The Indian Institute of Mass Communication

LIFE AT IIMC....
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A  post which I never really got to write...

IIMC results

July 30, 2009 became the most memorable day of my life. Towards the late evening I received an SMS informing me about IIMC's results declaration. I hopped onto my laptop, log onto to the website and after a few clicks I finally made it to the institution of my dreams. My heart was pounding, a big smile adorned my face as I jumped up in excitement and elation screaming the result to my mum. My mum hugged me and we together made calls to my brothers who were expecting the good news.
Life often gives these little moments of joy after hours of hard work. And it is these moments which has sea of life stored in them. It restores one's lost faith marking a new begining of a new journey. It was a big day for my family as my first step towards becoming a journalist became successful. In one of my earlier posts, I have mentioned about the mediocrity and how one has to put up a fight at every stage of life. This post can be read in the same context. I would add on more to this post.

Sorry state of affairs.......

Some incidents leave an indelible mark in our memories. One such incident occured with me when I was on my way to college in an auto. The poor driver was waiting for the auto to get filled before he could budge from its place, and drop the passengers at their respective spots. That very moment, arrived the two policemen, and ordered the driver to drop them at a place which was opposite to the auto's route. The driver disobeyed them, though with extreme politeness, and made himself a vulnerable target at the hands of ferocious cops. The Cops pulled the driver out, while thrashing him for no fault of his. On seeing this, the seated passangers got down, and walked off, only to disperse in the crowd. I wondered if I could something to stop this sheer act of injustice and goondaraj.
Like others, I feared for my life too. I thought its better to slip away quietly, and left feeling disgusting to the core. However, my mind wrestled with the question of insenstivity of of which I had also become a part.

Who could have intervened at the risk of their life to save the poor man from the fury of Khaki men ? The common man felt utterly helpless and powerless in front of these giants Cops. If the same person had some authoritative background, the Cops won't have harrased him. Indeed, a common man is like a piece of vegetable for Police, meant to be sliced, chopped, juiced at any nook and corner of the street. Even if the person had ventured to raise his voice, he would have been implicated under false changes.

It was one such incident which went unreported, unheard and unseen. The plight of the poor who bows his knees in front of Khaki never receives as much media weightage as it ideally should . Society's watchdog has got immense power to stir a change in matters like these. Journalists should orient themselves towards such subjects in creating awareness about the ground reality.

Color is the place where our brain and the universe meet.
-Paul Klee

Colours play an indispensable role in determining man’s position in Universe. All living beings operate in a colourful framework, a framework diligently created by the supreme power. He created the sun, the moon, the earth, mountains, sky, letting each creation exhibits its unique colour. Among all his creations, the Almighty attributed mankind the central place.

He stroked the colour of compassion in Mother Teresa’s figure and guided the world to make use of kindness as a magical colour to paint a benevolent picture of humanity. Similarly, the divine power sprayed the canvass of life with different hues: Truth and Ahimsa; Patriotism and Sacrifice; Determination and Philanthropy in the figures of Gandhi, Nehru, and Bhagat Singh, to name a few. He then sprinkled shades of Love, Honesty, Respect, Gratitude, and Goodness to improve upon his created expressions.

To lend more colours to his marvelous design, he embellished Nature with myriad of colours. Almost every colour finds a beautiful expression in the face of Nature. VIBGYOR-a jewel in firmament- displays seven majestic colours: Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red.

He intended man to emulate his style and diligence while existing in the Universe.
Alas! Nature’s splendid canvas got brutally assaulted and spoiled by man’s Black deeds. Activities like deforestation, irregular plantations, soil erosion completely robbed Nature of its natural colours which once adorned Nature’s throne. Human being, the crown of all creation, got busy rupturing the established colourful framework, instead of adhering to God’s example.

The dreadful scenes of murder, rape, extortion, kidnapping, female trafficking, child abuse, dowry deaths etc. make shades of black and grey more prominent in man’s dismal portrait of his social surroundings. The political scene is no better. The shades of violence and communalism have replaced the shades of truth and secularism.

The portrait of mankind differs drastically from the one created by the God. It reflects not a myriad of colours but what it does reflect is a mirage.

Recession’s invisible aspect

A slowed economy and on top of that the craving for money have stifled the social scene, besides endangering the growth of interpersonal relationships



"If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself alone.
-- Samuel Johnson

A few incidents of late set me thinking for hours. Every time I spotted a familiar face amidst a sea of strangers, I invited a fierce cold response. I wondered over this bizarre tendency of people to overlook one’s presence, and then pretend to be engaged. An afterthought suggested that the trend of ignoring acquaintances hasn’t come out of a blue moon. It has been there just like the economic meltdown.

While recession received worldwide attention, the phenomenon’s social fallout didn’t get a worthy response. The same social ties which were once a source of comfort-during crisis- have lost all sense of community today. In the 21st century, aloofness and numbness is what characterizes social relationships.

A slowed economy and over that the craving for money have stifled the social scene, besides endangering the growth of interpersonal relationships. Under extra- financial pressure- due to jobs-cuts, home foreclosures or falling behind on bills- the pressures on families have reached the boiling point.

Such pressures have made financial stability almost a pre-condition to survive. Therefore, we are always busy innovating ways for generating revenues, hoping that the surplus money would help us fight better against the economic downturn. In this scenario, to ‘meet and socialise’ is at the bottom of our priority list. Few people might disagree with the argument of expecting friendly vibes from acquaintances while others won’t care. Still, it isn’t as much about sociolisation as it is about few ‘warm words’: spoken with earnestness and care by people who occupy considerable space in our lives. It’s about that lost opportunity of a slight acquaintance which could have grown into familiarity or perhaps terminated into a friendship.

