in English  Well versed with computer basics (word, powerpoint, excel, internet browsing)  Systematic, can handle large number of on-going interactions, good on tracking and follow through  Good organizational skills  Able to work independently  Has a Bachelors degree  Motivated and interested in working with NGOs Logistical Details • Mumbai based • Work is expected to be full time, but there will be some flexibility in work hours/location (e.g., for a mother who may only be able to spend a limited amount of time at Ummeed). • Salary : Rs 6,000 to 10,000 (depending on experience and capabilities) In summary, this is an interesting opportunity for a young graduate or a young mother who wants to work with the non-profit sector and develop fund raising and general management skills. It could be a path of apprenticing and learning skills for a long term career in the non-profit sector or a transition period of “sales skill development” and creating impact before getting a formal business degree. Contact Details If you are interested in applying for the position, please send Shamin Mehrotra, your resume, a sample of your writing and a letter telling us why you would like to do this job and why you feel you will be able to do it. Shamin’s contact details are: e-mail: shamin_m at hotmail.com Address: Ummeed Child Development Center 7A Chinoy Mansion Warden Road Mumbai 400 036 Tel Number: 91-22-2363-2258 / 2363-2932 From ritika at sarai.net Wed May 26 16:58:23 2004 From: ritika at sarai.net (Ritika) Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 16:58:23 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Idgah slaughterhouse: work and nuisance Message-ID: <40B47F57.2040301@sarai.net> hello everybody, I have been doing some work on the Idgah slaughterhouse. Well, the study area and the interest emerged from my M.phil thesis which is on the "Distribution of urban waste at city's peripheries." I had initially called it as "distribution of urban externalities on city's peripheries...but realised that i was in all probability using the term loosely. I had three case study areas: a) Idgah slaughterhouse (which has had a long relocation history due to reasons of people not wanting a slaughterhouse in their backyard etc..) b) Asola Bhatti Mine area (it was suggested to make the now defunct stone quarry area into delhi's landfill site) c) Narela - Bawana Industrial Area: (to make 'delhi' clean, its waste is pushed on to someone else's area) So what has emerged is a vary banal thesis with very linear arguments. IGNORE I am now concentrating on a just one study area. The Idgah Slaughetrhouse. I am not going to preach vegetarianism or discuss the rampant illegal slaughtering. What i am trying to do and which is still in an early stage is work out some relation between city, markets and nuisance trade. Relocation: For a city like Delhi with a large and growing meat-eating population, the existence of a well run slaughterhouse is considered absolutely essential. The usual practice has been to locate slaughterhouses at some distance from the urban parts of the city. The insanitary and hopeless conditions in which most of them operate made this all the more necessary. In the absence of any long-term planning, the slaughterhouse had to be shifted from time to time further out with increasing sprawl. For many years, the Delhi slaughterhouses were in the Turkman Gate area. But with the spread of the city, these were shifted in 1914 to the Idgah area where they existed till 1950's. At that time, this area lay quite outside the inhabited part of the city. However, on account of development of residential areas in the locality, the question of removal of the slaughterhouse to another suitable site has acquired considerable importance since 1938. Residential areas now surround the present slaughterhouse and the slaughtering is causing a nuisance to the community. (Ref: Town and Country Planning organization -1950s) Intemediaries: Denis Vidal's work on Intermediaries in Grain Market (2000) gets a bit more substantited when one looks at the slaughetrhouse. Haroon's (a butcher) day begins at 05:30 in the morning when he goes and buys his animals for the day, from the “bakra mandi” - as the Idgah areas is also known as. This mandi starts booming with activity around 05:00. However some other sources tell me that slaughtering work begins around 03:00 – 04:00 am. Haroon meets a middle man/ arti/ dalal and buys goats from him. The Dalal is payed a commission of 2% per animal. A small animal weighing up 6 kg is sold for around Rs. 1000/- On an average he and his brother slaughters about 15 - 20 goats in a day. Denis Vidal (Ref: Delhi : Urban Space and Human Destinies; edited by: veronique dupont, Emma tarlo and denis Vidal,2000) says, “...It is difficult to estimate the number of people whose activities are directly linked to the grain market in Delhi. The number of intermediaries is something which the market people themselves find most difficult to evaluate...” Dennis refers to the middle men as Adati in his essay. At Idgah they are known as Arati. Local Trades: Along with the meat that is sent for local consumption, a lot of other body parts are also sold within the same premises of the slaughterhouse. This space is just behind the idgah. There were women – mostly selling goat heads, goat legs, liver, and other body parts which i just couldn't recognise. These women were sitting in front of the MCD dhalao. I saw one guy whose pyjama and shirt had too many blood spots and flesh parts stuck up on his clothes...animal skins are also sold within the same premises.. Waste: The slaughterhouse waste goes to Ghazipur Landfill site. Each Truck has about 350 kg of cowdung, 5-15 kg of animal parts and 60-80 kg of clotted blood, all mixed. The Gazipur landfill site is located in the east of Delhi. Its area is around 100 acres. Since 1984, 1250-1300 tonnes of garbage is being dumped here every day. 50% of this garbage comes from the abbatoir. 3500-4000 kites were hovering over the exposed animal remains. 80 to 90 stray cattle were struggling to find food from this mess. 50 ragpickers and 30-40 stray dogs rummaging through the garbage. 250-300 families live there. This mail is just a little summary of whatever work i have donde so far. If you're interested to read more and see some pictures, go to: http://blog.sarai.net/users/ritika/ It'll be nice if people could send me their comments, suggestions some interesting questions, anything. If nothing..just let me know that u liked my blog...:) cheers ritika Cheers From coolzanny at hotmail.com Thu May 27 11:09:04 2004 From: coolzanny at hotmail.com (Zainab Bawa) Date: Thu, 27 May 2004 11:09:04 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] (no subject) Message-ID: How important is TV in the life of women? I undertook this journey as part of the series to observe office-going women and train groups during the evening rush hours, when all the birds are flying back to their nests. As usual, at VT, the women entered the train in a mad rush even before the train had stopped. Gradually, I am coming to view this as normal, even though this pushing and rushing means that at a woman or two fall down with a violent thud on the compartment floor! The women jostle around and try to occupy the first best seats and if not the first best, settle with the second, third or at least the fourth best (the regular train seat can only occupy for persons at a time). Long distance commuters do not wish to stand on their way back home, particularly the office-going-home-returning women who have to anyway stand on one foot back home to cook, wash, clean and field after husband and children. This is their daily routine which they perform quite religiously. I was intently listening to the various conversations in the area in which I was sitting. Some of the groups were inquiring about missing members, �Kidhar hai? Aaj nahi aayi? Train miss kar diya hoga! (Where is she? Has she not come today? Must have missed the train today!)� Some of them would even go on to say that, �Aaj subah mein bhi nahi dekha usko? Kya baat hai? (I did not even see her this morning. What�s the matter?)� As the train proceeds, conversations center around different topics including what happened in the office today, visiting relatives, occasions, what�s gonna be cooking this evening back home, and the current topic of discussion is the heat and how to beat the heat. As I was listening to the conversations, I began to draw a picture of the typical office-going woman traveling in the ladies compartment on a daily basis. Here is the picture: She is the superwoman who manages work, house, husband and kids with absolute dexterity and all these four elements are the fundamental basis of her life. Her existential problems revolve around these four elements and the fifth element of extended family. At times, She need not work, but She wants to because She does not want to sit at home all day. She�s work at office involves routine tasks like clerical work, accounts or secretarial work, all of which require a strict framework. A lot of she�s like her probably work in banks. (They form the task force!) She starts her day at 4 AM or 5 AM in the morning. Getting up, cooking for self and husband and kids. She then readies the kids for school while husband gets ready for office. She also needs to ensure that she has filled the water tank for to last for the day�s quota. By 8 AM or 9 AM, She is ready to step out of home, to the railway station, where the trains lead her to her workplace. In the trains, She either has her train group or She is by herself. By 10:AM or 10:30 AM, She is in office, with papers and files and phone calls. By 5 or 6 PM in the evening, She is ready to head back home. She must get back home by 7 or 7:30 PM latest, so that she is able to prepare dinner for the evening, take children�s lessons, and prepare herself for next day by ironing clothes or cutting vegetables for the morning meal, etc. While on her way back home, she shops in the train or at the local market, buying groceries for the house. By 9 or 10 PM, She sits before the Television, eating her dinner. This is the time she has to enjoy herself. She is glued to TV till about 10:30 or 11 PM and then goes back to clean the kitchen and then off to bed by about 12 PM. This is the life of She, life in which the space She has to herself is either before the TV or in the ladies compartment or both. I wonder whether TV has modified the life which she used to lead earlier? What has it added and subtracted from her life? [Please read this piece without any judgments pf goodness or badness of the life of She or the influence of TV!] _________________________________________________________________ Don't miss out on jobs that are not advertised. http://go.msnserver.com/IN/49350.asp Post your CV on naukri.com today. From coolzanny at hotmail.com Thu May 27 11:09:04 2004 From: coolzanny at hotmail.com (Zainab Bawa) Date: Thu, 27 May 2004 11:09:04 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] (no subject) Message-ID: How important is TV in the life of women? I undertook this journey as part of the series to observe office-going women and train groups during the evening rush hours, when all the birds are flying back to their nests. As usual, at VT, the women entered the train in a mad rush even before the train had stopped. Gradually, I am coming to view this as normal, even though this pushing and rushing means that at a woman or two fall down with a violent thud on the compartment floor! The women jostle around and try to occupy the first best seats and if not the first best, settle with the second, third or at least the fourth best (the regular train seat can only occupy for persons at a time). Long distance commuters do not wish to stand on their way back home, particularly the office-going-home-returning women who have to anyway stand on one foot back home to cook, wash, clean and field after husband and children. This is their daily routine which they perform quite religiously. I was intently listening to the various conversations in the area in which I was sitting. Some of the groups were inquiring about missing members, �Kidhar hai? Aaj nahi aayi? Train miss kar diya hoga! (Where is she? Has she not come today? Must have missed the train today!)� Some of them would even go on to say that, �Aaj subah mein bhi nahi dekha usko? Kya baat hai? (I did not even see her this morning. What�s the matter?)� As the train proceeds, conversations center around different topics including what happened in the office today, visiting relatives, occasions, what�s gonna be cooking this evening back home, and the current topic of discussion is the heat and how to beat the heat. As I was listening to the conversations, I began to draw a picture of the typical office-going woman traveling in the ladies compartment on a daily basis. Here is the picture: She is the superwoman who manages work, house, husband and kids with absolute dexterity and all these four elements are the fundamental basis of her life. Her existential problems revolve around these four elements and the fifth element of extended family. At times, She need not work, but She wants to because She does not want to sit at home all day. She�s work at office involves routine tasks like clerical work, accounts or secretarial work, all of which require a strict framework. A lot of she�s like her probably work in banks. (They form the task force!) She starts her day at 4 AM or 5 AM in the morning. Getting up, cooking for self and husband and kids. She then readies the kids for school while husband gets ready for office. She also needs to ensure that she has filled the water tank for to last for the day�s quota. By 8 AM or 9 AM, She is ready to step out of home, to the railway station, where the trains lead her to her workplace. In the trains, She either has her train group or She is by herself. By 10:AM or 10:30 AM, She is in office, with papers and files and phone calls. By 5 or 6 PM in the evening, She is ready to head back home. She must get back home by 7 or 7:30 PM latest, so that she is able to prepare dinner for the evening, take children�s lessons, and prepare herself for next day by ironing clothes or cutting vegetables for the morning meal, etc. While on her way back home, she shops in the train or at the local market, buying groceries for the house. By 9 or 10 PM, She sits before the Television, eating her dinner. This is the time she has to enjoy herself. She is glued to TV till about 10:30 or 11 PM and then goes back to clean the kitchen and then off to bed by about 12 PM. This is the life of She, life in which the space She has to herself is either before the TV or in the ladies compartment or both. I wonder whether TV has modified the life which she used to lead earlier? What has it added and subtracted from her life? [Please read this piece without any judgments pf goodness or badness of the life of She or the influence of TV!] _________________________________________________________________ Don't miss out on jobs that are not advertised. http://go.msnserver.com/IN/49350.asp Post your CV on naukri.com today. From zest_india at yahoo.co.in Thu May 27 17:23:46 2004 From: zest_india at yahoo.co.in (=?iso-8859-1?q?Shivam=20Vij?=) Date: Thu, 27 May 2004 12:53:46 +0100 (BST) Subject: [Reader-list] 'Problems of Migration between India and Pakistan' Message-ID: <20040527115346.34459.qmail@web8201.mail.in.yahoo.com> Problems of Migration between India and Pakistan Full text of the speech delivered by Dr Shyma Prasad Mukherjee in the Indian Parliament on 15 November 1952 Words: 10,919. We are to discuss today a matter of very vital importance not only to millions of individuals but also to the entire country. It is not the first time that this matter is coming up before the House. It has been given to me to place the viewpoint of a large number of citizens of this country on this grave issue during the last two and-a-half years. Today I feel overwhelmed by a sense of sorrow, as also a sense of responsibility and duty, as I start to speak on this motion. I feel, along with many, that the policy hitherto pursued by the Government of India has not been at all satisfactory and it has failed to achieve the objective in view. Many of us have expressed opinions which have not been found acceptable to the government. The issues before us are so momentous that none of us would like to proceed in an atmosphere of anger or passion but would like to place our respective viewpoints with the utmost frankness in the hope that before it is too late a solution of this gigantic problem can be found. The question of the minorities in Pakistan has been settled during the last five years in different ways. So far as West Pakistan is concerned, today it stands virtually denuded of its minority population. During the last fortnight, two shiploads of Hindu migrants came from Sind to India and I do not know how many thousands are still there. So far as East Pakistan is concerned, at the time of partition the population of the Hindu minority was about 1.4 crore. According to government figures, about thirty lakhs have come out during the last five years. We do not accept the accuracy of these figures, but I do not wish to go into the details. If we refer to the last census report of the Pakistan government itself, it appears that nearly forty-five lakhs of Hindus have come out, because according to that census the present Hindu population in East Bengal is about ninety-five lakhs. Pacts and agreements were enacted between India and Pakistan on this issue, not once, not twice but thrice and all of us remember vividly the tragic circumstances under which the pact of 8 April 1950, was enacted between the prime ministers of India and Pakistan. It fell to my lot to oppose that pact---oppose not in the sense that there was nothing good in that pact, but oppose it on the ground that the very people who were responsible for carnage were being again entrusted with the responsibility of looking after the minorities. I felt that this scheme would not work. How grand were the wordings of that pact? I have the language before me. I do not wish to re-read it, but all the high sentiments which were expressed and rightly expressed remain unfulfilled. After all, what was being asked from Pakistan? Nothing unnatural or unique was being asked from her. W! e merely asked her to function as a civilized state and look after her minorities, but in spite of the flowery language that was used on that occasion, the basic principles of the pact have been violated by Pakistan during the last two-and-a-half years and we have witnessed during the last few months another mass migration. Here one point which I would like to emphasize and which is extremely important is that it is only when large-scale exodus takes place that public opinion in India is shaken. It is only when these unfortunate people come, not in hundreds but in thousands and even lakhs, carrying with them tales of woe, of shame, of misery and of humiliation, that public opinion is shocked and our government starts considering the matter de novo. But if migration is not on a large scale, but on a homeopathic scale, then obviously it does not attract sufficient notice and it is sought to be concluded that perhaps things are all right in East Pakistan. Many of us have pointed out repeatedly during the last two-and-a-half years that the real way of looking at the question is not through the eye of statistics alone---I do not ignore the value of statistics---but also with a human approach to the problem, and specially to find out how these people are living in East Pakistan, what are the conditions which they are being forced to accept and whether the minority can really live there or not. Unfortunately, for whatever reason it may be---whether due to want of machinery or due to want of cooperation on the part of Pakistan---such information has not been always available. I would like the House to bear one point in mind. These unfortunate people who are now coming out had decided in spite of everything to stay on in East Pakistan. They did so in spite of the tragic happenings of 1950 when about fifty thousand Hindus, on a modest scale, were killed in the course of a few months and when unparalleled barbarities took place, obviously with the connivance of the authorities of that state. In spite of all that, these people had decided to stay on for after all, who wishes to leave his hearth and home, and with what expectation? Undoubtedly, we have opened our door to them but we know how difficult the task of rehabilitation is. When humanity is uprooted it is not easy that it would be able to resettle itself under different conditions altogether. So, when during the last few months according to government, about three lakhs but according to us at least double that number has been forced to come out, we can easily realize what force of circumstances has been compelling them to do so. What are the basic factors of this movement from one country to another? First of all, as we all realize, there is the very conception of the Pakistan state. Pakistan was born out of hatred of the Hindus and of India. Although it was thought that the makers of Pakistan would be able to settle down and think in terms of the development of their country keeping an atmosphere of goodwill with India, those expectations have been belied. The creation of a homogeneous Islamic state was the principal aim of the founder of Pakistan and those who have come into his shoes have carried that ideal into execution in every possible way Hindus have been deprived of their rights in every sphere---social, cultural, economic, religious and political. They are treated as 'zimmis'. Secondly, the policy of squeezing out the minorities---squeezing out, not flooding out. I shall have to refer to this because a point was raised by the minister of rehabilitation the other day that if the policy of the Pakistan authorities is squeezing out its minorities, then why are not more people coming out after the passport system was introduced. Why should Pakistan prevent the passing out of a larger number of people? But, it is squeezing out, not flooding out; because if very large numbers of people come out at one time, then, immediately it produces reaction in India and naturally it may create a situation which may not be very desirable from the point of view of Pakistan. Thirdly, sir, it is not at the Hindu minority alone that the attack is aimed, and this is a symptom which we cannot forget in consideration of this major problem today. The authorities who are in power today have carried on their administration in such a way that any attempt to give statement to democratic ideas or to owe allegiance to true freedom has been checked. How else can we explain the continued detention of that great leader, Abdul Ghaffar Khan or his compatriots who, though Muslims, are rotting in Pakistan jails and against whom only a week ago, the chief minister of the North-West Frontier Province declared his charge that they were after all the spies and friends of India and could not be trusted? How, else can we explain