http://www.pad.madaily2012-02-051.0http://www.pad.ma/aboutmonthly1.0http://www.pad.ma/faqmonthly1.0http://www.pad.ma/termsmonthly1.0http://www.pad.ma/licensemonthly1.0http://www.pad.ma/Vgd5ic7k/info2012-01-30weekly1.0Kannada University.Hampihttp://www.pad.ma/Vgd5ic7k/poster.75.jpgIn this video has Veerupaaksha Temple Hampi, Anna Basavanna,Akka Mahadevi,great sages,and Gouthama Buddha, And this video has Bangalore Vidhana Soudha,Mysore Palace,and celbration of Mysore Dasara , Karnataka regional dance Yakshagaana,and bharatha natya.The video has Kannada Poets like Kuvempu,Kaarantha,Bendre,Maasthi,and also showing Flute playing,kolaata,and Kodagu dressing cultural.Yes51http://www.pad.ma/Vt2xclv8/info2012-01-21weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 038 Radia, Sunilhttp://www.pad.ma/Vt2xclv8/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes300http://www.pad.ma/Vfroyf8i/info2012-01-14weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090529-125818) Radia with N.K. Singhhttp://www.pad.ma/Vfroyf8i/poster.75.jpg"Mukesh swung it for him"-- N K Singh to Radia on Murli Deora getting a successive second term as the petroleum minister with support from Mukesh Ambani. Did Mukesh Ambani earn Murli Deora his second term as the petroleum minister? And has civil aviation minister Praful Patel worked more as a minister for Naresh Goyal (owner of Jet Airways)? This is what N.K. Singh tells Radia in the second part of their conversation where they discuss the new cabinet. "Murli's incompetence is proverbial", Singh says. But in a more worrying insight, he says that Murli Deora is always "busy trying to appease" questioners in Parliament so that "he can stay out of (uncomfortable question)." [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndiaYes404http://www.pad.ma/Vgdnfi9m/info2011-11-24weekly1.0practica1http://www.pad.ma/Vgdnfi9m/poster.75.jpgYes305http://www.pad.ma/Vfgm1uam/info2011-11-17weekly1.0Interview with Ritesh Uttamchandanihttp://www.pad.ma/Vfgm1uam/poster.75.jpgRitesh Uttamchandani is an award-winning photojournalist based in Mumbai. He's worked with Hindustan Times, photographing the July '05 floods, the '06 train bombings and the 26/11 attacks. Aside from this, "Ritesh’s passion is documenting the human condition and he has unearthed no shortage of subjects in the melting pot that is Mumbai, and beyond, deep into India’s hinterland. For example an extensive investigation into malnutrition in rural Maharashtra, the spread of AIDS in Sangli and the return of peace to Sri Lanka." (Barney Henderson) He is currently employed as Deputy Photo Editor/ Photographer photographer at The OPEN Magazine in Mumba Interviewer: Reema SenguptaYes679http://www.pad.ma/Vu5u9men/info2011-11-10weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Bani Ray performs Kalyan Pallavihttp://www.pad.ma/Vu5u9men/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Bani Ray has been learning Odissi since 1970, from Shri Hari Krishna Behera, Valmiki Banerjee, Guru Shri Durga Charan Ranbir, and the Late Guru Shri Nath Raut. Apart from Odissi, Bani has also studied Mohini Attam, Manipuri and various other folk dance forms. She has performed extensively throughout India and the United States and has received numerous scholarships, fellowships, and awards for her expertise in the field of dance. As a joint director of Nehru Institute of Odissi Research and Training in Delhi, India, she has organized international seminars, symposiums and training programs for aspiring young dancers. Bani is currently teaching, performing and doing in-depth research and training on the style and compositions of the Late Guru Deba Prasad Das. Based in Princeton, New Jersey, Bani teaches at Lotus Music and Dance Studios in midtown Manhattan. Kalyan Pallavi is set to Raga Kalyani. Yes593http://www.pad.ma/Vsbipp3n/info2011-12-02weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Rajika Puri performs Story of Satihttp://www.pad.ma/Vsbipp3n/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Trained since childhood in classical Indian dance and music - Rajika Puri's Bharata Natyam guru was Sikkil Guru Ramaswamy Pillai, her Odissi Gurukul is that of Deba Prasad Das - Rajika has also studied western music (the voice and piano), American Modern Dance (at the Graham & Cunningham studios in New York), and Flamenco. Based in New York for over twenty years, Rajika moved to Mumbai, (Bombay) for six years in 1992 and was inspired by an artistic milieu that encouraged new directions in the performing arts. A landmark project of 1998 was Flamenco Natyam, a blend of Flamenco with Bharata Natyam, presented at the Works & Process series of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, and then on tour in India. In 1983 she received an MA in The Anthropology of Human Movement from New York University, specializing in how meaning is made through movements such as the hand gesture (hasta mudra) system of classical Indian theatre. Here, in an unusual mix of narration and dance, she presents the story of Sati, an excerpt from her piece Devi-Malika, 'a garland of danced, sung, and narrated stories on the feminine divine in India.'Yes679http://www.pad.ma/Vhrgvmx7/info2011-12-09weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Odissi vocal music by Ramahari Das http://www.pad.ma/Vhrgvmx7/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Ramahari Das is a household name in Orissa. He has tremendously contributed to the development of Odissi Music. He has also written books on the Ragas and Talas of Odissi Music. He is currently the Head of the Odissi Research Centre in Bhubaneswar, Orissa. He is also a board member of Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi. He has composed several music pieces for almost all Odissi Gurus in India and abroad. Here he sings during the opening of the festival.Yes734http://www.pad.ma/Vfrh3dfn/info2011-11-04weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Excerpts from Shalini Patnaik's Kirwani Pallavihttp://www.pad.ma/Vfrh3dfn/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Born and brought up in California, Shalini Patnaik trained in Odissi dance since the tender age of 5. She made frequent visits to Orissa Dance Academy, where she studied under the tutelage of Gurus Gangadhar Pradhan, Aruna Mohanty, Manoranjan Pradhan, and Yudhistir Nayak besides intense study with resident teachers of the Academy in San Diego, California. The California Arts Council awarded her a 'Next Generation Artists' grant for developing new choreographies in Odissi in 2002. The Orissa Society of Americas (OSA) honored her along with sisters Laboni and Shibani with the “Kalashree” Award for their contribution and promotion of the Oriya arts in North America. Shalini has presented Odissi at numerous Indian events, temples, multicultural festivals, conventions, museums, libraries, universities, senior centers, and dance festivals in the USA. This clip is an excerpt from Shalini's performance of Kirwani Pallavi. Kirwani Pallavi is set to raga Kirwani and tala jhula.Yes330http://www.pad.ma/Vi7souxq/info2011-11-10weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Sujata Mohapatra performs Ardhanariswarahttp://www.pad.ma/Vi7souxq/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. A leading Odissi soloist, Sujata Mohapatra is a disciple and daughter-in-law of the legendary Padma Vibhushan Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. Intensively trained and groomed by her guru for more than eighteen years, she is the bearer of his priceless cultural heritage. Sujata has also undergone training at the Odissi Research Center in Bhubaneshwar and is currently guided and supported by her husband Ratikant Mohapatra. In addition to her training in Odissi, Sujata holds a Master's Degree in Oriya literature from Utkal University and has extensively researched temple architecture relating to the dance form. Here, she is seen performing Ardhanariswara, a composition that celebrates Ardhanariswara, an androgynous form of Siva and Parvati, half-man, half-woman. It was choreographed by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. Music composition is by Pt. Raghunath Panigrahi. It is set to raga Ragamalika.Yes734http://www.pad.ma/Vdyhijak/info2011-12-02weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Durga Charan Ranbir performs Kali mangalacharanhttp://www.pad.ma/Vdyhijak/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Durga Charan Ranbir, disciple of the late guru Deba Prasad Das has done a lot to propagate the school of Odissi his teacher specialized in. His vast experience as a teacher of Odissi for the past 25 years includes work in institutions spread over many places like Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, New Delhi, Calcutta and the USA. He was a visiting professor in the Delhi University Cultural Council, has taught in Jawaharlal Nehru Youth Center in New Delhi; Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya, Sangeet Niketan, Vani Vihar in Bhubaneswar; Lalit Kala Pitha, Alaka Kala Mandap in Cuttack; Satabdi Nrutyayana in Calcutta and Lotus Arts in New York. He runs his own institution Nrutyayan in Bhubaneswar. Here he performs mangalacharan with an invocation to Kali.Yes554http://www.pad.ma/Vfrz7kdy/info2011-12-02weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Durga Charan Ranbir performs Ashtapadihttp://www.pad.ma/Vfrz7kdy/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Durga Charan Ranbir, disciple of the late guru Deba Prasad Das has done a lot to propagate the school of Odissi his teacher specialized in. His vast experience as a teacher of Odissi for the past 25 years includes work in institutions spread over many places like Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, New Delhi, Calcutta and the USA. He was a visiting professor in the Delhi University Cultural Council, has taught in Jawaharlal Nehru Youth Center in New Delhi; Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya, Sangeet Niketan, Vani Vihar in Bhubaneswar; Lalit Kala Pitha, Alaka Kala Mandap in Cuttack; Satabdi Nrutyayana in Calcutta and Lotus Arts in New York. He runs his own institution Nrutyayan in Bhubaneswar. Here, he performs an ashtapadi from Jayadeva's 12th century text Gita Govinda, 'rase harimiha vihita vilasam'.Yes741http://www.pad.ma/Vh4xrbpe/info2011-11-07weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Orissa Dance Academy presents Tala Madhuryahttp://www.pad.ma/Vh4xrbpe/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Tala Madhurya is a composition of pure dance. This dance piece is composed of sculpturesque poses, intricate footwork and composite body movements. It is devoid of expressions. Only a rhythmic tala pattern is followed, supported by a melody or raga. But the focal point of this pure and abstract dance without thematic content is the "Purush Ang", that imbibes male stylisation in to Odissi form. It deviates from the dominance of the feminine form and gives prominence to the male dancers and the masculine form in Odissi. The dancers here are Ramesh Chandra Jena, Yudhisthir Nayak, Pabitra Kumar Pradhan, Lingaraj Pradhan and Amulya Balabantaray. Tala Madhurya is choreographed by Bichitrananda Swain. The music composition is by Ramahari Das and rhythm composition by Dhaneswar Swain.Yes884http://www.pad.ma/Vt8809pj/info2011-12-15weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Ratikant Mohapatra performs Hanuman Vandanahttp://www.pad.ma/Vt8809pj/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Ratikant Mohapatra is a dancer, percussionist, teacher, choregrapher and archivist of Odissi. Born into the family of Guru Kelu Charan Mohapatra & Laxmipriya Mohapatra was indeed an advantage for Ratikant. Imbibing the artistic and creative talents of both Guruji & Guruma as the parents of Ratikant were addressed, he improvised on his own natural talents and inclination towards dance and music at an early age. Tutored by the maestro in the art of Odissi & mardala Ratikant did not spare any efforts to emerge as a leading male dancer by the time he was in his early twenties. He is the director of Srjan Odissi Nrityabasa in Bhubaneswar. Apart from his performance career, he has also ventured into cinema. He has choreographed Odissi dance sequences for an Indo–Chinese film “The Desire” and has guided the performance of noted film stars Jayaprada and Shilpa Shetty in it. Here, he performs Hanuman Vandana. The text is attributed to the poet Vithaldas.Yes904http://www.pad.ma/Vfst2ywq/info2011-12-02weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Sharanya Mukhopadhyayhttp://www.pad.ma/Vfst2ywq/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Sharanya Mukhopadhyay is a versatile performer who has studied dance since she was four. She started learning Odissi under the tutelage of Nandita Behera and later went on to train with Aruna Mohanty, Manoranjan Pradhan and other teachers from Orissa Dance Academy. In India, Sharanya has performed at Vasantotsav, New Delhi, Dover Lane Dance Festival, Kolkata, Konark Dance and Music Festival, Konark. She performed at the 1st and 2nd International Odissi Festivals in the USA, Banga Sammelon, California, Rhythms of India, Hawaii, LA Dance Kaliedoscope and UCLA. Sharanya has also trained in other dance styles like flamenco, hip-hop, Bollywood, Korean dance and African dance. Here, she performs haragourastaka, an abhinaya piece on Shiva and Parvati choreographed by Bichitrananda Swain.Yes579http://www.pad.ma/Vs5wdzda/info2011-11-01weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Sujata Mohapatra performs Hamsadhwani Pallavihttp://www.pad.ma/Vs5wdzda/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. A leading Odissi soloist, Sujata Mohapatra is a disciple and daughter-in-law of the legendary Padma Vibhushan Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. Intensively trained and groomed by her guru for more than eighteen years, she is the bearer of his priceless cultural heritage. Sujata has also undergone training at the Odissi Research Center in Bhubaneshwar and is currently guided and supported by her husband Ratikant Mohapatra. In addition to her training in Odissi, Sujata holds a Master's Degree in Oriya literature from Utkal University and has extensively researched temple architecture relating to the dance form. Here, she is seen performing Hamsadhwani Pallavi, in raga Hamsadhwani and tala Talamalika. This pallavi was composed by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra in Cuttack in 1978 for Kumkum Mohanty. Guidance on the types of talas and jatis was provided by Kumkum Lal.Yes758http://www.pad.ma/Vu0i2tyf/info2011-11-07weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Sangeeta Dash performs Mohane deli chahihttp://www.pad.ma/Vu0i2tyf/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Sangeeta Dash began learning Odissi at 7 with Guru Durga Charan Ranbir. She spent several successful years as an actress in the Oriya film industry, juggling dance and acting, before she made the decision to concentrate on dance in 1990. Dash has been awarded the 'Sanskrit Samman' by the Sanskrit Prathisthana, New Delhi, 'Singarmani' award by the Kal ke Kalakar Sammelan at Mumbai in 1989 and the prestigious “Mahari Award” from Late Guru Sri Pankaj Charan Das in 1998. She became the first recipient of the ‘Pankaj Charan Das Award’ in 2003. She runs her own dance academy in Pondicherry. Here, she performs 'mohane deli chahi' - Krishna came to me today..., an Oriya abhinaya choreographed by Guru Durga Charan Ranbir in 1990.Yes580http://www.pad.ma/Vtjmfqcf/info2011-12-13weekly1.0LASSnet 2010: Opening Session (Part 2): Plenary 1: Law, Violence and Exceptionhttp://www.pad.ma/Vtjmfqcf/poster.75.jpgChair: Milind Wakankar (Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bangalore) Panelist: Deepak Mehta, Department of Sociology, University of Delhi Title: The Ayodhya Dispute: Legal Documents and the Status Quo Abstract: This paper analyses the Babri Masjid-Ramjanmabhumi controversy by focusing on the legal and administrative literature through which the ‘Ayodhya dispute’ (by which the controversy is named) acquires a life in law. Specifically I wish to argue that the law in relation to the dispute is concerned more with the restoration of the status quo, and less with issues related to justice, restitution and rehabilitation. Through the status quo the Ayodhya dispute enters into the official public domain in such a way that it affects the legal case material and colours the legal vocabulary. Since its initial elaboration in 1885, the status quo has highlighted a residue of temporal change, in the absence of which the dispute cannot be recognized. The status quo becomes a title of legitimation open to occupation from all sides so much so that specific legal and administrative strategies would no longer be possible without it. The questions that this paper asks are both empirical and normative: From what does the status quo emerge and which choices does it bring into being? What are the limits within which change is possible? Normatively, to what extent is the status quo privileged and how can change from the status quo be legitimized? In dealing with these questions I will argue that the status quo addresses not only transformations in the long history of the Ayodhya dispute, but also constitutes its temporality. Panelist: Anupama Rao (Barnard College, Columbia University/Centre for Advanced Study in the Behavioural Sciences, Stanford University) Title:Violence and Humanity: A (Global) Genealogy Abstract: My paper addresses the refiguration of ‘politics,’ and of the political subject in the aftermath of the critique of violence. (I use the latter term as shorthand for forms of thought associated with thinkers like Agamben, Arendt, Benjamin, and Schmitt that challenge the organizing conceits of political liberalism, albeit in different ways.) In particular, my paper will focus on the productive tension between (sovereign) ‘exception’ and (political) ‘universality’ — rooted in the specificity of Dalit lifeworlds — to rethink the theoretical-historical concept of ‘the human.’ My interest will be to challenge the putatively universal reach of concepts deriving from European experiences not so much by provincializing them, as by de-provincializing competing narratives of historical violence and of political subject-formation in order to explore alternate imaginations of the human, and of human sociality. Panelist: Naveeda Khan, Department of Anthropology, Johns Hopkins University Title: Beyond Exception? Aversive Thinking within Constitutionalism in South Asia Abstract: Constitutional historians have long protested that Giorgio Agamben’s understanding of the “state of exception” as the primary mode of modern government is oblivious to actual developments within constitutional theory. In other words, Agamben is more concerned with an ethico-political stance towards our present than with the longstanding discussion and experimentation within constitutional theory on how to ensure that the temporary resort to emergency powers does not become permanent. If one were to retain Agamben’s ethical posture of concern for our present vulnerability to exception with its accompanying void of rights and distinctions, yet also attend to developments within constitutionalism, one can do no better than to consider two recent efforts to scale back the encroachment of military government and martial law upon constitutions, notably in Pakistan and Bangladesh. In 2009, the Supreme Court of Pakistan declared Musharaff’s 2007 proclamation of emergency rule illegal on grounds that it constituted an attempt at a coup. This declaration came over the course of a robust lawyers movement aimed at re-instating civilian authority over the military. In 2010 the Supreme Court of Bangladesh upheld a High Court decision to nullify all amendments made to the constitution under various military governments, effectively reversing it to its 1972 version. It is noteworthy that both of these are efforts at reverting to a previous state, whether imagined or desired. In the Pakistan case this is the Archimedean point at which military was under civilian authority and in the Bangladesh case it is the point at which socialism and secularism held greatest promise. I take such reverting not as wishful thinking producing a turn away from the present or an erasure of history but as an attempt to return to a previous aspiration to a collective self. The American philosopher Stanley Cavell calls such gestures within writing “aversive thinking.” To inquire further into the potentialities of aversive thinking for each case, I read the texts of these two Supreme Court judgments within their moments with the following in mind: How are these returns effected? What founding concepts and tensions are re-found? How is this re-founding moment peopled by others, if indeed they are? In other words, how do these exercises in aversive thinking find a foothold within the present darkly described by Agamben? And, do they open us to “careers of constitutionalism” beyond exception? Yes7572http://www.pad.ma/Vi2ccrit/info2011-12-13weekly1.0LASSnet 2010: Opening Session (Part 1): Inagural Key Note- Varieties of Variance: Fractures and Fissures in the Great Pyramidhttp://www.pad.ma/Vi2ccrit/poster.75.jpgSpeaker: Marc Galanter, John & Rylla Bosshard Professor Emeritus, Law and South Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA and Centennial Professor, Department of Law, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK Chair: Niraja Gopal Jayal, Centre for the Study of Law and Governance, Jawaharlal Nehru University Title:Varieties of Variance: Fractures and Fissures in the Great Pyramid Abstract: Most legal professionals and many citizens, it seems, carry an implicit picture of the legal world that echoes the unity and hierarchy of the conceptions of John Austin and H.L.A. Hart that is, something like the great pyramid of legal order postulated in the mid- 20th century by Henry Hart and Albert Sacks in a famously unpublished set of teaching materials entitled The Legal Process. Several generations of research supply a mass of evidence that legal life displays many sorts of variance that are not represented in the image of an orderly purposive pyramid. Some of these fissures are normative such as federalism, legal pluralism, and khadi justice. Others sorts of variance, such as dualism, tokenism, and non-enforcement, do not enjoy normative commendation. Informalism, alternatives, and non-state justice occupy a contested area, both once commended as welcome flexibility and suspect as second-class justice or worse. I propose to examine some of the varieties of variance found in the contemporary Indian legal process and to discuss their implications for effective regulation and access to justice.Yes5326http://www.pad.ma/Vi2pz189/info2012-02-02weekly1.0Padmini Chettur: beautiful thing 2 http://www.pad.ma/Vi2pz189/poster.75.jpgIt is hard to find the right qualifying word to describe Padmini Chettur's links with tradition. In the act of defining it is as a departure from tradition, a breakaway, trying to articulate negation and resistance, one inextricably, and doubly links her work to tradition. The meditative repetition of movement that she has come to explore in her works can seem intentionally tortuous; yet it provokes a re-imagination of the body not just as an object in space - but a being shaped by space even as it shapes space. This performance of <i>beautiful thing 2</i> was shot at the Singapore Arts Festival. Speaking at the festival about her piece, Padmini said, "beautiful thing 2 started as a study for the body to actually remain as an object. So I started to look very sculpturally (sic) and then to create systems of movement that...thereby, the body would actually carry space, that, I think audiences immediately start to think about their own bodies. I think it's nice to provoke a reaction of self-reflection. It's important in our time to slow down and I'm not saying coming to a performance is the only way to do it, but if it can be a way, then I think it's interesting to also view this way." Padmini Chettur (b. 1970) is a contemporary dancer whose training began in the traditional Indian dance form of Bharatanatyam. Between the years 1991 and 2001 she worked with the legendary choreographer Chandralekha. In 1994, she began her own artistic research. Her other choreographic productions include <i>Fragility</i> (2001), <i>3 Solos</i>(2003), <i>Paper Doll</i> (2005), <i>Pushed</i> (2006) and <i>beautiful thing 1</i> (2009). Yes3836http://www.pad.ma/Vsbb3cj9/info2011-11-11weekly1.0Interviews with Indian freedom fighters - Dorai Swamyhttp://www.pad.ma/Vsbb3cj9/poster.75.jpgFreedom fighter Doraiswamy reflects on independence, and India.Yes2778http://www.pad.ma/Vsb0pszb/info2011-11-04weekly1.0LASSnet 2010: Closing Keynote - Indicators as a Technology of Global Governancehttp://www.pad.ma/Vsb0pszb/poster.75.jpgSpeaker: Sally Engle Merry, Professor, Department of Anthropology, New York University Chair: Shalini Randeria, Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich/Fellow, Lichtenberg-Kolleg, University of Goettingen Abstract: Achieving compliance with human rights laws is a persisting challenge for the human rights system. This problem is embedded in the theoretical question of how international law functions in practice given its limited enforcement powers. My previous work on the way women’s human rights are appropriated and used by women’s NGOs in several Asia/Pacific countries shows that these ideas are vernacularized, or reinterpreted in local terms that are often broader and less specific than the conventions where they are stated. In this talk, I examine how indicators based on systems of ranking or numerical scores are entering into the field of human rights compliance and how this approach to measuring compliance is at odds with the vernacularization process. Vote of Thanks: Sruti Chaganti, Centre for the Study of Culture and SocietyYes4781http://www.pad.ma/Vs6q42gy/info2011-11-08weekly1.0LASSnet 2010: Plenary 3 - Broken Attachments: Envy, Hatred and Vengeance in Lawhttp://www.pad.ma/Vs6q42gy/poster.75.jpgChair: Veena Das, Department of Anthropology, Johns Hopkins University <b>Panelist: Jonathan Goldberg-Hiller, Department of Political Science, University of Hawai‘i Title: Law and Love in a Time of Envy </b> Abstract: Chaucer voiced for many the sentiment that envy was the greatest sin, and love its prime antidote, able to restore the order that envy undermined. This paper reexamines this longstanding relationship of love and envy in the context of the long American legal mobilization around the issue of equal rights to marriage. I see envy as a useful handle to understand the contribution of emotional and affective life to revealing “gaps” within which sociolegal studies and rights politics strive for justice. Envy not only contributes to a desire for leveling social inequalities, but also fortifies other inequalities, particularly around the issue of love and its legal recognition. Envy additionally serves as a motivator for opposition to the “excess” demands of rights seekers in the countermobilization against gay rights. It also undergirds countermobilization in a frequently overlooked temporal dimension that this paper strives to bring to light: envy for an age in which love is understood to be valued and experienced, an age threatened by legal changes recognizing love in different forms. I develop the significance of a temporal understanding of envy in several sites of inquiry. Using literatures of psychoanalysis (including psycho-analytic novels), I explore the ways that generational relationships within families are capable of becoming sites for envy, and therefore available grammars for broader political struggles over love. In order to understand the political form of these struggles, I suggest, we must be intellectually sensitive to the ways in which emotions are simultaneously fleeting and enduring, capable of transforming themselves in new ways over time, therefore forcing new generations to reconcile with the forms of the next. The neo-Hegelian philosophy of Catherine Malabou helps construct a perspective on love that can be considered “plastic,” and I show how her ideas of plasticity help us to understand the dynamism of love and some of the ways that law modulates these forms in distinctive ways within modern life. I look to colonial encounters with law to illustrate early modern experiences with law and love, echoes from which continue to be heard in contemporary sites of encounter. In a final section of the paper, I apply these frameworks to the political struggle over Proposition 8 in California that would terminate rights to marriage for same-sex couples in order to examine the ways that struggles for gay rights have provoked powerful temporal dynamics around which envy can cohere, and I illustrate several cultural sites where this may be in play. Emotional politics such as these lie in tension with many aspects of legal doctrine, and I use this tension to raise ethical and strategic questions about the significance of temporality in legal mobilization, and the future of love in a time of envy. <b>Panelist: Nivedita Menon, Department of Political Science, University of Delhi Title: Death, Dishonour and the Law (Or, Kanoon ke panje se kaise nikal paoge?) </b> Abstract: Clearly bounded familial spaces are clawed out from dense thickets of human and non-human inter-relationships by different orders of regulation including the Law - defining, purifying, rendering, clarifying; producing, through their practices, the very flesh-and-blood of the family. The replication of the family requires laws of endogamy as well as exogamy in marriage to be strictly maintained: not the Other but not the Self, either – neither outside the caste nor inside the gotra. ‘Honour’ killings stand at the interface of Law with other forms of social regulation of the legitimate family form. Which order of regulation is more just? And can the family form escape regulation? <b>Panelist: Lawrence Liang, Alternative Law Forum/Department of Anthropology, Columbia University) Title: Wild Justice: The Stubborn Memory of Rage in Grief </b> Abstract: The emergence of the modern legal system is often predicated on the replacement of revenge with a system of justice. But can vengeance and justice be so easily set apart? Why have cultural representations been obsessed with the theme of vengeance? In this paper I seek to examine the relationship between revenge, time and memory. Revenge often manifests itself as a stubborn memory that refuses to be subsumed by the time of law. Do certain kinds of memories sustain vengeance while others diminish it? What are the political and ethical challenges that passions of a ‘rage in grief’ pose to our understandings of law and justice?Yes4927http://www.pad.ma/Vu0hwg1k/info2011-11-08weekly1.0LASSnet 2010: Plenary 2 -Rule of Law: Insurgent Reason and Public Reasonhttp://www.pad.ma/Vu0hwg1k/poster.75.jpgChair: Upendra Baxi (University of Warwick/University of Delhi) Title:Rule of Law: The Question at the Grassroots Panelist:Kanak Mani Dixit (Himal Magazine) Abstract:How do you take the various elements that build towards rule of law, including enforcement, accountability, independent media and civil society oversight, to the level of district and village? The goal of course is to provide governance and legal recourse at the grassroots, but capital- and metropolis-based observers are not always sufficiently empathetic. In all countries, and especially the larger ones where the ‘national’ is more layers removed from the ‘local’, the expectation that the quality of democracy extends beyond the capital, the provincial capitals and large metropolis, to the rural hamlets is belied by the reality. The quality and penetration of journalism and civil society activism at the grassroots of Southasia is not able to support rule of law, nor democracy and accountability. What are the challenges to the growth of civil society activism and independent journalism so that they help all the people rather than a few. How do you ensure that the middle class and the rich also go to jail. Title:Rule of Law vs. Rule by Law Panelist:G. Haragopal (Centre for Human Rights, University of Hyderabad) Abstract:Rule of Law is, in a larger view, an objective normative and, in a way, ethical standard reflecting the stage of civilizational progress. It is, of course, a prod- uct of industrial revolution which in turn a result of blossoming of human reason, advancement of relation of human being with the nature and an attempt to universalize the normative reference point in dealing and negotiating the adversarial relation which are intrinsic to the capitalistic mode of production. The critiques of Rule of Law, particularly Marx maintains that equality before the law, the essence of Rule of Law, is a juridical illusion as equality before the law does not ensure nor preceded by real equality in the social relations. Notwithstanding the Marxist criti- cism, it has to be acknowledged that law represents certainly one step forward from feudal social relation which are hierarchical arbitrary and totally unequal. This is not only the reality but rationalized and justi- fied on all possible grounds. Since the origin of rela- tions is traced to the divine, who is believed to be the creator, there was neither enough of scope nor pos- sibility to question the relations without somewhere either questioning the omnipotent power or redefining the relation of human with the divine. The midway of interpreting the Rule of Law is to look at it as `historic compromise` between the owners of means of production and the members of working class who are the natural owners of the productive labour. The struggles between the capital and the labour let to something like “live and let live” understanding. In a way, Rule of Law is as much an achievement of the labouring class as that of concession from capitalist class. Therefore, leaving the entire space for capitalist class to appropriate amounts to ignoring the struggles of the laboring class. The origin of Rule of Law or modern constitutional governance owes a lot to the European civilization, which conceded the Rule of Law to its people and colonized a huge part of the world for ruthless exploitation. The subjects in the colonies and their freedom movements saw their own future in the European mirror and demanded the rights that their counterparts enjoyed as citizens of the Nation State. In a way, the aspiration for Rule of Law was built into the freedom movement itself. India is one country which heavily borrowed from the western juridical traditions, while drafting its constitution. The Indian Constitution in retrospect appears as a radical document with freedom and justice as its main foundations. The crisis arises from the fact that the anti-colonial freedom movement was not simultaneously anti-feudal. Therefore, the freedom movement remained incomplete and the task of emancipation unaccomplished. The constitutional governance is superimposed on an economy and society not objectively conducive for such a form of governance. This lead to a rupture in the Rule of Law which has come to be increasingly replaced by “Rule by Law”, which is contingent and arbitrary. There are several repressive laws starting with Armed Forces Special Powers Act to TADA, POTA and several such state legislations, which are negation of individual liberty and societal freedoms. Most of the repressive laws were enacted with a promise that they were temporary measures and would be repealed once their purpose is served. It is true that some of these laws either lapsed or repealed, but the draconian provisions of the law got incorporated into Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act involving changes in the criminal justice system. It is paradoxical while civil rights and democratic movements have been demanding further refinement of the standards of Human Rights Laws, the rulers are gradually abandoning or lowering the existing standards under one pretext or the other. The spirit of Rule of Law is being increasingly undermined by Rule by Law, which is reversal of democratic progress of the Indian society.Yes5715http://www.pad.ma/Vsn9jo1c/info2012-01-09weekly1.0LASSnet 2010: Courting the City: Law and the (Un)Making of Millennial Delhihttp://www.pad.ma/Vsn9jo1c/poster.75.jpg Panel Description: From residents of the New Delhi to researchers on New Delhi, no matter where they start looking at the city, have inevitably found themselves, at one point or another willingly or unwillingly, at the doorstep of the city’s courthouses. In the past two decades, the Courts have emerged as a part not just of structural and urban change in the city, but of its everyday life, governance, politics and imagination. These four papers are located in this juridical emergence. Each taking on a different aspect of the court’s attempted (un)making of the city, they look at Public Interest Litigations and the court’s dramatic interventions in the cityscape on issues of unauthorized construction, at the deliberations over the fate of Delhi’s river Yamuna, at processes of urban planning as well associational life and movements of resistance to the court’s directives by city residents. Together, they represent an examination of millennial Delhi and its urban formations looking particularly at the arguably central role of law and the juridical. They do so in order both to raise a larger question of the role of law in the Indian city while remaining rooted in the particularities of the contexts and mechanisms of a legal urbanism as it has played out in the Capital. Panel Coordinator: Gautam Bhan Chair/Discussant: Dalia Wahdan, Assistant Professor of Anthropology Foundation for Liberal and Management Education (FLAME) Title: Yeh Court Is Sheher Par Raj Karti Thi: ‘Public Interest Litigation’ in Delhi Panelist: Anuj Bhuwania, Doctoral Candidate, Department of Anthropology, Columbia University Abstract:If the Indian city is becoming bourgeois at last, as Partha Chatterjee has put it, one key agent of this transformation has been the appellate court, especially the role it has assumed under the jurisdiction of ‘Public Interest Litigation’ (PIL). Nowhere in India has this phenomenon been as spectacular as Delhi. Right from the inception of PIL in the early 1980s, but especially with its massive intensification in the last decade, the two appellate courts in Delhi have made their presence felt in the everyday life of the city. Dramatic PIL-based interventions have included the closure of ‘hazardous industries’, the forced move to CNG for public transport, the demolition of scores of bastis and the sealing of commercial properties under newly invoked land use laws, each of which affected lakhs of people. PIL emerged as a media event par excellence with provocative pronouncements from the Bench invoking the image of urban collapse and projecting itself as the only agent that could ignore ‘populist pressures’. This paper will foreground the changing material practices of adjudication introduced by PIL, that enabled the city’s media and the ‘Residents Welfare Associations’(RWAs) to emerge as its ideal typical public. To this end, the paper will concentrate on a mammoth PIL case, Kalyan Sanstha vs Union of India, which, for about two years between 2006 and 2008, subsumed all other cases against encroachment on public land and unauthorized colonies in Delhi. Literally hundreds of miscellaneous applications were attached to this case in the Delhi High Court. Large-scale slum demolitions resulted and the whole city became a site for the court's corrective intervention. This was a radically new kind of PIL, one no longer restricted to a single part of the city based on specific allegations by the petitioner. Rather, here the court practically took over the reins of urban governance, instituting its own appointees to oversee – and indeed dictate to – the municipal authorities. I will use the case of Kalyan Sanstha to discuss how PIL enables the courts, the media and civil society organizations to cross-mediate and transform the city. Title:Delhi’s Yamuna Panelist:Awadhendra Sharan, Sarai-CSDS, New Delhi Abstract:This paper focuses on the multiple dimensions of the relationship between the city of Delhi and the river Yamuna, as mediated by the Supreme Court and Delhi High Court. Delhi’s Yamuna is seriously polluted through organic and inorganic matter that are beyond its assimilative capacity - the ability of natural waters to absorb, dilute and disperse wastes – a concept first developed at the end of the 19thc as part of an ensemble of strategies about calculating risk. Indeed, it may even be classified as dead in the 22 km. that it traverses through the city, measured through standards of BOD levels etc. Its ‘state’, has implications for communities and livelihood practices both in the city and beyond it. And the imaginations of its future ‘states’ have implications for just what may be built/ occupied alongside it. Pollution and death, and regeneration, not surprisingly, have invited different modes of thinking about the river and the city, marked by the intersection of two different conceptual fields, the science of pollution and theories of urban planning. At its most obvious, the Courts have addressed the issue of Yamuna’s pollution through the practice of relocation of slums, grounded in urban planning conceptions that began in the early years of 20thc. with the idea of separation of incompatible practices but which increasingly seek to banish ‘illegality’. On the other hand, Courts have intervened to regulate its pollution through the principle of ‘precaution’ and through engagement with ‘standards’. The first of these moves, we suggest, have invited considerable critical commentary; the latter, however, still needs far more elaboration. Even more, the intersection of these two modalities of reasoning, invite us to reflect on law and the city through a more complex set of arguments than those on offer in the literature either on ‘bourgeois environmentalism’ (Amita Baviskar) or on ‘public interest litigation’ (S. P. Sathe, 2002) or on the ‘appropriate domains’ of law and judiciary in dealing with urban and environmental issues (Subhankar Dam and Vivek Tewary, 2005). My paper is an attempt at developing one such argument. Title:Residual Publics and Improper Citizens: Reflections on Urban Planning in the Juridical City Panelist:Gautam Bhan, Indian Institute for Human Settlements, New Delhi, and Doctoral Candidate, Department of City and Regional Planning, University of California-Berkeley Abstract:Indian cities have never looked at like their Master Plans. Yet often, discussions of urban informality and the “Unintended City,” to use Jai Sen’s evocative term, have remained at that: the inevitability of the “failure” of planning and its undoing by the informal/illegal. Informality has been seen as the limit of planning, and never as an inevitable part of it. This paper argues that it is not just that cities escape their plans, but how they do so in order to accommodate certain kinds of deviations from the plan at the expense of others that must the focus of sustained investigation within planning theory. Only then can we ask the next question: why are particular deviations from the plan permitted or even encouraged at moment one but condemned at moment two? In other words: if planning is not technical but a political process, how do prevailing urban politics influence both urban planning as well as the urbanization and the formation of our cities themselves? What does that imply for planning in the Indian city, and, arguably, in cities with entrenched spatial and economic inequality in general? In early 2004, an estimated 35,000 households – colloquially called ‘Pushta’— on the banks of Delhi’s river Yamuna were destroyed in what was the first in a series of evictions. Between 2003-2007, an estimated 45,000 households were evicted in the city of Delhi, with less than 25% receiving any resettlement or compensation. These evictions were not initiated by the city’s planning agency, its municipal bodies or by either the city or central government. Each was the result of a verdict in an innovative judicial mechanism created, ironically, to protect the poor: the Public Interest Litigation (PIL). How has the eviction of nearly half a million urban residents and national citizens been recast, justified and legally endorsed in the name of “public interest”? How has this translation been made possible juridically and politically? What do repeated evictions tell us contemporary urban politics and the citizenship of the poor in particular? This paper seeks to answer these questions by looking at original writ petitions filed by a range of actors in the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court of India that led to the eviction of poor informal settlements. It analyses the dictum and texts to see the logics by which the judges translated and interpreted “public interest” to accommodate the eviction of the city’s poor. It also looks closely at the Court’s vision, interpretation and use of the “Plan” and “Planning.” It offers initial hypotheses as to how these decisions and evictions both inform and are deeply influenced by contemporary political, economic and aesthetic transformations in Delhi. It then suggests that locating the processes of urban planning within these transformations is a necessary first step for any engagement between the governance and formation of Indian cities.Yes2516http://www.pad.ma/Vfx9qch4/info2012-01-09weekly1.0LASSnet 2010: Employment, Discrimination and the Lawhttp://www.pad.ma/Vfx9qch4/poster.75.jpgChair/discussant: Gayatri Singh Title:Limited Right to Work: A Study of Women Involved Labour Cases in Various Courts of India Panelist:Roopa K.L., Research Scholar, Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, JNU, New Delhi Abstract:Women workers are generally not aware of their legal rights and even if they do approach the legal machinery, social and economic factors like class situation, fear of loss of job, act as restraints on them in voicing their rights and demands. Legislations are interpreted according to the whims of the employers and violations are rampant. Sometimes legal institutions are also seen as acting against the interests of the women workers. Many employers try to avoid paying maternity benefits by claiming that worker is a temporary employee hence not entitled to benefits. One such case is Municipal Corporation of Delhi v. Female Workers (Muster roll) and another. In this case, the question raised is whether the daily wage employees working on muster roll is entitled to maternity benefit as their services were not regularized. In Pramila Rawat v. District Judge Lucknow, the male dominated view of the court is clearly visible. The court views the maternity benefit as a privilege or concession to women worker not as her right. Likewise in Air India v. Meerza, the court upheld a regulation requiring air-hostess in Air India to retire if they got married within four years of being employed – a condition that was not imposed on their counter parts, assistant flight pursers. By this decision, the right to equality and prohibition of discrimination on the basis of sex lost its real meaning. This paper intends to present an exploration of court cases where women approach the various courts in India for their labour rights and analyses the discriminatory nature of court verdicts. Title:Income Tax and Women’s Labour Panelist:Maithreyi Mulupuru, Centre for Study of Culture and Society, Bangalore Abstract:In this paper I will seek to explore Indian Income Tax Law's attitude towards women's labour. Traditionally, there is no bar on the taxation of imputed income in India – legal fictions have always been used to impute an income from the ownership of house property or to impute income arising from a transferred asset to the transferor instead of the transferee. However, the law shies at imputing income where it considers the source-work 'undeserving' of income – as in the case of household labour. I seek to explore the construction of labour, particularly women's labour, as deserving or undeserving of income, by the law of income tax in India. In order to do so, I will be examining the traditional law texts – statute and case law – but also proposals and discussions around them. I will use these texts to show how the income tax law constructs women's labour as unworthy of an income. I will also attempt to analyse the assumptions underlying and effects of, this construction. Title:Recognition of Unconscious Bias as Actionable Signals Change in Enforcement of Discrimination Statutes in the USA Panelist:Paul H. Merry, Law Offices of Paul H. Merry, Esq. 50 Congress Street Boston, Massachusetts, USA Abstract:Most state and federal statutes in the USA aimed at prohibiting discrimination in employment require proof that the alleged discrimination was intentional. Yet some of the most insidious forms of discrimination are unconscious: employers act against employees or potential employees on the basis of unstated, unconscious assumptions about them based on their age, gender, race, disability, religion or other protected characteristics. However, both state and federal courts in the U.S. have become increasingly receptive to arguments that adverse actions based on unconscious bias are equally actionable as overtly biased actions. In particular, recent decisions have condemned adverse employment actions based on stereotypic thinking about employees or potential employees that precludes individualized consideration of an employee’s capacities. Decisions have held that actions based on stereotypes of mothers of young children as being too absorbed with their families to deserve promotion violate the law. Stereotypic thinking has also been condemned in the race context; and the likelihood exists that unconscious bias will be recognized as actionable in broader areas as well. The willingness of courts to find unconscious bias actionable represents an advancement for the rights of minorities and other protected classes in the form of a broadening of the concept of the intent that must be shown to succeed in proving that employment discrimination occurred. Title:Fundamental Issues in Antidiscrimination Law and the Equal Opportunities Commission Bill Panelist:Tarunabh Khaitan, Fellow in Law, Christ Church, University of Oxford Abstract:Substantive aspects of antidiscrimination laws concern themselves with four fundamental questions: (i) who ought not to discriminate, (ii) who ought to be protected from discrimination, (iii) in which contexts ought discrimination to be prohibited and (iv) what ought to be the scope of the protection of these laws. As India discusses a comprehensive antidiscrimination law in the form of the draft Equal Opportunity Commission Bill proposed by the Menon Committee, it is important to assess the provisions of this Bill. In this paper, I will focus on the substantive aspects of the Bill, although the regulatory mechanism proposed therein also demands close scrutiny. The Menon Bill borrows comparative terminology (such as 'direct' and 'indirect' discrimination) that has been developed in jurisdictions which have enforced antidiscrimination laws for decades. In this paper, I will show that the Bill fundamentally misunderstands the manner in which these concepts are applied in those jurisdictions. I will further argue that any coherent response to the fundamental questions in antidiscrimination law is possible only in light of the normative values that we believe should underpin them. I will then propose a positive-autonomy-based normative framework within which a sound antidiscrimination law regime can be contemplated.Yes8184http://www.pad.ma/Vfwzey56/info2011-09-19weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090529_130300) Venkat (Executive Secretary to Ratan Tata), Radiahttp://www.pad.ma/Vfwzey56/poster.75.jpgThis conversation shows the anxiety of Ratan Tata not to associate the name of Tata with The Electoral Trust which has been formed to donate funds to political parties, though it is evident from this conversation that all the funds into this Trust comes from Tata Companies. In fact Mamta Banerjee’s, the Union Minister for Railways and Trinamul Congress leader’s refusal to accept the funds from this Trust triggers this anxiety. It is evident from this conversation that except for CPI(M) , Trinamul Congress and BSP, all other parties having strength in the Lok Sabha have accepted funds from this Trust. But Ratan Tata’s anxiety not to publicise Tatas name is intriguing. http://indiasreport.comYes206http://www.pad.ma/Vejp9wm7/info2011-09-19weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090629_153059) Tata Executive, Radiahttp://www.pad.ma/Vejp9wm7/poster.75.jpgFrom this call with a Tata Executive whose name is not clear, it is evident that Radia is very much into prospecting for minerals outside India also and she is in active touch with the Tata executives about it. But what is intriguing is that the Income Tax authorities who tapped her telephone, in one of the secret documents which was put out on this site, in May 2010, suspects her of getting into mines business herself. The later conversations with Jeh(as part of this Tata series) throws some more light as well as throws up more questions. http://indiasreport.comYes88http://www.pad.ma/Vfscrqfi/info2012-02-04weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090612_172752) Senthil, Radiahttp://www.pad.ma/Vfscrqfi/poster.75.jpgSenthil Chengalvarayan - President and Editorial Director of TV18 Radia is talking this conversation with Senthil about a story being run on CNBC TV 18 about Tata Communications and says her clients are writing to SEBI and Stock Exchange about it. She says its based on "one of those white papers again". And said that in an earlier case an ET story had been pulled when she complained to Rahul Joshi (Editorial Director Economic Times) about it. Yes118http://www.pad.ma/Vg90dekl/info2011-09-19weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090619_164800) Jeh, Radiahttp://www.pad.ma/Vg90dekl/poster.75.jpgThis is another conversation in continuation of the earlier one, where the topic seems to be buying some mines or property in Brazil, with similar doubts being expressed about them (Radia-Jeh) being left out and sellers contacting Tatas(apparently) directly. So are these two working as agents of Tatas or they are striking a deal for themselves does not come out clearly. But highly intriguing alright, especially considering the anxiety displayed to sign the Non-disclosure agreement (NDA). It is clear from this and earlier conversation between Radia and Jeh, who seems to be based in London, that Radia is not just into Corporate communications or consulting for Tatas, but much more than that internationally also, with others. http://indiasreport.com Yes177http://www.pad.ma/Vhrgyc3w/info2011-09-19weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090619_173231) Jeh, Radiahttp://www.pad.ma/Vhrgyc3w/poster.75.jpgRadia is talking to a Jeh, whose identity is still not established. But apparently this conversation which is intriguing as she again expresses doubts about Brazilians contacting “them”(presumably Tatas) directly. In the Income Tax secret documents following the taping of her phones, it is mentioned that Radia herself seems to be in process of showing interest in acquiring mines in Brazil as well as in some African countries. This and a couple of other conversations with Jeh may be related to it. However, if Muthuraman, who is a senior Director of Tata Sons who is mentioned here is acting on behalf of Tatas or on his private behalf is unclear. http://indiasreport.comYes147http://www.pad.ma/Vg7wjier/info2011-09-18weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090523-113743) Radia, Jehangir Pochahttp://www.pad.ma/Vg7wjier/poster.75.jpgIn this conversation, the two discuss the distribution arrangements for NewsX channel and mentions about discussion about Eenadu and then the topic changes to a gift which Pocha wants to give to an employee in his channel. http://indiasreport.com/magazine/data/niira-radia-jehangir-pocha-chief-editor-newsx-%E2%80%94etv-distribution/Yes266http://www.pad.ma/Vt89jxbc/info2011-10-24weekly1.0Padmini Chettur: BeautifulThing2 - Performance 2http://www.pad.ma/Vt89jxbc/poster.75.jpgA movement showcase by Padmini Chettur at Clark House Initiative, as part of a daylong exhibition of her work. Chettur, who presented material from her recent solo choreography beautiful thing 2. Padmini selects some 'lines' out of beautiful thing 2's repertoire of nine lines. Padmini Chettur (b. 1970) is a contemporary dancer whose training began in the traditional Indian dance form of Bharatanatyam. Between the years 1991 and 2001 she worked with the legendary choreographer Chandralekha. In 1994 she began her own artistic research. Her choreographic productions include Fragility (2001), 3 Solos (2003), Paper Doll (2005), Pushed (2006) and beautiful thing 1 (2009). The people behind Clark House Initiative are Zasha Colah, Nida Ghouse, Zubin Pastakia and Sumesh Sharma. Yes1994http://www.pad.ma/Vezozfh6/info2011-10-24weekly1.0Padmini Chettur: BeautifulThing2 - Performance 3http://www.pad.ma/Vezozfh6/poster.75.jpgA movement showcase by Padmini Chettur at Clark House Initiative, as part of a daylong exhibition of her work. Chettur, who presented material from her recent solo choreography beautiful thing 2. Padmini selects some 'lines' out of beautiful thing 2's repertoire of nine lines. Padmini Chettur (b. 1970) is a contemporary dancer whose training began in the traditional Indian dance form of Bharatanatyam. Between the years 1991 and 2001 she worked with the legendary choreographer Chandralekha. In 1994 she began her own artistic research. Her choreographic productions include Fragility (2001), 3 Solos (2003), Paper Doll (2005), Pushed (2006) and beautiful thing 1 (2009). The people behind Clark House Initiative are Zasha Colah, Nida Ghouse, Zubin Pastakia and Sumesh Sharma. Yes2052http://www.pad.ma/Vu15jc7c/info2011-10-21weekly1.0Padmini Chettur and beautiful thing 2 - Conversationhttp://www.pad.ma/Vu15jc7c/poster.75.jpgA conversation during a movement showcase by Padmini Chettur. Chettur, who presented material from her recent solo choreography beautiful thing 2, is in conversation with the people at Clark House Initiative (Zasha Colah, Nida Ghouse, Zubin Pastakia and Sumesh Sharma) and an audience. This conversation is initiated by Zasha Colah, who attempts to describe Padmini's movement quality. Padmini talks about her reference points - from the idea of the dynamic-static in yoga to the urge to be economic and precise in her movement. During the first conversation, not seen here, the questions are more general. Asked about what she looks for in the dancers she works with, she jokes - it's a bonus if they're able to touch their toes. She talks about Chandralekha; she worked with her for over a decade. Back then, the audition question was - can you do splits - Padmini vividly describes the hapless dancers careening into splits in the middle of hotel lobbies. Here there is an intense interrogation of space, the body in/ as space and time. Those from the audience who are watching her for the second time are also more at ease in the space and they notice and dwell things that did not surface earlier, like the mobile artworks - curatorial interventions, suspended from the ceiling, and the drawings from Padmini's notebooks. She talks about the politics of being slotted as an Indian dancer as opposed to being called a 'dancer from India'. Padmini Chettur (b. 1970) is a contemporary dancer whose training began in the traditional Indian dance form of Bharatanatyam. Between the years 1991 and 2001 she worked with the legendary choreographer Chandralekha. In 1994 she began her own artistic research. Her choreographic productions include Fragility (2001), 3 Solos (2003), Paper Doll (2005), Pushed (2006) and beautiful thing 1 (2009). Yes3165http://www.pad.ma/Vfblrtc6/info2011-09-05weekly1.0The Urban Animal Project: Interview - Gurumurthy (Cam 1)http://www.pad.ma/Vfblrtc6/poster.75.jpgCities are not “natural habitats”. However, over the years cities have become the spaces in which many animals have evolved; they are now the homes on which they have imprinted. The Urban Animal Project aims to document these species against the backdrop of a cityscape. This is a work-in-progress which will be conducted in many phases, the first of which looks at land mammals in the city of Mumbai. Phase I delves into the reasons these animals are present in such a physical environment as opposed to existing in the wild. At the same time, it investigates what provisions are available for them and whether or not they are implemented. These laws are looked into with reference and from the point of view of municipal bodies, non-profit organisations, veterinary practice and the current curriculum, the meat and dairy industries, beasts of burden, animal trade and the role of superstition, among others. Over time, The Urban Animal Project is expected to expand into marine life, protected areas within cities, birds, monsoon ecosystems and hopefully many other areas. This is an interview with Gurumurthy, a lawyer who has delved into the world of animal rights. Currently being worked on by Namaah Kumar, Reema Sengupta, Falak Mulchandani and Nisha Vasudevan. Each phase of The Urban Animal Project will be edited into short documentaries.Yes2282http://www.pad.ma/Vumjflq5/info2011-09-05weekly1.0The Urban Animal Project: Tulsi Akka (Cam 2)http://www.pad.ma/Vumjflq5/poster.75.jpgCities are not “natural habitats”. However, over the years cities have become the spaces in which many animals have evolved; they are now the homes on which they have imprinted. The Urban Animal Project aims to document these species against the backdrop of a cityscape. This is a work-in-progress which will be conducted in many phases, the first of which looks at land mammals in the city of Mumbai. Phase I delves into the reasons these animals are present in such a physical environment as opposed to existing in the wild. At the same time, it investigates what provisions are available for them and whether or not they are implemented. These laws are looked into with reference and from the point of view of municipal bodies, non-profit organisations, veterinary practice and the current curriculum, the meat and dairy industries, beasts of burden, animal trade and the role of superstition, among others. Over time, The Urban Animal Project is expected to expand into marine life, protected areas within cities, birds, monsoon ecosystems and hopefully many other areas. This set of clips depicts Tulsi Akka, who takes care of many dogs on the streets and has done so over many years. It shows co-existence on the streets of a large city, something which is not often considered integral to the functioning of such a place. Currently being worked on by Namaah Kumar, Reema Sengupta, Falak Mulchandani and Nisha Vasudevan. Each phase of The Urban Animal Project will be edited into short documentaries. Edit...Yes252http://www.pad.ma/Vi7yeqez/info2011-12-02weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Shibani and Shalini Patnaik perform Mangalacharan and Shankara Pallavihttp://www.pad.ma/Vi7yeqez/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Born and brought up in California, Shalini Patnaik trained in Odissi dance since the tender age of 5. She made frequent visits to Orissa Dance Academy, where she studied under the tutelage of Gurus Gangadhar Pradhan, Aruna Mohanty, Manoranjan Pradhan, and Yudhistir Nayak besides intense study with resident teachers of the Academy in San Diego, California. The California Arts Council awarded her a 'Next Generation Artists' grant for developing new choreographies in Odissi in 2002. The Orissa Society of Americas (OSA) honored her along with sisters Laboni and Shibani with the “Kalashree” Award for their contribution and promotion of the Oriya arts in North America. Shalini has presented Odissi at numerous Indian events, temples, multicultural festivals, conventions, museums, libraries, universities, senior centers, and dance festivals in the USA. Shibani Patnaik has been extensively trained in Odissi. Her instruction has entailed frequent visits to India to study under Gurus Padmashree Gangadhar Pradhan, Aruna Mohanty, Manoranjan Pradhan and Yudhistir Nayak from the Orissa Dance Academy in India. Patnaik is a popular performer in the USA and India. She performed at the Mukteshwar Festival earlier this year. In 2006, she was the recipient of the Devadasi award. Here, the dancers perform mangalacharan, followed by a pallavi in raga Shankarabharanam.Yes1009http://www.pad.ma/Vsmjxf90/info2011-12-25weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Shyamali Hauth and Ratna Roy perform Thali dance and Ashtapadihttp://www.pad.ma/Vsmjxf90/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Ratna Roy, Ph.D., started her training in Odissi dance in 1972 under Guru Govinda Chandra Pal, and from 1977 until his death in 2003, she trained under Guru Pankaj Charan Das. One of his seniormost disciples, she has performed extensively as a soloist in India, the USA, Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, the Baltics, South Africa, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, China, and Japan. In the US she is well-known for her own choreography based on her dual heritage as an Indian and an American. Ratna has published several articles in both Indian and US journals and has received fellowships and awards for her dance and scholarship, including the Advanced Fulbright Fellowship (1985), American Institute of Indian Studies Fellowship (1988), National Endowment for the Arts Choreography Fellowship and Summer Fulbright Fellowship (1988), Arts International Award (2001), Fund for Folk Culture Award (2005), Washington State Arts Commission's Master Apprenticeship Award (2006, 2007, 2009, 2010), the Gordon Ekvall Tracie Memorial Award (2008), and WSAC's Fellowship Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts (2008). Here, she performs with her daughter Shyamali Hauth. Hauth performs the 'thali' dance, performed in the tradition of Guru Pankaj Charan Das' Odissi, a dance performed on the rim of a brass plate even as the dancer balances a plate of lit candles on each palm. This is performed to the verses of the srita kamala kucha mandala, a composition in the Gita Govinda of Jayadeva. Roy then goes on to perform 'rajani janita...', another ashtapadi, known more popularly by the refrain - yahi madhava yahi kesava ma vada kaitava vadam'. Here, Radha waits for Krishna all night long; when he finally arrives only the next morning, the marks of loveplay with another woman prominent on his body, she is furious, and entreats him to go away.Yes1196http://www.pad.ma/Vsb550h7/info2011-12-02weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Manoranjan Pradhan performs Shiva Stutihttp://www.pad.ma/Vsb550h7/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Manoranjan Pradhan was trained at the Orissa Dance Academy in India under Guru Gangadhar Pradhan and completed an MA in Odissi dance at Sangeet Mahavidyalaya, Utkal University. A major part of his career has been spent dancing and teaching in Canada, Mexico and the United States. Here he is seen performing Shiva Stuti. Yes800http://www.pad.ma/Vhmidv7s/info2011-12-12weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Seminar - Madhavi Mudgal on Sanskrit Literaturehttp://www.pad.ma/Vhmidv7s/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Born into a family deeply involved in propagating the classical arts, Madhavi was immersed in music and dance from a very young age. Madhavi trained in Bharata Natyam and Kathak under great gurus. Later she turned to Odissi which she adopted as her preferred medium. Her introduction to Odissi took place under Guru Hare Krishna Bahera who trained her in the fundamentals. Later she came under the tutelage of the renowned Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. Through teaching, performing and conducting workshops, Madhavi has been actively involved in propagating the art of Odissi in New Delhi and other parts of India as well as the world. She has trained a number of accomplished students who are performers in their own right. Madhavi Mudgal has received a Padmashri, Sanskriti Award and an SNA award, among many others, for her contribution to dance.Yes1259http://www.pad.ma/Vt8dwf0l/info2011-12-09weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Sarani Mukherjee performs Malli Malahttp://www.pad.ma/Vt8dwf0l/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Sarani Mukherjee is an Odissi dancer based in the USA. Here she performs malli mala shyamaku debi, an Oriya abhinaya.Yes683http://www.pad.ma/Veiu297x/info2011-10-22weekly1.0Kalakshetra from Louis Malle's L'Inde Fantômehttp://www.pad.ma/Veiu297x/poster.75.jpgIn 1968, Louis Malle made a documentary film about India, which was released in cinemas as a film called Calcutta, in 1968, and later broadcast as a seven-part TV series called L'Inde fantôme (Phantom India) on the BBC. Concentrating on real India, its rituals and festivities, Malle fell afoul of the Indian government, which disliked his portrayal of the country, in its fascination with the pre-modern, and consequently banned the BBC from filming in India for several years. Malle later claimed his documentary on India was his favorite film. Here in Kalakshetra, Malle wanders from class to class, admiring the dedication of dancers who spend decades trying to become the dance. He finds the attempts of foreign dancers pitiful, while they have absorbed some of the form, he remarks, they can never hope to fit into Indian culture, a failure, which he finds, is most strikingly reflected in their physicality. Forty-three years after Malle made this film, we watch the segment shot in Kalakshetra with Pushpa Shankar, a senior teacher at Kalakshetra. "I still have trouble travelling because they think I'm a terrorist," Shankar says resignedly. Seated in her first-floor flat, in a sedate building with a tambura carved on its facade, this sounds rather surreal. A mischievous glint enters her eyes, and she asks, "You must think I'm Tamilian? Do you know what I really am? I'm Sindhi and I was born in Karachi." Shankar has been associated with the institution since she first made the long journey from her home in Karachi to Chennai in 1946. She was not present in Kalakshetra when Malle filmed this. Her reading of Malle's film takes the form of fond reminescence, and at times, piqued by what he is saying, angry retort. She has taught some of the dancers in the film and has worked with others. Age and time may be prosaic facts; yet, listening to her makes you want to dwell on impermanence and transition. Seamlessly interwoven with Malle's narrative is also the story of her own life. Yes1400http://www.pad.ma/Vt4anxny/info2011-12-09weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Ritha Devi performs Panchakanyahttp://www.pad.ma/Vt4anxny/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Ritha Devi was born in the cultured and erudite family of poet Rabindranath Tagore and Lakshminath Bezbaroa, father of modern Assamese literature. Ritha Devi feels that she has truly found herself in the lyrical dance-form of Oudra Nritya, the special tradition of the Devadasis of Orissa. Ritha Devi was the first to rescue this art from near extinction and to perform it in many parts of India, Europe and U.S.A. She currently lives in Pune after living for many years in New York, teaching and performing. Here, she performs panchakanya, a very special composition of Guru Pankaj Charan Das.Yes1708http://www.pad.ma/Vee16k03/info2011-12-15weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Seminar - Durga Charan Ranbir on Chhandahttp://www.pad.ma/Vee16k03/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Durga Charan Ranbir, disciple of the late guru Deba Prasad Das has done a lot to propagate the school of Odissi his teacher specialized in. His vast experience as a teacher of Odissi for the past 25 years includes work in institutions spread over many places like Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, New Delhi, Calcutta and the USA. He was a visiting professor in the Delhi University Cultural Council, has taught in Jawaharlal Nehru Youth Center in New Delhi; Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya, Sangeet Niketan, Vani Vihar in Bhubaneswar; Lalit Kala Pitha, Alaka Kala Mandap in Cuttack; Satabdi Nrutyayana in Calcutta and Lotus Arts in New York. He runs his own institution Nrutyayan in Bhubaneswar. Here, he talks about chhanda, a genre of Oriya poetry.Yes1137http://www.pad.ma/Vfatqg4x/info2011-12-09weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Seminar - Aloka Kanungo on Rabindra Sangeethttp://www.pad.ma/Vfatqg4x/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Aloka Kanungo has been a dancer, actor and AIR artist since childhood. Initially trained by Guru Raghunatha Dutta and Guru Mayadhar Rout, she blossomed into a dancer under the tutelage and watchful eyes of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. She received “Nritya Shree”,”Nritya Visharad” and “Nritya Praveen” from Kala Vikash Kendra, Cuttack. She has received many prestigious awards , including the Shiromoni Puroshkar and the Mahari Award. She runs her own institution, Shinjan Nrityalaya, in Kolkata.Yes2059http://www.pad.ma/Vg9e52ws/info2011-12-02weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Shipra Avantica Mehrotra performs Janasammohini Pallavihttp://www.pad.ma/Vg9e52ws/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Shipra was initiated into Odissi at a young age by Dr. Chitra Krishnamurti at the Nrityalaya School of Indian Classical Dance (Washington, DC). Early in her training, she had the great fortune to attend workshops by the late legendary guru, Padmavibhushan Kelucharan Mohapatra, as well as the late Padmashree Sanjukta Panigrahi. Shipra’s desire to pursue Odissi professionally led her to the prestigious Orissa Dance Academy in Orissa, India where she received advanced training under the guidance of the late founder and eminent guru Padmashree Gangadhar Pradhan and renowned dancer Srimati Aruna Mohanty. In her continued pursuit for perfection, Shipra returns to India almost every year to continue both training and performing. Here, she performs Janasammohini Pallavi.Yes709http://www.pad.ma/Vs76ciuh/info2011-10-21weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Seminar - Ratna Roy on Panchakanya texthttp://www.pad.ma/Vs76ciuh/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Ratna Roy presents an excerpt from her paper 'The Politics of Representation - The Portrayal of the Female in Guru Pankaj Charan Das' Pancha Kanya Dances'. The texts span two languages - Sanskrit and Oriya, and her reading of the panchakanyas stems from Pankaj Charan Das' own experiences, being born into a mahari family, and considers the disjointedness in the respect accorded to the mahari tradition and their simultaneous dismissal as 'veshyas'. Time is an important consideration in the faithful translation of the panchakanya text into choreography. Jayant Kastuar, the moderator, points out that the panchakanya dances are 'solo ballets', dramatised texts as opposed to 'abhinaya' in its most orthodox sense. Yes1023http://www.pad.ma/Vfbrwjbd/info2011-12-02weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Sangita Rangala performs Shiva Tandava Stotrahttp://www.pad.ma/Vfbrwjbd/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Sangita Rangala is an Odissi dancer based in the USA. Here, she performs Shiva Tandava Stotra - Jata-tavi-galaj-jvala-pravaha-pavita-sthale in Raga Bhatiyar and Tala Khemta as a mangalacharan, followed by the sabha pranam.Yes821http://www.pad.ma/Vs75zulr/info2011-12-02weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Seminar - Aruna Mohanty on Champu sahityahttp://www.pad.ma/Vs75zulr/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. This is a presentation on champu sahitya by Aruna Mohanty. Champus are alphabetical compositions in Oriya and Sanskrit, where the first word of every line in a composition starts with the same alphabet. Thus in a 'bha-champu', every line starts with a word beginning with 'bha'. while the 'padya', poetic compositions that are champus, are in Oriya, the 'gadya' compositions are Sanskrit prose. Aruna Mohanty is a senior disciple of Guru Gangadhar Pradhan. She has also received training from Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. She first made a mark in the early 1980s and gained fame for her duet performances with Nandita Patnaik. Yes2656http://www.pad.ma/Vsnx2d9z/info2011-12-15weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Seminar - Ratikanta Mohapatra on works in Avadhi/ Sanskrithttp://www.pad.ma/Vsnx2d9z/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Ratikant Mohapatra is a dancer, percussionist, teacher, choregrapher and archivist of Odissi. Born into the family of Guru Kelu Charan Mohapatra & Laxmipriya Mohapatra was indeed an advantage for Ratikant. Imbibing the artistic and creative talents of both Guruji & Guruma as the parents of Ratikant were addressed, he improvised on his own natural talents and inclination towards dance and music at an early age. Tutored by the maestro in the art of Odissi & mardala Ratikant did not spare any efforts to emerge as a leading male dancer by the time he was in his early twenties. He is the director of Srjan Odissi Nrityabasa in Bhubaneswar. Apart from his performance career, he has also ventured into cinema. He has choreographed Odissi dance sequences for an Indo–Chinese film “The Desire” and has guided the performance of noted film stars Jayaprada and Shilpa Shetty in it. Here, he demonstrates an Avadhi/ Sanskrit piece by the poet Vithaldas, eulogising Hanuman.Yes914http://www.pad.ma/Ve2i4olp/info2011-12-14weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Seminar - Bichitrananda Swain on Jananahttp://www.pad.ma/Ve2i4olp/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Guru Bichitrananda Swain, the director of Rudraksh, is an Odissi performer, teacher and choreographer. He served as a visiting instructor at Nrityagram, Bangalore as well as being a chief instructor of Orissa Dance Academy. He gives a short demonstration of janana, a verse that may take the form of a prayer, appeal or remonstration addressed to a divine being.Yes721http://www.pad.ma/Ve2tzufq/info2011-12-15weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Seminar - Sujata Mohapatra on Odissi Geetahttp://www.pad.ma/Ve2tzufq/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. A leading Odissi soloist, Sujata Mohapatra is a disciple and daughter-in-law of the legendary Padma Vibhushan Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. Intensively trained and groomed by her guru for more than eighteen years, she is the bearer of his priceless cultural heritage. Sujata has also undergone training at the Odissi Research Center in Bhubaneshwar and is currently guided and supported by her husband Ratikant Mohapatra. In addition to her training in Odissi, Sujata holds a Master's Degree in Oriya literature from Utkal University and has extensively researched temple architecture relating to the dance form. In the delineation of Odissi geeta, Mohapatra says, sahitya is the main ingredient, the flavour produced is rasa; the treatment and the transformation is made by giving everything to the dance. Yes1143http://www.pad.ma/Vtpf2saw/info2011-09-05weekly1.0The Urban Animal Project: Interview - Colonel Khanna (headshot)http://www.pad.ma/Vtpf2saw/poster.75.jpgCities are not “natural habitats”. However, over the years cities have become the spaces in which many animals have evolved; they are now the homes on which they have imprinted. The Urban Animal Project aims to document these species against the backdrop of a cityscape. This is a work-in-progress which will be conducted in many phases, the first of which looks at land mammals in the city of Mumbai. Phase I delves into the reasons these animals are present in such a physical environment as opposed to existing in the wild. At the same time, it investigates what provisions are available for them and whether or not they are implemented. These laws are looked into with reference and from the point of view of municipal bodies, non-profit organisations, veterinary practice and the current curriculum, the meat and dairy industries, beasts of burden, animal trade and the role of superstition, among others. Over time, The Urban Animal Project is expected to expand into marine life, protected areas within cities, birds, monsoon ecosystems and hopefully many other areas. This set of clips have been shot at the animal hospital at Parel and form our B Roll footage of the same. Currently being worked on by Namaah Kumar, Reema Sengupta, Falak Mulchandani and Nisha Vasudevan. Each phase of The Urban Animal Project will be edited into short documentaries.Yes4545http://www.pad.ma/Vsb59bsy/info2011-09-05weekly1.0The Urban Animal Project: Interview - Colonel Khanna Cam 2http://www.pad.ma/Vsb59bsy/poster.75.jpgCities are not “natural habitats”. However, over the years cities have become the spaces in which many animals have evolved; they are now the homes on which they have imprinted. The Urban Animal Project aims to document these species against the backdrop of a cityscape. This is a work-in-progress which will be conducted in many phases, the first of which looks at land mammals in the city of Mumbai. Phase I delves into the reasons these animals are present in such a physical environment as opposed to existing in the wild. At the same time, it investigates what provisions are available for them and whether or not they are implemented. These laws are looked into with reference and from the point of view of municipal bodies, non-profit organisations, veterinary practice and the current curriculum, the meat and dairy industries, beasts of burden, animal trade and the role of superstition, among others. Over time, The Urban Animal Project is expected to expand into marine life, protected areas within cities, birds, monsoon ecosystems and hopefully many other areas. This is an interview with Colonel Khanna, the Secretary of the BSPCA. Currently being worked on by Namaah Kumar, Reema Sengupta, Falak Mulchandani and Nisha Vasudevan. Each phase of The Urban Animal Project will be edited into short documentaries.Yes1592http://www.pad.ma/Vsn7xvjr/info2011-10-21weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Niharika Mohanty performs Braja ku chorahttp://www.pad.ma/Vsn7xvjr/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Born and raised in Canada, Niharika Mohanty began training in Odissi at the age of five. Her initial training was received under Guru Murali Dhar Majii, Guru Pankaj Charan Das, Ananda Radha, and Dr. Menaka Thakkar. Later, she became a disciple of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. She continues to train under his daughter-in-law, Sujata Mohapatra. She has performed extensively and now runs her own institution, Guru Shradha. Here, she is seen performing Braja ku chora, an Oriya abhinaya. The baby Krishna is joyfully immersed in his world of pranks even as his mother, Yashoda, tries to put him to sleep. She adopts various tactics, swinging him in thr air, making him walk and carrying him on her back. Naughty Krishna refuses to sleep; she threatens him, saying that a thief will carry him away if he does not sleep. The Oriya lyrics were translated under the guidance of Sangita Gosain and Kumkum Lal.Yes856http://www.pad.ma/Vfsn4m1p/info2011-12-09weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Shyamali Hauth Roy performs Ahalyahttp://www.pad.ma/Vfsn4m1p/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Shyamali Roy Hauth trained in Pankaj Das style from 1977 to 1980 under the guru of gurus, Padmashree Pankaj Charan Das, in Puri, India. She then trained under her mother, Dr. Ratna Roy. Here, she performs Ahalya, a composition of Guru Pankaj Charan Das.Yes806http://www.pad.ma/Vui192sf/info2011-12-02weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Durga Charan Ranbir performs Meena Nayanahttp://www.pad.ma/Vui192sf/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Durga Charan Ranbir, disciple of the late guru Deba Prasad Das has done a lot to propagate the school of Odissi his teacher specialized in. His vast experience as a teacher of Odissi for the past 25 years includes work in institutions spread over many places like Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, New Delhi, Calcutta and the USA. He was a visiting professor in the Delhi University Cultural Council, has taught in Jawaharlal Nehru Youth Center in New Delhi; Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya, Sangeet Niketan, Vani Vihar in Bhubaneswar; Lalit Kala Pitha, Alaka Kala Mandap in Cuttack; Satabdi Nrutyayana in Calcutta and Lotus Arts in New York. He runs his own institution Nrutyayan in Bhubaneswar. Here he performs meena nayana, an Oriya abhinaya.Yes507http://www.pad.ma/Vtjsothr/info2011-12-03weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Nrityalaya performs Vande Mataramhttp://www.pad.ma/Vtjsothr/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Nrityalaya is an Odissi school in Potomac, MD, founded and directed by Chitra Krishnamurti, who began her training with Surendranath Jena, then going on to train with Sanjukta Panigrahi and Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. Here, students of Nrityalaya perform Vande Mataram.Yes745http://www.pad.ma/Vh55as3f/info2011-11-10weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Triveni School of Dance performs Ardhanariswarahttp://www.pad.ma/Vh55as3f/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. The Triveni School of Dance, in Brookline, Massachusets, was founded in 1971 by Neena Gulati. The school trains over 400 dancers every week in Indian classical dance. Here, two dancers from Triveni's ensemble perform Ardhanariswara, in raga Ragamalika and tala Ektali. Yes779http://www.pad.ma/Vgortmfi/info2011-11-19weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Anita Babu performs Naba Durgahttp://www.pad.ma/Vgortmfi/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Anita Babu began learning Odissi at school when she was 7. Later, she continued her training at Orissa Dance Academy, where she trained under Nandita Pattnaik, Aruna Mohanty and Bichitrananda Swain. She has performed widely and is empanelled with ICCR. Babu holds an MA in Anthropology from Utkal University. Here, she performs Naba Durga, an abhinaya that describes the nine different forms of Durga. It is said that these verses are composed by the sage Vyasa. Yes696http://www.pad.ma/Vi35zk2f/info2011-11-19weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Urvasi Dance School performs Shankarabharanam Pallavihttp://www.pad.ma/Vi35zk2f/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Established in 1975, Urvasi Dance Company has practiced and promoted the research and practice of classical Odissi/Orissi dance in Seattle and Olympia, Washington, USA. In the last 10 years, Urvasi Dance Company has focused on keeping the Mahari tradition, as taught by Guru Pankaj Charan Das, of Orissi dance alive. However, Urvasi has embraced Odissi dancers from other styles as part of the company. The tradition is said to be characterized by the lyrical torso movements (even more so than the style most visible in India) and the powerful portrayal of female characters from the myths and epics of India. Here the Urvasi dancers perform Shankarabharanam Pallavi, choreographed by Guru Pankaj Charan Das. Yes440http://www.pad.ma/Vhloft1b/info2011-12-09weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Aloka Kanungo performs Sakhi hehttp://www.pad.ma/Vhloft1b/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Aloka Kanungo has been a dancer, actor and AIR artist since childhood. Initially trained by Guru Raghunatha Dutta and Guru Mayadhar Rout, she blossomed into a dancer under the tutelage and watchful eyes of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. She received “Nritya Shree”,”Nritya Visharad” and “Nritya Praveen” from Kala Vikash Kendra, Cuttack. She has received many prestigious awards , including the Shiromoni Puroshkar and the Mahari Award. She runs her own institution, Shinjan Nrityalaya, in Kolkata. Here, she performs sakhi he, an ashtapadi from Jayadeva's Gita Govinda, choreographed by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra.Yes826http://www.pad.ma/Vtkseull/info2011-12-03weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Nrityalaya performs Mokshyahttp://www.pad.ma/Vtkseull/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Nrityalaya is an Odissi school in Potomac, MD, founded and directed by Chitra Krishnamurti, who began her training with Surendranath Jena, then going on to train with Sanjukta Panigrahi and Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. Here, students of Nrityalaya perform mokshya.Yes819http://www.pad.ma/Vfrn8adu/info2011-12-09weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Rupashree Mohapatra performs Mahari Nachahttp://www.pad.ma/Vfrn8adu/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Rupashree Mohapatra had her initial training under the Guru Pankaj Charan Das and Guru Rabinarayan Panda. Here, she performs a piece attired in the cosume of a mahari or Oriya temple dancer.Yes469http://www.pad.ma/Vhmgm47z/info2011-09-05weekly1.0The Urban Animal Project: Dr. Karkare B Rollhttp://www.pad.ma/Vhmgm47z/poster.75.jpgCities are not “natural habitats”. However, over the years cities have become the spaces in which many animals have evolved; they are now the homes on which they have imprinted. The Urban Animal Project aims to document these species against the backdrop of a cityscape. This is a work-in-progress which will be conducted in many phases, the first of which looks at land mammals in the city of Mumbai. Phase I delves into the reasons these animals are present in such a physical environment as opposed to existing in the wild. At the same time, it investigates what provisions are available for them and whether or not they are implemented. These laws are looked into with reference and from the point of view of municipal bodies, non-profit organisations, veterinary practice and the current curriculum, the meat and dairy industries, beasts of burden, animal trade and the role of superstition, among others. Over time, The Urban Animal Project is expected to expand into marine life, protected areas within cities, birds, monsoon ecosystems and hopefully many other areas. This set of clips have been shot at the Happy Tails Clinic and form our B Roll footage of the same. Currently being worked on by Namaah Kumar, Reema Sengupta, Falak Mulchandani and Nisha Vasudevan. Each phase of The Urban Animal Project will be edited into short documentaries.Yes514http://www.pad.ma/Vevk31os/info2011-09-05weekly1.0The Urban Animal Project: Bai Sakarbai Dinshaw Petit Hospital B Roll (Cam 1)http://www.pad.ma/Vevk31os/poster.75.jpgCities are not “natural habitats”. However, over the years cities have become the spaces in which many animals have evolved; they are now the homes on which they have imprinted. The Urban Animal Project aims to document these species against the backdrop of a cityscape. This is a work-in-progress which will be conducted in many phases, the first of which looks at land mammals in the city of Mumbai. Phase I delves into the reasons these animals are present in such a physical environment as opposed to existing in the wild. At the same time, it investigates what provisions are available for them and whether or not they are implemented. These laws are looked into with reference and from the point of view of municipal bodies, non-profit organisations, veterinary practice and the current curriculum, the meat and dairy industries, beasts of burden, animal trade and the role of superstition, among others. Over time, The Urban Animal Project is expected to expand into marine life, protected areas within cities, birds, monsoon ecosystems and hopefully many other areas. This set of clips have been shot at the animal hospital at Parel and form our B Roll footage of the same. Currently being worked on by Namaah Kumar, Reema Sengupta, Falak Mulchandani and Nisha Vasudevan. Each phase of The Urban Animal Project will be edited into short documentaries.Yes497http://www.pad.ma/Vi74w3jp/info2011-09-05weekly1.0The Urban Animal Project: Interview - Dr. Umesh Karkarehttp://www.pad.ma/Vi74w3jp/poster.75.jpgCities are not “natural habitats”. However, over the years cities have become the spaces in which many animals have evolved; they are now the homes on which they have imprinted. The Urban Animal Project aims to document these species against the backdrop of a cityscape. This is a work-in-progress which will be conducted in many phases, the first of which looks at land mammals in the city of Mumbai. Phase I delves into the reasons these animals are present in such a physical environment as opposed to existing in the wild. At the same time, it investigates what provisions are available for them and whether or not they are implemented. These laws are looked into with reference and from the point of view of municipal bodies, non-profit organisations, veterinary practice and the current curriculum, the meat and dairy industries, beasts of burden, animal trade and the role of superstition, among others. Over time, The Urban Animal Project is expected to expand into marine life, protected areas within cities, birds, monsoon ecosystems and hopefully many other areas. This is an interview with Dr. Umesh Karkare, reputed veterinarian who owns the Happy Tails clinic in Bandra. We discuss various issues that form the focal point of this project. Currently being worked on by Namaah Kumar, Reema Sengupta, Falak Mulchandani and Nisha Vasudevan. Each phase of The Urban Animal Project will be edited into short documentaries. Yes3369http://www.pad.ma/Vfg470d3/info2011-09-05weekly1.0The Urban Animal Project: Dog Shelter B Roll (Cam 1)http://www.pad.ma/Vfg470d3/poster.75.jpgCities are not “natural habitats”. However, over the years cities have become the spaces in which many animals have evolved; they are now the homes on which they have imprinted. The Urban Animal Project aims to document these species against the backdrop of a cityscape. This is a work-in-progress which will be conducted in many phases, the first of which looks at land mammals in the city of Mumbai. Phase I delves into the reasons these animals are present in such a physical environment as opposed to existing in the wild. At the same time, it investigates what provisions are available for them and whether or not they are implemented. These laws are looked into with reference and from the point of view of municipal bodies, non-profit organisations, veterinary practice and the current curriculum, the meat and dairy industries, beasts of burden, animal trade and the role of superstition, among others. Over time, The Urban Animal Project is expected to expand into marine life, protected areas within cities, birds, monsoon ecosystems and hopefully many other areas. This set of clips have been shot at the animal hospital and make up our B Roll footage of the Dog Shelter. Currently being worked on by Namaah Kumar, Reema Sengupta, Falak Mulchandani and Nisha Vasudevan. Each phase of The Urban Animal Project will be edited into short documentaries.Yes730http://www.pad.ma/Vfx9jcqw/info2011-09-05weekly1.0The Urban Animal Project: Buddy House (Cam 1) http://www.pad.ma/Vfx9jcqw/poster.75.jpgCities are not “natural habitats”. However, over the years cities have become the spaces in which many animals have evolved; they are now the homes on which they have imprinted. The Urban Animal Project aims to document these species against the backdrop of a cityscape. This is a work-in-progress which will be conducted in many phases, the first of which looks at land mammals in the city of Mumbai. Phase I delves into the reasons these animals are present in such a physical environment as opposed to existing in the wild. At the same time, it investigates what provisions are available for them and whether or not they are implemented. These laws are looked into with reference and from the point of view of municipal bodies, non-profit organisations, veterinary practice and the current curriculum, the meat and dairy industries, beasts of burden, animal trade and the role of superstition, among others. Over time, The Urban Animal Project is expected to expand into marine life, protected areas within cities, birds, monsoon ecosystems and hopefully many other areas. This set of clips have been shot at Buddy House, which shelters cats and some birds in separate enclosures. The clips have been joined (in no particular order) until the time that they are edited into the documentary. This section does not house sick animals but many amputees and blind cats are living in it. Currently being worked on by Namaah Kumar, Reema Sengupta, Falak Mulchandani and Nisha Vasudevan. Each phase of The Urban Animal Project will be edited into short documentaries.Yes365http://www.pad.ma/Vhlgnk1p/info2011-09-05weekly1.0The Urban Animal Project: Cattle Ward (Cam 1)http://www.pad.ma/Vhlgnk1p/poster.75.jpgCities are not “natural habitats”. However, over the years cities have become the spaces in which many animals have evolved; they are now the homes on which they have imprinted. The Urban Animal Project aims to document these species against the backdrop of a cityscape. This is a work-in-progress which will be conducted in many phases, the first of which looks at land mammals in the city of Mumbai. Phase I delves into the reasons these animals are present in such a physical environment as opposed to existing in the wild. At the same time, it investigates what provisions are available for them and whether or not they are implemented. These laws are looked into with reference and from the point of view of municipal bodies, non-profit organisations, veterinary practice and the current curriculum, the meat and dairy industries, beasts of burden, animal trade and the role of superstition, among others. Over time, The Urban Animal Project is expected to expand into marine life, protected areas within cities, birds, monsoon ecosystems and hopefully many other areas. This set of clips have been shot at the cattle ward of the animal hospital at Parel, and joined (in no particular order) until the time that they are edited into the documentary. Currently being worked on by Namaah Kumar, Reema Sengupta, Falak Mulchandani and Nisha Vasudevan. Each phase of The Urban Animal Project will be edited into short documentaries.Yes832http://www.pad.ma/Vfgedgo5/info2011-09-05weekly1.0The Urban Animal Project: Horse Ward (Cam 1)http://www.pad.ma/Vfgedgo5/poster.75.jpgCities are not “natural habitats”. However, over the years cities have become the spaces in which many animals have evolved; they are now the homes on which they have imprinted. The Urban Animal Project aims to document these species against the backdrop of a cityscape. This is a work-in-progress which will be conducted in many phases, the first of which looks at land mammals in the city of Mumbai. Phase I delves into the reasons these animals are present in such a physical environment as opposed to existing in the wild. At the same time, it investigates what provisions are available for them and whether or not they are implemented. These laws are looked into with reference and from the point of view of municipal bodies, non-profit organisations, veterinary practice and the current curriculum, the meat and dairy industries, beasts of burden, animal trade and the role of superstition, among others. Over time, The Urban Animal Project is expected to expand into marine life, protected areas within cities, birds, monsoon ecosystems and hopefully many other areas. This set of clips have been shot at the horse ward of the hospital and joined (in no particular order) until the time that they are edited into the documentary.. This section houses not only sick horses, but also those that have been abandoned in their old age (or after having served their purpose). Currently being worked on by Namaah Kumar, Reema Sengupta, Falak Mulchandani and Nisha Vasudevan. Each phase of The Urban Animal Project will be edited into short documentaries.Yes614http://www.pad.ma/Vt3lcgdj/info2011-09-05weekly1.0The Urban Animal Project: Rex (Cam 1)http://www.pad.ma/Vt3lcgdj/poster.75.jpgCities are not “natural habitats”. However, over the years cities have become the spaces in which many animals have evolved; they are now the homes on which they have imprinted. The Urban Animal Project aims to document these species against the backdrop of a cityscape. This