From mahmood.farooqui at gmail.com Wed Feb 1 09:23:19 2006 From: mahmood.farooqui at gmail.com (mahmood farooqui) Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2006 09:23:19 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] kismet Message-ID: Doston, The following is a short film made by a group of friends in collaboration with some homeless kids of Kusumpur Pahari...You can catch a glimpse of it here...and wonder why the children insisted on calling their film Kismet... Mahmood.. Greetings friends and family: We have made our first short film which is actually 15 minutes long, but an even shorter version is available for viewing at the following link: http://medialab.ifc.com/film_detail.jsp?film_id=317 If our film receives enough viewing and votes, it will be shown on the IFC TV channel, so we are requesting our friends and family to view and vote. Please view and vote. The film is called Kismet and was scripted by homeless kids in Delhi who also act in it. We are focussed on making films about social issues, with motivational and hopeful messages. This activity is part of our over all goal of making opportunities available to impoverished children. The films help raise awareness. We are trying to set up permanent programs that provides education and career guidance until the kids get their first non-subsistence job. Please visit us at www.eato.org to learn more about our efforts. Many thanks Regards Mudit From cahen.x at levels9.com Wed Feb 1 17:57:32 2006 From: cahen.x at levels9.com (xavier cahen) Date: Wed, 01 Feb 2006 13:27:32 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] =?iso-8859-1?q?http=3A//www=2E00-00-0000=2Eorg_-_D?= =?iso-8859-1?q?awn_to_dawn=2E=2E=2E_De_l=27aube_=E0_l=27aube=2E=2E=2E_Ama?= =?iso-8859-1?q?necer_al_amanecer=2E=2E=2E?= Message-ID: <43E0A934.3@levels9.com> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060201/58e4142c/attachment.html From sebastianpbaden at yahoo.de Wed Feb 1 18:31:56 2006 From: sebastianpbaden at yahoo.de (Sebastian Baden) Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2006 14:01:56 +0100 (CET) Subject: [Reader-list] Call for article Message-ID: <20060201130156.30910.qmail@web26301.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> --- Devrim Bayar schrieb: > Datum: Tue, 31 Jan 2006 04:41:35 -0500 > Von: Devrim Bayar > An: Yaelle Amir > CC: Carly Busta , Julia Chang > , > Hillary deMarchena , > Jeanne Gerrity , > Lauren , > Julie McKim , Ping > , > Rocker , > Sebastian Baden > Betreff: Call for article > > Dear art historian friends, > > The next issue of the free and independant art > magazine Code > (http://www.codemagazine.be/ + dwnload the first 2 > issus at > -http://homeusers.brutele.be/codedoc/pdf/2005_0.pdf > -http://homeusers.brutele.be/codedoc/pdf/2006_1.pdf), > will be > dedicated to the "new nature." By the term "new > nature," we > understand phenomenons such as the virtualization of > the reality, > the urbanization, cloning,... We are looking for > contributions in > the form of short articles presenting a work, an > artist, a > collective, an exhibition, a cultural theory, etc, > related more or > less closely to the topic. The deadline to submit an > article is > February 27. Please let me know asap if you're > interested in > participating or forward to others who may want to. > > Best, > > Devrim > > Devrim Bayar > Columbia University > Department of Art History and Archeology > email: db2188 at columbia.edu > ___________________________________________________________ Telefonate ohne weitere Kosten vom PC zum PC: http://messenger.yahoo.de From singhgurminder2000 at hotmail.com Wed Feb 1 23:15:09 2006 From: singhgurminder2000 at hotmail.com (gurminder singh) Date: Wed, 01 Feb 2006 23:15:09 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Evaluation of Computerisation of Land Records in Karnataka Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060201/90840f9c/attachment.html From preetunair at yahoo.com Thu Feb 2 13:54:26 2006 From: preetunair at yahoo.com (PREETU NAIR) Date: Thu, 2 Feb 2006 00:24:26 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] Stuck in traffic Message-ID: <20060202082426.35005.qmail@web31706.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Stuck in traffic Peter de Souza & Preetu Nair (The article appeared in GT Weekender, Panjim edition, January 29, 2006) An National Human Rights Commission report conducted by the Institute of Social Sciences on trafficking of women and children in India 2002-2003", reveals that Goa has the highest levels of trafficking of women and children compared to other states. Peter De Souza and Preetu Nair goes behind the statistics and zero's in on the men and women who add to the traffic on Goa's sex highway. And it's piling up. Tragically there are no rules or committed policemen to even control, far less eradicate this jam that is ruining our land Calangute/ Colva: Welcome to the kingdom. This is not quite the Alice in Wonderland and this story does not go through the rabbit hole but it sure does go through a hell hole, and there is no mad hatter's tea party but surely a crazy sex party. This is not a fairy tale for children Coz there are no fairies or fairy Godmothers, just trafficking women who pose as mothers. And unlike Alice in Wonderland, where a rabbit leads Alice to the fascinating adventure, in Goa, you have characters like "The Jackal", "Sex" and "Hoyo" who perform a medley of vice and torture, to take Goa to the top of charts in India's sex traffic map. Trafficking has acquired grave dimensions in the state after Baina demolition (Red light area in Vasco demolished in 2004). The trafficker is no more a gharwali or brothel keeper and there is more sophistication, complexity and consolidation of trafficking networks. Further, sex tourism has generated a high demand for virgin girls and young children. Many tourists now demand young children, in view of the popular myth that sex with virgins can cure them of HIV and other serious diseases. Besides, it is reliably learnt that the pain that the children undergo during intercourse, gives the abuser the thrill. Sadly enough, though sex tourism and related trafficking of women and children is increasing, what is shocking is the response of the concerned agencies, which has adopted a lackadaisical attitude and shows no will to combat sex tourism. Our investigations revealed that organised crime of trafficking revolves around two master traffickers: Carlos, the Jackal in North Goa and Raju in South Goa. At the moment they are arch manipulators, chief profiteers, master criminals and the kingpin of the entire trafficking operations in the state. But they manage and modulate all activities and transactions in such a way that they remain unnoticed. Further, GT investigations reveal that to ensure that the trade goes on unhindered, they pay the police and politicians not only in cash but also in kind, which often includes allowing 'free sex' with the trafficked victims. Meet the merchants of the human trade in Goa: • Carlos, the Jackal, who hails from Pomburpa had escaped from judicial local-up at Margao somewhere in August. He has 150 cases of extortion and robbery at almost all police stations in Goa. And it is reliably learnt that he strengthened his flesh trade operations while in jail. At the moment he is living and operating from a huge rented house in Ucassaim, which surrounded by thick forest. His modus operandi is simple: He purchases Lamani, Rajasthani children, children of rag pickers and even from as far as Orissa, Bihar and Tamil Nadu between the ages of eight and twelve for Rs 30,000 or even less through unscrupulous agents whom he had met in jail. These children are trafficked to Goa by a woman, who poses to be the child's mother, to escape the clutches of the law. Once in Goa, the children are handed over to Carlos's accomplice, a woman nicknamed Hoyo from Anjuna. Hoyo, a sex worker, supplies these kids to foreigners from Anjuna, Calangute and Sinquerim. These children are sent as a helping hand along with a woman (who claims to be their mother), who is also incidentally in the flesh trade, as a maid. The charge per child ranges from $ 1000 to 2000 a month. Younger the child, higher the price. But the child only gets mere Rs 2000 to 3000 for his services, while the fictitious mother gets Rs 5,000. Carlos and his gang members share the rest. Our investigations reveal that in Calangute and Sinquerim alone there are at least forty rich and elderly foreigners who openly live with children and click pornographic pictures. Though Carlos is the most wanted criminal in Goa, he moves around freely on a Yamaha bikes, without any fear of the police or child activists. • Raju's operations are almost similar to Carlos. But his earning per child is almost double than that of Carlos. Just like Carlos, Raju also purchases children between the age of eight and eleven from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh for Rs 30,000 or less and trafficks them to Goa through a fictitious mother. His main accomplice is not a woman; but a man, a shack owner in Colva nicknamed Sex. Sex's job is to provide bikes and young children to foreigners and he carries on with his trade without any hindrance, as his godfather is a top and controversial politician from South Goa. While Raju hails from Tamil Nadu and stays in Colva- Betalbatim and looks after a foreigner's bungalow, Sex hails from Potwado, Colva. They also have an Italian partner, who runs a prominent Italian restaurant near the fish market in South, and has connection with rich foreign tourists along the entire beach belt in the South. Sex takes children in a large vehicle with tinted glasses to the Italian, who in turn supplies them to rich foreigners, including Europeans and Arabs. When contacted Santosh Vaidya, Secretary, Women and Child said that he was not aware of these illegal operators. But he admitted that trafficking is a really a matter of concern. "That's why we had brought the Goa Children's Act which clearly defines trafficking. After the Act was introduced, there has been a check on trafficking. But also a co-ordinated action is required from everyone," admitted Vaidya. "We have not heard of them, not at least by these names. Illegal trafficking of girls and children for the flesh trade is not high in Goa. Delhi is way ahead of Goa. I talk about this from experience," added DIG Ujjwal Mishra. Goa serves as a source, transit and destination where thousands of young girls and children are exploited day in and day out. Often, the actors in the trafficking network collaborate and protect each other. Just check out the types of prostitution phenomenon in Goa and the traffickers: TYPES OF PROSTITUTION PHENOMENON IN GOA • Brothel based prostitution: Baina & Margao • Street based prostitution: Vasco, Margao, Colva, Panjim, Calangute, Anjuna • Hotel based prostitution: All over Goa • Vehicle based prostitution: North & South Goa tourist belt Traffickers • Brothel keepers previously operating in Baina • Few pilots ( Two wheeler taxi) and taxi owners • Few hotels and lodges in the tourist areas and on the highways - Karwar, Molem & Sawantwadi It is generally believed that trafficking is driven by a demand for women's and children's bodies in the sex industry, fuelled by a supply of women and children denied equal rights and opportunities. But trafficking is not just limited to flesh trade. Check out the trafficking in its manifestations: 1. Trafficking for sex-based exploitation, i.e. for brothel based and non-brothel based commercial sexual exploitation, pornography, paedophilia, sex tourism, mail-order bride system, disguised sexual abuse in the garb of massage parlours, beauty parlours, bartending, friendship clubs. 2. Trafficking for non-sex-based exploitation, including a vast area of servitude, slavery and exploitation, either as bonded or forced labour or using them as drug peddlers, for begging, giving in adoption, trading in human organs, trafficking for false marriages and other similar exploitative practices. The study, "A report on trafficking of women and children in India 2002-2003", reveals that Goa has the highest levels of trafficking of women and children compared to other states. However, though inter-state trafficking is high, the intra-state trafficking is a minimal with only 0.6 percentage, just as in the case of Delhi. The study commissioned by National Human Rights Commission was carried out with the support of UNIFEM and conducted by the Institute of Social Sciences (ISS) also confirms that trafficking, though not reported from many places, is happening almost everywhere. Based on primary data collected through interviews of 4006 persons in 13 states and Union Territories, including victims, exploiters and perpetrators, the study encompasses major areas of trafficking. On one hand, the study confirmed that majority of trafficked persons are girl children and on the other hand it negated certain popular myths that the clientele who visit the brothels or abuse trafficked girls are men who live away from their families and, therefore, look for options to satisfy their sexual urges. "The exploitation of women and children takes place not only before trafficking, but also during trafficking and after trafficking. The rights of the trafficked persons are violated with impunity. They are subjected to physical and emotional harm from sexual assault to economic deprivation, and violation of human dignity," the study reveals. What is shocking is that even the post-trafficking scenario finds the victim at the end of the tunnel, with almost no hope of survival. The victim is subjected to different types of conceivable and inconceivable acts of perversion and exploitation. Further, the law enforcement, in most places, violates the rights of victims as the common practice is to arrest, chargesheet, prosecute and convict the trafficked victims, the study confirmed. "Even in Goa the target of action is not the traffickers but the trafficked victims. Statistics reveal that most of the offences booked under ITPA relates to sec 7 and 8 are against trafficked victims and not against the traffickers. Trafficked victims are arrested but no customer, pimp, transport agent, lodge owner, hotel owner, taxi owner, etc are arrested, though the law is very clear that those who commercialize prostitution and those who benefit from the earning from prostitution are committing an offence", said Arun Pandey, ARZ, who conducted the study for ISS in Goa. NAME: CARLOS, THE 'JACKAL' Hails from : Pomburpa Now lives in : Huge Rented House in Ucassaim, Violation: 15O Cases of Extortion and Robbery Traffic Operation: buys children from Rajasthan, Orissa and Bihar for Rs 30,000 each who are trafficked to Goa by a woman posing as their mother Preferred vehicle: Yamaha bike Traffic partner: Hoyo, a woman Name : HOYO Lives in: Anjuna Occupation: Sex worker cum Trafficker Traffic operation: Supplies Children to foreigners from Anjuna, Calangute and Sinquerim. Children are sent with a woman (who claims to be their mother). Traffic 'toll tax' to be paid by customers: $ 1000 to 2000 a month. Child gets a mere Rs 2000 and the "mother", Rs 5000 NAME: RAJU Hails from: Tamil Nadu Now lives in: Colva-Betalbatim Traffic operation: Buys children between the age of eight and eleven from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh for Rs 30,000 or less and traffick's them to Goa through a fictitious mother Traffic partner: A Shack owner called 'sex'. (Yes you read it right) NAME: SEX Hails from: Potwado, Colva Traffic operation: Takes children in a large vehicle with tinted glasses to an Italian, who in turn supplies them to rich foreigners, including Europeans and Arabs. Traffic partner: THE ITALIAN who runs a prominent Italian restaurant near a fish market in South Goa __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com From mahmood.farooqui at gmail.com Thu Feb 2 16:05:46 2006 From: mahmood.farooqui at gmail.com (mahmood farooqui) Date: Thu, 2 Feb 2006 16:05:46 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] THOUGHTS ON BEGGING In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Dear Vicharak, Allow me to say this that our utmost confidence and familiarity about begging and beggars springs, eventually, from our abysmal ignorance of it. I have been looking, for years, for a single book on beggars, a single documentary, a single article... Is there anyway of going beyond the duality of helpless victims/terrorised gang members? For starters, in begging, location is the first, the second and the third most important criterion-so what are the hafta rates for the Ashram crossing? WHo all charge that hafta? Obviously, beggars at shrines, dargahs, mandirs etc are among the elite category of beggars-so how does one arrive there? Who assures one's space, what is the system of graft, bribe, cutback etc in these places? Who then are the gang operators? Where do these members go at night? Do people travel to beg? It won't do to counterpose begging to work for beggary is hard work and does not come easy. It takes great dedication and committment to run after cars, scooters, apathetic passengers of a bus etc. So what drives those kids and those oldies-not starvation in many cases... Begging is also performance art of a kind-when you see a prospective donor hesitate what is the Rasa that you should strike-karuna, veebhatsa SHould you frighten the bugger about his privilege status or should you invoke his mercy? Obviously every beggar is beseeching the donor/customer, so what peculiarity can you bring to it-you have to switch on the performance when you approach the car/auto, then swtich off and then switch on again for the next one. But what do you do when the light is green? After experimental Urdu afsana of the 60s kind I have never read about beggars. It is quite astonishing, isn't it that the phenomenon, like roadside shitting, is so pervasive in our society that, pace Naipaul, we can be wholly oblivious to it. Urban designers, cyber-mohallas, installation artists(of which beggars are the primary founders), body specialists, anthropologists, radicals, subalterns, thinkers, desis, videsis- where are the voices on beggar's buggery? On 29/01/06, Vichaarak t wrote: > 26/01/06 > Today in the morning I was returning from my office, when I stopped at > a red light, I saw a beggar knocking at the window of my car asking > for 'something'. At the same time she was trying to show a glimpse of > her malnourished baby, may be to stir up my emotional nerves so that I > may 'help' her. On the next red light I saw an old man doing the same. > On these moments many thoughts pass through my mind. Will it be > justified to pay in kind or cash? Why these people have chosen to beg? > Who is responsible for their state? If a person is physically fit to > work why is he or she is not doing any job or they don't get it? On > what basis to differentiate who is fit to receive 'charity' and who is > not? What is the responsibility of the state and society towards them > ? By paying them are we not trying to make to continue in the same > state or if we don't pay than will they be able to survive? Most of > the ladies are carrying small babies, are these their own babies or > available on rent? Are these women married then what there husbands > are doing? Do they have a notion of a family as a unit. How they find > a match for marriage? How their kinship network operates? Is paying to > 'them' a charity on 'our' part? > > 29/01/06 > On the other day I received a letter from UNICEF saying that it will > take just a stroke of pen to save a life. I wondered whether this is > not another form of begging. If I can pay to UNICEF then why not to > the road side beggar? Or is it that in this 'sector'' of begging there > is a division of privileged and unprivileged or organized and > unorganized. > _________________________________________ > 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: > From mail at shivamvij.com Thu Feb 2 17:42:22 2006 From: mail at shivamvij.com (Shivam) Date: Thu, 2 Feb 2006 17:42:22 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] How the Other Half Lives Message-ID: <210498250602020412q36f30fedu575e259176ba2b87@mail.gmail.com> Announcing a new team blog - How the Other Half Lives - at www.theotherindia.org In 1890, Jacob Riis, a Dutch immigrant to the US, wrote about - and photographed - the appalling slum conditions in New York City. Around the 1890s, half of New Yorkers lived in slums (similar to modern Bombay) and Riis wrote his book to garner much needed attention. The book was called How the Other Half Lives. The vast number of homeless immigrants who pour into India's metropolises every day and live in slums are the other half of a shining India. We know that India still remains deeply divided between its elites and its have-nots; a divide so great that much of the elite does not even see it, happily believing that the nation as a whole is on its way to superpower status. There is no doubt at all that economic liberalisation has helped a section of the economy, yet there is equally no doubt that there are faultlines in economic growth and equitability. Social rifts - such as those pertaining to caste and communal tensions - intersect in complex ways with the changing economic landscape. This blog will attempt to explore that uncertain terrain. It will focus on the "other half" that is often ignored by a market-driven mainstream media. It will attempt to present a fuller picture of India and a fuller examination of issues of concern than what we normally see around us. Riis's book was popular not only because of its documentation of the problem, but also because it offered solutions to the tenement problems in New York. We hope that this blog, too, will not only highlight the "other half" but also search for and discuss solutions. We are aware that for a country as diverse as India, there is no one approach for tackling all of our economic, social, and political problems. We would like to examine and discuss different approaches. In the end, we are not fundamentally opposed to anyone else's ideas about how India must develop and progress. What we want to do is to raise the issues that concern us and encourage debate about them, because we think they concern us all. Because India is changing, in many ways and dramatically. Yet in many ways India is also much the same. This blog is a fruit of the tension between those two thoughts, an attempt to examine the ground in between. Thanks, Dilip, Uma, Anand, Vikrum, Shivam www.theotherindia.org From ysaeed7 at yahoo.com Fri Feb 3 10:54:46 2006 From: ysaeed7 at yahoo.com (Yousuf) Date: Thu, 2 Feb 2006 21:24:46 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] The condoms sealing our minds Message-ID: <20060203052446.56802.qmail@web51413.mail.yahoo.com> I have just been told an unbelievable story by a Delhi school teacher which can’t be called funny or hilarious – it is rather sad. A seventh-grade boy in a south Delhi school was caught yesterday by his teacher possessing a packet of condoms. This of course was considered so scandalous that the teacher beat the kid with a leather belt for several minutes. But apart from this sad part, the more hilarious news is that when other staff members enquired the teacher the reason for this punishment, he kept saying it’s not proper to tell (“batane layaq baat nahi hai”). It gets more hilarious: he went to show the possession to the lady principle (who, I’ve been told, is unmarried). She apparently asked him “what is this used for ?” It seems when the word spread, a couple of other “unmarried” lady teachers whispered among themselves – what exactly was it? What’s the big deal? “It’s something they use for family planning”, someone replied, and so on. Other students who were witness to the punishment too kept guessing what was so criminal that their classmate did. This shows the kind of awareness our schools and teachers have or give about sex. Instead of demystifying what he was carrying, the child was pushed further into the darkness about the subject of sex. When he grows up, his body will probably remember yesterday’s beating every time he thinks about sex. Yousuf __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com From aasim27 at yahoo.co.in Fri Feb 3 15:14:41 2006 From: aasim27 at yahoo.co.in (aasim khan) Date: Fri, 3 Feb 2006 09:44:41 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Reader-list] Begging on the streets of London. In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <20060203094441.28665.qmail@web8713.mail.in.yahoo.com> to add to mahmood's point.what's begging in the first place?...so if we are talking strictly about begging we need to know what qualifies.or is it that a stranger takes money from you ..he/she is a begger.And the case of fakirs....here i site another instance. I travelled for the first time to the West last year....and one of the first things i noticed was that even they had their Beggars.I was walking to the underground in London and on one corner sat a man (dressed in cargos and jackets..and was by all standards ok healthwise)... under his scrubby face hung a big note....HOMELESS AND HUNGRY.he was silent and still!also was not trying to capture my attention...no performance.but among all those fast paced men and women in their GAP jeans he stood out(though he sqautted).Everyone was going somewhere...he wasn't. Then the other lot was the musical lot...They were called something...cant remeber but they were definitely not beggars! they played good music...Esp under the blackfriars bridge..my friend was moved to tears...by those singers who just kept a bowl a yard in front of their Amp. and would shake their head in a nonchalant acknowledgement if u droppped a few pennies in it.some race factor surely existed..becoz i saw a lot of dark skinned people..but then they are also better singers.so one never knows... My hosts were obviously kindhearted and always had spare pennies..but this Pathos that Mahmood invokes ...that was so understated esp. for me ,the resident of the RUDEST place in the world that i almost thought...can i call this begging? it is something... i say that..blurrs the line between hopeless and hopeful! --- mahmood farooqui wrote: > Dear Vicharak, > > Allow me to say this that our utmost confidence and > familiarity about > begging and beggars springs, eventually, from our > abysmal ignorance of > it. > > I have been looking, for years, for a single book on > beggars, a single > documentary, a single article... > > Is there anyway of going beyond the duality of > helpless > victims/terrorised gang members? > > For starters, in begging, location is the first, the > second and the > third most important criterion-so what are the hafta > rates for the > Ashram crossing? WHo all charge that hafta? > > Obviously, beggars at shrines, dargahs, mandirs etc > are among the > elite category of beggars-so how does one arrive > there? Who assures > one's space, what is the system of graft, bribe, > cutback etc in these > places? > > Who then are the gang operators? Where do these > members go at night? > Do people travel to beg? > > It won't do to counterpose begging to work for > beggary is hard work > and does not come easy. It takes great dedication > and committment to > run after cars, scooters, apathetic passengers of a > bus etc. So what > drives those kids and those oldies-not starvation in > many cases... > > Begging is also performance art of a kind-when you > see a prospective > donor hesitate what is the Rasa that you should > strike-karuna, > veebhatsa SHould you frighten the bugger about his > privilege status or > should you invoke his mercy? Obviously every beggar > is beseeching the > donor/customer, so what peculiarity can you bring to > it-you have to > switch on the performance when you approach the > car/auto, then swtich > off and then switch on again for the next one. But > what do you do when > the light is green? > > After experimental Urdu afsana of the 60s kind I > have never read about > beggars. It is quite astonishing, isn't it that the > phenomenon, like > roadside shitting, is so pervasive in our society > that, pace Naipaul, > we can be wholly oblivious to it. > > Urban designers, cyber-mohallas, installation > artists(of which beggars > are the primary founders), body specialists, > anthropologists, > radicals, subalterns, thinkers, desis, videsis- > where are the voices > on beggar's buggery? > > On 29/01/06, Vichaarak t > wrote: > > 26/01/06 > > Today in the morning I was returning from my > office, when I stopped at > > a red light, I saw a beggar knocking at the window > of my car asking > > for 'something'. At the same time she was trying > to show a glimpse of > > her malnourished baby, may be to stir up my > emotional nerves so that I > > may 'help' her. On the next red light I saw an old > man doing the same. > > On these moments many thoughts pass through my > mind. Will it be > > justified to pay in kind or cash? Why these people > have chosen to beg? > > Who is responsible for their state? If a person is > physically fit to > > work why is he or she is not doing any job or they > don't get it? On > > what basis to differentiate who is fit to receive > 'charity' and who is > > not? What is the responsibility of the state and > society towards them > > ? By paying them are we not trying to make to > continue in the same > > state or if we don't pay than will they be able to > survive? Most of > > the ladies are carrying small babies, are these > their own babies or > > available on rent? Are these women married then > what there husbands > > are doing? Do they have a notion of a family as a > unit. How they find > > a match for marriage? How their kinship network > operates? Is paying to > > 'them' a charity on 'our' part? > > > > 29/01/06 > > On the other day I received a letter from UNICEF > saying that it will > > take just a stroke of pen to save a life. I > wondered whether this is > > not another form of begging. If I can pay to > UNICEF then why not to > > the road side beggar? Or is it that in this > 'sector'' of begging there > > is a division of privileged and unprivileged or > organized and > > unorganized. > > _________________________________________ > > 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: > > > > _________________________________________ > 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: > > __________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner now. Go to http://yahoo.shaadi.com From cahen.x at levels9.com Fri Feb 3 16:27:17 2006 From: cahen.x at levels9.com (xavier cahen) Date: Fri, 03 Feb 2006 11:57:17 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] pourinfos Newsletter / 01-27 to 02-02-2006 Message-ID: <43E3370D.5000401@levels9.com> pourinfos.org l'actualite du monde de l'art / daily Art news ----------------------------------------------------------------------- infos from January 27, 2006 to February 02, 2006 (included) ------------------------------------------------------------------- (mostly in french) ------------------------------------------------------------------- 01 Meetings : a rebuilt fiction: Eastern Europe, post socialism and retro-before-guard, Wednesday February 8 2006, Festival @rt Outsiders, Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, France http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2753 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 02 Meetings : speak sexes, conference, University of Lille 3, l’Ecole Régionale Supérieure d’Expression Plastique de Tourcoing, Tourcoing, France. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2752 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 03 Meetings : End Extend de Loris Gréaud, , éditions HYX, February 3 , teaching Space of Plateau, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2751 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 04 Publication : Body in (r)évolutions, number 72, ETC, quarterly review of contmporary art, Montréal, Canada. http://pourinfos.org/publications/item.php?id=2750 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 05 Publication : The CINEMA AS “Mental Braille”, par / By Patrick De Haas, Cahier de Paris Expérimental N° 21, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/publications/item.php?id=2749 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 06 Publication : n°2 review Walkie-talkie, poetiK-politiK-pop multimode platform, Arras, France. http://pourinfos.org/publications/item.php?id=2748 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 07 Publication : Judith Bartolani, Our Funeral, Editions Similar, Arles, France. http://pourinfos.org/publications/item.php?id=2747 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 08 Various : Call for financial assistance, Workshop, crossed Projects Ségou Koura, Mali. http://pourinfos.org/divers/item.php?id=2746 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 09 Various : [Libr&critiK] is a site devoted to the contemporary literatures, Arras, France. http://pourinfos.org/divers/item.php?id=2745 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 Deaths of Domenica Boudou, Director of Northern Frac - Pas de Calais, Dunkerque, France. http://pourinfos.org/divers/item.php?id=2744 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 11 Program : E-Formes (CIEREC) of the University of Saint-Etienne, programmation pour le premier semestre, Saint-Etienne, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2742 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 12 Program : Photographic center of Ile-de-France, CPIF, Pontault-Combault, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2741 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 13 Exhibition : a song of love,, Silvia Gruner, galerie commune, Ecole Régionale Supérieure d'Expression Plastique, Tourcoing, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2740 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 14 Exhibition : YOU YOU US ME, Josée Sicard , Pascal Martinez, Château de Servières, Marseille, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2739 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 15 Exhibition : SUPER, the XIXe edition of the International Workshops, Frac des Pays de la Loire,Carquefou, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2738 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 16 Exhibition : Under the paving stones..., Martha Rosler, Galerie Art & Essai, University of Haute Bretagne, Rennes 2, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2737 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 17 Exhibition :Olivier Leroi, Galerie Villa des Tourelles, Nanterre, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2736 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 18 Exhibition : "vitrophanie transversale" , Gwen Rouvillois, restaurant of MAC/VAL, Vitry sur Seine , France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2735 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 19 Exhibition : ''Fragments of identities '', Marie-Danielle Koechlin, Brige Van Egroo , Pont-Scorff, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2734 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 20 Exhibition : Fichte & Chips, Sammy Engrmer, Glassbox, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2733 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 21 Exhibition : Cosmogonies, La Galerie, Contemporary art center of Noisy-le-Sec, Noisy-le-sec, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2732 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 22 Exhibition : Charles Sandison - Sylvie Boisseau et Frank Westermeyer au Centre pour l'image contemporaine, Geneva, Switzerland. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2731 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 23 Exhibition : Let us drink wine! ! de Sainte Machine, espace 29, Bordeaux, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2730 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 24 Exhibition : Move ### Traviata/the Matrix... with the Museum of de Bourgoin, Bourgoin-Jallieu, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2729 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 25 Exhibition : ArtskoolGozSouth Project, la galerie Artcore, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2728 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 26 Exhibition : "Question(s) of time" at La Conciergerie de La Motte-Servolex (Savoie), La Motte-Servolex , France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2727 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 27 Exhibition : 51 th edition du salon d'art contemporain de Montrouge, Montrouge, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2726 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 28 Exhibition : Vincent Mauger, with the museum of l'Hospice Saint-Roch, Issoundun, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2743 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 29 Call : Web Flash Festival, Centre Pomidou, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2724 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 30 Call : call for films : Derapage internationnal video, festival (6th edition), UQAM, Canada. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2723 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 31 Call : Festival Récréacourt : movies, Montreuil, France. http://pourinfos.org/participation/item.php?id=2722 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 32 Call : Le Petit Versailles call, New York, Usa. http://pourinfos.org/participation/item.php?id=2721 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 33 Call : video art : PAM - The Perpetual Art Machine, Scope New York Art Fair, New York, Usa. http://pourinfos.org/participation/item.php?id=2720 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 34 Call : Vidfest 2006, Vancouver, Canada. http://pourinfos.org/participation/item.php?id=2719 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 35 Program : March, École supérieure des beaux-arts de Tours, Tours, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2718 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 36 Screening : Come Closer, vidéos d’artistes mexicains, Espace Piano Nobile, Geneva, Switzerland. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2717 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 37 Screening : OLGA OLGA HELENA, Eléonore de Montesquiou, at George Galitsine Library , St Petersburg, Russia. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2716 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 38 Performance : exhibition, Postics, studioburo, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2715 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 39 Exhibition : Verne Dawson, Amy O'Neill, Consortium, Dijon, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2714 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 40 Exhibition : Options informes, Barbara Breitenfellner, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2713 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 41 Exhibition : 51, avenue d’Iéna, Gabriela Albergaria & Leonor Antunes , Cultural center Calouste Gulbenkian, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2712 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 42 Exhibition : "Expoesies", Atelier 25, Souillac, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2711 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 43 Exhibition : Across the street the real world, Live version, Friday February 3, 2006, la vitrine, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2710 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 44 Exhibition : Festival International de Film video de création, Beirut, Lebanon. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2709 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 45 Exhibition : Christian Paraschiv, art numerique et bio art , galerie Enseigne des Oudin, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2708 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 46 Various : ))))) radiolist.org ((((( Plate-forme sonore des arts visuels ))))) | ))))) visual arts noise platform ((((( http://pourinfos.org/divers/item.php?id=2707 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 47 Apostilles : Le Net : vers une cartographie sémantique et sociale. | Rémi Sussan | 14/12/2005 | http://pourinfos.org/encours/item.php?id=2424 The Net: towards a semantics and social cartography. | Rémi Sussan | 12/14/2005 | http://pourinfos.org/encours/item.php?id=2427 From angharadcloss at hotmail.com Fri Feb 3 16:46:26 2006 From: angharadcloss at hotmail.com (Angharad Closs) Date: Fri, 03 Feb 2006 11:16:26 +0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Begging on the streets of London. In-Reply-To: <20060203094441.28665.qmail@web8713.mail.in.yahoo.com> Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060203/978a6f04/attachment.html From fmadre at free.fr Fri Feb 3 17:04:25 2006 From: fmadre at free.fr (fmadre at free.fr) Date: Fri, 03 Feb 2006 12:34:25 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Begging on the streets of London. In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <20060203123425.bztw3wqxogk0ccs0@imp4.free.fr> In Paris, there are lots of beggars here, you never see a black person beg. all other kinds of people but no blacks. Most beggars in the subway are whites, they often shout a brief explanation of their troubles (most of them lost their jobs) and either ask for money or try to sell stuff that the beggars organisations produce. actually they are not beggars organisation but so-called SDF orgs. SDF stands for "sans domicile fixe" which means homeless. There is one guy on the RER line that I use most often who is totally agressive, he's maybe 25 years old. Tanned and has close cropped hair, every day he has different sports-like clothes, nowadays he recites the weather that he has learned from the newspapers that are given away in the tube (metro or 20 minutes). He says so, before delivering the weather in a manner which can difficultly be heard, and then he adds: if you do not help me I have no other solution than to resort to crime. he makes a hard face. then he walks along the aisles and he talks to people who do not look at him, very agressively. He's the bad conscience of the metro. Personnaly I exceptionnaly give money to beggars, I think it is a waste and a bottomless pit. On the other hand I like to pay my taxes, I disapprove of the way that they are used, sure, and I think that companies should pay much more than they do, but I feel that the state must provide food and shelter to all. On the other hand Lenin, after st augustine, said: he who does not work does not eat. I assume that this will be applicable after the revolution only. f. From gabyvargasc at prodigy.net.mx Fri Feb 3 19:24:46 2006 From: gabyvargasc at prodigy.net.mx (Gabriela Vargas-Cetina) Date: Fri, 03 Feb 2006 07:54:46 -0600 Subject: [Reader-list] The condoms sealing our minds In-Reply-To: <20060203052446.56802.qmail@web51413.mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: I find most disturbing that the kid was hit with a leather belt. That is illegal in my country. And it sounds like the teachers too, and not just the students, need to be informed about safe sex. Maybe someone could document this case and pass the info on to an NGO or government department that will do something about it? Gabriela Vargas-Cetina Merida, Mexico On 2/2/06 11:24 PM, "Yousuf" wrote: > > I have just been told an unbelievable story by a Delhi > school teacher which can¹t be called funny or > hilarious ­ it is rather sad. A seventh-grade boy in a > south Delhi school was caught yesterday by his teacher > possessing a packet of condoms. This of course was > considered so scandalous that the teacher beat the kid > with a leather belt for several minutes. > > But apart from this sad part, the more hilarious news > is that when other staff members enquired the teacher > the reason for this punishment, he kept saying it¹s > not proper to tell (³batane layaq baat nahi hai²). It > gets more hilarious: he went to show the possession to > the lady principle (who, I¹ve been told, is > unmarried). She apparently asked him ³what is this > used forŠ?² > > It seems when the word spread, a couple of other > ³unmarried² lady teachers whispered among themselves ­ > what exactly was it? What¹s the big deal? ³It¹s > something they use for family planning², someone > replied, and so on. Other students who were witness to > the punishment too kept guessing what was so criminal > that their classmate did. > > This shows the kind of awareness our schools and > teachers have or give about sex. Instead of > demystifying what he was carrying, the child was > pushed further into the darkness about the subject of > sex. When he grows up, his body will probably remember > yesterday¹s beating every time he thinks about sex. > > Yousuf > > > > > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com > _________________________________________ > 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: From kumartalkies at rediffmail.com Thu Feb 2 23:00:02 2006 From: kumartalkies at rediffmail.com (pankaj r kumar) Date: 2 Feb 2006 17:30:02 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Make your own movie FOR FREE! Message-ID: <20060202173002.3896.qmail@webmail43.rediffmail.com>   Make your own movie FOR FREE! KUMAR TALKIES invites proposals from young/debut filmmakers for a series of 5 short films on the theme of 'CONFLICT' (around 5 1/2 min each; fiction, documentary or animation) for the Public Service Broadcasting Trust (www.psbt.org) What is "conflict"? A clash of attitudes. A disharmony between incompatible ideas. A state of prolonged battle. We seek sensitive films that will try to deal with roots and causes of any conflicts, their implications & consequences with hints at resolving them. These conflicts can be anything, including religious, ethnic, political, social, gender, or more personal issues. -- Five selected film makers will be invited for extensive mentoring sessions to evolve a shooting script/storyboard, shoot and edit their own DV film in any language. -- Kumar Talkies will arrange for entire production/post production support, along with a team of trained industry professionals (camera, editing, sound.) -- ALL expenditure - research, travel, mastering, all costs - will be facilitated by Kumar Talkies. -- Each stage of work will be reviewed and discussed at length by industry professionals. -- The selected filmmakers will be paid a fee of Rs 6,000. --- WHO CAN APPLY? ANYONE! --- 1 Well, anyone who has NOT made long films, say 30 min or more (except student movies, that's fine) 2 You have to be Mumbai-based 3 Anyone at the beginning of their careers who dreams of films No background in filmmaking? Just have a great idea? APPLY NOW! --- YOU CAN SEND ANY NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS! --- 1 In 5 lines describe what your film is about. Yes, just five lines, in any language - English, Hindi, Marathi, French, Latin ... well,it's up to you. 2 Also describe the idea, why you want to make it, your background...any material to support your application. 3 If you want, send us a sample of your previous work. Not compulsory! Send any material that'll persuade us to pick you! ---- Hurry! YOUR DEADLINE IS FEBRUARY 20. Don't wait for the last moment - Apply now! ---- How to Apply: Just email your application with your contact details, including phone number, to ALL these emal addresses. kumartalkies at yahoo.com conflict.mentor at gmail.com conflict.mentor2 at gmail.com Optionally, post/courier your additional material to: Pankaj Rishi Kumar, B-103, Gokul Tower, Thakur Complex, Kandivli (E) Mumbai 400101 (No hand delivery, people!) Selections will be announced by Feb 25. Tentatively, your rough cut will be ready by April 10 Shoot any questions or queries to kumartalkies at yahoo.com *** -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060202/2f64d631/attachment.html From parismitasingh at yahoo.com Thu Feb 2 17:41:57 2006 From: parismitasingh at yahoo.com (parismita singh) Date: Thu, 2 Feb 2006 04:11:57 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] First Post - Parismita Message-ID: <20060202121157.60907.qmail@web52603.mail.yahoo.com> First Posting Parismita - A comic book project For my postings, I'll have to direct you to my blog because of the images. (the link is given below.) This is my first shot at putting images up on a blog - i've been mostly thinking print/photocopy/ sharing them over coffee till now - so, it will probably take me a while to have things under control ...(I've overshot the postings deadline by a few days, for one! ) Other than the technical details, I wonder if doing pages/images for the computer screen will influence the way i plan/ draw the stuff. I'll have a page or two up on my blog for each posting, and touch upon issues of style , contents etc. or at least,that's the idea as of now. http://parismitasingh.blogspot.com/2006/02/story-1.html ( you can click on the images for a bigger version) Thanks! Parismita --------------------------------- Yahoo! Mail Use Photomail to share photos without annoying attachments. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060202/4741ab75/attachment.html From rajeshmehar at yahoo.com Fri Feb 3 06:26:53 2006 From: rajeshmehar at yahoo.com (rajesh mehar) Date: Thu, 2 Feb 2006 16:56:53 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] Muhammad Cartoons Message-ID: <20060203005653.28843.qmail@web30411.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Looks like there's been an all-out battle royale erupting all over Europe and West Asia over this issue: "The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy began when twelve editorial cartoons depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammad were printed in the Danish daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005 (and later in the Norwegian Christian newspaper Magazinet on January 10 2006, the German newspaper Die Welt, the French daily France Soir, and many other European newspapers)..." Full article at --> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyllands-Posten_Muhammad_cartoons_controversy Related Wiki News articles --> http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Saudis_boycott_Danish_dairy_produce http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/%27Denmark_will_be_attacked%27_says_one_expert%2C_%27Denmark_safe%27_says_another What's even more remarkable is that the mainstream media in India has not even whimpered about the issue. If not for Wikipedia's home page I probably would not have come to know about this at all. --Rajesh. Gonna make a lot o'money, gonna quit this crazy scene. --------------------------------- Yahoo! Mail - Helps protect you from nasty viruses. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060202/173fdd46/attachment.html From mahmood.farooqui at gmail.com Sat Feb 4 00:45:05 2006 From: mahmood.farooqui at gmail.com (mahmood farooqui) Date: Sat, 4 Feb 2006 00:45:05 +0530 Subject: Fwd: [Reader-list] Muhammad Cartoons In-Reply-To: References: <20060203005653.28843.qmail@web30411.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: mahmood farooqui Date: 04-Feb-2006 00:40 Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Muhammad Cartoons To: rajesh mehar You know, I think that people printing cartoons of Mohammed is not such a big deal-or is it? Let me approach it from the other end. Pakistan has something called the blasphemy laws. Under those laws anybody who says anything which can be shown to be undermining anything Mohammed upheld is a blasphemy. Consider the full implications of this. Mohammed, peace be upon him, said many things in llife. On occsion that he did not, the people who wrote his seerat and the people who wrote the Hadith, traditions and anecdotes of his life, are particularly garrulous and numerous. Altogether therefore, there is nothing, like Ali or Marx or Gandhi, that Mohammed has supposedly left unsaid. They include enjoining perfect equality, non-violence, solidarity and humility upon mankind. By extension, in theory and sometimes in practice, if I were to complain that the human race is hugely fucked up and will remain so forever might count as blasphemy. On the other hand, however, the western European society has been having a field day caricaturing Mohammed forever. Did they not identify him as Mahound, the name given to the anti-christ in Dante's Inferno-a thirteenth century text. Or was it the fourteenth century-I tell you, these European dates! Of course to a prosecuted and quasi-self-persecuted Muslim world it is a hugely cathartic occasion that they have found an issue when self-healing chest thumping can be accompanied by a genuine sense of grievance-i.e. we may, with perfect justification inflict imaginary violence upon the creators and purveyors of these cartoons. I share your sense of outrage. Ghalib, I think, has been there before, hum aah bhi karte hain to ho jaate hain badnaam voh qatl bhi karte hain to charcha nahin hota SInce it is, eventually, about power relations, I acknowledge the wantonness of the powers that circulated those cartoons. But they are, after all, cartoons. What can one say about the minds that would create and enjoy cartoons like these. What can we say, on the other hand, about jokes that continue to circulate related to the sexuality and other quirks of the father of our nation, viz Mahatma Gandhi. Of course jokes and cartoons are different media, I understand that. What I am trying to say is that our minor yet hegemonic brothers of Islam, that is the Arab world, have made protest enough about these cartoons, perhaps they have little else to contribute to the Muslim discourse anyway. What we should do perhaps is to hold steadfastly to our rising sense of importance and clout in the world. If India is rising, can Muslims be far behind. Then they won't bloody be able to say anything, will they. Of course, if our Hindu brothers want they may forsake Danish products-in case they know any. To approach this from another angle, yet. The annals of Mughal Empire are full of instances of people being brought to trial for having insulted the Prophet, often in the most obscure way. The MUghal qazis, to their great credit, usually dealt with these things in the most common-sensical way. One of the great casualties of modernity, and its attendant discourses, has been that same robust common-sensicalness of which we onec had aplenty. Did not Kabir once say-taapar mulla bang de, kya bahra hua khudaaye? (It wont do to blame Kabir's ignorance-for one of the meanings of bang daadan in farsi is to give azaan...) Mahmood On 03/02/06, rajesh mehar wrote: > Looks like there's been an all-out battle royale erupting all over Europe > and West Asia over this issue: > > "The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy began when twelve > editorial cartoons depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammad were printed in > the Danish daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005 (and later > in the Norwegian Christian newspaper Magazinet on January 10 2006, the > German newspaper Die Welt, the French daily France Soir, and many other > European newspapers)..." > > Full article at --> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyllands-Posten_Muhammad_cartoons_controversy > > Related Wiki News articles --> > http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Saudis_boycott_Danish_dairy_produce > http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/%27Denmark_will_be_attacked%27_says_one_expert%2C_%27Denmark_safe%27_says_another > > What's even more remarkable is that the mainstream media in India has not > even whimpered about the issue. If not for Wikipedia's home page I probably > would not have come to know about this at all. > > --Rajesh. > > > Gonna make a lot o'money, gonna quit this crazy scene. > > ________________________________ > Yahoo! Mail - Helps protect you from nasty viruses. > _________________________________________ > 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: > > > From punam.zutshi at gmail.com Sat Feb 4 01:20:52 2006 From: punam.zutshi at gmail.com (punam zutshi) Date: Sat, 4 Feb 2006 01:20:52 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Muhammad Cartoons In-Reply-To: References: <20060203005653.28843.qmail@web30411.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <3b7bed850602031150k49db5f7k933176280bff8664@mail.gmail.com> Many thanks Rajesh and Mahmood. Here's a little more on the issue in the article entitled "Musharraf condemns Mohammad cartoon".The link is http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/feb/03cartoon.htm Punam On 2/4/06, mahmood farooqui wrote: > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: mahmood farooqui > Date: 04-Feb-2006 00:40 > Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Muhammad Cartoons > To: rajesh mehar > > > You know, I think that people printing cartoons of Mohammed is not > such a big deal-or is it? > > Let me approach it from the other end. Pakistan has something called > the blasphemy laws. Under those laws anybody who says anything which > can be shown to be undermining anything Mohammed upheld is a > blasphemy. > > Consider the full implications of this. Mohammed, peace be upon him, > said many things in llife. On occsion that he did not, the people who > wrote his seerat and the people who wrote the Hadith, traditions and > anecdotes of his life, are particularly garrulous and numerous. > Altogether therefore, there is nothing, like Ali or Marx or Gandhi, > that Mohammed has supposedly left unsaid. They include enjoining > perfect equality, non-violence, solidarity and humility upon mankind. > By extension, in theory and sometimes in practice, if I were to > complain that the human race is hugely fucked up and will remain so > forever might count as blasphemy. > > On the other hand, however, the western European society has been > having a field day caricaturing Mohammed forever. Did they not > identify him as Mahound, the name given to the anti-christ in Dante's > Inferno-a thirteenth century text. Or was it the fourteenth century-I > tell you, these European dates! > > Of course to a prosecuted and quasi-self-persecuted Muslim world it is > a hugely cathartic occasion that they have found an issue when > self-healing chest thumping can be accompanied by a genuine sense of > grievance-i.e. we may, with perfect justification inflict imaginary > violence upon the creators and purveyors of these cartoons. > > I share your sense of outrage. Ghalib, I think, has been there before, > > hum aah bhi karte hain to ho jaate hain badnaam > voh qatl bhi karte hain to charcha nahin hota > > SInce it is, eventually, about power relations, I acknowledge the > wantonness of the powers that circulated those cartoons. But they are, > after all, cartoons. What can one say about the minds that would > create and enjoy cartoons like these. What can we say, on the other > hand, about jokes that continue to circulate related to the sexuality > and other quirks of the father of our nation, viz Mahatma Gandhi. Of > course jokes and cartoons are different media, I understand that. > > What I am trying to say is that our minor yet hegemonic brothers of > Islam, that is the Arab world, have made protest enough about these > cartoons, perhaps they have little else to contribute to the Muslim > discourse anyway. What we should do perhaps is to hold steadfastly to > our rising sense of importance and clout in the world. If India is > rising, can Muslims be far behind. Then they won't bloody be able to > say anything, will they. > > Of course, if our Hindu brothers want they may forsake Danish > products-in case they know any. > > To approach this from another angle, yet. The annals of Mughal Empire > are full of instances of people being brought to trial for having > insulted the Prophet, often in the most obscure way. The MUghal qazis, > to their great credit, usually dealt with these things in the most > common-sensical way. One of the great casualties of modernity, and its > attendant discourses, has been that same robust common-sensicalness of > which we onec had aplenty. > > Did not Kabir once say-taapar mulla bang de, kya bahra hua khudaaye? > > (It wont do to blame Kabir's ignorance-for one of the meanings of > bang daadan in farsi is to give azaan...) > > Mahmood > > > > On 03/02/06, rajesh mehar wrote: > > Looks like there's been an all-out battle royale erupting all over Europe > > and West Asia over this issue: > > > > "The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy began when twelve > > editorial cartoons depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammad were printed in > > the Danish daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005 (and later > > in the Norwegian Christian newspaper Magazinet on January 10 2006, the > > German newspaper Die Welt, the French daily France Soir, and many other > > European newspapers)..." > > > > Full article at --> > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyllands-Posten_Muhammad_cartoons_controversy > > > > Related Wiki News articles --> > > http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Saudis_boycott_Danish_dairy_produce > > http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/%27Denmark_will_be_attacked%27_says_one_expert%2C_%27Denmark_safe%27_says_another > > > > What's even more remarkable is that the mainstream media in India has not > > even whimpered about the issue. If not for Wikipedia's home page I probably > > would not have come to know about this at all. > > > > --Rajesh. > > > > > > Gonna make a lot o'money, gonna quit this crazy scene. > > > > ________________________________ > > Yahoo! Mail - Helps protect you from nasty viruses. > > _________________________________________ > > 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: > > > > > > > _________________________________________ > 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: > From mail at shivamvij.com Sat Feb 4 01:23:11 2006 From: mail at shivamvij.com (Shivam) Date: Sat, 4 Feb 2006 01:23:11 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] The condoms sealing our minds In-Reply-To: <20060203052446.56802.qmail@web51413.mail.yahoo.com> References: <20060203052446.56802.qmail@web51413.mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <210498250602031153ud2afeb5u18af64f04ab47593@mail.gmail.com> Hi Yousuf, This is indeed disturbing, but not surprising at all. Corporal punishment is one of many social conspiracies we continue to perpetrate upon ourselves. Are you doing something about this? Also, could we know what kind of a school this is? An 'elite' school, or an 'ordinary' one, or a 'government' school? It seems there is a hidden sub-text of class. Best, S. From hfg at konsumerziehung.de Sat Feb 4 03:45:00 2006 From: hfg at konsumerziehung.de (croatian sound art) Date: Fri, 3 Feb 2006 23:15:00 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] ryfylke documentation In-Reply-To: <3b7bed850602031150k49db5f7k933176280bff8664@mail.gmail.com> References: <20060203005653.28843.qmail@web30411.mail.mud.yahoo.com> <3b7bed850602031150k49db5f7k933176280bff8664@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: ryfylke [norway] movie http://experimentalelektronik.de/ryfylke.mov pictures http://experimentalelektronik.de/ryfylke/ frankfurter forum für elektronische und neue musik http://experimentalelektronik.de/ mailinglist http://listner.org/mailman/listinfo/fffeunm what's next bernsteinzimmer - buckettovsissors [usa] From monica at sarai.net Sat Feb 4 11:23:29 2006 From: monica at sarai.net (Monica Narula) Date: Sat, 4 Feb 2006 11:23:29 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Hijacking the net Message-ID: Apologies for cross posting but i think important to read. What starts in the US of course often percolates elsewhere... best M -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Nation: Hijacking the Net Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2006 18:52:24 -0500 From: jchester at pop.starpower.net To: seth.johnson at RealMeasures.dyndns.org Hope all is well. Here's my small contribution to the "net neutrality" debate. Nation article below. Please note the documents from Cisco and others I have placed online. They are very revealing of what will happen and how it will work. My longer version: http://www.democraticmedia.org/issues/JCnetneutrality.html Documents page: http://www.democraticmedia.org/issues/netneutrality.html This article can be found on the web at http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060213/chester The End of the Internet? by JEFF CHESTER [posted online on February 1, 2006] The nation's largest telephone and cable companies are crafting an alarming set of strategies that would transform the free, open and nondiscriminatory Internet of today to a privately run and branded service that would charge a fee for virtually everything we do online. Verizon, Comcast, Bell South and other communications giants are developing strategies that would track and store information on our every move in cyberspace in a vast data-collection and marketing system, the scope of which could rival the National Security Agency. According to white papers now being circulated in the cable, telephone and telecommunications industries, those with the deepest pockets--corporations, special-interest groups and major advertisers--would get preferred treatment. Content from these providers would have first priority on our computer and television screens, while information seen as undesirable, such as peer-to-peer communications, could be relegated to a slow lane or simply shut out. Under the plans they are considering, all of us--from content providers to individual users--would pay more to surf online, stream videos or even send e-mail. Industry planners are mulling new subscription plans that would further limit the online experience, establishing "platinum," "gold" and "silver" levels of Internet access that would set limits on the number of downloads, media streams or even e-mail messages that could be sent or received. To make this pay-to-play vision a reality, phone and cable lobbyists are now engaged in a political campaign to further weaken the nation's communications policy laws. They want the federal government to permit them to operate Internet and other digital communications services as private networks, free of policy safeguards or governmental oversight. Indeed, both the Congress and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) are considering proposals that will have far-reaching impact on the Internet's future. Ten years after passage of the ill-advised Telecommunications Act of 1996, telephone and cable companies are using the same political snake oil to convince compromised or clueless lawmakers to subvert the Internet into a turbo-charged digital retail machine. The telephone industry has been somewhat more candid than the cable industry about its strategy for the Internet's future. Senior phone executives have publicly discussed plans to begin imposing a new scheme for the delivery of Internet content, especially from major Internet content companies. As Ed Whitacre, chairman and CEO of AT&T, told Business Week in November, "Why should they be allowed to use my pipes? The Internet can't be free in that sense, because we and the cable companies have made an investment, and for a Google or Yahoo! or Vonage or anybody to expect to use these pipes [for] free is nuts!" The phone industry has marshaled its political allies to help win the freedom to impose this new broadband business model. At a recent conference held by the Progress and Freedom Foundation, a think tank funded by Comcast, Verizon, AT&T and other media companies, there was much discussion of a plan for phone companies to impose fees on a sliding scale, charging content providers different levels of service. "Price discrimination," noted PFF's resident media expert Adam Thierer, "drives the market-based capitalist economy." Net Neutrality To ward off the prospect of virtual toll booths on the information highway, some new media companies and public-interest groups are calling for new federal policies requiring "network neutrality" on the Internet. Common Cause, Amazon, Google, Free Press, Media Access Project and Consumers Union, among others, have proposed that broadband providers would be prohibited from discriminating against all forms of digital content. For example, phone or cable companies would not be allowed to slow down competing or undesirable content. Without proactive intervention, the values and issues that we care about--civil rights, economic justice, the environment and fair elections--will be further threatened by this push for corporate control. Imagine how the next presidential election would unfold if major political advertisers could make strategic payments to Comcast so that ads from Democratic and Republican candidates were more visible and user-friendly than ads of third-party candidates with less funds. Consider what would happen if an online advertisement promoting nuclear power prominently popped up on a cable broadband page, while a competing message from an environmental group was relegated to the margins. It is possible that all forms of civic and noncommercial online programming would be pushed to the end of a commercial digital queue. But such "neutrality" safeguards are inadequate to address more fundamental changes the Bells and cable monopolies are seeking in their quest to monetize the Internet. If we permit the Internet to become a medium designed primarily to serve the interests of marketing and personal consumption, rather than global civic-related communications, we will face the political consequences for decades to come. Unless we push back, the "brandwashing" of America will permeate not only our information infrastructure but global society and culture as well. Why are the Bells and cable companies aggressively advancing such plans? With the arrival of the long-awaited "convergence" of communications, our media system is undergoing a major transformation. Telephone and cable giants envision a potential lucrative "triple play," as they impose near-monopoly control over the residential broadband services that send video, voice and data communications flowing into our televisions, home computers, cell phones and iPods. All of these many billions of bits will be delivered over the telephone and cable lines. Video programming is of foremost interest to both the phone and cable companies. The telephone industry, like its cable rival, is now in the TV and media business, offering customers television channels, on-demand videos and games. Online advertising is increasingly integrating multimedia (such as animation and full-motion video) in its pitches. Since video-driven material requires a great deal of Internet bandwidth as it travels online, phone and cable companies want to make sure their television "applications" receive preferential treatment on the networks they operate. And their overall influence over the stream of information coming into your home (or mobile device) gives them the leverage to determine how the broadband business evolves. Mining Your Data At the core of the new power held by phone and cable companies are tools delivering what is known as "deep packet inspection." With these tools, AT&T and others can readily know the packets of information you are receiving online--from e-mail, to websites, to sharing of music, video and software downloads. These "deep packet inspection" technologies are partly designed to make sure that the Internet pipeline doesn't become so congested it chokes off the delivery of timely communications. Such products have already been sold to universities and large businesses that want to more economically manage their Internet services. They are also being used to limit some peer-to-peer downloading, especially for music. But these tools are also being promoted as ways that companies, such as Comcast and Bell South, can simply grab greater control over the Internet. For example, in a series of recent white papers, Internet technology giant Cisco urges these companies to "meter individual subscriber usage by application," as individuals' online travels are "tracked" and "integrated with billing systems." Such tracking and billing is made possible because they will know "the identity and profile of the individual subscriber," "what the subscriber is doing" and "where the subscriber resides." Will Google, Amazon and the other companies successfully fight the plans of the Bells and cable companies? Ultimately, they are likely to cut a deal because they, too, are interested in monetizing our online activities. After all, as Cisco notes, content companies and network providers will need to "cooperate with each other to leverage their value proposition." They will be drawn by the ability of cable and phone companies to track "content usage...by subscriber," and where their online services can be "protected from piracy, metered, and appropriately valued." Our Digital Destiny It was former FCC chairman Michael Powell, with the support of then-commissioner and current chair Kevin Martin, who permitted phone and cable giants to have greater control over broadband. Powell and his GOP majority eliminated longstanding regulatory safeguards requiring phone companies to operate as nondiscriminatory networks (technically known as "common carriers"). He refused to require that cable companies, when providing Internet access, also operate in a similar nondiscriminatory manner. As Stanford University law professor Lawrence Lessig has long noted, it is government regulation of the phone lines that helped make the Internet today's vibrant, diverse and democratic medium. But now, the phone companies are lobbying Washington to kill off what's left of "common carrier" policy. They wish to operate their Internet services as fully "private" networks. Phone and cable companies claim that the government shouldn't play a role in broadband regulation: Instead of the free and open network that offers equal access to all, they want to reduce the Internet to a series of business decisions between consumers and providers. Besides their business interests, telephone and cable companies also have a larger political agenda. Both industries oppose giving local communities the right to create their own local Internet wireless or wi-fi networks. They also want to eliminate the last vestige of local oversight from electronic media--the ability of city or county government, for example, to require telecommunications companies to serve the public interest with, for example, public-access TV channels. The Bells also want to further reduce the ability of the FCC to oversee communications policy. They hope that both the FCC and Congress--via a new Communications Act--will back these proposals. The future of the online media in the United States will ultimately depend on whether the Bells and cable companies are allowed to determine the country's "digital destiny." So before there are any policy decisions, a national debate should begin about how the Internet should serve the public. We must insure that phone and cable companies operate their Internet services in the public interest--as stewards for a vital medium for free expression. If Americans are to succeed in designing an equitable digital destiny for themselves, they must mount an intensive opposition similar to the successful challenges to the FCC's media ownership rules in 2003. Without such a public outcry to rein in the GOP's corporate-driven agenda, it is likely that even many of the Democrats who rallied against further consolidation will be "tamed" by the well-funded lobbying campaigns of the powerful phone and cable industry. ================================== Monica Narula Raqs Media Collective Sarai-CSDS 29 Rajpur Road Delhi 110054 Phone : + 91 11 23960040 Fax : + 91 11 23943450 www.sarai.net www.raqsmediacollective.net From ashishjaipuri at yahoo.co.in Fri Feb 3 22:45:21 2006 From: ashishjaipuri at yahoo.co.in (Ashish Maharishi) Date: Fri, 3 Feb 2006 17:15:21 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Reader-list] Bailable warrant against Rajasthan minister in sati case In-Reply-To: <20060203005653.28843.qmail@web30411.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <20060203171521.90378.qmail@web8405.mail.in.yahoo.com> Bailable warrant against Rajasthan minister in sati case JAIPUR: A special court on Friday issued bailable warrants against Rajasthan Tourism Minister Usha Punia and two others for allegedly glorifying the practice of sati. Special Judge, Sati Abolition Court issued the order under the commission of Sati Prevention Act on a complaint filed by Peoples Union for Civil Liberties. It was contended before the court that the glorification of sati in the state has been done in a magazine named 'Rajasthan Ke Devi Devta'. The article on glorification of sati was written by one Dr.Mahendra Bhanawat and was published by F C Kalla. The book was inaugurated at a press conference by Punia. All the three accused will now be produced before court on March 3. Ashish Maharishi from PUCL Ashish Maharishi mob- +91-9893315177 --------------------------------- Jiyo cricket on Yahoo! India cricket -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060203/28974c20/attachment.html From sarang_shidore at yahoo.com Sat Feb 4 04:16:01 2006 From: sarang_shidore at yahoo.com (Sarang Shidore) Date: Fri, 3 Feb 2006 14:46:01 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] Muhammad Cartoons In-Reply-To: <3b7bed850602031150k49db5f7k933176280bff8664@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <20060203224601.94951.qmail@web31801.mail.mud.yahoo.com> An interesting article on the controversy in today's IHT. Sarang --- Publishing those cartoons was a mistake Zsofia Szilagyi International Herald Tribune FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2006 BUDAPEST The Western news media is unlikely to heed the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, and the European politicians who have condemned the provocative nature of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, which have provoked rage in the Muslim world. But it does need to engage in serious debate about its preferred role in mediating between cultures. This should start with the admission that publishing and republishing the cartoons was a grave mistake. Of course, the Danish and Norwegian newspapers that originally published the cartoons had no intention of setting off mass demonstrations, diplomatic rows and economic boycotts of their products in the Middle East. They simply wanted to make a statement about the extensive self-censorship that has developed within news media and artistic circles since the murder of the Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh in 2004. But when making a point about self-censorship and press freedom, newspapers should have considered the cartoons' potential effects on Europe's growing anti-Islam sentiments. Why make a negative point about Islam in an environment where Islam is already getting extensive negative press through the coverage of hostage-takings, bombings and terrorist groups? On Monday, the Danish paper Jyllands-Posten issued a statement regretting the offense the cartoons had caused to Muslims around the world, but continued to insist that their publication was justified under freedom of speech principles. To show solidarity, several European newspapers republished the cartoons, some of them urging tough action in defense of press freedom. Newspaper editors should have been aware, however, that in a world of global information flow there is an insurmountable contradiction between traditional free speech values and public discussion about Islam. In our networked world, existing societal and political tensions can be inflamed instantly through the transfer of messages from one cultural context to another. Media messages, films and art works cannot be addressed to a specific cultural group - traditional borders of culture and nation no longer exist. Whether we like it or not, now we all effectively live next door to one another. This raises the stakes in the century-old debate on how to strike a balance between individual and collective press freedom rights. The central question in this debate is as simple as it is difficult. What is more important for the democratic advancement of a society - to ensure the freedom of expression of all its citizens (within the limits marked by law) or to protect the collective interests of society? Both these goals cannot be fully accomplished at the same time, and the two dominant philosophies of the press - the libertarian and the social responsibility theories - have come up with very different definitions of the media's main mandate. The former hails individual freedoms, even to the detriment of the quality of media output, while the latter places more emphasis on the media's responsibility in leading an informed, high-quality discussion, with due respect for minority rights. Backers of the social responsibility theory now have a new powerful argument against the libertarians - that once messages are out in public, they develop a life of their own and become subject to multiple interpretations, and often manipulation that serves political agendas. There is no doubt that freedom of speech is an essential foundation of any democracy. But when newspapers insist on this right, they have to understand that they do not - alone - create the context and lifespan of their messages. Freedom of speech has never been a static value, and the responsibilities of the press evolve with every new social and political development around the world - requiring the limits of media output to be subjected to constant review. The press needs to serve the ever-evolving public interest, and it needs to do so by focusing on responsibility, and not solely on freedom. (Zsofia Szilagyi is a Budapest-based political analyst and director of the Human Rights Film Foundation.) punam zutshi wrote: Many thanks Rajesh and Mahmood. Here's a little more on the issue in the article entitled "Musharraf condemns Mohammad cartoon".The link is http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/feb/03cartoon.htm Punam On 2/4/06, mahmood farooqui wrote: > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: mahmood farooqui > Date: 04-Feb-2006 00:40 > Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Muhammad Cartoons > To: rajesh mehar > > > You know, I think that people printing cartoons of Mohammed is not > such a big deal-or is it? > > Let me approach it from the other end. Pakistan has something called > the blasphemy laws. Under those laws anybody who says anything which > can be shown to be undermining anything Mohammed upheld is a > blasphemy. > > Consider the full implications of this. Mohammed, peace be upon him, > said many things in llife. On occsion that he did not, the people who > wrote his seerat and the people who wrote the Hadith, traditions and > anecdotes of his life, are particularly garrulous and numerous. > Altogether therefore, there is nothing, like Ali or Marx or Gandhi, > that Mohammed has supposedly left unsaid. They include enjoining > perfect equality, non-violence, solidarity and humility upon mankind. > By extension, in theory and sometimes in practice, if I were to > complain that the human race is hugely fucked up and will remain so > forever might count as blasphemy. > > On the other hand, however, the western European society has been > having a field day caricaturing Mohammed forever. Did they not > identify him as Mahound, the name given to the anti-christ in Dante's > Inferno-a thirteenth century text. Or was it the fourteenth century-I > tell you, these European dates! > > Of course to a prosecuted and quasi-self-persecuted Muslim world it is > a hugely cathartic occasion that they have found an issue when > self-healing chest thumping can be accompanied by a genuine sense of > grievance-i.e. we may, with perfect justification inflict imaginary > violence upon the creators and purveyors of these cartoons. > > I share your sense of outrage. Ghalib, I think, has been there before, > > hum aah bhi karte hain to ho jaate hain badnaam > voh qatl bhi karte hain to charcha nahin hota > > SInce it is, eventually, about power relations, I acknowledge the > wantonness of the powers that circulated those cartoons. But they are, > after all, cartoons. What can one say about the minds that would > create and enjoy cartoons like these. What can we say, on the other > hand, about jokes that continue to circulate related to the sexuality > and other quirks of the father of our nation, viz Mahatma Gandhi. Of > course jokes and cartoons are different media, I understand that. > > What I am trying to say is that our minor yet hegemonic brothers of > Islam, that is the Arab world, have made protest enough about these > cartoons, perhaps they have little else to contribute to the Muslim > discourse anyway. What we should do perhaps is to hold steadfastly to > our rising sense of importance and clout in the world. If India is > rising, can Muslims be far behind. Then they won't bloody be able to > say anything, will they. > > Of course, if our Hindu brothers want they may forsake Danish > products-in case they know any. > > To approach this from another angle, yet. The annals of Mughal Empire > are full of instances of people being brought to trial for having > insulted the Prophet, often in the most obscure way. The MUghal qazis, > to their great credit, usually dealt with these things in the most > common-sensical way. One of the great casualties of modernity, and its > attendant discourses, has been that same robust common-sensicalness of > which we onec had aplenty. > > Did not Kabir once say-taapar mulla bang de, kya bahra hua khudaaye? > > (It wont do to blame Kabir's ignorance-for one of the meanings of > bang daadan in farsi is to give azaan...) > > Mahmood > > > > On 03/02/06, rajesh mehar wrote: > > Looks like there's been an all-out battle royale erupting all over Europe > > and West Asia over this issue: > > > > "The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy began when twelve > > editorial cartoons depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammad were printed in > > the Danish daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005 (and later > > in the Norwegian Christian newspaper Magazinet on January 10 2006, the > > German newspaper Die Welt, the French daily France Soir, and many other > > European newspapers)..." > > > > Full article at --> > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyllands-Posten_Muhammad_cartoons_controversy > > > > Related Wiki News articles --> > > http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Saudis_boycott_Danish_dairy_produce > > http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/%27Denmark_will_be_attacked%27_says_one_expert%2C_%27Denmark_safe%27_says_another > > > > What's even more remarkable is that the mainstream media in India has not > > even whimpered about the issue. If not for Wikipedia's home page I probably > > would not have come to know about this at all. > > > > --Rajesh. > > > > > > Gonna make a lot o'money, gonna quit this crazy scene. > > > > ________________________________ > > Yahoo! Mail - Helps protect you from nasty viruses. > > _________________________________________ > > 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: > > > > > > > _________________________________________ > 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: > _________________________________________ 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: -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060203/048013de/attachment.html From monica at sarai.net Sat Feb 4 12:16:06 2006 From: monica at sarai.net (Monica Narula) Date: Sat, 4 Feb 2006 12:16:06 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] for the 'artist' in all of us Message-ID: http://www.jacksonpollock.org/ enjoy! best M Monica Narula Raqs Media Collective Sarai-CSDS 29 Rajpur Road Delhi 110054 Phone : + 91 11 23960040 Fax : + 91 11 23943450 www.sarai.net www.raqsmediacollective.net From jhuns at vt.edu Sat Feb 4 18:29:01 2006 From: jhuns at vt.edu (Jeremy Hunsinger) Date: Sat, 4 Feb 2006 07:59:01 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] EXTENDED DEADLINE: Internet Research 7.0 Message-ID: <956EA448-5D60-494A-8B6F-DBE25A9FC2AE@vt.edu> Distribute as appropriate, sorry for crossposting -j *** EXTENDED DEADLINE *** By popular demand, we have extended the deadline for paper abstracts to 21 February - for full details, see below. ------ Internet Research 7.0, Brisbane 28-30 September 2006 CALL FOR PAPERS IR 7.0: INTERNET CONVERGENCES International and Interdisciplinary Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers Brisbane, Australia 28-30 September 2006 Pre-Conference Workshops: 27 September 2006 INTERNET CONVERGENCES The Internet works as an arena of convergence. Physically dispersed and marginalized people (re)find themselves online for the sake of sustaining and extending community. International and interdisciplinary teams now collaborate in new ways. Diverse cultures engage one another via CMC. These technologies relocate and refocus capital, labor and immigration, and they open up new possibilities for political, potentially democratizing, forms of discourse. Moreover, these technologies themselves converge in multiple ways, e.g. in Internet-enabled mobile phones, in Internet-based telephony, and in computers themselves as "digital appliances" that conjoin communication and multiple media forms. These technologies also facilitate fragmentations with greater disparities between the information-haves and have-nots, between winners and losers in the shifting labor and capital markets, and between individuals and communities. Additionally these technologies facilitate information filtering that reinforces, rather than dialogically challenges, narrow and extreme views. CALL FOR PAPERS Our conference theme invites papers and presentations based on empirical research, theoretical analysis and everything in between that explore the multiple ways the Internet acts in both converging and fragmenting ways - physical, cultural, technological, political, social - on local, regional, and global scales. Without limiting possible proposals, topics of interest include: - Theoretical and practical models of the Internet - Internet convergence, divergence and fragmentation - Networked flows of information, capital, labor, etc. - Migrations and diasporas online - Identity, community and global communication - Regulation and control (national and global) - Internet-based development and other economic issues - Digital art and aesthetics - Games and gaming on the Internet - The Net generation - E-Sectors, e.g. e-health, e-education, e-business We call for papers, panel proposals, and presentations from any discipline, methodology, and community that address the theme of Internet Convergence. We particularly call for innovative, exciting, and unexpected takes on and interrogations of the conference theme. However, we always welcome submissions on any topics that address social, cultural, political, economic, and/or aesthetic aspects of the Internet and related Internet technologies. We are equally interested in interdisciplinary proposals as well as proposals from within specific disciplines. SUBMISSIONS We seek proposals for several different kinds of contributions. We welcome proposals for traditional academic conference papers, but we also encourage proposals for creative or aesthetic presentations that are distinct from a traditional written 'paper'. We welcome proposals for roundtable sessions that will focus on discussion and interaction among conference delegates, and we also welcome organized panel proposals that present a coherent group of papers on a single theme. This year AoIR will also be using an alternative presentation format in which a dozen or so participants who wish to present a very short overview of their work to stimulate debate will gather together in a plenary session involving short presentations (no more than 5 minutes) and extended discussion. All papers and presentations in this session will be reviewed in the normal manner. Further information will be available via the conference submission website. - PAPERS (individual or multi-author) - submit abstract of 500-750 words - SHORT PRESENTATIONS - submit abstract of 500-700 words - CREATIVE OR AESTHETIC PRESENTATIONS - submit abstract of 500-700 words - PANELS - submit a 250-500 word description of the panel theme and abstracts of the distinct papers or presentations - ROUNDTABLE PROPOSALS - submit a statement indicating the nature of the roundtable discussion and interaction. Papers, presentations and panels will be selected from the submitted proposals on the basis of multiple blind peer review, coordinated and overseen by the Program Chair. Each person is invited to submit a proposal for 1 paper or 1 presentation. People may also propose a panel of papers or presentations, of which their personal paper or presentation must be a part. You may submit an additional paper/ presentation of which you are the co-author as long as you are not presenting twice. You may submit a roundtable proposal as well. Detailed information about submission and review is available at the conference submission website http://conferences.aoir.org. All proposals must be submitted electronically through this site. PUBLICATION OF PAPERS All papers presented at the conference are eligible for publication in the Internet Research Annual, on the basis of competitive selection and review of full papers. Additionally, several publishing opportunities are expected to be available through journals, again based on peer-review of full papers. Details on the website. GRADUATE STUDENTS Graduate students are strongly encouraged to submit proposals. Any student paper is eligible for consideration for the AoIR graduate student award. Students wishing to be a candidate for the Student Award must also send a final paper by 31 July 2006. DOCTORAL COLLOQUIUM The IR7.0 Doctoral Colloquium offers PhD students working in Internet research or a related field a special forum on 27 September 2006 where they will have a chance to present their research plans and discuss them with peers and established senior researchers. Interested students should prepare a 2 page summary of their research. This should provide a context for the research, describe the methods being used, the progress to date and expectations and hopes from the colloquium. Please submit your 2 page application by 1 April 2006 to Marcus Foth at m.foth at qut.edu.au Applicants will be notified of acceptance by 1 June 2006. Successful applicants will be asked to prepare an 8 page paper on their research by 1 August 2006. Doctoral Colloquium Host and Sponsor: Creative Industries Faculty Queensland University of Technology PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS Prior to the conference, there will be a limited number of pre- conference workshops which will provide participants with in-depth, hands-on and/or creative opportunities. We invite proposals for these pre-conference workshops. Local presenters are encouraged to propose workshops that will invite visiting researchers into their labs or studios or locales. Proposals should be no more than 1000 words, and should clearly outline the purpose, methodology, structure, costs, equipment and minimal attendance required, as well as explaining its relevance to the conference as a whole. Proposals will be accepted if they demonstrate that the workshop will add significantly to the overall program in terms of thematic depth, hands on experience, or local opportunities for scholarly or artistic connections. These proposals and all inquires regarding pre-conference proposals should be submitted as soon as possible to the Conference Chair and no later than 31 March 2006. DEADLINES Final date for proposal submission: 21 February 2006 Presenter notification: 21 March 2006 Final workshop submission deadline: 31 March 2006 Submission for publication/student award: 31 July 2006 Submission for conference archive: 30 September 2006 CONTACT INFORMATION Program Chair: Dr Fay Sudweeks, Murdoch University, Australia, f.sudweeks at murdoch.edu.au Conference Chair: Dr Axel Bruns, Queensland University of Technology, Australia, a.bruns at qut.edu.au President of AoIR: Dr Matthew Allen, Curtin University of Technology, Australia m.allen at curtin.edu.au Association Website: http://www.aoir.org Conference Website: http://conferences.aoir.org jeremy hunsinger jhuns at vt.edu www.cddc.vt.edu jeremy.tmttlt.com www.tmttlt.com () ascii ribbon campaign - against html mail /\ - against microsoft attachments http://http://www.stswiki.org/ sts wiki From hfg at konsumerziehung.de Sun Feb 5 06:03:24 2006 From: hfg at konsumerziehung.de (croatian sound art) Date: Sun, 5 Feb 2006 01:33:24 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] the big picture In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <53464ca9e05f6a4dcd159dd79922750c@konsumerziehung.de> durch die überwindung unseres alltag gewordenen komplexes oder durch unsere verhaftung in deterritorialisierenden tendenzen wird davon abgehalten, über das andere; den sinn, die grundsätzlichen dinge des lebens, die möglichkeiten zur veränderung von sinn, zur weiterentwicklung unserer fähigkeiten wie zur abstraktion zu reflektieren. enter special edition 04.02.2006 http://subjektivation.de/the-big-picture/ die indifferenz, die als rest in der schnittstelle zwischen denken und körperlichkeit verbleibt. wir verspüren aus ihr eine ahnung von der quelle unseres begehrens ebenso wie unserer todessehnsucht, mit deren hilfe wir denken, in der singularität diese unschärfe des seins überwinden zu können. doch ist dies ein trugbild. Index of /the-big-picture Name Last modified Size christian-schroeder.mov 04-Feb-2006 21:26 22.4M holzwege.mov 04-Feb-2006 20:49 29.4M lasse-mark-riek.mov 04-Feb-2006 21:02 12.1M ryfylke.mov 04-Feb-2006 23:53 24.8M stroem.mov 05-Feb-2006 00:20 25.9M sprechen wir also weder von axiomen noch von prinzipien noch von thesen. es handelt sich einfach und im strengen etymologischen sinn um aphorismen, um abgrenzungen – grenzen, zwischen welchen die subjektivation stets sich wiederfindet, wovon man auch ausgehe. archiv fuer kontemplative bewegtbilddokumentation frankfurt am main http://subjektivation.de/ From aasim27 at yahoo.co.in Sun Feb 5 18:34:21 2006 From: aasim27 at yahoo.co.in (aasim khan) Date: Sun, 5 Feb 2006 13:04:21 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Reader-list] Begging on the streets of London. In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <20060205130421.48750.qmail@web8704.mail.in.yahoo.com> hi. When i wrote the earlier mail i was just letting out some steam.but Angharad's and the other response have prompted further thought. Enterprise is one peculiar thing about begging! As Anghrad mentions how the Buskers(thanks for reminding.)are a perfect location for what the Advertising Agencies calls 'tactical/surrogate advertising. In Delhi too the enterprise gets attached to the people who perform on the roads(not always in a positive sense of the word).Selling books and daily newspapers is the most common among them. the other day my auto stopped at Green Park crossing.A little boy walked up to me. His eyes...those of a drunk.He looked very disoriented (may have been on one of the fumic dopes)..while i was still observing whats gone wrong with him..he falshed four books...then mumbled out a few familiear names.."Da vinci..robin"(Robin Sharma's book :the monk who sold his ferrari, it seems sells only on the footpaths).."sidney" he continued. Finally he concluding with some best seller. Amidst the thick stuffy traffic...a strange conscious guy was giving me a Best seller listing. I politely turned my face away...pursing my lips and nodding a sorry denial...but he poked with one of his books on my shoulder.He said he was hungry so he needs the money..Next his buddy pops up..carrying some raunchy + Business magzines.In the next few seconds both of them ran through the list of books once again+ said they want money+ said that i wd get a 50 percent discount..and finally ...surrendered their cries to a big loud laughter....and Bhag ja(get lost).Laughing wildly. Ok so is this alternate book culture?Psychotic marketing? or what? My point: Begging as enterprise is not on the periphery but is connected to distribution and marketing sectors of other enterprises!But till date the Govt. and 'authorities' have chosen to look at it with ruthless disgust...and from a peculiar lens ..that of 'Hygiene'. how pathetic. A. --- Angharad Closs wrote: --------------------------------- In response to Assim's poetic piece, and as a London resident, the word you're looking for is buskers (street musicians). I wouldn't say they qualify as beggars. Following new rules by London Mayor Ken Livingstone, the buskers on the London underground now have to pass an audition to be allowed to play a two hour slot on a particular spot. By governmentalising the system, the quality of music has needless to say detriorated. I used to come across some fantastic improvisers, playing some very inventive 'instruments'. Now they tend to be confined to re-runs of Norah Jones. The latest interesting twist however, is that the music and film industry has caught on the value of buskers as a facility for product placement. They are now paying buskers directly to play the music that will remind people of a particular album/film they want to buy/go see. So, when the new film about Johnny Cash comes out in London soon, apparently we will likely hear buskers on the underground playing his music. You can't say that these people are not smart... In the meantime, there's still great stuff to be heard under Blackfriars bridge. --------------------------------- From: aasim khan To: mahmood farooqui ,Vichaarak t CC: reader-list at sarai.net Subject: [Reader-list] Begging on the streets of London. Date: Fri, 3 Feb 2006 09:44:41 +0000 (GMT) to add to mahmood's point.what's begging in the first place?...so if we are talking strictly about begging we need to know what qualifies.or is it that a stranger takes money from you ..he/she is a begger.And the case of fakirs....here i site another instance. I travelled for the first time to the West last year....and one of the first things i noticed was that even they had their Beggars.I was walking to the underground in London and on one corner sat a man (dressed in cargos and jackets..and was by all standards ok healthwise)... under his scrubby face hung a big note....HOMELESS AND HUNGRY.he was silent and still!also was not trying to capture my attention...no performance.but among all those fast paced men and women in their GAP jeans he stood out(though he sqautted).Everyone was going somewhere...he wasn't. Then the other lot was the musical lot...They were called something...cant remeber but they were definitely not beggars! they played good music...Esp under the blackfriars bridge..my friend was moved to tears...by those singers who just kept a bowl a yard in front of their Amp. and would shake their head in a nonchalant acknowledgement if u droppped a few pennies in it.some race factor surely existed..becoz i saw a lot of dark skinned people..but then they are also better singers.so one never knows... My hosts were obviously kindhearted and always had spare pennies..but this Pathos that Mahmood invokes ...that was so understated esp. for me ,the resident of the RUDEST place in the world that i almost thought...can i call this begging? it is something... i say that..blurrs the line between hopeless and hopeful! --- mahmood farooqui wrote: > Dear Vicharak, > > Allow me to say this that our utmost confidence and > familiarity about > begging and beggars springs, eventually, from our > abysmal ignorance of > it. > > I have been looking, for years, for a single book on > beggars, a single > documentary, a single article... > > Is there anyway of going beyond the duality of > helpless > victims/terrorised gang members? > > For starters, in begging, location is the first, the > second and the > third most important criterion-so what are the hafta > rates for the > Ashram crossing? WHo all charge that hafta? > > Obviously, beggars at shrines, dargahs, mandirs etc > are among the > elite category of beggars-so how does one arrive > there? Who assures > one's space, what is the system of graft, bribe, > cutback etc in these > places? > > Who then are the gang operators? Where do these > members go at night? > Do people travel to beg? > > It won't do to counterpose begging to work for > beggary is hard work > and does not come easy. It takes great dedication > and committment to > run after cars, scooters, apathetic passengers of a > bus etc. So what > drives those kids and those oldies-not starvation in > many cases... > > Begging is also performance art of a kind-when you > see a prospective > donor hesitate what is the Rasa that you should > strike-karuna, > veebhatsa SHould you frighten the bugger about his > privilege status or > should you invoke his mercy? Obviously every beggar > is beseeching the > donor/customer, so what peculiarity can you bring to > it-you have to > switch on the performance when you approach the > car/auto, then swtich > off and then switch on again for the next one. But > what do you do when > the light is green? > > After experimental Urdu afsana of the 60s kind I > have never read about > beggars. It is quite astonishing, isn't it that the > phenomenon, like > roadside shitting, is so pervasive in our society > that, pace Naipaul, > we can be wholly oblivious to it. > > Urban designers, cyber-mohallas, installation > artists(of which beggars > are the primary founders), body specialists, > anthropologists, > radicals, subalterns, thinkers, desis, videsis- > where are the voices > on beggar's buggery? > > On 29/01/06, Vichaarak t > wrote: > > 26/01/06 > > Today in the morning I was returning from my > office, when I stopped at > > a red light, I saw a beggar knocking at the window > of my car asking > > for 'something'. At the same time she was trying > to show a glimpse of > > her malnourished baby, may be to stir up my > emotional nerves so that I > > may 'help' her. On the next red light I saw an old > man doing the same. > > On these moments many thoughts pass through my > mind. Will it be > > justified to pay in kind or cash? Why these people > have chosen to beg? > > Who is responsible for their state? If a person is > physically fit to > > work why is he or she is not doing any job or they > don't get it? On > > what basis to differentiate who is fit to receive > 'charity' and who is > > not? What is the responsibility of the state and > society towards them > > ? By paying them are we not trying to make to > continue in the same > > state or if we don't pay than will they be able to > survive? Most of > > the ladies are carrying small babies, are these > their own babies or > > available on rent? Are these women married then > what there husbands > > are doing? Do they have a notion of a family as a > unit. How they find > > a match for marriage? How their kinship network > operates? Is paying to > > 'them' a charity on 'our' part? > > > > 29/01/06 > > On the other day I received a letter from UNICEF > saying that it will > > take just a stroke of pen to save a life. I > wondered whether this is > > not another form of begging. If I can pay to > UNICEF then why not to > > the road side beggar? Or is it that in this > 'sector'' of begging there > > is a division of privileged and unprivileged or > organized and > > unorganized. > > _________________________________________ > > 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: > > > > _________________________________________ > 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: > > __________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner now. Go to http://yahoo.shaadi.com _________________________________________ 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: __________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner now. Go to http://yahoo.shaadi.com From jumpshark at gmail.com Mon Feb 6 12:33:06 2006 From: jumpshark at gmail.com (Prashant Pandey) Date: Mon, 6 Feb 2006 12:33:06 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Pakistan`s Latest Export /Article/Prashant Pandey Message-ID: ICE PEOPLE: Ali Zafar by Abhilasha Ojha / New Delhi October 05, 2005 Music director Himesh Reshammiya must be a content man. While his soundtrack for the film Aashiq Banaya Aapne is topping the charts, he's also managed to make a decent debut as a singer for the same movie. Meanwhile, a conference call to Pakistan from Indian music company Universal Music has artiste Ali Zafar reeling in a state of shock. His popular track Rangeen has been plagiarised and used in Aashiq Banaya Aapne — for which Reshammiya is grabbing the credits — without his consent. Released in June 2005, Rangeen was the first music video from his debut album in India called Huqa Pani. Rangeen made Zafar very popular and the Indian music industry can't seem to have enough of him. Ad film-maker Prahlad Kakkar calls him the Shah Rukh Khan of Pakistan — he has directed him for a Pepsi commercial and rumours are rife that Mahesh Bhatt is keen to cast him in one of his films. Born in Lahore, this 25-year-old has also done modelling assignments that helped him make some pocket money. But his heart was in music and Zafar continued with his classical training. Huqa Pani that was released in 2003. The album sold a whopping five million copies and Zafar toured 11 different countries. Now, with the international release of the same album by Universal Music, Zafar is clearly here to stay. From editor_whitefungus at yahoo.com Mon Feb 6 05:45:33 2006 From: editor_whitefungus at yahoo.com (Ron Hanson) Date: Sun, 5 Feb 2006 16:15:33 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] New Zealand Experimental Arts Magazine Message-ID: <20060206001533.59895.qmail@web31210.