the recent trouble that arose in East Bengal over the language issue when as many as eighteen Muslim students received bullets! on their chests and not on their back because they had the courage to face the bullets for the recognition and protection of what was after all their own mother tongue? Those symptoms are also there. All these factors have to be borne in mind if we are really anxious for a lasting solution of this problem. About four months ago, when I pointed out the wrong approach of the prime minister in dealing with statistics, he grew angry. He challenged me to produce statistics. It is not a question of a challenge or a counter-challenge, but I would appeal to him to drop the faulty method of looking at the entire problem. What are the statistics? There are said to be statistics of movement of people from one country to another. How are they obtained? There is no dhobi mark on each individual who goes to Pakistan or who comes from Pakistan indicating whether he is a Hindu or a Muslim, but some sort of rough and ready method is followed and a communal division of the migrants is made. Then again, the calculations are made only at two railway stations, omitting the seven hundred mile border between East Bengal and West Bengal, omitting the border between Tripura and Pakista! n, omitting the border between Assam and Pakistan. So, when the government proceeds fundamentally on the basis of these statistics and tries to justify its wrong policy. I say sir, the government does something which is not only not fair to itself but unfair to the people at large. The only possible way of appreciating the problem will be to know what the conditions are in East Pakistan. I would ask the House, the representatives of 360 millions of free Indians to make up their minds once and for all whether under the existing circumstances it is possible for the minority to live in East Pakistan---that is the fundamental issue---and if they say that it is not, then to make up their minds whether it is possible for the free Government of India to take any effective steps for their protection. I need not go into the details of the history of partition of this country. They are well-known to all the members of this House. But there is one fundamental point which is to be remembered now, What was the basis of the partition of India? The basis was that minorities would continue to live in their respective territories. I was one of those who were against the division of India under any circumstances. I supported the partition of Bengal and the partition of Punjab only after it was decided that the partition of India was inevitable, because then Mr. Jinnah's claim was that the whole of Bengal and the whole of Punjab should go into Pakistan. What we did was not to agree to the partition of India but we supported a movement which led to the partition of Pakistan itself. At that time I remember I saw a number of Congress leaders and especially Gandhiji, an! d some of us begged of him to appreciate the real point of view, whether it will be possible for the minorities to live in Pakistan, in view of the circumstances under which that new country was taking its birth. And we suggested a planned exchange of population and property at governmental level as part of the partition scheme. He was not willing to accept it. The Congress leaders were not willing to accept it because their viewpoint was that what they were agreeing to was not a communal division of India but a territorial division of India. They emphasised with all the depth of their feelings that there was no question of the minorities being compelled to leave their hearth and homes, either in the new India or in the new country to be called Pakistan. When it fell to my lot to move about among these people in East Bengal, I carried with me the message from these Congress leaders, one of whom adorns the position of prime minister of India today. Assurance was given to them t! hat their case will not be forgotten, that if any real emergency came, free India would not sit idle and they would be protected, hoping at that time that perhaps the need for such protection by India of the minorities in Pakistan would not be necessary. Here one fundamental point India cannot afford to forget. There was no Hindu, no Sikh, no non-Muslim for the matter of that, who wanted the division of India. The demand for the division of India came from a large section of Muslims who followed the directions of the Muslim League and, therefore, the minorities who laboured hard for the freedom of undivided India, who shed their lifeblood, who sacrificed everything that they held dear to themselves, when they were asked to live in a country which was foreign to India, obviously, they were asked to surrender something which was extremely dear to their hearts. Appreciation of that sacrifice came from the leaders, came from Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. I will read out only one senten! ce from the statement which Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru issued on 15 August referring to the Hindus in Pakistan, the minorities in Pakistan. 'We think also of our brothers and sisters,' he said, 'who have been cut off from us by the political boundaries and who, unhappily, cannot share at present in the freedom that has come. They are of us and will remain of us, whatever may happen in future and we shall be sharers in good and ill fortune alike.' And, now, I call upon Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who is the prime minister of India, to fulfil this pledge which he had given in such noble words to those who had suffered with him and others like him for the liberation of their motherland. A message like that came from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Of course, he went a step further and said that he still awaited for the day when this artificial partition of the country will cease and the two countries will be united again. A message came from Gandhiji. Then the drama began. Blow after blow came and when people started coming out and when reports of oppression and atrocities started coming, I was a part of the government. We considered the matter. We recognised the gravity of the situation. I went as a representative of the Government of India to Calcutta and attended the first Indo-Pakistan conference to consider the East Bengal situation. The leader of the delegation from Pakistan was Mr. Ghulam Mohammed, now the governor-general of Pakistan and Khwaja Nazimuddin also was there. We spent days and days together. When I ask for strong action today, I do so not in a spirit of huff, I do so not in a childish spirit. I do so not in a fantastic mood, but I refer to our experiences, our bitter and tragic experiences of failures that have taken place during the last five years and we ! are asking government to adopt 'other methods'---the statement deliberately used by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in February 1950---'When peaceful methods fail, other methods will be adopted by the government'. And I would now ask the prime minister to tell us whether the time has not come to adopt other methods. I have got the reports here. We signed agreements, pledges, promises---everything. It went on for a few months, and as usual, they were violated by Pakistan. Later, we met again here in Delhi and Mr. Ghulam Mohammed came again as the leader of the Pakistan delegation. Interpretation of the first Indo-Pakistan conference was solemnly recorded followed by another agreement. I was party to it. I was party to it because even at that stage I felt that we should not leave any stone unturned for securing a peaceful and honourable solution of this problem. Undoubtedly, normally the government will have to take charge of its people and it is for the Pakistan government to protect its minorities. We went on that basis. That agreement was signed. Things went on again for a few months. And then came the tragic blow of January-February 1950. I need not go into those detai! ls. But even then Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan came. He came, why? He came because he found that India's opinion was shaken to its very root. He came because he found that there were preparations of a different kind going on in India. There was pressure upon him from England and America. Millions of Muslims went out from India to Pakistan. He found that it had ceased to be a one-way traffic and that the same game he was playing, others also were capable of playing. He came; he came in a mood of outward friendliness, and there was the pact of 8 April 1950. That has gone on for the last two-and-a-half years. So my fundamental question to the government is this: do you believe that you have any responsibility for the protection of the minorities? Panditji has said on that occasion that 'they are our concern; the protection of the minorities will be a matter which we will have to take in hand. They will be rehabilitated in their homes, if possible, or elsewhere, if necessary.' Now, if the Pakistan government fails time after time, what is the answer that the Government of India is going to give? The passport system has been introduced. It is said that on account of the passport system, people are coming away. Our minorities minister, Mr. Biswas, the other day held a press conference in Calcutta and he pointed out that passport was only a symptom, using the same language as we are using, that was not the main cause for people coming away. Something deeper was happen! ing behind the scenes, and it might have added to the panic, to the fear. But if everything else was all right, why should the mere adoption of passports create such terrible panic in the minds of people that they should be forced out of their country? Now, here I come to the present dangerously complacent attitude of the government, and specially of the prime minister. I was amazed to hear his statement, which has been repeated many times, telling the public that the problem is practically solved, that people are not coming in large numbers, that there are no passport difficulties---they are virtually nil---and that except the matter of rehabilitation which, of course, is undoubtedly important, for the time being there is no other trouble. I join issue with him, sir. That is not the correct position. Undoubtedly the nu! mber of people has been reduced. An hon'ble member said the other day that it was an inconsistent attitude. 'You say on the one hand that these people are being squeezed out and on the other hand, they are being prevented from coming. So if Pakistan wants to drive them out, why are not people coming in larger numbers?' The point is that Pakistan's policy is that the minorities either should go or those who remain will remain as converts or serfs. It is clear. It does not intend that all should go out. If people accept the kind of living which is open to them in East Pakistan, then perhaps they may continue to live there. And Pakistan does not desire that people should come out in very large numbers, because it knows that it will then immediately produce tremendous reactions in India. So far as a passport is concerned what is the position? The prime minister has given some figures. I have got the official figures. Up till 15 October every day thousands were coming---seven, eight, ten thousand per day. Suddenly from 18 October the number dropped to zero at one stage. None came. From 18 October to 2 November at the station of Bongaon which was receiving five, six, eight thousand people every day from East Bengal, the number was actually nil---zero. Is it to be seriously suggested that just overnight conditions changed there so miraculously that people stopped coming for so many days together? Similarly, with regard to Banpur the number dropped to eight, six, some days ten, some days eleven and some days zero. Now in the papers reports are appearing as to the reasons why the people are not being able to come and they are appearing daily. What is this passport system, sir, people have to go, submit their applications, present a form, fill it in, make a payment and have all sorts of enquiries to face. The matter goes to the police. Photographs have to be given and the latest reports published in yesterday's papers show that now the price of each photograph has gone up tremendously. You cannot get a photograph unless you pay ten rupees, fifteen rupees. And it affects whom? Not people in the urban areas alone, it affects thousands and thousands---and they live in villages. It affects people who are ignorant, who are illiterate. Those who have come have written to us, have seen us and they describe the state of affairs which is extremely delicate and dangerous. Thousand! s of people there who had come out of their homes for the purpose of coming over to India were detained suddenly on and after 15 October. When I met Panditji in Calcutta at that time, I specially requested him to take steps so that these people who might have numbered two lakhs or three lakhs might not be trapped. They had come out of their homes and they were somewhere on the way, and the bulk of them were illiterate, ignorant, poor agriculturists, land labourers etc. It is not rich people today who are coming in large numbers. They have come out already. And pathetic reports came to us about their condition. Some of them have gone back; many of them are untraced---I do not know where they are today. And then when they have to start this process again, passing through the passport regulations and coming over to India, it is not an easy matter. So it is not that everything is all right and people need just come if they wished, or need not come if they did not wish. A report re! ached us day before yesterday that thousands have been waiting near the Dacca passport office. Many of them have come from distant parts and they do not know where to sleep at night. The steamer service has been cancelled. Does the Government of India know that the steamer service between Narayanganj and Goalando has been stopped? It is one of the most important routes in Eastern Bengal. Some other steamer routes have also been cancelled, so that even if people wished to come out it will not be easy for them to do so. People are anxious to sell their properties at any price. There is a ban, which has been reported in the papers, given under the orders of the district magistrates: 'Don't purchase properties of Hindus.' So that, practically for a long time they are selling off their properties without registered documents and they are coming away as virtual paupers. This is the report which was published five days ago in one of the papers in Calcutta, giving the statements of Muslims who have come from East Bengal to India. I think their statements should be accepted more readily by the prime minister, because there is no communal colour there. What is it that they have said? Janab Rahim, a sixth year student crossed over after securing the necessary passport. He said he could secure his documents after efforts extending over twenty-two days. Then Janab Akbar Khan, who entered India with a passport described that a large number of people were waiting at Dacca and with great difficulty he could secure his travel permits to come over to West Bengal. A Pakistani Christian gentleman described that after strenuous efforts and by speaking to some of the high officials at Dacca he could get his passport. Then, of course, there ! is a Hindu also who has supported this testimony and has stated how he and others were deprived of whatever money they had and they had come as virtual paupers. This is what is happening after the introduction of the passport system. I do not want to go into details, but I should mention that a passport size photo now costs ten rupees in East Bengal. And a class of lawyers have suddenly come up, who pose as experts who could secure passports easily and they are charging forty rupees. Then another report has come from Tejpur (Assam) side. There, the deputy commissioner of Durrang has been apprised of the situation. It is of a different type. About 250 Hindus who were coming out were prevented and only Muslims were allowed to come. The deputy commissioner has sent a 'strong' protest to the East Bengal government. Similarly, there is a letter which I received this morning. It is very interesting and I do not know whether the prime minister knows about the position. This happened three days ago in Calcutta. A Hindu gentleman wants to go back to East Bengal for certain private purposes. He went to the deputy high commissioner's office in Calcutta and he writes to me that after repeated efforts, going from day to day, he failed to secure the passport and on the last date he was told that he is now required to prove his Pakistan citizenship by documents or other material which he must bring or secure from Pakistan so as to get back to East Pakistan. This certificate must come from a union board president or a gazetted officer in Pakistan and if he cannot manage to get it there is no chance of his getting his passport. He says that this rule was changed three days ago.! Another letter which I got today is a copy of a letter which has been sent to the prime minister by one Dinesh Chandra Sur. I do not know him. But he gives a pathetic tale as to how his mother has been detained in East Bengal, his father has come out. They sold their property---a sort of exchange between a Muslim who was in West Bengal and these Hindus who were in East Bengal. After having got the house, the demand came for cash money, which they did not have. His wife has been detained and these people have sent a pathetic appeal to the prime minister that some quick steps may be taken for the recovery of their money. This letter came only today: the original is with the prime minister. A report has come of eight thousand Hindus who are stranded. I mentioned this to the prime minister in Calcutta. We have, as you know, certain Indian enclaves, a sort of pockets within East Pakistan near Jalpaiguri. There are about eight thousand Hindus living there and it is impossible for them to come out, because they have to pass through Pakistan territory and they will not be allowed to do so without passports and nobody is being allowed to enter into those areas. Government has protested; the people have sent frantic wires with regard to their desperate position. I can give hundreds of such instances but it is not necessary. All that I want is to demolish the hollowness of the argument of the prime minister that everything is all right: that the passport system is there---people may come if they wish, and if they do not wish they need not. That is not s! o. What is happening there is the Pakistan government has adopted measures to make it difficult for these people to come. Forget not the moral depression of these people. What is their mental state now? Many of them are poor, illiterate. They are running from here to there and today they are face to face with this intricate problem of getting passports under difficult conditions. We talk of 'harijans'. We have a special provision in our constitution, for looking after them. Does the House know that out of the ninety-five lakhs of Hindus who are in East Bengal, more than fifty lakhs are harijans. I met some of their representatives. Some of them described to me their pathetic conditions. There were Namasudras who could stand and fight. But the oppression that has been pursued makes it impossible for them to live. They do not care for rules or regulations. They know how to get their birthright. But they stand today completely humiliated and weakened. What will happen to them? They say: We came to India for rehabilitation; we have got it. Our children have died. We are going back. What is the crime we have committed? We did not want Pakistan. You asked us to live there and it is only because we are Hindus we are facing this crisis. We will embrace Islam---we will surrender ourselves. Will it bring credit to India? Will it be something of which India can be proud? Gandhiji gave his life for the cause of harijans. Everyone talks in the name of Gandhiji---Gandhian ideology, Gandhian philosophy. I know the circumstances under which Gandhiji went to Noakhali, because the majority of the people there belonged to the depressed classes. You have now handed over these fifty lakh people to a Raj which does not know how to perform its elementary duty and they are facing slow death. I look at this problem from two points of view: one, rehabilitation and the other, the future of these people who are still in East Bengal. Rehabilitation must naturally be continued. I do not deny the importance of it. I am prepared to say at the very outset that so far as rehabilitation is concerned, it should not be made a matter of party politics. It is a national issue and it is the bounden duty of all irrespective of political differences, to offer their wholehearted cooperation for making rehabilitation plans a success, provided such cooperation is sought and provided also that rehabilitation and the administration of rehabilitation are really consistent with the requirements of these unfortunate people and also with national demands. People have come from West Pakistan---sixty-five lakhs of them. You have spent Rs.130 crores. Have you been able to rehabilitate them completely yet? What about their compensation? Their verified claims I am told, come to about five hundred crore rupees. Then there is the question of their agricultural land. There is so much yet to be done. I do not blame anybody It is a stupendous task---sixty-five lakh people to be cared for, although the bulk of them have been rehabilitated on land and in occupation by a bloody process of exchange of population and property. The Hindus came and the Muslims went. I was in the government. It was not desired that this should be done. But events overtook the government and then the very government which would never look at exchanges of population under any circumstances yielded to this gigantic pressure. You know what terrible! days they were for Hindus and Muslims---for both. But in spite of all this, we have not been able to do our duty towards these large number of migrants from West Pakistan. >From East Pakistan thirty lakh have come. During the last few months another three lakhs have been added. Yesterday the papers said that the West Bengal government has asked for another thirty crore rupees. Where will be your planning schemes? What are you going to do if another fifty or sixty lakh people are pushed out of Pakistan and they come over here? You will have to spend another three hundred crore rupees on their rehabilitation only. If you have to compensate them, there will be at least one thousand crore rupees worth of property belonging to Hindus which is lying in East Pakistan. Will you be able to rehabilitate or look after them? And why should India be placed in this position and allow her own economy to collapse? We accepted partition under certain basic conditions. When that basic condition is not observed by Pakistan, then the very basis disappears. From that point of view the partition