is a work-in-progress which will be conducted in many phases, the first of which looks at land mammals in the city of Mumbai. Phase I delves into the reasons these animals are present in such a physical environment as opposed to existing in the wild. At the same time, it investigates what provisions are available for them and whether or not they are implemented. These laws are looked into with reference and from the point of view of municipal bodies, non-profit organisations, veterinary practice and the current curriculum, the meat and dairy industries, beasts of burden, animal trade and the role of superstition, among others. Over time, The Urban Animal Project is expected to expand into marine life, protected areas within cities, birds, monsoon ecosystems and hopefully many other areas. This set of clips have been shot at the dog shelter at the animal hospital, which is run by the BSPCA. They feature Rex, a dog whose leg had to be amputated. Currently being worked on by Namaah Kumar, Reema Sengupta, Falak Mulchandani and Nisha Vasudevan. Each phase of The Urban Animal Project will be edited into short documentaries.Yes164http://www.pad.ma/Vfsiwi0h/info2011-09-05weekly1.0The Urban Animal Project: Sheru (Cam 1)http://www.pad.ma/Vfsiwi0h/poster.75.jpgCities are not “natural habitats”. However, over the years cities have become the spaces in which many animals have evolved; they are now the homes on which they have imprinted. The Urban Animal Project aims to document these species against the backdrop of a cityscape. This is a work-in-progress which will be conducted in many phases, the first of which looks at land mammals in the city of Mumbai. Phase I delves into the reasons these animals are present in such a physical environment as opposed to existing in the wild. At the same time, it investigates what provisions are available for them and whether or not they are implemented. These laws are looked into with reference and from the point of view of municipal bodies, non-profit organisations, veterinary practice and the current curriculum, the meat and dairy industries, beasts of burden, animal trade and the role of superstition, among others. Over time, The Urban Animal Project is expected to expand into marine life, protected areas within cities, birds, monsoon ecosystems and hopefully many other areas. This set of clips have been shot at the dog shelter at the animal hospital, which is run by the BSPCA. They feature Sheru, the dog who was shot by terrorists at VT station on 26/11. He has recuperated at the hospital, and great care is taken to keep him comfortable. Currently being worked on by Namaah Kumar, Reema Sengupta, Falak Mulchandani and Nisha Vasudevan. Each phase of The Urban Animal Project will be edited into short documentaries. Yes399http://www.pad.ma/Vgodw3nk/info2011-09-05weekly1.0The Urban Animal Project: One Lucky Chicken (or the effect of superstition on Mumbai's animals)http://www.pad.ma/Vgodw3nk/poster.75.jpgCities are not “natural habitats”. However, over the years cities have become the spaces in which many animals have evolved; they are now the homes on which they have imprinted. The Urban Animal Project aims to document these species against the backdrop of a cityscape. This is a work-in-progress which will be conducted in many phases, the first of which looks at land mammals in the city of Mumbai. Phase I delves into the reasons these animals are present in such a physical environment as opposed to existing in the wild. At the same time, it investigates what provisions are available for them and whether or not they are implemented. These laws are looked into with reference and from the point of view of municipal bodies, non-profit organisations, veterinary practice and the current curriculum, the meat and dairy industries, beasts of burden, animal trade and the role of superstition, among others. Over time, The Urban Animal Project is expected to expand into marine life, protected areas within cities, birds, monsoon ecosystems and hopefully many other areas. This set of clips has been shot near a divider in Parel and then at the animal hospital. It is mobile phone footage of an unlikely victim of "black magic" - a rooster. Found in a plastic bag alongside two coconuts, it was smeared with crimson. Its wings were tied back and legs tied together, rendering it immobile. Not many people were willing to touch it. Currently being worked on by Namaah Kumar, Reema Sengupta, Falak Mulchandani and Nisha Vasudevan. Each phase of The Urban Animal Project will be edited into short documentaries. Yes182http://www.pad.ma/Vee6vmht/info2011-09-05weekly1.0The Urban Animal Project: Dog Ward (Cam 1)http://www.pad.ma/Vee6vmht/poster.75.jpgCities are not “natural habitats”. However, over the years cities have become the spaces in which many animals have evolved; they are now the homes on which they have imprinted. The Urban Animal Project aims to document these species against the backdrop of a cityscape. This is a work-in-progress which will be conducted in many phases, the first of which looks at land mammals in the city of Mumbai. Phase I delves into the reasons these animals are present in such a physical environment as opposed to existing in the wild. At the same time, it investigates what provisions are available for them and whether or not they are implemented. These laws are looked into with reference and from the point of view of municipal bodies, non-profit organisations, veterinary practice and the current curriculum, the meat and dairy industries, beasts of burden, animal trade and the role of superstition, among others. Over time, The Urban Animal Project is expected to expand into marine life, protected areas within cities, birds, monsoon ecosystems and hopefully many other areas. This set of clips has been shot at the dog ward of the Bai Sakarbai Dinshaw Petit Hospital for Animals and joined (in no particular order). Currently being worked on by Namaah Kumar, Reema Sengupta, Falak Mulchandani and Nisha Vasudevan. Each phase of The Urban Animal Project will be edited into short documentaries.Yes124http://www.pad.ma/Vultp18m/info2011-12-05weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Rudrakshya performs Mokshyahttp://www.pad.ma/Vultp18m/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Established in the year 2000 by Guru Bichitrananda Swain, Rudraksh Foundation has been growing steadily, with performances abroad and throughout India, as well as on-going classes and private instruction catering to the continuous flow of serious dance students coming from all over the world. (NB: Some of the dancers in the video are still with Orissa Dance Academy. This was shot before the bifurcation of Orissa Dance Academy and Rudraksh Foundation.) The dancers here perform moksha.Yes420http://www.pad.ma/Ve2ybkwp/info2011-11-07weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Orissa Dance Academy performs Glaani Sangharhttp://www.pad.ma/Ve2ybkwp/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Glaani Sanghar is a group choreography depicting the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu: When Sankhasura stole the Vedas from Lord Brahma, Vishnu assumed the form of a fish - matsya. During the churning of the ocean by the devatas and the asuras to obtain nectar, Vishnu assumed form of a giant tortoise. When the asuras stole Prithvi, Vishnu assumed the form of a wild boar. He reappeared as Narasimha to kill the King Hiranyakashipu. When King Bali became too arrogant Vishnu appeared as a dwarf to vanquish his pride. When Ravana created havoc, Vishnu killed him by appearing in the Rama avatar. During a period of crisis, he became Haladhar to till the soil. As Gautama, he was disturbed by the suffering of human beings and he became Lord Buddha to preach non-violence and peace. Finally, he assumed the form of Kalki to destroy the evil in the world. This piece is choreographed by Pankaj Charan Das. Music composition is by Bala Krishna Dash.Yes2769http://www.pad.ma/Vg8ef2mo/info2011-12-05weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Jyoti Rout performs Devi Abhinayahttp://www.pad.ma/Vg8ef2mo/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Following a career as a dancer in Orissa, India, dancer, teacher and choreographer Jyoti Rout came to the United States in 1993 and founded Jyoti Kala Mandir. Many of her students have completed a Ranga Puja and are establishing careers as soloists. Jyoti Rout is still actively performing throughout the United States, India and internationally. Here, she performs an abhinaya piece on Devi.Yes584http://www.pad.ma/Vfc9tvcf/info2011-11-08weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Manoranjan Pradhan and Minati Dasgupta perform Kirwani Pallavihttp://www.pad.ma/Vfc9tvcf/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Manoranjan Pradhan was trained at the Orissa Dance Academy in India under Guru Gangadhar Pradhan and completed an MA in Odissi dance at Sangeet Mahavidyalaya, Utkal University. A major part of his career has been spent dancing and teaching in Canada, Mexico and the United States. Minati Dasgupta has worked as a teacher at the Odissi Research Centre in Bhubaneswar. She has performed and taught workshops in the Odissi style in India and elsewhere and is an 'A' grade artist certified by the government of Orissa. Here, Pradhan and Dasgupta perform Kirwani Pallavi. Pallavi literally means blossoming. This is applicable not only to the dance, but also to the music. It is a pure dance item in which a raga is elaborated through eye movements, body postures and intricate footwork. A pallavi starts with slow, graceful & lyrical movements of the eyes, neck, torso, hands and feet. It builds up to a crescendo to climax in an extremely fast tempo. Kirwani Pallavi is set to raga Kirwani and tala jhula.Yes822http://www.pad.ma/Vfgqmxyk/info2011-12-09weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Sujata Mohapatra performs Kede Chhandahttp://www.pad.ma/Vfgqmxyk/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. A leading Odissi soloist, Sujata Mohapatra is a disciple and daughter-in-law of the legendary Padma Vibhushan Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. Intensively trained and groomed by her guru for more than eighteen years, she is the bearer of his priceless cultural heritage. Sujata has also undergone training at the Odissi Research Center in Bhubaneshwar and is currently guided and supported by her husband Ratikant Mohapatra. In addition to her training in Odissi, Sujata holds a Master's Degree in Oriya literature from Utkal University and has extensively researched temple architecture relating to the dance form. Here, she is seen performin kede chhanda, an Oriya abhinaya composed by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. The piece describes the courage, greatness and divinity of the young Krishna.Yes1098http://www.pad.ma/Vs66n8j6/info2011-11-20weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Dushmanta Mahajan and Chitrasena Swain perform Gotipua dancehttp://www.pad.ma/Vs66n8j6/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. In Oriya, “Gotiye” means ‘single’ or ‘one’ and “Pua” is ‘boy’. A Gotipua is a pre-pubescent male dancer in female garb. Traditionally, the Gotipuas sang while they danced. They were accompanied by a mardala (pakhawaj) player and a cymbal player. Here, Dushmanta Mahajan and Chitrasena Swain, two gotipuas from the Dasabhuja Gotipua Odishi Nrutya Parishad, Raghurajpur, perform a condensed version of the gotipua repertoire - mangalacharan with bhumi pranam and sabha pranam, sarigama pallavi with a sloka and bandha nritya.Yes778http://www.pad.ma/Vu0i2vi9/info2011-12-05weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Madhavi Mudgal performs Vasant Abhinayahttp://www.pad.ma/Vu0i2vi9/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Born into a family deeply involved in propagating the classical arts, Madhavi was immersed in music and dance from a very young age. Madhavi trained in Bharata Natyam and Kathak under great gurus. Later she turned to Odissi which she adopted as her preferred medium. Her introduction to Odissi took place under Guru Hare Krishna Bahera who trained her in the fundamentals. Later she came under the tutelage of the renowned Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. Through teaching, performing and conducting workshops, Madhavi has been actively involved in propagating the art of Odissi in New Delhi and other parts of India as well as the world. She has trained a number of accomplished students who are performers in their own right. Madhavi Mudgal has received a Padmashri, Sanskriti Award and an SNA award, among many others, for her contribution to dance. Here, she performs Vasant abhinaya, a piece describing the beauty of spring, which she has choreographed herself.Yes490http://www.pad.ma/Vui121o7/info2011-11-19weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Aruna Mohanty performs Varsavisarahttp://www.pad.ma/Vui121o7/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Aruna Mohanty is a senior disciple of Guru Gangadhar Pradhan. She has also received training from Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. She first made a mark in the early 1980s and gained fame for her duet performances with Nandita Patnaik. Here Mohanty performs Varsavisara, a piece she has choreographed herself. The parched Indian soil, weary of the prolonged heat of summer, eagerly welcomes the arrival of the monsoon. It is a symbol of new life and regeneration of the thrill and passion of romance. This dance is a celebration of the arrival of rain and pangs of separation the lovers suffer yearning for the beloved. Music is by Guru Ramahari Das and rhythm composition by Guru Dhaneswar Swain. Yes979http://www.pad.ma/Vtkyi5vb/info2011-12-09weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Sharmila Biswas performs Krishna Janma Kathahttp://www.pad.ma/Vtkyi5vb/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Sharmila Biswas is an Odissi dancer and choreographer. Trained by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, she has learnt the art of abhinaya from Shrimati Kalanidhi Narayanan. Sharmila has undertaken extensive research on the ancient Mahari dancers – the temple dancers of Orissa. Currently, she is imparting training to young dancers at the Odissi Vision and Movement Centre, Kolkata. Sharmila has received various awards and honours for her work, including the Uday Shankar Award for Best Choreography in 1998 from the Department of Information and Broadcasting, Government of West Bengal. She has also been awarded fellowships by the Department of Culture, Government of India, and Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi. Here, she performs Krishna Janma Katha, a self-choreographed piece describing the birth of Krishna.Yes430http://www.pad.ma/Vt4aiznj/info2011-12-02weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Rajashree Beherahttp://www.pad.ma/Vt4aiznj/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Rajashree Chintak Behera trained under Guru Durga Charan Ranbir and Guru Harihar Mohanty in the Odissi style of Guru Durga Deba Prasad Das. She is a holder of Visarad-Purna in Odissi Dance from Akhila Bharatiya Gandharva Mahavidyalaya Mandal, Mumbai, as well as an M.A. in Economics from Utkal University, Bhubaneswar. She has to her credit several performances in India and other countries. Behera lives in Australia with her family.Yes735http://www.pad.ma/Veeuzoin/info2011-11-04weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Trinayan Collective performs Sthayee Resculptedhttp://www.pad.ma/Veeuzoin/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Trinayan or the third eye- is the nexus of divine energy of each human being. Founded as a Dance Theater officially in 2008, the company has been presenting performances, workshops and dance classes in the ancient style of Odissi dance as a collective for over 10 years in New York City. Trinayan's Odissi dance style hails from the Guru Deba Prasad Das Gharana. Today, the company has evolved into three core activities: a performance ensemble, professional training program, and our collaborations/outreach efforts. Here they stage their deconstruction of Deba Prasad Das's iconic composition of sthayee.Yes677http://www.pad.ma/Vej7ijgf/info2011-12-05weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Aruna Mohanty - Bichitrananda Swain and group performs Konark Lasya Lilahttp://www.pad.ma/Vej7ijgf/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Orissa Dance Academy presents Konark Lasya Lila, a choreography by Guru Gangadhar Pradhan, based on the majestic Sun temple at Konark. It talks of the sculptures on the walls of Konark, which are frozen by day and alive by night. Yes2274http://www.pad.ma/Vg9c3nyl/info2011-11-19weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Shibani Patnaik performs Madhurashtakamhttp://www.pad.ma/Vg9c3nyl/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Shibani Patnaik has been extensively trained in Odissi. Her instruction has entailed frequent visits to India to study under Gurus Padmashree Gangadhar Pradhan, Aruna Mohanty, Manoranjan Pradhan and Yudhistir Nayak from the Orissa Dance Academy in India. Patnaik is a popular performer in the USA and India. She performed at the Mukteshwar Festival earlier this year. In 2006, she was the recipient of the Devadasi award. Here, she performs Madhurashtakam.Yes1296http://www.pad.ma/Vt823d2y/info2011-12-09weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Gangadhar Pradhan performs Mangalacharanhttp://www.pad.ma/Vt823d2y/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Late Guru Gangadhar Pradhan's training began at the age of six where he was given to the Balunkeswar temple in the village of Dimirisena (Puri district, Orissa) to be trained as a gotipua dancer. He was trained by Guru Banchhanidhi Pradhan, Pt. Chandra Shekhar Pattnaik, Guru Mahadeva Rout and Guru Birabara Sahoo. He completed his Natya Acharya course in Odissi from Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya. He received further training in Odissi under the able guidance of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, Guru Debaprasad Das, Dr. Minati Mishra and Shri Dhirendra Nath Pattnaik. He mastered the delicate nuances and the subtleties of the Odissi dance form none other than Padma Bibhusan Kelucharan Mohapatra. He received intensive training in Mardala under the tutelage of the legendary maestro Singhari Shyama Sundar Kar and Guru Banamali Maharana . after his brief stint in Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya and Odissi Rearch Centre, Bhubaneswar, He has been imparting training to hundreds of his disciples across the globe. Guru Gangadhar Pradhan has traveled widely to all corners of globe and is the founder of Orissa Dance Academy and Konark Natya Mandap. A recepient of State Sangeet Natak Akademi in 1993 and Central Sangeet Natak Akademi in 1998 and the Padmashri in 2008. Here, he performs mangalacharan. Yes962http://www.pad.ma/Vsb0rzqv/info2011-12-05weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Rudrakshya performs Chandrika Kamodi Pallavihttp://www.pad.ma/Vsb0rzqv/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Established in the year 2000 by Guru Bichitrananda Swain, Rudraksh Foundation has been growing steadily, with performances abroad and throughout India, as well as on-going classes and private instruction catering to the continuous flow of serious dance students coming from all over the world. (NB: Some of the dancers in the video are still with Orissa Dance Academy. This was shot before the bifurcation of Orissa Dance Academy and Rudraksh Foundation.) The dancers here perform Chandrika Kamodi Pallavi, a piece choreographed by Bichitrananda Swain.Yes783http://www.pad.ma/Vu15ry5l/info2011-12-09weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Jamie Lynn Colley performs Yahi Madhavahttp://www.pad.ma/Vu15ry5l/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Jamie Lynn Colley trained under Dr. Ratna Roy in the mahari tradition of Padmashri Guru Pankaj Charan Das and completed the curriculum at The Evergreen State College. She has gone through exended programs, such as "Dance and Therapy," "The Dance of the Goddess." Jamie has also studied Indian history, culture, literature, and folklore extensively. She has completed her Masters Degree in Education at Antioch University in spring 2003. Since Fall 2000, Jamie has taught both the Beginning and the Intermediate Orissi Dance modules, through Part-time Studies. Since Fall 2001, she has been working extensively on the basics of Orissi/Odissi dance, including flexibility and strengthening exercises and yoga in her Beginning Orissi class. She is completing her certification in Laban Movement Analysis and is applying her learning to a dance choreography by Guru Pankaj Charan Das as her research project. Here, she performs an ashtapadi from the Gita Govinda, yahi madhava yahi kesava ma vada kaitava vadam.Yes776http://www.pad.ma/Vum5uvdu/info2011-12-09weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Aloka Kanungo performs Kamodi Pallavihttp://www.pad.ma/Vum5uvdu/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Aloka Kanungo has been a dancer, actor and AIR artist since childhood. Initially trained by Guru Raghunatha Dutta and Guru Mayadhar Rout, she blossomed into a dancer under the tutelage and watchful eyes of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. She received “Nritya Shree”,”Nritya Visharad” and “Nritya Praveen” from Kala Vikash Kendra, Cuttack. She has received many prestigious awards , including the Shiromoni Puroshkar and the Mahari Award. She runs her own institution, Shinjan Nrityalaya, in Kolkata. Here, she performs Kamodi Pallavi, a piece she choreographed herself.Yes770http://www.pad.ma/Vtp2t8gt/info2011-11-04weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Sangeeta Dash and Rajashree Behera perform Sthayeehttp://www.pad.ma/Vtp2t8gt/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Sangeeta Dash began learning Odissi at 7 with Guru Durga Charan Ranbir. She spent several successful years as an actress in the Oriya film industry, juggling dance and acting, before she made the decision to concentrate on dance in 1990. Dash has been awarded the 'Sanskrit Samman' by the Sanskrit Prathisthana, New Delhi, 'Singarmani' award by the Kal ke Kalakar Sammelan at Mumbai in 1989 and the prestigious “Mahari Award” from Late Guru Sri Pankaj Charan Das in 1998. She became the first recipient of the ‘Pankaj Charan Das Award’ in 2003. She runs her own dance academy in Pondicherry. Rajashree Chintak Behera trained under Guru Durga Charan Ranbir and Guru Harihar Mohanty in the Odissi style of Guru Durga Deba Prasad Das. She is a holder of Visarad-Purna in Odissi Dance from Akhila Bharatiya Gandharva Mahavidyalaya Mandal, Mumbai, as well as an M.A. in Economics from Utkal University, Bhubaneswar. She has to her credit several performances in India and other countries. Behera lives in Australia with her family. Here, the dancers perform sthayee, a pure dance piece that seeks inspiration from Lord Shiva and encapsulates the essence of Odissi.Yes642http://www.pad.ma/Vharjtxq/info2011-12-05weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Jyoti Rout performs Megh Pallavihttp://www.pad.ma/Vharjtxq/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Following a career as a dancer in Orissa, India, dancer, teacher and choreographer Jyoti Rout came to the United States in 1993 and founded Jyoti Kala Mandir. Many of her students have completed a Ranga Puja and are establishing careers as soloists. Jyoti Rout is still actively performing throughout the United States, India and internationally. Here, she performs Megh Pallavi, which she has choreographed herself.Yes694http://www.pad.ma/Vt4agw28/info2011-10-21weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Esha Bandyopadhyay performs Harir iha mugdhahttp://www.pad.ma/Vt4agw28/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Esha Bandyopadhyay is a student of Srjan Odissi Nrityabasa, the institution founded by late Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. She studies Odissi in San Francisco, where she is a practicing attorney, and senior disciple of Niharika Mohanty. She performs widely throughout California, and in India.Yes486http://www.pad.ma/Vssdxmmk/info2011-12-09weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Sharmila Biswas performs Shiva Parvati Shabdahttp://www.pad.ma/Vssdxmmk/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Sharmila Biswas is an Odissi dancer and choreographer. Trained by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, she has learnt the art of abhinaya from Shrimati Kalanidhi Narayanan. Sharmila has undertaken extensive research on the ancient Mahari dancers – the temple dancers of Orissa. Currently, she is imparting training to young dancers at the Odissi Vision and Movement Centre, Kolkata. Sharmila has received various awards and honours for her work, including the Uday Shankar Award for Best Choreography in 1998 from the Department of Information and Broadcasting, Government of West Bengal. She has also been awarded fellowships by the Department of Culture, Government of India, and Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi. Here, she performs Shiva Parvati Shabda, which shows how the male and female energies in a dancer’s body are a cumulative force. It is a piece she has choreographed herself.Yes1062http://www.pad.ma/Vgdoxtho/info2011-12-05weekly1.0International Odissi Festival 2003: Madhavi Mudgal performs Ragamalika Pallavihttp://www.pad.ma/Vgdoxtho/poster.75.jpgThe 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world. Born into a family deeply involved in propagating the classical arts, Madhavi was immersed in music and dance from a very young age. Madhavi trained in Bharata Natyam and Kathak under great gurus. Later she turned to Odissi which she adopted as her preferred medium. Her introduction to Odissi took place under Guru Hare Krishna Bahera who trained her in the fundamentals. Later she came under the tutelage of the renowned Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. Through teaching, performing and conducting workshops, Madhavi has been actively involved in propagating the art of Odissi in New Delhi and other parts of India as well as the world. She has trained a number of accomplished students who are performers in their own right. Madhavi Mudgal has received a Padmashri, Sanskriti Award and an SNA award, among many others, for her contribution to dance. Here, she performs Ragamalika Pallavi, which she has choreographed herself. Yes682http://www.pad.ma/Vfwfs786/info2011-07-03weekly1.0Tasveer-e Aqeedathttp://www.pad.ma/Vfwfs786/poster.75.jpgThis short video film is an introduction to the Sufi shrine of Nizamuddin Aulia in New Delhi, focusing on its popular visual culture.Yes899http://www.pad.ma/Vedr1mnn/info2011-07-11weekly1.0The Country of the Blind, and Other Storieshttp://www.pad.ma/Vedr1mnn/poster.75.jpgThis film was mostly shot using a small camera attached to a telescope. It was filmed over the course of one year from a single location, the National Coastwatch Insitution (NCI) in Folkestone, by volunteer coastguards. From CAMP's text in the Folkestone Triennial catalogue: What could it mean to extend “watching the coast” to “filming the sea”? Are there any National Sea Film Institutions? There should be. Because on the one hand, as the anthropologist Michael Taussig describes it, the modern sea <i>is</i> an image, a wallpaper backdrop for a Malibu or Folkestone lifestyle. On the other hand, in mostly invisible movements, the seas transport more than 90% of all global trade. So from any given coastline, the sea is an image, and it is not, too. Images of the sea remind us of this situation precisely: that what you can see is always just the surface, the proverbial tip of the iceberg. One eye or two? The inorganic, technological eye not only extends, but exacerbates human vision (i.e. could also make it worse). In a way, every optical instrument produces a new visual “medium”, like painting or television. A telescope is a medium. So is radar. So is a wink. Such mediations and their effects are parasitically exchanged with other mediums such as film or photography. For instance note the 18th Century seaside Camera Obscura, outside which people would often line up, and then pay good money, just to see an image of <i>the very same outside</i> they just walked in from. Such power is not only a technical matter (it is), but also a matter of context: the lines were longest when there were lovers on the beach. For the NCI Folkestone, the usual area of interest is the immediate vicinity of Copt Point, a “blind spot” for Dover Coastguard. But binoculars don't have speed limits, or built-in censors. In other words, what can be seen is somehow uncontrollable. It will include banana carriers and gin palaces and local fishermen that one knows. The open sea makes it impossible to watch only protectively, it asks us to watch longingly, embarrassedly and helplessly too. There is a room behind the film that you see here, full of voices, radio, and conversations. As the nature of watching shifts, sound does too, and we hear the overlap and struggles between different “sources”: coastguard radio, AIS, google searches, personal memories, shared humour, BBC radio. In the so-called “big society”, volunteers will self-organise to do what the state now does. Education, basic services, and policing. But surely one of the preconditions of voluntary work is to be able to determine one’s own sense of what duty is: and in which way one chooses to become part of the images one sees, or films. more: http://camputer.org/event.php?this=countryoftheblind Yes3598http://www.pad.ma/Vi303czh/info2011-09-06weekly1.0Freedom of Expression: Interview with Bharath Murthy (video porn in India)http://www.pad.ma/Vi303czh/poster.75.jpgThis interview is about Bharath Murthy's film titled 'Mysore Mallige'. The film itself is about the circulation and reception of an amateur pornographic video 'Mysore Mallige', that was a private video that inadvertently got leaked onto pirate CD markets and the internet in 2000. Murthy's film follows the leak of the porn film, urban legends around the porn film itself and how pornography is discussed in the urban Indian context. This exceptional film records honest perceptions about pornography and tentatively explores what it means to be exposed via and through the camera. In this interview, Murthy describes the various films he made, his perceptions on what pornography is, what film is and what a real image is. Ranging from discussions on the philosophy around the image to seeking sensations and thrills, this interview is an interesting insight into how pornography figures in the visual landscape of modern India. This interview is shot in the house of Bharath Murthy in Coimbatore. Sounds of cooking can be heard occasionally as lunch is being prepared. The shelf in background reveals the other obsession of Murthy in comics from around the world, but especially Japan. Yes2896http://www.pad.ma/Vg9e4ert/info2011-10-24weekly1.0LASSnet 2010: Law and its Publics: S. P. Sathe Memorial Panelhttp://www.pad.ma/Vg9e4ert/poster.75.jpg<b>Title: Terror/Tranquillity: Romesh Thapar and its Precedents Speak on the Subject of 'Public Safety'</b> Speaker: Kalyani Ramnath, National Law School of India University Abstract: This paper aims to explore the origins of a language of rights in the context of a newly inaugurated Constitution in India. Case law in the first years of the Constitution, exhibit a preoccupation with "public safety" and "maintenance of public order" at the same time that they talk of the freedom of speech and movement that the newly made citizens of the republic are to enjoy. Several terms enter the constitutional schema here -- "public order", "public safety" and "public tranquillity" -- and are placed in a definite hierarchy as judges attempt to resolve challenges on grounds of violations of Fundamental Rights. This paper is an attempt to provide a context to this method of scaling violence that is employed by the court. A lively discussion on what level of violence undermines the security of the state is evident in Romesh Thapar, a case filed by a newspaper involving a challenge to the Madras Maintenance of Public Order Act, 1949 on grounds of violation of Article 19 (i) (a) and decided by the Supreme Court in May 1950. The precedents that it refers to are an interesting illumination of legal-social developments in late colonial and early independent India -- including the Government of India Act, 1935, the institution of the Federal Court, the Public Safety Acts in the context of Partition and consequent communal riots in 1947- 1949 and finally, the coming into force of the Constitution -- and attempts to evolve, within a judicial decision, "citizen" from subject and separate "criminal" from cause lawyers. In what ways did the transition from colonial to popular government affect the understanding of rights in the judicial imagination, given that a majority of precedents in Romesh Thapar were pre-constitutional? Do legal precedents speak louder than the call to right historical wrongs? In what ways, to parody Foucault, might society be defended from the dangers of public disorder? <b>Title: Law in the Public's Interest?</b> Speaker: Deepa Das Acevedo, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago Abstract: Although the short history of public interest litigation (PIL) in India has been replete with questions about efficacy and scope, a lack of information and jurisprudential theory has meant that decisive critiques of PILs have remained rare. This paper offers such a critique via an examination of how PILs transform the relationship between the law and both citizens and the state. PIL claimants are not required to specify a personal harm; rather they identify perceived harms to society which may or may not affect them directly. Although the ability to do so seemingly empowers the public, in fact it broadens the scope of the law to an extent that is detrimental to citizens' interests. There are at least two reasons why PILs weaken citizens vis a vis the state. First, PILs extend the scope of the law so that non-legal methods of critique or resistance become increasingly obsolete. Second, PILs concentrate power in limited and non-elected officials (judges and lawyers) by redirecting disputes over governance to those who are not intended to govern. This paper will use case studies as well as recent social science scholarship to argue that despite the Supreme Court's reputation as a vanguard of liberal democracy in India, the augmentation of judicial powers that is an inevitable effect of public interest litigation is anything but liberal or democratic. <b>Title: Mapping the Construction of the "Public" in Public Interest Litigation and the Public Trust Doctrine in Indian and Sri Lankan Public Law</b> Speakers: Dipika Jain, Jindal Global Law School/Dinesha Samararatne, Faculty of Law, University of Colombo Abstract: This paper seeks to examine the anxieties around the criminal trial in the age of mass media by analyzing the debates around the emerging notion of 'Trial by Media' in India. It will focus on the discursive strategies that the appellate courts deploy in dealing with this phenomenon, moving between a direct access to the public whom they claim to speak on behalf of to a disavowal of publicity and its impact on the trial process. By claiming the rhetoric of immediacy and presence in emphasizing the value of an open trial based entirely on evidence and testimony before it, the court denies the already textualised and overdetermined nature of trials represented extensively in the media, and tries to maintain the fantasy of an unmediated trial. The paper will analyse the parallel and competing tropes of immediation that get deployed by mass media and the courts and foreground these as crucial to their strategies for legitimation, particularly examining them vis-à-vis ideas of formalism and criminal procedure in common law. The question of immediation is interesting also as a point of comparison between these two regimes of truth and publicity as both are over-determined by the police 'investigation' and swing from blind reliance to fetishized suspicion on the police story, while having to perform an ambivalence towards it through direct access to the parties' testimonies. In this, they undertake the ritual of masking and unmasking the public secret that police investigations in India are all about extracting confessions through torture. These practices will be placed in the context of ideas of publicity underpinning the theory of a modern public trial process. The paper will take as a case study the legal challenge in 2005 to the release of a Hindi film called "Black Friday" based on a book on the police investigation of the serial bomb blasts in the city still called Bombay in March 1993. The emphasis will be on critically examining how the Bombay High Court judgment, which continues to be the clearest judicial pronouncement on this issue, deals with the question of publicity, its basis being "it is just and necessary that justice must not merely be done but must also appear to have been done." The film was to have an all-India release on January 28, 2005 but could not be released because one of the accused in the trial successfully filed a case asking for an injunction against it arguing that the film in re-enacting the police investigation would pre-judge the accused as guilty and would thus vitiate the trial that was still in process. It would therefore be a "contempt of court" as it would "interfere with course of justice" and also would defame the accused pronouncing them guilty before a public audience before the court has actually done it.Yes5786http://www.pad.ma/Vfs55ccb/info2011-05-18weekly1.0Free Software for Salehttp://www.pad.ma/Vfs55ccb/poster.75.jpgSometimes, your neighbourhood street vendor’s struggle for the freedom to earn a living meets your friendly neighbourhood software engineer’s crusades in favour of freedom from proprietary software. If you were in the vicinity of Bangalore’s MG Road this Ugadi, you might even have witnessed the novel form such a coming together can metamorphose into. If you were not a witness, it might intrigue you to know that it involved a handcart and cane baskets - something that you would have been only too familiar with when buying your weekly supply of groceries from your bhajjiwala. Only this time around, the baskets contained CDs and pendrives and the handcart was the vehicle of choice of a bunch of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) enthusiasts who clambered on to it. They proceeded to then push it along India’s silicon valley’s streets hawking their wares which included pendrives full of free software even as they called it in Kannada to the people on the streets. The objective of this street act by the software engineers’ was simple. Their aim was to express solidarity with the protesting street vendors who were facing eviction from Central Street and Meenakshi Koil Street in Shivajinagar. Hence, these group of friends decided to combine their expression of support with their evangelism of FOSS and in the process decided to take a leaf from their hawker brethren and peddled their wares in Kannada in order to spread FOSS awareness among the common people on the street. It signals a subtle shift from the usual FOSS activities in India that have hitherto taken place in hacker conferences and bar camps involving those only well acquainted with requisite technical knowledge to debate and contribute to the movement.Yes268http://www.pad.ma/Vhmycwls/info2011-05-12weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 132 - Radia, M K Venu (08:47:33)http://www.pad.ma/Vhmycwls/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes1676http://www.pad.ma/Vha3ta1q/info2011-05-08weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 079 - Radia, M. K. Venu (10:16:52)http://www.pad.ma/Vha3ta1q/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes1528http://www.pad.ma/Vh558qk7/info2011-05-02weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 126 - Radia, Surojit (09:46:37)http://www.pad.ma/Vh558qk7/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes533http://www.pad.ma/Vdy79sf0/info2011-05-28weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 128 - Radia, Padmanabhan (11:12:57)http://www.pad.ma/Vdy79sf0/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes251http://www.pad.ma/Vev2c78m/info2011-04-30weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 129 - Radia, M K Venu (21:10:16)http://www.pad.ma/Vev2c78m/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes622http://www.pad.ma/Vhmibsw5/info2011-04-30weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 093 - Radia, Daljeet (13:21:53)http://www.pad.ma/Vhmibsw5/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes58http://www.pad.ma/Vumht31l/info2011-04-30weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 078 - Radia, Ganapathy (22:59:09)http://www.pad.ma/Vumht31l/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes652http://www.pad.ma/Vgdorbph/info2011-04-30weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 123 - Radia, Manoj Warrier (09:25:54)http://www.pad.ma/Vgdorbph/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes36http://www.pad.ma/Vsrq3lqu/info2011-05-06weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 077 - Radia, Manoj Warrier (19:37:35)http://www.pad.ma/Vsrq3lqu/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes251http://www.pad.ma/Vsbmv13h/info2011-04-30weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 069 - Radia, Shalini Singh (Tata Group) (15:46:46)http://www.pad.ma/Vsbmv13h/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes414http://www.pad.ma/Vhajvcft/info2011-04-30weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 068 - Radia, Sunil Jain (15:42:43)http://www.pad.ma/Vhajvcft/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes149http://www.pad.ma/Vt33f90w/info2011-04-30weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 125 - Radia, G Ganapathy Subramanium (09:39:16)http://www.pad.ma/Vt33f90w/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes444http://www.pad.ma/Vfs6xmf2/info2012-01-19weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 073 - Radia, K Venugopal (20:05:15)http://www.pad.ma/Vfs6xmf2/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook India Niira Radia to Venu (in confidence) - 'What does Mrs.(Kokilaben) Ambani know about natural gas, she knows about cooking gas, with due respect to her. - You know she is very upset with Amar Singh, because she thinks only after came into Anil Ambani’s life, family has broken up. And she told me in Gujarati, all these kidney problems which Amar Singh has, is her curse on him.'Yes711http://www.pad.ma/Vg7wjdrm/info2011-05-02weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 074 - Radia, Manoj Warrier (20:20:53)http://www.pad.ma/Vg7wjdrm/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes444http://www.pad.ma/Vtor8pb2/info2011-04-30weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 070 - Radia, Rohit Khanna (Vaishnavi) (15:54:06)http://www.pad.ma/Vtor8pb2/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes400http://www.pad.ma/Vi7u8o5y/info2012-01-24weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 127 - Radia, Madhav? (10:55:09)http://www.pad.ma/Vi7u8o5y/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes815http://www.pad.ma/Vgtkauw1/info2011-04-30weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 067 - Radia, Vir Sanghvi (15:13:48)http://www.pad.ma/Vgtkauw1/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes600http://www.pad.ma/Vulps59f/info2011-04-30weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 002 - Radia, Sunil Arora (08:15:37)http://www.pad.ma/Vulps59f/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes162http://www.pad.ma/Vsb6xajo/info2011-04-30weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 049 - Radia, Srinath Narasimhan (10:58:49)http://www.pad.ma/Vsb6xajo/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes1234http://www.pad.ma/Vhln336f/info2011-04-30weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 066 - Radia, Manish (Bangalore Office) (14:56:27)http://www.pad.ma/Vhln336f/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes489http://www.pad.ma/Vs71witg/info2011-04-30weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 053 - Radia, Rakesh (13:56:27)http://www.pad.ma/Vs71witg/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes1246http://www.pad.ma/Vsnvm87t/info2011-04-30weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 037 - Radia, Manoj Warrier (12:41:17)http://www.pad.ma/Vsnvm87t/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes607http://www.pad.ma/Vi7modqx/info2011-04-30weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 052 - Radia, Manoj Warrier (13:31:31)http://www.pad.ma/Vi7modqx/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes385http://www.pad.ma/Vejhgggf/info2011-03-27weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 076 - Radia, G.Ganapathy Subramanium (ET)http://www.pad.ma/Vejhgggf/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes281http://www.pad.ma/Vfwxvubl/info2011-03-27weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 054 - Radia, Manoj Warrier (10:49:53)http://www.pad.ma/Vfwxvubl/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes117http://www.pad.ma/Vt3mpkdo/info2011-06-18weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 072 - Radia, K.Venugopal (19:51:37)http://www.pad.ma/Vt3mpkdo/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes771http://www.pad.ma/Vu5aqmq9/info2011-03-27weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 075 - Radia, G.Ganapathy Subramanium (ET)http://www.pad.ma/Vu5aqmq9/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes281http://www.pad.ma/Vgtwaba8/info2011-03-27weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 085 - Radia, M.K.Venuhttp://www.pad.ma/Vgtwaba8/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes503http://www.pad.ma/Vtky32f5/info2011-03-27weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 071 - Radia, Jehangir Pochahttp://www.pad.ma/Vtky32f5/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes236http://www.pad.ma/Vha9rjqz/info2011-03-27weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 088 - Radia, G.Ganapathy Subramanium (ET)http://www.pad.ma/Vha9rjqz/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes609http://www.pad.ma/Vi7oaxrw/info2011-05-16weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 082 - Radia, Prabhu Chawlahttp://www.pad.ma/Vi7oaxrw/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes786http://www.pad.ma/Vs67zz75/info2011-03-27weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 055 - Radia, Manoj Warrier (10:55:22)http://www.pad.ma/Vs67zz75/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes147http://www.pad.ma/Vi2vpcpz/info2011-03-27weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 089 - Radia, G.Ganapathy Subramanium (ET)http://www.pad.ma/Vi2vpcpz/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes965http://www.pad.ma/Vfb9v6rc/info2011-12-29weekly1.0KGF: Rushes 06: Short journey through the mine shafthttp://www.pad.ma/Vfb9v6rc/poster.75.jpgA soundless trip through the interiors of the mine, in a mine car or train. The visibility is restricted with a single point of light illuminating the tracks ahead in the tunnel. Yes85http://www.pad.ma/Vfgaa67j/info2011-03-22weekly1.0Speak Memory Symposium 19 - Sean Dockray, Aaaarg.org and the Public Schoolhttp://www.pad.ma/Vfgaa67j/poster.75.jpg"AAAARG.ORG DOES NOT EXIST" Sean Dockray (b. Boston, MA, 1977) lives in Los Angeles. He is an artist, writer, and a founding director of Telic Arts Exchange, a non-profit arts organization providing a critical engagement with new media and culture. Dockray initiated The Public School and AAAARG.ORG as well as the media exhibition platforms, the Distributed Gallery and Berlin. He recently co-organized an itinerant seminar in Berlin, "There is nothing less passive than the act of fleeing," with CalebWaldorf and Fiona Whitton. Dockray is collaborating on a project room with the journal Fillip at the New York Art Book Fair in November and will be presenting at the S?o Paulo Biennial in December. Dockray's presentation will factually describe the conceptual and technological development of AAAARG.ORG, with the concomitant legal and ethical issues, as an entry point into a more general line of inquiry related to institutionality and the production of countermodels. At the heart of this inquiry lies questions of cultural labor, knowledge, spectatorship, the common, scale, etc. AAAARG.ORG is an online pirate library integrated with The Public School, initiated by Sean Dockray with Fiona Whitton as a project for Telic Arts Exchange at the end of 2007. The Public School is a school with no curriculum, which simply means that people propose ideas for classes they want to take (or teach). In this way, the school is an open structure, or maybe a stage, on which ideas about school perform new realities. Since it started in Los Angeles, the school has multiplied to Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, Paris, Brussels, Helsinki, San Juan, Durham, and Berlin, supporting similarly motivated individuals and groups in those places. http://a.aaaarg.org/ http://thepublicschool.org/Yes1634http://www.pad.ma/Vi3660x0/info2011-03-22weekly1.0Speak Memory Symposium 16 - Group Discussion, Hegemony and the Archivehttp://www.pad.ma/Vi3660x0/poster.75.jpgOctober 29: Hegemony and the Archive 5.15 to 6.45 pm – What are the colonial legacies of archives in the developing world? – How has the development of nationalisms impacted archival practices in general and more specifically in the Middle East? – What roles have modernist and nationalist projects in the region played in constructing dominant/ totalizing narratives? – How have archival practices contributed to the construction of national identities? – What memories and stories were marginalized in the process? – What form did this marginalization take: politically, administratively and theoretically? – What is the current state and future of national archives? Respondents Dr. Khaled Fahmy, Professor and Chair of the History Department at the American University in Cairo. His publications include All the Pasha’s Men: Mehmed Ali, His Army and the Making of Modern Egypt (1997). Mahmoud Sabet, historian, private collector, researcher and documentary filmmaker (Cairo). Dr. Lucie Ryzova, historian of modern Egypt, researcher at the University of Oxford, lives between Cairo and Oxford.Yes5926http://www.pad.ma/Vtki6vw7/info2011-03-21weekly1.0Speak Memory Symposium 21 - Group Discussion, The Promise of the Archivehttp://www.pad.ma/Vtki6vw7/poster.75.jpg – What types of alternative and independent archives and memory projects are emerging globally and more specifically in the Middle East? – What role can they play in neutralizing hegemonic narratives and in bringing forth diverse voices and discourses? – Is there a relationship between these new independent initiatives and democratic participatory processes? – What impact can independent and decentralized archives have on the development of knowledge and scholarship? – What are the practical and theoretical needs of these new forms of archives? – How can we capitalize on the potential of these initiatives? Respondents Monika Borgmann, co-founder of UMAM Documentation and Research (Beirut), a non-profit organization that aims to raise awareness on civil violence and war memories in Lebanon. Sebastian Lütgert, artist, programmer and writer based in Berlin and co-initiator of PAD.MA. Negar Azimi, Senior Editor of Bidoun Magazine and member of the Arab Image Foundation. Kristine Khouri, researcher and co-founder, History of Arab Modernities in the Visual Arts Study Group (Beirut).Yes4788http://www.pad.ma/Vg8iiypj/info2011-03-19weekly1.0Speak Memory Symposium 20 - Jesús Carrillo, Reina Sofía Museumhttp://www.pad.ma/Vg8iiypj/poster.75.jpgJesús Carrillo is a Professor of Contemporary Art History at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and Head of the Cultural Programmes Department of the Reina Sofia Museum since 2008. He combines an analysis of contemporary culture and cultural institutions with a critical reading of art historical narratives. He has published: Arte en la Red (Madrid: Cátedra, 2004), Naturaleza e Imperio (Madrid: 12 calles, 2004) and Tecnología e Imperio (Madrid: Nivola, 2003), and has also edited: Modos de hacer: arte crítico, esfera pública y acción directa (Salamanca: Ediciones de la Universidad de Salamanca, 2001), Tendencias del Arte. Arte de Tendencias (Madrid: Citedra, 2003), Desacuerdos: sobre arte, políticas y esfera pública en el Estado español vols 1, 2, 3 y 4 (Barcelona: Macba, 2004-2007), Douglas Crimp: Posiciones críticas (Madrid: Akal, 2005), Martha Rosler. Imágenes Públicas (Barcelona: Gustavo Gili, 2008). In his presentation, Jesús Carrillo will present the Reina Sofia's project on the Universal Archive. Modern museums traditionally combine accumulation and display: two typical operations of power. Modern museums also reflect colonial power relations, both past and present. Reina Sofia Museum is a national institution with specific ideological functions, as a representation of the Spanish State at home and abroad. Being aware of this, under the notion of Museos del Sur, it has recently embraced the task of transforming the institution from within, taking a political stance towards a different approach in which communality and universal access become central principles. The aim of the project Universal Archive is not to deterritorialize culture in 'google' terms, but to explore a different power relationship between the local and the global. Reina Sofia Museum does not only need to work against the grain of its inertia as a collector of precious objects and set up a technological framework that makes the archive network possible, but it also has to develop new protocols and a whole new ethic, to deal with other agents which share the legitimacy and the authority with regard to this heritage that is nobody's and everybody's at the same time.Yes3808http://www.pad.ma/Vfsgxnad/info2011-03-18weekly1.0Speak Memory Symposium 18 - PAD.MAhttp://www.pad.ma/Vfsgxnad/poster.75.jpgZinnia Ambapardiwala is a physics graduate, trichologist, hairdresser, and system administrator. She is currently the technical coordinator of Pad.ma. Sanjay Bhangar is a writer and software developer who lives in Mumbai. He is a founder of CAMP (http://camputer.org), and has been involved with the pad.ma project since its inception. He is a big believer in the open-source software development model. He is currently working on a few web-based projects including a web-to-print publishing platform, a resource site for theatre in India, and online mapping and indexing tools. Jan Gerber is an artist, filmmaker and software developer from Berlin. He develops platforms for the production and distribution of video material (v2v.cc, 0xdb.org, pad.ma, dictionaryofwar.org) and runs informal cinemas and publicly funded events on questions of intellectual property and piracy (piratecinema.org, oil21.org). As a co-founder of 0x2620.org, he is currently working on Pan.do/ra, the next version of Pad.ma and 0xdb.org. Sebastian W. Lütgert is an artist, programmer and writer. He lives and works in Berlin. He has co-founded a self-organized institution for artistic research in media technology (http://bootlab.org), a cinema for movies downloaded from the internet (http://piratecinema.org) and a non-profit organization for open-source software development (http://0x2620.org). He has initiated various projects dealing with copyright and cinema, and is currently working on a film on capitalism, set in Dubai. Namita A. Malhotra is a writer, researcher and filmmaker with the Alternative Law Forum (http://www.altlawforum.org). She lives and works in a not-big-city, Bangalore. She works on technology, legality and power and is soon (hopefully) finishing a film on video pornography and a monograph on law, affect and image. Ashok Sukumaran is an artist whose interests are in archaeologies of media, and in what haunts or underlies network forms and material distributions. Recent subjects in his work include electricity, cycle rickshaws, sea trade, and "the neighbour". His work takes the form of public projects, exhibitions, films, lectures, and long-term collaborations via CAMP (http://camputer.org), which he co-founded in 2007. PAD.MA - short for Public Access Digital Media Archive - is an online archive of densely text-annotated video material, primarily footage and not finished films. The entire collection is searchable and viewable online, and is free to download for non-commercial use. The initiators of PAD.MA conceptualized this archive as a way of opening up a set of images, intentions and effects present in video footage, resources that conventions of video-making, editing and spectatorship have tended to suppress, or leave behind. This expanded treatment then points to other, political potentials for such material, and leads into lesser-known territory for video itself... beyond the finite documentary film or the online video clip. The design of the archive makes possible various types of "viewing", and contextualization: from an overview of themes and timelines to much closer readings of transcribed dialogue and geographical locations, to layers of "writing" on top of the image material. Descriptions, keywords and other annotations have been placed on timelines by both archive contributors and users. The PAD.MA project is initiated by a group consisting of oil21.org from Berlin, the Alternative Law Forum from Bangalore, and three organisations from Mumbai: Majlis, Point of View and Chitrakarkhana/CAMP. http://pad.ma/ Yes4626http://www.pad.ma/Vef6x1io/info2011-03-21weekly1.0Speak Memory Symposium 17 - Keynote by Beatrice von Bismarckhttp://www.pad.ma/Vef6x1io/poster.75.jpgBeatrice von Bismarck (Leipzig, Berlin) is professor of art history and visual culture at the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig. From 1989 - 1993 she worked as a curator of the department of 20th Century art Städelschen Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt/Main and until 1999 she taught at Lüneburg University. There she was co-founder and -director of the project-space Kunstraum der Universität Lüneburg. In Leipzig she also co-founded the project-space Ñ/D/O/C/K-Projektbereich and initiated the M.A. Program 'Cultures of the Curatorial', which started in autumn 2009. Her current research areas include: Modes of cultural production connecting theory and practice; curatorial practice; effects of neo-liberalism and globalization on the cultural field; postmodern concepts of the artist. Her publications include, among numerous others, the seminal book Interarchive. Archival Practices and Sites in the Contemporary Art Field, Cologne 2002 (edited with Hans-Peter Feldmann, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Diethelm Stoller, Ulf Wuggenig). The Archive in Transformation: The Royal Museum for Central Africa (Musée royal de l’Afrique centrale) in Tervuren, Belgium, is an ethnographic and anthropolical institution which exemplifies the developmental stages involved in the processing of colonial history from the end of the nineteenth century into the present. Founded in 1907 it makes apparent a view of the African continent characterized by the perspective of European expansionist politics. In the year 2008 the German artist Peggy Buth has taken this cultural archive as the starting point of her on-going documentation and research project “Desire in Representation”. It combines documentary photo material of the museum´s representation of Central Africa and its colonization with a narrative created by quotations of travelogues and adventure stories, archival images and historic documents from the colonial days of Belgium and Germany, and integrates them in the production of a series of installations, a film, two book publications and an exhibition. The talk will trace the archival strategies Buth employed in order to create counter-narratives to that of the institutional tradition and to expose the colonizers´ desires and expectations. Yes2350http://www.pad.ma/Vsscfhlk/info2011-03-21weekly1.0Speak Memory Symposium 15 - Celine Condorelli, Il n'y a plus rienhttp://www.pad.ma/Vsscfhlk/poster.75.jpgIl n'y a Plus Rien ('There is Nothing Left'). Alexandria, Egypt. A city exists in the world and is home to some its inhabitants, and yet at the same time seems to have disappeared for some others. This project addresses the construction of the city in time and that of history: in the unstable relations between knowledge and experience, fact and fiction, association and potential, a fragile scaffolding is formed and used as an attempt to foresee the present. Celine Condorelli works with art and architecture, combining a number of approaches from developing structures for supporting to broader enquiries into forms of commonality and discursive sites, resulting in projects merging politics, fiction, public space and whatever else feels urgent at the time. She is the author/editor of 'Support Structures' on Sternberg Press, 2009, and one of the founding directors of Eastside Projects, an artist-run exhibition space in Birmingham, UK. Recent work includes 'Il n'y a Plus Rien' (ACAF, Alexandria, Manifesta 8, 2010) 'Revision part 1 and 2' (Artists Space, New York, 2009, and Cell Projects, London, 2010), 'Curtain Show' (Eastside Projects, 2010), 'Life always Escapes' (Wysing Arts, Cambridge, and e-flux journal 2009), 'Hidden Curriculum', Casco, Utrecht (2007), GIL Biennial, Ghuang Zhou, Shanghai, Beijing, (2007), 4'33'', Magazin 4 Bregenzer Kunstverein, (2007), 'theatre pieces', Tate Triennial (2006). Recent projects include developing Support Structure phase 1-10, with Artist-Curator Gavin Wade, at Chisenhale Gallery, The Economist, ICA, V&A, London, amongst other (2003-2009). Celine Condorelli is guest professor at the Nuremberg Art Academy, has been teaching in various places since 2000, and is PhD candidate in Research Architecture, Goldsmith London. www.celinecondorelli.eu www.supportstructures.org www.supportstructure.org www.eastsideprojects.org Yes1525http://www.pad.ma/Vu01ph5z/info2011-03-17weekly1.0Speak Memory Symposium 8 - Negar Azimi, The Bidoun Library Projecthttp://www.pad.ma/Vu01ph5z/poster.75.jpgNegar Azimi is Senior editor of Bidoun Magazine. She is a member of the Beirut-based Fondation Arabe pour l'Image, with whom she is working on photographic projects in Iran and the greater Arab region. She studied politics at Stanford and Harvard, and is now pursuing her PhD at Columbia University. Negar Azimi will present the Bidoun Library, an itinerant long-term exhibition project curated by the editorial team of Bidoun Magazine. The library was launched in Abu Dhabi and has since been to Dubai, Beirut, and most recently, the New Museum in New York City. At the New Museum, the library took on a new life, presenting a highly partial account of five decades of printed matter in, near, about, and around the Middle East. Bidoun has compiled diverse publications ranging from pulp fictions and propaganda, monographs and guidebooks, and pamphlets and periodicals, on subjects like the oil boom to the Dubai bust, the Cold War to the hot pant, Pan-Arabs to Black Muslims, revolutionaries to royals, and Orientalism to its opposites. This talk will briefly present the New Museum version of the library as well as its current incarnation in Cairo, while more broadly, exploring the many ways in which we have come to know the "The Middle East" in the 20th century through printed matter. http://www.bidoun.org/Yes1273http://www.pad.ma/Vhr3m7mi/info2011-03-17weekly1.0Speak Memory Symposium 14 - Lucie Ryzova and Hussein Omar, Downtown History and Memory Centrehttp://www.pad.ma/Vhr3m7mi/poster.75.jpgDr. Lucie Ryzova is a researcher at St John's College, University of Oxford. She works on social and cultural history in Egypt in the first half of the 20th century. She is particularly interested in questions of vernacular, everyday modernity among Egyptian urban middle strata groups, which she explores using sources from popular culture as well as private materials created by anonymous individuals. She is the author of L'Effendiya ou la modernité contestée (Cairo: CEDEJ, 2005) and a number of articles. Her book on the emergence of local Egyptian middle class culture in the Interwar period is forthcoming from Oxford University Press. She is currently finishing a project on the social history of photography in Egypt, which will result in a monograph. She is also editing a collection of essays on local vernacular photography in the Middle East together with Issam Nassar (under review with Indiana University Press). Hussein Omar is a history PhD candidate at Merton College, Oxford. His work examines the social and political history of the interwar era in Egypt through family papers and collections privately held. By focusing on a rich corpus of diaries, letters and photographs, he questions the dominant historical narratives based on official documents. He reacts to a scholarship which naively uses the archive as mere source, rather than critically as historically contingent subject. The aim of the Downtown History and Memory Centre (Dhakirat wust al-balad) project, which is currently at a very early stage, is to promote a different kind of history of Egyptís capital city. It is broadly conceived as a critique of the prevailing perception of Downtown Cairoís history as an enclave of westernized local elites and foreigners. Instead, the Centre aims to chart an inclusive history of what has once been the social, political and commercial centre of the Metropolis, and remains its cultural and social center - albeit in different ways -until today. The center aims to serve as a resource for scholars through its extensive archiving and documentation activities, to provide training and assistance to young Egyptian scholars in cutting edge historical methodologies, and to become an intellectual hub bringing together the local and international academic community, Egyptian intellectuals and cultural figures, and the wider Egyptian public in raising awareness about and understanding of social processes shaping the Cairene urban space from both historical and contemporary perspectives. To fulfill this mission, and in addition to archiving, documentation and the organization of workshops, the centre will run a long-term Oral History project with the aim of building up a collection that will be inclusive both socially and in terms of its understanding of what constitutes historical material. Yes3246http://www.pad.ma/Vtjuczn5/info2011-03-17weekly1.0Speak Memory Symposium 13 - Heba Farid, CULTNAThttp://www.pad.ma/Vtjuczn5/poster.75.jpgHeba Farid is a multidisciplinary artist based in Cairo and a founding board member of the Contemporary Image Collective, an independent artist-run initiative dedicated to the Visual Image. www.ciccairo.com. Since 2004, Farid has been working on an independent multidisciplinary art, research and documentation project about Naíima al-Misriyya, an early 20th century performer of the phonograph era of Egyptian Arabic music that will produce a book, image and music archive and a documentary film in the near future. www.naima-project.org.In parallel, Farid is project coordinator for the photographic heritage project at the Center for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage (CultNat). CultNat's mission is to digitally document Egypt's cultural and natural heritage and disseminate the findings to the public through a wide spectrum of activities, such as books, CDRoms, short documentary films and public presentations. Since its inception, the focus has been on the release of products of internal program-led research efforts. After almost ten years of digitization, there now exists a massive body of information that needs to be managed and accessed in a different way, to ensure not only its longevity but also open public access, therefore, CultNat is re-thinking its workflow and creating a new archive strategy. In regards to the Photographic Memory of Egypt program (PME), from its inception there did not exist a clear theoretical foundation to guide the manner in which the collection, eventual archive or research program would be managed and run, hence, many issues have begun to emerge, other than digitization, affecting the articulation of a new approach - to contribute to the historiography of photographic practice specific to Egypt. In addition to the commercial products made available through CultNat and Bib Alex, and the eventual transition of our databases to be openly accessible and on-line, the PME program aims to engage in other activities that build appreciation for Egypt's photographic heritage by expanding on the public dimension of the program. The hope is that these activities will affect public perception of photography in Egypt and encourage the recognition of its practice, its historiography, and engender the appreciation for the photograph as an artifact of cultural production and an example of material culture. http://www.cultnat.org/Yes2496http://www.pad.ma/Vef0w0sc/info2011-03-17weekly1.0Speak Memory Symposium 12 - Vasif Kortun, SALThttp://www.pad.ma/Vef0w0sc/poster.75.jpgVasif Kortun is a writer, curator and teacher in the field of contemporary art. He is the founding director of Platform Garanti CAC [2001-] a non-profit contemporary art institution with an extensive library, documentation center, artist archives, exhibition space and an international residency program for artists, critics and curators. He also founded Proje4L, Istanbul Museum of Contemporary Art [2001-2003], where he curated seminal exhibitions of artist from Turkey. The first director of the Museum of the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College [1994 and 1997], he organized the first U.S. museum exhibitions of artists like Kara Walker, Nedko Solakov and Boris Mikhailov. Vasif Kortun was the chief curator of the 1992, and co-curator of 2005 Istanbul Biennials; a co-curator of Sao Paolo [1998], Tirana [2003], Second Ceramics Biennial [Albisola, 2003], Taipei Biennial in [2008], The UAE Pavilion, Venice Bienial [2011]. He has curated the Turkish pavilions for 1994 and 1998 Sao Paolo and 2007 Venice Biennials. He is a board member of the Foundation for Arts Initiatives, and sits on the advisory committees of the Periferic Biennial; Artists Pension Trust Dubai, The Gyeonggi Creation Center, Korea, and Broadsheet Magazine Australia. Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center formally ended its activities under the name Platform in 2010. The former institution has since combined its activities with Garanti Kültür Inc.’s Garanti Gallery (GG) and the Ottoman Bank Archives and Research Center. Opening in spring 2011, the remodelled and renamed institution will benefit from a fully accessible and public library of more than 30,000 publications; an archive of documents and products by architects and designers, visual artists' files, and data on the local socio-economical history. Since 2002 Platform Garanti has acted as a dynamic catalyst for the dissemination, research and practice of contemporary art in the city, providing a meeting point for exchange between contemporary artists, curators and critics. The institution's library and archives have expanded exponentially over the last eight years, often through the generous support of friends and colleagues, as well as on the occasion of specific initiatives such as the 2006 Frieze Art Fair 'Collection Point' project. Today the institution holds documentation on works by more than 200 artists from Turkey and the most comprehensive library of art publications in the city. The collection includes, but is not limited to: magazine publications, exhibition catalogues, rare books, catalogue raisonnés, and books on theory and philosophy. More recent endeavors include the creation of an archive that focuses on the history of design and architecture in Turkey, the amassing of a curatorial archive, and research into the history of contemporary art exhibitions in Turkey.Yes3290http://www.pad.ma/Vfbxqq75/info2011-03-17weekly1.0Speak Memory Symposium 11 - Barnaby Drabble, Curating Degree Zero Archivehttp://www.pad.ma/Vfbxqq75/poster.75.jpgDr. Barnaby Drabble works as a freelance curator, critic, researcher and teacher based in Zurich. He holds an MA in Curating Contemporary Art from Goldsmiths College in London and has recently been awarded a PhD for his thesis entitled "Stop Making Sense: the ends of curating and the beginnings of the exhibition". In addition to having lectured, tutored and given workshops at numerous educational institutions in Paris, Milan, Bern and London, Drabble has also established the Postgraduate Program in Curating at the ZHdK in Zurich. He has held public lectures, lead workshops and chaired discussions in a range of international institutions, including Tate Britain and the ICA in London, the Power Plant in Toronto, The Migros Museum in Zurich, INSA art space in Seoul, the Alexandria Contemporary Art Forum and the Witte de With in Rotterdam. Together with curator and academic Dorothee Richter, Drabble conceived of and oversaw the travelling archive project Curating Degree Zero Archive (2003-2008) and has compiled two collections of texts on curating; including the recent reader Curating Critique (Revolver, 2008). The Curating Degree Zero Archive was initiated in 2003 by Barnaby Drabble and Dorothee Richter as a platform for locating, debating and documenting critical and experimental approaches to curating contemporary art. The project sought not only to gather documentation about exhibitions and make it public, but also to provide a space for questions about the role of documentation in the establishment of curating as a cultural practice in its own right. The archive existed as a touring exhibition with a complimentary website, the collection of documentation growing over time in relation to the contexts it was shown in and the people who invested their energy in the tour. The act of making the material public was rethought at each step of the tour by the respective host organisations, resulting in a diverse range of approaches to display and numerous related discussions and events. In his presentation Barnaby Drabble will briefly describe the project, and reflect on the things to be learned from the project's nomadic, open-source, live, and no-budget strategies. http://www.curatingdegreezero.org Yes42http://www.pad.ma/Vdxhjtjg/info2011-03-17weekly1.0Speak Memory Symposium 10 - Farah Wardani, Indonesian Visual Art Archivehttp://www.pad.ma/Vdxhjtjg/poster.75.jpgFarah Wardani (b. Jakarta, August 1, 1975), completed her undergraduate study in Graphic Design in 1998 at Trisakti University, Jakarta. In 2001 she obtained her MA in Art History (20th Century) from the Department of Historical & Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths College, London, UK, with a scholar-ship from the British Chevening Award. She has been active as a teacher, writer, curator and art organizer since 2002 in her home country, Indonesia. Her curatorial works comprise projects collaborating with art spaces like Cemeti Art House, ruangrupa, Edwin's Gallery, Nadi Gallery, Biasa Art Space and many others. Her writings were published in local and international mass media such as The Jakarta Post, Kompas, Art Asia Pacific, and in 2007 she co-wrote with Carla Bianpoen and Wulan Dirgantoro, a book titled Indonesian Women Artists: The Curtain Opens. Since 2007 she is the executive director of the Indonesian Visual Art Archive (IVAA) in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, which includes the IVAA Online Archive, the first online digital archive of contemporary art in the country. More recently she has been conducting research in Japan about art and cultural relations between Japan and Indonesia during WWII, under the Japan Foundation JENESYS Creators Program 2010. The Indonesian Visual Art Archive (IVAA) is a non-profit institute based in Yogyakarta. Its main area of work is in documentation, research, library and organizing visual art education and exploration programs. IVAA also functions as a think tank or a creative laboratory to discuss various concepts and activities that support the development of visual art and contemporary culture in both practice and discourse. IVAA's documentation collection includes photographs and audio-video recordings of artists at work processes and visual art events as well as donations in the form of reference materials of various kinds starting with visual arts and culture reference books, national and international exhibition catalogues, visual artists portfolio's through to audio visual/video art works. IVAA's database contains thousands of data references and archives related to Indonesian and international visual arts, which have been collected for more than 10 years. All of this data is stored at the IVAA library in Patehan Tengah 37 in Yogya. Since the middle of 2008, IVAA has digitalized archives and developed partnerships with various fine art institutes in Indonesia in order to preserve the visual arts archives and to put this database onto an online network at ivaa-online.org.Yes3928http://www.pad.ma/Vfbtgdwk/info2011-03-17weekly1.0Speak Memory Symposium 9 - Claire Hsu, Asia Art Archivehttp://www.pad.ma/Vfbtgdwk/poster.75.jpgUpon graduating with an M.A in the History of Art from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Claire Hsu returned to Hong Kong to cofound Asia Art Archive in December 2000. As its first Executive Director, Claire Hsu has overseen all aspects of AAA's establishment. Hsu has participated as a speaker in a number of forums including Panel on the Future of the Museum: Profile China, Conversations, Art Basel, Switzerland (2005); D-LAB 3 for the Second Guangzhou Triennial, China (2005); Contemporary Institutions: Between Public and Private Annual Conference of the International Committee of ICOM for Museums and Collections of Art, Tate Modern, U.K (2006); Open Dialogue: Cultural Spaces and the City, Business of Design Week, Hong Kong (2008); and Museum as Hub, New Museum (2009). She is currently a member of the Museum Committee for the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong and sits on the Board of The Foundation for Arts Initiatives, the Advisory Board for Yishu magazine and the Advisory Committee of the Academy of Visual Arts of Hong Kong Baptist University. She received the Asian Cultural Council, Starr Foundation Fellowship in 2005 and the RBSCoutts/Financial Times Women in Asia Awards Rising Star Award in 2009. Now celebrating its 10th anniversary, AAA has grown from a single shelf of books in 2000 to become one of the most important public resources for contemporary Asian art in the world with a library and archive collection of over 32,000 items of material, and has research posts in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan and India. AAA is not only as a valuable resource and 'ideas' centre, but also an active platform for dialogue and exchange in the field. From the beginning, AAA was conceived as more than a static collection of material. Through the initiation of a broad range of projects AAA is pro-active in instigating critical thinking and dialogue and forging networks in the region. Projects developed and supervised by Hsu with the AAA team include: Archiving the Contemporary: Documenting Asian Art Today, Yesterday and Tomorrow Workshop (2005); Wu Shanzhuan: Red Humour International Publication (2005); All you want to know about International Biennials and Triennials Website Project (2006); SHIFITNG SITES: Cultural Desire and the Museum (May 2008); Materials of the Future: Documenting Contemporary Chinese Art 1980-1990 (2006 - 2010); and AAA's International Residency Programme and Research Grant.Yes1848http://www.pad.ma/Vhaq76cz/info2011-03-17weekly1.0Speak Memory Symposium 7 - Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarinhttp://www.pad.ma/Vhaq76cz/poster.75.jpgAdam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin have been collaborating for over a decade. They have produced six books which in different ways examine the language of documentary photography: Trust (2000) accompanied their first solo-show at The Hasselbad Center; Ghetto (2003) a collection of their work as editors and principal photographers of Colors magazine, was exhibited at the Victoria & Albert Museum; Mr. Mkhize's Portrait (2004) documented South Africa ten years after apartheid and accompanied a solo show at The Photographers' Gallery; Chicago (2006), an exploration of the militarization of contemporary Israel was published by SteidMACK in conjunction with a solo-show at The Stedelijk Museum; and Fig (2007), by Steidl/PHOTOWORKS, accompanied their solo exhibitions at the John Hansard Gallery and Impressions Gallery, UK. The Red House (2007), produced in the cells below the former Ba'athist Party headquarters in Iraq, is published by Steidl Editions. Broomberg and Chanarin regularly teach workshops and give master classes in photography, as well as lecturing on the MA in Documentary Photography at LCC. They are the recipients of numerous awards, including the Vic Odden Award from the Royal Photographic Society and are trustees of the Photographersí Gallery and Photoworks in the UK. Broomberg and Chanarin will introduce three projects, including their forthcoming book, made in response to the photography archive at Belfast Exposed in Northern Ireland. The book, to be published by Steidl in Spring 2011, focuses on the layers of marking, scratches and obliterations by successive generations of archivists and the public on the images contained in the collection. The project upsets the indexical nature of the archive. Instead, a fragmented narrative of the period known as the 'Troubles' emerges that resists traditional empirical categorisations and sequences. This will be followed by an introduction to their book Fig, which is concerned with photography and the archive - in this case however the archive under investigation is an apparently imaginary one, constructed from a variety of sources and presented in the form of a cabinet of curiosities that highlights the links between documentary photography practise and colonial expansion. Finally, the artists will present some findings from their investigations into the Egyptian surrealist movement, begun during a residency at the Townhouse in 2010. They hope to share the growing archive of material related to the group and invite members of the audience to contribute with any additional information. http://www.choppedliver.info/ http://www.egyptiansurrealism.com/Yes2613http://www.pad.ma/Vfsuqx15/info2011-03-17weekly1.0Speak Memory Symposium 6 - Yasmine Eid Sabbagh, Arab Image Foundationhttp://www.pad.ma/Vfsuqx15/poster.75.jpgYasmine Eid-Sabbagh studied history, photography and visual anthropology in Paris. In 2006, she moved to Burj al-Shamali, a refugee camp established in 1956 and located just south of the port city of Tyre. There, she carries out a photographic project with a group of young Palestinians. She also carries out archival work on family and studio photographs, as well as personal research on vernacular visual cultures. Yasmine Eid-Sabbagh will review the working process of her project "A photographic conversation from Burj al-Shamali camp". In the particular context of this Palestinian refugee camp, situated in Southern Lebanon, she has collected and produced a variety of audio-visual material. The initial intention to form a visual archive, representing the camp's and its inhabitants' visual memory, over the period of 9 years developed into a more subtle examination of different aspects of the collected material. Tackling different questions such as how to deal with the privacy and intimacy, which is embedded in the relationships people develop to photographs, or the ownership of photographs and their public display, Yasmine Eid-Sabbagh will try to discuss issues related to how "A photographic conversation from Burj al-Shamali camp" simultaneously confronts and deconstructs established stereotypes of representation.Yes3404http://www.pad.ma/Vuhdavfr/info2011-03-17weekly1.0Speak Memory Symposium 5 - Negar Azimi, Arab Image Foundationhttp://www.pad.ma/Vuhdavfr/poster.75.jpgNegar Azimi is Senior editor of Bidoun Magazine. She is a member of the Beirut-based Fondation Arabe pour l'Image, with whom she is working on photographic projects in Iran and the greater Arab region. She studied politics at Stanford and Harvard, and is now pursuing her PhD at Columbia University. Negar Azimi will discuss the origins and evolution of the Arab Image Foundation from its founding in Beirut in 1998 by three artists to its subsequent life as an institution with an archive of over 300.000 photos. Such an evolution has provoked debates as to the expectations and responsibilities attached to an archive of this nature and at least some of these issues will be raised here. Azimi will also discuss a current project of the Foundation she is working on with fellow member Karl Bassil: a monograph of the late Armenian-Egyptian photographer Van Leo which takes "the photography book" and "the monograph" at large as its point of departure.Yes1619http://www.pad.ma/Vfbrsewv/info2011-03-17weekly1.0Speak Memory Symposium 4 - Miguel López, Southern Conceptualisms Networkhttp://www.pad.ma/Vfbrsewv/poster.75.jpgMiguel A. Lopez - South-South Intersections: Southern Conceptualisms Network and the Political Possibilities of Local Histories Miguel A. Lopez is a writer, artist and researcher based in Lima. He is a regular contributor to Ramona and Artecontexto, and has also written for Afterall, Papers d'Art, Papel Alpha, Juanacha, and other periodicals. He is co-author of Post-Ilusiones. Nuevas visiones. Arte critico en Lima, 1980-2006 (2007) and co-curator of "Subversive Practices. Art under conditions of Political Repression. South America / Europe / 60s-80s" at Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart (2009); "La Persistencia de lo Efímero. Orígenes del no-objetualismo peruano: ambientaciones / happenings / arte conceptual (1965-1975)" at Spanish Cultural Center, Lima (2007), among many others. He is also an active member, since its foundation in 2007, of the Red Conceptualismos del Sur. Red Conceptualismos del Sur (Southern Conceptualisms Network) is an international platform for joint production, reflection, and the establishment of a common political position. This network was founded towards the end of 2007 by a group of researchers concerned with the need for a political intervention on the neutralizing process of a set of critical and ‘conceptual’ practices, which had taken place in Latin American since the 1960s under authoritarian regimes and political repression. Its main objective is to create renewed conditions for the preservation of artists archives and/or the documentation of political events dismissed by hegemonic readings and recent historiographic accounts of so-called Latin American art. This presentation focuses on two of RCS’s recent projects: the ‘Cartographies’ project, an attempt to seek for both existing archival initiatives and documents and material sources at serious risk in Latin America; and its experience creating a public archive of the Uruguayan experimental poet and artist Clemente Padín in Montevideo city. http://www.afterall.org/journal/4214/how.do.we.know.what.latin.american.conceptualism.looks.likemiguela.lopez http://eipcp.net/policies/rcsur/en http://conceptual.inexistente.net/ Yes3425http://www.pad.ma/Vejhh5dd/info2011-03-17weekly1.0Speak Memory Symposium 3 - Kristine Khouri, The History of Arab Modernities in the Visual Arts Study Grouphttp://www.pad.ma/Vejhh5dd/poster.75.jpgKristine Khouri - 'The History of Arab Modernities in the Visual Arts Study Group': The Beginning. Kristine Genevive Khouri is a researcher in art history based in Beirut focusing on the modern period in the Middle East. She received her BA in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago in 2007 with a minor in Art History. A recipient of the Fulbright fellowship (2007-2008), she spent a year in Amman, Jordan investigating visual art practice and production, looking specifically at institutions and structures surrounding art production and exhibition. She spent a year doing research with Walid Raad for his current project, "Scratching on Things You Could Disavow: A History of Modern and Contemporary Arab Art." She has contributed as a writer and photographer and has written for several magazine and newspaper publications in the region and also serves as the program director for Gen70, an artist portfolio project for ArteEast. The History of Arab Modernities in the Visual Arts Study Group is a long-term research project, initiated in 2008, whose mission is to investigate key questions in the history and historiography of modern art in the Arab world. The founding members are Kristine Khouri and Rasha Salti, both based in Beirut, and includes a growing network of contributing individuals. The project is independent and aims to propose a space for experimentation in methodologies and archival practice. As a more serious scholarly interest in modern and contemporary art from the Arab world has emerged in the past few years, the status of the field's scattered historiography as well as the scarcity of primary sources has proven restrictive to scholars, researchers, historians, and curators. This recently developing field beckons a serious investigation of the past and its guiding paradigms. In its core, the mission of this research project proposes a rethinking of the historiography of modern Arab art. Existing works (in English, Arabic and French), have almost systematically ignored a political-social-historical approach and interpretive framework, and have been almost exclusively biased towards artists' narratives. They do not answer how the paradigm of the modern permeated the various realms of society and came to prevail, or how modernity conjugated with ideologies salient at the time nor do they explain how the postmodern turn came about. The Study Group proposes this exploration through conducting and recording dialogues with seminal protagonists in the field of modern and contemporary art, such as established art critics, gallerists, curators, museum directors, and collectors, whose experiences have not been collected or recorded in books who were mostly active during the 1950s-1970s in the region and through unearthing archives. The project also includes investigating and reconstructing major events: international and regional exhibitions, biennials, and festivals deemed as milestones in the region. The paucity of primary sources is a sad fact and the Study Group's approach will produce valuable material for further research. Thus one of its central goals will be to publish interviews, primary source material and findings as widely as possible through the creation of a digitally-based and publicly accessible bilingual primary source for research in art and visual culture for the region, comprised of video, sound and image-- documentation of the interviews, documents, and other material. In addition to gathering and presenting material, the Study Group aims to build a network of researchers to share material and develop their projects, and consider a comparative approach for similar projects, both regional and international, through seminars and workshops.Yes1476http://www.pad.ma/Vsbt2mgz/info2011-03-17weekly1.0Speak Memory Symposium 2 - Opening keynote by Susan Meiselashttp://www.pad.ma/Vsbt2mgz/poster.75.jpgSusan Meiselas - From the Field to the Archive Susan Meiselas is an award winning documentary photographer based in New York. Meiselas joined Magnum Photos in 1976 and has worked as a freelance photographer since then. She is best known for her coverage of the insurrection in Nicaragua and her documentation of human rights issues in Latin America, which were published widely throughout the world. In 1981, Pantheon published her second monograph, Nicaragua, June 1978-July 1979. Meiselas served as an editor and contributor to the book El Salvador: The work of Thirty Photographers (Writers & Readers, 1983) and edited Chile from Within (W.W. Norton, 1991) featuring work by photographers living under the Pinochet regime. She has co-directed two films: 'Living at Risk: The Story of a Nicaraguan Family' (1986) and "Pictures from a Revolution" (1991) with Richard P. Rogers and Alfred Guzzetti. In 1997, she completed a six year project curating a 100-year photographic history of Kurdistan, and integrating her own work into the book entitled Kurdistan: In the Shadow of History. Meiselas then created the website, www.akaKURDISTAN.com, an online archive of collective memory; as well as an exhibition that was launched at the Menil Collection in Houston, and traveled over eight years to venues in the United States and Europe. From the Field to the Archive: Susan Meiselas will focus on the book Kurdistan: in the Shadow of History, and the process of gathering historic material to give form to a collective memory from scattered fragments. For Meiselas, storytelling begins around the photograph and only through the careful weaving together of images and artefacts is a larger historical narrative revealed. Rather than producing her own pictures, Meiselas' choice was to research and repatriate images she found and place herself in a timeline of imagemakers. Oral histories, declassified government documents, newspaper clippings and memoirs detail the West’s encounters with the Kurds over the last century, through the multiple perspectives of travelers, missionaries, colonial administrators, anthropologists, journalists, as well as the Kurds themselves. She will discuss her collaboration with the Kurdish community in the making of her book, its design strategy and the evolution of the website, akaKURDISTAN, a virtual archive of cultural exchange for a dispersed people with no physical national archive. http://www.susanmeiselas.comYes4484http://www.pad.ma/Vfblpopr/info2011-03-17weekly1.0Speak Memory Symposium 1 - Opening Remarkshttp://www.pad.ma/Vfblpopr/poster.75.jpgBorrowing from the title of Vladimir Nabokov’s classic autobiography, Speak, memory was a three-day event structured around presentations, panel discussions, screenings, and artist talks exploring the rich array of methodologies that can be adopted to unearth, revisit or reactivate past artistic practices. Recently, the Middle East has seen the emergence of a series of archival and historiographic endeavors focused on a local and regional history of modern and contemporary art. In response to the scarce and scattered art historical documentation of the region’s most recent past, a growing number of researchers, curators and artists have begun collecting documents and recording the oral histories of artistic practices and exhibitions that have seemingly been forgotten, misinterpreted or dismissed. As these research projects gain momentum, private collectors and newly created museums are also slowly acquiring artists’ archives, magazines and other remnants of the region’s 20th century cultural history. These developments are not unique to the Middle East. A similar phenomenon has been taking place in Latin America, where private collectors, foreign museums and universities have been buying and exporting privately held archives related to artistic production of the 60’s and 70’s. The current situation calls for a critical discussion between institutions, collectors, artists, curators, and researchers interested in reactivating recent cultural memory in a way that enables the creation of a multiplicity of narratives and ready access to these histories. Speak, memory sought to instigate an informed debate on the challenges and strategies for the preservation of modern and contemporary art histories, focusing on those that have been scarcely documented or are underrepresented in dominant art historical narratives. In addition, the symposium presented archival initiatives that stand out for their successful organizational model, accessibility and discursive potential, as well as online platforms that are already providing possibilities for collaboration. Rather than being a one-time event, the symposium aimed to create a network of archival initiatives and broader historiographic endeavors that can facilitate a series of ongoing conversations and collaborations.Yes872http://www.pad.ma/Vfx9o8o5/info2011-09-29weekly1.0Autonomous Archives: 09 Liang and Lutgert - Leakshttp://www.pad.ma/Vfx9o8o5/poster.75.jpg[http://camputer.org/event.php?id=117 Properties of the Autonomous Archive], a 2-day event, hosted by CAMP, was a gathering of key internet platforms, archival initiatives and related infrastructures. The discussion was intended to focus on the qualities and powers of contemporary archives: including their stable or emergent properties, their performance and beauty, survival and capacity, and autonomy. "In declaring their autonomy, archives seek to produce norms beyond normativity, and ethical claims beyond the law." - excerpts from Pad.ma, [http://pad.ma/texts/10_Theses_on_the_Archive.html Ten Theses on the Archive], no. 9. Day one was a day of presentations and discussions: "Show me your Properties!" 01 [http://pad.ma/Vdxttfw0/info Pad.ma]: Jan Gerber and Sebastian Lutgert - 'people annotate describe make add' 02 [http://pad.ma/Vg8ioopx/info UbuWeb]: Kenneth Goldsmith - 'If we had to ask permission, we wouldn't exist: a brief history of UbuWeb and the law' 03 [http://pad.ma/Vt3l1kg3/info AAARG.ORG]: Sean Dockray 04 [http://pad.ma/Vi3hprwv/info SFG (Shared Footage Group)]: 'Its past and future' 05 [http://pad.ma/Vgp3lxxk/info Sundar and Gurung]: 'Archiving in the vernacular, experiences from Tamil and Nepali' 06 [http://pad.ma/Vhlmrtak/info Rochelle Pinto]: 'The mundane state - historians in a state archive' 07 [http://pad.ma/Vi3bpvk8/info Peter S. - flattr]: 'Flattr, the need for alternative financial views' 08 [http://pad.ma/Vfrtaued/info Matthew Fuller]: 'Two evil media stratagems: Structured data & Know your sorts' <b>09 Liang and Lutgert - Leaks</b>: 'Privacy and Scandal: Radia tapes and Wikileaks' Yes3686http://www.pad.ma/Vfrtaued/info2011-09-29weekly1.0Autonomous Archives: 08 Matthew Fullerhttp://www.pad.ma/Vfrtaued/poster.75.jpg[http://camputer.org/event.php?id=117 Properties of the Autonomous Archive], a 2-day event, hosted by CAMP, was a gathering of key internet platforms, archival initiatives and related infrastructures. The discussion was intended to focus on the qualities and powers of contemporary archives: including their stable or emergent properties, their performance and beauty, survival and capacity, and autonomy. "In declaring their autonomy, archives seek to produce norms beyond normativity, and ethical claims beyond the law." - excerpts from Pad.ma, [http://pad.ma/texts/10_Theses_on_the_Archive.html Ten Theses on the Archive], no. 9. Day one was a day of presentations and discussions: "Show me your Properties!" 01 [http://pad.ma/Vdxttfw0/info Pad.ma]: Jan Gerber and Sebastian Lutgert - 'people annotate describe make add' 02 [http://pad.ma/Vg8ioopx/info UbuWeb]: Kenneth Goldsmith - 'If we had to ask permission, we wouldn't exist: a brief history of UbuWeb and the law' 03 [http://pad.ma/Vt3l1kg3/info AAARG.ORG]: Sean Dockray 04 [http://pad.ma/Vi3hprwv/info SFG (Shared Footage Group)]: 'Its past and future' 05 [http://pad.ma/Vgp3lxxk/info Sundar and Gurung]: 'Archiving in the vernacular, experiences from Tamil and Nepali' 06 [http://pad.ma/Vhlmrtak/info Rochelle Pinto]: 'The mundane state - historians in a state archive' 07 [http://pad.ma/Vi3bpvk8/info Peter S. - flattr]: 'Flattr, the need for alternative financial views' <b>08 Matthew Fuller</b>: 'Two evil media stratagems: Structured data & Know your sorts' 09 [http://pad.ma/Vfx9o8o5/info Liang and Lutgert - Leaks]: 'Privacy and Scandal: Radia tapes and Wikileaks' <b>Matthew Fuller</b> (UK) is an artist, author and lecturer. He is a Reader at Goldsmith's College, University of London; and he teaches Media and Culture at other programs such as Transmedia. Fuller's cultural investigations include Media Ecologies and Software Studies. http://www.spc.org/fuller/ Books authored by Matthew include: 'Behind the Blip: Essays on the Culture of Software' (Autonomedia, 2003). 