Chai Chalk Chatter

In its ruggedness lies its simplicity and in this simplicity lies its essence. An essence that people probably don't understand. The so called hippy idea, the stereotypical one, associated with Himachal is in fact all that they actually get. Understanding nothing, of what, it actually is, or anything of whatever it ought to be.  I pity the people lost in their petty worlds. Understanding nothing of what their world is and what they are looking for.  The posh crowd in their fancy clothes wants everything yet knows nothing of their needs. This nothingness is just so suffocating that I fail to understand how someone could be so platonic. I was not prepared, yet I write. I don't have any right to, yet I do. This nothingness is just so killing. I feel so helpless, yet such is life - for I know, all the light of Shiva and the wisdom of Buddha are in vain - none are actually going to change. If such is freedom, I don't want it. So, yes, yet again, I am a rebel and a loner...

With the liberalization of the Indian economy, a number of new players have entered the media sector. Although the intervention of the machineries of the state apparatus, has relatively reduced yet the interests of the Corporate houses have managed to replace it. In a world where TRP's are more important as compared to journalistic ethics, the media houses are bound to fall prey to the factors that influence the media, most importantly the political economy of the respective media houses. The flow of money and political will influences, to a great extent, the discourse generated in the media. It is obvious that, owing to these factors, a particular media organization is bound to have political affiliations. It is a very well known fact that western media organizations such as CNN and BBC work towards promoting the ideologies of the West - be it western cultural intricacies or the free-market agenda of the Bretten wood institutions. For instance the coverage of the U...

When the world stood still to watch the demise of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, we the Shillongites - with our fancy cellphone cameras and loud mouths created a celebration of the sad moment. Yes, I was there and this, out of utter disgust, is what I have to say.  At least, the crowd, gathered outside the hospital, where our beloved ex-president breathed his last, were present there and that is the least amount of satisfaction that I can get out of it.  The only contention that has remained with me even after a year of the passing of such a great visionary is the fact that - we as humans of Shillong couldn't give him the fair amount of respect that he undoubtedly deserved, even at his death. We shamed the memory of the man by sticking out those fancy cellphones and recording the entire event with flash lights on. Where was then, the civility and the mannerisms that we Shillongites, so astoundingly boast of? Yet again when the world mourned the death of the gr...

The drafters of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights obviously forgot to take into consideration the situation that prevailed in most newly independent nations which are the developing nations of today. In this short piece, I would like to highlight one such incident especially with reference to India and in doing so, would highlight a conflict within the articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Eleanor Roosevelt couldn’t have probably ever imagined this conflict that is plaguing most developing nations today. India is said to be the Pharmacy of the world, although most of the pharmaceutical industry is dependent on the manufacture of generic drugs. With relatively less investment in Research and Development and the demand for cheap drugs, doesn’t seem to encourage the production the patented drugs which is more of a trend in the countries of the north. This disability cannot be only attributed to the laziness of many Indians but more to the nature of the...

Walking the streets of the small town of Mahabalipuram or Mamallapuram, amidst the hustle and bustle of the tourists moving around, one would most often than not notice only rocks, rocks and only rocks. The rock art carving is simply an enthralling tradition, the art of which has been passing on from generation to generation. It is simply amazing to notice the way these artists work on their rough and crude stones and convert them to works of art. It is very much similar to a painter, painting on an empty canvas. The history of this art form dates back to the 7 th century, during the dynastic rule of the Pallavas, who were also the rulers of Kanchipuram at the time. The advent of the art form can be traced back to the construction of structures like the Shore Temple and other similar structures which have now been declared as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. 

If we go by the ‘Performative Identities Theory’ of Judith Butler, gender is suppose to be performative, which in other words means that gender is defined by how a person behaves and not a mere biological grouping as in the case of ‘Sex’. The idea of masculinity and femininity is one of Cultural Conditioning and changes from time to time. Traditionally, masculinity or maleness has been represented in the media as very manly characters without any feminine traits, especially in the Media Texts of the 1970’s and 1980’s. James Bond, Rambo as well as Arnold Schwarzenegger from the terminator series would be some examples that we could quote here. The popular Super Mario video game which shows the character of ‘Mario’, as a male with certain acquired powers, has to rescue the princess from the monster dragon, portrays ‘Man’ as a protector, which might not be the case all the time. But then again this has been established as a stereotype for a very long time, even through our fai...

“How can a man in a cave out-communicate the world’s leading Communication societies?” -Zaharna (2001) As Joshua K Fowler, in his paper on the ‘New Media Warfare’ ideates the transfer of traditional warfare to the virtual and information front and that in the specific case it becomes necessary to manage and control the respective space by the powers involved. He further suggests that the horizontal power structures that the terrorist organizations like the Hezbollah have are more efficient as compared to the vertical power structures that most conventional militaries have, with reference to information warfare because the red tape involved causes hindrance in the fast and efficient dissemination of information. Now Internet is supposed to be a platform where the freedom of expression is held paramount, at least that is the argument that the US and its other Western allies put forward when the MacBride Commission Report was published in 1980, which led to ...