Kolkata is unfavourable for studying mass communication

For aspiring journalists who dream of working in reputed newspaper houses and T.V channels or for copywriters/media planers/visualisers in big advertising agencies getting admission in a good media school or college is a first step to success. Apart from the newspaper houses and T.V channels there are also public relation agencies and event management companies that are part of the large media industry. With the healthy rise in Indian economy supported by the growing awareness about media among the mass of the society there has been a substantial rise in the media industry particularly in the news sector all across India.

Leaving aside rest of India if just Kolkata is considered as a case study then it will be fascinating to see at the number of regional 24 hours news channel, newspaper (monthly, fortnightly, weekly) that has entered the media market in the past 4 years. This rapid development has simultaneously increased the demand for educated and skilled professionals in the field. The skilled professionals mainly come from the media schools and colleges such as Calcutta University, Jadavpur University, St. Xavier’s College, Bhavan's Asutosh College of Communication and Management, Netaji Subhas University and several others based in Kolkata.

The glitz and glamour of media is so alluring that every year huge number of students try to get admission into the reputed colleges of Kolkata that offer M.A. or P.G. Diploma in Mass Communication and Journalism to add a new dimension to their career. But very few students do a basic reality check of these institutions before taking admission. After the end of higher secondary or ISC exam most of the students are mainly focussed on getting admission into a reputed college to add value in their resume in future.

In such mad rush the students actually overlook that mass communication is not that usual kind of subject that can be acquired just by taking notes inside a class. There is an immense need for practical classes in order to grasp the subject as well the market properly. But very few mass communication institutions in Kolkata leaving aside only St. Xavier’s College have the practice of practical classes that is essential to this subject. A student who has not done field work or internship while studying mass comm. is not practically fit for the industry that what is believed by the experts in the industry.

The P.G. Diploma in mass communication course in Jadavpur University is an instance that attracts nearly 3,000 applications every year out of which only 145 get through after admission test and a viva. Recognitions such as 'University with Potential for Excellence' by University Grants Commission (UGC), 'Five Star' status by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), First Indian University to earn SYLFF (Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund) status from the Nippon Foundation, Japan are the only reasons behind the rush among the studenst to get into J.U. mass comm. department.

Students realise the futility of the course when classes commence after puja vacation (november). There are only two to three full time professors and the rest are media professionals acting as guest lecturer. Most of the guest lecturers during the course remain busy with their respective job so they don’t find enough time and urge to visit the classes in J.U. As a result most of the time the classes are declared free. Rest of the time the classes mainly concentrate on theory and notes. Before the exam the same professors provide the students with pre-drafted notes that the students distribute among themselves and fetch the pass mark. Some students who do a little library work manage to get a first class. Very few media companies come for campus recruitment. Even the officials in the department are reluctant to invite potential recruiters. Compared to all these the department has kept the course fee to 15,000 at par with the course fee of P.G. Diploma in mass communication of Indian Institute of Mass Communication.

So students do some reality check before you want to study mass communication in Kolkata. Best of Luck...

State Bank of India's (SBI) faulty ATM's

State Bank of India (SBI) one of India’s largest private banks has around 450 ATM’s alone in its West Bengal circle. The bank with repute for excellent customer service and trouble-free banking system has opened these numbers of ATMs vigorously as part of their expansion drive. SBI has the largest number of ATMs in Kolkata compared to the other nationalised and private banks operating in the city. These ATMs can be found in almost every nook and corner of the metropolitan city. You name a popular joint or street in the city of Kolkata and definitely you will locate a Green-Blue trademark SBI ATM staring at you.

There is no doubt that the SBI ATM card holders are the luckiest one in the city when it comes to getting money during odd hours of the day and urgent circumstances. ATM or Automated Teller Machine is also popularly known as ALL TIME MONEY by the customers. But as they saying go – money is alluring, it is 100% true in case of SBI ATMs. During odd hours of the day and during urgent requirement, when you need some money instantly, you will find a SBI ATM within your reach but to you money will be still like an illusion. Either the ATM will be completely out of order or after lots of hard work and putting all the information correctly you will be informed that money cannot be dispensed at the moment. You will feel like smashing the ATM with any hard object available at that moment.