'Media Ecologies: Materialist Energies in Art and Technoculture', (MIT Press, 2005) ‘Softness, interrogability, general intellect, art methodologies in software’, (Media Research Centre, Huddersfield, 2006)Yes2644http://www.pad.ma/Vi3bpvk8/info2011-09-29weekly1.0Autonomous Archives: 07 Peter S. - flattrhttp://www.pad.ma/Vi3bpvk8/poster.75.jpg[http://camputer.org/event.php?id=117 Properties of the Autonomous Archive], a 2-day event, hosted by CAMP, was a gathering of key internet platforms, archival initiatives and related infrastructures. The discussion was intended to focus on the qualities and powers of contemporary archives: including their stable or emergent properties, their performance and beauty, survival and capacity, and autonomy. "In declaring their autonomy, archives seek to produce norms beyond normativity, and ethical claims beyond the law." - excerpts from Pad.ma, [http://pad.ma/texts/10_Theses_on_the_Archive.html Ten Theses on the Archive], no. 9. Day one was a day of presentations and discussions: "Show me your Properties!" 01 [http://pad.ma/Vdxttfw0/info Pad.ma]: Jan Gerber and Sebastian Lutgert - 'people annotate describe make add' 02 [http://pad.ma/Vg8ioopx/info UbuWeb]: Kenneth Goldsmith - 'If we had to ask permission, we wouldn't exist: a brief history of UbuWeb and the law' 03 [http://pad.ma/Vt3l1kg3/info AAARG.ORG]: Sean Dockray 04 [http://pad.ma/Vi3hprwv/info SFG (Shared Footage Group)]: 'Its past and future' 05 [http://pad.ma/Vgp3lxxk/info Sundar and Gurung]: 'Archiving in the vernacular, experiences from Tamil and Nepali' 06 [http://pad.ma/Vhlmrtak/info Rochelle Pinto]: 'The mundane state - historians in a state archive' <b>07 Peter S. - flattr</b>: 'Flattr, the need for alternative financial views' 08 [http://pad.ma/Vfrtaued/info Matthew Fuller]: 'Two evil media stratagems: Structured data & Know your sorts' 09 [http://pad.ma/Vfx9o8o5/info Liang and Lutgert - Leaks]: 'Privacy and Scandal: Radia tapes and Wikileaks' <b>Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi</b> (alias <b>brokep</b>) co-founded [http://thepiratebay.org/about <b>The Pirate Bay</b>], a BitTorrent tracker site and [http://flattr.com/about <b>Flattr</b>], a micropayments system which enables viewers of websites to make small donations by clicking a "Flattr this" button. "I'm essentially a pirate. In more ways than one. Piracy is about culture, culture is about humanity and I'm a human being." - http://brokep.comYes2507http://www.pad.ma/Vhlmrtak/info2011-09-29weekly1.0Autonomous Archives: 06 Rochelle Pinto http://www.pad.ma/Vhlmrtak/poster.75.jpg[http://camputer.org/event.php?id=117 Properties of the Autonomous Archive], a 2-day event, hosted by CAMP, was a gathering of key internet platforms, archival initiatives and related infrastructures. The discussion was intended to focus on the qualities and powers of contemporary archives: including their stable or emergent properties, their performance and beauty, survival and capacity, and autonomy. "In declaring their autonomy, archives seek to produce norms beyond normativity, and ethical claims beyond the law." - excerpts from Pad.ma, [http://pad.ma/texts/10_Theses_on_the_Archive.html Ten Theses on the Archive], no. 9. Day one was a day of presentations and discussions: "Show me your Properties!" 01 [http://pad.ma/Vdxttfw0/info Pad.ma]: Jan Gerber and Sebastian Lutgert - 'people annotate describe make add' 02 [http://pad.ma/Vg8ioopx/info UbuWeb]: Kenneth Goldsmith - 'If we had to ask permission, we wouldn't exist: a brief history of UbuWeb and the law' 03 [http://pad.ma/Vt3l1kg3/info AAARG.ORG]: Sean Dockray 04 [http://pad.ma/Vi3hprwv/info SFG (Shared Footage Group)]: 'Its past and future' 05 [http://pad.ma/Vgp3lxxk/info Sundar and Gurung]: 'Archiving in the vernacular, experiences from Tamil and Nepali' <b>06 Rochelle Pinto</b>: 'The mundane state - historians in a state archive' 07 [http://pad.ma/Vi3bpvk8/info Peter S. - flattr]: 'Flattr, the need for alternative financial views' 08 [http://pad.ma/Vfrtaued/info Matthew Fuller]: 'Two evil media stratagems: Structured data & Know your sorts' 09 [http://pad.ma/Vfx9o8o5/info Liang and Lutgert - Leaks]: 'Privacy and Scandal: Radia tapes and Wikileaks' <b>Rochelle Pinto</b> teaches at Delhi University in the English department. A historian by training, she specialises in 19th century and earlier histories of Goa and is the author of the book - Between Empires: Print and Politics in Goa. The Archive and Access research project by Rochelle Pinto, Aparna Balachandran and Abhijit Bhattacharya is a part of the Researchers @ Work Programme at the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore. http://www.cis-india.org/research/cis-raw/histories/archives http://publicarchives.org/ Here she presents some of her work, some of which was an attempt to examine the questions that arise when approaching the archive with an idea of preservation, or with the idea that one is approaching documents that constitute a cultural legacy. Yes2775http://www.pad.ma/Vgp3lxxk/info2011-09-29weekly1.0Autonomous Archives: 05 Sundar and Gurunghttp://www.pad.ma/Vgp3lxxk/poster.75.jpg[http://camputer.org/event.php?id=117 Properties of the Autonomous Archive], a 2-day event, hosted by CAMP, was a gathering of key internet platforms, archival initiatives and related infrastructures. The discussion was intended to focus on the qualities and powers of contemporary archives: including their stable or emergent properties, their performance and beauty, survival and capacity, and autonomy. "In declaring their autonomy, archives seek to produce norms beyond normativity, and ethical claims beyond the law." - excerpts from Pad.ma, [http://pad.ma/texts/10_Theses_on_the_Archive.html Ten Theses on the Archive], no. 9. Day one was a day of presentations and discussions: "Show me your Properties!" 01 [http://pad.ma/Vdxttfw0/info Pad.ma]: Jan Gerber and Sebastian Lutgert - 'people annotate describe make add' 02 [http://pad.ma/Vg8ioopx/info UbuWeb]: Kenneth Goldsmith - 'If we had to ask permission, we wouldn't exist: a brief history of UbuWeb and the law' 03 [http://pad.ma/Vt3l1kg3/info AAARG.ORG]: Sean Dockray 04 [http://pad.ma/Vi3hprwv/info SFG (Shared Footage Group)]: 'Its past and future' <b>05 Sundar and Gurung</b>: 'Archiving in the vernacular, experiences from Tamil and Nepali' 06 [http://pad.ma/Vhlmrtak/info Rochelle Pinto]: 'The mundane state - historians in a state archive' 07 [http://pad.ma/Vi3bpvk8/info Peter S. - flattr]: 'Flattr, the need for alternative financial views' 08 [http://pad.ma/Vfrtaued/info Matthew Fuller]: 'Two evil media stratagems: Structured data & Know your sorts' 09 [http://pad.ma/Vfx9o8o5/info Liang and Lutgert - Leaks]: 'Privacy and Scandal: Radia tapes and Wikileaks' <b>Amar Gurung</b> is the Director of the Nepali Language Computing Project at [http://www.madanpuraskar.org/index_mpp.php <b>Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya</b>] (MPP), a non-profit institution established in 1955 which archives published materials in the Nepali Language including manuscripts, photographs, A-V materials, etc. <b>G. Sundar</b> is the Director of the [http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/su/southasia/about-rmrl.html <b>Roja Muthiah Research Library</b>] (RMRL), Chennai. Following Roja Mutthiah's death in 1994, the University of Chicago bought the entire private collection (books, periodicals, etc), leaving it in Tamilnadu owing to the collection's deep roots in south Indian culture. Yes3116http://www.pad.ma/Vi3hprwv/info2011-09-29weekly1.0Autonomous Archives: 04 SFG (Shared Footage Group)http://www.pad.ma/Vi3hprwv/poster.75.jpg[http://camputer.org/event.php?id=117 Properties of the Autonomous Archive], a 2-day event, hosted by CAMP, was a gathering of key internet platforms, archival initiatives and related infrastructures. The discussion was intended to focus on the qualities and powers of contemporary archives: including their stable or emergent properties, their performance and beauty, survival and capacity, and autonomy. "In declaring their autonomy, archives seek to produce norms beyond normativity, and ethical claims beyond the law." - excerpt from Pad.ma, [http://pad.ma/texts/10_Theses_on_the_Archive.html Ten Theses on the Archive], no. 9. Day one was a day of presentations and discussions: "Show me your Properties!" 01 [http://pad.ma/Vdxttfw0/info Pad.ma]: Jan Gerber and Sebastian Lutgert - 'people annotate describe make add' 02 [http://pad.ma/Vg8ioopx/info UbuWeb]: Kenneth Goldsmith - 'If we had to ask permission, we wouldn't exist: a brief history of UbuWeb and the law' 03 [http://pad.ma/Vt3l1kg3/info AAARG.ORG]: Sean Dockray 04 <b>SFG (Shared Footage Group)</b>: 'Its past and future' 05 [http://pad.ma/Vgp3lxxk/info Sundar and Gurung]: 'Archiving in the vernacular, experiences from Tamil and Nepali' 06 [http://pad.ma/Vhlmrtak/info Rochelle Pinto]: 'The mundane state - historians in a state archive' 07 [http://pad.ma/Vi3bpvk8/info Peter S. - flattr]: 'Flattr, the need for alternative financial views' 08 [http://pad.ma/Vfrtaued/info Matthew Fuller]: 'Two evil media stratagems: Structured data & Know your sorts' 09 [http://pad.ma/Vfx9o8o5/info Liang and Lutgert - Leaks]: 'Privacy and Scandal: Radia tapes and Wikileaks' As a voluntary response to the 2002 Gujarat violence, over the course of many months <b>SFG</b> created an archive of over 200 hours of studied, detailed and in-depth footage documenting the aftermath, recording testimonies or visual evidence. The 'violence' is argued to be more of a genocide or pogrom. Yes2626http://www.pad.ma/Vt3l1kg3/info2011-09-29weekly1.0Autonomous Archives: 03 AAARG.ORGhttp://www.pad.ma/Vt3l1kg3/poster.75.jpg[http://camputer.org/event.php?id=117 Properties of the Autonomous Archive], a 2-day event, hosted by CAMP, was a gathering of key internet platforms, archival initiatives and related infrastructures. The discussion was intended to focus on the qualities and powers of contemporary archives: including their stable or emergent properties, their performance and beauty, survival and capacity, and autonomy. "In declaring their autonomy, archives seek to produce norms beyond normativity, and ethical claims beyond the law." - excerpt from Pad.ma, [http://pad.ma/texts/10_Theses_on_the_Archive.html Ten Theses on the Archive], no. 9. Day one was a day of presentations and discussions: "Show me your Properties!" 01 [http://pad.ma/Vdxttfw0/info Pad.ma]: Jan Gerber and Sebastian Lutgert - 'people annotate describe make add' 02 [http://pad.ma/Vg8ioopx/info UbuWeb]: Kenneth Goldsmith - 'If we had to ask permission, we wouldn't exist: a brief history of UbuWeb and the law' <b>03 AAARG.ORG</b>: Sean Dockray 04 [http://pad.ma/Vi3hprwv/info SFG (Shared Footage Group)]: 'Its past and future' 05 [http://pad.ma/Vgp3lxxk/info Sundar and Gurung]: 'Archiving in the vernacular, experiences from Tamil and Nepali' 06 [http://pad.ma/Vhlmrtak/info Rochelle Pinto]: 'The mundane state - historians in a state archive' 07 [http://pad.ma/Vi3bpvk8/info Peter S. - flattr]: 'Flattr, the need for alternative financial views' 08 [http://pad.ma/Vfrtaued/info Matthew Fuller]: 'Two evil media stratagems: Structured data & Know your sorts' 09 [http://pad.ma/Vfx9o8o5/info Liang and Lutgert - Leaks]: 'Privacy and Scandal: Radia tapes and Wikileaks' <b>Sean Dockray</b>, [http://aaaaarg.org/ <b>AAARG.org</b>] architect and founder of the [http://la.thepublicschool.org/ Public School], in LA. "AAAARG is a conversation platform - at different times it performs as a school, or a reading group, or a journal. It was created with the intention of developing critical discourse outside of an institutional framework. But rather than thinking of it like a new building, imagine scaffolding that attaches onto existing buildings and creates new architectures between them." - from http://aaaaarg.org/about Yes3576http://www.pad.ma/Vg8ioopx/info2011-09-29weekly1.0Autonomous Archives: 02 UbuWebhttp://www.pad.ma/Vg8ioopx/poster.75.jpg[http://camputer.org/event.php?id=117 Properties of the Autonomous Archive], a 2-day event, hosted by CAMP, was a gathering of key internet platforms, archival initiatives and related infrastructures. The discussion was intended to focus on the qualities and powers of contemporary archives: including their stable or emergent properties, their performance and beauty, survival and capacity, and autonomy. "In declaring their autonomy, archives seek to produce norms beyond normativity, and ethical claims beyond the law." - excerpt from Pad.ma, [http://pad.ma/texts/10_Theses_on_the_Archive.html Ten Theses on the Archive], no. 9. Day one was a day of presentations and discussions: "Show me your Properties!" 01 [http://pad.ma/Vdxttfw0/info Pad.ma]: Jan Gerber and Sebastian Lutgert - 'people annotate describe make add' <b>02 UbuWeb</b>: Kenneth Goldsmith - 'If we had to ask permission, we wouldn't exist: a brief history of UbuWeb and the law' 03 [http://pad.ma/Vt3l1kg3/info AAARG.ORG]: Sean Dockray 04 [http://pad.ma/Vi3hprwv/info SFG (Shared Footage Group)]: 'Its past and future' 05 [http://pad.ma/Vgp3lxxk/info Sundar and Gurung]: 'Archiving in the vernacular, experiences from Tamil and Nepali' 06 [http://pad.ma/Vhlmrtak/info Rochelle Pinto]: 'The mundane state - historians in a state archive' 07 [http://pad.ma/Vi3bpvk8/info Peter S. - flattr]: 'Flattr, the need for alternative financial views' 08 [http://pad.ma/Vfrtaued/info Matthew Fuller]: 'Two evil media stratagems: Structured data & Know your sorts' 09 [http://pad.ma/Vfx9o8o5/info Liang and Lutgert - Leaks]: 'Privacy and Scandal: Radia tapes and Wikileaks' <b>Kenneth Goldsmith</b>, founding editor of [http://ubuweb.com <b>UbuWeb</b>], teaches Poetics and Poetic Practice at the University of Pennsylvania and is Senior Editor of PENNsound Yes2406http://www.pad.ma/Vfg2hdzi/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Saleem on Sufi devotional tourismhttp://www.pad.ma/Vfg2hdzi/poster.75.jpgYes47http://www.pad.ma/Vejdl49d/info2011-03-08weekly1.0Popular videos on sale at Nizamuddin shrinehttp://www.pad.ma/Vejdl49d/poster.75.jpgYes84http://www.pad.ma/Vu54b4nb/info2011-03-08weekly1.0Saleem as resident of Nizamuddin dargahhttp://www.pad.ma/Vu54b4nb/poster.75.jpgYes25http://www.pad.ma/Veej5so9/info2011-03-08weekly1.0Rituals in Nizamuddin shrinehttp://www.pad.ma/Veej5so9/poster.75.jpgYes45http://www.pad.ma/Vgdiyval/info2011-03-20weekly1.0Tourism of Sufi shrines, Nizamuddinhttp://www.pad.ma/Vgdiyval/poster.75.jpgLanes and market around the Sufi shrine of Nizamuddin in Delhi with several shops of travel agents.Yes25http://www.pad.ma/Vugjda5z/info2011-03-20weekly1.0Devotional items on sale near Nizamuddin shrinehttp://www.pad.ma/Vugjda5z/poster.75.jpgShops selling devotional ephemera outside the dargah of Nizamuddin at Delhi.Yes51http://www.pad.ma/Vgtorlw9/info2011-03-08weekly1.0Saleem on the pilgrims from farawayhttp://www.pad.ma/Vgtorlw9/poster.75.jpgYes32http://www.pad.ma/Vsn7g4o4/info2011-11-08weekly1.0LASSnet 2010: Fear, Secrets and Lies: The Uncanny World of Law after Mediahttp://www.pad.ma/Vsn7g4o4/poster.75.jpgChair/Discussant: Ravi Vasudevan, CSDS, Delhi Panel Coordinator(s): Lawrence Liang, Alternative Law Forum <b>Title: The Secret and the Transparent after Media Modernity</b> Panelist: Ravi Sundaram, Sarai/CSDS Abstract: Technology and media access, once slogans of the 1990s, are now marked by their remarkable efflorescence all over the country. Today growing sections of the population, including sections of the working poor, access low cost media like cheap mobile phones that combine voice, digital photography and video. This media-enabled urban population produces amateur photographs, videos, text messages that are shared horizontally or in online social networks. A massive media archive of amateur and recombined media now reaches the internet and draws from politics, culture, and everyday life. This media producing population is now the source of various efforts to mobilize and channel its potentialities – by government, civic groups, communication companies, media industries. At one level, the idea of ‘transparency’ through media technologies seems to vitalize both modernizing schemes as well as new stories of empowerment. Transparency stories make their way into statements by judges, police criminology, RTI activists, and reform discourse in general. Transparency has now emerged in liberal public discourse as the ethical filter to understand the world. This discursive space includes information activism as well as the television sting. The other narrative is the significant disruption of a domain that was considered secure, notably the ‘inner’ life of individuals. The idea of the secret may have to be updated for the digital age; the ‘leak’ and the ‘sting’ almost seem integral to contemporary culture afflicting both the very powerful and the ordinary. Personal(and sometimes public) media archives of audio, photos and videos are rearranged and re-circulated everyday- sometimes publicly and brutally – a failed relationship with images/videos circulating online, scandals, images of death, tragedy, sexual intimacy, a politician’s conversation. Existing arrangements to manage these worlds are in a state of disorientation, courts puzzle over new domains that demand their attention everyday. In the first narrative ‘transparency’ becomes the tool to harness the energies of a post-media population for liberal modernization, in the second, mediatisation produces new sites of disaster. This presentation looks at some of the sites of this disruption and considers what is at stake for media and social theory. <b>Title: Framing Conspiracy: Terrorism, the City and Cinema</b> Panelist: Ranjani Mazumdar, School of Arts & Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University Abstract: This paper looks at the terrorist films set in Bombay to explore the relationship between conspiracy, surveillance and the city. The films I look at are Anurag Kashyap’s Black Friday, Raj Kumar Gupta’s Amir, Nishikant Kamat’s Mumbai Meri Jaan and Neeraj Pandey’s A Wednesday. All these films refer to various terrorist attacks of the last 20 years. The films work with an investigative cartography, mobilizing the city through narratives cluttered with evidentiary details, an aggressive marking and arranging of information and a constant presence of the television camera as the ultimate arbiter of knowledge. Conspiracy works as the organizing principle through which urban paranoia, civil disturbance and political intrigue, find a voice. Conspiracy also produces the movement between the police, the interrogation room, the terrorist hideout, the site of death, government offices, the news room, public spaces and courtrooms. The films open out the events through re-enactments and precision style unravelling to generate ‘fantasies of knowing’. Thus a “mobile script” on terrorism is carved out to negotiate the relationship between paranoia and citizenship. If the social practice of paranoia is rooted in the belief that the truth is not fully available, then in these films, conspiracy is the form through which the spectator is provided a sense of comfort and sense of control over contemporary events, the city of Bombay and history. <b>Title: The Erotics of Law and Scandal</b> Panelist: Lawrence Liang, Alternative Law Forum Abstract: The Sting Operation’s revelation of public corruption and SMS sex scandals have been two important signposts of contemporary media life. They have also been at the heart of legal debates over privacy, media ethics and the legal disorder. The ‘scandal’ has always been of one of the sites for the production of a public discourse on law and the relationship between the public, private and the secret, the accelerated world of media circulation reworks our understanding of the scandal and the divide between ideas of public and private. What conceptual challenges do they pose to the law, and how have legal institutions responded to the erotics of power and corruption. This paper examines how the discourses of corruption and sexuality in media constantly reference each other as they meet in the ‘inappropriate overlap of public and private desires’.Yes5856http://www.pad.ma/Vhm4iehl/info2011-03-06weekly1.0Fire in Bandra Easthttp://www.pad.ma/Vhm4iehl/poster.75.jpgFootage taken around midnight on the night of 5th March, 2011 - a few hours after the slums to the east of Bandra station (Garib Nagar) was burnt down in a fire.Yes920http://www.pad.ma/Veukf5kj/info2011-11-08weekly1.0LASSnet 2010: Religion and Constitutionalism in Indiahttp://www.pad.ma/Veukf5kj/poster.75.jpgChair/Discussant: Sitharamam Kakarala, Senior Fellow, Centre for the Study of Culture and Society <b>Title: The Ayodhya judgement: Force, Law and Justice</b> Panelist: Arvind Narrian, Alternative Law Forum Abstract: This presentation will look at the intimate link between force, law and justice in the context of the recent Ayodhya judgement. The Ayodhya judgment was one culminating point to a history in which force and law were joined at the hip. The question which will be explored is how does the law respond to an alteration in the status quo effected by illegal means ? The post colonial history in particular the installaion of idols in 1949, the removal of locks in 1986 and the demolition in 1992 provides an account of the response of the law in which the link to notions of justice seems remote. Finally if the link is really between law and force, how do we understand the claim of justice when it comes to the Ayodhya verdict ? <b>Title: Judging History: Evidencing the Past in the Ayodhya Judgement</b> Panelist: Rohit De, Doctoral Candidate in the Department of History, Princeton University Abstract:At first glance, the judge and the historian appear to have much in common. Both examine the written record and attempt to reconstruct a narrative of the past. It is therefore not surprising that the judges of the Allahabad High Court would fearlessly delve into historical reconstruction to decide the claims of the present. Using the Ayodhya judgment, I intend to investigate the nature and standards of evidence demanded by the profession of history and the civil court and underline their incommensurability. Given that a judicial narrative provides creates a history more ‘authentic’ than the efforts of even state backed historians, how should a court approach a historical question, especially in a dispute like Ayodhya? Firstly, I argue that the framing of the civil suit as hinging on a ‘historical question’ was incorrect and unnecessary according to the Supreme Court’s own jurisprudence . Secondly, if the question of the prior existence of a Ram temple is to be determined through historical sources, other historical questions, such as the legitimacy of the mosque, the possibility of alternative temple sites and the right of the VHP to be the ‘next friend” of the deity need also to be investigated. Does the transformation of a Hindu deity to a civil litigant represented by a self appointed guardian hurt the rights of third parties, specifically other Hindus? Finally, I would argue that if historical evidence is to be considered, then the courts must treat it as a body of expert knowledge, like medical or scientific evidence, which requires to offered by ‘experts’ who are subject to public protocols of evidence collection <b>Title: Religion and the Courts: The Secular Management of Gods’ Affairs in Some Kerala Cases</b> Panelist: Prof. Gilles Tarabout, CNRS senior research fellow in social anthropology, Paris, Director of the Research Centre in Ethnology and Comparative Sociology, CNRS-University Paris West, Codirector of the ANR programme “Justice and Governance in Contemporary India and South Asia” Abstract: While a KHC full bench underlined in 1978 that secularism “eliminates God from the matters of the State”, the Courts actually have to arbitrate much religious litigation. This arises partly as a specific legacy from the colonial period, when on one hand Gods were endowed with a juristic personality, and on the other hand Government departments were constituted for the direct supervision and management of major temples in a State. It is also the consequence of the general need to decide about inheritance or land claims, etc., even when they concern religious institutions and entail ritual stakes. The presentation will take up a few cases concerning Kerala temples that came before the KHC and the SC, in order to show to what degree of ritual details the courts may feel compelled to go. Even though some judges may dwell at length on theological and ritual interpretations, the very fact that the debate shifts to the legal sphere may arguably be taken as a step - if paradoxical- in the evolution towards the secular goal. <b>Title: Privileging Communal Identities and Marginalising the “Other”: Constitutionalism in India and Cow Slaughter</b> Panelist: Abhik Majumdar, Assistant Professor, National Law University, Orissa (NLUO) Abstract: This paper explores an unexpected by-product of constitutionalism, where constitutional norms are interpreted to subvert the very ethos of the parent constitution. One example is the manner in the overtly secular Indian constitution has been harnessed to justify banning cow slaughter, a long-standing demand of the majoritarian Hindu community. From the socio-political perspective, the issue bears multiple layers. In the medieval era, caste Hindus harnessed the ‘sacred cow’ concept to both characterise and demonise the ‘other’. Even today, allegations of cow slaughter constitute a popular incitement to religious riots. Some read into this phenomenon another kind of violence, which involves denying to the socially and economically marginalised (even Hindus at the lowest rungs of the caste hierarchy) an inexpensive and accessible source of nutrition. It is against this backdrop that the legal aspects of the issue need to be examined. During the drafting of the Indian Constitution, conservative Hindu representatives’ demands for incorporating a constitutional ban on cow slaughter was sought to be balanced with the overtly secular nature of the document. Ultimately, a provision of sorts was incorporated in Article 48 and justified on the basis of protecting agricultural interests. Not only was this provision was non-enforceable in character, but so was its ambit was tightly restricted to certain kinds of cattle only, such as milch and draught animals. Early litigation on the issue was marked by a certain judicial restraint. When legislatures sought to increase the ambit of such bans, our courts restricted them in accordance with constitutional provisions. However, in State of Gujarat v. Mirzapur Moti Kureshi Kassab Jamat (2005), the Supreme Court upheld a law of the Gujarat legislature that prohibited the slaughter of all forms cattle, a ban extending well beyond the limits of Article 48. Subsequently, several states including Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and recently Karnataka, have enacted similarly comprehensive legislation. The proposed paper addresses the processes through which ‘the law’ has served to curtail the ‘space’ given to minorities qua minorities. Given that cow slaughter continues to be an extremely volatile issue, this denial of ‘space’ inevitably bestows a measure of legitimacy to the pretexts behind religious riots. Moreover, it also provides a justification for denying the marginalised their nutrition rights.Yes5476http://www.pad.ma/Vdxzo0n5/info2011-11-08weekly1.0LASSnet 2010: The Paper Trail: Documentary Forms and Practiceshttp://www.pad.ma/Vdxzo0n5/poster.75.jpg<b>Panel Description:</b> This panel attempts to understand ‘official’ documents as material objects that circulate across various epistemic, and social registers. Documents have been seen as bureaucratic record exemplifying the documentary micro practices of the governmental state, as artifacts of modern knowledge that are imbricated in specific technologies of writing, truth and authenticity and as talismanic objects capable of carrying, containing, or inciting affective energies which are experienced as real, in specific webs of sociality. As commodity forms, official pieces of paper from identity cards to divorce decrees, both disembody and rematerialize social, sovereign and economic relations. What is the place of documents in the bureaucratic universe - how do we make sense of their proliferation as legal objects, counterfeits, official and popular imitations and apparitions of the legal? What are the archival logics underlying documents and the technologies of identification and certification that produce the document as acceptable truth? What are the forms of legibility and illegibility engendered through these everyday bureaucratic practices and protocols? Through this conversation, we hope to explore how particular legal documentary forms and writing practices, function as nodes of sovereignty and governmentality as well as counter-sovereignties, contestation and resistance. Chair/Discussant: Radhika Singha Panel coordinator(s): Taringini Sriraman and Shrimoyee Nandini Ghosh <b>Title:Forgery, Perjury, and Attestation in Early Colonial Madras</b> Panelist: Bhavani Raman, History Department, Princeton University Abstract: This paper discusses the importance of attestation protocols and evidentiary practices to the exercise of colonial authority in early colonial Madras. Document writing under colonialism has remained subsumed in arguments about codification in which writing is contrasted to the fluidity of customary practice and oral guarantees. In contrast, this paper attends to the tense conditions under which the norms of generating credible information were determined, and degree to which monopolizing the protocols of attestation was central to Company juridical authority. Using official correspondence on forgery and perjury as a lens onto documentary procedure, this paper traces how the early colonial state’s discretionary authority was consolidated through documents in the popular imagination of Madras inhabitants. <b>Title: In the Image of the Document: the Ration Card and the ID Documents Regime in India</b> Panelist: Taringini Sriramanan, PhD (Delhi University), also registered as doctoral student at Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) Abstract: Identification documents are centrepieces of the paradoxical life of modern states, animated by sovereign discourses of legitimacy, legality, legibility but also those of everyday life, informality and illegality. They are products of rational authority and modern state functions of setting norms, enumerating and recording populations and evolving administrative categories. Yet they are an indispensable part of discursive processes of fashioning into existence and producing the modern state and enacting its persisting rationality. If documents are useful in the hands of modern states to reinforce bureaucratic, legal-rational authority, they also help constitute the very discursive material of which modern states have been moulded. If the functions of a document which entitle a holder to exercise vote, pay taxes, cross borders are all reiterative of state sovereignty, identification documents through their various ceremonial tokens of seals, stamps, signatures and the inscription of sovereign presence help set up this legal authority. This paper seeks to foray into the discursive life of the identification document contained in the legal, cultural and social norms that it signifies and understand the various conceptual categories that constitute identity – name, residence, family, employment, gender and sexual status. An identification document, though it was the property of the state, was shaped by private actors like doctors, employers and firms. I make out the history of official construction of these categories to be far from being an inclusive, just and transparent process or one that strengthened the agency of legal subjects. Official mistrust of subjects, protocols of representation through which identities were filtered, bureaucratic conventions of objectifying identity through written testimonies and the fear of illegality ensured the distance of the document from the documented. While a comprehensive study of identification documents falls outside the scope of this paper, I wish to navigate through a wealth of rationing documents that were some of the earliest identification documents in post-independent India. A historical study of these documents straddling colonial and post-independence India (1940 to 1970 roughly) will help me piece together the identification documents regime which constantly precluded the self-definition and agency of subject-citizens in India. <b>Title:The Many Lives of Stamp Paper: The Telgi Stamp Paper Scam</b> Panelist: Shrimoyee Nandini Ghosh, Centre for the Study of Law and Governance, JNU Abstract: Given its status in everyday life in India as an instantly recognizable, and immensely popular legal form, and its' uniqueness in combining a revenue and evidentiary function within a single legal instrumentality the marginality of 'stamp paper' and 'stamp duty' as objects worthy of analysis within the regime of doctrinal law is somewhat surprising. They have received little attention from the point of view jurisprudential scholarship, and the few legal books on the subject, are in the nature of manuals for the use of the practitioner. My paper attempts to map the many lives of stamp paper, as it circulates across various social, legal and epistemic worlds. It is to in light of this background that I will then analyse the notorious Telgi Stamp paper scandal. In 2001, Abdul Karim Telgi was arrested for having defrauded the state of of Rs 100 crore (US $ 20 million) by infiltrating the state’s stamp paper distribution bureaucracy. The Telgi fraud case received unrelenting media coverage, until Telgi's conviction, and eventual death in custody. A scandal can serve as a “critical event" that reveals otherwise obscured socially embedded structural factors, working to contain 'contradictory, and possibly even violent social impulses’. In this paper I wish to use the moral spectacle of the Telgi scam to understand the (under)worlds of Indian legality, and something of the complicated relationships between power, paper, money and truth. Yes4582http://www.pad.ma/Vgdh6hzm/info2011-11-08weekly1.0LASSnet 2010: Who's AADHAAR is it anyway? Reflections on the UID debatehttp://www.pad.ma/Vgdh6hzm/poster.75.jpg<b>Panel Description:</b> The formation of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) ( Aadhaar in Hindi) has provided an opportunity to debate a number of issues related to the nature of the Indian State. Whereas, the newly elected conservative government in the United Kingdom has set up its http://yourfreedom.hmg.gov.uk/ to solicit views of its people on a diverse range of topics, in the world's largest democracy seems to be shying away from some important fundamental debates about citizenship, privacy and political rights. The debate around UIDAI throws up broader questions on the relationship of the State to technology, citizenship and political rights. On the one hand are people who believe that the UIDAI will help “clean up the system”, and help foster efficient governance – where the delivery of services reaches every citizen, especially the poor. This has been one of the fundamental rationales for the creation of the UID. On the other hand those opposed to the UIDAI fear that the creation of a “technologized State will not only create greater inequality to the access of State’s services, but has legal and ethical dimensions to it that has not be thought through – questions like what does it mean to imagine a “database society”; who is responsible for this data, and how will it be used; the privacy of those in the data given that India doesn’t really have privacy laws and such like things. Also, the one of the rationales for implementing the UID is the welfare benefits its supposed to set-off. But in so far as the welfare benefits are concerned, the documents put out by the UIDAI betrays a lack of understanding of the main sources of inefficiency in the system. <b>Title:A Unique Identity Bill</b> Panelist: Usha Ramanathan, Independent Researcher Abstract: India’s unique identification number project has been sold on the promise that it will make every citizen, the poor in particular, visible to the State. But the UID project raises crucial issues relating to profiling, tracking and surveillance, and it may well facilitate a dramatic change in the relationship between the State and the people. The Unique Identification Authority of India has not acknowledged these concerns so far. And now, nowhere in the proposed draft bill that it has prepared have these issues been addressed nor have clauses been drafted to prevent abuse of information that will be collected by the agency. With so many questions on the project – regarding biometrics, security and privacy – yet to be answered, it is far from time for parliamentary approval. As has been observed, the Constitution is expected to provide the citizen with dignity and privacy; but these are missing in the UID project. <b>Title:The Unique ID Project in India: A Skeptical Note</b> Panelist: R. Ramakumar, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, Tata Institute of Social Sciences Abstract: In this note, I discuss certain social and ethical aspects of new national project to supply unique ID (UID) numbers to Indian residents. The UID project is presented as a “technology-based solution” that would change the face of governance in India. I argue in this note that the UID project would actually lead to the violation of a large number of freedoms of Indian people. No amount of assertion vis-à-vis improved service delivery can justify the violation of citizen’s freedoms and liberties. Next, I argue that there is a misplaced emphasis on the benefits of technology in this project, when the robustness of that technology to handle large populations remains largely unproven. Further, I argue that no detailed cost-benefit analysis of the project has been carried out yet. Finally, I try to show, with an illustration, that the roots of inefficiency in public welfare schemes in India do not lie in the absence of identity proofs. <b>Title: The Unique Identity Number Project: Should Non-Citizen Residents be Concerned?</b> Panelist: Sahana Basavapatna, TMT Law, New Delhi Abstract:This essay attempts to comprehend the potential implications of the Unique Identification project (UID) or “Aadhaar” on non-citizen residents in India, specifically, refugees, asylum seekers, stateless persons and other “illegal” migrants. The Aadhaar project poses a number of questions, involving the constitutional right to privacy and issues of surveillance, on identity and others. It gives an impression that only welfarist objectives animate the project but given the scale, costs and what it seeks to achieve in reality, it would be naïve to assume that such a system would leave non-citizens untouched especially in the context of the high degree of anxiety over issues of both internal and external national insecurity. The unique identification number debate, it is argued needs to consider the possible impact it would have on non-citizen residents. They make up a small yet significant cross section of the resident population in India and find themselves in a society and polity that displays unique features in terms of how it regulates the presence and exit of foreigners in its territory. Further, the incoherence of the legal and administrative mechanism regulating asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons in India has the potential to translate the lack of or precarious legal identities in social life of these individuals in ways that may negatively impact them. At the same time, it would be worth thinking aloud whether, on the contrary, the UID project would benefit refugees in the Indian context given that their limited rights are not translated in reality in the existing social, economic and political institutional set up. Questions of identity, surveillance and the citizenship of refugees/stateless/asylum seekers are all the more relevant given the anxieties displayed by the Indian state in relation to them. It is in this specific context of resident non-citizens that this paper intends to comprehend the complexities of this project.Yes6333http://www.pad.ma/Vtkadgir/info2011-10-24weekly1.0LASSnet 2010: Affective Leadership: Balagopal and the Reimagining of Judicial Activism, Human Rights, and the Statehttp://www.pad.ma/Vtkadgir/poster.75.jpg<b>Panel Description:</b> This panel is dedicated to a critical engagement with the writings of K. Balagopal, a foremost theoretician, human rights activist and people’s lawyer, whose death in October 2009 was a stunning blow to left and progressive communities in India and elsewhere. In addition to his formative influence on both Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (APCLC) and Human Rights Forum (HRF), Balagopal was well known for his incisive analysis, prolific writing, and, in particular, his provocative and direct style of engagement posing uncomfortable questions for theoreticians and practitioners alike. In that spirit, each of the Panelists will present on a theme that has been greatly impacted by Balagopal’s work. While constantly challenging state repression, Balagopal was careful to analyse the changing nature of state power and law’s violence. Similarly, despite being at the forefront of protests against state brutality, Balagopal raised questions of morality and ethics for radical left political movements, and questions of autonomy for the human rights movements. Balagopal questioned a consequentialist approach to procedural norms in the context of criminal trials that also poses challenges for current debates on Public Interest Litigation. In all, this panel represents a continued conversation with Balagopal and some of the themes that emerged under his affective leadership. Panel coordinator: Jinee Lokaneeta Chair/discussant: Arvind Narrain <b>Title: Human Rights Movements in India: State, Civil Society and Beyond</b> Panelist: Ajay Gudavarthy, Centre for Political Studies, JNU Abstract: This paper is an attempt to trace the various phases of the human rights movement (HRM) and the assumptions underlying each of them in terms of the inter-relationships between the state, civil society and democracy. The 1970s witnessed the first phase of the HRM— the ‘civil liberties phase’—working within the framework of state-civil society complementarity. HRM along with emphasising the autonomy of institutions also struggled to recover a ‘rights based civil society’, where all citizens could have access to fundamental rights. The 1980s were marked by a shift to the second phase — the ‘democratic rights phase’—with a new state versus civil society framework. During this phase, the HRM made efforts to construct civil society as a pure ‘realm of freedom’ that stood squarely outside the state and consisted of various militant and radical social movements. Towards the end of the 1990s, the third phase — the ‘human rights phase’—reconstituted itself on a new civil society versus political society framework. The new political society stressed the importance of locating and condemning human rights violations at the civil societal level, including those committed by radical social movements. Finally, the contemporary moment is ironically striving to move beyond the political by basing itself on an abstract moral dimension. <b>Title: Critiquing the Critique: Balagopal and the Re-framing of the Idea of Human Rights in India</b> Panelist: Sitharamam Kakarala, Senior Fellow, Centre for the Study of Culture and Society Abstract: This paper will address certain concerns about conceptualising the idea of ‘rights’ in the making of human rights movement in India and the role of Balagopal in re framing the terms of the debate that lead to a ‘paradigm shift’ in human rights praxis, especially, though not exclusively, in Andhra Pradesh. <b>Title: The Procedural is Political: Public Interest Litigation and its Discontents</b> Panelist: Anuj Bhuwania, Department of Anthropology, Columbia University Abstract: K. Balagopal’s critical interventions in the civil liberties movement in India have led to vigorous debates on the political status of procedural norms in criminal trials, in particular questioning the tendency to view these norms in a ‘consequentialist’ manner. However, court procedure more generally (as opposed to that of criminal trials of serious offences alone) continues to be commonly understood in instrumental terms and seen as being of limited political importance. Even the Indian Supreme Court has adopted the rhetoric of viewing legal procedure itself as an impediment to justice: constitutional provisions like the Supreme Court’s power to do ‘complete justice’ under Article 142 have been interpreted in ways that enable the Court to go beyond statutory law and overcome all procedural norms, most notoriously in the Bhopal judgement of 1991. Clichéd rants against “procedural technicalities” using phrases like “Procedure is a handmaiden of justice and not its mistress” are repeated ad nauseam in appellate court judgments and courtroom speech. This impatience with procedure, I will argue, has taken particularly extreme forms in the context of Public Interest Litigation (PIL). The remarkable extent of malleability of procedure under PIL and the widespread celebration of the procedural departures introduced by PIL reveal the kind of political disrepute that legal procedural norms enjoy in contemporary India. In this paper, I will take the example of PIL to argue against such lack of political concern for court procedure. The politics of courts, I will argue, is also located in its material forms and closer attention to these procedural norms is key to any political understanding of law. <b>Title: Paradoxical State Killings: Encounters and the Death Penalty</b> Panelist: Jinee Lokaneeta, Department of Political Science, Drew University, New Jersey Abstract: In this paper, using Balagopal’s seminal piece on death penalty and systematic work on encounter killings as a framework, I explore the paradoxical nature of state killing in India. The paradox is represented by the fact that on one hand the number of encounter deaths (denied by the state) remains extremely high while on the other hand, death penalty (authorized by the state) has declined in recent years. The recent killing of Azad, a leader of the Maoists who was allegedly picked up by the Andhra police and shot dead, alongside the ongoing CBI enquiry into the encounter of Sohrabuddin (implicating high officials of the Narendra Modi government) is a stark reminder of how encounter deaths are a large part of the reality of the functioning of the Indian state. Apart from a long history of encounter deaths in the context of radical left movements in Andhra Pradesh, the Indian state has often used encounter deaths in situations such as challenging the Mafia in Mumbai, and the targeting of minorities in many different states of India. In contrast, another form of legalized state killing namely death penalty has declined over the years thereby becoming rare both jurisprudentially (authorized in the rarest of rare cases) and in practice (number of executions). The paradox, I suggest, has significant implications for debates on the nature of state violence in India.Yes4637http://www.pad.ma/Ve2gcg3i/info2011-03-11weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 107 - Radia, Mukesh Ambanihttp://www.pad.ma/Ve2gcg3i/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes73http://www.pad.ma/Vu001c2d/info2011-03-11weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 101 - Radia, Ganpathy S.http://www.pad.ma/Vu001c2d/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes314http://www.pad.ma/Vsmjxic1/info2011-03-11weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 058 - Radia, Manoj Warrier (11:38:01)http://www.pad.ma/Vsmjxic1/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes132http://www.pad.ma/Vg984263/info2011-03-11weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 025 - Radia, Kanimozhihttp://www.pad.ma/Vg984263/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes523http://www.pad.ma/Ve2u8crz/info2011-03-16weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 026 - Radia, Vir Sanghvihttp://www.pad.ma/Ve2u8crz/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes117http://www.pad.ma/Vdy5uxcb/info2011-03-11weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 103 - Radia, S Padmanabhanhttp://www.pad.ma/Vdy5uxcb/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes340http://www.pad.ma/Vugwv7hs/info2011-03-11weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 087 - Radia, Jehangir Pochahttp://www.pad.ma/Vugwv7hs/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes415http://www.pad.ma/Vtokxjml/info2011-06-23weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 061 - Radia, K. R. Rajahttp://www.pad.ma/Vtokxjml/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes548http://www.pad.ma/Veed2k73/info2011-03-11weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 120 - Radia, Manoj Warrierhttp://www.pad.ma/Veed2k73/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes295http://www.pad.ma/Vgu8fj8r/info2011-09-05weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 028 - Radia, K. R. Rajahttp://www.pad.ma/Vgu8fj8r/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes446http://www.pad.ma/Vu0zn0gm/info2011-03-11weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 115 - Radia, Padmanabhanhttp://www.pad.ma/Vu0zn0gm/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes488http://www.pad.ma/Vgpjqqvp/info2012-01-18weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 063 - Radia, Prasad (Tata Adviser)http://www.pad.ma/Vgpjqqvp/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes281http://www.pad.ma/Vt2yu6v1/info2011-03-11weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 111 - Radia, Mr Prasad (12:28:26)http://www.pad.ma/Vt2yu6v1/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes192http://www.pad.ma/Vsbumd6x/info2011-03-11weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 039 - Radia, Manoj Warrierhttp://www.pad.ma/Vsbumd6x/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes269http://www.pad.ma/Vfs70g93/info2011-03-11weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 043 - Radia, Senthil Chengalvarayanhttp://www.pad.ma/Vfs70g93/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes236http://www.pad.ma/Vh5xczd3/info2011-03-11weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 119 - Radia, G Ganapathy Subramaniam (ET)http://www.pad.ma/Vh5xczd3/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes904http://www.pad.ma/Vee17zg1/info2011-03-10weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 122 - Radia, Tarun Dashttp://www.pad.ma/Vee17zg1/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes592http://www.pad.ma/Vumdkuif/info2011-03-11weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 041 - Radia, Vishalhttp://www.pad.ma/Vumdkuif/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes638http://www.pad.ma/Vee0zkgt/info2011-04-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 099 - Radia, Daljeethttp://www.pad.ma/Vee0zkgt/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes221http://www.pad.ma/Vuh1cn08/info2011-03-10weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 105 - Radia, Manoj Warrierhttp://www.pad.ma/Vuh1cn08/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes370http://www.pad.ma/Veuq95rh/info2011-03-11weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 035 - Radia, Manoj Warrierhttp://www.pad.ma/Veuq95rh/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes162http://www.pad.ma/Vfc9jpl7/info2011-03-10weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 092 - Radia, Ganapathy G.http://www.pad.ma/Vfc9jpl7/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes236http://www.pad.ma/Vgdut8lb/info2011-03-11weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 136 - Radia, Tarun Dashttp://www.pad.ma/Vgdut8lb/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes370http://www.pad.ma/Vt3wsjbb/info2011-03-11weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 137 - Radia, Manoj Warrierhttp://www.pad.ma/Vt3wsjbb/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes192http://www.pad.ma/Vgdnb76h/info2011-03-10weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 113 - Radia, Suhel Sethhttp://www.pad.ma/Vgdnb76h/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes548http://www.pad.ma/Vg92c5tz/info2011-03-15weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 100 - Radia, Doraihttp://www.pad.ma/Vg92c5tz/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes73http://www.pad.ma/Vsnx82sl/info2011-04-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 094 - Radia, Sanjayhttp://www.pad.ma/Vsnx82sl/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes56http://www.pad.ma/Veeqwhvc/info2011-03-10weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 059 - Radia, Manoj Warrier (11:58:49)http://www.pad.ma/Veeqwhvc/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes370http://www.pad.ma/Vsru5iup/info2011-06-23weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 097 - Radia, G. Ganapathy Subramaniumhttp://www.pad.ma/Vsru5iup/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes1290http://www.pad.ma/Vu5gpfjx/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 083 - Radia, Upenderhttp://www.pad.ma/Vu5gpfjx/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes311http://www.pad.ma/Vgoe0e05/info2011-03-12weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 064 - Radia, Rahul Joshi EThttp://www.pad.ma/Vgoe0e05/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes622http://www.pad.ma/Ve2gp3vh/info2011-03-11weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 131 - Radia, Manoj Warrierhttp://www.pad.ma/Ve2gp3vh/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes385http://www.pad.ma/Vgtimulk/info2011-05-28weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 108 - Radia, Baiju Bijuhttp://www.pad.ma/Vgtimulk/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes423http://www.pad.ma/Vs6okd39/info2011-03-11weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 138 - Radia, Daljeethttp://www.pad.ma/Vs6okd39/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes266http://www.pad.ma/Vgpvuhti/info2011-05-28weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 023 - Radia, Manoj Warrierhttp://www.pad.ma/Vgpvuhti/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes28http://www.pad.ma/Vs72282j/info2011-03-11weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 040 - Radia, Manoj Warrierhttp://www.pad.ma/Vs72282j/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes607http://www.pad.ma/Ve303yut/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 060 - Radia, Manoj Warrierhttp://www.pad.ma/Ve303yut/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes414http://www.pad.ma/Vsbcsxd3/info2011-03-11weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 133 - Radia, Tarun Dashttp://www.pad.ma/Vsbcsxd3/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes266http://www.pad.ma/Vhm4owum/info2011-03-19weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 084 - Radia, Manoj Warrierhttp://www.pad.ma/Vhm4owum/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes221http://www.pad.ma/Vdynlpqy/info2011-03-11weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 139 - Radia, Manoj Warrierhttp://www.pad.ma/Vdynlpqy/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes66http://www.pad.ma/Vfwni7g7/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 080 - Radia, Vir Sanghvihttp://www.pad.ma/Vfwni7g7/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes430http://www.pad.ma/Vgdcyd4b/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 102 - Radia, Daljeethttp://www.pad.ma/Vgdcyd4b/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes251http://www.pad.ma/Vhaxonz1/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 086 - Radia, Manoj Warrierhttp://www.pad.ma/Vhaxonz1/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes310http://www.pad.ma/Vejpfslb/info2011-03-11weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 130 - Radia, Unknownhttp://www.pad.ma/Vejpfslb/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes147http://www.pad.ma/Vi7mmuxl/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 019 - Radia, Shankkar Aiyar (18:44:49)http://www.pad.ma/Vi7mmuxl/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes132http://www.pad.ma/Vg8opstn/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 091 - Radia, G Ganapathy Subramaniam EThttp://www.pad.ma/Vg8opstn/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes340http://www.pad.ma/Vh5habcb/info2011-03-11weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 042 - Radia, Navika Kumarhttp://www.pad.ma/Vh5habcb/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes281http://www.pad.ma/Vsnv9elr/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 121 - Radia, Sunil Arorahttp://www.pad.ma/Vsnv9elr/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes370http://www.pad.ma/Vhqxj2hj/info2011-04-28weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 109 - Radia, Ganpathyhttp://www.pad.ma/Vhqxj2hj/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes325http://www.pad.ma/Vu5u0vkk/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 112 - Radia, PMS Mr Prasad (12:37:10)http://www.pad.ma/Vu5u0vkk/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes88http://www.pad.ma/Vuh8uq07/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 081 - Radia, Sunil Arorahttp://www.pad.ma/Vuh8uq07/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes368http://www.pad.ma/Vi7chuil/info2011-03-11weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 047 - Radia, Shalini Singh Tata Grouphttp://www.pad.ma/Vi7chuil/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes756http://www.pad.ma/Vs6zz908/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 056 - Radia, Manoj Modi (11:13:09)http://www.pad.ma/Vs6zz908/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes102http://www.pad.ma/Vt3h0gwo/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 021 - Radia, Shankkar Aiyar (19:38:09)http://www.pad.ma/Vt3h0gwo/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes162http://www.pad.ma/Vs684ai9/info2011-04-26weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 029 - Radia, Shankkar Aiyarhttp://www.pad.ma/Vs684ai9/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes594http://www.pad.ma/Ve343jto/info2011-03-07weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 057 - Radia, Manoj Warrier (11:31:41)http://www.pad.ma/Ve343jto/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes236http://www.pad.ma/Vhqla2qo/info2011-04-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 098 - Radia, Unknownhttp://www.pad.ma/Vhqla2qo/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes152http://www.pad.ma/Vu0trlek/info2011-03-20weekly1.0Saleem on the Nizamuddin shrinehttp://www.pad.ma/Vu0trlek/poster.75.jpgSaleem a resident of Nizamuddin shrine area talks about the importance of the place.Yes25http://www.pad.ma/Vi74xo46/info2011-02-28weekly1.0Introduction to Nizamuddin shrine in Delhihttp://www.pad.ma/Vi74xo46/poster.75.jpgYes103http://www.pad.ma/Vssc8y85/info2011-12-14weekly1.0LASSnet 2010: Doing Legal Philosophy in India: Reflections on the Legacy of Chhatrapati Singhhttp://www.pad.ma/Vssc8y85/poster.75.jpg<b>Panel Description:</b> Legal philosophy has been a neglected aspect of Indian legal scholarship. With notable exceptions, very few Indian scholars have explored how philosophy illuminates legal questions and helps resolve legal problems. In this context the exceptional scholarship of Chhatrapati Singh assumes considerable significance. Chhatrapati Singh studied philosophy at St. Stephens College (Delhi) and at the University of Ottawa (Canada) where he obtained his doctoral degree. Returning to India in 1982, he joined the Indian Law Institute (ILI) where he worked for nine years. During this time he published his first book, Law from Anarchy to Utopia, a path breaking philosophical exposition on the nature of legal rules and their role in sustaining a just order. During his years at the ILI, his interests steadily moved towards issues in environmental law and in 1991 he became the founding Director of the Centre for Environmental Law (World Wide Fund for Nature, India). Exploring conceptual issues in environmental activism, his notable publications in the field include Common Property and Common Poverty: India Forests, Forest Dwellers and the Law (OUP 1986), Water Rights and Principles of Water Resource Management (1991) and India’s Forest Policy and Forest Laws (2000). By the time of his death in 1998, Professor Singh had left behind a large body of scholarship which included numerous co-edited volumes and articles on topics ranging from the ontology of law, Wittgenstein’s theory of language, a general theory of numbers and papers on Indian legal and moral philosophy, a topic that captured his interests from his earliest to his last work. Taking Chhatrapati Singh's work as a starting point, the Panelists examine various ways in which philosophy can contribute to the understanding of the law, not only in its more abstract aspects, but in its various contemporary manifestations. Chair/Discussant: Arudra Burra, UCLA School of Law <b>Title: Chhatrapati Singh and the Idea of a Legal Theory</b> Panelist: Upendra Baxi, University of Warwick (Emeritus) and University of Delhi (Emeritus) Abstract: Chhatrapati Singh (CS) was India’s finest legal philosopher and continues to be the only post-Independence Indian legal philosopher. And yet, he is the least read not just in the Indian law schools but also departments of politics or philosophy; better known for his work on common property resources and rights, water law and jurisprudence, environmental law generally, and legal education and research. This essay is a reflection on the conception of law and social justice set forth in his germinal text, Law from Anarchy to Utopia (LAU). According to CS, while a theory of law should be presented as a ‘metaphysical’ rather than a ‘political’ ideal, the distinctive province of legal philosophy is constituted by concerns about peace and justice; the idea of law itself does not make much sense outside these concerns. When law is distinguished from the social practices occurring under its name, it can be fruitfully reimagined as seeking to ‘maximize the conditions under which each individual or group of individuals can realize themselves and attain their moral ends.’ The philosophy of law should be seen as an emancipatory enterprise, one that must take precedence over all other social philosophies. LAU presents a sophisticated picture of the law articulated in this way, as a substantive alternative to legal positivism, which draws imaginatively upon Kant, Leibniz, and a subtle reconstruction of the idea of a dharmashastra. In presenting, critiquing, and extending CS’ contribution to the idea of a legal theory, I hope to convince political theorists and scholars of jurisprudence to take a fresh look at an important and neglected contribution to legal scholarship. <b>Title: Critique and the Possibility of a Science of Law</b> Panelist: Sanil V., Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi Abstract: Chhatrapati Singh sets for himself two objectives: to provide modern law with a secure foundation, to prepare the ground for a new reception of Indian tradition in philosophy of law. His book Law from Anarchy to Utopia is an attempt to combine both these tasks in a productive manner. Securing the foundation of modern law demands a re-examination of the relation of modern western philosophy to its own tradition. He realized that a post-Kantian project to ground the idea of law has to take necessary recourse to the pre-Kantian metaphysics of Leibniz. However, this is not a regression to pre-critical naiveté. Chhatrapati returns to Leibniz not because of the embarrassing persistence of metaphysics within critical philosophy. For him modernity is not an abrupt break with the tradition of metaphysics. Instead it is a break with the metaphysical idea of tradition. Modernity while freeing thought from the blind authority of tradition allows us to have a free relationship with the traditions of thought. Chatrapati’s return to tradition - both the pre-critical metaphysics of the West and Indian philosophy - is made possible by this free relationship which is constitutive of modern thought. However, Chhatrapati was too much of a post-Kantian to accept the availability of Indian philosophy as a set of doctrines or texts. In this presentation I shall briefly examine Chhatrapati's approach to Dharma sastras. He rejects the claim that these texts are codification of customary laws. Nor do these sastras speak to us through works of sociologists, lawyers or philosophers. These sastras seem to be making a claim on constituting an independent science of law. We moderns need to pose a critical question to such sciences - what are the conditions under which a body of knowledge can claim to be an independent science? To pose this question, Chhatrapati thinks, we need to establish an ideological continuity with these sciences. However, he knows that the modern idea of law does not allow us to look for continuity with a science of law. In the modern academy legal science does not even figure in the list of social sciences. Chhatrapati holds positivism responsible for the absence of a modern legal science. Chhatrapati tries two routes to establish "ideological continuity" with classical Indian legal philosophy. One of them involves a careful sliding behind the critical mode of thought as it happens in his post Kantian retrieval of Leibniz. I see this move as one of overcoming the critical moment without regressing into pre-critical naiveté. The second route is through a critique of positivism. I think the former route offers more possibilities than the later. Critique and positivism are strange bedfellows. Despite their enmity they both are made possible by the same conditions which define modern thought. Following Michel Foucault I would call this condition human finitude. Under this condition, thought in its very nature is called upon to encounter its limits and recognise these limits as the ground of its freedom. Such thought of finitude is so immediately practical - crisis ridden and also anxious- in nature that it cannot propose a theory of practice or ethics. Communitarian critique of modern thought misses this in-eliminable and debilitating practical orientation of modern thought. To think the possibility of a science of conduct we need to overcome this critical and practical orientation of modern thought and its ontology of human finitude. I think such a move is necessary to engage with the question of emancipatory violence in modern society. Chhtrapthi's thought contains the intimations of such a project. <b>Title: Chhatrapati’s unfinished project on Dharma and Obligation to be Just</b> Panelist: Navjyoti Singh, Centre for Exact Humanities International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad Abstract: For Chhatrapati if notions like Justice, Law and Norms stand in need of conceptual and foundational clarification, so do notions like Dharma, Karma and Artha, His quest was grounded not merely for the sake of upholding Indian sensibilities but for the sake of the universal understanding of ‘practical reason’ and propensity of life. Chhatrapati saw vital moves in Leibniz and Kant which could ‘reform and cleanse’ modern discourse on the foundations of law and justice. Such a ‘clearing’, which he painstakingly undertook, was not only inspired by but would eventually make way for the possibility of a full-blown ‘true dharmasastra.’ What would be the shape of such a ‘true dharmasastra’, Chhatrapati left only few hints? Following Kant he argued that basic legal propositions are “<normatively synthetic> / <a priori> / <de re necessary> propositions.” This helps steer clear of the pitfalls of legal positivism and natural law theories in understanding juristic normative system. According to Chhatrapati, substantive properties of such a system are best elaborated by turning to Indian notions and their analytics. It is the substantive aspect of de re, a priori and synthetic, which calls for the appropriation of the notion of dharma. In the paper, I shall conceptually develop notion of dharma, such that Chhatrapati’s equation ‘idea of law is idea of dharma’ stands illuminated. Through analysis of dharma, substantive properties of juristic normative system and its formal features can be seen to be grounding well the theory natural to law. <b>Title: Revisiting 'Law from Anarchy to Utopia'</b> Panelist: Rajeev Bhargava, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi Abstract: Law from Anarchy to Utopia is a systematic and sustained philosophic reflection on the nature of law and rules in the limited body of Indian academic writing on law. In the book Singh claims that a “(p)hilosophy of law must take priority over all social philosophies because it discusses the conditions of peace and justice which are necessary for economic, political, religious, scientific and cultural growth, including the growth of all other social philosophies. Singh argues this position by critiquing legal positivism through concepts that are fundamental to the Indian dharmasastra tradition of legal thought. In so doing, he claims to offers a metaphysics of law that draws from important western philosophers like Kant and Leibniz as well as the Indian dharmashastra tradition. As the complete title of Singh's work suggests it is a work that seeks among other things to outline the ontological foundations of law. Through a close reading of Singh landmark book this paper interrogates this idea and raises the question – 'Can there be an ontological foundation of law?'Yes8449http://www.pad.ma/Vfba3r89/info2011-11-02weekly1.0LASSnet 2010: Neelan Tiruchelvam and the Imagination of Southasian Constitutionalismhttp://www.pad.ma/Vfba3r89/poster.75.jpgPanel coordinator(s): Arvind Narrain and Siddharth Narrain Chair/discussant: Veena Das, Department of Anthropology, Johns Hopkins University Panelists: R. Sudarshan, Title: Constitutions as the Conscience of Nation-States Kanak Mani Dixit Title: (*) <b>Panel Description:</b> Ten years have passed since the tragic assassination of Dr. Neelan Tiruchelvam by a LTTE suicide bomber in July of 1999. Dr. Tiruchelvam exemplified the best traditions of activist scholarship combining a political career as a member of parliament along with deep engagements with fields such as ethnic studies and constitutional law. Thus Dr. Tiruchelvam's engagement with Constitutionalism was forged in the crucible of the struggle for a Sri Lanka which was committed to an ethic which respected plural identities and plural ways of living. This particular struggle of finding the right constitutional architecture which reflected the nobler aspirations of a society and working to get warring ethnic groups to accept such a framework was Dr Thiruchelvam's life's mission and tragically the very cause of his assassination. This particular struggle for a just Constitutional order remains of deep salience in South Asian society. As a way of remembering and taking forward Dr Tiruchlevam's vision, this panel is dedicated to his luminous memory. In this panel we engage closely with the promise, tragedy and lived history of Constitutionalisms in South Asia. Nepal in some ways exemplifies the perilous promise of a Constitutional future, Sri Lanka sadly shows the continuing tragedy of a state which refuses to accept a pluriverse sanctioned by the Constitution and India exemplifies the lived history of a certain form of Constitutionalism. Exploring these three contexts of constitutionalism in South Asia will be the best tribute we can pay to an eminent South Asian thinker who ceaselessly strove to build a better world through his exemplary life of thought in action. Yes5343http://www.pad.ma/Vsnpb6du/info2011-11-08weekly1.0LASSnet 2010: Book Discussion: Subalternity and Religion: The Prehistory of Dalit Empowerment in South Asia by Milind Wakankarhttp://www.pad.ma/Vsnpb6du/poster.75.jpgChair/Discussant: Anupama Ra, Barnard College, Columbia University/Centre for Advanced Study in the Behavioural Sciences, Stanford University Panelists: Milind Wakankar, Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bangalore Deepak Mehta, Department of Sociology, University of Delhi Bhrigupati Singh, Post-doctoral Fellow, Weatherhead Center, Harvard UniversityYes5827http://www.pad.ma/Vej7h1ev/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090619-105618) Radia, Manoj Warrierhttp://www.pad.ma/Vej7h1ev/poster.75.jpgManoj Warrier, Niira's business associate, gives her the low-down on his chat with Reliance's PMS Prasad. On the matter of raging rumours about a settlement between the Ambani brothers, Warrier reports what Prasad says happened in a conversation with Petroleum Minister Murli Deora - that the news about the Ambani brothers arriving at a settlement out-of-court was leaked by Deora ("too much pressure is being built") in order to "deflect" the media's attention from the real matter-the dividing up of resources including gas. Manoj Warier says: "I (PMS Prasad) was sitting with him (Deora) and he (Deora) said that you know there is too much pressure being built so let me deflect it, let me say, 'settlement'." [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndiaYes192http://www.pad.ma/Vu1bfkgs/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090612-104717) Radia with Manoj Warrierhttp://www.pad.ma/Vu1bfkgs/poster.75.jpgIn a chat with Radia on June 12, 2009, colleague Manoj Warrier discusses different headlines in Mumbai and Delhi for the same story that appeared in the Economic Times. Radia asks him to write to ET editor Rahul Joshi that "you have a serious problem with your desk in Delhi". They also discuss an "incorrect" edit in ET on gas not being given a tax exemption. "I'm surprised (M.K.) Venu has done that…I'm very surprised," says Radia. [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndiaYes221http://www.pad.ma/Vuhwl68c/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090615-150531) Radia, Manoj Warrierhttp://www.pad.ma/Vuhwl68c/poster.75.jpgManoj Warrier and Niira Radia discuss what appears to be their investigation into what Anil's Reliance ADAG plans to do with the natural gas acquired at the mutually-agreed rate from Mukesh Ambani's Reliance. Anil plans to use the gas were at one point critical to the settlement. Radia and Warrier agree on whom to share a critical finding with—that the Anil side has decided to say that they have "all clearances including land acquisition and environmental clearance are available with us for the project (ostensibly, Dadri)." This clearance, Manoj and Niira seem to agree, is not available with the Anil Ambani side yet. [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndiaYes147http://www.pad.ma/Vulplp7m/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090619-190621) Radia, Jehangir Pochahttp://www.pad.ma/Vulplp7m/poster.75.jpgJehangir Pocha to Niira Radia: "It's Anil's son," Jehangir Pocha tells Niira Radia, referring to an accident in Mumbai involving Anil Ambani's car. "Very good," replies Radia. "What very good, babu?," Pocha chides her. Radia replies: "They're only after us." (The rumour at that time was that Mukesh Ambani's son was involved in an accident). Pocha goes on to say, "Don't say that, someone has got hurt, the boy has been in an accident." Pocha then goes on to describe the accident -- the driver finally surrendered -- saying that the police had said it all looked "suspicious". Radia says she'd "let them [Mukesh Ambani's people] know" [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndiaYes132http://www.pad.ma/Vulnxnrb/info2011-06-27weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 036 (20090601-113037) Radia with Srinihttp://www.pad.ma/Vulnxnrb/poster.75.jpgRadia is speaking to Srini, an associate. She discusses setting up a new team to handle Nita Ambani's publicity. Radia refers to an article in Society magazine that has been critical of Nita, saying, "she (Nita) needs to grow up out of that. Radia points out that Simone Tata was also too sensitive, but her PR person Natasha handled Simone well. She believes that maybe Nita will feel comfortable if a lady handles her PR. She feels there is a nice fun side to Nita too and her philanthropy. [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndia [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook India (#36)Yes592http://www.pad.ma/Vu11d7or/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 020 - Radia, Barkha Dutthttp://www.pad.ma/Vu11d7or/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes87http://www.pad.ma/Vt8du9n4/info2011-09-04weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090522-091706) Radia and RK Chandoliahttp://www.pad.ma/Vt8du9n4/poster.75.jpgHere, Radia claims how she has used Barkha Dutt, group editor, English news, NDTV, to get Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari to issue a statement clearing some of the misgivings voiced by T.R. Baalu about portfolio allocation. He had been sent to Delhi to meet the Congress leadership with a message from Karunanidhi. But Baalu also spoke to the media. Radia also talks about the need to get Raja in for a second stint as telecom minister and to keep Dayanaidhi Maran out. [Postscipt: It's been pointed out to us that the gentleman (Minister 'X') in this audio is Mr A. Raja's key aide, Mr R.K. Chandolia] - Postscript from [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?269674 Outlook Print] [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndiaYes177http://www.pad.ma/Vsbb71h6/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090530-091732) Radia, Yatishhttp://www.pad.ma/Vsbb71h6/poster.75.jpgAfter getting frantic calls that money for the employees of NewsX hasn't reached yet, Radia and another person discuss with Yatish how NewsX needs to be restructured and managed. Consultants from Wide Angle (represented by one Rahul Kulsheshtra) have been hired, she says, to look at transition and rightsizing of operations. "Bahut saara tamaashaa huaa hai NewsX mein. Creditors need to be cleared" as vendors are turning up with cops at the office," she says. Ms Radia clearly indicates that she -- or whoever "we" is -- is completely in control of NewsX. [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndiaYes652http://www.pad.ma/Vf00rydj/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 006 - Radia, Kanimozhihttp://www.pad.ma/Vf00rydj/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes135http://www.pad.ma/Vgopxkto/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090612-143010) Radia, Rajahttp://www.pad.ma/Vgopxkto/poster.75.jpgThis brief conversation illustrates Radia's sense, or even knowledge, that her phone is being tapped. This is a recurring theme in earlier conversations too. The Raja she is speaking to asks her to call from her a Tata phone. "This phone is OK, naa?" responds Radia. Raja replies: "This one is fine, it's not in my name". [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndiaYes53http://www.pad.ma/Vi37j4ua/info2011-05-14weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090522-161405) Radia and Tarun Dashttp://www.pad.ma/Vi37j4ua/poster.75.jpgA Raja was already tainted by the 2G spectrum allocation. But in May 2009 Radia tells Das that "(Manmohan Singh)…has indicated ok about Raja to (DMK)." She also assures Das, who is close to Sunil Mittal that "(Raja) will behave himself, trust me, he will behave himself". Such was Radia's clout that tainted Raja's appointment sailed through. [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndiaYes414http://www.pad.ma/Vhmudalp/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090529-110537) Radia, Ranjan Bhattacharyahttp://www.pad.ma/Vhmudalp/poster.75.jpgThis conversation is with Vajpayee's foster son in law Ranjan Bhattacharya. Radia tells him "I just saved them (Unitech) from Rs 60 crores of a bounced cheque with Tatas, another one 250 crore kaa outstanding hai all the cheques have bounced. I don't know how many times I have stopped them from going into liquidation," she says. When Bhattacharya mentions that the Unitech bosses probably think that the new commerce minister Anand Sharma is "proprietary", Radia adds: "Haan, he [the Unitech boss] told me, he told me very clearly on the phone abhi tou Anandji aa gaye hain. Look at the great thing ..how much confidence Sonia Gandhi has in him..." Ranjan says he is meeting Sunil Mittal and wants to confabulate with Radia so that "we are on the same page". Radia also talks about how the CII is running around "headless" after Tarun Das' imminent exit. [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndiaYes262http://www.pad.ma/Vfrzbbm7/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090619-091822) Radia, Venkathttp://www.pad.ma/Vfrzbbm7/poster.75.jpgRadia talks to Venkat, who is a part of Ratan Tata's office, about getting a clearance from Tata on a meeting (possibly Sunil Mittal) at a neutral place – at the Chambers or Radia's residence. Venkat also says he (Tata) doesn't want her to come to his (Sunil Mittal's) office as he is worried someone might take undue media advantage (seeing her at Mittal's office). Radia says she can handle the media. She also asks Venkat if he has spoken to his boss (Ratan Tata) about Noel (Tata). [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndiaYes88http://www.pad.ma/Vfs11gi2/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090529-172935) Radia with Tarun Dashttp://www.pad.ma/Vfs11gi2/poster.75.jpgRadia is on the line to Tarun Das, former head of CII. Das says that he had suggested Kamal Nath's name for surface transport ministry. He says Kamal Nath is a doer and can "make his 15 per cent" while doing some national service. Das adds that he had suggested Kamal Nath's name for the portfolio "big time". Das also says that industry is a new area for Anand Sharma and that they would have to educate and brief him. He also speaks about talking to Montek Singh Ahluwalia about exiting the CII and that he would speak to the PM about it because Montek wants him to. Radia tells Tarun Das that Ratan Tata was very worried about Maran taking over telecom, but is very happy now that Raja has come in. [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndiaYes518http://www.pad.ma/Vsn1qxbe/info2011-03-11weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090601-143649) Radia with Manoj Warrierhttp://www.pad.ma/Vsn1qxbe/poster.75.jpgIn a conversation with colleague Manoj Warrier on June 1, 2009, Radia discusses a letter being drafted for Reliance Group's Manoj Modi on a suitable communication plan that will be finally showed to Mukesh Ambani. "You're expecting us to take care of certain situations," she asks Warrier to write, adding "I don't want to go into this whole thing about journalism...gatekeepers". She also sought a decision on blacklisting PTI - "Are you going to work with Tatas to get them blacklisted...do we have an alternative to PTI." [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndiaYes192http://www.pad.ma/Vg9c45xj/info2011-05-28weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090621-110248) Radia, Harinder Singhhttp://www.pad.ma/Vg9c45xj/poster.75.jpgRadia discusses the purchase of some property with Harinder Singh, Founder-Chairman and the Managing Director of Realistic Realtors, for which she had a word with Sanjay Chandra (probably from real estate developers Unitech), "who will have a look at it himself". "Principally, we will go along with it," says Radia. The conversation gives an impression of manipulation of the property price to keep it around (Rs) 60 (crore?) by keeping the number of bidders minimum through support bids from Harinder's companies and also talk about "adjustments" in the mode of payment. [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndiaYes162http://www.pad.ma/Vt8ju7t1/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 062 - Radia, G.Ganapathy Subramanium (ET)http://www.pad.ma/Vt8ju7t1/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes284http://www.pad.ma/Vt8vbomn/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 017 - Radia, Ranjan Bhattacharya (17:00:40)http://www.pad.ma/Vt8vbomn/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes476http://www.pad.ma/Vu07qhwb/info2011-03-11weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090601-105442) Radia, Srinihttp://www.pad.ma/Vu07qhwb/poster.75.jpg"Nita bhaabhi wants a conference call," Srini tells Radia. The problem in hand: How an interview with Society (done by Shobhaa De) hasn't gone according to script. "Between me and you, we had got an edited version to be posted in Hello," he says. But an unedited version of the interview appeared on De's blog, which worries them all. Giving tips on how to manage the media, Radia says that "Mid-Day is totally under control through the relationship that we have through the Tatas." (On the same subject, please see, in the first lot of 140 tapes, [http://pad.ma/Veuq95rh/info #35] and [http://pad.ma/Vui0zwiz/info #36] ) [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndiaYes385http://www.pad.ma/Vsnfhehm/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 009 - Radia, Kanimozhihttp://www.pad.ma/Vsnfhehm/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes150http://www.pad.ma/Vezuyfye/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090531-170208) Radia, Ranjan Bhattacharyahttp://www.pad.ma/Vezuyfye/poster.75.jpgAtal Behari Vajpayee's foster son-in-law recounts to Radia a recent conversation he had with Mukesh Ambani on Bharti's Sunil Mittal seeking Niira Radia's services on a "loose arrangement". 'I Told Mukesh...Sunil (Mittal) Wants Niira To Work For Him' [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndiaYes162http://www.pad.ma/Vgdh29ze/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090626-142650) Radia, R.K.Chandoliahttp://www.pad.ma/Vgdh29ze/poster.75.jpgHere Radia talks to Chandolia on the ways the Tatas can fund a hospital in Perambalur, A. Raja's hometown. Later, the Tata Foundation allotted Rs 9 crore to upgrade hospitals in the district. [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndiaYes117http://www.pad.ma/Vef0ynwz/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090529-200611) Radia, Manoj Modihttp://www.pad.ma/Vef0ynwz/poster.75.jpgIn a conversation with Reliance's Manoj Modi, Niira discusses a bunch of NGOs being considered to file litigation and PILs. 'Look Into It, This Will Be A Very High-Profile, High-Tensile Case' [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndiaYes325http://www.pad.ma/Vfs6zogw/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090630-222159) Radia, R.K.Chandoliahttp://www.pad.ma/Vfs6zogw/poster.75.jpgIn this conversation, Radia is discussing the Justice Reghupathy case (where the Madras High Court judge alleged that a Union minister had tried to influence him, and Dayanidhi Maran immediately pointed fingers at A. Raja). 'Raja Had Nothing To Do With The Madras HC Case'. Also See: Conversation [http://pad.ma/Vg98adu7 #117] with Ratan Tata from the 140 lot [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndiaYes102http://www.pad.ma/Vsaz3vls/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090529-202106) Radia, Jehangir Pochahttp://www.pad.ma/Vsaz3vls/poster.75.jpgThis conversation between the operations head of news channel NewsX and Niira Radia shows how she virtually controls and funds the channel. 'Listen, We Have A Problem Here. Our Salaries Are Due But Money Hasn't Come' [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndiaYes73http://www.pad.ma/Vg9cc3yr/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090620-204334) Radia, Ceciliahttp://www.pad.ma/Vg9cc3yr/poster.75.jpgRadia talks to her secretary Cecilia to fish out a "dossier" on Praful Patel and Air India, which she can pass on to Star News. [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndiaYes58http://www.pad.ma/Vfb5rxms/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090602-094712) Radia, R. K. Chandoliahttp://www.pad.ma/Vfb5rxms/poster.75.jpgRadia chats with Chandolia just after coming out of a meeting with A. Raja, who wants a person to handle his media. Radia offers Chandolia one of her "trusted guys". [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndiaYes147http://www.pad.ma/Vuhut0lb/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090616-203304) Radia, Unknownhttp://www.pad.ma/Vuhut0lb/poster.75.jpgReacting to reports that client Unitech's partner Telenor is facing regulatory clearance issues, Niira makes a case for withholding the FIBP clearance of Swan Telecom, where Anil Ambani had a stake. [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndiaYes48http://www.pad.ma/Vhmci86f/info2011-05-28weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 124 - Radia, Sunil Arorahttp://www.pad.ma/Vhmci86f/poster.75.jpgAsking Sunil Arora to send pointers for Tarun Das who's meeting the PM on how Naresh Goyal and Vijay Mallya have connived with the minister to destroy Air India [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes281http://www.pad.ma/Vfgk7ed3/info2012-01-23weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 104 - Radia, R.K. Chandoliahttp://www.pad.ma/Vfgk7ed3/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes106http://www.pad.ma/Ve2m6yt1/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 027 - Radia, Kanimozhihttp://www.pad.ma/Ve2m6yt1/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes447http://www.pad.ma/Vgdov3jr/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 051 - Radia, G.Ganapathy Subramanium (ET)http://www.pad.ma/Vgdov3jr/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes402http://www.pad.ma/Vs7c9giq/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 001 - Radia, A.Rajahttp://www.pad.ma/Vs7c9giq/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes120http://www.pad.ma/Vs6i6zf5/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 018 - Radia, Barkha Dutthttp://www.pad.ma/Vs6i6zf5/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes117http://www.pad.ma/Vgpppt5n/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 007 - Radia, Barkha Dutthttp://www.pad.ma/Vgpppt5n/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes106http://www.pad.ma/Vezpca89/info2011-05-16weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 065 - Radia, R.Sridharan (ET Now)http://www.pad.ma/Vezpca89/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes712http://www.pad.ma/Vhmii4i1/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 010 - Radia, Vir Sanghvihttp://www.pad.ma/Vhmii4i1/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes251http://www.pad.ma/Vgdtbsgp/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 004 - Radia, Barkha Dutt (09:58:45)http://www.pad.ma/Vgdtbsgp/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes61http://www.pad.ma/Vg80l4p9/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 114 - Radia, Rajdeep Sardesaihttp://www.pad.ma/Vg80l4p9/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes147http://www.pad.ma/Vgp26fyf/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 005 - Radia, Shankkar Aiyarhttp://www.pad.ma/Vgp26fyf/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes251http://www.pad.ma/Vulnp66k/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 095 - Radia, Tarun Dashttp://www.pad.ma/Vulnp66k/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes652http://www.pad.ma/Vt2xiy1v/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 012 - Radia, Vir Sanghvihttp://www.pad.ma/Vt2xiy1v/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes91http://www.pad.ma/Vgdmz1vs/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 034 - Radia, Vir Sanghvihttp://www.pad.ma/Vgdmz1vs/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes60http://www.pad.ma/Vhaq2tyf/info2011-06-27weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 003 - Radia, Barkha Dutt (09:48:51)http://www.pad.ma/Vhaq2tyf/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes206http://www.pad.ma/Vhmsg4ul/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 140 - Radia, G.Ganapathy Subramanium (ET)http://www.pad.ma/Vhmsg4ul/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes385http://www.pad.ma/Vg86s594/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 024 - Radia, Vir Sanghvihttp://www.pad.ma/Vg86s594/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes165http://www.pad.ma/Vdx5vuok/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 090 - Radia, G.Ganapathy Subramanium (ET)http://www.pad.ma/Vdx5vuok/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes563http://www.pad.ma/Vejnhn3w/info2011-06-28weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 118 - Radia, Jaideep Bose (TOI)http://www.pad.ma/Vejnhn3w/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes592http://www.pad.ma/Vfgry5sx/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 011 - Radia, A. Rajahttp://www.pad.ma/Vfgry5sx/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes165http://www.pad.ma/Vfwznkw1/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 032 - Radia, Kanimozhihttp://www.pad.ma/Vfwznkw1/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes195http://www.pad.ma/Vhmsi99z/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 014 - Radia, Barkha Dutthttp://www.pad.ma/Vhmsi99z/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes76http://www.pad.ma/Vi7gq03x/info2011-09-04weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 050 - Radia, Rajathi Ammalhttp://www.pad.ma/Vi7gq03x/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook India This conversation is between Ratnam, Chartered Accountant of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi’s third wife Rajathiammal, Rajathiammal herself and Niira Radia.Yes281http://www.pad.ma/Vh634y8v/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 116 - Radia, Rakesh Hari Pathak (Economic Bureau Chief PTI)http://www.pad.ma/Vh634y8v/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes224http://www.pad.ma/Vgpvuj5u/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 016 - Radia, Ranjan Bhattacharya (16:55:35)http://www.pad.ma/Vgpvuj5u/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes284http://www.pad.ma/Vdy5fcma/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 045 - Radia, Ratan Tatahttp://www.pad.ma/Vdy5fcma/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes1082http://www.pad.ma/Vt32y0dr/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 106 - Radia, Manoj Warrierhttp://www.pad.ma/Vt32y0dr/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes162http://www.pad.ma/Vfsmvz4x/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 031 - Radia, Vir Sanghvihttp://www.pad.ma/Vfsmvz4x/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes268http://www.pad.ma/Vu17a0xh/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 134 - Radia, N.K.Singhhttp://www.pad.ma/Vu17a0xh/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes551http://www.pad.ma/Vf011105/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 030 - Radia, A.Rajahttp://www.pad.ma/Vf011105/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes90http://www.pad.ma/Vgoq9ur1/info2011-05-13weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 008 - Radia, Shankkar Aiyarhttp://www.pad.ma/Vgoq9ur1/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes370http://www.pad.ma/Vi37m00n/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 015 - Radia, Jehangir Pochahttp://www.pad.ma/Vi37m00n/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes61http://www.pad.ma/Vss7x8il/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 044 - Radia, Manoj Modihttp://www.pad.ma/Vss7x8il/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes893http://www.pad.ma/Vhlysmbs/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 022 - Radia, Kanimozhihttp://www.pad.ma/Vhlysmbs/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes237http://www.pad.ma/Vuh8uq0h/info2011-03-11weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 033 - Radia, A.Rajahttp://www.pad.ma/Vuh8uq0h/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes207http://www.pad.ma/Vtoxber8/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 135 - Radia, Barkha Dutt, Manoj Modihttp://www.pad.ma/Vtoxber8/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook IndiaYes58http://www.pad.ma/Vgu2aqwr/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 013 - Radia, Kanimozhihttp://www.pad.ma/Vgu2aqwr/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook India.Yes221http://www.pad.ma/Vtkhzp6v/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 048 - Radia, Tarun Dashttp://www.pad.ma/Vtkhzp6v/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook India.Yes742http://www.pad.ma/Vhrfcj35/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 110 - Radia, Ratan Tatahttp://www.pad.ma/Vhrfcj35/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] on Outlook India.Yes195http://www.pad.ma/Vfg2iztq/info2012-01-10weekly1.0Photojournalism - Interview with Chirodeep Chaudharihttp://www.pad.ma/Vfg2iztq/poster.75.jpgChirodeep Chaudhari is the photo-editor at TimeOut magazine, the Mumbai edition. He has worked with on the photography teams at the Sunday Observer and the Outlook group of magazines. He has also headed the photography department at traveljini.com His work is a part of the permanent collections at the Peabody Essex Museum, (Salem, U.S.A.), the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts (Japan), the Museum of Fine Arts (Houston, U.S.A.), and many private collections in India. Through this interview, Chirodeep helps us gain insight into ethical dilemmas that confront a photograoher, the subject's consent and invasion of privacy, the chain of information and how it has changed over the period of his 15 year career. We also discuss the changes, both positive and negative, that digital media and the possibility of digital manipulation have made to the profession. Does the audience see what the photographer meant for them to see? In the chain, does the message get warped or trivialised or sensationalised? Does the photographer's intent get conveyed or not? Does text change the connotations of a picture, and if so how? Chirodeep answers these questions and much more, with a lot of reference to his personal work and unpublished archives. To be noted are the following series by him: Mumbai's Suburban Train Graffiti and The One Rupee Entrepreneur. A lot of his work is based in Mumbai, like the book Bombay Then, Mumbai Now. Chirodeep shows how something as oft photographed as the Victoria Terminus can be shown in a different way, and thus pushes thought towards a whole new world of interpretations and ideas. Interviewer: Bhanuj KappalYes5569http://www.pad.ma/Vh5t6zfo/info2012-01-10weekly1.0Photojournalism - Interview with Zishaan Akbar Latifhttp://www.pad.ma/Vh5t6zfo/poster.75.jpgZishaan Latif is not a photojournalist. He prefers to be known as a photographer. He has been published in NY Magazine, Private Magazine, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, BusinessWeek, The Australian, The Sun and Brand Equity - Economic Times. He's worked with and photographed a lot of NGOs and development work. This interview with him explores various topics such as the juxtaposition of text and photographs and the effects this can have on audience perception, the challenges faced by photojournalism as an institution today, Cartier-Bresson's Decisive Moment, and ethical dilemmas. We also discuss the ease with which digital media allows the formation of a stream (or flood, depending on the way you look at it) of images. Does this challenge photojournalism as an instrument to influence society by making it more difficult for any particular image to stick in public consciousness? Zishaan tells us about all this and more with reference to a lot of his own images and photo-essays: Bokator Bandits, Ability in Disability and Kashmir Living being among his series that stand out particularly. Interviewer: Bhanuj KappalYes2758http://www.pad.ma/Vg98adu7/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 117 - Radia with Tatahttp://www.pad.ma/Vg98adu7/poster.75.jpg[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes]Yes860http://www.pad.ma/Vdxtzud8/info2011-08-28weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090524-163643) Radia with Ceciliahttp://www.pad.ma/Vdxtzud8/poster.75.jpg Kanimozhi appears to have opted out of the cabinet race. Niira Radia is talking to Cecilia (probably an employee) that Kani will not settle for anything less than a minister with independent charge. She doesn't want to work under Dayanidhi Maran. Her view is that he (Maran) shouldn't be there in the first place. "Don't worry," says Nira, "I think there is still a chance." [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndiaYes132http://www.pad.ma/Vfgemnpn/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090620-162017) Radia with Vir Sanghvihttp://www.pad.ma/Vfgemnpn/poster.75.jpgRadia calls up Vir Sanghvi on June 20, 2009, the day before his Counterpoint column appears in HT. "Wrote it", says Sanghvi, "I've dressed it up as a piece about how public will not stand for resources being cornered, how we're creating a new list of oligarchs…" Niira Radia replies: "Very nice, lovely, thank you, Vir." Sanghvi goes on to say, "It's dressed up as a plea to Manmohan Singh, so it won't look like an inter-Ambani battle except to people in the know." [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndiaYes88http://www.pad.ma/Vh5xa6vo/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090529-144000) Radia with Poongothai Aladi Arunahttp://www.pad.ma/Vh5xa6vo/poster.75.jpgThe conversation has Niira Radia explaining to Tamil Nadu Minister for Information Technology, DMK's Poongothai Aladi Aruna, why Kanimozhi has made a mistake by refusing the MoS portfolio and how she now must remain friends with Azhagiri. "She should have taken the MoS, but she had her own views. Kani must learn to look after herself. This is politics and it is very cut throat, nobody is your friend, nobody is your enemy. I don't know whether she feels that she's made a mistake and recognises it. Please, you must talk to her and tell her to be friend with Azarigiri. Trust me, it's very important for them to remains friends." [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndiaYes251http://www.pad.ma/Vev9ymm1/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090529-125323) Radia with N.K.Singhhttp://www.pad.ma/Vev9ymm1/poster.75.jpgSoon after the new cabinet is formed, Radia and former bureaucrat N.K. Singh discuss its fallout with the latter sharing his insight into the ups and downs of those appointed. He terms the new cabinet as "Shivji ki baaraat" (a reference, as he explains, to the baaraat of Shivji -- the marriage party of Lord Shiva -- that consisted of many creatures from scorpions, serpents, elephants to "tame deers"). But in a clear reference to Kamal Nath's alleged financial wrongdoings in UPA I, Singh says Nath has been shown his place. [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndiaYes266http://www.pad.ma/Vu0o3aeu/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090620-115901) Radia with Manoj Warrierhttp://www.pad.ma/Vu0o3aeu/poster.75.jpgA month after the cabinet formation, it is business as usual. They discuss an "income tax matter" for a client who has told them "We are in a fight. Hum logo ke survival ka sawaal hai". Her client was unhappy that Radia & Co had not briefed journalists well. After all, she says "aisa to nahin…ki Raja ne samjahaya nahin hoga income tax ka implication." What was the "implication"? [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndiaYes73http://www.pad.ma/Vdxpcma3/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090622-120534) Radia with Sunil Arorahttp://www.pad.ma/Vdxpcma3/poster.75.jpgShe dictates to 1980-batch IAS officer Sunil Arora to speak to a journalist for a story critical of aviation minister Praful Patel. "Then I should return his call?" asks Arora. "Of course, of course," she says. While a key member of India's administrative steel frame shares an easy camaraderie with Radia, they also discuss a "Rajiv Singh" who is "in London". [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndiaYes73http://www.pad.ma/Vtpgufwy/info2011-05-29weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090627-141520) Radia, unknownhttp://www.pad.ma/Vtpgufwy/poster.75.jpgBefore the conversation begins, some colourful language is directed at one Sarogi. The caller asks if the letter has been sent forward. When Radia affirms that, he congratulates her, "well done…good work" and Radia agrees. The unknown caller then says he is talking to Vikram and he will call Ravi. Radia says, "I'm taking the letter when I meet Mr (Ratan) Tata tonight". She then talks about fixing a time for July 10 onwards: "The meeting can be in London, New York, Bombay or South Africa," says the unknown caller. [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndiaYes72http://www.pad.ma/Vs6u3q08/info2011-03-11weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090620-140608) Radia, Vishal Mehtahttp://www.pad.ma/Vs6u3q08/poster.75.jpgRadia asks this employee to speak to Shankkar Aiyar of India Today because "Prabhu (Chawla) kaa call gayaa Ranjan (Bhattacharya) ko, ki Mukesh se baat karaa dey, Anil is way ahead, ask Mukesh to be careful and this and that". "Before I speak to Prabhu, I need to know what his mind is," says Radia. [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndia Yes57http://www.pad.ma/Vum02zsv/info2011-05-10weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090618-185014) Radia with Noel Tatahttp://www.pad.ma/Vum02zsv/poster.75.jpgNiira Radia has a chat with Noel Tata on June 18, 2009, discussing the media plan for Trent Ltd's board agreeing to renew his managing director contract for another five years. "These are the times when the fact that I never speak to anybody come to my rescue," says Noel Tata. Radia replies, "Which is why I stopped the BusinessWorld story and shifted it to Business Today, because I got the questions I wanted….and not the questions that they wanted." [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndia Yes117http://www.pad.ma/Vu11hgnz/info2011-05-29weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090619-140812) Radia with unknown (Mohan?)http://www.pad.ma/Vu11hgnz/poster.75.jpgIn this conversation on June 19 with an unknown person, Radia pushes the case for a bureaucrat – industries secretary, West Bengal government, an IAS officer of the 1977 batch – who is applying to the center, "a very good guy". Radia says she has talked to the minister about it – "he says we can talk about it." She then fixes up a meeting with the unknown person. [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndia Yes73http://www.pad.ma/Vhadr6jb/info2011-03-09weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090601-140555) Radia with Yatishhttp://www.pad.ma/Vhadr6jb/poster.75.jpgRadia talks to employee Yatish. She tells him to prepare the questions for Vir (Sanghvi) of HT since he has agreed to ask whatever questions they suggest. She says that Vir is starting a new series of interviews and he wants to start with Mukesh Ambani or Ratan Tata. She asks Yatish to mobilise all resources to draw up the questions. [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618 800 New Radia Tapes] on OutlookIndiaYes310http://www.pad.ma/Vsmrke3t/info2011-05-10weekly1.0Radia Tapes: (20090531-205054) Radia with Atulhttp://www.pad.ma/Vsmrke3t/poster.75.jpgIn this May 31, 2009 conversation, Radia tries to manipulate the media against Anil Ambani's RCom. She talks to one of her colleagues Atul, who looks after regional and vernacular media, trying to highlight some development in Jammu where RCom is involved but the police have not named them. While Atul says that he believes they (RCom) have managed the SSP, Radia says: "Unless the media puts pressure on the SSP to name the operator," RCom will escape this. Also talks about informing the DoT about this, not through the media but "on their own". [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618]Yes533http://www.pad.ma/Vu1bhotv/info2011-12-29weekly1.0KGF: Rushes 5: Interview on the various miner's strikes in Kolarhttp://www.pad.ma/Vu1bhotv/poster.75.jpgThis video segment opens with a view of the inside of the mine shaft elevator, as it climbs up from the depths of the mines onto the ground level. This is followed by an interview that begins with a rousing song sung by workers against the manager of the mines. The rest of the interview switches between 1997 when this interview was shot and the Kolar mines were being closed down and 1958 when the interview subject was part of a strike against the management of the mines. Janaki Nair's historical research on Kolar gives an account of a strike even further back in 1930, against mandatory finger printing of all workers, curtailing their freedom to find employment elsewhere and in other mines. Paradoxically, as Nair found in the course of making this film, and as is evident in this interview, the European manager or owner of the mine is spoken about as a glorious past, rather than the oppressor in the colonial regime. The European was fair, balanced, brave, helpful and non-partisan, while in the post independence period when Indians became managers of the mine, they mismanaged the mines or were distant and disengaged from the everyday trials of the miner. The interviewee here describes how the Indian manager stood aside and let miners die under the debris of an airblast or rockblast in the mine. The Indian manager also fails to see that there is still gold in the mines to be got, though the big pieces of pure gold have been taken away by the European or Dorai (Anglo Indian). Yes1653http://www.pad.ma/Veivqvcl/info2011-12-29weekly1.0KGF: Rushes 6: Interview about conditions of mining in Kolar (contd)http://www.pad.ma/Veivqvcl/poster.75.jpgIn this video, the interview from KGF5 continues with the interviewee and his wife, Amular Mary. This is followed by the rendition of two more songs about life in Kolar, the struggles of miners and their feelings and thoughts. After this, a man is interviewed about the blasting exercises in the mine, the use of explosives, the cleaning up of the field and remnants of gelatin in the blast holes, the dangers faced by those who didn't take all the precautions. The man gives exhaustive details of the entire process of cleaning up after an explosion properly so as to not be inadvertently in the line of misfires, post the blasts. It also gives a sense not merely of the dangers faced, but also the prudence and toil in the everyday life of the miner and labourer in Kolar. Yes2206http://www.pad.ma/Vfb9v4gu/info2012-01-21weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 096 Radia, G Ganapathy Subramaniam (Pressurising ET)http://www.pad.ma/Vfb9v4gu/poster.75.jpg10:11:50 am [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes]Yes132http://www.pad.ma/Vdxjeazm/info2011-06-27weekly1.0Radia Tapes: 046 - Radia, Rashmi (ET)http://www.pad.ma/Vdxjeazm/poster.75.jpgRashmi argument on Tata Bharti talks rumour [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268069 The Power Tapes] Yes578http://www.pad.ma/Vu5ibexk/info2011-02-02weekly1.0Some Environmental Concerns in the Films of Tsai Ming Lianghttp://www.pad.ma/Vu5ibexk/poster.75.jpg Notes on objects, spaces and people in the films of Tsai Ming Liang.Yes2741http://www.pad.ma/Vhluigxn/info2010-11-03weekly1.0ITF: Not the Drama Seminar - Talk by Aparna Dharwadkarhttp://www.pad.ma/Vhluigxn/poster.75.jpgOrganised fifty years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. This seminar meditated on the nature of theatre in India today, on how we got to where we are. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, bringing these several faces of Indian theatre face-to-face, and to problemetise the issues that arise therein. These ideas were exchanged through a series of presentations and discussions over five days, and each day ended with a performance. [http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/] Yes2514http://www.pad.ma/Vhmcfglf/info2010-10-31weekly1.0A little justice goes a long wayhttp://www.pad.ma/Vhmcfglf/poster.75.jpgOn the 16th of February Egyptian worker Nagy Rashad raised a court case against the Egyptian president, prime minister and minister of industry calling for an increase of minimum wage currently set at LE35 ($6) a month. On April 30th Nagy won the case and the court ruled that the prime minister had one month to increase Egypt's minimum wage to a level where it would be in accordance with market prices. After a 30 day grace period given to the prime minister to implement the court ruling a protest took place at the prime minister's office in downtown Cairo. Leading up to this event film-maker Philip Rizk made this video in order to raise awareness to the urgency of the matter. On 2 May 2010 hundreds of workers and activists protested for the implementation of the court case. The video was distributed online via social networks to raise awareness to the legal victory backing the protest. Yes461http://www.pad.ma/Vsnvbiz7/info2011-05-17weekly1.0GBGB: Edited video of Sathe Nagar demolition in 2010http://www.pad.ma/Vsnvbiz7/poster.75.jpgThis video, shot and edited by activists of the Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan, documents the demolition of Anna Bhau Sathe Nagar on May 12, 2010. Anna Bhau Sathe Nagar, a slum settlement of approximately 3,000 families, lies in the north-eastern suburb of Mankhurd in Mumbai. It is named after the famous <i>lok shahir</i> (folk poet), and most people living here are from Dalit and minority communities. See raw footage [http://pad.ma/Vt8pqwfx/info here]. Yes757http://www.pad.ma/Vt8pqwfx/info2011-05-17weekly1.0GBGB: Footage of Sathe Nagar demolition in 2010http://www.pad.ma/Vt8pqwfx/poster.75.jpgHere is footage of the demolition of Anna Bhau Sathe Nagar on May 12, 2010, recorded by the activists of the Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan. Anna Bhau Sathe Nagar, a slum settlement of approximately 3,000 families, lies in the north-eastern suburb of Mankhurd in Mumbai. It is named after the famous lok shahir (folk poet), and most people living here are from Dalit and minority communities. See the edited version [http://pad.ma/Vsnvbiz7/info here].Yes598http://www.pad.ma/Ve2u7sq1/info2011-09-06weekly1.0Freedom of Expression: Interview with Nishant Shah http://www.pad.ma/Ve2u7sq1/poster.75.jpgNishant Shah is a scholar, writer and the Research Director at the Center for Internet and Society in Bangalore. His primary focus is in technology mediated identities, spaces and everyday cultural practices. In this short interview, Shah speaks about culture, technology, the DPS MMS clip and most specifically about the anxieties of the State around illegal subjectivities and illicit practices of the 'citizen'. The interview ends rather abruptly because the camera person is feeling faint on that particular day and suddenly collapses, behind the camera. The interview had to be discontinued, though it was decided that this happened particularly because of the sensitivity of the camera person and the one-too-many mentions of pornography in this short interview. It is nonetheless an eloquent interview about contemporary concerns around the internet, relating it to State governance and role of technology. Shah's arguments are also elaborated upon through his writings on technology and specifically his article on the three figures of the pervert, pirate and terrorist. (See ‘Subject to Technology: Internet Pornography, Cyber-terrorism and the Indian State’, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 8:3, 2007, pp.349 – 366.)Yes655http://www.pad.ma/Vtpalyw7/info2012-01-10weekly1.0Photojournalism - Interview with Mukesh Parpianihttp://www.pad.ma/Vtpalyw7/poster.75.jpgMukesh Parpiani is currently the Head - Piramal Art Gallery, NCPA. He has previously worked with The Daily, Indian Express and Mid-Day. Mukesh has made photographs during the Gujarat riots, and during the Bombay riots. He's made photos of Indira Gandhi and of the Mumbai police. Having been in the field for so many years, this veteran photojournalist also helps us understand more about how digital media has changed the field of photojournalism, about sourcing and editing, and how one goes about on his/her beat. This interview with him spans over his whole career and has him giving us insight into his most iconic images, and those that have been closest to his heart. It also focuses on the questions of the ethics of photojournalism - to shoot or not to shoot when the dilemma is that of the dignity of one life vs. the disperal of information? Mukesh also tells us what he thinks about censorship, the subject's consent and invasion of privacy. This is especially brought out through the photographs he has taken of Aruna Shanbag. Through gripping anecdotes, Mukesh has brought out some very interesting and essential points when it comes to the ethical dilemmas faced by photojournalists. Interviewer: Reema Sengupta. Yes2923http://www.pad.ma/Vg86faad/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Odissi: Kumkum Lal and Kelucharan Mohapatra - Aoyamahttp://www.pad.ma/Vg86faad/poster.75.jpgYes5574http://www.pad.ma/Vh5h1nuz/info2011-02-19weekly1.0Odissi: Kumkum Lal - Second performance at Studio 200http://www.pad.ma/Vh5h1nuz/poster.75.jpgKumkum Lal spent four years in Tokyo, Japan, teaching and performing Odissi extensively. In 1986, with her husband Ashok, she hosted Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra (Guruji) and a group of musicians including the renowned composer Pt. Bhubaneswar Mishra, from India, for a month. During his stay there, Guruji taught Kumkum and held workshops for her students. Kumkum and Guruji also travelled across Japan, holding lecture demonstrations at universities and performing in different environments. Two of their performances were at Studio 200, a performance space (ostensibly named thus because it seated 200 people). Studio 200 was part of the Seibu Department Stores in Ikebukuro, a shopping and entertainment district in Tokyo. The performances at Studio 200 featured most of the pieces they performed during their tour of Japan. This performance is probably one of their longest in Japan, at one hour and forty minutes. It features Mohana Pallavi and Batu Nritya, not performed elsewhere during the tour, apart from Kuru Yadunandana, performed by Kumkum and duets in Yahi Madhava and Priye Charusheele, where the neat storyline explains the estrangement of Radha and Krishna and their subsequent reunion. The recordings at Studio 200 are distinguished by their equal emphasis on the verbal description of what is performed. In both clips, after the mangalacharan and pallavi, Kumkum takes to the stage several times as she explains ashtapadis from the Gita Govinda in detail and participates in structured conversations with local specialists of Indian culture. It is probably the ‘avant-garde’ nature of the space and its intimate capacity that makes the performance part staged act, part lecture demonstration. Unlike the lecture demonstration at the university, where Kumkum mostly communicates by herself in a mixture of English and Japanese, here, most speech is translated into Japanese by others. While explaining the ashtapadis to her audiences, there are instances where her interpreters must perforce pause and blush as they find appropriate words to articulate what Kumkum has just said. Kumkum Lal has been a disciple of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra for more than four decades. Her initial training in Odissi was under Guru Harekrishna Behera, and she has also studied and performed creative dance with Narendra Sharma, and Chhau under Guru Krishna Chandra Naik. She has taught English at Delhi University. She was a keen reviewer of dance and has acted in plays. She has worked with Sangeet Natak Akademi as the head of their dance section and was awarded a senior fellowship by the Indian government to work on a Sanskrit treatise on Odissi. Here, her student Ranjana Dave converses with her as they watch these videos again, while reminiscence and hindsight come together. The years Ranjana spent learning from Kumkum were full of invaluable dancing, enriching conversations on all and sundry, and much relief from hostel food. Translations of all the ashtapadis seen here have been adapted from 'Sri Gitagovinda' (trans. Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja, Gaudiya Vedanta Publications, Mathura, 2005) with inputs from Kumkum Lal. Yes6146http://www.pad.ma/Vg8ig4uv/info2011-01-04weekly1.0Odissi: Kumkum Lal performs at a Noh theatrehttp://www.pad.ma/Vg8ig4uv/poster.75.jpgKumkum Lal spent four years in Tokyo, Japan, teaching and performing Odissi extensively. In 1986, with her husband Ashok, she hosted Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra (Guruji) and a group of musicians including the renowned composer Pt. Bhubaneswar Mishra, from India, for a month. During his stay there, Guruji taught Kumkum and held workshops for her students. Kumkum and Guruji also travelled across Japan, holding lecture demonstrations at universities and performing in different environments. During their tour, the group was once allowed permission to perform at a prominent Noh theatre, or Nohgakodu, in Tokyo. Performing something other than Noh at a Nohgakodu is a privilege that is hard to come by. The Noh stage, with its sloping roof and long walkway (hashigakari) is nothing short of awe-inspiring. Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra immediately capitalises on the Noh architecture by weaving its pillars and walkway into the performance. Thus an errant Krishna might watch Radha guiltily, hiding behind some form of forest cover, veiled in the semi-darkness of dawn, as he watches Radha waste away in their secret grove. The mangalacharan and Saveri Pallavi are performed by Kumkum, followed by an ashtapadi, after which Guruji performs an Oriya abhinaya. Kumkum returns to perform Khamaj Pallavi, after which they perform two pieces from the Gitagovinda, ‘yahi madhava’ and ‘priye charusheele’. The first portrays Radha as khandita nayika, an angry lover who takes Krishna to task and is unwilling to forgive him. Radha in ‘priye charusheele’ is a lover torn between the urge to stay angry and the desire to forgive him and return to their blissful existence together. The programme ends with a short moksha performed by Kumkum. Kumkum Lal has been a disciple of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra for more than four decades. Her initial training in Odissi was under Guru Harekrishna Behera, and she has also studied and performed creative dance with Narendra Sharma, and Chhau under Guru Krishna Chandra Naik. She has taught English at Delhi University. She was a keen reviewer of dance and has acted in plays. She has worked with Sangeet Natak Akademi as the head of their dance section and was awarded a senior fellowship by the Indian government to work on a Sanskrit treatise on Odissi. Guruji is at his histrionic best in his pieces from the Gitagovinda. Endearingly, he brings Krishna to life with his attention to detail – right down to the stains from the ‘grapes’ he ate while he was busy kissing another woman’s collyrium-stained eyes. Here, her student Ranjana Dave converses with her as they watch these videos again, while reminiscence and hindsight come together. The years Ranjana spent learning from Kumkum were full of invaluable dancing, enriching conversations on all and sundry, and much relief from hostel food. Translations of all the ashtapadis seen here have been adapted from 'Sri Gitagovinda' (trans. Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja, Gaudiya Vedanta Publications, Mathura, 2005) with inputs from Kumkum Lal. Yes5039http://www.pad.ma/Vh5z2mau/info2011-09-06weekly1.0Freedom of Expression: Interview with David Matheison (Burma)http://www.pad.ma/Vh5z2mau/poster.75.jpgThe situation regarding censorship in Burma or Myanmar, has become increasingly severe leading to the house arrest of their leader Aung San Suu Kyi (released finally in 2011). However several independent efforts have been underway including the publication of magazines, radio channels, video and television channels and use of internet as well. An important record of the situation in Burma and how video was used is the documentary film, Burma VJ (2007) which was made out of smuggled hand-held footage made in Burma. David Matheison works on issues related to Burma, including censorship for Human Rights Watch. He lives and works in the border town Mae Sot located within Thailand. In this interview he speaks about the situation in Burma in 2009, the repression of speech and the ordinary ways (using proxy servers etc.) by which users were bypassing censorship mechanisms of the State. A few streets away from the cafe where this interview was shot, was the actual border between Thailand and Myanmar. This border is marked by a rivulet flowing across and a bridge across the rivulet, where the officials in charge of immigration and police are stationed. There are however countless crossing-overs across the water, on inflated tires - a young boy usually steers the tire along with the flow of the river, either against or with its current, to safely deposit his 'passengers' across the water, and across the border. Yes2078http://www.pad.ma/Vt3mplo9/info2012-01-02weekly1.0Freedom of Expression: Interview with David Matheison - Part 2http://www.pad.ma/Vt3mplo9/poster.75.jpgThe situation regarding censorship in Burma or Myanmar, has become increasingly severe leading to the house arrest of their leader Aung San Suu Kyi (released finally in 2011). However several independent efforts have been underway including the publication of magazines, radio channels, video and television channels and use of internet as well. An important record of the situation in Burma and how video was used is the documentary film, Burma VJ (2007) which was made out of smuggled hand-held footage made in Burma. David Matheison works on issues related to Burma, including censorship for Human Rights Watch. He lives and works in the border town Mae Sot located within Thailand. In this interview he speaks about the situation in Burma in 2009, the repression of speech and the ordinary ways (using proxy servers etc.) by which users were bypassing censorship mechanisms of the State. A few streets away from the cafe where this interview was shot, was the actual border between Thailand and Myanmar. This border is marked by a rivulet flowing across and a bridge across the rivulet, where the officials in charge of immigration and police are stationed. There are however countless crossing-overs across the water, on inflated tires - a young boy usually steers the tire along with the flow of the river, either against or with its current, to safely deposit his 'passengers' across the water, and across the border.Yes103http://www.pad.ma/Vh5r9ouy/info2011-09-06weekly1.0Freedom of Expression: Interview with Danny Butt http://www.pad.ma/Vh5r9ouy/poster.75.jpgThis is an interview with Danny Butt, a writer, teacher and consultant on culture and technology, based in Aotearoa New Zealand. Here the interview is about the role of the internet, free speech movements, sexuality and the discourse by which internet is defined and understood. The interview is taken in front of a large window along the coast of the island of Penang, an exceptional food paradise in Malaysia. In this interview Danny Butt ends by referring to the internet as a space that offers a variety of meanings, hopes, explanations that are not possible within the strict definitions provided by modern, heteronormative, familial and familar paradigms.Yes1703http://www.pad.ma/Vev2egu1/info2011-09-06weekly1.0Freedom of Expression: Interview with filmmaker Martyn See (Singapore)http://www.pad.ma/Vev2egu1/poster.75.jpgMartyn See is a filmmaker based in Singapore and an activist. He made two films whose circulation was ruthlessly repressed by the Singapore regime. Many of his films are a critique of the role played by long-term leader of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew. The films spoke about the leaders of the Singapore Democratic Party (only opposition to the ruling party) and about freedom, politics and repression in Singapore. In this interview Martyn See speaks about his experience of censorship at the Singapore film festival and the subsequent popularity of his films that circulated on the internet. The two controversials films referred to are Zahari's 17 years and Singapore Rebel. In the background of this interview is a restaurant at the corner of Little India in Singapore, that is mostly populated by Tamilians who have migrated to Singapore. Little India is one of the few lively segments in Singapore, and this restaurant that served non-vegetarian food was very unlike the usual ordered vision of daily life in Singapore.Yes1168http://www.pad.ma/Vfg2gnrc/info2011-07-11weekly1.0Freedom of Expression: Interview with Ronald Dielbert, Munk Centre, Canadahttp://www.pad.ma/Vfg2gnrc/poster.75.jpgRon Deibert is Director of the Canada Centre for Global Security Studies and the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto. The Citizen Lab is an interdisciplinary research and development hothouse working at the intersection of the Internet, global security, and human rights. He is a co-founder and a principal investigator of the OpenNet Initiative and Information Warfare Monitor projects, and has also created the Psiphon project that works alongwith a browser to ensure that internet activity cannot be tracked. In this interview, Ron Deibert speaks about censorship and governance practices in Asia specifically and across a wide range of governments and countries. He speaks specifically also about third generation internet governance strategies of the State, that involve throttling opposition web spaces, reducing internet speed and also flooding cyberspace with content that is in accordance to State agenda. Yes1876http://www.pad.ma/Vt42q4jj/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Odissi: Kumkum Lal - First Performance at Studio 200http://www.pad.ma/Vt42q4jj/poster.75.jpgKumkum Lal spent four years in Tokyo, Japan, teaching and performing Odissi extensively. In 1986, with her husband Ashok, she hosted Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra (Guruji) and a group of musicians including the renowned composer Pt. Bhubaneswar Mishra, from India, for a month. During his stay there, Guruji taught Kumkum and held workshops for her students. Kumkum and Guruji also travelled across Japan, holding lecture demonstrations at universities and performing in different environments. Two of their performances were at Studio 200, a performance space (ostensibly named thus because it seated 200 people). Studio 200 was part of the Seibu Department Stores in Ikebukuro, a shopping and entertainment district in Tokyo. The performances at Studio 200 featured most of the pieces they performed during their tour of Japan. This performance is around 75 minutes long with a variety of pieces from the Gitagovinda, including Dasavatara and Dheere Sameere. The other performance, almost two hours in length, features Mohana Pallavi and Batu Nritya, apart from what became their signature duet piece during the tour - Yahi Madhava and Priye Charusheele performed back-to-back. Kumkum Lal has been a disciple of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra for more than four decades. Her initial training in Odissi was under Guru Harekrishna Behera, and she has also studied and performed creative dance with Narendra Sharma, and Chhau under Guru Krishna Chandra Naik. She has taught English at Delhi University. She was a keen reviewer of dance and has acted in plays. She has worked with Sangeet Natak Akademi as the head of their dance section and was awarded a senior fellowship by the Indian government to work on a Sanskrit treatise on Odissi. Here, her student Ranjana Dave converses with her as they watch these videos again, while reminiscence and hindsight come together. The years Ranjana spent learning from Kumkum were full of invaluable dancing, enriching conversations on all and sundry, and much relief from hostel food. Translations of all the ashtapadis seen here have been adapted from 'Sri Gitagovinda' (trans. Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja, Gaudiya Vedanta Publications, Mathura, 2005) with inputs from Kumkum Lal. Yes4562http://www.pad.ma/Vh6az6iy/info2011-07-14weekly1.0Yami He for the Srjan archiveshttp://www.pad.ma/Vh6az6iy/poster.75.jpgKumkum Lal has been a disciple of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra for more than four decades. Her initial training in Odissi was under Guru Harekrishna Behera, and she has also studied and performed creative dance with Narendra Sharma, and Chhau under Guru Krishna Chandra Naik. She has taught English at Delhi University. She was a keen reviewer of dance and has acted in plays. She has worked with Sangeet Natak Akademi as the head of their dance section and was awarded a senior fellowship by the Indian government to work on a Sanskrit treatise on Odissi. In 1998, after a long hiatus from performance, Kumkum went to Orissa to attend and perform at an Odissi conference organised by the Sangeet Natak Akademi. During her time in Bhubaneswar, she also recorded a version of the ashtapadi ‘Yami He’ for the archive being set up by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra’s son, Ratikanta. While Kumkum did not have much to say about the conditions in which this recording was created, the absence of such detail created a continuous narrative of sanchari; simply put, sanchari is the mimetic elaboration of the text. Kumkum returned to the video on a rainy afternoon, when all of Delhi was asleep. Here, her student Ranjana Dave is in conversation with her. The years Ranjana spent learning from Kumkum were full of invaluable dancing, enriching conversations on all and sundry, and much relief from hostel food. Translations of the ashtapadi 'yami he' have been adapted from 'Sri Gitagovinda' (trans. Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja, Gaudiya Vedanta Publications, Mathura, 2005) with inputs from Kumkum Lal. Yes1078http://www.pad.ma/Veuyd9wv/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Odissi: Kumkum Lal with Kelucharan Mohapatra and Bhubaneswar Mishra, composing and rehearsing Yamihehttp://www.pad.ma/Veuyd9wv/poster.75.jpgKumkum Lal spent four years in Tokyo, Japan, teaching and performing Odissi extensively. In 1986, with her husband Ashok, she hosted Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra (Guruji) and a group of musicians including the renowned composer Pt. Bhubaneswar Mishra, from India, for a month. During his stay there, Guruji taught Kumkum and held workshops for her students. Kumkum and Guruji also travelled across Japan, holding lecture demonstrations at universities and performing in different environments. Guruji often taught, composed or rehearsed into the night. Ashok, who had just purchased his first video camera, recorded significant portions of their Japan tour. This video depicts events over the course of three or four hours one night, as Kumkum and Guruji worked with musicians to synchronise Bhubaneswar Mishra’s newly composed version of Jayadeva’s ashtapadi, ‘<i>Yamihe kamiha saranam</i>’, which is set to <i>Raga Misra Sankarabharanam</i>. Later that same evening, they also go over the music for the Oriya song ‘<i>Braja ku chora</i>’, possibly for the first time. We watch Guruji sprawled comfortably on the floor, watching Japanese television with great interest while he imagines the choreography for ‘Braja ku’, humming the song as the musicians rehearse, and making small motions with his hand to recall the choreographic ideas he has. Bhubaneswar Mishra plays the violin soulfully as he experiments with the raga. Kumkum Lal has been a disciple of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra for more than four decades. Her initial training in Odissi was under Guru Harekrishna Behera, and she has also studied and performed creative dance with Narendra Sharma, and Chhau under Guru Krishna Chandra Naik. She has taught English at Delhi University. She was a keen reviewer of dance and has acted in plays. She has worked with Sangeet Natak Akademi as the head of their dance section and was awarded a senior fellowship by the Indian government to work on a Sanskrit treatise on Odissi. So much has been written about Guruji, and clips from his performances are easily accessible online; however, it is hard to come across video material showing him outside the performance space. One has read about his idiosyncrasies, but to see them come alive, albeit in two-dimensional form, is a different experience altogether. When Kumkum returned to this video after two-and-a-half decades, she was very amused by the kitchen apron she found herself wearing throughout those hours of rehearsal. One might notice that she keeps walking in and out of the frame, alternating between kitchen and makeshift dance space beside the dining table as she cooks and assists in the composition simultaneously. Kumkum also treasures this period because it gave her the opportunity to work closely with Bhubaneswar Mishra, whom she describes as the architect of Odissi music. Here, her student Ranjana Dave converses with her as they watch these videos again, while reminiscence and hindsight come together. The years Ranjana spent learning from Kumkum were full of invaluable dancing, enriching conversations on all and sundry, and much relief from hostel food. The <i>sanchari bhava</i> in <i>Yamihe</i> is as interpreted by Kumkum Lal. Guidance in translating the Oriya lyrics for ‘<i>Braja ku</i>’ was provided by Kumkum Lal and Sangita Gosain. Yes4452http://www.pad.ma/Vi37ujct/info2011-02-03weekly1.0Odissi: Kumkum Lal - Lecdem in Japanhttp://www.pad.ma/Vi37ujct/poster.75.jpgKumkum Lal spent four years in Tokyo, Japan, teaching and performing Odissi extensively. In 1986, with her husband Ashok, she hosted Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra (Guruji) and a group of musicians including the renowned composer Pt. Bhubaneswar Mishra, from India, for a month. During his stay there, Guruji taught Kumkum and held workshops for her students. Kumkum and Guruji also traveled across Japan, holding lecture demonstrations at universities and performing in different environments. Guruji often taught, composed or rehearsed into the night. Ashok, who had just purchased his first video camera, recorded significant portions of their Japan tour. Here, the Odissi ensemble conducts a lecture demonstration at a university near Tokyo, ostensibly in an auditorium. The multiple cuts in video footage lead one to believe that the demonstration may have taken place over 90 minutes to two hours. The video opens with Bhubaneswar Mishra demonstrating the different types of ragas and talas used in Odissi music. After that, Kumkum performs two dance items, explaining their meaning in Japanese and English. The lecdem ends with Guruji performing the <i>ashtapadi Kuru yadunandana</i>. The mardala falls silent because he is the one usually playing it, and the result is a magically tranquil performance where the only rhythm is provided by a gentle manjira and the strumming of the violin. Kumkum Lal has been a disciple of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra for more than four decades. Her initial training in Odissi was under Guru Harekrishna Behera, and she has also studied and performed creative dance with Narendra Sharma, and Chhau under Guru Krishna Chandra Naik. She has taught English at Delhi University. She was a keen reviewer of dance and has acted in plays. She has worked with Sangeet Natak Akademi as the head of their dance section and was awarded a senior fellowship by the Indian government to work on a Sanskrit treatise on Odissi. While watching this video again, Kumkum said that the experience of teaching Japanese students had greatly improved her own Japanese language skills. Yumiko Chatani, who recently began visiting Delhi to study Odissi with Kumkum, was present while we watched this video. She revealed that she had first been exposed to Odissi in her teens, when she saw Kumkum perform in Japan. Yumiko’s passion for Odissi later took her to Nrityagram, Bangalore, where she spent a few years learning the dance form. In a photo-feature of musician Raghu Dixit that appeared in a Bombay daily in August 2010, there was a photograph of a group of Japanese artists posing with him while at the festival Namaste India, which was held in Tokyo. He was pleasantly surprised to meet a Japanese Odissi dancer who had trained in India, he said. These tiny memories of Odissi that Kumkum has veritably strewn around Japan return to us in the most unlikely ways. Here, her student Ranjana Dave converses with her as they watch these videos again, while reminiscence and hindsight come together. The years Ranjana spent learning from Kumkum were full of invaluable dancing, enriching conversations on all and sundry, and much relief from hostel food. Translations of the <i>ashtapadi Kuru yadunandana</i> have been adapted from '<i>Sri Gitagovinda</i>' (trans. Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja, Gaudiya Vedanta Publications, Mathura, 2005) with inputs from Kumkum Lal.Yes3274http://www.pad.ma/Vg969icn/info2011-01-03weekly1.0Odissi: Kumkum Lal - Tea in the green room, Nohgakoduhttp://www.pad.ma/Vg969icn/poster.75.jpgKumkum Lal spent four years in Tokyo, Japan, teaching and performing Odissi extensively. In 1986, with her husband Ashok, she hosted Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra (Guruji) and a group of musicians including the renowned composer Pt. Bhubaneswar Mishra, from India, for a month. During his stay there, Guruji taught Kumkum and held workshops for her students. Kumkum and Guruji also travelled across Japan, holding lecture demonstrations at universities and performing in different environments. During their tour, the group was once allowed permission to perform at a prominent Noh theatre, or Nohgakodu, in Tokyo. Performing something other than Noh at a Nohgakodu is a privilege that is hard to come by. The Noh stage, with its sloping roof and long walkway (hashigakari) is nothing short of awe-inspiring. This short clip was recorded backstage, before the Noh theatre performance. Kumkum makes tea for everyone as they wait for the stage to be prepared for their use. The conversation moves quickly, from the tea to the divorce rates in Japan, toy-shopping, to the Noh theatre, till the performance space is readied and they are called to look at it. This is the only recording in the series that is completely devoid of any rehearsal footage. It is pure conversation – but indistinct in parts because of the static and other factors. The subject of the Noh stage is brought up often, because workers are making special preparations so that Kumkum and Guruji can dance barefoot, without wearing the traditional socks used in Noh spaces. Kumkum Lal has been a disciple of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra for more than four decades. Her initial training in Odissi was under Guru Harekrishna Behera, and she has also studied and performed creative dance with Narendra Sharma, and Chhau under Guru Krishna Chandra Naik. She has taught English at Delhi University. She was a keen reviewer of dance and has acted in plays. She has worked with Sangeet Natak Akademi as the head of their dance section and was awarded a senior fellowship by the Indian government to work on a Sanskrit treatise on Odissi. The years I spent learning from Kumkum were full of invaluable dancing, enriching conversations on all and sundry, and much relief from hostel food. Watching the preparation of tea and its subsequent drinking brought back many old memories, from my time at her home and in dance class, which was never complete without a tea-break. As Kumkum and I watch this tiny clip again, all those cups of tea come to mind. Yes569http://www.pad.ma/Vugv1gq6/info2011-02-03weekly1.0Odissi: Kumkum Lal - Priye charusheele rehearsals and Tokyo workshophttp://www.pad.ma/Vugv1gq6/poster.75.jpgKumkum Lal spent four years in Tokyo, Japan, teaching and performing Odissi extensively. In 1986, with her husband Ashok, she hosted Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra (Guruji) and a group of musicians including the renowned composer Pt. Bhubaneswar Mishra, from India, for a month. During his stay there, Guruji taught Kumkum and held workshops for her students. Kumkum and Guruji also travelled across Japan, holding lecture demonstrations at universities and performing in different environments. In this recording, Kumkum and Guruji rehearse priye charusheele in her Tokyo house. The second clip is from the workshop Guruji conducted for her students. They learnt a pallavi and he set a verse from the Abhinaya Darpana to dance. Kumkum Lal has been a disciple of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra for more than four decades. Her initial training in Odissi was under Guru Harekrishna Behera, and she has also studied and performed creative dance with Narendra Sharma, and Chhau under Guru Krishna Chandra Naik. She has taught English at Delhi University. She was a keen reviewer of dance and has acted in plays. She has worked with Sangeet Natak Akademi as the head of their dance section and was awarded a senior fellowship by the Indian government to work on a Sanskrit treatise on Odissi. Kumkum was close to her students in Japan – they were, in a way, her window into Japanese culture. She was more proficient in the language, compared to her husband Ashok, only because she had to teach Odissi using Japanese phrases. It was a hybrid exchange – her students learnt the Devanagari script when they wrote lyrics from the Gitagovinda and she learnt Japanese in ways that she cannot forget. Students from Japan still visit her in India; it is not uncommon to find her teaching them in a mix of English and Japanese! Here, her student Ranjana Dave converses with her as they watch these videos again, while reminiscence and hindsight come together. The years Ranjana spent learning from Kumkum were full of invaluable dancing, enriching conversations on all and sundry, and much relief from hostel food. Translations of all the ashtapadis seen here have been adapted from 'Sri Gitagovinda' (trans. Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja, Gaudiya Vedanta Publications, Mathura, 2005) with inputs from Kumkum Lal.Yes1463http://www.pad.ma/Vg88kz5b/info2010-12-02weekly1.0QAM 2009http://www.pad.ma/Vg88kz5b/poster.75.jpgOn 2 July 2009 the Delhi High Court passed a landmark judgement. Sexual acts between consenting adults of the same sex had long been criminalised under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. Many people continue to hate and fear 'queers'. ‘Queer’ stands for all LGBTI people, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex, and for Hijra, Kothi, Panthi – all those who are not accepted by a society that recognises only two genders and considers only heterosexual relationships valid. Besides, the Delhi High Court’s progressive judgement is being stridently opposed by religious fundamentalists of every hue, who proclaim that the queers lives and desires go against “Indian culture”, that they are “diseased”, and so on. Yet we have always been a part of society, and we have the same rights to equality and dignity that belong to every individual in this democracy. The Queer wish to place our main demands before our government and our society: * The 377 case will now be heard in the Supreme Court, hence our demand for this law to be read down continues. * The Constitution must include provisions to deal with all discrimination on the grounds of sexuality or gender. *Those amonst us who are transgendered are not recognised by society. Equal citizenship rights and opportunities should be extended to all who do not fit into either of the two categories of male and female. * The medical establsihment must be made aware of the reality of our lives and our needs, and cease all insensitive and cruel attempts to ‘cure’ us. * Every individual is under tremendous pressure to marry a person of the opposite sex, as marriage is seen as a must in our society. We are launching a campaign against all such forced marriages. * We call for an end to homophobia, biphobia and transphobia. We want freedom from violence and hate within families, in educational institutions, at places of work and in public spaces. We especially demand that fundamentalist forces stop abusing us and poisoning people’s minds against us. Yes1469http://www.pad.ma/Vu0dr17f/info2010-12-09weekly1.0QAM 2010 - 1http://www.pad.ma/Vu0dr17f/poster.75.jpgOn 2 July 2009 the Delhi High Court passed a landmark judgement. Sexual acts between consenting adults of the same sex had long been criminalised under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. Many people continue to hate and fear 'queers'. ‘Queer’ stands for all LGBTI people, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex, and for Hijra, Kothi, Panthi – all those who are not accepted by a society that recognises only two genders and considers only heterosexual relationships valid. Besides, the Delhi High Court’s progressive judgement is being stridently opposed by religious fundamentalists of every hue, who proclaim that the queers lives and desires go against “Indian culture”, that they are “diseased”, and so on. Yet we have always been a part of society, and we have the same rights to equality and dignity that belong to every individual in this democracy. The Queer wish to place our main demands before our government and our society: * The 377 case will now be heard in the Supreme Court, hence our demand for this law to be read down continues. * The Constitution must include provisions to deal with all discrimination on the grounds of sexuality or gender. *Those amonst us who are transgendered are not recognised by society. Equal citizenship rights and opportunities should be extended to all who do not fit into either of the two categories of male and female. * The medical establsihment must be made aware of the reality of our lives and our needs, and cease all insensitive and cruel attempts to ‘cure’ us. * Every individual is under tremendous pressure to marry a person of the opposite sex, as marriage is seen as a must in our society. We are launching a campaign against all such forced marriages. * We call for an end to homophobia, biphobia and transphobia. We want freedom from violence and hate within families, in educational institutions, at places of work and in public spaces. We especially demand that fundamentalist forces stop abusing us and poisoning people’s minds against us. Yes985http://www.pad.ma/Veewk3dk/info2011-01-31weekly1.0QAM 2010 - 2http://www.pad.ma/Veewk3dk/poster.75.jpgOn 2 July 2009 the Delhi High Court passed a landmark judgment. Sexual acts between consenting adults of the same sex had long been criminalised under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. Many people continue to hate and fear 'queers’. ‘Queer’ stands for all LGBTI people, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex, and for Hijra, Kothi, Panthi – all those who are not accepted by a society that recognises only two genders and considers only heterosexual relationships valid. Besides, the Delhi High Court’s progressive judgment is being stridently opposed by religious fundamentalists of every hue, who proclaim that the queers lives and desires go against “Indian culture”, that they are “diseased”, and so on. Yet we have always been a part of society, and we have the same rights to equality and dignity that belong to every individual in this democracy. The Queer wish to place our main demands before our government and our society: * The 377 case will now be heard in the Supreme Court, hence our demand for this law to be read down continues. * The Constitution must include provisions to deal with all discrimination on the grounds of sexuality or gender. *Those amongst us who are transgendered are not recognised by society. Equal citizenship rights and opportunities should be extended to all who do not fit into either of the two categories of male and female. * The medical establishment must be made aware of the reality of our lives and our needs, and cease all insensitive and cruel attempts to ‘cure’ us. * Every individual is under tremendous pressure to marry a person of the opposite sex, as marriage is seen as a must in our society. We are launching a campaign against all such forced marriages. * We call for an end to homophobia, biphobia and transphobia. We want freedom from violence and hate within families, in educational institutions, at places of work and in public spaces. We especially demand that fundamentalist forces stop abusing us and poisoning people’s minds against us. Yes1981http://www.pad.ma/Vgdozvmk/info2010-12-09weekly1.0QAM: 365 days without 377http://www.pad.ma/Vgdozvmk/poster.75.jpgOn 2 July 2009 the Delhi High Court passed a landmark judgement. Sexual acts between consenting adults of the same sex had long been criminalised under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. Many people continue to hate and fear '‘queers’. ‘Queer’ stands for all LGBTI people, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex, and for Hijra, Kothi, Panthi – all those who are not accepted by a society that recognises only two genders and considers only heterosexual relationships valid. Besides, the Delhi High Court’s progressive judgement is being stridently opposed by religious fundamentalists of every hue, who proclaim that the queers lives and desires go against “Indian culture”, that they are “diseased”, and so on. Yet we have always been a part of society, and we have the same rights to equality and dignity that belong to every individual in this democracy. The Queer wish to place our main demands before our government and our society: * The 377 case will now be heard in the Supreme Court, hence our demand for this law to be read down continues. * The Constitution must include provisions to deal with all discrimination on the grounds of sexuality or gender. *Those amonst us who are transgendered are not recognised by society. Equal citizenship rights and opportunities should be extended to all who do not fit into either of the two categories of male and female. * The medical establsihment must be made aware of the reality of our lives and our needs, and cease all insensitive and cruel attempts to ‘cure’ us. * Every individual is under tremendous pressure to marry a person of the opposite sex, as marriage is seen as a must in our society. We are launching a campaign against all such forced marriages. * We call for an end to homophobia, biphobia and transphobia. We want freedom from violence and hate within families, in educational institutions, at places of work and in public spaces. We especially demand that fundamentalist forces stop abusing us and poisoning people’s minds against us.Yes5498http://www.pad.ma/Vulnp4na/info2010-07-18weekly1.0Interview - Hymenoplastyhttp://www.pad.ma/Vulnp4na/poster.75.jpgYes187http://www.pad.ma/Vsbsxor7/info2011-09-09weekly1.0Hriday Aakash http://www.pad.ma/Vsbsxor7/poster.75.jpgHriday Aakash is an allegorical journey into the Kabirean/Sufic/mystic world and delves not only into the philosophy of this space, but is also a record of the director's personal journey in this space. Kabir's poetry is not simply a didactic attempt at explaining what one's journey should be, but only an invitation to walk a little way on this path to love, शुन्यता, bhakti and surrender to the boundless. This short film too is an invitation into the richly visual, magico-realist world that is our lives, both inner and outer. About the Director: Shilo Shiv Suleman is an extraordinarily gifted young artist, animator, illustrator and storyteller. She is currently in her 4th year at Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology. She has illustrated several children's books and has produced one of her own. She is also working with the Kabir Project on designing their upcoming web archive. Hriday Akash was born out of her deep engagement and connection with the world of Kabir and of mystic poetry. It is as much an exploration into her own inner world as it is of our own. The annotations to this video were born out of the Pad.ma workshop that I attended and was very inspired by. These are personal reflections on some of the connections and thoughts that seemed to spring very organically from the frames of this short film. It was and still is a deeply provocative piece to work with because it makes me question my own attachments, desires and quest for the beloved. I hope that in some way these offerings would be a light in this journey of self discovery for all who stop by this little space. Yes339http://www.pad.ma/Ve2si74f/info2011-09-29weekly1.0ALF 10th Anniversary - Introduction by Lawrence Lianghttp://www.pad.ma/Ve2si74f/poster.75.jpgTalk titled : Courage, Craft and Contention: Human Rights and the Judicial Imagination Lawrence, a graduate form National Law School subsequently pursued his Masters degree in Warwick, England on a Chevening Scholarship. His key areas of interest are law, technology and culture, the politics of copyright and he has been working closely with Sarai, New Delhi on a joint research project Intellectual Property and the Knowledge/Culture Commons. A keen follower of the open source movement in software, Lawrence has been working on ways of translating the open source ideas into the cultural domain.Yes1076http://www.pad.ma/Vgpppp9x/info2011-09-29weekly1.0ALF 10th Anniversary - Vote of Thanks by Maytri Krishnanhttp://www.pad.ma/Vgpppp9x/poster.75.jpgMaitreyi graduated from ILS Law College, Pune and works with the litigation team at ALF. She is interested in understanding labour conditions, particularly in the unorganized sector and looks to provide legal support to the Domestic Workers Union and Powrakarmika's Union.Yes407http://www.pad.ma/Vi3jk7nd/info2011-09-29weekly1.0ALF 10th Anniversary Talk: Dr. Upendra Baxihttp://www.pad.ma/Vi3jk7nd/poster.75.jpgTalk titled : Courage, Craft and Contention: Human Rights and the Judicial Imagination Prof. Upendra Baxi is the Emeritus Professor of Law in Development, University of Warwick. He was the Vice Chancellor of Delhi University (1990-94) and taught at many universities around the world. Prof Baxi is best known for his scholarship on all areas of law as well as his pioneering role in initiating social action litigation in India. Prof. Baxi has combined the role of a human rights activist, legal academic as well as a teacher of law in his prolific career. Yes2663http://www.pad.ma/Vi80b8zx/info2011-09-29weekly1.0ALF 10th Anniversary Talk: Honb'le Justice A. P. Shahhttp://www.pad.ma/Vi80b8zx/poster.75.jpgTalk titled : Courage, Craft and Contention: Human Rights and the Judicial Imagination C.J. Shah (as he then was) during his tenure as a judge of the Bombay High Court and Chief Justice of Chennai and Delhi High Court is known for a series of bold rulings which have deepened the meaning of the Constitution as a charter of Rights. C.J. Shah has during his tenure, made many landmark rulings on LGBT rights, slum dwellers rights, the rights of rickshaw pullers, rights of the disabled, freedom of speech and expression and on public accountability. Yes3437http://www.pad.ma/Vu1bltqf/info2011-02-08weekly1.0Encounter with TVhttp://www.pad.ma/Vu1bltqf/poster.75.jpg"Mass murders, fake encounter killings, brutal torture and rape, are an inseparable part of the state system in our country. Whether it is the government ruled by BJP or Congress, TDP, DMK or AIDMK, RJD or BJD, or the so-called Left like the CPI(M), or whichever party is in power, it basically relies on state terror and state sponsored terror to control the masses and to eliminate the opposition. The police, para-military forces and the Indian armed forces are all adept in staging fake encounters and committing indescribable atrocities whether it is on the revolutionaries and the struggling masses in Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Bengal, Maharashtra, MP, UP, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, the national liberation fighters in Kashmir and North East, Muslims in various parts of the country, particularly in states such as Gujarat." - from “Press Release on Gujarat Encounter Killings”, by Azad for the CPI(Maoist) on May 8, 2007 http://www.bannedthought.net/india/CPI-Maoist-Docs/ This is a collection of clips from various leading television news channels, put together by Alternative Law Forum.Yes1644http://www.pad.ma/Vfrthaf5/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Odissi: Kumkum Lal - Performance at Zurich, 2004http://www.pad.ma/Vfrthaf5/poster.75.jpgVastly differing from footage of the Japan tour in time and space, this is a record of Kumkum Lal’s performance for the Indian Association of Zurich in 2004. The performance was an impromptu happening, while she was on her way back from dance engagements in North America. In the first half of the performance, she sports a draped sari, tied in the style which her guru, Kelucharan Mohapatra, was so fond of. Dancing on a makeshift stage, Kumkum begins with mangalacharan, going on to Saveri Pallavi, Kuru yadunandana, Dasavatara and moksha. Also present at this performance is veteran danbcer Minati Mishra. The performance was intended to be a tribute to their guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. Kumkum Lal has been a disciple of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra for more than four decades. Her initial training in Odissi was under Guru Harekrishna Behera, and she has also studied and performed creative dance with Narendra Sharma, and Chhau under Guru Krishna Chandra Naik. She has taught English at Delhi University. She was a keen reviewer of dance and has acted in plays. She has worked with Sangeet Natak Akademi as the head of their dance section and was awarded a senior fellowship by the Indian government to work on a Sanskrit treatise on Odissi. Here, her student Ranjana Dave converses with her as they watch these videos again, while reminiscence and hindsight come together. The years Ranjana spent learning from Kumkum were full of invaluable dancing, enriching conversations on all and sundry, and much relief from hostel food. Translations of all the ashtapadis seen here have been adapted from 'Sri Gitagovinda' (trans. Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja, Gaudiya Vedanta Publications, Mathura, 2005) with inputs from Kumkum Lal. Yes5673http://www.pad.ma/Vi2k17o4/info2011-02-18weekly1.0Odissi: Kumkum - Samsmaranamhttp://www.pad.ma/Vi2k17o4/poster.75.jpgYes2211http://www.pad.ma/Vi3hm3yo/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Khirkeeyaan Karkhana http://www.pad.ma/Vi3hm3yo/poster.75.jpgKhirkeeyaan is an exploration of an open-circuit tv system as a local area network communication, micro-media generation and feedback device. It employs security apparatus, otherwise used for surveillance and 'secret' use. Television sets and cheap surveillance equipment, coupled with an RF modulator, mics, audio mixer and metres of coax cable were laid out to form collaborative conversation systems for the 'use' of the community-at-large. TV's and electricity, consent and participation were sourced on-site(s) often drawing from a multitude of sources. Khirkeeyaan's seven episodes were generated through seven sets of installations in different neighbourhoods in and around Khirkee Extension, New Delhi over three weeks, during Shaina Anand's associate residency at Khoj studios in April, 2006. For more on the Khirkeeyaan project, see http://chitrakarkhana.net/khirkeeyaan.htm. Yes5621http://www.pad.ma/Vu0ztmws/info2011-01-21weekly1.0CMCS: Saacha (The Loom)http://www.pad.ma/Vu0ztmws/poster.75.jpgDirected by Anjali Monteiro and K. P. Jayasankar. 49 Mins, English and Marathi versions. Saacha is about a poet, a painter and a city. The poet is Narayan Surve, and the painter Sudhir Patwardhan. The city is the city of Mumbai (a.k.a. Bombay), the birth place of the Indian textile industry and the industrial working class. Both the protagonists have been a part of the left cultural movement in the city. Weaving together poetry and paintings with accounts of the artists and memories of the city, the film explores the modes and politics of representation, the relevance of art in the contemporary social milieu, the decline of the urban working class in an age of structural adjustment, the dilemmas of the left and the trade union movement and the changing face of a huge metropolis. Anjali Monteiro and K.P. Jayasankar are Professors at the Centre for Media and Cultural Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Both of them are involved in media production, teaching and research. Jointly they have won twenty-three national and international awards for their documentaries. They have several papers in the area of media and cultural studies and are visiting faculty to media and design institutions in India and abroad. They are both actively involved in ‘Vikalp‘, a collective of documentary filmmakers campaigning for freedom of expression. They are also associated with various media and voluntary organisations.Yes2907http://www.pad.ma/Vh630myl/info2011-01-21weekly1.0CMCS: Naata (The Bond)http://www.pad.ma/Vh630myl/poster.75.jpgDirected by Anjali Monteiro and K. P. Jayasankar. 45 mins. English and Hindi versions. Naata is about Bhau Korde and Waqar Khan, two activists and friends, who have been working with neighbourhood peace committees in Dharavi, reputedly, the largest slum in Asia. This film explores their work, which has included the collective production and use of visual media for ethnic amity. Naata is also about us; among other things, it is an attempt to reflect on how we relate to spaces of the other, spaces like Dharavi. Anjali Monteiro and K.P. Jayasankar are Professors at the Centre for Media and Cultural Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Both of them are involved in media production, teaching and research. Jointly they have won twenty-three national and international awards for their documentaries. They have several papers in the area of media and cultural studies and are visiting faculty to media and design institutions in India and abroad. They are both actively involved in ‘Vikalp‘, a collective of documentary filmmakers campaigning for freedom of expression. They are also associated with various media and voluntary organisations.Yes2786http://www.pad.ma/Vfbllelp/info2012-01-16weekly1.0GBGB: Arrest of activists protesting the SRAhttp://www.pad.ma/Vfbllelp/poster.75.jpgThis video documents the arrest of GBGB activists when they protested the nexus between the state and builders. It was because of this nexus that 1,000 families were evicted from their homes--all in the name of development. This protest took place outside the office of the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) in Bandra (East), Mumbai. Yes1146http://www.pad.ma/Vhm6lger/info2011-02-08weekly1.0GBGB: Medha Patkar speech against Mumbai Metrorailhttp://www.pad.ma/Vhm6lger/poster.75.jpgAt this protest meeting in Laljipada, Kandivali, Medha Patkar, of the Ghar Banao Ghar Bachao Andoloan, spoke against the proposed construction of the Metro Rail on the Charkop-Mankhurd corridor. This proposed metro line is expected to displace 20,000 families in its wake. Yes2567http://www.pad.ma/Vt2x1wmc/info2011-01-21weekly1.0CMCS - Where is Kishore?http://www.pad.ma/Vt2x1wmc/poster.75.jpgYes399http://www.pad.ma/Vffwg8a0/info2011-01-21weekly1.0CMCS - Man with the Wedding Camerahttp://www.pad.ma/Vffwg8a0/poster.75.jpgYes373http://www.pad.ma/Vu0zkw4a/info2011-01-21weekly1.0CMCS - The Master Tailor of Koliwada: Ganga Dominic Kolihttp://www.pad.ma/Vu0zkw4a/poster.75.jpgDirected by Sanjay Pratap Singh, Smita Lakhra and Subuhi Jiwani This documentary delves into the professional and creative life of Ganga Dominic Koli, a tailor, businesswoman and Koli singer/songwriter, living in Koliwada, Dharavi. The directors made this film during their Master's at the Centre for Media and Cultural Studies, TISS. Yes416http://www.pad.ma/Vfrz0ku4/info2011-01-21weekly1.0CMCS - 3 Friends, A Car & A Parking Spacehttp://www.pad.ma/Vfrz0ku4/poster.75.jpgYes482http://www.pad.ma/Vu11du1k/info2011-02-08weekly1.0Anahat Nad (Unstruck Sound): The freedom to sing, copy and sharehttp://www.pad.ma/Vu11du1k/poster.75.jpgSongs by Kabir, a 12th century weaver-poet whose poetry and philosophy is widespread in South Asia today. Never written down or notated (till about a century ago), his words, like those of many others have traveled and spread through oral traditions. Today Kabir's songs are sung by many. His words have mutated and flowered in countless versions in almost all genres from classical to folk to contemporary. Increasingly though they are are being 'owned' and copyrighted by individual artists and composers. Credits: Ashok Sukumaran, Shaina Anand, Vickram Crishna, Geetha Narayanan, Tara Kini, Michael Joseph Performed by Srishti community: Tara Kini, Shabnam Virmani, Sankarshan Kini, Udayraj Karpoor, Ampat Varghese, Raghavendra Rao. Yes2869http://www.pad.ma/Vgojx6hx/info2011-01-21weekly1.0CMCS - Narayan Surve Interview http://www.pad.ma/Vgojx6hx/poster.75.jpgThis is the entire, uncut footage of the filmmakers Anjali Monteiro and K. P. Jayasankar's interview with the late poet Narayan Surve. Their film, Saacha (The Loom) is about a poet, a painter and a city. The poet is Narayan Surve, and the painter Sudhir Patwardhan. The city is the city of Mumbai (a.k.a. Bombay), the birth place of the Indian textile industry and the industrial working class. Both the protagonists have been a part of the left cultural movement in the city. Weaving together poetry and paintings with accounts of the artists and memories of the city, the film explores the modes and politics of representation, the relevance of art in the contemporary social milieu, the decline of the urban working class in an age of structural adjustment, the dilemmas of the left and the trade union movement and the changing face of a huge metropolis. Anjali Monteiro and K.P. Jayasankar are Professors at the Centre for Media and Cultural Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Both of them are involved in media production, teaching and research. Jointly they have won twenty-three national and international awards for their documentaries. They have several papers in the area of media and cultural studies and are visiting faculty to media and design institutions in India and abroad. They are both actively involved in ‘Vikalp‘, a collective of documentary filmmakers campaigning for freedom of expression. They are also associated with various media and voluntary organisations. Yes6092http://www.pad.ma/Veugiatb/info2011-02-08weekly1.0GBGB: Peace demo against attacks on migrants in Mumbaihttp://www.pad.ma/Veugiatb/poster.75.jpgThis protest was held at Churchgate Station on Mumbai's Western Railway, to raise a voice against the attacks on migrants that were taking in place in Mumbai, and had been spurred on by Mr. Raj Thackeray of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. Yes262http://www.pad.ma/Vu0vcqhu/info2010-05-25weekly1.0Khirkeeyaan Episode 5 - Doctor ki Salahhttp://www.pad.ma/Vu0vcqhu/poster.75.jpgKhirkeeyaan is an exploration of an open-circuit tv system as a local area network communication, micro-media generation and feedback device. It employs security apparatus, otherwise used for surveillance and 'secret' use. Television sets and cheap surveillance equipment, coupled with an RF modulator, mics, audio mixer and metres of coax cable were laid out to form collaborative conversation systems for the 'use' of the community-at-large. TV's and electricity, consent and participation were sourced on-site(s) often drawing from a multitude of sources. Khirkeeyaan's seven episodes were generated through seven sets of installations in different neighbourhoods in and around Khirkee Extension, New Delhi over three weeks, during Shaina Anand's associate residency at Khoj studios in April, 2006. For more on the Khirkeeyaan project, see http://chitrakarkhana.net/khirkeeyaan.htm. We met a multi-faceted man. His card said, "Eradicate poverty through health and education". He told us that he was a doctor, a poet, a singer, a painter, an inventor, a social worker…”Ask not what all I am.” He took us to his house, Outside it said OPD/DOCTOR. Dr Saab, piled us with a folder of his achievements. A chandelier that has two colours. Turned one way it emits Red Light, turned the other way, it Glows Green. More importantly, it works on other senses too; Rose Attar gets sprayed in the air when Red, and Khus Attar when Green. He said he was the inventor of the bulb that never dies, Double Filament Light Bulb! We watched a music video he had directed, acted in and edited, starring himself singing a Rafi song. His room had slogans painted in green. He said, “lets do a doctor ki muft salah, free advice from the doctor.” Hot Sunday Post-Lunch Torpor hits Khrikee Extension. Our TVs turn on outside 2 STD booths, one dhabha, all within 200 mts of doctor's house. Doctor's frame is dramatically different from the others. He is sitting where he normally sits to watch TV. His TV too is larger than the others. He’s flanked by two cronies and they all reek of the same attar he wears. (We have been running into doctor and his cronies often enough and can smell them approaching the Mohalla from 25 mts away). This was Khirkeeyaan with a value-addition; akin to traditional community media…get free advice from the good doctor…and in that sense very different from the 4:4 ratio and open window system. We don’t want to say much…but will leave you with some stellar advice from Doctor BUMS/MBBS (Bachelor of Unani Medical Science/ Bachelors of Medicine and Surgery.) Yes5218http://www.pad.ma/Vulvs042/info2010-04-26weekly1.0Aita - Abou Raed Househttp://www.pad.ma/Vulvs042/poster.75.jpgYes4169http://www.pad.ma/Vt48qmbq/info2012-02-02weekly1.0Saeed Mirza - Salim Langde Pe Mat Rohttp://www.pad.ma/Vt48qmbq/poster.75.jpg(Saeed) Mirza’s investigation (‘My own self, split 500 times’) of what it means to be a Muslim in a working-class Bombay neighbourhood controlled by criminals. Set in Bombay’s Do Tanki area, the film features Salim, a petty thief, in a world peopled by policemen, smugglers and an assortment of crooks. Salim’s father still suffers the after-effects of Bombay’s famous textile strike (1982) and his mother earns some money as an outworker sewing, but Salim has to support both of them as well as his sister Anees. He reforms after meeting Aslam, Anees’s poor but educated suitor, but is eventually killed in a fatalistic ending. Despite the film’s technical excellence, the presentation of a doomed hero via a quasi-documentry, street-level realism makes the film a voyeuristic experience allowing viewers to feel sorry for the unfortunates in their city.1 1. Ashish Rajadhyaksha and Paul Willemen, <i>Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema</i> (New Delhi, BFI Publishing-Oxford University Press, 1998), p. 492Yes6417http://www.pad.ma/Vhlsstt4/info2010-04-23weekly1.0Aita el Cha'b: In The Househttp://www.pad.ma/Vhlsstt4/poster.75.jpgYes1831http://www.pad.ma/Vuh7chty/info2010-04-24weekly1.0Shadi Ibrahim on his practice of photographyhttp://www.pad.ma/Vuh7chty/poster.75.jpgShadi Ibrahim is one of the photographers who runs a studio in Burj al-Shamali camp. In the course of my work in the camp, I interviewed him on his photographic practice and what his images meant in the social life of the camp. The interview generated a set of complicated questions round questions of identity, religion, gender and representation. Through the interview I also had an opportunity to reflect on my own relation to images and the social relations they engender.Yes2322http://www.pad.ma/Vhqz2pn8/info2010-05-25weekly1.0Samia Mehrez lecture - Image in crisis: The case of 'Hajj Metwalli's Family'http://www.pad.ma/Vhqz2pn8/poster.75.jpgAbout Samia Mehrez: Samia Mehrez is an Associate Professor of Arabic Literature at the American University in Cairo. She is the author of Egyptian Writers between History and Fiction: Essays on Naguib Mahfouz, Sanallah Ibrahim and Gamal Al-Ghitani (1994). Her articles on Francophone and Modern Arabic Literature have appeared in a number of Arab and international journals. About the lecture: The lecture/paper presents a critical reading of the Egyptian TV series Hajj Metwalli's Family that was shown on a number of Arab local and satellite channels during the month of Ramadan (from November until December 2001). The daily prime-time series rendered, throughout its episodes, a positive representation of a Muslim, self-mad man (Hajj Metwalli) who marries five women (the first whom dies during the early episodes), each providing a step on the Hajj's ladder of economic success and social ascension. No sooner had the series been aired then it generated unprecedented issues and values that it portrayed-whether being on a social, ethical, or artistic level. This lecture/paper will attempt to read the conflicting and conflicted discourses produced by various participants in the debate, including the National Woman's Council in Egypt, Egyptian State Television Authorities, regional press coverage, and popular Arab reactions as a mean to understand the relationship between society and art, authority and creativity, reality and imagination, truth and representation. Lecture till 00:33:22.000 Discussion starting 00:33:22.000 (not transcribed)Yes3495http://www.pad.ma/Vdx7jv73/info2010-04-23weekly1.0Aita el Cha'b: walking in the streets of the historic corehttp://www.pad.ma/Vdx7jv73/poster.75.jpgYes599http://www.pad.ma/Vgdhcue4/info2010-05-25weekly1.0Abbas Baydoun - Culture and Arts: Re: The Actualhttp://www.pad.ma/Vgdhcue4/poster.75.jpgAbout the lecture: We pass, along with the rest of the world, on to a post-modernity, silently, with no preliminaries and as if divorced from the cultural; a mere development, direct, literal and technical. In these parts modernity carries a load of theoretical and intellectual pronouncements for us. It started as a project for change, albeit unclear. At that time, it seemed that modernity was not a historical process, but rather a value in itself, actually by mere faith, in itself an instigator of social transformation and not their result. Modernity was held as a private myth and a contemporary religion, while the transition to a post-modernity remains on the other hand unfounded in that which precedes it. It is a leap, unconnected to a cultural memory. One can say that the frustration of modernity returns. Yet, the philosophical preliminaries to post-modernity loom as more difficult. For the difficulty lies in finding an intellectual project for post-modernity; in finding a culture of post-modernity that is not simply an array of disconnected domains, techniques, and artistic manifestations which would constitute a situation that is contrary to the principle of post-modernity. About Abbas Baydoun: Abbas Baydoun was born in 1945 in the village of Ch'hour in the region of Tyre, south Lebanon. For a period, he was preoccupied with leftwing political activities, which prevented him from publishing. He was incarcerated and tortured. He wrote and published successively: "Tyre, time in Big Gulps", "Visitors of First Rain" followed by "Hunting Proverbs", and preceded by "Glass Cemeteries" then "Critique of Pain", "Rooms", "This cup's vacuity", "Brothers of our remorse", "To a patient that is hope", "Uttered in the cold". Aside from poetry, he also writes literary and art criticism, and is finalizing a novel to be published by Al Rayess Press. He edits the cultural supplement of the daily Al-Safir in Beirut. His poetry has been translated into English, German, Spanish, Italian, Greek and Catalan. His collection Tyre has been translated into french and was published by Actes Sud. Yes3613http://www.pad.ma/Vsbonbvz/info2010-05-26weekly1.0House is Black - Khaneh siah asthttp://www.pad.ma/Vsbonbvz/poster.75.jpgEssays by: Doug Cummings, February 13th, 2005 Filmjourny.org http://filmjourney.weblogger.com/2005/02/13/the-house-is-black/#more-529 “There is no shortage of ugliness in the world. If man closed his eyes to it, there would be even more.” Thus begins the narration in Forough Farrokhzad’s The House is Black (1962), a landmark short film (roughly 20 minutes) by one of Iran’s most venerated modern poets, a woman killed at the age of 32 in a car accident whose writing still permeates Iranian culture. (Her poem “The Wind Will Carry Us” is prominently featured in Abbas Kiarostami’s 1999 film of the same name.) In the 2001 book Close-Up: Iranian Cinema, Hamid Dabashi cites The House is Black as the beginning of an adventurous decade of Iranian filmmaking that would culminate with Dariush Mehrjui’s The Cow in 1969: “[The House is Black] must be considered by far the most significant film of the early 1960s, a film that with its poetic treatment of leprosy anticipated much that was to follow in Iranian cinema of the 1980s and 1990s.” Mohsen Makhmalbaf has called it “the best Iranian film [to have] affected the contemporary Iranian cinema,” and in the liner notes of Facets Video’s new DVD (to be released on February 22), Chris Marker compares the film to Luis BuÒuel’s Las Hurdes. Farrokhzad’s film may be a “poetic treatment of leprosy,” but it’s also a factual and clear-eyed documentary on the daily routines in a leper colony near Tabriz in northern Iran. By confronting the gruesome effects of the disease on people, it gradually strips away the potential for shock and reveals the human souls beneath the physical symptoms, who are busy persevering, playing, learning, living. One of the striking counterpoints to the film’s potentially depressing subject, and perhaps the element that gives it the greatest depth, is Farrokhzad’s narration, spoken in hushed, compassionate tones by the director herself. Its evocative language incorporates Koran quotes and Old Testament psalms and oscillates between thanksgiving for the beauty of creation and lamentations for physical suffering. Farrokhzad’s opening shot is emblematic of her approach–a medium shot of a woman with leprosy with her face partially covered by a veil, the camera slowly and compassionately zooming in to a close-up of her reflection in a mirror. The viewer not only looks at the woman, but shares the woman’s gaze at herself, a mark of the film’s implicit empathy. And Farrokhzad’s command of the medium continues throughout; though The House is Black is the only film she ever directed (other than a minor commercial), it is brilliantly rhythmic, cutting scenes together thematically and pictorially rather than spatially, and using natural sounds (a squeaky wheel, a bouncing ball, a man walking on crutches) to provide the meter for exceptional montage sequences. Her fluid tracking shots through the colony’s school rooms and prayer halls are graceful and observant, and she artfully punctuates them with everyday details–plants in the sun, drying dishes on a window sill, old shoes and bottles resting together. Intercut with Farrokhzad’s narration is a male voice (perhaps the film’s producer) who provides objective facts about leprosy and its treatment; it’s contagious and not hereditary, nor is it incurable. “Leprosy goes with poverty.” And the film equally balances empathy with an emphasis on the scientific care needed to heal people as it compiles images of medical treatments and physical therapy. Running times for the film vary depending on the informational source, but in his informative essay included with the DVD, critic Jonathan Rosenbaum (who helped write the subtitles) cites the official length as 22 minutes and adds, “though it doesn’t appear to be quite complete–one abrupt edit looks like a censor’s cut, and a few stray details visible in some other versions are missing–this is the best version of the film available in North America.” The Facets DVD clocks in at roughly 15 minutes (and includes two Makhmalbaf shorts and a featurette on Farrokhzad), but also appears to have been struck from a PAL source, thus making it about 36 seconds shorter than the film print used. This is undoubtedly a difficult film to watch, but it’s one that is all the more generous and compelling for being exactly that. Addressing her subject directly with a sensitive but unflinching gaze, Farrokhzad breaks through the repugnant aura that has often haunted victims of the disease and affirms their resilience and human beauty. Hamid Dabashi (2007). "Forough Farrokhzad; The House is Black" in Hamid Dabashi, Masters & Masterpieces of Iranian Cinema. Mage Publishers, Washington, DC. pp. 39-70: ISBN 093421185X http://www.amazon.ca/Masters-Masterpieces-Iranian-Cinema-Dabashi/dp/093421185X Film reviews: http://www.combustiblecelluloid.com/classic/houseblack.shtml http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0336693/ ----------------------------------------------------------- Yes1318http://www.pad.ma/Vfrbgdjr/info2010-08-05weekly1.098 weeks research magazinehttp://www.pad.ma/Vfrbgdjr/poster.75.jpgMirene Arsanios of [http://mirenearsanios.wordpress.com/ 98 weeks] in Beirut is interested in collecting and sharing through their library a collection of Arab magazines and literature. In Pad.ma, she tries to capture the experience of chancing upon an ephemeral scratching of words, thoughts and underlined sentences in the magazine. The faint echo of these words, grocery lists and letters of support from the readers in magazines like Mawakef is found in her video on marginalia. Yes1097http://www.pad.ma/Vhr9ifb1/info2010-04-23weekly1.0Aita - Municipality Meetinghttp://www.pad.ma/Vhr9ifb1/poster.75.jpgYes2164http://www.pad.ma/Vt3ssyix/info2010-05-23weekly1.0Aita el Cha'b: 48 hours in and around the househttp://www.pad.ma/Vt3ssyix/poster.75.jpgVideo footage from Aita el Cha'b, a town in South Lebanon that was heavily damaged in the 2006 war, has been annotated, transcribed and translated by Nadine, Abir, Mansour, Mariam and many others from the Cinemayat collective. Some of this material is about the time that Nadine and Abir spent in the camp, living and working there and their involvement in local politics and social life. This video is a glimpse into 48 hours in Aita el Cha'b. There is also extensive documentation of several municipality meetings including one on the reconstruction of the historic core [http://pad.ma/Vgorpc3e http://pad.ma/Vgorpc3e]. The vivid and almost distorted images captured on a VHS tape made before 2006, also gives an idea of Aita el Cha’b before the civil war broke out [http://pad.ma/Vi31n1mi http://pad.ma/Vi31n1mi]. Much of this material is currently only available in Arabic, but the Cinemayat group is keen to translate and circulate this material. Yes1980http://www.pad.ma/Vi31n1mi/info2010-05-23weekly1.0Aita el Cha'b: Old VHS Tapehttp://www.pad.ma/Vi31n1mi/poster.75.jpgVideo footage from Aita el Cha'b, a town in South Lebanon that was heavily damaged in the 2006 war, has been annotated, transcribed and translated by Nadine, Abir, Mansour, Mariam and many others from the Cinemayat collective. Some of this material is about the time that Nadine and Abir spent in the camp, living and working there and their involvement in local politics and social life. A glimpse of 48 hours in Aita el Cha'b can be found here [http://pad.ma/Vt3ssyix http://pad.ma/Vt3ssyix]. There is also extensive documentation of several municipality meetings including one on the reconstruction of the historic core [http://pad.ma/Vgorpc3e http://pad.ma/Vgorpc3e]. The vivid and almost distorted images captured in this VHS-to-video transfer, of a tape made before 2006, also gives an idea of Aita el Cha’b before the civil war broke out. Much of this material is currently only available in Arabic, but the Cinemayat group is keen to translate and circulate this material. Yes2490http://www.pad.ma/Vi76jm9r/info2010-04-22weekly1.0bint el haris (fairuz)http://www.pad.ma/Vi76jm9r/poster.75.jpg ??? ?????? ?? ?????? ?? ??? ??????? ???? ?????? ?????? ??????? ?? ??????? ?????? ??????? - ???????? ?? ???? ??????? ????? - ???? ??? ??????? ???? ?? ??????? ??? ??? ????? ???? ??????? ?????????. ???? ??????? – ???? ????? ?????? ??????? – ???? ????? ???? ??????? ???? ?? ???? "??????"? ???????? ????? ???? ? ???? ????? ?? ??? ??? ???????. ?? ??? ??????? ????? ???? ??????? ?? ?????? ???????? ?????? ?????? ??????? ???? ?????? ?? ??? ???????? ??? ?????? ?? ?????? ?? ??????? ????? ?? ?????? ????? ?????? ?? ??????? ??????? ?????? ??????? ?? ?????? ????? ????? ??? ????? ( ????? ????? ???? ????? "??? ??????") ?????? ????? ????????? ?? ??????? ??????? ??????? ?? ????????... ???? ????? ?????? ????? ?? ?????? ?????? ??????? ??? ??????? ????? ?????? ????? ?????? ??? ???? ??????? ?? ?? ??? ?? ??????? ???? ????? ??? ???? ??????? ???????? ???????? ???? ????? ???? ??? ??? ( ????? ????? ????? ???? ) ??? ??? ?????? ??????? ??? ???? ??????? ?? ???????? ??? ????? ????? ??? ????? ??? ??? ?????? ???? ????. ??? ??????? ?????? ???? "?????? ????" ???????? ?"??? ??????" ????? ?????? ?"????????" ????? ?????? ... ??????? ???? ???? ?????? ?? ??????? ???? ?? ????? ??? ?? ??? ???????? ?????? ???? ?? ????? ??? ??????? ?????? ??? ???? "??? ??????" ????? ?????? ?? ??? ?? ???????? ??? ??? ?????? ?????? "???" ??????? ???? ????? ????? ????? ?????? ?????????? ????? ??????. ?? ??? "??? ??????" ???? ??????? ???? ??????? ?? ??? ??????? ???? ??????? ?????? ?? ???? ?????? ??????? ????????? ??????? ??? ???? ??????? ????????? ????? ?? ??? ????? ?????? ??????? ??????? ???? ????? ?????? ????????? ????????? ??? ??? ??? ?????? ?????? ?????? ????????? ??????? ?? ??? ??????? ?? ????? ???? ??? ???????? "??? ????" ?"????" ????? ????? ??? ?????? ??????? ?? ????? ????? ???????? ??? ??? ????? ??? ??? ?????? ?????? ?????? ?? ??????, ??? ???? ????? ???? ???????? ????? ?? ??????? ???????? ???? ??? ??????? ?????? ?? ??? ???? ?????? ??????? ???? ??? ??? ????? ??????? ??????? ?????? ???? ??? ????????? ?? ????? ??? ??????? ????? ??????? ?????? ???? ????? ??????? ?? ??? ??? ?????? ?????? ???????? ?????? ??????? ??? ??????? ???????? ???????. ??? ???? ?????? ????????? ???????? ?? ?????? ???? ????? ?? ??? ????? ?????? ????????? ???? ???? ??? ?? ????? ??? ??? ???? ???? ?? ????? ???????? ??? ??? ??????? ?? ?????? ??????? ?????? ???? ???? ?????? ??? ???? ?? ??? ?????? ?? ???????. ??? ???? Yes6513http://www.pad.ma/Vi2jpxae/info2010-04-21weekly1.0Siddiqine shabeb illa ainhttp://www.pad.ma/Vi2jpxae/poster.75.jpgYes1053http://www.pad.ma/Vg82jtyz/info2010-05-08weekly1.0We Began By Measuring Distance - Archive http://www.pad.ma/Vg82jtyz/poster.75.jpgRaw archive footage used for video <i>We Began By Measuring Distance</i> by Basma Al Sharif. Source footage comes from personal archive shot mainly in Chicago, Illinois and Ramattan News Agency & Media Services footage Archive including Operation Cast Lead attacks on Gaza in 2008-09. To see <i>We Began By Measuring Distance</i>, see: http://pad.ma/Vu1jb3fm/infoYes3174http://www.pad.ma/Vu1jb3fm/info2010-05-29weekly1.0We Began By Measuring Distancehttp://www.pad.ma/Vu1jb3fm/poster.75.jpgby Basma Al Sharif "Long still frames, text, language, and sound are weaved together to unfold the narrative of an anonymous group who fill their time by measuring distance. Innocent measurements become political ones, drawing an examination of how image and sound communicate history, tragedy, and the complication of Palestinian nationalism. <i>We Began By Measuring Distance</i> explores the ultimate disenchantment with facts when the visual fails to communicate the tragic. " Basma Al Sharif is a visual artist based in Beirut, Lebanon, and works with photography, film/video, sound, text and language. Her films stem from an exploration of how we comprehend visual communication at the most instinctual level. Using language as a response to the image, a discrepancy between what is being said and what is being seen wavers in-and-out of dissonance and harmony. At the core is a desire to reveal the unreliability of facts and history by breaking down representational mechanisms and manipulating how they visually communicate. Using fantasy, or the fantastical, as a method for distancing the viewer from politics, her films appeal to the viewer’s subjective desire for harmony in sound, image, and narrative. Yes1141http://www.pad.ma/Vgd76grd/info2010-04-23weekly1.0Adonis lecture - Beirut today: A veritable city or a mere historical name? http://www.pad.ma/Vgd76grd/poster.75.jpg"Beirut today: a veritable city or a mere historical name?", The opening event/lecture for The Home Works II: A forum on cultural practices, by Adonis. A Syrian poet and literary critic, Adonis Ali Ahmad Esber was born in Qassabin and studied philosophy at Damascus University and Saint Joseph University in Beirut. He established two groundbreaking literary journals, Shi’r and Mawaqif. Through his views on modernism and his radical vision of Arab culture,Adonis has strongly influenced both his contemporaries and subsequent generations of theorists and thinkers. Bluntly speaking, both Beirut’s despairing history and current conditions dominated by the discourse of a reductive history have obstructed the development of critical public sphere, leaving no milieu for cross social communication or cooperation. With the post-war reconstruction steered by private interests andstate interests maintained by tenacious censorship controls, contemporary Beirut is mostly managed byrigid private, social domains, with no shared culture that could stimulate interactions between its citizens. As one locally based writer argued, a city is not a real city, unless human creativity, the material or immaterial signs of culture, dialogues with the overall space of the city6 — otherwise the city remains a bundle of nondialogical accumulations. FROM "Constructing a Cultural Grammar in a Fragmented City" by Wietske MaasYes3165http://www.pad.ma/Vt89f4pd/info2010-04-23weekly1.0Nahralbared in rawahttp://www.pad.ma/Vt89f4pd/poster.75.jpgYes734http://www.pad.ma/Vgorpc3e/info2010-05-23weekly1.0Aita el Cha'b: Public Meeting on reconstruction of historic corehttp://www.pad.ma/Vgorpc3e/poster.75.jpgVideo footage from Aita el Cha'b, a town in South Lebanon that was heavily damaged in the 2006 war, has been annotated, transcribed and translated by Nadine, Abir, Mansour, Mariam and many others from the Cinemayat collective. Some of this material is about the time that Nadine and Abir spent in the camp, living and working there and their involvement in local politics and social life. A glimpse of 48 hours in Aita el Cha'b can be found here [http://pad.ma/Vt3ssyix http://pad.ma/Vt3ssyix]. There is also extensive documentation of several municipality meetings including this one on the reconstruction of the historic core. The vivid and almost distorted images captured on a VHS tape made before 2006, also gives an idea of Aita el Cha’b before the civil war broke out [http://pad.ma/Vi31n1mi http://pad.ma/Vi31n1mi]. Much of this material is currently only available in Arabic, but the Cinemayat group is keen to translate and circulate this material. Yes3578http://www.pad.ma/Vsnf6mwk/info2010-04-24weekly1.0Chez André - The Last Roundhttp://www.pad.ma/Vsnf6mwk/poster.75.jpgYes4795http://www.pad.ma/Vg8imjcd/info2010-05-25weekly1.0Yeshttp://www.pad.ma/Vg8imjcd/poster.75.jpgA one sided love story in the abandoned Hamra street. Back in 2004 Hamra street was becoming like abandoned walkways after the closure of several cafes, specialy the infamous Modca Cafe. Yes487http://www.pad.ma/Vtoqwjk3/info2011-01-03weekly1.0Odissi: Kumkum Lal learning Brajaku with Gurujihttp://www.pad.ma/Vtoqwjk3/poster.75.jpgKumkum Lal spent four years in Tokyo, Japan, teaching and performing Odissi extensively. In 1986, with her husband Ashok, she hosted Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra (Guruji) and a group of musicians including the renowned composer Pt. Bhubaneswar Mishra, from India, for a month. During his stay there, Guruji taught Kumkum and held workshops for her students. Kumkum and Guruji also travelled across Japan, holding lecture demonstrations at universities and performing in different environments. Guruji often taught, composed or rehearsed into the night. Ashok, who had just purchased his first video camera, recorded significant portions of their Japan tour. This video depicts events over two nights and two days; Guruji teaches Kumkum new sections of the dance by night while they formally record finished sections of the performance during the day.  