stands annulled and India is not bound by her commitments. It is not my wording alone. The prime minister himself has declared from that very place the basic condition is that the minorities must be protected by Pakistan. We have done our duty. India has protected its minorities. In spite of so many odds and difficulties, as anyone would have seen from our discussion of this problem, we have never allowed it to be looked at from a communal plane. It is a political problem. It is not a provincial problem, it is a national problem, and we must find a national solution for it. Killing of some innocent Muslims because Hindus are butchered in Pakistan will be a vicious circle and is most ! inhuman. The true interpretation of Hinduism is that if a man goes wrong you should punish him, but if a man is innocent and you go and cut his throat that simply poisons the atmosphere. It does not save people. That is why we have been pressing over and over again: Wake up, prime minister, realize your responsibility, do not allow the situation to go from bad to worse, do not allow the elemental passions of man to take charge of the situation, function as a responsible government and fulfill the pledges you have given. Rehabilitation must be done. But rehabilitation is not the only problem. The problem is with regard to finding out means for the safety of these people so that they may live in their hearth and home. What is the position in Pakistan? Hindus have no place or status there. I shall read out only a few words from a speech which was delivered in the Pakistan constituent assembly by a member of the Pakistan constituent assembly in March last. The name of that member is Mr. Bhupendra Kumar Dutt. He was a member of the All India Congress Committee. Twenty-three years of his life he spent in jail for the cause of Indian freedom. He has not come away from Pakistan. He decided to live there. He found what had happened in Pakistan during the last five years and he had the courage to stand up on the floor of the Pakistan Constituent Assembly and throw his charge against the Pakistan government. He did not do it by means of a statement after running away to India. I admire his courage. I wish there were more men with that courage who could have faced the facts as this ! gentleman did. What did he say? I shall just read a few words because this will give a correct impression to the House and to the country as to how things are happening in East Pakistan which make it impossible for anyone to live there unless he completely surrenders to the authorities. He says thus: “So far as this side of Pakistan is concerned, the minorities are practically liquidated. Those of us who are here to represent near about a crore of people still left in East Bengal live under a total sense of frustration. I stand here as the representative of a frustrated people." Then he refers to what happened after February 1950. I am not going to ancient history. I am referring to the manner in which the Delhi pact was deliberately torn to pieces by the Pakistan authorities. My charge is not against the people of Pakistan. In all my speeches and utterances I have distinguished between the Pakistan government and the people of Pakistan. I cannot have the temerity to say that all people in Pakistan are bad just as I cannot say that all the people in India are good. There is a mixture of good and evil. But it is the government there which is functioning ruthlessly, tyrannically and in a manner which makes it impossible for other people, specially Hindus to exercise their fundamental rights. This is what he says with regard to what happened after 1950. After the 1950 Pact, secret circulars were issued by the government. A circular went out to all thana officers to report on the extent, nature and source of influence wielded by particular individuals of the minorities (Hindu) community and the forces and parties that might work against them (a complete circular for getting information). Another circular went out asking heads of many commercial firms to obtain the previous approval of the district magistrate before giving employment to any non-Muslim (in East Bengal). Few firms would undertake the trouble of obtaining the district magistrate's approval for favouring a non-Muslim with a job. When this circular was mentioned on the floor of the House earlier, it was challenged and later on a copy of this circular had been sent to the Speaker by the European secretary of a commercial organization and the copy was with him. That was the second portion of his observations. Now comes the last and most amazing one which has a direct bearing on the Delhi pact: The latest came a few months back. It was addressed to all district magistrates---a fourteen page circular. IC instructed them by no means to return the lands and properties to the returning migrants but to distribute them among the (Muslim) refugees. The returning migrants were to be puy off on some excuse. A long list of statutes and orders and the relevant legal bars were to be put forward in each case one after another. The more significant line follows. In dealing with all other matters the district magistrate was to bear in mind the instruction in this behalf: 'Talk sweetly to minorities and their representatives, even with a smile on your lips. You have earned the compliments of persons like the hon'ble Mr. C.C. Biswas who has stated that it was only some subordinate officials who were responsible for the troubles (hoodwinking even the eagle eyes of my! hon'ble friend Mr. C.C. Biswas); try by all means to maintain your reputation. Keep this instruction secret. Do not trust other officers. They sometimes mismanage and mishandle things'. Do you want any other commentary on the sincerity of the Pakistan government to put into operation the provisions of the Delhi Pact? It is not a statement manufactured by communalists and reactionaries in India. It is a statement which was read out on the floor of the Pakistan Constituent Assembly in the presence of Khwaja Nizamuddin and the rest of them. And he did it at the risk of his life. He had the courage to face the Pakistan Constituent Assembly: He could even be killed, but there he was to expose the Pakistan government and specially the manner in which they were running the administration of the country. I do not wish to read the details of it, but he gives his comment: The Delhi agreement has never worked in its proper spirit, not because of any inimical relations subsisting between the (two) communities (in Pakistan) but because of the official dodgings, manoeuvrings and manipulations that are the outcome of the circular and resolutions. Since I have read a portion of the statement, according to the directions which you have very often given, it is my duty to place the entire statement before the House. If you permit me, sir, I place it on the table of the House so that any member interested in reading the entire speech may do so. I can give you other illustrations. But I do not wish to do so. I shall only say this: what has been the nature of the oppression? The other day my hon'ble friend Mr. Jain said 'We are not hearing many instances of oppression now'. How can he verify? Neither can he admit, nor can he deny. That sort of statement was made by my friend Mr. Jain---who is smiling at the ludicrous nature of his answer! So far as instances are concerned I have got nearly about five hundred of them. I cannot obviously go through them. I do not wish to tire the patience of the House but the most painful and the most humiliating aspect of these atrocities has been the tragic dealings with Hindu women. One's voice is choked completely to make any public speech on an issue like this. If you read the names, addresses and the manner in which this violation has gone on during the last few months it staggers one, sir. It was the disrobing of one woman, Draupadi, that created the 'Mahabharat' and today, even though large-scale outrages have occurred, we are sitting tight, helpless, impotent. If you bring this t! o the notice of the government, they will say 'Well, we need actual proof'. Who can prove this? Is it always possible for people to go and prove such incidents in a court of law? It is said reference has been made to the Pakistan government. The Pakistan government's reply is 'No. Nothing has happened'. I do not wish to refer to those details but the number is large and the list can be supplied. Of course, that will go to the record department of the Government of India which will not help the unfortunate people in any way. I can give you four or five examples of atrocities. One relates to the Chittagong hill tribes. The prime minister remembers this. We discussed and discussed about the fate of ninety-five per cent of Buddhists and the hill tribes in the small territory which unfortunately went out of India although the Muslim population there was only two to five per cent. Do you know sir, that they have been pushed out? Many of them have been killed. The entire area has bee! n cleared up. A new batch of five hundred tribesmen has been recently forced out of the Chittagong hill tract. How deliberately they have been turned out of that area! And they are moving about as beggars in Assam. I next refer the prime minister to a statement which was issued by the president of the West Dinajpur Northern District Congress Committee. I have taken special care to take statements issued by Muslims and Congress leaders so that they will carry conviction with the prime minister more quickly than otherwise. Here is published the result of inquiry which the president of the Dinajpur Congress Committee carried on accompanied by some Muslims indicating how the atrocities took place in the last few weeks when people were coming out from East Bengal to West Bengal. Then I refer the prime minister to the manner in which humiliation and insult was offered to some officers of the Government of India---Mr. Burman, collector of central excise, Shillong,---how he was harass! ed and insulted and he himself saw the instances of similar harassment as he was coming out from Pakistan. I feel greatly relieved to read the announcement that the government of Assam has sent a very strong protest to the East Bengal government. It is not a strong protest, it is a very strong protest. Perhaps everything will be all right now. Similarly with regard to conversions. A large number of conversions have taken place. Hundreds of them were reported. I am taking here a typical case from the Pakistan paper 'Azad', I have got cuttings from this paper. It is under Maulana Akram Khan who was once a great Congress leader. There he describes how Hindu young girls are embracing Islam and he has emphasized insistently they urged in favour of conversion and Muslim leaders had to agree. Their names are given and then it is added that the majority community there is kind and generous, immediately arrangements for marriages are made and a large number of youth come forward willin! g to marry such girls if only they embrace Islam. Names and addresses are given. The finishing touch is equally interesting. Relations of the converted family who had gone away to West Bengal for rehabilitation have come back and are also voluntarily embracing Islam. Then I will give two other cases. Sir P.C. Ray was one of the great scientists of India, in fact many of the great men of Bengal, like J.C. Bose, C.R. Das, all came from East Bengal. In his (Sir P.C. Ray's) village a few weeks ago, after the introduction of the passport system, a horrible incident has taken place. A leading doctor, Behari Lal, was approached by some Muslims. They told him that he should invite them to a dinner. He agreed. They said they were fifty but actually eighty men came and naturally the good doctor was unable to find the necessary eatables for such a big party. They said 'You need not worry, we will look after ourselves'. They went to the goshala, got hold of a calf and then that was killed! and food was prepared. The doctor was asked to partake of it. He had to. After the party had gone away the doctor went to his room and committed suicide. A few hours later his wife came and she saw the dead body of her husband and she also did the same. Their family has come to West Bengal and details have been published. Another incident occurred in Rangpur where a doctor was invited to the house of a certain Muslim who was anxious to get hold of the doctor's girl. After he had gone there that offer was made. The doctor refused. He was detained there and the members of his family were brought to his house. When the girl saw that they were confronted with a dangerous situation, she volunteered to save the life of her father. The father was released. The next day a so-called marriage took place and in the evening the girl committed suicide. The number of such cases is not known. I have only got the names and addresses of some that have reached us. An iron curtain is there. The! administration of that country has morally collapsed and a larger number of people are coming from day to day I myself feel how difficult it is for these people to resist this for such a long time. In a village in Rangpur, on 28 September a Hindu girl who had just been confined was forcibly taken out at night and her dead body with blood was found in a field the next day. These are horrible instances. We have got a number of such cases before us. Border incidents are taking place. Why this insecurity today? Today's issue of 'The Hindustan Times' gives details of a border incident in Assam where firing was continued by Pakistan for two days and the fun of it was that at that time a conference between the chief secretaries was being held in Shillong for discussion as to how peace could be established in that area. Of course, a very strong protest has been sent to the East Bengal government. On the Tripura border, the prime minister knows,---and a copy of the telegram has gone to him---a large number of people came a few days ago inside our border and hoisted the Pakistan flag on the Indian side of the border. It might be a small thing from that point of view but this is the way in which things are going and what is the impression that is produced in the minds of the people when the prime minister says, ! 'Everything is all right except some insecurity and so on'? He may declare his helplessness but for heaven's sake, do not say things which are not true. That will be like throwing salt into the gaping wound. You may not be able to protect them, you may not be able to help them, but do not minimize the gravity of the situation. Unfortunately, the statements which the prime minister made during the last few days will form part of Pakistan propaganda. They will retort and say 'Here, the prime minister himself says there is nothing except some stray incidents here and there', and humiliation and repression will continue. What is the remedy? We have suggested some remedies and these are the phrases that have been hurled against us: childish, fantastic, quack: I have forgotten the other phrases. They come one after another. That is not the way the prime minister should respond. He has not sent for us. I could have understood his calling the leaders of all parties and sitting together to consider this question. I do not want this to be made a party issue. We do not wish to play with fire. We know the dangers inherent in the situation. This is not a matter which government alone can solve. We are here to offer a hand of cooperation. But, we want a solution. We do not want that people should be killed by inches. If they have to die, let them die once for all. But, this is a chain of terrible humiliation and misery which affects not individuals alone, but humiliates the status and ! stature of the nation. We have given some remedies: other remedies may be suggested. Economic sanction is one. Naturally, demand for land is one. It was Sardar Patel's remedy. If one-third of the population who happen to be Hindus is pushed out, Pakistan must give one-third of the land. We cannot ruin the whole country for the misdeeds of Pakistan. There must be a repartition of the territory of Pakistan and these people must be settled there. Some say we must have an exchange of population. That is not an easy matter. There also the question of rehabilitation will come. The prime minister will retort, how am I going to get land? If Pakistan takes four crores of Muslims, they may demand more land. They may say, more Muslims are coming. But, some Muslims do not wish to live in Pakistan unless they belong to a particular type of mind. To this one may reply, one-third of Kashmir is with them. That may be quid pro quo. That area is as big as half of Bengal. That is a question of a! rgument. Exchange of population and property on a governmental level, not through the hands of men: that was suggested some time ago. To that also he will naturally reply, how can I push out people if they do not wish to go out of the country; they live under a constitution: how can I do it? But, the main problem is not solved. I agree that in both these cases, the problem is not ultimately solved. This tremendous problem of rehabilitation comes. We have seen the horrors again. We have, therefore, said that government must take the responsibility for the safety and protection of the minorities in that area and give us a political solution. It was once said, that I was a warmonger, how am I going to take charge of East Bengal? That was not indeed my remedy I always quote bigger names in support of the remedies. That was a remedy which Gandhiji suggested. Rajkumari Amrit Kaur will remember that. She and I saw him a few weeks before his death. We were discussing this question. He came out with fire in his eyes. He said: 'we did not agree to the partition of India for this terrible problem of rehabilitation causing misery to millions of people: it was on a certain fundamental basis: the minorities must be protected; they must live in their own homeland; no question of their being turned out as beggars.' What was his remedy? He said: 'let India play her part; you protect the minorities; let not one man be turned out from here: then turn towards Pakistan and say, we have fulfilled our part, but you h! ave not; it becomes a world problem: it becomes a moral problem.' The words which he uttered are still ringing in my ears. He said 'if Pakistan fails to do so, if there is no other remedy, you must take charge of East Bengal; let the government take charge and protect the people.' He added: 'I cannot join the war; I do not believe it; but I will bless you that you have the moral courage for it.' Rajkumari Amrit Kaur will remember that. He dealt with this in one his speeches also. I am not advocating war; but if there is no other means of protecting the minorities of East Pakistan except to take charge of that territory, the Government of India will some day have to consider it. I am not using this word lightly; I am not saying that immediately war should be declared. It would not be necessary also. There was no war in Hyderabad. They are not ready for war. Goondaism does not wish to face war. They want to gain something without sacrifice. Only if the prime minister says the go! vernment will act firmly and adopts a policy not of weakness and appeasement, you will see what happens. He is proud of appeasement. I am amazed at it. He may say, I cannot find a solution. I can sympathize with that. But, he glorifies appeasement and goes on appeasing. At whose cost? If he does it at his own cost, I do not mind, though I shall be sorry. But what right has he to appease at the cost of the nation? It is a question of the honour and self-respect of India. Something to be done to prevent a major catastrophe. It is not for us to suggest remedies nor can many remedies be openly discussed. There sits the government. They are doing whatever they like in respect of all matters. Does the opposition go on giving advice to the government and is there any moral obligation on the government to accept that? We may have the privilege of making some suggestions and let him have the pleasure of rejecting them. But, it would not do for him to say it is fantastic and all that. Let him find a solution which will, in the real sense of the term, solve the problem. We will all be with him. Let there be a solution. We want to settle the question by peaceful methods. Here our communist friends will speak. They have not agreed with us. We, all the parties barring the communists, have stood on one platform in this respect. The Congress cannot come. But, I know there are lakhs of congres! smen who feel in the same manner as we do. If any peaceful method can be found, do it. Who wants war? Who wants trouble? I know what the horrors of war are. No one is saying, declare war tomorrow. Find out an effective solution by which these people can be enabled to live exercising their elementary rights without being ruined as refugees or beggars or slaves. The prime minister very often says he believes in a healing process. Undoubtedly. Healing by what means? Healing by curing the disease? If there is a cancerous growth, will you put sandal oil on the cancer and heal it? You will have to go to the root of it. You will have to appreciate what the disease is. Now, governments are running away from the real problem. That is what shocks me and pains me. They just say, there is no problem, people are not coming. But, coming or not coming, the disease is there. Can the people, who are sitting here, go and live there? I made a suggestion in 1950. Until you can go and settle there with your wives and daughters, you cannot realize the agony of millions. Sitting far away, it is easy to deal with abstract theories, but once you place yourselves in their shoes, you will realize where exactly the pain lies. They never wante! d this partition and they demand fulfilment of past pledges. We also want the healing process. Let us not talk of Gandhian ideology. Whatever Gandhiji was, cowardice was not within his ideology. Inaction was not within his ideology. He would never have sat quiet and helpless. When I came to Delhi and reported about the happenings in Noakhali, everything else became secondary to him. He came to Calcutta and we gave all the details. He had his own way of doing things. We might or might not have agreed with him. At the time of the Dacca riots, I came and reported to him. He said publicly in 'Harijan' next week, that his first remedy was that people should go to the assailants and die and sacrifice themselves. I said, that was not possible: if a goonda comes to attack me, the penal code gives me the authority to kill him; I may not kill an innocent man, but the right to attack a man who wants to injure me is a right that I get under the law. He said, you may do so. Then he added: ! resist nonviolently if possible, violently if necessary; but never submit to a wrong. I ask the government to accept that as the policy. Resist this national wrong. The prime minister said four days ago in this statement: "I am quite clear in my mind that the ultimate remedy for the ills of Indo-Pakistan relations is to apply the touch of