dhoom machale...

tiny post today... (it's weekend!)

lectured amit endlessly... he promised to carry on with the project... people edited nick name interviews... one laptop had some problems and it was talking like a toon character... nazia with her self-destruct button declared herself minnie of micky mouse... we ragged her till we couldn't anymore... wrote script for nick names...

now the best thing about port blair... there may not be a theatre here (i feel like a fluttery flat fish out water without my bollywood mush masala!) but ... every new release reaches here that very day in form of pirated original quality dvds...

am going to watch dhoom 2... now... on my tv with nazia...

have a good weekend and go dhooooom...

gundu, papa, kutty, munna, mithu, mamuni, vicky...

gundu, papa, kutty, munna, mithu, mamuni, vicky... these are the nick names of sane, seniorish, hard working seeds staffers... yes, today i didn't step out into the long-winding-getting-lost-in-the-greens roads... the day was marked for in-house training... intensive crash course for seeds staff in port blair... for the simple reason that they will carry forward the work that we manage to do till December 9th...

ajit and zainu are the producers and presenters...

and to get back to gundus, kuttys... the task was to produce a radio feature on nick names... lots of exploring, unearthing and investigating... (you have no idea how much people can resist while giving out their nick names... which is why their identities will be protected on this post! i can blackmail them forever, you see) so...

we discussed the subject very seriously - why nick names, what kinds, cultural importance, effects on childhood, adolescence - and of course digging out the papas, kuttys, gundus and munnas out of very unlikely personalities... then we talked about film stars and nick names, chichi, lolo, etc etc...

we'll edit tomorrow... also talked about types of programmes - features, documentary, montage, news bulletin, interview, panel talks... including sound elements like sound actuality, location sounds, symbolic sounds, music, transition music...

clown music, baby sounds, college campus, "tube light," "moti", "gundu," "vicky," "papa"... sounds fun?

also rachel, sukhada, sunita improved on wandoor scripts and made a list of possible sounds... i think all five programmes are taking shape... good shape...

what do you think of the sound of the word TOINK TOINK!! ? like calvin has just solved a math problem? like he is off to catch mad bugs with hobbes?

bye bye brindaban...

and we packed up in brindaban... before that rachel, amit, sukhada, went to ward no 3 and interviewed many "excited" (surprise surprise!) people... i talked to samaan's mom, amma, and got recipe of lucknow ki biryani and an invite for a biryani meal...

cool! except that we are not going that side... not that i don't want to, but with limited time and resources, it is perhaps better to set an example of one complete community radio experiment in wandoor, rather than two near-complete, still-getting-there instances...

people here keep saying, unless driven to state of poverty and perhaps starvation or unless paid in lucrative amounts of money, no body will learn anything new... i still don't want to entirely believe it but well...

tiny houses hidden in coconut and supari clusters, shield a lot of information - what people do all day, how do they brew their daily dose of drinks, how did tsunami relief affect their lives, change their attitude, what is in store if basic social indicators of health are ignored but money flow continues, will they ever have a vibrant media, do they need it...

many questions, few answers... as is the case most of the time...

even as we were leaving... all the 2-3 year old toddlers in mahila mandal creche continued to chirp,
duniya hai gol,
nani ki einak hai gol,
nana ki topi hai gol,
mummy ki roti gol gol,
papa ka paisa gol gol...
duniya hai gol...

small is beautiful...

everything went off mostly as per plan, we now have four scripts almost-ready, two teams went out and did interviews... now am going only on Monday... tomorrow is perhaps my last session in brindaban... then intensive training for seeds bunch in office on Friday and Saturday... and then back to wandoor on Monday... spoke to panchayat secretary about a narrow casting session on Dec 9th...

discussed all possible bengali and otherwise delicacies while waiting for rakesh, who was bringing us lunch... man, we are a "petoo" lot...

saw a funny half cut bamboo sticking out on our way back... may be if we blew into it, it would whistle a nicobari tune?

no news is good news... or am i getting brindaban blues???

khol daro...

today was a continuation of previous power packed wandoor session... except that we started a bit late due to a trip to the hospital and a marriage in the community... all ok...