Kumkum Lal has been a disciple of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra for more than four decades. Her initial training in Odissi was under Guru Harekrishna Behera, and she has also studied and performed creative dance with Narendra Sharma, and Chhau under Guru Krishna Chandra Naik. She has taught English at Delhi University. She was a keen reviewer of dance and has acted in plays. She has worked with Sangeet Natak Akademi as the head of their dance section and was awarded a senior fellowship by the Indian government to work on a Sanskrit treatise on Odissi. So much has been written about Guruji, and clips from his performances are easily accessible online; however, it is hard to come across video material showing him outside the performance space. One has read about his idiosyncrasies, but to see them come alive, albeit in two-dimensional form, is a different experience altogether. Fleeting moments make up the detail of his life - the omnipresent gamcha (towel), the tin of pan masala, his easy sense of humour, or how he reacts to the admirers he is surrounded by. Kumkum also treasures this period because it gave her the opportunity to work closely with Bhubaneswar Mishra, whom she describes as the architect of Odissi music. Here, her student Ranjana Dave converses with her as they watch these videos again, while reminiscence and hindsight come together. The years Ranjana spent learning from Kumkum were full of invaluable dancing, enriching conversations on all and sundry, and much relief from hostel food. Guidance in translating the Oriya lyrics into English was provided by Kumkum Lal and Sangita Gosain.Yes5179http://www.pad.ma/Vfsgvjep/info2011-08-29weekly1.0Smitalay: Gita Govinda by Jhelum Paranjapehttp://www.pad.ma/Vfsgvjep/poster.75.jpgMahari Award winning Odissi Dancer Jhelum Paranjape in an extended solo performance of Jayadeva's Epic 12th Century Poem, the 'Geet Gobind'. Here, she combines several of the Ashtapadi's as choreographed by her Guruji, Padmavibushan Kelucharan Mahapatra, and weaves them into a 90-minute long recital. This is a live recording of a one-off performance at the Nehru Centre, Worli, in 2005 and is the first of a series of Odissi dance videos that will be entering pad.ma soon. In this particular case, the transcript layer borrows the transliteration and translation and some citations of the Geet Gobind from the book, 'Sacred and profane dimensions of love in Indian traditions, as exemplified in the Gitagovinda of Jayadeva" by Lee Siegel, published by OUP. Then Ketaki Desai, a disciple of Jhelum Paranjape, watches the video along with Jhelum, engaging her in conversation. This is presented here as a kind of running commentary, similar to the 'directors' commentaries that come packaged as bonuses on DVDs. A third layer, by a well known dance critic will be added shortly, along with keywords, unique to the dance form and the repertoire, using Pad.ma's time-based annotation features to explore the possibilities of archiving and writing across this particular performing art form. Yes4552http://www.pad.ma/Vs6ihsh9/info2010-05-18weekly1.0Khirkeeyaan Episode 7 - A Lane Againhttp://www.pad.ma/Vs6ihsh9/poster.75.jpgKhirkeeYaan is an exploration of an open-circuit tv system as a local area network communication, micro-media generation and feedback device. It employed security apparatus,otherwise used for surveillance and 'secret' use. Television sets and cheap surveillance equipment, coupled with an RF modulator, mics, audio mixer and metres of coax cable were laid out to form collaborative conversation systems for the 'use' of the community-at-large. TV's and electricity, consent and participation were sourced on-site(s) often drawing from a multitude of sources. Khirkeeyaan's seven episodes were generated through seven sets of installations in different neighbourhoods in and around Khirkee Extension, New Delhi over three weeks, during Shaina Anand's associate residency at Khoj studios in April 2006. For more on Khirkeeyaan project, see http://chitrakarkhana.net/khirkeeyaan.htm After five episodes, we had experimented with scripting part of the space. Anita Dube walked into the parlour in Khirkeeyaan 6 and Tanmoy Sarkar an actor from NSD, was going to appear in the Khoj lane in Khirkeeyaan 7. We start early in the evening, so that alcohol doesn’t become the crutch for violence, verbal abuse or just foolery. DADA Chai (where Jameel works) KT’s hair saloon, Raju’s genrel store and Jha galli, where a lot of migrant, daily wage earners lived. We actually had wanted to revisit Mukhtar’s Bhai and his store, but his shop was shut and he was ill with fever. Tanmoy, in <i>tehmat, banyan and gamcha</i> (‘taken’ by Gambhir from a labourer who roomed in one of his rented quarters) hung around the Chai Stall for the first 20 minutes listening to the conversations. Subtlely he entered frame and after a while, began to speak in Bengali. Immediately, people began speaking back to him. Posing as a labourer looking for work, Tanmoy slowly intervened and tugged at the contentious threads left behind from Khirkeeyaan 2. Over the next two hours the power dynamics slowly shifted away from Baby Uncle's position behind his shop counter to the chaiwalla and to the TV in Jha walli Galli where some workers reside. At about 9pm, the power went off in the lane and Khirkeeyaan exited from the space. For more on episode 7, see http://chitrakarkhana.net/Khirkeeyan/K7.htmYes3502http://www.pad.ma/Vu15m3r8/info2010-04-29weekly1.0Towards a nuanced picture of human rights - 3http://www.pad.ma/Vu15m3r8/poster.75.jpgAny analysis of human rights has to be located within the rapid changes being undergone in Indian polity and society today. There is a critical link between the nature and extent of human rights violation and the dramatic transformation being undergone under the aegis of rapid globalisation. While there is a depth and breadth of activism around human rights issues in the country, there is not always an attempt to see the relationships between the different contexts of human rights violations. To produce an analytical overview of the nature of human rights issues and activism as well as the kinds of strategies employed by human rights activists, the Alternative Law Forum, Bangalore, felt that it might be useful to paint a bigger picture of what is going on in contemporary India. This was attempted at 'Human Rights priorities in contemporary India: Strategic Responses', a consultation held on December 12 and 13, 2009 at Christ College, Bangalore. It was an attempt to arrive at a more nuanced and critical understanding of the state of human rights. On day one, Sumathi, Veena Gowda and B. N. Usha spoke on challenges in articulating gender-based rights. Yes4233http://www.pad.ma/Vej1dtg1/info2010-04-29weekly1.0Towards a nuanced picture of human rights - 2http://www.pad.ma/Vej1dtg1/poster.75.jpgAny analysis of human rights has to be located within the rapid changes being undergone in Indian polity and society today. There is a critical link between the nature and extent of human rights violation and the dramatic transformation being undergone under the aegis of rapid globalisation. While there is a depth and breadth of activism around human rights issues in the country, there is not always an attempt to see the relationships between the different contexts of human rights violations. To produce an analytical overview of the nature of human rights issues and activism as well as the kinds of strategies employed by human rights activists, the Alternative Law Forum, Bangalore, felt that it might be useful to paint a bigger picture of what is going on in contemporary India. This was attempted at 'Human Rights priorities in contemporary India: Strategic Responses', a consultation held on December 12 and 13, 2009 at Christ College, Bangalore. It was an attempt to arrive at a more nuanced and critical understanding of the state of human rights. On day one, Mihir Desai, Navaz Kotwal and Deepu spoke on communalism in India. Yes3813http://www.pad.ma/Vtor6nzt/info2010-04-29weekly1.0Towards a nuanced picture of human rights - 1 http://www.pad.ma/Vtor6nzt/poster.75.jpgAny analysis of human rights has to be located within the rapid changes being undergone in Indian polity and society today. There is a critical link between the nature and extent of human rights violation and the dramatic transformation being undergone under the aegis of rapid globalisation. While there is a depth and breadth of activism around human rights issues in the country, there is not always an attempt to see the relationships between the different contexts of human rights violations. To produce an analytical overview of the nature of human rights issues and activism as well as the kinds of strategies employed by human rights activists, the Alternative Law Forum, Bangalore, felt that it might be useful to paint a bigger picture of what is going on in contemporary India. This was attempted at 'Human Rights priorities in contemporary India: Strategic Responses', a consultation held on December 12 and 13, 2009 at Christ College, Bangalore. It was an attempt to arrive at a more nuanced and critical understanding of the state of human rights. On day one, Prof. Utsa Patanaik, Bela Bhatia and Usha Ramanathan spoke on issues of land and displacement. Yes3500http://www.pad.ma/Vha2aytb/info2011-02-08weekly1.0GBGB: Mandala, Mankhurd http://www.pad.ma/Vha2aytb/poster.75.jpgWe, at CAMP, met Amit, a resident of the Jogeshwari slums, when we were doing a project there called the [http://camputer.org/event.php?id=11 Jogeshwari Video Project] on water politics. Through a series of conversations, he expressed the desire to go and see Mandala in Mankhurd, where he discovered that people had been displaced not only by the state's demolition activities, but also because of severe flooding in the monsoon. This video, which has his voice-over, looks around Mandala, speaks to residents, and finds that security of housing is threatened not only by a state rooting for 'development', but nature too. Yes2319http://www.pad.ma/Vt3mrt67/info2011-02-08weekly1.0GBGB: National Strategy Meet on Metro Project - 6http://www.pad.ma/Vt3mrt67/poster.75.jpgA 2 day long National Strategy Meet on Metro Projects was held at Ajmera Hall, Mumbai. The meet was attended by representative activists, academicians, environmentalists, transport experts, architects etc from 7 cities including Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Thane, Delhi, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad etc. The Meet was held in the context of the announcement of Metro Projects to be introduced in 26 cities with proposed investment of 1 lakh crore rupees. The meet was inaugurated by lighting "mashal", flame of struggle, by veteran freedom fighter Shri Ajmera, Prof. Swapana Banerjee Guha, Kathiayani Chamraj (CIVIC-Bangalore), Smt Geeta (Metro Yard Hatao Abhiyan-Mumbai) amidst slogans. Rajender Ravi brought to the notice of everyone that Delhi Metro Rail Corporation(DMRC) has been receiving number of relaxations and subsidies from the government but not passing it on to the users. Since its inception, thousands of people have been displaced with no rehabilitation being provided to them. Leo Saldhana mentioned that the initial budget amount was 4000 crores in the year 2004 which without much work being done has crossed 9,000 crores. While the cost for BRTS is much below this but it is not being taken ahead because Sreedharan(DMRC) has been pushing the idea ahead that without Metro our cities will fail. In Bangalore, during the last 10 years the per capita available space has dropped to 2 sq.ft per person. With Metro this is to further drop as FAR for 150 sq,mts around Metro stations has been increased to 4, which means more construction activities. Surprisingly JBIC is funding to tune of 45% of the total cost and though it has strict environmental rules out in construction of Bangalore Metro the same are being blatantly violated. All the left green spaces-parks are being taken over by declaring Metro as an industrial activity. Cities have complex relationships, its not only; which technology you choose but also the impact of the technology on people who use it. The DPR of Bangalore Metro was submitted by Shreedhrana on 31st March 2004 and the very next day i.e 1st April 2004 it was approved by the then Chief Minister Shri Krishna. Bonded labour is being brought in large numbers from Jharkhand and child labour is being employed for work. Metro has asked the government of Karnataka to provide it with subsidised electricity at rate of Rs 2.20 /Kilowat when the government is purchasing it at the rate of Rs. 5/kilowatt from Chattisgarh. Link: http://napm-india.org/node/51Yes3631http://www.pad.ma/Vs7byrpb/info2011-02-08weekly1.0GBGB: National Strategy Meet on Metro Project - 5http://www.pad.ma/Vs7byrpb/poster.75.jpgA 2 day long National Strategy Meet on Metro Projects was held at Ajmera Hall, Mumbai. The meet was attended by representative activists, academicians, environmentalists, transport experts, architects etc from 7 cities including Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Thane, Delhi, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad etc. The Meet was held in the context of the announcement of Metro Projects to be introduced in 26 cities with proposed investment of 1 lakh crore rupees. The meet was inaugurated by lighting "mashal", flame of struggle, by veteran freedom fighter Shri Ajmera, Prof. Swapana Banerjee Guha, Kathiayani Chamraj (CIVIC-Bangalore), Smt Geeta (Metro Yard Hatao Abhiyan-Mumbai) amidst slogans. Prof Swapana Banerjee Guha delivering the inaugural speech threw light on the policies and programmes of today's governments that are pushing ahead the neo-liberal agenda leading to dispossession of people off their rights, land-livelihoods & lives. It was also recognised that Metro project implementation must be part of a planned process per law. It was widely acknowledged that all Metros in all cities of India are being implemented in blatant violation of this process. There was serious concern that Metro projects are being implemented without careful consideration of the financial, economic, environmental and social impacts. A detailed analysis of the Hyderabad, Delhi and Bangalore experiences helped draw the conclusion that such mega projects are being rushed through without any careful review whatsoever. Link: http://napm-india.org/node/51Yes2473http://www.pad.ma/Vu5yjwet/info2011-02-08weekly1.0GBGB: National Strategy Meet on Metro Project - 4http://www.pad.ma/Vu5yjwet/poster.75.jpgA 2 day long National Strategy Meet on Metro Projects was held at Ajmera Hall, Mumbai. The meet was attended by representative activists, academicians, environmentalists, transport experts, architects etc from 7 cities including Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Thane, Delhi, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad etc. The Meet was held in the context of the announcement of Metro Projects to be introduced in 26 cities with proposed investment of 1 lakh crore rupees. The meet was inaugurated by lighting "mashal", flame of struggle, by veteran freedom fighter Shri Ajmera, Prof. Swapana Banerjee Guha, Kathiayani Chamraj (CIVIC-Bangalore), Smt Geeta (Metro Yard Hatao Abhiyan-Mumbai) amidst slogans. Rushanak from Ahmedabad said that, Government of Gujrat has been smartly cornering large amount of funds for uplifting its image and availing funds form the central pool. On of the project that has been pushed un-democratically is the BRTS project which is to be implemented in 4 phases with 460 crores being spent on the first phase only. In Ahmedabad 5-6 lakh families are dependent on street vending. Hundreds of vendors have been moved out till date without any sort of compensation or rehabilitation. Before moving them out, they are not given any prior information. Although 55 stations have been developed till date, but no vending is being permitted there inspite of the fact that vendors are ready to pay the commercial prices for the same. It was recognised that the National Urban Transport Policy was progressive, but the process by which it was evolved was not democratic. It was identified that it must be country wide demand that all mega projects must be implemented by the procedure laid down in the Nagarpalika Act, and for this the laggard implementation of its progressive features (especially that of Metropolitan/District Planning Committees) must become a condition for State and Central support for urban infrastructure projects. Overall, no project should be rushed through on reactionary grounds, especially projects like Metro which would consume enormous funds and take decades to complete, without due public participation in their decision making as laid down in the Town and Country Planning Act, Nagarpalika Act, and various other legislations and policies. It was also recognised that the rights of pavements vendors and street dwellers was being snuffed out despite such actions violating Supreme Court directives and national policies. The particular disregard for bastis of the poor when large projects are developed was condemned.Yes1941http://www.pad.ma/Vhlswenq/info2011-07-01weekly1.0GBGB: National Strategy Meet on Metro Project - 3http://www.pad.ma/Vhlswenq/poster.75.jpgA 2 day long National Strategy Meet on Metro Projects was held at Ajmera Hall, Mumbai. The meet was attended by representative activists, academicians, environmentalists, transport experts, architects etc from 7 cities including Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Thane, Delhi, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad etc. The Meet was held in the context of the announcement of Metro Projects to be introduced in 26 cities with proposed investment of 1 lakh crore rupees. The meet was inaugurated by lighting "mashal", flame of struggle, by veteran freedom fighter Shri Ajmera, Prof. Swapana Banerjee Guha, Kathiayani Chamraj (CIVIC-Bangalore), Smt Geeta (Metro Yard Hatao Abhiyan-Mumbai) amidst slogans. C Ramchandriah recognised that Metro projects were being wrongly exempted from the purview of various laws, for instance the EIA Notification, and action was immediately initiated by way of a representation signed by all to Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh to correct this anomaly. The Metro has been taken out of the preview of the EIA Notification since there was intense lobbying by the construction lobby including Metro proponents, it also important to know that the EIA Notification are bureaucratic legislations and not brought by Parliament. It was recognised that the National Urban Transport Policy was progressive, but the process by which it was evolved was not democratic. It was identified that it must be country wide demand that all mega projects must be implemented by the procedure laid down in the Nagarpalika Act, and for this the laggard implementation of its progressive features (especially that of Metropolitan/District Planning Committees) must become a condition for State and Central support for urban infrastructure projects. Overall, no project should be rushed through on reactionary grounds, especially projects like Metro which would consume enormous funds and take decades to complete, without due public participation in their decision making as laid down in the Town and Country Planning Act, Nagarpalika Act, and various other legislations and policies. It was also recognised that the rights of pavements vendors and street dwellers was being snuffed out despite such actions violating Supreme Court directives and national policies. The particular disregard for bastis of the poor when large projects are developed was condemned. Link: http://napm-india.org/node/51Yes2452http://www.pad.ma/Vu54s7cr/info2011-02-08weekly1.0GBGB: National Strategy Meet on Metro Project - 2http://www.pad.ma/Vu54s7cr/poster.75.jpgA two-day-long National Strategy Meet on Metro Projects was held at Ajmera Hall, Mumbai. The meet was attended by representative activists, academicians, environmentalists, transport experts, architects etc from seven cities including Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Thane, Delhi, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, etc. The Meet was held in the context of the announcement of Metro Projects to be introduced in 26 cities with proposed investment of 1 lakh crore rupees. The meet was inaugurated by lighting a "mashal", flame of struggle, by veteran freedom fighter Shri Ajmera, Prof. Swapana Banerjee Guha, Kathiayani Chamraj (CIVIC-Bangalore), Smt Geeta (Metro Yard Hatao Abhiyan-Mumbai) amidst slogans. Sudhir Badami strongly contested the idea of Metro as the only feasible transit system to solve transport problem of cities. He mentioned that the Delhi Metro Rail project was pushed ahead with inflated rider ship estimates which was not unique to it as many cities across the world had similar experiences. That is, Metro projects were found to be financially un-viable. According to him, international experiences show that nowhere have Metro lines led to traffic de-congestion. Rather, they have resulted in urban de-gradation, with the rich enjoying the subsidies provided by the poor. In almost all cities, the majority of the population (to the extent of 85-90%) uses public transport which needs to be improved and made more efficient. Mumbai Metro, it has wrongly estimated to cost 19,500 crores of rupees. This was later on revised to cost 45,000 crores, whereas it would actually cost Rs 60,000 crores of rupees and would take up to 20 -25 years to be completed. Instead of this, there are cost effective and more efficient transit systems of Skybus and BRTS available, which should have been the first option for improving the existing transport systems as they have lost cost of construction as well as short period of implementation. It was recognised that the National Urban Transport Policy was progressive, but the process by which it was evolved was not democratic. It was identified that it must be a countrywide demand that all mega projects must be implemented by the procedure laid down in the Nagarpalika Act, and for this the laggard implementation of its progressive features (especially that of Metropolitan/District Planning Committees) must become a condition for State and Central support for urban infrastructure projects. Overall, no project should be rushed through on reactionary grounds, especially projects like Metro which would consume enormous funds and take decades to complete, without due public participation in their decision-making as laid down in the Town and Country Planning Act, Nagarpalika Act, and various other laws and policies. It was also recognised that the rights of pavements vendors and street dwellers was being snuffed out despite such actions violating Supreme Court directives and national policies. The particular disregard for bastis of the poor when large projects are developed was condemned. Link: http://napm-india.org/node/51Yes3709http://www.pad.ma/Vum1r09j/info2010-10-05weekly1.0GBGB: National Strategy Meet on Metro Project - 1http://www.pad.ma/Vum1r09j/poster.75.jpgA two-day-long National Strategy Meet on Metro Projects was held at Ajmera Hall, Mumbai. The meet was attended by representative activists, academicians, environmentalists, transport experts, architects etc from seven cities including Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Thane, Delhi, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, etc. The Meet was held in the context of the announcement of Metro Projects to be introduced in 26 cities with proposed investment of 1 lakh crore rupees. The meet was inaugurated by lighting a "mashal", flame of struggle, by veteran freedom fighter Shri Ajmera, Prof. Swapana Banerjee Guha, Kathiayani Chamraj (CIVIC-Bangalore), Smt Geeta (Metro Yard Hatao Abhiyan-Mumbai) amidst slogans. T. Venkat from Chennai mentioned that the 45 kms long Metro was to cost 14,500 crores and was inaugurated recently. Though government claimed that 90 % of the land required was government land and thus very few demolitions were to be carried out, this was not true. Similarly, the Government of Tamil Nadu was implementing Elevated Road projects (a circular elevated roadway costing 3,000 crores) which was leading to the displacement of thousands of families and all this was being done to provide better facilities for private vehicle owners. Kathiayani Chamraj lamented the fact that no study was done that could justify the project benefits. With large evictions and displacement, there was a need to form citizen committees to monitor the rehabilitation process. It was recognised that the National Urban Transport Policy was progressive, but the process by which it was evolved was not democratic. It was identified that it must be a countrywide demand that all mega projects must be implemented by the procedure laid down in the Nagarpalika Act, and for this the laggard implementation of its progressive features (especially that of Metropolitan/District Planning Committees) must become a condition for State and Central support for urban infrastructure projects. Overall, no project should be rushed through on reactionary grounds, especially projects like Metro which would consume enormous funds and take decades to complete, without due public participation in their decision-making as laid down in the Town and Country Planning Act, Nagarpalika Act, and various other laws and policies. It was also recognised that the rights of pavements vendors and street dwellers was being snuffed out despite such actions violating Supreme Court directives and national policies. The particular disregard for bastis of the poor when large projects are developed was condemned. Link: http://napm-india.org/node/51Yes3712http://www.pad.ma/Vhak3z53/info2011-02-08weekly1.0Motornama: Workshop - 01http://www.pad.ma/Vhak3z53/poster.75.jpgA ride through the industrial district around Roshanara Road, New Delhi. We come across various sites and histories of the "industrial age" in the city, and its related narratives of automation, pollution, labour and closure. The tour is on cycle rickshaws, with rickshaw<i>wallahs</i> as narrators and guides. Sites visited include houses in the shadow of the new metro, a hundred year-old ice factory, a car-cover karkhana, a derelict cinema, motor repair and re-boring shops, a printing press transported from Lahore, a famous clock tower, amongst others. Roshanara Motornama tour guides: Rajesh, Raju, Lalji, Ajay kumar, Dinesh, Saddam, Ranjit, Rakesh, Tirloki, Durga Prasad, Nankhe, Panna Lal, Ramesh, Ram Bahadur. Vijay Kumar Misra. Akhilesh, Ram Surat, Ram Sajiwan, Ram Sajan, Raj Kumar, Suresh Kumar, Anil Kumar, Dharam Raj, Nihroo. Roshanara Motornama was part of '48 degrees C' held in New Delhi, December 12-21, 2008. Curated by Pooja Sood. Organised by the Goethe Institut, Delhi. A project by Shaina Anand (http://www.chitrakarkhana.net/) and Ashok Sukumaran (http://0ut.in). See also [http://pad.ma/Vhmchrdp/info Motornama Roshanara] Yes3655http://www.pad.ma/Vhrfg8ki/info2011-05-02weekly1.0Motornama: Tour - 08http://www.pad.ma/Vhrfg8ki/poster.75.jpgA ride through the industrial district around Roshanara Road, New Delhi. We come across various sites and histories of the "industrial age" in the city, and its related narratives of automation, pollution, labour and closure. The tour is on cycle rickshaws, with rickshaw<i>wallahs</i> as narrators and guides. Sites visited include houses in the shadow of the new metro, a hundred year-old ice factory, a car-cover karkhana, a derelict cinema, motor repair and re-boring shops, a printing press transported from Lahore, a famous clock tower, amongst others. Roshanara Motornama tour guides: Rajesh, Raju, Lalji, Ajay kumar, Dinesh, Saddam, Ranjit, Rakesh, Tirloki, Durga Prasad, Nankhe, Panna Lal, Ramesh, Ram Bahadur. Vijay Kumar Misra. Akhilesh, Ram Surat, Ram Sajiwan, Ram Sajan, Raj Kumar, Suresh Kumar, Anil Kumar, Dharam Raj, Nihroo. Roshanara Motornama was part of '48 degrees C' held in New Delhi, December 12-21, 2008. Curated by Pooja Sood. Organised by the Goethe Institut, Delhi. A project by Shaina Anand (http://www.chitrakarkhana.net/) and Ashok Sukumaran (http://0ut.in). See also [http://pad.ma/Vhmchrdp/info Motornama Roshanara] Yes3705http://www.pad.ma/Vezdbevz/info2011-05-02weekly1.0Motornama: Tours - 06http://www.pad.ma/Vezdbevz/poster.75.jpgA ride through the industrial district around Roshanara Road, New Delhi. We come across various sites and histories of the "industrial age" in the city, and its related narratives of automation, pollution, labour and closure. The tour is on cycle rickshaws, with rickshaw<i>wallahs</i> as narrators and guides. Sites visited include houses in the shadow of the new metro, a hundred year-old ice factory, a car-cover karkhana, a derelict cinema, motor repair and re-boring shops, a printing press transported from Lahore, a famous clock tower, amongst others. Roshanara Motornama tour guides: Rajesh, Raju, Lalji, Ajay kumar, Dinesh, Saddam, Ranjit, Rakesh, Tirloki, Durga Prasad, Nankhe, Panna Lal, Ramesh, Ram Bahadur. Vijay Kumar Misra. Akhilesh, Ram Surat, Ram Sajiwan, Ram Sajan, Raj Kumar, Suresh Kumar, Anil Kumar, Dharam Raj, Nihroo. Roshanara Motornama was part of '48 degrees C' held in New Delhi, December 12-21, 2008. Curated by Pooja Sood. Organised by the Goethe Institut, Delhi. A project by Shaina Anand (http://www.chitrakarkhana.net/) and Ashok Sukumaran (http://0ut.in). See also [http://pad.ma/Vhmchrdp/info Motornama Roshanara] Yes3748http://www.pad.ma/Vg7wji68/info2011-02-08weekly1.0Motornama: Tours 05http://www.pad.ma/Vg7wji68/poster.75.jpgA ride through the industrial district around Roshanara Road, New Delhi. We come across various sites and histories of the "industrial age" in the city, and its related narratives of automation, pollution, labour and closure. The tour is on cycle rickshaws, with rickshaw<i>wallahs</i> as narrators and guides. Sites visited include houses in the shadow of the new metro, a hundred year-old ice factory, a car-cover karkhana, a derelict cinema, motor repair and re-boring shops, a printing press transported from Lahore, a famous clock tower, amongst others. Roshanara Motornama tour guides: Rajesh, Raju, Lalji, Ajay kumar, Dinesh, Saddam, Ranjit, Rakesh, Tirloki, Durga Prasad, Nankhe, Panna Lal, Ramesh, Ram Bahadur. Vijay Kumar Misra. Akhilesh, Ram Surat, Ram Sajiwan, Ram Sajan, Raj Kumar, Suresh Kumar, Anil Kumar, Dharam Raj, Nihroo. Roshanara Motornama was part of '48 degrees C' held in New Delhi, December 12-21, 2008. Curated by Pooja Sood. Organised by the Goethe Institut, Delhi. A project by Shaina Anand (http://www.chitrakarkhana.net/) and Ashok Sukumaran (http://0ut.in). See also [http://pad.ma/Vhmchrdp/info Motornama Roshanara] Yes3137http://www.pad.ma/Vfbnp4pf/info2011-05-02weekly1.0Motornama: Tours - 03http://www.pad.ma/Vfbnp4pf/poster.75.jpgA ride through the industrial district around Roshanara Road, New Delhi. We come across various sites and histories of the "industrial age" in the city, and its related narratives of automation, pollution, labour and closure. The tour is on cycle rickshaws, with rickshaw<i>wallahs</i> as narrators and guides. Sites visited include houses in the shadow of the new metro, a hundred year-old ice factory, a car-cover karkhana, a derelict cinema, motor repair and re-boring shops, a printing press transported from Lahore, a famous clock tower, amongst others. Roshanara Motornama tour guides: Rajesh, Raju, Lalji, Ajay kumar, Dinesh, Saddam, Ranjit, Rakesh, Tirloki, Durga Prasad, Nankhe, Panna Lal, Ramesh, Ram Bahadur. Vijay Kumar Misra. Akhilesh, Ram Surat, Ram Sajiwan, Ram Sajan, Raj Kumar, Suresh Kumar, Anil Kumar, Dharam Raj, Nihroo. Roshanara Motornama was part of '48 degrees C' held in New Delhi, December 12-21, 2008. Curated by Pooja Sood. Organised by the Goethe Institut, Delhi. A project by Shaina Anand (http://www.chitrakarkhana.net/) and Ashok Sukumaran (http://0ut.in). See also [http://pad.ma/Vhmchrdp/info Motornama Roshanara] Yes2656http://www.pad.ma/Vev2a5pl/info2011-02-08weekly1.0Motornama: Tours - 02http://www.pad.ma/Vev2a5pl/poster.75.jpgA ride through the industrial district around Roshanara Road, New Delhi. We come across various sites and histories of the "industrial age" in the city, and its related narratives of automation, pollution, labour and closure. The tour is on cycle rickshaws, with rickshaw<i>wallahs</i> as narrators and guides. Sites visited include houses in the shadow of the new metro, a hundred year-old ice factory, a car-cover karkhana, a derelict cinema, motor repair and re-boring shops, a printing press transported from Lahore, a famous clock tower, amongst others. Roshanara Motornama tour guides: Rajesh, Raju, Lalji, Ajay kumar, Dinesh, Saddam, Ranjit, Rakesh, Tirloki, Durga Prasad, Nankhe, Panna Lal, Ramesh, Ram Bahadur. Vijay Kumar Misra. Akhilesh, Ram Surat, Ram Sajiwan, Ram Sajan, Raj Kumar, Suresh Kumar, Anil Kumar, Dharam Raj, Nihroo. Roshanara Motornama was part of '48 degrees C' held in New Delhi, December 12-21, 2008. Curated by Pooja Sood. Organised by the Goethe Institut, Delhi. A project by Shaina Anand (http://www.chitrakarkhana.net/) and Ashok Sukumaran (http://0ut.in). See also [http://pad.ma/Vhmchrdp/info Motornama Roshanara] Yes3690http://www.pad.ma/Vdyj4f53/info2011-02-08weekly1.0GBGB: First Convention at Azad Maidan - 4http://www.pad.ma/Vdyj4f53/poster.75.jpgOn June 2nd 2008 , thousands of urban poor of Mumbai representing more than 7000 members of Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan converged at Azad Maidan to participated in the first convention of the Andolan. Women in large numbers and in majority, attended the convention that began at noon went on till 7 p.m. to discuss and strategise on issues ranging from right to housing to the encroachments of the elite, right to basic services including water, health, education and food, and the obstacles in realising the same. The Convention had attendance of unorganised sector workers, slum dwellers, fish workers, hawkers, and infrastructure project affected persons. The convention was inaugurated by Justice (Retd.) Suresh H, and addressed by Laxman Gaikwad-leader of the Denotified Tribes, Medha Thatte (Shramik Mahila Sangathan, Pune), Neera Adarkar(Girni Kamgar Sangharsh Samiti), Shailesh Gandhi(NCPRI) Right to Information Activist, Shaktiman Ghosh(National Hawkers' Federation), Seemantani Dhuru(Avehi-Right to Education Campaign), Adv. Shakeel Ahmed, Neha(CEHAT), Anand Patwardhan (Documentary Maker), Sambaji Bhagat (Cultural Activist), Medha Patkar (Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan- NAPM, NBA) and others. Yes2133http://www.pad.ma/Vt3axb7z/info2011-02-08weekly1.0GBGB: First Convention at Azad Maidan - 3http://www.pad.ma/Vt3axb7z/poster.75.jpgOn June 2nd 2008 , thousands of urban poor of Mumbai representing more than 7000 members of Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan converged at Azad Maidan to participated in the first convention of the Andolan. Women in large numbers and in majority, attended the convention that began at noon went on till 7 p.m. to discuss and strategise on issues ranging from right to housing to the encroachments of the elite, right to basic services including water, health, education and food, and the obstacles in realising the same. The Convention had attendance of unorganised sector workers, slum dwellers, fish workers, hawkers, and infrastructure project affected persons. The convention was inaugurated by Justice (Retd.) Suresh H, and addressed by Laxman Gaikwad-leader of the Denotified Tribes, Medha Thatte (Shramik Mahila Sangathan, Pune), Neera Adarkar(Girni Kamgar Sangharsh Samiti), Shailesh Gandhi(NCPRI) Right to Information Activist, Shaktiman Ghosh(National Hawkers' Federation), Seemantani Dhuru(Avehi-Right to Education Campaign), Adv. Shakeel Ahmed, Neha(CEHAT), Anand Patwardhan (Documentary Maker), Sambaji Bhagat (Cultural Activist), Medha Patkar (Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan- NAPM, NBA) and others. While inaugurating the convention Justice Suresh raised the question 'what right does governments have to demolish the houses of the poor when right to housing is part and parcel of Right to Life guaranteed under the Constitution of India?' He declared the policy of Government of Maharashtra of applying cut-off date as inhuman, illegal as well as violation of the Constitution. He gave the call of raising struggles at multiple fronts to oppose the anti-people policies of present day governments, be it setting up of SEZs or repeal of Urban Land Ceiling Act.Yes3080http://www.pad.ma/Vfst5s60/info2011-02-08weekly1.0GBGB: First Convention at Azad Maidan - 2http://www.pad.ma/Vfst5s60/poster.75.jpgOn June 2nd 2008 , thousands of urban poor of Mumbai representing more than 7000 members of Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan converged at Azad Maidan to participated in the first convention of the Andolan. Women in large numbers and in majority, attended the convention that began at noon went on till 7 p.m. to discuss and strategise on issues ranging from right to housing to the encroachments of the elite, right to basic services including water, health, education and food, and the obstacles in realising the same. The Convention had attendance of unorganised sector workers, slum dwellers, fish workers, hawkers, and infrastructure project affected persons. The convention was inaugurated by Justice (Retd.) Suresh H, and addressed by Laxman Gaikwad-leader of the Denotified Tribes, Medha Thatte (Shramik Mahila Sangathan, Pune), Neera Adarkar(Girni Kamgar Sangharsh Samiti), Shailesh Gandhi(NCPRI) Right to Information Activist, Shaktiman Ghosh(National Hawkers' Federation), Seemantani Dhuru(Avehi-Right to Education Campaign), Adv. Shakeel Ahmed, Neha(CEHAT), Anand Patwardhan (Documentary Maker), Sambaji Bhagat (Cultural Activist), Medha Patkar (Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan- NAPM, NBA) and others. While inaugurating the convention Justice Suresh raised the question 'what right does governments have to demolish the houses of the poor when right to housing is part and parcel of Right to Life guaranteed under the Constitution of India?' He declared the policy of Government of Maharashtra of applying cut-off date as inhuman, illegal as well as violation of the Constitution. He gave the call of raising struggles at multiple fronts to oppose the anti-people policies of present day governments, be it setting up of SEZs or repeal of Urban Land Ceiling Act. Laxman Gaikwad, leader-activist associated with the de-notified tribes of Maharashtra. He drew the attention of those present towards the irony of how historically and even today, those who are earning their bread-butter by engaging in back breaking labour are labelled as criminals and encroacher's, while those who are real criminals are holders of sets of power as MPs, MLAs and corporate heads. The issue of Hawker's & Street Vendors was raised by Shaktiman Ghosh of National Hawkers Federation who lambasted the UPA government and respective state governments of not implementing the National Street Vendors & Hawkers Policy in spite of the orders of the Supreme Court. He drew attention towards the exploitation and harassment that the hawkers have to face even in left ruled state of West Bengal. . Yes3436http://www.pad.ma/Vu5sh8h3/info2011-06-13weekly1.0GBGB: First Convention at Azad Maidan - 1http://www.pad.ma/Vu5sh8h3/poster.75.jpgOn June 2nd 2008, thousands of urban poor of Mumbai representing more than 7000 members of Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan converged at Azad Maidan to participate in the first convention of the Andolan. Women in large numbers and in majority, attended the convention that began at noon went on till 7 p.m. to discuss and strategise on issues ranging from right to housing to the encroachments of the elite, right to basic services including water, health, education and food, and the obstacles in realising the same. The Convention had attendance of unorganised sector workers, slum dwellers, fish workers, hawkers, and infrastructure project affected persons. The convention was inaugurated by Justice (Retd.) Suresh H, and addressed by Laxman Gaikwad-leader of the Denotified Tribes, Medha Thatte (Shramik Mahila Sangathan, Pune), Neera Adarkar(Girni Kamgar Sangharsh Samiti), Shailesh Gandhi(NCPRI) Right to Information Activist, Shaktiman Ghosh(National Hawkers' Federation), Seemantani Dhuru(Avehi-Right to Education Campaign), Adv. Shakeel Ahmed, Neha(CEHAT), Anand Patwardhan (Documentary Maker), Sambaji Bhagat (Cultural Activist), Medha Patkar (Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan- NAPM, NBA) and others. While inaugurating the convention Justice Suresh raised the question 'what right does governments have to demolish the houses of the poor when right to housing is part and parcel of Right to Life guaranteed under the Constitution of India?' He declared the policy of Government of Maharashtra of applying cut-off date as inhuman, illegal as well as violation of the Constitution. He gave the call of raising struggles at multiple fronts to oppose the anti-people policies of present day governments, be it setting up of SEZs or repeal of Urban Land Ceiling Act. Neera Adarkar, an advocate supporting the mill-workers denounced the Government's policy to misuse and misappropriate mill land neither caring for the heritage nor the labourers. She spoke for the struggle by slums against the elitist urban renewal which is inequitous. Yes3649http://www.pad.ma/Vgpxk1vr/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Khirkeeyaan Episode 3 - One Lanehttp://www.pad.ma/Vgpxk1vr/poster.75.jpgKhirkeeYaan is an exploration of an open-circuit tv system as a local area network communication, micro-media generation and feedback device. It employed security apparatus,otherwise used for surveillance and 'secret' use. Television sets and cheap surveillance equipment, coupled with an RF modulator, mics, audio mixer and metres of coax cable were laid out to form collaborative conversation systems for the 'use' of the community-at-large. TV's and electricity, consent and participation were sourced on-site(s) often drawing from a multitude of sources. Khirkeeyaan's seven episodes were generated through seven sets of installations in different neighbourhoods in and around Khirkee Extension, New Delhi over three weeks, during Shaina Anand's associate residency at Khoj studios in April, 2006. For more on the Khirkeeyaan project, see http://chitrakarkhana.net/khirkeeyaan.htm. Khirkee Extn. has no sense of community, said Hemant, who manages the residencies at khoj. "Its semblance plays itself out in the evenings, when the streets become extended drawing rooms". Gambhir. He had come to pick me up from the airport, a week ago and was to work with us on this project, ‘about the Khirkee community’. He lived in the lane and is the only local youth who hangs out in the evenings at Khoj and even attends events. His family owns a lot of the land around Khirkee Extn. and even flats in other places in Delhi. I was told that he was a 'techie' and was to intern with me. Our working relationship was cut short very soon, as it appeared that he hated work of any kind, having never done any in his life, as he said he lived off the rent they made. To kill time he’d asked his father to open a little general store for him, but tells us that he soon realized manning a storefront was a lot of work. His shop, now an STD booth, in the Khoj lane, was never open. Moreover, his refusal to come with me on my first walk in Khirkee, (because I was heading right, in the direction of Hauzrani and not left in the direction of Khirkee Village), revealed too many problems and biases, none of which belonged to the project. We had left our cables out after the session with the Nepali Women. In the evening we began to re-lay these cables down the Khoj lane. The patch bay had to be located on the street near DADA S-20, chai shop and cables were stretched to a maximum in order to reach the first and last shops in the lane. Thus, we had Mukhtar bhai, propreitor of Mama Genrel Store, and Sunrise Hair Cutting salon from the Right and Mohan Hair Cutting and Kajal Genrel Store, owned by a character I had been hearing much about, RajuBhai aka BabyUncle, to the left. It had taken us a long time to lay the cables, we were just three in the crew and relaying a cable meant you had to drag and move whole lengths of 100 mts, from one end to the other through the sandy lane. (Would have been easier to roll them up and re-lay them.) It was late when we started, way past nine; the lane had watched the set-ups all day with amusement, now most were drunk, happy, and shop owners were doing rapid last hour business. So 2 general stores, one on either side and 2 hair cutting saloons where most of the menfolk hang out. There are four 'saloons' in the lane. The men were wired and for about 15 minutes the exchange was through loud boyish banter, ‘Chichorapana’. Baby uncle would lead by example and crack jokes that were limited to likening the mic and its cord to the male organ, asking everyone who spoke whether they were speaking from ‘up or down’, and other flat boy jokes with innuendos of the ‘lullee’ (dick). For more on episode 3, see http://chitrakarkhana.net/Khirkeeyan/K3.htmYes4541http://www.pad.ma/Vdxhwp7l/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Khirkeeyaan Episode 1 - Streetshttp://www.pad.ma/Vdxhwp7l/poster.75.jpgKhirkeeyaan is an exploration of an open-circuit TV system as a local area network communication, micro-media generation and feedback device. It employs security apparatus, otherwise used for surveillance and 'secret' use. Television sets and cheap surveillance equipment, coupled with an RF modulator, mics, audio mixer and metres of coax cable were laid out to form collaborative conversation systems for the 'use' of the community-at-large. TV's and electricity, consent and participation were sourced on-site(s) often drawing from a multitude of sources. Khirkeeyaan's seven episodes were generated through seven sets of installations in different neighbourhoods in and around Khirkee Extension, New Delhi over three weeks, during Shaina Anand's associate residency at Khoj studios in April, 2006. For more on the Khirkeeyaan project, see http://chitrakarkhana.net/khirkeeyaan.htm A right-left-right and left from Khoj and we find ourselves in a Hauzrani part of Khirkee Extension. We walked up to a large shop at the Top of the T-junction. City Electricals beckoned us, a large and safe place to park our wares while we went back for more. We decided to also host the patch bay at City Electricals. Straight down the T-junction from City was KIM Electricals, a largish shop overlooking a construction site. To the right from City, about 60 metres down the lane, a group of young men readily agreed to host a TV outside their Kabadi shop. The Fourth host was in a zigzag left of City Electricals in Jahapanah lane. A very tiny cul-de-sac Electricals, Zeeshan, flanked by beads and embroidery thread shops. It was coincidence that three of the four hosts were Electrical shops. They didn’t have TV’s in them, but enough extension boxes and power points! In one hour we had the lanes wired. The was an already curious crowd was in front of each shop. The cameras came on. The four screen mirror reflected the actions of kids who were pulling faces, waving at each other and flying toy airplanes into the frame. The first word that leapt through the wires and out of the TV….a loud and flat and all too haunting <i>…..HuuuuaaaZooor!</i> from the famous Himesh Reshamiya song. For more on episode 1, see http://chitrakarkhana.net/Khirkeeyan/K1.htmYes3029http://www.pad.ma/Vejbv06h/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Khirkeeyaan Episode 2 - Nepal at Homehttp://www.pad.ma/Vejbv06h/poster.75.jpgKhirkeeYaan is an exploration of an open-circuit tv system as a local area network communication, micro-media generation and feedback device. It employs security apparatus, otherwise used for surveillance and 'secret' use. Television sets and cheap surveillance equipment, coupled with an RF modulator, mics, audio mixer and metres of coax cable were laid out to form collaborative conversation systems for the 'use' of the community-at-large. TV's and electricity, consent and participation were sourced on-site(s) often drawing from a multitude of sources. Khirkeeyaan's seven episodes were generated through seven sets of installations in different neighbourhoods in and around Khirkee Extension, New Delhi over three weeks, during Shaina Anand's associate residency at Khoj studios in April, 2006. For more on the Khirkeeyaan project, see http://chitrakarkhana.net/khirkeeyaan.htm Arun and Ramesh, the caretakers at Khoj, live in a room on the terrace of Khoj with their wives Nirmala and Sunita and Ramesh’s squashable one-year old daughter Durga. Aastha, a young sculptor, who has been working at Khoj on their community art initiative, has been teaching art at the Gyaandeep School in the same lane and was acquainted with some Nepali kids. She got to know that a new immigrant had arrived in Khirkee extn, and was living in the lane opposite. Knowing that Nirmala and Sunita hardly get out of Khoj and mingle with the community, she thought it would be nice to connect four Nepali women together, so that they could talk with each other. Under the pretext of welcoming Yamuna, the new arrival, cables were laid from the top room of Khoj to the lane opposite. For more on episode 2, see http://chitrakarkhana.net/Khirkeeyan/K2.htmYes4468http://www.pad.ma/Vsrka7zl/info2010-05-19weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: Keynote Address - Akshara K.V.http://www.pad.ma/Vsrka7zl/poster.75.jpgOrganised fifty years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. This seminar meditated on the nature of theatre in India today, on how we got to where we are. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, bringing these several faces of Indian theatre face-to-face, and to problemetise the issues that arise therein. These ideas were exchanged through a series of presentations and discussions over five days, and each day ended with a performance. [http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/] Yes2252http://www.pad.ma/Vej5qcox/info2012-01-09weekly1.0To See is to Change: Shaina Anandhttp://www.pad.ma/Vej5qcox/poster.75.jpgA Parallax View of 40 Years of German Video Art. Over two days, ten artists, critics and enthusiasts present a "recuration" of the 40 Years of German Video Art (http://www.40jahrevideokunst.de), a collection being circulated internationally by the Goethe Institut. These respondents brought to the archive their own urgencies and preoccupations, and suggested that this "package" is not a sealed entity, and can be re-read as a history of encounter and entanglement between disciplines, geographies, schools of thought, agents and artforms. A package in this form this suggests a certain stability in the category "German video art". At the same time its circulation opens up the material, and its context of production and thought, its "Germany", to review by diverse and sometimes unsolicited sources. It is our good fortune to be able to promote such activity. Sehen heißt ändern, to see is to change. For more: http://camputer.org/event.php?id=45 The 2-day screening program was held on 14th-15th November, 2008, at Jnanapravaha and Gallery Chemould in Mumbai. Shaina Anand is a filmmaker and video artist, and co-initiator of CAMP, as well as the PAD.MA video archive. Shaina diagonally cuts through an array of works that deal with both utopias and dystopias of audiences and spectatorship. There is irreverence and interruption, vision but also naivety, determinism but also darkness. Looking back, what can we remember of these questions? Where can we stand today, in contradictory times of capital driven scarcity of digital 'art works' and endless circulation of information and images. What could be a productive distribution? What can be a withdrawal or 'absence'? Excerpts: 1970 | Filz TV|Joseph Beuys. 1969 | TV as a Fireplace | Jan Dibbets. 1972 | Documenta der Leute | Telewissen. 1983 | Der Riese | Michael Klier. and others not in the package. Yes3943http://www.pad.ma/Vs5ujjdj/info2012-01-09weekly1.0To See is to Change: Ashok Sukumaranhttp://www.pad.ma/Vs5ujjdj/poster.75.jpgA Parallax View of 40 Years of German Video Art. Over two days, ten artists, critics and enthusiasts present a "recuration" of the 40 Years of German Video Art (http://www.40jahrevideokunst.de), a collection being circulated internationally by the Goethe Institut. These respondents brought to the archive their own urgencies and preoccupations, and suggested that this "package" is not a sealed entity, and can be re-read as a history of encounter and entanglement between disciplines, geographies, schools of thought, agents and artforms. A package in this form this suggests a certain stability in the category "German video art". At the same time its circulation opens up the material, and its context of production and thought, its "Germany", to review by diverse and sometimes unsolicited sources. It is our good fortune to be able to promote such activity. Sehen heißt ändern, to see is to change. For more: http://camputer.org/event.php?id=45 The 2-day screening program was held on 14th-15th November, 2008, at Jnanapravaha and Gallery Chemould in Mumbai. Ashok Sukumaran studied architecture and media art, and now works as an artist and organiser He is a co-initiator of CAMP, a space for artistic research, projects, residencies and events, in Mumbai. Ashok traces the development of media art in the specific context of the ZKM, in relation to the abandoned promise of the "digital bauhaus", and links to both industrial design and actionist performance, as conceptual supports. These early negotiations with computers appear to have a certain sensible potential, where concepts such as "touch" and "tool" appear, briefly, as political entities. Yes2186http://www.pad.ma/Vgpvngij/info2012-01-09weekly1.0To See is to Change: Rana Dasguptahttp://www.pad.ma/Vgpvngij/poster.75.jpgA Parallax View of 40 Years of German Video Art. Over two days, ten artists, critics and enthusiasts present a "recuration" of the 40 Years of German Video Art (http://www.40jahrevideokunst.de), a collection being circulated internationally by the Goethe Institut. These respondents brought to the archive their own urgencies and preoccupations, and suggested that this "package" is not a sealed entity, and can be re-read as a history of encounter and entanglement between disciplines, geographies, schools of thought, agents and artforms. A package in this form this suggests a certain stability in the category "German video art". At the same time its circulation opens up the material, and its context of production and thought, its "Germany", to review by diverse and sometimes unsolicited sources. It is our good fortune to be able to promote such activity. Sehen heißt ändern, to see is to change. For more: http://camputer.org/event.php?id=45 The 2-day screening program was held on 14th-15th November, 2008, at Jnanapravaha and Gallery Chemould in Mumbai. Rana Dasgupta is a British novelist based in Delhi. Rana offers a meditation on the "flash". Flashes of light or image occur with some frequency in avant garde film and video art. Does the flash have a history? Can we give meaning to the flash? From lightning to arc lights to nuclear explosions - a speculation. Yes2882http://www.pad.ma/Vugp2g0t/info2012-01-09weekly1.0To See is to Change: Discussion, Day 2http://www.pad.ma/Vugp2g0t/poster.75.jpgA Parallax View of 40 Years of German Video Art. Over two days, ten artists, critics and enthusiasts present a "recuration" of the 40 Years of German Video Art (http://www.40jahrevideokunst.de), a collection being circulated internationally by the Goethe Institut. These respondents brought to the archive their own urgencies and preoccupations, and suggested that this "package" is not a sealed entity, and can be re-read as a history of encounter and entanglement between disciplines, geographies, schools of thought, agents and artforms. A package in this form this suggests a certain stability in the category "German video art". At the same time its circulation opens up the material, and its context of production and thought, its "Germany", to review by diverse and sometimes unsolicited sources. It is our good fortune to be able to promote such activity. Sehen heißt ändern, to see is to change. For more: http://camputer.org/event.php?id=45 The 2-day screening program was held on 14th-15th November, 2008, at Jnanapravaha and Gallery Chemould in Mumbai.Yes2301http://www.pad.ma/Vfxbkt80/info2010-08-07weekly1.0To See Is To Change: Discussion, Day 1http://www.pad.ma/Vfxbkt80/poster.75.jpgOver two days, ten artists, critics and enthusiasts present a "recuration" of the 40 Years of German Video Art (http://www.40jahrevideokunst.de), a collection being circulated internationally by the Goethe Institut. These respondents brought to the archive their own urgencies and preoccupations, and suggested that this "package" is not a sealed entity, and can be re-read as a history of encounter and entanglement between disciplines, geographies, schools of thought, agents and artforms. A package in this form this suggests a certain stability in the category "German video art". At the same time its circulation opens up the material, and its context of production and thought, its "Germany", to review by diverse and sometimes unsolicited sources. It is our good fortune to be able to promote such activity. Sehen heißt ändern, to see is to change. For more: http://camputer.org/event.php?id=45. The 2-day screening program was held on 14th-15th November, 2008, at Jnanapravaha and Gallery Chemould in Mumbai. The discussion panelists included Kaushik Bhaumik, Vice President, Osian's - Connoisseurs of Art, Ranjit Hoskote, cultural theorist, poet and curator, and Mriganka Madhukalia, co-founder of Desire Machine collective. Yes3294http://www.pad.ma/Vgtosa22/info2012-01-12weekly1.0To See Is To Change: Sebastian Lütgerthttp://www.pad.ma/Vgtosa22/poster.75.jpgOver two days, ten artists, critics and enthusiasts present a "recuration" of the 40 Years of German Video Art (http://www.40jahrevideokunst.de), a collection being circulated internationally by the Goethe Institut. These respondents brought to the archive their own urgencies and preoccupations, and suggested that this "package" is not a sealed entity, and can be re-read as a history of encounter and entanglement between disciplines, geographies, schools of thought, agents and artforms. A package in this form this suggests a certain stability in the category "German video art". At the same time its circulation opens up the material, and its context of production and thought, its "Germany", to review by diverse and sometimes unsolicited sources. It is our good fortune to be able to promote such activity. Sehen heißt ändern, to see is to change. For more: http://camputer.org/event.php?id=45. The 2-day screening program was held on 14th-15th November, 2008, at Jnanapravaha and Gallery Chemould in Mumbai. Sebastian Lütgert is a writer, programmer and artist who lives in Berlin. Sebastian presented a calendar of "Germany years", passing through punk, the city, and "the other Max Mueller". Yes2537http://www.pad.ma/Vsmpvqj0/info2012-01-09weekly1.0To See is to Change: Nancy Adajaniahttp://www.pad.ma/Vsmpvqj0/poster.75.jpgA Parallax View of 40 Years of German Video Art. Over two days, ten artists, critics and enthusiasts present a "recuration" of the 40 Years of German Video Art (http://www.40jahrevideokunst.de), a collection being circulated internationally by the Goethe Institut. These respondents brought to the archive their own urgencies and preoccupations, and suggested that this "package" is not a sealed entity, and can be re-read as a history of encounter and entanglement between disciplines, geographies, schools of thought, agents and artforms. A package in this form this suggests a certain stability in the category "German video art". At the same time its circulation opens up the material, and its context of production and thought, its "Germany", to review by diverse and sometimes unsolicited sources. It is our good fortune to be able to promote such activity. Sehen heißt ändern, to see is to change. For more: http://camputer.org/event.php?id=45 The 2-day screening program was held on 14th-15th November, 2008, at Jnanapravaha and Gallery Chemould in Mumbai. Nancy Adajania is a cultural theorist, art critic and curator. Nancy points to the work of Rebecca Horn and Valie Export to speak of the militarization of the body, and the performative insertion of the politicised female body in public space, with Vienna Actionism and the emergent women's movements of the 1960s as twin matrices. She also reflects on Wolf Vostell's deployment of techniques of 'de/collage' in the early 1960s in relation to television, undermining its rhetoric of communicative transparency and diluting its claim to truth-telling authority. She will contextualise Vostell as a Fluxus pioneer and demonstrate his concerns with abstraction, temporality and counter-cultural critique. Screening: 1975 | Berlin, Übungen in neun Stücken | Rebecca Horn| 40:00 1974 | Raumsehen und Raumhören | Valie Export| 05:00 1963 | Sun in your head | Wolf Vostell| 05:00 mins Yes6780http://www.pad.ma/Vgdb1pmf/info2012-01-09weekly1.0To See is to Change: Kabir Mohanty and Devdutt Trivedihttp://www.pad.ma/Vgdb1pmf/poster.75.jpgA Parallax View of 40 Years of German Video Art. Over two days, ten artists, critics and enthusiasts present a "recuration" of the 40 Years of German Video Art (http://www.40jahrevideokunst.de), a collection being circulated internationally by the Goethe Institut. These respondents brought to the archive their own urgencies and preoccupations, and suggested that this "package" is not a sealed entity, and can be re-read as a history of encounter and entanglement between disciplines, geographies, schools of thought, agents and artforms. A package in this form this suggests a certain stability in the category "German video art". At the same time its circulation opens up the material, and its context of production and thought, its "Germany", to review by diverse and sometimes unsolicited sources. It is our good fortune to be able to promote such activity. Sehen heißt ändern, to see is to change. For more: http://camputer.org/event.php?id=45 The 2-day screening program was held on 14th-15th November, 2008, at Jnanapravaha and Gallery Chemould in Mumbai. Kabir Mohanty is filmmaker and video artist based in Mumbai. Kabir feels that the tremendously evolved film sensibility that we see in India both in terms of viewership and practice is narrowing, getting atrophied, and its renewal is a challenge to again both practitioners and viewers, and so this 40-year history is important to reconsider. He screens a selection of films, including a work by Gary Hill, and one of his own works. Devdutt Trivedi is a cinephile who lectures on classical film theory and works at Osian's. Devdutt traces the development of an aesthetic through video by analyzing its spaces, temporalities and emphases, also in contrast/ regard to film. Devdutt responds to Video 50 by screening another film, Hong Kong. Yes5406http://www.pad.ma/Vh697kdy/info2012-01-09weekly1.0To See is to Change: Mriganka Madhukaliyahttp://www.pad.ma/Vh697kdy/poster.75.jpgA Parallax View of 40 Years of German Video Art. Over two days, ten artists, critics and enthusiasts present a "recuration" of the 40 Years of German Video Art (http://www.40jahrevideokunst.de), a collection being circulated internationally by the Goethe Institut. These respondents brought to the archive their own urgencies and preoccupations, and suggested that this "package" is not a sealed entity, and can be re-read as a history of encounter and entanglement between disciplines, geographies, schools of thought, agents and artforms. A package in this form this suggests a certain stability in the category "German video art". At the same time its circulation opens up the material, and its context of production and thought, its "Germany", to review by diverse and sometimes unsolicited sources. It is our good fortune to be able to promote such activity. Sehen heißt ändern, to see is to change. For more: http://camputer.org/event.php?id=45 The 2-day screening program was held on 14th-15th November, 2008, at Jnanapravaha and Gallery Chemould in Mumbai. Mriganka Madhukaillya is co-founder of Desire Machine collective (http://www.desiremachinecollective.net), an ensemble of practitioners working predominantly with new media, video and photography. He investigated the construction of history through the use of narrative devices derived from cinema. Reflecting on the medium of video via recording and transportation devices (the camera / the train) allows us a way into German history as well as towards a broader understanding of migration/mobilty, memory and narration. This approach looks at video technology as a time-based medium revealing mnemonic and micro-political processes, in its archives. Mriganka showed the following films: 1955 | Night and Fog } Alain Resnais | (excerpt) 1975 | Numero Deux | Jean-Luc Godard | (excerpt) 1992| Transfer | Angela Melitopolous| 12: 23 2002 | Tehran 1380 | Solmaz Shahbazi, Tirdad Zolghadr| 45:00 2004 | Kurlichtspiele (Reminiszenz, 12. Dezember 1953) | Volker Eichelmann| 06:00Yes3466http://www.pad.ma/Vi30achg/info2012-01-09weekly1.0To See is to Change: Kaushik Bhaumikhttp://www.pad.ma/Vi30achg/poster.75.jpgA Parallax View of 40 Years of German Video Art. Over two days, ten artists, critics and enthusiasts present a "recuration" of the 40 Years of German Video Art (http://www.40jahrevideokunst.de), a collection being circulated internationally by the Goethe Institut. These respondents brought to the archive their own urgencies and preoccupations, and suggested that this "package" is not a sealed entity, and can be re-read as a history of encounter and entanglement between disciplines, geographies, schools of thought, agents and artforms. A package in this form this suggests a certain stability in the category "German video art". At the same time its circulation opens up the material, and its context of production and thought, its "Germany", to review by diverse and sometimes unsolicited sources. It is our good fortune to be able to promote such activity. Sehen heißt ändern, to see is to change. For more: http://camputer.org/event.php?id=45 The 2-day screening program was held on 14th-15th November, 2008, at Jnanapravaha and Gallery Chemould in Mumbai. Kaushik Bhaumik, Vice President, Osian's - Connoisseurs of Art, spoke about the parallel histories of cinema and video art the relationship of scales that exists between cinema and video art. Cinema was, at the time these artists were making their works, seen as a space for everything-action cinema or epic emotional melodramas and so on. Video, by contrast, was seen as a more intimate space for trying out various things that cinema couldn't. Bhaumik showed the following films: 1969 | Land Art | Gerry Schum (short version)| Excerpts 10 mins 1974 | Tanz für eine Frau | Ulrike Rosenbach| 8 mins 1988 | Der Herzschlag des Anubis | Bettina Gruber, Maria Vedder| 5mins 2000 | Buffalo Billy + Milly | Rosemarie Trockel| 5: 45Yes2980http://www.pad.ma/Vhqlgjzj/info2010-05-21weekly1.0To See is to Change: Ranjit Hoskote http://www.pad.ma/Vhqlgjzj/poster.75.jpgA Parallax View of 40 Years of German Video Art. Over two days, ten artists, critics and enthusiasts present a "recuration" of the 40 Years of German Video Art (http://www.40jahrevideokunst.de), a collection being circulated internationally by the Goethe Institut. These respondents brought to the archive their own urgencies and preoccupations, and suggested that this "package" is not a sealed entity, and can be re-read as a history of encounter and entanglement between disciplines, geographies, schools of thought, agents and artforms. A package in this form this suggests a certain stability in the category "German video art". At the same time its circulation opens up the material, and its context of production and thought, its "Germany", to review by diverse and sometimes unsolicited sources. It is our good fortune to be able to promote such activity. Sehen heißt ändern, to see is to change. For more: http://camputer.org/event.php?id=45 The 2-day screening program was held on 14th-15th November, 2008, at Jnanapravaha and Gallery Chemould in Mumbai. On day one, cultural theorist, poet and curator Ranjit Hoskote read against the grain of the account of video art in Germany proposed by this collection. He tried to produce a more amplified sense of the German imagination on both sides of the wall. He noted the telling absence of a vibrant East German underground, including Super8 films. He also explored the problems of reading, especially when seemingly universal resources such as language, image and symbolism carry sharply differing valencies depending on the political contexts in which they are deployed. Hoskote showed the following films: 1986 | As if Memories Could Deceive Me | Marcel Odenbach |17:35 1989 | Körper im Körper | Jörg Herold | 11:40 1983 | Geld | Malaria | 4:00Yes4088http://www.pad.ma/Vdy5i35p/info2010-05-14weekly1.0Yochai Benkler - Conflicts in Cultural Productionhttp://www.pad.ma/Vdy5i35p/poster.75.jpgDoes the end of exclusive control over copies spell the death of cultural production? Yochai Benkler thinks not. While the music industry makes money off CDs, musicians supports themselves with performances. He points out that the film studios, on the other hand, take a large part of their revenues from performance and less from media commodities. He outlines how the changing cost structures in film and music production are enabling new stratums of society to create. For more, see http://footage.stealthisfilm.com/video/15 This interview was recorded for <i>Steal This Film II</i>, http://www.stealthisfilm.com/Part2/. The project tries to bring new people into the leagues of those now prepared to think 'after intellectual property', and think creatively about the future of distribution, production and creativity. This is a film that has no single author. It makers encourage its 'theft', downloading, distribution and screening, and have made the entire film and its footage available for download in HDV format, on their website and on Pirate Bay.Yes632http://www.pad.ma/Vi20i7ad/info2010-05-14weekly1.0Siva Vaidhyanathan - The Impact of Print on Knowledge and Culturehttp://www.pad.ma/Vi20i7ad/poster.75.jpgMartin Luther's theses launching the Reformation can be considered the first object of p2p distribution, of spreading beyond their original audience without authorisation. Vaidhyanathan describes how states quickly moved to control information flows through licensing and other methods. Communication technologies change the way in which identity is lived, deterritorialising the subject from their local physical environment, and opening up new visions of the possible. http://footage.stealthisfilm.com/video/12 This interview was recorded for <i>Steal This Film II</i>, http://www.stealthisfilm.com/Part2/. The project tries to bring new people into the leagues of those now prepared to think 'after intellectual property', and think creatively about the future of distribution, production and creativity. This is a film that has no single author. It makers encourage its 'theft', downloading, distribution and screening, and have made the entire film and its footage available for download in HDV format, on their website and on Pirate Bay. Yes382http://www.pad.ma/Vg80xyn9/info2010-05-14weekly1.0Robert Darnton - Two Information Systems at War, in 18th Century Francehttp://www.pad.ma/Vg80xyn9/poster.75.jpgDarnton has spent much of his career investigating the system of information control in eighteenth century France prior to the revolution of 1789. This research brought him to Neuchatel in Switzerland, one of the important centres of printing of the period, where materials forbidden in France were published to be later smuggled into the country and distributed through sophisticated networks. http://footage.stealthisfilm.com/video/13 This interview was recorded for <i>Steal This Film II</i>, http://www.stealthisfilm.com/Part2/. The project tries to bring new people into the leagues of those now prepared to think 'after intellectual property', and think creatively about the future of distribution, production and creativity. This is a film that has no single author. It makers encourage its 'theft', downloading, distribution and screening, and have made the entire film and its footage available for download in HDV format, on their website and on Pirate Bay.Yes541http://www.pad.ma/Vugqxk56/info2010-05-14weekly1.0Rick Prelinger - Online Archives, Creativity & Serendipityhttp://www.pad.ma/Vugqxk56/poster.75.jpgRick Prelinger is the creator and curator of the biggest moving image archive on the internet that offers material which can be reused for commercial purposes. Here he explains why he put the films, which he also sells as stock footage, online and what the results have been. He talks of his offline library without computers, and how that relates to the value of serendipity in the time of the query driven information environment. http://footage.stealthisfilm.com/video/2 This interview was recorded for <i>Steal This Film II</i>, http://www.stealthisfilm.com/Part2/. The project tries to bring new people into the leagues of those now prepared to think 'after intellectual property', and think creatively about the future of distribution, production and creativity. This is a film that has no single author. It makers encourage its 'theft', downloading, distribution and screening, and have made the entire film and its footage available for download in HDV format, on their website and on Pirate Bay.Yes620http://www.pad.ma/Veu8tq0l/info2010-05-14weekly1.0Lawrence Liang - Piracy and Productionhttp://www.pad.ma/Veu8tq0l/poster.75.jpgPiracy is a term used to stigmatise but Liang contextualises the term as an instance in the long history of 'commoning', where people organise themselves outside of hierarchy and property. He identifies the real threat to industry in the chance they may lose control of production as well as reproduction, as users become aware of their own potential. Finally, he underlines how in previous areas prohibited works were surppressed and destroyed, but argues that nowadays these works can survive in the private digital so the past of loss and erosion need not repeat itself. http://footage.stealthisfilm.com/video/14 This interview was recorded for <i>Steal This Film II</i>, http://www.stealthisfilm.com/Part2/. The project tries to bring new people into the leagues of those now prepared to think 'after intellectual property', and think creatively about the future of distribution, production and creativity. This is a film that has no single author. It makers encourage its 'theft', downloading, distribution and screening, and have made the entire film and its footage available for download in HDV format, on their website and on Pirate Bay.Yes474http://www.pad.ma/Vtp4u44a/info2010-05-14weekly1.0Howard Rheingold - Innovation and the Commonshttp://www.pad.ma/Vtp4u44a/poster.75.jpgThe opportunity to produce culture, rather than just consume it, is the result of increased access to powerful computer combines with their networking in a decentralised architecture. Rheingold points out that the potential of technologies has often been realised through their reception by users rather than the manufacturers themselves. Those at the top of the media industry have a basic interest in resisting these changes. Their survival should not be what concerns us, but rather the health of culture, and the potential decentralised collaboration offers for the solution of longstanding problems. http://footage.stealthisfilm.com/video/3 This interview was recorded for <i>Steal This Film II</i>, http://www.stealthisfilm.com/Part2/. The project tries to bring new people into the leagues of those now prepared to think 'after intellectual property', and think creatively about the future of distribution, production and creativity. This is a film that has no single author. It makers encourage its 'theft', downloading, distribution and screening, and have made the entire film and its footage available for download in HDV format, on their website and on Pirate Bay.Yes549http://www.pad.ma/Vtko2emr/info2010-05-14weekly1.0Craig Baldwin - Appropriating, Scratching and Decodinghttp://www.pad.ma/Vtko2emr/poster.75.jpgCraig Baldwin is an appropriationist filmmaker and operator of 'The Other Cinema' in San Francisco's Mission district. His film Sonic Outlaws was the first feature documentary that directly addressed the emerging conflict over copyright in the early 1990s. Here he introduces the logic behind his appropriationist approach, aesthetic, economic and semiotic. His approach challenges proprietary views of cultural objects and he considers the risks in his practice. http://footage.stealthisfilm.com/video/19 This interview was recorded for <i>Steal This Film II</i>, http://www.stealthisfilm.com/Part2/. The project tries to bring new people into the leagues of those now prepared to think 'after intellectual property', and think creatively about the future of distribution, production and creativity. This is a film that has no single author. It makers encourage its 'theft', downloading, distribution and screening, and have made the entire film and its footage available for download in HDV format, on their website and on Pirate Bay.Yes460http://www.pad.ma/Vdynd4ub/info2010-05-14weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: Keynote Address - Sudhanva Deshpandehttp://www.pad.ma/Vdynd4ub/poster.75.jpgOrganised fifty years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. This seminar meditated on the nature of theatre in India today, on how we got to where we are. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, bringing these several faces of Indian theatre face-to-face, and to problemetise the issues that arise therein. These ideas were exchanged through a series of presentations and discussions over five days, and each day ended with a performance. [http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/] Yes2244http://www.pad.ma/Vsb6o18s/info2010-05-08weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: Conversation - Sunder Sarukkai & Gopal Guruhttp://www.pad.ma/Vsb6o18s/poster.75.jpgOrganised 50 years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. This seminar meditated on the nature of theatre in India today, on how we got to where we are. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, bringing these several faces of Indian theatre face to face, and problemetize the issues that arise therein. These ideas were exchanged through a series of presentations and discussions over five days, and each day ended with a performance. [http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/] Yes1445http://www.pad.ma/Vezjachv/info2010-05-19weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: Conversation - Sudhanva & Sadanand Menonhttp://www.pad.ma/Vezjachv/poster.75.jpgOrganised fifty years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. This seminar meditated on the nature of theatre in India today, on how we got to where we are. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, bringing these several faces of Indian theatre face-to-face, and to problemetise the issues that arise therein. These ideas were exchanged through a series of presentations and discussions over five days, and each day ended with a performance. [http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/] Yes1734http://www.pad.ma/Vev8ey1o/info2012-01-04weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: Conversation - George Jose & Aijaz Ahmedhttp://www.pad.ma/Vev8ey1o/poster.75.jpgOrganised 50 years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. This seminar meditated on the nature of theatre in India today, on how we got to where we are. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, bringing these several faces of Indian theatre face to face, and problemetize the issues that arise therein. These ideas were exchanged through a series of presentations and discussions over five days, and each day ended with a performance. [http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/] Yes2380http://www.pad.ma/Vezdhuk9/info2011-10-24weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: Conversation - Keval Arora and Shanta Gokhalehttp://www.pad.ma/Vezdhuk9/poster.75.jpgOrganised 50 years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. This seminar meditated on the nature of theatre in India today, on how we got to where we are. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, bringing these several faces of Indian theatre face to face, and problemetize the issues that arise therein. These ideas were exchanged through a series of presentations and discussions over five days, and each day ended with a performance. [http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/]Yes2653http://www.pad.ma/Vt8pm1tw/info2010-05-23weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: Round Uphttp://www.pad.ma/Vt8pm1tw/poster.75.jpgOrganised 50 years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. This seminar meditated on the nature of theatre in India today, on how we got to where we are. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, bringing these several faces of Indian theatre face to face, and problemetize the issues that arise therein. These ideas were exchanged through a series of presentations and discussions over five days, and each day ended with a performance. The concluding addresses were delivered by G.P. Deshpande and Ram Bapat. They were unscripted performances, mainly improvisatory in nature. [http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/]Yes4171http://www.pad.ma/Vsnr5k2n/info2010-05-19weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: Last Sessionhttp://www.pad.ma/Vsnr5k2n/poster.75.jpgOrganised 50 years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. This seminar meditated on the nature of theatre in India today, on how we got to where we are. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, bringing these several faces of Indian theatre face to face, and problemetize the issues that arise therein. These ideas were exchanged through a series of presentations and discussions over five days, and each day ended with a performance. [http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/]Yes588http://www.pad.ma/Vh5rkiix/info2010-05-19weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: Institutions & Training - Responses & Feedbackhttp://www.pad.ma/Vh5rkiix/poster.75.jpgThis session sought to explore the complicated terrain of institutions and training. We wanted to look at training institutions, but not simply those. We wanted to look at cultural institutions as a whole -- the akademies, the schools of drama, the private theatre institutions, as well as funding agencies. One often hears the cliché that Indians are not institution-builders, that we cannot sustain institutions over time. How do we look at theatre institutions -- or, more generally, cultural institutions -- which we have in India? State institutions were formed in the aftermath of independence. Was the vision that led to their formation inherently flawed? Did our cultural institutions take forward the best traditions of our independence movement? What have been their successes, measured not in terms of grand showpiece events, but in terms of aiding processes that keep theatre alive and vibrant? And what have been their failures? Are state institutions doomed to failure by virtue of being state institutions? Does the state have any role at all in the realm of culture? If so, what? What about private institutions? Which private institutions have been vibrant and have had an impact on the larger field of theatre practice in their city/region? Are private institutions inherently superior to public institutions? What role have funding agencies played? What kind of institutions do we envisage for tomorrow? Organised 50 years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, and to problemetize the issues that arise therein. [http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/]Yes3858http://www.pad.ma/Vhqx8yjl/info2010-05-14weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: Institutions & Training - Questions & Answershttp://www.pad.ma/Vhqx8yjl/poster.75.jpgOrganised 50 years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. This seminar meditated on the nature of theatre in India today, on how we got to where we are. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, bringing these several faces of Indian theatre face to face, and problemetize the issues that arise therein. These ideas were exchanged through a series of presentations and discussions over five days, and each day ended with a performance. [http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/]Yes3850http://www.pad.ma/Vtjyl181/info2010-05-19weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: Aparna Dharwadkar - Questions and Answershttp://www.pad.ma/Vtjyl181/poster.75.jpgOrganised 50 years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. This seminar meditated on the nature of theatre in India today, on how we got to where we are. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, bringing these several faces of Indian theatre face to face, and problemetize the issues that arise therein. These ideas were exchanged through a series of presentations and discussions over five days, and each day ended with a performance. [http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/]Yes2691http://www.pad.ma/Vhrav4dv/info2010-05-23weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: Story of ITFhttp://www.pad.ma/Vhrav4dv/poster.75.jpgOrganised 50 years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. This seminar meditated on the nature of theatre in India today, on how we got to where we are. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, bringing these several faces of Indian theatre face to face, and problemetize the issues that arise therein. These ideas were exchanged through a series of presentations and discussions over five days, and each day ended with a performance. In this video, Sanjna Kapoor, Sameera Iyengar, Moloyashree Hashmi, Akshara K.V., Sudhanva Deshpande and Praveen K.P. talk about how the India Theatre Forum came about. http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/ Yes1254http://www.pad.ma/Vs5w7grq/info2010-05-19weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: Pathologies - Question & Answer Sessionhttp://www.pad.ma/Vs5w7grq/poster.75.jpgViolences of various kinds are routinely unleashed around us. Communal violence, caste violence, violence of the rich against the poor, and so on. What are our social pathologies? How do we understand them? How do we counter them? Does our theatre reflect these pathologies? Which sorts of violences and pathologies has our theatre paid attention to, and which not? These questions were meditated on in presentations by Shiv Visvanathan and Makarand Sathe. Responses were offered by Sundar Sarukkai, S. Raghunandana and Moloyashree Hashmi. Organised 50 years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. This seminar meditated on the nature of theatre in India today, on how we got to where we are. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, bringing these several faces of Indian theatre face to face, and problemetize the issues that arise therein. These ideas were exchanged through a series of presentations and discussions over five days, and each day ended with a performance. http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/ Yes1297http://www.pad.ma/Veus6etr/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Odissi - Kelucharan Mohapatra performs Kuru Yadu Nandanahttp://www.pad.ma/Veus6etr/poster.75.jpgTelling you that Kelucharan Mohapatra was born in Raghurajpur in 1926, that he danced since a tender age, first training with the village gotipuas, then in a rasa lila troupe, and then at Annapoorna Theatres, going on to become a vital figure in the restructuring of Odissi during the Jayantika movement, an iconic teacher and a legendary dancer, isn’t enough. Dry biographical detail cannot contain this larger-than-life character, who is best described by the stories that make up his existence, countless little anecdotes about the ways in which he touched people’s lives, what he did, what he ate and the colourful things he said. In this performance at Lalit Mansingh’s residence in Washington DC, at the ripe age of 77, Guruji, as he is fondly remembered, brings alive ‘Kuru Yadunandana’, the final ashtapadi of Jayadeva’s Gitagovinda. Lalit Mansingh was then India’s ambassador to the United States of America. He holds the attention of the packed hall, playing Radha, who at the end of a night of love, demands Krishna’s attentions in various ways. Guruji was in the United States to perform at the International Odissi Festival organised in Washington DC in 2003. This was probably one of Guruji’s last performances before his passing in April 2004. In 2010, his student of over four decades, Kumkum Lal, goes over this memorable record of one of her favourite Odissi compositions, as she shares stories about Guruji and explains the intricate sanchari that makes up ‘Kuru Yadunandana’. Watching this video with her is her student, Ranjana Dave, who never saw Kelucharan Mohapatra in person but feels she can almost see him standing here, thanks to the rich tapestry of idiosyncrasies and stories that all his students share so generously and enthusiastically. The years Ranjana spent learning from Kumkum were full of invaluable dancing, many such stories and much relief from hostel food. Translations of the ashtapadi Kuru yadunandana have been adapted from 'Sri Gitagovinda' (trans. Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja, Gaudiya Vedanta Publications, Mathura, 2005) with inputs from Kumkum Lal.Yes949http://www.pad.ma/Vhmypqrh/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Odissi - Kelucharan Mohapatra performing Pasyati Disi Disi and Mokshahttp://www.pad.ma/Vhmypqrh/poster.75.jpg<b>2nd International Odissi Festival</b> Telling you that Kelucharan Mohapatra was born in Raghurajpur in 1926, that he danced since a tender age, first training with the village gotipuas, then in a rasa lila troupe, and then at Annapoorna Theatres, going on to become a vital figure in the restructuring of Odissi during the Jayantika movement, an iconic teacher and a legendary dancer, isn’t enough. Dry biographical detail cannot contain this larger-than-life character, who is best described by the stories that make up his existence, countless little anecdotes about the ways in which he touched people’s lives, what he did, what he ate and the colourful things he said. This performance at the International Odissi Festival in 2003 was one of his last before his passing in April 2004. The festival was held in the United States that year (the next edition of the festival, in 2006, was held in Bhubaneswar as a tribute to Guruji). Here, Guruji, as he is fondly known by his many students, performs ‘<i>Pasyati disi disi</i>’, an <i>ashtapadi</i>, followed by moksha, the culmination of an Odissi recital. His moksha is devoid of the introductory section of pure dance, but his devotional fervour is well-represented in the spontaneous additions he makes to the performance of the sloka ‘<i>sarva mangala mangalye</i>’, a popular verse chosen to end a moksha. In 2010, his student of over four decades, Kumkum Lal, went over this video, laying out the detailed tapestry of sanchari that adds meaning to ‘Pasyati disi disi’. As she goes along, she talks about Guruji as someone who was always a person of the theatre at heart, a man who read the minds of the audience as he danced, charming them with his spontaneous showmanship. Watching this video with her is her student, Ranjana Dave, who never saw Kelucharan Mohapatra in person but feels she can almost see him standing here, thanks to the rich lore of idiosyncrasies and stories that all his students share so generously and enthusiastically. The years Ranjana spent learning from Kumkum were full of invaluable dancing, many such stories and much relief from hostel food. Translations of the ashtapadi '<i>Pasyati disi disi</i>' have been adapted from 'Sri Gitagovinda' (trans. Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja, Gaudiya Vedanta Publications, Mathura, 2005) with inputs from Kumkum Lal.Yes1812http://www.pad.ma/Vgoe6otz/info2010-05-23weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: New Realitieshttp://www.pad.ma/Vgoe6otz/poster.75.jpgWhat gets called 'globalisation' is rapidly changing the world we live in. But what is 'globalisation'? What, in other words, is getting globalised, and what is not? What does ‘creative industries’ mean? What about the fast changing technology of today’s world? What do these processes mean for our theatre? Prabir Purokayastha and Akshara KV made presentations that attended to these questions. Organised 50 years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. This seminar meditated on the nature of theatre in India today, on how we got to where we are. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, bringing these several faces of Indian theatre face to face, and problemetize the issues that arise therein. These ideas were exchanged through a series of presentations and discussions over five days, and each day ended with a performance. http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/Yes3008http://www.pad.ma/Vevehl6i/info2010-05-23weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: Pathologies - Response by Sundar Sarukkaihttp://www.pad.ma/Vevehl6i/poster.75.jpgViolences of various kinds are routinely unleashed around us. Communal violence, caste violence, violence of the rich against the poor, and so on. What are our social pathologies? How do we understand them? How do we counter them? Does our theatre reflect these pathologies? Which sorts of violences and pathologies has our theatre paid attention to, and which not? These questions were meditated on in presentations by Shiv Visvanathan and Makarand Sathe. Responses were offered by Sundar Sarukkai, S. Raghunandana and Moloyashree Hashmi. In this video, we see Sundar Sarukkai's response. Organised 50 years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. This seminar meditated on the nature of theatre in India today, on how we got to where we are. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, bringing these several faces of Indian theatre face to face, and problemetize the issues that arise therein. These ideas were exchanged through a series of presentations and discussions over five days, and each day ended with a performance. http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/Yes759http://www.pad.ma/Ve33zclf/info2010-05-23weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: Pathologies - Presentationshttp://www.pad.ma/Ve33zclf/poster.75.jpgViolences of various kinds are routinely unleashed around us. Communal violence, caste violence, violence of the rich against the poor, and so on. What are our social pathologies? How do we understand them? How do we counter them? Does our theatre reflect these pathologies? Which sorts of violences and pathologies has our theatre paid attention to, and which not? These questions were meditated on in presentations by Shiv Visvanathan and Makarand Sathe. Organised 50 years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. This seminar meditated on the nature of theatre in India today, on how we got to where we are. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, bringing these several faces of Indian theatre face to face, and problemetize the issues that arise therein. These ideas were exchanged through a series of presentations and discussions over five days, and each day ended with a performance. http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/ Yes4544http://www.pad.ma/Ve2gh76v/info2010-05-23weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: Pathologies - Response by S. Raghunandanahttp://www.pad.ma/Ve2gh76v/poster.75.jpgViolences of various kinds are routinely unleashed around us. Communal violence, caste violence, violence of the rich against the poor, and so on. What are our social pathologies? How do we understand them? How do we counter them? Does our theatre reflect these pathologies? Which sorts of violences and pathologies has our theatre paid attention to, and which not? These questions were meditated on in presentations by Shiv Visvanathan and Makarand Sathe. Responses were offered by Sundar Sarukkai, S. Raghunandana and Moloyashree Hashmi. Here we see S. Raghunandana responding to the presentations. Organised 50 years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. This seminar meditated on the nature of theatre in India today, on how we got to where we are. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, bringing these several faces of Indian theatre face to face, and problemetize the issues that arise therein. These ideas were exchanged through a series of presentations and discussions over five days, and each day ended with a performance. http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/Yes713http://www.pad.ma/Vs6jx7bm/info2010-05-23weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: Pathologies - Response by Moloyashree Hashmihttp://www.pad.ma/Vs6jx7bm/poster.75.jpgViolences of various kinds are routinely unleashed around us. Communal violence, caste violence, violence of the rich against the poor, and so on. What are our social pathologies? How do we understand them? How do we counter them? Does our theatre reflect these pathologies? Which sorts of violences and pathologies has our theatre paid attention to, and which not? These questions were meditated on in presentations by Shiv Visvanathan and Makarand Sathe. Responses were offered by Sundar Sarukkai, S. Raghunandana and Moloyashree Hashmi. Organised 50 years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. This seminar meditated on the nature of theatre in India today, on how we got to where we are. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, bringing these several faces of Indian theatre face to face, and problemetize the issues that arise therein. These ideas were exchanged through a series of presentations and discussions over five days, and each day ended with a performance. http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/Yes547http://www.pad.ma/Vg7utd9w/info2010-05-19weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: Inequalities - P.Sainath, Questions & Answershttp://www.pad.ma/Vg7utd9w/poster.75.jpgOrganised 50 years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. This seminar meditated on the nature of theatre in India today, on how we got to where we are. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, bringing these several faces of Indian theatre face to face, and problemetize the issues that arise therein. These ideas were exchanged through a series of presentations and discussions over five days, and each day ended with a performance. http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/ Yes1094http://www.pad.ma/Vevs49it/info2010-05-19weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: Inequalities - P. Sainathhttp://www.pad.ma/Vevs49it/poster.75.jpgOrganised 50 years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. This seminar meditated on the nature of theatre in India today, on how we got to where we are. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, bringing these several faces of Indian theatre face to face, and problemetize the issues that arise therein. These ideas were exchanged through a series of presentations and discussions over five days, and each day ended with a performance. http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/Yes4532http://www.pad.ma/Vg9e04nh/info2010-05-19weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: Sushma Deshpandehttp://www.pad.ma/Vg9e04nh/poster.75.jpgOrganised 50 years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. This seminar meditated on the nature of theatre in India today, on how we got to where we are. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, bringing these several faces of Indian theatre face to face, and problemetize the issues that arise therein. These ideas were exchanged through a series of presentations and discussions over five days, and each day ended with a performance. http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/Yes769http://www.pad.ma/Vs6c3p2r/info2010-05-19weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: Dakshin Bajrangehttp://www.pad.ma/Vs6c3p2r/poster.75.jpgOrganised 50 years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. This seminar meditated on the nature of theatre in India today, on how we got to where we are. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, bringing these several faces of Indian theatre face to face, and problemetize the issues that arise therein. These ideas were exchanged through a series of presentations and discussions over five days, and each day ended with a performance. http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/Yes942http://www.pad.ma/Vt2x0e2n/info2010-05-19weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: Chandrasan - Interactionhttp://www.pad.ma/Vt2x0e2n/poster.75.jpgOrganised 50 years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. This seminar meditated on the nature of theatre in India today, on how we got to where we are. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, bringing these several faces of Indian theatre face to face, and problemetize the issues that arise therein. These ideas were exchanged through a series of presentations and discussions over five days, and each day ended with a performance. http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/Yes3113http://www.pad.ma/Vi209117/info2011-06-30weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: Dramatic Performance Acthttp://www.pad.ma/Vi209117/poster.75.jpgOrganised 50 years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. This seminar meditated on the nature of theatre in India today, on how we got to where we are. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, bringing these several faces of Indian theatre face to face, and problemetize the issues that arise therein. These ideas were exchanged through a series of presentations and discussions over five days, and each day ended with a performance. http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/Yes2124http://www.pad.ma/Vhmycvtg/info2010-05-19weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: Experiments - Questions & Answershttp://www.pad.ma/Vhmycvtg/poster.75.jpgOrganised 50 years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. This seminar meditated on the nature of theatre in India today, on how we got to where we are. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, bringing these several faces of Indian theatre face to face, and problemetize the issues that arise therein. These ideas were exchanged through a series of presentations and discussions over five days, and each day ended with a performance. http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/Yes5819http://www.pad.ma/Vu5mcg6u/info2010-05-19weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: Experiments - Responseshttp://www.pad.ma/Vu5mcg6u/poster.75.jpgSometimes, we have a strange idea of the 'experimental' -- anything that is serious, amateur, and outside of the commercial framework gets called 'experimental'. But what does 'experiment' mean in theatre? Can we begin to identify markers or landmarks in our theatre which we can genuinely call 'experimental'? Is such an enterprise possible, or even desirable? Do we need laboratories for theatre? What has been the experience of the laboratories that were set up? When does an experiment fructify enough to be shared with an audience? Should experiments be at all shared with an audience? What is a performer's perspective? Does s/he look at her/his work in terms of experimentation? How do new forms come into being? What is, or should be, the role of technology in all this? Do we have too little technology in our theatre -- or too much? What can training institutions do in this area? What should funding agencies do? What kinds of experiments is it useful to support? What is the current state of experimental theatre? Does such a creature really exist? Some of these questions were contemplated in S. Ramanujan's and Sadanand Menon's presentations. For more, see http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/ (Look under Talks / Experiments to read responses to these presentations.) Ekbal Ahmed and Amitesh Grover responded to these presentations. Organised 50 years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. This seminar meditated on the nature of theatre in India today, on how we got to where we are. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, bringing these several faces of Indian theatre face to face, and problemetize the issues that arise therein. These ideas were exchanged through a series of presentations and discussions over five days, and each day ended with a performance. http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/ Yes1718http://www.pad.ma/Vsnplt46/info2010-05-19weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: Experiments - Presentationshttp://www.pad.ma/Vsnplt46/poster.75.jpgSometimes, we have a strange idea of the 'experimental' -- anything that is serious, amateur, and outside of the commercial framework gets called 'experimental'. But what does 'experiment' mean in theatre? Can we begin to identify markers or landmarks in our theatre which we can genuinely call 'experimental'? Is such an enterprise possible, or even desirable? Do we need laboratories for theatre? What has been the experience of the laboratories that were set up? When does an experiment fructify enough to be shared with an audience? Should experiments be at all shared with an audience? What is a performer's perspective? Does s/he look at her/his work in terms of experimentation? How do new forms come into being? What is, or should be, the role of technology in all this? Do we have too little technology in our theatre -- or too much? What can training institutions do in this area? What should funding agencies do? What kinds of experiments is it useful to support? What is the current state of experimental theatre? Does such a creature really exist? Some of these questions were contemplated in S. Ramanujan's and Sadanand Menon's presentations. For more, see http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/ (Look under Talks / Experiments to read responses to these presentations.) Organised fifty years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, and to problemetise the issues that arise therein.Yes3312http://www.pad.ma/Vum7ooze/info2010-05-19weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: Fierce Urgency of Now - Aijaz Ahmedhttp://www.pad.ma/Vum7ooze/poster.75.jpgOrganised 50 years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. This seminar meditated on the nature of theatre in India today, on how we got to where we are. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, bringing these several faces of Indian theatre face to face, and problemetize the issues that arise therein. These ideas were exchanged through a series of presentations and discussions over five days, and each day ended with a performance. [http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/]Yes1940http://www.pad.ma/Vu07llru/info2010-05-19weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: Exhibition - Samik Bandyopadhyay & Shanta Gokhalehttp://www.pad.ma/Vu07llru/poster.75.jpgOrganised 50 years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. This seminar meditated on the nature of theatre in India today, on how we got to where we are. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, bringing these several faces of Indian theatre face to face, and problemetize the issues that arise therein. These ideas were exchanged through a series of presentations and discussions over five days, and each day ended with a performance. [http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/]Yes2759http://www.pad.ma/Ve2s9os3/info2010-04-09weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: ITF Websitehttp://www.pad.ma/Ve2s9os3/poster.75.jpgOrganised 50 years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. This seminar meditated on the nature of theatre in India today, on how we got to where we are. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, bringing these several faces of Indian theatre face to face, and problemetize the issues that arise therein. These ideas were exchanged through a series of presentations and discussions over five days, and each day ended with a performance. [http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/]Yes1478http://www.pad.ma/Vsme1x9e/info2010-08-05weekly1.0'Terrorised by Legislation?' - A talk by Vrinda Grover and Saeed Mirzahttp://www.pad.ma/Vsme1x9e/poster.75.jpgOn January 30, 2009, Insaaniyat organised a talk titled 'Terrorism and Democracy: Resisting the Cultural and Legal Backlash', with lawyer and human rights activist Vrinda Grover and filmmaker Saeed Mirza. It was chaired by Mihir Desai. From the Insaaniyat press release: "Tough laws do not enhance peoples' security. They only strengthen authoritarian tendencies in the State. The aftermath of the November 2009 terror strikes in Mumbai has seen a rapid recourse to draconian legislation. It is based on the presumption of guilt, which is contrary to international law. We are also seeing a concerted drive to impose a de facto ban on performers, literature, music, etc. from Pakistan. What can we do to resist such bigotry and cultural fascism?" [http://chandni.posterous.com/talk-on-terrorism-and-democrac]Yes3974http://www.pad.ma/Vg8ct7ul/info2010-06-08weekly1.0Kaun Mille Dekho Kissko - Queer remixing http://www.pad.ma/Vg8ct7ul/poster.75.jpgKaun mille dekho kissko (2005) re-edits the film Kal ho no ho (2004). The remix uses a conventional Bollywood format with love songs and dramatic moments to tell a gay love story between the two main male characters. Yes938http://www.pad.ma/Vej5o5qz/info2010-03-29weekly1.0Wharfage: Sharjah Creekhttp://www.pad.ma/Vej5o5qz/poster.75.jpgWharfage was a CAMP project invited by the 9th Sharjah Biennial, 2009, and was part of the programme 'Past of the Coming Days', curated by Tarek Abou el Fetouh. It was a project on the creek in Sharjah, from where a large number of dhows leave for 'Somalia'. Somalia, a collection of semi-state entities, is therefore a kind of free trade zone. This arrow of trade, in which the ship is not an escape from but an entry into the space of conflict, is our subject. It offers an opportunity to think about how "business" and these commodities are related to global trade and the current economic situation in the UAE. With pirates up ahead and crisis on their tails, this movement of goods and their sailors may trace old trade routes. But it also maps out something new: a contemporary landscape of new and used objects, 'break-in-bulk trade, labour, Asian and African diasporas and giant wooden ships being built in Salaya, Gujarat. The Wharfage project consisted of two parallel pieces: Wharfage, a book containing two years of port records related to Somali trade; and Radio Meena, four evenings of radio transmissions from the port. From March 18-21, 2008, one could tune into Radio Meena on 100.3 FM between 7pm and 10pm, within a radius of about five kilometres from the port. Wharfage was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the 2009 Sharjah Biennial. This video is a documentation of the Sharjah port and the loading and unloading of the wooden boats or dhows.Yes2573http://www.pad.ma/Vfgk58mu/info2010-03-14weekly1.0Pad.ma 2009: Sadanand Menon (Chandralekha)http://www.pad.ma/Vfgk58mu/poster.75.jpgPad.ma (Public Access Digital Media Archive, http://pad.ma) was launched as a public website on February 16, 2009. It opened up to external contributions and invited a number of "users" - independent filmmakers, artists, activists, researchers, students, scholars and enthusiasts - to contribute their material to pad.ma or explore the archive in their own way. As a part of the launch, we had a stimulating day-long event with presentations by various people who have been engaging with pad.ma. A long-time collaborator of the dancer Chandralekha, Sadanand Menon is currently in the process of setting up a publicly accessible archive of her work. He showcased two videos on the dancer Chandralekha. The first was part of a programme made for a cultural show on Doordarshan. This footage, recorded from television, is the only available version of the programme. Sadanand's annotations for the Tanabana programme (the second video) take us through an intimate journey with Chandralekha (http://pad.ma/admin/videos?o=-created&q=Chandralekha). Moments that would otherwise be missed (a dog passing by, Chandra making rangoli), if we were just watching the film, are re-read by Sadanand to create a shared space in which we begin to understand Chandra's philosophy of creativity and the body. Sadanand Menon is a reputed arts editor, teacher of cultural journalism, a widely published photographer, curator, writer and speaker on politics, ecology and the arts. He is Adjunct Faculty at the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. For the Pad.ma vidoes on Chandralekha, see http://pad.ma/admin/videos?o=-created&q=Chandralekha http://pad.ma/admin/videos?o=-created&q=Chandralekha For a report on the event, see http://camputer.org/event.php?id=75. Yes2400http://www.pad.ma/Vdxjnj1f/info2010-11-17weekly1.0Politics of Change: Mahila, the moviehttp://www.pad.ma/Vdxjnj1f/poster.75.jpgI started the Politics of Change (PoC) project when I was in India visiting Barefoot College (http://www.barefootcollege.org), but it’s about so much more. The main focus of PoC is on communities that take positive change into their own hands. On people who decide to get up and act, who organise themselves spontaneously, from the bottom up, and who form networks to realise that change. As artists, filmmakers, theorists and activists, we have to enrich the public debate around sustainable living, the environment and eco-technology. We have to think about the kind of future in which we want to live and work. What social and economic systems can we envisage beyond the regular ones? Is there anything that we can learn from existing (non-Western) experiments? In my film 'Mahila', I step between different worlds, going from West to East, from urban to rural surroundings. My encounters with the experiences and observations of rural Indian women provoke reflection on the process of empowerment. In an artistic ethnography, we see and hear how the women are using education, technology and politics to redefine their destinies. Tracing my memories, the spectator is taken into questions about storytelling. How are the women fighting to get their stories heard? Can the filmmaker tell other women's stories?Yes1558http://www.pad.ma/Vhmchrdp/info2010-10-12weekly1.0Motornama Roshanarahttp://www.pad.ma/Vhmchrdp/poster.75.jpgA ride through the industrial district around Roshanara Road, New Delhi. We come across various sites and histories of the "industrial age" in the city, and its related narratives of automation, pollution, labour and closure. The tour is on cycle rickshaws, with rickshaw wallahs as narrators and guides. Sites visited include houses in the shadow of the new metro, a hundred year-old ice factory, a car-cover karkhana, a derelict cinema, motor repair and re-boring shops, a printing press transported from Lahore, a famous clock tower, amongst others. Roshanara road was till about 20 years ago the centre of the industrial city of Delhi, with Transport Nagar, the old Grand Trunk road, Sabzi Mandi, the Beej (seed) Market and related infrastructure all crowded around it. Old residents claim that it was not only Asia's largest engine repair market, but also an upper-class hangout with Palace Cinema and restaurants and other markets flourishing. In a series of court-initiated "anti-pollution" drives in 1996 and 2000, Roshanara Road's small and large industries were forced out of spaces they had been occupying since partition. As transport technology also changed, the repair industries could not compete effectively with new imported cars, authorised dealers and so on. In effect, the "motor" of industrial progress was moved out of the city, or moved past this sector in other ways. Cycle rickshaws have survived this history. Not in a sense that they emerged victorious, but in that despite court orders (there is an on-going Delhi High court case on their licensing, (update: the judgement has declared Delhi's rickshaw licencing "ceiling" of 99,000 not legal. More at http://manushi.in/articles.php?articleId=1089) Their numbers in the city have grown from about 20,000 in the early 1980's to an estimated 900,000 today. The vast majority of pullers live on the street, or in "informal" situations in front of shuttered shops, in side lanes, etc. Recently, cycle rickshaws have found favour with green groups and the eco lobby, as a "non-polluting" form of transport. This discourse has to also meet considerations of where rickshaw wallahs will live, their health and other needs, etc. Our project then entered this historical and regulatory landscape, and offered members of the public, both locals and visitors, a tour of this landscape of lost Punjabi confidence, old machines, new migrant, hard labour, and local histories. We worked with about 25 rickshaw wallahs who lived in and around the Beej market, Roshanara Road, for over two months. Workshops and meetings were held in the Roshanara Garden and other locations in the area. Roshanara Motornama tour guides: Rajesh, Raju, Lalji, Ajay kumar, Dinesh, Saddam, Ranjit, Rakesh, Tirloki, Durga Prasad, Nankhe, Panna Lal, Ramesh, Ram Bahadur. Vijay Kumar Misra. Akhilesh, Ram Surat, Ram Sajiwan, Ram Sajan, Raj Kumar, Suresh Kumar, Anil Kumar, Dharam Raj, Nihroo. Roshanara Motornama was part of '48 degrees C' held in New Delhi, December 12-21, 2008. Curated by Pooja Sood. Organised by the Goethe Institut, Delhi. A project by Shaina Anand (http://www.chitrakarkhana.net/) and Ashok Sukumaran (http://0ut.in). Yes2932http://www.pad.ma/Vfgeo8sx/info2010-03-13weekly1.0Pad.ma 2009: Ayisha Abraham - Ram Gopal, the dancer on 8mm found footagehttp://www.pad.ma/Vfgeo8sx/poster.75.jpgPad.ma (Public Access Digital Media Archive, http://pad.ma) was launched as a public website on February 16, 2009. It opened up to external contributions and invited a number of "users" - independent filmmakers, artists, activists, researchers, students, scholars and enthusiasts - to contribute their material to pad.ma or explore the archive in their own way. As a part of the launch, we had a stimulating day-long event with presentations by various people who have been engaging with pad.ma. Ayisha Abraham who has made a film, 'Straight 8', using 8 mm found footage, chose to look at rare films made on Ram Gopal, a dancer who became famous in the mid-twentieth century. Using the footage of Ram Gopal that had been shot by an amateur film maker Tom D'Aguiar, perhaps the only existing fragment of moving image of Ram, Ayesha posed questions about the relationship between the materiality of film, the role of archives and the reconstruction of histories through them. http://pad.ma/Vsnjewdj/info Ayisha Abraham is a member of the Bangalore artists collective, BAR1, and works as a visual arts consultant at the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology. For a report on the event, see http://camputer.org/event.php?id=75.Yes1534http://www.pad.ma/Vdxnzyqt/info2010-03-12weekly1.0Politics of Change: Interview with Lipika Bansalhttp://www.pad.ma/Vdxnzyqt/poster.75.jpgPolitics of Change is a research project in which artists, theorists and activists reflect on innovative ideas, contributions and solutions which support distributed and grassroots structures. This reflection takes place through a programme of free discussion and dialogue and is documented in a multimedia archive-installation. The focus is on the role of women at the core of these communities. Drawing on a wide range of artistic and theoretical approaches, the aim is to imagine new and sustainable relationships between humans, their environments and (appropriate) technologies. From December 18-20, 2008, we organised a workshop at Okno, an artist-run organisation for media and technology in Brussels (http://okno.be/) to discuss these topics and present some of the case studies to a public. For the Politics of Change project, I did a lot of interviews with rural Indian women at Barefoot college, Tilonia, Rajasthan, as well as with different women from my circle of friends, colleagues and family. This is the story of Lipika Bansal, Researcher in Education and Technology from Amsterdam. Lipika is of Indian origin but was born and raised in Amsterdam. Yes755http://www.pad.ma/Vi80b7gq/info2010-03-12weekly1.0Politics of Change: Interview with Jasna Dimitrovskahttp://www.pad.ma/Vi80b7gq/poster.75.jpgPolitics of Change is a research project in which artists, theorists and activists reflect on innovative ideas, contributions and solutions which support distributed and grassroots structures. This reflection takes place through a programme of free discussion and dialogue and is documented in a multimedia archive-installation. The focus is on the role of women at the core of these communities. Drawing on a wide range of artistic and theoretical approaches, the aim is to imagine new and sustainable relationships between humans, their environments and (appropriate) technologies. From December 18-20, 2008, we organised a workshop at Okno, an artist-run organisation for media and technology in Brussels (http://okno.be/) to discuss these topics and present some of the case studies to a public. For the Politics of Change project, I did a lot of interviews with rural Indian women at Barefoot college, Tilonia, Rajasthan, as well as with different women from my circle of friends, colleagues and family. This is the story of Jasna Dimitrovska, activist and street artist, from Skopje, Macedonia. Yes567http://www.pad.ma/Vtpars16/info2010-03-12weekly1.0Politics of Change: Questionnaire - Workshop at Okno, Brusselshttp://www.pad.ma/Vtpars16/poster.75.jpgThe research project ‘Politics of Change’ is a collective work in which artists, working women, activists and ecologists, economists, educators and anthropologists want to initiate collaborative dialogues to research ideas and solutions, which support decentralised structures, diversity and community development. The project involves not only public discussion, but an extensive mapping and documentation of these proposals in an art context. Drawing on a wide range of artistic and theoretical fields, the aim is to imagine new and sustainable relationships between humans, their environments and technologies. As artists, filmmakers, theorists and activists we have to enrich the public debate around sustainable living, the environment and eco-technology. We have to think about the kind of future in which we want to live and work. What social and economic systems can we envisage beyond the regular ones? Is there anything that we can learn from existing (non-western) experiments? I started with the Politics of Change project when I was in India visiting the Barefoot project, but it’s about so much more: the main focus is on communities that take positive change into their own hands. On people who decide to get up and act, who organise themselves spontaneously, from the bottom up, and who form networks to realise that change. The Brussels’ PoC workshop discussed gender and activism in the cultural field, examining the technical tools we use to document what we do and to spread the word. The participants in this open dialogue came from different fields; there were writers, filmmakers, anthropologists, journalists, visual artists, economists and researchers. Yes339http://www.pad.ma/Vhr9e5q8/info2010-03-12weekly1.0Politics of Change: Questionnaire - Barefoot College, Tiloniahttp://www.pad.ma/Vhr9e5q8/poster.75.jpgThe research project ‘Politics of Change’ is a collective work in which artists, working women, activists and ecologists, economists, educators and anthropologists want to initiate collaborative dialogues to research ideas and solutions, which support decentralised structures, diversity and community development. The project involves not only public discussion, but an extensive mapping and documentation of these proposals in an art context. Drawing on a wide range of artistic and theoretical fields, the aim is to imagine new and sustainable relationships between humans, their environments and technologies. As artists, filmmakers, theorists and activists we have to enrich the public debate around sustainable living, the environment and eco-technology. We have to think about the kind of future in which we want to live and work. What social and economic systems can we envisage beyond the regular ones? Is there anything that we can learn from existing (non-western) experiments? I started with the Politics of Change project when I was in India, visiting the Barefoot project, but it’s about so much more: the main focus is on communities that take positive change into their own hands. On people who decide to get up and act, who organise themselves spontaneously, from the bottom up, and who form networks to realise that change. My interest in women solar engineers and the Mahila Samiti groups for women’s empowerment in Rajasthan comes out of a personal involvement that links art, women, empowerment, ecology, technology and social engagement. When I learned about the Barefoot College project (http://www.barefootcollege.org), I was struck by certain similarities between two practices that seem worlds apart at first sight: my own artistic work environment at Okno in Brussels and the practical trainings/workshops at Barefoot College in Rajasthan. Okno is an artist-run organisation for media, art and technology. Its focus lies on collective technological research projects. (http://okno.be/) Current projects use sustainable energies like solar/photovoltaic and wind energy to weave city communities, mesh networks and create public space art projects. Our decentralised DIY workshops are a platform for sharing knowledge to arrive at poignant results. Barefoot College in Tilonia, Rajasthan, uses a similar structure to train solar engineers. The learning environment is open and decentralised. Knowledge is passed on from the bottom up, using a hands-on approach. The village community selects which women will be sent on a six-month solar engineering training, and every village family contributes a share in the remuneration of the engineers to set up and maintain the village solar system. When I went to Barefoot College for the first time in 2008, I discovered that the solar workshops are only a very small part in a much bigger story concerning the empowerment of the participating women. Diving into the matter, I quickly realised that a documentary film had to become the central issue of my project. This clip and the interviews with the women solar engineers of Barefoot College are from the film, Mahila, which can be seen here: http://pad.ma/Vdxjnj1f/info. Yes339http://www.pad.ma/Vfc3gjdz/info2010-03-12weekly1.0Politics of Change: Women Solar Engineers - Magan Kanwarhttp://www.pad.ma/Vfc3gjdz/poster.75.jpgThis is an interview with Magan Kanwar, one of the first women solar engineers of Barefoot College (http://www.barefootcollege.org). Before Magan started the workshops, she was living under the purdah system and never left her house. Now, she runs the solar energy training department at Barefoot College with her collegues Najma Nigam and Leela Devi. For more on the Politics of Change project, see http://pad.ma/Vhr9e5q8/info For the finished film 'Mahila', see http://pad.ma/Vdxjnj1f/infoYes77http://www.pad.ma/Vi2ob0ym/info2010-03-12weekly1.0Politics of Change: Women Solar Engineers - Najma Nigamhttp://www.pad.ma/Vi2ob0ym/poster.75.jpgNajma Nigam is an illiterate rural women from Rajasthan. She was one of the first participants of Barefoot College's solar workshops, which have been held since the 1980s (http://www.barefootcollege.org). She teaches at the college and passes her knowledge to other rural women from Asia and Africa, who are students in the solar engineering programme. For more on the Politics of Change project, see http://pad.ma/Vhr9e5q8/info For the finished film 'Mahila', see http://pad.ma/Vdxjnj1f/infoYes126http://www.pad.ma/Vh5rab85/info2010-03-12weekly1.0Politics of Change: Women Solar Engineers - Leela Devihttp://www.pad.ma/Vh5rab85/poster.75.jpgLeela Devi is one of the first rural Rajasthani women to have enrolled in the solar workshops organised by Barefoot College (http://www.barefootcollege.org). In fact, she teaches other rural women from Asia and Africa, who are students at the college's solar engineering programme. This interview was done as part of the Politics of Change (PoC) project. For more on PoC, see http://pad.ma/Vhr9e5q8/info For the finished film 'Mahila', see http://pad.ma/Vdxjnj1f/info Yes79http://www.pad.ma/Vugx4i4x/info2010-03-12weekly1.0Politics of Change: Women Solar Engineers - Sita Baihttp://www.pad.ma/Vugx4i4x/poster.75.jpgSita Devi is a singer. Together with four other young Rajasthani women, she started the solar cooker section of Barefoot College (http://www.barefootcollege.org). Some years ago she decided to start a 6 months training as solar panel engineer, and she continued her education with a focus on solar cookers. Today the women are responsible for the construction of the large parabolic dishes, covered with regular pieces of mirror. They tailor them precisely according to the blueprints of a German Engineer, Wolfgang Scheffler, with whom they still collaborate and improve the reflectors and machinery when needed. They organise their smithy, weld and solder the mechanical parts for the cookers out of recycled bicycle parts. Their apparatus are sold to organisations in India who use them in community kitchens. For more on the Politics of Change project, see http://pad.ma/Vhr9e5q8/info For the finished film 'Mahila', see http://pad.ma/Vdxjnj1f/infoYes187http://www.pad.ma/Vg86nupz/info2010-03-12weekly1.0Politics of Change: Women Solar Engineers - Mangi Devihttp://www.pad.ma/Vg86nupz/poster.75.jpgMangi Devi is one of the first women employees at Barefoot College (http://www.barefootcollege.org). From the beginning, she was responsible for the night schools - an important part of the Barefoot program - which she developed with a strong focus on education for young girls. She collaborated closely with Aruna Roy. For more on the Politics of Change project, see http://pad.ma/Vhr9e5q8/info For the finished film 'Mahila', see http://pad.ma/Vdxjnj1f/infoYes151http://www.pad.ma/Vs6i8hmc/info2010-03-12weekly1.0Politics of Change: Women Solar Engineers - Shamma Jogihttp://www.pad.ma/Vs6i8hmc/poster.75.jpgShamma Jogi is a young women who decided to fight for a better life. In search of a job and an education, she arrived at Barefoot College (http://www.barefootcollege.org). Her husband, a truck driver, agrees with her decision to live on campus. He visits her there on his days off. Shamma raises her young son as a working woman. For more on the Politics of Change project, see http://pad.ma/Vhr9e5q8/info For the finished film 'Mahila', see http://pad.ma/Vdxjnj1f/infoYes265http://www.pad.ma/Vfsgxtgb/info2010-03-12weekly1.0Politics of Change: Women Solar Engineers - Sargu Bhanwarhttp://www.pad.ma/Vfsgxtgb/poster.75.jpgSargu Bhanwar is mother of five daughters. She is the coordinator for the handicraft section of Barefoot College (http://www.barefootcollege.org). She is a very sophisticated lady and in her work, she merges aesthetic insight with every day necessities. She has very specific ideas on (appropriate) technology. For more on the Politics of Change project, see http://pad.ma/Vhr9e5q8/info For the finished film 'Mahila', see http://pad.ma/Vdxjnj1f/infoYes274http://www.pad.ma/Vhmgf2ct/info2010-03-15weekly1.0Politics of Change: Women Solar Engineers from Africahttp://www.pad.ma/Vhmgf2ct/poster.75.jpgIn the solar engineers trainings there’s a focus on women. The solar engineer project has demonstrated that bringing electricity to remote villages through solar energy could also be women's responsibility. (Men might easily run off with their new knowledge and start their own business in the city somewhere, whereas the women give it back to the community and first and for all to their family. They invest in a better education for their children.) Most of the solar engineers come from traditional and conservative societies and they have struggled to fight for their identity. That’s why this new confidence in the potential of women is so important. Initially, the women participated in the training to fulfill a basic need: getting a job and improving the financial position of the family. The training was first regarded with suspicion, but as the results became visible, it earned the trust of rural communities. Especially the wider consequences are groundbreaking: the women gain self-respect and have secured a stronger position in the family structures. These rural women have become symbols of a new partnership within the community and are often used as examples to propagate and elevate women’s status. In a second phase the participating women become teachers and pass their knowledge to other (also foreign) women. In this video we see a group of African women (from 8 different countries) following a six month workshop in Rajasthan. For most of them it was the first time that they left their home village and their family to go and live in another country, confronted with another culture. For more on the Politics of Change project, see http://pad.ma/Vhr9e5q8/info For the finished film 'Mahila', see http://pad.ma/Vdxjnj1f/infoYes151http://www.pad.ma/Vgdmw9kl/info2010-03-12weekly1.0Politics of Change: Women Solar Engineers - Rami Devihttp://www.pad.ma/Vgdmw9kl/poster.75.jpgRami Devi is an activist for women'd empowerment. She is the field coordinator for several women's groups in Rajasthan. She organises monthly meetings on a regional level, and helps village women solve recurrant family and community problems during the weekly village meetings. For more on the Politics of Change project, see http://pad.ma/Vhr9e5q8/info For the finished film 'Mahila', see http://pad.ma/Vdxjnj1f/infoYes380http://www.pad.ma/Vsmq068q/info2010-03-12weekly1.0Politics of Change: Song for a Solar Cooker http://www.pad.ma/Vsmq068q/poster.75.jpgEco-feminists want to redefine how societies look at productivity and activity of both women and nature. 'Diverse women for diversity' promotes a global women's campaign on bio-diversity and cultural diversity, echoing women's voices from the local and grassroots level to global fora and international negotiations. In Tilonia, a small village in the Rajasthani desert, a group of illiterate women started a cooperative to build solar cookers. Out of recycled materials, they construct little by little huge parabolic devices that work with the energy of the sun. The use of technologies such as solar energy empowers women to stay 'off the grid', a statement that symbolises their independence from dominant structures. The women work with appropriate technology that is tailor made for their specific community and takes into consideration the environmental, cultural, social and economic characteristics of that community. This technology requires fewer resources and is easier to maintain. It has a lower overall cost and a smaller impact on the environment than high technology, and it prefers labor-intensive solutions over capital-intensive ones. The women workers organise themselves and explore the assets of nature and distributed green power. As working women, they claim their rights in the community and work towards a radical shift in policy and practice.Yes523http://www.pad.ma/Vhqx6r27/info2010-03-07weekly1.0Jury's Collective Verdict, and Discussion, Delhi Panchayat, Resisting Stigma and Homophobiahttp://www.pad.ma/Vhqx6r27/poster.75.jpgPeople’s Panchayats on Resisting Stigma and Homophobia; Action Plus - a Coalition for Rights, Education and Care in HIV and AIDS. The Delhi Jury shares their collective four-part statement with the audience, after which audience members discuss their feedback with the jury. The discussion focuses both on the wording of the statement, and on its underpinning ideology.Yes515http://www.pad.ma/Vhapvqbx/info2010-03-09weekly1.0Theatre Jam: Nagara Chitra - Shivajinagarhttp://www.pad.ma/Vhapvqbx/poster.75.jpgNagara Chitra literally means city/town pictures. This was an activity organised as part of October Jam, a month-long celebration of the first anniversary of Theatre Jam, a symbolic occupation of public spaces in the city meant to encourage diverse performance-based art exchange and collaboration. Theatre Jam was initiated by Maraa: http://maraa.in/ We sent out an open call to photographers to snapshot two vibrant markets in the city. The chosen markets were Shivajainagar/Russell market and Ulsoor Market, the former being a Muslim dominated market and area, the latter a devout Hindu market and area. Both are really old markets and continue to function as hubs of older commercial activity. There are also signifiers of other kinds of cultures existing in the city. Conversations between visual artists and shopkeepers happened while the former were walking through markets, identifying good frames and shooting them. Once the shooting was done, Maraa spent some money identifying clean pictures, printing them on Matt paper and displaying them. Interestingly, the display took the pictures back to the markets, but not to the same shops where the pictures were taken. If we took a picture of a flower shop, we would then walk to other nearby shops and basically pretend to stop over and inspect the photos. Sooner rather than later, a crowd would gather, including the shopkeeper, who was curious to see familiar faces and familiar environs. There was happiness that "photographers" have chosen their part of town. Or anxiety that some grey/"illegal" activities are being exposed by elite journalists doing exposes. Or suspicions of intra-colonisations in which photographs are weapons that expose this "ugliness" and contrast it with the new beauties of the city like malls, flyovers, tall buildings, etc. There were others who were sure that we were on some foreign-funded project, and some wanted a cut from this mythical project fund! We had great discussions on the city's character, invisible cities living inside Bangalore, visual art, and aesthetics of the city in visual terms. A fantastic experience and hopefully, a valuable documentation of both markets, much ignored in the Bangalore of today.Yes988http://www.pad.ma/Vdybdrjo/info2010-03-11weekly1.0Theatre Jam: Poetry Night at Ants Cafehttp://www.pad.ma/Vdybdrjo/poster.75.jpgPoetry night was held as a part of October Jam, a month-long marathon to celebrate the first anniversary of Theatre Jam, a symbolic occupation of public spaces for performance-based art forms. Most of October Jam's activities were held in 'found' public spaces such as parks. A significant number of activities were also held in 'declared' public spaces like Jaaga, Samuha, etc. Interestingly, the poetry night saw the opening up of semi- private spaces to art. The event was held at Ants Cafe, which is on the first floor. Right below the cafe, on the ground floor, is a shop which is affiliated with well known NGO The Ant that works with weavers in Assam.Yes1339http://www.pad.ma/Vgopz2mj/info2010-03-09weekly1.0Theatre Jam: Storytelling workshop with Pritham Chakravarty - Improvisationshttp://www.pad.ma/Vgopz2mj/poster.75.jpgTheatre Jam was a public spaces initiative initiated by Maraa (http://maraa.in) in 2009 with the hope of getting urban performers of all kinds to meet in public places to share skills and perform. In our times, when access and skill sharing within the arts is getting limited and commercialised, we felt creativity was also getting compromised. Theatre Jam arose out of one such need - to create a space that would foster collaborations and a spirit that nurtured creativity. We see Theatre Jam as something collaborative, for visual artists, theatre artists, musicians, poets and photographers. Theatre Jam turned a year old in October 2009 and to mark this, we conceptualised diverse activities that comprised a 31-day marathon. Maraa also worked on getting travelling artists and local artists' groups to collaborate, propose or execute activities, and perform at various sites in the city! Our approach was community friendly and inclusive. The larger plan was to create a culture of expression and exchange between artists in the city and make public spaces more culture friendly, thus reclaiming them and initiating dialogue. Pritham Chakravarthy, theatre performer, activist and a professor at the Ramanaidu Film Institute, Hyderabad, participated in Theatre Jam, to do what she does best: storytelling. Pritham also performed in the course of her short stay, both at Jaaga and Cubbon Park. She conducted a story telling workshop which was free and open to the public. In this video, workshop participants do short improvisational performances. Yes1155http://www.pad.ma/Ve2ag2rr/info2010-03-19weekly1.0Theatre Jam: Storytelling with Pritham Chakravarty - Warming Uphttp://www.pad.ma/Ve2ag2rr/poster.75.jpgTheatre Jam was a public spaces initiative initiated by Maraa (http://maraa.in) in 2009 with the hope of getting urban performers of all kinds to meet in public places to share skills and perform. In our times, when access and skill sharing within the arts is getting limited and commercialised, we felt creativity was also getting compromised. Theatre Jam arose out of one such need - to create a space that would foster collaborations and a spirit that nurtured creativity. We see Theatre Jam as something collaborative, for visual artists, theatre artists, musicians, poets and photographers. Theatre Jam turned a year old in October 2009 and to mark this, we conceptualised diverse activities that comprised a 31-day marathon. Maraa also worked on getting travelling artists and local artists' groups to collaborate, propose or execute activities, and perform at various sites in the city! Our approach was community friendly and inclusive. The larger plan was to create a culture of expression and exchange between artists in the city and make public spaces more culture friendly, thus reclaiming them and initiating dialogue. Pritham Chakravarthy, theatre performer, activist and a professor at the Ramanaidu Film Institute, Hyderabad, participated in Theatre Jam, to do what she does best: storytelling. Pritham also performed in the course of her short stay, both at Jaaga and Cubbon Park. This video shows her conducting a story telling workshop, which was free and open to the public. She talks, among other things, about the interdependence between the storyteller and the listener. Yes639http://www.pad.ma/Vtoxdi68/info2010-03-12weekly1.0Pad.ma 2009: Ghar Banao Ghar Bachao (GBGB) Andolanhttp://www.pad.ma/Vtoxdi68/poster.75.jpgPad.ma (Public Access Digital Media Archive, http://pad.ma) was launched as a public website on February 16, 2009. It opened up to external contributions and invited a number of "users" - independent filmmakers, artists, activists, researchers, students, scholars and enthusiasts - to contribute their material to pad.ma or explore the archive in their own way. As a part of the launch, we had a stimulating day-long event with presentations by various people who have been engaging with pad.ma. Ghar Bachao, Ghar Banao (GBGB) Andolan is an organisation that has been working on housing rights, particularly against corporate privatisation. The pad.ma presentation was made by Simpreet Singh, a Production Engineer and TISS post-graduate who has been working full-time with the GBGB Andolan since 2005 and Ruchi Kumar, a second-year student of Tata Institute of Social Sciences who is doing her field work with the Andolan. GBGB took existing footage in pad.ma, 'A Day in the Life of Niranjan Hiranandani', and re-read it against information that they have been collecting for a few years (through the use of RTI as well as investigative journalism). The grandiose vision of Hiranandani's construction business is read against the material conditions of housing for the poor, while his statements of corporate responsibility are read against the corrupt practices prevalent in the real estate industry In a playful manner, GBGB fills in certain narratives of images through sharp political satire. http://pad.ma/Vtowua9j/L2kv9 Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan is a social movement of slum dwellers and unorganised sector workers. The Andolan was initiated to challenge the inhuman and unconstitutional demolitions of more than 75,000 houses by the Government of Maharashtra in 2004. The movement, under the leadership of women, adopts non-violence as a value framework. The Andolan is affiliated with NAPM (National Alliance of People's Movements). For a report on the event, see http://camputer.org/event.php?id=75.Yes2213http://www.pad.ma/Vef75nha/info2010-03-20weekly1.0Pad.ma 2009: Lawrence Liang and Following Discussionhttp://www.pad.ma/Vef75nha/poster.75.jpgPad.ma (Public Access Digital Media Archive, http://pad.ma) was launched as a public website on February 16, 2009. It opened up to external contributions and invited a number of "users" - independent filmmakers, artists, activists, researchers, students, scholars and enthusiasts - to contribute their material to pad.ma or explore the archive in their own way. As a part of the launch, we had a stimulating day-long event with presentations by various people who have been engaging with pad.ma. Lawrence Liang, active member of the Alternate Law Forum (http://www.altlawforum.org/) and one of the founders of Pad.ma, made a presentation on the relationship between the image, politics and the distribution of the sensible. Drawing form Jacques Ranciere, Lawrence argued that politics was already aesthetics, in that ideas of the political often draw from sensorial metaphors such as visibility and invisibility, and politics may consist of interruptions/interventions in the distribution of the sensible, which modify the aesthetico-political field. He tried to link this to an understanding of the political which is not dependent on a pre-determined political field, but which is open to redefinition through a reversal of assumptions of social roles. In the case of pad.ma, the blurring of the lines between image makers and image "readers" would constitute such an aesthetic-political interruption. For Liang's contributions to Pad.ma, see: http://pad.ma/?q=lawrence+liang http://alf.pad.ma/browse For a report on the event, see http://camputer.org/event.php?id=75.Yes2441http://www.pad.ma/Vezexcq9/info2010-03-12weekly1.0Pad.ma 2009: Agaaz (Ek Dozen Pani)http://www.pad.ma/Vezexcq9/poster.75.jpgPad.ma (Public Access Digital Media Archive, http://pad.ma) was launched as a public website on February 16, 2009. It opened up to external contributions and invited a number of "users" - independent filmmakers, artists, activists, researchers, students, scholars and enthusiasts - to contribute their material to pad.ma or explore the archive in their own way. As a part of the launch, we had a stimulating day-long event with presentations by various people who have been engaging with pad.ma. The first presentation of the day was made by Aagaz, a voluntary youth group from PremNagar, Meghwadi and Sanjay Nagar bastis of Jogeshwari. The presentation was made by Aagaz members Shaali Shaikh, Durga Gudillu, Ismail Sharif, Hakim Liliyawala and Ajeet Mahale. They spoke about the recent use of video in their work. About 15 hours of footage from their video project 'Ek Dozen Pani' was collaboratively annotated to describe some relationships between infrastructure, water and the city. While infrastructure is hyper visible in most cities in diverse forms, from the rapidly changing built environment to decaying pipes from which water leaks to poorer neighborhoods, the members of Aagaz used the layers of annotation in pad.ma to go deep into their own histories of how infrastructure gets to be made and unmade in urban experience. See: http://pad.ma/find?l=Lj Aagaaz functions as a youth development centre and organises camps on education, health, employment, personal development and projects around local infrastructures such as water and rationing (PDS). It is supported entirely by local contributions. For a report on the event, see http://camputer.org/event.php?id=75.Yes1939http://www.pad.ma/Veep9xux/info2010-03-12weekly1.0Pad.ma 2009: SanjayKak (Flight over CFL)http://www.pad.ma/Veep9xux/poster.75.jpgPad.ma (Public Access Digital Media Archive, http://pad.ma) was launched as a public website on February 16, 2009. It opened up to external contributions and invited a number of "users" - independent filmmakers, artists, activists, researchers, students, scholars and enthusiasts - to contribute their material to pad.ma or explore the archive in their own way. As a part of the launch, we had a stimulating day-long event with presentations by various people who have been engaging with pad.ma. Sanjay Kak, an award-winning documentary filmmaker from New Delhi, was invited by Pad.ma to write over a two-hour long tape of found footage, 'Flight over the CFL'. This film acts as a campaign video of a protest march organised by the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) in February 1992. In what can only be described as an ethnography of a media event, Sanjay Kak's reading of this film opens out for us ways in which we can think the relationship between events, fragmentary material and contested political histories. See: http://pad.ma/Vg92c17o/info Kak's recent film, the feature length Jashn-e-Azadi (How we celebrate freedom, 2007), made extensive use of anonymous archival material from Kashmir. For a report on the event, see http://camputer.org/event.php?id=75.Yes2292http://www.pad.ma/Vhlmy77z/info2010-03-12weekly1.0Pad.ma 2009: PriyaSen (The Knower of Secrets)http://www.pad.ma/Vhlmy77z/poster.75.jpgPad.ma (Public Access Digital Media Archive, http://pad.ma) was launched as a public website on February 16, 2009. It opened up to external contributions and invited a number of "users" - independent filmmakers, artists, activists, researchers, students, scholars and enthusiasts - to contribute their material to pad.ma or explore the archive in their own way. As a part of the launch, we had a stimulating day-long event with presentations by various people who have been engaging with pad.ma. Priya Sen, a film maker from Delhi, revisited a film that she had made six years ago called 'The Knower of Secrets' about Qawwali singers in Hazrat Nizamuddin, on Pad.ma (http://pad.ma/Vu5mgs8w/info). In her annotations, Priya looked at what it would mean to capture the experience of the filmmaker in the making of the film, an experience which is never exhausted by the end product that emerges in the form of the finished film. Her annotation moves between the personal, the affective, the theoretical and the analytical. 'The Knower of Secrets' emerges as a text which opens out to different registers of experience and reflection which were not immediately available at the time of the making, or viewing, the film. Priya Sen mainly works with non-fictional and experimental genres of video, photo, sound and writing. She is currently with Sarai-CSDS, New Delhi, where she works as a researcher-practitioner of experimental media with the Cybermohalla project - a network of media practitioners and writers in working class localities in Delhi - as well as with the Sarai Media Lab. For a report on the event, see http://camputer.org/event.php?id=75.Yes1242http://www.pad.ma/Vu0c77yg/info2010-03-14weekly1.0Pad.ma and Mozilla @ CAMP, part Ihttp://www.pad.ma/Vu0c77yg/poster.75.jpgYes3045http://www.pad.ma/Vum5nqmf/info2010-03-14weekly1.0Pad.ma and Mozilla @ CAMP, part IIhttp://www.pad.ma/Vum5nqmf/poster.75.jpgYes5921http://www.pad.ma/Ve2iazfj/info2010-08-02weekly1.0CSCS Culture and Democracy Lecture Series: Ashish Rajadhyakshahttp://www.pad.ma/Ve2iazfj/poster.75.jpg'Culture and Democracy', a flagship course at the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society (CSCS), has served as an exploration of how the connections between culture and democracy may be theorised. An integral part of this course is a guest lecture series by CSCS faculty and visiting scholars, in which they reflect on their own work. In 2007, these lectures were opened to the public and documented on video.The course was anchored by S. V. Srinivas and invited speakers included Ashish Rajadhyaksha, M. Madhava Prasad, Kakarala Sitharamam, Vivek Dhareshwar and S. V. Srinivas. Ashish Rajadhyaksha is Senior Fellow at CSCS (http://www.cscsarchive.org/Members/ashish/cscs_people_view/) His lecture, titled 'Cinematic Governmance', was the first of the series. Rajadhyaksha touches on, among other things, citizenship, the "cinema effect", spectatorship and cultures of viewing. For more on CSCS, see http://www.cscsarchive.org/ Yes8265http://www.pad.ma/Vfssyn1j/info2010-03-11weekly1.0Theatre Jam: Theatre Workshop in Cubbon Park - Improvisationshttp://www.pad.ma/Vfssyn1j/poster.75.jpgTheatre Jam was a public spaces initiative initiated by Maraa (http://maraa.in) in 2009 with the hope of getting urban performers of all kinds to meet in public places to share skills and perform. In our times, when access and skill sharing within the arts is getting limited and commercialised, we felt creativity was also getting compromised. Theatre Jam arose out of one such need - to create a space that would foster collaborations and a spirit that nurtured creativity. We see Theatre Jam as something collaborative, for visual artists, theatre artists, musicians, poets and photographers. Theatre Jam turned a year old in October 2009 and to mark this, we conceptualised diverse activities that comprised a 31-day marathon. Maraa also worked on getting travelling artists and local artists' groups to collaborate, propose or execute activities, and perform at various sites in the city! Our approach was community friendly and inclusive. The larger plan was to create a culture of expression and exchange between artists in the city and make public spaces more culture friendly, thus reclaiming them and initiating dialogue. This video documents the improvisations that took place during a theatre workshop led by the students of Department of Performing Arts, Pondicherry University.Yes941http://www.pad.ma/Vfay3dun/info2010-03-09weekly1.0Theatre Jam: Theatre Workshop in Cubbon Park - Warming Uphttp://www.pad.ma/Vfay3dun/poster.75.jpgTheatre Jam was a public spaces initiative initiated by Maraa (http://maraa.in) in 2009 with the hope of getting urban performers of all kinds to meet in public places to share skills and perform. In our times, when access and skill sharing within the arts is getting limited and commercialised, we felt creativity was also getting compromised. Theatre Jam arose out of one such need - to create a space that would foster collaborations and a spirit that nurtured creativity. We see Theatre Jam as something collaborative, for visual artists, theatre artists, musicians, poets and photographers. Theatre Jam turned a year old in October 2009 and to mark this, we conceptualised diverse activities that comprised a 31-day marathon. Maraa also worked on getting travelling artists and local artists' groups to collaborate, propose or execute activities, and perform at various sites in the city! Our approach was community friendly and inclusive. The larger plan was to create a culture of expression and exchange between artists in the city and make public spaces more culture friendly, thus reclaiming them and initiating dialogue. This video documents a theatre workshop led by the students of Department of Performing arts, Pondicherry University.Yes760http://www.pad.ma/Vtzzx0dx/info2010-03-11weekly1.0Resisting Stigma and Homophobia: Discussion, Pune Panchayat http://www.pad.ma/Vtzzx0dx/poster.75.jpgAction Plus, a network of 14 organisations working on HIV/AIDS in India, conducted a series of People’s Panchayats in 2009, which sought to understand people's battles against Stigma and Homophobia through the voices of survivors and resistors. The Panchayats sought to address the devaluation of livelihoods and life systems of entire communities of people who practice alternate sexualities, and the erosion of rights or dignity. This series of People’s Panchayats was held in five cities in India. The first one was in Bangalore on January 28, 2009, the second in Hyderabad on February 6, 2009, the third in Chennai on March 21, 2009 and the fourth on April 11, 2009 in Pune. The fifth and final one was held in New Delhi on April 24, 2009. Each of the Panchayats followed a similar structure. The interactive meetings were structured to have affected members from sexual minority communities share their personal experiences of living with stigma and homophobia. These were the deposers. Then the two-member expert panel shared their thoughts and ideas based on their experience in the field. The audience comprising of the general public, NGOs, media, opinion leaders and religious communities made their queries and comments at the end of the deposition. There was a brief audience interaction following which the jury or the panch gave its ‘verdict’. This video documents the discussion that follows the Panch's proceedings, which covers a variety of topics and devotes a considerable amount of time to the question of “choice” in homosexuality. An audience member also poses a question to Ketaki Ranade about the lack of visibility of lesbianism on the social front.Yes590http://www.pad.ma/Vtkca3ef/info2010-03-11weekly1.0Resisting Stigma and Homophobia: Dr. Vijay Kiran's Verdict, Hyderabad Panchayat http://www.pad.ma/Vtkca3ef/poster.75.jpgAction Plus, a network of 14 organisations working on HIV/AIDS in India, conducted a series of People’s Panchayats in 2009, which sought to understand people's battles against Stigma and Homophobia through the voices of survivors and resistors. The Panchayats sought to address the devaluation of livelihoods and life systems of entire communities of people who practice alternate sexualities, and the erosion of rights or dignity. This series of People’s Panchayats was held in five cities in India. The first one was in Bangalore on January 28, 2009, the second in Hyderabad on February 6, 2009, the third in Chennai on March 21, 2009 and the fourth on April 11, 2009 in Pune. The fifth and final one was held in New Delhi on April 24, 2009. Each of the Panchayats followed a similar structure. The interactive meetings were structured to have affected members from sexual minority communities share their personal experiences of living with stigma and homophobia. These were the deposers. Then the two-member expert panel shared their thoughts and ideas based on their experience in the field. The audience comprising of the general public, NGOs, media, opinion leaders and religious communities made their queries and comments at the end of the deposition. There was a brief audience interaction following which the jury or the panch gave its ‘verdict’. In this segment, Dr. Vijay Kiran speaks about sex as a basic human need, and asks doctors to end their discrimination towards the queer community. He holds that the queer community needs to educate and sensitise doctors about its needs, in order to avail of better health care.Yes316http://www.pad.ma/Vg7uimqt/info2010-01-20weekly1.0Dr. Narayana Reddy's Deposition, Chennai Panchayat, Resisting Stigma and Homophobiahttp://www.pad.ma/Vg7uimqt/poster.75.jpgPeople’s Panchayats on Resisting Stigma and Homophobia; Action Plus - a Coalition for Rights, Education and Care in HIV and AIDS. Dr. Narayana Reddy, an expert testifier at the Chennai Panchayat, shares some of his thoughts on the Panch's proceedings. Speaking in English and Tamil, he also elaborates on some of the problems he sees with the queer rights movement in India, and some ways in which to address them.Yes512http://www.pad.ma/Ve2akh05/info2010-03-12weekly1.0Resisting Stigma and Homophobia: Lakshmi Narayan's Verdict, Hyderabad Panchayat http://www.pad.ma/Ve2akh05/poster.75.jpgAction Plus, a network of 14 organisations working on HIV/AIDS in India, conducted a series of People’s Panchayats in 2009, which sought to understand people's battles against Stigma and Homophobia through the voices of survivors and resistors. The Panchayats sought to address the devaluation of livelihoods and life systems of entire communities of people who practice alternate sexualities, and the erosion of rights or dignity. This series of People’s Panchayats was held in five cities in India. The first one was in Bangalore on January 28, 2009, the second in Hyderabad on February 6, 2009, the third in Chennai on March 21, 2009 and the fourth on April 11, 2009 in Pune. The fifth and final one was held in New Delhi on April 24, 2009. Each of the Panchayats followed a similar structure. The interactive meetings were structured to have affected members from sexual minority communities share their personal experiences of living with stigma and homophobia. These were the deposers. Then the two-member expert panel shared their thoughts and ideas based on their experience in the field. The audience comprising of the general public, NGOs, media, opinion leaders and religious communities made their queries and comments at the end of the deposition. There was a brief audience interaction following which the jury or the panch gave its ‘verdict’. In this segment, Lakshmi Narayan, a member of the Hyderabad Panch, says that Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code needs to be modified, and not scrapped.Yes229http://www.pad.ma/Vfga321y/info2010-03-12weekly1.0Resisting Stigma and Homophobia: Dr. Samuel's Verdict, Hyderabad Panchayathttp://www.pad.ma/Vfga321y/poster.75.jpgAction Plus, a network of 14 organisations working on HIV/AIDS in India, conducted a series of People’s Panchayats in 2009, which sought to understand people's battles against Stigma and Homophobia through the voices of survivors and resistors. The Panchayats sought to address the devaluation of livelihoods and life systems of entire communities of people who practice alternate sexualities, and the erosion of rights or dignity. This series of People’s Panchayats was held in five cities in India. The first one was in Bangalore on January 28, 2009, the second in Hyderabad on February 6, 2009, the third in Chennai on March 21, 2009 and the fourth on April 11, 2009 in Pune. The fifth and final one was held in New Delhi on April 24, 2009. Each of the Panchayats followed a similar structure. The interactive meetings were structured to have affected members from sexual minority communities share their personal experiences of living with stigma and homophobia. These were the deposers. Then the two-member expert panel shared their thoughts and ideas based on their experience in the field. The audience comprising of the general public, NGOs, media, opinion leaders and religious communities made their queries and comments at the end of the deposition. There was a brief audience interaction following which the jury or the panch gave its ‘verdict’. In this segment, Dr. Samuel, a member of the Hyderabad Panch, shares his views on the testimonials heard.Yes716http://www.pad.ma/Vu0o3vzz/info2010-03-11weekly1.0Resisting Stigma and Homophobia: Jury's Verdict, Pune Panchayat http://www.pad.ma/Vu0o3vzz/poster.75.jpgAction Plus, a network of 14 organisations working on HIV/AIDS in India, conducted a series of People’s Panchayats in 2009, which sought to understand people's battles against Stigma and Homophobia through the voices of survivors and resistors. The Panchayats sought to address the devaluation of livelihoods and life systems of entire communities of people who practice alternate sexualities, and the erosion of rights or dignity. This series of People’s Panchayats was held in five cities in India. The first one was in Bangalore on January 28, 2009, the second in Hyderabad on February 6, 2009, the third in Chennai on March 21, 2009 and the fourth on April 11, 2009 in Pune. The fifth and final one was held in New Delhi on April 24, 2009. Each of the Panchayats followed a similar structure. The interactive meetings were structured to have affected members from sexual minority communities share their personal experiences of living with stigma and homophobia. These were the deposers. Then the two-member expert panel shared their thoughts and ideas based on their experience in the field. The audience comprising of the general public, NGOs, media, opinion leaders and religious communities made their queries and comments at the end of the deposition. There was a brief audience interaction following which the jury or the panch gave its ‘verdict’. The jury at the Pune Panchayat, comprised of Shamala Vanarase, Makrand Sathe, Sandesh Bhandare, Rohini Sahani, and Ashwini Giri. Here, it shares its verdict with the audience. Four of the five jurors share their individual thoughts on the depositions heard.Yes517http://www.pad.ma/Vt3l6joy/info2010-01-20weekly1.0Vijay Nagaswami's Deposition, Chennai Panchayat, Resisting Stigma and Homophobiahttp://www.pad.ma/Vt3l6joy/poster.75.jpgPeople’s Panchayats on Resisting Stigma and Homophobia; Action Plus - a Coalition for Rights, Education and Care in HIV and AIDS. Vijay Nagaswami, an expert testifier at the Chennai Panchayat, shares some of his thoughts on the Panch's proceedings. He insists that homophobia can only be conquered through an increased awareness of LGBT people and the issues that they face. To this end, speaking in English and Tamil, he shares some of his ideas for creating a more aware, more tolerant society.Yes317http://www.pad.ma/Vgu6rhza/info2010-03-11weekly1.0Resisting Stigma and Homophobia: Pramada Menon's Expert Deposition, Delhi Panchayathttp://www.pad.ma/Vgu6rhza/poster.75.jpgAction Plus, a network of 14 organisations working on HIV/AIDS in India, conducted a series of People’s Panchayats in 2009, which sought to understand people's battles against Stigma and Homophobia through the voices of survivors and resistors. The Panchayats sought to address the devaluation of livelihoods and life systems of entire communities of people who practice alternate sexualities, and the erosion of rights or dignity. This series of People’s Panchayats was held in five cities in India. The first one was in Bangalore on January 28, 2009, the second in Hyderabad on February 6, 2009, the third in Chennai on March 21, 2009 and the fourth on April 11, 2009 in Pune. The fifth and final one was held in New Delhi on April 24, 2009. Each of the Panchayats followed a similar structure. The interactive meetings were structured to have affected members from sexual minority communities share their personal experiences of living with stigma and homophobia. These were the deposers. Then the two-member expert panel shared their thoughts and ideas based on their experience in the field. The audience comprising of the general public, NGOs, media, opinion leaders and religious communities made their queries and comments at the end of the deposition. There was a brief audience interaction following which the jury or the panch gave its ‘verdict’. Pramada Menon, the director of CREA, explores some of the reasons why we, as a society, are intolerant of difference. She goes on to talk about some of the obstacles that the deposers had outlined, asking that individuals take on the challenge of transforming the current social landscape into one that is far more accepting of difference.Yes257http://www.pad.ma/Vfsbc55r/info2010-05-25weekly1.0Discussion, Delhi Panchayat, Resisting Stigma and Homophobiahttp://www.pad.ma/Vfsbc55r/poster.75.jpgPeople’s Panchayats on Resisting Stigma and Homophobia; Action Plus - a Coalition for Rights, Education and Care in HIV and AIDS. The Audience Question and Answer session at the Delhi Panchayat led to interesting discussions on the role played by education and social class in the societal manifestation of homophobia, the history of homophobia and discrimination on the Indian subcontinent, and the steps being taken to increase awareness about queer realities by queer rights activists.Yes1634http://www.pad.ma/Vumbhyiy/info2010-03-11weekly1.0Resisting Stigma and Homophobia: Ashok Row Kavi's Expert Deposition, Pune Panchayathttp://www.pad.ma/Vumbhyiy/poster.75.jpgAction Plus, a network of 14 organisations working on HIV/AIDS in India, conducted a series of People’s Panchayats in 2009, which sought to understand people's battles against Stigma and Homophobia through the voices of survivors and resistors. The Panchayats sought to address the devaluation of livelihoods and life systems of entire communities of people who practice alternate sexualities, and the erosion of rights or dignity. This series of People’s Panchayats was held in five cities in India. The first one was in Bangalore on January 28, 2009, the second in Hyderabad on February 6, 2009, the third in Chennai on March 21, 2009 and the fourth on April 11, 2009 in Pune. The fifth and final one was held in New Delhi on April 24, 2009. Each of the Panchayats followed a similar structure. The interactive meetings were structured to have affected members from sexual minority communities share their personal experiences of living with stigma and homophobia. These were the deposers. Then the two-member expert panel shared their thoughts and ideas based on their experience in the field. The audience comprising of the general public, NGOs, media, opinion leaders and religious communities made their queries and comments at the end of the deposition. There was a brief audience interaction following which the jury or the panch gave its ‘verdict’. Ashok Row Kavi, a UNAIDS officer and one of the Expert testifiers at the Pune Panchayat, shares his response to the depositions heard. He holds that the response to homophobia should be three-fold: Educate, Agitate and Reform. He elaborates on each of these three tenets in his speech.Yes338http://www.pad.ma/Vsbt2nrd/info2010-03-11weekly1.0Resisting Stigma and Homophobia: Gauri Sawant's Deposition, Delhi Panchayathttp://www.pad.ma/Vsbt2nrd/poster.75.jpgAction Plus, a network of 14 organisations working on HIV/AIDS in India, conducted a series of People’s Panchayats in 2009, which sought to understand people's battles against Stigma and Homophobia through the voices of survivors and resistors. The Panchayats sought to address the devaluation of livelihoods and life systems of entire communities of people who practice alternate sexualities, and the erosion of rights or dignity. This series of People’s Panchayats was held in five cities in India. The first one was in Bangalore on January 28, 2009, the second in Hyderabad on February 6, 2009, the third in Chennai on March 21, 2009 and the fourth on April 11, 2009 in Pune. The fifth and final one was held in New Delhi on April 24, 2009. Each of the Panchayats followed a similar structure. The interactive meetings were structured to have affected members from sexual minority communities share their personal experiences of living with stigma and homophobia. These were the deposers. Then the two-member expert panel shared their thoughts and ideas based on their experience in the field. The audience comprising of the general public, NGOs, media, opinion leaders and religious communities made their queries and comments at the end of the deposition. There was a brief audience interaction following which the jury or the panch gave its ‘verdict’. Gauri Sawant, a deponent at the Delhi Panchayat, shares her personal story of the harassment and trauma she underwent at the hands of close family members when they discovered her non-traditional gender expression. Gauri speaks in detail about the manner in which she finally escaped the torture, and started to live on her own in Mumbai. Gauri, née Ganesh, then worked for Humsafar, an organisation dedicated to fighting for queer rights.Yes494http://www.pad.ma/Vt8xcksx/info2010-03-11weekly1.0Resisting Stigma and Homophobia: Raju Jadhav's Deposition, Pune Panchayathttp://www.pad.ma/Vt8xcksx/poster.75.jpgAction Plus, a network of 14 organisations working on HIV/AIDS in India, conducted a series of People’s Panchayats in 2009, which sought to understand people's battles against Stigma and Homophobia through the voices of survivors and resistors. The Panchayats sought to address the devaluation of livelihoods and life systems of entire communities of people who practice alternate sexualities, and the erosion of rights or dignity. This series of People’s Panchayats was held in five cities in India. The first one was in Bangalore on January 28, 2009, the second in Hyderabad on February 6, 2009, the third in Chennai on March 21, 2009 and the fourth on April 11, 2009 in Pune. The fifth and final one was held in New Delhi on April 24, 2009. Each of the Panchayats followed a similar structure. The interactive meetings were structured to have affected members from sexual minority communities share their personal experiences of living with stigma and homophobia. These were the deposers. Then the two-member expert panel shared their thoughts and ideas based on their experience in the field. The audience comprising of the general public, NGOs, media, opinion leaders and religious communities made their queries and comments at the end of the deposition. There was a brief audience interaction following which the jury or the panch gave its ‘verdict’. Raju Jadhav, one of the deposers at the Pune Panchayat, talks about her experiences growing up as a transgender person in rural Maharashtra. Raju, who had a tormented childhood at the hands of her relatives, now belongs to the group Muskaan and has not seen her family for several years.Yes273http://www.pad.ma/Vdy5qr49/info2010-03-11weekly1.0Resisting Stigma and Homophobia: Sunil Gupta's Verdict, Delhi Panchayathttp://www.pad.ma/Vdy5qr49/poster.75.jpgAction Plus, a network of 14 organisations working on HIV/AIDS in India, conducted a series of People’s Panchayats in 2009, which sought to understand people's battles against Stigma and Homophobia through the voices of survivors and resistors. The Panchayats sought to address the devaluation of livelihoods and life systems of entire communities of people who practice alternate sexualities, and the erosion of rights or dignity. This series of People’s Panchayats was held in five cities in India. The first one was in Bangalore on January 28, 2009, the second in Hyderabad on February 6, 2009, the third in Chennai on March 21, 2009 and the fourth on April 11, 2009 in Pune. The fifth and final one was held in New Delhi on April 24, 2009. Each of the Panchayats followed a similar structure. The interactive meetings were structured to have affected members from sexual minority communities share their personal experiences of living with stigma and homophobia. These were the deposers. Then the two-member expert panel shared their thoughts and ideas based on their experience in the field. The audience comprising of the general public, NGOs, media, opinion leaders and religious communities made their queries and comments at the end of the deposition. There was a brief audience interaction following which the jury or the panch gave its ‘verdict’. Sunil Gupta, a member of the Delhi Panchayat's jury, responds to the depositions heard. Mr. Gupta talks about the importance of coming out stories, and the ways in which they can be both self-empowering and an integral form of queer activism.Yes232http://www.pad.ma/Vgp817p1/info2010-03-11weekly1.0Resisting Stigma and Homophobia: Gauri Sawant's Deposition, Pune Panchayathttp://www.pad.ma/Vgp817p1/poster.75.jpgAction Plus, a network of 14 organisations working on HIV/AIDS in India, conducted a series of People’s Panchayats in 2009, which sought to understand people's battles against Stigma and Homophobia through the voices of survivors and resistors. The Panchayats sought to address the devaluation of livelihoods and life systems of entire communities of people who practice alternate sexualities, and the erosion of rights or dignity. This series of People’s Panchayats was held in five cities in India. The first one was in Bangalore on January 28, 2009, the second in Hyderabad on February 6, 2009, the third in Chennai on March 21, 2009 and the fourth on April 11, 2009 in Pune. The fifth and final one was held in New Delhi on April 24, 2009. Each of the Panchayats followed a similar structure. The interactive meetings were structured to have affected members from sexual minority communities share their personal experiences of living with stigma and homophobia. These were the deposers. Then the two-member expert panel shared their thoughts and ideas based on their experience in the field. The audience comprising of the general public, NGOs, media, opinion leaders and religious communities made their queries and comments at the end of the deposition. There was a brief audience interaction following which the jury or the panch gave its ‘verdict’. Gauri Sawant talks about her experiences growing up transgender, and of the harassment and abuse she faced from her family as a result. She speaks in detail about her father's attempts to 'convert' her, and of her difficulties in escaping such ordeals. Gauri's story is ultimately empowering as she shares her success in living life on her own terms.Yes594http://www.pad.ma/Ve2gjeug/info2010-05-25weekly1.0Dilfaraz's Deposition, Delhi Panchayat, Resisting Stigma and Homophobiahttp://www.pad.ma/Ve2gjeug/poster.75.jpgPeople’s Panchayats on Resisting Stigma and Homophobia; Action Plus - a Coalition for Rights, Education and Care in HIV and AIDS. Dilfaraz, one of the deposers at the Delhi Panchayat, talks about his identity as a sexual minority, and about some of the work he has done as a part of Sangama. He talks specifically about Sangama's crisis intervention work, and the ways in which the police criminalize sexual minorities, and the people who work for their rights. Dilfaraz also talks about some of the challenges he faced in gaining acceptance from his family and relatives. He ends his deposition by emphasizing that sexual minority people do not want any special favours from society; rather, they want to be recognized as citizens in their own right.Yes443http://www.pad.ma/Ve2a7hmv/info2010-01-19weekly1.0Vinayak's Deposition, Pune Panchayat, Resisting Stigma and Homophobiahttp://www.pad.ma/Ve2a7hmv/poster.75.jpgPeople’s Panchayats on Resisting Stigma and Homophobia; Action Plus - a Coalition for Rights, Education and Care in HIV and AIDS. Vinayak, one of the deposers at the Pune Panchayat and a MSM, shares some of his experiences with the Panch and the audience.Yes292http://www.pad.ma/Vsmptmuu/info2010-03-11weekly1.0Resisting Stigma and Homophobia: Ketaki Ranade's Expert Deposition, Pune Panchayathttp://www.pad.ma/Vsmptmuu/poster.75.jpgAction Plus, a network of 14 organisations working on HIV/AIDS in India, conducted a series of People’s Panchayats in 2009, which sought to understand people's battles against Stigma and Homophobia through the voices of survivors and resistors. The Panchayats sought to address the devaluation of livelihoods and life systems of entire communities of people who practice alternate sexualities, and the erosion of rights or dignity. This series of People’s Panchayats was held in five cities in India. The first one was in Bangalore on January 28, 2009, the second in Hyderabad on February 6, 2009, the third in Chennai on March 21, 2009 and the fourth on April 11, 2009 in Pune. The fifth and final one was held in New Delhi on April 24, 2009. Each of the Panchayats followed a similar structure. The interactive meetings were structured to have affected members from sexual minority communities share their personal experiences of living with stigma and homophobia. These were the deposers. Then the two-member expert panel shared their thoughts and ideas based on their experience in the field. The audience comprising of the general public, NGOs, media, opinion leaders and religious communities made their queries and comments at the end of the deposition. There was a brief audience interaction following which the jury or the panch gave its ‘verdict’. Ketaki Ranade, a researcher with Bapu Trust and one of the Expert testifiers at the Pune Panchayat, shares her response to the depositions heard. She first takes some time to fully explore the notion of homophobia, before sharing some of the conclusions from her research on homosexuality in India. Ms. Ranade also speaks at length about some of the methods used to convert homosexual people to heterosexuality.Yes677http://www.pad.ma/Vuhouojm/info2010-05-25weekly1.0Indrani Gupta's Verdict, Delhi Panchayat, Resisting Stigma and Homophobiahttp://www.pad.ma/Vuhouojm/poster.75.jpgPeople’s Panchayats on Resisting Stigma and Homophobia; Action Plus - a Coalition for Rights, Education and Care in HIV and AIDS. Indrani Gupta, a member of the Delhi Panchayat's jury, responds to the depositions heard. Ms. Gupta, a development economist, stresses the need to explore the links between discrimination, minority status, education, income creation, poverty etc. Ms. Gupta also recommends that queer people not propagate their queer identity as their only identity; she emphasizes the need for them to present themselves as multi-faceted persons.Yes248http://www.pad.ma/Vtp8rhf7/info2010-05-25weekly1.0Jury's Collective Verdict, Chennai Panchayat, Resisting Stigma and Homophobiahttp://www.pad.ma/Vtp8rhf7/poster.75.jpgPeople’s Panchayats on Resisting Stigma and Homophobia; Action Plus - a Coalition for Rights, Education and Care in HIV and AIDS. Ms. Miriam Samuel delivers the Chennai Panchayat jury's collective verdict. The verdict compares homosexuality to the issue of left-handedness, predicting that like the latter, public opinion of the former too will improve in the future. The verdict also takes into account the question of blame and culpability, ultimately sharing their judgement with the audience.Yes380http://www.pad.ma/Vfg4dehj/info2010-05-25weekly1.0Jivi Sethi's Verdict, Delhi Panchayat, Resisting Stigma and Homophobiahttp://www.pad.ma/Vfg4dehj/poster.75.jpgPeople’s Panchayats on Resisting Stigma and Homophobia; Action Plus - a Coalition for Rights, Education and Care in HIV and AIDS. Jivi Sethi, a member of the Delhi Panchayat's jury, responds to the depositions heard. Mr. Sethi reflects upon the strides that have been made with respect to society's acceptance of queer people, while maintaining that there remains a lot more to be done in terms of queer rights and the queer struggle.Yes143http://www.pad.ma/Vu0txcde/info2010-05-25weekly1.0Syeda Hameed's Verdict, Delhi Panchayat, Resisting Stigma and Homophobiahttp://www.pad.ma/Vu0txcde/poster.75.jpgPeople’s Panchayats on Resisting Stigma and Homophobia; Action Plus - a Coalition for Rights, Education and Care in HIV and AIDS. Syeda Hameed, a member of the Planning Commission and of the Delhi Panchayat's jury, responds to the depositions heard. She talks about some of the ways in which the state can be involved in reducing the stigma experienced by sexual minorities. Ms. Hameed also explores some of the ties between Islamic religious and literary tradition, and queer cultureYes334http://www.pad.ma/Vgpjvqnd/info2010-03-11weekly1.0Resisting Stigma and Homophobia: Pandurang's Deposition, Pune Panchayathttp://www.pad.ma/Vgpjvqnd/poster.75.jpgAction Plus, a network of 14 organisations working on HIV/AIDS in India, conducted a series of People’s Panchayats in 2009, which sought to understand people's battles against Stigma and Homophobia through the voices of survivors and resistors. The Panchayats sought to address the devaluation of livelihoods and life systems of entire communities of people who practice alternate sexualities, and the erosion of rights or dignity. This series of People’s Panchayats was held in five cities in India. The first one was in Bangalore on January 28, 2009, the second in Hyderabad on February 6, 2009, the third in Chennai on March 21, 2009 and the fourth on April 11, 2009 in Pune. The fifth and final one was held in New Delhi on April 24, 2009. Each of the Panchayats followed a similar structure. The interactive meetings were structured to have affected members from sexual minority communities share their personal experiences of living with stigma and homophobia. These were the deposers. Then the two-member expert panel shared their thoughts and ideas based on their experience in the field. The audience comprising of the general public, NGOs, media, opinion leaders and religious communities made their queries and comments at the end of the deposition. There was a brief audience interaction following which the jury or the panch gave its ‘verdict’. Pandurang, a Devadasi and a deposer at the Pune Panchayat, talks about some of the harassment that has been meted to him by neighbours, and by the police. He stresses the need for society to respect the needs and rights of transgender persons.Yes245http://www.pad.ma/Vfrnjhnw/info2010-05-25weekly1.0Reverend's Verdict, Hyderabad Panchayat, Resisting Stigma and Homophobiahttp://www.pad.ma/Vfrnjhnw/poster.75.jpgPeople’s Panchayats on Resisting Stigma and Homophobia; Action Plus - a Coalition for Rights, Education and Care in HIV and AIDS. In this segment, a Reverend, who is a member of the Bangalore Panch, shares his views vis-a-vis the testimonials heard.Yes443http://www.pad.ma/Vev86yfs/info2010-05-25weekly1.0Discussion, Chennai Panchayat, Resisting Stigma and Homophobiahttp://www.pad.ma/Vev86yfs/poster.75.jpgPeople’s Panchayats on Resisting Stigma and Homophobia; Action Plus - a Coalition for Rights, Education and Care in HIV and AIDS. This segment covers the discussion that followed the depositions of the three testifiers at the Chennai Panchayat. The discussion covers various topics including but not limited to sex education, transgender employment, the class divide within the queer community, and homophobia.Yes1941http://www.pad.ma/Vevk0r3x/info2010-01-19weekly1.0Saleem Kidwai's Verdict, Delhi Panchayat, Resisting Stigma and Homophobiahttp://www.pad.ma/Vevk0r3x/poster.75.jpgPeople’s Panchayats on Resisting Stigma and Homophobia; Action Plus - a Coalition for Rights, Education and Care in HIV and AIDS. Saleem Kidwai, author of “Same Sex Love in India”, and a member of the Delhi Panchayat's jury, responds to the depositions heard. Mr. Kidwai talks specifically in response to another jury member's verdict, arguing that there exists no necessary link between a person's educational level and the difficulty that they might face in coming out.Yes273http://www.pad.ma/Vezwys4v/info2010-05-25weekly1.0Anita Sumanth's Verdict, Chennai Panchayat, Resisting Stigma and Homophobiahttp://www.pad.ma/Vezwys4v/poster.75.jpgPeople’s Panchayats on Resisting Stigma and Homophobia; Action Plus - a Coalition for Rights, Education and Care in HIV and AIDS. Anita Sumanth, one of the jury members at the Chennai Panchayat, shares her suggestion that perhaps queer activism should include lobbying for a 'transgender' category on application forms that require information about the applicant's gender.Yes112http://www.pad.ma/Vu5y4yt7/info2010-03-14weekly1.0Jam Salaya: Stills and Conversationshttp://www.pad.ma/Vu5y4yt7/poster.75.jpgThis is a montage of photographs and short videos from Nida Ghouse's and Radhamohini Prasad's trip to Jam Salaya, a port town on the Gulf of Kutch, Saurashtra. Sailors from Jam Salaya have been trading in the Arabian Sea for centuries. The prosperity of this town depends on fishing and its relationship to the sea. Today, there are no commodities that leave or enter from these shores, unlike in the past. The main occupation here is dhow building and sailing, and this supports trade primarily between various Gulf states and Somalia. Nida and Radha left for Jam Salaya on the September 6, 2009 to visit sailor friends they had met in Sharjah during the Wharfage project. Wharfage is an on-going CAMP project, which, in 2008, looked closely at the creek in Sharjah, from where a large number of dhows leave for 'Somalia'. Somalia, a collection of semi-state entities, is also a kind of free trade zone, in which these boats ply, passing through the dominant narratives of the Somali seas and piracy. The project offered an opportunity to think about how business and these commodities are related to global trade and the current economic situation in the UAE. This movement of goods and their sailors may trace old trade routes, but it also maps out something new: a contemporary landscape of new and used objects, labour, Asian and African diasporas and giant wooden ships built in Salaya, Gujarat. The Wharfage project consisted of two parallel pieces: Wharfage, a book containing two years of port records related to Somali trade, and Radio Meena, four evenings radio transmissions from the port and was part of the 2009 Sharjah Biennial, where it was awarded the Grand Jury Prize. (To download the book, go to http://www.camputer.org/event.php?this=wharfage) Here, two audio tracks have been placed over still images. The first is a conversation with the captain of the dhow Shiv Shiv Shambu which had been hijacked by Somali pirates in 2008. The captain's father also jumps in to narrate an encounter he had with Somali traders back in the day. The second interview, which took place at Jam Khambalia (en route to Jam Salaya), suggests that people in this predominantly Hindu town distinguish themselves from the "uneducated Mohammedians" who occupy Salaya, a place deemed to be full of 'jhopadpattis' (slums) with a history of gold smuggling. Yes5277http://www.pad.ma/Vgtkm4q1/info2010-03-12weekly1.0Jam Salaya: Dhow buildinghttp://www.pad.ma/Vgtkm4q1/poster.75.jpgThis video shows the construction of dhows or large wooden boats in Jam Salaya, a port town on the Gulf of Kutch, Saurashtra. Sailors from Jam Salaya have been trading in the Arabian Sea for centuries. The prosperity of this town depends on fishing and its relationship to the sea. Today, there are no commodities that leave or enter from these shores, unlike in the past. The main occupation here is dhow building and sailing, and this supports trade primarily between various Gulf states and Somalia. Nida Ghouse and Radhamohini Prasad left for Jam Salaya on the September 6, 2009 to visit sailor friends they had met in Sharjah during the Wharfage project. Wharfage is an on-going CAMP project, which, in 2008, looked closely at the creek in Sharjah, from where a large number of dhows leave for 'Somalia'. Somalia, a collection of semi-state entities, is also a kind of free trade zone, in which these boats ply, passing through the dominant narratives of the Somali seas and piracy. The project offered an opportunity to think about how business and these commodities are related to global trade and the current economic situation in the UAE. This movement of goods and their sailors may trace old trade routes, but it also maps out something new: a contemporary landscape of new and used objects, labour, Asian and African diasporas and giant wooden ships built in Salaya, Gujarat. The Wharfage project consisted of two parallel pieces: Wharfage, a book containing two years of port records related to Somali trade, and Radio Meena, four evenings radio transmissions from the port. (To download the book, go to http://www.camputer.org/event.php?this=wharfage) This video features three conversations. One with Abudulla, a caretaker of newly constructed dhows, who tells us about the town and his experiences as a young sailor at sea. Another is with Salemama and his friend who explain how dhows are built, maintained and managed. And the last conversation is with Ibrahim, the owner of three dhows, who gives us insight into how the trade with Somalia developed in Salaya. Annotations for the footage are excerpts from Nida's travel diary. Yes6027http://www.pad.ma/Vsse199j/info2010-03-14weekly1.0Jam Salaya: The Townhttp://www.pad.ma/Vsse199j/poster.75.jpgJam Salaya, one of the dhow building port towns on the Gulf of Kutch, has been trading in the Arabian Sea for centuries. The prosperity of this town depends on fishing and its relationship to the sea. Today, there are no commodities that leave or enter from these shores, unlike in the past. The main occupation in Jam Salaya is dhow building and sailing and this supports trade primarily between various Gulf states and Somalia. Nida Ghouse and Radhamohini Prasad left for Jam Salaya on the September 6, 2009 to visit sailor friends they had met in Sharjah during the Wharfage project. Wharfage is an on-going CAMP project, which, in 2008, looked closely at the creek in Sharjah, from where a large number of dhows leave for 'Somalia'. Somalia, a collection of semi-state entities, is also a kind of free trade zone, in which these boats ply, passing through the dominant narratives of the Somali seas and piracy. The project offered an opportunity to think about how business and these commodities are related to global trade and the current economic situation in the UAE. This movement of goods and their sailors may trace old trade routes, but it also maps out something new: a contemporary landscape of new and used objects, labour, Asian and African diasporas and giant wooden ships built in Salaya, Gujarat. The Wharfage project consisted of two parallel pieces: Wharfage, a book containing two years of port records related to Somali trade, and Radio Meena, four evenings radio transmissions from the port and was part of the 2009 Sharjah Biennial, where it was awarded the Grand Jury Prize. (To download the book, go to http://www.camputer.org/event.php?this=wharfage) The video begins with the ride from Jam Nagar to Jam Khambalia and then, on to Jam Salaya. We see images of the town and dhow construction sites. The annotations that accompany this video footage are excerpts from Nida's travel diary. Due to the nature of their visit, Nida and Radha found themselves having to completely submit to their hosts' desires of showing them around specific areas of the town. These videos, therefore, became a collection of images of places their hosts wanted them to see and know about.Yes1482http://www.pad.ma/Vg8w5rfp/info2010-05-25weekly1.0Reverend Vasantkumar's Verdict, Bangalore Panchayat, Resisting Stigma and Homophobiahttp://www.pad.ma/Vg8w5rfp/poster.75.jpgPeople’s Panchayats on Resisting Stigma and Homophobia; Action Plus - a Coalition for Rights, Education and Care in HIV and AIDS. Reverend Vasantkumar, a member of the Bangalore Panch, discusses her verdict vis-a-vis the testimonials heard. Reverend Vasantkumar's verdict takes into account the Church as an institution, and speaks to some of its ideas vis-a-vis minority populations and their rights.Yes410http://www.pad.ma/Vev2ctlc/info2010-03-11weekly1.0Resisting Stigma and Homophobia: Two questions for Munshri Dharmesh Kumar, Bangalore Panchayathttp://www.pad.ma/Vev2ctlc/poster.75.jpgAction Plus, a network of 14 organisations working on HIV/AIDS in India, conducted a series of People’s Panchayats in 2009, which sought to understand people's battles against Stigma and Homophobia through the voices of survivors and resistors. The Panchayats sought to address the devaluation of livelihoods and life systems of entire communities of people who practice alternate sexualities, and the erosion of rights or dignity. This series of People’s Panchayats was held in five cities in India. The first one was in Bangalore on January 28, 2009, the second in Hyderabad on February 6, 2009, the third in Chennai on March 21, 2009 and the fourth on April 11, 2009 in Pune. The fifth and final one was held in New Delhi on April 24, 2009. Each of the Panchayats followed a similar structure. The interactive meetings were structured to have affected members from sexual minority communities share their personal experiences of living with stigma and homophobia. These were the deposers. Then the two-member expert panel shared their thoughts and ideas based on their experience in the field. The audience comprising of the general public, NGOs, media, opinion leaders and religious communities made their queries and comments at the end of the deposition. There was a brief audience interaction following which the jury or the panch gave its ‘verdict’. In this video, two members of the audience ask questions to Munshri Dharmesh Kumar about his verdict on the testimonials heard. In response, Munishri Dharmesh Kumar says that there should be special government-run facilities for the queer community.Yes304http://www.pad.ma/Veukf2h5/info2010-05-25weekly1.0Sevak Chandramouli's Verdict, Bangalore Panchayat, Resisting Stigma and Homophobiahttp://www.pad.ma/Veukf2h5/poster.75.jpgPeople’s Panchayats on Resisting Stigma and Homophobia; Action Plus - a Coalition for Rights, Education and Care in HIV and AIDS. Sevak Chandramouli, a member of the Bangalore Panch, discusses his verdict vis-a-vis the testimonials heard. Mr. Chandramouli speaks of the various aspects of the Hindu faith, and the ways in which the Hindu tenets can be applied to the question of homosexuality and intersexuality.Yes373http://www.pad.ma/Vi20fdxr/info2010-01-13weekly1.0Azhar's Verdict, Hyderabad Panchayat, Resisting Stigma and Homophobiahttp://www.pad.ma/Vi20fdxr/poster.75.jpgPeople’s Panchayats on Resisting Stigma and Homophobia; Action Plus - a Coalition for Rights, Education and Care in HIV and AIDS. Here, Azhar shares his reflections on the deposers' testimonies. He speaks of the need to understand the queer lifestyle as natural; he repudiates the idea that homosexuals and transgender people are 'not natural'. Azhar stresses the need to re-examine social stereotypes about the queer community in order to build a more tolerant society.Yes519http://www.pad.ma/Vgtkfr0e/info2010-03-11weekly1.0Resisting Stigma and Homophobia: Munishri Dharmesh Kumar's Verdict, Bangalore Panchayathttp://www.pad.ma/Vgtkfr0e/poster.75.jpgAction Plus, a network of 14 organisations working on HIV/AIDS in India, conducted a series of People’s Panchayats in 2009, which sought to understand people's battles against Stigma and Homophobia through the voices of survivors and resistors. The Panchayats sought to address the devaluation of livelihoods and life systems of entire communities of people who practice alternate sexualities, and the erosion of rights or dignity. This series of People’s Panchayats was held in five cities in India. The first one was in Bangalore on January 28, 2009, the second in Hyderabad on February 6, 2009, the third in Chennai on March 21, 2009 and the fourth on April 11, 2009 in Pune. The fifth and final one was held in New Delhi on April 24, 2009. Each of the Panchayats followed a similar structure. The interactive meetings were structured to have affected members from sexual minority communities share their personal experiences of living with stigma and homophobia. These were the deposers. Then the two-member expert panel shared their thoughts and ideas based on their experience in the field. The audience comprising of the general public, NGOs, media, opinion leaders and religious communities made their queries and comments at the end of the deposition. There was a brief audience interaction following which the jury or the panch gave its ‘verdict’. In this video, Munishri Dharmesh Kumar, a member of the Bangalore Panch, discusses his verdict on the testimonials heard. He first talks about Jainism in brief, before applying Jain teachings to the subject of queer rights and experiences. He concludes by stating his belief that the government should perhaps make special arrangements for the queer community, similar to those already in place for mentally challenged persons.Yes325http://www.pad.ma/Veizyed5/info2010-05-25weekly1.0Father Francis Guntipally's Response to the Experts, Bangalore Panchayat, Resisting Stigma and Homophobiahttp://www.pad.ma/Veizyed5/poster.75.jpgPeople’s Panchayats on Resisting Stigma and Homophobia; Action Plus - a Coalition for Rights, Education and Care in HIV and AIDS. Father Francis Guntipalli, a member of the Bangalore Panch, shares his response to the testimonials of the experts. Father Francis speaks to the history of Christianity, and the religion's relationship with minority identity. He also talks about pedophilia within the Church, and some of the challenges that this has posed to members of the religious community.Yes336http://www.pad.ma/Vgoltoqg/info2010-03-12weekly1.0Politics of Change: Women Solar Engineers from Bhutan http://www.pad.ma/Vgoltoqg/poster.75.jpgAt Barefoot College, ordinary men and women -whatever their qualifications- can learn about solar energy. Roles have to be flexible: the teacher can be the learner and the learner can be the teacher. The whole environment is one of creative learning, demystifying technology and unlearning through processes that are natural, non violent and respectful. At present time, 32 Buthanese girls and 6 Mauretanian women follow a 6 months training to become a solar engineer in their home villages. From start on, the decision to step into the solar project is community-based. The home-village (mostly remote villages without electricity) selects and delegates its future women engineers for a 6 months training at Barefoot College in Rajasthan. In a community contract, every village family engages itself to pay its share in the remuneration of the engineers to set up and maintain the village solar system at their return home.The future engineers learn the necessary skills to repair inverters and charge the controllers for the solar units they will look after. Every family of the remote village communities pays a small sum for the equipment and the services of the solar engineers. As such, every member of the community takes his responsability in this ecological project of sustainable energy. In the solar engineer training productivity results from collective work. The learning environment is open and decentralised and knowledge is passed on in a bottom-up and hands-on way. The students are taught by 3 Indian women, pioneers from the solar workshop section. Students and teachers don't speak each other languages. They communicate by sign- and body language, pointing to the colors of their sarees to indicate the colors of the necessary resistors and capacitors for building the electrical circuits. For more on the Politics of Change project, see http://pad.ma/Vhr9e5q8/info For the finished film 'Mahila', see http://pad.ma/Vdxjnj1f/infoYes251http://www.pad.ma/Vejdajtj/info2010-01-13weekly1.0Revathy's Testimonial, Bangalore Panchayat, Resisting Stigma and Homophobiahttp://www.pad.ma/Vejdajtj/poster.75.jpgPeople’s Panchayats on Resisting Stigma and Homophobia; Action Plus - a Coalition for Rights, Education and Care in HIV and AIDS. In this sequence, Revathy, who was born male, speaks of her feminine gender identification, and of the difficulties she faced growing up in Tamil Nadu. She talks at length about the harassment and abuse that she was subjected to as a child and later, as a young woman, before concluding with a fervent hope for a change in social attitudes towards the transgender community.Yes518http://www.pad.ma/Vfwnoohn/info2010-01-13weekly1.0Reverend Nirmala Vasantkumar Responds to the Experts, Bangalore Panchayat, Resising Stigma and Homophobiahttp://www.pad.ma/Vfwnoohn/poster.75.jpgPeople’s Panchayats on Resisting Stigma and Homophobia; Action Plus - a Coalition for Rights, Education and Care in HIV and AIDS. Reverend Vasantkumar, a member of the Bangalore Panch, discusses her response to the Experts' testimonials. She talks specifically about the Church, and the length of time it took for women to be recognized as pastors. She ends her short response with an assurance of solidarity towards queer people and the queer movement.Yes112http://www.pad.ma/Veeupl2a/info2010-03-11weekly1.0Resisting Stigma and Homophobia: Reginald Watt's Expert Testimony, Bangalore Panchayat http://www.pad.ma/Veeupl2a/poster.75.jpgAction Plus, a network of 14 organisations working on HIV/AIDS in India, conducted a series of People’s Panchayats in 2009, which sought to understand people's battles against Stigma and Homophobia through the voices of survivors and resistors. The Panchayats sought to address the devaluation of livelihoods and life systems of entire communities of people who practice alternate sexualities, and the erosion of rights or dignity. This series of People’s Panchayats was held in five cities in India. The first one was in Bangalore on January 28, 2009, the second in Hyderabad on February 6, 2009, the third in Chennai on March 21, 2009 and the fourth on April 11, 2009 in Pune. The fifth and final one was held in New Delhi on April 24, 2009. Each of the Panchayats followed a similar structure. The interactive meetings were structured to have affected members from sexual minority communities share their personal experiences of living with stigma and homophobia. These were the deposers. Then the two-member expert panel shared their thoughts and ideas based on their experience in the field. The audience comprising of the general public, NGOs, media, opinion leaders and religious communities made their queries and comments at the end of the deposition. There was a brief audience interaction following which the jury or the panch gave its ‘verdict’. In this video, Rex Reginald, an Expert at the Bangalore Panchayat, shares his reactions to the testimonials heard, as well as to the verdicts pronounced by the various religious leaders present. He also sheds light on the recent history of the gay rights movement in India, highlighting the human rights aspects of the movement in particular. Mr. Reginald is clear that the queer community is not asking for special privileges but rather, for inclusion and the right to a life of dignity.Yes538http://www.pad.ma/Vef2o6zr/info2010-03-11weekly1.0Resisting Stigma and Homophobia: Arvind Narrain's Expert Testimony, Bangalore Panchayat http://www.pad.ma/Vef2o6zr/poster.75.jpgAction Plus, a network of 14 organisations working on HIV/AIDS in India, conducted a series of People’s Panchayats in 2009, which sought to understand people's