healing to them and not the touch of loud shouting." Let us do it with small shouting. That does not mean that one should submit to wrong things. I have underlined it. That is what I am asking today. That is my charge against him that he is submitting to wrong things. Not only are you submitting, but you are making the people submit to wrong things, and you are humiliating the entire nation. He adds one should resist evils all the time, and should be prepared for any emergency, whatever it is. When will that emergency come? I ask. Thousands have been killed. Hundreds of women have been kidnapped, raped. So many lakhs of rupees worth property have been looted and destroyed. The entire morale of the people has gone. Still the emergency is to arise. What more do you want? Say, 'I want so many more. When that report comes, I shall declare an emergency.' Let us know what is the limit. We will then patiently wait and see. But this emergency will never come under the prime minister's leadership. Lastly, I would conclude by saying---peace, undoubtedly, is wanted but peace with honour. Let us follow the path of peace. If we can lay out a scheme whereby we can finally solve this problem peacefully, then let us do it. But if not, do not submit, and the greater the delay the government makes in solving the problem, the greater the possibility of repercussion coming within the country. That must be avoided at any cost. Now nothing has happened but Pakistan has carried on false propaganda that four hundred Muslims have been killed in Malda. I am glad today the Government of India's protest has been issued in the press. That is exactly what Pakistan has been doing always, to put India on the defensive. Among these false propaganda stories is that of four hundred Muslims being killed in Malda. The government has come out with a very strong protest that has be! en published in today's papers. But propaganda will go on unless India's policy is substantially changed. It is important to realize this and decide upon our course of action so that government will be able to secure the willing support and cooperation of millions of countrymen in India for averting a national disaster. If the prime minister feels that a case has been made out for reexamination of certain important provisions, for instance land, if you feel that land should be taken without payment of compensation, provide for it in the constitution. You consider all these items and make your provisions so elastic that you can apply them either to the whole of India or you can apply them to only such parts where this Parliament of India will feel that such special treatment is necessary. Proceed in accordance with a constitutional manner, not just play with the constitution. It is a sacred document, and it is a document on which much labour and much thought were bestowed. If you feel some changes are necessary in order to take into consideration the new setup that is slowly developing in India, whether in Kashmir or other parts of India, by all means let the people of the co! untry have a chance to express their opinion. Lastly, a charge was levelled that some of us have advocated separate consideration of Jammu and Ladakh. I would assure you and the House that I do not want that Jammu and Kashmir should be partitioned. I know the horrors of partition. I know the results which may ensue if partition comes. But the responsibility for preventing partition will rest on those who are today the masters of Jammu and Kashmir and are not prepared to adopt the Constitution of India. What is the crime if today the people of Jammu claim that they should be treated separately in the sense that they should be allowed to join fully with India---mark it, it is not a question of running away from India---if they say that they would like to accept in total the Constitution of free India, is there any crime that they then commit? I am not suggesting that you send Kashmir or Kashmir Valley out ! of India. And it is not for me or for us sitting in this House to decide this matter. As the prime minister pointed out very rightly, it is the people of that territory who will have to decide. Now suppose the people of Jammu and Ladakh feel that either it should be full accession in relation to the whole of Jammu and Kashmir, or if that is not acceptable to Sheikh Abdullah, then at least these two provinces, the two separate entities could be justified historically or otherwise, that they should be allowed to join with India. Let Kashmir continue in any way that it likes, even with more autonomy, with less possibility of interference by India; that is a possibility which we cannot rule out. I hope that this question will be considered in its full possible implications. My friend from Kashmir, Maulana Masudi, for whom I have very great regard---I tried to follow his speech this morning---referred to Jammu, the last question which I would answer. Well, if this demand is made by Jammu, he said Jammu is a province which in 1941 had a Muslim majority. He said that, but did not complete the story. Undoubtedly it was a Muslim majority Province in 1941, but it became a Muslim majority including those districts which have now fallen into the Pakistani-occupied area. So, if you exclude those areas . . . Maulana Masudi: Are you going to surrender them? I am not going to surrender them. I am very glad he has put the question. The prime minister says that area will not be reoccupied, but it is a different question. You are not going to reoccupy it, and it is not possible. In any case those people have worked against Jammu and Kashmir, they have become, as has been repeatedly said, more friendly to Pakistan than to India. If you take the 1951 census---the figures have not been published, but it is on the basis of the territory that is under our occupation---seventy-five per cent of the population of Jammu will be Hindu. But I am not proceeding on the basis of Hindus and Muslims. Let me make it clear. I am proceeding on the basis of the will of the people to come to India either in whole or in part. If these two provinces Ladakh and Jammu say that they will come to India with all these subjects, make it possible for them to do so. The same right which you are claiming for Kashmir may also be demanded by the people of Jammu and Ladakh. Let us proceed in a friendly spirit. Sheikh Abdullah himself said about a month ago that he will have no objection if the people of Jammu and Ladakh really felt that they would go to India---I am not saying that you proceed in that way, but let it be possible for the people residing in those areas to make up their minds which way it will be good to proceed and it will also be consistent with the same principles of self-determination which constitute the basic claims of Sheikh Abdullah, supported by the prime minister. ===== ========================================== ZEST Reading Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-india ZEST Economics: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-economics ========================================== ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online. http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony/ From coolzanny at hotmail.com Fri May 28 11:10:28 2004 From: coolzanny at hotmail.com (Zainab Bawa) Date: Fri, 28 May 2004 11:10:28 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Fith Independent Research Posting - Women in Trains Message-ID: Fifth Independent Research Posting Dear All, I will begin by sharing an interesting episode which occurred in the train yesterday. I was traveling from Dadar to Bandra and was standing by the door. A woman was selling mogra gajras (little white flower hair braids). A blind woman was standing by the door, accompanied by a strong (both physically and mentally) woman. Another woman inquired into the price of the gajras and decided to purchase four pieces. The seller packed three pieces instead of four. The seller had packed three instead of four and so, the buyer asked to insert the fourth piece in the same packet. The blind woman was asked to pass the packet to the seller to re-pack. The blind woman asked her companion, �Why don�t you buy a few as well?� The companion laughed and said, �You want me to put gajras in my hair at this age? Won�t I look funny? (She meant to say that this would be an embarrassing thing at her old age).� �Oh come on�, said the old woman, �they are sweet smelling and you will quite a cheez (sexy thing). Take them.� The companion laughed again and said, �Do you want someone to abduct me?� Both of them laughed. I wondered about the attitude which both the women held. The strong woman was not beautiful, but she had some charisma. Both women were dark and bulky and the strong woman was holding fort at the door by hanging onto the pole. She would constantly ask around as to who wanted to get off at the next station and would then carefully get the respective woman to come over to the pole while she would move back. In retrospect, I liked this strong, bulky, dark, stark woman. She was sexy! The research process has become interesting. I have been interviewing commuters often. These are mainly people who I know and who, in turn, put me on to talk to their acquaintances and circles. What is curiously interesting about the interview process is that in the beginning, each one of interviewees starts laughing, wondering what I have to investigate into mundane, boring, train journeys and rushed commuting. But as the interview proceeds, I find that they start giving insights and raise questions and by the end, the standard line is, �This was funny, but it was interesting.� Interviews with the commuters raise several questions and point out to some very pertinent aspects of traveling, some of which I outline below: �here is an obvious difference in terms of crowd and commuting between Central Railway and Western Railway. Commuters on both lines have their own images and stereotypes about the other. The classic one is that Central Railway is predominantly �Maharashtrian� (and cooperative) while Western Railway is primarily �Gujarati� (and not cooperative). Both groups believe that their line is better than �the other�. When I was traveling from Govandi to Kurla recently, I overheard two girls talking on the train about molestation and rape episodes on the train. One girl was saying to the other, �Didn�t you see this film featuring Raveena Tandon. What was it called? Jaago isn�t it? Something, check it out! You see, most of these incidents take place in Western Railway line, not in Central. In Central, the havaldar (constable) is always present in the ladies compartment and the rules are followed strictly in terms of exactly what time the ladies compartment becomes general. This is not so in the case of Western. Moreover, Western trains follow a very set route.� How far this is true is something worth investigating. �he manner in which territoriality is expressed is very explicit in Western Railway. Women traveling on Virar fast will not allow women traveling to Borivali to enter their train. If the Borivali commuters do get on the Virar fast, they will face a hellish time getting off, with the women not allowing them to get off. The grouse is that Borivali commuters have trains, both fast and slow, every 5 minutes, and therefore, it is not fair that Borivali commuters get on the Virar fast. Virar fast women commuters also have a very interesting manner in which they let fellow commuters get on and get off. Around the pole of the door, on the left side, they will make a queue which blocks entry and exit from that side and on the right side, they precariously let the women get off and very few to get in. This is not the case for Central Railway women commuters because Central Railway trains have at least 6 long-distance junctions unlike Western which usually has two i.e. Borivali and Virar. � also came to know recently that in Western Railway, if you claim a set with a woman sitting at the Window Seat, the moment she gets up, the claimant will occupy exactly the window seat. Similarly, if the claimant has claimed a second seat, she will occupy the second seat when her predecessor has left. This does not seem to be the case in Central Railway where the rule designed by commuters is that when you claim a seat, whether window, second, third or fourth, when your predecessor has left, the remaining three will shift inside and you, the claimant, will get to occupy the fourth seat. This logic behind this rule is that the fourth seat woman gets tired sitting on the outside and hence, when a seat is vacated, she should be allowed to move in and enjoy the comfort of her seat. �he (women) crowd traveling along Western Railway is distinctly different from that traveling on Central Railway. Central Railway women commuters are often government employees (Central and State), working in BMC, LIC, largely state owned corporations and they have been in employment for a long while, as long as 10-20 years. In contrast, you find that along Western Railway, the women commuters are in diverse jobs. You will find advertising executives, women holding important portfolios in banks like ICICI, HDFC, saleswomen, in summary, mostly in employment in the private sector. Career women are more evident in Western Railway line; even those with service employment and who are seeking advancement in pay and hence would be open to shifting jobs. Women traveling on Western Line see themselves as more posh than women in Central trains. This is true because women along Western line are very particular about their appearance and dress quite attractively. To top it, private firms are now located mainly along Western Railway Line, including advertising agencies, banks, etc. Women traveling on Western Railway do not like traveling along Central Line and the same holds true for Central railway women commuters who detest Western Railway. Harbour Line is usually equated with Central Line, though it is distinctly different in some respects. Currently, I have begun to focus the research along very specific questions where I am examining the origin and purpose of the ladies compartment in Mumbai Local Trains. I am also trying to compare the experience of the ladies compartment vis-�is the Ladies Special where the entire train is reserved for women. This leads to another interesting question about the impact of segregation of compartments into �ladies� and �general� (which is usually seen as gents compartment) on women. Interestingly, a friend living in Mumbai who has migrated to Shanghai (China) recently said to me that there is no reserved compartment for women in Shanghai though the trains can be crowded there. Men and women travel together and she said to me, �Z, Chinese men are better than Indian men. I wish we did not have a separate compartment for men and women in Mumbai. At least we would be able to learn how to face the men!� I have compiled a piece on the advertisements and posters inside the ladies compartment which I have posted on my online journal www.xanga.com/zainabbawa Have a dekko, and keep the questions, comments, suggestions, and references rolling. On the move, Zainab _________________________________________________________________ Holiday? Wedding? Refurnishing? http://go.msnserver.com/IN/49356.asp Fulfill all your dreams with Citibank Ready Cash! From naveid at rediffmail.com Thu May 27 18:01:00 2004 From: naveid at rediffmail.com (naveid pasha) Date: 27 May 2004 12:31:00 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Settlement at Hazrat Nizamuddin- Posting 3 Message-ID: <20040527123100.17524.qmail@webmail9.rediffmail.com> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20040527/79963b34/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- Hi friends. This is the third posting in the series of research on the settlement at Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti.(This is for the independent fellowship) So here goes... It is the city of Djinns, said Pir Sadr-ud-Din. Although the city was attacked by invaders time and again, it was rebuilt every time. Each time it rose like a phoenix from the fire. The reason for this, said Sadr-ud-Din, was that the djinns loved Delhi so much they could never bear to see it empty or deserted. To this day every house, every street corner is haunted by them. - City of Djinns by William Dalrymple Delhi, they say, hides in it a malleable spirit that converts ashes into brand new citadels. Cramped with energies of times old and new, Delhi, with its unique blend of seven historical cities now harbours people and cultures as multi-faceted as a ray of light passing through a prism. Areas such as Nizamuddin, Mehrauli and Jama Masjid are at the three separate ends of the city, forgotten in the mad rush of cosmopolitan activity. But they are more alive and pulsating with crisp energy now than they probably ever did in the history of modern Delhi. Delhi s historical ruins speak of a royal past. Today more mundane activities sports, shopping and eating are their hallmark Historic buildings in Jama Masjid, Nizamuddin, Mehrauli and the Lodi Gardens are all leaves from a dynamic period of Indian history. But today they are connected with activities far removed from the past sport and leisure, eating, and worship making them familiar in our vocabulary of the city. But once there were kings and queens, there was a fortressed city and a sumptuous palace; there was the trumpeting of elephants as they marched in procession carrying a royal retinue. There was the rhythmic sound of stone cutters as they erected the walls of another new city along the banks of the river Yamuna; and in a humble hut, there lived a holy man whose piety and learning brought people from far and near to establish a basti now synonymous with his name. And famous for its shrine where the Sufi saint, Nizamuddin, lies buried. Not all of this happened at the same time. Nizamuddin Auliya was born in AD 1236 and lived for almost 100 years. Hazrat Nizamuddin was an inhabitant of Badayun. After the demise of his father, his mother brought him to Delhi for educational purposes. In Delhi he became a disciple of Baba Farid. He lived at Mia bazaar ke sarai in old Delhi till his landlord asked him to vacate the house, as he was unable to pay the rent. Amir Khusro, a disciple of Hazrat Nizamuddin took him and his mother to the haveli of his grand father in old Delhi. Khusro s grandfather did not appreciate this and when Amir Khusro had gone to Patiala his grandfather asked the saint and his mother to shift out immediately. In this fashion he lived with different people for almost eleven years till one day he heard about a quiet and peaceful place called Gyaspur, situated outside the main city. On reaching there he found that Gyaspur was a small village situated on the banks of Sitari, a tributary of Yamuna. The only inhabitants of this small town were a few poor fishermen. Nizamuddin liked the place instantly and started living there in a hut with a thatched roof. After sometime Ziauddin, a nobleman from the king s court built a khanqah for him, which still exists till date. He was a very special man, who by the example of his own austere and saintly life became known as a zinda pir, a living saint who could heal the body and spirit. Although his disciples built a tomb over his grave, the original, repaired and rebuilt by a Tughlaq monarch has long since disappeared. Today, the dargah of Nizamuddin is the collective work of many successive followers of the saint s teachings who added to a structure first built in 1562 by a devotee, the nobleman Faridun Khan. Nizamuddin basti today is a congested, people-ridden settlement not all of its inhabitants are aware of the spiritual origins of where they live, and certainly not interested in the little architectural gems that exist so close to their own ragged lives. To reach the dargah, you have to fight your way through warrens of the old and the infirm whose makeshift plastic roofs or dusty odds and ends identify their minuscule places on the earth, past wayside stalls peddling garishly coloured sweets and ribbons, readymade packets of taburuk (rose petals and sweets as offering at the dargah), marigold flowers and coverings for the head. And if you can ward off the self-styled guides successfully, you are finally in the holy precinct itself. Surrounded by a courtyard of marble flooring, the tomb pavilion is enclosed by delicately trellised screens. As rich and zealous devotees contributed their bit to glorify the saint, the tomb acquired an ornate mother-of-pearl canopy, a veranda with engraved marble columns and brackets, and as late as the early 19th century, a huge marble dome with gold encrusted finials. The spirit of Hazrat Nizamuddin remains, however, very much above all the show of grandeur, and it is impossible not to be moved to devotion, especially on Thursday nights when the qawwals sing impassioned verses in praise of the Sufi saint. Aside from the steamy dhabas that dish out spicy meat recipes and thick soft rotis to soak up the gravy, several other structures make the Nizamuddin complex a place worth visiting. Across the tomb enclosure to the west is the red sandstone Jamat Khana Mosque built on the spot where Nizamuddin himself would pray and sermonise. Probably constructed in 1325, it is a composite structure of three domes over three bays, central one being the largest. One of the telltale signs that establishes the period of building before the prolific Feroze Shah Tughlaq period are the marble lotus buds that fringe the arches, while the arches themselves are squinched to make the square bays appear octagonal. On the northern side of the dargah is a baoli, now practically dry all year round, where young boys would show off their diving skills. Even though historians date the baoli back to the reign of Feroze Tughlaq, oral history has it that the work for the baoli had begun during the period of Gyasuddin Tughlaq. Gyasuddin Tughlaq had a dislike for Hazrat Nizamuddin and so he derived means of irritating and disturbing him. Legend says the baoli was being built when the imperious Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq, angered by the saint s refusal to pay back money to the royal coffers that he had given away in charity, forbade its further construction. More-over, Nizamuddin had prophesied that Ghiyasuddin s son, prince Jauna would become the sultan which he did by manipulating his father s death. Moreover the construction of the baoli coincided with the construction of Gyasuddin Tughlaq s fort. So he ordered all the labourers in the city to work at his construction site and banned any other construction work in the city. So the workers decided to work for the baoli at night, in the light of oil lamps. When Tughlaq found out about this he got angry and forbid the shopkeepers to sell oil to the people in Gyaspur. By this time the workers had already hit water level and some amount of water had already surfaced. Hazrat Nizamuddin asked his disciple to take some of this water in a lamp and light it. When he did this the water started to burn like oil. It is from here that this disciple got the title of roshan