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Hi, I'm the editor of an experimental arts magazine called White Fungus based in Wellington, New Zealand. We cover a bunch of different stuff including visual arts, literature and experimental music. Our next issue will have an articles on Melbourne-based artist Ronnie Van Hout and New Zealand noise artist Birchfield Cat Motel as well as a commissioned comic by Tim Bollinger. I'd love to send you a copy of the last issue if you could let me know a mailing addrss. Cheers Ron Hanson Editor of White Fungus www.whitefungus.com --------------------------------- Brings words and photos together (easily) with PhotoMail - it's free and works with Yahoo! Mail. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060205/2a73be92/attachment.html From jumpshark at gmail.com Mon Feb 6 14:55:11 2006 From: jumpshark at gmail.com (Prashant Pandey) Date: Mon, 6 Feb 2006 14:55:11 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Composers All India Prashant Pandey Message-ID: Soumen Chatteerjee aka Babua is a Calcutta based 24 year old composer. I interviewed him at his ancestral house located in Salkia, Calcutta. I had gone to Calcutta to see the Indian Idol auditions and Babua came highly recommended by a friend. So after having interviewed two young and upcoming music directors- Shekhu from Chanakyapuri New Delhi & Manish Tipu from Andheri (West) Bombay I thought I should talk to this one from Calcutta, giving my research that rare all-India quality. Fine… but I had only half an hour to meet him and had train back to Bombay from Howrah. So it was all a fast chat punctuated by sweets and samples of Babuas' tune-bank. This interview was to publish much before but it became one of those Shoaib Akhtars' never ending run-ups. This not a very sketched conversation. 10 odd emails to Babua for a second round of questions and cross questions have not helped. Infact this interview is mix of the real and the www. Still you can read it for kicks. But before the interview here is a part on Babua from my blog entry on Indian Idol on Calcutta. pukhraj.blogspot.com 26 th Oct 2005 6 pm. My train is at 10 pm and I have to meet a Calcutta based budding music director Soumen Chatterjee aka Babua who is Marks' cousin. (Mark Campbell, a Scottish guy who suggested that I meet Babua.) My train is from Howrah and Soumen aka Babua lives in Stal Kart lane in Salkia. I keep forgetting places in Calcutta. I landed in a big soup when I confused Taratalla with Dharamtalla. "Stal kart" sounds like a mix of Stalin and Wall Mart but my rickshaw wallahs knows the house very well. It's a huge house and my eyes are fixed on a black wooden bed that's 150 year old. I have never seen such a beautiful bed in my life. Images from Charulata…Chokher Bali and Devdas flash in quick succession. I don't have much time so after greetings and gobbling up sweets I am sampling Soumens' tune-bank from his Yamaha keyboard. Bespectacled Soumen is wearing a shirt and a necker and looks far from a music director. When he begins to play its quite something. He has a very good knowledge of Hollywood films and Indian as well as western music. The good thing is that he has done "types" of songs in typical Bombay style. So there is a Mohabbatein type of a Jatin-Lalit song…. then a Govinda kind of a tapori song. I really like the tapori composition that Soumen has done. I tell him that he must come to Bombay and try his luck. I am happy that he has some 550 tunes. I tell him that in a film there are 5-6 songs so by this rate he can do around 100 films. As I say this the rapport between us touches great heights. Jokes apart. Take my word…he can any day give any Bambaiya composer a run for his money. Soumen has another talent. He is a story/ scriptwriter. He tells me about some of his ideas with the "customary caution". He says, " Godown me maal bahut hai abhi showroom me lagaya nahi hai" (I have lot of stuff in the godown….its yet to make it to the showroom.) Now here is the conversation - Do you remember what it was like when you composed your first ... a ha . composed my first song when I was 9 .That time I don't have any instruments. I composed all the tunes with whistle. What is your style of composing? I compose every kind of music that means …..Every kind . Do you think you would make it? Definitely I am very confident about my composition. Do people understand your music? I can't understand about which people you are talking about. If you are talking about the listeners of India or worldwide … then I have to say there are so many compositions of mine…. They all are different … from techno to ballad … from ghazal to jhumri talaiah ….everything. May be u forgot…. I played some of them for you just now. Is your work appreciated in the very environment you live in... i.e your family ? All of the members of my family are very open minded …may b they don't know anything about the grammatical nuts & bolts of music ….but they never discourage me . Tell me about your family. I lost my father in 4th march 2004 …he was a doctor .Only my mother & one sister are now living with me. Here in all the music shops people like to hum even the PCO guy at Salt Lake where I am staying sings but what is the Calcutta commercial composing scenario. Where do you fit in? The music industry of Kolkata(Bangla Music) is basically devided into two part …i.e. Filmi & Non filmi (i.e. Album) since 1940 .This trend appears in Mumbai after 80's . The BAND culture is now very popular in Kolkata's commercial music industry . There are so many BAND group like Bhumi , Chandrabindu, Cactus, Kaya , Miles ,Paras Pathar etc.There are also some good singers like Nachiketa, Shilajeet ,Shrikanto Acharya ,Indranil Sen ,Rupankar etc. The condition of filmi music is really horrible now. Though the commercial statistics of Bangla films are very good.Every film at least earns 3 times much than any hindi films. But the condition of filmy music decreased after the death of Kishore Kumar,Rahul Dev Burman & the great lyricisit Pulak Bandopadhyay .There are only few composers …like… Babul Bose , Jeet Ganguly(One of Jeet –Pritam),Ashok Bhadra,Debojyothi Mishra ………..That's all .Can you Imagine !!!!!!!! Just like the destruction of Caribbean Cricket. Do u want to do Bengali films or would come to Bombay straight ? May be I can prefer Bangla film Industry before going to Mumbai...But there is not much here. Mumbai .is the place. You know what every ten years a musical genius from Calcutta comes to Bombay and leaves his imprint. 40's Manohari Da came with his saxophone, Hemant Mukherjee with his tunes,50s Bablu da,70s sexy sirens Runa Laila and Usha Uthup, 80s kumar Sanu and in 90s Pritam. NOW why you have not come to bombay despite a strong tune bank of around 500 songs The fields are quite tough for a newcomer….bangla is my homeground ….may b I like to go Mumbai With a good average like Brian Lara ….ha ha ha !! Your musical inspirations? a)Hemanta Mukherjee(as a composer) , b)Sudhin Das Gupta , c)Sachin Dev Burman ,d) Rahul Dev Burman , e) Bapi Lahiri ,f) Viju Shah & g) Jatin Lalit. Himesh Reshammiya is recently added in that list. Your comments on remixes? Some remixes are good (Like DJ Aqeel & Dj Suketu)others are hopeless..they really can do more better like the western djs. Would you fit in in this digital music making scenario? I hope so. After all this goody goody talk tell me your game plan? Nothing write now …only composing some songs with one of my friend …he is a amateur singer …but his voice is very husky & so different voice …just like Himesh sang in Aashiq Banaya Apne . ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From iram at sarai.net Mon Feb 6 22:52:46 2006 From: iram at sarai.net (Iram Ghufran) Date: Mon, 06 Feb 2006 22:52:46 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] fwd:No Luv 4 Google In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <43E785E6.4010804@sarai.net> > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Subject: > No Luv 4 Google > From: > tenzin tsetan > Date: > Sat, 4 Feb 2006 16:56:16 +0000 (GMT) > To: > sarai list > > To: > sarai list > > > Break up with Google this Valentine's Day No Luv 4 Google Day of > Action! Are you shocked and outraged at Google for partnering with > the Chinese government in censoring and distorting the truth? Do you > feel betrayed? Well, here's how you can get even! > > Join the *No Luv 4 Google* / /campaign > and show you have a heart for freedom and human rights by _*breaking > up*_ with Google this > Valentine's Day. Visit the *NoLuv4Google.com* > campaign website and > join the mass Google break up. Pledge to boycott Google and all "its > services " on February 14th and _*download helpful materials*_ > for organizing a > No Luv 4 Google protest or event in your community. And, don't forget > to read the heartfelt testimonials from former Google users who've > broken up with Google and made the switch to _*alternative search > engines*_. > Tenzin for www.noluv4google.com > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Yahoo! Messenger > > NEW - crystal clear PC to PC calling worldwide with voicemail > From ajoe at gmx.net Mon Feb 6 16:07:28 2006 From: ajoe at gmx.net (Joe Athialy) Date: Mon, 6 Feb 2006 11:37:28 +0100 (MET) Subject: [Reader-list] fwd:No Luv 4 Google References: <43E785E6.4010804@sarai.net> Message-ID: <4850.1139222248@www026.gmx.net> Amnesty International India C 161, 4th Floor, Hemkunt House, Gautam Nagar, (Behind Indian Oil Building) New Delhi - 110 049 Phone: 91--11--51642501 / 26854763 Telefax: 91--11--26510202 ---------------------------- Press Release 31 January 2006 China: Internet companies assist censorship (London/ Davos): Google's launch of a self-censoring Chinese search engine is the latest in a string of examples of global Internet companies caving in to pressure from the Chinese government. The service curtails the rights of Chinese Internet users to the freedom of expression and freedom of information enjoyed in other countries. Speaking from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Amnesty International's Secretary General Irene Khan said: "While acknowledging that Google has taken a number of steps to ensure access of Chinese users to the Internet, Amnesty International is nonetheless dismayed at the growing global trend in the IT industry.” "Whether succumbing to demands from Chinese officials or anticipating government concerns, companies that impose restrictions that infringe on human rights are being extremely short-sighted. The agreements the industry enters into with the Chinese government, whether tacit or written, go against the IT industry’s claim that it promotes the right to freedom of information of all people, at all times, everywhere.” Last year, Microsoft launched a portal in China that blocks use of words such as 'freedom' in blog text. The company recently closed down the blog of Zhao Jing, who used the blog name Michael An Ti, after he supported a strike against the politically-motivated sacking of an editor at the Beijing News. Yahoo has admitted revealing email account details of the journalist Shi Tao to the Chinese authorities, who was peacefully exercising his right to impart information, a move that contributed to his prosecution and sentencing to 10 years in prison. "Agreements between global corporations and the Chinese authorities has entrenched Internet censorship as the norm in China," said Irene Khan. "Internet companies justify their actions on the basis of Chinese regulations. In fact, such agreements and the resulting self-censorship, violate both international standards and China's own constitution, which protects freedom of expression." International law guarantees the right to freedom of information and the free flow of ideas across borders. While some restrictions on these have been developed over the years, the manner in which IT companies are freely submitting to opaque Chinese policies, is unacceptable. "The Internet heralded unfettered access to information in a borderless world. Instead, companies are helping governments build borders to prevent their citizens from accessing information," said Irene Khan. **************************************** For more information please call Amnesty International's press office in London, UK, on + 44 20 7413 5566 Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW. web: http://www.amnesty.org -- Telefonieren Sie schon oder sparen Sie noch? NEU: GMX Phone_Flat http://www.gmx.net/de/go/telefonie From iram at sarai.net Mon Feb 6 23:13:22 2006 From: iram at sarai.net (Iram Ghufran) Date: Mon, 06 Feb 2006 23:13:22 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] fwd: No Luv 4 Google In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <43E78ABA.9020006@sarai.net> > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Subject: > No Luv 4 Google > From: > tenzin tsetan > Date: > Sat, 4 Feb 2006 16:56:16 +0000 (GMT) > To: > sarai list > > To: > sarai list > > > Break up with Google this Valentine's Day No Luv 4 Google Day of > Action! Are you shocked and outraged at Google for partnering with > the Chinese government in censoring and distorting the truth? Do you > feel betrayed? Well, here's how you can get even! > > Join the *No Luv 4 Google* / /campaign > and show you have a heart for freedom and human rights by _*breaking > up*_ with Google this > Valentine's Day. Visit the *NoLuv4Google.com* > campaign website and > join the mass Google break up. Pledge to boycott Google and all "its > services " on February 14th and _*download helpful materials*_ > for organizing a > No Luv 4 Google protest or event in your community. And, don't forget > to read the heartfelt testimonials from former Google users who've > broken up with Google and made the switch to _*alternative search > engines*_. > Tenzin for www.noluv4google.com > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Yahoo! Messenger > > NEW - crystal clear PC to PC calling worldwide with voicemail > From abhishek.hazra at gmail.com Mon Feb 6 16:04:35 2006 From: abhishek.hazra at gmail.com (Abhishek Hazra) Date: Mon, 6 Feb 2006 16:04:35 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] fwd:No Luv 4 Google In-Reply-To: <43E785E6.4010804@sarai.net> References: <43E785E6.4010804@sarai.net> Message-ID: <6deae8300602060234n57bbc890jb1a00b48814384d9@mail.gmail.com> http://gwei.org/index.php (from the site) We generate money by serving Google text advertisments on a network of hidden Websites. With this money we automatically buy Google shares. We buy Google via their own advertisment! Google eats itself - but in the end "we" own it! By establishing this model we deconstruct the new global advertisment mechanisms by rendering them into a surreal click-based economic model. After this process we hand over the common ownership of "our" Google Shares to the GTTP Ltd. [Google To The People Public Company] which distributes them back to the users (clickers) / public. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - apologies if this has already been shared on this list (highly probable :-) On 2/6/06, Iram Ghufran wrote: > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > > Subject: > > No Luv 4 Google > > From: > > tenzin tsetan > > Date: > > Sat, 4 Feb 2006 16:56:16 +0000 (GMT) > > To: > > sarai list > > > > To: > > sarai list > > > > > > Break up with Google this Valentine's Day No Luv 4 Google Day of > > Action! Are you shocked and outraged at Google for partnering with > > the Chinese government in censoring and distorting the truth? Do you > > feel betrayed? Well, here's how you can get even! > > > > Join the *No Luv 4 Google* / /campaign > > and show you have a heart for freedom and human rights by _*breaking > > up*_ with Google this > > Valentine's Day. Visit the *NoLuv4Google.com* > > campaign website and > > join the mass Google break up. Pledge to boycott Google and all "its > > services " on February 14th and _*download helpful materials*_ > > for organizing a > > No Luv 4 Google protest or event in your community. And, don't forget > > to read the heartfelt testimonials from former Google users who've > > broken up with Google and made the switch to _*alternative search > > engines*_. > > Tenzin for www.noluv4google.com > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Yahoo! Messenger > > < > http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail/uk/taglines/default/messenger/*http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com%20 > > > > NEW - crystal clear PC to PC calling worldwide with voicemail > > < > http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail/uk/taglines/default/messenger/*http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com%20 > > > > > > _________________________________________ > 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: > -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - does the frog know it has a latin name? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060206/9919be8a/attachment.html From monica at sarai.net Mon Feb 6 19:09:15 2006 From: monica at sarai.net (Monica Narula) Date: Mon, 6 Feb 2006 19:09:15 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Re: Muhammad Cartoons Message-ID: Dear all Something i found on another list (nettime) - makes for interesting reading! best M -- As Your Majesty requested recently, in order to divert public attention from the regrettable demise of a small number of pilgrims in Makkah during the last Hajj, Saudi newspapers were instructed to revive the four-month-old story of cartoons about the Prophet (PBUH) in a Danish newspaper, and turn it into an attack on Denmark, together with a "spontaneous demand by the people" for a boycott of Danish goods. -- an iconography of blasphemy by "The religious policeman", famous Blogger from http://muttawa.blogspot.com/2006/02/memo.html The diary of a Saudi man, currently living in the United Kingdom, where the Religious Police no longer trouble him for the moment. courtesy: http://streamtime.org ============================= Monica Narula Raqs Media Collective Sarai-CSDS 29 Rajpur Road Delhi 110054 www.raqsmediacollective.net www.sarai.net From rajeshmehar at yahoo.com Mon Feb 6 17:47:38 2006 From: rajeshmehar at yahoo.com (rajesh mehar) Date: Mon, 6 Feb 2006 04:17:38 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] Begging on the streets of London. In-Reply-To: <20060203094441.28665.qmail@web8713.mail.in.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <20060206121738.91353.qmail@web30413.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Then the other lot was the musical lot...They were called something... They are called Buskers. Here's a wiki link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busker --Rajesh. aasim khan wrote: to add to mahmood's point.what's begging in the first place?...so if we are talking strictly about begging we need to know what qualifies.or is it that a stranger takes money from you ..he/she is a begger.And the case of fakirs....here i site another instance. I travelled for the first time to the West last year....and one of the first things i noticed was that even they had their Beggars.I was walking to the underground in London and on one corner sat a man (dressed in cargos and jackets..and was by all standards ok healthwise)... under his scrubby face hung a big note....HOMELESS AND HUNGRY.he was silent and still!also was not trying to capture my attention...no performance.but among all those fast paced men and women in their GAP jeans he stood out(though he sqautted).Everyone was going somewhere...he wasn't. Then the other lot was the musical lot...They were called something...cant remeber but they were definitely not beggars! they played good music...Esp under the blackfriars bridge..my friend was moved to tears...by those singers who just kept a bowl a yard in front of their Amp. and would shake their head in a nonchalant acknowledgement if u droppped a few pennies in it.some race factor surely existed..becoz i saw a lot of dark skinned people..but then they are also better singers.so one never knows... My hosts were obviously kindhearted and always had spare pennies..but this Pathos that Mahmood invokes ...that was so understated esp. for me ,the resident of the RUDEST place in the world that i almost thought...can i call this begging? it is something... i say that..blurrs the line between hopeless and hopeful! --- mahmood farooqui wrote: > Dear Vicharak, > > Allow me to say this that our utmost confidence and > familiarity about > begging and beggars springs, eventually, from our > abysmal ignorance of > it. > > I have been looking, for years, for a single book on > beggars, a single > documentary, a single article... > > Is there anyway of going beyond the duality of > helpless > victims/terrorised gang members? > > For starters, in begging, location is the first, the > second and the > third most important criterion-so what are the hafta > rates for the > Ashram crossing? WHo all charge that hafta? > > Obviously, beggars at shrines, dargahs, mandirs etc > are among the > elite category of beggars-so how does one arrive > there? Who assures > one's space, what is the system of graft, bribe, > cutback etc in these > places? > > Who then are the gang operators? Where do these > members go at night? > Do people travel to beg? > > It won't do to counterpose begging to work for > beggary is hard work > and does not come easy. It takes great dedication > and committment to > run after cars, scooters, apathetic passengers of a > bus etc. So what > drives those kids and those oldies-not starvation in > many cases... > > Begging is also performance art of a kind-when you > see a prospective > donor hesitate what is the Rasa that you should > strike-karuna, > veebhatsa SHould you frighten the bugger about his > privilege status or > should you invoke his mercy? Obviously every beggar > is beseeching the > donor/customer, so what peculiarity can you bring to > it-you have to > switch on the performance when you approach the > car/auto, then swtich > off and then switch on again for the next one. But > what do you do when > the light is green? > > After experimental Urdu afsana of the 60s kind I > have never read about > beggars. It is quite astonishing, isn't it that the > phenomenon, like > roadside shitting, is so pervasive in our society > that, pace Naipaul, > we can be wholly oblivious to it. > > Urban designers, cyber-mohallas, installation > artists(of which beggars > are the primary founders), body specialists, > anthropologists, > radicals, subalterns, thinkers, desis, videsis- > where are the voices > on beggar's buggery? > > On 29/01/06, Vichaarak t > wrote: > > 26/01/06 > > Today in the morning I was returning from my > office, when I stopped at > > a red light, I saw a beggar knocking at the window > of my car asking > > for 'something'. At the same time she was trying > to show a glimpse of > > her malnourished baby, may be to stir up my > emotional nerves so that I > > may 'help' her. On the next red light I saw an old > man doing the same. > > On these moments many thoughts pass through my > mind. Will it be > > justified to pay in kind or cash? Why these people > have chosen to beg? > > Who is responsible for their state? If a person is > physically fit to > > work why is he or she is not doing any job or they > don't get it? On > > what basis to differentiate who is fit to receive > 'charity' and who is > > not? What is the responsibility of the state and > society towards them > > ? By paying them are we not trying to make to > continue in the same > > state or if we don't pay than will they be able to > survive? Most of > > the ladies are carrying small babies, are these > their own babies or > > available on rent? Are these women married then > what there husbands > > are doing? Do they have a notion of a family as a > unit. How they find > > a match for marriage? How their kinship network > operates? Is paying to > > 'them' a charity on 'our' part? > > > > 29/01/06 > > On the other day I received a letter from UNICEF > saying that it will > > take just a stroke of pen to save a life. I > wondered whether this is > > not another form of begging. If I can pay to > UNICEF then why not to > > the road side beggar? Or is it that in this > 'sector'' of begging there > > is a division of privileged and unprivileged or > organized and > > unorganized. > > _________________________________________ > > 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: > > > > _________________________________________ > 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: > > __________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner now. Go to http://yahoo.shaadi.com _________________________________________ 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: Gonna make a lot o'money, gonna quit this crazy scene. --------------------------------- Get the latest photos from your camera to your friends & family fast and easy with PhotoMail from Yahoo! Mail. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060206/6479710b/attachment.html From sadan at sarai.net Mon Feb 6 17:43:15 2006 From: sadan at sarai.net (Sadan Jha) Date: Mon, 06 Feb 2006 17:43:15 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] seeking information on a documentary Message-ID: <43E73D5B.6070503@sarai.net> Dear all, today i received this mail seeking some information on a documentary "Chords of the Richter Scale" by Shyam Ranjankar. Hope some one would be able to help this researcher. wishes, sadan -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: Jennifer Kishan Subject: Fwd: URGENT Documentary information needed Date: Mon, 6 Feb 2006 16:52:42 +0530 Size: 5294 Url: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060206/ebfd69f0/attachment.mht From jumpshark at gmail.com Tue Feb 7 07:21:19 2006 From: jumpshark at gmail.com (Prashant Pandey) Date: Tue, 7 Feb 2006 07:21:19 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] DSE Seminar Message-ID: With the support of Centre for Civil Society Centre for Development Economics and Department of Economics Delhi School of Economics ANNOUNCE A SEMINAR Autocratic, Democratic and Optimal Government: Fiscal choices and economic outcomes by William A. Niskanen Chairman, CATO Institute, Washington D. C. On Wednesday, February 8, 2006 at 3:00 p.m. Venue: Seminar Room (Room No.35 First Floor) All are cordially invited. For the forthcoming seminars please visit http://www.cdedse.org/fe.htm Abstracts All types of government face two major fiscal decisions: the level of government services and the average tax rate. This paper develops models of autocratic, democratic, and optimal government. The effects of alternative government structures are estimated using a common set of parameters based on U.S. data. Output and government services are higher in a democracy than in an autocracy, but the tax rate is lower. Output is even higher with an optimal government and both government services and the tax rate are lower. The relative outcomes in any government depend strongly on the fiscal horizon of those who govern. From mahmood at sarai.net Tue Feb 7 11:12:02 2006 From: mahmood at sarai.net (mahmood at sarai.net) Date: Tue, 07 Feb 2006 06:42:02 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Rabia Message-ID: As part of the Mahindra and Mahindra theatre festival today, Teusday, at 4 pm at FICCI, a performance of Rabia-an invocation of Rabia Basri's life through Bharatnatyam, Meera's bhajans, qawwalis...Performed By Seema Agarwal... I helped out with the script.. Please come if you can...passes at venue/free entry... From aesthete at mail.jnu.ac.in Mon Feb 6 16:57:20 2006 From: aesthete at mail.jnu.ac.in (Dean School of Arts and Aesthetics) Date: Mon, 06 Feb 2006 16:57:20 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Lectures by Christopher Pinney Message-ID: <1139225240.8e8c3920aesthete@mail.jnu.ac.in> Christopher Pinney Professor of Anthropology and Visual Culture at the University College London and the author of Camera Indica and Photos of the Gods: The Printed Image and Political Struggle in India will be giving a series of lectures at the School of Arts and Aesthetics Jawaharlal Nehru University February & March 2006. S.A.A. Auditorium Time 11am to 1pm All are cordially invited Lecture schedule 21ST FEB 1. The Coming of Photography in India. What theoretical models are most useful for the understanding of photography's impact in India from 1840 onwards? In addition to surveying early photographic practice in India the lecture discusses the usefulness of approaches developed by Adorno, Benjamin, Tagg and Batchen among others. 23RD FEB 2. Photography as Vernacular Practice. Was there/is there a vernacular/ anti-colonial/postcolonial photography? The lecture looks at India appropriations of photography and different theoretical approaches to this. 7TH MARCH 3. Picture production and colonial law. Considers the impact of colonial censorship on the nature of image production between 1880-1947. Looks in detail at terms of the 1867 and 1910 Press Acts and studies specific prescription cases to provide a grounded account of the interaction between artist, publishers and the state. 9TH MARCH 4. The Rise of Nathdwara. Although Ravi Varma is frequently described as "the father of calendar art" it is striking that his naturalist mimicry was largely dislodged by a neo-Mewar style (associated with Nathdvara) form the late 1920s onwards. How should this transformation be best understood? 28TH MARCH 5. Picture production from 1950 to the present. The lecture surveys developments since Independence, focussing on three practitioners: B.G. Sharma, Yogendra Rastogi and H.R. Raja who represent very different aesthetics and lineages. Current trends and the state of the market in 2006 will also be addressed. 30TH MARCH 6. The Political Economy of Gloss. Indian visual culture is often described as being characterised by "inter-ocularity". This lecture examines the images deployed in the 2004 national elections and explores resonances between the images of "India Shining" and film publicity. What implications does the failure of this campaign have for our conceptualisation of visuality in contemporary India? ============================================== This Mail was Scanned for Virus and found Virus free ============================================== _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From turbulence at turbulence.org Mon Feb 6 20:57:36 2006 From: turbulence at turbulence.org (Turbulence) Date: Mon, 6 Feb 2006 10:27:36 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] FP3, Panel 1: Responsive Environments and Systems Message-ID: <000001c62b31$e8d06080$6501a8c0@t5x1c0> Floating Points 3: Ubiquitous Computing Panel 1: Responsive Environments and Systems DATE: February 8th, 7:00 p.m. PLACE: Emerson College, Bill Bordy Theatre, 216 Tremont Street, Boston, and LIVE ONLINE at http://institute.emerson.edu/floatingpoints/06/index.php Panelists: Mark Goulthorpe, Susan Kozel and Chris Salter Moderator: Helen Thorington Co-presented by Emerson College and Turbulence.org Emerson College and New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc./Turbulence.org announce a new speaker series, "Floating Points 3" [FP3] that will address the subject of "Ubiquitous Computing" or "Ubicomp", where computing and wireless capabilities are so integrated into the fabric of everyday life (clothing, cars, homes, and offices) that the technologies recede into the background and become indistinguishable from everyday activities. [more at http://institute.emerson.edu/floatingpoints/06/index.php] Mark Goulthorpe: In 1991, architect Mark Goulthorpe established the dECOi atelier to undertake a series of largely theoretical architectural competitions. Today, dECOi is an established architectural/design practice that takes a fresh, exploratory approach to design. Goulthorpe will discuss his interactive "Aegis Hyposurface" which dynamically mediates events happening inside and outside of buildings. Goulthorpe currently divides his time between the School of Architecture and the Media Lab at MIT. http://architecture.mit.edu/people/bg/cvgoulth.html Susan Kozel is a dancer, choreographer, writer and Associate Professor at the School of Interactive Arts and Technology (SIAT) at Simon Fraser University in Canada. Kozel has a PhD in Philosophy and is co-founder of Mesh Performance Practices. Her research combines a broad range of interactive and responsive systems with performative practices (telematics, motion capture, sensing, wearables). All of her work is about exploring and expanding our physical and creative interface with technology. She will discuss her current project "other stories" which utilizes the Vicon motion capture system. http://www.meshperformance.org/ Chris Salter is a media artist, director and composer based in Montreal, Canada and Berlin, Germany. He develops and produces large-scale, multi-media and interactive environments that merge space, vision and sound. These environments respond in complex and subtle ways to audience presence and activities. He is also a professor in the Design and Computation Department at Concordia University. He will discuss his large scale installation "Suspension/Threshold." http://www.sponge.org/ Helen Thorington is co-director of Turbulence.org Floating Points is co-presented by Emerson College and New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc. (NRPA), a not-for-profit media organization with offices in Boston and New York. It is funded by Emerson College's Office of Academic Affairs, Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies, School of the Arts, and Department of Visual and Media Arts. For more information please visit http://institute.emerson.edu/floatingpoints/06/index.php Jo-Anne Green, Co-Director New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc.: http://new-radio.org New York: 917.548.7780 . Boston: 617.522.3856 Turbulence: http://turbulence.org New American Radio: http://somewhere.org Networked_Performance Blog: http://turbulence.org/blog Upgrade! Boston: http://turbulence.org/upgrade _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From aarti at sarai.net Tue Feb 7 15:51:34 2006 From: aarti at sarai.net (Aarti) Date: Tue, 07 Feb 2006 15:51:34 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] 'The Performative Self' Exhibition Opening at Apeejay Media Gallery Message-ID: <43E874AE.8020802@sarai.net> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: 'The Performative Self' Exhibition Opening at Apeejay Media Gallery Date: Tue, 7 Feb 2006 15:16:07 +0530 From: Apeejay Media Gallery To: khoj International Artists Association *A P E E J A Y M E D I A G A L L E R Y* invites you to experience *The Performative Self * *Opening on Friday Feb 10, 06 at 6 pm* * * This exhibition sets forth two propositions of performance. The first as seen in the work of Ein Lall and Anusha Lall, a seamless transition between live performance , interactivity and recorded media; the second as in Sonia Khurana's works , where the ephermereality of the body in performance is captured through recorded media whereby something akin to performance emerges. ** *inside : in : performance* feb 10 -11, 06 6 - 9pm * /and turning/* by Ein Lall*,* 3 channel video installation and live performance, 20 mins. dancers Le Swee Keong, Judimar Hernandez, Anusha Lall /*inside in*/ by Anusha Lall, single channel interactive video , 10 mins, looped * many lives * *Feb 10-11, 06 6- 9 pm and Feb 18-19, 06 1pm- 9 pm* set of video installations and single channel works by sonia khurana // /*skin,*/ 4 channel installation with sound /*closet,*/ 2 channel installationwith soundl /*flower carrier*/, single channel installtion with sound /*sleep,*/ single monitor installation with sound /*laura's song*/, single monitor installation with sound /*tantra,* video sculpture/ ( Feb19, 06 2pm onwards the artist will screen a compilation of performance videos by other artists) *Curator Pooja Sood* Venue: Apeejay Media Gallery Apeejay Techno Park B II 40,41,42 Mohan Cooperative, Mathura Road, New Delhi 110044 RSVP: _Rashmi at 23361193_ extn 719 E- mail : rgupta at apeejaygroup.com From nangla at cm.sarai.net Wed Feb 8 08:13:27 2006 From: nangla at cm.sarai.net (CM@Nangla) Date: Wed, 08 Feb 2006 03:43:27 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Letters from NM 01 Message-ID: <9bb35dc4e7949a55c14b4698d30765b9@sarai.net> Of late. “Jaanu” Of late, Nangla seems to be emptying. When I step out for a walk in the evening, there are fewer people in the lanes. Till recently, I used to have to watch my step; but now it seems to me I can walk without care. The group of men who had made the threshold of one of their houses their usual spot to play cards, were a usual sight till late. I haven't seen them around for some days now. Far fewer people can be seen in the market. Sellers sit around, waiting, with nothing to do. A friend tells me he gets ample space to play these days. Earlier he either had to make do with little, or had to “capture” space. People who manage or own eating places say a lot of food gets left over from the day, even though they prepare it in quantities that would usually get consumed in a single day. Fewer CDs and television sets are being rented out from shops. Public toilets don't open at 4:30 AM as before. The person who mans the STD phone booth says almost no one comes to make calls these days. Maybe now they don't need a phone to keep in touch with the places they used to call up till now... “Where?” Ankur Manilal reached Shershah school to get his daughter admitted. The teacher asked, “Where do you live?” “In Nangla Maanchi,” Manilal said. “Where is that?” “Do you know the road that leads to Noida from in front of Pragati Maidan? It's on that same road, beyond the red light immediately after Pragati Maidan.” “Yes, I know. The swamps with a few bushes... almost a lake... But there aren't any houses there,” she said, trying to recollect the place. “But now there is, madamji,” Manilal said. It was quite difficult to explain. No one used to go to this place that Manilal was talking about. Everyone used to pass by it along the Ring Road that lay in front of it. Then four to five families filled up some parts with sand and built their houses there. They covered as much area as they could manage. These were houses without walls, with a tarpaulin sheet as the roof. People who lived there would be out in the city all day, and return here in the evening. They felt lonely here. There would be darkness all around them in the evening. Lights twinkling inside the few houses in the expanse of the swamp would deepen the darkness. No one came near their houses at night while they slept. In the morning, everyone would wake up to the same four or five people around them. Manilal was one of these people. He knew as much land as he could labour and fill would be his. He was quite clever. He made a lot of land his own by filling it. He had come to the city alone, but now he decided to call his family from the village. His brother-in-law was the first to arrive. They made some plans, filled up and acquired land according to their calculations, and built their house over it. Then both of them called their wives and children. In this way, some more people came and settled there. Then an environment began to form – residents would go to work in the morning, return in the evening, buy household items from the neighbouring Maharani Bagh, Bhogal, Ashram, cook at home, chat with their children. This is when Manilal decided to get his daughter Minu admitted in school. She got admission in the first standard. Now Manilal would drop her to school, and pick her up when school ended. When, on the way back from school, he would ask the bus conductor for a ticket to Nangla, the conductors would ask, “For where?” Then Manilal would tell them the same thing he had told the teacher. But slowly, the settlement grew and expanded, and with that, news about it percolated into the city. CM Lab, Nangla Maanchi ------------------------------------------- Pyaason ki pyaas bujhata hai Nangla, Dilli mein aane walon ka basera hai Nangla. ------------------------------------------- From nangla at cm.sarai.net Wed Feb 8 08:16:11 2006 From: nangla at cm.sarai.net (CM@Nangla) Date: Wed, 08 Feb 2006 03:46:11 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Letters from NM 02 Message-ID: Notice Board By “Jaanu” and Lakhmi Signboards. Sometimes they tell the way, sometimes give unsolicited advise, sometimes instruct how one must conduct oneself in the city, and sometimes distract you from your path by making your attention wander. “Gas pipeline underneath. Do not excavate.” “The name of this crossroad is -------.” “Welcome to Delhi Railway Station.” “Get your tenant verified before trusting him with your house.” “Punctured tyres are repaired here.” A board amid the soft breaths of many in front of an emergency ward, announcing, “Emergency Ward”. “Please Use Me” written on garbage bins. And a board in my neighbourhood which gives the impression of the presence of a property dealer in the vicinity: “Cheap plots available here.” But to tell you the truth, there is neither any property dealer here, nor any property! But the board remains standing in its place. There is one more board that falls in the company of these boards. It's a notice board that appears from time to time in front of colonies in the wake of the State's “cleanliness drives”. It's a board that doesn’t say anything of its own, but repeats the contents of the sheet that is pasted on it. One such board stands in front of a locality in my neighbourhood. It reads: “This land is the property of the government. It should be vacated. It can be broken at any time.” Everyone's hair stood on end each time they saw this board. *** It was cowdust hour. Komal bhai read this board as he entered the settlement. Image after image appeared and spoiled in his mind. Carrying these forming, dissolving images through narrow lanes, he reached his house. He rested his hand on the frame of the door and called out, “Meena, open the door.” Meena recognised her husband's voice and opened the door immediately. Komal bhai said, “Take these bananas. Where is ammi? Has she eaten dinner?” Komal bhai's mother heard his voice and said, “Yes, son. Bahu fed me, and was sitting with me when you came. Now both of you eat and then get a good night's rest.” Komal bhai washed his hands and face, asked Meena for his waist cloth, wiped his face with it and then tied it around his waist. Meena had spread some newspaper on the bed, laid a plate with food on it, and now she sat waiting for Komal. Komal bhai came and immediately broke a piece of bread. Then, as he put the morsel in his mouth he said, “Meena, why don't you eat...” He became quite for a while, and then said, “Meena, have you heard...?” “Why, what happened?” she asked. Komal bhai said, “Today as I entered the settlement, my eyes fell on a blue board. It read, 'This land is the property of the government. Vacate it'.” “Are you saying you've just seen it!” Meena said. “I have known about this for some days now. Ask ammi if you like.” Ammi couldn't contain herself any longer and came and sat on the bed by her son. She said, “Son, there's nothing new in this.” “But there is, mother. I read the board today.” “But son, that board has been there since Tuesday. Bahu pointed it out to me. Everyone knows about it. Son, worrying will not help. Go to sleep. What will be in the morning will be.” The night was pitch dark. The window of the room was open, but nothing stirred. It was as dark inside as it was outside. Everything looked alike. Footsteps of a drunk man began to be heard. Lost in his own world, he was saying something. Suddenly, his voice became louder. “Mark my words. This settlement will get broken tomorrow, otherwise I will change my name,” he said. Another voice came, “I dare you to even touch this settlement!” “Tomorrow it will be seen. Tomorrow it will be seen.” As soon as Meena heard these voices, she got out of her bed and said to Komal, “This settlement will be there tomorrow.” “You've seen a bad dream. Go to sleep.” Saying this, Komal turned over to go back to sleep, when he heard the same voice. He raised his head and concentrated. He heard, “This settlement will be broken tomorrow. Don't think I am drunk. I am in my senses today.” Komal said, “He is some mad drunkard. Don't worry Meena. Come, sleep next to me.” *** Komal and Meena woke up together in the morning. Both listened to the sounds coming from the window, trying to make out the time from these sounds. But they felt disoriented. Waves of silence and restlessness seemed to be flowing in through the window. Komal jumped out of bed, opened the door and looked out. He stepped out, moving through the lanes, towards the entrance to the locality. Doors to every house were open. It seemed there were far more doors, too few walls in these lanes. This was the morning when the drunkard's words were going to become reality. Police force descended on the settlement like a fog, settling over everything, changing everything just by touching it with its long fingers. Spotting a uniformed man, Komal walked up to him and asked, “Bhai, what is going on here?” The police man replied, “Why? Haven't you read the notice board?” “No sir, I haven't.” “Well then! Empty the colony. It will be demolished today.” Seeing Komal talk to the police man, some people came and stood near him. The words of the drunkard rang in their ears, as if he was mocking them, “You thought I was drunk last night! Look, look for yourself now. Watch the liquor from last night flow today morning. Now go and vacate your houses. Go! All these big bosses – these policemen – they are not standing here wasting their time!” Komal turned towards his settlement, looking at the narrow lane leading into it. In all these years that it had been there, today was going to be the first time that a vehicle other than a bicycle was going to pass through it. This “first” vehicle was going to be a bulldozer. And once it would pass through, there would be no scope left for any other to pass through ever again. CM Lab, Nangla Maanchi ------------------------------------------- Pyaason ki pyaas bujhata hai Nangla, Dilli mein aane walon ka basera hai Nangla. ------------------------------------------- From kalisaroj at rediffmail.com Wed Feb 8 11:13:02 2006 From: kalisaroj at rediffmail.com (avinash jha) Date: 8 Feb 2006 05:43:02 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] The New Command and the Knowledge Question - Invitation to contribute Message-ID: <20060208054302.1568.qmail@webmail27.rediffmail.com>   [A pre-workshop publication containing significant contributions is planned. So those unable to travel to Karachi may also contribute. Discussion on the list is also welcome.] Dialogues on Knowledge in Society-II Invitation for write-ups, presentations, participation in the workshop at WSF-2006 in Karachi The New Command and the Knowledge Question Virtual Domain Questions related to knowledge have assumed radically new dimensions with the emergence of the virtual world. We shall not attempt to define what is a virtual domain or a virtual world. Is it the network society? Is it the world of Internet? Is it the world of those who have access to the Internet? Is it the world of just those who have started spending a lot of time and doing a host of activities on the Internet? Is it the new world of knowledge activity, power play and finance? We have heard of virtual community, virtual society, virtual forest, virtual experiment and what not. The idea and reality of the 'virtual' is in the making. The Internet (www) came into existence in 1990. So we shall not attempt a definition of the virtual. However it is already perhaps an acknowledged fact that it is now the commanding domain. The activity, development, interaction, formulation, transaction, creation, invention, discovery, collaboration, criticism etc. in the virtual world have taken lead and tend to give direction to human activity everywhere, finance, science, art, entertainment, name any. We invite you to contribute to a dialogue for exploring the relationship between the virtual domain and knowledge in society. We believe that the knowledge question can help us interrogate the virtual domain in both its philosophical and political aspects. Knowledge in Society Knowledge in Society may be seen as knowledge in different locations - like the university and research institutions, monasteries of different traditions, media, artisans, peasants, ethnic social formation, social movements, ideological formations etc. These are places where people engage in a variety of activities - productive, religious, artistic, scientific and others. Their activities exhibit paradigms of knowledge that are different from one another. Another way of saying this would be they have different bodies of knowledge, with different structure and logic, values, ontologies, ways of thinking and speculation. Such knowledge in society, other than in universities and research institutions, is often described as just empirical, cumulative, practice-based, and even superstitious. But then these qualifications stem from a point of view that belongs to an era, which is perhaps drawing to a close. We, who have great regard for people's knowledge, lokavidya, or generally knowledge in society, believe that it is not in need of criteria external to it because it is embedded in the life of people at large where correctness and legitimacy has a time-testing criterion (a real life consistency and delivery criterion). But in so far as this knowledge is applied in broader contexts, these criteria themselves are open to contention and dialogue. Hierarchy and Emaciation Virtuality seems to legitimize all traditions and locations of knowledge while elevating itself to a higher position from where all knowledge is sorted and organized. In the process it creates a new hierarchy in the sphere of knowledge. It is not merely a structural rearrangement of locations but entails a certain emaciation or atrophy of knowledge in society. They are now seen as places of genuine human activity only to the extent and in the manner they relate to virtuality. Can we propose a radical equality of all knowledge locations as the basis of a future democratic society which is also at peace with virtuality? Knowledge Dialogue Is virtuality the new location of the unity of the ruling classes of the world? Has virtuality broken the concept of a community as a face-to-face society? Is virtuality a new reality or is virtual world only a world of representations? How do we start addressing these questions? One way perhaps is to construct a universe of knowledge dialogue that is simultaneously a political, economic, and philosophical dialogue. This requires that no strict paradigm of knowledge be allowed to govern the initial premises or the boundary conditions. The knowledge dialogue that we are suggesting therefore can take place in a universe of knowledge traditions and locations where none is superior or inferior to another, virtuality included, and by a method which recognizes theoretical constructs only in a mode of transcendence, that is, the method involves transcending one's own theoretical constructs. It is in some such knowledge space that this dialogue is being proposed. Contributions Contributions can take various points of departure and attempt to address the question of virtuality or knowledge in society, or the relationship between them. Writings that do not take explicitly the context of virtuality are also welcome. Most welcome will be contributions written in a non-technical language. Short stories or narratives or even other forms of artistic creations may help in creating fresh spaces of epistemic activity, not held down by the given knowledge paradigms. Topics can range from the question of property and knowledge, violence and virtuality, art and science to knowledge and information, innovation and freedom, law and virtuality to money and finance, cities and media, and so on. In what follows, we have formulated an illustrative list of questions: 1.In what sense is virtuality altering our concepts of property? Present debates on intellectual property rights seem to be largely governed by considerations of economics, law and politics. Are fresh questions being thrown up in regard to the relationship between private property and alienation? Is property now related to some new form of alienation and human activity? Will addressing such questions be relevant to reconstructing the debate on politics of emancipation? 2.Is virtuality just a new location for organization or a radically new mode of organization? Is there a relation between this question and images of new architecture of human settlements? Is the concept of network essential to it or just a contingent expression? 3.How is virtuality reshaping scientific research and institutions? Is the organization of science changing in a far-reaching manner? What implications it has for scientific practice? 4.Is network society the virtual society? Is weakening of the boundaries of the nation-state because the ruling classes are reconstituting themselves through a new unity in the virtual space? What is the consequence of such understanding for both the politics that there is and the politics of emancipation? 5.In what sense is virtual real? Human sensibilities, physical, aesthetic and ethical are simulated in the virtual space? Does it add only a new dimension to human existence or transform it altogether? 6.Would art now be as respectable as science in the world of knowledge? That is, does virtuality legitimize not only different locations of knowledge as suggested above, but also creates legitimate space for art in the epistemic world? 7.Knowledge in society is related to livelihood activity of the people without often being mediated by business. Does the virtual realm also provide such scope? 8. Software as knowledge, knowledge as software? What does the primacy of software imply for knowledge? [Workshop organised by Vidya Ashram, Varanasi (www.vidyaashram.org) and Indigen Research Foundation, Pune (www.indigen.org.in)] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060208/94697690/attachment.html From jeebesh at sarai.net Wed Feb 8 12:51:24 2006 From: jeebesh at sarai.net (Jeebesh Bagchi) Date: Wed, 8 Feb 2006 12:51:24 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Introduction to Nangla Maachi Message-ID: <4717381A-E068-44A8-B129-D4BD2BAB7C6E@sarai.net> Dear Friends, One of Sarai/Ankur's Cybermohalla labs is in Nangla Maachi for the last two years. Nangla Maachi is in New Delhi, behind Pragati Maidan, opposite the Bhairon Marg crossing. A bus stand and a big CNG filling station frame the settlement. Nangla Maachi came up after the floods of 1978, during the same time that Jamuna Pushta came up. It has grown over the last 25 years into a fairly big settlement with about 6000 dwellings and a population of approximately 100,000 people. The older village called Nangla Gaon is still there, but has been dwarfed by the settlement. Now, in it's latest rulings, the Supreme court has been breathing down MCDs case to clean up the `encroached spaces` around the banks of the Yamuna. The MCD has argued that it is not possible to do so, as there is very little land available for re-settlement. The hearing is on. NM's population is very heterogeneous and it is a fairly dense place. Over the last 25 years it has passed through many scares of eviction and various forms of surveys and documents have been generated during this time. The earliest was around 1984, after which some forms of `billa` (badges) were introduced as a marker of legitimate presence. Then came the ration card, mostly got through complex negotiation with lower level bureaucracy of the Food and Civil Supplies. It seems it is difficult to get a ration card and needs intervention of local politicians or some "extra money". The scare of eviction and constant negotiation to get infrastructural facilities has made Surveys and Documents take a life of it's own. There are many kind of surveys:i) - Census (usually understood as `ginnti` (counting) and `kum` (less) informations.ii) - Health surveys conducted by community workers and young doctors.iii) - Surveys whose specific question is to ask for `pramaan` (evidence of residence and members of the household unit). Two `pramaan` are ration card and election identity cards. You get election cards if you manage a ration card.iv) - Surveys by police to ascertain the `permanent addresses` of residents. (One recently conducted after the Diwali blast.) In this survey police goes from house to house and writes down the `village` address of the residents (where they have come to the city from). Last Saturday night, the local masjid loudspeaker announced some news about demolition of `Moolchand` basti (behind Rajghat) and about impending demolition here, in NM. All were asked to gather and go to Rajghat with their voter i-cards (pehchaan patras) for a demonstration in buses provided by Tajdar Babbar (a local congress politician, fairly influential in many of these settlements). As it turned out from the news at night, the demonstration was about `urban villages` and threat of demolition of construction in these villages! What, I have realised over many conversations in NM lab is that the `survey` and the `document` has a spectral presence. It appears to oscillate as a sign between `saab theek ho jayega` (all will be fine) and `aab to jaana hi padega` (now we will have to leave). This oscillation produces various strategies of survival practices. One can sense a `preparing` for eviction in progress. Moving into safer localities like Loni and slowly moving out parts of belongings and keeping parts, in hope of some future land somewhere. Alongwith this is a stubborn sense of located-ness and pride of having made this space. Eviction takes away this pride. [Pyaason ki pyaas bujhata hai Nangla. Dilli mein aane walo ka basera hai Nangla.] And, a slow wait for the appearance of the Notice Board announcing the dates of eviction. For more, keep an eye on the postings from salaam jeebesh From aarti at sarai.net Wed Feb 8 15:40:35 2006 From: aarti at sarai.net (Aarti) Date: Wed, 08 Feb 2006 15:40:35 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Art Historian/Researcher Wanted Message-ID: <43E9C39B.5060701@sarai.net> ART HISTORIAN / RESEARCHER WANTED A research and design firm in Cooke Town is looking for a young, self-motivated person based in Bangalore to work as a Researcher. The company does teaching and research in the field of history, art, archaeology, tourism, design and other related areas. The job includes research work, assisting in design and marketing, project management and writing assignments, developing associations with clients and interacting with academic and non-academic institutions. The person should have a M.A. in Art History or Humanities and also have good organizational and analytical skills and communication in English and basic computer knowledge. Good writing skill is essential. An artistic and design talent will be an added advantage. The person should be willing to travel on work. The job has potential for growth for an individual who is committed to their work. Please send in your resume to the given below email id along with your writing samples before February 28, 2006. *Jackfruit Research and Design Pvt. Ltd.* *79 Hutchins II Cross, **St Thomas** **Town**, **Bangalore** 560 084 * *+91 80 2580 0733 fruit at jackfruitresearchdesign.com * * * *_ _* *Art, Resources & Teaching (A.R.T.)* 79, Rose Villa, 2nd Cross Hutchins Road, St Thomas Town Bangalore 560 084 India +91 80 2580 0733 / arthistindia at yahoo.co.in From shveta at sarai.net Wed Feb 8 17:58:00 2006 From: shveta at sarai.net (shveta at sarai.net) Date: Wed, 08 Feb 2006 13:28:00 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] I asked, "What is your name?" Message-ID: Dear All, What kind of a world does a photographer in a photo studio create for himself? This is Prem Studio in Daryaganj (Delhi), for anyone who wants a story for next time they pass by it! An enjoyable interview by Babli Rai, researcher-practitioner at the LNJP Cybermohalla Lab. This text is from the CM Broadsheet 03, which engages with the technological universe in the localities (LNJP, Dakshinpuri, Nangla Maanchi). (The CM Broadsheet is a quarterly publication in Hindi. Editors: Lakhmi Kohli, Yashoda Singh, Suraj Rai, Love Anand) Translation by "Frank Huzoor" (frankhuzur at rediffmail.com) and Shveta. For more texts, see http://www.sarai.kit/wiki/index.php/CM_Translation best shveta ---------------------------------------------------------------------- I asked, “What is your name?” He replied, “Subhash Kumar”. I thought your name was Pankaj. That's the name on the board, and I assumed you were Pankaj. Subhash (laughing): No, it isn't. Pankaj, in fact, is the name of studio owner. I only work here. I: You are a photographer. You take photographs. Can I speak with you a little bit about photos? Subhash (running his hand through his thick, dark hair): Oh yes, go ahead and ask me whatever you want. I: Well, I get myself photographed, I also click photographs myself and am also a collector of photos. It's something I enjoy. This is your work. What is your perspective on photography? Subhash (one hand in his jeans' pocket, a smile on his lips) I don't really know how to answer that. He became quiet for a while. Then he said, "Whenever I get ready to take someone's photo, my only desire is to produce good quality work. I want to make a photo look like what the person who is getting the photo taken wants it to be. I wanted to prod him more on this, but I wasn’t sure if he would like it. So I decided to ask a different question. I: How do you take a picture? Just then, there was a knock on the door and it opened. "Yaar, give me the photographs if you want me to deliver them! I'm on my way to Dariyaganj." An young man of about eighteen to twenty, was standing at the door. Subhash: Hold on, let me get them out. Opening the cupboard, Subhash handed over a paper bag, presumably containing the photographs, to the young man. Then he turned to us. Subhash: See, taking a photo is quite a simple job. Just ‘click’ the camera, and a photograph is produced. However, the face of the person whose photo has to be taken is important. Keeping the face in mind, we adjust the lighting in the studio, and figure out the distance at which the camera should be positioned. (He was gesturing with his hands to create a virtual impression of holding a camera, as if to explain his technique better.) I: Where did you learn the art of photography? At this moment, a woman walked in through the studio door. Subhash: Yes, how can I help you? The woman: I want to see him Subhash: He is not around at the moment. Come back at 5:00 [in the evening]. The woman left. I took this time as a chance to ask my colleague, who had come with me, whether my question made any sense, but she didn't get time to respond. Subhash: I wasn't trained at any institute. I'm a self-taught photographer. I've learned the tricks of the trade through observation and practice. I thought to myself, "Even this question won't lead to anything interesting! The obvious line of questions following this will be, why did you take to photography, what was the idea behind that and who motivated you." This didn’t excite me and I didn’t ask them. I thought a little and then continued: I: I've often seen that if someone is not able to strike a right pose, you suggest some styles. How do you suggest a particular pose for someone? Is it just by looking at the face, or do you think about a relation between the angle at which you would like to take the photo, how close or how far you would like to take the photo from? Subhash (Breaking into laughter): Yaar, your question are always very serious and I have to beat my brain to answer them! In a way, striking a pose is also an art. Before suggesting a pose to someone, I think about whether it will suit, and if it will look good on the person whose photo I am going to take. For instance, sitting in a very simple posture is also a sort of style. (You have probably guaged from how he addresses us as "yaar" constantly, that he is what is known as a pucca Delhiite, and somewhere between 25 and 30 years of age.) I: What do you do if even after elaborately instructing someone, there is no positive result? (I thought to myself, "This is not a good question! It's too similar to and close to the one before.") Subhash: Just because someone fails time and time again, it doesn't mean one should stop trying! Rehearsing so many poses together builds some kind of a rapport between the customer and me. It's a good thing. It also prompts the customer to visit us again! I: Do you also make fun of them with others, later? Subhash (Laughing): Oh yes. Sometimes when the customer is gone, I narrate his repeated failure to everybody and we all laugh over it. This is our job, yaar. I thought, "This man with a serious face has a funny side to him!" I relaxed now, and felt encouraged to ask him some friendly questions. I: What kind of photographs do you like for decorating your studio? Do you only use photos you have taken, or do you use other kinds of photos to make your studio more attractive? Subhash (He was looking out of the studio now): Not a single photograph on these walls has been taken by me. As such, we don’t have a tradition of embellishing our studio interiors with our own photographs. People object to such publci display of their images. All these photos have been bought from the market. Well, if you have no objection to my putting up your photographs in the studio, I could do that. I (Two vehicles passing by caught both our attention simultaneously): Do you take pictures out of your choice? Subhash: No, I haven’t clicked any image of my choice. I just do it the way people want me to. People visit us to get a photo of their choice. This includes photos of their teeth, eyes, nose and parts of the mouth where they experience trouble so that they can submit it to their doctor. I: But, there is provision of X-rays for all these body parts. Subhash: No, getting phots taken is therapeutic. So, we do therapy as well! I: So many people come here. Does someone attract you? For instance, someone with beautiful eyes or a lovely smile? Or for that matter, someone who moves his or her hands in interesting ways? Do you ever feel tempted to click only beautiful eyes in different ways? Have you ever experienced such moments? Subhash (laughing): A lot of such faces visit us and sometimes someone's laughter and how they look when they laugh stays with us for a long time. For instance, there is a girl with greenish blue eyes who is quite a regular visitor to our studio. I am so enamoured with her eyes that I keep asking her if she will allow me to shoot only her eyes from different angles. But she doesn't like this idea. I can't do it against her will. I: Any other face or some gestures, which interest you a great deal? So much so that they haunt you even during sleeping and you don’t hesitate to share it with your friends, family and near and dear ones? Subhash (running his hand through his hair): See, people come to the studio dressed for the occassion of getting a photograph taken. Then our challenge is to get them to understand if the pose they want to be photographed in is suitable for them or not. Sometimes it's really difficult to get them to change their mind; and we have to make sure they stay in a good mood when there photograph is being taken. It can get a little difficult. Then there are some people who come to get photogrpahs taken for a special someone. All these things become etched in our minds, but we can't keep thinking about them. I quickly recaped all the questions I had asked till now, and thought about what more I would like to ask him. I: Ok, tell me how do you manage those photos in which someone stands touching the top of the Qutab Minar or the minaret of the Taj Mahal? Subhash: This is a good question to ask me. That is 'trick photography'. I: What do you mean by 'trick'? It seemed to me he expected some more questions relating to the skill of photography, and that I hadn't quite managed to ask him these till now. Maybe he'll find this question apt. Subhash picked up a black bag in his left hand. Subhash: Trick photography means bringing something close after taking it far away through photography. (As he said this, he moved his right hand, first close to the bag, then away from it.)It creates the illusion of something being smaller than it is in this way. It's just a question of perception, trick of the camera and the skill of the photographer. I: Are you also into doing 'trick photography'? Subhash: I can do it. But we don't do trick photography in the studio. We don't even get any customers requesting such photography. I: Nowadays, a lot of tricks are done with photography. For instance, morphing makes it possible to juxtapose an image of girl with that of a boy. How are such types of photographs produced? Subhash (Now sitting on a stool): All these photographs are produced digitally. Digital camera technology allows a lot of changes after the photograph is taken. I work with a bromide film camera, which doesn’t allow me such changes. But still, its possible to make changes later on, by digitising the photograph. But changes like these are easily recognisable. That's why people still believe more in cameras which produce bromide print images. They believe those images are more "original". I: Do you also do morphing? Subhash: No, what does one gain fro it? Anyway, we are hard pressed with time for such frivolities, as we have a large number of customers. I: Do people visit your studio for developing such images? Subhash: So far, I am yet to receive any such visitor in this area. Sometimes we do talk over these things with friends. However, I have never done something like that. I: But my colleagues and I are very comfortable playing with images on the computer. We find taking a face from one photo and then placing it somewhere else very enjoyable. Subhash (Laughing): But it's very easy to identify such pictures, irrespective of how uch skill you have. I could make out something like that immediately. (Laughs again) After all, this is my world. I: How is it possible to get oneself photographed alongside a hero or heroine? Subhash: This is quite a common photo, and it is called 'Murti Kala' (Statue Art). Just get yourself shot standing beside a cut-out of a film star. I think if photo is appealing, it should really be attributed to the cut-out, rather than the person in it! Such photographs were sucha rage with people till recently, especially during the Dussehra fair or Eid festivities. We would often set up our stall in such fairs. Now everyone understands the trick and nobody's interested in it at all. I: How are such photos which appear on fresh album releases like Dil Wali or Panwali Dil created? Subhash: All these are digital images. In fact, the stylish marriage albums are produced using digital technique these-a-days. I: Well, when someone comes to you to learn the tricks of photography, what is your first question? Subhash: I can share my photographic skill with anyone without posing any question before him or her. After all, I don’t believe in taking an interview before having shared anything myself! I: Well, what is your opinion about the current crop of aspiring photographers? Subhash: Nowadays, people are learning photography using digital cameras. Anyone can learn photography now. Once they have the skill, they opt to make it a means for earning livelihood. On the other hand, quite a lot of people are passionate about photography, and some learn it as a hobby. As for the earning potential of photography, there are so many options in the market, and anyone can easily land with a good job... This happened to be our final question. We said goodbye and headed back to the lab. o%29 From shveta at sarai.net Wed Feb 8 18:44:10 2006 From: shveta at sarai.net (Shveta) Date: Wed, 08 Feb 2006 18:44:10 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] I asked, "What is your name?" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <43E9EEA2.40900@sarai.net> Dear All, Sorry, the link I sent on the list for the texts is incorrect. I'll post the correct link shortly. best shveta shveta at sarai.net wrote: >Dear All, > >What kind of a world does a photographer in a photo studio create for >himself? > >This is Prem Studio in Daryaganj (Delhi), for anyone who wants a story for >next time they pass by it! > >An enjoyable interview by Babli Rai, researcher-practitioner at the LNJP >Cybermohalla Lab. > >This text is from the CM Broadsheet 03, which engages with the >technological universe in the localities (LNJP, Dakshinpuri, Nangla >Maanchi). > >(The CM Broadsheet is a quarterly publication in Hindi. Editors: Lakhmi >Kohli, Yashoda Singh, Suraj Rai, Love Anand) > >Translation by "Frank Huzoor" (frankhuzur at rediffmail.com) and Shveta. > >For more texts, see http://www.sarai.kit/wiki/index.php/CM_Translation > >best >shveta > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >I asked, “What is your name?” > >He replied, “Subhash Kumar”. > >I thought your name was Pankaj. That's the name on the board, and I >assumed you were Pankaj. > >Subhash (laughing): No, it isn't. Pankaj, in fact, is the name of studio >owner. I only work here. > >I: You are a photographer. You take photographs. Can I speak with you a >little bit about photos? > >Subhash (running his hand through his thick, dark hair): Oh yes, go >ahead and ask me whatever you want. > >I: Well, I get myself photographed, I also click photographs myself and >am also a collector of photos. It's something I enjoy. This is your >work. What is your perspective on photography? > >Subhash (one hand in his jeans' pocket, a smile on his lips) I don't >really know how to answer that. > >He became quiet for a while. Then he said, "Whenever I get ready to take >someone's photo, my only desire is to produce good quality work. I want >to make a photo look like what the person who is getting the photo taken >wants it to be. > >I wanted to prod him more on this, but I wasn’t sure if he would like >it. So I decided to ask a different question. > >I: How do you take a picture? > >Just then, there was a knock on the door and it opened. > >"Yaar, give me the photographs if you want me to deliver them! I'm on my >way to Dariyaganj." > >An young man of about eighteen to twenty, was standing at the door. > >Subhash: Hold on, let me get them out. > >Opening the cupboard, Subhash handed over a paper bag, presumably >containing the photographs, to the young man. Then he turned to us. > >Subhash: See, taking a photo is quite a simple job. Just ‘click’ the >camera, and a photograph is produced. However, the face of the person >whose photo has to be taken is important. Keeping the face in mind, we >adjust the lighting in the studio, and figure out the distance at which >the camera should be positioned. (He was gesturing with his hands to >create a virtual impression of holding a camera, as if to explain his >technique better.) > >I: Where did you learn the art of photography? > >At this moment, a woman walked in through the studio door. > >Subhash: Yes, how can I help you? > >The woman: I want to see him > >Subhash: He is not around at the moment. Come back at 5:00 [in the evening]. > >The woman left. > >I took this time as a chance to ask my colleague, who had come with me, >whether my question made any sense, but she didn't get time to respond. > >Subhash: I wasn't trained at any institute. I'm a self-taught >photographer. I've learned the tricks of the trade through observation >and practice. > >I thought to myself, "Even this question won't lead to anything >interesting! The obvious line of questions following this will be, why >did you take to photography, what was the idea behind that and who >motivated you." This didn’t excite me and I didn’t ask them. I thought a >little and then continued: > >I: I've often seen that if someone is not able to strike a right pose, >you suggest some styles. How do you suggest a particular pose for >someone? Is it just by looking at the face, or do you think about a >relation between the angle at which you would like to take the photo, >how close or how far you would like to take the photo from? > >Subhash (Breaking into laughter): Yaar, your question are always very >serious and I have to beat my brain to answer them! In a way, striking a >pose is also an art. Before suggesting a pose to someone, I think about >whether it will suit, and if it will look good on the person whose photo >I am going to take. For instance, sitting in a very simple posture is >also a sort of style. > >(You have probably guaged from how he addresses us as "yaar" constantly, >that he is what is known as a pucca Delhiite, and somewhere between 25 >and 30 years of age.) > >I: What do you do if even after elaborately instructing someone, there >is no positive result? >(I thought to myself, "This is not a good question! It's too similar to >and close to the one before.") > >Subhash: Just because someone fails time and time again, it doesn't mean >one should stop trying! Rehearsing so many poses together builds some >kind of a rapport between the customer and me. It's a good thing. It >also prompts the customer to visit us again! > >I: Do you also make fun of them with others, later? > >Subhash (Laughing): Oh yes. Sometimes when the customer is gone, I >narrate his repeated failure to everybody and we all laugh over it. This >is our job, yaar. > >I thought, "This man with a serious face has a funny side to him!" I >relaxed now, and felt encouraged to ask him some friendly questions. > >I: What kind of photographs do you like for decorating your studio? Do >you only use photos you have taken, or do you use other kinds of photos >to make your studio more attractive? > >Subhash (He was looking out of the studio now): Not a single photograph >on these walls has been taken by me. As such, we don’t have a tradition >of embellishing our studio interiors with our own photographs. People >object to such publci display of their images. All these photos have >been bought from the market. Well, if you have no objection to my >putting up your photographs in the studio, I could do that. > >I (Two vehicles passing by caught both our attention simultaneously): Do >you take pictures out of your choice? > >Subhash: No, I haven’t clicked any image of my choice. I just do it the >way people want me to. People visit us to get a photo of their choice. >This includes photos of their teeth, eyes, nose and parts of the mouth >where they experience trouble so that they can submit it to their doctor. > >I: But, there is provision of X-rays for all these body parts. > >Subhash: No, getting phots taken is therapeutic. So, we do therapy as well! > >I: So many people come here. Does someone attract you? For instance, >someone with beautiful eyes or a lovely smile? Or for that matter, >someone who moves his or her hands in interesting ways? Do you ever feel >tempted to click only beautiful eyes in different ways? Have you ever >experienced such moments? > >Subhash (laughing): A lot of such faces visit us and sometimes someone's >laughter and how they look when they laugh stays with us for a long >time. For instance, there is a girl with greenish blue eyes who is quite >a regular visitor to our studio. I am so enamoured with her eyes that I >keep asking her if she will allow me to shoot only her eyes from >different angles. But she doesn't like this idea. I can't do it against >her will. > >I: Any other face or some gestures, which interest you a great deal? So >much so that they haunt you even during sleeping and you don’t hesitate >to share it with your friends, family and near and dear ones? > >Subhash (running his hand through his hair): See, people come to the >studio dressed for the occassion of getting a photograph taken. Then our >challenge is to get them to understand if the pose they want to be >photographed in is suitable for them or not. Sometimes it's really >difficult to get them to change their mind; and we have to make sure >they stay in a good mood when there photograph is being taken. It can >get a little difficult. Then there are some people who come to get >photogrpahs taken for a special someone. All these things become etched >in our minds, but we can't keep thinking about them. > >I quickly recaped all the questions I had asked till now, and thought >about what more I would like to ask him. > >I: Ok, tell me how do you manage those photos in which someone stands >touching the top of the Qutab Minar or the minaret of the Taj Mahal? > >Subhash: This is a good question to ask me. That is 'trick photography'. > >I: What do you mean by 'trick'? > >It seemed to me he expected some more questions relating to the skill of >photography, and that I hadn't quite managed to ask him these till now. >Maybe he'll find this question apt. > >Subhash picked up a black bag in his left hand. > >Subhash: Trick photography means bringing something close after taking >it far away through photography. (As he said this, he moved his right >hand, first close to the bag, then away from it.)It creates the illusion >of something being smaller than it is in this way. It's just a question >of perception, trick of the camera and the skill of the photographer. > >I: Are you also into doing 'trick photography'? > >Subhash: I can do it. But we don't do trick photography in the studio. >We don't even get any customers requesting such photography. > >I: Nowadays, a lot of tricks are done with photography. For instance, >morphing makes it possible to juxtapose an image of girl with that of a >boy. How are such types of photographs produced? > >Subhash (Now sitting on a stool): All these photographs are produced >digitally. Digital camera technology allows a lot of changes after the >photograph is taken. I work with a bromide film camera, which doesn’t >allow me such changes. But still, its possible to make changes later on, >by digitising the photograph. But changes like these are easily >recognisable. That's why people still believe more in cameras which >produce bromide print images. They believe those images are more "original". > >I: Do you also do morphing? > >Subhash: No, what does one gain fro it? Anyway, we are hard pressed with >time for such frivolities, as we have a large number of customers. > >I: Do people visit your studio for developing such images? > >Subhash: So far, I am yet to receive any such visitor in this area. >Sometimes we do talk over these things with friends. However, I have >never done something like that. > >I: But my colleagues and I are very comfortable playing with images on >the computer. We find taking a face from one photo and then placing it >somewhere else very enjoyable. > >Subhash (Laughing): But it's very easy to identify such pictures, >irrespective of how uch skill you have. I could make out something like >that immediately. (Laughs again) After all, this is my world. > >I: How is it possible to get oneself photographed alongside a hero or >heroine? > >Subhash: This is quite a common photo, and it is called 'Murti Kala' >(Statue Art). Just get yourself shot standing beside a cut-out of a film >star. I think if photo is appealing, it should really be attributed to >the cut-out, rather than the person in it! Such photographs were sucha >rage with people till recently, especially during the Dussehra fair or >Eid festivities. We would often set up our stall in such fairs. Now >everyone understands the trick and nobody's interested in it at all. > >I: How are such photos which appear on fresh album releases like Dil >Wali or Panwali Dil created? > >Subhash: All these are digital images. In fact, the stylish marriage >albums are produced using digital technique these-a-days. > >I: Well, when someone comes to you to learn the tricks of photography, >what is your first question? > >Subhash: I can share my photographic skill with anyone without posing >any question before him or her. After all, I don’t believe in taking an >interview before having shared anything myself! > >I: Well, what is your opinion about the current crop of aspiring >photographers? > >Subhash: Nowadays, people are learning photography using digital >cameras. Anyone can learn photography now. Once they have the skill, >they opt to make it a means for earning livelihood. On the other hand, >quite a lot of people are passionate about photography, and some learn >it as a hobby. As for the earning potential of photography, there are so >many options in the market, and anyone can easily land with a good job... > >This happened to be our final question. We said goodbye and headed back >to the lab. > > >o%29 > >_________________________________________ >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: > > From s0metim3s at optusnet.com.au Wed Feb 8 18:42:03 2006 From: s0metim3s at optusnet.com.au (s0metim3s) Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2006 00:12:03 +1100 Subject: [Reader-list] Under the beach ... In-Reply-To: <43E9EEA2.40900@sarai.net> Message-ID: <200602081315.k18DFPs8022430@mail21.syd.optusnet.com.au> This might be of some interest, on the not-so-recent 'race riots' in Cronulla (Sydney - postcolonial, post-multicultural border policing and changing patterns of work. http://www.metamute.org/en/Under-the-Beach-the-Barbed-Wire best, Angela _______________ From aarti at sarai.net Wed Feb 8 19:53:29 2006 From: aarti at sarai.net (Aarti) Date: Wed, 08 Feb 2006 19:53:29 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Art Historian/Researcher Wanted In-Reply-To: <43E9C39B.5060701@sarai.net> References: <43E9C39B.5060701@sarai.net> Message-ID: <43E9FEE1.30308@sarai.net> Dear All, This message was sent by mistake on to the reader-list. best Aarti Aarti wrote: > > ART HISTORIAN / RESEARCHER WANTED > > A research and design firm in Cooke Town is looking for a young, > self-motivated person based in Bangalore to work as a Researcher. > The company does teaching and research in the field of history, art, > archaeology, tourism, design and other related areas. The job > includes research work, assisting in design and marketing, project > management and writing assignments, developing associations with > clients and interacting with academic and non-academic institutions. > The person should have a M.A. in Art History or Humanities and also > have good organizational and analytical skills and communication in > English and basic computer knowledge. Good writing skill is essential. > An artistic and design talent will be an added advantage. The person > should be willing to travel on work. The job has potential for > growth for an individual who is committed to their work. Please send > in your resume to the given below email id along with your writing > samples before February 28, 2006. *Jackfruit Research and Design > Pvt. Ltd.* *79 Hutchins II Cross, **St Thomas** **Town**, > **Bangalore** 560 084 * *+91 80 2580 0733 > fruit at jackfruitresearchdesign.com * * * *_ _* > > *Art, Resources & Teaching (A.R.T.)* 79, Rose Villa, 2nd Cross > Hutchins Road, St Thomas Town Bangalore 560 084 India +91 80 2580 > 0733 / arthistindia at yahoo.co.in > _________________________________________ > 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: From shveta at sarai.net Wed Feb 8 20:07:25 2006 From: shveta at sarai.net (Shveta) Date: Wed, 08 Feb 2006 20:07:25 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Letters from NM 02 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <43EA0225.4000200@sarai.net> >From the Urban Study List urbanstudygroup at sarai.net Feb 8, 2006 from: sanjays at deakin.edu.au I was interested to read about NM, since I have some familiarity with it in connection with a research project.It has an interesting history, since a key person responsible for getting people to 'settle' there was a Sakhi (and later became the pradhan), but who has since moved away. The manner in which the 'official' NM population was was determined is also significant. This was done through a 'Survey' (resisted for many years by some residents) in June-July 2005. This exercise is carried out in order to determine households who are eligible for plot allotment elsewhere, once the locality is demolished. An interesting aspect is that the Slum Wing has only recorded 2808 households in the entire area! That is, roughly, a population of 15,000-20,000). In fact, the suggestion from the Slum Wing is that this is the actual population (an underestimate, since many at the time of the survey did not have proper documentation to be counted as 'eligible household'). If there are indeed around 100,000 people there (though this figure seems on the high side), where will the rest go? Recently, NM has been visited by groups of women from re-settlement colonies such as the outlying Bawana who are keen to provide as much information as they can about the rights people have with respect to laying claim to a plot of land in a resettlement colony. (Coincidentally, just yesterday (7th) , a group from NM was plannig to visit VP Singh re. the demolitions). Since, not many know what is to become of the land (and want to know, given all the hard work they've put into converting the once fly-ash covered land into a habitable one), there was a move sometime ago to file a RTI petition. Sometime in December, all except two entrances and exits to the settlement were blocked by the PWD, and soon after a rumour gained ground that demolition notices ahd been served. This turned out to be a notice to some to remove their houses/shops from near the high-tension wires and towers that run through NM. Regards, Sanjay Srivastava CM at Nangla wrote: >Notice Board >By “Jaanu” and Lakhmi > >Signboards. Sometimes they tell the way, sometimes give unsolicited advise, >sometimes instruct how one must conduct oneself in the city, and sometimes >distract you from your path by making your attention wander. “Gas >pipeline underneath. Do not excavate.” “The name of this crossroad is >-------.” “Welcome to Delhi Railway Station.” “Get your tenant >verified before trusting him with your house.” “Punctured tyres are >repaired here.” A board amid the soft breaths of many in front of an >emergency ward, announcing, “Emergency Ward”. “Please Use Me” >written on garbage bins. And a board in my neighbourhood which gives the >impression of the presence of a property dealer in the vicinity: “Cheap >plots available here.” But to tell you the truth, there is neither any >property dealer here, nor any property! But the board remains standing in >its place. > >There is one more board that falls in the company of these boards. It's a >notice board that appears from time to time in front of colonies in the >wake of the State's “cleanliness drives”. It's a board that doesn’t >say anything of its own, but repeats the contents of the sheet that is >pasted on it. One such board stands in front of a locality in my >neighbourhood. It reads: > >“This land is the property of the government. It should be vacated. It >can be broken at any time.” > >Everyone's hair stood on end each time they saw this board. > >*** > >It was cowdust hour. Komal bhai read this board as he entered the >settlement. Image after image appeared and spoiled in his mind. Carrying >these forming, dissolving images through narrow lanes, he reached his >house. He rested his hand on the frame of the door and called out, >“Meena, open the door.” Meena recognised her husband's voice and opened >the door immediately. Komal bhai said, “Take these bananas. Where is >ammi? Has she eaten dinner?” > >Komal bhai's mother heard his voice and said, “Yes, son. Bahu fed me, and >was sitting with me when you came. Now both of you eat and then get a good >night's rest.” > >Komal bhai washed his hands and face, asked Meena for his waist cloth, >wiped his face with it and then tied it around his waist. Meena had spread >some newspaper on the bed, laid a plate with food on it, and now she sat >waiting for Komal. Komal bhai came and immediately broke a piece of bread. >Then, as he put the morsel in his mouth he said, “Meena, why don't you >eat...” > >He became quite for a while, and then said, “Meena, have you heard...?” >“Why, what happened?” she asked. >Komal bhai said, “Today as I entered the settlement, my eyes fell on a >blue board. It read, 'This land is the property of the government. Vacate >it'.” >“Are you saying you've just seen it!” Meena said. “I have known about >this for some days now. Ask ammi if you like.” >Ammi couldn't contain herself any longer and came and sat on the bed by her >son. She said, “Son, there's nothing new in this.” >“But there is, mother. I read the board today.” >“But son, that board has been there since Tuesday. Bahu pointed it out to >me. Everyone knows about it. Son, worrying will not help. Go to sleep. What >will be in the morning will be.” > >The night was pitch dark. The window of the room was open, but nothing >stirred. It was as dark inside as it was outside. Everything looked alike. >Footsteps of a drunk man began to be heard. Lost in his own world, he was >saying something. Suddenly, his voice became louder. > >“Mark my words. This settlement will get broken tomorrow, otherwise I >will change my name,” he said. >Another voice came, “I dare you to even touch this settlement!” >“Tomorrow it will be seen. Tomorrow it will be seen.” > >As soon as Meena heard these voices, she got out of her bed and said to >Komal, “This settlement will be there tomorrow.” >“You've seen a bad dream. Go to sleep.” Saying this, Komal turned over >to go back to sleep, when he heard the same voice. He raised his head and >concentrated. He heard, “This settlement will be broken tomorrow. Don't >think I am drunk. I am in my senses today.” >Komal said, “He is some mad drunkard. Don't worry Meena. Come, sleep next >to me.” > >*** > >Komal and Meena woke up together in the morning. Both listened to the >sounds coming from the window, trying to make out the time from these >sounds. But they felt disoriented. Waves of silence and restlessness seemed >to be flowing in through the window. Komal jumped out of bed, opened the >door and looked out. He stepped out, moving through the lanes, towards the >entrance to the locality. Doors to every house were open. It seemed there >were far more doors, too few walls in these lanes. > >This was the morning when the drunkard's words were going to become >reality. Police force descended on the settlement like a fog, settling over >everything, changing everything just by touching it with its long fingers. >Spotting a uniformed man, Komal walked up to him and asked, “Bhai, what >is going on here?” >The police man replied, “Why? Haven't you read the notice board?” >“No sir, I haven't.” >“Well then! Empty the colony. It will be demolished today.” >Seeing Komal talk to the police man, some people came and stood near him. >The words of the drunkard rang in their ears, as if he was mocking them, >“You thought I was drunk last night! Look, look for yourself now. Watch >the liquor from last night flow today morning. Now go and vacate your >houses. Go! All these big bosses – these policemen – they are not >standing here wasting their time!” > >Komal turned towards his settlement, looking at the narrow lane leading >into it. In all these years that it had been there, today was going to be >the first time that a vehicle other than a bicycle was going to pass >through it. This “first” vehicle was going to be a bulldozer. And once >it would pass through, there would be no scope left for any other to pass >through ever again. > > > >CM Lab, Nangla Maanchi >------------------------------------------- >Pyaason ki pyaas bujhata hai Nangla, >Dilli mein aane walon ka basera hai Nangla. >------------------------------------------- > >_________________________________________ >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: > > From mail at shivamvij.com Thu Feb 9 04:15:00 2006 From: mail at shivamvij.com (Shivam) Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2006 04:15:00 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] The Slimes of India's Patna edition reprints Danish cartoon Message-ID: <210498250602081445n510771a7y1abc175aa2856b3a@mail.gmail.com> This seems to me rather mischievious from the very start: first print them and then say sorry. What a convenient alibi, an apology. S. Muslims angry at newspaper over cartoons; editor apologises http://www.newkerala.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=3691 Patna: Muslims Monday burnt copies of the Times of India here to protest the publication of caricatures of Prophet Mohammad in the local edition of the newspaper. Hundreds of Muslims, most of them youths, shouted slogans and demanded dismissal of the editor-in-chief of the Times of India for publishing the cartoons of the prophet that were originally carried by a Danish newspaper. Raj Kumar, resident editor of the Patna edition of the Times of India, said: "We tendered an unqualified apology on Sunday to a delegation of prominent Muslims and also published an apology on the front page of the newspaper. "Our intention was not to hurt the Muslims, but to show how blasphemous cartoons were being published abroad. But we have realised this was a mistake on our part, and we are sorry for it," Raj Kumar told IANS. Some protestors threatened to block the sale of the newspaper across Bihar. "We will not allow the sale of newspapers like the Times of India unless they publicly apologise to Muslims," said Anwar Karim, a student participating in the protests. Rahmat Ansari, a government employee, said the publishing of the cartoons of Prophet Mohammad was tantamount to playing with the sentiments of millions of Muslims. The protesters said the cartoons were first published three days ago, leading to angry reactions from Muslims. "Members of the community took out a protest march and submitted a memorandum to the editor in charge of the local edition," said businessman Salamat Khan. The cartoons were originally published by the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten last September. Islam forbids the depiction of the prophet in pictures or drawings. There have been protests against the cartoons in several Muslim countries. Some Muslim nations have recalled their envoys from Copenhagen and the Scandinavian capitals. Newspapers in France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and Hungary reprinted the caricatures, saying that press freedom was more important than protests and provoking boycotts. From gmc at sonologic.nl Thu Feb 9 18:08:29 2006 From: gmc at sonologic.nl (Koen Martens) Date: Thu, 09 Feb 2006 13:38:29 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] The Slimes of India's Patna edition reprints, Danish cartoon In-Reply-To: <20060209110008.B11B428DB06@mail.sarai.net> References: <20060209110008.B11B428DB06@mail.sarai.net> Message-ID: <43EB37C5.7080808@sonologic.nl> Frankly, the way the muslim extremists worry about a few pitiful cartoons is beyond me. Get over it already. I find what muslim countries do to gay people and people that are critical about islam much more worrying than what a previously unknown right-wing Danish newspaper publishes. They are murdered in the name of allah, now try to defend that and see who smears the name of the profet more. When islam becomes equivalent to murder in the eyes of many, shouldn't someone stop and ask 'hey where do they get the idea'? What's more, if i understand correctly there are only a few hundred of those extremists world wide that go and burn ambassies, so i don't see why the media must make such a fuss about it.. Extremists will always do stupid things, making it into a media circus only validates it in their eyes. Besides, wasn't the whole point that the riots are instigated by arab religious leaders that want to shun away attention from other matters? Now, if this list is a get-together of muslim extremists, please tell me so i will unsubscribe. I saw some posts here which made me frown already, but i refrained from replying, but seriously, if there are any muslim extremists here please let me know, i want nothing to do with them. Best, Koen reader-list-request at sarai.net wrote: > Subject: [Reader-list] The Slimes of India's Patna edition reprints > Danish cartoon > > This seems to me rather mischievious from the very start: first print > them and then say sorry. What a convenient alibi, an apology. > S. > > > > Muslims angry at newspaper over cartoons; editor apologises > > http://www.newkerala.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=3691 -- K.F.J. Martens, Sonologic, http://www.sonologic.nl/ Networking, hosting, embedded systems, unix, artificial intelligence. Public PGP key: http://www.metro.cx/pubkey-gmc.asc Wondering about the funny attachment your mail program can't read? Visit http://www.openpgp.org/ From aarti at sarai.net Thu Feb 9 18:37:52 2006 From: aarti at sarai.net (Aarti) Date: Thu, 09 Feb 2006 18:37:52 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] The Slimes of India's Patna edition reprints, Danish cartoon In-Reply-To: <43EB37C5.7080808@sonologic.nl> References: <20060209110008.B11B428DB06@mail.sarai.net> <43EB37C5.7080808@sonologic.nl> Message-ID: <43EB3EA8.1010608@sarai.net> Dear Koen, If the presence of extremists is your criteria of belonging or not to a list, I would suggest you unsubscribe immediately. I am extremist about the colour purple. I insist everyone who hates purple be extinguished immediately. Long Live Jamuni! best Aarti Koen Martens wrote: >Frankly, the way the muslim extremists worry about a few pitiful >cartoons is beyond me. Get over it already. > >I find what muslim countries do to gay people and people that are >critical about islam much more worrying than what a previously >unknown right-wing Danish newspaper publishes. They are murdered in >the name of allah, now try to defend that and see who smears the >name of the profet more. When islam becomes equivalent to murder in >the eyes of many, shouldn't someone stop and ask 'hey where do they >get the idea'? > >What's more, if i understand correctly there are only a few hundred >of those extremists world wide that go and burn ambassies, so i >don't see why the media must make such a fuss about it.. Extremists >will always do stupid things, making it into a media circus only >validates it in their eyes. > >Besides, wasn't the whole point that the riots are instigated by >arab religious leaders that want to shun away attention from other >matters? > >Now, if this list is a get-together of muslim extremists, please >tell me so i will unsubscribe. I saw some posts here which made me >frown already, but i refrained from replying, but seriously, if >there are any muslim extremists here please let me know, i want >nothing to do with them. > >Best, > >Koen > >reader-list-request at sarai.net wrote: > > >>Subject: [Reader-list] The Slimes of India's Patna edition reprints >> Danish cartoon >> >>This seems to me rather mischievious from the very start: first print >>them and then say sorry. What a convenient alibi, an apology. >>S. >> >> >> >>Muslims angry at newspaper over cartoons; editor apologises >> >>http://www.newkerala.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=3691 >> >> > > > > From crd at fondation-langlois.org Thu Feb 9 20:45:31 2006 From: crd at fondation-langlois.org (CRD) Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2006 10:15:31 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] News from the Daniel Langlois Foundation Message-ID: <641A525B0A2A2540B1DD0A3DE660241C01E15993@exchange.terra-incognita.net> The Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science and Technology Sylvie Lacerte, Accredited Researcher 2005 The Foundation is pleased to announce the publication on its Web site of the text 9 Evenings and Experiments in Art and Technology: a gap to fill in art history's recent chronicles, by Sylvie Lacerte. In Spring 2005, Ms. Lacerte was an accredited researcher with the Foundation, where she prepared a paper that she delivered at REFRESH! The First International Conference on the Histories of Media Art, Science and Technology, held at the Banff New Media Institute from September 28 to October 3, 2005. Following her in-depth research into the many activities conducted by EAT to support artists in their experiments with technology in the 1960's and 1970's, Ms. Lacerte asks why the chronicles of this groundbreaking organisation have been largely overlooked by the majority of works that examine art history of the past four decades. In her text, she offers a few hypothesis to help explain this mystery: http://www.fondation-langlois.org/flash/e/index.php?NumPage=1716 DOCAM: Documentation and Conservation of the Media Arts Heritage The DOCAM research Alliance announces the launch of its new Web site http://www.docam.ca/ Initiated by the Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science, and Technology, DOCAM's primary objective is to develop new methodologies and tools to address the issues of preserving and documenting technological and electronic works of art. The DOCAM Web site allows visitors to explore the research alliance's key areas of focus: - The conservation of works of art featuring technological components - Documentation strategies and structures adapted to these works of art - A typology and historical listing of the technologies deployed by the artists - Catalogue structures and methods for works featuring technological components - Terminological tools and structures for the electronic arts The DOCAM Web site also offers a list of related research committees and their members, information on DOCAM events, and electronic and media art conservation and documentation resource directories. Research reports and articles on case studies conducted by DOCAM will also be added regularly to the site. And finally, a thematic scan of the key research areas targeted by DOCAM is accessible from the site. Daniel Provost Agent de recherche / Research agent la fondation Daniel Langlois pour l'art, la science et la technologie t: (514) 987-7177 (4201) f: (514) 987-7492 dprovost at fondation-langlois.org www.fondation-langlois.org From nr03 at fsu.edu Thu Feb 9 20:49:24 2006 From: nr03 at fsu.edu (Nicholas Ruiz) Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2006 10:19:24 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Kritikos V.3, February 2006 Message-ID: <4obu83$1q1lnnq@mxip06a.cluster1.charter.net> Kritikos V.3, February 2006 Looking to the Left: Politics in the Art of Barbara Kruger and Jenny Holzer...(j.drozdek) http://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/%7Enr03/drozdek.htm Scarring the New Flesh: Time Passing in the Simulacrum of Videodrome...(j.sperb) http://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/%7Enr03/sperb2006.htm "My" vs. "Architect"-- On My Architect: A Son's Journey...(t.botz-bornstein) http://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/%7Enr03/my%20vs%20architect.htm Nicholas Ruiz III ABD/GTA Interdisciplinary Program in the Humanities Florida State University Editor, Kritikos http://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/~nr03 From mail at yazadjal.com Thu Feb 9 20:55:32 2006 From: mail at yazadjal.com (Yazad Jal) Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2006 20:55:32 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] The Slimes of India's Patna edition reprints, Danishcartoon References: <20060209110008.B11B428DB06@mail.sarai.net><43EB37C5.7080808@sonologic.nl> <43EB3EA8.1010608@sarai.net> Message-ID: <055501c62d8e$5e39cc90$26d558ca@ceo> Koen makes interesting points which need to be examined carefully. I applaud your forthrightness! Just a thought: how "free" is free speech if we're to be careful of people's "sentiments"? -yazad ----- Original Message ----- From: "Aarti" To: "Koen Martens" Cc: Sent: Thursday, February 09, 2006 6:37 PM Subject: Re: [Reader-list] The Slimes of India's Patna edition reprints, Danishcartoon > Dear Koen, > > If the presence of extremists is your criteria of belonging or not to a > list, I would suggest you unsubscribe immediately. I am extremist about > the colour purple. I insist everyone who hates purple be extinguished > immediately. > > Long Live Jamuni! > > best > Aarti > > Koen Martens wrote: > >>Frankly, the way the muslim extremists worry about a few pitiful >>cartoons is beyond me. Get over it already. >> >>I find what muslim countries do to gay people and people that are >>critical about islam much more worrying than what a previously >>unknown right-wing Danish newspaper publishes. They are murdered in >>the name of allah, now try to defend that and see who smears the >>name of the profet more. When islam becomes equivalent to murder in >>the eyes of many, shouldn't someone stop and ask 'hey where do they >>get the idea'? >> >>What's more, if i understand correctly there are only a few hundred >>of those extremists world wide that go and burn ambassies, so i >>don't see why the media must make such a fuss about it.. Extremists >>will always do stupid things, making it into a media circus only >>validates it in their eyes. >> >>Besides, wasn't the whole point that the riots are instigated by >>arab religious leaders that want to shun away attention from other >>matters? >> >>Now, if this list is a get-together of muslim extremists, please >>tell me so i will unsubscribe. I saw some posts here which made me >>frown already, but i refrained from replying, but seriously, if >>there are any muslim extremists here please let me know, i want >>nothing to do with them. >> >>Best, >> >>Koen >> >>reader-list-request at sarai.net wrote: >> >>>Subject: [Reader-list] The Slimes of India's Patna edition reprints >>> Danish cartoon >>> >>>This seems to me rather mischievious from the very start: first print >>>them and then say sorry. What a convenient alibi, an apology. >>>S. >>> >>> >>> >>>Muslims angry at newspaper over cartoons; editor apologises >>> >>>http://www.newkerala.