Therefore, the present trend appears as a sad commentary on our growing materialistic aspirations. Our constant preoccupation with the thought of making more money hasn’t left any room for the development of social relationships. Even the developed ones are getting detached, let alone the formation of new ones. Monetary acquisitions- being the ultimate objective- are leaving behind a trail of broken and strained relationships

The age-old belief of man being a social animal stands subverted by our misplaced priorities. In a mad chase for materialistic objects, we are losing the essence of being the social creature. This complete loss of human touch and genuineness on the part of our generation comes to full circle when we encounter our loved ones; abruptly, on the busy streets.

Change- a play of time

Decades ago, if people happened to recognise a friend, they would hop and scream with extreme joy. Their heart would palpitate and a genuine expression of love would adorn their faces. That moment’s sensibility reverberated their hearts throughout the day. Like us, our ancestors also wanted to survive and make their both ends meet. However, they led a much successful and healthy social life. Unlike us, building relations was an integral part of their professional and personal discourse. Which is why, they genuinely enquired about each one’s well being, unlike artificial and forced pretensions of today.

Indeed, time has changed and so have people. Today we meet someone; the other person gets busy in devising ways to ignore our presence. Worse, the geography of our social relations rests firmly on financial stability than on social mobility. It pre-empts how good or bad, healthy or unhealthy our social life could be. For instance, a neighbour earning in six- figures will never escape the social protocols whereas a friend who helped during a crisis would surely does.

The trend’s sprawling tentacles must have touched everyone in different ways. And it seems the trend is here to stay until We- The People adopt a mature outlook to deal with the upsetting time. Fighting recession in isolation is certainly not a way out. Rather the battle can be won by the collective effort, by prioritising relationships over wealth. Leading a simple yet fulfilling life should be the mantra. Otherwise, in an attempt to dispel depression we may end up inviting more gloom.

Mediocrity Kills.......!!

All are not born genius like Albert Einstein or Thomas Eddison. This is the category of intellectuals. Many amongst us belong to the Average Category. I belong to the latter one, and I don't have any qualms admitting it. My take on ordinariness of a person's existence would perhaps help you to relate with the struggles of mediocres ,and this piece could be an interesting read for you.

I endorse the former view i.e. it's been my privilige to be born as a mediocre. Perhaps, that has helped me understand things around me in a much better way than the rest. Coming back to my life's story, I was born in a middle class family. But my father was determined to send all three of us to English medium schools and get us good education. You must be wondering where does the idea of being an average person disappeared! You will understand it once you are through this piece.

My parents did their best to raise us and made us touch the line of mediocrity-which was a huge achivement for them-in terms of education, ambitions, personality and language. 

When me and my siblings advanced to the college life, it was our first brush with the mad chase for goals, ambitions, multi-talented people, people with oddles of confidence. We tried to fit in amongst them. We felt so close to this bizzzare feeling of thriving in Dark Ages, so ignorant was our outlook towards life. We had a keen sense of purpose and inclination to always do good.

There started the journey, at each turn we had struggled and leanrt. You neither get appreciated nor you get slapped with criticism if you are a mediocre. Therefore, its important to rise above this category.  You need a lot of self-motivation to rise from an undistinguished and unexceptional life to that of excellence. A lot of hard work is needed, atleast once . Then life perhaps might get easy, but again complacency is a fatal disease.
Now......after almost a year I am adding onto this post....a lot has changed during this period. A new feather has been added in our cap. Life suddenly has become quite favourable and has been showering with pleasures. We as a family have come closer to our goals. My brothers and I have a well defined career with our individual goals to achieve. I am on my way to become a journalist, and they are excelling in the field of engineering. Today, when I look back to all those years of uncertainty, I feel elated that we have had our share in life's struggle. Or the struggle has just begun......as the Robert Frost has put it "I have got miles to go before I sleep".
Chao till I write the next post....

Musings

It was the first day at new college. Not naming the college for privacy, however, all I can tell you is, that it was one of the most cool colleges of DU. Having studied in a co-ed school and then suddenly getting admission into all Girl's college was not that appealing for me. Not that I hated girls, but it was the beginning of something very unusual in my life.

For the next two years, all I got to see was girls, more girls, and some more girls. All around the campus -inside the Canteen, Nescafe, Lobby, Basketball Court, girls lying on the backyard area, some hanging on the trees, others busy with their love stories on the uppermost floor of the building...oh! God ...Can you imagine the same sight for the two best years of your life? Not that I was dying for boys company, but I had started realizing the unusual, creepy sort of feeling taking shape within my personality.

After the passage of one year, the change had set in. I had started enjoying the warm of the cocconed life. I had become more reserved and uncomfortable towards the opposite sex. It's not just me , most of my friends at college felt the same that studying in Girls' college has serious repercussions on the development of personality. Once the college gets over, we girls' college students aren't able to come to terms with the real world. It gets little odd for us to deal with the opposite sex. It is a very strange feeling. Those who have been into girls college would understand my point.

And the things which got affected the most was my temper. How to describe those wild- tantrums, tombyish attitude, carefree style, practically everything got just worse. On the other hand, I did learn a lot of women- centric qualities- like the importance of freedom, independent thinking and decisions, in the male- dominated society of ours. I feel, even in the 21st century nothing much has changed for women. They are still accepted by the males if they are submissive in their attitude. In this context, I have become much more stronger after having come to this lone world. But somewhere down the line, I do feel that things would have been better off , had I been to a co-ed college.