chirag [burning lamp] and came to be known as Hazrat Chirag Dehli [the lamp of Delhi]. A few other minor monuments dot the Nizamuddin complex, but within the dargah enclosure itself is the delicate tomb of Jahanara, Shah Jehan s daughter, and a disciple of the Chisti saint. She is said to have built it during her lifetime, inscribing it with the touching words: Let naught cover my grave save the green grass; for grass well suffices as a covering for the grave of the lowly. It is unfortunately noticed only by some as they return from the ritual homage to the main shrine. A pilgrimage to Nizamuddin is incomplete without a visit to two to the other graves, one surrounded by marble jaalis that of Amir Khusro, the saint’s most devoted disciple and poet whose mystic verses are sung by every qawwal; and the other, simpler one of yet another writer, Mirza Ghalib, perhaps the greatest Urdu and Persian poet to have ever lived. Chaunsat khambe, is another interesting structure which lies behind the mazaar of Mirza Ghalib is actually the tomb of Mirza Shamsuddin, who was the brother of Mirza Aziz Kokantash and their mother had breast fed King Akbar. And it was Akbar who had gotten the tomb constructed after Shamsuddin had been murdered. The markaz, a building which is situated opposite the Ghalib Academy, and which is a mosque cum resting-place for the jamats [ groups of people who travel from place to place propagating religious fervour amongst Muslims] is another structure of historical importance. The history of this markaz is as follows : there was a bagh called Baghiche-Anarkali where now the Markaz is. The bagh was last owned by two brothers, Mir Taqi and Mir Naqi. Sitari, a tributary of river Yamuna was the source of irrigation for this spectacular bagh. Goods were transported to this part of the city via the river. Mir Taqi & Mir Naqi had got a baradari built in the bagh for leisure. People called this a bungalow because it had a sloping roof instead of a dome, which was the Islamic way of building. The sloping roof was the influence of British architectural style. This baradari was later taken over by Mirza Ilahi Baksh, the father in law of Bahadurshah Zafar s eldest son. Mirza Ilahi Baksh had been instrumental in getting Bahadurshah arrested by the British forces in the revolt of 1857. A mosque was later constructed inside the baradari which came to be known as the bangle waali masjid. The village gradually developed, more people came and settled and came to be known as Nizamuddin. The village was embellished by subsequent dynasties of kings and important people by buildings. Feroze Tughlak made the Kali Masjid, a semi covered mosque. another buildings of interest is the tomb of Ataga Khan, the tomb of Telangani. Nizamuddin has the most outstanding collection of Islamic Architecture ranging over a period of 700 years. The buildings vary in visual appearance and material, but yet retain homogeneity. In the heart of the basti, is the Ghalib Academy, the venue of seminars and mushairas (poetry reading) year round. The academy boasts of an impressive library. It is no geographical coincidence that the Academy is where it is, but a conscious implant. Every year, an Urs is held to celebrate the memory of one whose mysticism was not esoteric. This is the reason why the common masses then and now call him the Mahboob-e-llahi (beloved of the Gods]. Such had been the power of his philosophy, its democratic pull, that he was ingrained in the hearts of the people.History is full of ironies. Here is the legend of a saint who was discovered by his most illustrious disciple, poet-philosopher Amir Khusrau. It is the oral tradition in history which has helped in imparting to Nizamuddin Aulia this aura. The old timers in the basti, which today is surrounded by a concrete jungle, have inherited this oral tradition handed to them though generation. Of course, it is the dargah which beckons you when enter the rather deceptively long lane running to it. As you see it from the Mathura road side, the staid building of the Nizamuddin police station tells you that modernization has touched the basti. But mercifully, the police station is perhaps the only eyesore, which will greet you. Hundreds of eateries to the left and the white marble Masjid (mosque) on the right combine to restore the romance of the old effectively and quickly. The Prima Donna among the eateries is the Karim Nemat Kada, the modern variant of the celebrated Karim Hotel located in Old Delhi. Karim, of course, is for those who can afford to indulge themselves once in a while. But for those on a smaller budget innumerable hotels serve delicious meals like the Jama Masjid area. You can buy a stomach-filling meal for as little as Rs.3/-. The highlight of this poor man s paradise is nihari a kind of residue of meat leftovers, bone juices etc which are cooked over low heat for a minimum of six hours and eaten with kulchas a kind of bread. The therapeutic propensities of the concoction make it ideal for those convalescing after a long illness. But you don t go to Nizamuddin for its eateries alone. During the heady days of the Urs, which is a festival of mausiqui (music) more than anything else, well known and not so well known qawwals (singers of qawalis) display their vocal talents for one whole week. In contrast to the rabid commercialism which has infected the genre outside this world of naatia and Sufi Kalaam, (sufi songs and music) the qawwalis here are imbued with a long spiritual tradition extolling the divine graces of saint unseen. The dargah is visited by at least 1000 people daily right through the year. Now let me put in a few words about Sufism, a movement that is integral to the Dargah. A Sufi is a follower of the mystical path, those who seek experience of the 'tawhid', who follow the spiritual path, the term applies only to the most advanced practitioners The dargah (shrine) of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti, more popularly known as Garib Nawaz or the comfort of the poor, is considered, after Mecca and Medina, to be the most sacred shrine of Muslims from the Indian subcontinent. The hospice of the great saint and founder of the Chistiya silsilah (Chisti strain or tradition) of Sufism in India goes back several hundred years, almost to the earliest period of the Muslim conquest of India. What is more, it serves as an interesting parallel, if not contrast, to the ''official'' Islam that clerics and kings in Delhi usually espoused. This dargah, representing years of Sufi traditions, which is open to everyone regardless of caste, creed, faith, age, or gender, twenty-four hours a day, not only posed a powerful challenge to the Hindu orthodoxy of the time, but also to the Muslim orthodoxy represented by the ulema (orthodox Islamic clerics). While the dominant Hindu practices emphasized caste hierarchies and exclusion, the dargah of the saint was the refuge of the most lowly, humble, and oppressed people of the land. While the Muslim priestocracy preached the supremacy of Islam, the religion of the conquerors, the Chistis demonstrated their love and acceptance of people of all faiths. The Chistis, unlike many other Sufi traditions or orders, always kept a healthy distance from the power politics of the court. They practiced extreme poverty and simplicity. Their fondness for music soon endeared them to the masses. Like the shrine of any Hindu saint, the dargah of the Sufis became a center not only of the worship of the pir or guru, but also a place of healing, refuge, and wish fulfillment. No wonder, people of all faiths, Hindus and Muslims alike, flock to these shrines even today. Sufis are essentially mystics who recognize an all-pervading reality above and beyond this material world and human understanding. Originally of Islamic extract, it is an intensely psycho-spiritual belief system, which preaches harmony and humanitarian values. Known as 'Tassawuf' or Islamic mysticism in Arabic, Sufism is also widely accepted as the devotional path to the Soul's realization of this reality as presented in the essence of the Holy Quran's teachings. Sufi traditions of peace and coexistence are very powerful as an expression of people's Islam in our subcontinent, but unfortunately the ruling clergy has never given them either recognition or validity. The Durgah of Hazrat Nizamuddin being situated here, this makes Nizamuddin Basti a very important face of Sufism as it exists today. From zest_india at yahoo.co.in Thu May 27 17:00:21 2004 From: zest_india at yahoo.co.in (=?iso-8859-1?q?Shivam=20Vij?=) Date: Thu, 27 May 2004 12:30:21 +0100 (BST) Subject: [Reader-list] Indian novelist's death ignored Message-ID: <20040527113021.78329.qmail@web8203.mail.in.yahoo.com> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 20 May 2004 14:14:14 -0400 (EDT) From: Sreenath Sreenivasan To: SAJA E-mail Discussion List Subject: OBIT: Kamala Markandaya, author of "Nectar in a Sieve" and others See this note from SAJAer VINEETA ANAND about the death of influential Indian writer (and former journalist) Kamala Markandaya. Included is an obit written by Prof. Charles Larson, chair of the English literature department at American University. He says no major Indian or US publication has yet carried an obit about her, even though she died on Sunday. A quick check of Google News and Nexis SEEMS to confirm this. He has prepared an obit that he was hoping some publications would consider publishing. His contact info is below - if you are at a newspaper or website, please pass this onto the right folks... And please let Prof. Larson and SAJA know if it (or another obit) gets published. This is a passing that deserves notice. >From the obit: "Her two most popular novels, NECTAR IN A SIEVE and a HANDFUL OF RICE, are taught in hundreds of American courses, both in the public shools and the universities." I remember studying NIAS twice - in my "English subsidiary" class at St. Stephen's College in Delhi University AND in high school in Fiji. SAJA called Shashi Tharoor, author of "The Great Indian Novel" and "Riot" for a comment for publication and here's what he said: "This is a terrible loss. Markandaya was a pioneer who influenced all of us Indians writing in English." (feel free to use this as well). The obits and contacts are below... Please help us get the word out. sree at sree.net | sreenath sreenivasan http://www.sreetips.com | http://www.sree.net From: Vineeta Anand To: Sree at sree.net Subject: Kamala Markandya obit Sree, This is an obit of Kamala Markandaya, the renowned Indian novelist, written by Charles Larson, the head of the English Literature department at American University. He was very upset that no Indian or American newspaper has published her obit even though she died on Sunday. Could you please post this to the SAJA list and also ask if any of the SAJA members working at newspapers can publish this? It would be a shame if her death goes unnoticed. Thanks, Vineeta Anand Washington Bureau Chief Pensions & Investments =-----= Kamala Markandaya: An Appreciation Charles R. Larson, Chair, Dept. of Literature American University, Washington, D.C. 20016 Email: clarson at american.edu KAMALA MARKANDAYA, the Indian novelist, died in London, Sunday, May 18, 2004. Born Kamala Purnaiya in Mysore in 1924, she attended the University of Madras, beginning in 1940, where she studied history. From 1940 to 1947, she worked as a journalist and also published short stories in Indian newspapers, eventually emigrating to England in 1948. There she met her husband, Bertrand Taylor, by whom she had one daughter. Fame and success came with her first published novel, NECTAR IN A SIEVE (1954), a Book-of-the-Month Club Main Selection and best-seller in the United States. That novel was follow by nine others, including A HANDFUL OF RICE (1966), THE NOWHERE MAN (1972), TWO VIRGINS (1973), and THE GOLDEN HONEYCOMB (1977). Markandaya was often linked to other Anglo-Indian novelists at mid-point in the twentieth century, including Mulk Raj Anand, R. K. Narayan, Raja Rao, and Khushwant Singh, though she was the only female of the group. That special sensitivity demarcated all of her work, especially SOME INNER FURY (1955) and TWO VIRGINS. Readers of her novels, however, were more often struck by the tensions her characters encountered when they left the rural areas for the cities. Her two most popular novels, NECTAR IN A SIEVE and a HANDFUL OF RICE, where taught in hundreds of American courses, both in the public shools and the universities. Always a very private person, Markandaya granted few interviews and intentionally kept out of the limelight. After 1948, England became her home, with frequent trips back to India in order to find the necessary inspiration for her writing. She is survived by her daughter, Kim Oliver. `````````````````````````````````````````` Homage To Indo-British Novelist Kamala Markandaya By Francis C. Assisi in Boston Indo Link / 21 May 2004 http://www.indolink.com/displayArticleS.php?id=052104015424 ===== ========================================== ZEST Reading Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-india ZEST Economics: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-economics ========================================== ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online. http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony/ From eye at ranadasgupta.com Sat May 29 00:06:42 2004 From: eye at ranadasgupta.com (Rana Dasgupta) Date: Sat, 29 May 2004 00:06:42 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] History of cinemas in Plymouth Message-ID: <40B786BA.9040609@ranadasgupta.com> http://www.plymouthdata.info/Cinemas.htm This history of cinemas in one English town may be of interest to people looking at the rise and fall of individual movie halls. Contents: "PLYMOUTH'S CINEMAS" -- Title Page and Preface -- Introduction and Chapter One (1896 to 1909) -- Chapter Two (1910) -- Chapter Three (1911 to 1919) -- Chapter Four (1920 to 1924) -- Chapter Five (1925 to 1929) -- Chapter Six (1930 to 1935) -- Chapter Seven (1936 to 1939) -- Chapter Eight (1940s) -- Chapter Nine (1950 to 1999) -- Chapter Ten (Other Licensed Premises) From ysaeed7 at yahoo.com Sat May 29 23:15:02 2004 From: ysaeed7 at yahoo.com (Yousuf) Date: Sat, 29 May 2004 10:45:02 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Reader-list] Settlement at Hazrat Nizamuddin- Posting 3 In-Reply-To: <20040527123100.17524.qmail@webmail9.rediffmail.com> Message-ID: <20040529174502.20462.qmail@web51403.mail.yahoo.com> Dear Naveid I have been following your postings on the Nizamuddin settlement, and you seem to have collected a lot of interesting information. However, in many instances, you have not given any reference to the sources of your information. Many of your stories and historical data need references. You said that Nizamuddin Aulia was born in 1236 and lived for almost 100 years. Well, according to Khaliq Ahmad Nizami, an authority on Nizamuddin Aulia and Chishti order, he was born in 1243 and died 1325 - that makes it 82 years. You have also mentioned that Nizamuddin Aulia became the disciple of Baba Farid in Delhi. Now Baba Farid's monastry was in Ajodhan (Punjab), and Nizamuddin Aulia certainly went there to spend time with him. I would also be curious to know the source of the story about Amir Khusrau's grandfather evacuating Nizamuddin Aulia from his house. As far as I know, Khusrau's grandfather, Rawate Arz, had probably died by the time Khusrau was old enough to meet Nizamuddin Aulia. If you have sourced your information from oral tradition, even those could be verified by the documented history, since so much documented history about the era is available. Kindly also double check the spellings of some of the names - Kokantash or Kokaltash? In one previous posting you mentioned Kali masjid, which is actually Kalan masjid (the large mosque). Yousuf --- naveid pasha wrote: > Hi friends. > This is the third posting in the series of research > on the settlement at Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti.(This > is for the independent fellowship) > So here goes... > > It is the city of Djinns, said Pir Sadr-ud-Din. > Although the city was attacked by invaders time and > again, it was rebuilt every time. Each time it rose > like a phoenix from the fire. The reason for this, > said Sadr-ud-Din, was that the djinns loved Delhi so > much they could never bear to see it empty or > deserted. To this day every house, every street > corner is haunted by them. - City of Djinns by > William Dalrymple Delhi, they say, hides in it a > malleable spirit that converts ashes into brand new > citadels. > Cramped with energies of times old and new, Delhi, > with its unique blend of seven historical cities now > harbours people and cultures as multi-faceted as a > ray of light passing through a prism. Areas such as > Nizamuddin, Mehrauli and Jama Masjid are at the > three separate ends of the city, forgotten in the > mad rush of cosmopolitan activity. But they are more > alive and pulsating with crisp energy now than they > probably ever did in the history of modern Delhi. > > Delhi s historical ruins speak of a royal past. > Today more mundane activities sports, shopping and > eating are their hallmark Historic buildings in Jama > Masjid, Nizamuddin, Mehrauli and the Lodi Gardens > are all leaves from a dynamic period of Indian > history. But today they are connected with > activities far removed from the past sport and > leisure, eating, and worship making them familiar in > our vocabulary of the city. > But once there were kings and queens, there was a > fortressed city and a sumptuous palace; there was > the trumpeting of elephants as they marched in > procession carrying a royal retinue. There was the > rhythmic sound of stone cutters as they erected the > walls of another new city along the banks of the > river Yamuna; and in a humble hut, there lived a > holy man whose piety and learning brought people > from far and near to establish a basti now > synonymous with his name. And famous for its shrine > where the Sufi saint, Nizamuddin, lies buried. Not > all of this happened at the same time. Nizamuddin > Auliya was born in AD 1236 and lived for almost 100 > years. Hazrat Nizamuddin was an inhabitant of > Badayun. After the demise of his father, his mother > brought him to Delhi for educational purposes. In > Delhi he became a disciple of Baba Farid. He lived > at Mia bazaar ke sarai in old Delhi till his > landlord asked him to vacate the house, as he was > unable to pay the rent. Amir Khusro, a disciple of > Hazrat Nizamuddin took him and his mother to the > haveli of his grand father in old Delhi. Khusro s > grandfather did not appreciate this and when Amir > Khusro had gone to Patiala his grandfather asked the > saint and his mother to shift out immediately. In > this fashion he lived with different people for > almost eleven years till one day he heard about a > quiet and peaceful place called Gyaspur, situated > outside the main city. On reaching there he found > that Gyaspur was a small village situated on the > banks of Sitari, a tributary of Yamuna. The only > inhabitants of this small town were a few poor > fishermen. Nizamuddin liked the place instantly and > started living there in a hut with a thatched roof. > After sometime Ziauddin, a nobleman from the king s > court built a khanqah for him, which still exists > till date. He was a very special man, who by the > example of his own austere and saintly life became > known as a zinda pir, a living saint who could heal > the body and spirit. Although his disciples built a > tomb over his grave, the original, repaired and > rebuilt by a Tughlaq monarch has long since > disappeared. Today, the dargah of Nizamuddin is the > collective work of many successive followers of the > saint s teachings who added to a structure first > built in 1562 by a devotee, the nobleman Faridun > Khan. > Nizamuddin basti today is a congested, people-ridden > settlement not all of its inhabitants are aware of > the spiritual origins of where they live, and > certainly not interested in the little architectural > gems that exist so close to their own ragged lives. > To reach the dargah, you have to fight your way > through warrens of the old and the infirm whose > makeshift plastic roofs or dusty odds and ends > identify their minuscule places on the earth, past > wayside stalls peddling garishly coloured sweets and > ribbons, readymade packets of taburuk (rose petals > and sweets as offering at the dargah), marigold > flowers and coverings for the head. And if you can > ward off the self-styled guides successfully, you > are finally in the holy precinct itself. > Surrounded by a courtyard of marble flooring, the > tomb pavilion is enclosed by delicately trellised > screens. As rich and zealous devotees contributed > their bit to glorify the saint, the tomb acquired an > ornate mother-of-pearl canopy, a veranda with > engraved marble columns and brackets, and as late as > the early 19th century, a huge marble dome with gold > encrusted finials. The spirit of Hazrat Nizamuddin > remains, however, very much above all the show of > grandeur, and it is impossible not to be moved to > devotion, especially on Thursday nights when the > qawwals sing impassioned verses in praise of the > Sufi saint. > Aside from the steamy dhabas that dish out spicy > meat recipes and thick soft rotis to soak up the > gravy, several other structures make the Nizamuddin > complex a place worth visiting. Across the tomb > enclosure to the west is the red sandstone Jamat > Khana Mosque built on the spot where Nizamuddin > himself would pray and sermonise. Probably > constructed in 1325, it is a composite structure of > three domes over three bays, central one being the > largest. One of the telltale signs that establishes > the period of building before the prolific Feroze > Shah Tughlaq period are the marble lotus buds that > fringe the arches, while the arches themselves are > squinched to make the square bays appear octagonal. > On the northern side of the dargah is a baoli, now > practically dry all year round, where young boys > would show off their diving skills. Even though > historians date the baoli back to the reign of > Feroze Tughlaq, oral history has it that the work > for the baoli had begun during the period of > Gyasuddin Tughlaq. Gyasuddin Tughlaq had a dislike > for Hazrat Nizamuddin and so he derived means of > irritating and disturbing him. Legend says the baoli > was being built when the imperious Ghiyasuddin > Tughlaq, angered by the saint s refusal to pay back > money to the royal coffers that he had given away in > charity, forbade its further construction. > More-over, Nizamuddin had prophesied that > Ghiyasuddin s son, prince Jauna would become the > sultan which he did by manipulating his father s > death. Moreover the construction of the baoli > coincided with the construction of Gyasuddin Tughlaq > s fort. So he ordered all the labourers in the city > to work at his construction site and banned any > other construction work in the city. So the workers > decided to work for the baoli at night, in the light > of oil lamps. > When Tughlaq found out about this he got angry and > forbid the shopkeepers to sell oil to the people in > Gyaspur. By this time the workers had already hit > water level and some amount of water had already > surfaced. Hazrat Nizamuddin asked his disciple to > take some of this water in a lamp and light it. When > he did this the water started to burn like oil. It > is from here that this disciple got the title of > roshan chirag [burning lamp] and came to be known as > Hazrat Chirag Dehli [the lamp of Delhi]. > A few other minor monuments dot the Nizamuddin > complex, but within the dargah enclosure itself is > the delicate tomb of Jahanara, Shah Jehan s > daughter, and a disciple of the Chisti saint. She is > said to have built it during her lifetime, > inscribing it with the touching words: Let naught > cover my grave save the green grass; for grass well > suffices as a covering for the grave of the lowly. > It is unfortunately noticed only by some as they > return from the ritual homage to the main shrine. > A pilgrimage to Nizamuddin is incomplete without a > visit to two to the other graves, one surrounded by > marble jaalis that of Amir Khusro, the saint’s > most devoted disciple and poet whose mystic verses > are sung by every qawwal; and the other, simpler one > of yet another writer, Mirza Ghalib, perhaps the > greatest Urdu and Persian poet to have ever lived. > Chaunsat khambe, is another interesting structure > which lies behind the mazaar of Mirza Ghalib is > actually the tomb of Mirza Shamsuddin, who was the > brother of Mirza Aziz Kokantash and their mother had > breast fed King Akbar. And it was Akbar who had > gotten the tomb constructed after Shamsuddin had > been murdered. > The markaz, a building which is situated opposite > the Ghalib Academy, and which is a mosque cum > resting-place for the jamats [ groups of people who > travel from place to place propagating religious > fervour amongst Muslims] is another structure of > historical importance. The history of this markaz is > as follows : there was a bagh called > Baghiche-Anarkali where now the Markaz is. The bagh > was last owned by two brothers, Mir Taqi and Mir > Naqi. Sitari, a tributary of river Yamuna was the > source of irrigation for this spectacular bagh. > Goods were transported to this part of the city via > the river. Mir Taqi & Mir Naqi had got a baradari > built in the bagh for leisure. People called this a > bungalow because it had a sloping roof instead of a > dome, which was the Islamic way of building. The > sloping roof was the influence of British > architectural style. This baradari was later taken > over by Mirza Ilahi Baksh, the father in law of > Bahadurshah === message truncated ===> _________________________________________ > reader-list: an open discussion list on media and > the city. > Critiques & Collaborations > To subscribe: send an email to > reader-list-request at sarai.net with subscribe in the > subject header. > List archive: __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Friends. Fun. Try the all-new Yahoo! Messenger. http://messenger.yahoo.com/ From zest_india at yahoo.co.in Sun May 30 15:34:07 2004 From: zest_india at yahoo.co.in (=?iso-8859-1?q?Shivam=20Vij?