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=3691 >>> >> >> >> > > _________________________________________ > 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: > > > From jason.wilson at luton.ac.uk Wed Feb 8 17:40:54 2006 From: jason.wilson at luton.ac.uk (Jason Wilson) Date: Wed, 8 Feb 2006 12:10:54 +0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Media in the expanded Europe -- Final Call Message-ID: <4B3720CB-20F9-4930-8BBA-2E3C30BA4837@luton.ac.uk> Dear Reader List See final CFP for a major international conference on European media below, and see the list of accepted abstracts at http:// www.luton.ac.uk/research/rimad/conference/ (apologies for x-posting) MEDIA IN THE ENLARGED EUROPE UNIVERSITY OF LUTON LUTON, UK 5TH-6TH MAY, 2006 CALL FOR PAPERS Spring 2006 will mark the second anniversary of the European Union's latest, greatest enlargement. With a host of further countries lining up to join the EU, there is a need for critical debate and reflection upon the cultural industries, policies and identities of an enlarged Europe, a transnational bloc in which local, regional and global interests cooperate and compete, and in which diverse nations and cultures are discovering the costs and benefits of Continental partnership. The Research Institute of Media, Art and Design at the University of Luton invites papers, presentations and artworks that offer original perspectives on Europe's changing mediascapes. Topics may include: European markets and audiences European media policy Media politics: Neoliberalism, the Third Way & the European Social Model European media industries Competition within & beyond Europe Images of the "new" Europe: national & regional representations Ideologies of Europe & Europeanness: Europe vs. the EU? European media value chains European distribution networks Representations of non-European ethnicities within the EU European English and the languages of media texts European media studies; European media pedagogy Christian Europe?: religious identities in the European media Cinema, television, music, art & literature: Europe, America & the rest of the world Screenings, readings, exhibitions & performances of new creative & documentary works We anticipate presentations which embrace a wide range of approaches and methodologies: from media economics and policy studies to textual analyses and new cinematic works. We are particularly keen to welcome presentations whose focus is on the EU's new and prospective member states and their early experiences of EU membership. An international selection of papers will be included in the conference proceedings. Proposals Proposals should be abstracts of no more than 500 words plus bio, and should arrive by 14th February, 2006. These and all other queries should be directed to Jason Wilson jason.wilson at luton.ac.uk. Alec Charles alec.charles at luton.ac.uk T +44 (0)1582489144. M +44 (0)7886508141 . Research Institute for Media, Art and Design University of Luton Park Square Luton UK LU1 3JU The registration fee for this two-day conference is £40. The concession fee (including for members of Mediacentric) is £20. There is no registration fee for conference speakers, or for staff and students of the University of Luton or our partner colleges. Delegates to the conference are eligible for a special discounted rate (single room: £55.00 per night; double room: £75 per night) at the Thistle Hotel in Luton. To book, please contact Jacquie Hammond on (+44) 1582 444662, e-mail: reservations.luton at thistle.co.uk. See you in May! Jason Wilson School of Media, Art and Design University of Luton Park Square Luton Bedfordshire LU1 3JU United Kingdom T +44 (0)1582 489114 F +44 (0)1582 489212 M 07886508141 jason.wilson at luton.ac.uk -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060208/e7e34cb7/attachment.html From joeathialy at gmail.com Thu Feb 9 14:10:39 2006 From: joeathialy at gmail.com (Joe Athialy) Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2006 14:10:39 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Re: Muhammad Cartoons In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <46e8466b0602090040p18266a70g@mail.gmail.com> Amnesty International India C 161, 4th Floor, Hemkunt House, Gautam Nagar, (Behind Indian Oil Building) New Delhi - 110 049 Phone: 91--11--51642501 / 26854763 Telefax: 91--11--26510202 --------------------------------- Public Statement | 8 February 2006 Freedom of speech carries responsibilities for all Events of recent weeks have highlighted the difficult question of what should be the legitimate scope of freedom of expression in culturally diverse societies. While different societies have drawn the boundaries of free speech in different ways, the cartoon controversy shows how, in today's increasingly global media space, the impact of actions in one country can be felt way beyond its borders. Today, more than ever, societies are faced with the challenge of asserting universal human rights principles in an area where there has traditionally been a tendency to defer to the domestic laws of a particular state and the values they enshrine. Set against the backdrop of the rising climate of intolerance and suspicion between religious and other communities in many parts of the world, including in Europe, two conflicting sets of principles are being advanced in this controversy. Newspaper editors have justified the publication of cartoons that many Muslims have regarded as insulting, arguing that freedom of artistic expression and critique of opinions and beliefs are essential in a pluralist and democratic society. On the other hand, Muslims in numerous countries have found the cartoons to be deeply offensive to their religious beliefs and an abuse of freedom of speech. In a number of cases, protests against the cartoons have degenerated into acts of physical violence, while public statements by some protestors and community leaders have been seen as fanning the flames of hostility and violence. The right to freedom of opinion and expression should be one of the cornerstones of any society. This right includes "the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media, regardless of frontiers" (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19). For more than forty years, Amnesty International (AI) has defended this right against attempts by governments across the globe to stifle religious dissent, political opposition and artistic creativity. However, the right to freedom of expression is not absolute -- neither for the creators of material nor their critics. It carries responsibilities and it may, therefore, be subject to restrictions in the name of safeguarding the rights of others. In particular, any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence cannot be considered legitimate exercise of freedom of expression. Under international standards, such "hate speech" should be prohibited by law. AI calls on the government officials and those responsible for law enforcement and the administration of justice to be guided by these human rights principles in their handling of the current situation. AI also calls on those working in the media to act with sensitivity and responsibility so as not to exacerbate the current situation. This incident highlights the power and reach of the media and AI calls on those in the media to apply greater political judgement, taking into account the potential impact of their output and the range of often competing human rights considerations involved. While AI recognises the right of anyone to peacefully express their opinion, including through peaceful protests, the use and threat of violence is unacceptable. Community leaders must do everything in their power to defuse the current atmosphere of hostility and violence. Culture and religion are of central importance to many people's lives, but they cannot be used as an excuse to abuse human rights. //end// -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060209/dc2e81c2/attachment.html From mallroad at gmail.com Wed Feb 8 17:15:00 2006 From: mallroad at gmail.com (Shivam Vij) Date: Wed, 8 Feb 2006 17:15:00 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] ToI Patna reprints Danish cartoon; apology is such a convenient alibi Message-ID: <210498250602080345v195b5e3do13a66d04a6cb70a3@mail.gmail.com> Muslims angry at newspaper over cartoons; editor apologises http://www.newkerala.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=3691 Patna: Muslims Monday burnt copies of the Times of India here to protest the publication of caricatures of Prophet Mohammad in the local edition of the newspaper. Hundreds of Muslims, most of them youths, shouted slogans and demanded dismissal of the editor-in-chief of the Times of India for publishing the cartoons of the prophet that were originally carried by a Danish newspaper. Raj Kumar, resident editor of the Patna edition of the Times of India, said: "We tendered an unqualified apology on Sunday to a delegation of prominent Muslims and also published an apology on the front page of the newspaper. "Our intention was not to hurt the Muslims, but to show how blasphemous cartoons were being published abroad. But we have realised this was a mistake on our part, and we are sorry for it," Raj Kumar told IANS. Some protestors threatened to block the sale of the newspaper across Bihar. "We will not allow the sale of newspapers like the Times of India unless they publicly apologise to Muslims," said Anwar Karim, a student participating in the protests. Rahmat Ansari, a government employee, said the publishing of the cartoons of Prophet Mohammad was tantamount to playing with the sentiments of millions of Muslims. The protesters said the cartoons were first published three days ago, leading to angry reactions from Muslims. "Members of the community took out a protest march and submitted a memorandum to the editor in charge of the local edition," said businessman Salamat Khan. The cartoons were originally published by the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten last September. Islam forbids the depiction of the prophet in pictures or drawings. There have been protests against the cartoons in several Muslim countries. Some Muslim nations have recalled their envoys from Copenhagen and the Scandinavian capitals. Newspapers in France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and Hungary reprinted the caricatures, saying that press freedom was more important than protests and provoking boycotts. From reyhanchaudhuri at eth.net Thu Feb 9 20:39:27 2006 From: reyhanchaudhuri at eth.net (reyhan chaudhuri) Date: Thu, 09 Feb 2006 20:39:27 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] "Cawnpore" First Posting References: <20060125080935.30010.qmail@webmail8.rediffmail.com> Message-ID: <001801c62d8a$d5877940$caed41db@ReyhanChaudhuri> Dear Ms.Maitrey, I didn't know Cawnpore was about textile mills.I thought it was the shoe industry.What happened to the mass production of shoes and the 'shoe makers"?Have they all gone to Agra? Yours Sincerely, R.Chaudhuri ----- Original Message ----- From: Maitrey Bajpai To: reader-list at sarai.net Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2006 1:39 PM Subject: [Reader-list] "Cawnpore" First Posting Hi! all, (Joining the late postings club) apologies! I am Maitrey Bajpai, one of the Sarai fellows this year, honored to be amongst great minds. Who am I? Ok. No PhD's or degree's in sociology. A plain commerce graduate. Like most of us,I was a just an average film buff, until I took my fascination a step forward and decided to learn filmmaking, so I packed my bags and came to Mumbai. After spending most of my childhood in a boarding school, when I returned to my hometown of "Cawnpore", I noticed that these big red-brick 'gothic' structures (Textile Mills) which were once backbone of city's economy are on a verge of collapse. Orders for closure Mills had already passed. The immature filmmaker in me got exited and wanted to use this as a first film platform. Well it had all the ingredients. There was downfall of industrial economy; there was a worker and owner conflict, politics, government involvement, hugely affected population, question about employment. As I started analyzing it and developed a sensitive approach, I saw the closure had led to a complete change in the socio-economic ethos of the city. Also there was history, of Mills, of people working in it, of families who had suffered the burnt of closure, and history of my family, what?? . Yup! My family was involved in the trade of cloth since 1907. My father was the last generation to run the family business, but we, my brother and I chose to opt for other avenues. More than anything else there were emotions, sufferings; a sense of failure, a feeling of being incapable to change with the times...it was about death of an industrial city. A story that needed to be told. Woof! I know it was pretty exhausting, but think of a young (I am turning 23 this Feb) wannabe filmmaker, it was pretty exiting. One of the questions that instantly pop's up is "what's new about this" ... this has happened in Mumbai, Ahemdabad and a whole lot of other cities around the world. That's right it seems to have happened everywhere, and why not, change is inevitable. To me primary difference between any other city and "Cawnpore" is that, it is about my own city. The other difference is that most of other cities have been able to catch up with the times, say for Mumbai, it did not have time even to think about the change, it just changed. May be "Cawnpore" would also catch up with 'globalization' but that answer awaits in future's womb. My project for Sarai is titled "Cawnpore" For those who don't have a clue what "Cawnpore" is, a brief history: "Kanhpur" a simple insignificant village in central Uttar Pradesh, passed into British hands under the treaty of 1801 with Nawab of 'Oudh'. Soon 'Kanhpur' became an important military center for 'East India Co.'. On March 24th 1803 'Kanhpur' along with its neighboring villages was declared a District. They pronounced it "Cawnpore". With the establishment of Railways in 1859, city developed into an economic center with textile mills at its center. The process of development continued, by 1920's city had seven big mills. Due to this industrial development Cawnpore was termed as "Manchester of the East". On 15th August 1947 India got its independence and so did the city of "Cawnpore". The city which was nurtured by the colonial rulers came to its end and changed to "Kanpur". The question that's tickling your mind is why "Cawnpore", why not simply Kanpur? Well I have two reasons for it (1)because that's the 'word' with which a cluster of villages was registered as a District and (2) that's the city which has died, Kanpur is still very much alive. THE MILL CLOSURE: Signs of decay were clear as early as in the '70s. In 1975, J.K. Manufacturers, a Singhania group company, was closed down. One of the reasons cited was the over involvement of trade unions. But as many as 1,500 workers lost their jobs. Increasing number of strikes and lowering profit margins gave an opportunity to the Mill owners to shift to other sectors, which had better returns. After their closure, Government nationalized these sick units under National Textile Corporation (NTC) and British India Corporation (BIC) to save the poor from unemployment. In the days of socialist planning (before 1991), the mills were kept on costly life support machines by the government. But no money was invested to modernize them. Decrepit and hopelessly uncompetitive, the mills were killed off by the market forces unleashed by 90's liberalization drive. Machines that stopped working cobwebbed doors of factories, depressing tales of unemployment and hunger and faces which forgot how to smile long ago. Once hailed by India's British colonial rulers as "Manchester of the East", this dilapidated city is nothing but shadow of its former industrial glory. Now they call it an "Industrial Graveyard". Families like mine along with mill workers failed the test of time; it was our lack of ability to switch gears when it was required the most. On the path of development, when an Economy shifts gears from 'Manufacturing oriented to Service sector' there is a large chunk of population that is unable to change itself. The affect of closure of the mills is across all layers of society. Closure of textile mills not only left the working class of the city jobless, but also ruled out any possibility of emergence of lower middle class in the city. In a city where machines roared day in and day out, chimneys never went cold, cycles filled the roads like anything, today there is calm. There is something uneasy about this calm. Nobody talks about the mills anymore. On the foot hold of changing times, probably, it's time to talk about the mills. During the course of this research I wish to... Study the history of 'Cawnpore', its existence, impact of the British Colonial rule and the development of cotton industry, evolution of the city and different economic scenarios that would help understand city's relationship with the Textile mills and people who were integral part of the change. Understanding the various socio-political reasons for the closure of textile industry in "Cawnpore" will help calculate the affect of damage. Interactions with workers and business families and an account their emotional experiences is the most important part of the research. An insight into my family history, which is in a way symbolic of the city, will help me draw parallels between city, mills and different periods in history. As this research is geared towards a documentary film, I hope this journey would help me weave various facets of my subject as I will try to comprehend history of "Cawnpore" city and its mills through the stories that its people have to tell. Queries, suggestions and comments are welcome. Peace, Maitrey Bajpai ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _________________________________________ 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: -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060209/2a874289/attachment.html From sunil at mahiti.org Thu Feb 9 08:09:00 2006 From: sunil at mahiti.org (sunil at mahiti.org) Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2006 09:39:00 +0700 (ICT) Subject: [Reader-list] (no subject) Message-ID: <20060209023900.78AEE6229@hercules.apdip.net> Asia Commons: Asian Conference on the Digital Commons Subject: Asia Commons: Asian Conference on the Digital Commons- 18-20 April 2006- Bangkok,Thailand To: reader-list at mail.sarai.net From: Sunil Abraham Date: Thu, 09 Feb 2006 08:11:54 +0530 April 18-20, 2006 Bangkok, Thailand http://www.asia-commons.net During the last 20 years or so, the level, scope, territorial extent, and role of copyrights and patents have expanded into new sectors. There has been much discussion and debate on the impact of copyrights and patents at a micro level of economic activity while at a macro level, policy dialogue in several international fora, not least of which is WIPO, has been addressing barriers posed by copyrights and patents. Asia Commons: Asian Conference on the Digital Commons invites researchers working in the area of copyrights and patents, promoters of collaborative models, development practitioners engaged in collaborative content creation and dissemination and custodians of public information to go beyond the current dialogue and debate to explore key issues and ideas related to access to knowledge and culture in Asia. Participants are invited to explore key themes and questions related to the Asian Commons: * What is the relationship between infrastructure and copyrights on access to culture and knowledge? * How do software and business process patents affect innovation? * What are the impacts of patents on software innovations in Asia? * What are the emerging Open Business Models for content production in Asia? * Given existing legal, cultural and infrastructural environments both within and outside of Asia, how can we contribute to increasing access to knowledge and culture through an Asia Commons? While we will be inviting a number of speakers who are seen as thought-leaders in the field of Access to Knowledge and Culture, we will also look to innovative approaches to ensure a high degree of interaction among participants in spaces and sessions which are designed to maximize the exchange of experiences and ideas. Conference Fees, Registration, and Scholarships: There are no fees for participation in the conference which is supported through funding made available by the International Development Research Centre's (IDRC's) Pan Asia Program (http://www.idrc.ca/panasia). If you are interested in participating, please register online at http://www.asia-commons.net/conf_registration/add or email registration at asia-commons.net to receive a registration form which can be submitted through email. Please register before March 8, 2006. Thanks to the generous support of IDRC's Pan Asia (http://www.idrc.ca/panasia) and UNDP APDIP's IOSN (http://www.iosn.net) there are also a number of scholarships available for participants in need of financial support. Please visit http://www.asia-commons.net/participate for more information. Can't Join Us? For those unable to join us physically during the event, we invite you to participate through the participants discussion list and visit http://www.asia-commons.net for outputs during the conference itself. To subscribe to the participants discussion list, send an email to participants-request at asia-commons.net with the word subscribe in the subject. A special issue of i4d Magazine (http://www.i4donline.net) will be produced in June 2006 based on the conference and its themes. We look forward to seeing you at Asia Commons. Your Organising Committee: - Shikha Shrestha, Bellanet Asia (in partnership with SAP International) (http://www.sapint.org) - Sarah Kerr, Bellanet International Secretariat (http://www.bellanet.org) - Jaya Chittoor, Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (http://www.csdms.in) - Sunil Abraham, UNDP APDIP's International Open Source Network (http://www.iosn.net) From lawrence at altlawforum.org Fri Feb 10 09:52:58 2006 From: lawrence at altlawforum.org (Lawrence Liang) Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 09:52:58 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] The Slimes of India's Patna edition reprints, Danish cartoon In-Reply-To: <43EB37C5.7080808@sonologic.nl> Message-ID: Aarti I don't think we should trivialize Koen's serious request, especially since he has added "but seriously" in his message, which of course adds immense gravitas to the message. Unfortunately when signing up for the list I didn't see any of the categories which might have been useful for us to provide Koen the information he is looking for (Are You a Muslim extremist-Yes/No/Maybe/Only on Tuesdays/No I am a postmodernist) Lawrence On 2/9/06 6:08 PM, "Koen Martens" wrote: > Now, if this list is a get-together of muslim extremists, please > tell me so i will unsubscribe. I saw some posts here which made me > frown already, but i refrained from replying, but seriously, if > there are any muslim extremists here please let me know, i want > nothing to do with them. From gmc at sonologic.nl Fri Feb 10 13:10:35 2006 From: gmc at sonologic.nl (Koen Martens) Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 08:40:35 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] The Slimes of India's Patna edition reprints, Danish cartoon In-Reply-To: <04ff01c62d8a$fe7d5040$26d558ca@ceo> References: <20060209110008.B11B428DB06@mail.sarai.net> <43EB37C5.7080808@sonologic.nl> <04ff01c62d8a$fe7d5040$26d558ca@ceo> Message-ID: <43EC4373.8080602@sonologic.nl> Yazad Jal wrote: > Koen makes interesting points which need to be examined carefully. I > applaud your forthrightness! > > Just a thought: how "free" is free speech if we're to be careful of > people's "sentiments"? I've been pondering on this a while now. A lot of people i talk with about this seem to have the opinion that free speech ends where you hurt someone or don't respect someone. If this is the argument, there is no speech at all, because i think about anything one can say will hurt someone. Others suggest setting forth some guidelines about what can and can't be said. This reeks of censorship to me, even if it isn't the government setting up the guidelines/list. Also, making some things unspeakable is not healthy I think. For the individual, suppressing certain things will lead to psychological problems (eg. if one is quiting with smoking, supressing the thought of smoking will only make it more difficult). I strongly believe this scales to society too, if a society wishes to supress certain 'memes', the result will be unhealty. Koen -- K.F.J. Martens, Sonologic, http://www.sonologic.nl/ Networking, hosting, embedded systems, unix, artificial intelligence. Public PGP key: http://www.metro.cx/pubkey-gmc.asc Wondering about the funny attachment your mail program can't read? Visit http://www.openpgp.org/ From aarti at sarai.net Wed Feb 8 15:41:32 2006 From: aarti at sarai.net (Aarti) Date: Wed, 08 Feb 2006 15:41:32 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] [Fwd: Invitation to Public Lecture by P Sainath] Message-ID: <43E9C3D4.5040204@sarai.net> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Invitation to Public Lecture by P Sainath Date: Wed, 8 Feb 2006 13:02:20 +0530 From: INSAF Reply-To: INSAF To: _INVITATION_ __ _ _*Mass Reality Vs. Mass Media* *Rural Distress and the Challenge before Journalism* We cordially invite you on the occasion of *A talk on the agrarian crisis by* *P. Sainath* Rural Affairs Editor, The Hindu Chair: *Shri V P Singh, Former Prime Minister of India* Date: February 17, 2006 Time: 5.30 PM Venue: Main Auditorium, Rajendra Bhavan 210, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg (Opp. Gandhi Peace Foundation, Near ITO) New Delhi-110002 /Organised by:/// **PEACE and INSAF** F-93, Katwaria Sarai, New Delhi-110017 Phone: 011-26858940, 55663958, Telefax: 26968121 E-mail: peaceact at vsnl.com , insaf at vsnl.com Web: www.insafindia.org _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From aarti at sarai.net Thu Feb 9 17:08:00 2006 From: aarti at sarai.net (Aarti) Date: Thu, 09 Feb 2006 17:08:00 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Bare Acts: Book-discussion @ U-Special Message-ID: <43EB2998.60204@sarai.net> *Sarai Reader 05: Bare Acts @ U-Special* Sarai-CSDS and the U-Special Bookstore invite you to a conversation on acts, legality, illegality, society, culture February 14, 2006, 2:30 P.M. ”...a relentless questioning of notions of borders, ownership, legibility and propriety...” The Idea of Illegality Economic and Political Weekly, November 2005 Bare Acts @ U Special features a panel of writers of Reader 05: *Tripta Wahi, A Bimol Akoijam, Anand Taneja, Taha Mahmood* in conversation with Sonalini Kumar (Faculty, Department of Political Science, Lady Sri Ram College), Aarti Sethi and Shuddhabrata Sengupta (Sarai-CSDS) All are invited! Reading Room, U-Special Bookstore University Students Center opp. Faculty of Arts Delhi University _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From arisen.silently at gmail.com Thu Feb 9 23:15:01 2006 From: arisen.silently at gmail.com (arisen silently) Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2006 17:45:01 +0000 Subject: [Reader-list] The Slimes of India's Patna edition reprints, Danishcartoon In-Reply-To: <1925b33d0602090809w3a3ffb0cva679068eea1e94a8@mail.gmail.com> References: <20060209110008.B11B428DB06@mail.sarai.net> <43EB37C5.7080808@sonologic.nl> <43EB3EA8.1010608@sarai.net> <055501c62d8e$5e39cc90$26d558ca@ceo> <1925b33d0602090809w3a3ffb0cva679068eea1e94a8@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <1925b33d0602090945g1e7ab623kfb3fba7cfda6ef73@mail.gmail.com> Just a thought: how "free" is free speech if we're to be careful of people's "sentiments"? -yazad I found myself having the same debate last night in a bar. The question I suppose reverts to an understanding of freedom and what we mean by it. I found myself wondering if there was a fundamental difference between speech and action when it results in hurting people's sentiments or their state of being? thoughts? txx ----- Original Message ----- From: "Aarti" To: "Koen Martens" Cc: Sent: Thursday, February 09, 2006 6:37 PM Subject: Re: [Reader-list] The Slimes of India's Patna edition reprints, Danishcartoon > Dear Koen, > > If the presence of extremists is your criteria of belonging or not to a > list, I would suggest you unsubscribe immediately. I am extremist about > the colour purple. I insist everyone who hates purple be extinguished > immediately. > > Long Live Jamuni! > > best > Aarti > > Koen Martens wrote: > >>Frankly, the way the muslim extremists worry about a few pitiful >>cartoons is beyond me. Get over it already. >> >>I find what muslim countries do to gay people and people that are >>critical about islam much more worrying than what a previously >>unknown right-wing Danish newspaper publishes. They are murdered in >>the name of allah, now try to defend that and see who smears the >>name of the profet more. When islam becomes equivalent to murder in >>the eyes of many, shouldn't someone stop and ask 'hey where do they >>get the idea'? >> >>What's more, if i understand correctly there are only a few hundred >>of those extremists world wide that go and burn ambassies, so i >>don't see why the media must make such a fuss about it.. Extremists >>will always do stupid things, making it into a media circus only >>validates it in their eyes. >> >>Besides, wasn't the whole point that the riots are instigated by >>arab religious leaders that want to shun away attention from other >>matters? >> >>Now, if this list is a get-together of muslim extremists, please >>tell me so i will unsubscribe. I saw some posts here which made me >>frown already, but i refrained from replying, but seriously, if >>there are any muslim extremists here please let me know, i want >>nothing to do with them. >> >>Best, >> >>Koen >> >> reader-list-request at sarai.net wrote: >> >>>Subject: [Reader-list] The Slimes of India's Patna edition reprints >>> Danish cartoon >>> >>>This seems to me rather mischievious from the very start: first print >>>them and then say sorry. What a convenient alibi, an apology. >>>S. >>> >>> >>> >>>Muslims angry at newspaper over cartoons; editor apologises >>> >>>http://www.newkerala.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=3691 >>> >> >> >> > > _________________________________________ > 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: > > > _________________________________________ 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: -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060209/45feb9ad/attachment.html From Lena.Jayyusi at zu.ac.ae Fri Feb 10 14:40:04 2006 From: Lena.Jayyusi at zu.ac.ae (Lena Jayyusi) Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 13:10:04 +0400 Subject: =?ISO-8859-6?Q?=D1=CF:=20Re:=20[Reader-list]=20The=20Slimes=20of?= =?ISO-8859-6?Q?=20India's=20Patna=20edition=20reprints, =20Danish=20carto?= =?ISO-8859-6?Q?on?= Message-ID: The problem with this, of course, is that it treats 'speech' merely as 'words' that 'express' opinions. The performative dimension of speech (which the ordinary language philosphers did so much to elucidate) is entirely missed. And if so, then we have a problem understanding 'courses of action' in the world, where speech acts (talk and consequence; utterance and performance) produce constellations of events with real consequences for others over time . What do we say of speech that creates an atmosphere for war against others, for example? If I may so say, Koens original posting strikes me as contradictory in this respect (as in several other respects also): did it not object to 'muslim extremists' expressing their opinion on the list? Lena Jayyusi >>> Koen Martens 02/10/06 11:40 ص >>> Yazad Jal wrote: > Koen makes interesting points which need to be examined carefully. I > applaud your forthrightness! > > Just a thought: how "free" is free speech if we're to be careful of > people's "sentiments"? I've been pondering on this a while now. A lot of people i talk with about this seem to have the opinion that free speech ends where you hurt someone or don't respect someone. If this is the argument, there is no speech at all, because i think about anything one can say will hurt someone. Others suggest setting forth some guidelines about what can and can't be said. This reeks of censorship to me, even if it isn't the government setting up the guidelines/list. Also, making some things unspeakable is not healthy I think. For the individual, suppressing certain things will lead to psychological problems (eg. if one is quiting with smoking, supressing the thought of smoking will only make it more difficult). I strongly believe this scales to society too, if a society wishes to supress certain 'memes', the result will be unhealty. Koen -- K.F.J. Martens, Sonologic, http://www.sonologic.nl/ Networking, hosting, embedded systems, unix, artificial intelligence. Public PGP key: http://www.metro.cx/pubkey-gmc.asc Wondering about the funny attachment your mail program can't read? Visit http://www.openpgp.org/ _________________________________________ 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: From aarti at sarai.net Fri Feb 10 14:58:41 2006 From: aarti at sarai.net (Aarti) Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 14:58:41 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] The Slimes of India's Patna edition reprints, Danishcartoon In-Reply-To: <1925b33d0602090945g1e7ab623kfb3fba7cfda6ef73@mail.gmail.com> References: <20060209110008.B11B428DB06@mail.sarai.net> <43EB37C5.7080808@sonologic.nl> <43EB3EA8.1010608@sarai.net> <055501c62d8e$5e39cc90$26d558ca@ceo> <1925b33d0602090809w3a3ffb0cva679068eea1e94a8@mail.gmail.com> <1925b33d0602090945g1e7ab623kfb3fba7cfda6ef73@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <43EC5CC9.7000207@sarai.net> Dear All, Interesting debate on. On the question of speech and action and therefore free speech: I think it is important to make a distiction between the two. Just as law distinguihes between the intent to act, mens rea and actus reus, to act, and only legislates the latter, it is not desirable, in my opinion, to curb speech acts, whatever their content, unless and only when speech acts can be directly linkled to acts of vioelnce/harm. So therefore to return to the old old debate "should racists be given a platform" I say yes because this is a freedom of speech issue and the freedom of speech should be limitless. However if a particular staement or set of staments can be directly linked to acts of violence that result from it, then this moves out of the realm of speech into a realm of punishable action and for that there are safegaurds within legal systems that can be invoked. Of course the line between the two is fuzzy, and sometimes indistinguishable. So what do we do? Well, its a tough call, but the only answer, as far I can see, to speech acts are more speech acts. On the question of sentiment: Often sentiment is invoked precisely to justify the worst sorts of inequality and oppression. And of course some speech acts are precisely formulated to hurt sentiment. And this is not, in my opinion, a bad thing. Thanks all for this discussion. Hope it continues :) best Aarti arisen silently wrote: > > Just a thought: how "free" is free speech if we're to be careful of > people's > "sentiments"? > -yazad I found myself having the same debate last night in a bar. > The question I suppose reverts to an understanding of freedom and what > we mean by it. I found myself wondering if there was a > fundamental difference between speech and action when it results in > hurting people's sentiments or their state of being? thoughts? txx > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Aarti" > > To: "Koen Martens" < gmc at sonologic.nl > > Cc: < reader-list at sarai.net > > Sent: Thursday, February 09, 2006 6:37 PM > Subject: Re: [Reader-list] The Slimes of India's Patna edition reprints, > Danishcartoon > > > > Dear Koen, > > > > If the presence of extremists is your criteria of belonging or not to a > > list, I would suggest you unsubscribe immediately. I am extremist about > > the colour purple. I insist everyone who hates purple be extinguished > > immediately. > > > > Long Live Jamuni! > > > > best > > Aarti > > > > Koen Martens wrote: > > > >>Frankly, the way the muslim extremists worry about a few pitiful > >>cartoons is beyond me. Get over it already. > >> > >>I find what muslim countries do to gay people and people that are > >>critical about islam much more worrying than what a previously > >>unknown right-wing Danish newspaper publishes. They are murdered in > >>the name of allah, now try to defend that and see who smears the > >>name of the profet more. When islam becomes equivalent to murder in > >>the eyes of many, shouldn't someone stop and ask 'hey where do they > >>get the idea'? > >> > >>What's more, if i understand correctly there are only a few hundred > >>of those extremists world wide that go and burn ambassies, so i > >>don't see why the media must make such a fuss about it.. Extremists > >>will always do stupid things, making it into a media circus only > >>validates it in their eyes. > >> > >>Besides, wasn't the whole point that the riots are instigated by > >>arab religious leaders that want to shun away attention from other > >>matters? > >> > >>Now, if this list is a get-together of muslim extremists, please > >>tell me so i will unsubscribe. I saw some posts here which made me > >>frown already, but i refrained from replying, but seriously, if > >>there are any muslim extremists here please let me know, i want > >>nothing to do with them. > >> > >>Best, > >> > >>Koen > >> > >> reader-list-request at sarai.net > wrote: > >> > >>>Subject: [Reader-list] The Slimes of India's Patna edition reprints > >>> Danish cartoon > >>> > >>>This seems to me rather mischievious from the very start: first print > >>>them and then say sorry. What a convenient alibi, an apology. > >>>S. > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>>Muslims angry at newspaper over cartoons; editor apologises > >>> > >>>http://www.newkerala.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=3691 > > >>> > >> > >> > >> > > > > _________________________________________ > > 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: > > > > > > > > _________________________________________ > 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: > > > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >_________________________________________ >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: > From gmc at sonologic.nl Fri Feb 10 15:46:37 2006 From: gmc at sonologic.nl (Koen Martens) Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 11:16:37 +0100 Subject: =?ISO-8859-6?Q?=D1=CF=3A_Re=3A_=5BReader-list=5D_The_?= =?ISO-8859-6?Q?Slimes_of_India=27s_Patna_edition_reprints=2C_?= =?ISO-8859-6?Q?Danish_cartoon?= In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <43EC6805.30306@sonologic.nl> Lena Jayyusi wrote: > The problem with this, of course, is that it treats 'speech' merely > as 'words' that 'express' opinions. The performative dimension of > speech (which the ordinary language philosphers did so much to elucidate) > is entirely missed. And if so, then we have a problem understanding 'courses > of action' in the world, where speech acts (talk and consequence; > utterance and performance) produce constellations of events with > real consequences for others over time . But is it the words that produce the events or is it the beholder of the words that produce the events? > What do we say of speech that creates an atmosphere for war > against others, for example? I tend to say that it is not the speech that creates an atmosphere for war against others. To come back to the cartoon hype, it is only certain groups that react with violence. Muslims in Europe for example, do not go on the streets burning newspaper offices (apart from the occasional nut making a false bomb threat, in Europe the 'fight' is with words, as it ought to be). It is the beholder, the listener, the interpreter, that creates the atmosphere for war. In the case of the cartoon riots, i strongly believe the few hundred muslims that chose violence are manipulated somehow, either that or their intellect is very poor, unable to cope with things that don't fit in their narrow view of the world. That is known to provoke violence, not only in religious spheres. > If I may so say, Koens original posting strikes me as contradictory in this > respect (as in several other respects also): did it not object to 'muslim > extremists' expressing their opinion on the list? I merely expressed that i would not like to be on the same list. These muslim extremists may say what they wish to, but i don't want to have to listen to it. I never objected to them being on the list, i objected to me having to listen to them. If i don't want to, i can simply unsubscribe or put them on the ignore list or whatever. And that is a choice everyone can make regarding speech. To ignore it or to listen to it. But i refuse to accept that i cannot say certain things because when i say them i have to fear for my life. Because if that is the case, we end up with a kind of society where those who are most aggressive and strongest will decree what is and is not acceptable. Best, Koen > > > Lena Jayyusi > > > > > >>>>Koen Martens 02/10/06 11:40 ص >>> > > Yazad Jal wrote: > >>Koen makes interesting points which need to be examined carefully. I >>applaud your forthrightness! >> >>Just a thought: how "free" is free speech if we're to be careful of >>people's "sentiments"? > > > I've been pondering on this a while now. A lot of people i talk with > about this seem to have the opinion that free speech ends where you > hurt someone or don't respect someone. If this is the argument, > there is no speech at all, because i think about anything one can > say will hurt someone. > > Others suggest setting forth some guidelines about what can and > can't be said. This reeks of censorship to me, even if it isn't the > government setting up the guidelines/list. > > Also, making some things unspeakable is not healthy I think. For the > individual, suppressing certain things will lead to psychological > problems (eg. if one is quiting with smoking, supressing the thought > of smoking will only make it more difficult). I strongly believe > this scales to society too, if a society wishes to supress certain > 'memes', the result will be unhealty. > > Koen > -- K.F.J. Martens, Sonologic, http://www.sonologic.nl/ Networking, hosting, embedded systems, unix, artificial intelligence. Public PGP key: http://www.metro.cx/pubkey-gmc.asc Wondering about the funny attachment your mail program can't read? Visit http://www.openpgp.org/ From mail at shivamvij.com Fri Feb 10 15:56:55 2006 From: mail at shivamvij.com (Shivam) Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 15:56:55 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] The Slimes of India's Patna edition reprints, Danishcartoon In-Reply-To: <43EC5CC9.7000207@sarai.net> References: <20060209110008.B11B428DB06@mail.sarai.net> <43EB37C5.7080808@sonologic.nl> <43EB3EA8.1010608@sarai.net> <055501c62d8e$5e39cc90$26d558ca@ceo> <1925b33d0602090809w3a3ffb0cva679068eea1e94a8@mail.gmail.com> <1925b33d0602090945g1e7ab623kfb3fba7cfda6ef73@mail.gmail.com> <43EC5CC9.7000207@sarai.net> Message-ID: <210498250602100226n3999a5e7w41b280b92a0545b7@mail.gmail.com> This debate is taking place only on the plane of free speech vs. 'sentiments'. Some other things that one perhaps needs to keep in mind: Would YOU make and publish a cartoon like that? I'm not asking whether you should be 'allowed' to, but would you? In other words, we are completely missing the religious, cultural and political aspects of the specific case of the publication of an offensive (so obviously offensive) 'cartoon' (the trivial being used to heighten the impact of mocking at what the mocked-at takes very seriously) depicting Mohammed in a European newspaper in a post-9/11 world. From penguinhead at linux-delhi.org Fri Feb 10 19:40:04 2006 From: penguinhead at linux-delhi.org (Pankaj kaushal) Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 19:40:04 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] The Slimes of India's Patna edition reprints, Danish cartoon In-Reply-To: <43EB3EA8.1010608@sarai.net> References: <20060209110008.B11B428DB06@mail.sarai.net> <43EB37C5.7080808@sonologic.nl> <43EB3EA8.1010608@sarai.net> Message-ID: <43EC9EBC.50207@linux-delhi.org> Aarti wrote: > Dear Koen, > > If the presence of extremists is your criteria of belonging or not to a > list, I would suggest you unsubscribe immediately. If his being extremist or not hurts you so much, why dont you un-subscribe from the list? P. -- All extremists shall be shot. From mahmood.farooqui at gmail.com Fri Feb 10 16:03:34 2006 From: mahmood.farooqui at gmail.com (mahmood farooqui) Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 16:03:34 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Fwd: Attack on a Dalit agrarian Labour in Punjab: Please sign this online petition and circulate In-Reply-To: <20060209083414.10177.qmail@webmail67.rediffmail.com> References: <20060209083414.10177.qmail@webmail67.rediffmail.com> Message-ID: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: manisha sethi Date: 9 Feb 2006 08:34:14 -0000 Subject: Attack on a Dalit agrarian Labour in Punjab: Please sign this online petition and circulate To: kumudini_pati at yahoo.com, lalitbatra at gmail.com, lokrajsangathan at yahoo.com, madhoo.n at gmail.com, maheshrangarajan at yahoo.co.in, mahmood.farooqui at gmail.com, mahmoodfarooqui at yahoo.com, mamata_dash at yahoo.com Cc: jitenykumar at rediffmail.com, kallol_bhattacharya at yahoo.co.in, kamalchenoy at yahoo.com http://new.petitiononline.com/Bant06/petition.html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060210/1ea38c25/attachment.html From manoshchowdhury at yahoo.com Fri Feb 10 14:25:40 2006 From: manoshchowdhury at yahoo.com (Manosh Chowdhury) Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 00:55:40 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] The Slimes of India's Patna edition reprints, Danish cartoon In-Reply-To: <43EC4373.8080602@sonologic.nl> Message-ID: <20060210085540.18621.qmail@web53312.mail.yahoo.com> Koen, I understand you have certain understandings of 'individual' 'free speech' 'psychological' 'health' and many more. Let them be yours. What I am concerned about is your conviction to an assumed definition of the "extremists" [hence Muslims, for sure]. How can you be so ingnorant about what is happenning on to them? How can you dissociate with the very historical construction of the "enemies"? And, then, why do you [or somebody else], being part of the same knoledge system and/or vocabularies, fuel to that process? This act claims to be domination. manosh Koen Martens wrote: Yazad Jal wrote: > Koen makes interesting points which need to be examined carefully. I > applaud your forthrightness! > > Just a thought: how "free" is free speech if we're to be careful of > people's "sentiments"? I've been pondering on this a while now. A lot of people i talk with about this seem to have the opinion that free speech ends where you hurt someone or don't respect someone. If this is the argument, there is no speech at all, because i think about anything one can say will hurt someone. Others suggest setting forth some guidelines about what can and can't be said. This reeks of censorship to me, even if it isn't the government setting up the guidelines/list. Also, making some things unspeakable is not healthy I think. For the individual, suppressing certain things will lead to psychological problems (eg. if one is quiting with smoking, supressing the thought of smoking will only make it more difficult). I strongly believe this scales to society too, if a society wishes to supress certain 'memes', the result will be unhealty. Koen --------------------------------- Brings words and photos together (easily) with PhotoMail - it's free and works with Yahoo! Mail. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060210/d0a6c94b/attachment.html From iram at sarai.net Sat Feb 11 04:13:38 2006 From: iram at sarai.net (Iram Ghufran) Date: Sat, 11 Feb 2006 04:13:38 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] The Slimes of India's Patna edition reprints, Danish cartoon In-Reply-To: <43EC9EBC.50207@linux-delhi.org> References: <20060209110008.B11B428DB06@mail.sarai.net> <43EB37C5.7080808@sonologic.nl> <43EB3EA8.1010608@sarai.net> <43EC9EBC.50207@linux-delhi.org> Message-ID: <43ED171A.8080208@sarai.net> Dear all, The reader list is not extremist, but in my experience liberals often are... Let us use our intellectual capacities in engaging with each other and those who wan't can keep the debate on Mohd cartoons alive. But let us not give advice on who should or should not unsubscribe. Thankyou. Best Iram Pankaj kaushal wrote: >Aarti wrote: > > >>Dear Koen, >> >>If the presence of extremists is your criteria of belonging or not to a >>list, I would suggest you unsubscribe immediately. >> >> > >If his being extremist or not hurts you so much, why dont you >un-subscribe from the list? > >P. > > From penguinhead at linux-delhi.org Fri Feb 10 21:18:40 2006 From: penguinhead at linux-delhi.org (Pankaj kaushal) Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 21:18:40 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] The Slimes of India's Patna edition reprints, Danish cartoon In-Reply-To: <43ED171A.8080208@sarai.net> References: <20060209110008.B11B428DB06@mail.sarai.net> <43EB37C5.7080808@sonologic.nl> <43EB3EA8.1010608@sarai.net> <43EC9EBC.50207@linux-delhi.org> <43ED171A.8080208@sarai.net> Message-ID: <43ECB5D8.9040704@linux-delhi.org> Iram Ghufran wrote: > The reader list is not extremist, but in my experience liberals often > are... What exactly are the standards of marking people extremists or liberals? Have the promoters of these standardization been completely transparent in their dealings? Aren't people just people, self absorbed and hypocritical? I for one, would not believe anyone claiming a pretense of muslim extremist, postmodernist or vegetarianism. > Let us use our intellectual capacities in engaging with each other and > not give advice on who should or should not unsubscribe. Let us do that then. But, somehow I get the feeling of being surrounded by too many bullies, telling what should be done. P. -- Morality is the herd-instinct in the individual. From cahen.x at levels9.com Fri Feb 10 21:57:39 2006 From: cahen.x at levels9.com (xavier cahen) Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 17:27:39 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] pourinfos Newsletter / 02-03 to 02-09-2006 Message-ID: <43ECBEFB.4000703@levels9.com> pourinfos.org l'actualité du monde de l'art / daily Art news ----------------------------------------------------------------------- infos from February 03, 2006 to February 09, 2006 (included) ------------------------------------------------------------------- (mostly in french) ------------------------------------------------------------------- 01 Call : File signatures, Review ess arts + opinions, Montreal, Canada. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2793 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 02 Call : Circuit #2, May 18-20, 2006, Call for Participants, Eyebeam, New York, Usa. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2792 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 03 Call : Champ-Contrechamp, Cyberlab, Espace Culture Multimédia, Melun, France. http://pourinfos.org/participation/item.php?id=2791 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 04 Call : video work, 00130Gallery, Helsinki, Finland. http://pourinfos.org/participation/item.php?id=2790 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 05 Meetings : "to make a book it is easy", Eric Watier, Friday February 17, Lyon library - la Part-Dieu, Lyon, France. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2789 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 06 Meetings : numeric and real time in live show, La Filature, Mulhouse. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2788 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 07 Meetings : interactive 8 by Panoplie.org - poetry and numerical edition - Friday February 10, ECM Carré d'Art, Nîmes, France. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2787 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 08 Meetings : The image against the representation, Monday C is theorie, Monday February 13, Espace Paul Ricard, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2786 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 09 Meetings : Net culture, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2785 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 Meetings : Territories, n°3 of the review Edit, Thursday March 30, Mains d’Œuvres, Saint-Ouen, France. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2784 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 11 Meetings : Seminar: Dances of the others. Readings of Antonin Artaud, international College of philosophy, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2783 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 12 Publication : Network Art, Practices and Positions, edited by Tom Corby, United Kingdom. http://pourinfos.org/publications/item.php?id=2782 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 13 Various : 33 th Fiac, cour Carrée du louvre et Grand Palais, France. http://pourinfos.org/divers/item.php?id=2781 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 14 Workshop : The durable Workshop development, Wednesday February 15, 2006, Maison de l'architecture en Île-de-France, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/emploi/item.php?id=2780 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 15 Exhibition : Modern©ité#II, Le Grand Café, contemporary art Center, Saint-Nazaire, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2779 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 16 Screening : Denis Brun, Vidéochroniques, Thursday February 16, 2006 movie theater Le Miroir, Marseille, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2778 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 17 Exhibition : Condensations. the Mille et trois plateaux exhibition cycle Mamco, musée d'art moderne et contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2777 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 18 Exhibition : CACHE-CACHE2 ""the Art of Camouflage", Extraterez, espace my.monkey, Nancy, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2776 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 19 Exhibition : "not, with the line" 2, Emma Rapin, Beauty Room, Miss China, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2775 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 20 Exhibition : Attentive unit, Graduates of Ensba, Paris, en 2005, attitudes, Geneva, Switzerland. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2774 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 21 Exhibition : "Re : Re" proposed by the company Chivas Brothers, Espace Paul Ricard, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2773 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 22 Call : Short film, Festival Résistances , Foix, France. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2772 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 23 Call : Call for papers, Internet Research 7.0, Brisbane, Australia. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2771 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 24 Call : call for projects, developing interactive-narrative content, sagasnet 2006, Munich, Germany. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2770 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 25 Call : [Kon.[Text]] Symposium, Computer Systems Institute, Zürich, Switzerland. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2769 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 26 Call : Sm’ART-AIX, innovating show, Aix en provence, France. http://pourinfos.org/participation/item.php?id=2768 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 27 Call : Site Specific, IndexPage Competition, First Edition, Verona, Italy. http://pourinfos.org/participation/item.php?id=2767 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 28 Call : Art Tech Media 06, Centro de Convenciones Norte, Madrid, Spain. http://pourinfos.org/participation/item.php?id=2766 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 29 Call : Call for Sound Works , Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY, Usa. http://pourinfos.org/participation/item.php?id=2765 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 30 Publication : number 36, review 02, Zoogalerie, Nantes, France. http://pourinfos.org/publications/item.php?id=2764 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 31 Meetings : evening reading poetry, the Spring of Poetes, Thursday March 9, 2006, Ecole d'Art de Calais, Calais, France. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2763 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 32 workshop : Assistant(e), Vidéo’appart festival, Association Plastica, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/emploi/item.php?id=2762 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 33 Various : Surprised by the night, the night poetry, Monday February 6, France culture, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/divers/item.php?id=2761 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 34 Various : Léos Ator & Alfredo Costa Monteiro, Friday February 24, centre international de poésie Marseille, Marseille, France. http://pourinfos.org/divers/item.php?id=2760 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 35 Meetings :freedom, Les Arrosoirs, Thursday February 9, espace multimédia gantner, Bourogne, France. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2759 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 36 Exhibition : sometimes closed is more open than open, and open is more closed than closed, villa du parc, centre d'art contemporain, Annemasse, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2758 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 37 Sceening : Urban Research and Directors Lounge, Berlin , Germany. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2757 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 38 Exhibition : Miss m/ magenta/ , Stéphanie Morel, interface, Dijon, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2756 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 39 Exposition : art - women - new technologies, Girls @ Wort in LUV, 14 au 17 Février, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2755 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 40 Exhibition : “Bouquets” et new technologies, Laurie Tennent, Galerie mamia bretesché, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2754 From gmc at sonologic.nl Fri Feb 10 22:49:40 2006 From: gmc at sonologic.nl (Koen Martens) Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 18:19:40 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] The Slimes of India's Patna edition, reprints, Danishcartoon In-Reply-To: <20060210110006.2838928D9F4@mail.sarai.net> References: <20060210110006.2838928D9F4@mail.sarai.net> Message-ID: <43ECCB2C.8040508@sonologic.nl> > Would YOU make and publish a cartoon like that? I'm not asking > whether > you should be 'allowed' to, but would you? In other words, we are > completely missing the religious, cultural and political aspects > of > the specific case of the publication of an offensive (so obviously > offensive) 'cartoon' (the trivial being used to heighten the > impact of > mocking at what the mocked-at takes very seriously) depicting > Mohammed in a European newspaper in a post-9/11 world. Yes, i would make and publish such a cartoon, because it is a way over here to deal with serious issues like this. We have a little laugh about things, to put things in perspective. And that is the context in which the cartoons are published. The intent never was to hurt people, because simply that isn't the intent of cartoons at all. Take for example train drivers, who have to cope with people who commit suicide by jumping in front of a 120 kilometer/hour train. This is a horrible experience for these train drivers. Yet, they make jokes about these events, they laugh about it. Not to hurt the relatives of the deceased, but to relieve their stress. A lot of people (over here at least) feel stress in what comes their way from the islamic world (whatever that may be, and whatever subculture i mean). A way to deal with it is humour, and that is where the cartoons came from. What i still don't understand is, why all this hype now, when the cartoons got published in september last year? Why did it take 3 to 4 months? And why were there imams showing cartoons that were fake, worse than the original and never made nor published in Denmark or Europe? Gr, Koen -- K.F.J. Martens, Sonologic, http://www.sonologic.nl/ Networking, hosting, embedded systems, unix, artificial intelligence. Public PGP key: http://www.metro.cx/pubkey-gmc.asc Wondering about the funny attachment your mail program can't read? Visit http://www.openpgp.org/ From gmc at sonologic.nl Sat Feb 11 02:36:55 2006 From: gmc at sonologic.nl (Koen Martens) Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 22:06:55 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Re: reader-list Digest, Vol 31, Issue 22 In-Reply-To: <20060210162745.EEF0C28DBFE@mail.sarai.net> References: <20060210162745.EEF0C28DBFE@mail.sarai.net> Message-ID: <43ED006F.6010902@sonologic.nl> Manosh (and others), > I understand you have certain understandings of 'individual' > 'free speech' 'psychological' 'health' and many more. Let them be > yours. What I am concerned about is your conviction to an assumed > definition of the "extremists" [hence Muslims, for sure]. I think you and others really misunderstood what i said. I said 'muslim extremists', which is not the same as 'muslims'. I never equated 'muslim' and 'extremist'. I was talking about the certain sub-group of muslims that go out and burn buildings in reaction to a mere drawing. > How can > you be so ingnorant about what is happenning on to them? How can > you dissociate with the very historical construction of the > "enemies"? Could you perhaps rephrase these questions, what _is_ happening on them? What do you mean with 'the very historical construction of the "enemies"? > And, then, why do you [or somebody else], being part of > the same knoledge system and/or vocabularies, > fuel to that process? This act claims to be domination. If you tell a child not to do something, she will want to do it even more. Media firms are like children. Especially if you touch the right to free expression, which is the holy grail of newspapers (at least, in countries where newspapers aren't run by the government). If buildings get burned in protest of a cartoon, the cartoon is reprinted over and over to proove a point: we [the people reprinting the cartoon] will not budge for your [the people that burn buildings and kill in reaction to the cartoons] violent claims and won't submit to your agressive claims. Best, Koen -- K.F.J. Martens, Sonologic, http://www.sonologic.nl/ Networking, hosting, embedded systems, unix, artificial intelligence. Public PGP key: http://www.metro.cx/pubkey-gmc.asc Wondering about the funny attachment your mail program can't read? Visit http://www.openpgp.org/ From rahul_capri at yahoo.com Sat Feb 11 07:06:04 2006 From: rahul_capri at yahoo.com (Rahul Asthana) Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 17:36:04 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] The Slimes of India's Patna edition reprints, Danish cartoon In-Reply-To: <43EB37C5.7080808@sonologic.nl> Message-ID: <20060211013604.7913.qmail@web53603.mail.yahoo.com> Koen, Will try to make a few points here. 1.The opposition is not against free speech.The widespread republication gave the perception of an attack on and ridicule of a belief system.It is no longer a heretic voice. Hence the outcry. 2.There are many examples of the hypocrisy of people who are burning buildings for cartoons and would not say anything when Iran sentences to death 17 year olds, but in this case it is a straw man.This does not take away from the fact that there is no reason for stirring up the emotions of about a billion people. 3.This is not against freedom of speech and one would strongly oppose any legal action against the cartoonists or publishers.But it is in bad taste.Its something which is not really funny for a lot of people. 5. Lets look at this from the utilitarian angle.It sucks from that POV as well.Incidents of this kind make difficult for moderate muslims to continue their work and to reduce the influence of extremists. 4.You (and me too), perhaps dont understand what is there to get riled up about.But thats where tolerance comes in. If we think that we are being tolerant when we talk about LGBT rights or womens rights, thats not true.Thats because we ethically support them. We can be called tolerant only if we can live with and respect something which is against what we can logically or ethically explain to ourselves. 6.Being offensive or ridiculing a religion should be condemned. Protesting with violence should also be condemned.The publishers of cartoons wanted to make a point about muslims as against freedom of speech. The protestors, on the other hand are making a point about the oppresive policies of the monolithic "west" as against the offensiveness of the cartoons.It is evident that both sides are displaying a marked ignorance of each others culture and values.In this sense this controversy may have a positive outcome if it can result in greater understanding between the two parties Finally, I totally agree with Iram Gufran's post.Liberals can me most intolerant, however counter intuitive this may sound. regards Rahul --- Koen Martens wrote: > Frankly, the way the muslim extremists worry about a > few pitiful > cartoons is beyond me. Get over it already. > > I find what muslim countries do to gay people and > people that are > critical about islam much more worrying than what a > previously > unknown right-wing Danish newspaper publishes. They > are murdered in > the name of allah, now try to defend that and see > who smears the > name of the profet more. When islam becomes > equivalent to murder in > the eyes of many, shouldn't someone stop and ask > 'hey where do they > get the idea'? > > What's more, if i understand correctly there are > only a few hundred > of those extremists world wide that go and burn > ambassies, so i > don't see why the media must make such a fuss about > it.. Extremists > will always do stupid things, making it into a media > circus only > validates it in their eyes. > > Besides, wasn't the whole point that the riots are > instigated by > arab religious leaders that want to shun away > attention from other > matters? > > Now, if this list is a get-together of muslim > extremists, please > tell me so i will unsubscribe. I saw some posts here > which made me > frown already, but i refrained from replying, but > seriously, if > there are any muslim extremists here please let me > know, i want > nothing to do with them. > > Best, > > Koen > > reader-list-request at sarai.net wrote: > > Subject: [Reader-list] The Slimes of India's Patna > edition reprints > > Danish cartoon > > > > This seems to me rather mischievious from the very > start: first print > > them and then say sorry. What a convenient alibi, > an apology. > > S. > > > > > > > > Muslims angry at newspaper over cartoons; editor > apologises > > > > > http://www.newkerala.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=3691 > > > -- > K.F.J. Martens, Sonologic, http://www.sonologic.nl/ > Networking, hosting, embedded systems, unix, > artificial intelligence. > Public PGP key: http://www.metro.cx/pubkey-gmc.asc > Wondering about the funny attachment your mail > program > can't read? Visit http://www.openpgp.org/ > _________________________________________ > 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!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com From jcm at ata.org.pe Sat Feb 11 11:36:45 2006 From: jcm at ata.org.pe (Jose-Carlos Mariategui) Date: Sat, 11 Feb 2006 06:06:45 +0000 Subject: [Reader-list] CUBA: VIII International Digital Art Exhibit and Colloquium Message-ID: Centro Cultural Pablo de la Torriente Brau VIII SALON Y COLOQUIO INTERNACIONAL DE ARTE DIGITAL Eighth International Digital Art Exhibit and Colloquium International Call The Centro Cultural Pablo de la Torriente Brau, with the support of the Historiador de la Ciudad de La Habana (the City Historian), HIVOS, ENET / ETECSA Cubasí Portal, and the collaboration of the Union of Cuban Artists and Writers (UNEAC), the Cuban Institute of Art and Cinema (ICAIC), CUBARTE Portal and the National Museum of Fine Arts (Museo Nacional de Bellas) Artes, announces the Eighth International Digital Art Exhibit and Colloquium (VIII Salón y Coloquio Internacional de Arte Digital) with the purpose of promoting artistic and cultural values created with new technologies. The Digital Art Exhibit, which will open on June 19, 2006, will show once again the current work in this field and favor exchange and reflection among creators and specialists engaged in these new forms of expression. The event covers two areas; the National Digital Art Exhibit, of a competitive nature, and a non-competitive International Digital Art Exhibit, where works by artists from other countries will be shown. The works of the International Exhibit will be shown online and in video programs several halls in Havana. INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL ART EXHIBIT The Centro Pablo calls on artists from foreign countries to participate in the International Digital Art Exhibit. Various artistic views within this expressive modality will be brought together, thus facilitating debate and considerations on their languages and poetics. This year the International Digital Art Exhibit will accept proposals for the categories of bidimensional, net art, interactive and audiovisual works. The art pieces will be shown at the website of the Eighth Exhibit, developed by Centro Cultural Pablo de la Torriente Brau and the Portal Cubasí of ENET / ETECSA. At the same time the event will include a video show that will be exhibited in halls of Centro Pablo, Oficina del Historiador de la Ciudad, ICAIC and the National Museum of Fine Arts. The art pieces must arrive before April 1st., 2006. The artists selected by the admission jury will be notificated before April 15, 2006. Bidimensional, net art and interactive works online In each category participants can propose up to three works, that will be sent following the instructions contained in this web address: http://www.artedigitalcuba.cult.cu/inscripcion/index.php The admission jury will work on the curatorship of the submitted art works that will be included in the Jury Selection Exhibit and the Participants Exhibit in the web site of the event. Audiovisual works This category includes videos and digital animation works. Each participant can propose up to three works in VCD, SVCD or DVD (Zone 1 or multizone), NTSC. Artists can send their proposals from this address: http://www.artedigitalcuba.cult.cu/inscripcion/index.php, uploading a still image or an animated gif of each proposed work. Besides, the complete work must be sent by fast or postal mail to the following address: Centro Cultural Pablo de la Torriente Brau Calle de la Muralla No. 63 entre Oficios e Inquisidor, La Habana Vieja, Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba The admission jury will work on the curatorship of the submitted art works that will be included in the Jury Selection Exhibit and the Participants Exhibit to be shown through June and July in cultural centers of La Habana Vieja. Selected artists will be notificated before April 15, 2006 Centro Pablo cannot return the works submitted and requests participating artists to donate them for non-commercial exhibition to promote future festivals. INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUIUM The International Digital Art Colloquium will take place June 20-23. In addition to discussions focusing on the work included in the two exhibits, artists, scholars and critics will make presentations on the potentials and the development of these new forms of artist expression The request to participate in this International Colloqium should be sent to Centro Cultural Pablo de la Torriente Brau by registering and filling the form at http://www.artedigitalcuba.cult.cu/inscripcion/index.php before May 15, 2005 A fee of 50 pesos cubanos convertibles (CUC) is required from all participants in the International Colloquium. Participants from abroad will pay their inscription fee to the Colloquium at the Centro Pablo before the beginning of the event. The inscription will allow participants to receive all the printed information about the Eighth International Digital Art Exhibit and Colloqium, including the poster created by the Seventh Exhibit winners, and to attend the debate sessions and openings during the first week of this cultural event. TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS Artists, critics, professors, journalists, students and specialists from other countries interested in taking part on the Eighth International Digital Art Exhibit and Colloquium may make their arrangements through: Agencia de Viajes HAVANATUR Caridad Sago Rivera, especialista comercial Tel.: (537) 203 9099 Fax: (537) 203 9130 e-mail: sago at cimex.com.cu Or directly in: Centro Cultural Pablo de la Torriente Brau Calle de la Muralla No. 63 entre Oficios e Inquisidor, la Habana Vieja Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba Tele-fax: (537) 866 6585 Teléfono: (537) 861 6251 Correo electrónico: centropablo at cubarte.cult.cu We invite you to visit the web sites of Centro Pablo and our previous Digital Art Exhibits: www.artedigitalcuba.cult.cu / www.artedigital6.cubasi.cu / www.artedigital7.cubasi.cu / www.centropablo.cult.cu / www.centropablonoticias.cubasi.cu / www.aguitarralimpia.cubasi.cu january 12, 2006 From jumpshark at gmail.com Sun Feb 12 08:45:51 2006 From: jumpshark at gmail.com (Prashant Pandey) Date: Sun, 12 Feb 2006 08:45:51 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Monkey Bijnes, Prashant Pandey Message-ID: Hi all The group Black Eyed Peas won the Grammy for best rap performance for the track Don't Phunk With My Heart.(the video with a 70s tv game show cncept) The track has two compositions of Kalyanji-Anandji, rendered by Asha Bhonsle - Yeh mera dil pyar ka diwana from the film Don and Ae naujawaan hai sab kuchh yahaan from the film Apradh. Also the song,"Dont Phunk" has a very distinctive 70s hindi film cabaret orchestral arrangement. Whenever I see the video I imagine Helen singing," no no no...mera dil na todo(dont phunk with my heart...ha!) surrounded by cigar smoking smugglers,the middle class good woman,heroine sitting in a corner drinking Cola and an incontrol police Inspector in plain clothes having a commanding birds' eye view of the dramatic situation. 3 expected Indian entries Asha Bhosle and Anoushka Shanker and Tashi Bapu couldnot make it . The official grammy nomination entry reads as "Don't Phunk With My Heart" William Adams, Printz Board, Stacy Ferguson & George Pajon, Jr., songwriters; (Kalyanji Anandji, Full Force & Indeewar, songwriters) (The Black Eyed Peas) Track from: Monkey Business http://www.grammy.com/Grammy_Awards/Annual_Show/48_nominees.aspx Visit Category 32 - Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group (For duo, group or collaborative performances of Rap only. Singles or Tracks only.) * Don't Phunk With My Heart The Black Eyed Peas Track from: Monkey Business [A&M Records] * The Corner Common Featuring The Last Poets Track from: Be [Geffen] * Encore Eminem Featuring Dr. Dre & 50 Cent Track from: Encore [Aftermath/Shady/Interscope Records] * Hate It Or Love It The Game Featuring 50 Cent Track from: The Documentary [Aftermath/G-Unit/Interscope Records] * Wait (The Whisper Song) Ying Yang Twins Track from: U.S.A.: United State Of Atlanta [TVT Records] Regards Prashant Pandey From dripta82 at yahoo.com Mon Feb 13 22:34:09 2006 From: dripta82 at yahoo.com (Dripta Piplai) Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 17:04:09 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Reader-list] Second Posting by Dripta Piplai Message-ID: <20060213170409.85943.qmail@web37011.mail.mud.yahoo.com> A major part of my work is the preparation of the archive for the preservation of the multiple traditions in Rabindrasangit in Calcutta Music Schools.The investigation of the different variations of Tagore songs revealed some interesting findings. Variations of Rabindrasangit can be traced from different sources. For example- before Viswa Bharati, Santiniketan had published the notations of Rabindrasangit in Swarabitan, the notations were published in some magazines(e.g., Shatagan, Swaralipi-Gitimala, Bramhasangit Swaralipi etc.).But the published notations in Swarabitan are somehow different in many cases-and the fact is a debated fact, too. Sromona Roychowdhury, in her upcoming research work from Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata has mentioned about some problems regarding the notation-changes. It has also been claimed in many cases that notations were changed deliberately by some persons and authorities in many cases. Different varieties of Rabindrasangit can also be found in records by some eminent artists which are very much different from the documented notations. And though the music schools follow the documented notations only, some institutes follow the recorded versions, which is, no doubt, an interesting fact. As Rajashree Bhattacharya, an eminent Rabindrasangit artist as well as teacher has pointed out, some institutes prefer to follow the recorded versions of some songs by Kanika Bandyapadhyay, instead of the notation-version. There are debates regarding some Muktachanda Rabindrasangit, too. And the centre of the debate is the 'authentic tune of Santiniketan'. It is interesting that a number of people are trying to establish their Gayan-style as the 'authentic Santiniketan style'. All these debates centering the issue of 'authentic variation' of Rabindrasangit reveals the chaos in the Rabindrasangit Schools of Calcutta-circle. And the chaos, on the other hand, is not allowing further documentation of the non-documented songs as well as the 'non-authentic' varieties of Rabindrasangit. Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060213/cfba147c/attachment.html From khadeejaarif1 at rediffmail.com Sun Feb 12 20:59:59 2006 From: khadeejaarif1 at rediffmail.com (khadeeja arif) Date: 12 Feb 2006 15:29:59 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] For Arshad-I fellow Message-ID: <20060212152959.26851.qmail@webmail62.rediffmail.com> http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=87713&pn=0 System Reboot For close to a century, their curriculum was unchanged. Now, orthodox Muslim schools are co-opting computers alongside Kamil courses. Mohammed Safi Shamsi reports on West Bengal’s madarsa makeover Photos: Shubham Dutta In less than a fortnight, some 25,000 students will be appearing for the High Madarsa exams in West Bengal. In many ways, they are the last link in a chain of an education system that took shape centuries ago. From next year, students will be tested on a reoriented syllabus that, for the first time, seeks to place Madarsa graduates at par with products of mainstream schools. While the Centre has been working on upgrading educational infrastructure in areas of high Muslim concentration for more than a decade now, it is only of late that the efforts are bearing results. In West Bengal, more than any other state, the Left Front government’s modernisation programme will see 3.5 lakh students—including non-Muslims, underprivileged and first-generation learners—of the 508 madarsas affiliated to the West Bengal Board of Madarsa Education (WBBME) benefit from an education that equips them for the 21st century. ‘‘Reforms, as we see it, are being ushered in in phases. For students of the 2006-07 batch and thereafter, the syllabus has been reoriented. We have also introduced computerisation and computer education, upgraded infrastructure and emphasised recruitment of teachers against vacancies,’’ says Abdus Sattar, WBBME president. If India was recently hailed in the reputed Foreign Affairs journal for its reforms in the Madarsa sector, much of the credit must go to West Bengal. According to Sattar, ‘‘Quite a number of Boards, academic bodies and even authorities of states such as Tripura, Manipur, Rajasthan, Maharashtra have approached us for guidance and assistance in reforming their madarsa system to be in tune with broad-based general education.’’ Lessons from History SO how did West Bengal come to occupy this spearheading position in madarsa revamp? According to observers, the state’s Muslim educationists have long been reform-minded: In 1915, it was at the instance of the then principal of the Dacca Senior Madarsa that Bengal adopted the ‘High Madarsa’, as distinct from the ‘Senior Madarsa’. Since then, the two streams have been available in tandem. While the High Madarsa syllabus adds on Arabic and Advanced Arabic courses to the regular school syllabus offered by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education—and is treated at par with Madhyamik, ICSE and CBSE boards—the Senior Madarsa is a more orthodox course. It prepares students for the Alim (class X), Fazil (class XII), Kamil (two-year graduation) and Mumtazul Muhaddethin (master’s degree) exams. Fundamentally unchanged since the early 20th century, the High and Senior Madarsa streams—available in the 10 affiliated madarsas in Kolkata district and 498 institutions across the state—are now set to be revamped. The reforms are based on the recommendations of the Madarsa Education Committee constituted by the West Bengal government in 2001 and headed by former state governor A R Kidwai. Evolving Education Central policy is just one of the many reasons why madarsas are changingVARGHESE K GEORGE NEW DELHI NOT just the Arabic script or the Koran by rote, but science, maths and computers too. Though West Bengal may be leading the field, more and more children across India are exposed to much more than they were ever before in madarsa education. The factors pushing the educational boundaries in the traditionally rigid centres of learning are many. Not the least among them: Initiatives of the state, churning within the community, mass media, international politics etc. ‘‘The realisation that modern education cannot be ignored for religious training is increasing, and madarsas are looking for new methods,’’ says Siddique Hassan, assistant secretary general of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind. Gradually, Hassan says, madarsas in India will evolve into the pattern set by Christian Sunday schools, where children go for religious education, after attending regular school through the week. In most Muslim pockets of Kerala, madarsas have already demarcated timings for religious and regular schooling and all of them are affiliated to state educational boards. ‘‘In fact, an increasing number of schools attached to madarsas now want to be affiliated to CBSE and ICSE,’’ says Hassan. SINCE 1994, the Centre has been running a programme to improve the educational infrastructure in areas of Muslim concentration and help madarsas introduce modern courses. During the 10th plan, it will spend Rs 83.92 crore to allow madarsas to appoint two teachers in mathematics, science, social studies, English, Hindi etc. A one-time grant of Rs 7,000 for a science/maths kit and Rs 7,000 for establishing a book-bank is the other component of the government-funded scheme. Often derided as seats of obscurantism and superstitions, madarsas are, nevertheless, the only means of any formal education for a large portion of Muslims. In the last two decades, madarsas have multiplied fast—estimates put the total number between 30,000 and 40,000—and at least 50 per cent of India’s Muslims are believed to have attended one. Originally meant for imparting knowledge on Islamic texts, the system lost steam as technological modernisation made inroads in general education. WITH the heightening of fundamentalism, madarsas have come under harsh scrutiny and the arguments for and against its modernisation have become active once again. The extremely autonomous functioning of madarsas and the resistance to outside interference are often counterproductive for modernisation attempts. The ongoing madarsa scheme of the Centre is a voluntary one: Only those madarsas that want to need avail of the government funding. However, ‘‘the present scheme needs overhauling’’, says Zafar Ali Naqvi, member of the national monitoring committee for minorities education. The Naqvi committee report to the government in November 2005 recommended that the scheme be scrapped altogether and suggested an alternative mechanism. ‘‘The desired results could not be achieved in the present scheme,’’ Naqvi says. Among the new suggestions under consideration by the GoI is the establishment of a Central Madarsa Board, which ‘‘without interfering in the curriculum’’ of the existing madarsas, could establish Madarsa Schools ‘‘on the same lines as Central Schools.’’ Such schools would admit students from madarsas and be located in districts with a substantial minority population. The committee has also recommended an increase in the salary of the teachers. At present, they are paid Rs 2,000 a month, leading to a high turnover in science and computer teachers. Not everyone, however, agrees to this approach of introducing some science and computer alongside a pre-existing pedagogy. ‘‘Every Maulana is now carrying a cellphone but that doesn’t change his values,’’ asks Imtiaz Ahmad, sociologist at JNU. ‘‘The religious knowledge system and the scientific knowledge system are different. Trying to mix them is not the answer to Muslim backwardness. Modern aspirations of Muslims should be met through modern educational facilities.’’ ‘Quite a few school Boards, academic bodies, even states like Maharashtra and Rajasthan have approached us for guidance,’ says Madarsa Board chief Abdus Sattar To the Kidwai committee report, submitted in September 2002, have been tagged on some changes in curriculum sought by the Jamiat-e-Ulama-e-Bangla, a body of Bengali Muslim intellectuals. Course of Time SYLLABUS changes, not unsurprisingly, are the most controversial part of the reform programme and the proposal that is evoking the most opposition from organisations representing ulemas, students and teachers. ‘‘We are talking of changes in the 103 institutions following the Senior Madarsa system,’’ says a Board official. So far, under this system, the Alim (class X) course laid considerable stress on the study of theology: The 2006 batch of students, for instance, will be appearing for 100-mark exams in Hadith (a narration of the life of the Prophet) and Tafsir (Koranic interpretations), and 50-mark papers in Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) and Faraid (Muslim inheritance laws), besides two papers in Arabic. Under the re-oriented syllabus, Senior Madarsa Alim students will have to sit for one Arabic paper instead of two. The 50-mark paper on inheritance laws is now optional. But, according to some ulemas, it is the changes in the Fazil (plus-two) stage that are the most disheartening. Compulsory theology content is down to two papers from five (200 marks instead of 500) and the four compulsory Arabic papers has been slashed to half, 200 marks instead of 400. ‘‘Students will also have the option of studying subjects like political science, computer application and general history,’’ says Sattar. ‘‘Alongside, they can still opt for papers like Islamic philosophy and Islamic history.’’ Higher up in the order, the two-year Kamil course is to be restructured into a regular three-year graduation course, to bring it in line with the degrees awarded by various University Grants Commission-recognised universities. A similar reorientation has also been conceptualised for the MM course. Winds of Change THE professed intent behind the rehaul, of course, is to equip madarsa graduates for mainstream, competitive jobs. While the High Madarsa stream gives students the option of joining conventional/non-theological schools and colleges for higher education, products of the Senior Madarsa system (including those who cleared the higher levels of Fazil, Kamil or MM) usually end up as teachers, businessmen or maulvis. According to WBBME officials, the reforms will not only help the students get just and equal treatment in the world outside their madarsas, but will equip them with both theological and modern subjects. Students of the madarsa system are guardedly optimistic about the changes. ‘‘We are happy about the reforms,’’ says Shahidul Islam, a second year student of the MM course, ‘‘but they will help us in career opportunities only if Senior Madarsa students are recognised as graduates or post-graduates after obtaining their Kamil or MM degrees.’’ Sattar, however, is convinced they are making the right beginning. ‘‘The first step to revival is getting the graduate and post-graduate degrees recognised. With reforms and reorientation of syllabi, we are in a process of getting things on track,’’ he says. ‘‘Following the recommendations of the Kidwai Committee, various primary madarsas are also being upgraded. Teachers are being recruited for vacant posts and we are in process of providing computers to more madarsas.’’ Interestingly, there is no separate state kitty for madarsa reform: All the recommended steps are to be funded from the Rs 125-crore annual budget for madarsa education in the state. ON A REPORM ROLL • Overall upgrade for madarsa education • Modern orientation for syllabi • Introduction of general courses of study • Review of appointment procedures • Overhaul of academic standards • Improvement of status, management of Calcutta Madarsa • Strengthening of WBBME infrastructure Part of the Whole BUT syllabus changes, while the most controversial, are only a portion of the madarsa revamp as it is underway in West Bengal. If the students of Calcutta Madarsa—the oldest formal educational institution in India, founded by Warren Hastings in 1780—are to be believed, it is possibly the least important part. With around 17 of the 21 teaching posts vacant, the 600 students of the Central Kolkata institution are mostly dependent on part-time teachers. The building—the madarsa moved here in 1827—is in a shambles. The principal’s post has been unoccupied since 1997. And perhaps worst of all: The WBBME has decided to affiliate the 225-year-old madarsa to the 150-year-old University of Calcutta. ‘‘A university much younger than us is being requested to recognise us. This not only hurts sentiments but also affects the prestige of an institution of repute and learning,’’ says Ashraf Hussain, convener of the West Bengal Madarsa Students Union. The students have been protesting, acknowledges Calcutta Madarsa in-charge Tanvir Ahmed. ‘‘But the affiliation is something that the government will decide. And we are looking into the housing issues.’’ Sattar, on his part, says that the teaching vacancies will be filled soon. Dissent for a Cause INNOCUOUS as they may seem, the reforms have met with more than their fair share of criticism. The West Bengal Madarsa Students’ Union, for instance, has long opposed many of the Kidwai Committee recommendations. So too have many madarsa teachers, who believe the Left Front-dominated WBBME has a ‘‘hidden agenda’’. ‘‘If madarsas resemble schools, why would madarsas be needed at all?’’ asks a teacher at Calcutta Madarsa. So, though state board-affiliated institutions have no choice but to adopt the reforms, most private madarsas—estimated to number around 700—are aligned against them. Basic madarsas, especially in the rural belts, continue to focus on theology, rudimentary maths and language. ‘‘Madarsas are centres of religious learning. The main reason we don’t seek affiliation is the syllabus: The curriculum in government madarsas shifts the focus from theology,’’ says Qazi Fazlur Rahman, head of the Madarsa Azmatiya, a well-known private institution. ‘‘At the same time, we aren’t against the introduction of modern subjects.’’ In fact, it is in this spirit that the future of West Bengal’s madarsas seems most secure: The urge for modernisation comes from within the system, if still only a small part of it. ‘‘We put as much emphasis on computer science, languages, science as we do on Islamic studies,’’ says Saba Ismail, principal of Babul Uloom, a private madarsa in Kolkata. At the ground level, in West Bengal at least, there is acceptance of the need for change. ‘‘There is no harm in introducing new subjects,’’ says Dr M K A Siddiqui, former researcher and professor with The Asiatic Society. ‘‘But it should be accompanied by upgrades in infrastructure and recruitment of teachers. Some sections are usually hostile (to any kind of reform). Sincerity and a little bit of extra endeavour on part of the government would make all the difference.’’ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060212/ad0afcb4/attachment.html From shai at filterindia.com Sat Feb 11 00:11:07 2006 From: shai at filterindia.com (shai at filterindia.com) Date: Sat, 11 Feb 2006 00:11:07 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Experimenta 2006 - festival of experimental cinema in India Message-ID: <9B0CEB19D45B425AA2980971C12E1FFE.MAI@Weird.cx> You are invited to attend Bombay's own radical film festival, and participate in the beginnings of a new movement in India cinema. EXPERIMENTA 2006 - the 4th festival of experimental cinema in India returns to Bombay with a compelling selection of films and videos crafted by Indian and international artists. EXPERIMENTA 2006 has been designed and curated by Shai Heredia. This year's guest curators, Kamal Swaroop (Bombay, India), Amrit Gangar (Bombay, India), Marcel Schwierin (Oberhausen, Germany), Karen Mirza and Brad Butler (No.w.here, UK) will present a selection of 50 films, along with video and film installations. Main screenings will be held at the auditorium of the Cultural Centre of Russia (formerly The House of Soviet Culture). From hosting the world's first woman cosmonaut to screening Tarkovsky classics, this venue has played an important role in Bombay's history. Film and video installations will be presented at The Fourth Floor, Kitab Mahal. Registration for delegate passes will commence from February 6th onwards, between 2pm-5pm at the Cultural Centre of Russia. Delegate passes are required for entry to film screenings. No photographs required. Dates: 15th - 19th February Venues: CULTURAL CENTRE OF RUSSIA Opposite Films Division, 31-A, Peddar Road, Mumbai - 400 062 THE FOURTH FLOOR Kitab Mahal, 192 D N Road, Fort, Mumbai - 400 001 Registration: Rs 300/- Delegate pass Rs 200/- Student Delegate pass For programme information, please visit www.filterindia.com EXPERIMENTA is a Filter India project in collaboration with No.w.here (UK), Goethe Institute Max Muller Bhavan, the Cultural Centre of Russia and the National Film Archives of India. EXPERIMENTA is supported by Kodak India, British Council, ITC Grand Central Sheraton and Sula Vineyards. PLEASE FORWARD THIS EMAIL -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: EXPERIMENTA 2006.jpg Type: application/binary Size: 43776 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060211/7e52b26a/attachment.bin From uk_ps at yahoo.co.uk Tue Feb 14 14:05:26 2006 From: uk_ps at yahoo.co.uk (udayan kumar) Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2006 08:35:26 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Reader-list] Reader-list, Second Posting, uday Message-ID: <20060214083526.52558.qmail@web26502.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Hi fellows, >From the last meeting I realized that I have to tell a story. In the capital city of Kerala, there is a temple of great antiquity known as ‘Sree Padmanabha Swami Temple’. The rulers of the erstwhile state of Tiruvithamcore used to be called Sree Padmanabha Dasa (Padmanabha is the icon of Lord Vishnu; and Padmanabhadasa means the servant of Lord Vishnu). The temple of such royal heritage has a very large confinement and is located, although not at the heart of the city, almost on the outskirts of the city. Any visitor to the temple is left with a sense of having been caught between an antique structure and the modern urban space. As part of the temple, there is a pond as well, which is outside the courtyard of the temple. On one of the sides of the pond, there is an approach road that leads towards the temple; and a little ahead of the other side of the pond there is a taxi stand. Those apart, there are usual passers by and a few people residing in the close by areas and those who simply come to pass time in the evening, on an average, constitute the usual congregation. Earlier on, the pond was open to the public. People used to bathe in the pond. But, for almost a decade, it has not been open to the public and a guard has been appointed to enforce the ban. That had been the state of affairs until the incident. On 6th of February 2000 around 2 PM in the afternoon, like anyone, a youth was passing on the approach road to the temple, heading to the pond as if unaware of the ban. No one around noticed his trespass. Even for those passively looking on, initially, they probably couldn’t anticipate what was about to transpire(I had paid a visit to the site within the next couple of days and had interaction with a few people who happened to witness the incident. Since stating the case in itself would require reasonably long depiction of the incident I’m conveniently avoiding the details of those interviews. What I could gather however from those interactions does, on various accounts, not parallel some media projections). The youth, as far as his appearance goes, was well built and in his twenties. The guard, at that moment happened to be away as he had gone for a cup of tea from the nearby shop. Thus nobody was there to prevent the trespasser, and he entered the pond. Some people around reminded him of the ban and tried to persuade him not to enter. Hardly paying any attention the man went on and began to bathe in the pond. In a short while he reached almost to the middle of the pond. Someone in the meantime managed to inform the guard who immediately rushed to the scene. By that time, a huge crowd had surrounded the pond on all sides, watching the events unfold. Without entering the pond, the guard tried his level best to persuade him to come back. Having failed, the guard eventually had to enter the pond to handle him physically. The guard thus entered and went up to him, the still adamant trespasser forced the guard into a brawl which quickly turned into a full-fledged physical fight. The guard gradually sunk right in front of the whole crowd; was immersed deep inside the pond; was killed by the trespasser in the broad day light in front of a large number of his fellow human beings. At the same time on that day a team of one of the popular Malayalam television channels headed by the bureau chief himself happened to be shooting some parts of the temple for a different purpose. Having somehow come to know about the incident the television crew rushed to the scene and recorded the entire incident, which was telecasted on their channel during the prime time in the very evening itself. This is infact the story over which I have been pondering. I request you to make your intellectual response to the story. Right now I am trying to flesh out the meaning of the experience of death in the story from a social anthroplogical perspective which forms one of the major parts of my work. I am looking forward to your response. *The above narrated story is in fact a real incident. I am posting this story in verbatim from my proposal to the readers list because of the indescribable charecter of my project. Uday 14th feb 2006, New Delhi. ___________________________________________________________ To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new Yahoo! Security Centre. http://uk.security.yahoo.com From Prashant.Ramachandran at ogilvy.com Tue Feb 14 14:05:18 2006 From: Prashant.Ramachandran at ogilvy.com (Prashant Ramachandran) Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2006 14:05:18 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Prashant Ramachandran is out of the office. Message-ID: I will be out of the office starting 02/13/2006 and will not return until 03/06/2006. I will respond to your message when I return. Privileged/Confidential Information may be contained in this message. If you are not the addressee indicated in this message (or responsible for delivery of the message to such person), you may not copy or deliver this message to anyone. In such case, you should destroy this message and kindly notify the sender by reply email. Please advise immediately if you or your employer does not consent to email or messages of this kind. Opinions, conclusions and other information in this message that do not relate to the official business of the Ogilvy Group shall be understood as neither given nor endorsed by it. From czegledy at interlog.com Mon Feb 13 17:34:15 2006 From: czegledy at interlog.com (Nina Czegledy) Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 08:04:15 -0400 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] ISEA2008 Message-ID: <3FBF3237-75EF-4BD6-B7A7-CE27AD6C6D3E@interlog.com> ISEA IS NOW ACCEPTING BIDS TO HOST ISEA2008 MISSION The series of symposia known as the International Symposium on Electronic Art was initiated in 1988 to create and maintain an international network of organizations and individuals active in the field of electronic arts. In 1990 this network took shape as an association, founded in The Netherlands, called the Inter-Society for the Electronic Arts (ISEA). ISEA was established to oversee the continuance of the symposia and each symposium promotes the aims and objectives of the Inter-Society: the event and the society are therefore mutually supportive. Both ISEA and the Symposium are dedicated to the interdisciplinary and cross-cultural communication/cooperation between the arts and the fields of technology, science, education, and industry. Beyond its integral support of the symposium ISEA also realizes its mission by supporting other events, developing partnerships, implementing culturally diverse initiatives, as well as through publishing and archiving. ISEA is committed to collaboration, membership participation, and the creation of new work. The aims of the Inter-Society and of the ISEA symposia are - the promotion of communication between organizations and individuals active in the field of the electronic arts - the creation of a structured approach towards the problems and potentials of electronic art. - the promotion of interdisciplinary and cross-cultural communication/cooperation between the arts and the fields of technology, science, education, and industry. - research, presentation and exhibition of work related to ISEAÕs mission. For information on previous ISEA symposia, please see the ISEA website: http://www.isea-web.org/eng/sympos.html SUBMISSION GUIDELINES Submissions will be accepted from: Category 1: (Educational) institutes (universities, art schools, museums, etc.), (artistic, cultural or scientific) organizations, government bodies, etc Category 2*: Congress organizing bureaus; Category 3**: Umbrella organizations created for the purpose of hosting an ISEA Symposium. *Category 2 applicants must be able to demonstrate evidence of organizing earlier, comparable and successful events. **Category 3 applicants must show evidence of support and thus prove the feasibility of their financial plan. GUIDELINES FOR SYMPOSIUM HOST CANDIDATES All candidates are strongly advised to carefully read through the recently revised "Guidelines for Symposium Host Candidates" on the ISEA website at http://www.isea-web.org/eng/sympos_guide.html before they submit their letter of intent. If you cannot access these guidelines online, please contact ISEA HQ at info at isea-web.org for a copy of the guidelines. SELECTION PROCESS AND DEADLINES The ISEA Board of Directors currently invites those interested in hosting ISEA2006 to manifest their interest. The following schedule applies to this call for bids: MARCH 31, 2006: Deadline for letters of interest - indicating location, host organization, year, and (if possible) dates of the proposed Symposium APRIL 15, 2006 - Board vote on submissions MAY 22, 2006 - Deadline for full proposals JUNE 30, 2006 - Announcement of ISEA2006 host CONTACT INFORMATION All letters of intent must be sent by post, fax or email to ISEA HQ by March 31, 2006. No late submissions will be accepted. ISEA, Inter-Society for the Electronic Arts Keizersgracht 264 1016 EV Amsterdam The Netherlands T: +31 20 6273758 E: info at isea-web.org http://www.isea-web.org _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From monica at sarai.net Sat Feb 11 18:42:23 2006 From: monica at sarai.net (Monica Narula) Date: Sat, 11 Feb 2006 18:42:23 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Building Sight Message-ID: *Building Sight* A Curatorial Project by Raqs Media Collective for On Difference #2 Concept : Iris Dressler / Hans D. Chris Kunstverein Stuttgart, Germany 18 February to 30 April, 2006 http://www.wkv-stuttgart.de/en/programme/2006/exhibitions/on- difference-2 [with Sanjak Kak, Ruchir Joshi, Satyajit Pande, Solomon Benjamin, Ravikant Sharma, Prabhat Kumar Jha, Nancy Adajania, CyberMohalla Ensemble, Sarai Media Lab and the Sarai.txt Broadsheet Collective] 'Building Sight' is a sketch of how a way of thinking about a city has to be constructed, brick by brick. Cities are being built all the time. Construction never ends; no one can say precisely when it began, work is in progress. The task of constructing an image of a city involves more than collating material about buildings, roads and walls. It also requires you to render all the arguments and feelings that gather around a place. There is no guarantee that all this will resolve into a neat diagram of urban utopia. Every indication, in fact, is to the contrary. The pleasure of our immersion in cities lies as much in our awareness of their discord as in their design. To think about cities is to consider relationships: between a planned city and its messy footprint, between tower block, hollow ground and dust bowl, between a wall that you can lean on and a house that is demolished, between cul-de-sacs and streets for walking. Between the admonitions inscribed on surfaces and the never-ending games and dreams that are played out and whispered at street corners and crossroads. The city can strike you as a maelstrom. Evictions bring new people from all over the hinterland – as dams flood valleys, as plans spiral out from blueprints, emptying forests, fields and pastures. Old towns haemorrhage into the metropolis. The city swells, becomes strange, crowded, dense. Old evictions breed new ones. A city becomes something you have to hang on to as you lurch into daily uncertainties. And yet, time is sought for pauses, for breath, for play, for dreaming, for the carving out of spaces and handholds and corridors which make the city a place to live in, regardless. And there are encounters that bring things face to face when eyes have to meet eyes, gazes have to cross and settle on the beholder and the beheld. And there are conversations – some strident, others tentative; some even have episodes of accord. A building site is a place where people bring things with which they will construct something. Building sight is an island of design inlaid into the surface of this construction. 'Building Sight’ brings together a number of different visions in order to provoke new conversations about the making and unmaking of cities. 'Building Sight' is a provisional index of a handful of conversations that we have been having for some time. With friends, colleagues and correspondents who have helped us to think about what it means to live in cities. One is an architect, two are documentary filmmakers, one is a cinematographer, one a curator, critic, writer. Then there are collectives and communities - a writer and a community worker, three editors of a broadsheet in dialogue with a designer, a constellation of media practitioners in a working class neighbourhood. Each of these, many from Delhi, some from Mumbai, one from Bangalore – is a stranger to galleries. Their work anticipates, rather than represents, what the response of contemporary art practice can be to the South Asian city. The dialogue that we have had with these practitioners has led to an eclectic mélange of possibilities, and the tentative laying of foundations, as a series of fragments creates unsettling, pleasurable provocations. In all of this we can see arguments gather; we see images of disparate dreams and realities unsettling maps, plans and blueprints. Sometime in the 19th century, a poet who lived in Delhi, Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib, gave voice to a query about his city. 