Realising how agonising the moment can be for a customer most of the SBI ATMs have very powerful air conditioners (ACs) to keep cool the angry customer. Now the only thing a customer can do is to step out of the ATM and start looking for another SBI ATM with an anticipation will he be getting money.

If so many SBI ATMs stand idle, just to prove the might of SBI to other banks, then it will be of no use to its customers. What is the use of keeping so many ATMs at every turn in the city if it is not properly maintained by the SBI authority? They can rather reduce the number of ATMs and concentrate more on better customer service, which is more important for a customer.

Kolkata metro rail staff shock passengers

Once the pride of Kolkata, Kolkata Metro Railway is running into huge loss is a news that often comes in local newspapers and TV channels. At the end of each financial year the metro rail authority comes out with this startling fact, which is hard to believe watching each train plying from Tollygunge to DumDum station packed house every time.

But this is for sure that the metro rail staffs have earned a very bad reputation among the Kolkatans due to their reluctant, callous, raucous and unapologetic attitude. Unfortunately they have forgotten (deliberately) that they are not earning bad name for themselves but for the metro organization as a whole. The metro railway staffs treat the passengers as herds of animal who board the train on a daily basis. They don’t even show the slightest courtesy while listening to the passengers query when brought in front of them. Instead they are always demonstrating a damn care attitude towards the passengers.

When any passenger takes a question to a metro staff, they start playing with the passenger by sending him from one person to another. Till the person is tired and gets irritated and vacates the place without receiving his answer this sort of game continues. Even if the staffs don’t have a proper answer to the question they won’t let that person know, instead they will continue to harass the passenger who may be hurrying to office, school, hospital or home. Interestingly, when the passenger leaves cursing these staffs, the staffs undeterred about the incident laughs at the passenger’s plight.

The automatic entry/exit machines installed at every metro station have become faulty due to extensive use. As a result, these machines often malfunction during peek hours creating a chaotic situation among the passengers. These machines either show faulty ticket counts or simply damage the ticket with its sharp edges. Sometimes the tickets also get stuck in these machines. During office hours when every minutes count for an office going person this type of negligence is intolerable and amusing when the metro rail itself talks so much about punctuality.

When any passenger caught in this situation asks for the staffs help then his ordeal increases for worse. The passenger is first send to the station master’s office (SMO) where the station master asks the passenger innumerable question only to prove that it was the passengers fault. Then the station master takes out a pencil/pen and starts pressing it over the retrieved/crushed ticket to make it straight. Astonishingly this is a unique technique the metro staff of all the stations has acquired to treat a damaged ticket. Then the station master takes out a heavy, peculiar looking portable machine and inserts the ticket in its flap to see if the ticket is okay. Even this machine is so outdated that he is unable to take a proper reading at one go. So he carries on this process for at least an infinite time till he is satisfied with the result.

Now if any passenger during this long process doesn’t bear all this patiently and asks the respective station master to make it fast. Then he will be abused by the station master and soon all other staff will gather around to abuse the passenger leaving behind their official work. They will unitedly fight the case till the passenger succumbs to the pressure and leaves the place or board a train only to find that he is alone, defeated, terribly late and verbally abused.

The moral of the story according to the malevolent metro rail staff is “don’t mess with the metro staff they are perfect and united for their own cause”.

Hope someday a member of the Kolkata metro railway will read this post and put a justified comment on it to prove it wrong.

Large Kali Idols of Naihati

Zade black in colour, naked, fiery red eyes, blood smeared all over body, long dark hair, tongue licking out, awe-inspiring eyes, wearing skulls of slain demons. This is the familiar face of Goddess Kali who is prayed all over India for strength and power. Goddess Kali symbolises the end of evil and the start of good. When Kali Puja is celebrated in Bengal it outsets Diwali or Deepavali the festival of lights in other parts of India.

Ma Kali has a special significance in Bengal and particularly in Kolkata due to the presence of the famous Kalighat Temple, which is located in Kalighat, South Kolkata on the banks of River Ganga. Around 25,000 big and small Kali Pujas take place in the city of Kolkata alone every year. Although such a large number of Kali Pujas take place in the city of Kolkata, still this puja does not attract that attention from pandal hoppers who throng all pandals during Durga Puja.

But if someone wants to take the real kick of Kali Puja then should head towards Naihati. Naihati is a very important industrial town and an important railway junction station on the Indian Railways network, in the district of North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India. It is very easy to reach Naihati as it takes only one hour by train from the Sealdah station by train. Then just by taking an auto or rickshaw one can enjoy the charm and revelry that surrounds Kali Puja in Naihati.

The unique thing about Kali Puja in Naihati is its large idols, some measuring around 32 feet. It has also been recorded that the Deul Para Adhibashi Brinda Puja committee of Naihati once made a Kali idol of hoping 31 feet. It was the tallest Kali idols of the country, as well as of Asia that was ever made in Naihati. In 1965 an idol was made of a recorded height of 31 feet. But the civic authority reduced it to 29 feet from 1968.

The whole town gears up for the mood during this time with light and people thronging the magnificent pandals. The pandals are huge to fit the large idols measuring on an average of 25 feet. Truly speaking the Kali idols are not that artistic to look at, but definitely inspire imagination because of its sheer magnitude. Interestingly some idols are so big that four average size person sits on the bulging belly of sleeping Siva and play cards. The Puja committees like Amra Kajan, New Star, No 7 Adhibashi Brinda, United Club and Dishari Club cannot be given a miss at any cost. Amusing it may be, but the fact is these idols are made adjacent to the water bodies like ponds and small lakes in the locality. The reason behind this is that the idols are so huge it is practically impossible to carry them to the River Ganga for immersion. Instead the puja organisers call the fire department, who come and wash the large idols with their hose pipe, spraying water from the adjacent water body.

A forwarded mail with a meaning - A Letter to Every Indian from President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

Everyday our mail inbox is flooded with irritating, meaningless spams and forwarded mails, some are fresh and some are stale as smelling cheese. Some are over preachy while some are blatantly sadistic. But this is one forwarded mail that has a strong meaning and purpose and deserves to be forwarded for the betterment of India. The more this message gets spread; it is good for India in the long run, provided fellow Indians take a little notice of it.

Following is the speech of President of India DR. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam:

Why is the media here so negative?
Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements?
We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why?
We are the first in milk production.
We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.
We are the second largest producer of wheat.
We are the second largest producer of rice.

Look at Dr. Sudarshan, he has transferred the tribal village into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters.

I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck.. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news.

In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Why are we so NEGATIVE? Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? We want foreign T.Vs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology.

Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance? I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed India. For her, you and I will have to build this developed India. You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation.

Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance.

Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is yours.
YOU say that our government is inefficient.
YOU say that our laws are too old.
YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.
YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke. The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination.
YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits.

YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it?

Take a person on his way to Singapore. Give him a name - 'YOURS'. Give him a face - 'YOURS'. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground links as they are. You pay $5 (approx. Rs. 60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come back to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity… In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai. YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah.

YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs.650) a month to, 'see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else.'YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, 'Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost.' YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand.

Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo? Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston??? We are still talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India?

In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same in Japan.

Will the Indian citizen do that here?' He's right. We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility.

We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms.

We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity. This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public.

When it comes to burning social issues like those related to women, dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? 'It's the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my sons' rights to a dowry.' So who's going to change the system?

What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbours, other households, other cities, other communities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away.

Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to England. When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money.

Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too…. I am echoing J. F. Kennedy's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians…..

'ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY'

Thank you,

Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

Let’s do what India needs from us.