=) Date: Sun, 30 May 2004 11:04:07 +0100 (BST) Subject: [Reader-list] Site banned: free speech? Message-ID: <20040530100407.52023.qmail@web8204.mail.in.yahoo.com> >From www.thehoot.org : Rediff reports that key ISPs including VSNL have blocked access to a web site, www.hinduunity.org on the basis of a request from the Mumbai police commissioner's office. The site publishes inflammatory material against Islam. But one ISP, Sify, has not implemented the order because it has not come from CERT-In, the government of India organisation empowered to block websites. ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online. http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony/ From zest_india at yahoo.co.in Sun May 30 20:57:48 2004 From: zest_india at yahoo.co.in (=?iso-8859-1?q?Shivam=20Vij?=) Date: Sun, 30 May 2004 16:27:48 +0100 (BST) Subject: [Reader-list] Dirty laundry at the Times of India Message-ID: <20040530152748.281.qmail@web8202.mail.in.yahoo.com> Dirty laundry at the Times of India By Raja M in Mumbai Asia Times / 18 May 2004 http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/FE18Df05.html It's official: the world's largest-circulated English daily has been involved in some shady business. Exposing a long-known trade fact, a leading Mumbai English tabloid, Mid-Day, last week published the "rates" for purchasing editorial features in the Times of India. The Times has not issued a denial, and the rogue rate card seems to be the latest indicator of rotting media ethics and tolerance in India for corruption. For sums ranging from US$45,000 to $66,000, the Mid-Day story alleged, one could buy a news feature plugging their business, get interviewed (the business owner supplies the questions and answers themselves) and have their picture published on the much-scorned Page 3 of the Bombay Times, the city supplement of the Times of India. In the United States or the United Kingdom, uproar would have erupted after the expose. But the Times of India (TOI) was not even pressed to explain the allegation to its 4.5 million estimated readers, or to any regulatory body. Instead, some attempted to defend the indefensible. Shobhaa De, novelist and acidic columnist, incredibly called the TOI move "brave" and the "future of journalism", never mind the reader being taken for a ride, if not criminal fraud, with no distinct boundaries marked between news and advertisements. In a brazen display of contempt for the basic tenets of journalism, the "service"' meant that the clear divide between advertisement and editorial was blurred for a negotiable price. The Times of India is already infamous for often plugging its own businesses, such as its search engine and web portal, in its news pages. The demarcating line and supposed safety valve against legal complications is a microscopic "m" in 8-point type, like a copyright sign, that the reader is to infer as "Medianet", a created subsidiary that "buys news features" from publicity-hungry individuals and corporates. Apparently, the TOI group established Medianet to cut out crooked journalists and take the cut for itself. Credible media houses generally sack bribable hacks, but here the media house happily joined the racket. Medianet rose up the TOI ladder so much that its chief keeper, Vinita Mangia, took over as editor of Bombay Times this month. The move makes Rupert Murdoch's Fox News a glowing paragon of journalistic virtue in comparison. Such dubious, if not downright crooked, business practices increasingly infect the English print media in India - that usually is never short of pompous posturing. Cutthroat competition drives the world's most populated print media industry: according to March 2004 figures from the Registrar of Newspapers for India, 8,141 English dailies appear among a total of 55,780 newspapers reaching 142 million people, at a growth rate of 23.21 percent compared to the previous year. Foreign funds and stricter standards of management could clean up India's largely family-owned media houses that often hob-nob intimately with political parties and industrial groups. Successive chief ministers of Maharashtra state often drop in for luncheon meetings with Times of India top brass in Mumbai. But inevitably, the Times of India group has also been one of the most vocal opponents of substantial foreign direct investment (FDI) being allowed in Indian media, even though it used the just-voted out Indian government's 26 percent FDI cap to hive off its leading magazines to the BBC. More foreign marriages such as tie-ups between India's Business Standard with the Financial Times raise hopes for better pay scales and professional standards in Indian journalism. Presently, leading media groups are being accused of running rackets such as the exploitation of governmental newspaper subsidies: they are alleged to register new publications, inflate circulation figures, apply for subsidized newsprint for them, print a few token copies and sell the rest of the newsprint in the black market. The manipulation of circulation figures is also an ongoing practice, as a senior newspaper professional explains: companies will deliberately increase pages to make the newspaper's weight more profitable to rathiwallahs (waste paper vendors) who buy copies in bulk and make more money selling it as waste paper than selling at the artificially-lowered cover price. Circulation figures get a fake boost. Such tactics are known and ranted about in trade circles, with the occasional angry protest or a scathing editorial moaning about dirty tricks without much effect. Characteristically unabashed, TOI justified its editorial hawking as "edvertorials" where the editor supposedly controls the paid content, as against conventional "advertorials" which the marketing department sells in clearly separate, marked space and sometimes different fonts. Founded in 1838 as "The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce", The Times of India (called so since 1861) has consistently starred in many other recent media controversies, the latest being a run-in with its competitor in New Delhi, The Hindustan Times, over circulation figures. In a major power shift in the 1990s, the new generation of marketing whiz kids systematically crushed perceived editorial uppityness. The TOI management undertook moves that suggested it considered selling newspapers as requiring the same expertise as selling toothpaste, and editors and journalists as dispensable as used tissues. The prompt result from marketing bulldozing into editorial territory was bright young journalistic hopefuls such as Rajdeep Sardesai leaving TOI in a huff to carve out successful careers in satellite TV news, with companies like New Delhi Television (NDTV). In a peculiar mission to show just who is the boss, Times of India owners Bennett, Coleman & Co, India's largest media group, went out of its way to put its editors in place. A former editor of the Bombay Times and a current columnist told this correspondent that she was flown to New Delhi, along with other editors in the group, for the express purpose of being categorically informed that they need the TOI group more than the TOI group needs them. Under such remarkable working conditions and tactics, the TOI hit new profitability but also steadily plunged to new depths of editorial disrespect . During the India versus Pakistan cricket series in March, it reached giddy heights of facetiousness, with lunatic front page headlines such as the screaming "Karachi Captured" after India won a match there. But unlike with toothpaste, respect for the truth feeds a newspaper's long-term life and TOI is fast losing respect, despite being ranked one of the world's six best newspapers. With millions of Indians having grown up with the TOI, its growing crisis of credibility is like watching an old friend become mentally unbalanced from an addiction to greed and power. There's a dark, murky, fascinating and edifying media story to be told of the rise and imminent fall of the Times of India, once called the "Old Lady of Boribunder", now being hooted as the "Sold Lady of Boribunder". (Raja M is an independent writer based in Mumbai, India.) o o o o o Is this journalism? By Hemal Ashar Mid Day (Mumbai) / May 11, 2004 http://ww1.mid-day.com/news/city/2004/may/83022.htm The price list These are the rates some pay in order to get themselves mentioned in Bombay Times: The front page window is the front page photograph in the paper. You can also pay to be in the Q & A feature on the front page. Similarly, rates are also fixed in case you wish to be featured on page 2 and page 3 of the newspaper. Front Page Window Edition Size Sq Cm Slam Bang Super Mumbai 240 3,00,960 2,59,920 2,18,880 Straight Q&A Edition Size Sq Cm Slam Bang Super Mumbai 160 1,91,520 1,64,160 1,36,800 Slam 1 to 2 insertions Bang 3 to 5 insertions Super 6 + insertions (All rates in rupees) ===== ZEST Reading Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-india/ ZEST Economics: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-economics/ ZEST Poets: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-poets/ ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online. http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony/ From db at dannybutt.net Mon May 31 04:25:28 2004 From: db at dannybutt.net (Danny Butt) Date: Sun, 30 May 2004 16:55:28 -0600 Subject: [Reader-list] #place - a new discussion on location and cultural politics Message-ID: <71E8E4AF-B28C-11D8-98FD-000A95A84910@dannybutt.net> Greetings all - a new list some of you may be interested in. --------------- PLEASE DISTRIBUTE #place is a new discussion on location, cultural politics, and social technologies. To join in, visit: http://www.place.net.nz Topics covered on #place include, but are not limited to: * The politics of intercultural communication * Colonisation, cultural nationalism, 'intranationalism' (e.g. indigenous sovereignty) * Regional alliances, globalisation and cultural politics * Sociology of the knowledge economy * The mediated experience of physical, social, economic and cultural locations * Cultural uses of land and geography (particularly in colonial situations) * Activism through local, regional and global networks * The "places" of intellectual work * Collaborative practices and located positions * The uneven distribution of information ::::::: Why #place? ::::::: Location, position, situation and place have become increasingly common terms in comparative discussions of knowledge and culture. Many institutions shaping the Western educational and political systems have claimed the betterment of "humankind" as their goal. The University in particular framed its contributions as adding to "humanity's stock of knowledge". Where exactly that knowledge came from, or went to, was seen to be unimportant. But the beneficiaries of this "knowledge economy", from a sociological perspective, turn out to be a select few, and Western ideologies tend to suppress these politics of intellectual labour. As David Turnbull puts it, in a culture that prefers the abstract over the concrete, "knowledge has to be presented as unbiased and undistorted, without a place or knower." Sharon Traweek calls this knowledge system "the culture of no culture", the desire to be beyond cultural location. However, recent social movements can be seen as calls to put knowledge in its place. Increasingly, the West has been challenged on its habit of defining "the world" in its own image. Anti-colonial scholars such as Linda Tuhiwai Smith have demonstrated that knowledge and research have been central to the process of colonisation. The gains from knowledge production supposedly "for human benefit" have been largely hidden from indigenous groups, yet all too beneficial for the purposes of colonial power. While the colonial project has harnessed communications technologies in service of its imperial aims, these communications networks are also fostering new collaborative practices which resist the imperial worldview. Media networks promise standardisation, but these networks are also allowing people in different "places" (physical, economic, social, cultural) to share perspectives and strategies for resistance, while developing their own sense of place. The initial aim of #place is to collaboratively develop dialogue around these issues, share experiences and insights, and ultimately connect people working on related problems of location and cultural politics. This aim reflects my experience that people are discussing these issues between numerous cultures and knowledge traditions, but without a place that explicitly reflects on that connection. This aim is only a beginning, however, and the future aims of #place will be determined by those who join and participate. #place aims to bring many places into conversation. By the end of 2004 a collective will be established from contributors to guide #place's development. Possibilities for #place in 2005 include meetings, conferences, publications, and alliances with other groups. To join #place visit => http://www.place.net.nz or send an e-mail to: place-request at place.net.nz with the word "subscribe" (without the quotes) in the Subject field, and follow the instructions you get sent. #place has been launched by Danny Butt - http://www.dannybutt.net as part of the Intranation residency at Banff Centre for the Arts - http://www.intranation.net From eye at ranadasgupta.com Mon May 31 11:59:51 2004 From: eye at ranadasgupta.com (Rana Dasgupta) Date: Mon, 31 May 2004 11:59:51 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Surveillance in cinemas to prevent piracy of Harry Potter release Message-ID: <40BAD0DF.3020404@ranadasgupta.com> *Harry Potter and the wizard idea to foil cinema pirates* *http://film.guardian.co.uk/harrypotter/news/0,10608,1228308,00.html Martin Wainwright Monday May 31, 2004 The Guardian * Cinema ushers across Britain go into action today with a new piece of equipment which makes their ice-cream trays and hand torches look tame. Military-style night-sights have been sent to every outlet in the country showing the new Harry Potter film, The Prisoner of Azkaban. Staff have been instructed to spend all two hours and 22 minutes of the film scanning the dark - for pirates making illegal copies. "I've never known a company to go to such lengths to protect a film," said Jamie Graham, manager of the Vue cinema at Cheshire Oaks, Wirral, where the red monocle devices are ready for action. The precaution has been taken by the film's distributor, Warner Brothers, after an epidemic of poor-quality, grainy versions of the two previous Potter films. Surreptitious recording from cinema seats, sometimes interrupted by the head of the person in front shifting and blocking the action, has become a serious menace, according to the industry. Most cinemas now screen an appeal to audiences to shop any neighbour suspected of filming, along with warnings about mobile phones and adverts for popcorn. Mr Graham said: "Video piracy is rife everywhere, and with the UK screening the film four days before the rest of the world, Warner was concerned the movie would end up on the internet." Pirate DVD versions of the boy wizard's earlier adventures were traced to Britain through codes imprinted on the films as a security device. The night sights, together with the coding and experiments with watermarks, have added significantly to distribution costs. But Warner sees the investment as negligible compared with the threat to the whole industry. Staff at the Vue will be "very discreet" with their potentially frightening cyclopean attachments, Mr Graham said, but action against offenders would be swift. Much like the battered young wizards on screen, who are constantly being whirled about by baddies, pirates will be "hauled out of their seats and reported straight away to the police". From mklayman at leonardo.info Fri May 28 06:24:10 2004 From: mklayman at leonardo.info (Melinda Klayman) Date: Thu, 27 May 2004 17:54:10 -0700 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Message from Michael Joaquin Grey, Leonardo Board member Message-ID: *apologies for cross-posting* Dear Leonardo community, Like me, you are a member of the Leonardo community. I would like to invite you to join Leonardo/The International Society for the Arts, Science and Technology as a full member/subscriber at a 20% discount. For a limited time we're offering an Associate Membership for only $61.60. Please go to: http://mitpress.mit.edu/leonardo_isast/membership_discount Each of us involved in the intersection of art, science, and technology relies on Leonardo to showcase the most exciting developments in our multi-disciplinary field, to keep us informed of events in our community, to provide us with excellent resources through the website and the print journals, and even to further our own careers by publishing our work in its prestigious peer-reviewed journals. Leonardo offers so much to our field, and I hope that you will join me in returning some of that support. Less than a year ago, I joined the Leonardo/ISAST Governing Board of Directors. Previously, I had thought about Leonardo as the print journal and didn't give much thought to all the other Leonardo projects that I enjoy on a regular basis. Along with Leonardo and Leonardo Music Journal (both of which are published simultaneously in print and on line), there's the Leonardo Electronic Almanac, published on line and distributed via email monthly; Leonardo Reviews of current books and media in our discipline, published on line monthly; Leonardo On Line, giving access to the Leonardo Electronic Directory and recent news; the sister organization in France, Leonardo/OLATS, which has its own Pioneers and Pathbreakers project and SpaceArts database, as well as a wealth of resources on the web. And those are just what's happening on line! Leonardo also publishes the Leonardo Book Series, which includes popular titles like Lev Manovich's The Language of New Media, Stephen Wilson's Information Arts, and the brand-new Protocol: How Control Exists after Decentralization by Alex Galloway. Leonardo has a role in countless events, including the recent Harvestworks symposium in New York, the upcoming Bateson colloquium in California, the Workshop on Art, Science and Spirituality in Melilla, Morocco, later this year; and is a co-sponsor of the Pacific Rim New Media Summit to be a part of ISEA 2006 in San Jose, California. Leonardo recognizes outstanding members of our community with annual awards, sponsors lectures and booksignings, and seeks opportunities to draw our widely scattered population together. In the past year, Leonardo has begun implementing a more contemporary look and feel to the journal as it responds and leads a new generation. Leonardo's participation is vital to the spirit of our community. Despite all that Leonardo offers, I know that many of my colleagues are not full members. If you are in this category, I urge you to join Leonardo now at http://mitpress.mit.edu/leonardo_isast/membership_discount. Membership includes access to all of the benefits I described above, as well as discounts on various Leonardo promotions. As a membership society, Leonardo/The International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology relies upon its members to sustain its efforts. Please give back to the organization that has offered you so much. By joining Leonardo as an Associate Member, you will make our community stronger and more dynamic. I hope to count you among my peers of Leonardo supporters soon. Best regards, Michael Joaquin Grey Member, Governing Board of Directors Leonardo/ISAST P.S. Your new or renewed Associate Membership will contribute toward more color illustrations within the pages of Leonardo in 2005. Help out by joining at http://mitpress.mit.edu/leonardo_isast/membership_discount -- NEW ADDRESS! Please note our new contact information as of May 1, 2004: Leonardo/ISAST 211 Sutter Street, Suite 800 San Francisco, CA 94108 phone: (415) 391-1110 fax: (415) 391-2385 Email: mklayman at leonardo.info Web: http://www.leonardo.info _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From definetime at rediffmail.com Sat May 29 14:51:08 2004 From: definetime at rediffmail.com (sanjay ghosh) Date: 29 May 2004 09:21:08 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Nothing lasts for ever Message-ID: <20040529092108.2148.qmail@webmail29.rediffmail.com> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20040529/b9feff2a/attachment.html -------------- next part --------------   An extract from a thoughtful article regarding the consequences of the warehouse fire which detroyed a large part of what constituted 'Britart'. - sanjay ghosh Guardian Unlimited / Mark Lawson / Saturday May 29, 2004 In the week of the Britart blaze in east London, this strange image raises the larger question of the shelf life of culture. But the mere fact that a company such as Momart can make a huge business from artwork warehouses around London demonstrates the existence of a taboo about the destruction of art. We can understand why the idea of immortality adhered to the visual arts. It is the only cultural form in which we are routinely experiencing the original, rather than the distant copies through which we experience books, movies, television and classic theatre and dance. When a book is destroyed for reasons of either commerce or censorship, the text generally survives: first in a central library, now electronically. Reading interviews with artists lamenting that they had lost a decade's work or more also made me think of a parallel devastation in television, when many writers and producers saw 10 years' output vanish not as a result of a freak fire but of management policy. In the 1960s, the bulk and cost of storing programmes on videotape led to a cull of programmes that has left the history of the period seriously incomplete. While some have retrospectively cast this decision as philistinism, it was mainly motivated by space. Digital technology now has given TV a deeper memory, although recent reports that the first music CDs are becoming unreadable 20 years on reminds us that all archival systems have limitations. Beyond the human pain and artistic debate caused by the Momart blaze, it is finally a story of storage. A cultural assumption that art should last for ever led to a big business that managed this ambition. The failure of the system in no way deserves the glee in some areas about the loss of modern art - but it does encourage us to consider whether we have become in general too reverential about the total preservation of one art form. For complete article http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1227329,00.html From grade at del6.vsnl.net.in Fri May 28 21:04:33 2004 From: grade at del6.vsnl.net.in (Rakesh) Date: Fri, 28 May 2004 21:04:33 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] hi, u may find it intereseting - Indian Express today 28th Message-ID: <004101c444c9$554de4e0$980110ac@net> A KIND OF NORMALCY: VISIT TO KASHMIR The recent mine blast on the Jammu-Srinagar highway killling BSF men and their families has temporarily shattered the veneer of normalcy. To all intents and purposes, elections have taken place. A 'popular' government is in power in the State. Peace talks are underway. Compared to people scurrying home with the onset of evening three years back, there is the hustle-bustle of given and take at Lal Chowk, the hub of Srinagar. Tourists are flocking, houseboats are filling up, taxis buzzing to Gulmarg. Despite choosing to turn a blind eye to the fortified bunker right at Lal Chowk, the machine gun mounted armoured vehicles, the battle ready soldiers on picturesque bunds and bridges across the Jhelum, the fragility of the 'normalcy' is palpable. On any random day, the local papers carry reports of grieving relatives of youth "picked up" by the dreaded Special Operations Group, 5 killed in Baramulla or protests over custodial deaths. One doesn't come on a holiday to read newspapers! However, it is difficult to ignore the texture of the interaction between local Kashmiris and the Security Forces. Whether it is the docile subservient expression of an old man selling fruits and a BSF jawan or the heavy handed checking of identity cards of passing youth. At Lal Chowk, we go to see off a friend into a Sumo for Jammu. The driver turns, a passenger waves and as the driver stops a jawan comes and breaks the rear-view mirror of the vehicle. Sajaad, the driver threatens to complain to the Commandant. The jawan, regardless of a hundred witnesses watching, punches just above the eye and tries to pull a bleeding Sajaad out of the window. The Kashmiris present know better than to intervene. We intervene and fortunately the beating stops! The drivers say no action will be initiated unless we come along. We toodle along to the Police Station. A police constable gets in and we go towards the Government Hospital. The Constable pleads with us to come along as the BSF may have already reached and may prevent them from entering the Hospital! As non-Kashmiris and Indians, we carry more clout than a J & K policeman! At the hospital the driver is nervous that the BSF may plant something and then "recover" explosives from his vehicle. Others are apprehensive that the BSF may pick them up from their homes at night. Obviously, a routine modus-operandi. MLC done, we are again importuned to go back to the police station. As in the ensuing negotiations between the S. P. and the Commandant our presence as witnesses would help. The police informally advise the drivers to organize a demonstration if they want a complaint registered! Unlike many countries, the Indian Constitution has no provision for martial law. Security forces are always to supplement civil power not supplant it. Yet so tilted is the balance in favour of the security forces that the police cannot even lodge a FIR, leave aside prosecution of army personnel involved in acts of violence. Human rights groups can keep asserting gross human rights abuses and the Government can keep denying the killings and rapes. However, it is the almost invisible, intangible humiliation suffered in everyday life which in a major way contributes to the alienation of a people. Rakesh Shukla -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20040528/a2305161/attachment.html From definetime at rediffmail.com Fri May 28 17:40:07 2004 From: definetime at rediffmail.com (sanjay ghosh) Date: 28 May 2004 12:10:07 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Digital Archiving Hindustani Classical Music Message-ID: <20040528121007.1002.qmail@webmail27.rediffmail.com> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20040528/112dd713/attachment.html -------------- next part --------------   Digital Archiving Hindustani Classical Music for wider dissemination Digi Archive List should be discontinued. You only get spams (your wife wants a larger organ) and D' Souza's e-invitation on it. Then nothing. Laundry list of conversions from 78s to tape to audio cds ... to mp3 and hopefully within some months to everyone on the net. Zohrabai Agrewali (1868-1913) Gauhar Jan (1873 - 1930) Vilayat Husain Khan (1892-1962) Kesarbai Kerkar (1892-1977) Mogubai Kurdikar (1904-2001) Alauddin Khan (1862-1972) Negotiations on / over, to fill in the Dovesongs' North Indian Classical Music Recording Project (a website which would host copyright expired / copyright negotiated audio files, somewhat in the lines of Project Gutenberg (literature) Negotiations on, to get some live recordings on spools to the digital format. Getting hold of old equipment is pretty tough. Especially the suspicion. Why young man are you not chasing pop music on TV ? A slow civilisation. Slow changes in the arts. Can yesterday illuminate tomorrow ? The right wing press hates 'yesterday'. Negroponte to be the next Bremer. Most of them tell you what a great job he's done at the UN for his country. Some even mention a distinguished diplomatic career. Passing mention of Honduras. Nothing on orchestrating the Contra butchery in Nicaragua. Or the apprenticeship (1970-73) in Vietnam ? The 'tabloidization' of news means - history quickly turns into myth. Less words, more tits. Us and them. Us or them. So that while Rumsfeld puts Hitler, Stalin, Lenin and Ceausescu in the same box, there isn't even a blip of dissent in the global mainstream media. Minister of 'culture' Anup Mishra, says Alauddin Khan is a 'bangladeshi' why name a music academy after him ? Had it not been for the illustrious students of this 'bangladeshi' - India's presence on the world's music map would have been put off by half a century. sanjay ghosh From rupali_gupte at rediffmail.com Sun May 30 09:16:53 2004 From: rupali_gupte at rediffmail.com (Rupali Gupte) Date: 30 May 2004 03:46:53 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] fourth posting: tactical city Message-ID: <20040530034653.2603.qmail@webmail32.rediffmail.com> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20040530/31238aff/attachment.html -------------- next part --------------   Hello all, Here is my fourth posting. A Tactical History of Bombay’s Urbanism How you SEE a certain situation will influence how you intervene in it. History becomes a LENS that helps one SEE. History is by and large then a fabrication, a fiction and a product of the LENS used to see the situation. Tactical City as a fictitious history of Bombay’s urbanism plays with the fact that history is fiction. It inserts itself in the gaps between history as fact and history as fiction. Prasad Shetty classifies the present literature on the history of Bombay’s Urbanism in terms of the various FRAMEWORKS they employ and the INTERESTS behind the particular fictions that these narratives build. To quote, “Mumbai city’s history is predominantly classified into eras. The conventional chronological history of the State gazetteer puts together a classification of the ancient, medieval, Muhammedan, Colonial and Modern eras (Chaudhari, 86). A more ambitious history by Mehrotra and Dwivedi (2001) puts together it’s classification based on chronological physical development in the city. A recent endeavour by an architectural academy (Design Cell, 2001) in history writing classifies the city as changes in the economy; its classifications: agrarian, mercantile, industrial, socialist and global city. All three histories undertake a periodising task. These watertight compartments of history then become a basis for understanding decisions of the people. One can co-relate ‘the ancient’ in the city gazetteer with the ‘fisherman’s village’ in Mehrotra and Dwivedi and the ‘agrarian economy’ of the Design Cell, where the native population is seen to be settling in certain parts near the sea and building their landscapes. These histories set a basis to conceptualise decisions made in development, decisions made by people. They, through their nomenclature of the Ancient, the Core, the Modern, and the Global etc. set a dominant mode or “the mainstream” along which all decisions could be classified and understood. Hence the slums and closing of the mills in Mumbai discussed earlier becomes the product of the Global Exploding city. At the level of the city, these conceptualisations become the basis to plan.” Tactical City on the basis of these frameworks becomes an attempt at reconceptualising the history of Bombay’s urbanism. The Tactical as a position recognizes that other frameworks of history are not neutral and benign. Tactical position too stirs away from being neutral and benign. It names its enemy and gets ready to vanquish it. A tactical History of Bombays Urbanism, in the light of this traces power structures through the city’s history and focuses on the TOOLS used by the power structures to maintain their status quo. Since the Tactical per se has no form of its own and in De Certeau’s words, “has no a proper site, discourse or language of its own and insinuates itself into the other’s place, adorns itself in the other’s garb and speaks through the other’s language” it needs to understand the tools employed by the power structures in order to tweak them for their own purposes. The TACTIC is this new TOOL. The following is an attempt to read a history of Bombay’s urbanism through such a lens. A time line of Bombay’s Urbanism is put together here from 1500s- 2004 (based on the Design Cell's classification of the city as colonial merchantile, colonial indutsrial, socialist and global )that deal with selected issues that the fictions of Tactical city later begin to play with. This timeline focuses on the powerstructures and the tools they use. For a flash time map please go to the following link I have set up. You will have to download flash plugins to see this animation: http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/rg226/ Best, Rupali From sahanirmal at yahoo.co.in Mon May 31 11:03:33 2004 From: sahanirmal at yahoo.co.in (=?iso-8859-1?q?nirmal=20saha?=) Date: Mon, 31 May 2004 06:33:33 +0100 (BST) Subject: [Reader-list] May posting Message-ID: <20040531053333.2283.qmail@web8002.mail.in.yahoo.com> Anya Artha traces the development of the re-construction of the ‘urban’ space of Calcutta in various ways. 1. It could be viewed as developing out of the impetus of the naxalite movement, though the journey was later de-toured. 2. It could also be seen as a pre-condition of Subaltern studies Naxalite movement was built on the Marxian premises with a cultural turn to it. The movement started with a peasant struggle and was influenced by the Chinese model of socialism. The movement also laid stress upon the importance of armed struggle to bring about a change in the society. A question automatically comes to mind regarding the positions of the students and the middle class in such a struggle. Anya artha tried to engage with both the segments - the student community in particular, and also the middle class comprising of educationist, service holder etc. It was felt that though they were neither of the peasant class nor of the working class, they could participate in the struggle and be an integral part of it in a different way. In the earlier rendition of the model being practiced, the strategy was to establish control over the towns through villages. The only way of participating in such a struggle was to go to the villages and be a part in the struggle for land. But the other spaces like the ideological formation of the state and its various institutes, such as; educational institutes were not given much importance. Anya Artha, having full faith in the peasant and working class movements decided to traverse their path a bit differently, taking note of the importance of the educational structure to create an environment and understanding of the situations such that the students and the middle class communities could be a part of the struggle in their own ways. Members of Anya Artha felt the need of including this sector of the society in the movements, without which the change, they felt would remain necessarily incomplete. Various topics discussed in the journal points out this understanding. Gautam Bhadra, one of the members of editorial collective wrote on the issue of agrarian economy during the Moughal period. Other articles were also engaging with the mode of production debate, then fashionable in academia. The education system was being seen as a mere transition from colonial to semi-coloniality even after the much-sought freedom was achieved. Most of the members of Anya Artha belonging to the Economics dept. raised an important issue. Economics should not be confined within the domain of academia, rather it should be a subject on which common people could express their understandings and views, for it affected one and all and formed an important basis in the way the society is structured. They understood economics as the essence on which the cultural and social structure was built upon. The importance and necessity of workers and peasants’ participation in a struggle to change the society was acknowledged. The simultaneous critique of neo-classical as well as the economic theories of the so-called radical Cambridge school shows the richness of their perception. Land distribution, abolition of the middleman in the various sectors, strong critiques of the then existing socio-economic structure, leads to the development of an understanding that for a change in society political prices needed to be paid. The Chinese model of socialism and the various phenomena happening in different parts of the world kept them engaged while they were very much aware about the particular historical situation of this country. In a bid to understand seriously the question of class in Indian society, Gautam Bhadra wrote a series of articles on the agrarian class structure during Mughal period. One interesting series was on nationalist movements in rural Bengal during late British rule. Hiteshranjan Sanyal did the analysis from a Gandhian perspective. In spite of their differences with the Gandhian ideology, the members understood the importance and necessity to understand the struggles, which had taken place in this soil earlier from all the different perspectives. Here they are distinctly different from the orthodoxy of general leftist journals of that time. Not only the old struggles, but the then contemporaty railway strike, oil treaties, various government policies came into the purview of the Journal. One major aspect that comes out through the various writings of the journal is the critique of Soviet Union in terms of its economic structure. Decades before the fall of the Soviet Union, they had tried to show the capitalist form of economy working in the Soviet. I would like to deal this aspect in details in the course of my paper. For the past few months I have completed taking interviews of most of the members of editorial collectives who are presently in Calcutta. As the interviews are in Bengali, a lot of time is being spent on their translation. Also the proof correction of the soft copy, which is being prepared, is in progress and the entire material is expected to be ready by June. I am in search of some other Journals of that period to make a comparative analysis. Also the summarization of various issues like displacement, economic policies of the government, nature of academia etc are under process. I would also like to contextualise the journal with respect to the present day scenario. A question has been asked to all the interviewee – what would the topics they would like to deal with, had the journal re-started again in the existing social scenario. Interestingly, they all possess different opinions about the issues to be addressed. Trying to understand these differences of opinions, I find very thought-provoking moments cropping up, on which I would also make some points in the paper. ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online. http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony/ From sappho1999 at rediffmail.com Sat May 29 13:43:08 2004 From: sappho1999 at rediffmail.com (Sappho for Equality) Date: 29 May 2004 08:13:08 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] 4th Posting - Lesbians & Media Message-ID: <20040529081308.26579.qmail@webmail9.rediffmail.com> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20040529/0037c8fe/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- DOCUMENTATION OF NEWS PAPER/MAGAZINE ARTICLES AND LETTERS THAT WERE PUBLISHED IN REACTION It has already mentioned and discussed that Sappho was almost a loner in her maiden voyage towards creating a safe, sensitive and supportive environment for the women with same sex preference since her inception. In no time Sappho did embrace activism and started claimimg political space. Nevertheless, it took the shape of a much awaited and long deserved social movement. It goes beyond questioning the role of media behind any social movement specially from or for the minorities. For the last two centuries Indian media, with all of its form, opted to be ignorant, non-conversant, numb and silent about issues of homosexuality specially with women. Thanks to “Fire”, the silence was ultimately broken. The conversation on homosexuality (particularly lesbianism), about homophobia, was on the move and took up its pace as “Fire” was banned and faced a series of frenzied assualt on the screening by Shiv Shainiks. All over India in most of the leading national and regional news paper editorials, special features, interviews, letters to the editor ushered in like tides. On the the first hand it was agianst the ban, against the violation of fundamental rights of freedom of speech and expression. But it was not confined to debates around artistic freedom or democratic rights only. ”Fire” actualy paved the way for the Indian women with same sex preference to come out of the closet and speak up. Bengal shared almost the same lot, although the uninterupted and regular screening of ‘Fire’ was itself a srikingly different event. The cause behind was much more political than social and should never be confused about the existense of homophobia preveiling in the society at large. However, media, mainly the newspapers and magazines, were prompt enough to take up the issue, though the prime intention was profit-making, yet it served a major role in opening up the issue of lesbianism within the common mass. The chilled foggy mornings of December ’98 witnessed a series of hot and warm editorials and articles vehemently protesting against the massacre at Mumbai and Delhi. Besides these protests, two major articles in leading vernacular newspapers not only challenged the right-winged campaign of labelling Lesbianism as a foreign import and criminal offence but also supported same sex relation between women and celebrated the rich heritage of parallel sexuality in ancient India. Another contemporary praise-worthy article in ABP (Ananda Bazar Patrika, a leading bengali newspaper) by Jaya Mitra, a noted author and former radical-left activist, condemned the underneath partiarchal pressure in homophobia . She questioned the self-imposed moral dictatorship of Shiv Shenas and interpreted the vandalism and terrorism of the Shiv Shaink’s and other right-winged political parties as a way to distract people from the major socio-political shortfall of the ruling party. In a quite interesting way Rupali Ghosh presented a study in a Sunday Telegraph (13.12.98) which tried to assess the locus standi and repurcassions of the lesbians in Delhi and Mumbai, who were already visible and backtracked the lesbian heritage in ancient Indian literature, paintings and scuptures through breif and definite examples. Other than these articles some interviews of renowned personalities from all the fields came up in another regional newspaper (Aajkal) which unanimously and uncompromisingly opposed the dictatorship over all kind of emotional bonding irrsepective of sexual preference and practice. Almost all these articles, editorials and interviews, mostly supportive, were very clear definite and assertive about their opinion in regard to homosexuality, primarily in women, but few psychiatrists