today i took "scripting class"... creative juices did not disappoint me and we had conversations about ganga puja, (that's a bengali puja for the sea at the start of fishing season), songs about islands and about opening of doors... we thought of sounds like breaking of glass, filling up of glass, slurry sounds for alcoholism related programme... kitchen sounds, poems written by team members...

taking the example of first, fishing group, we wrote most of the script... also we interviewed fishermen's association secretary and one more tsunami victim... two groups interviewed panchayat pradhan with tons of retakes... since all of them are vaguely related everything was loads of fun and there was no impatient wrapping up... we are planning to finalise scripts tomorrow... some made notes, some discussed, some have planned to meet up in the evening...

also met up with pankaj sekhsaria, from kalpavriksh... trying to meet like-minded people... was good.. hoping to interview him about loads of issues...

tomorrow savitaji is going sing khol daro again.. with additional lines... (perfectionist i say) it is a song about need for opening the doors and letting change in... khol daro... is right...

look back in anger...

brindaban... ah the land of krishna and radha romance... land of fun and masti... exactly what it is... where people yak yak and don't work... anyway... it was a repeat of Friday, more or less... we had one group, just about, vaguely willing to talk...

yes, samaan's mom got s.kalyani for an interview and sangeetha spoke animatedly about how she wants self-employment stuff... amma - she looks after kids in the creche - nodded and was sympathetic... they all agreed that nothing can happen in brindaban unless wooed with monetary incentive... FAT hopes!

Rachel recorded kids singing and i interviewed this old lady, s kalyani... this pack of bones told me about her daughters' wedding, drunkard son-in-law, empty stomach night sleep, 20-year-old widowhood, leaking roof, loans... all with toothless smile... "humko ladki se nahin puch sakta..." she said simply...

so to be fair to the ones who came, i am going to have one intensive one-day-training and then allah kareem... and then concentrate my energies on wild wild wandoor...

my return ticket's done for December 12... we plan to have a narrow casting session before that... also meeting some like minded people, who could help in some radio work... 14 days remain... is that less time, more time or just enough??? that's also the maximum duration for police remand (try getting crime and court reporting out of your system!)... in a fortnight a black dark nothing becomes a bright beautiful moon... i guess, the time is just right...

aage aage dekho...

Yesterday was a five star day – very useful, very well spent, very very tiring… beginning of a good day is reaching before time… all five groups turned up as per scheduled time… all of them were ready to give interviews, some to ready to take interviews, some willing to present… one group called itself “pragati” (progress)…

Rachel recorded, helped groups record, ask questions, saved and played those interviews… I took each and every subject after recording and made detailed note on aspects, points, interviewees, and linking clips with them… fishing, women’s options, alcoholism, need for dance schools, education and unemployment were the five subjects…

There was provision for light refreshment but this place is so far from anywhere that zainu and amit spent a good one hour getting garlic laden samosas…

We had an additional group who has promised something for Tuesday… Also there were additional members of panchayat, social workers, elders of the community… amit was exceptionally quiet… (Later we got it out of him that he and his friend had crashed a bike and he was hurt, scared, etc etc… these teenagers I tell you!) So no sher-o-shayari today – bhuki pyaasi Rachel aur zakhmi Amit…

There was some Bengali festival and women kept coming and blowing conch and making shrill, howly sounds (similar to namboodiri aripu) in front of the temple next to panchayat community hall…

Now more homework for us, me, Rachel, Amit… we must log all the interviews before Tuesday and make notes about what else is required per group… scripting should start soon… also electricity connection, setting up of the computer should happen by this week so that the groups start using the village knowledge centre and start conceiving ideas for further programming… I hope to have a narrow casting session in each community before I make an early exit…

We once again skipped lunch... that Rachel looked drained is an understatement… we went for a good lunch and a good well-deserved laugh… we came back very late (630 pm is laaaaate and pitch dark!) and everyone had left as it was Saturday… Rakesh got us home made rotis and that felt like a "sone pe suhaaga" reward… we did happy girlie talks and updating the blog was happily kept for later… the painful peaceful shiver that runs through your spine as u touch the bed after a 14 hour constructive day… and it is Sunday…