battles against Stigma and Homophobia through the voices of survivors and resistors. The Panchayats sought to address the devaluation of livelihoods and life systems of entire communities of people who practice alternate sexualities, and the erosion of rights or dignity. This series of People’s Panchayats was held in five cities in India. The first one was in Bangalore on January 28, 2009, the second in Hyderabad on February 6, 2009, the third in Chennai on March 21, 2009 and the fourth on April 11, 2009 in Pune. The fifth and final one was held in New Delhi on April 24, 2009. Each of the Panchayats followed a similar structure. The interactive meetings were structured to have affected members from sexual minority communities share their personal experiences of living with stigma and homophobia. These were the deposers. Then the two-member expert panel shared their thoughts and ideas based on their experience in the field. The audience comprising of the general public, NGOs, media, opinion leaders and religious communities made their queries and comments at the end of the deposition. There was a brief audience interaction following which the jury or the panch gave its ‘verdict’. In this video, Arvind Narayan, an Expert at the Bangalore Panchayat, shares his reactions to the testimonials heard, as well as to the verdicts pronounced by the various religious leaders present. He also sheds light on the recent history of the gay rights movement in India, highlighting the legal aspects of the movement in particular. Mr. Narayan expounds on the Constitutional right to “Live with Dignity”, and shares the ways in which Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code violates this right.Yes609http://www.pad.ma/Vhaw4xtn/info2010-05-25weekly1.0Father Francis Guntipally's Verdict, Bangalore Panchayat, Resisting Stigma and Homophobiahttp://www.pad.ma/Vhaw4xtn/poster.75.jpgPeople’s Panchayats on Resisting Stigma and Homophobia; Action Plus - a Coalition for Rights, Education and Care in HIV and AIDS. Father Francis Gundipalli, a member of the Bangalore Panch, discusses his verdict vis-a-vis the testimonials heard. Father Francis expounds on the history of Christianity as a religion, and its ideology vis-a-vis minority populations.Yes436http://www.pad.ma/Vef154of/info2010-01-13weekly1.0Saud Akhtar's Verdict, Bangalore Panchayat, Resisting Stigma and Homophobiahttp://www.pad.ma/Vef154of/poster.75.jpgPeople’s Panchayats on Resisting Stigma and Homophobia; Action Plus - a Coalition for Rights, Education and Care in HIV and AIDS. Saud Akhtar, a member of the Bangalore Panch, discusses his verdict vis-a-vis the testimonials heard. Mr Akhtar speaks as an Indian Muslim, talking about the relationship between Islam and homosexuality. His talk highlights his belief that the queer community must be accepted by society, rather than reviled.Yes174http://www.pad.ma/Vs6vy48h/info2010-01-13weekly1.0Dilfaraz's Testimonial, Bangalore Panchayat, Resisting Stigma and Homophobiahttp://www.pad.ma/Vs6vy48h/poster.75.jpgPeople’s Panchayats on Resisting Stigma and Homophobia; Action Plus - a Coalition for Rights, Education and Care in HIV and AIDS. Dilfaraz speaks of the Hijra community, and the different social stigmas that are attached to transgender persons in India. He talks in detail about the police abuse that the community faces, and of police personnel who flagrantly disregard the law when in contact with transgender persons. He ends by pointing out that, in order for any tangible progress to be recorded, there needs to be a change in social attitudes towards the transgender community.Yes385http://www.pad.ma/Vezf3m13/info2010-03-11weekly1.0Resisting Stigma and Homophobia: Munishri Dharmesh Kumar's Response to the Experts, Bangalore Panchayat http://www.pad.ma/Vezf3m13/poster.75.jpgAction Plus, a network of 14 organisations working on HIV/AIDS in India, conducted a series of People’s Panchayats in 2009, which sought to understand people's battles against Stigma and Homophobia through the voices of survivors and resistors. The Panchayats sought to address the devaluation of livelihoods and life systems of entire communities of people who practice alternate sexualities, and the erosion of rights or dignity. This series of People’s Panchayats was held in five cities in India. The first one was in Bangalore on January 28, 2009, the second in Hyderabad on February 6, 2009, the third in Chennai on March 21, 2009 and the fourth on April 11, 2009 in Pune. The fifth and final one was held in New Delhi on April 24, 2009. Each of the Panchayats followed a similar structure. The interactive meetings were structured to have affected members from sexual minority communities share their personal experiences of living with stigma and homophobia. These were the deposers. Then the two-member expert panel shared their thoughts and ideas based on their experience in the field. The audience comprising of the general public, NGOs, media, opinion leaders and religious communities made their queries and comments at the end of the deposition. There was a brief audience interaction following which the jury or the panch gave its ‘verdict’. In this video, Munishri Dharmesh Kumar, a member of the Bangalore Panch, shares his response to the testimonials of the experts. He covers several different topics in his response, including his views on sex, self-exploration and Indian culture. In addition, he complicates traditional understandings of transgender persons by addressing both the positive and negative ways in which they are viewed by society.Yes487http://www.pad.ma/Vgdnde45/info2010-03-12weekly1.0Politics of Change: Women Solar Engineers - Rose Akumu http://www.pad.ma/Vgdnde45/poster.75.jpgRose Akumu is a rural woman from Uganda, who came to Barefoot College (http://www.barefootcollege.org) for a six-month workshop in solar engineering. It's her first trip away from her African village. After the workshop, she will return home and install solar panels on the rooftops of her village to bring electricity to the families of her community. For more on the Politics of Change project, see http://pad.ma/Vhr9e5q8/info For the finished film 'Mahila', see http://pad.ma/Vdxjnj1f/infoYes268http://www.pad.ma/Vt8dn5hq/info2009-08-07weekly1.0Pila House - Interview with Abdul Bhai of Delhi Darbar Restauranthttp://www.pad.ma/Vt8dn5hq/poster.75.jpgThis event is an interview is of Abdul Bhai, who works in a restaurant within the precinct of Pila House. His interview is one of a series of three interviews we conducted with various people to recollect the history of the area from the point of view of people who have either lived or worked there, i.e. in some way belonged to that space and were currently associated with some sort of trade in that area. Pila House a name derived locally from the term Play House, signifies the area adjoining the cluster of cinemas on lower Grant Road to Do Talkies, Kamatipura to Lohar-chawl. It is at the heart of our country’s financial capital a living exposition of an informal economy and couched between some of Bombay’s iconic bazaars it has for ages been an epitomatic public space. Contrary to my earlier perception of being either a rundown or down-market business establishment, Pila house in its varied forms, is an effervescent markets uniquely tailored for the needs of its various consumers. The physicality of space hides more than it reveals but with a little effort one stumbles upon a vast energetic production sector which is feeds into the city’s growing needs. It shifts between the day light hours of tailors, barbers, dentists, photo-studios, household and hardware sales to the neon lit restaurants, and numerous small eateries, cinema halls, pan shops; displaying elements for the script of both a brooding film noir it supports the bustle of a dynamic chain of demand and supply. I approached Pila House with the intension of unearthing a past, and found a vibrant present. Pila House has had a history of live entertainment, long before Bombay, became synonymous with the entertainment industry. A basic necessity for an ever-present mobile, male dominated bastion of merchants, seamen, labourers, Pila House accommodated entertainment of all varieties and forms. It quite easily accommodates a memory of at least two centuries, and has been the witness to some of the most dramatic changes of our times. At a point when the dancers in Bombay’s local bars were being banned – Pila House seemed like the most appropriate space to reexamine the nexus of the city’s many wares.Yes2008http://www.pad.ma/Vu1bg68y/info2009-08-07weekly1.0Koli Livelihood Practice 5 - Interview with Fisherman Darshanhttp://www.pad.ma/Vu1bg68y/poster.75.jpgThis event, along with others under the other event titled Koli Livelihood Practices on the same site, in an interview of Darshan Kathin, Kathin. Darshan was born into that tradition and spent his entire life in the village and inherited the trade from his father and continues to support his family with fishing which is his only business. Darshan also turned out to be the protagonist / principal narrator of the film, Notes from a Neighborhood, which I made for my diploma from National Institute of Design. This was my first encounter with some of the issues haunting the fishing business, specifically in Versova, where it has been a family based occupation for several centuries. Within the space of a city where lines are constantly being drawn on communal, moral grounds and issues of class, sexuality, faith relentlessly politicized, our engagement with our immediate neighbourhood drops only to mere necessity and differences get the priority in our discussions. It is said that often the study of others throws more light upon us – but often it is the definition of the other that is faulty. This particular interview with Darshan was one of the very first interviews I ever did. It was therefore a vast learning experience and though I did not end up using any of it for various reasons it is significant for various other ones. While I had befriended Darshan a bit and had been welcomed within his circle of friends and family, looking back I was still not very comfortable with him. That is one of the reasons why often our conversation does not flow very smoothly – as I had not resolved in my mind my own position vis-à-vis some of the things we were talking about. The first major learning that came from this was – when we are first stepping into another world, are we in a position to understand what we are being told? What kind of research of awareness does one require to generate to be able to engage comprehensively with the subject? Often we are given information but while a person like Darshan speaks from a context of his entire life, my association with his world had been comparatively short. At a very simply level most of these questions are resolved in time, the amount of time and the intensity of the engagement determines the clarity one forms. For me, reviewing and annotating this interview was a reality check of sorts in how much more I needed to cue myself to the space and focus my efforts on the specific context I wanted to unravel.Yes2625http://www.pad.ma/Vdxbw8rm/info2009-08-07weekly1.0Pila House: Interview with Javed Bhai, Caretaker of Dargah in Gulshan Talkieshttp://www.pad.ma/Vdxbw8rm/poster.75.jpgThis event is an interview is of Javed Bhai, who takes care of the Darga inside Gulshan Talkies, within the precinct of Pila House. His interview is one of a series of three interviews we conducted with various people to recollect the history of the area from the point of view of people who have either lived or worked there, i.e. in some way belonged to that space and were currently associated with some sort of trade in that area. Pila House has played a significant role within the mainstream film industry of Bombay not just as a space for exhibition but also a space for production. Apart from generating popular tales related to Pila House/Kamatipura, from the legendary Rekha in Muqaddar ka Sikandar to Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay to the more recent Dukaan, Pila House, all have contributed in creating the accepted stereotypes, it has also been the home of people like Rehmaan Bhai and his ancestral practice of painted film hoardings. This trade continues to be an active player in the film publicity arena and the form has an evolved visual language which has greatly inspired adaptations in contemporary technology. But both the space and stories it has produced have generously derived from each other in creating the essence of what it is today. The evolution of Pila House has had consistent association with forms of entertainment from the time the graveyards were decommissioned and filled up into an open field to halls for silent films and then talkies. The theatres were made on the spaces left around graves of certain important personalities, and remained in the background till the Parsis, Bohris and Anglo-Indian owners were being replaced by a primarily Islamic migration from various regions. The re-establishment of the graves as sites of a religio-spiritual gathering subsequently incorporates the common tradition of faith (religion), business and entertainment intersecting in our society. And along with the graves a new cohort or myths have populated this arena. Along with the birth and rapid evolution of religious fundamentalism within mainstream politics, waves of migration into and out of the city Pila House has managed to retain a unique space for itself within popular visual culture through a relationship with a constant sizable audience.Yes1207http://www.pad.ma/Vt42sbu9/info2009-08-07weekly1.0Kashmir - A Meeting with the Bhand Troupe of Akingamhttp://www.pad.ma/Vt42sbu9/poster.75.jpgTwo interviewers in Akingam, interview a troupe of Bhands. The interview takes place in a sylvan orchard. Sounds of the highway, passing trucks can be heard. There is, throughout the interview, a sense of a deep contained bitterness/sadness at the situation, evident in the somewhat withdrawn faces, and the sometimes elliptical answers of the interviewees. At the same time, theirs is a craft of social commentary, and even in this very extreme situation, they do sometimes make a funny joke about the situation that is not always bitter. The difference of life experience renders the interviewer’s questions (inevitably?) simplistic? The well researched interviewer sometimes seek complete statements of socio political facts he already knows, or tries to understand what he has known, in the light of these personal histories. The interviewer tries to pick up from a lead about the emptied houses of the Pandit Bhands, to lead the talk up to particular facets of that situation- the greater prosperity of the Pandits, for instance, the possible ill treatment of the Muslims. The interviewee points instead towards a sense of shared previous histories, and is silent about anything beyond. A certain circumspection exists in the answers as many questions are seen, in this landscape, as being charged questions. It is a landscape of suppression and many kinds of continuing injustices, many kinds of feeling implicated even, which has affected personal lives. The words of the conversation seem to float on clouds of the same. At the same time, there is a very ready hospitality, and warmth even, like there is no feeling of resentment towards the interviewers, there is even the desire to have that difficult conversation. Everyone is sitting out in the open, in a very gently beautiful setting… it is a setting, we are told, that the people are deprived of freely using now. Their routines have become circumscribed a lot within the walls of their home.Yes1901http://www.pad.ma/Vsromq8q/info2009-08-07weekly1.0Koli Livelihood Practice 4 - Wedding Ritualshttp://www.pad.ma/Vsromq8q/poster.75.jpgThis event, along with others under the other event titled Koli Women: Livelihood Practices on the same site, depicts a few ceremonies around a wedding that took place in the village around the time I was shooting my film, A Day’s Job, produced by PSBT for their Gender Unpack Project. But it was part of an ongoing research, started since I started working on Notes from a Neighborhood, a film made for my diploma from National Institute of Design, on local communities and their customs within the complex mesh of a hyper urban space and their representations. Versova village / Vesave – was barely 15 minutes away from where I lived and I passed the fish market on the beach a couple of times on Sunday afternoons before taking the ferry to Mudh Island. Also Saleem Bhatri, a senior from the National Institute of Design had earlier done an architectural dissertation on the area, which provided a basic framework. The first endeavor was to discern the space and understand how it was changing. At first glance the Koliwadas on the west coast – Colaba, Worli, and Versova seemed to be juggling twin devils – the real estate sharks or urban developers of Bombay and the steady flow of the city’s migrant labour. The identity, the old architecture and design of space rapidly dissolving into the proverbial shantytowns of Megacities – converted into multiple usage spaces with living and working quarters. Structures had come up organically to accommodate either an expanding family or simply as storage spaces/workshops for varied businesses without any consolidated plan. The Koliwadas were an exotic space in close vicinity of the film industry always in the look out for some spicy colour. The fishing community has always had vibrant visible codes in terms of their dress, ornaments, food habits and rituals. The women have traditionally been in the forefront of the interface with the community because of their involvement with the trade and thus occupied a space within public imagination. In the 70’s it was also commonly linked with smuggling of goods through the sea route. Iconic films like Deewar actually mention Versova Beach as an exact location, to more recently Hathyaaar, where Sanjay Dutt a pre-Munna-bhai Robin Hood-ish gangster’s den is set in a non-descript Koli village by the sea, a benign backdrop living up to its shady reputation. Fishing has been a family based occupation for several centuries. The drastic increase in pollutants and sewage which are poured into the sea as well widespread trawling by major fishing lines have made livelihood a lot more competitive. The Kolis who speak of a time when one could casually drop a line in the water outside their homes and draw a huge catch have now had to refashion their boats for the deep seas and spend 3 to 4 days at least for a catch to be worth the trip. Fishing requires a substantial amount of man power and current generations who have had suitable education have increasingly chosen city jobs thus making the business increasingly dependant on hired external labour. The flow of migrant labour over time has not only increased their control over the trade but occupied land within the Koli villages.Yes2357http://www.pad.ma/Vguccyi1/info2009-08-05weekly1.0Habib Tanveer and Naya Theatre in WSF 2004http://www.pad.ma/Vguccyi1/poster.75.jpgThis performance of Ponga Pandit by Habib Tanvir and the Naya Theatre took place at the World Social Forum in 2004 in Bombay. A collective of artists, calling themselves @Culture had done the organizing of all cultural programs at the WSF, with an aim of getting more involved in a space that seemed to rejuvenate the links between those involved in activist work. The privatizing economy, the relentless development through exploitation of tribal land and communities and the expansion of a global cultural media had taken their toll on the energy of activists combined with the fact that the BJP government at the centre had been involved in rewriting the text books and reinscribing the cultural landscape with a Hindutva focus and a strong penchant for censorship of the alternative arts, including theatre and documentary film. The cultural activities were many but their thrust was similar – that culture is a space where politics is refined and created, not merely illustrated. The effort was to provide space for the many different registers and scales of political art and performance. Hence there were diverse stages – those that involved formal spectacle, those that allowed for small performances, street theatre, music and one amphitheatre, named the Brecht theatre where larger, formal performances were done by professionalized community groups. For instance a group of LGBT performers from the Philippines called Sexy Divas, performed a Broadway show-style work. Habib Tanvir is one of the great crossover artists of a time – his work is well known and well loved by both those involved in alternative politics and culture and those largely familiar with the mainstream. The droll biting fun of these performances which combine a formal muscularity and a strong political heart, Brechtiean ideas and indigenous forms, has made them very popular. It was especially important that he performed Ponga Pandit, a play about caste and religious hypocrisy, as it was a play that the BJP government and RSS identified groups in Chhatishgarh had come down on hard – there had been attacks on performances by Hindutva identified rabble rousing groups threatening performers and audiences alike. The play had once been performed as a point of principle to an empty hall. The film by Sanjay Maharishi and Suhandvan Deshpande – A Day in the Life of Ponga Pandit – follows this experience. This performance however, was not to an empty hall – far from it. There was a stampede at the WSF grounds to get into the theatre. It was an example of how political art is made great by people claiming it for their own, and loving it the way fans of rock musicians do – not just by making the right noises. When the amphitheatre was full, people were angry and demanded to be let in, so the organizers requested Habib Tanvir to do two performances. The only problem was that there was a municipal restriction on loudspeakers after 10 p.m. The second performance then took place without a microphone. Habit Tanvir was already close to 80 at that point. Yet, his voice was the loudest and lustiest in the play, as the footage shows. The woman singing along with him is his daughter Nageen. The performance was shot by student reporters who were producing a twice-daily news bulletin. This material was later used to make an hour length film called Work in Progress: At the WSF 2004 The part of the performance we used in the film was the song – khoon phir khoon hai, katta hai tho beh jaata hai (Blood is blood after all, if you cut, it will flow), a poem by the progressive Urdu poet and film lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi, who had also famously written the poetry of social comment in the film Pyaasa, which told the story of an artist’s struggle to write the kind of poetry he wants. It is an extremely beautiful poem, precise in its phrasing, sharp and reflective and it speaks about the cycle of violence and how violence once done, clings to the sleeve of the king, the trouser cuff of the devout and whoever has been part of that violence. Performed in the dark of the amphitheatre, the song seemed to draw the audience inward, create a hush, emphasize that the rousing quality of political comment must be followed by the silence of poetic reflection. Yes3386http://www.pad.ma/Vi3hyxe2/info2009-08-07weekly1.0Pila House: Interview with Sayeed Bhai, Owner of Gulshan Talkies and Its Restauranthttp://www.pad.ma/Vi3hyxe2/poster.75.jpgThis event is an interview is of Sayeed Bhai, who continues to run a successful business, both with his theatre as well as the restaurant which runs alongside, within the precinct of Pila House. His interview is one of a series of three interviews we conducted with various people to recollect the history of the area from the point of view of people who have either lived or worked there, i.e. in some way belonged to that space and were currently associated with some sort of trade in that area. Pila House is a living museum of change – while on one hand painted hoarding have given way to digital posters – Pila house is a showcase of some of the film industry’s all time favourite films / actors – with repeat shows. But what becomes significant there is the audience. Who are the ones getting entertained and how? Who the people who keep Pila House alive? A momentous shift from the educated Parsis, Bohris and Anglo-Indians who urged the then British rulers to carve out an entertainment district at the heart of a growing modern city to the daily laborers from UP and Bihar who spend their spend their weekly pittance today. Sayeed bhai’s family had acquired the premises which now include Gulshan Talkies and the adjoining restaurant, he apart from registering the property in a new name had also brought about significant structural changes and today continues to invest and carry on a profitable business. Various histories can be drawn of an area such as Pila House, for instance simply the architecture of the area tales the history of the building of the city. But more than a particular style of building, it how and for what purpose a site is built, and how is subsequently adapts itself to continuing needs, that is interesting. These building then change hands, from a Parsi owner to a Muslim, from an Afghan tenant to a group of young Bihari boys. So in my journeys into the Pila House I have often wondered about the countless cultures that have passed through it. And it is quite literally amidst the bazaars of Bombay, midway between Girgaum Chowpatty and Bombay Central. It is still located within what can be called Mumbai’s prime real estate, and must somewhere possess the commercial viability to survive the wrath of time. Pila house is an intersection both spatially and in time– a crossing, a route you are bound to take at some point, steal a quick glance hoping for a glimpse of those it hides more than it reveals. Pila house is suspended somewhere between a prayer and a secret fantasy – a super-mall of desires.Yes1152http://www.pad.ma/Vs66iwxz/info2009-08-05weekly1.0Dharavi - Interview with Vinayak Koli, President of Dharavi Koliwadahttp://www.pad.ma/Vs66iwxz/poster.75.jpgKoliwadas in Mumbai are prominent features, both in terms of landscape and culture. These are fishing villages and the oldest settlements in the region. The Portuguese missionaries converted the Koli people into Christians in 16th century. Koli is a distinct community in terms of features, cultures, traditional occupation and dialect. Especially Koli women can be identified easily even in a crowd. As the land grew into a city and then into a metropolis, urban development and migrant influx have been sweeping the city in phases. With every such phase kolis have got more and more isolated and vulnerable. Dharavi Koliwada is particularly vulnerable as the water body in Dharavi, the creek, got completely dried up few decades ago. Though all other fishing villages in the city and in the surrounding region too have got affected to an extent by the onslaught of development, no other water body has dried up as irreparably as the one in Dharavi. The once prosperous fishing hamlet is now facing extinction. The proposed redevelopment is made to gentrify the entire area. Once situated at the North-West border of the city, Dharavi has now become a prime land in the middle of the city. The dense settlement of low rise houses needs to go in order to extract more commercial value out of the precious land. The scheme proposes rehabilitation of all inhabitants in small tenements in the sky scrapers. The scheme suits some of the inhabitants whose livelihood is not necessarily located within Dharavi and not dependant on use of space. But others whose livelihood depends on the unique social structure and spatial arrangement of the settlement are strongly opposing this process of homogenizing the area. Vinayak Narayan Koli is the president of the Dharavi Koliwada community office he represents the community to the outside. Dharavi koliwada is an independent village that has its own panchayat to look into the community matters, for long they also have leaders from their own community standing for the post of corporators in the BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipality Corporation) elections. But all these people and their voices have failed to make an impact on the way the government is treating this sensitive matter which holds one whole community at stake. On the occasions of religious celebrations the hindu right wing party, Shiv Sena donates money to please people, during the times of elections also various steps are taken by these parties like extension of cut-off dates for rehabilitation, increase in the size of the house they will get in return of redevelopment; to expand and maintain their vote bank. But when it comes to actually saving the kolis from extinction the government leaves them to fend for themselves.Yes2359http://www.pad.ma/Vhmckgmj/info2009-08-07weekly1.0Mumbai Fire Brigade - Riot Enactmenthttp://www.pad.ma/Vhmckgmj/poster.75.jpgThe video is an enactment of a riot situation- as part of the training programme for a new search and rescue team that would be equipped to deal with street violence. One of the firemen plays a news reporter reporting live from the scene. There is a mock interview of a member of the search and rescue team.  The trainee team members administer first aid to the injured in the background. The drama is enacted like a mad game between a team playing rioters, a team playing policemen, the search and rescue team of the fire department, a doctor and the press. As the drama of violence and aggression proceeds, you sense the playacting turning into a competition between teams as the actors in their roles turn unpredictable and total pandemonium takes over.Yes1011http://www.pad.ma/Vdxth7a2/info2009-08-05weekly1.0Dharavi Tamil Community: Landlord Chandrasekaran on Redevelopmenthttp://www.pad.ma/Vdxth7a2/poster.75.jpgDharavi is popularly termed as the largest slum in Asia. Known to be one of the densest and most layered human settlements in the world, the origin of Dharavi can be traced back to early 20th Century, at the height of the industrialization in the region. Dharavi is an area, which was originally located at the northern periphery of Bombay, but with boundaries of this ever-growing city constantly extending on all sides it has come to occupy prime location today. Today, according to official records, Dharavi is marked as an area spread over 223 hectares, where as many as 18,000 people crowd into a single acre. A 1986 survey by the National Slum Dwellers Federation (NSDF) counted 530,225 people (106,045 households) living in 80,518 structures. But considering the large number of 'unofficial/illegal' migration influx, the real number of people living in Dharavi is likely to be much more. Home to approximately one million people, Dharavi populace includes diverse language groups, religious communities and economic units. Most of Dharavi's old residents are from interior Maharashtra, Kutch and Kathiawad region in Gujarat and from Kanyakumari, Thirunelveli, Thuthukudi and Nellai districts in Tamil Nadu. Currently, Dharavi is in the eye of a storm as the prime land that it occupies needs to be 'redeveloped' to keep in pace with the economic globalization that is sweeping the city. Bombay, the supposed trade capital of India and India, the media acclaimed neo-Asian tiger of the international market, needs to grab more land and the old fashioned settlement of Dharavi must go in order to facilitate that. Currently the whole settlement - the residents' associations, the govt., the international builders' lobby as well as the civil society in Bombay are engaged in intense debate and complex maneuvering to extract the best possible deal out of this. But the problem is what is best for one economic group can be considered damaging by the others. Following a proposal (valued at Rs. 93 billion -around USD 2.3 billion) by architect Mukesh Mehta, the Govt. has divided Dharavi in five sectors and announced call for tenders to develop each sector from international builders' agencies. The scheme is that profits from the sale of the high-end developments will fund the resettlement of eligible slum dwellers (those who can prove their residence prior to January 1, 1995 which now has been extended to the year 2000) in free 225 sq. ft. (which now has been increased to 269 sq. ft.) flats in multi-story buildings. Developers are also charged with providing some amenities and infrastructural improvements. Though the Govt. declared the names of 19 short listed bidders in January 2008, the whole scheme came under cloud for lack of transparency and absence of proper research. The whole process is stalled at the moment while some organizations are commissioned to conduct some field research on the existing socio-economic structure of Dharavi. Another reason for the 'go slow' policy of the Govt. could be due to impending general election. Most probably the Govt. and specially the ruling party do not want to risk public controversy at this stage. The following is an interview with Dharavi slumlord, Mr. Chandrasekaran – owner of Rs. 100 Crores worth of property in Dharavi. He represents one of the first Tamil families to migrate to Dharavi from Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu in late 19th century. Through the four generation the family has made a fortune and now one of the most wealthy families in the area. Though he has earned his wealth mainly by manipulating various loopholes in the land control laws and regulation he is very critical about ill practices of other people. After earning money now he is very keen on acquiring the class. This makes him the staunchest supporter of the Dharavi redevelopment scheme.Yes3443http://www.pad.ma/Vsmpvstz/info2009-12-17weekly1.0MozCamp Mumbai, 2009http://www.pad.ma/Vsmpvstz/poster.75.jpg[http://mozcamp.in/mumbai MozCamp Mumbai] was held at National College in Mumbai on July 19th, 2009, to celebrate the launch of Firefox 3.5 and explore some of its new features. This is the video of the entire event. Use the following links to navigate straight to a particular session: Introduction to event: http://pad.ma/Vsmpvstz/0:00:00.000 Arun's video for MCM: http://pad.ma/Vsmpvstz/0:01:32.639 Sanjay and Baishampayan Ghose's session on HTML 5: http://pad.ma/Vsmpvstz/0:20:45.000 Dipen's session on the Geo Location API in Firefox: http://pad.ma/Vsmpvstz/1:02:19.639 Kunal and Raza's session on the Offline API in Firefox: http://pad.ma/Vsmpvstz/1:20:36.479 Krishnakant Mane's session on the Orca screen reader and accessibility in Firefox: http://pad.ma/Vsmpvstz/1:37:12.500 Sanjay's session on pad.ma, Firefogg and <video>: http://pad.ma/Vsmpvstz/1:57:20.000 Aamod's session on promoting Firefox and MozHunt Mumbai: http://pad.ma/Vsmpvstz/2:11:15.719 Winding up, collecting goodies:) http://pad.ma/Vsmpvstz/2:21:10.839Yes8759http://www.pad.ma/Vtjypx4m/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Dharavi Tamil Community: Interview with Agent Sukumaranhttp://www.pad.ma/Vtjypx4m/poster.75.jpgDharavi is popularly termed as the largest slum in Asia. Known to be one of the densest and most layered human settlements in the world, the origin of Dharavi can be traced back to early 20th Century, at the height of the industrialization in the region. Dharavi is an area, which was originally located at the northern periphery of Bombay, but with boundaries of this ever-growing city constantly extending on all sides it has come to occupy prime location today. Today, according to official records, Dharavi is marked as an area spread over 223 hectares, where as many as 18,000 people crowd into a single acre. A 1986 survey by the National Slum Dwellers Federation (NSDF) counted 530,225 people (106,045 households) living in 80,518 structures. But considering the large number of ‘unofficial/illegal’ migration influx, the real number of people living in Dharavi is likely to be much more. Home to approximately one million people, Dharavi populace includes diverse language groups, religious communities and economic units. Most of Dharavi’s old residents are from interior Maharashtra, Kutch and Kathiawad region in Gujarat and from Kanyakumari, Thirunelveli, Thuthukudi and Nellai districts in Tamil Nadu. Currently, Dharavi is in the eye of a storm as the prime land that it occupies needs to be ‘re-developed’ to keep in pace with the economic globalization that is sweeping the city. Following a proposal (valued at Rs. 93 billion -around USD 2.3 billion) by architect Mukesh Mehta, the Govt. has divided Dharavi in five sectors and announced call for tenders to develop each sector from international builders’ agencies. The scheme is that profits from the sale of the high-end developments will fund the resettlement of eligible slum dwellers (those who can prove their residence prior to January 1, 1995 which now has been extended to the year 2000) in free 225 sq. ft. (which now has been increased to 269 sq. ft.) flats in multi-story buildings. The whole process is stalled at the moment while some organizations are commissioned to conduct some field research on the existing socio-economic structure of Dharavi. Another reason for the ‘go slow’ policy of the Govt. could be due to impending general election. Most probably the Govt. and specially the ruling party do not want to risk public controversy at this stage. The following is an interview with a Tamil Resident of Dharavi, Mr. Sukumaran, a man of public life, a consultant, and father of three. Sukumaran is born to a migrant family and brought up in Dharavi. He is candid about his earlier brush with the world of crime and his current profession of negotiation with the power lobbies. He was not easily agreeable to the interview andour crew had to hang around for an entire day before before getting an access to him. He runs a Consultancy called Tension – Free Consultancy from a 5 by 5 feet room adjoining his home in Dharavi. Yes1038http://www.pad.ma/Vsru3yrm/info2009-07-09weekly1.0Dharavi Koliwada: Indigenous Culture and Village Deity Khambdevhttp://www.pad.ma/Vsru3yrm/poster.75.jpgKhambdev is the village deity of the dharavi Koliwada. He is not to be found in the long list of generic Hindu god or even in any other indigenous cultures. Every Koli village has their Village deity. Generally this deity is placed at the border of the village. In Dharavi Koliwada the shrine of Khmbdev was in between the village and the creek. It is believed that Khambdev keeps an eye on the entire village from its outskirt and protect it from all evils. The popular practice was to pray at Khambdev before setting out for fishing. It is claimed that till a few decades ago the deity used to get submerged under the creek water during high tide. But currently the shrine has come to be in midland surrounded by buildings and other concrete structure. The city has grown to swallow the empty land around Khambdev and thus has destroyed his aura to a great extent. The frenzied process of urban development has dried the creek. Drying up of the creek has not only indicated the loss of livelihood for the Kolis, but has also posed a severe challenge to their system of belief and culture. The water based community is now forced to function within the mainstream norms of land related property. Traditionally the deity of Khambdev is not supposed to reside under a roof or within four walls. But under the present situation it has become very important for the Koliwada people to assert, both community and individual, rights over the land. So Khambdev gets encircled within boundary walls and rooftop. So now the there is a proper construction around the 18th century deity. The shrine compound also houses a gym (vyamshala) for the local youth. The courtyard of the shrine is maintained to facilitate sports and fests. It has become a community centre in the middle of the settlement. The shrine is administered by the Jamaat, the official association of the Koliwada. Khambdev festival takes place on the full moon day of Chaitra (April-May). On the same day two other important festivals are observed in Dharavi – Hanuman Jayanti and Jyotiba Mahotsav, festival of lower castes Hindus and neo-Buddhists.Yes2541http://www.pad.ma/Veugfgon/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Dharavi Koliwada: Public and Political Celebration of Holihttp://www.pad.ma/Veugfgon/poster.75.jpgThe Holi festival has become the most important social festival in Dharavi Koliwada. In other Koli settlement the festival of Narial Purnima is the most important occasion. During the heavy rain of July-August the fishermen cannot go to the deep sea to fish. Infact the government has put a ban on fishing in the deep sea on those months to avoid casualties. Hence in August-September (Shravan in local calendar) on the full moon day (Purnima) there is a ritual of worshipping the sea god by offering him coconuts (narial). It marks the end of no-fishing season and prays to the sea god to calm down to help to resume fishing. This ritual is entirely livelihood based and no other community or religious group celebrates this festival. But since Dharavi Koliwada has lost their access to water this festival has lost its significance. Instead Holi festival has come to occupy a prime space in their social calendar. It is believed that the Holi festival has reached this height with direct patronage from Shivsena in order to mobilize the community under its fold, much as the same way Tilak started Ganeshotsav to invoke nationalism.Yes568http://www.pad.ma/Vgoxo9sc/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Dharavi Koliwada: Syncretic Culture and Converted Christianityhttp://www.pad.ma/Vgoxo9sc/poster.75.jpgChristianity existed in India from a really long time, almost as long as it has been in European countries, but the most of the conversions from other religions to Christianity happened due to the traders and rulers that came from the foreign countries. By mid 16th century Portuguese pirates had already taken over some ports around the region – Goa, Daman and Diu. In 1534 they defeated the ruler of Mahim Island and Sultan of Gajarath (Gujarat), they found their first colony in Bombay region. They eventually took over all of the seven islands. But they were mostly interested in keeping control over the sea shores and not in regulating or administrating the inner land settlements. Thus Portuguese converted many people around this area to Christians for the benefit of their trades. Later when Britishers came in 17th century they brought in missionaries who converted many more all over India. There are many myths around how people were converted from their original religion, but the underline basis of conversion was the use of force. It is said that Britishers came with sword in one hand and cross in another. Kolis are the original inhabitants of Bombay and they are one of the first communities to have been converted, though even after taking up Christianity, these people have kept their told rituals intact. Apart from attending church prayer, they also take part in all the community festivals and events and their lifestyle is also very similar to other kolis. The most interesting is the Indianised Christian rituals and prayers that the Christians in India follow. Yes753http://www.pad.ma/Vt8dxx1v/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Dharavi Leather Industry: Tannery Processing Sequence with Kalubaihttp://www.pad.ma/Vt8dxx1v/poster.75.jpgThe leather industry in Dharavi is a male bastion. Since the work involves acquiring skin hide, tanning the leather, carrying heavy loads, delivering for import consignment etc. conventionally women workers were not part of this industry. In the villages where it was a community activity, woman might have played an important role. But in this urban set up this industry has remained exclusively male. Kalubai is a rare phenomenon of a woman worker in the leather industry. Kalubai is working in this unit for a long time. From her sense of temporality it is difficult to get the exact date. But what we know is that she has been working in this unit since the time when the current owner, Wahaj Khan, was a wage worker here. This should roughly amount to 30 years. Though an immensely experienced worker she still earns only Rs.3000/- . The concept of perks and bonus in this trade is extremely erratic and governed by feudal norms. Kalubai is capable of doing all jobs in the unit – sweeping, using the machine to iron the rough leather, conditioning process, colouring, stock checking and so on. She often gives proxy for any worker who is absent on any job. But still she is designated as sweeper. Though the leather industry is generally hostile to women workers, Kalubai has survived here for around thirty years. But unlike the male co-workers, she neither climbed up in the work place nor has she shifted out for better fortune. This kind of stagnation is very common for women workers in the urban industries. This is a version of glass ceiling. Her relationship with the younger male co-workers is quite intriguing. She appears to be detached from the work place politics and ever eager to share anybody else’s work load. In that sense she seems to be the trusted lieutenant of the master whose only interest is to facilitate the work to guarantee profit. She never works only within her brief. At the same time she shares an extremely comfortable relationship with her co-workers. The combination of feminine charm, elderly command and unembarrassed commitment to the establishment make her a unique feature. Though she is the most useful and striking personality in the workshop her designation remains that of the lowest category.Yes936http://www.pad.ma/Vg7whcac/info2009-07-09weekly1.0Dharavi Koliwada: Interview with Koli Women Ihttp://www.pad.ma/Vg7whcac/poster.75.jpgYamuna and Mani bai are friends and neighbours in Dharavi Koliwada. Koliwadas or villages of Kolis are the first settlements in the region. Before the land was turned into a city and then into a metropolis by joining the islands and then by filling up the sea and the marsh land, there were mainly the fishing hamlets and salt pans along with little patches of civilization. Koli community is one of the worst victims of urban development through the 20th century. Though they were converted into Christianity as early as 17th century by the Portuguese colonial missionaries, they have failed to take advantage of it either by receiving modern education or by acquiring employment or by expanding their economic activities. Despite the religious affinity with the foreign rulers the community maintained their indigenous life style and traditional occupation of fishing. But as the city grew and more contenders came in to the trade on the sea and marine lives, the Kolis and their traditional occupation of fishing have come to the verge of extinction. In Koli practice the men go to the sea for fishing and the women handle the market. As a result the women have emerged as the public face of the community. The community is identified by the spectacular presence of the Koli women in the public place. In their broad body structure, distinct features, heavy jewelry, 9 yard saree, super confident body language and extrovert personality they make a spectacle in fish markets and in the public transports. Since the men work in the sea, far away from the din of the city, the Koli men do not have much of a public presence. As the fishing trade itself has got severely affected by the chemical pollution of the sea, introduction of trawlers of the multi-national companies, by rampant construction activities and also by the intrusion of fish vendors from outside the community; Kolis are forced to get engaged with the happenings in the mainstream. They are asking for reservation in govt. jobs, concession in educational institutions and also joining political outfits that are strategically maneuvering their anxieties into xenophobia. This interview takes place in a comparatively affluent household in Dharavi Koliwada. The house is a sprawling bungalow with all modern gadgets, marble floorings and wooden furniture’s. Such a house could be the source of envy for anybody in Bombay, in terms of living space available. But these kind of spacious houses are not uncommon in Koliwadas. But access to these houses is always through extremely narrow by lanes. Often a long winding labyrinth ends on a wide courtyard of a house. As the area was never planned to accommodate additional construction and urban infrastructure, the condition of the public spaces are abysmal. The once prosperous fishing hamlet is now facing extinction. The proposed redevelopment is made to gentrify the entire area. Once situated at the North-West border of the city, Dharavi has now become a prime land in the middle of the city. The dense settlement of low rise houses needs to go in order to extract more commercial value out of the precious land. The scheme proposes rehabilitation of all inhabitants in small tenements in the sky scrapers. The scheme suits some of the inhabitants whose livelihood is not necessarily located within Dharavi and not dependant on use of space. But others whose livelihood depends on the unique social structure and spatial arrangement of the settlement are strongly opposing this process of homogenizing the area. As oppose to the shanties in other parts of Dharavi, Koliwada comprises of village like independent structures. Though their already endangered livelihood is not likely to be affected anymore by this scheme, the Kolis stand to loose their ancient rights over the land and traditional culture. Yes930http://www.pad.ma/Vtju6if4/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Dharavi Papadwali: Domestic Violence and Survivallhttp://www.pad.ma/Vtju6if4/poster.75.jpgDharavi is a slum popularly termed as the Asia’s biggest slum. Known to be one of the densest and most layered human settlements in the world, the origin of Dharavi can be traced back to mid 20th century, at the height of the industrialization in the region. Dharavi was originally located at the northern periphery of Bombay, but with boundaries of this ever-growing city constantly extending on all sides it has come to occupy prime location today. Today, according to official records, Dharavi is marked as an area spread over 175 hectares, where as many as 18,000 people crowd into a single acre. But considering the large presence of unofficial/illegal migration influx, the real number of people living in Dharavi is likely to be much more. Home to approximately one million people, Dharavi populace includes diverse language groups, religious communities and economic units. Most of the citizens of Dharavi are urban artisans, functioning out of the outer space of their one-storey shanties. This seamlessness in working and living space, over the decades, has resulted in high number of female wage earners. Currently, Dharavi is in the eye of a storm as the prime land that it occupies needs to be ‘redeveloped’ to keep in pace with the economic globalization that is sweeping the city. This interview is of This interview is of Subhadra Sonawane, who from a very young age has been living in Dharavi. Her painful life is an example of survival of a woman in a male dominated world. Subhadra was abandoned by the husband she worked as domestic help and did other menial labour work to survive. Just when her life seemed to be getting better her 20 year old son died and her house got burned. She is all alone in the world and the thought of the future makes her panic. Hers is just one case among many such stories of survival in Dharavi. This interview is part of our Dharavi documentation project. We hope to evolve a comprehensive documentation and dissemination of the spaces and lives of Dharavi residents. Yes1568http://www.pad.ma/Vu0hwdqp/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Dharavi Koliwada: Retail Fish Markethttp://www.pad.ma/Vu0hwdqp/poster.75.jpgKoli is the caste name for the traditional fisher folks in Mumbai. When the land was a cluster of islands in the pre-urban phase, the Koli community was the main inhabitants. The villages of Kolis are called Koliwada. The unique characteristic of the community is that the trading is conducted by the women and the inheritance of that ran by the women’s line. The most coveted property for the Kolis is the designated spot in the fish market. The spots are rented by the family from the municipality and go down from the mother-in-law to the daughter-in-law. On the other hand when a Koli girl gets married to a different location she cannot start vending fish in the market of that location. Often a married Koli woman in Borivali would come to Dharavi to sell fish as that is her birth place. Till the time her mother-in-law in the Borivali market leaves the trade and gives her the space in the market she cannot enter the business there. This century old economic independence and access to public space have made the Koli women a distinct race. The Koli women rein over the cityscape of the city – by their aggressive selling in the market, by their noisy bargains in the docks and the wholesale markets and by their assertive presence in the public transports. But in last couple of decades the fortune of the Kolis are dwindling and so is the status of the Koli women. With the invasion of mechanized trawlers of the multi-national food companies in the sea their traditional method of fishing has got a major beating. The pollution of sea water and the construction frenzy have affected the availability of the catch. The real estate menace is threatening the existence of their villages and the markets. The migrant male vendors have started selling fish at the doorsteps which coupled with the availability of the frozen food stocks resulted in diminishing clientele in the bazaars. There has also been a campaign by the influential militant vegetarian lobby to demolish the stinking fish markets from the centre of the city. Today the Kolis stand for a vulnerable community. Their desperate attempts to enter the mainstream through education and jobs in the public sector too seem unrealistic in the face of current market driven economy and frenzied gentrification of the urban landscape. Taking advantage of the situation the right wing political parties in the region are trying to mobilize them into xenophobic identity politics.Yes1278http://www.pad.ma/Veej59fr/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Dharavi Leather Industry: Nagnath Leather Processing Workshophttp://www.pad.ma/Veej59fr/poster.75.jpgThe leather industry in Dharavi, which is popularly known by the generic name tannery, started around 1950s. Though it was started mainly by the Tamil migrants, later some Maharashtrians and UP migrants too got into the trade. The leather business ceased to be lucrative since the 90s. The reasons behind the decline are many: a) government cracked down on many workshops on account of public health and environmental issues. It was claimed that the tanning activity (making rough leather out of the animal hide) was hazardous to public health. b) Another issue was that the tanning activities was polluting the water in the Dharavi creek and severely affecting the fishing trade of the Koli community. c) It was popularly believed that much under world activities and smuggling was being conducted under the cover of the tanneries. d) Since 1984 many schemes were launched in different phases to develop the land in Dharavi for more gentrified neighbourhood. As a result the land price in Dharavi sky rocketed and many tannery owners found it more profitable to sell the land to the builders. The first three issues made the govt. ban the tanning activities and regulate the trade with more vigilance. The tanning activities then got shifted to Chennai (where a large leather industry has been in existence even before the Dharavi industry started) or small towns in Maharashtra. That obviously has increased the cost of production and has reduced employment opportunity. Even if there is some clandestine tanning activity still taking place in Dharavi, the production of it cannot be voluminous. Still many units survived as the workshops that worked on the later phases of the procedure. After the tanning in the far away places the rough leather would be sent to Dharavi, then it would be treated to make finer leather, coloured iand dried and then exported / sold or stitched into consumers’ goods and exported / sold. So though the situation got worse since the ‘90s a part of the industry was still functioning and even expanding. But in last few years two major issues have developed. The government has launched a scheme to develop the whole of Dharavi simultaneously into high rise colonies. It is proposed that each legal structure in the present Dharavi would be rehabilitated within the skyscrapers. But the economic activities in Dharavi, which are also core livelihood activities, such as pottery, leather works etc. need ground space and open roof tops and cannot be accommodated in the linear multi-storied buildings. Moreover, the area of space that would be allotted to these workshops is much less than the present establishments. In practical terms the scheme means either eviction for these workshops or relocation in far away places. The second development is the collapse of the international economy and sharp decrease in the export order. The situation got aggravated by the introduction of new rule of quality control in consumers’ leather goods. Currently the big market brands, who are the main clients of the industry, are insisting on expensive quality control proof. This has proved to be the proverbial last straw for the people who supply goods to the export market. Under this circumstance we visited the Nagnath leather processing unit in Dharavi.Yes1355http://www.pad.ma/Vhrfaceg/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Dharavi Tamil Community: Group Interview with Women in Tamil Chawlhttp://www.pad.ma/Vhrfaceg/poster.75.jpgThe following footage is of multiple interviews in Tamil, of Tamil residents in Dharavi, mostly mischievous old women, with such playful attitudes and sense of humour that even made our crew nervous. All the families interviewed here have migrated from Thirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu and live here in tiny apartments with their family members across three generations. They are very different from the group of tamils who came to start tanneries in the ‘50s. These people are more like wage workers who come to the city to try their hands on anything. According to Mr. Kanakaraj, a resident of Dharavi, due to the caste atrocities many Tamil working – class and lower- class people migrated to Bombay in the beginning of the 20th century. (For more info see event Dharavi: Redevelopment for a Tamil Working Class Man). Bombay provided these migrants with various opportunities and their own space in Dharavi. But both these issues have been addressed in Tamil Nadu, to an extent, in last couple of decades. But the flow of migration still continues as these families in Tamil chawl have migrated to Bombay in last 20 years.. It could be the hope for plenty in the metropolises or the lack of development initiatives in the villages. Amenities, more than survival, can play an important role in contemporary lives, in terms of choosing the location to reside. For these families, visits to Tamil Nadu are sparse, but they have recreated Tamil Nadu right here in Dharavi. Their children can speak in Hindi, English and Marathi, but also fluent in Tamil. They practice festivals like Pongal, (but inside their homes), watch Tamil television and live on their staple diet of sambhar (a South Indian preparation of vegetable stew). At the same time they love Bombay and consider Dharavi their ‘home’. This can be called an example of multiple citizenship. It is heartening to see how ordinary people can negotiate so many identities simultaneously. This chawl is a Tamil ghetto owned by Laxminaray Sivan, one of the Tamil migrants of the previous generation of Dharavi – his family migrated in the ‘50s. (for more about him please see the file ‘Dharavi Tamil Community: Interview with Slumlord Laxminarayan Sivan). Yes1765http://www.pad.ma/Vsnpstff/info2009-06-26weekly1.0Dharavi Tamil Community: Ila on Growing up in a Ghettohttp://www.pad.ma/Vsnpstff/poster.75.jpgIla is a 23 year old 2nd generation Tamil living in Dharavi. Ila’s contagious laughter and happy-go-lucky attitude make this a fun encounter. She speaks freely about her inhibitions, aspirations, values, family, and home. When talking about her parents or friends, she imitates them, animatedly, and helps us to understand her life as a Tamilian in Dharavi, and as a Dharavi resident outside the settlement, in the prejudiced city of Bombay. As the real estate price of Bombay is only comparable to that of Tokyo and New York, a person’s worth in the city is primarily measured by the address he or she lives in. Real estate, construction, property price, evaluation of a neighbourhood etc. are social conversation in Bombay. Even children grow up hearing stories related to real estate. The newly migrants’ dream is to afford a tenement on rent. The rented places are available only for 11 months. In order to avoid any tenancy rights that the tenants may assert in the future, landlords make contract only for 11 months. Hence large numbers of people shift homes every 11 months. As the rent also go up periodically they are automatically pushed more and more to the fringe. Then some of them manage to secure bank loan and purchase a flat of their own. Then the anxiety turns into paying the monthly installments to the bank. Simultaneously some other areas get gentrified displacing the old residents. That too creates another exodus from the centre of the city. While a whole lot of people are constantly pushed towards the fringe (fringe itself shifts to more far flung areas) another set desperately make attempts to come to the centre. In the midst of this heavy traffic of internal movements of people, come in shopping malls and business districts. Bombay forever remains under construction and a honeycomb for the builders lobby. This phenomena plays havoc to the psyche of the people and make them vulnerable to all sorts of political maneuvering and economic exploitation. In the eve of much trumpeted Dharavi redevelopment, we talk to Ila as a representative of the younger generation in the settlement and gather her opinion about growing up in a place which is stigmatized by the rest of the city and the country. Ila has seen much of the dark side of Dharavi in her growing up years. But she chooses to evade those issues and concentrate only on her aspiration. The interview is taken in the tiny residence of her family. Contrary to her appearance and talk her home indicates a status much below that of the middle class. Yes2339http://www.pad.ma/Vdyp2o41/info2009-07-09weekly1.0Dharavi Koliwada: Interview with Vinayak Ignatious Kolihttp://www.pad.ma/Vdyp2o41/poster.75.jpgKoliwadas in Mumbai are prominent features, both in terms of landscape and culture. These are fishing villages and the oldest settlements in the region. The Portuguese missionaries converted the Koli people into Christians in 16th century. Koli is a distinct community in terms of features, cultures, traditional occupation and dialect. Especially Koli women can be identified easily even in a crowd. As the land grew into a city and then into a metropolis, urban development and migrant influx have been sweeping the city in phases. With every such phase kolis have got more and more isolated and vulnerable. Dharavi Koliwada is particularly vulnerable as the water body in Dharavi, the creek, got completely dried up few decades ago. Though all other fishing villages in the city and in the surrounding region too have got affected to an extent by the onslaught of development, no other water body has dried up as irreparably as the one in Dharavi. Vinayak Ignatious Koli is regarded as the local historian by the community. His classical Hindu first name (a nomenclature for Lord Ganesha), sacred Christian name as middle name and community name Koli as surname – is a microcosm of the post colonial, indigenous community. His second name must have been kept after the Jesuit priest St. Ignatious Loyola. In his interview Vinayak Ignatious Koli vividly describes the Christian missionaries as some Englishmen who used to lure them with chocolate to school and also used to beat them up for running away from studying. But in his imagination the colonial soldiers, the Queen of England and the missionaries have become one people. He believes that Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria lived in the city and often took a stroll in the vicinity of Dharavi. This popular imagination regarding the kings and queens resembles the narrative style of Indian folk tales. The foreignness of the Queens of England does not make them any less accessible than the rulers from the region. Infact he takes a great pleasure in claiming that his community was the favoured one with the colonial masters than any other community in the land. The claim of affinity with the colonial masters has become part of the memory of good old days of plenty. It is believed that Queen Elizabeth had once given the Koliwadas some sort of certificate of autonomy. Based on that the community hopes to counter the attack of urbanization and keep their traditional control over the land.Yes2751http://www.pad.ma/Vedvbssn/info2009-07-09weekly1.0Dharavi Koliwada: Interview with Koli Women IIhttp://www.pad.ma/Vedvbssn/poster.75.jpgYamuna and Mani bai are friends and neighbours in Dharavi Koliwada. Koliwadas or villages of Kolis are the first settlements in the region. Before the land was turned into a city and then into a metropolis by joining the islands and then by filling up the sea and the marsh land, there were mainly the fishing hamlets and salt pans along with little patches of civilization. Koli community is one of the worst victims of urban development through the 20th century. Though they were converted into Christianity as early as 17th century by the Portuguese colonial missionaries, they have failed to take advantage of it either by receiving modern education or by acquiring employment or by expanding their economic activities. Despite the religious affinity with the foreign rulers the community maintained their indigenous life style and traditional occupation of fishing. But as the city grew and more contenders came in to the trade on the sea and marine lives, the Kolis and their traditional occupation of fishing have come to the verge of extinction. In Koli practice the men go to the sea for fishing and the women handle the market. As a result the women have emerged as the public face of the community. The community is identified by the spectacular presence of the Koli women in the public place. In their broad body structure, distinct features, heavy jewelry, 9 yard saree, super confident body language and extrovert personality they make a spectacle in fish markets and in the public transports. Since the men work in the sea, far away from the din of the city, the Koli men do not have much of a public presence. As the fishing trade itself has got severely affected by the chemical pollution of the sea, introduction of trawlers of the multi-national companies, by rampant construction activities and also by the intrusion of fish vendors from outside the community; Kolis are forced to get engaged with the happenings in the mainstream. They are asking for reservations in govt. jobs, concession in educational institutions and also joining political outfits that are strategically maneuvering their anxieties into xenophobia. This interview takes place in a comparatively affluent household in Dharavi Koliwada. The house is a sprawling bungalow with all modern gadgets, marble floorings and wooden furniture’s. Such a house could be the source of envy for anybody in Bombay, in terms of living space available. But these kind of spacious houses are not uncommon in Koliwadas. But access to these houses is always through extremely narrow by lanes. Often a long winding labyrinth ends on a wide courtyard of a house. As the area was never planned to accommodate additional construction and urban infrastructure, the condition of the public spaces are abysmal. The once prosperous fishing hamlet is now facing extinction. The proposed redevelopment is made to gentrify the entire area. Once situated at the North-West border of the city, Dharavi has now become a prime land in the middle of the city. The dense settlement of low rise houses needs to go in order to extract more commercial value out of the precious land. The scheme proposes rehabilitation of all inhabitants in small tenements in the sky scrapers. The scheme suits some of the inhabitants whose livelihood is not necessarily located within Dharavi and not dependant on use of space. But others whose livelihood depends on the unique social structure and spatial arrangement of the settlement are strongly opposing this process of homogenizing the area. As oppose to the shanties in other parts of Dharavi, Koliwada comprises of village like independent structures. Though their already endangered livelihood is not likely to be affected anymore by this scheme, the Kolis stand to loose their ancient rights over the land and traditional culture. Yes2171http://www.pad.ma/Vsnphism/info2009-07-03weekly1.0Mumbai Fire Brigade: Building Collapses in the Inner Cityhttp://www.pad.ma/Vsnphism/poster.75.jpgThese are videos of the aftermaths of building collapses and of the rescues of bodies trapped under debris by the fire department. These images of the ruins of buildings confound ideas of permanence, of stability and sheltering that embody homes and buildings; where their elaborate tectonics of shelter are revealed as vulnerable and frightening in their heaviness. The videos contain images of piles of debris, made up of the disintegrated architecture of buildings; the elaborate structures of steel beams, wooden and steel columns and concrete that have collapsed into each other over and around the bodies of their inhabitants. These bodies have to be extricated carefully, sometimes from under heavy masonry and steel or cut out from under the mangled mess of reinforcement and concrete. Each rescue effort is an exercise in the ingenuity of the fire-fighters as crowbars, hydraulic cutters, J.C.B’s, rope have to be deployed in turn to carefully prise the trapped persons out from under the weight of building material. The first video is the aftermath of the collapse of a building in an inner city neighbourhood. The inner city areas of Mumbai developed as the older bazaar and mercantile town outside the fort where the British and Indian elite lived and worked forming a crucial trade link between the hinterlands and the port. The bazaars have transformed through the years, retaining to a large extent the structure of the specialized street bazaars. Reports of building collapses such as this one are frequent as there is a huge proportion of dilapidated building stock within these precincts, a fall-out of the rent control act which resulted in insufficient finances for the structural maintenance of buildings. Structural alterations, lack of maintenance, complex networks of tenancies and ownerships make maintenance of these buildings difficult. However, the frozen rents also make it necessary and possible for all sizes and types of businesses to make place within the nooks and crannies of the building. As a result, although the stability of the physical structure may be suspect; the complex, interlinked networks of tenancies, sub-tenancies under the rent control act keep these crumbling shells alive with diverse economic activities and residential communities. Historically these areas have seen violent cleansing drives by the British, especially post 1803 after the fire when the BIT undertook improvement schemes that led to large-scale demolition and rehabilitation. The heavily critiqued development control regulation act is the latest state initiative to address the dilapidation and rehabilitation of the precincts, which without proper infrastructure augmentation further burdens the dense precincts with more built up area, population, parking water and power requirements. The second video in an unidentified location is of a rescue of a worker caught under the collapsed building, his body covered with dust curled in a gap in the rubble is gently rescued by the huge claw of the monster machine and its attendant firemen.Yes1767http://www.pad.ma/Vu5ggx71/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Mumbai Fire Brigade: Training Exerciseshttp://www.pad.ma/Vu5ggx71/poster.75.jpgThese are the videos of the training exercises, parades, felicitation ceremonies that are the events and activities that hold the fire department together and keep its machinery well-oiled in the long intervals between actual emergencies. There are training exercises, designed like competitions and games, which form a critical part of the training; there are demonstrations of new equipment and techniques. There is a lot of play-acting that must be taken very seriously as it becomes the template for what must be done in real emergencies. The parades and felicitations that set up the narratives and images of heroic identity, that the red fire trucks and blue uniforms and helmets have acquired in the city’s civic imagery. The first two videos are of felicitation ceremonies and public demonstrations, and the third video is of a parade.Yes627http://www.pad.ma/Veuwreng/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Dharavi Leather Industry: Casual Wage Workershttp://www.pad.ma/Veuwreng/poster.75.jpgProcessing leather from the animal hide is traditionally a community based occupation. The community who work on the animal slaughtering and extracting the hide is called Chamars. The word is often used as degrading abuse to depict the stigma attached to the job. Mostly the community was not involved in the lucrative part of the leather trade i.e. selling fine leathers or leather goods. But in a metropolis like Bombay such social stigma gets weakened under the pressure of livelihood. It seems the workers who work in the leather industry of Dharavi are not necessarily bound by the traditional community based skill. They are just simple casual labours who are hired and fired seasonally. The work has not only transcended the community binary but has also got non-institutionalised to some extent. Though traditionally a male bastion, slowly women workers are making entry into the trade. As the casual workers are mostly migrants from disperse background and different regions and language groups there is almost no possibility of them emerging as a work force. Hence as far as the situation of the workers is concerned the job condition in the leather industry is similar to the sweatshops. Yes1889http://www.pad.ma/Vh5gz1q3/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Mumbai Fire Brigade: Accidents Injured Bodieshttp://www.pad.ma/Vh5gz1q3/poster.75.jpgThese are videos of injured bodies. They contain personal accounts of accidents by victims, and images of injured bodies. The first video is of the aftermath of a gas cylinder explosion in a slum, with an interview of the woman whose house was blown apart by the blast in which a little boy and sleeping man were also hurt. The second video is of the complicated and long efforts of doctors, nurses and firemen to extricate the hand of a man caught in a mutton mincer. This video seen among all the videos of fire, bomb blasts, and accidents illustrates the almost unimaginable range of eventualities that the fire department has to deal with. Yes760http://www.pad.ma/Vdxbu66m/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Dharavi Leather Industry: Sweat Shop of Belt Knittinghttp://www.pad.ma/Vdxbu66m/poster.75.jpgThough initially known for its tannery and leather processing, Dharavi leather industry today is largely a manufacturing unit. Due to the problem of land and environmental issues the flourishing tanneries have closed down since early ‘90s. As the work of leather processing from animal hide got shifted to Chennai, Kanpur and other smaller towns in Maharashtra, the existing workshops in Dharavi are surviving on polishing raw leathers, manufacturing consumers’ goods and exporting to declining export market. A large part of the consumers’ goods manufacturing is accomplished through sweatshops in the neighbourhood. Due to the paucity of space in Dharavi the traders prefer to assign out works in piecemeal than employing people in their own premises. Besides, the piecemeal policy also helps them evading the wage regulation. Interestingly, precisely because of this policy women manage to get some work and earn little money. Otherwise the leather industry is traditionally a male bastion and women have never allowed an entry there. Though in the caste based practice in the villages of animal slaughtering and extracting the hide women must have played a role. But in the urban version of the work in the semi-industrialised structure women were unambiguously kept out. The only way they could enter the scene is to pick up piecemeal assignments and work from homes. The earning is not adequate as a mainstay for livelihood but attractive as a supplement. The women who are doing this work are not from the lowest economic strata in Dharavi. Within the Dharavi structure they are better off. Their social status is not conducive for them to work in the factories and workshops with wage labourers. Hence the sweatshop system, though exploitative in terms of wage return against the investment of labour hours, suits these domestic women better. The decline in the international leather market has affected this sector too. Since they are not location based only way to identify these women is to look for the visual of long leather strips (patta) hanging. It took us a long time to trace this group of women as with the reduced work orders has reduced the visibility of the hanging leather strips. Yes1184http://www.pad.ma/Vtku2val/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Mumbai Fire Brigade: Cityscapes & the Edge of the Cityhttp://www.pad.ma/Vtku2val/poster.75.jpgThe landscapes shot vary from dense slum neighbourhoods, to old industrial areas, dump-yards at the edge of the city. Historically, fires, dilapidation, and danger to heath and life have formed the vocabulary of practices that sought to cleanse and reorganize city quarters, and relocate danger to the outside or elsewhere. Most of these landscapes that the videos record seem to somehow evade or to lie outside these imaginations of the safe and clean city, and are always being pushed to its boundaries. These are mostly spaces of informal enterprise and labour, in the dump yards, older industrial neighbourhoods and slums that the mechanisms of civic services and infrastructure are unable to address in their more technocratic imperatives. The first fire takes place in a single storied building in the mill lands area. The video shot from a neighbouring roof, shows a landscape of roofs and trusses, firemen clambering over them to get to the fire, the surrounding landscape of chawls and chimneys rising up through the smoke and scenes from the insides of the homes burnt down with the remnants of everyday lives among the ashes. These areas had begun to developing the late 1800’s when the American civil war virtually stopped all cotton imports into Britain and the demand for cotton from India grew. Industrialists and entrepreneurs set up cotton mills, and built the most rudimentary accommodation for the migrant workers with single room tenements, common sanitation facilities and corridors. These neighbourhoods, with each mill and the surrounding chawls crammed into every inch of available land, became the centre of Mumbai’s economic growth, and a vibrant working class community and culture grew in the streets. Perceived alternatively as slums and congested areas by the British and the middle class, paralysed and weakened by the strike of 1982 and by newer industrial areas in the peripheries, they are now quickly transforming into elite residential enclaves and leisure zones with a gradual displacement of the mill workers communities and livelihoods. The next two clips are of fires in slums. in the slum fires, the spaces within the slum, between densely packed houses, narrow alleys and gaps from where a clear view or understanding of where the danger is located exactly becomes impossible, people flee to the spaces outside, or onto the roofs with their contiguous and overlapping surfaces, which becomes the landscape of grey corrugated sheets that offers views of the fire and the space from where it can be attacked. The first video is of a fire in a slum where the landscape of a naala (creek), densely packed houses and a fire in the centre of the close knit and entangled homes has to be extinguished from the outside and from neighbouring roofs. People pass their belongings and wade through the creek to escape. The second video of a fire in Dharavi, where the entire road and roof fill up with people getting out of the inner streets, to flee the fire, to watch and to help. The last video is of a fire in a rubber dump yard at the edge of the city to the creek. The issue whether the site is authorized or unauthorized remains unclear, and there is a long discussion at the end of the video whether the activity is legal/illegal, although it has existed and operated for many years. Edges such as these, where the land turns to mangrove and creek, are places lying neglected and claimed by people and activities that have to seek space on the fringes away from watchful eyes, also where the things and dirt that are not seen to belong inside the city and yet are part of it are pushed out. Landfills, dump yards, spaces for leisure, and secret or hidden places for lovers all alternately make claims on the edge between city and outside/nature. The landscape in this video is one of HT lines and garbage of wastes generated by the city and of work that is unacknowledged/ hidden.Yes1829http://www.pad.ma/Vhrgvklb/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Dharavi Leather Industry: Interview with a Tannery Ownerhttp://www.pad.ma/Vhrgvklb/poster.75.jpgThe present day Dharavi settlement actually stands on vast marsh land. The city of Bombay was originally made of 7 islands on the South and a cluster of Islands called Salsette Islands in the North. In late 19th century the islands were joined and more land was acquired by filling up the sea in order to make a large enough city to facilitate the ports, bazaars and emerging industries. Since mid 20th century more land was created by filling up the marsh land and drying up the creeks, in order to cope with the pressure of migrant inflow and infrastructural requirements. The present settlement of Dharavi stands on the marshland at the cusp of the Mahim Island and the Salsette Islands and on a part of the erstwhile Dharavi creek. The creek was the lifeline for the Kolis, the traditional fisher community and the original inhabitant of the island of Salsette. The creek got affected through various city building activities since late 19th century and has made the original settlers of the Koli community economically vulnerable. The early settlers in the land were the Tamil Muslim migrants who brought in the leather making in the city and the Gujarati artisans who make earthen pots. The Marathi speaking Kolis in Koliwada, the Gujarati speaking Kumbhars (potters) in Kumbharwada and the Tamil speaking tannery owners / workers still make the main population of Dharavi. Only the last few decades have seen settling of migrants from the hinterlands of Maharashtra and also from the northern region of UP and Bihar. Other than working in the tannery and in the pottery industry as wage workers these newer migrants have also started new economic activities such as Zardosi (zari embroidery works), Chikki (a popular sweet snack) making and recycling. But the Tamil settlers in the leather industry have earned an unparallel reputation in the urban lore of Mumbai. Much of Dharavi’s dreaded image in popular imagination comes from the legends about these people. The process of leather making or the tannery business itself is associated with dark rituals and deals. It starts from acquiring animal skin. The skin then go to the tannery for processing. Earlier the hides were processed in tanneries in Dharavi itself which were all situated near the creek. But the wastes from the tanneries spoilt the water of the creeks and affected the fishing business. Since late 70s many of the tanneries (the processing of hide to rough leather) were forced to close down on the pretext of environmental hazard. It is suspected by many urban historians that the campaign to ban hide processing also has something to do with the hegemonic Hindu culture of militant vegetarianism. Ironically while the tanneries were evicted, in 1984 the ONGC opened their oil rigging wells in the area and affected the fishing trade much more substantially. However, currently the hide processing works mostly get done in Kanpur, Chennai and smaller towns in Maharashtra. From those tanneries rough leather comes back to Dharavi. The final processing of ironing the leather, smoothening them, colouring them etc. happen in various workshops in Dharavi and then gets exported. This is the mainstay of contemporary leather industry in Dharavi. The industry with its associated dealing with export import, its dark practice of animal slaughtering and gory activities such as boiling hides apparently make it conducive to various underworld mafia activities. Hence the Tamil dons (many of them graduated from tannery business to real estate) of that time became major inspiration for Bollywood films on underworld in the ’60 and ‘70s. As the popular perception of the gore in Dharavi grew some kind of state intervention became essential. So with the wide roads, the unwieldy area was mapped to some extent and tanneries were banned. In 1950s came the wide Dharavi cross road which has become an artery road for the city. Later in 1984 came a surge of development and more wide roads were built inside the settlements in order to facilitate the movement of the people associated to the new Govt. establishments such as ONGC, Indian Oil etc. which were built in the surrounding marsh land. Then again in 1991 came another phase of urbanization and development under the guise of SRA (slum rehabilitation authority). It cannot be a coincidence that many traditional tanneries which by then were doing only the processing from rough leather to fine leather had to go at that time and eventually release land for multi-storied buildings. This has also coincided with the international noise about the hygienic condition of Dharavi leather. In 2004 the government launched another development body called DRP (Dharavi redevelopment project). This project is to work on an over arching development scheme on Dharavi in oppose to earlier piecemeal approach of segment based development. The scheme promises to rehabilitate all the settlers of the single storied hutments into the proposed skyscrapers and convert the balance land into high profile real estate opportunity. In this context the following interview of a tannery owner was conducted. Yes651http://www.pad.ma/Vu0pljl0/info2009-04-21weekly1.0Sewri Cemeteryhttp://www.pad.ma/Vu0pljl0/poster.75.jpgYes2298http://www.pad.ma/Vgpjmju0/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Mumbai Fire Brigade: Documentation of Calamitieshttp://www.pad.ma/Vgpjmju0/poster.75.jpgThese are videos of the sites in the aftermaths of fires, bomb blasts and building collapses. The images are disturbing as they are visitations at the sites of death, of lives, body parts and place reduced to thing and wound. They are also spectacular as images of a city with its dynamics and flows and lives interrupted, disrupted, emptied. It is difficult to describe these images without resorting to the phrases that repeat in the rhetoric of newspaper headlines of tragedy- ruin, collapse, fire and smoke. Disaster flicks and television reports capture every detail that adds to drama, discarded slippers, everyday lives interrupted, these images shot by the fire department with the aim to document only sometimes slip into the these tropes, most often, steering close to the investigative aspects, the details that on analysis will yield the truth of the causes, become evidence. They go slowly recording the burst cylinder, the mangled taxi torn by the car bomb, the rescue teams and techniques. They are still seductively and horrifically spectacular as images of the city in ruin, reduced to rubble, up in flames and seen through smoke in silhouette, as crows circle overhead. The first video .is a video of the aftermath of a bomb blast, on 25th August 2003 at Zaveri Bazaar. This is a crowded inner city area very close to the Mumbadevi temple. Police, onlookers and firemen swarm the site of a bomb blast. You see a mangled taxi, crumpled facades of buildings and a street littered with debris. A politician and senior officials enter the site and the press and onlookers form a knot around them. The video ends with an eyewitness account of the explosion. The second clip is of the retrieval of a corpse/body out of a ruin of a building that has collapsed into a pile of rubble. The video is eerily beautiful with huge mountain of rubble and crows circling overhead, and the firemen’s ladders silhouetted against the smoke. The third clip is shot over two days, the site of a fire in a building and the next day, the burnt ruins after the fire.Yes1224http://www.pad.ma/Vtku5lw4/info2010-03-22weekly1.0Bar Dancers Case: Citizens' Enquiry on Police Atrocities(Parallel enquiry into bar dancers case)http://www.pad.ma/Vtku5lw4/poster.75.jpgAfter the ban on dancing was implemented in the dance bars, many women workers in the bars working as dancers were rendered unemployed. Some of them later joined back as waiters in the bars. Of course, this new work did not pay as well, customers now had close access to them and therefore could harass them. But they still chose to do this work as this was a familiar work setup for them, they knew the bar owners, and also not many employment opportunities are available to them given their education and migrant status. The raids on the bars, even after the implementation of the ban on dancing, suggests that even waiter service work for women is not acceptable by the State. Is it felt by the State that if no women work in these bars at all, these would become not as ‘corrupting’ places? Is it the presence of women in the bars that corrupts men, elicits criminal behaviour? Drinking per se is not prohibited in the licensed bars and pubs of the city and they continue their business as usual. A parallel investigation team comprising of women’s rights and human rights activists and lawyers was put in place to investigate the mass raid that happened on the bars where everyone from women waiters, to other staff including managers and owners along with the customers present were arrested. The investigation team asked the workers about the raid, the police behaviour and the procedures after the raid. Various incidents of police harassment on the women also come up as a major issue in this enquiry. Retd. Hustice H. Suresh, journalist and women’s rights activist Geeta Sheshu, Journalist Dilip d’Souza, women’s rights activist Sujata Ghotaskar and advocate Flavia Agnes were part of citizens’ panel. The depositions before the Committee were made on 27th August, 2005 at Y.W.C.A., Colaba, Bombay and the final report titled, ‘Abuse of Authority’ was released on 11th October, 2005 at the Press Club in Mumbai. The struggle for the human rights of the bar dancers, like many other professions which are related to sexuality, is affected by the issue of visibility. Often the dancers hesitate to openly protest or even press a complaint fearing that they would be exposed to their families and neighbours. The police then take full advantage of their vulnerability. Even in this event a few girls requested anonymity. Respecting their reservations we have taken out their images. Yet we have decided to upload their statements not only to reach their voices to a larger audience, but also to highlight the issue of social invisibility. We are also uploading the images of other dancers. Through this period of collective struggle some girls could successfully rise above the social stigma and its oppression. We thought we would honour that too. We hope all visitors and users of this site will understand the delicate balance and act accordingly.Yes2544http://www.pad.ma/Vhavu3yn/info2009-02-15weekly1.0Gulabi Interview3http://www.pad.ma/Vhavu3yn/poster.75.jpgInterview conducted in Tamil and kannada with women members of Gulabi Mahila S.H.G and Kamala Mahila S.H.G comprising of hawkers, domestic workers and daily wage coolies.Yes1525http://www.pad.ma/Vef0whzp/info2009-02-15weekly1.0Video Letters from Gaza to aizawlhttp://www.pad.ma/Vef0whzp/poster.75.jpgIn a remote corner on the Indian- Burmese border, in Mizoram state, thousands live a suspended life. Most have left their jobs and schools, some have even left their families. They wait in silence to return to the promised land, Israel. The Mizos believe that they are one of the ten lost tribes of Israel, Bnei Menashe, descendants of Menashe, Joseph‘s son. The waiting unfolds as a religious ceremony, an endless ritual of prayers and a labyrinth of memories. In the midst of these lonely gatherings of the scattered people, their myths, imagination and experiences emerge as a historical fact of singular importance. The people who has migrated from Aizawl to Israel starts sending video letters to aizawl to ones who are waiting for their aliyah or homecoming.Yes939http://www.pad.ma/Vg7wocjd/info2010-03-20weekly1.0PAD.MA Launch: Presentation on License by Namita A. Malhotrahttp://www.pad.ma/Vg7wocjd/poster.75.jpgThis presentation dealt with open licenses for content, and in specific with the Pad.ma license. The Pad.ma license was formulated specifically to deal with the needs of putting up video content in the Indian context and also the licenses for annotation of content. The terms and conditions for using Pad.ma can be seen at http://pad.ma/terms Yes1698http://www.pad.ma/Vt4gf840/info2009-02-15weekly1.0Politics of Representation - Tango Charliehttp://www.pad.ma/Vt4gf840/poster.75.jpg Tango Charlie is a 2005 Indian film directed by Mani Shankar. A singular viewpoint prevails as “good” versus “evil” discourse, flattening all the different, political movements within the nation state, (such as insurgents, naxalites, Kashmir discord) as the common enemy to be crushed by military intervention. No fleeting reference to the complexities of these problems is even hinted at. The fact that the film shows Bodo militants (who live in Assam) in the state of Manipur reflects how poorly the film was researched. This film is important as it was banned in North East India on the ground that it defames communities living there. The Bodo community in particular had severe objections against the portrayal of their society in a negative light in the film. The film has references to Bodo militancy and refers to a Bodo militant cutting off the ears of a hostage and making a garland out of it for this lover. The militants are shown to severely injure an army soldier and then leave his body as bait, in order to kill anyone who comes to the rescue him. They are made out to be primitives and barbarians. Insensitive towards the multiplicities existing within the larger macrocosm of India’s ethnoscape, the film tries to popularize the idea of nationalism through isolating the struggles and insurgencies of the people. Ignorance of the other assumes an anthropological-ethnographic point of view in the film negotiating the identity and nationality of the ethnic other by reducing him to an unknown enemy. Difference and multiplicity which extends beyond identity towards aspirations for autonomy and self assertion is un-negotiated. The military intervention is appropriated through skillful justification of nationalism through suffering of soldier. Mani Shankar, the director of the film served under the former Indian Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao as his personal media advisor. The history of northeast india is really the history of their military intervention. Assam, one of seven states in India's northeast, has been home to a militant separatist movement since 1979, and unlike the conflicts in either Kashmir or even Punjab, the uprising in Assam has received little media attention both at home and abroad. The only perspective on the Northeast that `mainland' Indians have got — that too sporadically — is New Delhi's project of `India', which the Northeast seems endlessly, inexplicably and violently to resist. Baruah's earlier book, India Against Itself: Assam and the Politics of Nationality (OUP, 2001) offered something new to scholars and policy-makers alike — a Northeastern vision of itself where the region was the focal point rather than a distant borderland to somebody else's idea of `India'. Yes1144http://www.pad.ma/Vsrqa316/info2011-08-08weekly1.0Chandralekha's Tanabanahttp://www.pad.ma/Vsrqa316/poster.75.jpgTana Bana was a popular weekly cultural magazine commissioned by PTI-Television for almost 100 episodes between1989 and 1992. It was produced and anchored by popular TV personality Sashi Kumar, who went on, in 1993, to set up Asia’s first regional language TV Channel, ‘Asianet’. This 15-minute feature on Chandralekha was filmed in Chennai in 1992. The text/commentary for it was originally written in English by Sadanand Menon. It was translated into Hindi for the purposes of national broadcast. At a presentation during the launch of pad.ma in 2009, Sadanand speaks of this Tana Bana feature as being a "build-up of the 'archive in an archive in an archive' kind of idea". Chandra recreates a sequence from her choreography Navagraha (1972) for this recording in 1992. Some excerpts from a Doordarshan recording of her production Lilavati, shot in 1990, are also used, while there is material shot specially for the feature too. The reason for including this in Pad.ma is that it is perhaps the only available copy of this feature. PTI-TV wound up by 1994 and all their recordings and tapes have vanished without a trace. The present version was originally a direct-from-TV VHS recording. Around 1999, the fungus-affected tape was cleaned and copied on to a DVD by Krissy Biernacki, an American dance student who spent almost a year in Chennai and helped Chandra convert some of the tapes to DVD. As the sole surviving copy of the original, it now has both an archiving history and historic value. For the opening sequence of the episode, Chandra performed the stylised ‘Suryanamaskar’ to ‘Suryamurthe’, one of Muthuswami Dikshitar’s ‘Navagraha’ kritis, which she had performed twenty years earlier, in her landmark 1972 production ‘Navagraha’. The deep Sanskrit kritis, sung by B.Krishnamurthi, with nattuvangam provided by Chandra’s Guru Kancheepuram Ellappa Pillai, Veena accompaniment by Vidushi Vidya Shankar and mridangam by T.V.Goapalakrishnan, was specially recorded for this performance at the HMV studios, Chennai, by the well known ‘HMV Raghu. The charismatic male dancer Kamadev was Chandra’s partner in ‘Navagraha’. Chandra performed this 7-minute-long yoga-based piece to ‘Suryamurthe’ once again in 1984, at the ‘East-West Dance Encounter’ at the Tata Theatre, NCPA, Mumbai, which marked her return to dance and choreography after a break of over 12 years. The ‘Surya’ dance for the Tana-Bana’ episode was shot within Chandra’s ‘Mandala Theatre’. This theatre was renovated and inaugurated in 2008, on the occasion of Chandra’s second death anniversary of December 30. It has now been renamed ‘Chandra-Mandala’.Yes888http://www.pad.ma/Vef8gqp9/info2010-04-05weekly1.0Chandralekha's Lilavati http://www.pad.ma/Vef8gqp9/poster.75.jpgYes1761http://www.pad.ma/Vt2z17z9/info2009-05-09weekly1.0Pre-paid Privitisation: D-Day at Dinanath http://www.pad.ma/Vt2z17z9/poster.75.jpgA public meeting took place at Dinanath Mangeshkar hall in Vile Parle (East) on 13th November,2007. It was called ostensibly to discuss the problems of water supply in Mumbai and pose solutions. One of the proposed 'solutions' was the installation of prepaid meters. The meeting was christened <i>Sujal Mumbai</i> meaning 'good water' for Mumbai and was hosted by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in collaboration with Castalia, a French multi-national consultancy. It was attended by BMC officials including Manu Srivastav, Additional Commissioner of the BMC and members of the standing committee which was headed by Ravindra Waiker, Corporator of Ward 68, 23 Community Base Organisations (CBO) and 20 Non – Government Organisations (NGO). The meeting was extensively covered by news agencies. BMC was and still is trying to privatise the water department through the installation of prepaid meters which will be operated by contractors. K-East Ward, which comprises of Andheri (East), Jogeshwari (East) and Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road, was considered as a 'Pilot project'. The project was severely criticised by NGO's and CBO's as it was a blatant action to privatise the water supply. This was the second such meeting in 2007, the previous one was held in Mayor's Hall, Andheri (West) on June 2nd, 2007, only difference being that the focus of the 1st meeting was on K- East ward only while the 2nd outlined a project for all of Mumbai with K-East Ward being a guinea pig. The plan of privatising water at the Mumbai level in a sense backfired as it made a considerable section of the populace aware of the ongoing process. Since the onset of the meeting, it was abundantly clear that the BMC had made up its mind and had taken the decision. The BMC was being ruled by the right wing Shiv Sena party, whose member is Ravindra Waikar. This meeting was also 'coincidently' held in Vile Parle (East) which is a Shiv Sena bastion. What occured in Dinanath Mangeshkar Hall on the 13th of November 2007 - see for yourself. Yes7464http://www.pad.ma/Vsnvfx49/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Ek Dozen Pani - Adarsh Nagarhttp://www.pad.ma/Vsnvfx49/poster.75.jpgYes6010http://www.pad.ma/Vevk5ocr/info2009-02-15weekly1.0Outsiders wanted:Interview with Makiko Kimurahttp://www.pad.ma/Vevk5ocr/poster.75.jpgThe aim of this paper is to analyse three competing narratives of the cause of the Nellie massacre of 1983: the views of the victims, the attackers and the movement leaders. The well-known Nellie incident took place during the anti-foreigners movement led by the AASU and the AAGSP from 1979 to 1985. The incident was directly triggered by the central governments decision to hold the state legislative assembly election, which invited a boycott by the movement leaders. As a result of the confrontations between the people who supported and opposed the implementation of the election, there were numerous violent incidents among communities during election period in the early part of 1983. The worst incident was the Nellie massacre, in which more than 1000 people were killed in one-day attack. Until now, it has been said that the land deprivation by the Muslim migrants from East Bengal region is the cause of the large-scale killing. The plains tribe called the Tiwas traditionally inhabited in the Nellie area, but after the British occupation they were marginalised. The top leaders of the Assam movement denied their involvement in the massacre, and implicitly suggested that it was initiated by the Tiwas. However, interviews with Muslim migrants and Tiwas in this area reveal that both of them consider the movement and the election as a prime cause of the massacre, and, these groups denied that there are disputes over land between them. It can be said that the interpretations of collective violence (such as a large-scale killing, riot or massacre) are open to various narratives by people who directly or indirectly experience them. And from these various narratives, people choose one interpretation that suits them most, or choose the one that is least harmful to them. Yes350http://www.pad.ma/Vtox2q9s/info2009-02-15weekly1.0Meter Down: Junaidhttp://www.pad.ma/Vtox2q9s/poster.75.jpgYes2350http://www.pad.ma/Veva2w5j/info2010-05-14weekly1.0Unlimited Girls - Interview with Veena Mazumdar, Part 2http://www.pad.ma/Veva2w5j/poster.75.jpgVeena Mazumdar was born in 1927 and educated at Calcutta, Benaras, and Oxford. She is an Honours Graduate and D.Phil from Oxford University. In her professional career she has been a teacher of Political Science at the Universities of Patna and Berhampur, an Officer in the UGC Secretariat and a Fellow of the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Simla. She was Member Secretary, Committee on the Status of Women in India, and later Director, Programme of Women's Studies, Indian Council of Social Science Research for five years (1975-80). She was Founder-Director of the Centre for Women's Development Studies, New Delhi from 1980 to 1991, and thereafter was Senior Fellow at CWDS and JP Naik National Fellow, ICSSR, for two years. She is one of the pioneers in Women's Studies in India and a leading figure of the women's movement. Since 1996 she has been the Chairperson, Centre for Women's Development Studies, New Delhi. Paromita Vohra interviewed Mazumdar for her film <i>Unlimited Girls</i> (2002), an exploration of engagements with feminism in contemporary urban India. For more, see http://www.parodevi.com/unlimitedgirls/unlimitedgirls.htmlYes2519http://www.pad.ma/Vevg7nph/info2010-05-14weekly1.0Unlimited Girls - Interview with Urvashi Butalia, Part 1http://www.pad.ma/Vevg7nph/poster.75.jpgUrvashi Butalia is an Indian feminist and historian. She is the Director and Co-founder of Kali for Women, India's first feminist publishing house. Butalia was born in Ambala, India, in 1952. She earned a B.A. in literature from Miranda House, Delhi University, in 1971, a Master's in literature from Delhi University in 1973, and a Master's in South Asian Studies from the University of London in 1977. She worked as an editor for Zed Publishing and later went on to set up her own publishing house. Her writing has appeared in several newspapers including The Guardian, The Statesman, The Times of India and several magazines including Outlook, the New Internationalist and India Today. Butalia is a consultant for Oxfam India and she holds the position of Reader at the College of Vocational Studies at the University of Delhi. Her main areas of research are partition and oral histories. She has also written on gender, communalism, fundamentalism and media. Paromita Vohra interviewed Butalia for her film <i>Unlimited Girls</i> (2002), an exploration of engagements with feminism in contemporary urban India. For more, see http://www.parodevi.com/unlimitedgirls/unlimitedgirls.html Yes3486http://www.pad.ma/Vfsioie1/info2010-05-14weekly1.0Unlimited Girls - Interview with Satyarani Chadhahttp://www.pad.ma/Vfsioie1/poster.75.jpgIn 1979, Kanchanbala, twenty years old and six months pregnant, was burnt to death following harassment for more dowry in her marital home. After her death, Satya Rani Chadha began a long battle for justice. With the support of the parents of more than 25 other dowry death victims, Chadha embarked on 21 years of sustained legal activism and court cases, which led to many landmark judgments and fundamental amendments in the criminal law. In 1987, Shakti Shalini, a Delhi-based organisation that helps and motivates other parents of dowry victims to fight this social menace, was formed jointly by Satyarani Chadna and Shahjehan Aapa. (http://infochangeindia.org/20030205533/Women/Stories-of-change/Justice-for-our-daughters.html) Paromita Vohra interviewed Chadha for her film <i>Unlimited Girls</i> (2002), an exploration of engagements with feminism in contemporary urban India. For more, see http://www.parodevi.com/unlimitedgirls/unlimitedgirls.htmlYes3269http://www.pad.ma/Vtpeu7ml/info2010-03-20weekly1.0PAD.MA Launch: The Dominant, Residual and Emergent in the Archive by Lawrence Lianghttp://www.pad.ma/Vtpeu7ml/poster.75.jpgLawrence Liang's paper at the pad.ma is titled: The dominant, residual and emergent in the Imagination of the Archive. Yes1971http://www.pad.ma/Vs6e8x5j/info2009-02-14weekly1.0 Prof. Madhav Gadgil speaks on Biodiversity and people's knowledge in India.http://www.pad.ma/Vs6e8x5j/poster.75.jpgThis event is a compilation of two sub-events- 1. An interview with Prof. Madhab Gadgil, an ecologist and ex-director of Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISC, Bangalore. He has a pioneering role in foregrounding the importance of people's view in the formation of India's conservation strategy/policy.He talked about the richness of India's biological resources, reasons of it's erosion, knowledge base of locals about sustainable use and management of their biological resources. 