'What is Delhi?' I ask myself. I reply, 'The world is a body, and Delhi, the soul' In the end, building sight - brick by retinal brick, pixel by pixel, frame by frame - is a consideration of what it means to continue a conversation with the body of the world, and its soul. ========================= *The Dispute at the Dam Site* - Sanjay Kak - (1958) Video/ 19” screen/ 5’ 30”/ sound Production year: 2006 Production credits: Camera: Sanjay Kak Sound: Samina Mishra Courtesy: Artist This video is an elaboration of a sequence in Words on Water (2002), Sanjay Kak’s documentary about a two-decade peoples’ movement against big dams in the Narmada River Valley in central India. A dam site is a crater. A dispute – between a people who live by a river and a state apparatus intent on taming the river and evicting its people – is a fault-line. The crater fills with people and is hollowed out again. A confrontation between democracy, dams and a district collector becomes a tremor. Valleys empty and cities wait to be filled in. Sanjay Kak is a filmmaker. He lives and works in Delhi. ========================= *Gurgaon Giraffe* - Ruchir Joshi - (1960) Video/ 19” screen/ 3’ 16” Production year: 2006 Production credits: Camera: Ranjan Palit Editing: Sara Kolster + Iram Ghufran Courtesy: Artist An excavator in Gurgaon, a suburb of Delhi marked by factories, ‘new economy’ workspaces and expensive real estate. An excavator is a hungry beast. It forages, dancing a slow hypnotic dance, digging the city into becoming, scooping out hillocks of earth with its jaws. Those evicted by dams find their way into the city, only to confront the excavator's hungry jaw, wherever they turn. Evictions breed evictions. Hollow ground makes way for new hollow ground. Ruchir Joshi is a filmmaker and a writer. He lives and works between Delhi, Kolkata and London. ========================= Work Title: *Manus* - Satyajit Pande - (1973) Video/ 19” screen/ 7” Production year: 2005 Production credits: Camera: Setu/Satyajit Pande, Editing: Shan Mohammed Thanks: Amit Choudhury, Surabhi Sharma, Kavita Pai, Sunil Shanbag, Amitabh Kumar Courtesy: Artist Manus is the anatomical name for the terminal segment of a forelimb – in humans, the hand and wrist. In colloquial Hindi and Marathi, two languages spoken extensively in Mumbai, ‘manus’ also means ‘human being’. Mumbai’s suburban railway network ferries millions of commuters every day, and epitomises the tenuous grip that the inhabitants of Mumbai have on their city. Hands in trains create constellations of accidental intimacy, enter found solidarities, speak a vocabulary of silent gestures. A routine of handclasps anchors and cushions the daily uncertainties of a dense metropolis. Satyajit Pande is a cinematographer and a photographer. He lives and works in Mumbai. ========================= *City Guide I* - Solomon Benjamin - (1960) Lecture performance/ Video/ projection / 17’ Production year: 2005 Production credits: Realised in collaboration with Sarai Media Lab Courtesy: Artist + Sarai Media Lab City Guide I is a ‘theory-performance’ that uses PowerPoint presentations, research notes and speech to create a dense web of associations and information about transformations in the cities of the south. Benjamin uses maps, drawings and photographs to tell a fascinating story about the contests between planners and the ‘hydra’ of informal and improvised urban forms. For Benjamin, this contest shapes the contours of urban reality in many new and emerging cities all over the world. Solomon Benjamin is an urbanist and architect. He lives and works in Bangalore. ========================= *Autopoesis* - Ravikant Sharma - (1967) + Prabhat Kumar Jha - (1967) Video / projection/ 8’+ Production year: 2005 Production credits: Realised in collaboration with Sarai Media Lab Courtesy: Artist + Sarai Media Lab A collection of Found Poetry from auto rickshaw cabs in Delhi opens another pathway into the imaginary of the city. The streets of Delhi are anthologies of mobile poetry. Auto rickshaw cabs – three-wheel motor scooters and Delhi’s most ubiquitous form of personal public transport – are surfaces inscribed with pithy couplets that span a spectrum of sentiment ranging from laconic irony to surreal humour, from gentle heresy to rage and romantic ardour. Auto-poems, read fleetingly as rickshaws speed by, register as precise and personal annotations on the epic text of a vast metropolis. Ravikant is a historian and writer based at Sarai-CSDS. Prabhat Kumar is a pedagogue and social activist with Ankur Society for Alternatives in Education. Both live in Delhi. ========================= *In Aladdin’s Cave* - Nancy Adajania - (1971) Inter-media installation (Digital prints/ text/ slides/ projection) Production year: 2006 Production credits: Images sourced from Mahendra Camtech and Fotofast, Mumbai. Research supported by a Sarai-CSDS independent research fellowship. Courtesy: Artist In Aladdin’s Cave is an archive-installation that emerges from Nancy Adajania’s research on popular digital photography. The photograph is an object poised between the obligation to index reality and the desire for the picturesque and the fantastic. Neighbourhood photo studios in South Asian cities inherit a legacy of intervening on the very surface of the portraits they make for their clients. The cheap and easy availability of digital imaging technologies and software takes this further. The door of the street corner studio becomes a portal to strange new worlds that are within everyone’s reach. Nancy Adajania is a curator and art critic based in Mumbai. ========================= *A Wall and a Sofa* - Cybermohalla Ensemble - (2001) Video/ projection/ 48 mins Production year: 2005 Production credits: Cybermohalla Media Lab at Dakshinpuri, Delhi + Sarai Media Lab, Delhi Courtesy: Ankur Society for Alternatives in Education, Delhi + Sarai/ CSDS, Delhi The Cybermohalla Ensemble, a flexible constellation of young, working- class media practitioners in Delhi, has a five-year history of interventions in informal common spaces and contexts in the city. Their video work is also narrowcast on neighbourhood cable TV networks. Sometimes an alleyway can become a salon. The inhabitants of crowded cities create islands of conviviality when and where they can. A bench leaning against a wall can become a sofa: an invitation to sit for a while, chat, relax and relish the passage of time in the course of a busy day. Cybermohalla is a collaborative process initiated by Sarai-CSDS and Ankur. ========================= *Ectropy Index* - Sarai Media Lab - (2000) (Jeebesh Bagchi, Mrityunjoy Chaterjee, Iram Ghufran, Monica Narula, Shuddhabrata Sengupta) Interactive hypertext infoface/ projection and computer Production year: 2005 Production credits: Research support from Taha Mahmood Courtesy: Sarai Media Lab, Sarai/CSDS Ectropy Index is the third in the series of interactive info-face works made by the Sarai Media Lab over the last five years. Like Global Village Health Manual 1.0 and Network of No_des, it builds an argument through research notes and repurposed cultural material. “Ectropy” means a general increase in organization. An “ectropy index”, therefore, is a measure of the increase of information, or of order, in a given system. Identity cards and identity theft, fingerprints and forgeries, surveillance and shadows, data bodies and data crashes, biometrics and body sculpting seem to define significant features of the topography of our moment. Ectropy Index seeks to create a tension between entropic and ectropic impulses continually contesting the levels of order and systematization within a system. Sarai Media Lab is based at Sarai-CSDS, Delhi. ========================= *Sarai.TXT 3.1: City Games* - Broadsheet Collective - (2004) (Iram Ghufran, Shveta Sarda, Aarti Sethi. Designed with Mrityunjoy Chaterjee) Broadsheet/ 23 x 36 inches/ folded/ colour Production year: 2006 Production credits: Produced at Sarai Media Lab + printed by Kunstverein, Stuttgart Courtesy: Sarai-CSDS, Delhi City Games is a special edition of Sarai.txt, a periodic experimental publication that interprets and renders research about urban realities. City Games treats the material and immaterial surfaces of the city as a site for the elaboration of questions and provocations, rather than as a stable structure. It turns the ordered forms of urban space inside-out, and opens up a poetics of the ‘interiority’ of exposed spaces in the routine of the city. The Broadsheet Collective and Mrityunjoy Chatterjee are based at Sarai-CSDS, Delhi. ========================= Monica Narula Raqs Media Collective Sarai-CSDS 29 Rajpur Road Delhi 110054 www.raqsmediacollective.net www.sarai.net _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From nc-agricowi at netcologne.de Fri Feb 10 19:53:08 2006 From: nc-agricowi at netcologne.de (NetEx) Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 15:23:08 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] SoundLAB: call for soundart Message-ID: <43ECA1CC.9030303@netcologne.de> Call for soundart deadline 30 June 2006 http://netex.nmartproject.net/index.php?blog=8&cat=54 . Soundlab http://soundlab.newmediafest.org is invited to launch its 4th edition in the framework of the Cologne based soundart event KlangDrang Festival www.klangdrang.org 6-7 October 2006 and be part of the interactive media exhibition by [R][R][F]2006--->XP - http://rrf2006.newmediafest.org on the same occasion. . ---> --->Call for submissions Deadline 30 June 2006 . SoundLab is looking for soundart works of a) experimental character b) electronic music c) Voice -sound/music integration d) and other forms . Theme : "Memoryscapes" based on the subjects: ---> "memory" and "identity" . The submission has to be posted on a webpage for download, please do not send it as an email attachement. Submission format: .mp3 Size: Max 5MB, exceptions possible, but on request. . The authors/artists keep all rights on their submitted works. . Deadline 30 June 2006 Please use this form for submitting: ******************* 1.name of artist, email address, URL 2. short biography/CV (not more than 300 words) 3. works (maximum 3), year of production, running time a) URL for download 4. short statement for each work (not more than 300 words each) . Confirmation/authorization: The submitter declares and confirms that he/she is holding all author's rights and gives permission to include the submitted work in "Soundlab" online environment until revoke. Signed by (submitter) . Please send the complete submission to soundlab at newmediafest.org subject: Soundlab edition IV . Deadline 30 June 2006 . This call can be also found on http://netex.nmartproject.net/index.php?blog=8&cat=54 . ***************************** editions I - III of SoundLab - can be found on SoundLab Channel/Memory Channel 7-->at [R][R][F]2006--->XP http://rrf2006.newmediafest.org via the artistic body or separately also via http://rrf2006.newmediafest.org/schannel.htm or http://soundlab.newmediafest.org Both are corporate parts of [NewMediaArtProjectNetwork]:||cologne www.nmartproject.net the experimental platform for art and New Media operating from Cologne/Germany and its common weblog is NetEX - networked experience http://netex.nmartproject.net ************************************************ info(at)nmartproject.net _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From preetunair at yahoo.com Tue Feb 14 15:53:33 2006 From: preetunair at yahoo.com (PREETU NAIR) Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2006 02:23:33 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] =?iso-8859-1?q?No_aid_for_HIV_positive_=91outsider?= =?iso-8859-1?q?s=92?= Message-ID: <20060214102333.46127.qmail@web31701.mail.mud.yahoo.com> No aid for HIV positive ‘outsiders’ Preetu Nair preetu_nair at gomantaktimes.com (This article appeared in GT Weekender, Panjim edition dated February 12,2006) If you are a poor HIV/AIDS patient in Goa and do not have a ration card, it will be a matter of time before your family gets your death certificate. Harsh! but shockingly true. The Goa Medical College has been refusing to supply antiretroviral therapy (ART) drugs to non residents or those who have no proof of residence in Goa, in gross violation of NACO guidelines and the fundamental right to life, Preetu Nair finds out how your ration card becomes your life saving drug. PANJIM: The outsider versus insider battle has been dragged even in to the Goa Medical College, where HIV patients without rations cards or proof of residence are refused ART life sustaining tablets. Those who can afford to it can buy it privately, but what about the hundreds of poor HIV patients who have a right to life, but are expected to show proof of living in Goa, to get that right. Check out these cases: Positively speaking, we don’t treat ‘outsider’ HIV patients Lata, an HIV positive is staying in Goa since last 30 years and had a ration card. But as bulldozers razed her house in Baina on June 14, 2004, she lost her ration card. As a result she has become an outsider in Goa where she was born and brought up. Recently, doctors at Goa Medical College (GMC) put her on Antiretroviral therapy (ART) but refused to give her the free medicine because she didn't have a ration card. She explained her problem but to no avail. Her problem is dual: on one side she is denied medicines because she doesn't have a ration card, while on the other hand government authorities refuse to give her a new ration card, despite several applications for the same. The ART of refusing aid As the CD4 count machine (a blood check-up for HIV/AIDS patient which has to be done every six months) was dysfunctional in GMC in October and November 2005, Shanti was advised to take her critically ill husband to a private hospital for CD4 count. The test revealed that his CD4 count was very low at 111 (normal is 200). The couple immediately rushed to GMC to start ART but was denied the tablet because they are from Karnataka and not from Goa. When they argued that ART has to be given for free to anyone who has HIV/AIDS irrespective of the state to which they belong, they were told by doctors at GMC that they have orders to give free ART tablets only to Goans. Another doctor added that as the CD4 count was done at private hospital, they would not receive any medicinefrom GMC for free. Want a tablet, go back to your village A 32-year-old man from Nepal, who came to Goa three years back to work as a labourer at the construction site, was detected to be HIV positive in 2005. He used to have high fever and felt weak. He went to GMC where he was tested and found to be HIV positive. He was regularly denied basic drugs. In January 2005 a CD4 count was done at GMC and he was counseled to start. But when he went to take his free ART tablets, he was asked to go back and take the medicine free from his village. Reason? He is not a resident of Goa. He cried and begged but in vain. Some free lunches, but no free tablets Reshma, 25, purchased ART tablets for one and half year when she was pregnant to avoid HIV/AIDS transmission from mother to child. This was two and half years back, when ART tablet was not given free of cost at GMC. However, she was forced to stop the medicine later as she couldn't afford it. However, when she got a CD4 count done recently it was found that her CD4 count had gone down and she was put on ART. But when she went to GMC for the medicine, she was denied tablets, as she couldn't produce proof of residence. Believe it or not! From January 2006, if you don't have a ration card in Goa , you will be denied ART, which is considered to be an elixir of hope for HIV/AIDS patients; especially symptomatic patients with CD4 count less than 200 by GMC. ART drugs, while they do not cure HIV, can, if successfully administered, slow and even virtually stop the proliferation of HIV in the body. This reduces susceptibility to other diseases and allows for longer and better quality of life. Though available in the market, the drugs cost anywhere between Rs 2500 to 5000, thus making it unaffordable for the poor. This is happening even as Chief Minister of Goa, Pratapsing Rane in his message in Goa State AIDS Control Society's book HIV/AIDS in Goa, Situation and Response 2005-06 has said, "My government is fully committed to prevent the spread of HIV and to provide care, support and treatment to people living with AIDS who access our health services and to mitigate the impact of theepidemic on communities". It just doesn't matter that they live, work and love Goa. What matters is that they don't have a ration card or an electoral card! All this in complete violation of Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, which recognizes the right to life as a fundamental right and also imposes an obligation on the State to safeguard the right to life of every person: "The Government hospitals run by the State and the medical officers employed therein are duty bound to extend medical assistance for preserving human life". Failure on the part of a Government hospital to provide timely medical treatment to a person in need of such treatment results in a violation of his right to life guaranteed under Article 21. Dr JJ Dias, Project Director, Goa State AIDS Control Society (GSACS) admitted that many NGO's working with HIV/AIDS patients have complained that the patients are asked to show proof of residence in order to get free ART drugs. "But this is done to ensure adherence from the patient, so that they don't leave the treatment mid-way. Otherwise, I don't think there is any reason to refuse free ART drugs as we want more and more HIV/AIDS patients to take the medicine," he said. But isn't the right to life and health a fundamental right guaranteed to every person living in India and is non-negotiable? "That is true. We can't deny the drug to anyone. But our focus is on adherence," added Dr Dias. Asha Vernekar, NGO Advisor, GSACS also admitted that she had received complaints about patients being denied ART drugs because they don't have a ration card. "We have also followed up with GMC," she added. This is happening even as National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) envisions an India in which every person living with HIV is treated with dignity and has access to quality care. However, many like Reshma and Lata are denied free ART drugs because they are "outsiders". This despite the fact that NACO made the promise: "one nation one resolve: we shall defeat AIDS together" and for the same launched free ART drugs to all HIV/AIDS patients in state at GMC in March 2005, to provide universal access to HIV care. "It is done to ensure that there is continuity of the medicine. What if they stay in Goa for few months and go to their native place and discontinue the medicine? By and large medicines are not denied to patients," added Dr Rajan Kunkolienkar, Medical Superintendent, Goa Medical College. But can a patient be denied medicine on the presumption that he may stop taking the medicine in the near future? Well, no one seems to have the answer! (Some names have been changed) Words hurt more that the disease. Here is a sample of how insensitive medical professionals in government hospitals are when they deal with HIV positive patients. “Leave your HIV positive husband” • A 25-year-old local boy was admitted in November in the General ward of GMC because his CD4 count was very low and he required immediate medical attention. In the presence of relatives he was given a bed, but in the night when the relatives left, he was vacated to a dark laboratory and made to sit there alone. Scared and worried, he called his relatives for help. They intervened and he was got medical attention but not before his wife was advised by the doctor to leave her HIV positive husband. “You are HIV positive, we can’t give you a receipt for a CT scan” • When Shakeela took her 27-year-old husband, who is suffering from HIV/AIDS to GMC in December, they were asked to go to Hospicio Hospital, Margao. At Hospicio, she was charged Rs 200 for CT scan. She paid the money but didn't get a receipt. When the couple insisted, the staff insulted them saying they are HIV positive. “Hey get out of the line, someone may get the disease” • Leena and Manoj had left home in Maharashtra and settled in Goa, far away from friends and relative, because they were regularly ridiculed by everyone for being HIV positive. But Leena got a greater shock when she went to GMC and was ridiculed by a nurse, who said, "Hey, you are HIV positive, just get out of the line or someone may just get the disease." She is yet to overcome the embarrassment and agony she experienced then. This is happening even when it is openly agreed that maintenance of confidentiality of an individual's health status is one of the cornerstones of public health. Not only does the principle rest on human rights norms of autonomy and respect for privacy, but it has also been viewed as crucial to encouraging those most at risk to come forward for HIV testing, counseling and clinical attention. Even NACO states, "All Government hospitals have been instructed to admit HIV/AIDS cases without any discrimination. They have to be managed in the general wards of the hospitals along with other patients except cases having sputum positive (open pulmonary tuberculosis) and when the patient's immunity is completely diminished. This is required to protect him from other infections and thus he needs to be managed in a separate room. Any special marking or board near the beds for HIV positive patients is discouraged". Only noise, but no CD machines CD4/CD8 count facility was established at GMC in July 2001. On an average 6 to 8 patients are screened everyday for CD4/CD8 blood count facility to verify and assess the immune status of a HIV patient. In 2005 upto September at least 449 people went for CD4/CD8 count. However, in October and November, the CD4 machine was not working and due to this few patients who could shell out Rs 1000 plus went to private hospital, while many couldn't do the test. Dr Dias admitted that there was a problem sometime back. "The problem is that at the moment we have just one CD4 machine and it does give trouble. At the moment we have three option: have another CD4 machine, outsource the tests or purchase CD4/CD8 kits so that it can be used as substitute," added Dr Dias. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com From cahen.x at levels9.com Tue Feb 14 20:00:28 2006 From: cahen.x at levels9.com (xavier cahen) Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2006 15:30:28 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] ))))) radiolist.org ((((( Plate-forme sonore des arts visuels ))))) | ))))) visual arts noise platform ((((( 2 Message-ID: <43F1E984.60109@levels9.com> I very sorry about the controversial toxic French warship ship Clemenceau. I apologies for "my" politic's country... Xavier Sorry only in french... Lesson #2 ;-) RadioList.org Plate-forme sonore des arts visuels / visual arts noise platform (((((((((.)))))))))) ATTENTION Nouvelle ADRESSE !!!! / NEW ADDRESS .((((( Abonnement RSS : podcast, ipodder, sage, etc... http://radiolist.org/index.php?feed=rss2 .((((( Abonnement à la newsletter http://radiolist.org Murmures et Chuchotements: Exposition “Notre histoire…”, Palais de Tokyo, Paris. )))))))).(((((((((( Exposition “Notre histoire…”, du 21 janvier au 07 mai 2006. Quelques murmures et chuchotements récoltés dans l’exposition « Notre histoire… » au Palais de Tokyo. Dans ce lieu où les sons résonnent contre les murs bruts en béton, se mêlent les chuchotements des visiteurs aux murmures les installations. http://radiolist.org//?p=46#more-46 Parole d’artiste : le collectif MIX. )))))))).(((((((((( Interview du collectif mix à l’occasion de la présentation de leurs oeuvres dans le cadre d’extensions #6, dynamiques d’écritures, à l’ensci les ateliers à Paris. Le collectif MIX. est composé de trois membres permanents : Claire Malrieux, Alex Pou et Fabien Vallos. http://radiolist.org//?p=45#more-45 Véronika : Emission n°1, Contact. )))))))).(((((((((( Véronika est un projet d’émissions s’intéressant aux conditions mêmes de la diffusion radiophonique, de la perception, de la communicabilité. Stuart, le contact des années 50, après l’avion, les tests du microtrv900e. Les prises de contact sont ponctués des voix éphémérides des dernières sirènes capables de nous émouvoir sans se faire payer, artificielles, on aimerait qu’elles nous réapprennent à écouter ce qu’elles nous disent sur le signal... http://radiolist.org//?p=44#more-44 Paysage sonore : joueurs de flûte de la forêt de Tijuca, ÉriK SamaKh, Rio de Janeiro. )))))))).(((((((((( Extrait d’enregistrements d’une installation d’ÉriK SamaKh dans la forêt de Tijaca en 2002 au Brésil. “joueurs de flûte” est le titre générique d’installations sonores in situ, dédiées aux arbres, à la forêt, à sa magie mais aussi à sa fragilité. http://radiolist.org//?p=43#more-43 De qui de quoi : Extension, à l’ENSCI, Paris. )))))))).(((((((((( Interview de Christian Barani et Frédérique Dumond, tous deux artistes et enseignants à L’École Nationale Supérieure de Création Industrielle, l’ENSCI, à propos du module de rencontre : Extension, dynamiques d’écritures. http://radiolist.org//?p=41#more-41 -- RadioList.org (((((((.))))))) xavier cahen administrateur xavier.cahen at radiolist.org http://www.radiolist.org From mallica_jnu at yahoo.co.in Wed Feb 15 17:38:09 2006 From: mallica_jnu at yahoo.co.in (mallica mishra) Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 12:08:09 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Reader-list] second posting-Mallica Message-ID: <20060215120809.99417.qmail@web8803.mail.in.yahoo.com> Hi! all and welcome to my second posting! I've titled it as 'Perspectives; Programmes and Policies of the Government of India on the education of Tibetan refugees in India'. As the title suggests, it is an attempt to delve into the first part of my research; to identify and shed light on the key issues involved and to share my findings on the same. The word ‘Tibet’ conjures up images and visions of mystery and fantasy with references in all major literatures referring to it as ‘Shangri-la’ or ‘the Forbidden Land’ or ‘Land of the Lamas’ tethering on the verge of extinction with its ancient and pristine culture being systematically destroyed by the Chinese alongwith waves of modernization. What is less talked about is the remarkable degree of economic self-sufficiency; cultural and religious preservation achieved by the Tibetan peoples in India under the spiritual and temporal leadership of His Holiness The Dalai Lama. This amazing quality of the Tibetans to arise like phoenix from their very own ashes in exile and strategies of H.H. The Dalai Lama’s government –in-exile to consciously forge a national identity amongst people from different parts of Tibet to put up a united front in their struggle for autonomy and/or freedom from Chinese rule, is a fact often neglected in most studies. The system of education established in exile has been one of the most important agencies committed towards fostering a sense of common Tibetan identity amongst Tibetan children born and brought up in exile. As acknowledged by H.H the Dalai Lama, “only a successful education system, would maintain Tibetan identity, culture and heritage, and also prepare Tibetan children for the challenges posed by new ideas and technology”. The Tibetan government-in—exile today observes that these schools have played a crucial role in the “community’s success” in maintaining their identity in exile during the last four and a half decades (http://www.tibet.net/education/eng/intro/).The government in exile also notes with gratitude the contributions of the Government of India in achieving the same. As I've stated above,this posting of mine will explore and shed light on the perspectives, policies of the Government of India on the grant of asylum to Tibetan refugees and the provision of welfare assistance, particularly in the field of education to the former. Flight of Tibetan Refugees into India: a brief background: India faced a major refugee influx of Tibetans in 1959. As a result of the Chinese takeover of Tibet, The Dalai Lama alongwith 13,000 followers crossed over to into India. The government of India granted political asylum to The Dalai Lama. After, a preliminary screening procedure, Tibetans were registered as refugees and given registration certificates. These certificates of identity enabled them to engage in gainful employment, economic activities and even travel aboard and return to India at will. Many were settled near the hill stations of Northern India since the mountain environment was similar to their original home environment in Tibet. Tibetan refugees fled their country of origin to save their lives, religion and culture, thereby amounting to flight due to fear of persecution. Tibetan refugees are refugees in a political sense and most of the benefits derived from refugee status are made available to them. Tibetan refugee inflows have not ceased and there are an estimated 100.000 Tibetans in India today. Every year, it is further estimated that approximately 2,500 refugees from Tibet via Nepal to India; ‘home’ since 1959 of the exiled government and of their spiritual leader, H.H.The Dalai Lama. The majority of these refugees are stated to be young people, children escaping from the oppression of the Chinese rule, often being sent by their parents in the hope that they will receive a ‘proper’ education- which will enable them to preserve their culture and heritage and provide them with necessary skills and qualifications that they will enable them to build a future for themselves. Tibetan children receive virtually no education on their indigenous Tibetan culture and history in public schools in Tibet. Children are targeted for indoctrination, their freedom of thought, religion and expression repressed (www.tibet.com/humanrights/edutoday/html). It is to fight against the former ‘sinocization’ that their parents braving persecution (for instance, loss of jobs; imprisonment etc) smuggle their children into India, the land where their most highly revered and worshipped leader, H.H.The Dalai Lama stays and where they can grow up as proud Tibetans ( according to respondents in my study, keeping a photograph of H.H. The Dalai Lama or even talking about him or ‘freedom’ is prohibited in Tibet, inviting immediate and harsh persecution from the Chinese authorities). The influx of young people has been rising sharply (http: //www.tibet.ca/wtnarchive/1993/7/14-2_1.html) since the Lhasa unrest in 1989. As per Tsewang Yeshi, director of the Tibetan Children’s Village in Dharamsala , 327 children arrived in the year 2000, up from the previous average of 250 a year. The year 2001 saw some 231 children coming in by late May. Government of India and Grant of Asylum to Tibetan Refugees The Government of India granted asylum to the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibetans, H.H.The Dalai Lama, due to India’s cultural affinities with Buddhist Tibet (it was from India that Buddhism spread to Tibet centuries ago) as also due to geopolitical considerations as “compensation for Nehru’s political inability to do anything for Tibet on the eve of its invasion by China”(Norbu,2001:209). As observed in The State of the World’s Refugees (2002:63), “The Indian government has consciously promoted a policy which enables the Tibetan community to maintain its distinct identity and cultural values, together with a political and administrative system of its own. From the start, separate settlements were identified and established in geographically suitable areas so as to provide them with economic, social and religious autonomy” (cited in Mallica, M.Phil Dissertation, ‘Education of Refugee Children:A Sociological perspective’, ZHCES/JNU, New Delhi, 2002:95). The Indian government’s efforts in this direction may have been effected by the attitude of the Tibetan refugees towards their cultural identities. As Chimni (2000:494) observes, “In the beginning, the Tibetan refugees resisted efforts to settle them permanently in the country of asylum”, but agreed later on, on the condition that “the government of India would allow them to settle in large relatively isolated communities. This would allow them to protect and maintain their separate cultural and religious traditions” (cited in Mallica, M.Phil Dissertation, ‘Education of Refugee Children:A Sociological perspective’, ZHCES/JNU, New Delhi, 2002:95). Government of India and Education of Tibetan Refugees in India Alongwith the provision of several welfare provisions (mentioned above), the Government of India has established a system of education for the Tibetan refugees in India alongwith making efforts for the preservation of the refugee groups’ language, culture and identity. This, despite the fact that, the Government of India does not support autonomy of Tibet, nor does it recognize the Tibetan Government-in-exile established in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh. Every year the Government of India also spends close to millions of rupees on the education of Tibetans in India. This initiative of the government thus acquires immense significance due to the fact that the Government does not grant concessions of a similar kind to other refugee groups in the country. A decade back, in the year 1996, alongwith 11 million US dollars, around 480 million Indian rupees were apparently spent on educating Tibetan refugee children in exile(Dhondup cited in www.tcewf.com). Central Schools for Tibetans were set up all over the country, after discussions between Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and H.H.The Dalai Lama. Since the establishment of the first central school for Tibetans in Mussoorie, U.P in 1960 till the year 1994, a “three-language formula” of teaching Hindi, Tibetan and English had been followed in all primary schools upto the 5th grade. While Tibetan language, literature, history and performing arts constituted a part of the school curriculum, the medium of instruction for science, maths and social studies had remained English. Things changed in 1994, when , keeping pace with demands for a “Tibetanization” of the school curriculum to preserve the ‘dying’ Tibetan language, the government endorsed the ‘Tibetanization programme’ of the use of Tibetan language as the medium of instruction upto the fifth grade (with English and Hindi being taught as the second and third languages respectively). The interest and commitment of the then Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru towards the bringing up of Tibetan children well-steeped in their language, culture and tradition was an important factor which led to the establishment of CSTs for Tibetan children. The Dalai Lama refers to conversations with Pundit Nehru , with the latter stressing upon the importance of bringing up of children “with a thorough knowledge of their own history and culture” alongwith their being “conversant with the ways of the modern world” (http://www.tcewf.org). The gratitude Tibetans feel for this assistance rendered by the GOI is expressed as “one of the biggest investments she (India) has made in the Tibetan refugees. This unprecedented generosity has to be appreciated all the more because India is not without her economic problems” (Norbu cited in Chimni, 2000:496). On the support provided by the Government of India to Tibetan education , H.H.The Dalai Lama , has further stated that “Over the years, the people and the Government of India have given us Tibetans tremendous support, particularly in the field of education. They gave us financial assistance, found us buildings, and provided dedicated and experienced Indian teachers. In addition, we received generous help from many foreign relief organizations. To all these friends, I offer my deepest thanks. I cannot adequately express the gratitude I feel for the many who have so freely devoted their lives to helping my people, often in poor conditions and in remote area” (http://www.tibet.com/govt/edu.html) cited in Mallica, M.Phil Dissertation, ‘Education of Refugee Children:A Sociological perspective, ZHCES, JNU, 2002). Establishment of CTSA: at the request of H.H The Dalai Lama, the Government of India, in 1961, established the Tibetan Schools Society (now called Central Tibetan Schools Administration), an autonomous body by a resolution of the Govt. of India, Ministry of Education and Youth Services (Now Ministry of Human Resource Development) and registered under the Societies Registration Act (XXI of 1860). The Main object of the Society is to establish, manage and assists schools in India for the education of Tibetan children (http://ctsa.nic.in/tibetanculture.asp?SessionID=1008885). The Governing Body of the Central Tibetan Schools Administration (CTSA), which is its main administrative authority is chaired by the Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, GOI. Its members consist of four Indians (two representatives of the Ministry of External Affairs; one representative of the Ministry of Home Affairs; and the Secretary of CTSA) and four Tibetans (Education Minister, Education Secretary, the Representative at the Bureau of His Holiness The Dalai Lama, New Delhi; and the Director of the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Varanasi). Number of schools: During 2001-2002 there were 70 such schools spread all over India, including Senior Secondary, Secondary, Middle, Primary and Pre-Primary schools and grant-in-aid schools. In this year 9132 students received education in schools run by CTSA. While a maximum number of students seem to be attending the CTSA schools (Government of India administered); a large number of students also attend schools run by the Department of Education of H.H.The Dalai Lama’s government-in-exile and also autonomous schools administered by private charitable organizations. Types of schools: The Administration runs two types of schools (i)Residential (ii) Day Schools. During the Year 2001-2002 the Administration was running 8 Senior Secondary Schools,5 Secondary School, 8 Middle Schools, 7 Primary Schools, 42 Pre Primary Schools.Out of these 9 are Grant-in-aid Schools. Objectives of CTSA : • To establish and carry out the Administration and Management of the Central School for Tibetans in India for the education and training of Tibetan children. • To control and supervise education, discipline, board and lodging, health and hygiene and general progress of the students and staff in CTSA schools. • To get affiliation of the schools with any association, society or body which conducts public examinations for the purpose of preparing the students for such examination. • To build, construct and maintain hostels, schools or other buildings and to provide and equip the same for the use to which each building is to be put up to. • To give loans, scholarships, free ships, prizes, monetary and other assistance to the students of the school under the Administration to help them in their studies. • To start, conduct, print, publish and exhibit magazines, periodicals, and newspapers, pamphlets that may be considered desirable for the promotion of the objects of the Administration. • To preserve and promote Tibetan Culture, Heritage and Tradition. Characteristics of CST schools The following are some of the salient features of the Central Schools for Tibetans: • Central Schools for Tibetans are located at places that have a sizeable population of Tibetans. Most of these schools are located in hilly and far-flung areas. • The medium of instruction in these schools from Pre-primary to Class V is Tibetan and English from Class VI to XII. However, Hindi is taught as a compulsory subject from Class VI to VIII and as optional from class IX onwards. • The schools follow 10+2 system of Education. • Central Schools for Tibetans prepare students for All India Secondary School Examination (X) and All India Senior School Certificate Examination (XII) conducted by Central Board of Secondary Education, Delhi. • CTSA has six Residential schools up to +2 stage at Mussoorie, Dalhousie, Shimla, Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Mundgod with hostel facility for both boys and girls. Meritorious students coming from poor families living in the settlements where educational facilities are not available and whose parents cannot bear boarding charges are provided with free boarding and lodging in these schools. The number of free boarders, however, is not supposed to exceed 360 in all the six schools taken together. Boys and girls are also allowed to avail of board and lodging facilities in these six schools on payment basis and are treated as paid boarders. On 27-12-1975 the Governing Body approved that as a special case those India born Tibetan children who wish to join the residential schools could be admitted provided their parents pay for the cost of board and lodging @ Rs.100/- P.M. This amount has been revised from time to time at present, it is Rs.240/-P.M. • Free education is imparted to the Tibetan students right from Pre-Primary to Class XII. • Common Annual Examination for Class V, VIII, IX, and XI are conducted to ensure uniformity in educational achievements. Pre-Board examinations for classes X and XII are also conducted to familiarize the students with the Board Question pattern. • Central Schools for Tibetans impart quality education. Emphasis is, however, laid on preserving and promoting the ancient Tibetan Culture and Heritage. • Students compulsorily get training in Tibetan music and folk dance. Co-curricular activities for all the students from Class I to XII are conducted compulsorily. • Tailoring is compulsory for girls and woodcraft is compulsory for boys from class VI to X in Secondary and Senior Secondary Schools. • Vocational Education at the +2 stage is imparted at Central School for Tibetans, Mundgod. Presently, three Commerce based Vocational Courses i.e. Stenography (English), Auditing & Accountancy and Purchasing & Store Keeping are available in this school. • Computer education is also being given to all the students from class vi onwards.Information practices as a subject is also being taught at xi and xii level in Herbertpur,Bylakuppe,Mundgod and Dalhousie schools(source:Annual Report CTSA, Delhi, 2002-2003). Scholarships: Various scholarships are provided by the CTSA to help Tibetan students pursue their further studies after passing All India Senior School Certificate Examination. In one such scheme 15 Tibetan Students of CTSA in the age group of 17 to 22 passing All India Senior School Certificate Examination with 60% and above marks are awarded merit scholarships for pursing degree level courses in Arts, Science, Engineering, Medicine and Teacher Training in recognized Institutes In another scheme five Tibetan Students of CTSA Schools passing All India Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination with minimum 50% and above marks are awarded scholarships for pursuing Diploma level / Vocational courses in recognized Institutes. Higher Education: access to higher education, however, appears to be more problematic. According to Chimni, education being a state-as opposed to Federal responsibility in India, one of the requirements of admission into any of the state colleges is a ‘domicile certificate’ which confirms that her/his parents are legal residents of that state. “If you are not a legal resident of the state, you are not eligible to apply for admission. Furthermore to be able to get a domicile certificate a Tibetan must first take Indian citizenship, a highly sensitive and emotional issue with Tibetan refugees”(Chimni,2000:405 cited in Mallica, M.Phil Dissertation, ‘Education of Refugee Children:A Sociological perspective, ZHCES, JNU, 2002:94).This requirement of Tibetan refugees to forego their refugee status to acquire domicile certificates to seek admission to professional colleges and institutions of higher education/training in the country seems to be resented by them. According to Tsering and Sinclair, this is because of which Tibetans tend to cherish their “refugee” status and their identity, not being interested in applying for naturalization in India. This problem, according to them, is being solved, to an extent, with state governments, for instance, Himachal Pradesh, reserving a few seats in medical and other professional institutions for Tibetan students (Tsering and Sinclair,1999:16,cited in Mallica, M.Phil Dissertation, ‘Education of Refugee Children:A Sociological perspective, ZHCES, JNU, 2002:94). Reservation of Seats: The Govt. of India provides reservation to Tibetan students for admission to various professional courses in the country. S.No No. of Seats Courses Institution Degree Level 1 1 M.B.B.S Maulana Azad Medical College, Delhi 2 1 Electrical Engineering University of Baroda, Vadodara 3 1 Computer Engineering University of Baroda, Vadodara 4 1 B. Pharmacy University of Baroda, Vadodara 5 2 Civil Engineering The Director of Tech. Education, Bhopal (M.P) 6 1 Chemical Engineering The Director of Tech. Education, Bhopal (M.P) 7 1 Mechanical Engineering The Director of Tech. Education, Bhopal (M.P) 8 1 Computer Engineering The Director of Tech. Education, Bhopal (M.P) Diploma Level 9 1 Chemical Engineering Govt. Polytechnic, Rajkot 10 1 Computer Technology Goa College of Engg., Goa 11 1 Pharmacy College of Pharmacy, Delhi 12 2 Printing Technology Institute of Printing Tech, Bangalore Central Schools for Tibetans (CST) : A Snapshot of some schools Most of these schools have been set up in close proximity to or within Tibetan settlements in different parts of India to enable Tibetan children to have proper access to them and, more importantly, to be brought up in an environment that can appear as Tibetan to them as possible so that their traditional roots remain firmly grounded in the soil of exile . Apart from the geographical location of the schools (both residential and day schools); school architecture and ambience; policies of recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff; school curriculum and syllabus; choice of methods of instruction and pedagogy; medium of education; school processes and practices all combine to present a conscious and concerted attempt to enable Tibetan children to grow up in a Tibetan environment and to enable them to preserve their Tibetan culture; language; identity as also to have respect towards their country of exile, i.e. India. There is also an attempt, in accordance with His Holiness The Dalai Lama’s and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s vision to combine tradition and modernity in education. The CTSA website refers to the attempt of CSTs to enable the Tibetan children to grow up as “good and responsible human beings” having, amongst other qualities, “scientific outlook” alongwith “spiritual growth and aesthetic sensibilities”. Given below are official references to Central Schools for Tibetans in different parts of India (Source: http://ctsa.nic.in/tibetanculture.asp?SessionID=1008885), which provide , in a nutshell, information about geographical location, enrolment, year of establishment, current school programmes and activities etc of some of these schools in India as also an essence of the schools’ ethos and ambience. • CST Mundgod: CST Mundgod was founded in 1969 by Mysore Resettlement and Development Agency, which had undertaken the responsibility of rehabilitating Tibetan Refugees in South India. It was taken over by CTSA in 1970.It has today emerged as one of the biggest Senior Secondary schools in Tibetan Community offering the widest range of course streams. The website of CTSA states that the school is ‘ideally located in the very heart of the Tibetan Settlement covering an area of 8.29 acres, in close proximity with the settlement office, hospitals, shopping complex and taxi stand. Lush green expanse of open paddy fields surround school campus. On both sides of school at close range lies the picturesque view of the sprawling Gaden and Drepung Monastic University Complexes, resplendent in it’s imposing traditional Tibetan architectural splendor. This gives a serene charm to the school environment. The school is 50 km from Hubli City and 7 km from Mungod town’. At present the school has 994 students on the roll. The total strength of staff stands at 71 (16 non-teaching and 55 teaching staff)comprising of both Tibetan and Indian personnel. The motto of school is stated as, ‘while imparting education, the school strives towards grooming the children into responsible and good human beings’. • CST CVP,Bylakuppe: was established in 1971 by Mysore Rehabilitation and Development Agency (MYRADA) as a primary school. The CTSA website states that it is located ‘about 60 km from Mysore city in Karnataka State, in picturesque and quite surroundings’ and that the school ‘caters to children of settlers residing at Dickyi Larsoe Tibetan Settlement’. It seems that later the school was taken over by CTSA, Delhi and was made a branch of the main school CST Bylakuppe. In 1986, it was upgraded to middle level and made an independent school. It was further upgraded to secondary school level in 1990 and has classes I to X. The school has on roll 350 students and 32 teaching and non-teaching staff. The school is affiliated to CBSE,Delhi and follows the syllabus prescribed by it. Besides laying ‘utmost emphasis on excellence in academics, the school lays equal importance on the all round development of students personality’. The school also ‘lays emphasis on the preservation and promotion of Tibetan culture and inculcating positive values among the students through a series of initiatives including inviting eminent speakers and participation in various functions and festivals in the settlement’. The school, it is stated, actively participates in various inter school cultural and sports competitions and that ‘students have distinguished themselves and brought many laurels to the school’. It is also stated that being a day school, it ‘maintains a very close rapport with the community’. The settlement office and parents representatives are ,it seems, actively involved in the welfare of the school. Mr. Jampa Tenzin is the Principal of the school. • CST,Kalimpong: is one of the six residential schools managed by the CTSA, New Delhi and was established in 1964. It was then one of the largest residential Tibetan school with over 800 boarders. The current enrollment is 554 (256 boys and 298 girls) of which 270 are boarders. The school has about 40 faculty staff members and provides ‘healthy modern education, firmly based on moral values and in congruence with Tibetan cultural traditions’. It follows the curriculum set by CBSE, Delhi. The school has classes from KG to XII with humanities at the senior secondary level. The school , it is stated, has a ‘fine Scouts and Guides programme which participated in the National Integration Camp in New Delhi and performed Tibetan song and dances at the Asia Pacific Regional Conference of the Bharat Scouts and Guides. Co-curricular activities, it is stated, are conducted alongwith Inter-house or Inter-class levels emphasizing mass participation at all levels. Morning assembly activities, debates, quiz, declamation and recitations form some of these activities in which children actively participate. Mr. Kalsang T. Bhutia is the current Principal of the school and Mr. Tsering Lhakpa the School Rector. • CST,Shimla: formerly known Tibetan Refugee School Shimla, came into being in early 1961 under the Principal of Shri Sonam Topjor Tethong. The strength of Mussoorie and Dharamsala School exceeded their intake capacity and hence the need for another school for Tibetan refugee children was urgently felt. When the officials deputed from Dharamsala came to Shimla in search of a good campus for school, they apparently caught sight of a huge colonial building called "Torrentiym Cottage" with a small class room block and a playground which then used to house the junior section of Bishop Cotton School. After negotiations an agreement was signed on December 1, 1960 between the Representative of H. H. the Dalai Lama and the Governing Body of Bishop Cotton School by which the whole property was initially rented and ultimately purchased and the first batch of 160 nursery students came from Dharamsala. The school was taken over by CTSA In 1964, the school campus was further extended with the purchase of the adjoining building, out-houses and a Tennis Court known as "Villa Torrents". With the arrival of more children the existing accommodation was proving to be inadequate. This led to a branch school being opened at Earlsfield near St. Beades' College. The school was upgraded to Senior Secondary level in the year 1987. As of now, the school has around 500 students out of whom 312 are boarders and the rest are day-scholars. It has become one of the premier learning institutions for Tibetan refugee children. The products of this school have now assumed prestigious post in the Tibetan Exile Government hierarchy. • CST,Herbertpur: Formally under the name S.F.F. Senior Secondary School and managed by the Special Frontier Force, Herbertpur, the school was formally handed over to the CTSA on 23rd July 1994 and was renamed as Central School for Tibetans, Herbertpur. This change of guard was the culmination of efforts made by Major General Sharda (then Inspector General, S.F.F.) and Mr. S.P. Datta (then Secretary CTSA). Both of these officers, it seems, are known for their “profound love and concern for the well being of Tibetan children and the community living in India”. CST Herbertpur is situated in the State of Uttaranchal on the western fringes of Doon Valley. The location of the institution is ‘beautiful and bears magnificent scenic surroundings, which includes stupendous rise of mighty Himalayas in the north and fine lush and lower extension of the Shivalik ranges in the south’. The school is about 36 km east of Dehradun, the state capital and about 14 km west of Paonta Sahib, a historical town in Himachal Pradesh State. CST Herbertpur is a senior secondary school and has only humanities stream at the Plus 2 level. The school follows CBSE curriculum.There is a hostel facility for about 400 children under the direct management of S.F.F. officials. Presently the school has 32 staff members and 457 children. The website goes on to state that ‘under the leadership of Mr. V.K. Singh, Principal and with the guiding light of Dr. M.S. Verma, the current Secretary CTSA, the school is all set to make further progress in every field’. Government of India’s Rationale for Preservation of Tibetan culture in education To explore the Government of India’s outlook and policies initially worked out in the early 1960s, I browsed through my hand-written notes (xeroxing is not allowed by the office) of sections of the reports, I’d pored over on my earlier trips to the CTSA office in Rohini,New Delhi. Annual reports of CTSA of the year 1963 (source: CTSA, Rohini, New Delhi) explain in detail the aims and objectives for schooling (of CTS) as the following: 1. That this education provided to Tibetan children will be “good education” explained as based upon “modern principles” 2. The Tibetan children when educated would form a group which would provide “enlightened leadership” to their own peoples 3. Education given to these children should enable children “to appreciate their own cultural heritage, religion and culture and also appreciate the culture of their surroundings” 4. The children should acquire basic skills in reading, writing and arithmetic which would be the basis of higher education 5. The children should also be “made aware of the technological age and its implications. They should be “equipped for vocation and trade in order to enable them to settle in life”. Recent CTSA programmes & policies for preservation and promotion of Tibetan culture,Traditions and Heritage The CTSA annual report (2002-2003) that I came upon during my visit to the CTSA office sometime last year lists the programmes and policies for preservation and promotion of Tibetan culture, Traditions and Heritage. The report states that ‘one of the broad objectives of the administration is to preserve and promote Tibetan culture, traditions and heritage'. CTSA has been making determined efforts to preserve and promote Tibetan culture, traditions and heritage. It further states that CTSA has been making “determined efforts to preserve and promote Tibetan culture and heritage” by conducting various short-term and long-term programmes. Some of them are: 1. In CTSA schools each school conducts a variety of co-curricular programmes on Tibetan culture viz.Tibetan folk dance and group dance,community singing,group songs, one act play etc.These programmes of literary and cultural activities are also organized at regional and central levels. 2. As stated earlier, the medium of instruction in all CTSA schools at primary level (from pre-primary to class v) is Tibetan. After class v, while English becomes the medium of instruction the teaching of Tibetan continues as a separate subject till class xii. 3. To encourage and motivate Indian teachers to learn Tibetan language there exists a scheme of incentive for acquiring proficiency in Tibetan language.The teachers who pass the examination in Tibetan language at the lower level, conducted by CTSA of H.H.The Dalai Lama, Dharamsala on behalf of CTSA are granted an incentive award of Rs.2500/-. 4. Recorded cassettes of speeches and community songs for the morning assembly have been provided to all schools “to keep the spirit of culture alive” 5. CTSA, Delhi also publishes an annual trilingual journal (in English; Tibetan and Hindi) with writings on Tibetan culture, tradition and heritage. The above programmes and policies pursued by the Government of India clearly articulate the initiatives of the former to enable the Tibetan refugees to preserve their cultural and linguistic heritage through the medium of education. Outcomes in Education: Outcomes in education of Tibetan refugee children can be gauged from the fact that the enrollment rate in Tibetan schools is said to be almost 80%. The Tibetan refugee community has been able to achieve “almost universal literacy amongst the younger generations, when only 30 years ago, it had a very low literacy rate”. Many students have been able to go beyond school to study at universities (with Delhi University being an important and favored destination for students coming from several Tibetan settlements all over the country for pursuing their graduate and even post-graduate studies), colleges and vocational training centers. The outcomes of education for Tibetan refugees children in India is observed by the Tibetan government-in-exile in India (also mentioned above) as “one of the greatest achievements of the refugee community” (http://www.tibet.com/govt/edu.html). These achievements in the educational scenario of Tibetan refugees in India, has been possible due to a “combination of pre-migration group circumstances, primarily, high levels of motivation, aspirations for education and desire to excel with which they have come to India and post-migration situational circumstances , primarily, favorable attitudes of the Government of India and educational assistance provided by the same alongwith financial aid provided by a host of international humanitarian organizations, for instance, Kinderdorf International etc” (Mallica, M.Phil Dissertation, ‘Education of Refugee Children:A Sociological perspective, ZHCES, JNU, 2002:99). Whether driven by cultural-historical or by geo-political considerations, the commitment and assistance of the Government of India towards enabling the Tibetan refugees to establish and develop an educational system attempting to achieve a balance between tradition and modernity in exile for nurturing “seeds of future Tibet” needs to be acknowledged. My next posting will try to explore and highlight the motivations, perspectives, strategies and policies of the Tibetan government-in-exile towards establishing a system of education for Tibetan children in exile in India which is, at once, traditional as it is modern and the efforts made to ensure that the transplanted “seeds of future Tibet” grow up and retain their Tibettanness even in exile. s'long!Comments are welcomed! Regards! Mallica __________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner now. Go to http://yahoo.shaadi.com From mallica_jnu at yahoo.co.in Wed Feb 15 17:43:29 2006 From: mallica_jnu at yahoo.co.in (mallica mishra) Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 12:13:29 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Reader-list] second posting-Mallica Message-ID: <20060215121329.71774.qmail@web8810.mail.in.yahoo.com> Hi! all and welcome to my second posting! I've titled it as 'Perspectives; Programmes and Policies of the Government of India on the education of Tibetan refugees in India'. As the title suggests, it is an attempt to delve into the first part of my research; to identify and shed light on the key issues involved and to share my findings on the same. The word ‘Tibet’ conjures up images and visions of mystery and fantasy with references in all major literatures referring to it as ‘Shangri-la’ or ‘the Forbidden Land’ or ‘Land of the Lamas’ tethering on the verge of extinction with its ancient and pristine culture being systematically destroyed by the Chinese alongwith waves of modernization. What is less talked about is the remarkable degree of economic self-sufficiency; cultural and religious preservation achieved by the Tibetan peoples in India under the spiritual and temporal leadership of His Holiness The Dalai Lama. This amazing quality of the Tibetans to arise like phoenix from their very own ashes in exile and strategies of H.H. The Dalai Lama’s government –in-exile to consciously forge a national identity amongst people from different parts of Tibet to put up a united front in their struggle for autonomy and/or freedom from Chinese rule, is a fact often neglected in most studies. The system of education established in exile has been one of the most important agencies committed towards fostering a sense of common Tibetan identity amongst Tibetan children born and brought up in exile. As acknowledged by H.H the Dalai Lama, “only a successful education system, would maintain Tibetan identity, culture and heritage, and also prepare Tibetan children for the challenges posed by new ideas and technology”. The Tibetan government-in—exile today observes that these schools have played a crucial role in the “community’s success” in maintaining their identity in exile during the last four and a half decades (http://www.tibet.net/education/eng/intro/).The government in exile also notes with gratitude the contributions of the Government of India in achieving the same. As I've stated above,this posting of mine will explore and shed light on the perspectives, policies of the Government of India on the grant of asylum to Tibetan refugees and the provision of welfare assistance, particularly in the field of education to the former. Flight of Tibetan Refugees into India: a brief background: India faced a major refugee influx of Tibetans in 1959. As a result of the Chinese takeover of Tibet, The Dalai Lama alongwith 13,000 followers crossed over to into India. The government of India granted political asylum to The Dalai Lama. After, a preliminary screening procedure, Tibetans were registered as refugees and given registration certificates. These certificates of identity enabled them to engage in gainful employment, economic activities and even travel aboard and return to India at will. Many were settled near the hill stations of Northern India since the mountain environment was similar to their original home environment in Tibet. Tibetan refugees fled their country of origin to save their lives, religion and culture, thereby amounting to flight due to fear of persecution. Tibetan refugees are refugees in a political sense and most of the benefits derived from refugee status are made available to them. Tibetan refugee inflows have not ceased and there are an estimated 100.000 Tibetans in India today. Every year, it is further estimated that approximately 2,500 refugees from Tibet via Nepal to India; ‘home’ since 1959 of the exiled government and of their spiritual leader, H.H.The Dalai Lama. The majority of these refugees are stated to be young people, children escaping from the oppression of the Chinese rule, often being sent by their parents in the hope that they will receive a ‘proper’ education- which will enable them to preserve their culture and heritage and provide them with necessary skills and qualifications that they will enable them to build a future for themselves. Tibetan children receive virtually no education on their indigenous Tibetan culture and history in public schools in Tibet. Children are targeted for indoctrination, their freedom of thought, religion and expression repressed (www.tibet.com/humanrights/edutoday/html). It is to fight against the former ‘sinocization’ that their parents braving persecution (for instance, loss of jobs; imprisonment etc) smuggle their children into India, the land where their most highly revered and worshipped leader, H.H.The Dalai Lama stays and where they can grow up as proud Tibetans ( according to respondents in my study, keeping a photograph of H.H. The Dalai Lama or even talking about him or ‘freedom’ is prohibited in Tibet, inviting immediate and harsh persecution from the Chinese authorities). The influx of young people has been rising sharply (http: //www.tibet.ca/wtnarchive/1993/7/14-2_1.html) since the Lhasa unrest in 1989. As per Tsewang Yeshi, director of the Tibetan Children’s Village in Dharamsala , 327 children arrived in the year 2000, up from the previous average of 250 a year. The year 2001 saw some 231 children coming in by late May. Government of India and Grant of Asylum to Tibetan Refugees The Government of India granted asylum to the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibetans, H.H.The Dalai Lama, due to India’s cultural affinities with Buddhist Tibet (it was from India that Buddhism spread to Tibet centuries ago) as also due to geopolitical considerations as “compensation for Nehru’s political inability to do anything for Tibet on the eve of its invasion by China”(Norbu,2001:209). As observed in The State of the World’s Refugees (2002:63), “The Indian government has consciously promoted a policy which enables the Tibetan community to maintain its distinct identity and cultural values, together with a political and administrative system of its own. From the start, separate settlements were identified and established in geographically suitable areas so as to provide them with economic, social and religious autonomy” (cited in Mallica, M.Phil Dissertation, ‘Education of Refugee Children:A Sociological perspective’, ZHCES/JNU, New Delhi, 2002:95). The Indian government’s efforts in this direction may have been effected by the attitude of the Tibetan refugees towards their cultural identities. As Chimni (2000:494) observes, “In the beginning, the Tibetan refugees resisted efforts to settle them permanently in the country of asylum”, but agreed later on, on the condition that “the government of India would allow them to settle in large relatively isolated communities. This would allow them to protect and maintain their separate cultural and religious traditions” (cited in Mallica, M.Phil Dissertation, ‘Education of Refugee Children:A Sociological perspective’, ZHCES/JNU, New Delhi, 2002:95). Government of India and Education of Tibetan Refugees in India Alongwith the provision of several welfare provisions (mentioned above), the Government of India has established a system of education for the Tibetan refugees in India alongwith making efforts for the preservation of the refugee groups’ language, culture and identity. This, despite the fact that, the Government of India does not support autonomy of Tibet, nor does it recognize the Tibetan Government-in-exile established in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh. Every year the Government of India also spends close to millions of rupees on the education of Tibetans in India. This initiative of the government thus acquires immense significance due to the fact that the Government does not grant concessions of a similar kind to other refugee groups in the country. A decade back, in the year 1996, alongwith 11 million US dollars, around 480 million Indian rupees were apparently spent on educating Tibetan refugee children in exile(Dhondup cited in www.tcewf.com). Central Schools for Tibetans were set up all over the country, after discussions between Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and H.H.The Dalai Lama. Since the establishment of the first central school for Tibetans in Mussoorie, U.P in 1960 till the year 1994, a “three-language formula” of teaching Hindi, Tibetan and English had been followed in all primary schools upto the 5th grade. While Tibetan language, literature, history and performing arts constituted a part of the school curriculum, the medium of instruction for science, maths and social studies had remained English. Things changed in 1994, when , keeping pace with demands for a “Tibetanization” of the school curriculum to preserve the ‘dying’ Tibetan language, the government endorsed the ‘Tibetanization programme’ of the use of Tibetan language as the medium of instruction upto the fifth grade (with English and Hindi being taught as the second and third languages respectively). The interest and commitment of the then Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru towards the bringing up of Tibetan children well-steeped in their language, culture and tradition was an important factor which led to the establishment of CSTs for Tibetan children. The Dalai Lama refers to conversations with Pundit Nehru , with the latter stressing upon the importance of bringing up of children “with a thorough knowledge of their own history and culture” alongwith their being “conversant with the ways of the modern world” (http://www.tcewf.org). The gratitude Tibetans feel for this assistance rendered by the GOI is expressed as “one of the biggest investments she (India) has made in the Tibetan refugees. This unprecedented generosity has to be appreciated all the more because India is not without her economic problems” (Norbu cited in Chimni, 2000:496). On the support provided by the Government of India to Tibetan education , H.H.The Dalai Lama , has further stated that “Over the years, the people and the Government of India have given us Tibetans tremendous support, particularly in the field of education. They gave us financial assistance, found us buildings, and provided dedicated and experienced Indian teachers. In addition, we received generous help from many foreign relief organizations. To all these friends, I offer my deepest thanks. I cannot adequately express the gratitude I feel for the many who have so freely devoted their lives to helping my people, often in poor conditions and in remote area” (http://www.tibet.com/govt/edu.html) cited in Mallica, M.Phil Dissertation, ‘Education of Refugee Children:A Sociological perspective, ZHCES, JNU, 2002). Establishment of CTSA: at the request of H.H The Dalai Lama, the Government of India, in 1961, established the Tibetan Schools Society (now called Central Tibetan Schools Administration), an autonomous body by a resolution of the Govt. of India, Ministry of Education and Youth Services (Now Ministry of Human Resource Development) and registered under the Societies Registration Act (XXI of 1860). The Main object of the Society is to establish, manage and assists schools in India for the education of Tibetan children (http://ctsa.nic.in/tibetanculture.asp?SessionID=1008885). The Governing Body of the Central Tibetan Schools Administration (CTSA), which is its main administrative authority is chaired by the Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, GOI. Its members consist of four Indians (two representatives of the Ministry of External Affairs; one representative of the Ministry of Home Affairs; and the Secretary of CTSA) and four Tibetans (Education Minister, Education Secretary, the Representative at the Bureau of His Holiness The Dalai Lama, New Delhi; and the Director of the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Varanasi). Number of schools: During 2001-2002 there were 70 such schools spread all over India, including Senior Secondary, Secondary, Middle, Primary and Pre-Primary schools and grant-in-aid schools. In this year 9132 students received education in schools run by CTSA. While a maximum number of students seem to be attending the CTSA schools (Government of India administered); a large number of students also attend schools run by the Department of Education of H.H.The Dalai Lama’s government-in-exile and also autonomous schools administered by private charitable organizations. Types of schools: The Administration runs two types of schools (i)Residential (ii) Day Schools. During the Year 2001-2002 the Administration was running 8 Senior Secondary Schools,5 Secondary School, 8 Middle Schools, 7 Primary Schools, 42 Pre Primary Schools.Out of these 9 are Grant-in-aid Schools. Objectives of CTSA : • To establish and carry out the Administration and Management of the Central School for Tibetans in India for the education and training of Tibetan children. • To control and supervise education, discipline, board and lodging, health and hygiene and general progress of the students and staff in CTSA schools. • To get affiliation of the schools with any association, society or body which conducts public examinations for the purpose of preparing the students for such examination. • To build, construct and maintain hostels, schools or other buildings and to provide and equip the same for the use to which each building is to be put up to. • To give loans, scholarships, free ships, prizes, monetary and other assistance to the students of the school under the Administration to help them in their studies. • To start, conduct, print, publish and exhibit magazines, periodicals, and newspapers, pamphlets that may be considered desirable for the promotion of the objects of the Administration. • To preserve and promote Tibetan Culture, Heritage and Tradition. Characteristics of CST schools The following are some of the salient features of the Central Schools for Tibetans: • Central Schools for Tibetans are located at places that have a sizeable population of Tibetans. Most of these schools are located in hilly and far-flung areas. • The medium of instruction in these schools from Pre-primary to Class V is Tibetan and English from Class VI to XII. However, Hindi is taught as a compulsory subject from Class VI to VIII and as optional from class IX onwards. • The schools follow 10+2 system of Education. • Central Schools for Tibetans prepare students for All India Secondary School Examination (X) and All India Senior School Certificate Examination (XII) conducted by Central Board of Secondary Education, Delhi. • CTSA has six Residential schools up to +2 stage at Mussoorie, Dalhousie, Shimla, Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Mundgod with hostel facility for both boys and girls. Meritorious students coming from poor families living in the settlements where educational facilities are not available and whose parents cannot bear boarding charges are provided with free boarding and lodging in these schools. The number of free boarders, however, is not supposed to exceed 360 in all the six schools taken together. Boys and girls are also allowed to avail of board and lodging facilities in these six schools on payment basis and are treated as paid boarders. On 27-12-1975 the Governing Body approved that as a special case those India born Tibetan children who wish to join the residential schools could be admitted provided their parents pay for the cost of board and lodging @ Rs.100/- P.M. This amount has been revised from time to time at present, it is Rs.240/-P.M. • Free education is imparted to the Tibetan students right from Pre-Primary to Class XII. • Common Annual Examination for Class V, VIII, IX, and XI are conducted to ensure uniformity in educational achievements. Pre-Board examinations for classes X and XII are also conducted to familiarize the students with the Board Question pattern. • Central Schools for Tibetans impart quality education. Emphasis is, however, laid on preserving and promoting the ancient Tibetan Culture and Heritage. • Students compulsorily get training in Tibetan music and folk dance. Co-curricular activities for all the students from Class I to XII are conducted compulsorily. • Tailoring is compulsory for girls and woodcraft is compulsory for boys from class VI to X in Secondary and Senior Secondary Schools. • Vocational Education at the +2 stage is imparted at Central School for Tibetans, Mundgod. Presently, three Commerce based Vocational Courses i.e. Stenography (English), Auditing & Accountancy and Purchasing & Store Keeping are available in this school. • Computer education is also being given to all the students from class vi onwards.Information practices as a subject is also being taught at xi and xii level in Herbertpur,Bylakuppe,Mundgod and Dalhousie schools(source:Annual Report CTSA, Delhi, 2002-2003). Scholarships: Various scholarships are provided by the CTSA to help Tibetan students pursue their further studies after passing All India Senior School Certificate Examination. In one such scheme 15 Tibetan Students of CTSA in the age group of 17 to 22 passing All India Senior School Certificate Examination with 60% and above marks are awarded merit scholarships for pursing degree level courses in Arts, Science, Engineering, Medicine and Teacher Training in recognized Institutes In another scheme five Tibetan Students of CTSA Schools passing All India Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination with minimum 50% and above marks are awarded scholarships for pursuing Diploma level / Vocational courses in recognized Institutes. Higher Education: access to higher education, however, appears to be more problematic. According to Chimni, education being a state-as opposed to Federal responsibility in India, one of the requirements of admission into any of the state colleges is a ‘domicile certificate’ which confirms that her/his parents are legal residents of that state. “If you are not a legal resident of the state, you are not eligible to apply for admission. Furthermore to be able to get a domicile certificate a Tibetan must first take Indian citizenship, a highly sensitive and emotional issue with Tibetan refugees”(Chimni,2000:405 cited in Mallica, M.Phil Dissertation, ‘Education of Refugee Children:A Sociological perspective, ZHCES, JNU, 2002:94).This requirement of Tibetan refugees to forego their refugee status to acquire domicile certificates to seek admission to professional colleges and institutions of higher education/training in the country seems to be resented by them. According to Tsering and Sinclair, this is because of which Tibetans tend to cherish their “refugee” status and their identity, not being interested in applying for naturalization in India. This problem, according to them, is being solved, to an extent, with state governments, for instance, Himachal Pradesh, reserving a few seats in medical and other professional institutions for Tibetan students (Tsering and Sinclair,1999:16,cited in Mallica, M.Phil Dissertation, ‘Education of Refugee Children:A Sociological perspective, ZHCES, JNU, 2002:94). Reservation of Seats: The Govt. of India provides reservation to Tibetan students for admission to various professional courses in the country. S.No No. of Seats Courses Institution Degree Level 1 1 M.B.B.S Maulana Azad Medical College, Delhi 2 1 Electrical Engineering University of Baroda, Vadodara 3 1 Computer Engineering University of Baroda, Vadodara 4 1 B. Pharmacy University of Baroda, Vadodara 5 2 Civil Engineering The Director of Tech. Education, Bhopal (M.P) 6 1 Chemical Engineering The Director of Tech. Education, Bhopal (M.P) 7 1 Mechanical Engineering The Director of Tech. Education, Bhopal (M.P) 8 1 Computer Engineering The Director of Tech. Education, Bhopal (M.P) Diploma Level 9 1 Chemical Engineering Govt. Polytechnic, Rajkot 10 1 Computer Technology Goa College of Engg., Goa 11 1 Pharmacy College of Pharmacy, Delhi 12 2 Printing Technology Institute of Printing Tech, Bangalore Central Schools for Tibetans (CST) : A Snapshot of some schools Most of these schools have been set up in close proximity to or within Tibetan settlements in different parts of India to enable Tibetan children to have proper access to them and, more importantly, to be brought up in an environment that can appear as Tibetan to them as possible so that their traditional roots remain firmly grounded in the soil of exile . Apart from the geographical location of the schools (both residential and day schools); school architecture and ambience; policies of recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff; school curriculum and syllabus; choice of methods of instruction and pedagogy; medium of education; school processes and practices all combine to present a conscious and concerted attempt to enable Tibetan children to grow up in a Tibetan environment and to enable them to preserve their Tibetan culture; language; identity as also to have respect towards their country of exile, i.e. India. There is also an attempt, in accordance with His Holiness The Dalai Lama’s and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s vision to combine tradition and modernity in education. The CTSA website refers to the attempt of CSTs to enable the Tibetan children to grow up as “good and responsible human beings” having, amongst other qualities, “scientific outlook” alongwith “spiritual growth and aesthetic sensibilities”. Given below are official references to Central Schools for Tibetans in different parts of India (Source: http://ctsa.nic.in/tibetanculture.asp?SessionID=1008885), which provide , in a nutshell, information about geographical location, enrolment, year of establishment, current school programmes and activities etc of some of these schools in India as also an essence of the schools’ ethos and ambience. • CST Mundgod: CST Mundgod was founded in 1969 by Mysore Resettlement and Development Agency, which had undertaken the responsibility of rehabilitating Tibetan Refugees in South India. It was taken over by CTSA in 1970.It has today emerged as one of the biggest Senior Secondary schools in Tibetan Community offering the widest range of course streams. The website of CTSA states that the school is ‘ideally located in the very heart of the Tibetan Settlement covering an area of 8.29 acres, in close proximity with the settlement office, hospitals, shopping complex and taxi stand. Lush green expanse of open paddy fields surround school campus. On both sides of school at close range lies the picturesque view of the sprawling Gaden and Drepung Monastic University Complexes, resplendent in it’s imposing traditional Tibetan architectural splendor. This gives a serene charm to the school environment. The school is 50 km from Hubli City and 7 km from Mungod town’. At present the school has 994 students on the roll. The total strength of staff stands at 71 (16 non-teaching and 55 teaching staff)comprising of both Tibetan and Indian personnel. The motto of school is stated as, ‘while imparting education, the school strives towards grooming the children into responsible and good human beings’. • CST CVP,Bylakuppe: was established in 1971 by Mysore Rehabilitation and Development Agency (MYRADA) as a primary school. The CTSA website states that it is located ‘about 60 km from Mysore city in Karnataka State, in picturesque and quite surroundings’ and that the school ‘caters to children of settlers residing at Dickyi Larsoe Tibetan Settlement’. It seems that later the school was taken over by CTSA, Delhi and was made a branch of the main school CST Bylakuppe. In 1986, it was upgraded to middle level and made an independent school. It was further upgraded to secondary school level in 1990 and has classes I to X. The school has on roll 350 students and 32 teaching and non-teaching staff. The school is affiliated to CBSE,Delhi and follows the syllabus prescribed by it. Besides laying ‘utmost emphasis on excellence in academics, the school lays equal importance on the all round development of students personality’. The school also ‘lays emphasis on the preservation and promotion of Tibetan culture and inculcating positive values among the students through a series of initiatives including inviting eminent speakers and participation in various functions and festivals in the settlement’. The school, it is stated, actively participates in various inter school cultural and sports competitions and that ‘students have distinguished themselves and brought many laurels to the school’. It is also stated that being a day school, it ‘maintains a very close rapport with the community’. The settlement office and parents representatives are ,it seems, actively involved in the welfare of the school. Mr. Jampa Tenzin is the Principal of the school. • CST,Kalimpong: is one of the six residential schools managed by the CTSA, New Delhi and was established in 1964. It was then one of the largest residential Tibetan school with over 800 boarders. The current enrollment is 554 (256 boys and 298 girls) of which 270 are boarders. The school has about 40 faculty staff members and provides ‘healthy modern education, firmly based on moral values and in congruence with Tibetan cultural traditions’. It follows the curriculum set by CBSE, Delhi. The school has classes from KG to XII with humanities at the senior secondary level. The school , it is stated, has a ‘fine Scouts and Guides programme which participated in the National Integration Camp in New Delhi and performed Tibetan song and dances at the Asia Pacific Regional Conference of the Bharat Scouts and Guides. Co-curricular activities, it is stated, are conducted alongwith Inter-house or Inter-class levels emphasizing mass participation at all levels. Morning assembly activities, debates, quiz, declamation and recitations form some of these activities in which children actively participate. Mr. Kalsang T. Bhutia is the current Principal of the school and Mr. Tsering Lhakpa the School Rector. • CST,Shimla: formerly known Tibetan Refugee School Shimla, came into being in early 1961 under the Principal of Shri Sonam Topjor Tethong. The strength of Mussoorie and Dharamsala School exceeded their intake capacity and hence the need for another school for Tibetan refugee children was urgently felt. When the officials deputed from Dharamsala came to Shimla in search of a good campus for school, they apparently caught sight of a huge colonial building called "Torrentiym Cottage" with a small class room block and a playground which then used to house the junior section of Bishop Cotton School. After negotiations an agreement was signed on December 1, 1960 between the Representative of H. H. the Dalai Lama and the Governing Body of Bishop Cotton School by which the whole property was initially rented and ultimately purchased and the first batch of 160 nursery students came from Dharamsala. The school was taken over by CTSA In 1964, the school campus was further extended with the purchase of the adjoining building, out-houses and a Tennis Court known as "Villa Torrents". With the arrival of more children the existing accommodation was proving to be inadequate. This led to a branch school being opened at Earlsfield near St. Beades' College. The school was upgraded to Senior Secondary level in the year 1987. As of now, the school has around 500 students out of whom 312 are boarders and the rest are day-scholars. It has become one of the premier learning institutions for Tibetan refugee children. The products of this school have now assumed prestigious post in the Tibetan Exile Government hierarchy. • CST,Herbertpur: Formally under the name S.F.F. Senior Secondary School and managed by the Special Frontier Force, Herbertpur, the school was formally handed over to the CTSA on 23rd July 1994 and was renamed as Central School for Tibetans, Herbertpur. This change of guard was the culmination of efforts made by Major General Sharda (then Inspector General, S.F.F.) and Mr. S.P. Datta (then Secretary CTSA). Both of these officers, it seems, are known for their “profound love and concern for the well being of Tibetan children and the community living in India”. CST Herbertpur is situated in the State of Uttaranchal on the western fringes of Doon Valley. The location of the institution is ‘beautiful and bears magnificent scenic surroundings, which includes stupendous rise of mighty Himalayas in the north and fine lush and lower extension of the Shivalik ranges in the south’. The school is about 36 km east of Dehradun, the state capital and about 14 km west of Paonta Sahib, a historical town in Himachal Pradesh State. CST Herbertpur is a senior secondary school and has only humanities stream at the Plus 2 level. The school follows CBSE curriculum.There is a hostel facility for about 400 children under the direct management of S.F.F. officials. Presently the school has 32 staff members and 457 children. The website goes on to state that ‘under the leadership of Mr. V.K. Singh, Principal and with the guiding light of Dr. M.S. Verma, the current Secretary CTSA, the school is all set to make further progress in every field’. Government of India’s Rationale for Preservation of Tibetan culture in education To explore the Government of India’s outlook and policies initially worked out in the early 1960s, I browsed through my hand-written notes (xeroxing is not allowed by the office) of sections of the reports, I’d pored over on my earlier trips to the CTSA office in Rohini,New Delhi. Annual reports of CTSA of the year 1963 (source: CTSA, Rohini, New Delhi) explain in detail the aims and objectives for schooling (of CTS) as the following: 1. That this education provided to Tibetan children will be “good education” explained as based upon “modern principles” 2. The Tibetan children when educated would form a group which would provide “enlightened leadership” to their own peoples 3. Education given to these children should enable children “to appreciate their own cultural heritage, religion and culture and also appreciate the culture of their surroundings” 4. The children should acquire basic skills in reading, writing and arithmetic which would be the basis of higher education 5. The children should also be “made aware of the technological age and its implications. They should be “equipped for vocation and trade in order to enable them to settle in life”. Recent CTSA programmes & policies for preservation and promotion of Tibetan culture,Traditions and Heritage The CTSA annual report (2002-2003) that I came upon during my visit to the CTSA office sometime last year lists the programmes and policies for preservation and promotion of Tibetan culture, Traditions and Heritage. The report states that ‘one of the broad objectives of the administration is to preserve and promote Tibetan culture, traditions and heritage'. CTSA has been making determined efforts to preserve and promote Tibetan culture, traditions and heritage. It further states that CTSA has been making “determined efforts to preserve and promote Tibetan culture and heritage” by conducting various short-term and long-term programmes. Some of them are: 1. In CTSA schools each school conducts a variety of co-curricular programmes on Tibetan culture viz.Tibetan folk dance and group dance,community singing,group songs, one act play etc.These programmes of literary and cultural activities are also organized at regional and central levels. 2. As stated earlier, the medium of instruction in all CTSA schools at primary level (from pre-primary to class v) is Tibetan. After class v, while English becomes the medium of instruction the teaching of Tibetan continues as a separate subject till class xii. 3. To encourage and motivate Indian teachers to learn Tibetan language there exists a scheme of incentive for acquiring proficiency in Tibetan language.The teachers who pass the examination in Tibetan language at the lower level, conducted by CTSA of H.H.The Dalai Lama, Dharamsala on behalf of CTSA are granted an incentive award of Rs.2500/-. 4. Recorded cassettes of speeches and community songs for the morning assembly have been provided to all schools “to keep the spirit of culture alive” 5. CTSA, Delhi also publishes an annual trilingual journal (in English; Tibetan and Hindi) with writings on Tibetan culture, tradition and heritage. The above programmes and policies pursued by the Government of India clearly articulate the initiatives of the former to enable the Tibetan refugees to preserve their cultural and linguistic heritage through the medium of education. Outcomes in Education: Outcomes in education of Tibetan refugee children can be gauged from the fact that the enrollment rate in Tibetan schools is said to be almost 80%. The Tibetan refugee community has been able to achieve “almost universal literacy amongst the younger generations, when only 30 years ago, it had a very low literacy rate”. Many students have been able to go beyond school to study at universities (with Delhi University being an important and favored destination for students coming from several Tibetan settlements all over the country for pursuing their graduate and even post-graduate studies), colleges and vocational training centers. The outcomes of education for Tibetan refugees children in India is observed by the Tibetan government-in-exile in India (also mentioned above) as “one of the greatest achievements of the refugee community” (http://www.tibet.com/govt/edu.html). These achievements in the educational scenario of Tibetan refugees in India, has been possible due to a “combination of pre-migration group circumstances, primarily, high levels of motivation, aspirations for education and desire to excel with which they have come to India and post-migration situational circumstances , primarily, favorable attitudes of the Government of India and educational assistance provided by the same alongwith financial aid provided by a host of international humanitarian organizations, for instance, Kinderdorf International etc” (Mallica, M.Phil Dissertation, ‘Education of Refugee Children:A Sociological perspective, ZHCES, JNU, 2002:99). Whether driven by cultural-historical or by geo-political considerations, the commitment and assistance of the Government of India towards enabling the Tibetan refugees to establish and develop an educational system attempting to achieve a balance between tradition and modernity in exile for nurturing “seeds of future Tibet” needs to be acknowledged. My next posting will try to explore and highlight the motivations, perspectives, strategies and policies of the Tibetan government-in-exile towards establishing a system of education for Tibetan children in exile in India which is, at once, traditional as it is modern and the efforts made to ensure that the transplanted “seeds of future Tibet” grow up and retain their Tibettanness even in exile. s'long!Comments are welcomed! Regards! Mallica __________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner now. Go to http://yahoo.shaadi.com From kaiwanmehta at gmail.com Wed Feb 15 18:04:55 2006 From: kaiwanmehta at gmail.com (kaiwan mehta) Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 18:04:55 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Exhibition - Maps and Motifs Message-ID: <2482459d0602150434w7bdeb64axd2bce8a3507b20cd@mail.gmail.com> Hi I have been a Sarai fellow last year and a large part of the work done then has been converted into an exhibition. The details of which follow. *Maps and Motifs* by Kaiwan Mehta is an exhibition of a catalogue in the making. This catalogue is an exercise in writing or collecting the history of an urban neighbourhood, with a specific focus on architectural history. This photo-text exhibition will be on view at The Claude Batley Gallery Sir J J College of Architecture 78/3 D N Road Mumbai from 20 to 26 February, 2006 9:00 - 6:30 pm Thank You. -- Kaiwan Mehta Architect and Urban Researcher 11/4, Kassinath Bldg. No. 2, Kassinath St., Tardeo, Mumbai 400034 022-2-494 3259 / 91-98205 56436 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060215/42357901/attachment.html From vishnu at cscsban.org Wed Feb 15 12:19:41 2006 From: vishnu at cscsban.org (T. Vishnu Vardhan) Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 12:19:41 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] CSCS Workshop on The Future of Higher Edn. Message-ID: <6.2.3.4.0.20060215120249.0330e1b0@localhost> Hi, CSCS is organizing a two day workshop on The Future of Higher Education in India. The following gives you some details. Do forward it to those who will be interested in attending it. best, Vishnu Vardhan .T Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bangalore and Bangalore University in partnership with Sir Ratan Tata Trust, Mumbai announce a two-day workshop on The Future of Higher Education in India The workshop will bring together eminent scholars working in the field of education, academics from universities, professional colleges and science institutions, education administrators and policy makers for a series of panel discussions on the theme of higher education in India, with a specific focus on the context of Karnataka. The workshop will take stock of the changes in the field of education in concrete terms by looking at global pressures, inherited legacies and projected futures. The main objectives of the workshop are - to seek clarity on the nature of transformations taking place in the field of higher education, including the functioning of institutions, the formulation of policies, the hierarchization of disciplines, and the modes of financing and revenue; - to suggest ways in which disciplines can be reconceptualized to meet the challenges posed by our changing society without compromising their commitment to comprehensiveness and critical rigour; - to imagine new models of institutions of higher education, and craft innovative forms of collaboration between older and newer institutions. Panelists include: V.K. Natraj (Former Director, MIDS, Madras) K. Sudha Rao (VC, Karnataka Open University) B.K. Bhattacharya (Former Chief Secretary, Karnataka and Senior Fellow, IIM, Bangalore) Sudhir Krishnaswamy, (National Law School of India University, Bangalore) J.B.G. Tilak (Educational Finance Unit, NIEPA) Ambrose Pinto (Principal, St. Joseph’s College, Bangalore) Rishikesha Krishnan (IIM, Bangalore) Ronnie Prabhu (Coordinator, Higher Education, Karnataka Jesuit Educational Society) B.N. Betkerur (Executive Secretary, JSS Mahavidyapeetha, Mysore) H. Vinod Bhat (Registrar, MAHE, Manipal) Thomas C. Mathew ( Principal, Christ College, Bangalore) Ashish Rajadhyaksha (CSCS) Geetha Narayanan (Director, Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore) Sandeep Shastri (Director, iACT, Bangalore) A.S. Seetharamu (Education Unit, ISEC, Bangalore) Sashi Kumar (Chairperson, Media Development Foundation,Chennai) Susie Tharu ( formerly CIEFL, Hyderabad) Dhruv Raina, (JNU, New Delhi) Raghavendra Gadagkar (Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc, Bangalore) Padma Sarangapani (NIAS, Bangalore) Anirudh Paul (Director, KRVI Institute for Architecture and Environmental Studies, Mumbai) Valerian Rodrigues (Jawaharlal Nehru College, New Delhi) Praveen Chandra Pandey (Registrar, Kuvempu University) Peter Ronald deSouza (Lokniti, CSDS, Delhi) Venue: Seminar Hall, Canara Bank School of Management Studies, Bangalore University Central College Campus, B.R. Ambedkar Veedhi, Bangalore – 560 001 Date: 20th and 21st February 2006 Time: 10 AM – 6 PM T. Vishnu Vardhan Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, 466, 9th Cross, 1st Block, Jayanagar, Bangalore - 560011. e-mail: vishnu at cscsban.org thvishnu_viva at yahoo.com Tel. no. 080-26562986 mobile no. +919845207308 fax no. 080-26562991 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060215/4262e01d/attachment.html From gabyvargasc at prodigy.net.mx Wed Feb 15 18:56:35 2006 From: gabyvargasc at prodigy.net.mx (Gabriela Vargas-Cetina) Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 07:26:35 -0600 Subject: [Reader-list] CSCS Workshop on The Future of Higher Edn. Message-ID: Dear Vishnu, I hope you can share with us some of the results of this event. We are all dealing with major changes in higher education in practically every country. Gabriela Vargas-Cetina Merida, Yucatan, Mexico On 2/15/06 12:49 AM, "T. Vishnu Vardhan" wrote: > Hi, > > CSCS is organizing a two day workshop on The Future of Higher Education in > India. The following gives you some details. Do forward it to those who will > be interested in attending it. > > best, > Vishnu Vardhan .T > > Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bangalore > and > Bangalore University > in partnership with > Sir Ratan Tata Trust, Mumbai > > announce a two-day workshop on > > The Future of Higher Education in India > > The workshop will bring together eminent scholars working in the field of > education, academics from universities, professional colleges and science > institutions, education administrators and policy makers for a series of panel > discussions on the theme of higher education in India, with a specific focus > on the context of Karnataka. The workshop will take stock of the changes in > the field of education in concrete terms by looking at global pressures, > inherited legacies and projected futures. > > The main objectives of the workshop are > > - to seek clarity on the nature of transformations taking place in > the field of higher education, including the functioning of institutions, the > formulation of policies, the hierarchization of disciplines, and the modes of > financing and revenue; > - to suggest ways in which disciplines can be reconceptualized to > meet the challenges posed by our changing society without compromising their > commitment to comprehensiveness and critical rigour; > - to imagine new models of institutions of higher education, and > craft innovative forms of collaboration between older and newer institutions. > > Panelists include: > > V.K. Natraj (Former Director, MIDS, Madras) > K. Sudha Rao (VC, Karnataka Open University) > B.K. Bhattacharya (Former Chief Secretary, Karnataka and Senior Fellow, IIM, > Bangalore) > Sudhir Krishnaswamy, (National Law School of India University, Bangalore) > J.B.G. Tilak (Educational Finance Unit, NIEPA) > Ambrose Pinto (Principal, St. Joseph¹s College, Bangalore) > Rishikesha Krishnan (IIM, Bangalore) > Ronnie Prabhu (Coordinator, Higher Education, Karnataka Jesuit Educational > Society) > B.N. Betkerur (Executive Secretary, JSS Mahavidyapeetha, Mysore) > H. Vinod Bhat (Registrar, MAHE, Manipal) > Thomas C. Mathew ( Principal, Christ College, Bangalore) > Ashish Rajadhyaksha (CSCS) > Geetha Narayanan (Director, Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, > Bangalore) > Sandeep Shastri (Director, iACT, Bangalore) > A.S. Seetharamu (Education Unit, ISEC, Bangalore) > Sashi Kumar (Chairperson, Media Development Foundation,Chennai) > Susie Tharu ( formerly CIEFL, Hyderabad) > Dhruv Raina, (JNU, New Delhi) > Raghavendra Gadagkar (Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc, Bangalore) > Padma Sarangapani (NIAS, Bangalore) > Anirudh Paul (Director, KRVI Institute for Architecture and Environmental > Studies, Mumbai) > Valerian Rodrigues (Jawaharlal Nehru College, New Delhi) > Praveen Chandra Pandey (Registrar, Kuvempu University) > Peter Ronald deSouza (Lokniti, CSDS, Delhi) > > Venue: Seminar Hall, > Canara Bank School of Management Studies, > Bangalore University Central College Campus, > B.R. Ambedkar Veedhi, Bangalore ­ 560 001 > > Date: 20th and 21st February 2006 > Time: 10 AM ­ 6 PM > > > T. Vishnu Vardhan > Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, > 466, 9th Cross, 1st Block, Jayanagar, > Bangalore - 560011. > e-mail: vishnu at cscsban.org > thvishnu_viva at yahoo.com > Tel. no. 080-26562986 > mobile no. +919845207308 > fax no. 080-26562991 > > _________________________________________ > 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: From jeebesh at sarai.net Wed Feb 15 19:12:02 2006 From: jeebesh at sarai.net (Jeebesh Bagchi) Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 19:12:02 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] CSCS Workshop on The Future of Higher Edn. In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <3260B798-B087-489F-BE25-BC56B57294A7@sarai.net> After the invention of the term `human resource`, does the 19th C idea and national projects of education has any value left? My feeling is that this term has exhausted it's meaning and now stand in as just a cover for `training` for exchange value addition fueled by bizarre imaginaries of unlimited wealth. best, j On 15-Feb-06, at 6:56 PM, Gabriela Vargas-Cetina wrote: > Dear Vishnu, > > I hope you can share with us some of the results of this event. We > are all > dealing with major changes in higher education in practically every > country. > > Gabriela Vargas-Cetina > Merida, Yucatan, Mexico > > > On 2/15/06 12:49 AM, "T. Vishnu Vardhan" wrote: > > >> Hi, >> >> CSCS is organizing a two day workshop on The Future of Higher >> Education in >> India. The following gives you some details. Do forward it to >> those who will >> be interested in attending it. >> >> best, >> Vishnu Vardhan .T >> >> Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bangalore >> and >> Bangalore University >> in partnership with >> Sir Ratan Tata Trust, Mumbai >> >> announce a two-day workshop on >> >> The Future of Higher Education in India >> >> The workshop will bring together eminent scholars working in the >> field of >> education, academics from universities, professional colleges and >> science >> institutions, education administrators and policy makers for a >> series of panel >> discussions on the theme of higher education in India, with a >> specific focus >> on the context of Karnataka. The workshop will take stock of the >> changes in >> the field of education in concrete terms by looking at global >> pressures, >> inherited legacies and projected futures. >> >> The main objectives of the workshop are >> >> - to seek clarity on the nature of transformations taking >> place in >> the field of higher education, including the functioning of >> institutions, the >> formulation of policies, the hierarchization of disciplines, and >> the modes of >> financing and revenue; >> - to suggest ways in which disciplines can be >> reconceptualized to >> meet the challenges posed by our changing society without >> compromising their >> commitment to comprehensiveness and critical rigour; >> - to imagine new models of institutions of higher >> education, and >> craft innovative forms of collaboration between older and newer >> institutions. >> >> Panelists include: >> >> V.K. Natraj (Former Director, MIDS, Madras) >> K. Sudha Rao (VC, Karnataka Open University) >> B.K. Bhattacharya (Former Chief Secretary, Karnataka and Senior >> Fellow, IIM, >> Bangalore) >> Sudhir Krishnaswamy, (National Law School of India University, >> Bangalore) >> J.B.G. Tilak (Educational Finance Unit, NIEPA) >> Ambrose Pinto (Principal, St. Joseph’s College, Bangalore) >> Rishikesha Krishnan (IIM, Bangalore) >> Ronnie Prabhu (Coordinator, Higher Education, Karnataka Jesuit >> Educational >> Society) >> B.N. Betkerur (Executive Secretary, JSS Mahavidyapeetha, Mysore) >> H. Vinod Bhat (Registrar, MAHE, Manipal) >> Thomas C. Mathew ( Principal, Christ College, Bangalore) >> Ashish Rajadhyaksha (CSCS) >> Geetha Narayanan (Director, Srishti School of Art, Design and >> Technology, >> Bangalore) >> Sandeep Shastri (Director, iACT, Bangalore) >> A.S. Seetharamu (Education Unit, ISEC, Bangalore) >> Sashi Kumar (Chairperson, Media Development Foundation,Chennai) >> Susie Tharu ( formerly CIEFL, Hyderabad) >> Dhruv Raina, (JNU, New Delhi) >> Raghavendra Gadagkar (Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc, >> Bangalore) >> Padma Sarangapani (NIAS, Bangalore) >> Anirudh Paul (Director, KRVI Institute for Architecture and >> Environmental >> Studies, Mumbai) >> Valerian Rodrigues (Jawaharlal Nehru College, New Delhi) >> Praveen Chandra Pandey (Registrar, Kuvempu University) >> Peter Ronald deSouza (Lokniti, CSDS, Delhi) >> >> Venue: Seminar Hall, >> Canara Bank School of Management Studies, >> Bangalore University Central College Campus, >> B.R. Ambedkar Veedhi, Bangalore – 560 001 >> >> Date: 20th and 21st February 2006 >> Time: 10 AM – 6 PM >> >> >> T. Vishnu Vardhan >> Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, >> 466, 9th Cross, 1st Block, Jayanagar, >> Bangalore - 560011. >> e-mail: vishnu at cscsban.org >> thvishnu_viva at yahoo.com >> Tel. no. 080-26562986 >> mobile no. +919845207308 >> fax no. 080-26562991 >> >> _________________________________________ >> 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: >> > > > > _________________________________________ > 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: > From gmc at sonologic.nl Wed Feb 15 20:06:48 2006 From: gmc at sonologic.nl (Koen Martens) Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 15:36:48 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] The Slimes of India's Patna edition reprints, Danish cartoon In-Reply-To: <20060211013604.7913.qmail@web53603.mail.yahoo.com> References: <20060211013604.7913.qmail@web53603.mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <43F33C80.3060208@sonologic.nl> Rahul Asthana wrote: > 1.The opposition is not against free speech.The > widespread republication gave the perception of an > attack on and ridicule of a belief system.It is no > longer a heretic voice. Hence the outcry. Saying the cartoons may not be published will be interpreted as an act to attack the freedom of expression. Not by everyone, but it will be interpreted as such none-the-less.. > 2.There are many examples of the hypocrisy of people > who are burning buildings for cartoons and would not > say anything when Iran sentences to death 17 year > olds, but in this case it is a straw man.This does not > take away from the fact that there is no reason for > stirring up the emotions of about a billion people. As I explained in some other posts already, that is not the intent of the republishing. Do remember that the republishing was an answer to the sudden riots in january/february 2006 about cartoons that were published november/oktober 2005. An attack on free expression also stirs emotions, and i think the riots provoked the republishing. > 3.This is not against freedom of speech and one would > strongly oppose any legal action against the > cartoonists or publishers.But it is in bad taste.Its > something which is not really funny for a lot of > people. Bad taste is such an objective thing. If anything that is not funny for a lot of people should be censored, there would not be much left to publish. I strongly oppose to using the 'it is not funny for a lot of people' argument to ban certain expressions in the public space. > 6.Being offensive or ridiculing a religion should be > condemned. Protesting with violence should also be > condemned.The publishers of cartoons wanted to make > a point about muslims as against freedom of speech. > The protestors, on the other hand are making a point > about the oppresive policies of the monolithic "west" > as against the offensiveness of the cartoons.It is > evident that both sides are displaying a marked > ignorance of each others culture and values.In this > sense this controversy may have a positive outcome if > it can result in greater understanding between the two > parties I think just as a lot of people in the west think that all muslims are bomb-throwing violent maniacs, the people in the arabic world are thinking all western people are egocentric rich bastards who hate the islam unconditionally. Both are wrong. > Finally, I totally agree with Iram Gufran's > post.Liberals can me most intolerant, however counter > intuitive this may sound. True. I am not a liberal. Best, Koen -- K.F.J. Martens, Sonologic, http://www.sonologic.nl/ Networking, hosting, embedded systems, unix, artificial intelligence. Public PGP key: http://www.metro.cx/pubkey-gmc.asc Wondering about the funny attachment your mail program can't read? Visit http://www.openpgp.org/ From punam.zutshi at gmail.com Thu Feb 16 01:20:36 2006 From: punam.zutshi at gmail.com (punam zutshi) Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2006 01:20:36 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] "Doorway to Gender Information in South Asia" Message-ID: <3b7bed850602151150u2e369f2cm5bd9e43f0b134441@mail.gmail.com> Hello! Some of you may find this of interest... Gendwaar.Doorway to Gender Information in South Asia http://www.gendwaar.gen.in/index.htm Check the Gendwaar E-Library Their objectives: This site aims to serve as a gateway improving a two-way flow of information between the North and South. It seeks to enhance access to gender studies information for the South Asian region by: Making available catalogues, indexes, bibliographies and directories developed by libraries in the region which have a special focus on gender studies; Sharing a growing collection of electronic full text resources from the region Helping scholars from the region to locate relevant and useful international resources in the field on the Net; and It seeks to increase the visibility and enhance access to gender studies information and research in the South Asian Region. Punam From franciska at skynet.be Thu Feb 16 04:07:28 2006 From: franciska at skynet.be (Franciska Lambrechts) Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 23:37:28 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Re:CSCS Workshop on The Future of Higher Edn. In-Reply-To: <20060215134154.4753228DB90@mail.sarai.net> References: <20060215134154.4753228DB90@mail.sarai.net> Message-ID: <349dacb6e880afecf2f42d438dd0dd14@skynet.be> and what do you think of manifesta turned into a schoolproject? > After the invention of the term `human resource`, does the 19th C idea and national projects of education has any value left? My feeling is that this term has exhausted it's meaning and now stand in as just a cover for `training` for exchange value addition fueled by bizarre imaginaries of unlimited wealth. best, j From basaksenova at yahoo.co.uk Thu Feb 16 03:49:21 2006 From: basaksenova at yahoo.co.uk (basak senova) Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2006 00:19:21 +0200 Subject: [Reader-list] citism--press to exit project space--skopje--17.02.2006 Message-ID: apologies for cross-postings.. CITISM 17.02.2006­ 24.02.2006 curators: Elena Veljanovska, Hristijan Panev and Boris Petrovski artists: Neda Firfova, Antonio Dimitrov and Boris Petrovski press to exit project space Maksim Gorki 19, Skopje, Macedonia www.pro-helvetia.org.mk/presstoexit www.citism.tk press to exit project space is pleased to present the exhibition CITISM. The exhibition opening will be on 17.02.2006 at 9pm. The CITISM project was developed as part of the curatorial workshop, conducted by Basak Senova, resident curator in the Visiting Curatorial Initiative program of press to exit project space, June 2005. In due course, CITISM has been realized through the New Project Productions program of press to exit project space with the curatorial advisory of Basak Senova. This program supports local curators and artists in developing their own projects by providing opportunities for their artistic and curatorial practices in Macedonia. CITISM, curated by Elena Veljanovska, Hristijan Panev and Boris Petrovski, is an attempt to detect the unique characteristics of Skopje by defining the codes of the urban language. The artists of the project process their researches through different forms of expression by using and analyzing graphical languages, projecting spatial interventions, and processing sound. Each and every form operates to capture unique segments of city life. Neda Firfova¹s graphical works are located in the gallery space whilst Boris Petrovski applies an outdoor installation in front of the gallery, and Antonio Dimitrov merges indoor and outdoor inputs with his sound installation. The project itself synthesizes various forms of expression in the urban context by striving to capture the instant and multilateral ambience of the city. press to exit project space is supported by Swiss Cultural Program South East Europe and Ukraine. From beate at zurwehme.org Fri Feb 17 05:07:51 2006 From: beate at zurwehme.org (beate zurwehme) Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 00:37:51 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] beate zurwehme : volume 4 : beate chills In-Reply-To: <3b7bed850602151150u2e369f2cm5bd9e43f0b134441@mail.gmail.com> References: <3b7bed850602151150u2e369f2cm5bd9e43f0b134441@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <3a2511bd1b315cd6a3a4e389e9ef873a@zurwehme.org> here you are exactly correct! this is the side on which you finds for what you search: without being received you find art, kunst and knust which want to get it you times again so correctly excited. never was it more simply to make the next visual experience! you simply search in the enormous pictorial database and select the picture you pleases, and then step with beate in contact! http://zurwehme.org/freakout_2006 ^-click new pictorial work by beate zurwehme! view from the world of philipp zaiser F r e a k O u t ! series of 87 digital photos each 160 x 120 pixel 2006 http://zurwehme.org ^-click listen to the word of beate z.! full-length aspect magazine interview in Beate Zurwehme: De Grosze Matze Smid edited by stefan beck and the grrrlz merve, Berlin 2005 beate zurwehme, herderstr. 