created quite a lot of confusions by their double standard about homosexuality. (Ref. ABP, 23.01.99 and Manorama, March, 1999). In the first context homosexuality was labelled as disease and preventive measures were discussed with due concern, and surprisingly , in the second context this stand was not repeated and the uselessness of its treatment and cure were mentioned duely. However, critics didn’t spare the interview published in ABP. Within a week a series of four important letters in protest were published in ABP which post-mortemed the interview and all the discrepencies and unscientific comments were criticised vociferously. All these discusssions about media-reaction will remain incomplete without mentioning a very sensitive and bold article in ABP, 03.04.99 (Fire Beneath The Ashes) . For the first time in Kolkata and Bengal, people could hear about a lesbian couple (incidentally both of them were in the founder team of Sappho and are also the most dedicated and spirited activist of the group) and about all the contentment and pleasure that was the gift of their conjugation and all the pains and depressions that was a result of a partnership which was taken as illegitimate, immoral and perversion acording to the law of the land. Besides having this passionate touch this article published an address for correspondence, and amazingly a good number of letters from women with same sex preference from all over Bengal jam-packed the postbox and ultimately acted as the main inspiration behind the formation of Sappho. >From inception till date Sappho received coverage, though not adequate, from printed media mainly as reports of various mass awareness programmes held by Sappho either independently or jointly. One such example was the coverage (ABP, 20.07.2000) of a mass awarenes programme, titled as Breaking The Silence held by Sappho and British Council, Kolkata jointly. Saswati Ghosh, a reputed columnist and activist prepared the article with much care and conviction and logically argued for lesbianism both from social and legal aspect and tried to inform about the contemporary and ongoing events associated with the movement for decriminalisation of homosexuality. All the leading newspapers, both in English and Bengali (The Statesman, 23.06.2000, The Asian Age, 20.06.2000) not only covered the programme but also justified homosexuality and criticised the prevaiing disapproval and discrimination against women with same sex orientation. Other than these reports quite a few number of full page articles came, though not in a regular manner, more or less in all the English and Bengali dailies through out the last five years. (Nothing Less Than Gay, The Asian Age, 3.8.1999 by Priyanka Dasgupta and Amrita Mukherjee, Glad to be Gay, The Telegraph, 29.9.2001, by Shniibali Mitra Saigal, Narir Khonje Nari, Sambad Pratidin, by Ushashi Chakroborty) . The articles were based on interviews with the members of Sappho and other arguments from eminent personalities that catered a good lot of information about homosexuality and against homophobia. The last two articles had an added quality, the Helpline Number of Sappho which started on 15.01.2001 came up in these two articles and acted as advertisemnets of the helpline service which the News papers (all of them , till date) rejected to publish inspite of all these coverages. Besides print media, Sappho got a good coverage in the programme “Satyer Arale” (Behind the Truth), in February , 2001 produced by Tara Bangla, a regional television channel . On public demand it was retelecasted after two or three months back. In a nut shell the media reaction to the emergance of Sappho and related matters did act as a positive intervention into otherwise stigmatised and looked down issues and tried to sensitize people, at least, to break the silence. From monica at sarai.net Mon May 31 12:48:42 2004 From: monica at sarai.net (Monica Narula) Date: Mon, 31 May 2004 12:48:42 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Digital Archiving Hindustani Classical Music In-Reply-To: <20040528121007.1002.qmail@webmail27.rediffmail.com> References: <20040528121007.1002.qmail@webmail27.rediffmail.com> Message-ID: Dear Sanjay I checked on the list and as far as can be made out nothing has gone out on it since May 2002 (not even spam for larger organs!) Could you please send the mails to admin at sarai.net? we are facing a big 'aliasing' problem and a number of mails are being sent out from sarai addresses which have nothing to do with us. best M At 12:10 +0000 28/5/04, sanjay ghosh wrote: > >Digital Archiving Hindustani Classical Music for wider dissemination > >Digi Archive List should be discontinued. You only get spams (your >wife wants a larger organ) and D' Souza's e-invitation on it. >Then nothing. > >Laundry list of conversions from 78s to tape to audio cds ... to mp3 >and hopefully within some months to everyone on the net. > >Zohrabai Agrewali (1868-1913) >Gauhar Jan (1873 - 1930) >Vilayat Husain Khan (1892-1962) >Kesarbai Kerkar (1892-1977) >Mogubai Kurdikar (1904-2001) >Alauddin Khan (1862-1972) > >Negotiations on / over, to fill in the Dovesongs' North Indian >Classical Music Recording Project (a website which would host >copyright expired / copyright negotiated audio files, somewhat in >the lines of Project Gutenberg (literature) > >Negotiations on, to get some live recordings on spools to the >digital format. Getting hold of old equipment is pretty tough. >Especially the suspicion. Why young man are you not chasing pop >music on TV ? > >A slow civilisation. Slow changes in the arts. Can yesterday >illuminate tomorrow ? > >The right wing press hates 'yesterday'. Negroponte to be the next >Bremer. Most of them tell you what a great job he's done at the UN >for his country. Some even mention a distinguished diplomatic >career. Passing mention of Honduras. Nothing on orchestrating the >Contra butchery in Nicaragua. Or the apprenticeship (1970-73) in >Vietnam ? > >The 'tabloidization' of news means - history quickly turns into >myth. Less words, more tits. Us and them. Us or them. So that while >Rumsfeld puts Hitler, Stalin, Lenin and Ceausescu in the same box, >there isn't even a blip of dissent in the global mainstream media. > >Minister of 'culture' Anup Mishra, says Alauddin Khan is a >'bangladeshi' why name a music academy after him ? Had it not been >for the illustrious students of this 'bangladeshi' - India's >presence on the world's music map would have been put off by half a >century. > > >sanjay ghosh > > > > > >_________________________________________ >reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city. >Critiques & Collaborations >To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with >subscribe in the subject header. >List archive: -- Monica Narula [Raqs Media Collective] Sarai-CSDS 29 Rajpur Road, Delhi 110 054 www.sarai.net From zest_india at yahoo.co.in Mon May 31 14:11:31 2004 From: zest_india at yahoo.co.in (=?iso-8859-1?q?Shivam=20Vij?=) Date: Mon, 31 May 2004 09:41:31 +0100 (BST) Subject: [Reader-list] The Beauties of Miranda Message-ID: <20040531084131.68342.qmail@web8205.mail.in.yahoo.com> Here is a small extract from a very long article by the famous Madhu Kishwar, editor of Manushi. This extract proves my point that ragging, faar from giving way to a closely knit college/hostel community, is in fact a divisive strategy. When India "Missed" the Universe By Madhu Kishwar Manushi http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/users/sawweb/sawnet/beauty.html [I have left the first six paras and I begin from the second section, which, along with the third, tangentially deals with ragging.] The Beauties of Miranda The euphoria whirling around these Indian beauties brought back memories of the days in 1971 when, as president of the Miranda House Students Union, I worked very hard to get the Miss Miranda beauty contest abolished. In those days the Miss Miranda beauty contest had pretty much the same glamour among its more restricted audience as the Miss India contest. This time, when Sushmita won the Miss Universe contest for India and the country went ecstatic over it, I just could not react in the manner I did in the 1970s. This is not because Ive changed my mind about the harmful effects of beauty contests, but because looking back on the fall-out of our campaign in the university, I am left with very ambivalent feelings. When I joined Miranda House as a starry-eyed 16-year-old in the late 1960s, I got the first and most long lasting culture shock of my life one that played a substantial role in shaping my life and thinking in the years to come. In those days Miranda House was considered Indias premier institution for womens education and attracted daughters of the bureaucratic and business elite in large numbers. The college population was divided into three distinct categories the westernised Mirandians who came from elite schools, the science types, and the Hindi-speaking bhenjis. Not everyone who came from an English speaking school qualified to be admitted into the first group. Ragging not only served the purpose of sifting the freshers into neat categories but also showed each group its place in the Miranda House scheme of things. Without any formal sanction, fairly strict and visible forms of segregation were practised routinely and viciously. The "real" Mirandians would never condescend to even rag a fresher if she did not come from the right background. You had to be from a school such as Welhelms, Loreto, Tara Hall or Convent of Jesus and Mary in order to qualify to be admitted to the charmed circle. Someone from Salwan school or Guru Harkishan Public School would be automatically ruled out, even if the school taught through the medium of English. Your father had to be a highly placed bureaucrat, preferably of the IFS or the IAS, or a senior army officer, or a top business executive for you to qualify to be ragged by the hep seniors. You had to be able to speak English with the right public school accent. If you were a day scholar, your parents would need to have a house in some prestigious South Delhi colony, unless you lived in the princely bureaucratic part of New Delhi. Often the seniors could tell from the way someone dressed if she belonged. Occasionally, a bhenji type dressed in ways resembling the elite would be summoned for ragging. But the first few questions would decide whether she was considered worthy of ragging or not. Your name, fresher? Where do you stay? What does your father do? Only if you had satisfactory answers to each of those qualifying queries did the select few condescend to rag you. If a fresher answered that she lived in Kamala Nagar or Shahdara or a trans-Yamuna colony or that her father owned a dry cleaners shop or was a postal clerk, she would be at once asked to get lost. Through this process, the seniors sifted and selected the freshers they considered worthy of notice and friendship. The ragging period ended on a celebratory note with the famous Miss Miranda beauty contest. Though entry to it was not formally forbidden to the bhenji types, it was well understood that the prestigious title could only go to the hep elite: the bhenjis hardly ever even dared to enter the contest. A Hallowed Tradition? The beauty contest set the tone for the whole institution. The college seemed to function more as a finishing school for a large number of young women, where they came to acquire airs rather than academic qualifications. Undoubtedly, there was a facade of selecting as Miss Miranda House someone who combined beauty with brains and good grooming. That usually amounted to asking a few questions like, What would you do if you found yourself on the moon? The fresher who managed a cheeky and funny answer usually was considered brainy enough to deserve the crown. All the intelligence required of you amounted to no more than being able to come up with an instant joke or a smart alec response. This crowning event was followed by a series of parties organised by the boys of the St. Stephens college. The senior Mirandians would take the Miranda House freshers along in order to facilitate pairing off with the Stephenians. The height of a Mirandians ambition was to get a boyfriend from among the Stephenians, preferably someone with a car who could take you out to fancy disco and parties every weekend. In all the years that I studied in that supposedly premier institution, I heard very few of my fellow classmates discuss books or ideas except to borrow each others notes for examination preparation. Most of their time and energy was spent on talking of boyfriends, shopping trips, dressing up, and planning for parties and outings. In that sense, the beauty contest was not an isolated event in which a few participated for fun. It set the tone and cultural milieu for the hep Mirandians all year round. The message was clear: Your body shape, waist and bust size, the way you dressed, the accent in which you spoke English (reflecting the social, economic status of your family), and the kind of male attention you were able to attract were far more important than any other qualities you might have. For instance, while Miss Miranda was considered the celebrated heroine of the campus, very few students knew who topped the university in various subjects or won medals in debating or various sporting events. The beauty contest promoted vicious elitism and low-level competitiveness among women at the cost of talent and other human qualities. Ironically enough, these contests and fashion parades were organised by the college Students Union which, until then, was monopolised by the same beauty culture elite. This Union hardly ever concerned itself with academic issues or various legitimate problems faced by the students. The president and the secretary of the Union sat as judges in the beauty contest along with former beauty queens of Miranda House. In 1969, Akhila Ramachandran took over as president of the Union. I was vice-president of the Union that year. We tried to transform the Union into the voice of organised student opinion on various issues relating to the university, as well as the general society and polity. When our elected team tried to raise the issue of abolishing the beauty contest, we met with vigorous opposition from the dominant elite of the college. Akhila worked out a compromise and tried to tone down the beauty-cutie part of the contest by asking a few intelligent questions of the contestants and selecting someone who was not beautiful in the conventional sense. I personally was not satisfied with this beauty-cum-brain contest idea because it kept the basic derogatory message intact while bowdlerising the notion of intelligence in women. Therefore, when I got elected as president of the Union in the following year, the two issues we began the year with were: * An end to nasty and often obscene ragging of freshers by the seniors. * An end to the beauty contest. We began our campaign by calling a General Body meeting to discuss the issue. At the end of it, when we called for a vote, an overwhelming majority of the college students voted against the beauty contest and in favour of a freshers week of cultural activities. It was decided that the emphasis should be shifted from competition to exposing first year students to various extra academic aspects of university life, and encouraging more and more students to take part. The hep elite were clearly in a tiny minority, but they were so used to having their writ obeyed all these years, that they could not stomach the idea that the college bhenjis, who they considered riff-raff, could dare vote out one of their most sacred rituals one that affirmed the superiority of their way of life in the college. Even though the function was supposed to be organised under the aegis of the Students Union and more than 90 percent of the student body had voted against it, the beauties and cuties were not willing to accept this verdict. This unleashed a virtual civil war in the college. They sought and got the support of the college administration for holding the beauty contest. In those days, the English department, along with a sprinkling of faculty from the History and Economics departments, used to dominate college affairs in pretty much the same way as the hep English speaking elite dominated the student body. The college principal, along with a group of influential teachers, declared their support for the beauty contest, defending it as one of the hallowed traditions of Miranda House. On our side, we began a vigorous signature campaign in the college, going from class to class, holding long discussions with small clusters of students and, thereby, successfully mobilising a very large body of determined opinion against the beauty contest. Since we were accused of manipulating a majority vote in the general body by rabble rousing, we asked for a secret ballot, a sort of referendum on the desirability of holding the controversial contest. A day was fixed for it. But the beauty contest lobby felt insecure knowing that they were a helpless minority, and therefore, with the help of the then college principal and a few supportive teachers, they decided to hold the contest surreptitiously, a couple of days before the agreed date of the secret ballot. As soon as we got to know of it, we were able to organise, at short notice, a massive dharna at the proposed venue and pre-empt the holding of the contest. The beauties in all their fineries trooped out of the college and held a contest in a private apartment on the outskirts of the University. They had the satisfaction of having held the contest anyway. We were satisfied it could not be called the Miss Miranda beauty contest any more. That was the last beauty contest in Miranda House. I remember reacting with a great deal of annoyance at being labelled a feminist and being called the Kate Millet of India for spearheading the campaign against the Miranda House beauty contest. My response was to reject such parallels because, until then, I had practically no knowledge of the western feminist movement, nor the issues it had raised. In those days I saw western society mainly though the Marxist prism as a decadent bourgeois society and wanted as little to do with it as possible. Indian papers in the early 70s carried very little information about other countries. What little trickled though carried with it the stereotyping and biases of the western media on womens issues. Books by feminist authors had not yet invaded the Indian market as they came to do in later years. Interestingly, it was not just my response which was based on sheer ignorance. The hep elite of Miranda House ended up by taking such a hostile stand against our efforts to abolish the beauty contest and indulged in a vicious hate campaign against us because they too seemed unaware that the beauty contests were being similarly challenged by a newly emerging womens movement. In the West, beauty contests were on their way to becoming unfashionable, at least among the intellectual elite. In those days there was a much larger time lag in ideas and technology from the West to third world countries like India, unlike today, when Star TV, CNN and BBC are able to bridge the information gap almost instantaneously. [Read the full article at http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/users/sawweb/sawnet/beauty.html ] [This info brought to you by the ZEST Reading Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-india ] ===== ZEST Reading Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-india/ ZEST Economics: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-economics/ ZEST Poets: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-poets/ ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online. http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony/ From zest_india at yahoo.co.in Mon May 31 13:12:59 2004 From: zest_india at yahoo.co.in (=?iso-8859-1?q?Shivam=20Vij?=) Date: Mon, 31 May 2004 08:42:59 +0100 (BST) Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Don't sleep as the sun comes up Message-ID: <20040531074259.64441.qmail@web8206.mail.in.yahoo.com> You want proof that the sun exists, so you stay up All night talking about it. Finally you sleep As the sun comes up. Indian poetry in English is plagued by the kind of irrationality suggested in these word of Jelaluddin Balkhi 'Rumi'. There are just too many Indians writing poetry in English, and too few reading it. Nobody publishes poetry books and the occasional anthologies that do come out do not do justice to the vast amount of poetry being written in English all over the country. ZEST uses the simple format of a Yahoo! Groups mailing list to bring ideas that are important to you, but are lost in everyday mainstream media. We run two such mailing lists: the ZEST Reading Group, which is about current affairs, and ZEST Economics. We now bring you our third offering: ZEST Poets. It is significant that we didn't call it ZEST Poetry, because poetry's place is secure in the world. It is poets who are in danger. ZEST Poets shall begin operations on 3 June 2004. ZEST Poets is a platform for Indians who express themselves in verse in the English language. Whether you are a thirteen year old student or a professional writer, if you pen verse in English you are encouraged to post your creations. However, to counter the twin problems of digital divide and information overload, we will circulate only two poems each day. One of these daily poems shall be by such Indian stalwarts in the English poetry scene as Nissim Ezekiel, AK Ramanujan, Arun Kolatkar, Dilip Chitre, R. Parthasarathy, Shirish Chindhade, Dom Moraes, Jayanta Mahapatra, Kamala Das, Keki N. Daruwalla, Arvind Krishna Mehrotra and Vikram Seth. But you don't have to be a poet to join ZEST Poets. We will encourage active discussions and analysis of poetry. In the not so distant future, we plan poetry readings at public places, a poetry website, and annual anthologies of poetry. Let me add that in this borderless digital world, ZEST warmly invites all South Asians, and not just Indians, to join our groups. And why just South Asians, anyone from anywhere is invited. All ZEST Groups are run by different moderators. We welcome suggestions for new ZEST Groups. ZEST Poets will be run by Juhi Dua. Juhi is a scriptwriter by profession and a poet by passion. She lives in Mumbai. The ZEST Poets homepage is here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zestpoets Subscribe to ZEST Poets by sending a blank mail to zestpoets-subscribe at yahoogroups.com Subscribe via the web by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zestpoets/join For comments, queries and suggestions write to zestpoets-owner at yahoogroups.com See you there! Team ZEST ===== ZEST Reading Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-india/ ZEST Economics: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-economics/ ZEST Poets: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-poets/ ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online. http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony/ _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements