Solomon Donald

The Family Album. However nostalgic and happy it may sound, it's the darkest place on earth one can revisit. Especially if you have an embarrassing photo to protect.

That conversation of how you've changed. Things like, "oh those chubby wubby cheeks", "those eyes", "so CUTE!!!!"... can really get on your nerves. But all this is pretty easy to handle, at least over time you will learn to ignore such questions.

But mine was different. Very strange I could say. This was during a family get together some three or four years ago, it was also my birthday and all my relatives had come over. It was the biggest birthday I ever had, yet the worst of memories. Talking about memories, Indians as far as I've observed have this very funny habit of looking at the family album when they have nothing else to with their lives at a get together.

So by late afternoon after a really heavy lunch and several cups of Ice Cream, one Uncle from a corner of the packed living room shouts out saying, "HEY!!, switch off that TV", at this the kids start groaning and some super sensitive one start crying. So a super active cousin who wants to prove to the family she is "mature" and can handle situations comes up with this idea, "Let's look at the family album", and immediately everyone in the room starts approving with such excitement. So much excitement that some of the noise is just a few of them burping.

The birthday boy has the privilege of choosing which album he wants to until his parents give him "the face" and he brings the entire bundle. So I emptied the whole rack of albums and dump it in front of eagerly waiting crowd.

Everything was going really well, or so I thought, until the universe turned against me as this picture was spotted.

I was one and a half years old when they took this picture of mine.

No, I was not into modelling for nude art. It was just a neighbor who was a photographer, seems like the frame was something out of his imagination or maybe he just found it cute. But whatever the case, he had no idea what effect it would have on me one fine day in the future.

And that day had already come. The aunt who saw the pic first burst out laughing and then the picture get's passed around and everyone bursts out laughing. I had no idea as to what was happening until my super active cousin showed it to me.

NO WAY!!!

I could not speak a word. I looked at my mom and she had a story to tell. It seems I was really interested with the telephone (that nice red thing in the background if you can stop looking at the foreground). So my mom would put me up on the table as she and my dad romanced and then I got a chance to speak. So I would go on and on without a stop. Once my mom left me on the table as I was talking to dad, it was only after the phone got cut did I realize my mom had left. The next instance is what has been photographed.

If you haven't read it yet, go read it before you read this. Pride of Baghdad is a complete visual orgasm till the end. Amazing adaptaion of a true story of four Lions that were "Freed" from the Baghdad Zoo when the US bombed the place.

Approximately 130 pages, I think it qualifies as a graphic novella. Beautiful illustrations by Niko Henrichon, with a very Lion-ish feel to it. I can go on about the story for ages.

It would be amazing if Simba was Ali's ancestor. It's a gripping story, and what makes it so is that it's real. This is something that should become a movie.  

The whole work talks about themes like War, Freedom, Gender role among others. Universal themes in a Middle Eastern context. A world of complexities and conflict presented from a point of view 'The Keepers' have happily forgotten. 

There are certain parts in the Graphic Novel where The Pride seems more human. Safa the oldest in the pride is raped when she is in the wild, and because of this she prefers being captive. A feeling of being safe although restricted in many ways. If we were to look at it, we can connect this to wearing a Burqa. The patriarchal society is also presented to the reader when Ali and Zil have a conversation about hunting. Ali questions Zil if it is fear that keeps him from hunting down Horses, for which Zil says, "it's women's work". 

One happy selfie ain't it?

I call it the 'Happy Class Selfie'. I know I am bad when it comes to nomenclature, but as far as this picture is concerned, I think I have done justice. The reason why I took this picture is pretty simple, so I think I'll tell you that by the end of this article. 

I would like to start by describing the people in the picture. The one holding the phone is me, a fact that is pretty evident because of my arm in the foreground. To my left is Andre Amoikon and to my right is Ms Kannaki Deka, one of the coolest teachers in college. I would love to talk about her super powers, but I guess I'll save it for another assignment. 

Those characters in the background are Pauline (lady in pink stripes), Arokiyaraj (the blue check rushing out of the frame), and not to forget Dharani in the corner.

Now, coming back to the first question I promised to answer.

We are talking about Independent media and what better example can we take than the biggest dilemma of our age? the question of who started the Isreal - Palestine conflict. Mainstream media has been going crazy covering the war on Gaza, some pro and some against it.

Despite all the efforts of the mainstream media, the question still remained unanswered. There were regular debates in public forums and social media about the issue, sometimes even blaming the media (mainstream media) for twisting the news.

Now this leads to the second question, how credible is the so called Alternative media?

Without taking sides on who is right and wrong in this conflict let us talk in short about how media in many ways has influenced your decision. So in that manner, where you get your information plays a very significant role.

After a lot of discussion in class about various Alternative media forums and also my search in the internet for others seem to come to and end at one point when we go back and search for ownership of the particular company or media platform we are talking about. 

During my search I came across this website by the name The Electronic Intifada. Although no background checks were done, for several reasons one could easily have his doubts that it was a Palestinian website or maybe owned by a rich Palestinian or someone who sympathizes with the issue. I also happened to read articles from the Haaretz and tweets by @Farah_Gazan (the Gazan girl who has been live tweeting the bombings) 

After all this I will not be wrong if I come to this conclusion that Isreal is at fault. But I will not be right either, because they are bound to give the news that will tell only the Palestinian side of the story.

A very simple question to end this article with would be to ask how would one decide?

At home we buy the Times of India. Yes, the one famous for its ads and pictures than its news. And since it is my Dad who pays for it, he gets to decide which paper he wants to read. 

I personally like the Hindu and my efforts to convince my Dad to buy the Hindu have been epic failures. The reason being, he does not find Hindu to be as "colorful" as the TOI. So without any option, I stick to it.

The TOI gets some really big advertisers willing to give full page ads and most of the days the front page has some huge advertisement that catches your attention, and these advertisements range from car brands to shaving lotions. Sometimes they come up with this idea of placing a half page ad. It would look more like the other half was eaten up by a dog using a fork and a knife. Really annoying to hold an read the paper. 

When you go to the next page, you have the headlines. After reading the headlines and nothing more of the article my eye shifts to this small column on the left side that stands out clearly because it is put in a box. I read this first part called the 'Contrapunto' which are essentially daily quotes. This one from the June 9th edition has one by George Bernard Shaw which says, "If you injure your neighbor, better not do it in halves". 

Then I go on and read the rest of the stories in it. From there I shift to the next top story at the bottom if there is one. Since TOI has a reputation for ,you know what, I usually end up skipping that part.

I then turn to the last few pages that have this section called 'Times Trends' that have articles about new scientific developments and ongoing research which interests me. Along with that I read the 'Speaking tree' that features on the opposite page. I then go on to read 'Times Global'. I can say this is the only interesting part in the whole newspaper, so I spend a lot of time reading through it. 

Once am done with it, I shift to the 'Times Nation' section that has articles on national politics and that of national importance. And that's it, my relationship with the main paper is only that much. The rest of the newspaper I read is only when I am utterly jobless and have nothing to do, so I read the advertisements including their "conditions apply".

The next part is the supplementary.

Bangalore times is my bathroom read. The science of how the brain works at its optimum level while on the commode is a very interesting one. Every detail is visible and you can in fact spot a few glitches the editorial team might have missed. But since it has only crappy articles and paid news, I don't really give much importance. What I love about BT are the pictures. From Thalaivar's full size portraits to bollywood bomb shells. But I do sit down to read Interviews of filmmakers and actors I admire. 

The comic strips in BT are something I never miss. Calvin and Hobbes, Peanuts. Garfield, Hagar the horrible(on Sunday issues), Wizard of Oz. All my favorites. 

I could say I have reduced my newspaper reading time after I got my smartphone with which I can access the internet any time of the day (or night). So this gives me freedom from waiting for the newspaper every morning, and I can consume on it without even having to pay for it. 

Talking about news websites, their content is very similar to that on print. But there are a lot of instances where on can find few unusual stories that might not make it to print. The website also has hyperlinks to videos and info graphics that makes the news more engaging.

At home we have subscribed for the Times of India. A very colorful and Ad-filled paper. It has more ads and pictures on it than actual news. Anyways it is pretty decent to read, I usually read only the Times Trends page. It has articles about scientific research and new developments et cetra.

Finding the TOI website is easy. Go to Google search and type Times of India and you will get the first result and a few more specific suggestions like Bangalore, Chennai...Click on, say Bangalore, you will find news and news information pertaining to only Bangalore. Now in this list of news headlines choose on by clicking on it. You will have a page with the news article and at the end of the article a host of other related articles to the one you are reading will be available. 

So to all those who happen to read this and have no idea about what I am talking, here is a summary of the question I will be trying to answer in this post. MCT stands for Media, Culture and Technology. It is part of our curriculum here in college. But that apart, the main objective of this post is to answer a question that we must have asked ourselves a long time ago, but as they say, it's better late than never.

So the question was, "What does the sequence in the phrase Media, Culture and Technology suggest?

Firstly, let's start by defining the term Media. If you were to ask any lay man the reply would be quite obvious with him talking about Newspapers and Television and Films and so on. Media is a very large term, and can mean a lot of different things. So when we talk of the media we are talking about some sort of transfer happening between two parties. A message, a news... it could be anything. But I guess the difference between a simple transaction and that coming through the media is the amount of information and the amount of freedom that the latter enjoys in giving away that information. 

So I see media playing a dual role here. One of inclusion and innovation. At some point it influences and triggers a change in the culture, at the same time taking an strong platform to establish itself. Like how a pair of jeans and Kurtha came to coexist. 

Now like the holy trinity (laughs for a minute) we have a third player, Technology. Sounds like the least important, but it is technology that acts as a medium of transfer. Something that always keeps changing always even if the other two remain a constant.First we had newspapers, then we had the radio followed by the television, now we have so many other alternatives that need no further explanation.