9, 61350 bad homburg v.d.h. germany, phone no. +49-177-8400827 contact, beate(at)zurwehme.org %@@@@. %@@@@ publications, Zen und Kunst. Zeremonielle in der Gegenwartskunst, München 1997 Dankräume, in: Thomas Erdelmeier, Figuren, Filderstadt 1993 Der Flaum vor den Kameras: Die Videokunst, in: Die Bibliothek, Kunst und Kultur, Brockhaus, Bd. 6, Mannheim 1999 sowie zahlreiche Aufsätze zu zeitgenössischen KünstlerInnen (u.a. Bill Koons, Eija-Lisa Parastou, Bad Kleinen). | interlinking of media | practice with gender related issues http://zurwehme.org/ From aman.am at gmail.com Fri Feb 17 00:49:55 2006 From: aman.am at gmail.com (Aman Sethi) Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 00:49:55 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] We are always in God's Hands. Post 2.1 by Aman Message-ID: <995a19920602161119l294e709aq3f12f14cc1c862f2@mail.gmail.com> "For those who came in late"; 30 days ago a man posted an idea on this very list, a record of which can still be seen today at http://abjective.blogspot.com . He swore an oath (in fact he often uttered the most filthy oaths) to write on "Alternative ways/ means of representation of the "poor and oppressed" by studying informal networks at labour mandis in Delhi." He was the first Phantom. The unbroken line continues through the weeks; today as before – writing mysteriously, suddenly, the first part of a three part post, the Phantom works alone. The idea behind the three-part post is to try to separate two distinct strands that emerge from my initial posting, the first deals directly with the expanse of the labour mandi and its networks, while the second is a stylized literary-non-fiction piece. The third and final part deals with a subject that I am still grappling with – the role and purpose of the media and the nature of intervention. As I look back on my first post, I realize that I had written precious little about the labour mandi itself. Perhaps now it is time. I first went to Bara Tuti labour mandi while working on a labour series for the Frontline. The idea was to write (some what obscenely termed) "bottom up" reports on Delhi's informal/ unorganized labour. The idea behind the first piece was to write on "construction labour and their problems". It was impossible to imagine a meedya report about any group (other than Page 3 of course) and not write about their problems. In fact it was their problems that one was particularly interested in- an issue that I shall deal with at length in my second post later this month. I wasn't really interested in the labour mandi – in fact I didn't even know what a labour mandi was – which reminds me, I still haven't explained what a labour mandi really is. In my article for Frontline, ( http://www.flonnet.com/fl2224/stories/20051202001408800.htm), I described a labour mandi as "[the] last resort for the unemployed. Usually situated in densely populated pockets of Delhi, it is unmarked and unmapped by city planners, and unseen by those who do not come with the express purpose of looking for it; no placards announce its existence, no road signs give directions. Rickshaw-pullers, tea shops owners and cigarette-sellers wave their hands and paint elaborate maps in the air - the third alley past the sweet shop, up the incline, right past the police thana." At which point I realized that while I had described "how it was", I hadn't described exactly "what it was". And so I wrote the following paragraph – "The mandi is a collection of tea shops, indistinguishable from other tea shops in other parts of the city, except for the large numbers of men sitting in easily identifiable groups. The largest groups consist of an old man who sits slightly apart from a gaggle of smiling youngsters and scowling 40-somethings. This is the head mason, or maistry, with his team of lesser maistries, beldaars and mazdoors. Close to these large groups sit several smaller satellite groups of painters in paint-smattered pyjamas, carpenters with large toolboxes and the odd electrician or plumber. Workers gather by eight o' clock in the morning, and builders and contractors arrive by 9 a.m. Brief but frantic negotiations ensue, and the labour workers pile into trucks and are carted off to construction sites across the city. Contractors usually negotiate with the maistries to outline their needs for the day, and the maistries organise the necessary labour. The work could be for a day or a week, and in rare cases for even a month, and the wages are fixed accordingly." This was perhaps the distance that I had originally hoped to traverse – a topographic description: Workplace- scattered – yet organized – informal network. Workers –organized on the basis of hierarchy – Maistry, beldaar, mazdoor. Work timings- 8 AM onwards. The only thing missing was how much they made; which, as a thorough and professional journalist, I obligingly provided ""The going rate for an ordinary labourer, or mazdoor, is Rs.100 a day and Rs.150-200 for a maistry," says Mukhraj, a head maistry, "Carpenters and painters demand higher wages of up to Rs.300 a day, depending on the amount of work." However, workers are rarely in a position to enforce wages, as the plentiful supply of cheap labour drives down their market value. "Invariably most of us end up working for about Rs.80 a day," explains Kallu, a labourer, "and the maistries get about Rs.150." Apart from his daily wage, which he gets from the contractor, the maistry also charges his own workers Rs.5 a day as commission for getting them work with the contractor. Thus, the job of the maistry is much sought after. "The going rate for an ordinary labourer, or mazdoor, is Rs.100 a day and Rs.150-200 for a maistry," says Mukhraj, a head maistry, "Carpenters and painters demand higher wages of up to Rs.300 a day, depending on the amount of work." However, workers are rarely in a position to enforce wages, as the plentiful supply of cheap labour drives down their market value. "Invariably most of us end up working for about Rs.80 a day," explains Kallu, a labourer, "and the maistries get about Rs.150." Apart from his daily wage, which he gets from the contractor, the maistry also charges his own workers Rs.5 a day as commission for getting them work with the contractor. Thus, the job of the maistry is much sought after." This would be a reasonably well researched, topographic account of an informal market place. It constitutes what I would like to call the "topological trap". The topological trap is grounded in the notion that once provided reasonably detailed physical map; readers should be left to negotiate their own way through the straight forward terrain of the journalist's argument. Occasionally, an obliging scribe shall throw in the odd signpost – a quote here, a vox pop there, and well rounded conclusion that brings the reader back to the "you are here" spot. Personally, I am rather fond of this particular style of writing; however the map is not always reliable. As the author of the text, it is for the journalist to indicate which way is North, and the reader is often asked to use the topological landscape as a portal through which to access a more fluid mindscape of the subject of the article. A mediated physical description also gives the illusion of a "see, and decide for yourself" argument, while overlooking the role of describer. Read for example, the following extract from the article "We are always in God's Hands" by Tom Paulson from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer –"In the shadow of prosperity, slum children die every day from diarrhea, measles, pneumonia and other easily preventable and treatable diseases. Like the three being raised by Mariam and Dharmesh a few blocks from Deer Park. The couple is illiterate. They have only single names. Home is a smoke-filled, 8-foot-by-8-foot hut. A dim light bulb the hue of a harvest moon hangs over a burlap-covered bed fashioned from a steamer trunk. There is no toilet, no sink. For this, the couple pays 850 rupees a month in rent -- about $17, half their income. A rat scurries by, but Mariam isn't disturbed. Rats are signs of good luck, she explained. They only come around if a family has food." It is hard to dispute the Intelligencer's topography – the detailing is meticulous, right down to the dimensions of the room; the couple has no toilet, no sink, and apparently no second name – a fact that seems to cause the correspondent some consternation. So, does the correspondent explain how, in spite of not having a sink or surname, thousands like Mariam and Dharmesh still manage to survive, occasionally make money, sleep, live or think? No. What he does do is provide us with a compass to navigate his map, "Their plight illustrates the cycle of disease and poverty. Illness undermines opportunity -- income. Poverty begets more illness, which begets more poverty. It's a process of erosion"; and signs off with the perfect survival strategy, "I have hope that one day we will get out of here," Mariam said. She forced a smile and looked away, bringing an arm across her face to hide the tears. "We are always in God's hands." To sum up, the problem with the topographic trap is the objectivity accorded to a physical description. The room is 8 foot by 8 foot. That is a "fact", and since his conclusions are based on undisputable "facts", they too take on the armor of factuality. I now have the opportunity to ask an earnest, post-modernist question – "Is factuality the same as actuality?" but I won't. That shall be left for a subsequent post. In the meantime, one way of avoiding a factuality/actuality issue is to try and understand the prism through which people see themselves and their surroundings. Maybe an 8 foot by 8 foot room looks a whole lot bigger if everyone else around you has one that is 6 feet by 6 feet. Aman -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060217/e740bf76/attachment.html From mallroad at gmail.com Fri Feb 17 15:21:28 2006 From: mallroad at gmail.com (Shivam Vij) Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 15:21:28 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Mushahars: Starvation deaths in Udayapura Message-ID: <210498250602170151s2947582avc872d1e45a4df6bc@mail.gmail.com> The Chairman, National Human Rights Commission, Faridkot House, New Delhi February 9, 2006 Re: Starvation issue in Udayapura village, Pathardeva block, Deoria district Dear Sir, This is to bring to your notice that the two Mushahar families of Mushaharbustee in the Udayapura village of Pathardeva block are facing hunger and malnutrition. The families are on the verge of death if action is not taken. The families of Ram Sharif and Saudagar are struggling to survive. Both the families are landless and have no work. Ram Sharif's mother is blind and is also waiting for death. Both of them have turned partially blind. Their eyes look terrible and face look much older than their age. Ram Sharif, aged 40-45, has four children, three sons and one daughter, while Saudagar has 4 daughters and two sons. They sleep outside their huts even in these cold days, as their one-room huts cannot accommodate the entire family. For many days they have been surviving on some rice given by neighbors as well as by boiling river food. Matelu and Rudal are younger brothers of Ram Sharif and have left with their respective families for the Kusumbe forest of Gorakhpur. Sham Devi, 50, is the widow of Naresh and a leprosy patient for the last four years. She dose not have food to eat. Most of the families here suffer from severe malnutrition and starvation. No child in this village goes to the nearby school. Parents say that their children never get scholarship. Ghevna Devi used to clean the school utensils used for the purpose of cooking mid-day meals, but she was thrown away from the school run by the upper caste Brahmins. She and others working there were not given any salary. Today, there is a Gond woman cleaning utensils there, and Brahmin cooks at the schools. The school teachers blame Mushhar boys for not coming to the school, while the villagers say that the Mushar boys are not given enough food to eat. They return home empty stomach. The cooking has actually been granted for over 110 students though we did not find even 50 students that day. The families in the village said their children are not allowed to mix with upper caste boys. The teacher beat them up and there is separate seating during the meal. The cook gives them less food than the upper-caste classmates. The villagers also claim that the cook takes a large part of the food home and gives it to his animals. We would like to add here that Mushhars are one of the most marginalised Dalit communities in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, whose traditional occupation was catching rats and eating them. The community was declared denitrified during the British regime and tortured for every theft. Most of the hunger and starvation cases in the Eastern Part of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are happen amongst the Mushhar community, which has almost no political representation. It is very difficult to find any educated member from this community. Both civil society and government have failed to bring the plight of this community to the notice of the mainstream. Millions of rupees have been spend by 'civil society' organizations for the 'development' of Mushahars and yet the results are disappointing. It is important for the National Human Rights Commission to take action on this and ask the Uttar-Pradesh government, particularly the District Magistrate of Deoria to initiate immediate action on the same. We suggest the following: * Immediate relief to Mushhar families in the Mushahar bustee of village Udayapura in Pathardeva block, Deoria. * Provide land entitlement so that people could work on their land. * Provide Indira Awas so that the Mushhar community could live * Start Sarv Shiksha Abhiayan and other educational programme according to the need of the community. There will always be discrimination when such marginalized community children go outside their village to study. I hope that NHRC will take appropriate action in this regard and keep me updated on this. With regards, Yours Sincerely, Vidya Bhushan Rawat Director, Social Development Foundation, Email: vbrawat at vsnl.com | Website: www.thesdf.org From kj.impulse at gmail.com Fri Feb 17 15:15:54 2006 From: kj.impulse at gmail.com (Kavita Joshi [Impulse]) Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 15:15:54 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] [infosouth] Invitation [FilmsForFreedom] Free Speech & Fearless Listening Message-ID: <014d01c633aa$2c96e020$0201a8c0@hpdab99e23044a> INVITATION TO: Dear Friend The Delhi Film Archive and Films for Freedom, in association with Max Mueller Bhavan and the Sarai Programme at CSDS, Delhi take pleasure in inviting you to "Free Speech & Fearless Listening: The encounter with censorship in South Asia". The three day event to discuss the challenges confronting cultural producers in the South Asia region will be held at the Max Mueller Bhavan (Goethe Institute), Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi from February 22-24, 2006. The event is being supported by Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University and the Jamia Millia Islamia (Central University). Independent documentary filmmakers, journalists, writers and other professionals have struggled to create spaces for images, words and ideas that find little support with governments or market-driven corporations. Meanwhile the transformed nature of information flows at the cusp of the late 20th and early 21st Century has rendered inadequate national territories as exclusive sites of study or debate. As newer technologies of production and dissemination generate an unprecedented amount of information, there are simultaneously greater demands for restrictions on speech from state, non-state and corporate players. The proposed 'roundtable' is an attempt to acknowledge and understand the circulation and curtailment of speech in the South Asia region and will attempt to engage with the transformed mediascape to understand how images and information are being created or erased. Films for Freedom and the Delhi Film Archive initiative began a nationwide movement of more than 200 documentary filmmakers who came together in 2004 to protest against the Mumbai International Film Festival's (MIFF) decision to introduce a clause demanding censorship clearance for Indian filmmakers.. Filmmakers responded with a boycott, and the staging of an alternative festival. 'VIKALP - Films for Freedom' led the filmmakers to engage in a range of activities that created an awareness of both documentary films and an understanding about the overt and covert operations of censorship bodies. Today, Films for Freedom remains a vibrant platform for a diverse range of speech and anti-censorship related activities. We look forward to your participation and contribution in what we hope will be an on-going conversation. Please find attached the Proposed Schedule and List of Participants. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us at delhifilmarchive at yahoo.com delhifilmarchive at gmail.com Delhi Film Archive ( Amar Kanwar / Anupama Srinivasan / Atul Gupta / Gargi Sen / Gurvinder Singh/ Kavita Joshi/ Nakul Sood / Rahul Roy / Raj Baruah/ Ranjani Mazumdar/ Saba Dewan / Sanjay Kak / Sanjay Maharishi / Sabeena Gadihoke / Sameera Jain/ Sherna Dastur/ Shikha Jhingan/ Shohini Ghosh / Shubhradeep Chakravorty / Uma Devi) ---------------------------- Tentative Schedule (as on 16 Feb) Free Speech & Fearless Listening: The encounter with censorship in South Asia Feb 22-24 2006, New Delhi l 21 Feb 2006 / Tue / Sarai CSDS 4:00 - 7:00 pm Curtain Raiser Andres Veiel (Munich) Jitman Basnet (Kathmandu/Delhi) Malathi Maithri (Pondicherry) Sudhir Pattnaik (Bhuvaneshwar) Shuddhabrata Sengupta Chair l 22 Feb 2006 / Wed / Max Mueller Bhawan I 9:30 - 10:00 Opening Remarks : Rahul Roy DFA II 10:00 - 11:30 "Reports from the Region" Hassan Zaidi (Karachi) Jitman Basnet (Kathmandu/Delhi) Prasanna Vithanage (Colombo) Tanvir Mokammel (Dhaka) Tenzin Tsundoe (Dharamsala) Video Intervention: May Nyein (Burma) presented by Nem Davies Amar Kanwar Chair tea break III 12:00 - 1:30 "Framed by the law" Lawrence Liang (Bangalore) Sara Hossein (Dhaka) Intervention: Shahid Amin (Delhi) discussants: Jitman Basnet / Prasanna Vithanage / Hassan Zaidi lunch IV 2:30 - 4:00 "Court Encounters" PA Sebastian (Mumbai) Sara Hossein (Dhaka) discussants: Lawrence Liang / Prasanna Vithanage / Prashant Bhushan Chair tea break V 4:30 - 6:00 "Silences from Srinagar & Shillong" Aijaz Hussain (Srinagar) P G Rasul (Srinagar) Robin S Ngangom (Shillong) Tarun Bhartiya (Shillong) Written Intervention: Parvaiz Bukhari (Srinagar) Sanjay Kak Chair 6:00 - Screening: Black Box Germany (102 min) dir: Andres Veiel director present discussant: Shuddhabrata Sengupta l 23 Feb 2006 / Thu / Max Mueller Bhawan I 10:00 - 11:00 "Private" Censorship Andres Veiel (Munich) Shuddhabrata Sengupta Chair tea break II 11:30 - 1:30 "Locating Hate & Censorship" Deepak Mehta (Delhi) Sara Hossein (Dhaka) Shohini Ghosh (Delhi) Intervention: Arundhati Roy (Delhi) Shuddhabrata Sengupta (Delhi) Jawed Naqvi (Delhi) Dilip Simeon Chair lunch III 2:30 - 4:00 "Writing the body and mind" Malathi Maithri (Pondicherry) Sanjay Srivastava (Delhi) In Conversation: Shuddhabrata Sengupta & Shohini Ghosh tea break IV 4:30 - 6:00 "Fiction in the Censors Web" Anurag Kashyap (Mumbai) Tanvir Mokammel (Dhaka) Vimukthi Jayasundara (Colombo/Paris) Prasanna Vithanage (Colombo) Ranjani Mazumdar Chair 6:00 - Screening: Sulanga Enu Pinisa (The Forsaken Land) dir: Vimukthi Jayasundara director present discussant: Gurvinder Singh l 24 Feb 2006 / Fri / Max Mueller Bhawan I 10:00 - 11:30 "Voices made invisible" Sudhir Pattnaik (Bhuvaneshwar) Ravi Kumar (Chennai) Anil Chamadia (Delhi) Gargi Sen Chair tea break II 12:00 - 1:30 "The Business of Censorship" CP Chandrashekhar (Delhi) Jawed Naqvi (Delhi) Najam Sethi (Lahore) TBC Paranjoy Guhathakurta (Delhi) lunch III 2:30 - 4:00 Towards a "Counter Culture" Amar Kanwar (Delhi) Hassan Zaidi (Karachi) Gurvinder Singh (Delhi) Sudhir Pattnaik (Bhuvaneshwar) Mukul Mangalik (Delhi) Saba Dewan Chair tea break IV 4:30 - 6:00 Open Space 6:00 - Screening: Purahanda Kaluwara (Death on a Full Moon Day) dir: Prasanna Vithanage director present Brief notes on participants Free Speech & Fearless Listening: The encounter with censorship in South Asia Feb 22-24 2006, New Delhi Aijaz Hussain, Srinagar currently writes on politics and business for India Today and Business Standard from Srinagar. Before this, he wrote for about four years for the Daily Excelsior, a regional newspaper published from Jammu. He has also worked briefly for CNBC-TV18 television network. Besides these he has been reporting on assignment for Associated Press. Aijaz Hussain has an MA in Mass Communication & Journalism (1999). Anil Chamadia, New Delhi is a writer and columnist, who has been a commentator on political and social issues for almost all the major Hindi dailies - Jansatta, Navbharat Times, Hindustan, Amar Ujala and Dainik Bhaskar. He also writes a column on the electronic media for the literary magazine Kathadesh. As a Special Correspondent/Writer with Business India Television's TVI channel, he has also produced more than 1000 news bulletins for prime-time news. Anurag Kashyap, Mumbai, is a writer turned director and his writing credits include several Hindi films like Paisa Vasool (2004), Jung (2000), Kaun (1999) and Satya (1998). He has written dialogues for Main Aisa Hi Hoon, (2005), Yuva (2004), Nayak : The Real Hero (2001) and Shool (1999). Anurag Kashyap's directorial debut Paanch (Five) (2003) has been twice refused a clearance certificate by the censor board. His subsequent film Black Friday (2004) on the Mumbai blasts too has run into censor problems. C.P.Chandrashekhar bio awaited Deepak Mehta, Delhi, is a Reader in the Department of Sociology, University of Delhi. He is the author of Work, Ritual, Biography: A Muslim Community in North India. (OUP, 1977). Since 1994 he has been researching on violence between Hindus and Muslims in Bombay. Hassan Zaidi, Karachi, is an award winning journalist and filmmaker, who has been associated with the Pakistani monthly Herald, Geo TV, Singapore's Channel News Asia, and Star News, and has won the All Pakistan Newspaper Society award for excellence in journalism thrice. He currently works as a producer / correspondent for NBC News and writes for a number of international papers (including India Today), and has produced radio packages for the BBC's Urdu service. He has directed a number of documentaries, music videos and shorts, and the feature film Raat Chali Hai Jhoom Ke. He is currently Director of the KaraFilm - Karachi International Film Festival. Jawed Naqvi, New Delhi is a veteran journalist, and former Chief Reporter of Gulf News and News Editor of Khaleej Times, who has also worked for many years with Reuters in Delhi. He has covered wars from frontlines in Iran, Iraq, Western Sahara, Lebanon, Yemen, Afghanistan, Kashmir, and Jaffna. After the nuclear tests of 1998, he has embarked on a mission of cross-border journalism, campaigning against nuclear madness and human rights abuses. He writes as a freelance journalist for the Karachi Dawn and the Dhaka New Age. occasionaly write for tehelka. Occasional analyst for TV channels Jitman Basnet, Kathmandu, is a lawyer and journalist by profession, and has been editor and publisher of Sagarmatha Times a national monthly magazine published from Kathmandu, and Cine Hotline. In Sep 2002, he was arrested by the Maoists but eventually released. In Feb 2004 Jitman Basnet was arrested by the Royal Nepal Army and was in detention for about 10 months. The reason for his arrest was an article that he had written about the army's violation of human rights. Subsequent to his release he was forced to escape from Nepal, and at present lives in exile in Delhi. Lawrence Liang, Bangalore, is a researcher at the Alternative Law Forum a collective of lawyers who work on various aspects of law, legality and power.. Lawrence has been working on a research project on the politics of intellectual property "Intellectual Property & the Knowledge/Culture Commons" in collaboration with Sarai: CSDS, and is also very interested in the intersection of law and culture. He has recently completed a monograph on censorship and cinema in India called The Public is watching (for PSBT). Malathi Maithri, Pondicherry, is a Tamil poet (and activist) whose poems are considered highly inventive in the Tamil context. Her published collections include Sankaraabarani 2002, Neerindri Amaiyaathu Ulagu 2003, and Neeli 2005. Her articles, serialized in the magazine Theranathi, encouraged many young woman writers to identify and articulate their silenced voices and were published as Viduthalai Ezhuthuthal (Writing the Freedom) 2004. With her fellow poet Kirushangini she has published an anthology of modern women's poems Paratthal Athan Suthanthiram and one collection of articles on feminism titled Ananku. She is the founder secretary of Ananku, a forum for feminist activities. Najam Sethi, Lahore, is an eminent Pakistani journalist, editor, and news media personality and Editor-in-Chief of The Friday Times and The Daily Times. An aggressively independent journalist, Najam Sethi and his publications are often in trouble with Pakistani governments. He was imprisoned by then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, a case that evoked an international outcry that eventually pressured the government to release him. P.A.Sebastian, Mumbai bio awaited P.G.Rasool, Srinagar, has been writing in Urdu for the past fourteen years, in a weekly column on current affairs in Kashmir Uzma (Greater Kashmir) the Urdu weekly published from Srinagar. He has also authored a book titled Kashmir 1947 (Urdu). The book looks at the events of 1947 and the origins of the Kashmir issue. Rasool is widely respected for his probing and dispassionate analysis of events and political commentary. P G Rasool is a postgraduate in Mass Communication & Journalism from the University of Kashmir. Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Delhi, started his career as a journalist in June 1977 and has worked with Business India, BusinessWorld, The Telegraph , India Today and The Pioneer. And with Television Eighteen India Limited for almost six years. During this period he anchored a daily interview and discussion programme called "India Talks" on the CNBC television channel. He is currently Director of the School of Convergence (SoC), which combines the curricula of a journalism school, a film school and a management school. He has also directed a number of documentary films - Idiot Box or Window of Hope and University of Delhi: A Haven of Learning - being some of them. He has co-authored a book with Shankar Raghuraman entitled: "A Time of Coalitions: Divided We Stand", published by Sage Publications India in March 2004. Prasanna Vithanage, Srilanka, directed his first film Sisila Gini Gani (Ice on Fire) 1992 won nine OCIC (Sri Lanka) Awards including Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress. His second feature Anantha Rathriya (Dark Night of the Soul), 1996 won a Jury's Special Mention at the First Pusan International Film festival and at the 1996 Sri Lanka Film Critics Forum Awards it won Most Outstanding Film, Best Director and Best Scriptwriter. Pawuru Walalu (Walls Within) 1997 won the Best Actress Award at the Singapore International Film Festival 1998. His feature Purahanda Kaluwara (Death on A Full Moon Day) 1997, won the Grand Prix at the Amiens Film Festival. Initially banned by the government of Sri Lanka, it has since become the most successful film in the half century long history of cinema in Sri Lanka. Prasanna has just completed his fifth film ' Ira Madiyama'. Ravi Kumar, Pondicherry is a writer, essayist and translator, who started the critical magazines Nirapirikai (The Spectrum) and Dalit, which while dealing with the caste question, does not limit itself to dalit literature or dalit issues, but focuses on other writings/cultures. He is the editor of Bodhi, the Tamil dalit history quarterly. He also wrote the life of Malcolm X in a serialized form for Dalit Murasu (run by the Dalit Media Network) and the revived history of the so-called untouchable poet, Nandanar, which is carried in serialised form in Thai Mann (run by Dalit Panthers of India). In association with the journalist S.Anand, he has recently started the alternative publishing house, Navayana. He is a former President of the People's Union for Civil Liberties, Pondicherry and Tamil Nadu. Robin S Ngangom, Shillong, is a Manipuri English poet and a translator of Manipuri writing. He has published two volumes of poetry, and edited Anthology of Contemporary poetry from North East . His latest collection of poems is being published by Chandrabhaga Press. He currently teaches in Shillong Sanjay Srivastava, Delhi, is a social anthropologist, currently on leave from Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia. His key publications include 'Constructing Post-colonial India. National Character and the Doon School' (1998), 'Asia. Cultural Politics in the Global World' (2001, co-author), 'Sexual Sites, Seminal Attitudes' (2004, contributing editor), and, 'An Education of the Passions. Sexuality, Consumption and Class in India' (In Press). Sara Hossain, Dacca, is a lawyer practicing in the high court division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. She is actively involved with Ain o Salish Kendra [law and mediation centre], and the Bangladesh Legal Aid & Services Trust , a national legal services organisation. She earlier worked with Interights, and International Human Rights Law Centre, London. Her publications include Honour Crimes, Paradigms and Violence against Women (co-edited with Lynn Welchman), Zed Press, London 1995. She has acted in a number of cases involving the censorship of films, or banning of publications Shohini Ghosh, Delhi, is Reader, Video and Television Production at the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia, (Central University) New Delhi. She has been Visiting Associate Professor at the Department of Communication, Cornell University, USA (1990-1996); Globalization-McArthur Fellow at the University of Chicago (2001), Fellow at the Gender, Sexuality and Law Research Group of the Law Department at Keele University, UK and is Visiting Professor at the Summer Institute on Sexuality, Culture and Society , International School for Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Her current work is on issues of media cultures, censorship and sexuality. Shudhabhrata Sengupta, Delhi is a media practitioner, artist and writer with the Raqs Media Collective and one of the co-initiators of the Sarai Programme at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi. Shuddhabrata is member of the editorial collective of the Sarai Reader. Sudhir Pattnaik, Bhuvaneshwar, is Editor of Samadristi an Oriya fortnightly news magazine and is Chairman of Independent Media - an alternative media group consisting of filmmakers, writers and journalists who work for developing alternative media initiatives in Orissa. Tenzin Tsundoe is a writer-activist born to a Tibetan refugee family, and after graduating from Chennai, he crossed the Himalayas on foot to enter Tibet, where he was arrested by the Chinese border police, and after three months in prison in Lhasa, was pushed back to India. He has been published in International PEN, The Little Magazine, Outlook, The Times of India, The Indian Express, Hindustan Times, The Economic Times, Tehelka, Mid-Day (Mumbai), Afternoon (Mumbai), The Daily Star (Bangladesh), and Today (Singapore). His literary skills won him the first-ever Outlook-Picador Award for Non-Fiction in 2001. Since 1999 Tsundue has worked with Friends of Tibet (India) in 1999 as its general secretary. In January 2002 he scaled the scaffolding to the 14th floor of the Oberoi Towers in Mumbai to unfurl a Tibetan national flag and a banner which read "Free Tibet" down the hotel's facade. China's Premier Zhu Rongji was inside the hotel addressing a conference of Indian business tycoons. In April 2005, he repeated a similar feat during the Bangalore visit of the Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jia Bao. Tarun Bhartiya, Shillong is an activist with the freedom project Shillong. A Hindi poet with published work in Samkalin Bhartiya Sahitya, Pahel, Hans, Akshar Parv, and the Sarai Reader. Tarun is also a filmmaker whose work in progress is called Tourist Information for Shillong (four parts done - fifth being thought about). He has worked for NDTV and Campkins Camera Centre (a camera shop). Currently Tarun Bhartiya is founding-member of alt-space, an open space for culture and politics in Shillong. Tanvir Mokammel, Dacca is a filmmaker with several award winning documentaries and feature films to his credit. His features include Nadir Nam Modhumat (The River named Modhumati) 1995 which received three national awards and Chitra Nadir Pare (Quiet Flows the river Chitra) 1998 a feature film on the destiny of a Hindu family in East Pakistan after the partition of India in 1947. It received seven national awards including best film, best story, best script writing, best art direction and best director of the year. Lalsalu (A tree without roots) 2001 centers on the life of a Mullah who establishes a false shrine in a remote village in Bangladesh and received eight national awards including the best film, best script writing, best cinematography, best sound and best director of the year. His latest feature Lalon 2004 is based on the life and persona of the mystic song-composer Lalon Fakir.. His documentaries include Hooliya (Wanted), Smriti Ekattor (Remembrance), Achin Pakhi (The unknown bard) and Karnaphulir Kanna, (Teardrops Of Karnaphuli), a documentary on the plight of the indigenous people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, a film that has been banned by the Government of Bangladesh. Tanvir Mokammel is a prolific writer who has taught film and film appreciation at the Viswa Sahitya Kendro and Standford University. He is the Director, Bangladesh Film Institute. Vimukthi Jayasundara, Srilanka: As a 28-year-old Vimukthi became only the second filmmaker from Sri Lanka to compete for an award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2005. Jayasundara's film Sulanga Enu Pinisa (The Forsaken Land) competed in the Un Certain Regard section and received the Caméra d'Or, Cannes's award for first-time filmmakers. Jayasundara worked in the advertising industry and wrote film reviews before studying at the Film and Television Institute of India from 1998 to 2001. Returning to Sri Lanka, he joined the Government Film Unit and made The Land of Silence, a black-and-white documentary about the victims of Sri Lanka's civil war. In 2001, he received a grant to continue his film studies in France at Le Fresnoy. As a student there Jayasundara made Empty for Love (2002), a short film that was selected for Cinéfondation, the student category at Cannes. END OF MAIL -------------------------- Kavita Joshi +91. 11. 26511337 (r-o) | 26518315 (studio) kj.impulse at gmail.com (main) | k.jo at rediffmail.com (bk-up) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060217/94e2720f/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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Details and a synopsis of the film are below : -------------------------------- Continuous Journey A film by Ali Kazimi 87 minutes 2004, Canada Short Synopsis In 1914, the Komagata Maru, a vessel with 376 immigrants from British India, became the first ship carrying migrants to be turned away by Canada. The consequences were felt throughout the British Empire. More than a history film, Continuous Journey, is a provocative, moving and multilayered film essay that interweaves photographs, newsreels, home movies and official documents to unravel a complex and little-known story. Winner, of the First Prize at the Mumbai International Film Festival. 2006 and Second Place- Audience Award and Honourable Mention for Best Director, Hot Docs 2004 Credits Producer, Director & Writer: Ali Kazimi Editors: Graeme Ball & Ali Kazimi Sound: Sunil Khanna & David Adkin Music Director & & Sound Designer: Phil Strong Music: Shahid Ali Khan, Kiran Ahluwalia, Phil Strong, Ravi Naimpally Brent Grossman & Mark Korven Produced in association with TV Ontario with the generous support of The South Asian Heritage Foundation and with financial assistance from: The Canada Council for the Arts The Ontario Arts Council The Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund The Toronto Arts Council Continuous Journey is a complex and moving tale of hope, despair, treachery and tragedy. In 1914, Gurdit Singh, a Sikh entrepreneur based in Singapore, chartered a Japanese ship, the Komagata Maru, to carry 376 Indian immigrants to Canada. On May 23, 1914, the ship arrived in Vancouver Harbour. Many of the men on-board were veterans of the British Indian Army and believed that it was their right as British subjects to settle anywhere in the Empire they had fought to defend and expand. They were wrong... Only a half-mile from shore, the Komagata Maru was surrounded by immigration boats and the passengers were held virtual prisoners on the ship. Thus began a dramatic stand-off which would escalate over the course of two months. The Komagata Maru¹s voyage and its aftermath exposed the Empire¹s myths of equality, fair-play and British justice, and became a turning point in the freedom struggle in India. Continuous Journey challenges us to reflect on contemporary events, and raises critical questions about how the past shapes the present. Using limited visual resources and digital manipulation Ali Kazimi has created a visually rich and powerful film. _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From cahen.x at levels9.com Sat Feb 18 02:39:51 2006 From: cahen.x at levels9.com (xavier cahen) Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 22:09:51 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] pourinfos Newsletter / 02-11 to 02-18-2006 Message-ID: <43F63B9F.1080901@levels9.com> pourinfos.org l'actualité du monde de l'art / daily Art news ----------------------------------------------------------------------- infos from February 11, 2006 to February 18, 2006 (included) ------------------------------------------------------------------- (mostly in french) pourinfos.org's office is moving from its buldings, it 'll be closed from February 20 until March 5, 2006. Thank you for your attention, Yours Xavier ------------------------------------------------------------------- 01 Call : Content 360: the call to projects launched by MIPTV Featuring MILIA in partnership with the BBC, the United Kingdom. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2841 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 02 Residency : residency's program for artists of the CEAAC, International Helsinki Programm Artist-in-residence, Helsinki, Finland. http://pourinfos.org/residences/item.php?id=2840 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 03 Call : International Festival of Documentary of Marseilles - FIDMARSEILLE, Marseille, France. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2838 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 04 Call : L'Oreal Art and Science of Color Prize, Ibaraki, Japan. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2837 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 05 Call : Interregional residences of Frac of the Great East, Est," Critique du raisin pur ", Frac Lorraine, Metz, France. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2836 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 06 Residency : 2 month of residence, House Maison Jean Chevolleau, Fontenay-le-Comte, France. http://pourinfos.org/residences/item.php?id=2835 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 07 Residency : Wanted PD/PDP programmer, The Netherlands Media Art Institute, Amsterdam, Netherlands. http://pourinfos.org/residences/item.php?id=2834 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 08 Job : regisseur/in charge of the collection, Frac Lorraine, Metz, France. http://pourinfos.org/emploi/item.php?id=2833 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 09 Job : Consultant, ENTREPART, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/emploi/item.php?id=2832 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 Meetings : The animal in art, February 23, 2006, department visual arts of the university of Michel de Montaigne, Forum des Arts de Talence, Talens, France. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2831 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 11 Meetings : « "Towards a new model of management of the royalties in the numerical environment? "Thursday February 23, 2006, foundation for the political innovation, Paris France. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2830 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 12 Publication : experimental review oxo, Pascal Le Coq, association synthétique, Pantin, France. http://pourinfos.org/publications/item.php?id=2829 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 13 Publication : signature, On the step, of Caroline Duchatelet, softbodies-extra, of Simone Stoll, 1896-2012, de Francine Zubeil, Thursday March 2, 2006, editions La Fabrique sensible, documentsdartistes.org, Marseille, France.. http://pourinfos.org/publications/item.php?id=2828 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 14 Publication : INVENTARIUM , Michel Paysant, Texts of Bernard Stiegler and Small Michel, Co-edition: Archibooks + Sautereau editor, gallery Frederic giroux, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/publications/item.php?id=2827 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 15 Publication : blanche "Hypercity", Friday February 24, 2006, Espace Cerise, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/publications/item.php?id=2826 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 16 ))))) radiolist.org ((((( Plate-forme sonore des arts visuels ))))) | ))))) visual arts noise platform ((((( 2 http://pourinfos.org/divers/item.php?id=2839 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 17 Vaious : Call for papers newsletter "maps and socialtransformation", Barcelona, Spain. http://pourinfos.org/divers/item.php?id=2825 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 18 Exhibition : CALQUES, Bruno Blanchard, Gallery Gathe, Bergen, Norway. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2823 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 19 Exhibition : Hervé Bréhier, Pierre Labat et Laurent Le Corre, Immanence, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2822 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 20 Exhibition : homage to Pierre Bourdieu, national Library of El-Hamma, Algiers, Algeria. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2821 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 21 Exhibition : Ian Anüll, Marco Poloni, ALLER/RETOUR, Swiss Arts centre, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2820 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 22 Performances : Le Voyage intérieur, Paris-London, Emily Wardill, Olivia Plender, Saturday February 18, Espace EDF Electra, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2819 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 23 Exhibition : “Stations d’écoute”, Mirja Wellmann - Espace International du CEAAC, Strasbourg, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2824 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 24 Exhibition : And is not this this Thursday February 16, Gallery l'ombre de la tour Eiffel, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2817 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 25 Exhibition : Thierry Fontaine, loz, Elli Medeiros, Palais de Tokyo, Place Carlos Gardel à Montevideo, Paris, Monevideo, Fance, Uruguay. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2816 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 26 Call : "Les territoires occupés", Metalovoice, Corbigny, France. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2813 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 27 Call : CALL TO CURATORS, Art Interactive, Cambridge, MA, Usa. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2812 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 28 Call : File 2006, Electronic Language International Festival, Sao Paulo, Brasil. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2811 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 29 Call : medi at terra 06, international art + technology festival, fournos, Athen, Greece. http://pourinfos.org/candidature/item.php?id=2810 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 30 Call : "Tortured in Paradise", San Francisco, Usa. http://pourinfos.org/participation/item.php?id=2809 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 31 Call : Orgasmos, Londres, United Kingdom. http://pourinfos.org/participation/item.php?id=2808 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 32 Meetings : Yona Friedman, Wednesday February 15, 2006, CESTA/EHESS, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2807 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 33 Meetings : A bit of a walk with Kant, Thierry Vigier, Which forces to think, Tuesday February 21 and March 14, Maison populaire, Montreuil, France. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2806 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 34 Meetings : District in crisis: culture fire resistant, "Tuesday of the Culture", Tuesday February 14 University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2805 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 35 Meetings : Léna Goarnisson et Raphaël Maze, February 16, S.E.P.A. - Le Bon Accueil, Rennes, France. http://pourinfos.org/rencontres/item.php?id=2804 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 36 Various : ' A tribute to MOONDOG', Saturday 4 Mars 2006, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/divers/item.php?id=2803 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 37 Various : Quadri{+}Chromies , Bernard Caillaud, March 7, and 8 2006, Divan du Monde, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/divers/item.php?id=2802 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 38 Various : Deserto e Silenzio, LE ARIE DEL TEMPO, Genova, Italy. http://pourinfos.org/divers/item.php?id=2801 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 39 Various : Report: Visual arts and public: reasons of a divorce, the Foundation for the political innovation, Paris, France. http://pourinfos.org/divers/item.php?id=2800 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 40 Various : "from Warsaw with love", Christophe Collette, Josée Pedneault, Poland and Canada. http://pourinfos.org/divers/item.php?id=2799 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 41 Publication : Semaine 05.06, Wild Camping, choreographic and plastic Creation, Arles, France.. http://pourinfos.org/publications/item.php?id=2798 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 42 Publication : Guess who's coming to Dinner..., DROME magazine 6, Roma Italy. http://pourinfos.org/publications/item.php?id=2797 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 43 Workshop : Day of Initiation in Processing, Saturday March 11 2006, Art Sensitif, Mains d'Œuvres, Saint-Ouen, France. http://pourinfos.org/emploi/item.php?id=2796 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 44 Exhibition : "Raout'Art" 2006, Ecole Centrale de Lyon, Lyon, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2795 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 45 Exhibition : Touche ! sensory experiments to live..., le Colysée, Lambersart, France. http://pourinfos.org/expositions/item.php?id=2794 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 46 Apostilles : The Net: towards a semantics and social cartography. | Rémi Sussan | 12/14/2005 | http://pourinfos.org/encours/item.php?id=2427 From zainab at xtdnet.nl Sat Feb 18 11:02:21 2006 From: zainab at xtdnet.nl (zainab at xtdnet.nl) Date: Sat, 18 Feb 2006 09:32:21 +0400 (RET) Subject: [Reader-list] Global and Local Message-ID: <3760.219.65.10.72.1140240741.squirrel@webmail.xtdnet.nl> 17th February 2006 His name is Mustafa. Mine Zainab. (Historically, he is my grandfather of the Islamic legend and I, his granddaughter. In the contemporary moment though, I am his cuustommer and he, the chai maker!) Mustafa is not there in the chai shop these days. During the month of Muharram, Mustafa takes off for ten days. The management and the running of the shop are handed over to other people. I am still not sure if Mustafa is the owner of the chai shop. I don’t know what his relation/standing with the shop is. (And I also wonder whether a space is a space because of the presence of a certain person. Is it the people who define the space or is the space an entity by itself?) The other day, A and I went to Khushaali. Two boys have been running the shop. They inform me that Mustafabhai’s sister has expired and therefore, he has not been coming to the shop. But they also tell me that he is eager to see his photograph which I have framed and brought for him. (In the month of December, a photographer friend made a black-and-white picture of Mustafa which I have printed and framed for him.) The boys know me. I am called ‘madam’. And I am treated as one too. For me and my guests, tea is served in tea-cups accompanied by saucers. For the rest of the crowd, tea is served in glasses. (I don’t know what to make of this discrimination. I have happily accepted it.) The other day, when A and I went to Khushaali, the shop was rather empty. We ordered tea. Cuustommers started pouring in soon after. The new boy who makes chai asked A and me to shift into the corner space, away from the ‘general public’. I wondered whether he was trying to protect us. (Mustafa never did this to me!) The cuustommers who had come in were Irani men, speaking in their language. After a while, they went away. A was fascinated with Khushaali – the ambience, the décor, the furniture, the crockery. He said artists need to come and see this place. I was afraid if preservationist interventions would start to take place if artists visited this place. (I have my own fears, assumptions and presumptions (and resistances too!!!)!) A was awe-struck. He started asking questions. The questions for which I did not have answers, I began to direct to the people in the shop. That day, I discovered the following: The two new boys are Muzaffar and Salim. Both of them are from Uttar Pradesh. They have come to this city two months ago. The name of the man who runs the tourist agency at the back of the kitchen is Ramzaan bhai. Ramzaan bhai is from Jaamnagar, a district/township in Gujarat. Mustafa is from Iran. He was married but a divorce took place. He has a daughter. The wife and the daughter live in Iran. Muzzafar sleeps in Nakhuda Mohalla by the night and works in Khushaali by the day – 10 AM to 10 PM. Muzaffar does not appear to care much for religion. While the fervour of Muharram is still burning in Imambada (and nohas and majlis are being played to remind people of the month of mourning), Muzaffar brings out a mobile phone. A is surprised. He asks me, as if questioning, this man has a cell phone! So what, I reply back, even the maid in my house has a cell phone! A calls out to Muzaffar, boss! When Muzaffar turns around, A discovers that the instrument is not a cell phone, but a radio. Muzaffar is playing music on it. He appears to be the hedonist kind, pleasure seeking – who cares about religion. Let the world cry, I believe in a song for the moment. Muzaffar tells us that by the corner of the streets in Imambada, the radio is available for sixty five rupees. A is totally floored. He wants one too. I am going to stop the description here and move on to raise the questions which have been surfacing in my mind for long now. I look at the composition of the people in Khushaali – Mustafa from Iran, Muzaffar and Salim of the Uttar Pradesh diaspora in Bombay City, Ramzaan bhai from Jaamnagar (and added to that the radio set assembled from different parts of the globe, produced in some part of the globe and sold in the streets of Imambada by a hawker) And here is my set of questions taking from the above: a). What is local? Is there one kind of local? b). What is global? Is there one kind of global? (Is a shopping mall in the city more global than Khushaali?) c). Are the boundaries between local and global gradually blurring? d). Is glocal a hybrid idea? Is there anything like the glocal? e). Why do we end up glorifying the local? f). What is the local? g). What is the global? Zainab Bawa Bombay www.xanga.com/CityBytes http://crimsonfeet.recut.org/rubrique53.html From andrew at adhocarts.org Fri Feb 17 20:12:06 2006 From: andrew at adhocarts.org (Andrew Bucksbarg) Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 09:42:06 -0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Perform.Media Message-ID: CALL FOR WORK AND PARTICIPATION ++Art Work and Creative Practices ++Papers Presentations, Panels, Workshops, Intellectual Environments and Practices Perform.Media – A Transdisciplinary Festival of Creativity, Research, Theory and Technoculture September 29th-October 14th, 2006, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana Website: http://performthemedia.net DEADLINE FOR PAPER PRESENTATIONS Deadline for Abstracts: April 30th, 2006 Acceptance Notification: May 15th, 2006 DEADLINE FOR PANELS, WORKSHOPS, INTELLECTUAL ENVIRONMENTS AND PRACTICES Deadline for Proposals: April 30th, 2006 Acceptance Notification: May 15th, 2006 DEADLINE FOR ART WORK AND CREATIVE PRACTICES Deadline: May 15th, 2006 Acceptance Notification: June 15th, 2006 Perform.Media is an international media arts festival and symposium creating an innovative venue for creative and intellectual work around the momentary process and performance in new media art and culture. We begin with the premise that newer media, along with modes of representation and narrative, embody momentary processes from roots in cybernetics and the biological, to the embodied performance of interface, improvised network exchanges and spontaneous social acts in multi-user synthetic worlds. Such mediated experiences and actions form meaning in sense experience and performance along with interpretive processes like depiction and reception. The dynamic, reciprocal process of the user(s) generating, configuring, interacting, choosing and authoring is an important component of new media and technologies, expressed in both the design of the media and in the momentary, improvised performance of the participant. The festival and symposium seeks the accordance and collision of ideas through the lens of interdisciplinarity, exploring the performance of new media and the performative qualities of human- computer and technologically mediated social interaction. Perform.Media will examine sense experience and meaning at the threshold and in the performing action, along with the reflexive construction of narrative, where creative play, social practices, augmented embodiment and exploratory methods establish processes that spin out, overlapping locales of influence, in networked, “glocal”, mobile, participatory, socially interactive, live processed, locative, responsive and multi-user realms. Perform.Media aims to examine and melt the usual spatial and temporal prescriptions of author and spectator in art, creative work and intellectual practice. Perform.Media traverses transdisciplinary territories in collaborations and social feedbacks of live sound +image, interactive and game media, HCI, improvisations, performance processes, interactive gallery environments, mobile and locative work, live art works, net.art, research practices, theoretical discussion, paper presentations, workshops, intimacy and communication both online and off. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES Submission forms can be downloaded at- http://performthemedia.net/ submissions.html ++Paper Presentations, Panels, Workshops, Intellectual Environments and Practices The Perform.Media symposium welcomes submissions of papers, panel discussions, workshops and intellectual environments around the theme of the festival- performance process in new media, theory, research and technological practice. The Perform.Media symposium seeks to promote discussion and collaboration. The environment of the symposium will be conversation based. Proposals for panels, workshops and presentations that energize into new areas of intellectual exchange will be welcomed. All presentations will be moderated and encourage participation, questioning and debate. An online forum, discussion and net.art exhibition will precede the festival. Paper abstracts will be published on the Perforrm.Media website. ++Art Work and Creative Practices Work criteria- Perform.Media seeks new media work and proposals for black box, white cube or network that engage in the practice of performing media or media performance. We are looking for work that asks the questions- How does the “doing,” the performing inform us in this new media? How does this media perform, what does it do and how does it engage us? Types of work- Ambient/Ubiquitous Technologies and Creative Practices, Avatars, Dance/Embodied work, Environments and Space Based work, Games, HCI, Interactive/Participatory Installation, Interface Art, Live Art, Locative Media, Mapping, Mobile Screens, Mobile/Wireless Devices, Net.Art, New Media Performances, Simulations and Synthetic Worlds, Theatrical Pieces, Video Processing and VJ/DJ styles… Submission forms can be downloaded at- http://performthemedia.net/ submissions.html For questions contact- abucksba at indiana.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060217/e630f5d2/attachment.html From dripta82 at yahoo.com Fri Feb 17 23:37:20 2006 From: dripta82 at yahoo.com (Dripta Piplai) Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 18:07:20 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Reader-list] Dripta Piplai, 2nd posting Message-ID: <20060217180720.32059.qmail@web37002.mail.mud.yahoo.com> A major part of my work is the preparation of the archive for the preservation of the multiple traditions in Rabindrasangit in Calcutta Music Schools.The investigation of the different variations of Tagore songs revealed some interesting findings. Variations of Rabindrasangit can be traced from different sources. For example- before Viswa Bharati, Santiniketan had published the notations of Rabindrasangit in Swarabitan, the notations were published in some magazines(e.g., Shatagan, Swaralipi-Gitimala, Bramhasangit Swaralipi etc.).But the published notations in Swarabitan are somehow different in many cases-and the fact is a debated fact, too. Sromona Roychowdhury, in her upcoming research work from Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata has mentioned about some problems regarding the notation-changes. It has also been claimed in many cases that notations were changed deliberately by some persons and authorities in many cases. Different varieties of Rabindrasangit can also be found in records by some eminent artists which are very much different from the documented notations. And though the music schools follow the documented notations only, some institutes follow the recorded versions, which is, no doubt, an interesting fact. As Rajashree Bhattacharya, an eminent Rabindrasangit artist as well as teacher has pointed out, some institutes prefer to follow the recorded versions of some songs by Kanika Bandyapadhyay, instead of the notation-version. There are debates regarding some Muktachanda Rabindrasangit, too. And the centre of the debate is the 'authentic tune of Santiniketan'. It is interesting that a number of people are trying to establish their Gayan-style as the 'authentic Santiniketan style'. All these debates centering the issue of 'authentic variation' of Rabindrasangit reveals the chaos in the Rabindrasangit Schools of Calcutta-circle. And the chaos, on the other hand, is not allowing further documentation of the non-documented songs as well as the 'non-authentic' varieties of Rabindrasangit. Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060217/42b1fb4b/attachment.html From zainab at xtdnet.nl Sat Feb 18 20:57:25 2006 From: zainab at xtdnet.nl (zainab at xtdnet.nl) Date: Sat, 18 Feb 2006 19:27:25 +0400 (RET) Subject: [Reader-list] The Outsider, the markings, and the city Message-ID: <4206.219.65.11.46.1140276445.squirrel@webmail.xtdnet.nl> 18th February 2006 His name is Mustafa, the local hero. Khushaali is the chai shop, Mustafa’s citadel. This evening, one of the cuustommers in Khushaali began to inquire about Mustafa. Where is Mustafa? Please take me to his home. I want to see him. I realize that the addiction that his cuustommers have is not just to his tea, but they are addicted to him – dastaan-e deedaar-e Mustafa. Muzaffar asks Salim to take the cuustommer to Mustafa’s house – show him the house from the outside, don’t let him inside Mustafa’s house. Make sure you are around. The cuustommer was obviously slightly deranged and therefore Muzaffar was maintaining caution. I entered the shop this evening. I sat amidst the men. Muzaffar, as the other day, asked me to come over to the corner and sit there. I realize that Muzaffar has created a ‘place’ for me in the space of Khushaali. And I am still curious as to why Muzaffar has fixed that place for me. From that place, I am clearly an observer, an outsider, removed from the regular cuustommers. Muzaffar, knowingly or unknowingly, has put me in a place from where I can watch the proceedings of the shop, almost like a journalist/hawk who keeps an eye, watches Muzaffar makes some inquiries. He asks me about A – where is the bhai who came with you the other day? He is busy. Has some work. Okay. Bhai was fascinated by the radio you had. Muzaffar blushes. Muzaffar has a 10 AM to 10 PM job. I ask him if he shuts the shop in the afternoon for lunch. No, I don’t. The boy (Salim) is there. He looks after the shop in my absence. But when Mustafa was around, he would shut the shop in the afternoons for lunch, I inquired curiously. Mustafa is a private man, Muzaffar says and laughs. I assume that by ‘private man’, Muzaffar means that Mustafa being the owner of the shop can do as he pleases. (I am intrigued by the usage of the terms public and private in everyday parlance. In each space, in each location in the city, the terms public and private take on different meanings, different connotations.) Muzaffar has been in Bombay for two months. He lives in Nakhuda mohalla with his gaonwalas (co-villagers). I ask him if he has others from his home with him. He says no. I ask him then whether he feels alone. He has a wry smile. He does not respond. This evening, I am simply sitting in Khushaali, with no agenda. Here and there, cuustommers come and go. Mustafa’s fan (who wanted to visit his house) is lounging around. There is no one to throw him away. He speaks with others and states that Mustafa has rented out the backyard, beyond the kitchen, to Ramzaan bhai for his travel agency. I wondered why Ramzaan bhai would want to set up a travel agency inside a chai shop and it occurred to me that perhaps, the advantage in this case, is the steady flow of cuustommers and also the organization of community in this neighbourhood – factors of word-of-mouth, goodwill, operation of the eye, information circulation. Ramzaan bhai’s travel agency represents the modern aspect of Khushaali. Clearly, the space is different. A kind of ‘modern’ interior arrangement has been built inside the stone wall and wooden environment of Khushaali. And a wooden door separates the travel agency – it acts as a door, a curtain, a source of closure for dealings which need not be ‘public’ to the public which visits Khushaali. (I am certainly fascinated with the way in which the notion of the ‘public’ operates everyday, in the city ) Muzaffar and I make light conversation. I don’t have questions for him. He has a few for me, mundane. Where do you live? Byculla. Byculla?!? Yes. Are you Shia? Yes. Hum to Sunni hai bhai (I am a Sunni), he says with a tone that clearly indicates his position – Muzaffar clearly sees himself as an outsider in this largely Shia neighbourhood. From where I hail, Bareichi (in Uttar Pradesh), there are Shias living on the outskirts of our village. Otherwise the population is largely Sunni. Yeah, I guess Bombay is one city where the concentration of Shias is a lot, I said casually. I ponder over Muzaffar’s statement hum to Sunni hai bhai. It is a pertinent remark. It indicates how Muzaffar has defined himself as an outsider. This evening, as I was walking around Imambada, I had also defined myself as an outsider – a girl who comes to the neighbourhood wearing trousers and body hugging T-Shirts, clearly distinct from the rest of the crowd, clearly marked, clearly an outsider. And then the question arises in my mind about notions of community – Muslims are definitely not a homogenous community in the Imambada neighbourhood. There are clear demarcations, clear distinctions, clear boundaries, clear markings. And then we talk of communities in the city? Wow! I continue to sit. Three more cuustommers come in. They are men. I start to feel uncomfortable. I decide to continue sitting. People passing by the street peer into the shop sometimes, perhaps because they are intrigued by the presence of a ‘modern’ female in a predominantly male setting. (Maybe I am reading too much ) Muzaffar and Salim get to task. Unlike Mustafa who does not care much about his cuustommers, Salim and Muzaffar wipe the table, offer a newspaper to one of the cuustommers, serve water to some of them. Muzaffar and Salim clearly operate by practices of a regular hotel. Mustafa on the other hand does not care two hoots – his cuustommers are expected to create their own space in the shop. He simply makes tea and serves it. (I wonder about Muzaffar’s notions of work ... and also regularity ) Muzaffar tells me later that these days business is down. Yes, there was boom business during Muharram, but these days, there is less public. (Again I notice his usage of the term ‘public’ ) Two cuustommers come in. One of them switches off the fan in the shop. Nothing novel because the space of Khushaali is the space of the cuustommers. They start conversing in Marathi and discuss about visas and work permits to some place which I assume is in the Middle East. This neighbourhood thrives on the Middle East – for talk, for politics, for work, for sense of identity, Islam, community and a host of other things. Finally, I decide I want to make a move. I notice that one of Muazffar’s and Salim’s acquaintances has come into the shop. By my marking, this man is a loiterer, the faltoo. But perhaps in the space of Khushaali, the faltoo is as integral as the regular cuustommers – after all, some cuustommers are sophisticated faltoos (my notion of faltoo emerges from the context of ‘work’, that is, a faltoo is one who does not work, one how loiters and is a potential miscreant.). Zainab Bawa Bombay www.xanga.com/CityBytes http://crimsonfeet.recut.org/rubrique53.html From rakshat at gmail.com Sun Feb 19 12:48:08 2006 From: rakshat at gmail.com (Rakshat Hooja) Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2006 12:48:08 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] I-fellow Post 2 Message-ID: <43F81BB0.2060406@gmail.com> My apologies for the delay in making the monthly post. In fact this is just a small update post to outline the progress made on my study of Resident Welfare Associations and urban stakeholder activism. I have finally set up a blog dedicated only to this study at http://residentwelfare.blogspot.com Right now it contains the background to the study, hypothesis and some of my primary (first hand) impressions but I will be adding more material to it very soon. So please do take a look and suggestions are most welcome. I will also be putting up the draft of the survey I wish to carry out in the selected RWAs on the blog by the end of this month and would be grateful for advise/refinements to it. As far as data collection goes I have started collecting qualitative data via informal interviews and this has made me realise that I was ignoring the influence of personal or private benefit (actual and perceived) as a factor for the participation in RWA activities. Very preliminary/initial understanding seems to be that atleast in some cases it is just not to better the quality of life in a colony or locality that drives people to participate in the RWA activities but also the direct individual benefits that they get. For example in one RWA (Not giving the name till I can verify the facts in more detail, but it is in Vasant Kunj) municipal water supply was also opened in the afternoon but only the members of the RWA executive body seemed to know about this and the other people in the colony were ignorant of this fact. It was also not like the RWA executive was hiding this fact, but nor had they made any effort to advertise it to all the members of the RWA. Similarly many of the residents felt that the level of security and cleaning service available to them personally was better if the service providers knew that they were active members of the RWA. It is to verify observations like the ones above that I am planning the survey to collect quantitative data. On another note does anyone know any library (other than the national archives) in Delhi where hindi newspapers for the last three years are kept? They are not kept in the DU library and I wanted to go through and collect articles on RWAs. till next time Rakshat From debjanisgupta at yahoo.com Sun Feb 19 12:51:21 2006 From: debjanisgupta at yahoo.com (debjani sengupta) Date: Sat, 18 Feb 2006 23:21:21 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] deuxieme posting Message-ID: <20060219072121.81144.qmail@web54215.mail.yahoo.com> Have been reading some of the postings of Sarai fellows and enjoying them. I was a little worried about what to write in my second posting but then I thought I should write about all that I have been doing in the past month connected with my project. On 14th February, Valentine's Day, I attended a seminar here in Delhi, a national consultation towards building an archive on the Partition of India. Organised by the Centre of Refugee Studies, Jadavpur University and Maulana Abul Klam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Kolkata, the consultation brought together scholars, academics, publishers, researchers to discuss the modalities of going about this mammoth project. This archive will be different from the National and other Sate archives already extant. This will be a civil society archive focused on the ordinary people's experience of the Partition. What was even more interesting was to hear that this archive will focus on diaries, reminiscences, photographs and documentary films. They will also look at fictional literature, 'history's creative counterpart' to get an insight into the trauma of displaced people. The seminar was a confirmation in a way of what I have planned on doing in my project and a validation of my sense of urgency to bring together evidences from unusual sources about a particular historical event. It was good to see national level institutions now coming together to put together an archive about the Partition. I have thought about and believed all along that such an effort was not only possible but urgently necessary. It is not a coincidence that Jadavpur University is taking a lead in this project. The vast hinterland of Jadavpur is the home of hundreds of colonies in Bijoygarh, Bagha Jatin, Rani kuthi, Netaji Nagar. Many of the inhabitants of these colonies are now in their eighties and nineties. There is very little time left before their memories and experiences are recorded and preserved or they may be lost fore ever. On this issue of the Biblio, a journal that reviews new books, I have written about Gargi Chakravartty's 'Coming Out Of Partition: Refugee Women Of Bengal.' Gargi is the daughter of Savitri Roy, one of Bangla's truly political novelists whose 'Swaralipi' and 'Bwadwip' are novels based on the experiences of migration and displacement resulting from the Partition. Roy used to live in Vivek Nagar, a colony in Kasba where she came in close contact with refugees. Working among the women there have influenced her life and work. Gargi's book is another exploration of the same theme. The disintegration of the joint families forced the refugee women to come out of the andarmahal and join forces with other women in the street, Their activism gave the Women's movement in Bengal a peculiar sharpness and focus. The trajectories of the lives of the refugee women is of course another history, another story. In another land. Besides, the wenches are dead! __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com From naresh.rhythm at gmail.com Sun Feb 19 21:14:25 2006 From: naresh.rhythm at gmail.com (Naresh Kumar) Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2006 21:14:25 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Harballabh Sangeet Mela of Jalandhar - 'post 2' Message-ID: <9e53509a0602190744u1734f968sd8253663df7151c3@mail.gmail.com> Hi all, A topic like music festival can be studied both synchronically and diachronically but it is essential to have the knowledge of basic primary facts about the subject taken for scrutiny. So this posting will concentrate upon the factual information regarding its founder, torchbearers, its organizers, patrons etc. In addition to it we will also discuss what changes came in it with the time and what has emerged as a tradition. The first question arises who this Baba Harballabh was. Baba Harballabh, the founder of this glorious tradition of Sangeet Sammelan was born in the later part of 18th Century in village Bajwara, in District Hoshiarpur (Punjab). Bajwara is a small historical village, named after Baiju Bawra1, the great singer of India in Akbar's time. His maternal grandfather, Pandit Jwand Lal Jyoti brought him to Jalandhar because Harballabh lost his parents in his early childhood. Here he came under influence of Baba Tuljagiri, a great saint, a sanskrit scholar, a great exponent of Dhrupad style of classical music and the 'mahant' of Baba Hemgiri's 'Gaddi'2 who used to live in a temple at Devi Talab. Swami Tuljagiri initiated his disciple Harballabh into the learning of the Holy Scriptures, Sanskrit and Music. He took formal lessons of music from Pandit DuniChand. Recognising the extra ordinary qualities in his disciple, Baba Tuljagiri named Baba Harballabh as his successor to the 'Gaddi'.2 In the year 1875, on the first death anniversary of his great Guru Baba Tuljagiri, Baba Harballabh thought the best way to pay his homage would be through music. Baba Harballabh decided to hold a memorial ceremony where Sadhus and Saints were invited to sing devotional compositions at the Samadhi of his guru. The ceremony started with Hawan3 Yagya at the Samadhi followed by Langar for Sadhus, Saints, faqirs, and devotees, poor & needy. Sadhus and Saints sang Bhajans in the traditional Dhrupad style through out day and night sitting around bonfire in the biting cold weather of December. The congregation lasted for two days. Such like congregations became a regular yearly feature year after year. Sadhus came in large numbers to pay their homage to Baba Tuljagiri. Although the fame of this Sangeet Mela had spread far and wide yet only Sadhus and Saints were invited to sing at these congregations. Baba Harballabh attained his Samadhi in 1885. After Baba Harballabh attained his Samadhi in 1885, Pandit Tolo Ram, a devoted disciple of Baba Harballabh succeeded to the sacred "Gaddi". Pandit Tolo Ram belonged to a well-to-do family of Jalandhar. He was a simple and austere Brahmin who led a life of purity and devotion. He built a "Samadhi" of Baba Harballabh to perpetuate his memory. Pandit Tolo Ram kept the tradition alive by holding Sangeet Sammelan every year in the memory of his Guru's Guru but now the annual gathering came to be named after Harballabh himself rather than his Guru. He made some innovations also. Along with Sadhus and Saints, he started inviting the singers from the region. In addition to Punjab the singers from the other parts of northern India were called to sing in the gathering. So it was during Pt. ToloRam's time when the popularity of this annual celebration increased and Jalandhar came to be known as a great seat of Indian classical music. Pandit Vishnu Digambar Puluskar visited Harballabh in 1908. Pandit Vishnu Digamber's visit added new dimensions to the Sangeet Sammelan. Its popularity touched all corners of the country. So much so, that the musicians would consider it their proud privilege to participate in this Sammelen. It was a great honour and a testimony of merit for a musician to present his art from the stage of the Harballabh Sangeet Sammelan. Even the great musician Pandit Omkar Nath Thakur who scaled new heights of glory in the field of Indian classical music had to produce the Harballabh's Testimonials of merit before being allowed to, give his performance before the Maharaja of Kapurthala. After Pandit Vishnu Digamber's visit, Pandit Tolo Ram gave serious thought to inviting musicians from all over the country and for this purpose he undertook a journey throughout India and invited renowned singers. Participation of stalwarts like Sarvshri Bhaskar Rao, Ram Krishan Shankar, Pandit Bala Guru, Pandit Omkar Nath Thakur, Shri Mohammed Khan Sarangia, Bade Gulam Ali Khan, Imdad Khan, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Vilayat Hussain Khan added new grandeur to the Sammelan. Until 1922 the entire organisation of the Sammelen was concentrated in the hands of Pandit ToloRam. However Pandit Ram Rakha Ram, Pandit Dogar Mal and Shri Arjan Dass who were his close associates helped Pandit Tolo Ram in making the arrangements since with the ever increasing popularity of the Sammelan, it was becoming more & more difficult for Pandit Tolo Ram to make the arrangements single-handedly. Thus, the necessity of a regular committee to look after the arrangements was felt. There was no dearth of enthusiasts who came forward willingly & voluntarily to co-operate with Pandit Tolo Ram. Pandit Jagan Nath Parti, a teacher by profession, an ardent lover of music and a devotee of Pandit Tolo Ram was appointed the first secretary of Baba Harballabh Sangeet Mahasabha. Rai Bahadur Devi Chand became the first President of the Mahasabha. Shri J.N. Parti remained secretary from 1922 to 1964. The fact that he remained secretary of the Mahasabha for a long period of 42 years, speaks volumes about his dedicated and sincere services to the cause of the Sangeet Sammelan. Pandit Tolo Ram remained the main spirit behind the Sangeet Sammelan, which was the great mission of his life. It was the vision and foresightedness of Pandit Tolo Ram that carried the Harballabh Sangeet Sammelan to the zenith of glory. The Sangeet Sammelan grew absolutely into a secular, non-sectarian institution and singers irrespective of caste, colour, creed and nationality have been participating in it year after year. Pandit Tolo Ram turned this tradition into a unique institution during his lifetime. After Pandit Tolo Ram breathed his last in 1938, Pandit Dwarka Dass, a great devotee and disciple of Pandit Tolo Ram succeeded to the sacred "Gaddi". Although Pandit Dwarka Dass carried on the tradition till he breathed his last in 1952, yet after about six years after the death of Pandit Tolo Ram he nominated Seth Hukam Chand and Sh. Ashwini Kumar4 as Trustees of Baba Harballabh Sangeet Mahasabha Trust to look after properties of the trust situated in Devi Talab. After the sad demise of Seth Hukam Chand in 1954, Sh. Ashwini Kumar I.P., Former Director General, B.S.F. is the sole Trustee of this Trust. Ashwini Kumar, a great lover of Indian classical music, nurtured the Mahasabha and raised its stature to being recognised as one of the best Sangeet Sammelans in the world. Modern outlook, while keeping the old traditions intact, is what brought forth the transformations in the Sangeet Sammelan. One such transformation was to invite great female artists to the sammelan; as all along women were neither allowed to perform on the Harballabh stage nor were they allowed sitting amongst the audience. Meticulous management of the event, best artists, well organised functions, unprecedented number of music lovers from all over India attending the Sangeet sammelan, live coverage by All India Radio, wide coverage by the print and electronic media were some of the highlights of sangeet sammelan during the time Ashwini Kumar was actively involved in the organisation of the sammelan. Here it is also worth mentioning that the present day magnificence of Devi Talab Mandir took shape in his Mahantship only because he mobilized the industrialists and the common people of the city to get the renovation done. Ashwini Kumar continues to provide patronage, inspiration and guidance, to the current team as the Chairman, Trustee and as an ardent devotee of this sacred seat of music. As it has been already written above that the Harballabh Sangeet Mahasabha was formally founded in 1922. Rai Bahadur Pandit Devi Chand was appointed as the founder President, Shri Mushtaq Rai Sood the Vice President, Shri Jagan Nath Parti the Secretary and Shri Sant Ram Ahluwalia was appointed as the Treasurer. Mrs. Geetika Kalha was the first woman to preside over the Mahasabha. Padam Shri Vijay Kumar Chopra is currently serving the Mahasabha as its President. Mrs. Purnima Beri is presently the General Secretary, Jyoti Mittu, the joint secretary and Rakesh Dada is serving as the treasurer of the Mahasabha.5 Every year the Sangeet Sammelan starts with Hawan Yagya being performed in front of Baba Harivallabh's Samadhi and distribution of "Prasad" thereafter. No entry fee is charged. The musical renderings always commence with shahnai recital. Dhrupad singing is an integral and inseparable part of this Sangeet Sammelan. Every year at least one, artist is invited to sing in the traditional Dhrupad style. The artists come from far and wide to pay their homage to the great master and to seek his blessings. The Sammelan takes place in an open pandal.6 The Sangeet Sammelan still upholds the great Baithak Style, where the audience sits on the ground and the artist is given an elevated seat true to Guru-Shishya parampara. Only vocal artists attended the Sammelan up to the year 1929. Vichitter Veena was introduced in the Harballabh stage by Mian Abdul Aziz of Patiala Gharana, Sitar by Ravi Shankar, sarod by Amzad Ali Khan and flute by Shri Panna Lal Ghosh. Raga Bahar and Basant have been very popular amongst Harballabh-listeners. There used to be the time when every singer used to sing at least one composition in Raga Bahar or Basant. Even today either of the above mentioned raga is sung as the last composition and people sitting on the front shower flowers on the artist. In chilly winters of December ending the sammelan with the ragas of spring have certain denotations.7 Ever since Pandit Vishnu Digamber Puluskar started a tradition to conclude the Sangeet Sammelan with National Song -Vande Mataram, the Sangeet Sammelan culminates with the group singing of Vande- Mataram by the audience and all the artists present. The dates8 for the next festival are announced before the audience leaves the Pandal. Notes:- The fact the village has been named after Baiju Bawra is bit doubtful because I have not come across any reference, which suggests that Baiju belonged to Punjab. Moreover, there is more than one Bajwara in my knowledge. Sec.22 [d] of Chandigarh is also known by the same name. The sacred seat, which is transferred by the guru to his disciple. It is believed that with 'Gaddi' given all the powers will automatically come to the successor. It is the Hawan which is regular till date. That's why the organizers claim that the festival has been going on without any gap since last 130 years whereas there was no musical performance in 1984 due to terrorism in Punjab. Up to 1988 the sammelan shrank into a small gathering of local artists with very few listeners. At present he is staying in Delhi. Due to bad health he did not come to the festival. I will try to visit him at his residence. In my final paper I will write on Mahasabha at length. In one of my further postings I will send the interviews of Mrs. Beri and Mr. Dada that I took. Pandal means tented space. Last year the owner of Punjab Kesari has donated Rs. 1000000 for building the hall. Concluding the sammelan with Raga Bahar has fascinated me a lot. I will entitle my audio-documentary, "The Spring Is Not Far Behind". Earlier on Dec.26-29th used to be the fixed dates but these days the last Friday, Saturday and Sunday are fixed as dates of the festival. This year the sammelan will be held on 22-24th December because the last Sunday will be the New Year eve. thanks Naresh From rakesh at sarai.net Mon Feb 20 10:59:18 2006 From: rakesh at sarai.net (Rakesh) Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 10:59:18 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] fm station @ rs. 50 Message-ID: <43F953AE.90604@sarai.net> Dear All Below is an interesting news, raises some questions of creativity and licensing. r* Man sets up FM station for Rs 50 at Muzaffarpur* Posted on Feb 19, 2006 by Sudhir Have you ever heard of a FM station launched with just Rs 50? Well, there's one running at Muzaffarpur in Bihar. Though the owner, Raghav Mahto, earns little money from it, his station is growing in popularity. It started with the repair of radio sets, from where Raghav picked up the tricks and since then, Raghav FM Mansoorpur 1, as his FM station is called is a household name. Raghav has no license to run a FM station and thus, technically this station is illegal, but who cares? As long as his audience loves him and he is able to feed his family of five with the Rs 2000 that he earns from the station every month, Raghav is a happy man. "CD nikala to dekhe ki agal bagal main catch kaar raha hai. Cordless mike dekhe, issi ko soch kaar apna banaye. Isme 50 rupiya laga hai. 3-4 part laga hai, Rs 50 rupaiya kharcha hai. (When we took out the CD, we realised that the radios in the neighbouring areas were also catching the frequency. Then we saw cordless mike and replicated it. The cost came to Rs 50 and required about three-four parts)", explains Raghav. Raghav at his Radio Station Within a 15 kilometer radius, nothing but FM Raghav tops the popularity chart. And the cost of setting up this station is unbelievable. Rs 50 is all he has spent to start his own FM station and it runs flawlessly. "Welcome to Radio Raghav FM Mansoorpur 1, one stop entertainment solution for all. Tune in not only for your favourite filmi numbers, but also for information, which we think is crucial for you. Over to the anchor," says a voice on the radio. The buck then passes on to the anchor of the Raghav radio FM station, Sambhu. "Namaskaar, main apka dost Sambhu. Aap sun rahe hain, FM Mansoorpur 1. Aap logo ko suchana dena chahate hai, aids chune se nahi failta, saiyam aur surakcha, aids se rakcha," ( Namaskar, this is your friend Sambhu. You are listening to FM Mansoorpur 1. We want to inform you that AIDS does not spread through your touch. Control and and safety, protects you from AIDS) he says. An ardent fan of the FM station, Ashok is all praises for the radio station: "Ye manoranjan karta hai bada sundar, jaab jo gana chahiye kaah dijiye baja deta hai. (This is a very good means of entertainment. Which ever song you want, you tell them and they play it for you.) For Raghav, this station earns little money, but he gets the love of his satisfied audience and he truly enjoys being their voice for free. http://www.bhojpuria.com/samachar/news.php?a=329 -- Rakesh Kumar Singh Sarai-CSDS 29, Rajpur Road Delhi-110054 Ph: 91 11 23960040 Fax: 91 11 2394 3450 web site: www.sarai.net web blog: http://blog.sarai.net/users/rakesh/ From aarti at sarai.net Mon Feb 20 13:26:00 2006 From: aarti at sarai.net (Aarti) Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 13:26:00 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Film Screening - Delhi -Mumbai - Delhi Message-ID: <43F97610.8070503@sarai.net> *Dear Friends, ***You are cordially invited to the first screening of the documentary Delhi -Mumbai - Delhi at the Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre , Lodhi Road, New Delhi. Date - Sunday, 26 February 2006 Time - 7.00pm Delhi –Mumbai –Delhi - synopses - Riya dances in the beer bars of Mumbai to make a living. The documentary follows her from her home in Delhi to Mumbai where hundreds of working class girls come in search of work and a future. Riya's future is unpredictable and the present is marked with its own difficulties. The police harass her family in Delhi, there is constant pressure from her agent in Mumbai to attract more tips and the work itself is demanding. However, there are other girls to have fun with, there is money to dress well and then there are men… admirers promising the moon. The documentary is an intimate portrait of the everyday in the life of the girls, their agents and their neighbourhoods. Delhi-Mumbai-Delhi, shot in the backdrop of the Maharashtra Governments' controversial move to ban girls from dancing in beer bars, interweaves stories of gender, labour, sexuality and popular culture within an increasingly globalized economy. *Duration: 63 Minutes* *Director: Saba Dewan* *Camera: Rahul Roy * *Editor: Anupama Chandra* ** *Sound: Asheesh Pandya & Sunder* *Sound mix: Gissy Micheal* *Contact: Aakar, A-19, Gulmohar Park, New Delhi 110049* *Tel: 91-11-26515161/Fax: 26522230/ Email: khel at vsnl.com * * sabadewan at gmail.com * ** -- From aarti at sarai.net Mon Feb 20 13:50:13 2006 From: aarti at sarai.net (Aarti) Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 13:50:13 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] 8th FICA Environmental Film Festival: Call for Submissions Message-ID: <43F97BBD.5080703@sarai.net> Dear all, We are starting the *8^th edition of FICA – The International Festival of Environmental Film and Video*, which will happen from *6^th to 11^th of June* in Cidade de Goias, a Unesco cultural heritage site. The objective of the 8^th FICA is to promote and award prizes to 35mm or 16mm films, and Betacam videos or TV series, focusing on environmental issues, produced from January 1*^st * of 2005 in any part of the world. The 8^th FICA will award the following official prizes: 1. Grand Prize *CORA CORALINA* for the best work in the competitive showing, consisting of a trophy and *R$50,000 (aproximately 17,250 euros); * 2. *CARMO BERNARDES* Trophy and *R$35,000 (aproximately 12,070 euros)* for *the best feature (film or video); * 3. *JESCO VON PUTKAMER* Trophy and *R$25,000 (aproximately 8,625 euros)* for *the best medium-length film/video; * 4. *ACARI PASSOS* Trophy and *R$25,000 (aproximately 8,625 euros)* for *the best short film/video; * 5. *JOSE PETRILLO* Trophy and *R$40,000 (aproximately 13,800 euros) for the best film or video produced in the State of Goiás. * 5. *JOAO BENNIO* Trophy and *R$40,000 (aproximately 13,800 euros) for the best film or video produced in the State of Goiás. * 6. *BERNARDO ELIS *Trophy and *R$25,000 (aproximately 8,625 euros)* *for the best TV series.* Entries to our festival can be made from 15^th January to 15^th March 2006 by filling in the appropriate form at the Festival's site: www.fica.art.br in Portuguese, English, Spanish or French. We can also be reached by phone +55 (62) 3225-3436, +55 (62) 3223-1313, Fax +55 (62) 3224-2642, or email prodinternacional at fica.art.br . Kindest regards, Wilmar Ferraz 8^th FICA Executive Coordinator Andrea Belo and Liberato Santos 8^th FICA International Producers ____________________________ Film South Asia Himal Association PO Box 166 Patan Dhoka Lalitpur Nepal Tel: 977-1-5542544 From uddipana at gmail.com Sat Feb 18 17:47:25 2006 From: uddipana at gmail.com (Uddipana Goswami) Date: Sat, 18 Feb 2006 17:47:25 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] second posting. translating guwahati Message-ID: Translating Guwahati Here's a short story I translated that very effectively captures the moment of transition of the Guwahati that I loved to the Guwahati that I abhor. Reflections on this transition to follow soon. http://my-guwahati.blogspot.com/2006/02/smog-short-story-by-silabhadra.html Uddipana Goswami -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060218/6f229761/attachment.html From aman.am at gmail.com Sun Feb 19 18:26:52 2006 From: aman.am at gmail.com (Aman Sethi) Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2006 18:26:52 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Something Happened. Post 2.2 by Aman Sethi Message-ID: <995a19920602190456p6e88f70dg65b6d930bfdb30f9@mail.gmail.com> It is now, with great pleasure, that I narrate "Ashraf ki kahani". Mohammed Ashraf is a painter at Bara Tuti Chowk; his Kahani is loosely based on one long interview that I conducted not too long ago, and a few informal conversations that preceded it. I would be only to glad to share copies of the recording, should anyone be interested. My honest apologies to non-hindi readers. i have translated some of the hindi bits - but my blog http://abjective.blogspot.com shall soon have an updated translated version. Run, Run, Run, Run. Feet pounding on pavement, chappals fighting for grip, slick concrete roads, Bombay. Watch the aunty, dodge the pushcart, cut through the crowd. The events of yesterday crowded into Ashraf's mind, but he pushed them away. Kuch ho gaya tha (something had happened), these were just the kind of mistakes that could prove fatal. Run, Run, Run, Run. By the time he reached the entrance to the market, Ashraf knew it was too late, he was finished here. Eyebrows raised in mock surprise greeted him, "Aur Ashraf Bhai, Sunday ko kahan the?" (So, ashraf, where were you this Sunday?) But then the eyes narrowed, the brows came close. A conspiratorial whisper, "Maalik bahut gussa hai, tum yahain se chale jao." (The boss is very angry, you should leave as soon as you can) Ashraf stopped. Given the certainty of his sacking, was it worth getting a shouting, or worse, in the bargain? One cannot be the head butcher of the X chicken shop, and miss Sundays. It was simply not done. The X chicken shop was perhaps the most famous chicken shop in the locality – as was its owner. Maalik, as everyone called him, was the local market strongman. He had grabbed most of the land, both inside and outside the market, and collected hafta from most of petty shopkeepers and hawkers. His chicken was the best in town, "Hur Sunday dukaan ke baahar line lagti thi", (people used to line up outside his shop on Sundays) and chicken worth several thousands of rupees was sold. Mohammed Ashraf was the murga karigar at the X chicken shop. Having long surpassed the rank of the common butcher, he was now accorded the respect of the karigar – the master craftsman. To call the karigar a mere expert was to do so at your own peril; capable of slicing chicken with the speed of a samurai and the precision of a swiss watch, a karigar was essential for any successful murga business. Each karigar had his own secret technique, and apprentices were advised to watch his hands very carefully. Legendary for his ability to carve out the juiciest pieces, and yet keep out the chaatan for himself, Ashraf was earning between Rs 1800 and Rs 2000 per month as salary, while the chaatan got him between Rs 50 and 100 a day. The chaatan referred to the chicken scraps that nobody wanted – organs, random bits of skin, fat and flesh. But then this was Bombay – there was nothing that nobody wanted. Less than a quarter the price of the regular meat, Chaatan often sold under the counter faster than succulent chicken above it – snapped up by labourers, carpenters, plumbers, palledars and others like Ashraf himself. Sundays were the busiest days. Throngs would line the street outside the shop, selecting live chickens and pointing them out to the helpers. The helper would pull out the bird, weigh it, tag it with a plastic token and pass it on to the apprentice, who would then chop off the bird's head and stuff the still-flapping carcass into the large dibba. One by one, butchers would pull out birds, call out token numbers, and chop them as per customer specifications – curry, fry, tandoori – you name it. That fateful Sunday, Ashraf did not make it. "Something happened", he explained defensively to the gathering crowd. Without its chief karigar, the X chicken shop fell hopelessly behind demand. The boys pulled hard, but it was no use; that day the queue extended all the way till the church. The Maalik lost between five and eight thousand rupees, Ashraf lost his job. But there was still enough to do in Bombay. Thanks to his experience as a thekedar (contractor) in Calcutta, Ashraf found himself an entry level job mixing concrete. The money was good, but something was lacking. Once you were a karigar – in any field, you could not reconcile yourself a life of unremarkable, ordinary, dehadi. It just wasn't done. So a year and a half after arriving at Mumbai central station from Patna, Ashraf got onto a train and left. Surat and Baroda passed in a blur – a few odd jobs – and, suddenly, at 9:30 one night he was in Delhi. "Humne socha ki jab humne saara sansar chold diya, business chold diya, parivaar chold diya, toh Delhi aur Bombay mein kya phark padega? Ghoom ghoom ke kamainge, khaienge" Patna, his home town, had never been an option. Three years ago he had fought his brother for the last time – and this time he was never going home. Though younger than Ashraf, his brother never gave him any izzat; and finally, when the chips are down, it's all about izzat. Izzat – there was no escaping it. There were no C.V.s for murga karigars, or painters, or carpenters, or plumbers – there was only izzat that separated a bekaar aadmi from a sahi aadmi – a man you could trust. It was the kind of quality that made sense of statements like "wohi sharabi toh hai, pur izzat walah hai." Izzat is good when one is around strangers, but izzat is essential around family. So how does one earn izzat? Over the years, Ashraf has come up with a formula condensed into a an easy three-fold path to izzat: 1) Koi galat kaam karna hai to parde ke peeche karo. 2) Buri aadat hai to chold do. 3) Doosre ko izzat do, aur who tumhe izzat dega. So, apart from somewhat vague exchanges of good will, what purpose does izzat serve? What is its fayda? "Izzat ka bahut faidaa hai": The primary faida being that even when you're lying hungry in a corner of the chowk, and sleeping to conserve energy, everyone assumes that as a man of izzat you must have eaten well – which seems like a rather dubious reward, until one remembers George Orwell's maxim from "Down and out in Paris and London" – "[while looking for work] It is fatal to look hungry. It makes people want to kick you." The second, more concrete, faida is that "agar kisi ki ma, ya behen apke saamne zara galat raste se bhi pesh ho rahi ho, toh doosra daint dega –ki yeh aadmi vaisa nahin hai , kaise aapne iss par inzaam lagaya?" So it does have its advantages. Izzat was the primary reason why Ashraf could not go back to Patna, and so he found himself in Delhi. "Ab muhje lagta hai ki Bombay se Dilli aana humri sabse badi galti thi. Dilli mein koi kisi ki izzat nahin karta." (I often think that shifting from Delhi to Bombay was a big mistake. No one really gives anyone any respect in Delhi) New Delhi Railway Station, 9:30 PM, Cold. Jama Masjid – last resort of the faithful. Gates closed. Armed Guard. No entry after 10 PM. No sleeping in mosque premises. No defacing world heritage site. "Arre bhai, is there any place I could sleep around here?" Four faces look up from the fire. "Are you new here?" "Yes, I just got here from Bombay." Pregnant pause. "Have you eaten?" "No." Rustle of cloth on cloth, practiced hands sift through a bundle of clothes. Five rupees exchange hands. Ashraf eats a plate of rice from the nearby stall and buys a packet of Howrah beedis. "Is there any place I could sleep around here?" "Check round the corner." Around the corner, the card game stops briefly as Ashraf walks up to them. Situations are explained, heads nod in solidarity and reassurance. Ashraf puts down his bori-bistar, and waits for the world to fade to black. Ashraf awoke to find his card playing comrades gone. Picking up his belongings he heads out into the market in search of work. The chicken shop has openings, but he shall have to start all the way from the bottom. It keeps him occupied for a few days but soon he is back to manual labor. He works with a mistry for a while and then heads out on his own. Three months down the line, Ashraf has a home – Sanjay Amar Colony, Behind Lal Qila. He has also bought himself a sewing machine and has learnt how to stitch "sports sets" from a Bengali Babu in the colony. He now wears "pressed" clothes everyday, and everyone calls him "Masterji." The "sport-set" business is doing well. Ashraf and the Babu are supplying finished garments to exporters with markets in Dubai. In his spare time, he thinks about working for a few more years in Delhi and then settling down in Calcutta – A house in a nearby village, a railway pass to commute everyday, and a small floor-polishing business. Maybe his mother might come down from Patna, maybe he might just get married. 2004, elections, constituencies, vote-banks. Sanjay Amar Colony, Congress stronghold. Jagmohan, demolitions. It's gone. The house is gone. Bengali Babuji has gone. The samaj has broken. The Dubai exporter has found other suppliers. Ashraf has sold the machine. He is back on the streets. He is in Bara Tuti. He has learnt how to paint now. He is a paint-master. Calcutta has receded to the infinite horizon. He is a sharabi, but an izzat walah, and he knows that "gareeb aadmi ka sirf gareeb hi dekhta hai." "Yeh jo mandi hai, yeh ek samudar ki leher hai. Jab paise hote hai toh yeh leher aage nikalti hai, aur jab paisa khatam toh peeche aati hai. Leher kabhi rukti nahi.. kabhi rukti nahin." A. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060219/24be421c/attachment.html From rajeshmehar at yahoo.com Sun Feb 19 22:17:56 2006 From: rajeshmehar at yahoo.com (rajesh mehar) Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2006 08:47:56 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] Rajesh Mehar - 2nd Posting Message-ID: <20060219164756.82937.qmail@web30406.mail.mud.yahoo.com> When discussing creative musical work, we often use the terms original, copy, remix, cover version, and so on, loosely. These terms are thrown about as if there were neat categories into which every song can be categorized. Through the discourse of the popular media, some of these words, like original, and more recently, remix, have positive connotations. Some others, like copy, have negative connotations associated with them. This week, I will leave you with the links to two posts on my blog for this research project, dealing with: 1) Reflections on where these mystical boundary lines lie. How do tags get assigned to material, calling them originals, ripoffs, copies, remixes or cover versions? (http://community.livejournal.com/whosemusic/893.html) 2) The DJ Danger Mouse story. (http://community.livejournal.com/whosemusic/1265.html) More later. --Rajesh. Gonna make a lot o'money, gonna quit this crazy scene. --------------------------------- Yahoo! Mail Use Photomail to share photos without annoying attachments. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060219/3c0dcd67/attachment.html From dak at sarai.net Mon Feb 20 15:42:18 2006 From: dak at sarai.net (The Sarai Programme) Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 15:42:18 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Free Speech & Fearless Listening: The Encounter with Censorship in South Asia Message-ID: <43F99602.8000200@sarai.net> Dear Friend The Delhi Film Archive and Films for Freedom, in association with Max Mueller Bhavan and the Sarai Programme at CSDS, Delhi take pleasure in inviting you to "Free Speech & Fearless Listening: The Encounter with Censorship in South Asia". The three day roundtable to discuss the challenges confronting cultural producers in the South Asia region will be held at the Max Mueller Bhavan (Goethe Institute), Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi from February 22-24, 2006. This will be preceded by a 'curtain raiser' called "Interrogating Censorship" on February 21 at 4 :00 pm at Sarai. Independent documentary filmmakers, journalists, writers and other professionals have struggled to create spaces for images, words and ideas that find little support with governments or market-driven corporations. Meanwhile the transformed nature of information flows at the cusp of the late 20th and early 21st Century has rendered inadequate national territories as exclusive sites of study or debate. As newer technologies of production and dissemination generate an unprecedented amount of information, there are simultaneously greater demands for restrictions on speech from state, non-state and corporate players. The proposed 'roundtable' is an attempt to acknowledge and understand the circulation and curtailment of speech in the South Asia region and will attempt to engage with the transformed mediascape to understand how images and information are being created or erased. We look forward to your participation and contribution in what we hope will be an on-going conversation. Please find attached the Proposed Schedule and List of Participants. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us at For the Delhi Film Archive - Amar Kanwar / Anupama Srinivasan / Atul Gupta / Gargi Sen / Gurvinder Singh/ Kavita Joshi/ Nakul Sood / Rahul Roy / Raj Baruah/ Ranjani Mazumdar/ Saba Dewan / Samina Mishra / Sanjay Kak / Sanjay Maharishi / Sabeena Gadihoke / Sameera Jain/ Sherna Dastur/ Shikha Jhingan/ Shuddhabrata Sengupta / Shohini Ghosh / Shubhradeep Chakravorty / Uma Devi) Feb 22-24 Max Mueller Bhawan, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi / tel 23332 9506 Feb 21 Sarai Programme / CSDS, 29 Rajpur Road, Delhi / tel 2396 0040 Information: delhifilmarchive at yahoo.com --------------------------------- Schedule of Events Day 1 : 21 February 2006 Tuesday Sarai CSDS, Rajpur Road 4:00 ­ - 7:00 P.M. : Interrogating Censorship Andres Veiel (Berlin) Jitman Basnet (Kathmandu/ Delhi) Malathi Maithri (Pondicherry) Sudhir Pattnaik (Bhuvaneshwar) Vinod Jose (New Delhi) Chair Shuddhabrata Sengupta ************** Day 2 : 22 February 2006 Wednesday Max Mueller Bhawan, Kasturba Gandhi Marg 9:30 - 10:00 A.M. : Opening Remarks Rahul Roy / Delhi Film Archive 10:00 - 11:30 A.M. : Reports from the Region Hassan Zaidi (Karachi) Jitman Basnet (Kathmandu/ Delhi) Prasanna Vithanage (Colombo) Tanvir Mokammel (Dhaka) Tenzin Tsundoe (Dharamsala) Video Intervention: May Nyein (Burma) presented by Nem Davies Chair Amar Kanwar 12:00 - 1:30 P.M. : Framed by The Law Lawrence Liang (Bangalore) Sara Hossein (Dhaka) Discussants: Jitman Basnet / Prasanna Vithanage / Hassan Zaidi Intervention: Shahid Amin (Delhi) Chair TBA 2:30 - 4:00 P.M. : Court Encounters PA Sebastian (Mumbai) Sara Hossein (Dhaka) Discussants: Lawrence Liang / Prasanna Vithanage Chair Prashant Bhushan 4:30 - 6:00 P.M. : Silences from Srinagar & Shillong Aijaz Hussain (Srinagar) P G Rasul (Srinagar) Robin S Ngangom (Shillong) Tarun Bhartiya (Shillong) Intervention: Parvaiz Bukhari (Srinagar) Chair Sanjay Kak 6:00 P.M. : Screening Black Box Germany (102 min) dir: Andres Veiel (director present) discussant: Shuddhabrata Sengupta ************** Day 3 : 23 February 2006 Thursday Max Mueller Bhawan, Kasturba Gandhi Marg 10:00 - 11:00 A.M. : "Private" Censorship Andres Veiel (Berlin) Chair Shuddhabrata Sengupta 11:30 - 1:30 P.M. : Locating Hate & Censorship Deepak Mehta (Delhi) Sara Hossein (Dhaka) Shohini Ghosh (Delhi) Intervention: Arundhati Roy (Delhi) Shuddhabrata Sengupta (Delhi) Jawed Naqvi (Delhi) Chair Dilip Simeon 2:30 - 4:00 P.M. : Writing The Body and Mind Malathi Maithri (Pondicherry) Sanjay Srivastava (Delhi) In Conversation: Shuddhabrata Sengupta & Shohini Ghosh Chair TBA 4:30 - 6:00 P.M. : Fiction in The Censor's Web Anurag Kashyap (Mumbai) Prasanna Vithanage (Colombo) Tanvir Mokammel (Dhaka) Vimukthi Jayasundara (Colombo/Paris) Chair Ranjani Mazumdar 6:00 P.M. : Screening Sulanga Enu Pinisa (The Forsaken Land) dir: Vimukthi Jayasundara (director present) ************** Day 4 : 24 February 2006 Friday Max Mueller Bhawan, Kasturba Gandhi Marg 10:00 - 11:30 A.M. : Voices made invisible Anil Chamadia (Delhi) Ravi Kumar (Chennai) Sudhir Pattnaik (Bhuvaneshwar) Intervention: Vimal Thorat Chair Gargi Sen 12:00 - 1:30 P.M. : The Business of Censorship CP Chandrashekhar (Delhi) Jawed Naqvi (Delhi) Najam Sethi (Lahore) Paranjoy Guhathakurta (Delhi) Chair TBA 2:30 - 4:00 P.M. : Towards a "Counter Culture" Amar Kanwar (Delhi) Hassan Zaidi (Karachi) Sudhir Pattnaik (Bhuvaneshwar) Mukul Mangalik (Delhi) Chair Saba Dewan 4:30 - 6:00 pm : Open Space 6:00 P.M. : Screening Purahanda Kaluwara (Death on a Full Moon Day) dir: Prasanna Vithanage (director present) ------------------------------------------------ List of Speakers and Panelists Aijaz Hussain, Srinagar currently writes on politics and business for India Today and Business Standard from Srinagar. Before this, he wrote for about four years for the Daily Excelsior, a regional newspaper published from Jammu. He has also worked briefly for CNBC-TV18 television network. Besides these he has been reporting on assignment for Associated Press. Aijaz Hussain has an MA in Mass Communication & Journalism (1999). Andres Veiel, Berlin is one of Germany´s most important documentary filmmakers. His breakthrough documentary Balagan (1993), was a portrait of a controversial Israeli theatre group. His subsequent film, The Survivors (1996) investigates the suicides of three young men. His highly acclaimed Black Box Germany (2001) received the European Film Award for best Documentary, and was released in numerous German movie halls. His latest film Addicted to Acting (2004) won the Panorama Audience Award at the Berlin International Film Festival. Anil Chamadia, New Delhi is a writer and columnist, who has been a commentator on political and social issues for almost all the major Hindi dailies - Jansatta, Navbharat Times, Hindustan, Amar Ujala and Dainik Bhaskar. He also writes a column on the electronic media for the literary magazine Kathadesh. As a Special Correspondent/Writer with Business India Television's TVI channel, he has also produced more than 1000 news bulletins for prime-time news. Anurag Kashyap, Mumbai is a writer turned director and his writing credits include several Hindi films like Paisa Vasool (2004), Jung (2000), Kaun (1999) and Satya (1998). He has written dialogues for Main Aisa Hi Hoon, (2005), Yuva (2004), Nayak : The Real Hero (2001) and Shool (1999). Anurag Kashyap¹s directorial debut Paanch (Five) (2003) has been twice refused a clearance certificate by the censor board. His film Black Friday (2004) on the Mumbai blasts has also run into censor problems. Arundhati Roy, New Delhi is a writer, and the author of the novel, The God of Small Things. Collections of her political essays have been published in India as The Algebra of Infinite Justice and The Ordinary Person¹s Guide to Empire. C.P.Chandrashekhar, New Delhi is Professor, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi. He has taught at the Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He is an economic columnist for Frontline and Business Line. His publications include Crisis as Conquest: Learning from East Asia (Tracts for Our Times 12, Orient Longman, New Delhi, 2001) and The Market the Failed: Neoliberal Economic Reforms in India, (Leftword Books, New Delhi, 2002/2004) both co-authored with Jayati Ghosh. Deepak Mehta, Delhi is a Reader in the Department of Sociology, University of Delhi. He is the author of Work, Ritual, Biography: A Muslim Community in North India (OUP 1977). Since 1994 he has been researching on violence between Hindus and Muslims in Bombay. Dilip Simeon, Delhi taught at the History Department of Ramjas College, Delhi from 1974 till1994. His work on the labour movement of southern Bihar was published as The Politics of Labour Under Late Colonialism (1995). As part of the Sampradayikta Virodhi Andolan (Movement Against Communalism) he participated in a campaign for communal harmony and justice for the victims of the 1984 carnage in Delhi. Dilip has been a visiting scholar at the universities of Surat, Sussex, Chicago, Leiden and Princeton. From 1998 till 2003 he worked as senior research fellow on conflict issues with Oxfam (India) Trust in Delhi, and is now chairperson of the Aman Trust, which works to understand and reduce violent social conflict. Hassan Zaidi, Karachi is an award winning journalist and filmmaker, who has been associated with the Pakistani monthly Herald, Geo TV, Singapore's Channel News Asia, and Star News. He currently works as a producer-correspondent for NBC News and writes for a number of international papers (including India Today) and has produced radio packages for the BBC's Urdu service. He has directed a number of documentaries, music videos and shorts, and the feature film Raat Chali Hai Jhoom Ke. He is currently Director of the KaraFilm ­ Karachi International Film Festival. Jawed Naqvi, New Delhi is a former Chief Reporter of Gulf News and News Editor of Khaleej Times, and a veteran journalist who has also worked for many years with Reuters in Delhi. He has covered wars from frontlines in Iran, Iraq, Western Sahara, Lebanon, Yemen, Afghanistan, Kashmir, and Jaffna. After the nuclear tests of 1998, he embarked on a mission of cross-border journalism, campaigning against nuclear madness and human rights abuses. He writes as a freelance journalist for the Karachi Dawn and the Dhaka New Age. Occasionally writes for Tehelka and appears as an analyst for TV channels Jitman Basnet, Kathmandu is a lawyer and journalist by profession, and has been editor and publisher of Sagarmatha Times a national monthly magazine published from Kathmandu, and Cine Hotline. In Sep 2002, he was arrested by the Maoists but eventually released. In Feb 2004 Jitman Basnet was arrested by the Royal Nepal Army and was in detention for about 10 months. The reason for his arrest was an article that he had written about the army¹s violation of human rights. Subsequent to his release he was forced to escape from Nepal, and at present lives in exile in Delhi. Lawrence Liang, Bangalore is a researcher at the Alternative Law Forum a collective of lawyers who work on various aspects of law, legality and power. Lawrence has been working on a research project on the politics of intellectual property in collaboration with Sarai/CSDS, and is also very interested in the intersection of law and culture. He has recently completed a monograph on censorship and cinema in India called The Public is watching (for PSBT). Malathi Maithri, Pondicherry is a Tamil poet (and activist) whose poems are considered highly inventive in the Tamil context. Her published collections include Sankaraabarani 2002, Neerindri Amaiyaathu Ulagu 2003, and Neeli 2005. Her articles, serialized in the magazine Theranathi, encouraged many young woman writers to identify and articulate their silenced voices and are published as Viduthalai Ezhuthuthal (Writing the Freedom) 2004. With her fellow poet Kirushangini she published an anthology of modern women¹s poems Paratthal Athan Suthanthiram. She is the founder secretary of Ananku, a forum for feminist activities. Najam Sethi, Lahore is an eminent Pakistani journalist, editor, and news media personality and Editor-in-Chief of The Friday Times and The Daily Times. An aggressively independent journalist, Najam Sethi and his publications are often in trouble with Pakistani governments. He was imprisoned by then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, a case that evoked an international outcry that eventually pressured the government to release him. P.A.Sebastian, Mumbai is a lawyer working in the field of civil liberties and democratic rights of the people since 1977. In the Bombay textile strike he filed 28 writs of Habeas Corpus to secure the release of trade union workers. He has also fought a celebrated case of illegal land allotment to Judges of the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court. He has written articles for several journals including the Economic & Political Weekly. Prashant Bhushan, Delhi is a public interest lawyer and activist who has been involved in Public Interest Law and activism involving issues of corruption and accountability, the environment, and human rights. He has been on the governing bodies of several public interest organisations including the National Campaign for People's Right to Information, the People's Union for Civil Liberties, the Committee on Judicial Accountability, and the Citizen's Forum against Corruption. He has also authored The case that shook India Bofors: the selling of a nation, and writes in various publications on issues of public interest. P.G.Rasool, Srinagar has been writing in Urdu for the past fourteen years, in a weekly column on current affairs in Kashmir Uzma (Greater Kashmir) the Urdu weekly published from Srinagar. He has also authored a book titled Kashmir 1947 (Urdu). The book looks at the events of 1947 and the origins of the Kashmir issue. Rasool is widely respected for his probing and dispassionate analysis of events and political commentary. P G Rasool is a postgraduate in Mass Communication & Journalism from the University of Kashmir. Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Delhi started his career as a journalist in June 1977 and has worked with Business India, BusinessWorld, The Telegraph, India Today and The Pioneer. And with TV18 for almost six years where he anchored a daily interview and discussion programme called ³India Talks² on the CNBC channel. He has also directed a number of documentary films including Idiot Box or Window of Hope and University of Delhi: A Haven of Learning. He is co-author (with Shankar Raghuraman) of A Time of Coalitions: Divided We Stand, (Sage India 2004). He is currently Director of the School of Convergence. Prasanna Vithanage, Srilanka directed his first film Sisila Gini Gani (Ice on Fire) 1992 won nine OCIC (Sri Lanka) Awards including Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress. His second feature Anantha Rathriya (Dark Night of the Soul), 1996 won a Jury's Special Mention at the First Pusan International Film festival. Pawuru Walalu (Walls Within) 1997 won the Best Actress Award at the Singapore International Film Festival 1998. His feature Purahanda Kaluwara (Death on A Full Moon Day) 1997, won the Grand Prix at the Amiens Film Festival. Initially banned by the government of Sri Lanka, it has since become the most successful film in the half century long history of cinema in Sri Lanka. Prasanna has just completed his fifth film ŒIra Madiyama¹. Ravi Kumar, Pondicherry is a writer, essayist and translator, who started the critical magazines Nirapirikai (The Spectrum) and Dalit, which does not limit itself to dalit literature or dalit issues, but focuses on other writings/cultures. He is the editor of Bodhi, the Tamil dalit history quarterly. He also wrote the life of Malcolm X in a serialized form for Dalit Murasu (run by the Dalit Media Network) and the revived history of the so-called untouchable poet, Nandanar, which is carried in serialised form in Thai Mann (run by Dalit Panthers of India). In association with the journalist S.Anand, he has recently started the alternative publishing house, Navayana. He is a former President of the People¹s Union for Civil Liberties, Pondicherry and Tamil Nadu. Robin S Ngangom, Shillong is a Manipuri English poet and a translator of Manipuri writing. He has published two volumes of poetry, and edited Anthology of Contemporary poetry from North East. His latest collection of poems is being published by Chandrabhaga Press. He currently teaches in Shillong Sanjay Srivastava, Delhi is a social anthropologist, currently on leave from Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia. His key publications include 'Constructing Post-colonial India. National Character and the Doon School' (1998), 'Asia. Cultural Politics in the Global World' (2001, co-author), 'Sexual Sites, Seminal Attitudes' (2004, contributing editor), and, 'An Education of the Passions. Sexuality, Consumption and Class in India' (In Press). Sara Hossain, Dhaka is a lawyer practicing in the high court division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. She is actively involved with Ain o Salish Kendra [law and mediation centre], and the Bangladesh Legal Aid & Services Trust, a national legal services organisation. She earlier worked with Interights, and International Human Rights Law Centre, London. Her publications include Honour Crimes, Paradigms and Violence against Women (co-edited with Lynn Welchman), Zed Press, London 1995. She has acted in a number of cases involving the censorship of films, or banning of publications Shahid Amin, Delhi received his D.Phil. from Oxford University and is currently Professor of History at the University of Delhi. Among his publications are Event, Metaphor, Memory: Chauri Chaura, 1922-1992 (1995) and Writing Alternative Histories: A View from India (2002) as well as several seminal essays in Subaltern Studies - of which project he is one of the founding editors. He is the editor of A Concise Encyclopaedia of North Indian Peasant Life (2005), the co-editor, with Gyan Pandey, of Nimnvargiya Itihas, Bhag Ek, Bhag Do (1994, 2001), and has also written the Hindustani dialogues of the feature film Karvan directed by Pankaj Butalia. He has been a Visiting Fellow at Stanford, Princeton, and Berlin. Sudhir Pattnaik, Bhuvaneshwar, is Editor of Samadristi an Oriya fortnightly news magazine and is Chairman of Independent Media - an alternative media group consisting of filmmakers, writers and journalists who work for developing alternative media initiatives in Orissa. Tenzin Tsundoe, Dharamshala is a writer-activist born to a Tibetan refugee family in India. After graduating from Chennai, he crossed the Himalayas on foot to enter Tibet, where he was arrested by the Chinese border police, and after three months in prison in Lhasa, was pushed back to India. He has been widely published in a range of Indian and foreign publications and has won the first-ever Outlook-Picador Award for Non-Fiction in 2001. Since 1999 Tsundue has worked with Friends of Tibet (India) in 1999 as its general secretary. In January 2002 he scaled the scaffolding to the 14th floor of the Oberoi Towers in Mumbai to unfurl a Tibetan national flag and a banner which read "Free Tibet" down the hotel's façade while China's Premier Zhu Rongji was inside addressing a conference of Indian business tycoons. In April 2005, he repeated this feat during the Bangalore visit of the Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jia Bao. Tarun Bhartiya, Shillong is an activist with the freedom project Shillong. A Hindi poet with published work in Samkalin Bhartiya Sahitya, Pahel, Hans, Akshar Parv, and the Sarai Reader. Tarun is also a filmmaker whose work in progress is called Tourist Information for Shillong (four parts done - fifth being thought about). He has worked for NDTV and Campkins Camera Centre (a camera shop). Currently Tarun Bhartiya is founding-member of alt-space, an open space for culture and politics in Shillong. Tanvir Mokammel, Dhaka is a filmmaker with several award winning documentaries and feature films to his credit. His features include Nadir Nam Modhumat (The River named Modhumati) 1995 which received three national awards and Chitra Nadir Pare (Quiet Flows the river Chitra) 1998 a feature film on the destiny of a Hindu family in East Pakistan after the partition of India in 1947. It received seven national awards including best film, best story, best script writing, best art direction and best director of the year. Lalsalu (A tree without roots) 2001 centers on the life of a Mullah who establishes a false shrine in a remote village in Bangladesh and received eight national awards including the best film, best script writing, best cinematography, best sound and best director of the year. His latest feature Lalon 2004 is based on the life and persona of the mystic song-composer Lalon Fakir. His documentaries include Hooliya (Wanted), Smriti Ekattor (Remembrance), Achin Pakhi (The unknown bard) and Karnaphulir Kanna, (Teardrops Of Karnaphuli), a documentary on the plight of the indigenous people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, a film that has been banned by the Government of Bangladesh. Tanvir Mokammel is a prolific writer who has taught film and film appreciation at the Viswa Sahitya Kendro and Standford University. He is the Director, Bangladesh Film Institute. Vimal Thorat, Delhi is a well-known writer in Hindi who teaches the language at the Indira Gandhi National Open University. She is deeply concerned with issues of marginalisation, and deprivation of the dalit people and her pioneering work has brought to the forefront the special deprivation and status of Dalit women . She was the President of the Dalit Writer's Association and gave the fledgling group a dynamic direction. She is associated with many national and international human rights organisations. Vimukthi Jayasundara, Srilanka As a 28-year-old Vimukthi became only the second filmmaker from Sri Lanka to compete for an award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2005. Jayasundara¹s film Sulanga Enu Pinisa (The Forsaken Land) competed in the Un Certain Regard section and received the Caméra d¹Or, Cannes¹s award for first-time filmmakers. Jayasundara worked in the advertising industry and wrote film reviews before studying at the Film and Television Institute of India from 1998 to 2001. Returning to Sri Lanka, he joined the Government Film Unit and made The Land of Silence, a black-and-white documentary about the victims of Sri Lanka¹s civil war. In 2001, he received a grant to continue his film studies in France at Le Fresnoy. As a student there Jayasundara made Empty for Love (2002), a short film that was selected for Cinéfondation, the student category at Cannes. Amar Kanwar Rahul Roy Ranjani Mazumdar Saba Dewan Sanjay Kak Shohini Ghosh Shudhabhrata Sengupta are film-makers and members of the Delhi Film Archive _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From nangla at cm.sarai.net Mon Feb 20 17:34:55 2006 From: nangla at cm.sarai.net (CM@Nangla) Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 13:04:55 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Letters from Nangla 03 Message-ID: <1562ac8f3ca3c2b7331eb03bd7d8cff1@sarai.net> Loudspeaker by Jaanu A sound emerges from the loudspeaker of the mosque, and spreading through the lanes, envelopes the settlement, giving it something unique to be recognised by. Every place has mosques, but there is something special about the experience of the mosque here. Each evening, a new sound emanates from here and makes home in people's minds. Sometimes the sound startles, sometimes it brings joy. Whatever the feeling, the sound makes everyone halt for a while. People otherwise immersed in their work pause for a moment. Feet stop on the way to their destinations, morsels of food remain uneaten in hands and mouths. Some sounds have become very common, and do not cause anyone concern. But there are a few which snatch away people's hunger, thirst and moments of leisure despite having become common. And there are those which mean trouble for one person alone, but everyone's ears perk up on hearing them. This last is a familiar sound – the announcement about a missing child. “Pay attention! This announcement is about a little boy, wearing a cream coloured suit, with short hair, blue Roopali slippers in his feet, aged about 3 to 5. His name is Danish, his father's name is Nassruddin. Please come to the mosque and take your child.” The mosque's Raja Hafiz continues to call out till the child's family comes to take the child. Sometimes, the microphone is placed in front of the crying child so her or his parents or neighbours recognise the voice. The child wails “/ammi/” or “/ma/”, “/abbu/” or “/papa/” depending on how she addresses her parents. Or the child simply cries. These are quiet sounds, which drift with the wind and then fade away. But some sounds lash on everyone like thunder, bringing disquiet with them. Like announcements to get ration cards and identity cards made. People line up outside the mosque to find out where the documents will be made. Then Hafiz makes his inquiries from the /pradhan /(the local head of the /basti/) and announces all the details from the microphone of the mosque, bringing some comfort to everyone. Now people forgo their work and leisure, and get down to filling and submitting the requisite forms. Some sounds are strangers. For instance, “Mr. Such and Such has been looking for Mr. So and So since morning. Wherever you are, please come to the mosque and meet him.” Hafiz /sahab/ calls out like this many times. Some sounds are “event sounds”, or “incident sounds”. Once a young boy met with an accident, and this was announced from the mosque: “A fifteen year old boy has met with an accident near the traffic light on the ring road. Everyone, please reach there and identify him.” On hearing such sounds, people begin to make their way to the spot. There are sounds of things getting lost or having been stolen, and then being found: “Some gentleman has dropped his bag. The name is Giyasuddin. There are around four hundred rupees in the bag. Bhai sahab, kindly come to the mosque and take your bag.” There is also a prominent sound of the settlement – that of contestants in elections. When important politicians like Tajdar Babbar, VP Singh etc arrive, it is announced from the mosque: “The entire settlement is requested to reach the ring road and get onto the bus that is waiting there. There is a rally against the demolition of /jhuggis/ at Jantar Mantar today.” People get all the latest news in this way, via the microphone. Sometimes the news is so harsh that it makes everyone's hearts ache: “The settlement is going to be broken today. Everyone should stay at home.” But today even this has become a common sound. Not much thought it given to it any more. But some people's breathing becomes quicker and frailer on hearing it. Oh, but I almost forgot one pleasant sound: “Today so-and-so is getting married. Everyone who has been invited, please come to the school for the feast. One more thing! Hindu brothers are also requested to come. Special arrangements have been made for your food.” These sounds can be heard on some evenings. There is also a sound which can be heard every morning. It announces that it is time for children to reach the mosque for their daily tutoring. The sound of the azaan and the namaaz can be heard at the scheduled time. And during some festivals like Eid, Bakr-eid, Muharram, and on Fridays, it is as if small crowds of voices rise and spread from the mosque. CM Lab, Nangla Maanchi ----------------------------------------------- It quenches the thirst of the thirsty, Such is Nangla, It shelters those who come to the city of Delhi, Such is Nangla. ------------------------------------------------ From shveta at sarai.net Mon Feb 20 17:51:31 2006 From: shveta at sarai.net (Shveta) Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 17:51:31 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] "I make joints between parts" Message-ID: <43F9B44B.1060800@sarai.net> I make joints between parts by Lakhmi Chand Kohli[*] New places carry memories of the old. I create freshness by placing old materials into new places. I guess, in this way, I rub some of the aura of the old into the new. I am an electrician... Maybe! You see, this name has been given to me by people. I only make transformers. I buy parts from the market, make transformers out of them, and sell them in the market. Because I have been doing this for a long time, I have many skills of an electrician. Earlier, people used to call me to their homes to take care of any electrical problems. But I don't go to peoples' houses any more. I have nothing to gain from it. It's not that one doesn't earn well in this way. It's just that things spoil again a few days after I fix them. People get abusive when this happens. "Rascal, what did you do that it got spoiled again?" So I just stopped that kind of work. I still go to some peoples' houses, but only a select few. You see, people don't have much time to meet others; so I make meetings possible for myself through my work. Making transformers is my work. The beginning was very difficult. Because I didn't repair transformers, but made them and sold them in the market. Buying supplies without an income was difficult. Somehow, I managed. Initially, my earnings were little. Because to make a mark in the market, my supplies had to be of a good quality and I had to put them together myself" very carefully, minutely. For a transformer, one needs a circuit board (Rs. 27, Anchor company), cabinet (Rs. 50), main switch (Rs. 30), fine wire (Rs. 2 per meter), transformer card (Rs, 35) and coin, rotor, meter etc. In all the cost price is Rs. 150-200. Moreover, it would take me two days to assemble a transformer. I would sell each between Rs 400-600. I used to get orders for numbers to be made, and couldn't defend my interests in the market. But I am doing well today, even though the cost of raw materials is high. I am faster at my work; my hands are more skilled. I can turn out three to four transformers in a single day. I also have helpers. Sometimes I get very angry at my helpers. Because they work like girls and also act very smart! They dress up like heroes, and worry they will dirty their clothes. It's amazing how scared they are of dirt! But they will learn and get used to all this. I know because when I was younger, and worked as a help in my master's shop, I was just like them. In the beginning when I used to make joints between parts to make a transformer, I used to feel life was joining and becoming seamless. Like different parts being held together, still retaining their difference, but making a whole. This shape, the "whole", used to appeal to me. You see, that's because back home, in our village in Punjab, my father and his younger brother's families used to live together. When I decided to shift to Delhi, my father's younger brother's son asked me, "What shall we do with your room and land?" I replied, "Plough the land, and give the room out on rent. We will divide whatever is earned equally between us". He said, "That only works in your favour! Why should I do the work, and you earn from it?" My father heard this and left the room. Our relationship with my father's younger brother's family has never been the same since then. Whenever I join parts together, I am reminded of this relationship. I wish there could be some joint I could connect our two families with, filling the cracks that have been formed between us. But forget all this! I have formed so many new relationships and earned so many different names with this work that sometimes my own name seems strange to me! Time transforms a personality. And along with that, or maybe because of that, one gathers so many different kinds of names as years pass, and the meaning and significance of each name also keeps changing. But what is most significant to me is who chooses to call me by which particular name. You see, no one is called by the same name by everyone. Is it that when you form a relationship with someone, the name you are called by changes, or is it that as the name you are called by changes, so does the relationship? -------------------------------------------- [*] http://sarai.var.cc/source_material/the_old_and_the_new_by_lakhmi_from_broadsheet_no_3.html.html [Translation by shveta and frankhuzur at rediffmail.com] Text from Issue # 3 of Cybermohalla Broadsheet, "Bade Bade Shehron Mein Kuchh Namm Baatein". The issue engaged with the technological universe in the localities in which the CM labs are located. Editors: Lakhmi Kohli, Yashoda Singh, Love Anand, Suraj Rai. Write to cybermohalla at sarai.net For more texts, see http://sarai.var.cc -------------------------------------------- From aarti at sarai.net Mon Feb 20 18:24:06 2006 From: aarti at sarai.net (Aarti) Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 18:24:06 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Open Mic/Open Screen Message-ID: <43F9BBEE.6010104@sarai.net> =============================================== Open Mic/Open Screen: An Evening of Mixed Forms =============================================== *Open Mic/Open SCreen: An Evening of Experimental Video, Film, Poetry, Prose, Spoken Word, Photographs, Audio & Sonic Work and Performance* 6:00 P.M., Friday, 10 March 2006 At the last Open Screen/Open Mic on the 31st of January at Sarai, about 30 people came together to listen, watch and experience mixed media forms over a period of about three hours. The open invitation had asked people to bring as diverse a range of works as they wished, and the selection was truly varied. Works included a short film on dance, a video loop called "Gurgaon Giraffe" which was a mesmerising meditation on a bulldozer, a student film on 9/11, a video project on love and longing in Bombay, travels in abandoned landscapes in Latvia, a short photo-essay (?) on demolitions in Delhi, a exuberant film on popular Islamic devotional music and iconography. Highlights of the evening included a selection of Bhojpuri song recordings from the 1960s, and a poetry-performance by Harlow. Some people showed completed works, some culls from works-in-progress, and some shared photographs. We wish to continue these sessions as a way for people working across a diversity of forms to come and share their work in an open, fun and relaxed context. We like the dynamic that is produced when all kinds of forms are brought together in the same space, a feast with many dishes to choose from, so to speak. The next Open Screen/Open Mic will be in March. However I am announcing it now so that friends know it is happening and have time to prepare. Perhaps you might want to create a small work for it, or transfer some older footage onto DVD/VCD format, or forage through photographs and select some you would like to share, or choose a piece to read/perform aloud :) How it works is, everyone gets 5-7 minutes to screen/play video/audio works, and read/perform text based work. You can share video, audio, poetry, spoken word, a short prose piece, a performance, singly or in groups, in any language (though do be prepared to translate for those uninitiated :) The screening/performance is decided on a first-come-first-serve basis. Films, Video and Audio pieces should be between 1-7 minutes long, and on DVD/VCD format only. Alternatively you can also pipe from a laptop. You can share a complete work, parts of a work, a work in progress, even stills, in B/W and or colour. Do come, tell your friends and share an evening with us! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From aarti at sarai.net Tue Feb 21 00:46:30 2006 From: aarti at sarai.net (aarti at sarai.net) Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 20:16:30 +0100 (CET) Subject: [Reader-list] what's in a name? Message-ID: <1124.61.246.29.187.1140462990.squirrel@mail.sarai.net> What's in a name? Much apparently in denmark where parents must choose a baby's name from a pre-approved list. If you wish to name your little bundle of joy something bizzare like "chutney" then you must submit an application to the government's "Names Investigation Department". read on.. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/08/international/europe/08names.html?ex=1254974400&en=2dd65b3bf717f9db&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&pagewanted=all Jens and Vita, but Molli? Danes Favor Common Names By LIZETTE ALVAREZ Published: October 8, 2004 COPENHAGEN - If Denmark somehow morphed into the celebrity epicenter of the universe, there would be no place for the baby-naming eccentricities of the world's megastars. Apple Paltrow Martin would be rejected as a fruit, Jett Travolta as a plane (and misspelled as well), Brooklyn Beckham as a place, and Rumer Willis, as, well, Danish name investigators would not even know where to begin with that one. Advertisement "Cuba is also a problem,'' said Michael Lerche Nielsen, assistant professor for the Department of Name Research at Copenhagen University. "I have to decide: Is this a typical boy or girl name? And that's the problem with geographical names." In Denmark, a country that embraces rules with the same gusto that Italy defies them, choosing a first and last name for a child is a serious, multitiered affair, governed by law and subject to the approval of the Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs and the Ministry of Family and Consumer Affairs. At its heart, the Law on Personal Names is designed to protect Denmark's innocents - the children who are undeservedly, some would say cruelly, burdened by preposterous or silly names. It is the state's view that children should not suffer ridicule and abuse because of their parents' lapses in judgment or their misguided attempts to be hip. Denmark, like much of Scandinavia, prizes sameness, not uniqueness, just as it values usefulness, not frivolousness. "You shouldn't stand out from anyone else here; you shouldn't think you are better than anyone else," said Lan Tan, a 27, Danish woman of Singaporean and Malaysian descent who is trying to win approval for her daughter's name, Frida Mei Tan-Farndsen. "It's very Scandinavian." While other Scandinavian countries have similar laws, Denmark's is the strictest. So strict that the Danish Ministry of Justice is proposing to relax the law to reflect today's Denmark, a place where common-law marriage is accepted, immigration is growing, and divorce is routine. The measure, which would add names to the official list, is scheduled for debate in Parliament in November. "The government, from a historical point of view, feels a responsibility towards its weak citizens," said Rasmus Larsen, chief adviser at the Ministry for Ecclesiastical Affairs, discussing the law. "It doesn't want to see people put in a situation where they can't defend themselves. We do the same in traffic; we have people wear seat belts." People expecting children can choose a pre-approved name from a government list of 7,000 mostly Western European and English names - 3,000 for boys, 4,000 for girls. A few ethnic names, like Ali and Hassan, have recently been added. But those wishing to deviate from the official list must seek permission at their local parish church, where all newborns' names are registered. A request for an unapproved name triggers a review at Copenhagen University's Names Investigation Department and at the Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs, which has the ultimate authority. The law only applies if one of the parents is Danish. Many parents do not realize how difficult it can be to get a name approved by the government. About 1,100 names are reviewed every year, and 15 percent to 20 percent are rejected, mostly for odd spellings. Compound surnames, like Tan-Farnsden, also pose a problem. Parents who try to be creative by naming their child Jakobp or Bebop or Ashleiy (three recent applications) are typically stunned when they are rejected. In some cases, a baby may go without an officially approved name for weeks, even months, making for irate, already sleep-deprived, parents. Greg Nagan, 39, and Trine Kammer, 32, thought it would be cute to name their daughter Molli Malou. To their surprise, Malou was not a problem, but Molli with an I, which they thought sounded Danish, had to be reviewed by the government. The church told Ms. Kammer she needed to state in a letter the reason for choosing Molli. She did so, and said she told the clerk, "Here's your stupid letter: The reason for naming her Molli is because we like it." "Isn't this silly?" Ms. Kammer said. "We love to make everything a rule here. They love to bureaucratize." The century-old law was initially designed to bring order to surnames. Before the law, surnames changed with every generation: Peter Hansen would name his son Hans Petersen. Then Hans Petersen would name his son Peter Hansen. And on it went, wreaking bureaucratic havoc. The law ended that. It also made it difficult for people to change their last names, a move that was designed to appease the noble class, which feared widespread name-poaching by arrivistes, Mr. Nielsen said. Then in the 1960's, a furor erupted over the first name Tessa, which resembled tisse, which means to urinate in Danish. Distressed over the lack of direction in the law, the Danish government expanded the statute to grapple with first names. Now the law is as long as an average-size book. It falls mostly to Mr. Nielsen, at Copenhagen University, to apply the law and review new names, on a case-by-case basis. In a nutshell, he said, Danish law stipulates that boys and girls must have different names, first names cannot also be last names, and bizarre names are O.K. so long as they are "common." "Let's say 25 different people" worldwide, he said, a number that was chosen arbitrarily. How does Mr. Nielsen make that determination? He searches the Internet. Generally, geographic names are rejected because they seldom denote gender. Cairo, if it is approved at all, may be approved for a boy, but then could not be used for a girl. Jordan is a recent exception to the one-gender rule. In some cases, Mr. Nielsen says, he believes he is performing a vital public service. He advised the Ministry that Anus and Pluto be rejected, for example. He also vetoed Monkey. "That's not a personal name, " Mr. Nielsen explained. "It's an animal. I have to protect the children from ridicule." Leica, however, has been approved, as has Benji, Jiminico and Fee. "People's names have become part of their identities now," Mr. Nielsen said. "And people change their names the way you change your clothes or your apartment. It has become more common." And what about Molli Malou? Approved, by government decree, just recently. From sunil at mahiti.org Tue Feb 21 02:28:30 2006 From: sunil at mahiti.org (Sunil Abraham) Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 21:58:30 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Asia Commons: Call for Papers + Participants Message-ID: <1140469111.9090.195.camel@localhost.localdomain> Asia Commons: Asian Conference on the Digital Commons April 18-20, 2006 Bangkok, Thailand http://www.asia-commons.net/ During the last 20 years or so, the level, scope, territorial extent, and role of copyrights and patents have expanded into new sectors. There has been much discussion and debate on the impact of copyrights and patents at a micro level of economic activity while at a macro level, policy dialogue in several international fora, not least of which is WIPO, has been addressing barriers posed by copyrights and patents. Asia Commons: Asian Conference on the Digital Commons invites: - researchers working in the area of copyrights and patents, - promoters of collaborative models, - development practitioners engaged in collaborative content creation and dissemination, and - custodians of public information to go beyond the current dialogue and debate to explore key issues and ideas related to access to knowledge and culture in Asia. Participants are invited to explore key themes and questions related to the Asian Commons: - What is the relationship between infrastructure and copyrights on access to culture and knowledge? - How do software and business process patents affect innovation? - What are the impacts of patents on software innovations in Asia? - What are the emerging Open Business Models for content production in Asia? - Given existing legal, cultural and infrastructural environments both within and outside of Asia, how can we contribute to increasing access to knowledge and culture through an Asia Commons? While we will be inviting a number of speakers who are seen as thought-leaders in the field of Access to Knowledge and Culture, we will also look to innovative approaches to ensure a high degree of interaction among participants in spaces and sessions which are designed to maximize the exchange of experiences and ideas. Conference Fees, Registration, and Scholarships: There are no fees for participation in the conference which is supported through funding made available by the International Development Research Centre's (IDRC's) Pan Asia Program (http://www.idrc.ca/panasia). If you are interested in participating, please register online at http://www.asia-commons.net/conf_registration/add or email registration at asia-commons.net to receive a registration form which can be submitted through email. Please register before March 8, 2006. Thanks to the generous support of IDRC's Pan Asia (http://www.idrc.ca/panasia) and UNDP APDIP's IOSN (http://www.iosn.net) there are also a number of scholarships available for participants in need of financial support. Please visit http://www.asia-commons.net/participate for more information. Call for Papers: Asia Commons invites paper abstracts of original papers for sharing your work and experiences during the discussions at the conference. Papers should fall within the conference themes: - Access to Knowledge and Culture in Asia - Models for Collaborative Knowledge and Culture - Towards a Healthy Asia Commons Themes are fully described at: http://www.asia-commons.net/about Please submit paper proposals to papers at asia-commons.net by February 24, 2006. Proposals should include the title of the paper, an abstract and contact information of all authors. Paper writers will be given the opportunity to present their papers at Asia Commons and will be fully funded to attend the conference. Paper proposal deadline: February 24, 2006 Proposal acceptance: February 28, 2006 Full paper submission: April 1, 2006 For more information, please visit: http://www.asia-commons.net/papers Can't Join Us? For those unable to join us physically during the event, we invite you to participate through the participants discussion list and visit http://www.asia-commons.net for outputs during the conference itself. To subscribe to the participants discussion list, send an email to participants-request at asia-commons.net with the word subscribe in the subject. A special issue of i4d Magazine (http://www.i4donline.net) will be produced in June 2006 based on the conference and its themes. We look forward to seeing you at the Asia Commons. Your Organising Committee: Shikha Shrestha, Bellanet Asia (in partnership with SAP International) (http://www.sapint.org) Sarah Kerr, Bellanet International Secretariat (http://www.bellanet.org) Jaya Chittoor, Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (http://www.csdms.in) Sunil Abraham, UNDP APDIP's International Open Source Network (http://www.iosn.net) -- Sunil Abraham, sunil at mahiti.org http://www.mahiti.org "Vijay Kiran" IInd Floor, 314/1, 7th Cross, Domlur Bangalore - 560 071 Karnataka, INDIA Ph/Fax: +91 80 51150580. Mob: (91) 9342201521 UK: (44) 02000000259 From aarti at sarai.net Tue Feb 21 19:25:00 2006 From: aarti at sarai.net (Aarti) Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 19:25:00 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] "I make joints between parts" In-Reply-To: <43F9B44B.1060800@sarai.net> References: <43F9B44B.1060800@sarai.net> Message-ID: <43FB1BB4.9050804@sarai.net> Dear Shveta, Thank you for this post. What I find is the evocative, almost intimate, nature of this description of a realtionship with work and technology. There is something very delicate, nazuk, about the section on his thinking about the relationship between the making of circuits and an evocation of a ruptured realtionship back home. Thank you again really looking forward to reading more such accounts Warmly Aarti Shveta wrote: > I make joints between parts > by Lakhmi Chand Kohli[*] > > New places carry memories of the old. I create freshness by placing old > materials into new places. I guess, in this way, I rub some of the > aura of > the old into the new. I am an electrician... Maybe! You see, this name > has > been given to me by people. I only make transformers. I buy parts from > the market, make transformers out of them, and sell them in the > market. Because I have been doing this for a long time, I have many > skills of an electrician. > > Earlier, people used to call me to their homes to take care of any > electrical problems. But I don't go to peoples' houses any more. I have > nothing to gain from it. It's not that one doesn't earn well in this way. > It's just that things spoil again a few days after I fix them. People get > abusive when this happens. "Rascal, what did you do that it got spoiled > again?" So I just stopped that kind of work. I still go to some peoples' > houses, but only a select few. You see, people don't have much time to > meet > others; so I make meetings possible for myself through my work. > > Making transformers is my work. The beginning was very difficult. > Because I > didn't repair transformers, but made them and sold them in the market. > Buying supplies without an income was difficult. Somehow, I managed. > Initially, my earnings were little. Because to make a mark in the market, > my supplies had to be of a good quality and I had to put them together > myself" very carefully, minutely. > > For a transformer, one needs a circuit board (Rs. 27, Anchor company), > cabinet (Rs. 50), main switch (Rs. 30), fine wire (Rs. 2 per meter), > transformer card (Rs, 35) and coin, rotor, meter etc. In all the cost > price > is Rs. 150-200. Moreover, it would take me two days to assemble a > transformer. I would sell each between Rs 400-600. I used to get > orders for > numbers to be made, and couldn't defend my interests in the market. > > But I am doing well today, even though the cost of raw materials is > high. I > am faster at my work; my hands are more skilled. I can turn out three to > four transformers in a single day. I also have helpers. > > Sometimes I get very angry at my helpers. Because they work like girls > and > also act very smart! They dress up like heroes, and worry they will dirty > their clothes. It's amazing how scared they are of dirt! But they will > learn and get used to all this. I know because when I was younger, and > worked as a help in my master's shop, I was just like them. > > In the beginning when I used to make joints between parts to make a > transformer, I used to feel life was joining and becoming seamless. Like > different parts being held together, still retaining their difference, > but > making a whole. This shape, the "whole", used to appeal to me. You see, > that's because back home, in our village in Punjab, my father and his > younger brother's families used to live together. When I decided to shift > to Delhi, my father's younger brother's son asked me, "What shall we do > with your room and land?" > I replied, "Plough the land, and give the room out on rent. We will > divide whatever is earned equally between us". > > He said, "That only works in your favour! Why should I do the work, and > you earn from it?" > My father heard this and left the room. Our relationship with my > father's younger brother's family has never been the same since then. > Whenever I join parts together, I am reminded of this relationship. I > wish there could be some joint I could connect our two families with, > filling the cracks that have been formed between us. > > But forget all this! I have formed so many new relationships and > earned so > many different names with this work that sometimes my own name seems > strange to me! Time transforms a personality. And along with that, or > maybe > because of that, one gathers so many different kinds of names as years > pass, and the meaning and significance of each name also keeps changing. > But what is most significant to me is who chooses to call me by which > particular name. You see, no one is called by the same name by everyone. > > Is it that when you form a relationship with someone, the name you are > called by changes, or is it that as the name you are called by > changes, so > does the relationship? > > -------------------------------------------- > [*] > > http://sarai.var.cc/source_material/the_old_and_the_new_by_lakhmi_from_broadsheet_no_3.html.html > > > [Translation by shveta and frankhuzur at rediffmail.com] > > Text from Issue # 3 of Cybermohalla Broadsheet, "Bade Bade Shehron > Mein Kuchh Namm Baatein". > The issue engaged with the technological universe in the localities in > which the CM labs are located. > > Editors: Lakhmi Kohli, Yashoda Singh, Love Anand, Suraj Rai. > > Write to cybermohalla at sarai.net > > For more texts, see http://sarai.var.cc > -------------------------------------------- > > > _________________________________________ > 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: From sirfirf at yahoo.com Tue Feb 21 19:36:33 2006 From: sirfirf at yahoo.com (irfan) Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 06:06:33 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] film by a young filmmaker. Message-ID: <20060221140633.26110.qmail@web36815.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Sun 26th February 2006 7.00pm |DOCUMENTARY FILM| ’Ek Tha Lal Pari’ (46 min) a film by Rajdeep Randhawa, produced by K.S. Media. The film revolves around the life of an eunuch – Lalpari. The film has been selected for screening in the 9th Mumbai International Documentary Film Festival 2006. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com From bawree at yahoo.com Wed Feb 22 00:24:24 2006 From: bawree at yahoo.com (mamta mantri) Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 10:54:24 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] 2nd posting, mamta, theatres Message-ID: <20060221185424.8337.qmail@web33104.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Well, apologies for the delay in second posting, traveled to a couple of places in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh,,, will write about that later. Anyways, I thought it would be better to take the interviews of the Managers of the respective theatres, to begin with. So I visited Mr. Suresh Gaglani, aged 65 years, manager at Super cinema. I will remember him as the most co-operative person throughout. Nevertheless, when I reached Super, the film shown was ‘dehati babu’, which was running houseful since Friday. There were two long queues of men who were eager to see the film. When asked the reason for the line, I came to know that the tickets had no seat numbers on them. This was really surprising to me, because we are not used to such a thing. Anyways, the crowd was getting desperate and began to whistle and shout,, very eager to get in to the best available seats. They ran the moment the authorities let them in. it was as if they were all trained like pets to run to their destined location, definitely not without using all abusive language. The crowd got uncontrollable that the security guard (yes, they do have one) had to use his lathi to control them. Inside the auditorium, was the song ‘Dus’ and people had settled happily, with mutual consent, for the film. Mr. Suresh calls this theatre as “India-Pakistan Border”, interestingly because on one side, i.e. from Grant road Railway Station to Super cinema, Hindus, mainly Gujratis, dominate. And from here onwards to JJ flyover, is the Muslim dominated area. All theatres thereon are owned by Muslims. The theatre does good business during all festivals, especially 10 days of Ganpati festival and the grand Ramzan Eid. Apparently the Ramzan month is dreaded by the entire film industry, because apparently, it is only the Muslim masses (all classes here) who watch films the most, as compared to the other communities. In other words, cinema works because of Muslim audience only (not just these places, but elsewhere too). So Eid and the consecutive weeks are the best times. At these times, the exhibitor becomes the king, in the sense he decides the film and its rates. Other times, it is the distributor who calls the shots. What makes a hit film? He begins by quoting the story line, which comprises of comedy, acting, emotions, action, romance, good music(remember SAAJAN), all these elements are a must in equal quantities. However, when probed deeper, as to who decides whether a film is hit or not,, he has a different thing to say. He said that it is the distributor and the producer who will decide if the film is a hit (he cited the example of old films, “GOPI” and “MERA NAAM JOKER”, where the latter flopped because of FEEDING). The audience takes what is served to them after reviews and ticket-black. He talks of categories like “Fake” (that audience which does not have to pay for the tickets) and “Real” (that 10% of audience which genuinely buys tickets-both black and otherwise) public. These tactics can make and mar a film considerably. Then, I met Mr. Soli Arya, 67 years, owner and partner of New Royal, who informed me about these: The area is known as “Play House”, the name coming from a small building near Alfred cinema, where indoor games like chess, billiards, cards etc were played, it was a club like place, very elitist, and associated with British. He narrated another incident when he met the police commissioner long time ago who said, “All of you are people of the dark. The darkness in your halls retains the criminals of the city, allowing the crime rate to reduce. Our department can relax for that much of time.” Soli said, “Crime rate increased with decline and closure of cinemas. Theatres are the only places which engage not only good people, but bad people as well.” The manager at Shalimar cinema, Mr. Salim, was cold to me. However, certain statements made so much of sense. Other things apart, when asked about the man-woman ratio in terms of audience, he said that women do come here, alone as well. However, in any case, 99% of cinema halls have men as the majority of audience. According to him, none of the cinema halls will close down, Taj cinema nearby, is broken to make a multiplex, but the owners will nave to include cinema halls sooner or later. These halls will be profitable, because people will watch cinema as long as time itself. When probed with so many questions, he commented, “TUM KYA NASHTE MEIN KAJU, BADAM, PISHTA KHATI HO, KITNA DIMAG CHALTAHAI?”(Do you have cashews and almonds for your breakfast? Your brain is so sharp!!! I will take it as a compliment. “How much are you going to get for this?” he asked? “SAARI MEHNAT TO HUM KAR RAHE HAI, AUR HUMHE KYA MILEGA?” (We are giving all the information, and what will we get?) thanks mamta __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com From shuddha at sarai.net Wed Feb 22 01:05:00 2006 From: shuddha at sarai.net (Shuddhabrata Sengupta) Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 01:05:00 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Report on South Asia seminar curtain raiser - 21 February, 2006] Message-ID: <43FB6B64.4000106@sarai.net> Dear Friends, This is a report on the 'curtain raiser' to the South Asia Seminar on Censorship : Free Speech and Fearless Listening - The Encounter with Censorship in South Asia - that has already been announced on this list. This report, which I am forwarding on to the reader list (apologies for cross posting to those already on the CAC list) is a narrative of the discussion at Sarai-CSDS earlier today, compiled by Saba Dewan (Delhi Film Archive, Campaign Against Censorship) and posted on the CACDelhi list. Looking forward to intense discussion and new ideas in the next few days,as the seminar moves to Max Muller Bhavan in Delhi regards Shuddha -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [CACDelhi] Report on South Asia seminar curtain raiser - 21 February, 2006 Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 00:40:19 +0530 From: Saba Dewan Reply-To: CACDelhi at yahoogroups.co.in To: cacDelhi at yahoogroups.co.in, vikalp at yahoogroups.com Report on the curtain raiser at Sarai, 21 February, 2006 The curtain raiser at Sarai to the South Asia seminar on censorship - Free Speech & Fearless Listening: The encounter with censorship in South Asia - organised by the Delhi Film Archive and the Films For Freedom, Delhi, in collaboration with Sarai and the Max Mueller Bhavan began with a brief introduction to the event by Shuddhabhrata Sen Gupta, who chaired the session. The panelists were Sudheer Pattnaik, Jitman Basnet, Hasan Zaidi, Vinod Jose, Malathi Maithri and Andres Viel. Welcoming the participants to the curtain raiser Shuddha suggested that the seminar be seen as a celebration of freedom of expression, not just a lament against censorship. Outlining the contours of the discussions planned for the next few days of the seminar he spoke of issues related to creativity, reportage and law and the censorship exercised by the state as well as non state actors. Shuddha also emphasized the need for a complex analyses and understanding of the issues related to censorship given the diversity of positions around free speech. He ended his introductory remarks by listing out some of the 54 books that have been banned in India through the past hundred years. These include Mother India by Catherine Mayo that was banned by the colonial government, Behind the iron curtain in Kashmir, a pamphalet, The Ramayana by Aubrey Menon and Nine Hours to Rama by Stanley Wolpert. Recently two books by David Laine on Shivaji have faced a similar fate. Shuddha then invited Sudheer Pattnaik, a media activist and journalist from Orissa to share his thoughts. Sudheer contextualised his presentation within the contemperory situation in Orissa and spoke pf the culture of questioning that has been emerging from amongst the tribals, the peasantry and the fishing communities who for decades have been promised development and well being through the setting up of by big projects such as NALCO and the Rourkela steel plant. Over the years people have realized the hallowness of these attempts to gain popular legitimacy. Interestingly and pointedly it is not only the state that is trying to repress this questioning through measures that are completely violative of human rights like mass arrests but various arms of the civil society too are not far behind in suppressing the voice of the people. The mainstream media, corporate sector as well as the NGO's have joined in the chorus of a "conspiracy theory'' and finger pointing at possible "culprits" who have ``instigated" the "innocent" tribals. This theory rests on the belief that the poor are not capable of thinking for themselves. It also makes it a crime to share the truth with people. Sudheer shared that his group the Independent Media consisting of filmmakers, writers and journalists have been trying to share this process of questioning by different groups of people with others in similar position in Orissa. They have been producing Samadristi an Oriya fortnightly news magazine and also creating videos, screening films and producing diverse literature that challanges the censorship being faced by the people. Jitman Basnet, a journalist and lawyer from Nepal now living in exile in Delhi shared his personal experience of censorship both by the Maoists and the monarchy. He was abducted by the Maoists for publishing in the monthly magazine edited by him, Sagarmatha Times , reports of the destruction caused by the political group. Subsequently he was arrested by the Royal Nepal Army and kept in detention for over 9 months for writing against the human rights abuse by the army and about the private assets of the king. Giving a broad outline of the climate of censorship that prevails in Nepal today, Jitman, said that over 20 journalists and 1500 political and human rights activists are still in custody of the Royal Nepal Army. More than 500 Nepali people are missing for the past 4-5 years .Press censorship is being forced on the media and no adverse reports on the monarchy are allowed. Several places in the Kathmandu valley have been declared restricted areas where no demonstrations or protests are allowed. Civilian areas have been bombed by the army and these have resulted in the death of so far uncounted civilians. Hasan Zaidi, filmmaker, journalist from Pakistan and also director of the Kara Film Festival talked of the anomolous situation in Pakistan today where under the present military regime media has seen a huge boom. Karachi alone has 9 FM radio channels and all over Pakistan atleast 25 new private television channels have come up. Hasan also shared that with the increase in TV channels there has been a reduction in the diversity of programming. Fierce competition for audiences has resulted in the complete phasing out of more "serious" programming like documentaries. The media boom in Pakistan has to operate within given restrictions. For example officially FM channels are not allowed to broadcast anything on politics. Some channels have flouted this restriction and one of them has been regularly re broadcasting the BBC's Urdu news. Similarly although Indian film music is banned it is broadcast regularly by the FM radios. Certain issues are tabboo for all media. Any issue categorised as "in the national interest" and that could include anything, is precluded from media scrutiny. Thus for example, issues related to development if examined from a critical or "hardline" perspective can be a cause of official ire. Similarly the role of the military, though open to being questioned, can only be done at one's peril. After 9/11 there has been a debate and requestioning of what constitutes freedom of expression and this has led to self censorship within the media. Hasan also talked about the role of the multinationals as censor bodies, apart from the state, since they provide funds for media outfits. Vinod Jose from the Free Press a Malayalam magazine that was published from Delhi by a group of young journalists shared how the periodical was forced to close done by the state and business interests. Letters from readers to the magazine were routinely scanned by the IB. Bundles of magazine on their way to Kerala would be picked up by the intelligence agencies. Increasingly no press in Delhi was ready to print the magazine and for some time it was printed from a press in Meerut. The newsprint suppliers too refused to supply newsprint under pressure from the state agencies. Distributors of the magazine as well as the Kerala based reporters were harassed and pressurised to leave the Free Press. Vinod Jose's family and acquitances too were questioned by the police. Sharing with the audience the possible reasons of this continuous harassment in the 16-17 months of the Free Press's existence Vinod talked of the investigative stories that the magazine had done about some of the biggest corporate interests in the country. One of the article had exposed the role of Reliance in the black economy and had listed 300 benami companies that operated from Reliance address and had taken crores worth of bank loans. He also talked about another investigative story on Intel Microsoft project in Kerala to impart computer education that had been riddled with corruption. Another article had exposed the succesful attempt by a South India based industrialist to get a river transferred to his name! This had led to a stay order in the court. Malathi Maithri a Feminist poet writing in Tamil talked about the need to speak out when violence and exploitation of all manner is being unleashed by the poweful. There is a need to formulate one's own means of resistence. Sharing her personal experience of being a women poet writing on female desire and the body she shared how large sections of a conservative literary mainstream had labeled her as an "anti cultural element" and she has been reported by the press as being "immoral". She said that women poets like her were not only writing about desire but also about the material hardships faced by women. However the latter aspect has never been highlighted by the literary mainstream who have been vocal about their outrage at women writing about sexuality. Feminist today, said Malathi, is one of the most abusive terms in Tamil literature. Andres Viel, noted filmmaker from Germany talked of the subtle and hidden ways in which censorship can be exerted by a coalition of interests that includes the state as well as economic forces. Direct economic pressure in the form of threats to stop advertisements are an effective way to silence investigative reports. Another way is more subtle. Journalists can be threatened with not being given a future chance to get any more information about a company if they were to persist in carrying on with their present story. Andres talked about his personal experience with censorship during the making of Black Box Germany when his house seemed burgled without any forced signs of entry or anything missing. It was a subtle threat that worse could follow. This form of censorship casts a shadow of fear and the longer this form of subtle intimidation continues the greater the erosion of confidence in the journalist or filmmaker about the validity of his investigation. This can eventually lead to self censorship. There was a vibrant discussion following these presentations. Sanjay Kak and Lawrence Liang spoke about the censorship regime posed by copright laws in the west and its advent to India. The discussion then geered back to Sudheer Pattnaik who spoke of his group's long term strategy plan to organise readers collectives to protect their magazine from being shut down as Free Press had been forced to do. The need to mobilise people - readers, audiences - as a vibrant and active force to challenge the censorship regimes was stressed. Arundhati Roy however made an insightful observation that it is easier to organise people to protest against censorship of information around "just" causes such as development but society itself can pose a threat to freedom of expression when it is seen to be violative of existing norms as in the case of Malathi Maithri and other women poets writing about female desire in Tamil. Tomorrow, 22 February, the seminar begins at the Max Mueller Bhavan at 9.30am sharp. Please find below the schedule for tomorrow - 22 February 2006 Wednesday Max Mueller Bhawan, Kasturba Gandhi Marg 9:30 - 10:00 am : Opening Remarks: Rahul Roy / Delhi Film Archive 10:00 - 11:30 am : Reports from the Region Hassan Zaidi (Karachi) Jitman Basnet (Kathmandu/ Delhi) Prasanna Vithanage (Colombo) Tanvir Mokammel (Dhaka) Tenzin Tsundoe (Dharamsala) Video Intervention: May Nyein (Burma) presented by Nem Davies Chair Amar Kanwar 12:00 - 1:30 pm : Framed by the law Lawrence Liang (Bangalore) Sara Hossein (Dhaka) Discussants: Jitman Basnet / Prasanna Vithanage / Hassan Zaidi Intervention: Shahid Amin (Delhi) Chair Usha Ramanathan 2:30 - 4:00 pm : Court Encounters PA Sebastian (Mumbai) Sara Hossein (Dhaka) Discussants: Lawrence Liang / Prasanna Vithanage Chair Prashant Bhushan 4:30 - 6:00 pm : Silences from Srinagar & Shillong Aijaz Hussain (Srinagar) P G Rasul (Srinagar) Robin S Ngangom (Shillong) Tarun Bhartiya (Shillong) Intervention: Parvaiz Bukhari (Srinagar) Chair Sanjay Kak 6:00 pm l Screening Black Box Germany (102 min) dir: Andres Veiel (director present) discussant: Shuddhabrata Sengupta .. Saba Dewan A-19, Gulmohar Park New Delhi 110049 Tel: 00-91-11-26515161 Fax: 00-91-11-26522230 Email: sabadewan at gmail.com khel at vsnl.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/CACDelhi/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: CACDelhi-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.co.in <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://in.docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ From jeebesh at sarai.net Wed Feb 22 10:19:42 2006 From: jeebesh at sarai.net (Jeebesh Bagchi) Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 10:19:42 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Report on South Asia seminar curtain raiser - 21 February, 2006] In-Reply-To: <43FB6B64.4000106@sarai.net> References: <43FB6B64.4000106@sarai.net> Message-ID: <628FE473-B4D5-4DB6-AEA1-00599AB5D5A3@sarai.net> Listening to the speakers and now reading the report (which is brilliantly compiled) a few questions surfaced. (I) Somewhere, at stake is an understanding of the nature of the censorial `power` that confronts voices from being articulated and circulated. Now what is this `power`? Does it have a manifest location or it is very diffused and dispersed to locate or fix it? All `voices` that are /banned/discredited/disallowed seems very `frail`, `fragile`, `weak` on the surface, in terms of it's reach. Then why is `power` intimated by it.? What does this has to say about the nature of power itself? Is it too besieged, uncertain and weak that a `faint` voice can destabilize it from it's pedestal.? What would this account of power mean in terms of practices of `counter-publics`? (II) The processes of `intimidation` by censors (here i use it in the broadest meaning) seems to follow a defined trajectory. Why not have a public listing of all these intimidation and this can be sourced from all over and have a engaged thinking of how to `bypass` it if possible, `confront` it when needed, `publicize` it gain ground, etc. (iii) What happens to our sources of self when intimidated, confronted, faced with the might of the `censor`.? This is a critical question as there is an increasing doubt on an `open` life after `authoritarian` assault. Positions gets hardened and world divide itself into the 20th C grand metaphor of `friend or foes`. Maybe we can find a way to discuss this. warmly jeebesh On 22-Feb-06, at 1:05 AM, Shuddhabrata Sengupta wrote: > Dear Friends, > > This is a report on the 'curtain raiser' to the South Asia Seminar > on Censorship : Free Speech and Fearless Listening - The Encounter > with Censorship in South Asia - that has already been announced on > this list. This report, which I am forwarding on to the reader list > (apologies for cross posting to those already on the CAC list) is a > narrative of the discussion at Sarai-CSDS earlier today, compiled > by Saba Dewan (Delhi Film Archive, Campaign Against Censorship) and > posted on the CACDelhi list. > > Looking forward to intense discussion and new ideas in the next few > days,as the seminar moves to Max Muller Bhavan in Delhi > > regards > > Shuddha > > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: [CACDelhi] Report on South Asia seminar curtain raiser - > 21 February, 2006 > Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 00:40:19 +0530 > From: Saba Dewan > Reply-To: CACDelhi at yahoogroups.co.in > To: cacDelhi at yahoogroups.co.in, vikalp at yahoogroups.com > > Report on the curtain raiser at Sarai, 21 February, 2006 > > The curtain raiser at Sarai to the South Asia seminar on censorship > - Free > Speech & Fearless Listening: The encounter with censorship in South > Asia - > organised by the Delhi Film Archive and the Films For Freedom, > Delhi, in > collaboration with Sarai and the Max Mueller Bhavan began with a brief > introduction to the event by Shuddhabhrata Sen Gupta, who chaired the > session. The panelists were Sudheer Pattnaik, Jitman Basnet, Hasan > Zaidi, > Vinod Jose, Malathi Maithri and Andres Viel. > > Welcoming the participants to the curtain raiser Shuddha suggested > that the > seminar be seen as a celebration of freedom of expression, not just > a lament > against censorship. Outlining the contours of the discussions > planned for > the next few days of the seminar he spoke of issues related to > creativity, > reportage and law and the censorship exercised by the state as > well as non > state actors. Shuddha also emphasized the need for a complex > analyses and > understanding of the issues related to censorship given the > diversity of > positions around free speech. He ended his introductory remarks by > listing > out some of the 54 books that have been banned in India through the > past > hundred years. These include Mother India by Catherine Mayo that > was banned > by the colonial government, Behind the iron curtain in Kashmir, a > pamphalet, > The Ramayana by Aubrey Menon and Nine Hours to Rama by Stanley > Wolpert. > Recently two books by David Laine on Shivaji have faced a similar > fate. > > Shuddha then invited Sudheer Pattnaik, a media activist and > journalist from > Orissa to share his thoughts. Sudheer contextualised his > presentation within > the contemperory situation in Orissa and spoke pf the culture of > questioning > that has been emerging from amongst the tribals, the peasantry and the > fishing communities who for decades have been promised development > and well > being through the setting up of by big projects such as NALCO and the > Rourkela steel plant. Over the years people have realized the > hallowness of > these attempts to gain popular legitimacy. Interestingly and > pointedly it is > not only the state that is trying to repress this questioning through > measures that are completely violative of human rights like mass > arrests but > various arms of the civil society too are not far behind in > suppressing the > voice of the people. The mainstream media, corporate sector as well > as the > NGO's have joined in the chorus of a "conspiracy theory'' and finger > pointing at possible "culprits" who have ``instigated" the "innocent" > tribals. This theory rests on the belief that the poor are not > capable of > thinking for themselves. It also makes it a crime to share the > truth with > people. > > Sudheer shared that his group the Independent Media consisting of > filmmakers, writers and journalists have been trying to share this > process > of questioning by different groups of people with others in similar > position > in Orissa. They have been producing Samadristi an Oriya fortnightly > news > magazine and also creating videos, screening films and producing > diverse > literature that challanges the censorship being faced by the people. > > Jitman Basnet, a journalist and lawyer from Nepal now living in > exile in > Delhi shared his personal experience of censorship both by the > Maoists and > the monarchy. He was abducted by the Maoists for publishing in the > monthly > magazine edited by him, Sagarmatha Times , reports of the > destruction caused > by the political group. Subsequently he was arrested by the Royal > Nepal Army > and kept in detention for over 9 months for writing against the > human rights > abuse by the army and about the private assets of the king. Giving > a broad > outline of the climate of censorship that prevails in Nepal today, > Jitman, > said that over 20 journalists and 1500 political and human rights > activists > are still in custody of the Royal Nepal Army. More than 500 Nepali > people > are missing for the past 4-5 years .Press censorship is being > forced on the > media and no adverse reports on the monarchy are allowed. Several > places in > the Kathmandu valley have been declared restricted areas where no > demonstrations or protests are allowed. Civilian areas have been > bombed by > the army and these have resulted in the death of so far uncounted > civilians. > > Hasan Zaidi, filmmaker, journalist from Pakistan and also director > of the > Kara Film Festival talked of the anomolous situation in Pakistan > today where > under the present military regime media has seen a huge boom. > Karachi alone > has 9 FM radio channels and all over Pakistan atleast 25 new private > television channels have come up. Hasan also shared that with the > increase > in TV channels there has been a reduction in the diversity of > programming. > Fierce competition for audiences has resulted in the complete > phasing out of > more "serious" programming like documentaries. > > The media boom in Pakistan has to operate within given > restrictions. For > example officially FM channels are not allowed to broadcast > anything on > politics. Some channels have flouted this restriction and one of > them has > been regularly re broadcasting the BBC's Urdu news. Similarly although > Indian film music is banned it is broadcast regularly by the FM > radios. > Certain issues are tabboo for all media. Any issue categorised as > "in the > national interest" and that could include anything, is precluded > from > media scrutiny. Thus for example, issues related to development if > examined > from a critical or "hardline" perspective can be a cause of > official ire. > Similarly the role of the military, though open to being > questioned, can > only be done at one's peril. After 9/11 there has been a debate and > requestioning of what constitutes freedom of expression and this > has led to > self censorship within the media. Hasan also talked about the role > of the > multinationals as censor bodies, apart from the state, since they > provide > funds for media outfits. > > Vinod Jose from the Free Press a Malayalam magazine that was > published from > Delhi by a group of young journalists shared how the periodical was > forced > to close done by the state and business interests. Letters from > readers to > the magazine were routinely scanned by the IB. Bundles of magazine > on their > way to Kerala would be picked up by the intelligence agencies. > Increasingly > no press in Delhi was ready to print the magazine and for some > time it was > printed from a press in Meerut. The newsprint suppliers too refused to > supply newsprint under pressure from the state agencies. > Distributors of the > magazine as well as the Kerala based reporters were harassed and > pressurised > to leave the Free Press. Vinod Jose's family and acquitances too were > questioned by the police. > > Sharing with the audience the possible reasons of this continuous > harassment > in the 16-17 months of the Free Press's existence Vinod talked of the > investigative stories that the magazine had done about some of the > biggest > corporate interests in the country. One of the article had exposed > the role > of Reliance in the black economy and had listed 300 benami > companies that > operated from Reliance address and had taken crores worth of bank > loans. He > also talked about another investigative story on Intel Microsoft > project in > Kerala to impart computer education that had been riddled with > corruption. > Another article had exposed the succesful attempt by a South India > based > industrialist to get a river transferred to his name! This had led > to a stay > order in the court. > > Malathi Maithri a Feminist poet writing in Tamil talked about the > need to > speak out when violence > and exploitation of all manner is being unleashed by the poweful. > There is > a need to formulate one's own means of resistence. Sharing her > personal > experience of being a women poet writing on female desire and the > body she > shared how large sections of a conservative literary mainstream had > labeled > her as an "anti cultural element" and she has been reported by the > press as > being "immoral". She said that women poets like her were not only > writing > about desire but also about the material hardships faced by women. > However > the latter aspect has never been highlighted by the literary > mainstream who > have been vocal about their outrage at women writing about sexuality. > Feminist today, said Malathi, is one of the most abusive terms in > Tamil > literature. > > Andres Viel, noted filmmaker from Germany talked of the subtle and > hidden > ways in which censorship can be exerted by a coalition of interests > that > includes the state as well as economic forces. Direct economic > pressure in > the form of threats to stop advertisements are an effective way to > silence > investigative reports. Another way is more subtle. Journalists can be > threatened with not being given a future chance to get any more > information > about a company if they were to persist in carrying on with their > present > story. Andres talked about his personal experience with censorship > during > the making of Black Box Germany when his house seemed burgled > without any > forced signs of entry or anything missing. It was a subtle threat > that worse > could follow. This form of censorship casts a shadow of fear and > the longer > this form of subtle intimidation continues the greater the erosion of > confidence in the journalist or filmmaker about the validity of his > investigation. This can eventually lead to self censorship. > > There was a vibrant discussion following these presentations. > Sanjay Kak and > Lawrence Liang spoke about the censorship regime posed by copright > laws in > the west and its advent to India. The discussion then geered back to > Sudheer Pattnaik who spoke of his group's long term strategy plan to > organise readers collectives to protect their magazine from being > shut down > as Free Press had been forced to do. The need to mobilise people - > readers, > audiences - as a vibrant and active force to challenge the censorship > regimes was stressed. Arundhati Roy however made an insightful > observation > that it is easier to organise people to protest against > censorship of > information around "just" causes such as development but society > itself > can pose a threat to freedom of expression when it is seen to be > violative > of existing norms as in the case of Malathi Maithri and other women > poets > writing about female desire in Tamil. > > Tomorrow, 22 February, the seminar begins at the Max Mueller Bhavan > at 9.30am sharp. Please find below the schedule for tomorrow - > > 22 February 2006 Wednesday > Max Mueller Bhawan, Kasturba Gandhi Marg > > 9:30 - 10:00 am : Opening Remarks: > Rahul Roy / Delhi Film Archive > > 10:00 - 11:30 am : Reports from the Region > Hassan Zaidi (Karachi) Jitman Basnet (Kathmandu/ Delhi) Prasanna > Vithanage > (Colombo) Tanvir Mokammel (Dhaka) Tenzin Tsundoe (Dharamsala) Video > Intervention: May Nyein (Burma) presented by Nem Davies Chair Amar > Kanwar > > 12:00 - 1:30 pm : Framed by the law > Lawrence Liang (Bangalore) Sara Hossein (Dhaka) Discussants: Jitman > Basnet / > Prasanna Vithanage / Hassan Zaidi Intervention: Shahid Amin (Delhi) > Chair > Usha Ramanathan > > 2:30 - 4:00 pm : Court Encounters > PA Sebastian (Mumbai) Sara Hossein (Dhaka) > Discussants: Lawrence Liang / Prasanna Vithanage Chair Prashant > Bhushan > > 4:30 - 6:00 pm : Silences from Srinagar & Shillong > Aijaz Hussain (Srinagar) P G Rasul (Srinagar) Robin S Ngangom > (Shillong) > Tarun Bhartiya (Shillong) Intervention: Parvaiz Bukhari (Srinagar) > Chair > Sanjay Kak > > 6:00 pm l Screening > Black Box Germany (102 min) > dir: Andres Veiel (director present) > discussant: Shuddhabrata Sengupta > > > > .. > > > > > > > Saba Dewan > A-19, Gulmohar Park > New Delhi 110049 > Tel: 00-91-11-26515161 > Fax: 00-91-11-26522230 > Email: sabadewan at gmail.com > khel at vsnl.com > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: > http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/CACDelhi/ > > <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: > CACDelhi-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.co.in > > <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: > http://in.docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > > > > > > _________________________________________ > 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: > From s0454533 at sms.ed.ac.uk Wed Feb 22 12:32:20 2006 From: s0454533 at sms.ed.ac.uk (A Khanna) Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 07:02:20 +0000 Subject: [Reader-list] invitation to talk on lesbian and gay rights In-Reply-To: <1140469111.9090.195.camel@localhost.localdomain> References: <1140469111.9090.195.camel@localhost.localdomain> Message-ID: <20060222070220.5wydxzqde04wk4wk@www.sms.ed.ac.uk> Voices Against 377 presents a talk on LESBIAN AND GAY HUMAN RIGHTS IN INDIA International and Comparative Perspectives by Dr. Robert Wintemute Professor of Human Rights Law, School of Law, King's College, University of London followed by a discussion. Where: Casuarina Hall, India Habitat Centre, Lodi Road, New Delhi. When: Thursday, 23rd February 2006, 6.30 PM. Dr. Robert Wintemute is Professor of Human Rights Law in the School of Law, King's College, University of London, where he teaches European Union Law, Human Rights Law, and Anti-Discrimination Law. He is also the director in London of the four-year LLB in English and French law jointly offered by King's College and the Universite de Paris (Pantheon-Sorbonne). He is the author of 'Sexual Orientation and Human Rights: The United States Constitution, The European Convention and the Canadian Charter' (OUP, 1995/1997) and the editor (with honorary co-editor Mads Andenaes) of 'Legal Recognition of Same-Sex Partnerships: A Study of National, International and European Law' (Oxford, Hart Publishing, 2001). Voices Against 377 is a coalition of NGOs based in Delhi where a united voice is being articulated against the Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which has been a source of serious human rights violations. Text of the Indian Penal Code, Section 377 reads as: "Unnantural Offences: Whosoever has carnal intercourse against the order of nature, with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment with either description for a term, which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine." From kranenbu at xs4all.nl Wed Feb 22 18:21:56 2006 From: kranenbu at xs4all.nl (kranenbu at xs4all.nl) Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 13:51:56 +0100 (CET) Subject: [Reader-list] Report on South Asia seminar curtain raiser - 21 February, 2006] In-Reply-To: <628FE473-B4D5-4DB6-AEA1-00599AB5D5A3@sarai.net> Message-ID: <20060222134437.L5799-100000@xs2.xs4all.nl> Jeebesh, A quick reply, but this deserves a better one. Just intuitively now. Yes this is the very point, there is very little essence left, very little 'centre', in fact I think we - by our very notions and discourse of opposition (strategy/tactics) still uphold the now empty centre itself. It - raw violent power - only exists because we believe somehow it has either a transcendent or a viable real claim to backing up power, whereas all our systems are telling us al the time they cannot function without our invested embodied interest, somehow we keep believing that for the political systems we are born to this is not the case. But it is. The trouble is we have no good organizers no more with a clear view on structural change, Greetings from unsunny chilly Amsterdam, Rob. On Wed, 22 Feb 2006, Jeebesh Bagchi wrote: > Then why is `power` intimated by it.? > What does this has to say about the nature of power itself? > > Is it too besieged, uncertain and weak that a `faint` voice can > destabilize it from it's pedestal.? What would this account of power > mean in terms of practices of `counter-publics`? From sirfirf at yahoo.com Wed Feb 22 19:16:32 2006 From: sirfirf at yahoo.com (irfan) Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 05:46:32 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] Film by a young filmmaker+Venue Message-ID: <20060222134632.60251.qmail@web36815.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Sun 26th February 2006 7.00pm Gulmohar, India Habitat Centre,Lodhi Road,New Delhi > |DOCUMENTARY FILM| ’Ek Tha Lal Pari’ (46 min) a > film by Rajdeep Randhawa, produced by K.S. Media. > The > film revolves around the life of an eunuch – > Lalpari. The film has been selected for screening in > the 9th Mumbai International Documentary Film > Festival > 2006. For more details the filmmaker can be contactacted at: 9899193866 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com From beate at zurwehme.org Wed Feb 22 20:22:49 2006 From: beate at zurwehme.org (beate zurwehme) Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 15:52:49 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] P h a l l o g r e s s i o n ! Message-ID: new art movie by beate z.: " P h a l l o g r e s s i o n ! " http://zurwehme.org/phallogression.mp4 ^-click digital video 5min 46sec supported by hessische filmforderung 2006 | interlinking of media | practice with gender related issues http://zurwehme.org From shuddha at sarai.net Thu Feb 23 00:16:33 2006 From: shuddha at sarai.net (Shuddhabrata Sengupta) Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2006 00:16:33 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Report - Day 1 of South Asian Seminar on Censorship 22February 2006] Message-ID: <43FCB189.1070507@sarai.net> Apologies for Cross Posting - here is the report of day 1 of 'Free Speech and Fearless Listenign' This report is prepared by Samina Mishra regards Shuddha ---------------- Report on Day 1 of the seminar - Free Speech & Fearless Listening: The encounter with censorship in South Asia 22 February 2006 The first day of the seminar began early with Heiko Seivers from the Max Mueller Bhavan welcoming the participants and the audience to the seminar. He explained that the reason MMB was partnering with DFA and FFF on a seminar on censorship was because Germany is not completely free of censorship too. So, although the main focus of the seminar was South Asia, it was also an opportunity to widen the scope of the discussion and raise issues of concern in Europe and Germany. Rahul Roy spoke on behalf of Films for Freedom and the Delhi Film Archives. He began by thanking MMB and Sarai for their support in making this event possible. He described FFF and DFA as a peculiar political formation born out of an all India movement against censorship that existed without a bank account, office or office bearers and yet, had managed to organize many large and small events, screenings and protests. Pressure from FFF had also forced the government to appoint a ministerial committee to finally bring Indian films on par with foreign films, as far as freeing them from censorship at film festivals was concerned. Organising screenings was one of the strategies being used by FFF to fight censorship and this remained at the centre of the FFF vision. Rahul spoke of the awareness that filmmakers increasingly have that they are not alone in facing censorship, and therefore they need to forge bonds with others who suffer from being silenced in order to understand how censorship functions. He tried to explore why the seminar had a South Asia focus by talking about similar experiences across the region, whether it's a film not being given a censor certificate in India or news from conflict ridden areas being blanked out in Pakistan. He spoke of the logic of capital which would seem to make borders more porous in the South Asia region. This would affect not just people and their livelihoods but also modes of representation and so, the seminar could be a way of understanding the realities of censorship better as well as finding a space to dream about a shared resistance. This was followed by the first panel, Reports from the Region chaired by Amar Kanwar. Prasanna Vithanage, noted filmmaker from Srilanka, spoke of the situation in his country where the war between the majority Sinhalese governmnent and the Tamil Tigers had affected even art criticism and polarized artists. The demand for censorship was coming not just from the state but also from the Nationalists with articles appearing in the newspapers asking for films to be censored and filmmakers who are against the war being called traitors. One of the ways to discredit filmmakers is to label them as foreign funded and the films as being made for festivals and foreign audiences. To counter this, filmmakers in Sri Lanka are taking their films to the grassroots and showing them on DVD across the country. Prasanna also talked about the The November Movement in which filmmakers, artists and art lovers in Sri Lanka got together in November 2005 to create a space between ultra nationalism and neo liberalism. Jitman Basnet, a journalist and lawyer who now lives in exile in India, spoke of crisis in Nepal and the continued repression of political leaders, activists, journalists and lawyers. Nepal is today polarized between the king on one hand and the Maoists on the other. More than 1500 people have been detained under the Public Security Act. The ban on press freedom is complete and restrictions remain on the freedom of movement. In this context, the immediate need seems to be the restoration of democracy. Hasan Zaidi, writer and filmmaker from Karachi, presented the Pakistan scenario. He began by clarifying that there is quite a vibrant press in Pakistan and the current media boom is witnessing the mushrooming of private FM and TV channels, something which had not been allowed before the current regime. He called this phenomenon Killing through Ambiguity since while on the one hand this was happening under a quasi military dictatorship, on the other, the restrictions on the media were quite strict under earlier politically elected governments. He said that the government was reacting much more to TV than the press because there is a lot of money at stake and pressure can be put on the owners of the TV stations, if not the journalists. The mode of censorship seems to have changed as well. The proliferation of cable makes it possible to simply block a channel. So, Indian channels had been taken off the air for threatening the cultural sanctity of Pakistan and the BBC was taken off the air when a rumour was circulated about the possible telecast of the Prophet,s cartoons. He also spoke of pressure from non state actors who force the government to react and the situation remains ambiguous because it is unclear where the censorship is coming from. Nem Davies from the Mizzima News Agency Burma, presented a short interview with Burmese writer May Nyien now living in exile in Thailand. May Nyien spoke of leaving Burma because she could not work freely both as a teacher and as writer. The military junta in Burma tore pages from magazines where her stories had appeared because they dealt with the hardships of common people like farmers and teachers. Tenzin Tsundoe, from Dharamsala, spoke of his experiences in Tibet where he had been imprisoned by the Chinese government for having crossed over illegally. He talked of newspapers and radio bulletins that tried to create the notion of the ideal Tibetan citizen who eschewed Buddhism and the Dalai Lama and believed in the new development. He also spoke all the media in China being controlled by the government and of hardly any reports coming out of Tibet. In this context, he introduced the work of Woe Ser who is currently underground in Beijing as well as the work of singers and music video artists who were using subversive words and images to get their message across. He showed a music video by Nam Kha and Ba Gocha in this connection. Tenzin also spoke of censorship that comes from corporate control and self censorship that has not allowed Tibetans to question the role of the Dalai Lama for years. But, according to him, things have begun to change in this respect. Tanvir Mokammel from Dhaka presented the scenario in Bangladesh where censorship comes not just from the state but also from non state forces such as the Islamists. There is no censor board for video films and so, filmmakers who try and make films on video to avoid being censored often face being charged under criminal laws. The second panel was on censorship related law, Framed by Law. Usha Ramanathan, a Delhi based lawyer chaired the session. Lawrence Liang, Bangalore, talked of how the fundamental right to freedom of _expression was actually bound by many restrictions and so, to use the law to challenge censorship means the acceptance of those restrictions as well. In this connection, he presented his theory that it was necessary to move away from looking at censorship from a Prohibitive model, in which the law curtails freedom of speech, to a Productive model in which the law constitutes or produces a way of seeing. He explained this by using an example of Hate Speech in which the court when asked to censor hate speech actually ends up recreating the same categories of what it means to be nationalistic or anti nationalistic as the hate speech itself. Sara Hossein, a lawyer from Bangladesh, presented the legal scenario in Bangladesh which is legally still a secular and democratic republic and where the constitution guarantees freedom of speech and expression, albeit with restrictions. She spoke of how the Supreme Court was the one institution which was still functioning in Bangladesh but even that was beginning to change. Litigation to fight censorship is quite rare and often the arguments are made on technical grounds rather than challenging the larger issue. The panel presentations were followed by a short discussion in which Hasan Zaidi spoke of the Kara film festival choosing to not to go to court to take legal sanction for the festival since there was always the possibility that the court would rule against them and that could mean stopping the festival completely. Sanjay Kak raised the issue of filmmakers engaging in a conversation with the law because of their right to public space and demanding that right as a political act. Shuddhabhrata Sen Gupta pointed out that the first amendment that curtails the freedom of speech in the Indian constitution had come in through a set of legal processes and so, it could also be expunged through another set of legal processes. The post lunch session saw a more detailed engagement with the law. The panel titled - Court Encounters was chaired by Prashant Bhushan. P A Sebastian from Bombay spoke of the need to have censorship for hate speech and Sara Hossein spoke of two particular cases in Bangladesh which had been argued from the position of freedom of _expression. Prasanna Vithange then talked about his experience with courts in Sri Lanka. It was apparent from the session that across South Asia, the courts are not always a means of fighting censorship. This was emphasised by Lawrence who spoke of the need for non juridical responses to combat contested areas like hate speech. Both Shubhradeep and Shuddha questioned Sebastian\s position on hate speech but unfortunately, these could not be taken up since Sebastian had a flight to catch and had to leave for the airport. The last session of the day was Silences from Srinagar and Shillong chaired by Sanjay Kak. Aijaz Ahmed, journalist from Srinagar, laid out the media scenario in Kashmir where voices have been gagged for the sake of national security, propaganda and the interests of the petty bourgeoisie. He talked of stories of the disappeared which amounted to the censoring of human lives. He spoke of large areas of Kashmir going totally uncovered in the media and the presentation of the official version of events. He also spoke of a kind of pre censorship which exists because journalists have to be cleared by intelligence agencies before they are hired. Tarun Bharatiya, poet and activist based in Shillong, presented the scenario in the North East with freedom of expression being bound by an "illiberal bharat" on the one hand and autocratic regimes set up to oppose bharat on the other. P G Rasool, writer from Srinagar gave a detailed account of how information is controlled in Kashmir and of the growing organic relationship between the media and the government. Robin Ngangom, Manipuri English poet based in Shillong, spoke of writing the poetry of survival in the North East. He called it the art of witness and spoke of how the writer must fight for the liberty to tell the truth as he knows it. The session ended with writer Arundhati Roy speaking of the difference in the presentations from the two areas with the North East presentations talking about the dual guns of the state and the revolutionary whereas the ones from Kashmir had reflected only the suppression by the state. The day ended with the screening of Black Box, directed by Andres Veiel. Please find below tomrrow's schedule - day 2 23 February 2006 Thursday Max Mueller Bhawan, Kasturba Gandhi Marg 10:00 - 11:00 am : �Private� Censorship Andres Veiel (Berlin) Chair Shuddhabrata Sengupta 11:30 - 1:30 pm : Locating Hate & Censorship Deepak Mehta (Delhi) Sara Hossein (Dhaka) Shohini Ghosh (Delhi) Intervention: Arundhati Roy (Delhi) Shuddhabrata Sengupta (Delhi) Jawed Naqvi (Delhi) Chair Dilip Simeon 2:30 - 4:00 pm : Writing the body and mind Malathi Maithri (Pondicherry) Sanjay Srivastava (Delhi) In Conversation: Shuddhabrata Sengupta & Shohini Ghosh Chair TBA 4:30 - 6:00 pm : Fiction in the Censors Web Anurag Kashyap (Mumbai) Prasanna Vithanage (Colombo) Tanvir Mokammel (Dhaka) Vimukthi Jayasundara (Colombo/Paris) Chair Ranjani Mazumdar 6:00 pm l Screening Sulanga Enu Pinisa (The Forsaken Land) dir: Vimukthi Jayasundara (director present) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/CACDelhi/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: CACDelhi-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.co.in <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://in.docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ From kaushiki.rao at gmail.com Thu Feb 23 17:08:31 2006 From: kaushiki.rao at gmail.com (Kaushiki Rao) Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2006 17:08:31 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] i-fellow post two Message-ID: <53241df60602230338q5cdcc093hb417bc347a434d2d@mail.gmail.com> I'm really sorry to be so late with my posting. I've been trying to set up a blog and scan pictures for a while now, and have only just figured out how. (My blog is more horribly pink than I planned and the pictures are kind of mini-sized. Still.) a FEW observations: Getting to know Bawana has been really fun. Every time I drive in I get a little jolted. I cannot get over the sudden transformation from wide, empty, open spaces to congested, narrow gullies and three storey buildings. Although it is physically quite small – maybe about 3 km sq. – it contains a great deal. Eight thousand families live here! Besides that, there are electronic stores, tailoring shops, dhabas, schools, and cinema shacks. Look on the blog I just set up ( www.bawanais.blogspot.com ). It has pictures of 1 ½ year old Bawana taken from the terrace of a building. Compare it with the pictures of the 20 year old Sarvapriya Vihar colony, also taken from an elevated angle. They're shockingly similar. Just today I was in Kondli, in East Delhi. This place used to be a village around which the city has grown. Walk away from the main road, and it still feels not quite part of a city. Each house is surrounded by a relatively large plot of land, buffaloes walk the streets munching their lunch, and it's truly quiet. It's hard to believe that this place is only 10 minutes from the very busy, very urban Laxminagar. Getting to know people in Bawana has been interesting too. Many people in their early 20s are free during the day, and talking to them has been great. Many have discontinued college because it is so far away and they cannot get to it in time for class. Instead, they've set up several youth organizations – Yuva Kendra Munch, and a theatre group for example – and they use these as a means to spread what they term "social awareness" about cleanliness, AIDS and other issues they consider important. Beauty and Sanju, two such youth, were telling me that because the government did not distinguish between castes or between ethnic backgrounds while distributing plots, people of different castes and ethnicities now live next to each other. Where in the Yamuna Pushta there used to a be a Bengali block, a Punjabi block, a Rajasthani block, a Jat block and even a Madarasi block, here in Bawana everyone lives all mixed up. When I asked if they or anyone else they know find that strange, they said that it was a bit disconcerting at first – different cooking smells, different foods, different languages, different ideas of neighbourliness. People didn't know how much to trust each other anymore. But now, they say, people enjoy it. Neighbours exchange recipes and languages. Planned urban design is the base from which people seem to rebuild their lives. The size of a plot, where it is located, how permanently it belongs to the resettled resident – these all form a part of the base from which people settle into a space. So, over the next month or so, I plan to research Delhi's resettlement and urban planning policies. From aesthete at mail.jnu.ac.in Mon Feb 20 17:39:11 2006 From: aesthete at mail.jnu.ac.in (Dean School of Arts and Aesthetics) Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 17:39:11 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Performing Arts seminar and workshop Message-ID: <1140437351.8a6a7200aesthete@mail.jnu.ac.in> Engendering performing arts…… .. interpreting performing arts through gender and sexuality… The School of Arts and Aesthetics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi will organize a five day Performing Arts seminar and workshop from February 22nd through February 25th, 2006 . This Seminar and Workshop is structured as an introduction for students of Performing Arts to search and engage with unfamiliar vocabulary and ways of looking and interpreting the Performing Arts particularly in the areas of gender and sexuality. This interaction between the scholars , artists and the students will serve as an introduction to recent developments in culture studies of theater and dance particularly, and will seek to examine how dance and traditional theater as an embodied practice is a useful medium for analyzing ideologies of gender, class, race, ethnicity, sexuality and national identity. We hope the students would be nudged towards the critical approaches in performing arts as informed by feminist theory, post-structural and post-colonial theory, and ethnography. They will also interrogate the relationship between writing and choreography and the ways in which dancers, choreographers and scholars grapple with the task of translating dance and also theater from the performed to the written. The goal is to gain an understanding of theoretical tools used for conceptualizing and writing about dance in a variety of social and historical contexts. . Through studies in performing arts we can examine how gender roles are learned and subsequently embodied and how socially marked bodies have been constructed by mass media. We can use this to examine the power of representation. In this seminar/ workshop, we hope to foreground issues of history, technology, movement, gender, race, and class in theater studies. These are our many concerns with which we hope to engage with the benefit of the scholarly contributions at this forthcoming seminar/workshop. Seminar/ Workshop/ Lecture demonstration Schedule - 22nd to 25th January, 2006: 22nd February, Wednesday- 2 PM -3.30 PM---Sadanand Menon (lec) Topic: SHEDDING SKIN: Dancing out of the Prisonhouse of the Self 4 PM - 5.30 PM -- Geeta Chandran (Lec-Dem) Topic: Imagining Peace- A Dance – Dialogue 6 PM -7.30 PM ---Urmila Bhidirkar(lec-dem) Topic: Issues in gender and music: Critical review of present studies 23rd February, Thursday- 2 PM -3.30 PM---Anuradha Kapoor and Kumkum Sangari Topic: Character / Narrative / Performance: Feminist Trajectories 3.45 PM -4.45 PM--- Shoumyabrata Choudhury Topic: Antegone and Anonymity 5.15 PM -7 PM---Maya Krishna Rao (Lec-dem) Topic: Experiments with performance language 24th February, Friday- 10 AM- 11 AM- Justin McCarthy Topic: Arguing for the need of plurality of Histories in the field of Bharatnatyam 11.30 AM – 1.30 PM Amal Allana 2.30 PM -4 PM ---Kanak Rele(Lec-dem) 4.30 PM -6.30 PM---Veena Pani Chawla(Lec-dem) Topic: The case for an Aesthetic of Hybridity 25th February, Saturday- 10 AM - 1.00--- - Navtej (Work Shop) 2.00 PM – 5 PM --- Jayachandran Palazhy (Lec-dem) Topic: Interdisciplinary aspect of creating performance work. ============================================== This Mail was Scanned for Virus and found Virus free ============================================== -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Engendering_performing_arts.doc Type: application/msword Size: 49664 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060220/a80cf6c0/attachment.doc -------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From gabyvargasc at prodigy.net.mx Mon Feb 20 20:53:27 2006 From: gabyvargasc at prodigy.net.mx (Gabriela Vargas-Cetina) Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 09:23:27 -0600 Subject: [Reader-list] Rajesh Mehar - 2nd Posting In-Reply-To: <20060219164756.82937.qmail@web30406.