Forward this mail to each Indian for a change instead of sending Jokes or junk mails.

Nawab Wajid Ali Shah is an unknown person in today’s Metiabruz

Metiabruz of today would have been an unknown place if Nawab Wajid Ali Shah wasn’t exiled here. Metiabruz at present in Garden Reach, once used to be an isolated piece of land adjacent to the Hoogly River. It was mainly used by the traders of East India Company as their relaxation spot between their trade ventures by sea route. Wild dogs and fox in large numbers inhabited the place at that time. Humans mostly include the robbers who were known as thangare (those who robbed innocent people after killing them by beating with large bamboo sticks).

It was only after 1856, when Nawab Wajid Ali Shah the then Nawab of Oudh, Lucknow was exiled in Metiabruz by the British Government, this place transformed dramatically. Just like the other contemporary Nawabs, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was also a very sophisticated person fond of traditional poetry, music, singing, dance and painting. His daily chore in Kaisarbagh Baradari, Oudh was filled with extravagance, pomp and show. The nawab with heavy heart bore the pain of parting from his royal haveli in Kaisarbagh.

But a true nawab at heart, for him it was impossible to stay away even one day from dance and music. So he brought along with him Hindustani classical musicians and baijis (court dancers) to Metiabruz. It should be mentioned here that the name Metiabruz meant fort made from mud (in Urdu matia mean mud and bruz mean fort). Soon his royal house in Metiabruz started to bustle with activity, Awadhi language, art, music, dance, singing, poetry, smell of atar (fragrance made from flowers) and opulent style of living. He invited the best singers and dancers from other parts of India to Metiabruz to entertain his guests that also include the East India Company officials who banished him from Oudh.

With an intention to create a similar Lucknow in Metiabruz where his people would live happily along with him he went ahead to create a zoo in Metiabruz, the first of its kind in Eastern India. This zoo spread across acres of land had different species of animals besides expensive and exotic birds brought from various parts of India, Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, England etc. With the passage of time this vast area of zoo has been totally engulfed by the Hoogly River.

His another major contribution to today’s Metiabruz is the introduction of Hindustani darjees or tailors. At that period of time there were very few tailors in Bengal who had the artistic skill and concept to match the talent of these Hindustani darjees from Lucknow. Gradually, these darjees became so famous in Bengal that they started getting orders from Bengali zamindars, babus and even British officers. As time passed on holding the hands of these skilful darjees, Metiabruj became one of the prominent centres of fashionable garment making in Eastern India. Now around 56% of the total youth in Metabruz is into the business of garment manufacturing. Bulk shipment of garment produced from Metiabruz is now sent to neighboring countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka every month.

Nawab Wajid Ali Shah’s love for kite and pigeons also made a contribution to Metiabruz’s economy. His love for large and unique kite was immense. So he encouraged innovative kite makers in his time. Following this tradition, at present kite making is a profitable business here, in which large number of youth is involved. Interestingly, kite is now exported to various parts of the world from Metibruz now.

Historically also Metiabruz got its due importance holding the hands of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah when the legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray created Shatranj Ke Khilari (The Chess Players) in 1977.

But unfortunately, the manner in which the charm and splendour of the old Metiabruz has melted, in a similar manner the people of Metiabruz has also easily forgot the name of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah. All that remains of the 31 years that the nawab had spent at Metiabruz is a sprawling Imambara and a private mosque (the Shah Masjid) that he built ten years after arriving here.

Touched the Moon

Never thought, will be able to touch the bright, silver colour moon peeping every night outside the window.

They said we can’t. Showed us the reason of poverty, illiteracy and backwardness. But they overlooked our grit to excel.

Today we have touched the moon. Yes almost.

A breed of super humans called scientists has made that possible for the millions of Indian children for whom a bread is a moon.

A salute to the Indian scientists who have made possible the maiden lunar mission Chandrayaan-I.

You people didn’t made us proud but invincible. Thank You...