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: I am reading a great book I think a lot of you would find interesting: Haunted Weather. Music, Silence and Memory, by David Toop. It looks at creativity in music in the age of electronics and laptops. Gabriela Vargas-Cetina On 2/19/06 10:47 AM, "rajesh mehar" wrote: > When discussing creative musical work, we often use the terms original, copy, > remix, cover version, and so on, loosely. These terms are thrown about as if > there were neat categories into which every song can be categorized. Through > the discourse of the popular media, some of these words, like original, and > more recently, remix, have positive connotations. Some others, like copy, have > negative connotations associated with them. > > This week, I will leave you with the links to two posts on my blog for this > research project, dealing with: > > 1) Reflections on where these mystical boundary lines lie. How do tags get > assigned to material, calling them originals, ripoffs, copies, remixes or > cover versions? > (http://community.livejournal.com/whosemusic/893.html) > > 2) The DJ Danger Mouse story. > (http://community.livejournal.com/whosemusic/1265.html) > > More later. > > --Rajesh. > > > > > Yahoo! Mail > Use Photomail > om> to share photos without annoying attachments. > > _________________________________________ > 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: -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060220/955b601f/attachment.html From profm_hussain at yahoo.co.in Tue Feb 21 00:42:35 2006 From: profm_hussain at yahoo.co.in (monirul hussain) Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 19:12:35 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Reader-list] BOOK RELEASE CEREMONY Message-ID: <20060220191235.13130.qmail@web8314.mail.in.yahoo.com> Please do email me the Email ID of Prof.S.K.Thorat REgards/ Monirul Hussain Prof. Monirul Hussain Department of Political Science Gauhati University Guwahati 781014 North East India. Tel: 91+361-2674193 (Home) Additional email: monirulhussain at hotmail.com --------------------------------- Jiyo cricket on Yahoo! India cricket Yahoo! Messenger Mobile Stay in touch with your buddies all the time. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060220/d72c0170/attachment.html From geert at xs4all.nl Tue Feb 21 02:20:39 2006 From: geert at xs4all.nl (Geert Lovink) Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 21:50:39 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] what's in a name? In-Reply-To: <1124.61.246.29.187.1140462990.squirrel@mail.sarai.net> References: <1124.61.246.29.187.1140462990.squirrel@mail.sarai.net> Message-ID: <7422b97ecae2fee8e540111fc34accf8@xs4all.nl> hi, can anyone explain to me why denmark is such an interesting country? geert On 20 Feb 2006, at 8:16 PM, aarti at sarai.net wrote: > What's in a name? Much apparently in denmark where parents must choose > a > baby's name from a pre-approved list. If you wish to name your little > bundle of joy something bizzare like "chutney" then you must submit an > application to the government's "Names Investigation Department". > > read on.. > http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/08/international/europe/08names.html? > ex=1254974400&en=2dd65b3bf717f9db&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&pagewante > d=all > > Jens and Vita, but Molli? Danes Favor Common Names > By LIZETTE ALVAREZ > > Published: October 8, 2004 > > COPENHAGEN - If Denmark somehow morphed into the celebrity epicenter of > the universe, there would be no place for the baby-naming > eccentricities > of the world's megastars. > > Apple Paltrow Martin would be rejected as a fruit, Jett Travolta as a > plane (and misspelled as well), Brooklyn Beckham as a place, and Rumer > Willis, as, well, Danish name investigators would not even know where > to > begin with that one. > > Advertisement > > "Cuba is also a problem,'' said Michael Lerche Nielsen, assistant > professor for the Department of Name Research at Copenhagen > University. "I > have to decide: Is this a typical boy or girl name? And that's the > problem > with geographical names." > > In Denmark, a country that embraces rules with the same gusto that > Italy > defies them, choosing a first and last name for a child is a serious, > multitiered affair, governed by law and subject to the approval of the > Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs and the Ministry of Family and > Consumer > Affairs. > > At its heart, the Law on Personal Names is designed to protect > Denmark's > innocents - the children who are undeservedly, some would say cruelly, > burdened by preposterous or silly names. It is the state's view that > children should not suffer ridicule and abuse because of their parents' > lapses in judgment or their misguided attempts to be hip. Denmark, like > much of Scandinavia, prizes sameness, not uniqueness, just as it values > usefulness, not frivolousness. > > "You shouldn't stand out from anyone else here; you shouldn't think you > are better than anyone else," said Lan Tan, a 27, Danish woman of > Singaporean and Malaysian descent who is trying to win approval for her > daughter's name, Frida Mei Tan-Farndsen. "It's very Scandinavian." > > While other Scandinavian countries have similar laws, Denmark's is the > strictest. So strict that the Danish Ministry of Justice is proposing > to > relax the law to reflect today's Denmark, a place where common-law > marriage is accepted, immigration is growing, and divorce is routine. > The > measure, which would add names to the official list, is scheduled for > debate in Parliament in November. "The government, from a historical > point > of view, feels a responsibility towards its weak citizens," said Rasmus > Larsen, chief adviser at the Ministry for Ecclesiastical Affairs, > discussing the law. "It doesn't want to see people put in a situation > where they can't defend themselves. We do the same in traffic; we have > people wear seat belts." > > People expecting children can choose a pre-approved name from a > government > list of 7,000 mostly Western European and English names - 3,000 for > boys, > 4,000 for girls. A few ethnic names, like Ali and Hassan, have recently > been added. But those wishing to deviate from the official list must > seek > permission at their local parish church, where all newborns' names are > registered. A request for an unapproved name triggers a review at > Copenhagen University's Names Investigation Department and at the > Ministry > of Ecclesiastical Affairs, which has the ultimate authority. The law > only > applies if one of the parents is Danish. > > Many parents do not realize how difficult it can be to get a name > approved > by the government. About 1,100 names are reviewed every year, and 15 > percent to 20 percent are rejected, mostly for odd spellings. Compound > surnames, like Tan-Farnsden, also pose a problem. > > Parents who try to be creative by naming their child Jakobp or Bebop or > Ashleiy (three recent applications) are typically stunned when they are > rejected. In some cases, a baby may go without an officially approved > name > for weeks, even months, making for irate, already sleep-deprived, > parents. > > Greg Nagan, 39, and Trine Kammer, 32, thought it would be cute to name > their daughter Molli Malou. To their surprise, Malou was not a problem, > but Molli with an I, which they thought sounded Danish, had to be > reviewed > by the government. The church told Ms. Kammer she needed to state in a > letter the reason for choosing Molli. She did so, and said she told the > clerk, "Here's your stupid letter: The reason for naming her Molli is > because we like it." > > "Isn't this silly?" Ms. Kammer said. "We love to make everything a rule > here. They love to bureaucratize." > > The century-old law was initially designed to bring order to surnames. > Before the law, surnames changed with every generation: Peter Hansen > would > name his son Hans Petersen. Then Hans Petersen would name his son Peter > Hansen. And on it went, wreaking bureaucratic havoc. The law ended > that. > It also made it difficult for people to change their last names, a move > that was designed to appease the noble class, which feared widespread > name-poaching by arrivistes, Mr. Nielsen said. > > Then in the 1960's, a furor erupted over the first name Tessa, which > resembled tisse, which means to urinate in Danish. Distressed over the > lack of direction in the law, the Danish government expanded the > statute > to grapple with first names. Now the law is as long as an average-size > book. > > It falls mostly to Mr. Nielsen, at Copenhagen University, to apply the > law > and review new names, on a case-by-case basis. In a nutshell, he said, > Danish law stipulates that boys and girls must have different names, > first > names cannot also be last names, and bizarre names are O.K. so long as > they are "common." > > "Let's say 25 different people" worldwide, he said, a number that was > chosen arbitrarily. How does Mr. Nielsen make that determination? He > searches the Internet. > > Generally, geographic names are rejected because they seldom denote > gender. Cairo, if it is approved at all, may be approved for a boy, but > then could not be used for a girl. Jordan is a recent exception to the > one-gender rule. > > In some cases, Mr. Nielsen says, he believes he is performing a vital > public service. He advised the Ministry that Anus and Pluto be > rejected, > for example. He also vetoed Monkey. "That's not a personal name, " Mr. > Nielsen explained. "It's an animal. I have to protect the children from > ridicule." > > Leica, however, has been approved, as has Benji, Jiminico and Fee. > > "People's names have become part of their identities now," Mr. Nielsen > said. "And people change their names the way you change your clothes or > your apartment. It has become more common." > > And what about Molli Malou? > > Approved, by government decree, just recently. > > _________________________________________ > 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: > From gnj_chanka at rediffmail.com Tue Feb 21 12:36:30 2006 From: gnj_chanka at rediffmail.com (girindranath jha) Date: 21 Feb 2006 07:06:30 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] about book: a novel by chetan Bhagat Message-ID: <20060221070630.25337.qmail@webmail49.rediffmail.com>   Winter 2004 ,a writer meet a young girl on a night train journey. Writer comes from Kanpur . To pass the time young girl offered to tell a story .But she had a condition ,that writer makes it into his second book.The writer hesitated ,but asked what the story.........the girl said the story ws about six people working in a call center -CONNEXIONS...three guys and three girls who worked at CONNEXION. The story begins and ends......but the story makes a home at reader's mind.Because the style and the way of of telling the story is so beautiful that anybody who read it wants to meet "three guys and three girls of CONNEXION.. Chetan bhagat' s this novel is in different shape of book , because this is a new experiment in the field of writting.the novel tell us about work culture ,the behaviour of the employee, the languges, the iner voice of emolyee of the callcenter.......etc.We know that the call center culture" at India attracts the young generation ....because this booming industry gives a lot of pocket money ... fashion....food culture and so many western style of living.....But when a young generation enters at callcenter bulding and recive a call or chatt from abroad then they knows the fact of CALLL CENTER.... Chetan bhagat tells something about it , thanks to him that he points out the callcenter and says yes to key board to type on these items.(so he also thanks to MS-WORD). A very intersting parts comes in this story when a call comes from the God.......God gives a long lesson to six people........God says that there are four things a person needs for sucess--------- 1. a medium amount of intelligence 2. a bit of imagination 3. self confidence 4. faliure--to be really sucessful So this book gives us a wonderful experience to know something extra about CALL CENTER. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060221/f316dd2d/attachment.html From uddipana at gmail.com Wed Feb 22 17:07:40 2006 From: uddipana at gmail.com (Uddipana Goswami) Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 17:07:40 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] follow up of february posting Message-ID: For those who have read the translated short story i posted a few days back - here's a follow up: http://my-guwahati.blogspot.com/2006/02/when-city-lost-its-soul-average-urban.html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060222/b5a4ec99/attachment.html From monica.mody at gmail.com Mon Feb 20 22:58:37 2006 From: monica.mody at gmail.com (Monica Mody) Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 22:58:37 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Talk by Robert Wintemute in Delhi In-Reply-To: <20060219140843.7307.qmail@web8511.mail.in.yahoo.com> References: <20060219140843.7307.qmail@web8511.mail.in.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <4badad3b0602200928m7d541e9ege59acdc46ba77447@mail.gmail.com> Voices Against 377 presents a talk on LESBIAN AND GAY HUMAN RIGHTS IN INDIA International and Comparative Perspectives by Dr. Robert Wintemute Professor of Human Rights Law, School of Law, King's College, University of London followed by a discussion. Where: Casuarina Hall, India Habitat Centre, Lodi Road, New Delhi. When: Thursday, 23rd February 2006, 6.30 PM. Dr. Robert Wintemute is Professor of Human Rights Law in the School of Law, King's College, University of London, where he teaches European Union Law, Human Rights Law, and Anti-Discrimination Law. He is also the director in London of the four-year LLB in English and French law jointly offered by King's College and the Universite de Paris (Pantheon-Sorbonne). He is the author of 'Sexual Orientation and Human Rights: The United States Constitution, The European Convention and the Canadian Charter' (OUP, 1995/1997) and the editor (with honorary co-editor Mads Andenaes) of 'Legal Recognition of Same-Sex Partnerships: A Study of National, International and European Law' (Oxford, Hart Publishing, 2001). Voices Against 377 is a coalition of NGOs based in Delhi where a united voice is being articulated against the Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which has been a source of serious human rights violations. Text of the Indian Penal Code, Section 377 reads as: "Unnantural Offences: Whosoever has carnal intercourse against the order of nature, with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment with either description for a term, which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine." _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From pukar at pukar.org.in Thu Feb 23 16:26:55 2006 From: pukar at pukar.org.in (PUKAR) Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2006 16:26:55 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [announcements] PUKAR Gender & Space: Call for papers for a roundtable discussion Message-ID: <001101c63867$dea12ed0$1dd0c0cb@freeda> Call for Papers: Roundtable Discussion Engendering Urban Public Space The PUKAR Gender and Space project has been researching the relationship between women and public space for the last two and a half years. We are currently at the writing stage of our research and would like to share our observations and analysis as well as receive inputs from the experiences of others who have been working on similar lines. To that end, we invite researchers, activists, advocates, journalists, architects, pedagogues and others working in the area of gender in relation to urban public space to a roundtable discussion of questions of engendering safety, infrastructure and citizenship. We refer to public space as a part of the public sphere. Public spaces for the purposes of this roundtable refers to streets, market places (across class contexts - that is including bazaars and malls); recreational spaces such as parks, theatres, restaurants, coffee shops; infrastructure such as subways, foot-over-bridges and public toilets; and modes of public transport including railway stations and bus stops. What we are looking for are presentations of research papers / studies / explorations that have engaged with questions of gender in relation to space, particularly urban public space. Each presentation is intended to be not longer than 15 minutes to leave more time for discussion. Presenters will receive an honorarium but the costs of travel and boarding will have to be covered by participants themselves. Please mail queries and abstracts of presentations to genderspace at pukar.org.in by March 10th, 2006. Date: 12 April 2006 Location: Mumbai Potential areas of focus could include: a.. Shrinking Public Spaces b.. Safety c.. Questions of Morality and Culture-policing d.. Sexuality and the City e.. Woman-friendly design f.. Legal concerns g.. Policy related matters h.. Infrastructure For more information on the PUKAR Gender and Space project please see: www.pukar.org.in PUKAR (Partners for Urban Knowledge Action and Research) Address:: 1-4, 2nd Floor, Kamanwala Chambers, Sir P. M. Road, Fort, Mumbai 400 001 Telephone:: +91 (22) 5574 8152 Fax:: +91 (22) 5664 0561 Email:: pukar at pukar.org.in Website:: www.pukar.org.in -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060223/5bd44a9e/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From foryou2005 at gmail.com Wed Feb 22 11:27:19 2006 From: foryou2005 at gmail.com (BHAVYA SRIVASTAVA) Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 11:27:19 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] About the Current state of Electronic News Media in India. Message-ID: One world : One India A dilemma, a confusion and the notion our Electronic media portray is a uncluttered synchronisation. I, eventually assume how the western media develop it, to compete the exact competition of luring. The breed of Indian Broadcasters has base in journalism and they sometime show their capabilities on screen to unleash the potential of any issue. But who think twenty years before that a tide of information sweeps the world. Today Indian viewer has 200+ channels. And he is really confused. What his choice and what is temting. Cultural imbalance is clearly shown in the viewing pattern. Like in north the viewer like entertainment with glamour and some illusion. North gives the India most selling newspapers, but in the case of Television they are not so enthusiastic to perplex their choices. Though some production houses seem to catch the nerve and try to fill the dreams with some overburden serials. But as Sociology and human psychology says that you want to dream, what you have not. And this is true in the case of eyecatching serials. Well the Western Indian is not very different in pattern, but the zoom in-out culture gives them some class. They are much more live in terms of work and lifestyle. They need slice version with butter and cheeze. Though the targeted serials of Indian psyche has oftenly narrated the west society to show that this is what India want. But when the feedback system in India is in nascent age and the viewer just get the On demand movie scheme, how can he say that this is absurd and not my choice of programme. The media also portary a dormant role. Some TV magazine and column on media activities are only tell that this is what we see last week/month. And he is the queen and king…lets talk some words. So the viewer has no clue how he say. TRP and TVR is clearly market driven indices. So question them didn't gave the answer. If you got trend of South and East, you saw a regional tendency and a bunch of regional centric channels are already there to serve the sentiments. East has solid feeling towards there identity and choices. They resent sometime on the image media play. So the better is that, the mainstream media never indulge the region in good entertainment. South is very choosy. They like movies, songs and news.But in their language. Some English channels may have some representation, but the market rein by regional players. So in a broad face the whole India is not integrated in terms of media culture. So the broadcaster has big challenge to make a one world. bhavya.s at etv.co.in -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060222/edbfa1ce/attachment.html From dak at sarai.net Thu Feb 23 18:28:54 2006 From: dak at sarai.net (The Sarai Programme) Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2006 18:28:54 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Internet and The Culture of Openness Message-ID: <43FDB18E.9050503@sarai.net> ######################################################################## CACIM and Sarai/CSDS invites you to a discussion on * "Internet and The Culture of Openness" * Date : March 2, 2006, Thursday Time : 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm Venue: Sarai-CSDS, 29 Rajpur Road, New Delhi 110054 ######################################################################### In recent years, the idea and practices of openness seem to have become very popular, especially on the Internet. That this is not restricted to the electronic realm is evident from one of the popular concepts of the World Social Forum (WSF) -- while the WSF means many things to many people, one of the more prominent conceptions of the WSF is as an 'open space' where individuals, organizations, and movements come together, share, exchange, build bridges, relationships, strategize, etc. Today, various trends and practices of "openness" are prevalent on the Internet -- the free/open-source movement has in turn spurred various other endeavours from open access journals, open maps, open knowledge, open content, open design, open publishing, open encyclopedias (wikipedia), open politics, open democracy, and so on. Clearly, most of these endeavours in "openness" appear rooted in the potential and promise of the Internet -- as an interactive communication medium where everyone can potentially reach out to anyone in the wide open world. Yet, in the course of the last year or so, there have been developments that raise several questions about how true this really is, and how long will it reamin to be true. There was the struggle over control of Internet's root servers, then the case of Yahoo! enabling the Chinese Government to convict a journalist, and recently, Google's capitulation to Chinese demands for content censorship. The question here is more about the robustness of openness of the Internet rather than about Yahoo or Google. With this extremely brief background and context, we invite you to a discussion to take a critical look on the theme "Internet and the culture of openness", the promise, potential, and practicality of it. Theme: Internet and the culture of openness Date : March 2, 2006, Thursday Time : 2:00 pm Venue: Sarai, CSDS, 29, Rajpur Road, New Delhi 110 054 We encourage submissions from you before the meeting (at least an idea or a question that you would like to bring up during the meeting) so that it can help us facilitate a logical flow during the discussion. Even if you are not from Delhi, and/or cannot be part of the discussion, we encourage you to write in -- your contribution will be shared with the group. We also hope to put up some of this material on a website (open to, participation of course!). Here are some questions to consider: - Is the underlying idea of openness particularly new to the Internet era? Or, what is the history of this value of openness? What can we say of its appeal in the future? - Are we now entering a world losing control over our commons in the real world and getting enraptured by the commons of the electronic world? - How much of this practice of "openness", so prevalent in the domain of the Internet, carries over to the domain of interactions in the world of flesh-and-blood? Seen another way, if found desirable, how does one translate the practice and culture of openness from the electronic world to the "real" world? - How stable and robust are these practices of openness in the electronic world, dependent as strongly as they are on technological enablers that, atleast on the surface, seem easily subverted? Seen another way, what are the weaknesses of the Internet-driven cultures of openness? Write to Subbu (sastry at cs.wisc.edu), Seby (sebydesiolim at cacim.net), Madhuresh (cacim at cacim.net), Shuddhabrata (shuddha at sarai.net), or Gora (gora_mohanty at rediffmail.com). Note on CACIM ------------- *CACIM*, the India Institute for Critical Action : Centre in Movement, aims to create spaces for cross-disciplinary, cross-cultural reflection and action in relation to movement in its broader sense, of motion, _expression, and change as a fundamental fact of life and society. Our goal is to support and encourage all those involved in different ways with 'movement' - activists, researchers, professionals, artistes, and thinkers, both the more mature and young, and both from 'civil' and 'incivil' worlds - in our respective work as individuals and organisations and also in networks. Our present focus is on cultures of politics in movement, the exploration of open space as a political-cultural concept, and exploring through actions, cyberspace as open space. CACIM sees itself not as an independent organisation but interlinked and interdependent, plugged into and learning from the world around us. With this vision, we presently conceive CACIM as evolving into a hub within networks among individuals and organisations located in different parts of India and the world. info at cacim.net _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From clifton at altlawforum.org Thu Feb 23 18:23:30 2006 From: clifton at altlawforum.org (Clifton) Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2006 18:23:30 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Protest against water privatisation: 24th Feb, 5.30 pm at Town Hall Message-ID: <43FDB04A.60408@altlawforum.org> Dear Friends, *Protest against water privatisation Venue: Town Hall Time: 5.30 p.m. Date: 24th February, 2006* The struggle against water privatisation continues. _A group of students (60 in all) have embarked on a padh yatra (walk) from Anekal to Bangalore to raise awareness about critical water issues especially water privatisation and its serious impacts. _ Today (23rd) morning they began from Anekal and having passed through several villages where they have held discussions. They will be reaching Bangalore tomorrow evening and joining the Campaign Against Water Privatisation to protest against water privatisation at Town Hall at 5.30 p.m. Several eminent persons will be present there including Rajendra Singh (Magsaysay Award Winner), Gowri Lankesh, Indudhara Honnapura, Mavalli Shankar, C. Basavalingaiah, B. Suresh, Mahesh Sukadhare and others. Please attend the protest tomorrow and bring your friends along. In solidarity Clifton From ysaeed7 at yahoo.com Thu Feb 23 21:00:38 2006 From: ysaeed7 at yahoo.com (Yousuf) Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2006 07:30:38 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] Afghan objects to India-Pak war terminology Message-ID: <20060223153038.42932.qmail@web51404.mail.yahoo.com> This is a very interesting news. If you remember Pakistan naming their ballistic missiles as Ghauri and Ghazni to counter India's Prithvi and so on. Appearantly Afghans don't like that idea... They would probably not like a particular kind of history-writers of India too: ------- February 23, 2006 Thursday Muharram 24, 1427 DAWN Kabul objects to Pakistani missile names KABUL, Feb 22: Afghanistan formally complained to Pakistan for naming its ballistic missiles and other weapons after historic Afghan heroes, a minister said here on Wednesday. Afghan Information Minister Makhdom Raheen said that Kabul had recently sent a letter through its foreign ministry to Pakistan over the use of names of Afghan nation’s heroes, including Mohammed Ghauri, a 12th-century conqueror who ruled what is now Afghanistan and invaded areas in what is now India and Pakistan several times. A series of Pakistan’s ballistic missiles is named after Ghauri, including a 1,500-kilometre-range nuclear-capable weapon. “We asked them (Pakistan) not to use the names of great elders of Afghanistan on weapons of mass destruction or other war equipment,” Mr Raheen said. “These great elders played a major part in building national solidarity and in transferring science and knowledge from the homeland across southwest Asia.” Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam refused to comment or say whether it had received such a letter. Afghanistan is also complaining about Pakistan’s use of the name of Ahmad Shah Abdali, an 18th century king who founded the powerful Durrani dynasty, on a weapon that Raheen did not identify. Abdali laid the foundations for the Pashtun tribal rule in Afghanistan. Mr Raheen said Pakistan was welcome to use the names but only for peaceful things like memorials, monuments, conference rooms and historical places. — AP __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com From sunil at mahiti.org Fri Feb 24 05:51:00 2006 From: sunil at mahiti.org (Sunil Abraham) Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 01:21:00 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] CI: New report finds WIPO is failing the world?s poorest consumers Message-ID: <1140740460.5135.122.camel@localhost.localdomain> Press release Copyright is pricing consumers out of knowledge New report finds WIPO is failing the world’s poorest consumers The worldwide federation of consumer organisations, Consumers International (CI), has condemned WIPO technical assistance as ‘thoroughly inadequate’, and is demanding a wholesale review of the organisation’s legislative advice to developing countries. The criticism comes as Consumers International publishes the findings of its study into the copyright laws of 11 Asian countries, released to coincide with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) development agenda summit in Geneva (20-24 February). The ‘Copyright and Access to Knowledge’* report finds that all 11 countries, including China, India and Malaysia, have given copyright owners far more protection than the intellectual property treaties they have signed up to require. As a result, copyrighted educational materials in these countries are expensive and consumers are being priced out of access to knowledge. Imported books are prohibitively priced. When considered in terms of GDP for instance, selling students a book at US $27 in Indonesia is equivalent to selling it to students in the US at US$1,048 ** The report concludes that WIPO is failing to provide developing countries with the technical assistance they need to take advantage of copyright exemptions and limitations written into international IP treaties. In doing so, WIPO is tacitly supporting the unfair IP demands of governments and businesses in the developed world at the expense of consumers in poorer nations. Richard Lloyd, Director General of Consumers International said: ‘In order to develop, poorer nations need access to affordable learning materials. Yet immense pressure from the developed world has meant many of the copyright laws in these countries are tougher than they need to be. This means consumers are being priced out of the opportunity to learn. WIPO must support its developing world member states and provide them with the technical assistance they need to effectively implement their rights under international law. ’ Note for editors Consumers International (CI) is a federation of consumer organisations dedicated to the protection and promotion of consumer's rights worldwide through empowering national consumer groups and campaigning at the international level. It currently represents over 230 organisations in 113 countries. www.consumersinternational.org *‘Copyright and Access to Knowledge’ (2006) is published by Consumers International’s Asia Pacific Office. It examines the copyright laws in Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Thailand. **When a student in Indonesia pays US$27 for International Accounting (5th Edition) by Frederick D.S. Choi, Gary K Meek, it is equivalent to a student in the US paying US$1,048 for the same book in GDP per capita terms and US$302 when compared using the GDP per capita calculated at purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rate. Consumers International Director General, Richard Lloyd and Head of CI Asia Pacific, Rajes Kanniah are available for interview. Please contact Luke Upchurch +44 788 767 7930 -- Sunil Abraham, sunil at mahiti.org http://www.mahiti.org "Vijay Kiran" IInd Floor, 314/1, 7th Cross, Domlur Bangalore - 560 071 Karnataka, INDIA Ph/Fax: +91 80 51150580. Mob: (91) 9342201521 UK: (44) 02000000259 From geert at desk.nl Fri Feb 24 04:00:17 2006 From: geert at desk.nl (geert lovink) Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2006 23:30:17 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] please link to this site: http://waldvogel.plaintext.cc/ Message-ID: > From: Inke Arns > Date: 23 February 2006 7:13:44 PM > To: spectre at mikrolisten.de > Subject: [spectre] please link to this site: > http://waldvogel.plaintext.cc/ > > Dear Spectres, > > it would be great if you could link to this site > > http://waldvogel.plaintext.cc/ (generously generated by Florian > Cramer!) > > If enough people do this, Google will display this website on the top > of its search results for "Florian Waldvogel". > > Just to remind you: Mr. Waldvogel is one of the three curators of the > upcoming Manfesta in Cyprus. > > Many greetings, > Inke > > > -- > > Dr. Inke Arns > Artistic Director > Hartware MedienKunstVerein > Güntherstrasse 65 * D-44143 Dortmund > T ++49 (231) 823 106 > F ++49 (231) 882 02 40 > inke.arns at hmkv.de > http://www.hmkv.de > http://www.projects.v2.nl/~arns/ > http://waldvogel.plaintext.cc/ > > ______________________________________________ > SPECTRE list for media culture in Deep Europe > Info, archive and help: > http://coredump.buug.de/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/spectre > > > From beate at zurwehme.org Fri Feb 24 05:44:32 2006 From: beate at zurwehme.org (beate zurwehme) Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 01:14:32 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] please link to this site: http://waldvogel.plaintext.cc/ In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: fuck that shit! Am 23.02.2006 um 23:30 schrieb geert lovink: >> From: Inke Arns >> Date: 23 February 2006 7:13:44 PM >> To: spectre at mikrolisten.de >> Subject: [spectre] please link to this site: >> http://waldvogel.plaintext.cc/ >> >> Dear Spectres, >> >> it would be great if you could link to this site >> >> http://waldvogel.plaintext.cc/ (generously generated by Florian >> Cramer!) >> >> If enough people do this, Google will display this website on the top >> of its search results for "Florian Waldvogel". >> >> Just to remind you: Mr. Waldvogel is one of the three curators of the >> upcoming Manfesta in Cyprus. >> >> Many greetings, >> Inke >> >> >> -- >> >> Dr. Inke Arns >> Artistic Director >> Hartware MedienKunstVerein >> Güntherstrasse 65 * D-44143 Dortmund >> T ++49 (231) 823 106 >> F ++49 (231) 882 02 40 >> inke.arns at hmkv.de >> http://www.hmkv.de >> http://www.projects.v2.nl/~arns/ >> http://waldvogel.plaintext.cc/ >> >> ______________________________________________ >> SPECTRE list for media culture in Deep Europe >> Info, archive and help: >> http://coredump.buug.de/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/spectre >> >> >> > > _________________________________________ > 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: > From fi22 at cornell.edu Fri Feb 24 12:07:57 2006 From: fi22 at cornell.edu (Farhana Ibrahim) Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 12:07:57 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] second posting Message-ID: <6.2.3.4.2.20060224120612.01fd6eb0@pop.gmail.com> I am back in Kachchh, after a year and a half, a long time to be away in the present context, when "post earthquake reconstruction" means that nothing of the built landscape remains the same for long. This time, my research takes me to the far western edge of Kachchh – to the old port town of Jakhau. Today, Kachchh is known for Kandla port, developed after Partition as a replacement for Karachi. More recently, the privatization of another port – Mundra – is also changing the southern coastline of Kachchh. But there are many other ports in Kachchh, that were once gateways to this region, ferrying people and goods back and forth across the Arabian sea. Jakhau is one such port, that speaks of a former grandeur, as seen in elaborate old houses, with richly sculpted and decorated facades. These houses are still owned by wealthy merchants – primarily from the Bhatia and Vania (Jain) communities who now live overseas or further down the coast in Mumbai. Today old rusty padlocks sit on the front doors and weeds grow indiscriminately around. These houses stand apart from the other genre of elaborate house architecture – newer, showy structures in other parts of Kachchh that are commissioned by foreign exchange remittances from the Persian Gulf or Europe or North America. These old abandoned houses were left at the height of their prosperity and in the absence of local interest in them, are slowly rotting away. With the integration of the princely state of Kachchh into the Indian Union in 1948, its ports were overshadowed by newer larger and more mechanized ports with better harbors. Perhaps more significantly though, following the partition of the subcontinent in 1947, Kachchh became a border territory subject to intense surveillance and control. Many of its ports were now too close to a tense international boundary. Partition put an end to any through traffic in this region. As their activities are significantly reduced today, some of these old ports retain an aura of a bygone prosperity but little else as their population and commercial activity has dwindled over time. Jakhau is one such port, whose decline began at the time of Partition. Situated on the extreme western edge of the Kachchhi coastline, it is 35 nautical miles from Karachi. Bombay and Karachi were the maritime hubs of Western India. Kachchhi traders owned spice plantations in Africa, and carried on a major trade in spices (especially cloves) and cotton. Prior to 1948, Kachchh was a princely state, and its ports were tax free. Today, apart from the old crumbling mansions, Jakhau is a small village. 2300 people were counted it its last census. All that remains of the once thriving port is a stretch of coastline where fishing and salt making are the only occupations left. I met Hirachand Shah, who recalls as a child, the bustling market place and bullock carts laden with dry fruit and cloth, as they were loaded from the port and went out into Kachchh. I would like to meet some of the former residents of these splendid houses, but they are all away. They live in Bombay or the United States and Canada now, I am told. My next stop will have to be Bombay, as I try to recover the stories behind these houses, and the people who lived in them. From ish at sarai.net Fri Feb 24 16:33:45 2006 From: ish at sarai.net (ISh) Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 16:33:45 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Re: [Internal] fm station @ rs. 50 In-Reply-To: <43F953AE.90604@sarai.net> References: <43F953AE.90604@sarai.net> Message-ID: <43FEE811.7070107@sarai.net> This is very intresting ... start of something Rakesh wrote: > Dear All > > Below is an interesting news, raises some questions of creativity and > licensing. > > > r* > > > Man sets up FM station for Rs 50 at Muzaffarpur* > Posted on Feb 19, 2006 by Sudhir > > Have you ever heard of a FM station launched with just Rs 50? Well, > there's one running at Muzaffarpur in Bihar. Though the owner, Raghav > Mahto, earns little money from it, his station is growing in popularity. > > It started with the repair of radio sets, from where Raghav picked up > the tricks and since then, Raghav FM Mansoorpur 1, as his FM station > is called is a household name. > > Raghav has no license to run a FM station and thus, technically this > station is illegal, but who cares? As long as his audience loves him > and he is able to feed his family of five with the Rs 2000 that he > earns from the station every month, Raghav is a happy man. > > "CD nikala to dekhe ki agal bagal main catch kaar raha hai. Cordless > mike dekhe, issi ko soch kaar apna banaye. Isme 50 rupiya laga hai. > 3-4 part laga hai, Rs 50 rupaiya kharcha hai. (When we took out the > CD, we realised that the radios in the neighbouring areas were also > catching the frequency. Then we saw cordless mike and replicated it. > The cost came to Rs 50 and required about three-four parts)", explains > Raghav. > > > Raghav at his Radio Station > > > Within a 15 kilometer radius, nothing but FM Raghav tops the > popularity chart. And the cost of setting up this station is > unbelievable. Rs 50 is all he has spent to start his own FM station > and it runs flawlessly. > > "Welcome to Radio Raghav FM Mansoorpur 1, one stop entertainment > solution for all. Tune in not only for your favourite filmi numbers, > but also for information, which we think is crucial for you. Over to > the anchor," says a voice on the radio. > > The buck then passes on to the anchor of the Raghav radio FM station, > Sambhu. "Namaskaar, main apka dost Sambhu. Aap sun rahe hain, FM > Mansoorpur 1. Aap logo ko suchana dena chahate hai, aids chune se nahi > failta, saiyam aur surakcha, aids se rakcha," ( Namaskar, this is your > friend Sambhu. You are listening to FM Mansoorpur 1. We want to inform > you that AIDS does not spread through your touch. Control and and > safety, protects you from AIDS) he says. > > An ardent fan of the FM station, Ashok is all praises for the radio > station: "Ye manoranjan karta hai bada sundar, jaab jo gana chahiye > kaah dijiye baja deta hai. (This is a very good means of > entertainment. Which ever song you want, you tell them and they play > it for you.) > > For Raghav, this station earns little money, but he gets the love of > his satisfied audience and he truly enjoys being their voice for free. > > http://www.bhojpuria.com/samachar/news.php?a=329 > From karunakar at freedomink.org Fri Feb 24 21:42:54 2006 From: karunakar at freedomink.org (Guntupalli Karunakar) Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 21:42:54 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] horn ok please! Message-ID: <20060224214254.58630f25.karunakar@freedomink.org> Hi all, recently on a trip to pune had been to this restaurant or more so a dhabha (on FC Road, pune), called "Horn ok please" . the setup was quite interesting, with a milestone outside, a used tractor tyre, couple of charpai's outside to sit, the backside of a truck put up. a horn at the entrance to draw attention & book a table. and inside truck slogans framed on the walls. & offcourse very good food. photos here. http://www.cartoonsoft.com/gallery/hornokplease Karunakar -- ************************************* * Work: http://www.indlinux.org * * Blog: http://cartoonsoft.com/blog * ************************************* From janicepariat at gmail.com Fri Feb 24 22:21:58 2006 From: janicepariat at gmail.com (Janice Pariat) Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 22:21:58 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Second Post (The Notion of Home) Message-ID: <72cca7600602240851j3c50b803q@mail.gmail.com> Hello! For my second post I thought I would post my first story....thought it would make a good introduction and entry point to my project and explain far better (than i ever could) what exactly i'm working on! The story is called 'Ring Road' and is available at http://thefirstsixstories.blogspot.com/ I am very new to 'blogging' and have struggled to set this up...i really hope everyone can access the page easily! I do hope everyone enjoys it...discussions to follow. cheers! Janice From anivar.aravind at gmail.com Sat Feb 25 10:36:22 2006 From: anivar.aravind at gmail.com (Anivar Aravind) Date: Sat, 25 Feb 2006 10:36:22 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Attempt by the Hindu right wing to disrupt the screenings of VIBGYOR film fest In-Reply-To: <35f96d470602242102t5ba814aes5dc47325cfeeaf6d@mail.gmail.com> References: <35f96d470602242102t5ba814aes5dc47325cfeeaf6d@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <35f96d470602242106s66d22c1am8c474aeb209e5f2d@mail.gmail.com> Dear Friends, There was an attempt by the Hindu right wing to disrupt the screenings yesterday at the VIBGYOR Film Festival (Feb 22 to 25) in Trichur, Kerala (http://www.vibgyorfilmfest.com ).They have filed a police complaint against the festival too. Vibgyor Film Festival organised an Open Forum entitled 'Censorious State/Civil Society' yesterday, where the issue was discussed atlength and the declaration attached was endorsed and signed by over a hundred people. Some supporters of the Hindu right also attended and there was an animated discussion on Amudhan's film and on what constitutes 'nation' and 'national interest'. The point was made that in a democratic society we need to discuss our differences, as was being done at the open forum, rather than trying to ban and stop work that one disagrees with. Earlier, there was a threat from them that they would move the court to stop the festival. We also decided to make 100 copies of Amudhan's Vande Mataram and Shit and distribute them all over Kerala (and elsewhere) and to organise screenings. There has been tremendous solidarity from filmmakers and concerned citizens on this issue. It will be good if you are arranging the screenings of this films in various parts of India. ~ Regards Anivar Aravind IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND DIVERSITY Documentary filmmakers, cultural activists and concerned citizens protest against disruption at Vibgyor Film Festival. On February 23, 2006, supporters of Hinduvta groups shouted slogans and tried to disrupt the screening of R. P. Amudhan's Vande Mataram: A Shit Version, a film which questions the heinous practice of untouchability and manual scavenging. They left quickly after the audience protested against this undemocratic behavior. They accused the organizers of screening 'anti-national' films and filed a police complaint. Documentary filmmakers, cultural activists and concerned citizens condemn this undemocratic attempt by a handful of intolerant vested interests to stifle freedom of expression, using the bogey of national interest. Vibgyor has emerged as a dynamic space that has been showcasing a wide range of socially relevant films to large and enthusiastic audiences of film lovers. Such creative spaces for dialogue and debate must be protected and supported in the interest of a responsive and democratic civil society that speaks out against the injustice and tolerance. We, the undersigned, condemn this attack and reiterate our right to freedom of expression and our commitment to diversity and pluralism. ---------------- Are dalits part of (Vande) Mataram- India? Date:24.02.06 Thrissur "The Vande mataram- A shit version" music video using the "Patriotic" remix album on visuals of manual scavenging (Dalits removing other people's shit manually) is a conscious attempt to question the pseudo patriotism of the song and a society which allows such heinous practices on casteist lines. Some Hindutva people protested against this video after its screening at the VIBGYOR festival on 23.2.06, 3 pm at Thrissur Sahitya academy, Thrissur. As they continue their 'struggle' for preserving national pride by filing a complaint with thrissur local police and planning to approach the local court against the festival, some stinking truths are surfacing… First and foremost is that – According to them scavenging and the dalit workers who are doing it are base and a sanctified song like vandemataram being used to depict them is unacceptable. Two, that no one has any right to express opinions different from those of Hindutva forces in any public space or for that matter any space. If somebody dares to do so their patriotism integrity and values would be questioned. They will enter closed screenings uninvited and obstruct the programme and will file false complaints against them in police stations. And a "pro-active" police force which takes years to respond to problems of ordinary masses would jump into action immediately. If the hindutva forces that obstructed the Film festival and want to stop it are really interested in expressing their patriotism, · First they should denounce in public the anti dalit anti woman and anti human Manu smriti which propagates varnashrama dharma, the fountain head of segregating human beings into a caste hierarchy. · Stop hate campaign against the minorities and Raise their voice against communal violence which cripples minorities and poor people · They should protest wherever human beings, always dalits, are removing human shit manually · They should fight in the fray when atrocities are unleashed on the dalits and adivasis. Finally, the VIBGYOR festival which gives space to discuss and analyse various such concerns has to be appreciated. All democratic sections should extend their support to the festival and also o the larger struggle of various film makers and activists who are trying to raise voices against injustices in their own way in a growing atmosphere of cultural intolerance of fundamental elements. R.P.Amudhan, Film maker, Tamil nadu. amudhanrp at rediffmail.com -------------------- Anivar Aravind GAIA Mob: +91 9895803545 -- The great moral question of the twenty-first century is: If all knowledge, all culture, all art, all useful information, can be costlessly given to everyone at the same price that it is given to anyone -- if everyone can have everything, everywhere, all the time, why is it ever moral to exclude anyone from anything? - Eben Moglen From dilip.sarai at gmail.com Sat Feb 25 15:25:31 2006 From: dilip.sarai at gmail.com (Dilip D'Souza -- Sarai) Date: Sat, 25 Feb 2006 15:25:31 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Dilip D'Souza, 2nd post Message-ID: <1a57bfd0602250155o7bf089d7nb1d116bb80ac23bd@mail.gmail.com> I'm a few days late with this. I don't feel I have truly got into my project yet -- I find I always take a little longer than I anticipate to get into the flow of these things. Nevertheless, this is a short piece about a man from the fishing village nearby. I've always found him interesting because he used to be one of the few people there who don't fish for a living. (There are more now). I hope to have more about him as I move ahead with this. This much, for now. cheers, dilip. --- Twice a Day Paper Route ----------------------- Dilip D'Souza The thing that strikes me is the mention of 60 kg. 60 kg, carried to Dadar. 60 kg, carried to Dadar on a bicycle. 60 kg, carried to Dadar on a bicycle twice a day, for some 20 years. I noticed Ramdas's strong and sinewy wrists when he first started coming to our home, especially when he would easily lift big bundles of papers hung from his spring balance to show me how much they weighed. We called him "paperwala" -- so much that I am ashamed to admit that's what I thought his name was -- because he would take away our old newspapers once a month. But it wasn't until he retired recently, and I sat him down for a chat about his life, that I really comprehended the physical magnitude of his work. That I really understood what gave him those sinewy wrists. The mathematics is simple. He had about 250 clients like me, he says. I would give him about 15 kg of paper every month. If I was typical, that meant he handled about 3800 kg of paper every month. Divide by 30, that's about 125 kg every day. Indeed: two trips to Dadar a day, 60 kg each time. And you cart that kind of load around -- not just to Dadar twice a day, but from the 250 homes to yours -- and you do it over two decades, you develop some serious muscles. >From Chimbai, the small Bandra fishing village where Ramdas lives, to Dadar is easily 5-6 km. That Ramdas biked that distance and back, twice a day with large loads, impressed me greatly. But listening to him, I was more struck by the other, the smaller, details of his life. Chimbai is known as an old fishing village. By now, it is just another part of Bandra, if a more crowded and downscale part of this upscale suburb. But even so, you'll find women every day, sitting on either side of the lane through Chimbai, calling out from behind little makeshift tables piled high with fresh, dripping, aromatic fish. The tables make the lane even narrower than it already is. Walking down the lane is difficult, let alone driving along it. When I do either, I invariably remember the time a few years ago when a kid was run over on one of Bandra's main roads during rush hour. This led to an impromptu and angry "rasta-roko" there. The traffic police had the presence of mind to quickly divert traffic through Bandra's leafy lanes. One was the lane through Chimbai. I remember watching bus after BEST bus emerge from the lane, drivers sweaty and exasperated with the effort of maneuvring their giant red beasts past the fish vendors. The women, of course, were unfazed. Some even tried selling fish to the passengers in the slow-moving buses. That kind of place, Chimbai. Fishermen, houses nearly on top of each other. And somewhere in there, a dealer in waste paper. Ramdas's family left Porbandar, Gujarat, in 1941. His father settled in Chimbai, where Ramdas himself was born in September 1947. Midnight's child? Ramdas seems hardly to think of it that way. To hear him speak, Independence was just a little blip of history. But Chimbai was Bombay, the big city, teeming even then with opportunity that Porbandar could not match. Of course, there was very little in Chimbai at the time, certainly not the narrow lane. But Ramdas's family settled in a one-room tenement on the ground floor of a two-storey chawl, owned by a Kolhapur-based landlord. They have been there since, now paying a rent of Rs 63 a month. Expectedly, Ramdas is nostalgic about the early days. "There was nothing here," he says again. The only people in Chimbai were the Koli fishermen, and for those who catalogue these things, they were of two kinds. The Christian Kolis lived at the southern end of the village, the Hindus at the northern end. Ramdas's home was bang in between the two communities. It remains that way today: turn left (south) out of his home and about the first establishment you come across is a Catholic undertaker. Turn right and there's a small Hindu shrine. The languages you hear are different, the general "feel" of the two areas are different; all this, along one short street. Ramdas speaks glowingly about both kinds of neighbours. "Very good people," he says, "very good people." And as if to drive home that point, he says nobody has ever come to ask for money when the Ganesh festival rolls around. "In other parts of Bombay," he says, "Shiv Sena people come and extort money for Ganesh. Not here." Ramdas's first job was in Mahim in the early '60s, from where he moved on to Marine Lines. He sold purses. He earned Rs 25 a month and his railway pass cost him all of Rs 3.75. As always, numbers like those leave me astonished. Passes are about 20 times as expensive as that today: has the price index gone up to that extent? But starting in 1969, Ramdas was a rice smuggler like a lot of others were at the time. He would travel beyond the city limits, to Vasai, and bring back bags of rice. This was a worthwhile way of earning because rice sold legitimately in Bombay attracted taxes. So a man who was willing to bring it in on the quiet from outside could both undercut the city retailers and make a small profit. Ramdas was such a man. He would make five or six trips a day, bringing in 10 kg of rice each time. After deducting his weekly bribe of Rs 20 or 25, he made two rupees on each kg. Not a bad salary increment. It must have also been good preparation physically for the work he would turn to next, when the rice route became unprofitable. Waste paper, that is. And it is via his paper business, 120 kg a day, that Ramdas put his two sons through English-medium schools and colleges. Do they work with you now, I ask. He gives me a withering look that I've never seen on him before. He doesn't have to say what I know he means: would he have worked this hard just to put them to the waste paper grindstone too? What he does say is, with a hint of acerbity: "No, both are educated!" That they are. One works in a cargo shipping firm, the other in an online stock-trading firm. And now that they are both educated, Ramdas has retired. Did you get tired of the work, I ask. "No, no, it's not that. There was no place in the house for us! We only have one 10 by 10 room. Papers piled to the ceiling, no brightness in the room, I was working every day till 2 am. Eating at 130 in the morning!" So he stopped, late last year. "I'm happy," he says, "but I've become lazy." He laughs. But I get the sense the laugh hasn't reached his eyes. From notsandipto at yahoo.com Sun Feb 26 13:57:36 2006 From: notsandipto at yahoo.com (Sandipto Dasgupta) Date: Sun, 26 Feb 2006 00:27:36 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] Da Vinci Trial pits history against art Message-ID: <20060226082736.16514.qmail@web30205.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Authors of "history" book called "holy Blood and the Holy Grail" sues dan Brown for plagiarism. From the Observer: Da Vinci trial pits history against art David Smith Sunday February 26, 2006 The Observer Nothing less than the future of Western literature is at stake in the High Court tomorrow. Or so the publisher of The Da Vinci Code, the money-spinning blockbuster by Dan Brown, is expected to argue in a ground-breaking trial. Brown, whose tale of clerical conspiracy and murder has become the bestselling hardback adult novel of all time, is accused of plundering his plot from a non-fiction work called The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail Historians Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, who co-wrote the book with Henry Lincoln, claim that Brown plagiarised 'the whole jigsaw puzzle' of their decade's worth of research - that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had a child, founding a bloodline that was protected by the Knights Templar. If they win, the historians will seek an injunction preventing further infringement of their copyright. In theory, this could bar Random House from publishing Brown's book, which has sold more than 40 million copies, and even threaten the British release of the £53m film adaptation, starring Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou and Sir Ian McKellen. However, lawyers representing Random House are expected to argue that the implications would damage the art of writing itself. It is believed they will tell the court that for centuries writers have recycled plots, themes and ideas from each other. One literary figure has pointed out that apart from A Midsummer Night's Dream, every one of Shakespeare's plays is based on another source. Such trading has given rise to the saying, 'good writers borrow, great writers steal'. Brown, now a multi-millionaire who shuns the media spotlight, is expected to be in London to defend his work. A Random House source said: 'Can you copyright an idea? Previously copyright has applied just to how the idea is used. This is why we are confident. If the claimants win, it's the end of John Grisham, Tom Clancy, Robert Harris, Helen Fielding - and Shakespeare.' Random House is expected to point to a series of other books that have also 'borrowed' from Baigent and Leigh's work in the 24 years since it was published, none of which was sued. The implication is that Brown, like JK Rowling and others, has been targeted because of his multi-millionaire status. 'Where there's a hit, there's a writ,' the source said. But Baigent and Leigh, who have hired leading QC Jonathan Rayner James, will argue that Brown has gone further than anyone else in appropriating their research. When the writ was issued, Leigh said: 'It's not that Dan Brown has lifted certain ideas, because a number of people have done that before. 'It's rather that he's lifted the whole architecture - the whole jigsaw puzzle - and hung it on to the peg of a fictional thriller.' Lincoln, the third author of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, has declined to explain why he is not joining the legal action, although he is believed to be in ill health. Last year he said The Da Vinci Code had 'nothing to do with the facts. It's a potboiler, but a good one.' In a further twist, Baigent and Leigh's book is also owned by Random House and has sold more than two million copies, enjoying a surge since a revised illustrated edition was republished last September. Some observers suspect a publicity stunt, but Joel Rickett, deputy editor of the Bookseller, said this was unlikely: 'From the outside it looks like a long shot, but to get to this stage I'd guess they must have spent hundreds of thousands of pounds and got top legal brains to study it. They must really believe they've got a case. 'In a sense they're admitting their work has elements of fiction to it. If it was pure history, how could they copyright history? When historians discover something they can't copyright it.' Rickett added that if the pair won an unlikely victory it would set an astonishing precedent. 'It would have seismic implications. Novelists would have to be very, very careful when using non-fiction sources to build their fiction. Many novelists read a single work of history and use it as the basis of their book.' Professor Lisa Jardine, a former Man Booker Prize judge, said: 'They are not going to win. I don't think plagiarism any longer holds up - we live in a world of cut and paste, and in a global village. 'Creativity is always a beautifully arranged patchwork that nudges something a little further on.' From anivar.aravind at gmail.com Sat Feb 25 10:36:22 2006 From: anivar.aravind at gmail.com (Anivar Aravind) Date: Sat, 25 Feb 2006 10:36:22 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [arkitectindia] Attempt by the Hindu right wing to disrupt the screenings of VIBGYOR film fest In-Reply-To: <35f96d470602242102t5ba814aes5dc47325cfeeaf6d@mail.gmail.com> References: <35f96d470602242102t5ba814aes5dc47325cfeeaf6d@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <35f96d470602242106s66d22c1am8c474aeb209e5f2d@mail.gmail.com> Dear Friends, There was an attempt by the Hindu right wing to disrupt the screenings yesterday at the VIBGYOR Film Festival (Feb 22 to 25) in Trichur, Kerala (http://www.vibgyorfilmfest.com ).They have filed a police complaint against the festival too. Vibgyor Film Festival organised an Open Forum entitled 'Censorious State/Civil Society' yesterday, where the issue was discussed atlength and the declaration attached was endorsed and signed by over a hundred people. Some supporters of the Hindu right also attended and there was an animated discussion on Amudhan's film and on what constitutes 'nation' and 'national interest'. The point was made that in a democratic society we need to discuss our differences, as was being done at the open forum, rather than trying to ban and stop work that one disagrees with. Earlier, there was a threat from them that they would move the court to stop the festival. We also decided to make 100 copies of Amudhan's Vande Mataram and Shit and distribute them all over Kerala (and elsewhere) and to organise screenings. There has been tremendous solidarity from filmmakers and concerned citizens on this issue. It will be good if you are arranging the screenings of this films in various parts of India. ~ Regards Anivar Aravind IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND DIVERSITY Documentary filmmakers, cultural activists and concerned citizens protest against disruption at Vibgyor Film Festival. On February 23, 2006, supporters of Hinduvta groups shouted slogans and tried to disrupt the screening of R. P. Amudhan's Vande Mataram: A Shit Version, a film which questions the heinous practice of untouchability and manual scavenging. They left quickly after the audience protested against this undemocratic behavior. They accused the organizers of screening 'anti-national' films and filed a police complaint. Documentary filmmakers, cultural activists and concerned citizens condemn this undemocratic attempt by a handful of intolerant vested interests to stifle freedom of expression, using the bogey of national interest. Vibgyor has emerged as a dynamic space that has been showcasing a wide range of socially relevant films to large and enthusiastic audiences of film lovers. Such creative spaces for dialogue and debate must be protected and supported in the interest of a responsive and democratic civil society that speaks out against the injustice and tolerance. We, the undersigned, condemn this attack and reiterate our right to freedom of expression and our commitment to diversity and pluralism. ---------------- Are dalits part of (Vande) Mataram- India? Date:24.02.06 Thrissur "The Vande mataram- A shit version" music video using the "Patriotic" remix album on visuals of manual scavenging (Dalits removing other people's shit manually) is a conscious attempt to question the pseudo patriotism of the song and a society which allows such heinous practices on casteist lines. Some Hindutva people protested against this video after its screening at the VIBGYOR festival on 23.2.06, 3 pm at Thrissur Sahitya academy, Thrissur. As they continue their 'struggle' for preserving national pride by filing a complaint with thrissur local police and planning to approach the local court against the festival, some stinking truths are surfacing… First and foremost is that – According to them scavenging and the dalit workers who are doing it are base and a sanctified song like vandemataram being used to depict them is unacceptable. Two, that no one has any right to express opinions different from those of Hindutva forces in any public space or for that matter any space. If somebody dares to do so their patriotism integrity and values would be questioned. They will enter closed screenings uninvited and obstruct the programme and will file false complaints against them in police stations. And a "pro-active" police force which takes years to respond to problems of ordinary masses would jump into action immediately. If the hindutva forces that obstructed the Film festival and want to stop it are really interested in expressing their patriotism, · First they should denounce in public the anti dalit anti woman and anti human Manu smriti which propagates varnashrama dharma, the fountain head of segregating human beings into a caste hierarchy. · Stop hate campaign against the minorities and Raise their voice against communal violence which cripples minorities and poor people · They should protest wherever human beings, always dalits, are removing human shit manually · They should fight in the fray when atrocities are unleashed on the dalits and adivasis. Finally, the VIBGYOR festival which gives space to discuss and analyse various such concerns has to be appreciated. All democratic sections should extend their support to the festival and also o the larger struggle of various film makers and activists who are trying to raise voices against injustices in their own way in a growing atmosphere of cultural intolerance of fundamental elements. R.P.Amudhan, Film maker, Tamil nadu. amudhanrp at rediffmail.com -------------------- Anivar Aravind GAIA Mob: +91 9895803545 -- The great moral question of the twenty-first century is: If all knowledge, all culture, all art, all useful information, can be costlessly given to everyone at the same price that it is given to anyone -- if everyone can have everything, everywhere, all the time, why is it ever moral to exclude anyone from anything? - Eben Moglen Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/arkitectindia/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: arkitectindia-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ From rajeshkumar at cds.ac.in Sun Feb 26 22:45:31 2006 From: rajeshkumar at cds.ac.in (Rajesh Komath) Date: Sun, 26 Feb 2006 22:45:31 +0530 (IST) Subject: [Reader-list] Rajesh Komath's Second Posting to Sarai. Message-ID: <1506.192.168.1.129.1140974131.squirrel@cds.ac.in> Dear Friends, This is my Second Posting to CSDS/Sarai. "Straddling Two Worlds—That of God and lower caste" By Rajesh Komath As I have been born into a community of Teyyam performers, traditionally belonging to North Malabar, this ritual art form has become, since childhood onwards, my life itself and sad predicaments. The childhood in fact is teeming with myriad remembrances of myself accompanying father and mother going from house to house singing and playing the thudi and coming back driving off evil spirits from their hosts. Though the ritual practice of gurusi, the rite of making different colors out of water and as part of rite of sacrificing a cock, was a very ritual colorful event, our real life remained colorless and drab, the realization of which has made me withdrawing myself away from the pomp and show of customs and shibboleth but, as though the custom of dancing in a wild frenzy in Kaves (Shrines) as the deity (Teyyam) was a continuation of a ritual imposed and dictated by the higher caste of a feudal hierarchy. I was forced to perform it every year as it was for the welfare and well being of a village and villagers inclusive of the janmi Taravadu and I was vested with the temporary privilege of blessing them all, in a state bordering on a trance. The first Kolam I had performed was that of Chamundi, now as Vishnu Murthi. It was the poignant story of Kannan, a Tiyya (Intermediate lower caste) boy who was grazing the cattle of a Kurup, the poor boy when trembling with starvation and hunger climbed up a mango tree, belonged to the Kurup’s (an upper caste) family began eating the mangoes. As the boy found the niece of the Kurup passing that way, in panic of being found in the act of stealing, a mango got dropped off from his hands and fell on her. This was an act of defying the caste/custom and Kannan had to run away from his native village to escape the sharp edge of victimization. But, after many years, anticipating that the village must have forgotten everything in course of time Kannan returned. And as he was taking bath in a pond in neck-deep water, with fire flaming up his eyes, the Kurup and his accompanying Nairs, rushed into the scene. Shouting “Have you returned you .dog from exile for violating the practices” and soon they severed his head from the trunk with the long sword (Urumi). It was this Kannan, the scapegoat foolish caste taboos that got reincarnated through me as Chamundi. It was my debut as Teyyam performer, belonging to the community of Teyyam artists traditionally. It had to discharge a social obligation and to undergo an artistic identification by becoming a victim of cruel moral and social injustice, elated to the status of a local god. As the temp of the Chanda (the percussion instrument with high suggestive power and it is an Asura Vadyem) was rising to a crescendo, I danced as if possessed and even girls, my own classmates came with tears with eye bowing and kneeling before me for blessing, my mind was entertaining a fear that they might detect my caste identity. As I returned to the class, they had already known that it was I who enacted the God. They began to keep me at bay and maintained a distance from me. I found them whispering mutually among themselves that “He is a Malayan”. In my birthplace, the entire society is divided into many castes in the order of Namboothiri, Nambiar, Kurup, Nair, Vaniyan, Maniyani, Tiyyas, Chaliar, Asari, Kollan, Malayan, Vannan, Munhoottan, Pulayar, Mavilar, Kurichiar, Chingathan, Kopallar etc, Among these people the sense of caste had got solidified through several myths and division of labour, deference and discrimination. It has become deep rooted in the mind of each and every member of the society, consciously or unconsciously. It is the castes of mind that permeates. When the Teyyam is enacted in the Kavus (shrine), and in the precincts of the Taravadu, there were separate places earmarked for each caste according to the hierarchy. In this particular caste distinction, which is based on caste superiority and inferiority, each caste has its own special functions to be observed in connection with the Teyyam performance. Let me narrate an incident when I had to perform a Teyyam at Koorara at Mandamullathil Kavu in Tellichery, Kannur. After the main rituals, it is the custom of the enactor of the Teyyam to call each caste title according to its place and order in the hierarchy and the members of the Taravadu are addressed as Kazhakakkars, and the Nambiars are addressed Kaikkomars and Tiyyas as Ettillam Karimanamars. The performer has to desirable the good qualities of each caste. In the course of doing so, I had forgotten to address Ettillam Karimanamars (Tiyyas), for which omission the Tiyyas drenched me calling all kinds of names. They also did not forget in warning me never to repeat the omission again. Later I came to know that there was also a local committee member of the CPI (M) in this group. It is quite clear that today all politics and political parties stand for perpetuating the caste hierarchy and the power of each caste gets, in tact. Or it is clear that whatever be your political ideology, what works within us is caste based dispositions, which is embedded in your mind and body, which comes out in every spot and places. The Communists agreed that the Teyyam is only an art form and it is a means of livelihood of Malayans and Vannans (Practitioners of Teyyam). It is also a ritual deceptive enough to keep the lower castes under the control of the higher castes, which the followers of Sree Narayanaguru were of opinion that either the Kavu, or temple are not the slaughter houses, and either toddy or arrack are not required by the Gods, but as they were spreading these arguments they were not prepared to keep themselves away from this caste based ritual art and the conducting of it annually. They were keen on getting the social capital coming from their supervisory role of conducting the Teyyam to increase their locus standi; as well as keeping rewards coming from owing the folkloric knowledge obtained from Teyyam communities for the advancement of their socio-cultural and economic capital. With this motto at the back of their minds these power groups had to accept the significance of the Teyyam both directly and indirectly. The Teyyam performance at the Koorara Kunnummal Raktachamundeswari shrine has been suspended for a few years. Later as part of the process of revival of shrines, it started to conduct festival. Continuously my father directed me to enact the Kolam of Kuttichattan and thereby restart the ritual. This Kavu was formerly the Taravadu (ancestral) property of the Nambiars (upper caste) but it is the B.J.P supporters and activists who wanted reestablish the Teyyam. But, entire locality was under the stronghold of the Communists, controversies and debated took place and after a few rounds of conflicts of trials and strength the governance of this shrine came on the Communists. Anticipating that the political angst of these parties involved might turn up against me who was to perform, I asked my father why I should, I become the cause for their quarrel and “ Will those people beat up Kutichattan”? Then father coolly pleaded, “This technique performance is something we have had to do ourselves which is part of our tradition. After all, we get some rice, coconut, chilly and the chicken dedicated to the gods”. It is our privilege to receive at least such small things, which could alleviate our poverty temporarily. So I had to done the role Kittichattan and dance in a frenzy. Thereafter, my father had to go the court as a continuation of the debate between my father and the Kavu Committee led by the members of the Communists party. The court decree was in favour of the Communists and they got the right to govern the Kavu, through the Kavu Committee. Once the Kolathiri Raja used to honour the Teyyam artiste who dances the solo Kolams with silk cloths and bangles and give honourary titles. This time it is the Kavu committee under the Communists who gave my father bangles for having helped them get the right to govern the Kavu from the Nambiars. Father took it as the blessings of Chammundi Teyyam and remained fully satisfied. Last Karkitakam month, father asked my help to perform the Vedanpattau, a ritual that has to go from house to house and remove the curse (Cheshta) from the people. Karkitaka month is the time when there is starvation and hunger everywhere, owing to scarcity of basic necessities. It is well known for general penury and distress. As part of this ritual we will get some rice, salt, coconut, some vegetables such as (Vellari). To bring all this things to our house was the duty assigned to me. After debating much on this, I agreed, as there was no go about. Since I was a progressive minded educated youth I was afraid whether the Communists will find me out and so I had to hide myself behind the Vedan enacted in my father. As the Vedan was returning after performing from a house, a lady belonging to the Tiyya caste was hewed shouting at the Vedan, stopping him on the way. When I listened keenly I discovered why she raises her complaint. “Why did you go to Kallus’s house before coming to my own? I am not keen on your visiting my house, come whenever you like, I don’t bother”, she shouted, and went away to her house. I, who was a research scholar at the Center for Development Studies, stood behind my father holding the bag containing, rice, chilly and salt with a sense of helplessness and in a state awkwardness. Though when the caste-society as a whole comes before the Teyyam and prostrates before him as the performer dances in a violent frenzy, seeking the deity’s blessings as soon as the performer removes costumes and wipes of the facial make up etc., he very easily transform himself to his isolated Dalit state of being, who commands not an atom of consideration. This is the condition of all the performing Teyyam artists in our society. So when the low caste Malayan when he encounters either a Nambiar or a Kurup, has to take up the towel on his left shoulder and hold it down, low his head and stand at a particular distance with due respect to the Kurup. This is one picture. On the other hand there is another in which the Nambiars and Kurups are approaching the Malayan in his Teyyam costumes and make up and they touch his feet in great respect. A local Muslim gentleman, who has witnessed both this contradictory contexts, so dramatically, broke out with a familiar folkloric saying still in common prevalence that the life of Teyyam artist is one that has witnessed two worlds that a man and as the God himself. [It gives me pleasure to thank P.K.Michael Tharakan, J.Devika, Rakhee Timothy, Dilip Menon, Baskara Prasad and Arun] warmly yours, Rajesh Kumar.K. Doctoral Scholar Centre For Development Studies Prasanth Nagar, Ulloor Trivandrum- 695011 Kerala, India Ph : +91-471-2442481 Fax: +91-471-2447137 Mobile: 9895056659. From jcm at ata.org.pe Mon Feb 27 01:44:28 2006 From: jcm at ata.org.pe (Jose-Carlos Mariategui) Date: Sun, 26 Feb 2006 20:14:28 +0000 Subject: [Reader-list] video art from Am =?iso-8859-1?q?=E9?= rica Latina (2000 =?iso-8859-1?q?=AD_?= 2005) updated website Message-ID: For anybody interested in recent latin american media art (specially video), we just updated the web site of "In(visible) Videographies" project, which includes some video previews as well as an essay and information on around of 40 new media artists in Latin America (both english and spanish). The particularity of this work is that we tried to cover not only the well know countries, but also many other countries which usually appear to be invisible, but where things are happening, interesting things. The exhibition is currently being shown at the Centro Atlántico de Arte Contemporáneo in Canary Islands until april 16th. All the best, Jose-Carlos V I D E O G R A F I A S I N ( V I S I B L E S ) [ (In)visible Videographies ] A selection of recent video art from América Latina (2000 ­ 2005) Centro Atlántico de Arte Contemporáneo Sala San Antonio de Abad Plaza San Antonio de Abad, 1 Vegueta, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain 16th of february - 16th of april, 2006 Curators: Jorge Villacorta + José-Carlos Mariátegui In the brief history of electronic art in Latin America there are two recognizable stages. The first took place in the 1980s, or possibly the late Seventies, when artists, either isolated or in small groups, began to experiment with available electronic media, usually imitating what had already been done in Europe or the United States. The second stage, which began around 1990, involved the appearance of new artists immersed in electronic creation. This stage coincides in time with one or more local cultural initiatives ­public, private or a combination of the two­ with the aim of giving an institutional framework for creativity in electronic media and its promotion. In Argentina and Brazil these two stages appeared before they did elsewhere in Latin America; in Argentina the first stage took place in the second half of the Sixties, and in Brazil, in the early Seventies. Since Latin America is such a vast territory, whose development has been marked by the necessary transference of technology, it is easy to understand how electronic art becomes inserted in an ultimately cultural phenomenon of transference, even if its basis and its immediate devices are to be found in technology. As we can also see in the rest of the world, electronic media in Latin America are used nowadays in artistic creation in a context of fast changes, novelty developments, impact and surprise. Due to these changes artists travel to new places and become conscious of the uniqueness of their present position, awakening new insights, which in turn give important feedback to their work. Even if electronic art in Latin America as a whole still lacks stability, video art has become one of the contemporary aesthetic practices in recent Latin American visual arts. It is often included in international art exhibits and shows, as it is considered to have all the marks of regional representation, as well as acknowledged international legitimacy. However, little is known about recent video art production in Latin America as a whole, outside of some well-known names. It is hard to believe that at the beginning of the 21st Century, in spite of ubiquitous communication and information technology, we still have no access to any information about the creative processes which take place in certain areas. For us Latin Americans it is even more difficult to have access to information about our own region. It therefore becomes a necessity to build a network of creative connexions focused on the knowledge about video art in the region, searching at the same time for the particularities which ensure that in each country in Latin America there is a continuous flow of creative projects in new media. (In)visible Videographies proposes rendering visible some of these possible connexions revolving around ideas, concepts and recent proposals linked to video art works by Latin American creators unknown to the general public, in an attempt to contribute to the redefinition of our global concept of media art. The curatorial activity in this exhibit is focused on the selection of recent innovative projects, in an attempt to generate a receptive space for new cultural contents where visitors can actively immerse themselves. The projects chosen here have been produced by artists from those places which have little representation in the development of video art, but where, as our recent researches have confirmed, there is as much talent as that of the more visible areas of Latin America. (In)visible Videographies is divided into five thematic selections: 1.- MUSIC FOR THE EYES (16th of November, 19:30 h) The artists take a look at mass culture, with an avid aye for identifying the contours of a media culture which can be easily and directly comprehended. From animation to the dramatization of urban violence, this selection covers testimonial instances of how a commercial format (the video clip) has left its mark on visual creation, using video as a medium. What is foreign to them is effectively assimilated and reinterpreted from a witty local standpoint. Álvaro Zavala (Peru) ³¡Qué lindos son tus ojos!², 2001, 4¹ 30¹¹ Allora & Calzadilla (Cuba / USA) ³Returning a Sound², 2005, 5¹ 30¹¹ Orlando Galloso (Cuba) ³El telón², 2002, 3¹ 10¹¹ Katia Lund (Brazil) ³A minha alma², 2000, 6¹ Victoria Sayago (Argentina) ³Algo pasa en Potosí², 2005, 8¹ Brooke Alfaro (Panama) ³Aria², 2003, 3¹ 27¹¹ Ángel Alonso (Cuba) ³El hogar y sus fantasías², 2003, 7¹ 15¹¹ Ximena Cuevas (Mexico) ³Cinepolis², 2002, 22¹ Claudio Santos and Alexandra Soares / Voltz Design (Brazil) ³MOV_03², 2002, 2¹ 30¹¹ Lucas Bambozzi (Brazil) Fifteen clips from the series ³Postales², 2000-2003 (inserted in the program) 2.- EXERCISES TO FIGHT OBLIVION (23rd of November, 19:30 h) This selection explores the way memories of the recent past generate forms of audiovisual stories multiplying the senses in the construction of traditional historicity. The experience of television consumerism becomes one of the references that filter a cumulus of narrations, where nothing is rejected a priori: the personal or family history can become enmeshed in regional history ­be it geographic or social­ and both can reveal the political dimension. Javier Cambre (Puerto Rico)³Paseante², 2005, 7¹ 35¹¹ Ernesto Salmerón (Nicaragua)³Documento 1/29², 2003, 3¹ 47¹¹ ³Documento 2/29², 2003, 51¹¹ ³Documento 3/29², 2003, 1¹ 40¹¹ Enrique Castro (Panama)³memorias del hijo del viejo², 2003, 20¹ Diego David Cifuentes (Ecuador)³Cuentos del desfortunio², 2003, 4¹ 46¹¹ Edgar León (Costa Rica)³Memorias del porqué², 2001, 4¹ 47¹¹ Federico Falco (Argentina)³Estudio para horizonte², 2003, 6¹ 35¹¹ Carlos Runcie Tanaka (Peru)³DOS², 2003, 12¹ 3.- IMPURE CINEMA (30th of November, 19:30 h) The discovery of cinematography from a videographic perspective has resulted in a series of combinations which bring possibilities for innovating and transgressing the traditional movie format. This range of new possibilities of creation in the context of the visual arts in Latin America seems to have contributed to the recuperation of the experimental potential of narrating, lushly and impeccably, in images and sounds. Its wider sense of conceptualization gives direction to each and every process of edition and composition, be it analog or digital. Carolina Saquel (Chile)³Pentimenti², 2004, 8¹ 30¹¹ Diego Lama (Peru)³Chimera², 2004, 10¹ 5¹¹ Iván Marino (Argentina)³In Death¹s Dream Kingdom², 2002, 17¹ Milagros Mumenthaler (Argentina) ³Cape Cod², 2003, 3¹ Andrés Denegri (Argentina)³Uyuni², 2005, 8¹ Martín Sastre (Uruguay)³Montevideo ­ the dark side of the Pop², 2004, 14¹ Héctor Pacheco (Mexico) ³Doce muertes violentas de artistas contemporáneos², 2003, 5¹ 4.- (MEDIA) HABITAT (7th of December, 19:30 h) The journey along the territory of reality in Latin America is made with a critical slant. The focus is on the way reality is transformed in the mass communication media: the artists work on the images in order to generate spaces which can be open for discussion. In the same way, poetics born from the experimental use of the digital medium bring about visual dimensions which consciousness experiences as belonging to a separate reality. María José Cuevas (Mexico)³Mal de amores², 2005, 3¹ 35¹¹ Los artistas de la Gente (Honduras) ³Nos vale verga², 2003, 7¹ Marcellvs L. (Brazil) ³A Man, a Road, a River ­ 0778², 2004, 9¹ 27¹¹ Angela Detanico and Rafael Lain (Brazil) ³Flatland², 2003, 7¹ 36¹¹ Glenda León (Cuba)³Cada respiro², 2003, 2¹ Fernando Arias / Diego Arias (Colombia) ³Orisa², 2001, 22¹ Omar Flores (Peru)³Viva la muerte², 2003, 8¹ 30¹¹ Edgar Endress (Chile)³La memoria ­ Undocumented², 2004, 8¹ 30¹¹ Eder Santos (Brazil)³Accidentes geográficos², 2000, 18¹ 30¹¹ Gabriela Golder (Argentina) ³Vacas², 2002, 4¹ 26¹¹ 5.- PERFORMED IMAGERY (14th of December, 19:30 h) With a clear sense of the necessity to redefine video performance, a new generation of Latin American artists takes over situations and subjects deeply rooted in national imagery. The ethical status of the artist in the social context becomes in turn an object of ironic or playful reflection. Narda Alvarado (Bolivia)³Fire-men², 2004, 6¹ Sandra Monterroso (Guatemala) ³Tus tortillas mi amor², 2004, 23¹ Donna Conlon (Panama / USA) ³Singular, solitario², 2002, 5¹ 46¹¹ Cezar Migliorin (Brazil)³Acción y dispersión², 2003, 5¹ 30¹¹ Carlos Quintana (Venezuela)³El tigurón Franquejten², 2003, 9¹ 38¹¹ Milena Pafundi (Argentina) ³Un tiempo², 2003, 26¹ Narda Alvarado (Bolivia)³Olive Green², 2003, 4¹ 30¹¹ --------- This project has been produced by Museo Patio Herreriano de Arte Contemporáneo Español (Valladolid ­ Spain), Alta Tecnología Andina - ATA (Lima - Peru), the Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno and the Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional - AECI. Sponsor: Ministry of Culture, Spain From penguinhead at linux-delhi.org Mon Feb 27 12:46:59 2006 From: penguinhead at linux-delhi.org (Pankaj kaushal) Date: Mon, 27 Feb 2006 12:46:59 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] what's in a name? In-Reply-To: <7422b97ecae2fee8e540111fc34accf8@xs4all.nl> References: <1124.61.246.29.187.1140462990.squirrel@mail.sarai.net> <7422b97ecae2fee8e540111fc34accf8@xs4all.nl> Message-ID: <4402A76B.7020502@linux-delhi.org> Geert Lovink wrote: > hi, can anyone explain to me why denmark is such an interesting country? They have too much time on their hands. P. -- Wir wollen dass ihr uns alles glaubt. From penguinhead at linux-delhi.org Mon Feb 27 12:57:22 2006 From: penguinhead at linux-delhi.org (Pankaj kaushal) Date: Mon, 27 Feb 2006 12:57:22 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] horn ok please! In-Reply-To: <20060224214254.58630f25.karunakar@freedomink.org> References: <20060224214254.58630f25.karunakar@freedomink.org> Message-ID: <4402A9DA.6010203@linux-delhi.org> Guntupalli Karunakar wrote: > photos here. > http://www.cartoonsoft.com/gallery/hornokplease more photos: http://www.cartoonsoft.com/gallery/hornokplease P. -- Wir wollen dass ihr uns alles glaubt. From penguinhead at linux-delhi.org Mon Feb 27 12:58:01 2006 From: penguinhead at linux-delhi.org (Pankaj kaushal) Date: Mon, 27 Feb 2006 12:58:01 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] horn ok please! In-Reply-To: <20060224214254.58630f25.karunakar@freedomink.org> References: <20060224214254.58630f25.karunakar@freedomink.org> Message-ID: <4402AA01.4070807@linux-delhi.org> Guntupalli Karunakar wrote: > photos here. > http://www.cartoonsoft.com/gallery/hornokplease more photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pankaj/tags/hornokplease/ P. -- Wir wollen dass ihr uns alles glaubt. From image.science at donau-uni.ac.at Sat Feb 25 20:24:02 2006 From: image.science at donau-uni.ac.at (Image Science) Date: Sat, 25 Feb 2006 15:54:02 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] First MA in > MEDIA ART HISTORIES < Message-ID: DANUBE UNIVERSITY KREMS, AUSTRIA 2006/07 Program :: PROGRAM DESCRIPTION Danube University's Department for Applied Cultural Studies, Center for Image Science is now accepting applications for the 2006/07 class of their MA Program in MediaArtHistories starting November. This two year low-residency degree provides students with deeper understanding of the most important developments of contemporary art through a network of renowned international theorists, artists and curators like Steve DIETZ, Erkki HUHTAMO, Lev MANOVICH, Christiane PAUL, Paul SERMON, Oliver GRAU, Gregor LECHNER, Jens HAUSER and many others. Artists and programers give new insights into the latest and most controversial software, interface developments and their interdisciplinary and intercultural praxis. Keywords are: Strategies of Interaction & Interface Design, Social Software, Immersion & Emotion, Artistic Invention. Using online databases and other modern aids, knowledge of computer animation, net art, interactive, telematic and genetic art as well as the most recent reflections on bio & nano art, CAVE installations, augmented reality and locative media are introduced. Historical derivations that go far back into art and media history are tied in intriguing ways to digital art. Key approaches and methods from Image Science, Media Archaeology and the History of Science & Technology will be discussed. Media Art History offers a basis for understanding evolutionary history of audiovisual media, from the Laterna Magica to the Panorama, Phantasmagoria, Film, and the Virtual Art of recent decades. The MA MediaArtHistories is located in the Center for Image Science, housed in a 14th century Monastery, which holds also the historic Göttweig collection, with more than 30.000 original graphics, etchings, prints etc., dating from the Renaissance and Baroque era until today. It contains works of various German, Italian, Dutch, French and British artists (from Dürer to Klimt*). This allows contextualization of the latest media art in its art and image history as the courses work directly with originals - from book illustration to photography to the most contemporary media art. MediaArtHistories MA is also based on the international praxis and expertise in Curation, Collecting, Preserving and Archiving and Researching in the Media Arts. What are, for example, the conditions necessary for a wider consideration of media art works and of new media in these collections of the international contemporary art scene? And in which way can new databases and other scientific tools of structuring and visualizing data provide new contexts and enhance our understanding of semantics? => www.donau-uni.ac.at/MediaArtHistories :: DANUBE UNIVERSITY -- located in the UNESCO world heritage WACHAU Danube University Krems is the first public university in Europe which specializes in advanced continuing education offering low-residency degree programs for working professionals and lifelong learners. The MA MediaArtHistories is located in the Center for Image Science, housed in a 14th century Monastery, remodeled to fit the needs of modern research in singular surroundings. Krems is a traditional educational town - with 30 schools and high schools attended by more than 10,000 students. Therefore, Krems' environment is richly furnished with restaurants, hotels, guest-houses and students' hostels, as well as leisure-time and cultural facilities. The idyllic environment of the Wachau, which belongs to UNESCO world heritage, its exquisite wines and numerous sports facilities, contribute to the quality of life of students at the Danube University Krems. => www.donau-uni.ac.at => www.donau-uni.ac.at/zbw :: ADDITIONAL SPECIALITIES OF THE CENTER FOR IMAGE SCIENCE The Center offers long term preservation and growth of the Database of Virtual Art. As pioneer in the field, the Database of Virtual Art has been documenting the rapidly evolving field of digital installation art since 1999, supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. The research-oriented, complex overview of immersive, interactive, telematic and genetic art has been developed in cooperation with renowned media artists, researchers and institutions. => www.virtualart.at The Database of Virtual Art and Leonardo/ISAST and the Banff New Media Institute collaborated to produce the first international art history conference covering art and new media, art and technology, art-science interaction, and the history of media as pertinent to contemporary art. In late September, more than 200 new media practitioners from around the world gathered at Banff New Media Institute (BNMI) for Refresh! The complete conference is available as a Webcast at: => http://www.mediaarthistory.org/navbar-links/refresh/origprogram.html :: DIGITALIZATION The DigitalizationCenter is equipped with an ultra-modern multifunctional digital reproduction system for digitizing works of art, graphics, maps and similar originals. The highest resolution combined with fast scan speeds and the possibility of serial image processing enable a cost effective workflow. The workstation is used for the digitalization of the Göttweig collection of engravings and other collections, as well as for teaching purposes. A new Digitalization Center for Cultural Studies is planned - further information available soon. :: OTHER COURSES: Starting Autumn 06 --> Certified Expert *Visual Competencies", 1 Semester --> Certified Expert *Digital Asset Management", 1 Semester --> Certified Expert *Iconography", 2 Semester --> Certified Expert *Photography", 2 Semester --> Certified Expert "Exhibition Design and Management", 1 Semester --> Certified Expert *Scientific Visualization", 2 Module => http://www.donau-uni.ac.at/zbw The MediaArtHistories program in Krems is unique in that it actively seeks to assemble a diverse group of students and welcomes applications from Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America. Space is limited, so please apply as soon as possible. Additional information is available on the programs website: => www.donau-uni.ac.at/MediaArtHistories If you would like an information pack, or if you have any questions, please contact first the office at the Center for Image Science, Danube University Krems, Dr.-Karl-Dorrek-Str. 30, 3500 Krems. Email: petra.gratzl at donau-uni.ac.at If you have further queries about specific contents of the program, please contact Mag. Jeanna Nikolov jeanna.nikolov at donau-uni.ac.at or program director Prof. Dr. Oliver Grau oliver.grau at donau-uni.ac.at (Head Department for Applied Cultural Studies and Center for Image Science) :: If you would like to receive our eBULLETIN, please SUBSCRIBE: => www.donau-uni.ac.at/zbw/engnewsletter or send an email to jeanna.nikolov at donau-uni.ac.at :: Suggestions? We appreciate your feedback: => jeanna.nikolov at donau-uni.ac.at From avereec at hotmail.com Mon Feb 27 23:42:59 2006 From: avereec at hotmail.com (Averee Chaurey) Date: Mon, 27 Feb 2006 23:42:59 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Second posting for the Independent fellowships. Message-ID: Shantiniketan, Viswa Bharati - World University established by Rabindranath Tagore ,the great poet saint is the platform where the wandering minstrels of Bengal meet. It is the time of Poush Mela and I decided to go to Shantiniketan to come face to face with the Bauls. It is the Poush Mela where along with different stalls attracting visitors the Baul Akhra (Baul�s den) exists. Its generally at the rear end of the Mela, where the Mukta Mela (Open Forum) is constructed.The note of Flute and Ektara emerged clearly through the cacophony at the fair grounds. It was a chilly morning but already music buffs had gathered at the Akhra to hear the Baul recited. I got to interview some Bauls and two female Bauls. It is strange that female Bauls are rare yet women are held in high esteem in their lives. Without the woman, the Bauls� �Sadhana� is incomplete. It is strange that the Sanginis are there to sing along with them, yet there are hardly any female Baul singers worth mentioning. Yet when I interviewed the two female Baul singers they seemed at peace with themselves. They respect their male singers and have no problem with them. One of the female singers mentioned that she was so much in love in the Bhakti music and that she was not interested in the daily chores of cooking, fetching water etc that she left home and took the shelter of a guru. Each Baul had their own story to tell. I realized that though most of them live in abject poverty they enjoy every moment of their lives. For example ,when I met Madhusudhan Baul he did talk about monetary problems and how they can only earn in the Melas, or resort to begging as the only way to earn - he too got transformed when he started singing. It was a joy emerging from within. I have been listening to Baul music from my childhood but I never realized that their music is also the music of protest. I then read some of Tagore�s articles and found that since Baul Music had a rustic flavour, which is deep rooted in the soil, Tagore too had used some of the tunes in his patriotic songs. What Madhusudhan Baul sang was interesting . It was the time when minds of people especially in Bengal were engrossed with the controversy involving Saurabh Ganguli, the cricketer & Greg Chappell. His song revolved around the theme. But somewhere I felt that the traditional practitioners are few and far between.Among them is the octogenarian Sanatan Das Baul, who started proceedings in the festival this year. I remembered him as a child. My father used to be very fond of him and always told me, � see the way he enacts on the stage.�I remember how he danced on stage while singing . Sanatan Baul is quite outspoken. He said, �These Bauls are not real Bauls, they only sing. All the time they are busy pursuing money.� �Where is the Sadhana? ?� Yes, the core question of the Bauls is �Sadhana�- this is the spiritual search. The one question that every Baul has in their mind is �Who am I�. For the Baul,� self realization is the most essential part of their sadhana fundamentals�, said Sanatan baul. Sadhana is determined by three essential components. These are 3 basic truths � �ami�- one self, �Tumi� � you and the supreme divinity and Guru �the Master, �Guru� plays the central role on the way towards self-realization. Without �Guru� the Baul cannot reach anywhere as he is the spiritual teacher through whom the link between �ami�and tumi�, between the self and supreme soul can established. These are the experiences and the stories I am gathering in establishing the true identity of the Baul. From jcm at ata.org.pe Tue Feb 28 00:43:10 2006 From: jcm at ata.org.pe (Jose-Carlos Mariategui) Date: Mon, 27 Feb 2006 19:13:10 +0000 Subject: [Reader-list] video art from Am =?iso-8859-1?q?=E9?= rica Latina (web link was missing) Message-ID: Dear all: Sorry, in the last email I forgot the most important thing, the web site link, here it is: http://www.videografiasinvisibles.org/ All the best, Jose-carlos V I D E O G R A F I A S I N ( V I S I B L E S ) [ (In)visible Videographies ] A selection of recent video art from América Latina (2000 ­ 2005) http://www.videografiasinvisibles.org/ Centro Atlántico de Arte Contemporáneo Sala San Antonio de Abad Plaza San Antonio de Abad, 1 Vegueta, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain 16th of february - 16th of april, 2006 Curators: Jorge Villacorta + José-Carlos Mariátegui In the brief history of electronic art in Latin America there are two recognizable stages. The first took place in the 1980s, or possibly the late Seventies, when artists, either isolated or in small groups, began to experiment with available electronic media, usually imitating what had already been done in Europe or the United States. The second stage, which began around 1990, involved the appearance of new artists immersed in electronic creation. This stage coincides in time with one or more local cultural initiatives ­public, private or a combination of the two­ with the aim of giving an institutional framework for creativity in electronic media and its promotion. In Argentina and Brazil these two stages appeared before they did elsewhere in Latin America; in Argentina the first stage took place in the second half of the Sixties, and in Brazil, in the early Seventies. Since Latin America is such a vast territory, whose development has been marked by the necessary transference of technology, it is easy to understand how electronic art becomes inserted in an ultimately cultural phenomenon of transference, even if its basis and its immediate devices are to be found in technology. As we can also see in the rest of the world, electronic media in Latin America are used nowadays in artistic creation in a context of fast changes, novelty developments, impact and surprise. Due to these changes artists travel to new places and become conscious of the uniqueness of their present position, awakening new insights, which in turn give important feedback to their work. Even if electronic art in Latin America as a whole still lacks stability, video art has become one of the contemporary aesthetic practices in recent Latin American visual arts. It is often included in international art exhibits and shows, as it is considered to have all the marks of regional representation, as well as acknowledged international legitimacy. However, little is known about recent video art production in Latin America as a whole, outside of some well-known names. It is hard to believe that at the beginning of the 21st Century, in spite of ubiquitous communication and information technology, we still have no access to any information about the creative processes which take place in certain areas. For us Latin Americans it is even more difficult to have access to information about our own region. It therefore becomes a necessity to build a network of creative connexions focused on the knowledge about video art in the region, searching at the same time for the particularities which ensure that in each country in Latin America there is a continuous flow of creative projects in new media. (In)visible Videographies proposes rendering visible some of these possible connexions revolving around ideas, concepts and recent proposals linked to video art works by Latin American creators unknown to the general public, in an attempt to contribute to the redefinition of our global concept of media art. The curatorial activity in this exhibit is focused on the selection of recent innovative projects, in an attempt to generate a receptive space for new cultural contents where visitors can actively immerse themselves. The projects chosen here have been produced by artists from those places which have little representation in the development of video art, but where, as our recent researches have confirmed, there is as much talent as that of the more visible areas of Latin America. (In)visible Videographies is divided into five thematic selections: 1.- MUSIC FOR THE EYES (16th of November, 19:30 h) The artists take a look at mass culture, with an avid aye for identifying the contours of a media culture which can be easily and directly comprehended. From animation to the dramatization of urban violence, this selection covers testimonial instances of how a commercial format (the video clip) has left its mark on visual creation, using video as a medium. What is foreign to them is effectively assimilated and reinterpreted from a witty local standpoint. Álvaro Zavala (Peru) ³¡Qué lindos son tus ojos!², 2001, 4¹ 30¹¹ Allora & Calzadilla (Cuba / USA) ³Returning a Sound², 2005, 5¹ 30¹¹ Orlando Galloso (Cuba) ³El telón², 2002, 3¹ 10¹¹ Katia Lund (Brazil) ³A minha alma², 2000, 6¹ Victoria Sayago (Argentina) ³Algo pasa en Potosí², 2005, 8¹ Brooke Alfaro (Panama) ³Aria², 2003, 3¹ 27¹¹ Ángel Alonso (Cuba) ³El hogar y sus fantasías², 2003, 7¹ 15¹¹ Ximena Cuevas (Mexico) ³Cinepolis², 2002, 22¹ Claudio Santos and Alexandra Soares / Voltz Design (Brazil) ³MOV_03², 2002, 2¹ 30¹¹ Lucas Bambozzi (Brazil) Fifteen clips from the series ³Postales², 2000-2003 (inserted in the program) 2.- EXERCISES TO FIGHT OBLIVION (23rd of November, 19:30 h) This selection explores the way memories of the recent past generate forms of audiovisual stories multiplying the senses in the construction of traditional historicity. The experience of television consumerism becomes one of the references that filter a cumulus of narrations, where nothing is rejected a priori: the personal or family history can become enmeshed in regional history ­be it geographic or social­ and both can reveal the political dimension. Javier Cambre (Puerto Rico)³Paseante², 2005, 7¹ 35¹¹ Ernesto Salmerón (Nicaragua)³Documento 1/29², 2003, 3¹ 47¹¹ ³Documento 2/29², 2003, 51¹¹ ³Documento 3/29², 2003, 1¹ 40¹¹ Enrique Castro (Panama)³memorias del hijo del viejo², 2003, 20¹ Diego David Cifuentes (Ecuador)³Cuentos del desfortunio², 2003, 4¹ 46¹¹ Edgar León (Costa Rica)³Memorias del porqué², 2001, 4¹ 47¹¹ Federico Falco (Argentina)³Estudio para horizonte², 2003, 6¹ 35¹¹ Carlos Runcie Tanaka (Peru)³DOS², 2003, 12¹ 3.- IMPURE CINEMA (30th of November, 19:30 h) The discovery of cinematography from a videographic perspective has resulted in a series of combinations which bring possibilities for innovating and transgressing the traditional movie format. This range of new possibilities of creation in the context of the visual arts in Latin America seems to have contributed to the recuperation of the experimental potential of narrating, lushly and impeccably, in images and sounds. Its wider sense of conceptualization gives direction to each and every process of edition and composition, be it analog or digital. Carolina Saquel (Chile)³Pentimenti², 2004, 8¹ 30¹¹ Diego Lama (Peru)³Chimera², 2004, 10¹ 5¹¹ Iván Marino (Argentina)³In Death¹s Dream Kingdom², 2002, 17¹ Milagros Mumenthaler (Argentina) ³Cape Cod², 2003, 3¹ Andrés Denegri (Argentina)³Uyuni², 2005, 8¹ Martín Sastre (Uruguay)³Montevideo ­ the dark side of the Pop², 2004, 14¹ Héctor Pacheco (Mexico) ³Doce muertes violentas de artistas contemporáneos², 2003, 5¹ 4.- (MEDIA) HABITAT (7th of December, 19:30 h) The journey along the territory of reality in Latin America is made with a critical slant. The focus is on the way reality is transformed in the mass communication media: the artists work on the images in order to generate spaces which can be open for discussion. In the same way, poetics born from the experimental use of the digital medium bring about visual dimensions which consciousness experiences as belonging to a separate reality. María José Cuevas (Mexico)³Mal de amores², 2005, 3¹ 35¹¹ Los artistas de la Gente (Honduras) ³Nos vale verga², 2003, 7¹ Marcellvs L. (Brazil) ³A Man, a Road, a River ­ 0778², 2004, 9¹ 27¹¹ Angela Detanico and Rafael Lain (Brazil) ³Flatland², 2003, 7¹ 36¹¹ Glenda León (Cuba)³Cada respiro², 2003, 2¹ Fernando Arias / Diego Arias (Colombia) ³Orisa², 2001, 22¹ Omar Flores (Peru)³Viva la muerte², 2003, 8¹ 30¹¹ Edgar Endress (Chile)³La memoria ­ Undocumented², 2004, 8¹ 30¹¹ Eder Santos (Brazil)³Accidentes geográficos², 2000, 18¹ 30¹¹ Gabriela Golder (Argentina) ³Vacas², 2002, 4¹ 26¹¹ 5.- PERFORMED IMAGERY (14th of December, 19:30 h) With a clear sense of the necessity to redefine video performance, a new generation of Latin American artists takes over situations and subjects deeply rooted in national imagery. The ethical status of the artist in the social context becomes in turn an object of ironic or playful reflection. Narda Alvarado (Bolivia)³Fire-men², 2004, 6¹ Sandra Monterroso (Guatemala) ³Tus tortillas mi amor², 2004, 23¹ Donna Conlon (Panama / USA) ³Singular, solitario², 2002, 5¹ 46¹¹ Cezar Migliorin (Brazil)³Acción y dispersión², 2003, 5¹ 30¹¹ Carlos Quintana (Venezuela)³El tigurón Franquejten², 2003, 9¹ 38¹¹ Milena Pafundi (Argentina) ³Un tiempo², 2003, 26¹ Narda Alvarado (Bolivia)³Olive Green², 2003, 4¹ 30¹¹ --------- This project has been produced by Museo Patio Herreriano de Arte Contemporáneo Español (Valladolid ­ Spain), Alta Tecnología Andina - ATA (Lima - Peru), the Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno and the Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional - AECI. Sponsor: Ministry of Culture, Spain From abshi at vsnl.com Tue Feb 28 12:58:16 2006 From: abshi at vsnl.com (abshi at vsnl.com) Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2006 12:28:16 +0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Engendering Urban Public Space: Call for Papers Message-ID: <117234a1174407.1174407117234a@vsnl.net> Call for Papers: Roundtable Discussion Engendering Urban Public Space The PUKAR Gender and Space project has been researching the relationship between women and public space for the last two and a half years. We are currently at the writing stage of our research and would like to share our observations and analysis as well as receive inputs from the experiences of others who have been working on similar lines. To that end, we invite researchers, activists, advocates, journalists, architects, pedagogues and others working in the area of gender in relation to urban public space to a roundtable discussion of questions of engendering safety, infrastructure and citizenship. We refer to public space as a part of the public sphere. Public spaces for the purposes of this roundtable refers to streets, market places (across class contexts – that is including bazaars and malls); recreational spaces such as parks, theatres, restaurants, coffee shops; infrastructure such as subways, foot-over-bridges and public toilets; and modes of public transport including railway stations and bus stops. What we are looking for are presentations of research papers / studies / explorations that have engaged with questions of gender in relation to space, particularly urban public space. Each presentation is intended to be not longer than 15 minutes to leave more time for discussion. Presenters will receive an honorarium but the costs of travel and boarding will have to be covered by participants themselves. Please mail queries and abstracts of presentations to genderspace at pukar.org.in by March 10th, 2006. Date: 12 April 2006 Location: Mumbai Potential areas of focus could include: Shrinking Public Spaces Safety Questions of Morality and Culture-policing Sexuality and the City Woman-friendly design Legal concerns Policy related matters Infrastructure For more information on the PUKAR Gender and Space project please see: www.pukar.org.in PUKAR (Partners for Urban Knowledge Action and Research) Address:: 1-4, 2nd Floor, Kamanwala Chambers, Sir P. M. Road, Fort, Mumbai 400 001 Telephone:: +91 (22) 5574 8152 Fax:: +91 (22) 5664 0561 Email:: pukar at pukar.org.in Website:: www.pukar.org.in From abhinanditamathur at gmail.com Tue Feb 28 11:42:10 2006 From: abhinanditamathur at gmail.com (abhinandita mathur) Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2006 11:42:10 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Update My Building and the Shahar Message-ID: <19aa1b810602272212x570a5575obd7068a4f8c3f156@mail.gmail.com> Hi, Here is an update on our work and experience with the project so far and a tentative plan for the coming weeks: We shared in the last post that this project would be presented as an interactive multimedia website which shall comprise visual and audio records like photographs, stories, recipes, songs, clips of *shaadi* videos etc. It is for this reason that we were unsure about what to write this time…beyond the usual updates and plans…as we are working towards putting up a website to start uploading photos and other stuff. This project in many ways is a personal one and thus the experience of pursuing it, very special. It is pretty strange to reconnect with all old associations and ties (including each other) in context of this project. I moved back to Delhi/home and the *Mathur* building. The first task we undertook after the official announcement of the grant was telling our near and dear *Mathurs* about the project, its objective, rationale, purpose etc. We took 5 print outs of our proposal and shared it with our uncles, aunts, sisters, nephews and so on. And we have received all sorts of comments and suggestions!! We thought it might be interesting to share some of these reactions in this post: The response in general has been stimulating and intriguing. While all our * Mathur* friends and relatives have appreciated our "initiative" to take interest in the community (sometimes understood as community activities), a number of them are questioning the purpose and "* fayda"* of a project such as this. On one hand, the project is viewed as a noble contribution in service of the community, art or sociological good in general; on the other, some people find it to be total waste of resources. A cousin pointed out that rather than doing a study like this one…which doesn't really help the community in a direct way, we should perhaps start something like an activist's campaign to get the status of a Scheduled Caste which will actually benefit the community. The other frequently asked question is: "WHY MATHURS" *"abe tujhe kuch aur nahi mila", "mathuron mein kya rakha hai ab", "apni society…don't be silly yaar…you really think its worth studying?". *Interestingly, mostly people under 30 years of age fail to understand why anyone would be interested in our lives. Mathurs, many of them feel are an inconsequential lot. While the older ones feel we should actually write a book on mathur riti reewaz. In the proposal we spoke about certain peculiar cultural practices in the community like, language, eating meat, drinking and music. And that they could be very particular about maintaining their typical way of life. The emphasis in life was to eat well and drink well. OP Mathur in response to this observation pointed out that "as Mathurs mostly worked in the courts of *Shaukeen *Emperors, they were often obligated to drink to give company to their masters and they never disobeyed orders". A close friend from the building, Nalin, has been following the story of this project from the time of its inception. Nalin is 23 years old. He works as a software consultant for a multinational company. When we started working on the project last month, Nalin and I spoke about a number of things including the pros and corns of growing up in this building, the experience of living here, Mathur *khana, peena*, aesthetic, attitude and the role all this has played in shaping us as people. He is keen to participate more actively in the project. He wrote this piece titled "Balconies at *Shree Ganesh*": *One does not need to see Jerry McGuire to realize that one experiences a defining moment which just changes one's life; for good or for bad, that's my topic for another article. Well, to be honest, I have yet to experience this life defining moment, but I have had numerous instances which have had some impact or the other on my conscience and behavior and have resulted in the package that I am today. Most of these moments were experienced while I was up to something, at times with someone-not-so-special and once with someone special. And generally, when I was doing nothing but looking around mindlessly. * * * *But the point I want to make here is that such moments can be experienced at the most unexpected places. For me my balcony is one such place. This is primarily because my balcony opens up right into what you call the heart of SGA. With a perfect view of all the residential blocks, badminton courts, car parks, jhulle wala park and health club, I witness the very spirit of SGA whenever I step into it. Every Sunday, with sarson ka tel all over my body and nimbu ka ras on my hair, I just sit in my balcony and observe life from close quarters (apart from enjoying the smells of parisnde and aloo - bedween from neighboring kitchens), I often wonder if I have learned so much by just sitting here, is it the same with everyone else? * * * *Arguably then, balconies in Shree Ganesh Apartments are the most socially productive piece of land. For house wives, which sums upto30% of SGA's population, it acts as a modern day equivalent to a chajja from where they can have a keen look at who's visiting whom, who's wearing what and who's going where. And importantly who's hanging out of this coveted architectural wonder to have a friendly talk with, about the daily chores, which usually consists of how busy they have been and how its time that Tulsi Virani should start believing an eye for an eye policy. This conversation often takes place at decibels which can put the latest innovation in sound technology by Bose to shame. Moreover, balconies assure them a virtual invitation card to every mehendi, shaadi and mundan. Not that I am complaining. Because these Mathur functions are the hunting ground for eligible bachelors. And I am 23 and in a bit of a hurry. * * * *For uncles, both paternal and maternal, the balconies act as the platform which empowers them with freedom of expression which I believe they can't practice at home because of some very obvious reasons which every married man faces. Thus, the balcony acts as a place from where they can preach everyone and anyone who cares to listen; from newspaper wallah to security guards to car washmen each of them is told how to improve their quality of service along with every possible advice one can give under the sun. The balcony probably makes them feel like the Pope standing majestically over the famous verandah at the **Papal** **Palace **, giving his followers an audience. Other than that, uncles are seen in balconies only on diwali, lighting diyas and candles.* * * *And for people like me, who very strongly believe that the world would be at their feet in no time, the balcony acts as the holy spot where they can think of productive strategies, spend some time in solitude and attain nirvana, invisible to the outer world behind dozens of impeccably washed clothes, neatly placed over the twine to be dried. At least the balcony is way better than some sort of sleeping gas induced bedrooms or tear gas induced kitchen or toilets which more often that not are subjected to gases owing to some major gastronomical complexities. With the emergence of cell phones and importantly telephones etiquettes (we got to thank BPOs for that), the number of people paying their balconies a visit have increased phenomenally. The balcony has also undergone a major face lift. It is like being directly proportional to the rise in stock markets. Earlier balconies meant gas cylinders, a couple of money plants and a bulb. But now, balconies are kept as tidy as the living room. Gas cylinders have been replaced by cane chairs, tulips and roses now give company to banyan tree sized money plants and the bulb resides within designer glass. Even the trademark chimtiya have started vanishing. * * * *But what still remains in almost all balconies is a picture or a wall hanging depicting some deity. One might say it is because of vaastu but I say this the way Mathur balconies are. * All these responses shall pay a role in shaping this project. Next month we plan a walk through the *gallis *in old Delhi with boys, girls and kids from the Mathur building. This weekend we will go for our first *shaadi* shoot. Venu has been working on a short essay titled "the Mathur bahu". She plans to work on it full time next Sunday and have it ready for the next due posting!! Project is taking shape slowly…shall upload pictures on our blog soon. Also...so sorry we could not respond to the earlier mails for us. but will make sure we do now on... Thanks! Abhinandita and Venu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060228/cea328ff/attachment.html From anant_umn at yahoo.co.uk Mon Feb 27 04:19:28 2006 From: anant_umn at yahoo.co.uk (anant m) Date: Sun, 26 Feb 2006 22:49:28 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Reader-list] Re: [Urbanstudy] safeguarding municipal councils in Protesting against water privatisation among other 'reform' efforts In-Reply-To: <20060224075113.70345.qmail@web8806.mail.in.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <20060226224928.97611.qmail@web25715.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> solly, i dont know if you wanted this feedback within a timeframe. i agree with the overall framework. but we need to quickly move towards a programmatic statement from here because only then the actual politics of resistance will become graspable. one goal for practical politics should be something like "townhall socialism" something like what is happening in vijayawada where the cpm is digging its heels in. another goal should be to somehow get our teeth into the whole finance reform thing. what we are seeing in india is the, by now, classic instance of neoliberal reforms coming to the local scale riding on financial devolution. just think of how in 1991, the BoP crisis was the turning point at the national scale, in 1995, the fiscal crisis of the state was the turning point and in 1998, the municipal corporation's finances was the turning point. in each instance, it was the same dynamics and the same rhetoric. the government has no money, the poor can pay and so on. we need to find a way of addressing this when we go after the corporators. i know this is jumping the gun. but we do need to move fast. best anant --- solomon benjamin wrote: > Dear Friends, > attacthed is a note with some points on how one may > conceptualize resistance to the urban reforms > agenda. > specifically, what is happening to local municipal > governments and the new language appropriated by the > neo-libral development business! your comments and > suggestions will be most welcome! > Solly > --- Clifton wrote: > > > Dear Friends, > > > > *Protest against water privatisation > > Venue: Town Hall > > Time: 5.30 p.m. > > Date: 24th February, 2006* > > > > The struggle against water privatisation > continues. > > > > _A group of students (60 in all) have embarked on > a > > padh yatra (walk) > > from Anekal to Bangalore to raise awareness about > > critical water issues > > especially water privatisation and its serious > > impacts. _ > > > > Today (23rd) morning they began from Anekal and > > having passed through > > several villages where they have held discussions. > > > They will be > > reaching Bangalore tomorrow evening and joining > the > > Campaign Against > > Water Privatisation to protest against water > > privatisation at Town Hall > > at 5.30 p.m. > > > > Several eminent persons will be present there > > including Rajendra Singh > > (Magsaysay Award Winner), Gowri Lankesh, Indudhara > > Honnapura, Mavalli > > Shankar, C. Basavalingaiah, B. Suresh, Mahesh > > Sukadhare and others. > > > > Please attend the protest tomorrow and bring your > > friends along. > > > > In solidarity > > Clifton > > > > Dr. Solomon Benjamin > #32, 2nd. 'A' Cross, 10th. Main > Koramangala, 4th. 'C' Block > BANGALORE 560034 > INDIA > Phone: 91-80-2552-5485 > > > > > __________________________________________________________ > > Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner now. Go to http://yahoo.shaadi.com> _______________________________________________ > Urbanstudygroup mailing list > Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City > > To subscribe or browse the Urban Study Group > archives, please visit > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup > ___________________________________________________________ To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new Yahoo! Security Centre. http://uk.security.yahoo.com From arshad.mcrc at gmail.com Sun Feb 26 13:30:20 2006 From: arshad.mcrc at gmail.com (mohd arshad) Date: Sun, 26 Feb 2006 13:30:20 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Second posting >>Journalism in Madrasas and Madrasas in Journalsim Message-ID: <2076f31d0602260000r3306513cv99cac987d86f26c8@mail.gmail.com> Hi all, I'm sorry for being late. This is my second posting on the theme of "Journalism in Madrasas and Madrasas in Journalism". I have analyzed in it the content of the two of the Ahle Hadees magazines and how they came in touch with the Salafia of Saudi Arabia. Differences in the approach, reach and content of the two magazines belonging to the same sect have also been studied. "If one section of the majority community insists that it's they who are the nation and the national culture and heritage is nothing else but their culture, ethos and rituals; unless the goal of the assimilation of the minorities into the fold of the majority is achieved, the national security of the country will be at stake, that section, in reality, is not concerned about the national security and the development of the whole nation and is just aiming at fuelling the majority communalism." This is an excerpt from an editorial of Mohaddis, an 'Islamic cultural and literary monthly magazine'. Published in September.2001(p4-5), a time when the BJP led-NDA coalition was at the helm of affairs, the editorial mirrors the concerns of the madrasa people regarding a detailed report tabled by a committee of a couple of the central ministers. As the report pronounces that madrasas are the threat to the national security, it sent tremors to the madrasas across the country. The editor further writes: "The madrasas have played very crucial role in the freedom struggle, their graduates fought tooth and nails against the British colonial regime.But the above mentioned section of the majority community is of the opinion that they are the real culprits and are threat to the national security. In reality, they are neither the dens of terrorism nor the 'shakhas' for training the youth to use arms and ammunitions, but are the centers of the learning where education of the muslim theology as well as the necessary secular subjects is imparted to the students. In the period stretched over half a century after the Independence, the muslim community lagged far behind in the race of the development and education. Governments are elected and voted out off the office but nobody ever bothered to take any concrete step for the economic and educational upliftment of the backward muslims. In this state of despair, madrasas are the last resort for a number of students of the minority community whose followers are numbered at more than 20 crore." The editorial "Madrasas and the National Security" argues that this report laid bare the hidden agenda of the BJP government to foster the majoritarian communalism among the non-muslim brethren of the country. As the madrasas are the centers for Islamic learning and are established by the Muslims to preserve their culture and religion, a Constitutional right, they cannot be categorized as the threat to the national security, without any substantial proof. It should be seen as a concerted effort by one section of the majority community to wither away the diverse traditions and cultures of various minority groups by assimilating them into the north Indian Brahmanical way of life, and, this can definitely pose threat to the national security. Further, A.W.Hijazi, the editor, maintains that madrasas are spreading literacy to those who don't afford to bear the expenses of the public schools and where the government fails to open a school. Having done so, the madrasas are helping the state out in maintaining its 'welfare character'. Mohaddis is brought out by Darul Taalif Wa Tarjuma which is the department of research of Jamia Salafia, Varanasi. The latter is the apex madrasa of the Ahl-e-Hadees sect of Indian muslims. The Ahl-e-Hadees are known for their non-adherence to any of the conventional schools of the muslim jurisprudence and are considered to be rigid in rendering a more puritanical interpretation of Islam and monotheism. They are the smallest minority among the Indian Sunni Muslims. An estimate put their population somewhere near 2 to 2.5 crore. Though they are scattered across the country, West Bengal has the largest share of them. Jamia Salafia is their intellectual centre while Markazi Jami'at Ahl-e-Hadees, Hind (Ahl-e-Hadees Manzil, 4116, Urdu Bazar, Jamia Masjid, Delhi-6) is the administrative head office of the sect. It is evident from the content of Mohaddis that the ulema are not concerned with what is going on in the political arena of the country, unless it has some muslim angle attached to it. Rezaullah Madani who edits Jarida Tarjuman, the fortnightly organ of Markazi Jami'at Ahl-e-Hadees, Hind, says "Jarida Tarjuman aims at keeping the readers aware of the services of the Markazi Jami'at as well as helping it in translating its vision into reality So, as ours is not a political organization, we are more concerned about the social and religious issues of the community, rather than political ones. There are outfits which concentrate on the political issues in their publications". However, while browsing through the pages of the magazine I came across pieces on Kanpur riots, the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre, the Gujarat genocide, the American attack on .Afghanistan and Iraq and ,of course, the Palestine question. In an editorial on the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre, A.W.Hijazi, buys the conspiracy theory and holds Israel responsible for the attack. (Mohaddis: November, 2001, p4-6).But what he writes about the US attack on Afghanistan makes an interesting reading and is worth reproducing here: "We don't say that there are no extremists among muslims. Definitely, they are very much there. But it has to be accepted that these elements are found in every country and society. There may be other factors at work but illiteracy is the main reason behind it. So to educate the masses and equip them with the applied knowledge is the only way to eradicate terrorism. War cannot cure the wounds of terrorism. Only terrorists should be punished for their deeds and that's only after the confirmation of their heinous crime. Is it the justice to punish the whole nation for the acts of some of them? Doing so per se is injustice and terrorism." (p. 5-6). Along with Mohaddis, Jamia Salafia brings out another monthly magazine Saut ul Ummah in Arabic. Dr. Muqtada Hasan Azhari edits the magazine since its inception in the early 80s. A graduate of the Al-Azhar Islamic University, Cairo, he is known for his liberal leanings in the Ahl-e-Hadees circle. An author of many books and a celebrated translator from Arabic to Urdu and vice versa, Dr. Azhari frequently contributes to Mohaddis on a range of themes. Reacting to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre on the 11th Sep, 2001, he wrote a piece titled "How the Arab Journalism Reacted to the Terrorist Attack on the WTC?"(Nov, 2001).This write-up is a commentary on the coverage of the event in three of the leading newspapers and magazines of the Arab world: Al-Mujtam'a (a weekly magazine from Kuwait), Akhbar Al A'alam Al Islami (a weekly tabloid from Mecca) and Akhbar Al Watan (Oman).The piece opens with the description of the attack on the WTC and the details of the security measures taken by the US authority to reduce the possibility of any other attack by the terrorists. Then, he writes, paraphrasing what has been published in Al-Mujtam'a(22/09/2001), that Muslim ulema and leaders, all over the world, have termed this fateful event as a 'human tragedy' and 'unislamic' as Islam prohibits from terrorist activities in all its incarnations. Further, he quotes from Akhbar Al A'alam Al Islami, Mecca(28/09/2001) statements of bigwigs of the Arab world, including Dr. Abdullah bin Abdul Mohsin Turki,General Secretary of Muslim World League, Mecca; Dr. Muhammad Syed Tantawi, Vice Chancellor of the Al Azhar University, Cairo and Omar Musawi, General Secretary of Arab League, in condemnation of the attack. With the help of statistics and data, he goes on to elucidate that "Since the end of the 19 th century, terrorist activities of different kinds have been carried out in the US against celebrities and MNCs. Most of these ghastly acts have been masterminded and put into action by US citizens who belonged to American militia and extremist outfits while the involvement of the Arab criminals in any crime committed on the soil of the US is almost negligible. Then he raises the question: who are the real perpetrators of the attack on the WTC. He goes on to say that though the US is of the opinion that it's Bin Laden and his Al Qaeda which is behind this tragedy, the things are yet not clear enough to make such a claim. Buying the conspiracy theory, he says that speculations are that those American soldiers who had fought against Vietnam carried out the attack in collaboration with Mosad, the Israeli intelligence agency. According to the Arab diplomats, he quotes from Akhbar Al Watan (Oman), the needle of the suspicion points towards the involvement of Israel in this tragedy and he enumerates their arguments in support of the claim: 1. None of the four thousand of the Jews who worked in the WTC, turned up that fateful day at their workplace. 2. The Directors of the security personnel of all those airports from which the planes were hijacked, were on leave. 3. Ariel Sharon, the Israeli PM, sent his condolence message to the President Bush even before the latter came to know about the incident. Next part of the piece says that what had happened in Washington, New York and Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001, is a human tragedy which has no parallel in the history. Let's hope this will compel the US to change its policies towards Palestine, Lebanon, Sudan, Iraq, Chechnya, Bosnia and Rwanda. Are the lives and liberties of the innocent citizens of these countries not as precious and respectable as those of the US citizens? Then the article deals with the popular protests, held in almost all important cities of the world against the announcement of the President Bush that Military action will be carried out against those who are responsible for the attack on the WTC. He ends the article with what the Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak said: I fear the treatment will worsen the situation. Any American attack on any country will end up but killing the innocent people, like those who have already been killed on September 11.This statement of the Egyptian President has been quoted from Al-Mujtam'a, Kuwait,(29/09/2001). For a long time Dr.Azhari has been the rector of Jamia Salafia which was established in 1963 with great financial help from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In this capacity, he has frequently been to the gulf countries, especially Saudi Arabia, to represent the institution in several academic events and, also, to garner the economic support for Jamia. During one of such trips he addressed a gathering of the Ahle Hadees madrasa graduates from India who were then enrolled in the King Sa'ud University, Riyadh. The whole text of his speech titled "Knowledge is not a commodity, it's a sacred heritage to be passed on" was reproduced in Mohaddis (June, 2002.p.20-30).In the speech he goes in detail to elaborate the nature and kinds of knowledge;the need of the hour; how to fulfill those needs?; what ails ulema and the madrasa graduates?; and the opportunity of the higher education available in Saudi Arabia. A number of Ahle Hadees madrasa graduates fly every year to Saudi Arabia for the higher education. How and when had it started? 'It's difficult to specify the period when the Salafia of the sub-continent came into contact with that of Najd (Sa'udi Arabia).However, what we remember is that it started when Nawab Siddique Hasan Khan of Bhopal sent a copy of Fat'h Al Bayan Fi Maqasid al Qur'an, one of his commentaries on the Qur'an to Sheikh Hamd Bin Ateeque,a noted Saudi alim. As Siddique Hasan Khan had adopted the Ash'rites approach towards explaining God's ways, Sheikh Hamd Bin Ateeque elucidated the Saudi Salafia's stand towards the same in a letter to the former', in an interview to the weekly Al Da'wah, Riyadh, said Dr.RezaullahMubarakpuri (1954 – 2003), the former Principal of Jamia Salafia (Mohaddis, Special Issue on Dr.Rezaullah Mubarakpuri, June to December,2003).This incident clearly suggests that the Salafia of the sub-continent was different from that of Saudi Arabia. Another event which highlights how the indigenous Salafia varies from the Saudi Salafia is related to Allama Sanaullah of Amritsar (1868 - 1948), another veteran Ahl-e-Hadees 'alim. He followed the Ash'arite's method in one of his commentaries on the Qur'an. Maulana Faqirullah Punjabi, a member of the Ghaznavi family of the Ahl-e-Hadees ulema who received his education from the ulema of Najd, Saudi Arabia and was adamant in their adherence to the interpretation of Islam provided by Mohammad Bin Abdul Wahab, did not like what Sanaullah wrote. In 1936-37.it triggered a series of writings in which Ghaznavids accused Sanaullah of deviating from the path of the Salafia while the latter was of the view that as the socio-political milieu of the country was diametrically different from that of Saudi Arabia, and that's why our interpretation of Islam should be different from that of the Saudis. Those were the days when the Christian missionaries had launched their campaign of propagation and proselytization. Likewise, the Shuddhi Movement was also at its peak. Qadianism (Ahmedism) recently came into the picture and caused a lot of hue and cry among the Sunni muslims. As an 'alim living in this age, Sanaullah had to develope a new idiom of the contestations to blunt what was being said and written about Islam by the above mentioned forces, and, of course, also, to keep the fold of his followers intact. Later on, both were invited to the court of King Saud who saw the point in Sanaullah's arguments and sorted out the problem in his favour. In fact, the salafis of the sub-continent preferred to use the term Ahl-e-Hadees for themselves. It's only in 60s that their contact with the salafis of Saudi Arabia gained momentum.Ahle Hadees madrasa graduates started getting admission in Saudi Universities, especially in Al Jamia Al Islamia, Medina (a university where students from all over the world come for absolutely free higher education in the Islamic sciences and go back to their country to disseminate and propagate what they have learnt).Likewise, a number of Saudi ulema came to teach in Jamia Salafia, Varanasi when it came into existence. Thus, scores of Ahle Hadees madrasa graduates came back to India to preach the Saudi edition of Salafia. As most of them get a handsome salary from the Ministry of Propagation and Guidance of the Saudi Government, they maintain a life standard which was unprecedented to the Indian ulema. Earlier the ulema were known for their preference for poverty and humbleness in their interaction with the masses A sort of snobbery and intellectual arrogance crept into these Saudi-returned ulema. Thus, the Petro-Dollar has created classes among the Ahle Hadees ulema and they got divided into two camps: Madani (a suffix used by those in their names who got the opportunity to get educated in Al Jamia Al Islamia, Medina, Saudi Arabia) and non-Madani ulema. Madrasa students aspire to be a Madani as it secures a handsome salary, social status and an opportunity to acquire the skill to speak Arabic with adequate fluency. As non-Madani ulema lack all these attributes, they are being looked down upon by their Madani counterparts as well as by a common Ahle Hadees. The Madani ulema, ignorant of the socio-cultural and political realities of India and fascinated by what they learnt in Medina, completely overlooked the spatio-temporal factors of the Islamic jurisprudence. They tried to impose fatwas of the Saudi ulema on the Indian masses. A sort of the dialogical colonialism was witnessed by the madrasa journals which became the vehicle for the dissemination of views (fatwas and opinion pieces) of the Saudi ulema on the one hand while the spaces of these magazines had been transformed into a battlefield between the Madani and non-Madani ulema. Translations of the write-ups by the Saudi ulema constitute a sizeable chunk and regular element of the Ahle Hadees magazines. For instance, translation of an article of Allama Abdul Mohsin Al 'Ebad, ex Vice Chancellor of Al Jamia Al Islamia, Medina, appeared in Mohaddis in 16 parts (from Jan 2002 to May, 2003). In this piece, the essayist has countered the 'allegations' made by Syed Yousuf Al Refa'i, ex-member of the Parliament of Kuwait, against the ulema of Saudi Arabia. Some issues of Mohaddis carry 2-3 translations of the pieces by the Saudi scribes. These translations generally deal with the themes of metaphysics and prayers. In the early 90s, a fatwa by the late Abdullah Bin Baaz, the chief mufti of Saudi Arabia, was reproduced in Mohaddis. The fatwa was about whether it is Islamic to raise hands while invoking dua', the concluding part of namaz. Bin Baaz termed it unislamic while in India the same ritual is considered to be the intrinsic part of namaz. The fatwa generated intensive debate in Mohaddis as well as in other Ahle Hadees magazines. It infuriated a number of veteran non-Madani Ahle Hadees ulema who were against the fatwa while the Madani ulema were all for it. The writings of the both sides were compiled in a special issue brought by Mohaddis. The insistence on the implementation of the fatwa of Bin Baaz caused even violence at some places Translations from Hindi or English journals are rarely found.. In the period under study, I've found only 2-3 translations from English and all of them are about the muslims in the foreign countries and about those who have embraced Islam. 'An Introduction to the Muslims of Mongolia' (Mohaddis, July 2004) is the title of a piece which is basically a summarized translation from the English language. The translation chronicles in brief the history and the present day situations of muslims in the region. Mohd. Sanaullah Umri, the translator, has not mentioned where and when the source article appeared. . Most of the articles are based on the injunctions of the Qur'an and the Hadees.As a result, they become very hypothetical and abstract, detached from the ground realities. This gives way to the repetition and raises questions about the originality of the intellectual production of the ulemas. What Mohd Muniruddin Umri has written about "The human rights and Islam" (Nawa-e- Islam, October, 2000.p29) is not different from what someone else will jot down on the same theme. The reason is that everybody quotes the same verses of the Qur'an, sayings of the Prophet and a handful of events from the history of the Muslim rule. This approach makes their pieces abstract, anachronous and devoid of empirical studies of the socio-economic reality of Indian muslims. One rarely comes across a piece which has been written in the light of the data provided by any socio-economic survey of the country. In one of such articles titled "What Ails Muslims in India?" (Mohaddis,December,2000.p.35-40),the essayist quotes statistics from Vibhuti Narayan Rai's book on communal riots and also from a survey by National Council of Applied Economic Research to show what the communal riots in the Independent India has done to the economy of muslims. He has also questioned the role of the Police in the communal violence. In the concluding part of the article, he argues that illiteracy among the Muslims, opportunism in their leadership, the inability of the community to reach out to their non-muslim brethren and the rise of the Hindu rightist forces are the causes which are at the root of the problem. Apart from the rhetorical approach, ignorance of languages other than Urdu also plays a critical role in the absence of statistics about the contemporary reality of the muslims from the madrasa journals. The Ahle Hadees madrasa journals are all praise for the house of Saud and their kingdom. Time and again, they publish pieces which glorify the services of Saudi government and its charity works for muslim minorities of the world. In its issue of September, 2000, Nawa-e-Islam has printed three items (p20 to 32) related to the kingdom and its religious ideology "Wahabism or Salafia".The title of the first article is "Saudi Arabia: An Ideal Islamic State" It narrates the history of the house of Saud since 18th century explaining how it rose to prominence and seized the throne of the country. The reasons why it is an "ideal Islamic state" are: it has constructed more than 2000 mosques in the kingdom; it has introduced a lot of new facilities for the Hajj pilgrims which has made their marathon very easy; it has been instrumental through the King Fahad Qur'an Complex, in distributing copies of the Qur'an across the world; it has established a factory for manufacturing the curtains of Ka'ba and, of course, it provides astronomical amount of money for the muslim minorities of the world. The second article of the series profiles the life and achievements of King Fahad Bin Abdul Aziz.The third and the last one is the translation of an address by the King Abdul Aziz to a gathering of the Hajj pilgrims in 1973.In this speech, titled as "They Call Us Wahabis", the king has presented the crux of the Wahabism and declared it his state ideology. Recently, on the occasion of the visit of King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz to India, the fortnightly Jarida Tarjuman came up with a special issue (1-15February, 2006.vol.26.No.3) in which 16 out of 26 items were devoted to deal with different aspects of the history and the services of the House of Saud. Nawa-e-Islam, a monthly magazine, is brought out by The Islamic Preaching Council(1164-A,Chah Rehat,Jama Masjid Delhi-6) situated in a mosque which , according to its editor Aziz Umar Salafi, 'serves the purpose of the mosque, the office and the restraunt'. The magazine provides more variety to its readers than what Mohaddis offers to its subscribers. Although both of them contain 48 pages, the former publishes around 12 to 15 items in every issue while Mohaddis keeps this number between11 to 13. Except the editorial column, both the magazines have only three regular columns. Apart from Dars-e-Qur'an (Guidance from the Qur'an) and Dars-e-Hadees (Guidance from the Hadees), Mohaddis has a regular column on fatwas which is missing in the case of Nawa-e-Islam. This, like Jamia Salafia, does not have any council of Muftis. So, instead of a column on fatwas, it has a regular column titled "Al Salam-o-Alaikum". by Dr.Abul Hayat Ashraf. He, not an a'lim by training, comments in the lighter vein on a range of issues related to muslims. Majority of the pieces published in Mohaddis are written by the teachers of Jamia Salafia while the contributors to Nawa-e-Islam are from different parts of the country. It is interesting to note that except a few, all contributors to both the magazines are ulema by training. No remuneration is paid to these writers as the purpose behind bringing out this journal is tabligh (religious), not commercial. Mohaddis (size: 23x18 inches) is sold at the rate of Rs.10 per copy while Nawa-e-Islam (size: 21x14 inches) at the rate of Rs.8. Mohaddis is held with respect in the circle of Ahle Hadees ulema as it publishes more erudite and in-depth pieces while Nawa-e-Islam caters to the common masses. The latter uses simple Urdu while the language of Mohaddis is more jargon-ridden and full of Arabic words. When an a'lim comes back to India after staying four-five years in Saudi Arabia,he writes in a Urdu which is Arabic-laden and reading of which produces an effect very similar to what is known as Gulabi Urdu invented by Mulla Ramuzi. So, Nawa-e Islam seems more familiar to a layman than Mohaddis. Another reason for its popularity among masses is that the length of its articles normally does not exceed four pages and, unlike Mohaddis, it avoids publishing long articles in several parts. The latter does not follow any standard format for write-ups published in it. Rezaullah Madani, editor of the fortnightly Jarida Tarjuman, Delhi, says: "I, after coming to the office in 2001, have almost stopped publishing long articles in several parts. This, including other factors, has helped a lot in increasing the readership of the magazine by leaps and bounds. In 2001, only2500 copies were published while nowadays the consumption has reached to 6000 copies". Mohaddis, Nawa-e-Islam and Jarida Tarjuman, like other madrasa journals, are not ready to show an iota of flexibility when it comes to the ideology of the sect. Even in matter of advertisements they strictly follow the sect line and decline to any advertisement having any photograph or other material contrary to their ideology. "We refuse to publish those advertisements which carry photographs of the living objects though the money offered by the advertisement agencies is amazing.' says Rezaullah Madani. The next posting will seek to explore the trends in the madrasa journals brought out by those ulema who belong to the Deoband school of thought. arshad amanullah 35,masihgarh, jamia nagar new delhi-25. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060226/afab1b1c/attachment.html From daljitami at rediffmail.com Sat Feb 25 12:45:42 2006 From: daljitami at rediffmail.com (daljit ami) Date: 25 Feb 2006 07:15:42 -0000 Subject: [Reader-list] Twin trends of success: Celluloid and Compact Disk Message-ID: <20060225071542.11352.qmail@webmail27.rediffmail.com> Hello Everybody, This is my second dispatch on my topic, Twin trends of success: Celluloid and Compact Disk. My exploration on the subject leads me to many interesting interactions with filmmakers who are making films on Digital format. Most of these filmmakers are beginners without any training or experience. These interactions open the space of exploration in many directions. These people are trying their hands in a profession, which was earlier considered for trained professionals. The wide range of subjects they are covering is another dimension of this phenomenon. Lack of technical training or prior experience has made them evolve their own terminology to communicate with each other while shooting. You will not hear the routine sounds supposed to be part of shooting ambience i.e. order, silence, roll camera, rolling, action, cut and okay etc. I will be writing in detail about the new language in the making in my further dispatches. The defined roles of different departments like direction, camera, costumes, make up, sound, cast and lights have been blurred into many two/three/four-in-one types. The role of post-production has been reduced to arranging the shots and adding little bit of music along with credits and titles. I will be writing in detail about this in coming dispatches. Dialogue oriented scripts have too little to offer as far as creative space for artist is concerned. Lots of new artists can be seen imitating other well-known artists. This trend has many interesting case stories those need to be told. I think I need to interact more and see the films more. I will come up with some case studies very soon. Please let me know if you think there is a variable I need to take care off. Your comments and queries will help me a lot. Regards, Daljit Ami -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060225/b59d315e/attachment.html From induverma_virgo at yahoo.co.in Tue Feb 28 11:10:38 2006 From: induverma_virgo at yahoo.co.in (Indu Verma) Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2006 05:40:38 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Reader-list] Second Posting - INSIDE THE SOAP FACTORY by INDU VERMA Message-ID: <20060228054038.58212.qmail@web8503.mail.in.yahoo.com> INSIDE THE SOAP FACTORY Chapter-1: An Actor in search of a Character The Lost Character: Hey, guys can I please get my own space, I need to work on my character Ssh ssh, silence man, let him concentrate Huh, what's there to concentrate, just be spontaneous yaar, just live the moment Ae moment kya karna hai, bina fumble kiye line bol de, bas khatam TAKING... ROLL CAMERA... ROLLING .... ACTION Samandar ki aseem gehraiyon tak, aasmaan ki vishal oonchaiyon tak, jungle ki athah tanhaiyon tak meri pratispardha ki agnimaya jwala jalti rahegi. Mein aaj kasammmm ... CUT CUT CUT Aray hindi mein bol yaar, what kind of lines are these. Whoz gonna understand this novel. Sir, this is what we have in the script Rubbish, call the writer and ask him to re-write,now Come on guys,lets not waste time, lets first take the reaction shot of the co-actor But sir what am I reacting to, I mean unless I know his lines how will I give the expression Aray yaar, something to the effect that you have been successful in provoking your son. Rest I'll keep giving instructions OK, LETS TAKE, SILENCE ROLL CAMERA, ROLLING, ACTION ... whatever gehraiyon, oonchaiyon tak meri whatever fire jalti rahegi. YA GOOD, HOLD THAT EXPRESSION... ZOOM.. NOW SLOW ZOOM, RUSSIAN FRAME , NICE... CUT IT An Actor can not really search for a character in television, because most of the times he is basically bound by the limitations of working under the channel's instructions, which are mostly based on maintaining the gloss as per the television standards. The word out here is 'The Look'. Actors auditioning are closely scrutinized on the look rather than the acting abilities. Here is an incident where I was to play a mother whose son has been kidnapped. Post kidnapping, the scenes followed my look all dressed in heavy silk sarees, lipstick oozing out of the lip line and not one strand of hair falling out of place. Not to be missed was the matching bindi and heavy jewelery. All that was still bearable to the extent, that I at least had a power packed scene to enact where I am all shattered and howling on top of my voice. But, but, but hold on... ACTION... was the call I howled and genuinely cried(minus the glycerin), and the director said.. CUT IT I thought there was some technical fault as I was going as per the script and probably the right emotion. To my surprise, the Director takes me to a side and explains, Here is what he had to say... “Listen Indu, we know you are a good actor (no exaggeration), you were good, but remember one basic thing, not only for now but in future also, never distort your face while crying, you should look beautiful while crying also.” I was shattered. Forget the particular character I was playing, according to me even if you generalize, no mother would check on her beauty and appearance while howling when actually her child is kidnapped. How does an Actor prepare? ....when he/she doesn't have a script to work on, a co-actor to rehearse with and a Director to discuss with. No jokes, but I myself have been cast over the phone, have actually gone to the shoots just after a brief discussion of the shoot dates, remuneration and at the most costume details(in case the decision is made on the eleventh hour, I have to carry my personal clothes). “BUT....LISTEN.....HELLO...MY ROLE? HELLO.. HELLO” PAUSE “WESTERN/INDIAN LOOK, POSITIVE/NEGATIVE SHADE CARRY THREE SAREES AND A PAIR OF JEANS” Genuine Involvement: But there is another side to the coin. There is a hope against hope that the trend will change. Because there were shows where I had complete freedom to actually work on the character, discuss the scene and the shot with the Director and rehearse with the Co-actor. I have had rare opportunities to work on shows like Siddhant (Star One), Agnipath (DD), Darna Mana Hai (Star One), ........ where I did get a window to work on my 'character' and not just the 'look'. I knew before hand, the story, journey of my character and relationship with other characters in the plot. I consider such shows a novelty. However, even such shows eventually succumb to the pressures of TRP and Channel instructions. They too become mundane, leaving little scope for acting. But till the time that happens, you do get to work on the character. So, how does one work on a character? Well, to take an example: There is a scene in Aawaz (Zee), where I am pleading to a police officer in a hospital for the release of my husband, who is admitted in an ICU and is charged with a conspiracy against the state. It is a desperate scenario for a wife and so I as an actor, was supposed to cry and plead with conviction in order to justify my character's desperation. This scene with an abrupt beginning, forced me to look into my personal life and search for a right motivation which could be used to bring inside the required emotion for my character. The word 'motivation' is the key here. An actor is also a human being. He can not cry or emote without any reason. To create that imaginary reason, he requires a motivation. Thus, I had to imagine various real life tragedies in order to motivate myself to cry with desperation and match the mental state of the character. In other words, I replaced the character's motivation with that of my own. Nothing Personal, just Business! Actors are selfish beings, they use their own emotions and that of others to get the shot right. So next time you are talking to an actor, be careful, he might be closely observing your emotions and recording them for future use! In fact mirrors are an actor's best friend as they give him/her an audience to perform, a director to critically observe and a co-actor to rehearse with. Acting is a combination of imagination and memory. But there is yet another aspect to this combination. “JUST BE SPONTANEOUS YAAR”. Believe me I've given my best shot where I was completely spontaneous. A scene from 'Agnipath' with an amazing co-actor Mr.Kiran Kumar, was executed to perfection with a rocking on-screen chemistry between the two of us. The best support to that scene was our Director Mr.Raman Kumar, who gave us complete freedom to be on our own. The scene represented a situation where an illegitimate Child (my character) meets her Father (Kiran Kumar's character) for the first time in her life. It was a highly emotional sequence for both the actors and thankfully we had well written lines which helped us to be spontaneous. The Real Actors(and hats off to them): Director- You know swimming? Me- yes Co-actor- No PAUSE Director- Ok, Indu is running for her life and you(co-actor) are running behind her as you have been sent by your boss to kill her. She slips into the pool and tries hard to swim across to save her life. You also jump behind her and push her inside water so that she drowns. Co-actor- But sir, mujhe swimming nahin aati.. Director- Relax man, tumhare jump karne tak ka shot hai, then we'll cut it na. Anyways, the pool is six feet deep and you are six feet tall. We will take your close shots in the shallow waters. TAKING.. START SOUND.. ROLL CAMERA.. ROLLING. ACTION Me- (running hard)Bachao, please help, koi hai( I slip into the pool) bachao, help! Co-actor jumps behind me and pushes me inside the water so that I drown, and believe me he did the scene with complete conviction. A guy with a huge built was pushing my head so hard that i was actually drowning. He almost killed me when to my rescue the Assistant Director came shouting.. CUT IT.. Me-(came out screaming)Are you demented? We are acting boss, why did you use so much of force? Co-actor- Aray, I myself was drowning and I wanted to do it right in one take so that i don't have to jump again. (Okay, he had the right motivation, but what happened to you sir? Why didn't you cut it?) Director- I thought the scene was pretty natural so i wanted to go on to see how far can we go on in a single take. Me- Well, it has to be natural as he was actually killing me and i was actually crying for help. Director- Anyways now its over, now we'll take all close shots where you guys can stand in shallow water. TAKING.. START SOUND.. ROLL CAMERA.. ROLLING. ACTION Me- Help, bachao, bachao..... cut it! Director- What happened? Me- (To the Co-Actor)Now you are not drowning, why are you putting so much force? Please understand, we are acting. Now we are standing in shallow water on our knees and whatever force you use is coming on my neck as I can't penetrate through the bottom of the pool. I respect your conviction but this is not the last shot of our lives. Co-actor- I'm sorry. I swear I gave another five shots after that, but my neck was always subjected to a similar torture. Only relief I had was the Director's call....... PACK UP ! --------------------------------- Jiyo cricket on Yahoo! India cricket Yahoo! Messenger Mobile Stay in touch with your buddies all the time. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060228/d79ce426/attachment.html From knsunandan at yahoo.co.in Sat Feb 25 10:14:11 2006 From: knsunandan at yahoo.co.in (sunandan kn) Date: Sat, 25 Feb 2006 04:44:11 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Reader-list] Second Posting Message-ID: <20060225044411.4022.qmail@web8408.mail.in.yahoo.com> Hi all, As explained in my first posting, I plan to trace the informal training processes in small scale industries at Coimbatore. I haven’t yet conducted a proper field study but I was looking the archival materials to map the history of industrialization process. In this posting I wish introduce some theoretical aspects of this study. In the nationalist and Marxist histories, the transformation from artisanal production to factory production is considered as a development in the mode production which is again thought as inevitable. One of the fields of their struggle against colonialism was located on the complaint that the British government is hindering this historical process: the development of capitalism in its ‘proper way’. But if we look into the history of artisanal production, we can see that another form of resistance has been going on against colonialism, which I think was profound but silent and unnoticed. Many historians have already noted that various institutions like universities, museums, and courts reproduced and disseminated the colonial domination in multiple forms. These institutions were considered as independent, secular in character and objective in nature. The nationalist who demand for the representation of Indians in these institutions some way presupposed that these are neutral forms of ‘modern’ governance and so our independence is directly connected to ‘capturing power’ in these institutions. Now we are clearer about these institutions: especially how they perpetuate the dominant discourses. Hence we know that resisting to participate in these institutions itself is a form of struggle. What I found in artisans is this form of resistance. Alfred Chatterton, the industrial secretary of Madras during the first years of 20th century tried his best to bring the traditional weavers into the powerloom mills by offering better wages and other amenities. He says that he was not surprised to note that not a single weaver accepted these offer because this was not a question of wages but a question of freedom. The director of the Madras School of Arts, E.B. Havell also notes in 1897 that the weavers were very specific and careful to the modernization of their machinery. They accepted some if they found it useful (not in its economic aspect) but rejected those that restricted their freedom of movement. For example they rejected the new weaving machinery which could be installed inside their home or workshop. They preferred to do it in open air. Here the question of ‘method’ was very much intertwined with the question of freedom and hence it was a political choice. These factors are important to my study because I am looking how different forms of knowledges are reproduced even within the ‘modern’ forms of production practices. I don’t want to use the word ‘tacit’ knowledge to represent the skills developed in the so called apprentice training because then we are presupposing that there is some other form of professional, objective knowledge. What I would try to focus is this aspect of method or absence of method in all forms of knowledge production which is also a political question. Is there a subversion taking place or is it just domination: exploitation, child labour, unhygienic working conditions, low wage etc., etc. Sunandan __________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner now. Go to http://yahoo.shaadi.com From peerzadaarshad at gmail.com Mon Feb 27 17:09:28 2006 From: peerzadaarshad at gmail.com (arshad hamid) Date: Mon, 27 Feb 2006 17:09:28 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Second Posting Message-ID: <83db55e00602270339q1a730e5bgd20f2556cb1ced2c@mail.gmail.com> *Kashmir, a society haunted* *By Peerzada Arshad Hamid* *Srinagar, February 27, 2006* Incessant violence since 1989 has devastated the Kashmiri psyche and stress related disorders are rapidly growing up. People continue to be under tremendous pressure. They have been witnessing encounter killings, torture, death and destruction due to bomb blasts, disappearances and rape. Besides this the daily humiliation which the inhabitants here have to endure, with gun totting men dominating the civic landscape , makes survival of the people even more depressing. In such scenario mental disorder is an expected outcome. If increasing figures of the patients visiting Srinagar's lone psychiatric hospital since 1989 (the year armed conflict started) is any indication, Kashmir can not be considered a normal society. The post traumatic stress disorder prevalent among large sections of Kashmiris has been even highlighted by *Humra Qureshi *in her book *Kashmir: The Untold Story (Penguin).* "The number of patients at the out patient department (OPD) of the lone government hospital for psychiatric diseases in the valley jumped from six per day in 1990 to 250-300 in 2000 per day. The total number of patients rose from 1,760 in 1990 to 18,000 in 1994 to over 38,000 in 2001," the book reads. Most of the people living in Kashmir have fallen prey to mental disorders like depression or anxiety. The root cause being the continuous threat to life and mere presence of troops and gun wielding men has led to the feeling of insecurity among the masses. Prolonged violence for the past 17 years in the valley has even brought to light the cases of psychosomatic disorders. Contrary to it prior to the militancy period certain mental disorders, which were unknown to Kashmir have shown phenomenal presence after the conflict. One such disorder is the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Psychiatrists affirm that no such case was reported before 1989 in the valley. "PTSD was completely unrecognized in Kashmiri society till 1989 because the situation was peaceful," says Dr. Arshad Hussain, Psychiatrist and Neuro-Psychiatrist. Nowadays about 15-20 per cent patients visiting the hospital's OPD are suffering from PTSD followed by Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). However the doctors consider this number quite small and misleading. "15-20% of the patients suffering from PTSD, MDD pouring in the hospital is just the tip of iceberg. The percentage of such patients would be higher less owing to the incessant violence," said Dr. Arshad Hussain. Visiting Psychiatric hospital for treatment of diseases has a social taboo attached to it. Reason? A common notion here is that anyone visiting a Psychiatrist is insane. This is the biggest obstacle for the people to come to Psychiatric hospital for medical consultation. A study conducted by the doctors in the department of Psychiatry at Government hospital has shown that after the commencement of any mental disorder; it takes 5-6 years for a patient to reach the psychiatrist for consultation of his/her diseases. Till then they (patients) visit different doctors for treatment as they are not aware and above all not ready to accept that they are suffering from mental disorders. Even doctors (other than psychiatrists) too treat them either for anxiety or cardiac ailments. The study further revealed that substance use disorder or drug addiction and suicidal tendencies are other repercussions of the conflict. And in such conditions these disorders are assuming epidemic proportions in the community and the patients who come to seek help are in the productive age group (s) of 20-35. Caught up in the growing complexities of adolescence, youth are usually vulnerable to depression. Mere exposure to the additional conflict related problems, makes them feel over burdened. Other mental disorders too have shown four fold increase due to the conflict in Kashmir although they don't have any direct bearing to these diseases. These include bipolar disorder, panic, phobia, generalized anxiety and sleep disorders. As Kashmiri people are living under stressful conditions, the fear of constant insecurity and uncertainty always occupy their mindset. Watching helplessly their dear ones being killed, injured and above all themselves fearing the same has simply wornessed their mental health. Such circumstances carry every potential of rendering the masses vulnerable to mental disorders. The year wise breakup available at Psychiatric Diseases hospital, Srinagar showing the flow of patients is as: Year 1985 775 people visited the Psychiatric hospital. Year 1989 approx 1,700 people visited the Psychiatric hospital. Year 1994 approx 18,000 people visited the Psychiatric hospital. Year 1996 approx 20,000 people visited the Psychiatric hospital. Year 1999 approx 35,000 people visited the Psychiatric hospital. Year 2001 approx 38,000 people visited the Psychiatric hospital. Year 2002 approx 45,000 people visited the Psychiatric hospital. Year 2005 approx 60,000people visited the Psychiatric hospital. -- Peerzada Arshad Hamid +91-9419027486 +91-1932-234488 Address Baba mohalla Bijbehara c/o Tak Trading Company Bijbehara Jammu & Kashmir INDIA www.kashmirnewz.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060227/c4f6b49f/attachment.html From rahulpandita at yahoo.com Sat Feb 25 13:05:11 2006 From: rahulpandita at yahoo.com (rahul pandita) Date: Sat, 25 Feb 2006 07:35:11 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Reader-list] Stop Peanuts: Rahul Pandita's 2nd Post Message-ID: <20060225073511.94588.qmail@web31703.mail.mud.yahoo.com> December Seven, Ninety ninety seven. I stopped eating moongfali on the road. Just a day before, my Piece to Camera had appeared on the Television. I was about to become popular; be recognised by people on the streets. ‘Arre, ye to wahi TV wala reporter hai’... they would shout and fathers would try to visualise in me a prospective groom for their daughters. Since I was about to become a Public face, it did not suit my image that I would be caught eating peanuts in a street. No, I just could not afford that. For the past month or so, I have been trying to work on my mini graphic novel. Through this novel, I intend to portray the state of Television news channels in India. Narrated by a young reporter, this story would be a chronicle of hope and despair, narcissism and ecstasy, intrigues and complexities, associated with pursuing a career in Television Journalism. I was looking for one perfect frame to begin my story. Weeks passed and I struggled with too many frames. Until one day. After watching band after band of ‘Breaking News’ at the Press Club and suspecting at least two waiters to be spies of the Intelligence Bureau, as they served beer, I came out and began to drive towards my home. Near South Extension, where my office previously used to be, I stopped at a traffic intersection. And then I saw him. A young, lanky boy, in his mid twenties, entertaining himself with Peanuts and holding a newspaper under his left arm. He had all the bearings of my protagonist. Lives in Jia Sarai. Has tried his hands, may be at the Civil Services. Now wants to become a Television Journalist. Instant fame. Instant recognition. And he wants to do a story on starvation deaths in Orrisa and the genesis of Naxalite revolution. Too bad for him. Let him experience that in Television. Let him fight the frustration of reporting on Mango festival in Dilli Haat. Let him ward off the blues of filing a report on an actor’s illegitimate child. Let him realise that he is a mere pawn; a byte soldier. For now, he only stops eating peanuts on the road. Rahul Pandita www.sanitysucks.blogspot.com Mobile: 9818088664 --------------------------------- Win a BlackBerry device from O2 with Yahoo!. Enter now. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060225/bcb8dd97/attachment.html From shohini at vsnl.com Mon Feb 27 08:13:43 2006 From: shohini at vsnl.com (Shohini Ghosh) Date: Mon, 27 Feb 2006 08:13:43 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Camera Chronicles of Homai Vyarwawalla Message-ID: Camera Chronicles of Homai Vyarwawalla" By Sabeena Gadihoke (Mapin/Parzor Foundation, 2006) Book Reading, Illustrated Presentation & Discussion At the India Habitat Centre Gulmohar/ March 2, 2006/ 7.00 PM India’s first woman Press Photographer, Homai Vyarawalla captured the last days of the British Empire. Her work also traces the birth and growth of a new nation. The story of Homai’s life and professional career spans an entire century of Indian history. The great value of her work lies in her vast collection of photographs that archive the nation in transition, representing both the euphoria of Independence as well as disappointment with its undelivered promises. Homai Vyarawalla’s iconic photographs of this era have become a part of collective memory. This book that documents her life and work is illustrated with over five hundred photographs as well as letters, cards and other memorabilia. The event at the IHC will include readings from the book and an illustrated presentation by the author and a discussion with Mrs Homai Vyarawalla. To coincide with the release of the book a retrospective exhibition of over hundred of her photographs at the Lalit Kala Akademi, (Next to Kamani Auditorium, opposite Mandi House,) New Delhi. The Exhibition will be open from 26th February to 3rd March. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060227/c136c581/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From sdipta_paul at yahoo.com Thu Feb 23 19:43:16 2006 From: sdipta_paul at yahoo.com (Sudipta Paul) Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2006 06:13:16 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] 2nd posting of Independent research fellow In-Reply-To: <20060223110009.A458B28DB4D@mail.sarai.net> Message-ID: <20060223141316.33366.qmail@web52006.mail.yahoo.com> On 23/02/2006 Sudipta Paul References: <20060226224928.97611.qmail@web25715.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <44043B09.9040506@linux-delhi.org> Dear Anant, anant m wrote: > solly, > i dont know if you wanted this feedback within a > timeframe. i agree with the overall framework. but we I was tempted to top post, include the whole 100 people in your "To:" list and cross-post this to several different news groups, but I'm not feeling all that well today. I might have used my favorite cop-out, "I dont' argue with idiots" but, then again, if I do not do this, who will? Maybe, you are not aware but, you are breaking a major netiquette by mentioning all these people in your To: list. Not to mention, infringing on the privacy of all those who gave their email address to you. You see, it is highly probable that many of those on your list will not like their email address available to the rest of the people on your "To:" plus the entire audience of the reader-list. The purpose of including a specific person in the To list is to specify that the mail is addressed to that person (note the To line in this mail). The Cc list specifies people who need to know what's happening, but aren't directly addressed in the message (note the Cc line in this mail). I hope the usage of other mail headers is apparent enough to not require clarification. Please do not mass include people in the To: or CC: field it is horribly rude. If It is required to send mass emails use the BCC: option. Cheers! P. -- Wir wollen dass ihr uns alles glaubt. From sjb778 at yahoo.com Sun Feb 26 08:04:18 2006 From: sjb778 at yahoo.com (Shah Jahan Bhatti) Date: Sat, 25 Feb 2006 18:34:18 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] invitation to talk on lesbian and gay rights In-Reply-To: <20060222070220.5wydxzqde04wk4wk@www.sms.ed.ac.uk> Message-ID: <20060226023418.7986.qmail@web51711.mail.yahoo.com> Some people are born gay and others are not, it all depends on the genetical code we recieve from our parents. Who is good and who is bad is a personal preference. A Khanna wrote: Voices Against 377 presents a talk on LESBIAN AND GAY HUMAN RIGHTS IN INDIA International and Comparative Perspectives by Dr. Robert Wintemute Professor of Human Rights Law, School of Law, King's College, University of London followed by a discussion. Where: Casuarina Hall, India Habitat Centre, Lodi Road, New Delhi. When: Thursday, 23rd February 2006, 6.30 PM. Dr. Robert Wintemute is Professor of Human Rights Law in the School of Law, King's College, University of London, where he teaches European Union Law, Human Rights Law, and Anti-Discrimination Law. He is also the director in London of the four-year LLB in English and French law jointly offered by King's College and the Universite de Paris (Pantheon-Sorbonne). He is the author of 'Sexual Orientation and Human Rights: The United States Constitution, The European Convention and the Canadian Charter' (OUP, 1995/1997) and the editor (with honorary co-editor Mads Andenaes) of 'Legal Recognition of Same-Sex Partnerships: A Study of National, International and European Law' (Oxford, Hart Publishing, 2001). Voices Against 377 is a coalition of NGOs based in Delhi where a united voice is being articulated against the Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which has been a source of serious human rights violations. Text of the Indian Penal Code, Section 377 reads as: "Unnantural Offences: Whosoever has carnal intercourse against the order of nature, with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment with either description for a term, which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine." _________________________________________ 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: M. SHAH JAHAN BHATTI Imamgate Dera Ismail Khan NWFP Pakistan Phone 92-0961-711512 --------------------------------- Yahoo! Mail Bring photos to life! New PhotoMail makes sharing a breeze. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060225/70b01ddc/attachment.html From sirfirf at yahoo.com Tue Feb 28 17:48:08 2006 From: sirfirf at yahoo.com (irfan) Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2006 04:18:08 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] commercialisation of fine arts in india Message-ID: <20060228121808.59351.qmail@web36812.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Dear all, If anyone got some reference regarding history and philosophical aspects of fine arts market in India,please show me the way. Irfan __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com From kaushiki.rao at gmail.com Tue Feb 28 17:48:59 2006 From: kaushiki.rao at gmail.com (Kaushiki Rao) Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2006 17:48:59 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Queers Protests Against Bush Message-ID: <53241df60602280418q33557fbfu3ef4e222b9061ced@mail.gmail.com> Hey all As many of us probably know, George Bush is coming town. A massive public rally against Bush's policies will happen in Delhi on Thursday, the 2nd of March, sometime in the morning. It will begin from Ramlila Maidan and move onto ITO. I'll send more details as soon as I get them. Come! How do Bush's policies affect us? For one perspective, read the following JNU pamphlet. Hope to see lots of you there. Kaushiki A QUEER PROTEST AGAINST BUSH'S VISIT TO INDIA – II A CRITIQUE OF BUSH'S DOMESTIC & INTERNATIONAL POLICIES FROM A QUEER PERSPECTIVE While on the one hand, George W Bush has waged bloody and tortuous wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, which has led to much international condemnation and protest, the more insidious ideology governing his presidency which has often manifested itself in religious fundamentalist, patriarchal and homophobic policies in the United States and the world has received significantly lesser international attention, let alone condemnation. In 2003, George W Bush signed a law that put several restrictions on the use of US funds internationally. Organizations using US funds were made to take a loyalty oath by which they were not allowed to 'promote' or 'advocate' the practice of prostitution. The law made HIV/AIDS funding conditional on the equal promotion of abstinence and faithfulness strategies with condom usage and promotion, and shifted funding away from condom distribution. It also instituted a global gag rule by which organizations providing abortion services or even providing information about abortion services could not receive US funding. These rules have had horrifying implications for organizations and countries working to promote health and human rights worldwide. Several organizations that accept sex work as a legitimate form of work have therefore been denied any US funding, to detrimental results. Empowering sex workers and helping them organize and form labour unions often helps ensure the maintenance of their rights. Sex workers' labour unions in places like Sangli, Maharashtra and Sonagachi, Kolkata have been more instrumental in preventing the entry of underage women and men into sex work than the violent and brutal 'rescue' policies promoted by the Indian and US governments. Organizations promoting the use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS among sex workers therefore have been doubly hit by the recent US policy because it makes their work incumbent upon condemning sex work, and because they then have to promote 'abstinence' from sex to sex workers, something that they organizationally, ethically and ideologically cannot stand up for. What such a policy ironically adds up to is asking sex workers to take a position against themselves. Brazil in May 2005 chose to turn away $ 40 million in US funding rather than sign such discriminatory clauses. However, not all countries have been able to stand up to such adverse US policies. Uganda, which has the reputation of having some measure of success in the battle against HIV/AIDS, and which instituted a highly progressive sex education and HIV/AIDS curriculum which among other things focussed on condom usage, saying 'no' to sex, avoiding sexual violence and maintaining sexual hygiene in its primary schools is now promoting abstinence-only strategies in its primary schools under the weight of US pressure. Abstinence-only strategies assume that people, and especially marginalized communities may always have the capacity to say 'yes' or 'no' to sex, and deny the importance of condoms in preventing sexually transmitted illnesses. Furthermore they emerge from a highly moralistic and religious fundamentalist ideology that uses religion to dictate heteronormative strictures to people. Even beyond the developing world, in the US itself, school and college students are being asked to take virginity pledges, often wearing virginity rings as a sign of their commitment. Problematically, should the urge to have sex arise among people who have no recourse to information about safer sex, there is a huge possibility of them living unhealthy lives with adverse effects for themselves and for others involved. Even more ironically, while George W Bush has condemned Iran as being part of the 'Axis of Evil' and is now preparing to wage war against it, the US and Iran are firmly united in the promotion of their patriarchal and homophobic policies. In January this year, the US voted in favour of an Iranian-backed resolution that sought to prevent the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) and another queer organization from participating in the United Nations' Economic and Social Council. The US thus joined Iran and other overtly homophobic countries such as Zimbabwe in winning the resolution, even as India chose to abstain from the vote. In 2004, George W Bush also passed the Federal Marriage Amendment, an amendment to the US Constitution which defined marriage only as a union between one man and one woman and nullified same-sex marriages that had earlier taken place in Massachusetts. Also the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy of the US Army, whereby soldiers may be fired from the Army if they reveal that they are lesbian, gay or bisexual, promotes silence around the sexual abuse of lesbian, gay and bisexual soldiers in the Army. This policy still remains on the statute books. George W Bush has through his Christian fundamentalist, patriarchal and homophobic policies helped in the spread of HIV/AIDS and wounded heavily the sex workers' movement across the world, besides denying basic rights to lesbian, gay and bisexual people. Therefore from a queer perspective which is an outlook that seeks to question existing norms around gender and sexuality in society and challenge institutionalized and compulsory heteronormativity, we stand up strongly against George W Bush's visit to India. NO TO BUSH! NO TO US FUNDING! NO TO SILENCE AROUND SEXUALITY! From aarti at sarai.net Tue Feb 28 18:20:20 2006 From: aarti at sarai.net (Aarti) Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2006 18:20:20 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] invitation to talk on lesbian and gay rights In-Reply-To: <20060226023418.7986.qmail@web51711.mail.yahoo.com> References: <20060226023418.7986.qmail@web51711.mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <4404470C.60102@sarai.net> Dear All, I am unclear on the "biological" aspects of sexual preference and so will not comment. Generally I am uncomfortable with biologically deterministic arguments because even when they are framed in this way, which is to use biology to support a mode of being, they seek to defend or counter based some idea of what is "natural". [So to those who say one kind of desire is "unnatural" (summed up succintly in 377 as sexual acts "against the order of nature", we say its genes.] Framed in this way it leaves little room for personal choice, agency, or even a consideration of how modes of being are socio-historically produced. Warmly Aarti Shah Jahan Bhatti wrote: > Some people are born gay and others are not, it all depends on the > genetical code we recieve from our parents. Who is good and who is bad > is a personal preference. > > */A Khanna /* wrote: > > Voices Against 377 presents > > a talk on > > LESBIAN AND GAY HUMAN RIGHTS IN INDIA > International and Comparative Perspectives > > by Dr. Robert Wintemute > Professor of Human Rights Law, > School of Law, King's College, University of London > > followed by a discussion. > > Where: Casuarina Hall, India Habitat Centre, Lodi Road, New Delhi. > When: Thursday, 23rd February 2006, 6.30 PM. > > Dr. Robert Wintemute is Professor of Human Rights Law in the > School of Law, > King's College, University of London, where he teaches European Union > Law, Human > Rights Law, and Anti-Discrimination Law. He is also the director > in London of > the four-year LLB in English and French law jointly offered by > King's College > and the Universite de Paris (Pantheon-Sorbonne). > > He is the author of 'Sexual Orientation and Human Rights: The > United States > Constitution, The European Convention and the Canadian Charter' (OUP, > 1995/1997) > and the editor (with honorary co-editor Mads Andenaes) of 'Legal > Recognition of > Same-Sex Partnerships: A Study of National, International and > European Law' > (Oxford, Hart Publishing, 2001). > > Voices Against 377 is a coalition of NGOs based in Delhi where a > united voice > is being articulated against the Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code > which has > been a source of serious human rights violations. > > Text of the Indian Penal Code, Section 377 reads as: > "Unnantural Offences: Whosoever has carnal intercourse against the > order of > nature, with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with > imprisonment for > life, or with imprisonment with either description for a term, which > may extend > to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine." > > _________________________________________ > 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: > > > > > *M. SHAH JAHAN BHATTI* > > *Imamgate Dera Ismail Khan NWFP Pakistan* > > *Phone 92-0961-711512* > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Yahoo! Mail > Bring photos to life! New PhotoMail > > makes sharing a breeze. > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >_________________________________________ >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: > From notsandipto at yahoo.com Tue Feb 28 20:44:16 2006 From: notsandipto at yahoo.com (Sandipto Dasgupta) Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2006 07:14:16 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Reader-list] Blog posting on the Da Vinci Trial Message-ID: <20060228151416.15336.qmail@web30209.mail.mud.yahoo.com> This is a follow up on my earier posting on the DaVinci trial.. this is a blog from the Guardian Culture Blog by sarah Crown... if anyone wants to post comments on this they can go to http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/culturevulture/archives/2006/02/28/originality_sins.html Before I go any further, I should probably admit that I've lifted this blog post wholesale from a Peruvian literary website. OK, I haven't really. But I have trawled around the internet looking for examples of what other people have written on the subject of plagiarism. Who can say where reference stops and theft begins? If I were to write a piece on whether it is in fact reasonable to accuse an author of plagiarism on the basis of his or her regurgitation of another person's ideas, I would undoubtedly end up substantially echoing the thoughts someone else has already expressed on the subject. It's hardly groundbreaking stuff, after all. But would that person - or persons - be justified in hauling me up in court for breach of copyright? All of this unoriginal rambling is of course prompted by the literary story of the moment: the claim by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, authors of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, that Dan Brown lifted "the central theme" of their book for his uber-bestselling novel, The Da Vinci Code. Although Baigent and Leigh are officially suing Brown's publishers for breach of copyright, if the court finds in favour of them, it's Brown himself who would be humiliated. There is still something deeply sordid about plagiarism: defined as the act of presenting someone else's work as your own, it necessarily involves subterfuge and the dishonourable desire to take credit for something for which you're not responsible. As far as transgressions go, it's a singularly shameful one. And yet, according to famousplagiarists.com, the threat of potential public humiliation was not enough to stop some of our finest authors from indulging in the practice. TS Eliot, Jack London and Coleridge were all apparently at it; in an excellent post on the literary blog The Valve, Miriam Burstein points out that Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray "includes a chapter distilled from JK Huysmans' A Rebours". More recently, JK Rowling's Harry Potter oeuvre was called into dispute when another children's author, Nancy Stouffer, accused the Potter author of lifting key details from Stouffer's own books. The court found in favour of Rowling and even went so far as to accuse Stouffer of lying and doctoring evidence to support her claims. It's also impossible to get more than five minutes into a conversation on Shakespeare without someone trotting out the oft-repeated (and well-documented) accusation that the Bard borrowed plots from all over the place. But, unlike today's authors, Shakespeare kept the whole issue of 'borrowing' in perspective. Not only did he make no attempt to conceal the sources of his plays, he even went so far as to write about his activities. Take Sonnet 76, which begins "Why is my verse so barren of new pride / So far from variation or quick change?". As all good postmodernists know, there is no such thing as an original idea. There is, technically, nothing stopping two people having precisely the same thought, especially on such a well-trodden subject as religion. As somebody somewhere once said, originality is the art of remembering what you heard but forgetting where you heard it. So let's forget about all this plagiarism nonsense. The far more interesting aspect of the Dan Brown case, in my opinion, is the Da Vinci-lite conspiracy theory I came up with all by myself, way back in 2005. The Da Vinci Code and The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail are both, thanks to a series of industry takeovers, published by Random House. Surely this entire farrago is nothing more than a huge sales-driving stunt, carefully orchestrated by Random House to manipulate us poor, impressionable readers? The court case will no doubt generate fantastic pre-publicity for the Da Vinci Code film; meanwhile, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail has shot up the Amazon bestseller charts from number 173 yesterday lunchtime to number 10 at the time of writing. I suspect marketing management on the grandest scale. It's a great theory, isn't it? But I bet at least half of you reading this have already come up with it yourselves. And to those of you who not only thought it but actually had the foresight to jot it down somewhere: I'll see you in court. From abhinanditamathur at gmail.com Tue Feb 28 18:04:59 2006 From: abhinanditamathur at gmail.com (abhinandita mathur) Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2006 18:04:59 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Fwd: Update My Building and the Shahar In-Reply-To: <19aa1b810602272212x570a5575obd7068a4f8c3f156@mail.gmail.com> References: <19aa1b810602272212x570a5575obd7068a4f8c3f156@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <19aa1b810602280434x4068aa1s2375e99ca8d29b26@mail.gmail.com> Hi, Here is an update on our work and experience with the project so far and a tentative plan for the coming weeks: We shared in the last post that this project would be presented as an interactive multimedia website which shall comprise visual and audio records like photographs, stories, recipes, songs, clips of *shaadi* videos etc. It is for this reason that we were unsure about what to write this time…beyond the usual updates and plans…as we are working towards putting up a website to start uploading photos and other stuff. This project in many ways is a personal one and thus the experience of pursuing it, very special. It is pretty strange to reconnect with all old associations and ties (including each other) in context of this project. I moved back to Delhi/home and the *Mathur* building. The first task we undertook after the official announcement of the grant was telling our near and dear *Mathurs* about the project, its objective, rationale, purpose etc. We took 5 print outs of our proposal and shared it with our uncles, aunts, sisters, nephews and so on. And we have received all sorts of comments and suggestions!! We thought it might be interesting to share some of these reactions in this post: The response in general has been stimulating and intriguing. While all our * Mathur* friends and relatives have appreciated our "initiative" to take interest in the community (sometimes understood as community activities), a number of them are questioning the purpose and "* fayda" *of a project such as this. On one hand, the project is viewed as a noble contribution in service of the community, art or sociological good in general; on the other, some people find it to be total waste of resources. A cousin pointed out that rather than doing a study like this one…which doesn't really help the community in a direct way, we should perhaps start something like an activist's campaign to get the status of a Scheduled Caste which will actually benefit the community. The other frequently asked question is: "WHY MATHURS" *"abe tujhe kuch aur nahi mila", "mathuron mein kya rakha hai ab", "apni society…don't be silly yaar…you really think its worth studying?". *Interestingly, mostly people under 30 years of age fail to understand why anyone would be interested in our lives. Mathurs, many of them feel are an inconsequential lot. While the older ones feel we should actually write a book on mathur riti reewaz. In the proposal we spoke about certain peculiar cultural practices in the community like, language, eating meat, drinking and music. And that they could be very particular about maintaining their typical way of life. The emphasis in life was to eat well and drink well. OP Mathur in response to this observation pointed out that "as Mathurs mostly worked in the courts of *Shaukeen *Emperors, they were often obligated to drink to give company to their masters and they never disobeyed orders". A close friend from the building, Nalin, has been following the story of this project from the time of its inception. Nalin is 23 years old. He works as a software consultant for a multinational company. When we started working on the project last month, Nalin and I spoke about a number of things including the pros and corns of growing up in this building, the experience of living here, Mathur *khana, peena*, aesthetic, attitude and the role all this has played in shaping us as people. He is keen to participate more actively in the project. He wrote this piece titled "Balconies at *Shree Ganesh*": *One does not need to see Jerry McGuire to realize that one experiences a defining moment which just changes one's life; for good or for bad, that's my topic for another article. Well, to be honest, I have yet to experience this life defining moment, but I have had numerous instances which have had some impact or the other on my conscience and behavior and have resulted in the package that I am today. Most of these moments were experienced while I was up to something, at times with someone-not-so-special and once with someone special. And generally, when I was doing nothing but looking around mindlessly. * * * *But the point I want to make here is that such moments can be experienced at the most unexpected places. For me my balcony is one such place. This is primarily because my balcony opens up right into what you call the heart of SGA. With a perfect view of all the residential blocks, badminton courts, car parks, jhulle wala park and health club, I witness the very spirit of SGA whenever I step into it. Every Sunday, with sarson ka tel all over my body and nimbu ka ras on my hair, I just sit in my balcony and observe life from close quarters (apart from enjoying the smells of parisnde and aloo - bedween from neighboring kitchens), I often wonder if I have learned so much by just sitting here, is it the same with everyone else? * * * *Arguably then, balconies in Shree Ganesh Apartments are the most socially productive piece of land. For house wives, which sums upto30% of SGA's population, it acts as a modern day equivalent to a chajja from where they can have a keen look at who's visiting whom, who's wearing what and who's going where. And importantly who's hanging out of this coveted architectural wonder to have a friendly talk with, about the daily chores, which usually consists of how busy they have been and how its time that Tulsi Virani should start believing an eye for an eye policy. This conversation often takes place at decibels which can put the latest innovation in sound technology by Bose to shame. Moreover, balconies assure them a virtual invitation card to every mehendi, shaadi and mundan. Not that I am complaining. Because these Mathur functions are the hunting ground for eligible bachelors. And I am 23 and in a bit of a hurry. * * * *For uncles, both paternal and maternal, the balconies act as the platform which empowers them with freedom of expression which I believe they can't practice at home because of some very obvious reasons which every married man faces. Thus, the balcony acts as a place from where they can preach everyone and anyone who cares to listen; from newspaper wallah to security guards to car washmen each of them is told how to improve their quality of service along with every possible advice one can give under the sun. The balcony probably makes them feel like the Pope standing majestically over the famous verandah at the **Papal** **Palace **, giving his followers an audience. Other than that, uncles are seen in balconies only on diwali, lighting diyas and candles. * * * *And for people like me, who very strongly believe that the world would be at their feet in no time, the balcony acts as the holy spot where they can think of productive strategies, spend some time in solitude and attain nirvana, invisible to the outer world behind dozens of impeccably washed clothes, neatly placed over the twine to be dried. At least the balcony is way better than some sort of sleeping gas induced bedrooms or tear gas induced kitchen or toilets which more often that not are subjected to gases owing to some major gastronomical complexities. With the emergence of cell phones and importantly telephones etiquettes (we got to thank BPOs for that), the number of people paying their balconies a visit have increased phenomenally. The balcony has also undergone a major face lift. It is like being directly proportional to the rise in stock markets. Earlier balconies meant gas cylinders, a couple of money plants and a bulb. But now, balconies are kept as tidy as the living room. Gas cylinders have been replaced by cane chairs, tulips and roses now give company to banyan tree sized money plants and the bulb resides within designer glass. Even the trademark chimtiya have started vanishing. * * * *But what still remains in almost all balconies is a picture or a wall hanging depicting some deity. One might say it is because of vaastu but I say this the way Mathur balconies are. * All these responses shall pay a role in shaping this project. Next month we plan a walk through the *gallis *in old Delhi with boys, girls and kids from the Mathur building. This weekend we will go for our first *shaadi* shoot. Venu has been working on a short essay titled "the Mathur bahu". She plans to work on it full time next Sunday and have it ready for the next due posting!! Project is taking shape slowly…shall upload pictures on our blog soon. Also...so sorry we could not respond to the earlier mails for us. but will make sure we do now on... Thanks! Abhinandita and Venu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060228/7b37f155/attachment.html From vasundhara.prakash at gmail.com Tue Feb 28 18:24:19 2006 From: vasundhara.prakash at gmail.com (Vasundhara Prakash) Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2006 18:24:19 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Doosri Posting Message-ID: <489e03b80602280454q3c58afe4x3722a7b0b90f9def@mail.gmail.com> Hi, since this is technically my first update on my work I thought I'd start with the basics, so here's an FAQ compiled on the basis of several meetings/chats/interviews with the people I've met so far. More soon! Vasundhara Prakash *Frequently Asked Questions* *What are Junior Artistes? * Junior Artistes are employed to create authenticity, an appearance of reality in a film, television, advertisement scene. An atmosphere of say a market place, or a pub scene is made believable by placing appropriately dressed, junior artistes in the background. *What is the difference between a Junior Artiste and a Senior Artiste? What is a Character artiste then?* A senior artiste is the same as a character artiste. A character artiste has a role, not a main lead but gets lines to speak. A character artiste earns from somewhere between Rs. 25,000- Rs.2 Lakhs and may take months to get paid. *Is 'extra' a derogatory term? *Yes it is. Junior Artistes is an accepted term. It was a senior actor of old times, Chandrashekhar who demanded a change in name from Extras to Junior Artistes. *Are Junior Artistes different from the dancers that dance behind the main leads or the men who get beaten up by the Hero? * Yes, those are dancers and stunt men, very different than junior artistes. Though incase the junior artistes are required to do a little dance or be punched they are paid extra. They also have different associations of which the dancers and stuntmen are members of. *What is the Junior Artistes' Association?* Junior Artistes' Association (Tala no. 3, Navakalvari, Municipal Market, Jogeshwari East) is as the name suggests the association that supports/helps card-holding (members) junior artistes find work. Though the membership card very clearly says that there is "no guarantee of work". There are about 700 to 800 members, who elect a-11 people committee out of which there is one President, General Secretary, Joint Secretary, Treasurer, 1st Field Officer. *What is the Mahila Kalakar Sangh?* The Mahila Kalakar Sangh is the female counterpart of the Association. Earlier both the organizations were one, but it's been 35 years since the female wing broke away from the Association and demands a separate identity. Apparently the women junior artistes are not called junior artistes but members of Mahila Kalakar Sangh. The Sangh also has a 11 member committee elected by the 700 members. The committee comprises of a President, a Vice President, a General Secretary, a Joint Secretary, a Cashier/Treasurer and 6 others who share the responsibility of an field officer. * What is a field officer?* A field officer is a committee member, who has many functions. He/She informs members about the work that comes to the Association through the producers. It is also the field officer's responsibility to make rounds to the various film sets to make sure everything is going ok and that there are no non-members. *What is the membership fee? * Rs. 1 lakh for men, Rs. 60, 000 for women. Though the fee is negotiable as per the applicant's requirement and need. The membership is not transferable. *What happens when they retire? Is it voluntary? Or are people asked to step down?* Retiring junior artistes(men) get Rs. 80,000 and the card gets transferred to an new member who pays Rs. 1 lakh for it, while the remaining Rs.20,000 is kept with the association. The retiring women junior artistes get around Rs. 70,000 when a new member gets registered. Though these figures are not constant, there is also a contributory Trust set up by actors like Chandrashekhar, Dilip Kumar, Dimple Kapadia, which ensures that atleast 3 retiring members every year get Rs. 15000. *What is a "Classification"?* The members of the Junior Artistes' Association (men) are classified into Class A, Class B. As Mr. Aziz Khan said, the Class A men are "high-fi looking". This class comprising of both young and old are required usually for hotel scenes, airport scenes. Class B men are used for playing villagers, constables etc. The equivalent classification in the Mahila Kalakar Sangh (women) is into Super Class , Class A and Class B. Super Class members are required for parties, wedding scenes, airports etc, Class A members for a regular crowd in hospitals, market places etc, Class B members are those who can pass off as villagers, beggars etc. There is a classification that is supposed to happen every five years if not every year. All the members are called in the office one by one and two producers, two Federation officer-bearers; two Agents/Suppliers grade them into different classes. *Are these two organizations affiliated to a bigger organization? * Yes earlier the Mahila Kalakar Sangh was affiliated to the Indian Motion Pictures' Producers' Association but now both the Sangh and the Junior Artistes' Association is affiliation to the mother organization the Federation of Western India Cine Employees. The Federation holds 3-monthly if not monthly meetings to discuss issues of the 21 crafts' associations that are affiliated to the Federation. *How much are they paid? How long is a shift?* There is Rs. 50-70 difference in pay scale of the Classes. Decent Class male junior artistes are paid Rs. 570 per shift for a serial and Rs. 615 per shift for a film. Super Class members of Mahila Kalakar Sangh are paid Rs. 650 per shift for a serial and Rs. 690 for a film. Inclusive of food allowance (Rs. 38) and travel allowance ( Rs.39). *One shift is of 8 hours:* 7a.m.- 2p.m- morning shift 9a.m.- 6p.m- normal shift 9a.m.- 9 p.m- 1 ½ shift *There are also:* 7p.m.- 2a.m.( Rs.60 Taxi allowance) 9p.m. – 5 a.m. (No Taxi allowance) *Extra ½ shift money :* If the shot requires getting wet in the rain Playing with colour/gulal ( Holi colour) Running Fight ( like a punch or kick) Riding a bike *Extra 1shift money:* Duplicate/ Stand-in Dialogue (of 5 lines) They also get Rs.30 as dry cleaning allowance for formal clothes. *Who pays them?* After pack-up it is the supplier who pays the junior artistes. They are always paid in cash. And it is later that the supplier gets money from the producer with his commission. *Do agents also have an association?* Yes they do. Their association is called Cine Agents Combine which is also affiliated to the Federation of Western India Cine Employees. *What is "completing a board"? * A producer or a production manager contacts the supplier/cine agent with their requirement of number and type (the kind of crowd required, for what kind of a scene). The supplier either contacts the artistes directly or the Association with the requirement. Once he (always!) he is able to get his requirement "the board is completed". *Do all junior artistes work full-time?* Not necessarily, some do some don't. You would find regular college kids being card-holding junior artistes, or some having a side-business in finance while there are many who earn a living from working as a junior artiste. *What are "models"?* Models are not men and women that walk on the ramps but non-members, better looking, usually English-speaking, men and women that work as crowds. They work for 12 hours and are paid Rs.1000. They are usually hated by members because they take away work from the members. Though there notices in large fonts saying "non-members not allowed in the studios" models are still getting work. *Why do they exist if they are not allowed to work?* It is said that the ratio of junior artistes to models is 10:4. It is because the stars and producers demand for models, they get work. The supplier needs to take a permission from the Junior Artistes' Association and Mahila Kalakar Sangh before completing the board with models. Also, models are usually young college kids who are getting mere pocket money for a 12 hour-sitting around-and-6-second-shoot. When completing a board models turn out to be cheaper because they are paid less and don't create a fuss about it. *Are the junior artistes same in television as in films?* Yes, they also work in television soaps, advertisements, info-mercials and as TV live show audience. About 100 junior artistes get their daily wages by working in television soaps. (Thanks to Ekta Kapoor). *How many come through acting schools to become Junior Artistes?* There are a few who get desperate to start work instantly and get registered into the Association. *Why do people want to be junior artistes? What sort of people decide they want to be extras?* There are a few think becoming a junior artiste is an entry into the industry and hope to get noticed by some producer. But this rarely happens, so even if they come with a dream to be famous, it becomes a means to earn a decent living. *What is a "compromise"?* A compromise is accepting to go out say for drinks with the director/producer. *What qualities would make a good junior artiste? * Good height, good built, patience, flexibility, eagerness to work, decent wardrobe and make-up, punctuality, resilience to bounce back even after being yelled at, building good relationship with the suppliers, the right attitude. *Who tells them what is to be done on the sets? * It is the assistant director who tells either the assistant of the supplier or the junior artistes directly what is to be done in a shot. *Are they provided costumes? What about make-up?* They are provided only special costumes for constables, nurses, waiters etc. They are required to get their own otherwise. They do their own make-up and hair. *What is a "passing"? * A passing is when a junior artiste is supposed walk across the frame in a shot. *What do they do while waiting for their shot on the sets? * Eat, sleep, chat, gossip, listen to music, and talk on the phone. In the old times especially on outdoor shoots playing cards used to be a favourite past-time. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Trivia:* According to the U.S. Labor Statistics, the average wage for a movie extra tends to be approximately $13 per hour, depending on the medium (it is higher for movies then for other mediums) and go as high as $36 per hour if you have the experience, union membership and are on a big-budget feature film roster. An entry-level extra based in the Los Angeles area at the $31,000 to $38,000 range annually, assuming steady work. *Special Thanks * *Chunky, Uttam, Mr. Bikram K. Singh, Anurag Kashyap, Deva, Babu, Darya, Mr. Aziz Khan, Shamil Aunty, Kitty, Abu, Apu, Norma Aunty, Rohan Sippy, Shashi from IMPAA, Jyoti Jha, Alok Sinha, Shama Aunty, Nirmala Aunty, Amritraj Kapoor, Asha K.Chandra , Vinay, Peter Fernandes, Zuleikha ji, http://www.stylecareer.com/movie_extra.shtml * -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060228/28dde5f4/attachment.html From christina112 at earthlink.net Tue Feb 28 23:47:27 2006 From: christina112 at earthlink.net (Christina McPhee) Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2006 10:17:27 -0800 Subject: [Reader-list] March on -empyre- : Is modernity our antiquity? Message-ID: March 2006 on -empyre- soft-skinned space: Is Modernity our Antiquity? (for the Documenta 12 Magazine Project) Please join the conversation this month at www.subtle.net/empyre, with special guests Christoph Bruno (FR), Erik Kluitenberg (NL), Christiane Paul (US), Dirk Vekemans (BE), and as moderator/guest, Christina McPhee (US) Is Modernity our Antiquity? It is fairly obvious that modernity, or modernity’s fate, exerts a profound influence on contemporary artists. Part of that attraction may stem from the fact that no one really knows if modernity is dead or alive. It seems to be in ruins after the totalitarian catastrophes of the 20th century (the very same catastrophes to which it somehow gave rise). It seems utterly compromised by the brutally partial application of its universal demands (liberté, égalité, fraternité) or by the simple fact that modernity and coloniality went, and probably still go, hand in hand. Still, people’s imaginations are full of modernity’s visions and forms (and I mean not only Bauhaus but also arch-modernist mind-sets transformed into contemporary catchwords like “identity” or “culture”). In short, it seems that we are both outside and inside modernity, both repelled by its deadly violence and seduced by its most immodest aspiration or potential: that there might, after all, be a common planetary horizon for all the living and the dead. --Roger Beurgel, artistic director of Documenta 12 A bit of background: Documenta, the festival of art that occurs every five years in Kassel, has invited all of us at the -empyre- list to participate in a formal discussion around three questions, or leitmotifs, throughout this year. This month is the launch of our participation in this project, which will continue in July and November 2006, again with topics selected by the Documenta team. All over the world, some seventy online and print journals will initiate dialogue around three core questions; the results will integrate into Documenta 12 itself next year in Kassel (summer 2007). FMI http://www.documenta12.de/documenta12/english/ leitmotifs.html A special thanks to Alessandro Ludovico of http:// neural.it. Alessandro is an empyre list member and former featured guest (2003), who has honored us by bringing -empyre- into the Documenta project this year. join us at http://www.subtle.net/empyre -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060228/cefc22a4/attachment.html