2. Example of a Buddhist traditional religious ethics; protecting a forest in the name of a god/goddesses that plays an important role in conserving forest patches. Through a local's interview the concept of Sacred Groves and strong belief surrounding it get explained. Yes2925http://www.pad.ma/Vsbsxsmn/info2009-02-13weekly1.0My Mother, Her Gharwali, Her Maalak and His Wife.http://www.pad.ma/Vsbsxsmn/poster.75.jpgMy Mother, Her Gharwali, Her Maalak and His wife. Conceived by Meena Seshu, Bishakha Datta and Divya Bhatia. Directed by Sushama Deshpande. Leena is a woman in prostitution. Leena is also a woman in love with her rickshaw-driver prince, who is suddenly talking about riding off into the sunset – alone. Unless, of course, Leena helps him buy a spanking new rickshaw by giving him a loan of Rs. 25,000. She waits for her lover, and she waits on her customer. Outside in the lane, the arrival of a goonda (thug) causes a flutter. The cop who chases him away, is also chasing a man who lives in the same galli… ‘My Mother, The Gharwali….’ looks at 24 hours in the lives of the people who live in or pass through the galli (street) in which Leena lives. Hear them speak their own stories, talk their own tales and re-imagine their own realities. Meet the usual suspects – the paanpatti wala, the goonda, the children, the regulars. See them as they are. Get involved in their lives – feel overjoyed, indignant, angry, sad and make merry with them. Just remember, what happens here in these 24 hours, happens in their galli everyday. In March 2004, almost 75 women in prostitution and their teenage sons assembled in Sangli to do a workshop on theatre. None of them had ever acted before. None of them wanted to be performers. All of them wanted to tell their own stories. The four-day workshop introduced them to the basics of performance: acting, voice, sets, costumes, music, lights, action. It gave them a glimpse into the power of theatre. Although they were not ‘performers’, they instinctively understood that theatre could be a vital ally in representing their own realities - from their own perspectives. The women took to theatre like straggling ducks learning to swim…a stroke here, a flap there, keep your head above water and forget your fear of drowning. A group of 25 women and their sons formed a theatre group and started performing in their own communities. They rented costumes from local suppliers, rehearsed scenes on their own and took it all quite seriously. So much so that when a group of local thugs asked them to cut out the ‘goonda’ scene, they refused to perform the play. But it was hard work. How do you learn lines when you don’t know how to read? How do you gather any enthusiasm to rehearse when your colleague is dying of HIV? How do you believe you have a story worth telling when the world keeps telling you you’re worthless? How do you keep on and on swimming against the tide? My Mother, The Gharwali…is born out of this slow journey of struggle, faith, and discovery. For reviews see http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/telling-it-like-it-is/324102/ and http://www.indiatogether.org/2008/mar/wom-dhande.htmYes4073http://www.pad.ma/Vfsgvjes/info2009-02-14weekly1.0The change of Industrial landscape in Kolkatahttp://www.pad.ma/Vfsgvjes/poster.75.jpgFive hundred factories and more are closed, sick or shut down in West Bengal as on date. Over six hundred thousand workers have lost their jobs, or have been displaced with no foreseeable future. Apparently, the Leftist government of Bengal wants a “revival” which is largely happening by acquiring agricultural land to set up large-scale industries mostly with the support of both Indian and international private investors. At the same time, especially in Calcutta, operational factories are being sold off to provide premium space for high value real estate “development”. These contradictory development activities in the state raise many important questions about the entire issue of “development” itself. A classic example of such development is the South City Project on Anwar Shaw Road in south Calcutta. Jay Engineering, a large sewing machine and fan manufacturing unit of the Usha Group of Industries operating since the 1950s was closed down, made defunct, and the land handed over to a consortium of five major real estate “magnates” in 2003. Having demolished the factory buildings, the construction of the South City Project - “Eastern India's largest mixed-use real estate development” - comprising three 35-storey towers, one 28-storey tower, a shopping mall, school, multiplex, club etc, started from February 2004. This included the illegal filling up of one of south Calcutta's largest natural water bodies. The workers of Jay Engineering were forced into “voluntary retirement” with little or no compensation From student days, my interest in issues concerning the environment and development has been a motivating factor and I was drawn towards the impact of the South City development. I began to personally document the demolition of the factory sheds and towards the end of 2004 I shot the demolished quarters, the early phases of the construction work, and recorded interviews of some displaced workers. In 1995, in the context of shifting of factory premises from the city of Delhi, The Supreme Court had given a ruling to protect the city from random urban development on the vacated land. According to this ruling, if the plot of land measures more than 5 hectares, 65% of the land has to be given to the Municipal Corporation for planting trees and developing gardens. Only 35% of the land may be used for construction. Joy Engineering Works has flouted this ruling and sold off the entire land to the South City project. The people living in the neigbourhood of the complex have been deprived of open spaces, playgrounds and gardens. Instead, they have got a concrete jungle, pollution and traffic jam. I interviewed Vhaskar Gupta a resident of that locality who has done a court case against the Pollution Control Board. I shot this interview from the top of his roof. I met and interviewed him over two years. Yes2980http://www.pad.ma/Vu5mgs8w/info2009-02-22weekly1.0The Knower of Secretshttp://www.pad.ma/Vu5mgs8w/poster.75.jpg"The Knower of Secrets" was my MFA thesis film from Temple University, Philadelphia. I decided to revisit this film, because the film, and the experience of making it had become two very separate things. The way I had shot the film, the process of knowing the people who it is about, and the anxieties and ambiguities that are a part of entering people's lives and leaving it, had no part to play in the construction of the film. Neither did the many stories, anecdotes, wanderings, tangents and moments of connection and disconnects that are so much a part of that journey. I have tried to add a layer of annotation that brings to this film, some of what I wished it had. Much of the above. The annotations consist of journal entries, interview excerpts, anecdotes, poetry, references, and reflecting on some of the ways I had been, six years ago - making a film because I loved the idea of it, but not realizing the profound ways in which it was changing me. That is the experience I tried to recollect, when I decided to add to this film, the layers it was missing. Yes2471http://www.pad.ma/Vs66pepj/info2009-07-06weekly1.0Koli: The Organised Sector and Livelihoodhttp://www.pad.ma/Vs66pepj/poster.75.jpgThis interview is of a Koli woman – Devyani Chanur. She lives in Khar Danda, buys fish at the Crawford market or Bhaucha Dhakka jetty and sells at the Kalina market. That makes her daily routine something like this – get up at 4am and travel 25 km to the wholesale market, buy fish and travel again the same distance to the retail market to sell till 12 noon, go home again by traveling in public transport to attend to household chores and have lunch, then back again at the retail market at 6 in the evening and work till 9.30pm. Her daily routine compliments that of the wholesale sellers. We have documented the daily cycle of the fisher women in wholesale market in the events titled ‘Koli Women: Livelihood Practice 1 & 2’ on the same site. Seen and read together these three events will make a complete picture of the work pattern of the Koli women.Yes2072http://www.pad.ma/Vhm6ljqr/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Ek Dozen Paani - Prem Nagarhttp://www.pad.ma/Vhm6ljqr/poster.75.jpgWhile driving north on the western express highway, it is easy to pass by Premnagar- a dense settlement of homes and livelihoods that have been delicately woven into its side between the Andheri and Jogeshwari flyovers. Premnagar is a resettlement colony. Its many names- Bandra Plot, Colaba Plot etc are also its biography of settlement of thirty years. It is at once the story of the city of the displaced and the displaced city. Following the violence of eviction, new memories of violence punctuate the area's history. 'A riot happens every ten years', one resident told me. But amidst these cycles of trouble, there is another cycle- far less dramatic, but perhaps more difficult to negotiate in the days that intercede in the time between larger conflagrations that make the news. The daily struggles in Premnagar center around the practices of water collection. Unlike residents of adjacent bastis, those living in Premnagar have to do many things to make sure their daily water continues to flow to their homes- pipes pumps plumbers. When these modern arrangments fail them they turn again to others- borewells, tubewells, middle-men and markets. Life is measured in minutes of water supply. Why so much work for water? In the course of doing research, we heard many reasons from planners, engineers and residents: Because its at a height; because they steal; because no one pays their bills; because the pipes aren't repaired; because there aren't enough pipes; because they dont do their work properly; because we are Muslim. How do we mediate through the world of partial truths? Here, with the members of Aagaz, we pause to sift through these stories. Before we have to return and make sure the water comes home. The footage and annotations are part of the project Ek Dozen Pani, a collaboration between Agaaz, Akanksha, Nikhil Anand and CAMP see: http://camputer.org/event.php?this=paniYes5805http://www.pad.ma/Vsnjewdj/info2010-03-20weekly1.0The dancer Ram Gopal wants to see himself in colour, 8mm, 1938http://www.pad.ma/Vsnjewdj/poster.75.jpg Ram Gopal, Indian dancer, choreographer, and teacher. Often considered one of the most important ambassadors for Indian dance around the world in the middle of the last century. He studied kathakali with Kunju Kunrup, Bharata Natyam with Sundaram, kathak with Misra, and Manipuri with Nabakumar. Ram Gopal. was born in 1912, had a Burmese mother and Rajput father, who was a barrister. He was one of many children and his father oppossed to his passion for dance that developed very early in childhood. Instead, he was encouraged to dance by the Yuvraj of the Mysore royal family. His mother adoring of him, supported him as well. In 1948, attracted to living in the West he moves to London permanently. He was gay and would have found life in the cosmopolitan London of the 40's and 50's exciting. He dies in 2003 in an old peoples home in Surrey, at the age of 92. A portion of this footage of Ram Gopal dancing, appeared as a part of the film "Straight 8", made in 2005, by Ayisha Abraham, which is about Tom D'Aguiar's amateur film making. The film is being used in a larger film on Ram Gopal himself. The working title of the film is "You call it Dancing, I call it Rhythm" and includes interviews with some of the dancers who traveled and danced with him.Yes574http://www.pad.ma/Vulu2h0g/info2010-03-10weekly1.0Interview with McKenzie Warkhttp://www.pad.ma/Vulu2h0g/poster.75.jpgThese interviews were conducted as a part of the Contested Commons/ Trespassing Publics conference organized by Sarai: CSDS and the Alternative Law Forum in January 2005. McKenzie Warkteaches media studies at the New School University in New York. He has published widely, online and in print, on the subjects of cyber culture, Internet theory and research and digital technologies. Yes487http://www.pad.ma/Vugvhycd/info2009-02-22weekly1.0Interview with John Frowhttp://www.pad.ma/Vugvhycd/poster.75.jpgThese interviews were conducted as a part of the Contested Commons/ Trespassing Publics conference organized by Sarai: CSDS and the Alternative Law Forum in January 2005. John Frowis professor of English language and literature at the University of Melbourne. He has taught at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Queensland, and has published widely in the areas of cultural studies and literary history. He is the author of Time and Commodity culture Yes1492http://www.pad.ma/Vu11bss9/info2010-03-10weekly1.0Interview with Brian Larkin on Piracy and Infrastructurehttp://www.pad.ma/Vu11bss9/poster.75.jpgThese interviews were conducted as a part of the Contested Commons/ Trespassing Publics conference organized by Sarai: CSDS and the Alternative Law Forum in January 2005. Brian Larkinis assistant professor of anthropology at Barnard College, Columbia University. He has published widely on the materiality of media technologies and the relationship between media, urbanisation and globalisation. He is the author of Signal and Noise: Media, Infrastructure and Urban Culture in Nigeria, 2008. Yes1723http://www.pad.ma/Vi7mgfoy/info2009-12-12weekly1.0Interview with Peter Jaszi on the Romantic Author in Copyrighthttp://www.pad.ma/Vi7mgfoy/poster.75.jpgThese interviews were conducted as a part of the Contested Commons/ Trespassing Publics conference organized by Sarai: CSDS and the Alternative Law Forum in January 2005. Peter Jaszi teaches at the Washington College of Law of American University in Washington, DC, where he also directs the Glushko-Samuelson Intellectual Property Law Clinic. He has published widely on copyright history and theory, and is an experienced copyright litigator and specialist in domestic and international copyright law. In this interview Peter Jaszi discusses the history of copyright and literary theory scholarship, as well as examining the persistent figure of the author in Copyright discourse. Yes3429http://www.pad.ma/Vtjghixy/info2009-02-13weekly1.0Interview with Naveeda Khanhttp://www.pad.ma/Vtjghixy/poster.75.jpgYes455http://www.pad.ma/Vsnx82k9/info2009-02-13weekly1.0Interview with Doron Ben Atar on how Intellectual Piracy was central to the Making od Modern Americahttp://www.pad.ma/Vsnx82k9/poster.75.jpgThese interviews were conducted as a part of the Contested Commons/ Trespassing Publics conference organized by Sarai: CSDS and the Alternative Law Forum in January 2005. Doron Ben-Atar is chair of the history department at Fordham and a member of Fordham’s Middle East Studies and Women’s Studies programs. He is currently working with Professor Richard D. Brown of the University of Connecticut on a study of bestiality in the early republic. Doron Ben-Atar is the author of Trade Secrets: Intellectual Piracy and the Origins of American Industrial Power (Yale University Press, 2004). This interview examines the role that intellectual property piracy played in the making of industrial America, and examines it in relation to the contemporary rhetoric of the United States war against piracy Yes1786http://www.pad.ma/Vulvm6z3/info2009-02-13weekly1.0Interview with Rosemary Coombe on Copyright and Cultural Politicshttp://www.pad.ma/Vulvm6z3/poster.75.jpgThese interviews were conducted as a part of the Contested Commons/ Trespassing Publics conference organized by Sarai: CSDS and the Alternative Law Forum in January 2005. Rosemary J. Coombe is a Tier One Canada Research Chair in Law, Communication and Cultural Studies at York University in Toronto, where she teaches in the Communications and Culture Joint PhD/MA Programme, and is cross-appointed to the Osgoode Hall Faculty of Law Graduate Programme, and the Graduate Programme in Social and Political Thought. Her research focuses on the intersection of anthropology, law, and cultural studies on issues relating to cultural rights and the politics of globalising intellectual property. She has published widely in these areas. She is the author of The Cultural Life of Intellectual Properties is a legal ethnography of the ways in which intellectual property law shapes cultural politics in consumer societies. Yes1634http://www.pad.ma/Vg7wnqfc/info2009-02-22weekly1.0Interview with Hou Hanruhttp://www.pad.ma/Vg7wnqfc/poster.75.jpgThese interviews were conducted as a part of the Contested Commons/ Trespassing Publics conference organized by Sarai: CSDS and the Alternative Law Forum in January 2005. Hou Hanru is a Paris-based independent art critic and curator. He is widely published in journals on contemporary art, and has curated exhibitions all over the world. His work addresses questions of globalisation and identity, and understanding contemporary art practice as it exists beyond geographical and regional boundaries. Yes1226http://www.pad.ma/Vg92c17o/info2010-03-20weekly1.0Kashmir: Flight Over the CFLhttp://www.pad.ma/Vg92c17o/poster.75.jpgThis two hour video compilation constructs an account of a significant incident in the contemporary of Kashmir. As found footage, this is in the tradition of a 'campaign video', with footage of a march intercut with speeches, and the whole thing papered together with popular 'movement' songs of the period. And like many other similiar videos, verifying it's authorship will remain daunting given the various kinds of material it uses. (And assembled by Arshi Video Centre, Muzaffarabad: their watermark runs across the whole two hours). Here is what we know about the event: On Feb 11-12, 1992, several thousand of people attempted to cross the Cease Fire Line (the CFL of the title), from the part of Kashmir held by Pakistan, to the part held by India. Under the banner of the then undivided Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), and the leadership of Amanullah Khan, the march marked a critical juncture in the history of the armed struggle in Kashmir. By February 1992, only two years after the armed militancy had broken out in Kashmir, fissures had begun to appear in the relationship between the pro-independence armed groups and their supporters in Pakistan. This in turn had led to a sharpening of ideological divisions within the movement itself, with serious consequences for the future of the movement, and for the idea of <i>Azadi</i>, independence. The video is therefore witness to a significant historical moment. In the first half of the video, the speeches of Amanullah Khan and his associates make clear the seriousness of the rupture in the relationship between the JKLF and Pakistan, represented in the names of Nawaz Sharif (then Prime Minister), Durrani (head of the Inter Services Intelligence), and Sardar Qayoom (the 'Prime Minister' of Azad Kashmir). And it's only Sardar Qayoom who we actually see, very briefly, speaking to a BBC TV correspondent. The date of the march inherits an older significance too: on Feb 11, 1984, Maqbool Butt, one of the founders of the Kashmir valley based JKLF, was executed in Tihar Jail, New Delhi. Just short of his 46th birthday, his hanging made him not only the preminent <i>Shaheed-e-Kashmir</i> (martyr of Kashmir) but also <i>Baba-e-Quam</i> (father of the people). At the start of the <b>Flight Over the CFL</b> we see literally hundreds of placards with Maqbool Butt's image in Muzaffarabad town... In the last 25 years, Feb 11 has continued as a day of protests in Kashmir. 2009 was no exception: protests wracked downtown Sringar and several other towns. Through the speeches (made mainly in Muzaffarabad town, and en route) the video suggests that the march was mounted despite stiff opposition from the Pakistani authorities. News reports of the day described Pakistani soldiers setting off landslides, dismantling bridges and erecting barricades to stop the attempt. (In this compilation we don't see much of this, except in what we will call the BBC footage. Only flashes are revealed, and then only if you look very carefully...) But the Pakistani army were clearly not trying too hard to hide their attempts to stop the march: the extensive aerial footage of <b>Flight Over the CFL</b> is, after all, shot from a helicopter provided by them... So while the march was clearly not intended to reach its stated goal (crossing the Cease Fire Line), how both sides were hoping–or planning–for it to end will remain a bit of conjecture. From the few reliable contemporary print sources reporting the event we do know that the Indian Army had said that it would shoot any marcher crossing the cease-fire line. The Pakistani Army said it would use force to stop the march–if necessary. And force was used: before the march was abandoned, quite far from the Line of Control, at least 12 people were shot dead by the Azad Kashmir Police. This was 1992. It's difficult not to then think of the <i>Ekta Yatra</i> (Unity March) organised by the Hindu nationalists of the Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Murli Manohar Joshi, who had tried just over a year earlier to carry an Indian flag to Srinagar, and raise it on the <i>Ghanta ghar</i>, the Clock Tower in Lal Chowk, sentimental heart of Srinagar. When militants announced that they would target such an attempt, security forces airlifted Joshi's <i>yatris</i>–all fifteen of them–to Srinagar for a symbolic 11 minute flag-raising. Despite blanket security, several rockets were fired at the Clock Tower, and Murli Manohar Joshi narrowly escaped with his life. Interestingly, while the speeches and songs in <b>Flight Over the CFL</b> are all in Urdu, the information about the rupture with Pakistan is given to us through English language voice over, on footage borrowed from <i>Newstrack</i>, the Indian video magazine of the period. This use of comment from the mainstream Indian media marks a rare coincidence of interests, since the general tone in these <i>Newstrack</i> extracts, both of the anchor and in the woman's voice-over, seems to celebrate the appearance of anti-Pakistan sentiment, and the growing 'sense of betrayal' amongst Kashmiris. JKLF cadres interviewed seem to endorse such a reading, which the <i>Newstrack</i> voice over is quick to underline. But in the main, it's difficult not to read <b>Flight Over the CFL</b> without remembering the <i>Muzaffarabad Chalo!</i> (On to Muzaffarabad!) march of August 2008 which marked the culmination of the tumultous protests of the summer of 2008 in the Kashmir valley. <i>Khichi huee hai, dil pay mere, khooni surkh lakeer... Tuhi batade, kab tootegi paon ki zanjeer– Ai mere Kashmir!</i> Drawn across my heart, that murderous red line... You tell me when will my feet be unshackled–O! my Kashmir! The tremendous sentiment aroused by imagining the end of that Line of Control, animates much of <b>Flight Over the CFL</b>, as it did <i>Muzaffarabad Chalo!</i> last year. As a piece of archival video, accidentally and providentially offered to us for a reading, <b>Flight Over the CFL</b> is rich resource. It unearths meanings, illuminates it, complicates it, and allows us to return to video the power of witness.Yes7319http://www.pad.ma/Vfgqaqy4/info2009-02-15weekly1.0Homecoming :Bnei Menashe of Mizoramhttp://www.pad.ma/Vfgqaqy4/poster.75.jpgIn a remote corner on the Indian- Burmese border, in Mizoram state, thousands live a suspended life. Most have left their jobs and schools, some have even left their families. They wait in silence to return to the promised land, Israel. The Mizos believe that they are one of the ten lost tribes of Israel, Bnei Menashe, descendants of Menashe, Joseph‘s son. The waiting unfolds as a religious ceremony, an endless ritual of prayers and a labyrinth of memories. In the midst of these lonely gatherings of the scattered people, their myths, imagination and experiences emerge as a historical fact of singular importance. Rivka or Rebecca has come to Aizwal in Mizoram for her father-in- law’s funeral. She has now to get a tourist visa and an inner line permit (required by all non-Mizos) to enter the state. Yes465http://www.pad.ma/Vt3r4ups/info2010-05-14weekly1.0Unlimited Girls - Interview with Veena Mazumdar, Part 1http://www.pad.ma/Vt3r4ups/poster.75.jpgVeena Mazumdar was born in 1927 and educated at Calcutta, Benaras, and Oxford. She is an Honours Graduate and D.Phil from Oxford University. In her professional career she has been a teacher of Political Science at the Universities of Patna and Berhampur, an Officer in the UGC Secretariat and a Fellow of the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Simla. She was Member Secretary, Committee on the Status of Women in India, and later Director, Programme of Women's Studies, Indian Council of Social Science Research for five years (1975-80). She was Founder-Director of the Centre for Women's Development Studies, New Delhi from 1980 to 1991, and thereafter was Senior Fellow at CWDS and JP Naik National Fellow, ICSSR, for two years. She is one of the pioneers in Women's Studies in India and a leading figure of the women's movement. Since 1996 she has been the Chairperson, Centre for Women's Development Studies, New Delhi. Paromita Vohra interviewed Mazumdar for her film <i>Unlimited Girls</i> (2002), an exploration of engagements with feminism in contemporary urban India. For more, see http://www.parodevi.com/unlimitedgirls/unlimitedgirls.htmlYes4072http://www.pad.ma/Vh59651p/info2011-01-21weekly1.0A Human Question: 15th International AIDS Conference in Bangkok 6http://www.pad.ma/Vh59651p/poster.75.jpgTracing the story of the global struggle to make HIV/AIDS drugs more affordable and available, A Human Question raises key questions of whether private ownership of knowledge can be at the costs of human life? Event Keywords: Press Conference on Thai Drug Policy, FTA, AIDS VACCINE, Vaccine trials.Yes3550http://www.pad.ma/Vevq43jb/info2011-01-21weekly1.0A Human Question: 15th International AIDS Conference in Bangkok 5http://www.pad.ma/Vevq43jb/poster.75.jpgTracing the story of the global struggle to make HIV/AIDS drugs more affordable and available, A Human Question raises key questions of whether private ownership of knowledge can be at the cost of human life?Yes2382http://www.pad.ma/Vs6jwkzg/info2009-02-11weekly1.0Interview with Dr. Sabina Voogd-Netherlands Foreign Ministryhttp://www.pad.ma/Vs6jwkzg/poster.75.jpgTracing the story of the global struggle to make HIV/AIDS drugs more affordable and available, A Human Question raises key questions of whether private ownership of knowledge can be at the cost of human life?Yes1470http://www.pad.ma/Vfrj47bs/info2011-01-21weekly1.0A Human Question: 15th International AIDS Conference in Bangkok 4http://www.pad.ma/Vfrj47bs/poster.75.jpgTracing the story of the global struggle to make HIV/AIDS drugs more affordable and available, A Human Question raises key questions of whether private ownership of knowledge can be at the cost of human life?Yes1712http://www.pad.ma/Vultmvaz/info2011-01-21weekly1.0A Human Question: 15th International AIDS Conference in Bangkok 3http://www.pad.ma/Vultmvaz/poster.75.jpgTracing the story of the global struggle to make HIV/AIDS drugs more affordable and available, A Human Question raises key questions of whether private ownership of knowledge can be at the cost of human life?Yes2475http://www.pad.ma/Vezwwjx6/info2011-01-21weekly1.0Gay pride march, Bangalore -2008http://www.pad.ma/Vezwwjx6/poster.75.jpgThe gay pride march that was held in Bangalore on June 29th, 2008. Sexual minority groups and their supporters marched from National College grounds in Basavanagudi to town hall. There was much joy, spirit and cheerful crowds carrying placards, coloured flags, repeating slogans in sunny t-shirts while celebrating their sexuality.Yes657http://www.pad.ma/Vharopbj/info2011-01-21weekly1.0Many People Many Desires - Interview with Mahesh Dattanihttp://www.pad.ma/Vharopbj/poster.75.jpgFootage from the film Many People, Many DesiresYes1779http://www.pad.ma/Vt8vkd50/info2011-01-21weekly1.0Many people, Many desires: Interview with Vivek Diwanhttp://www.pad.ma/Vt8vkd50/poster.75.jpgYes1584http://www.pad.ma/Vhalld9u/info2012-01-16weekly1.0Interview with Cori Tigges (2)http://www.pad.ma/Vhalld9u/poster.75.jpgYes1200http://www.pad.ma/Vugjj52h/info2011-01-21weekly1.0A Human Question: 15th International AIDS Conference in Bangkok 2http://www.pad.ma/Vugjj52h/poster.75.jpgTracing the story of the global struggle to make HIV/AIDS drugs more affordable and available, A Human Question raises key questions of whether private ownership of knowledge can be at the costs of human life?Yes1191http://www.pad.ma/Vsbas2p9/info2011-01-21weekly1.0Many people, Many desireshttp://www.pad.ma/Vsbas2p9/poster.75.jpgYes3226http://www.pad.ma/Vedx0jjp/info2010-08-02weekly1.0CSCS Culture and Democracy Lecture Series: M. Madhava Prasadhttp://www.pad.ma/Vedx0jjp/poster.75.jpg'Culture and Democracy', a flagship course at the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society (CSCS), has served as an exploration of how the connections between culture and democracy may be theorised. An integral part of this course is a guest lecture series by CSCS faculty and visiting scholars, in which they reflect on their own work. In 2007, these lectures were opened to the public and documented on video.The course was anchored by S. V. Srinivas and invited speakers included Ashish Rajadhyaksha, M. Madhava Prasad, Kakarala Sitharamam, Vivek Dhareshwar and S. V. Srinivas. M. Madhava Prasad teaches at the Department of Cultural Studies, School of Inter-Disciplinary Studies, English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU). He is also one of the founding members of CSCS and taught there for some years. In his lecture, 'Enthusiasm and Indian Politics: Problems in the Analysis of Aural Culture', which was second in the series, Prasad delves into this most recent work on South Indian cinema stars and, in particular, fan devotion, voice in Indian cinema and sovereignty. For more on CSCS, see http://www.cscsarchive.org/ For more on EFLU, see http://www.efluniversity.ac.in/ Yes7702http://www.pad.ma/Vsnfi28c/info2010-06-01weekly1.0Mumbai Attacks: Bombay First Conference @ The Trident - Tape 6http://www.pad.ma/Vsnfi28c/poster.75.jpgTwo months after the terrible attacks on our city, a gathering of businessmen, security experts, and politicos meet at the same hotel where gunmen had created havoc. In the quickly renovated chambers of the Regal Room in The Trident, a 6 hour session takes place where much is discussed - terrorism, surveillance, National ID Cards, higher spending on security and tighter centralization of information gathering networks. The Panel of Experts included the deputy mayor of London, a member of the US 9/11 Commission, a US Dept. of Homeland Security advisor, the head of Security for Deutsche Bank Asia Pacific, a former member of NATO Security, and several counter-terrorism experts. From India, it brought together politicians, a former NSG commando, faces from corporate India, and from the media - Gerson DaCunha and Burkha Dutt. The audience included prominent Indian businessmen, heads of security companies, a member of the Shin Bet, and people from 'concerned civil society'. Such meetings are usually held in five-star hotels behind close doors with members of the public not having a chance to interact with or interrogate arguments made. We see putting this footage in pad.ma as a way to open up arguments and trajectories, moving away from a totalizing discourse around 'terrorism'... annotations are welcome because slowing down the pace of the discourse and examining it in detail and critically might be our only answer to the media juggernaut.Yes2776http://www.pad.ma/Vs6oba6d/info2010-06-01weekly1.0Mumbai Attacks: Bombay First Conference @ The Trident - Tape 5http://www.pad.ma/Vs6oba6d/poster.75.jpgTwo months after the terrible attacks on our city, a gathering of businessmen, security experts, and politicos meet at the same hotel where gunmen had created havoc. In the quickly renovated chambers of the Regal Room in The Trident, a 6 hour session takes place where much is discussed - terrorism, surveillance, National ID Cards, higher spending on security and tighter centralization of information gathering networks. The Panel of Experts included the deputy mayor of London, a member of the US 9/11 Commission, a US Dept. of Homeland Security advisor, the head of Security for Deutsche Bank Asia Pacific, a former member of NATO Security, and several counter-terrorism experts. From India, it brought together politicians, a former NSG commando, faces from corporate India, and from the media - Gerson DaCunha and Burkha Dutt. The audience included prominent Indian businessmen, heads of security companies, a member of the Shin Bet, and people from 'concerned civil society'. Such meetings are usually held in five-star hotels behind close doors with members of the public not having a chance to interact with or interrogate arguments made. We see putting this footage in pad.ma as a way to open up arguments and trajectories, moving away from a totalizing discourse around 'terrorism'... annotations are welcome because slowing down the pace of the discourse and examining it in detail and critically might be our only answer to the media juggernaut.Yes3609http://www.pad.ma/Vfrd4fln/info2010-06-01weekly1.0Mumbai Attacks: Bombay First Conference @ The Trident - Tape 4http://www.pad.ma/Vfrd4fln/poster.75.jpgTwo months after the terrible attacks on our city, a gathering of businessmen, security experts, and politicos meet at the same hotel where gunmen had created havoc. In the quickly renovated chambers of the Regal Room in The Trident, a 6 hour session takes place where much is discussed - terrorism, surveillance, National ID Cards, higher spending on security and tighter centralization of information gathering networks. The Panel of Experts included the deputy mayor of London, a member of the US 9/11 Commission, a US Dept. of Homeland Security advisor, the head of Security for Deutsche Bank Asia Pacific, a former member of NATO Security, and several counter-terrorism experts. From India, it brought together politicians, a former NSG commando, faces from corporate India, and from the media - Gerson DaCunha and Burkha Dutt. The audience included prominent Indian businessmen, heads of security companies, a member of the Shin Bet, and people from 'concerned civil society'. Such meetings are usually held in five-star hotels behind close doors with members of the public not having a chance to interact with or interrogate arguments made. We see putting this footage in pad.ma as a way to open up arguments and trajectories, moving away from a totalizing discourse around 'terrorism'... annotations are welcome because slowing down the pace of the discourse and examining it in detail and critically might be our only answer to the media juggernaut.Yes3091http://www.pad.ma/Vgucrbhf/info2010-03-20weekly1.0PAD.MA Launch: Introduction by CAMPhttp://www.pad.ma/Vgucrbhf/poster.75.jpgThe pad.ma website was launched in February 2008 at an event at Jnanapravaha, Mumbai, which was attended by about 100 people. Ashok S and Shaina A do a quick introduction of the group of pad.ma initiators, using video clips and list posts as a few "archival" fragments from the beginnings of a collaboration. Yes988http://www.pad.ma/Vezp85hj/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Interview with Justice Srikrishna: The Constitution and the Secularhttp://www.pad.ma/Vezp85hj/poster.75.jpgInterview of Justice Srikrishna, who headed the famous Srikrishna commission that enquired into the anti Muslim communal riots of 1992-93 in Bombay. As part of chronicling the contemporary Bombay this interview was taken fifteen years after the riots took place. Meanwhile the report got published and hailed as a legendary document to uphold the spirit of the Indian democracy. Unfortunately the government is yet to act upon the report and punish the Hindu bigots. When the commissioned was formed by the government in 1993, Justice Srikrishna, the head of the commission became the centre of controversy. The civil society who had lost all faith in the political will of the government to uphold the rights of the minority publicly expressed their distrust about the commission. Justice Srikrihna’s public display of his faith in Hindu religion also made some people suspicious about his credibility to enquire into the large scale violence perpetuated by the Hindu bigots. Ironically, the Hindu right wing forces such as BJP and Shivsena too opposed his candidature on the ground that he was not a ‘son of the soil’. Through various ups and downs the commissioned worked for 5 years and brought out an extensive report underlining the menace of communal violence and state inertia. For more detail see Shrikrishna Commission Report – www.hvk.org/specialrepo/skc/skcch1.html. Interviewer Flavia Agnes and Madhusree Dutta. Shot by Rrivu Laha. Yes2651http://www.pad.ma/Vu0c53s8/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Saathi fight (clip)http://www.pad.ma/Vu0c53s8/poster.75.jpgA clip from the film Saathi (1991) directed by Mahesh Bhatt starring Aditya Pancholi and Mohsin Khan. Saathi is the ultimate buddy film about an intense relationship between two brothers. The film utilizes a familiar Bollywood/Hindi cinema trope of two brothers who choose different paths - one a gangster, the other a law abiding citizen. Though brothers, the intensity of their love for each other is picturised and dramatized through songs and intense arguments (as in this scene) much like lovers are portrayed in Hindi cinema. Aditya Pancholi also was considered a gay icon during the early 90s, especially because of a revealing and scandalous cover for a film magazine. See also the picturisation of the song 'Yaarana' from Saathi, available on Pad.ma at http://pad.ma/Vi2vopip/info This clip is part of the Queering Bollywood database, an exhibition and demonstration of a collection of queer readings of Indian cinema. This open and collaborative database of articles, film clips, magazine stories, etc., has been compiled by Namita Malhotra, Lawrence Liang and many others at Alternative Law Forum and in Bangalore. For more, see http://media.opencultures.net/queer/Yes165http://www.pad.ma/Vt8ju26j/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Main Khiladi Tu Anari (clip)http://www.pad.ma/Vt8ju26j/poster.75.jpgA clip from the film Main Khiladi, Tu Anari (1994) directed by Sameer Malkan, starring Akshay Kumar and Saif Ali Khan. The queer possibilities of this film were pointed out by Shohini Ghosh. Akshay Kumar also enjoys a certain popularity as a gay icon. This film typically fits into a buddy genre in Bollywood, most exaggerated in Mahesh Bhatt's film Saathi, and later played upon as a format in Karan Johar's films though those typically involve a romantic triangle rather than a crime or suspense genre. For more details on this film and on Akshay Kumar as a gay icon, see the article by Thomas Waugh - 'Queer Bollywood, or "I'm the player, you're the naive one": Patterns of sexual subversion in recent Indian popular cinema', Keyframes - Popular Cinema and Cultural Studies Tinkcom, Matthew; Villarejo, Amy Eds. http://media.opencultures.net/queer/data/indian/mkta-waugh.pdf This clip is part of the Queering Bollywood database, an exhibition and demonstration of a collection of queer readings of Indian cinema. This open and collaborative database of articles, film clips, magazine stories, etc., has been compiled by Namita Malhotra, Lawrence Liang and many others at Alternative Law Forum and in Bangalore. For more, see http://media.opencultures.net/queer/Yes198http://www.pad.ma/Vi7goib9/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Clip from Celluloid Closethttp://www.pad.ma/Vi7goib9/poster.75.jpgThis is a clip from the film Celluloid Closet, directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffery Friedman. More information about the film at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112651/ This clip is an interview of noted film scholar Richard Dyer, who talks about how stereotypes about gay people, especially men, were already in place in early cinema. Even as far back as the Chaplin movies, the deployment of stereotypes of figures such as the pansy or the effeminate gay man were evident in cinema. The purpose of this clip is to see how what Dyer says, relates to Indian cinema and the stereotypes used there. It is part of the Queering Bollywood database, an exhibition and demonstration of a collection of queer readings of Indian cinema. This open and collaborative database of articles, film clips, magazine stories, etc., has been compiled by Namita Malhotra, Lawrence Liang and many others at Alternative Law Forum and in Bangalore. For more, see http://media.opencultures.net/queer/Yes76http://www.pad.ma/Vh5xje37/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Laawaris (clip)http://www.pad.ma/Vh5xje37/poster.75.jpgA clip from the famous song Jiski bhibhi (whose wife..) from Laawaris (1981) directed by Prakash Mehra, starring Amitabh Bacchan, Amjad Khan, Zeenat Aman among others. This is one of the more famous drag sequences in Hindi cinema. Most heroes have at several points in their career done a drag performance in a film, usually to get away from a villain or some other kind of subterfuge exercise. Somehow the drag performance is then accepted without question within the largely heterosexual narrative of the film, often establishing the virility and masculinity of the hero rather than detracting from it. This clip is part of the Queering Bollywood database, an exhibition and demonstration of a collection of queer readings of Indian cinema. This open and collaborative database of articles, film clips, magazine stories, etc., has been compiled by Namita Malhotra, Lawrence Liang and many others at Alternative Law Forum and in Bangalore. For more, see http://media.opencultures.net/queer/Yes100http://www.pad.ma/Vgody2uw/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Choli ke peeche kya haihttp://www.pad.ma/Vgody2uw/poster.75.jpgCholi ke peeche kya hai is a clip from the film Khalnayak (1993), directed by Subhash Ghai and starring Sanjay Dutt, Madhuri Dixit. The queer element in this clip was pointed out by Shohini Ghosh in her article 'Queer Pleasures for Queer People: film, television and sexuality in India'. The dance in this song was choreographed by Saroj Khan, and was attacked for its vulgarity both in court and in the media. What was however not overtly said ever, was that the song has two women singing to each other sexually, which allows for queer readings. The other version of the same song in the movie culminates in a violent assault on the woman, but this version did not get condemned. Shohini Ghosh in her article points out that two women playing courtesans (Ila Arun and Neena Gupta) sing suggestively to each other and about the female body, using motifs of covering and uncovering. A segment of the song includes these lyrics: What should the boy be like/ What should the girl be like? The answering refrain is The boy should be like you/ The girl should be like me The article in which Ghosh talks about the discourse of vulgarity and sexuality in this song, can be found online as part of the Queering Bollywood database (created by Alternative Law Forum). The link is http://media.opencultures.net/queer/data/indian/queer_pleasures-ghosh.pdf The article ends by saying that queer desires and spectatorship practices indeed raise this question, except in new and exciting ways: Choli ke peechey kya hai? Is it a man, woman, an intersexed person, hijra or a kothi? Queering Bollywood is an exhibition and demonstration of a collection of queer readings of Indian cinema. This open and collaborative database of articles, film clips, magazine stories, etc., has been compiled by Namita Malhotra, Lawrence Liang and many others at Alternative Law Forum and in Bangalore. For more, see http://media.opencultures.net/queer/ Yes75http://www.pad.ma/Vhlh43yh/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Sholay (clip 2)http://www.pad.ma/Vhlh43yh/poster.75.jpgA clip from Sholay (1975) directed by Ramesh Sippy starring Amitabh Bacchan, Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Jaya Bacchan, Sanjeev Kumar, Amjad Khan and others. Sholay is one of the box office record breaking films of Hindi cinema. As pointed out by Shohini Ghosh, it is in these films that are seemingly mainstream, that queer desires often find a resonance (as in Hum aapke hain kaun). Sholay revolves around the friendship of two men with each other -Jai and Veeru, the women they romance and the revenge drama they enact against the evil henchman Gabbar. Jai and Veeru's friendship is the heart of the film, and here what are usually romantic devices in Hindi cinema- songs, arguments, declarations of underlying love - are often enacted between the two men as well. In this scene, Jai and Veeru are singing a famous song to each other which is a celebration of their friendship. An intriguing part of this scene is when they toss a coin to decide which among them will pursue the girl, and the coin lands on its side (neither heads nor tails). Another song in which again Amitabh Bacchan is the object of affection for a man, is Yaari (Love/friendship) from Zanjeer. As Raja Rao puts in, in his article "Memories Pierce the heart ; Homoeroticism, Bollywood-Style" (Essays On Cinema and Television (Editors - Gayatri; Rao; Wadia; Raman; Arnold; Vasudevan; McLean; Bielby)) -- "..this is where the paradox lies: two men who believe they represent the masculinity principle to the utmost degree find they cannot live without each other; they are happy only when they are together." Raja Rao's article also draws a valuable link of the "buddy film" genre (to dubiously implant that category from Hollywood to Bollywood) to spectator practices in movie theatres, especially in relation to Bacchan films. He says .."The bond that Amitabh Bacchan formed with other male actors on the screen, complemented the presence of an all-male audience that had gathered to watch him, engendered a sort of homoeroticism in the dark of the movie hall. ..... Take a look at the audience as the movie is showing (as I have frequently done), and you are likely to find young men all over each other, clasping hands, putting arms around shoulders and waists, even a leg on a leg. Few of these men might be consciously gay. Nor would they exhibit such behaviour if it were their wives or girlfriends sitting next to them: that would be too black-and-white." You can read this article online at .. http://media.opencultures.net/queer/data/indian/homoeroticism-rao.pdf You can also see another clip from Sholay - Conversation of Jai with Mausi - also available on Pad.ma at http://pad.ma/Vu54hkwf/info This clip is part of the Queering Bollywood database, an exhibition and demonstration of a collection of queer readings of Indian cinema. This open and collaborative database of articles, film clips, magazine stories, etc., has been compiled by Namita Malhotra, Lawrence Liang and many others at Alternative Law Forum and in Bangalore. For more, see http://media.opencultures.net/queer/Yes149http://www.pad.ma/Vu54hkwf/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Sholay (clip)http://www.pad.ma/Vu54hkwf/poster.75.jpgA clip from Sholay (1975) directed by Ramesh Sippy starring Amitabh Bacchan, Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Jaya Bacchan, Sanjeev Kumar, Amjad Khan and others. Sholay is one of the box office record breaking films of Hindi cinema. As pointed out by Shohini Ghosh, it is in these films that are seemingly mainstream, that often queer desires often find a resonance (as in Hum aapke hain kaun). Sholay revolves around the friendship of two men with each other -Jai and Veeru, the women they romance and the revenge drama they enact against the evil henchman Gabbar. Jai and Veeru's friendship is the heart of the film, and here what are usually romantic devices in Hindi cinema- songs, arguments, declarations of underlying love - are often enacted between the two men as well. In this scene Jai is allegedly setting up a marriage for Veeru with Basanti, by talking to her Mausi. However as is obvious all he does is ruin his chances of marriage. You can also see the picturisation of the song 'Yeh dosti' from Sholay, available on Pad.ma at http://pad.ma/Vhlh43yh/info This clip is part of the Queering Bollywood database, an exhibition and demonstration of a collection of queer readings of Indian cinema. This open and collaborative database of articles, film clips, magazine stories, etc., has been compiled by Namita Malhotra, Lawrence Liang and many others at Alternative Law Forum and in Bangalore. For more, see http://media.opencultures.net/queer/Yes161http://www.pad.ma/Vdx7o0vf/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Didi tera dewar deewanahttp://www.pad.ma/Vdx7o0vf/poster.75.jpgDidi tera dewar deewana is a clip from the film Hum aapke hain kaun (1994), directed by Subhash Ghai, starring Salman Khan and Madhuri Dixit. The film was the biggest family film of the year. However within its conventional narrative is a queer moment that is deeply coded. In this clip from the most popular song, a woman dresses up as a man to flirt with the female protaganist and to simulate sex with her under a sheet. The song translates as - Sister, your brother in law is crazy. The article in which Shohini Ghosh analyses the queer possibilities of this moment can be found online at http://media.opencultures.net/queer/data/indian/queer_pleasures-ghosh.pdf Gayatri Gopinath also examines this moment in her book and article on queer cinema in India, 'Impossible Desires: Queer Diasporas'. Shohini Ghosh in her article 'Queer pleasures for queer people: Film, television and sexuality in India', points out that the song is transgressive at many levels including gesturing towards the eroticism inherent in relations between a man and wife's sister or a woman and husband's brother. But it also allows for an erotic interaction between two women, like in other films Mere Mehboob (1963), Yeh aag kab bhujegi (1991) and Kamasutra (1997). This clip is part of the Queering Bollywood database, an exhibition and demonstration of a collection of queer readings of Indian cinema. This open and collaborative database of articles, film clips, magazine stories, etc., has been compiled by Namita Malhotra, Lawrence Liang and many others at Alternative Law Forum and in Bangalore. For more, see http://media.opencultures.net/queer/ Yes58http://www.pad.ma/Vh6gp1t2/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Silsila (clip)http://www.pad.ma/Vh6gp1t2/poster.75.jpgA clip from the film Silsila (1981) directed by Yash Chopra, starring Shashi Kapoor, Amitabh Bacchan, Jaya Bahaduri, Rekha. The story of this film is about extramarital affairs and bears a close resemblance to real life events. What is intriguing in this scene between the two brothers bathing together, is the acknowledgement of homosexual acts. The reference to bending down to pick up the soap and thus exposing yourself to penetration from behind, is a familiar gimmick and joke in hostels and has been used in prison scenes in movies as well. The physicality in this scene between the two brothers also is marked. Even contemporary films like My brother Nikhil (2005) do not show any scenes of love making, nudity or implied nudity, as is easily shown in this film. Though various films have shown male nudity (Rahul Bose in English, August and Split Wide Open among others), only one has shown male nudity in relation to homosexuality - Dattani's Mango Souffle. These films usually have fallen within the alternative or rather non-mainstream bracket of films. This clip is part of the Queering Bollywood database, an exhibition and demonstration of a collection of queer readings of Indian cinema. This open and collaborative database of articles, film clips, magazine stories, etc., has been compiled by Namita Malhotra, Lawrence Liang and many others at Alternative Law Forum and in Bangalore. For more, see http://media.opencultures.net/queer/Yes68http://www.pad.ma/Vtpanfmm/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Sadak (clip)http://www.pad.ma/Vtpanfmm/poster.75.jpgA clip from the film Sadak (1991) directed by Mahesh Bhatt starring Sanjay Dutt, Pooja Bhatt, Sadashiv Amrapurkar. This film has one of the most negative portrayals of a hijra in Indian cinema, as a criminal who traffics young girls into prostitution. Maharani's character is undeniably evil and also obviously camp. Usually hijras in Hindi cinema are portrayed either as laughable or comedic characters or only appear in the picturisation of songs, either around weddings or just as colourful characters that dot the cityscape. This clip is part of the Queering Bollywood database, an exhibition and demonstration of a collection of queer readings of Indian cinema. This open and collaborative database of articles, film clips, magazine stories, etc., has been compiled by Namita Malhotra, Lawrence Liang and many others at Alternative Law Forum and in Bangalore. For more, see http://media.opencultures.net/queer/Yes50http://www.pad.ma/Vt3f5crh/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Naam (clip)http://www.pad.ma/Vt3f5crh/poster.75.jpgA clip from Naam (1986) directed by Mahesh Bhatt, starring Sanjay Dutt, Kumar Gaurav. This film revolves around an oft-used trope in Bollywood of two brothers - one who is wayward and the other responsible. The song is about their closeness and affection for each other. The inclusion of this clip in the Queering Bollywood database is often criticised on the grounds that they are brothers, and their overt physical affection cannot be read as queer. Queering Bollywood is an exhibition and demonstration of a collection of queer readings of Indian cinema. This open and collaborative database of articles, film clips, magazine stories, etc., has been compiled by Namita Malhotra, Lawrence Liang and many others at Alternative Law Forum and in Bangalore. For more, see http://media.opencultures.net/queer/ Yes73http://www.pad.ma/Vfrth59b/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Kuch Na Kaho (clip)http://www.pad.ma/Vfrth59b/poster.75.jpgA clip from the film Kuch na Kaho (2003) starring Abhishek Bacchan, Aishwarya Rai and Satish Shah, directed by Rohan Sippy. Such scenes that use the homosexual or homosexuality as a comic reference are common in Bollywood films, though the nature of such a reference has changed from targeting an effeminate side character, to implicating the heroes of the film as in Kal Ho Na Ho, also released in the same year as this film. This scene though can be read as homophobic or definitely not friendly to homosexual behaviour. This clip is part of the Queering Bollywood database, an exhibition and demonstration of a collection of queer readings of Indian cinema. This open and collaborative database of articles, film clips, magazine stories, etc., has been compiled by Namita Malhotra, Lawrence Liang and many others at Alternative Law Forum and in Bangalore. For more, see http://media.opencultures.net/queer/Yes173http://www.pad.ma/Vef6utsv/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Main Khiladi Tu Anari (clip) - Conversationhttp://www.pad.ma/Vef6utsv/poster.75.jpgA clip from Main Khiladi tu Anari (I'm the player, you're the naive one) (1994), directed by Sameer Malkan starring Akshay Kumar and Saif Ali Khan. The film is a crime and suspense film that revolves around the close relationship that develops between the two male protaganists. For further details on the plot see: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110438/ This clip is part of the Queering Bollywood database, an exhibition and demonstration of a collection of queer readings of Indian cinema. This open and collaborative database of articles, film clips, magazine stories, etc., has been compiled by Namita Malhotra, Lawrence Liang and many others at Alternative Law Forum and in Bangalore. For more, see http://media.opencultures.net/queer/ Yes118http://www.pad.ma/Vi2vopip/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Saathi song (clip)http://www.pad.ma/Vi2vopip/poster.75.jpgA clip from the film Saathi (1991) directed by Mahesh Bhatt starring Aditya Pancholi and Mohsin Khan. Saathi is the ultimate buddy film about an intense relationship between two brothers. The film utilizes a familiar Bollywood/Hindi cinema trope of two brothers who choose different paths - one a gangster, the other a law abiding citizen. Though brothers, the intensity of their love for each other is picturised and dramatized through songs (as in this love song about yaarana or love) and intense arguments much like lovers are portrayed in Hindi cinema. Aditya Pancholi also was considered a gay icon during the early 90s, especially because of a revealing and scandalous cover for a film magazine. The motorcycle sequence here could also be a reference to the intense friendship portrayed in Sholay, picturised for the song 'Yeh dosti'. Again the dramatization and picturization of song sequences for friendships between men, whether yaarana or dosti, are what lend a queer element to these scenes. See also a dramatic fight between the Amar (Mohsin Khan) and Suraj (Aditya Pancholi), also available on Pad.ma at http://pad.ma/Vu0c53s8/info This clip is part of the Queering Bollywood database, an exhibition and demonstration of a collection of queer readings of Indian cinema. This open and collaborative database of articles, film clips, magazine stories, etc., has been compiled by Namita Malhotra, Lawrence Liang and many others at Alternative Law Forum and in Bangalore. For more, see http://media.opencultures.net/queer/Yes182http://www.pad.ma/Vs6k0wur/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Mera Naam Joker (clip)http://www.pad.ma/Vs6k0wur/poster.75.jpgA clip from the film Mera Naam Joker (1970) directed by Raj Kapoor, starring Raj Kapoor, Padmini, Manoj Kumar, Simi Garewal among others, including a young Rishi Kapoor. This film was Raj Kapoor's dream project. One of the roles involves a woman having to masquerade as a boy in the circus, and it is played by Padmini. This clip is part of the Queering Bollywood database, an exhibition and demonstration of a collection of queer readings of Indian cinema. This open and collaborative database of articles, film clips, magazine stories, etc., has been compiled by Namita Malhotra, Lawrence Liang and many others at Alternative Law Forum and in Bangalore. For more, see http://media.opencultures.net/queer/ Yes47http://www.pad.ma/Vdxjebsi/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Clip from Celluloid Closet 2http://www.pad.ma/Vdxjebsi/poster.75.jpgCelluloid Closet (1995) is a documentary film on representations of gays and lesbians and other alternative sexuality minorities in Hollywood mainstream cinema. It is directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffery Friedman. More information available at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112651/ This clip looks at a moment in early Hollywood which allowed a space for androgynous and sexual women to exist on screen, even if only briefly. It is part of the Queering Bollywood database, an exhibition and demonstration of a collection of queer readings of Indian cinema. This open and collaborative database of articles, film clips, magazine stories, etc., has been compiled by Namita Malhotra, Lawrence Liang and many others at Alternative Law Forum and in Bangalore. For more, see http://media.opencultures.net/queer/ Yes97http://www.pad.ma/Vi20hloe/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Clip from Kamasutrahttp://www.pad.ma/Vi20hloe/poster.75.jpgClip from Kamasutra - A tale of love (1996), directed by Mira Nair, starring Indira Varma, Sarita Choudhary, Naveen Andrews, Rekha. Here the two women, Maya and Tara talk about making love to each other. Though ostensibly as a ruse to get the man back, there is also a gesture towards sensual and erotic pleasure between women. A similar scene is played out in Utsav (1984) which is directed by Girish Karnad. This clip is part of the Queering Bollywood database, an exhibition and demonstration of a collection of queer readings of Indian cinema. This open and collaborative database of articles, film clips, magazine stories, etc., has been compiled by Namita Malhotra, Lawrence Liang and many others at Alternative Law Forum and in Bangalore. For more, see http://media.opencultures.net/queer/Yes105http://www.pad.ma/Vfgs2ar5/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Razia Sultan (clip)http://www.pad.ma/Vfgs2ar5/poster.75.jpgA clip from the film Razia Sultan (1983) directed by Kamal Amrohi. The scene in this film that is often read through a queer lens is unfortunately not available on most DVD versions of the film. This clip is of a suitor pursuing Razia Sultan, and shows the intimate friendship between two women. During a song sequence in the film, Razia is on a boat with a woman, bemoaning that her lover is too far away. The implied queer erotics of this scene are because the two women deliciously dissapear behind a large white feather. The song is Khwab banke koi aaega. This clip is part of the Queering Bollywood database, an exhibition and demonstration of a collection of queer readings of Indian cinema. This open and collaborative database of articles, film clips, magazine stories, etc., has been compiled by Namita Malhotra, Lawrence Liang and many others at Alternative Law Forum and in Bangalore. For more, see http://media.opencultures.net/queer/Yes108http://www.pad.ma/Vhqn86wv/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Paisa vasool (clip)http://www.pad.ma/Vhqn86wv/poster.75.jpgA clip from Paisa Vasool (2004) directed by Srinivas Bashyam, starring Manisha Koirala and Sushmita Sen. Very few films in Indian cinema deal with friendships and relationships between women. This makes Paisa Vasool almost a unique experiment as it uses the format of a buddy/comedy film, but has two female protaganists. Though the film can't necesarily be read as queer or lesbian (inspite of the aggressive masculine role of Sen and femme in need of rescue played by Koirala) it is an account of a close friendship between two women who live together, fight with each other and eventually triumph over the villains. The film has been written by Anurag Kashyap. This clip is part of the Queering Bollywood database, an exhibition and demonstration of a collection of queer readings of Indian cinema. This open and collaborative database of articles, film clips, magazine stories, etc., has been compiled by Namita Malhotra, Lawrence Liang and many others at Alternative Law Forum and in Bangalore. For more, see http://media.opencultures.net/queer/Yes72http://www.pad.ma/Veuqidim/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Utsav (clip)http://www.pad.ma/Veuqidim/poster.75.jpgA clip from the film Utsav (1984), directed by Girish Karnad, starring Rekha, Shekhar Kapur, Anuradha Patel. This scene has Vasantsena (Rekha) dressing up Aditi (Anuradha Patel) so that she can please her husband. Aditi knows that Vasantsena is her husband's lover and goes to her place to confront her. But they end up talking and becoming friendly. In the course of this Vasantsena offers to teach Aditi how to entrance and keep her husband. A loving scene of dressing up Aditi, changing her clothes and making her wear jewelry like Vasantsena. Before they exchange their clothes and adornments is a delicious gap, in which much queer speculation has happened about what the two women did. It is a peculiar friendship that the two women strike up with each other, since they are allegedly rivals for the affections of one man, but seem to make him irrelevant once they have found each other. Within the strictly traditional framework of this film, this moment is deliciously coded for queer erotics. An image from this scene is the cover of Gayatri Gopinath's book on queer diapsoras relation to Indian popular culture ( Impossible Desires: Queer Diasporas and South Asian Public Cultures (Perverse Modernities) by Gayatri Gopinath, Judith Halberstam, and Lisa Lowe). It also is on the cover of the Queering Bollywood database circulated by Alternative Law Forum. Gopinath in her essay on queer desire, remarks that feminist analysis of the film Utsav, critiqued this scene, as this kind of female bonding between the mistress and the wife, seemingly allows the man to move without guilt between his glamorous mistress and nurturing wife. However, this according to Gopinath, misses " the more nuanced eroticism between the two women that a queer diasporic reading makes apparent." Though Gopinath's analysis seems to be rooted in the experience of queer diasporas, much of her work seems relevant to Indian audiences as well. The other films she examines are Hum aapke hain kaun (for the gender reversal scene) and Subbah. Subbah directly refers to same sex eroticism between women, in the context of a women reformatory and even uses the word 'lesbian' to talk about certain relations and women. This clip is part of the Queering Bollywood database, an exhibition and demonstration of a collection of queer readings of Indian cinema. This open and collaborative database of articles, film clips, magazine stories, etc., has been compiled by Namita Malhotra, Lawrence Liang and many others at Alternative Law Forum and in Bangalore. For more, see http://media.opencultures.net/queer/Yes107http://www.pad.ma/Vhr3dqlo/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Mumbai Matinee (clip)http://www.pad.ma/Vhr3dqlo/poster.75.jpgA clip from Mumbai Matinee (2003) directed by Anant Balani, starring Rahul Bose and Perizaad Zoraiban. In this clip, Debu (Rahul Bose) is walking near a park. A man walks up to him and starts flirting with him, obviously taking him to be a gay man. This is one of the few instances in which an overtly gay character is portrayed and the scene takes place near a public park - a commonly known cruising space for men seeking to have sex with men. This clip is part of the Queering Bollywood database, an exhibition and demonstration of a collection of queer readings of Indian cinema. This open and collaborative database of articles, film clips, magazine stories, etc., has been compiled by Namita Malhotra, Lawrence Liang and many others at Alternative Law Forum and in Bangalore. For more, see http://media.opencultures.net/queer/ Yes41http://www.pad.ma/Vgoed8xs/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Ek Dozen Paani - Sanjay Nagarhttp://www.pad.ma/Vgoed8xs/poster.75.jpgAs in many cities, in Mumbai we barely witness the passage of water from rain to sea via lakes, watersheds, pipes, pumps, pots, human and animal bodies, drains and sewers. However, residents in the slums of Jogeshwari, particularly in areas such as Sanjay Nagar where this footage was shot, find themselves without the former and trapped with the latter. As part of an investigation into the social life of water in these areas, <i>Pani Sare Dhaga Ma</i> (Water is In All the Clouds) was a collaborative project between youth of two community organizations- Aakansha Sewa Sangh and Agaaz, with CAMP and led by the researcher Nikhil Anand. Working together since march 2008, they take us though questions of citizenship and distribution by looking at how residents form relationships with water and its infrastructures: including official water supplies, alternative plumbing, ground water, tanker politics, and so on.Yes4845http://www.pad.ma/Vdyhaiiq/info2010-06-01weekly1.0Mumbai Attacks: Bombay First Conference @ The Trident - Tape 3http://www.pad.ma/Vdyhaiiq/poster.75.jpgTwo months after the terrible attacks on our city, a gathering of businessmen, security experts, and politicos meet at the same hotel where gunmen had created havoc. In the quickly renovated chambers of the Regal Room in The Trident, a 6 hour session takes place where much is discussed - terrorism, surveillance, National ID Cards, higher spending on security and tighter centralization of information gathering networks. The Panel of Experts included the deputy mayor of London, a member of the US 9/11 Commission, a US Dept. of Homeland Security advisor, the head of Security for Deutsche Bank Asia Pacific, a former member of NATO Security, and several counter-terrorism experts. From India, it brought together politicians, a former NSG commando, faces from corporate India, and from the media - Gerson DaCunha and Burkha Dutt. The audience included prominent Indian businessmen, heads of security companies, a member of the Shin Bet, and people from 'concerned civil society'. Such meetings are usually held in five-star hotels behind close doors with members of the public not having a chance to interact with or interrogate arguments made. We see putting this footage in pad.ma as a way to open up arguments and trajectories, moving away from a totalizing discourse around 'terrorism'... annotations are welcome because slowing down the pace of the discourse and examining it in detail and critically might be our only answer to the media juggernaut.Yes3123http://www.pad.ma/Vt3at28r/info2010-06-01weekly1.0Mumbai Attacks: Bombay First Conference @ The Trident - Tape 2http://www.pad.ma/Vt3at28r/poster.75.jpgPanel of Experts from U.K. and U.S.A. for the Conference on LESSONS FROM 9/11 AND 7/7 FOR A SAFER MUMBAI 16th January, 2009 Two months after the terrible attacks on our city, a gathering of businessmen, security experts, and politicos meet at the same hotel where gunmen had created havoc. In the quickly renovated chambers of the Regal Room in The Trident, a 6 hour session takes place where much is discussed - terrorism, surveillance, National ID Cards, higher spending on security and tighter centralization of information gathering networks. The Panel of Experts included the deputy mayor of London, a member of the US 9/11 Commission, a US Dept. of Homeland Security advisor, the head of Security for Deutsche Bank Asia Pacific, a former member of NATO Security, and several counter-terrorism experts. From India, it brought together politicians, a former NSG commando, faces from corporate India, and from the media - Gerson DaCunha and Burkha Dutt. The audience included prominent Indian businessmen, heads of security companies, a member of the Shin Bet, and people from 'concerned civil society'. Such meetings are usually held in five-star hotels behind close doors with members of the public not having a chance to interact with or interrogate arguments made. We see putting this footage in pad.ma as a way to open up arguments and trajectories, moving away from a totalizing discourse around 'terrorism'... annotations are welcome because slowing down the pace and examining this phenomenon in detail and critically might be our only answer to the media juggernaut.Yes3473http://www.pad.ma/Vsmvhbof/info2010-06-01weekly1.0Mumbai Attacks: Bombay First Conference @ The Trident - Tape 1http://www.pad.ma/Vsmvhbof/poster.75.jpgTwo months after the terrible attacks on our city, a gathering of businessmen, security experts, and politicos meet at the same hotel where gunmen had created havoc. In the quickly renovated chambers of the Regal Room in The Trident, a 6 hour session takes place where much is discussed - terrorism, surveillance, National ID Cards, higher spending on security and tighter centralization of information gathering networks. The Panel of Experts included the deputy mayor of London, a member of the US 9/11 Commission, a US Dept. of Homeland Security advisor, the head of Security for Deutsche Bank Asia Pacific, a former member of NATO Security, and several counter-terrorism experts. From India, it brought together politicians, a former NSG commando, faces from corporate India, and from the media - Gerson DaCunha and Burkha Dutt. The audience included prominent Indian businessmen, heads of security companies, a member of the Shin Bet, and people from 'concerned civil society'. Such meetings are usually held in five-star hotels behind close doors with members of the public not having a chance to interact with or interrogate arguments made. We see putting this footage in pad.ma as a way to open up arguments and trajectories, moving away from a totalizing discourse around 'terrorism'... annotations are welcome because slowing down the pace and examining this phenomenon in detail and critically might be our only answer to the media juggernaut.Yes3745http://www.pad.ma/Vss6bacn/info2010-03-20weekly1.0Pad.ma Launch: The Left, the Right and the Rights by Sebastian Luetgerthttp://www.pad.ma/Vss6bacn/poster.75.jpgSebastian Lütgert introduces Pad.maYes2567http://www.pad.ma/Vhm0d1p5/info2009-12-27weekly1.0Interview with Ron Merchant, UK Patent Office, Ellen t'Hoen, MSF.http://www.pad.ma/Vhm0d1p5/poster.75.jpgTracing the story of the global struggle to make HIV/AIDS drugs more affordable and available, A Human Question raises key questions of whether private ownership of knowledge can be at the costs of human life?Yes2329http://www.pad.ma/Vu608igf/info2009-02-09weekly1.0Human Question: Interview with Rainer Schilling, DAH, Berlinhttp://www.pad.ma/Vu608igf/poster.75.jpgTracing the story of the global struggle to make HIV/AIDS drugs more affordable and available, A Human Question raises key questions of whether private ownership of knowledge can be at the costs of human life?Yes3171http://www.pad.ma/Vgoxuohw/info2009-02-10weekly1.0Interview with Paisan, Activist, Thai Drug Users Forum.http://www.pad.ma/Vgoxuohw/poster.75.jpgTracing the story of the global struggle to make HIV/AIDS drugs more affordable and available, A Human Question raises key questions of whether private ownership of knowledge can be at the cost of human life?Yes3377http://www.pad.ma/Vh5fk2l6/info2009-02-13weekly1.0A Human Question: 15th International AIDS Conference in Bangkokhttp://www.pad.ma/Vh5fk2l6/poster.75.jpgTracing the story of the global struggle to make HIV/AIDS drugs more affordable and available, A Human Question raises key questions of whether private ownership of knowledge can be at the cost of human life?Yes3658http://www.pad.ma/Vsnpfajd/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Ek Dozen Paani - Pipeshttp://www.pad.ma/Vsnpfajd/poster.75.jpgAs in many cities, in Mumbai we barely witness the passage of water from rain to sea via lakes, watersheds, pipes, pumps, pots, human and animal bodies, drains and sewers. Even as these hidden passages describe a unique social, chemical and political structure, a map of ourselves in the modern world. More than many of us, residents in the slums of Jogeshwari spend time waiting and hurrying around this substance, its leaks and sources. As part of an investigation into the social life of water in these areas, <i>Pani Sare Dhaga Ma</i> (Water is In All the Clouds) is a collaborative project between youth of two community organizations- Aakansha Sewa Sangh and Agaaz, with CAMP and led by the researcher Nikhil Anand. Working together since march 2008, we have been thinking through questions of "citizenship" and distribution by looking at how residents form relationships with water and its infrastructures: including official water supply, alternative plumbing, ground water, tanker politics, and so on. This clip focuses on the passage of water in pipes, the state of the Indian water supply, and the ever mounting need for change if we are to remedy this situation.Yes1156http://www.pad.ma/Vev457a7/info2009-02-01weekly1.0Human Question: 15th International AIDS Conference in Bangkok - 2http://www.pad.ma/Vev457a7/poster.75.jpgTracing the story of the global struggle to make HIV/AIDS drugs more affordable and available, A Human Question raises key questions of whether private ownership of knowledge can be at the cost of human life?Yes1995http://www.pad.ma/Vss0itpf/info2009-02-01weekly1.0Interview with Dr. James Love, CPTech, Geneva.http://www.pad.ma/Vss0itpf/poster.75.jpgTracing the story of the global struggle to make HIV/AIDS drugs more affordable and available, A Human Question raises key questions of whether private ownership of knowledge can be at the costs of human life?Yes2609http://www.pad.ma/Vdyn8tzv/info2009-02-10weekly1.0Interview with Karl Lemmen, DAH, Berlinhttp://www.pad.ma/Vdyn8tzv/poster.75.jpgTracing the story of the global struggle to make HIV/AIDS drugs more affordable and available, A Human Question raises key questions of whether private ownership of knowledge can be at the cost of human life?Yes539http://www.pad.ma/Vg8il2tj/info2011-01-21weekly1.0A Human Question: 15th International AIDS Conference in Bangkok - 1http://www.pad.ma/Vg8il2tj/poster.75.jpgTracing the story of the global struggle to make HIV/AIDS drugs more affordable and available, A Human Question raises key questions of whether private ownership of knowledge can be at the cost of human life?Yes3696http://www.pad.ma/Ve2u7r56/info2009-02-10weekly1.0Interview with Rainer Schilling, DAH, Berlinhttp://www.pad.ma/Ve2u7r56/poster.75.jpgTracing the story of the global struggle to make HIV/AIDS drugs more affordable and available, A Human Question raises key questions of whether private ownership of knowledge can be at the costs of human life?Yes2972http://www.pad.ma/Vhmatjr9/info2010-05-19weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: Mapping Localeshttp://www.pad.ma/Vhmatjr9/poster.75.jpgThis session asked the following questions: How do we make sense of the bewildering variety that Indian theatre displays? Where does theatre happen? Or, more critically, where does theatre matter? In what kinds of locales, in other words, does theatre making, and theatre going, become a need, a habit? What are the dynamics of different kinds of theatre in India? What role has amateur theatre played? What is the state of the commercial theatres? Do we have any professional theatre outside of the commercial? If not, why not? This session, apart from looking at the macro situation, also hopes to look at theatre in particular settings. One of these is theatre in Manipur. What is the context of Manipuri theatre? How have locational and political marginalities shaped this theatre? What has sustained this theatre? What problems does it face today? Where does it go in the future? Presentations were made by Samik Bandhopadhyay and Shanta Gokhale, and responses offered by Koushik Sen, Sanjay Upadhyay and Channakeshava. Organised 50 years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. This seminar meditated on the nature of theatre in India today, on how we got to where we are. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, bringing these several faces of Indian theatre face to face, and problemetize the issues that arise therein. These ideas were exchanged through a series of presentations and discussions over five days, and each day ended with a performance. [http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/]Yes5328http://www.pad.ma/Ve2sb4ib/info2010-05-19weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: Institutions and Traininghttp://www.pad.ma/Ve2sb4ib/poster.75.jpgThis session sought to explore the complicated terrain of institutions and training. We wanted to look at training institutions, but not simply those. We wanted to look at cultural institutions as a whole -- the akademies, the schools of drama, the private theatre institutions, as well as funding agencies. One often hears the cliché that Indians are not institution-builders, that we cannot sustain institutions over time. How do we look at theatre institutions -- or, more generally, cultural institutions -- which we have in India? State institutions were formed in the aftermath of independence. Was the vision that led to their formation inherently flawed? Did our cultural institutions take forward the best traditions of our independence movement? What have been their successes, measured not in terms of grand showpiece events, but in terms of aiding processes that keep theatre alive and vibrant? And what have been their failures? Are state institutions doomed to failure by virtue of being state institutions? Does the state have any role at all in the realm of culture? If so, what? What about private institutions? Which private institutions have been vibrant and have had an impact on the larger field of theatre practice in their city/region? Are private institutions inherently superior to public institutions? What role have funding agencies played? What kind of institutions do we envisage for tomorrow? Presentations were made by Sanjna Kapoor and Shyamala Vanarase and responses offered by Anmol Vellani and Samik Bandhopadhyay. Organised 50 years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, and to problemetize the issues that arise therein. http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/Yes6050http://www.pad.ma/Vgp1vp4v/info2010-05-19weekly1.0ITF Not The Drama Seminar: Assertionshttp://www.pad.ma/Vgp1vp4v/poster.75.jpgAll around us, in our society, in our politics, we are witness to new assertions -- along lines of identity, community, language, ethnicity, gender, etc. In a word, these new assertions -- which may not even be very new, actually -- get articulated on the axis of culture. How do we make sense of these assertions? What are their histories? Has our theatre reflected these assertions? Rather, which assertions has our theatre reflected, and which not? What is identity politics? What does it mean for our theatre? Is it the case that our theatre, mainstream urban theatre at any rate, continues to be mainly an upper caste, male domain? These were some of the questions that this session tried to address. Presentations were made by Gopal Guru and Pralayan, and responses offered by Devi, Dakxin Bajarange, Sushama Deshpande and Chandradasan. Organised 50 years after the original Drama Seminar in 1957, the Not the Drama Seminar (NTDS) brought together theatre practitioners from all across the country to convene at Ninasam, Heggodu in March 2008. This seminar meditated on the nature of theatre in India today, on how we got to where we are. The attempt was to understand 'Indian Theatre' in all its multiplicity and diversity, bringing these several faces of Indian theatre face to face, and problemetize the issues that arise therein. These ideas were exchanged through a series of presentations and discussions over five days, and each day ended with a performance. [http://theatreforum.in/itf/meeting/1/]Yes6019http://www.pad.ma/Vsbb5fm1/info2009-01-30weekly1.0Meter-Down with Sebastian Fernandeshttp://www.pad.ma/Vsbb5fm1/poster.75.jpgconversation with sebastian fernandes, a bombay taxi driver, after the attacks on bombay, about this and his life and dreams See: [http://meterdown.wordpress.com Meter Down Blog]Yes2341http://www.pad.ma/Vdyncelo/info2012-01-16weekly1.0Interview with Cori Tigges (3)http://www.pad.ma/Vdyncelo/poster.75.jpgYes3572http://www.pad.ma/Vfaxuv9z/info2012-01-16weekly1.0Interview with Cori Tigges (1)http://www.pad.ma/Vfaxuv9z/poster.75.jpgYes3589http://www.pad.ma/Vi2psgbq/info2009-02-10weekly1.0Human Question: Interview with Pablo Fernandez.http://www.pad.ma/Vi2psgbq/poster.75.jpgInterview with Pablo Fernandez - Rushes from the documentary "Human Question"Yes3600http://www.pad.ma/Veve7dbq/info2009-02-10weekly1.0Human Question: Interview with Elizabeth.http://www.pad.ma/Veve7dbq/poster.75.jpgInterview with Elizabeth from Kenya about her HIV infection. Part of Rushes from the documentary "Human Question"Yes1957http://www.pad.ma/Vgovrn3m/info2009-02-07weekly1.0Mapping Cold Warshttp://www.pad.ma/Vgovrn3m/poster.75.jpgVarious Women's NGO's and activist groups including members from Forum Against Opression of Women, Akshara, Awaaz e Niswaan, Womens Centre, Strisangam, etc gather together in front of a map of the world. The group exercise, done during a 'retreat' in Khandala had them mapping out the countries that witnessed military action during the cold war years. Predictably selective in its litany of nations and places, this mapping exercise finds companions with other footage from Tellavision Mumbai. It highlights the old left's problem of being 'selective' about understanding geo-politics and in their acknowledging of state-sponsored terror and violence. Still it is an energetic exercise and the women seem to be having a good time locating places on the map. This footage was given to the Tellavision Mumbai project by Tejal Shah who attended the retreat. Yes1140http://www.pad.ma/Ve2ib5lk/info2009-01-26weekly1.0PEACE: Public Meeting at Masalewala Hall in Dongrihttp://www.pad.ma/Ve2ib5lk/poster.75.jpg"Peace With the excuse of eradicating world terrorism, subtle American terrorism is strengthening. The entire world is now plunged in the shadows of yet another unwanted world war. What kind of role should India play in world politics? What kind of effect will it have on India? The change in the attitude towards the Muslims will have what kind of impact on the society. We are organising public meeting on above topic on 16th October 2001. Looking forward for your participation. Venue : Masalewala Hall, 74, H. A. Walji Marg, 2nd floor, above Development Credit Bank, Dongri, Mumbai 400009 Timing : 6.00pm To 9.00pm Chairperson : Just. R. A. Jahangirdar Speakers : Sajid Rashid (Editor; Mahanagar) Ram Punyani (Prof. From IIT) Advocate Mihir Desai (Hon director ICHRL) For more information contact Chetna on 3716690 Chetna Birje Praful Shinde Hasina Khan Shakeel Ahmed (ICHRL) India Center for Human Rights and Law (Sampark) (AEN) Awaaz e Niswaan (NBA) Nirbhay Bano Andolan" <i>This is the invitation for the talk dug up from an internet cache of the now defunct SACW list (south asian citizens watch). Shaina Anand attended the meeting and documented the entire public address and the 'debate' that followed. It makes for an interesting reading, summarising various viewpoints of our 'left'.</i>Yes6348http://www.pad.ma/Vgu0oa06/info2012-01-10weekly1.0Harbour Line and Mumbai Shantata Samitihttp://www.pad.ma/Vgu0oa06/poster.75.jpgA train ride from Bandra to Masjid Bundar on the Harbour line. The sun is setting and the city's Central Line passes through the trading spine of the island city. Godaams and warehouses with shipping containers dot the skyline. The train halts at Masjid Bundar. We are now in the office of ICHRL (India Centre for Human Rights and Law.) Some members from the Dongri Mohalla Comittee are meeting to have a discussion. Later at night, Nikhil Anand and Shaina Anand have a long candid conversation with some members from the Mumbai Shantata Samiti, a Mohalla level Peace Committee operating in the Muslim-dominated area around Mohamammed Ali Road, Dongri. Yes3962http://www.pad.ma/Vs6ca9fx/info2009-01-11weekly1.0Protest at Marine Drivehttp://www.pad.ma/Vs6ca9fx/poster.75.jpgA street play and protest march against the US invasion of Iraq. The play, performed by volunteers from Prerna Sangathan, An independent youth group from Jogeshwari began at the NCPA end of Marine Drive. The march culminated at Chowpatty beach after sunset. Yes1755http://www.pad.ma/Vharlybn/info2012-01-10weekly1.0Friendship: Zinda Laash, Representation of Sex Workers in Bollywood.http://www.pad.ma/Vharlybn/poster.75.jpgFriendship between women in prostitution and other women is a strict no-no in society as envisaged by Bollywood cinema. It is interesting to note that these two clips are from two completely different films. Devdas is a commercial film, an adaptation of a novel, a remake of an earlier version and also a period film. Aastha on the other hand, can be categorized as middle or art house cinema. Yet, we can see that the bias against women in prostitution mingling with so called domestic women is highlighted in both. However, in Devdas there is an attempt on the part of the prostitute to negate her solo identity as a courtesan, and this is also supported by the other lead heroine, the domesticated housewife.Yes197http://www.pad.ma/Vi807jid/info2010-07-23weekly1.0Narendra Modi on Big Fighthttp://www.pad.ma/Vi807jid/poster.75.jpgNarendra Modi, the current chief minister of Gujarat, the late Dr Rafiq Zakaria, an Indian politician and Islamic scholar, and Mr G. Parthasarthy, the former High Commissioner to Pakistan, debate on NDTV's "Big Fight," hosted by Rajdeep Sardesai, on whether Islam is the new driving force of global terrorism today. John Elliot, Special Correspondent, Forbes, and Siddharth Vardharajan, Strategic Affairs Editor, The Hindu, are co-hosts. The debate took place shortly after the September 11 attacks.Yes1652http://www.pad.ma/Vfrow61g/info2010-07-21weekly1.0Boycott on TVhttp://www.pad.ma/Vfrow61g/poster.75.jpgMr Shahabuddin Shaikh, Islamic Chamber of Commerce, being interviewed by Rajiv K Bajaj on the show 'The Good, Bad and Ugly' on the channel 'In Mumbai' along with Mr. Sarfaraz Arzu, editor of the Urdu daily 'The Hindustan', and Dr. Yusuf Matcheswala, consulting psychiatrist and professor of psychiatry at Grant Medical College, Mumbai. The interview deals with the motives for the boycott for Coke and Pepsi, along with other American and British goods, and its effects. The boycott started in Mumbai in the wake of 9/11 and was called forth by the Indian Hotel Association.Yes2083http://www.pad.ma/Vdydf4qx/info2009-02-06weekly1.0Discussion at Shalimar Cafehttp://www.pad.ma/Vdydf4qx/poster.75.jpgThis discussion follows the boycott of Coke and Pepsi called out by the Indian Hotels Association in response to the attack on Afghanistan by America . During the course of the discussion it is revealed that a number of other American products have been boycotted along with Coke and Pepsi. The discussion points to America being unreasonable with its attack on Afghanistan as a result of the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center. The conversation covers a wide range of topics, moving from a justification of the Taliban's restriction on the freedom of movement for women, to the banning of education for girls (with a reference to the statement given by Safir Syed Rahnatullah Hashimi at a university in California on 10th March 2001), to a pro-Taliban stance with regard to the Taliban's ban on the cultivation of opium, and on to liberals and fundamentalists with respect to India's own freedom, Islamic law in Arab and Muslim nations, and ending with the manipulation of the news by the American media.Yes3180http://www.pad.ma/Vhm0l00d/info2012-01-10weekly1.0Mannerisms; Zinda Laash: Representation of Sex Workers in Bollywood.http://www.pad.ma/Vhm0l00d/poster.75.jpgIn Bollywood, the underlying assumption is that women in prostitution are different from other women. Hence, this difference must be brought out acutely in terms of cinematic representation. Prostitutes must therefore dress in a manner that is un-sophisticated, they must smoke and use foul language. This is probably an attempt to show them as products of their surroundings, and milieu. Though there have been exceptions, most contemporary representations of prostitutes take this route. What follows commonly in the plot of the films then (Mausam, Chori Chori Chupke Chupke) is an attempt to 'normalize' the prostitute. She is asked to change her way of dressing, refine her tongue and generally mellow down from the colourful selves- the audience is then introduced to a non-woman/un-woman who has to be initiated into society by a kind patron.Yes250http://www.pad.ma/Vdxnp85b/info2012-01-10weekly1.0Impuritites: Zinda Laash, Representation of Sex Workers in Bollywood.http://www.pad.ma/Vdxnp85b/poster.75.jpgIn this vast selection of clips, it becomes clear that women in prostitution are definitely portrayed as outside society, being different from other women and even in some cases not recognized as women. Prostitution then almost becomes another gender among women. All sections of society are shown to be ashamed and disgusted with them, mothers, brothers, shop keepers, social workers, domestic helpers - everything associated with the sex worker is a huge taboo. On the one hand these representations enforce what is already known and accepted in everyday language and society about women in prostitution, on the other hand the object is in most cases to make the audience sympathize with the lead heroine, in this case a sex worker. Though this process of sympathy can be stretched to various levels of patronizing and an overwhelming desire to domesticate the non-woman to make her into a woman, it is important to bear in mind the power of popular cinema in shaping one's consciousness about issues such as sex workers. Most stereotypes about them - their mannerisms, speech, clothing, brothels - all come from the regular reinforcing of these norms by Bollywood cinema. In some ways, they may have even helped in sensitizing the audience towards women in prostitution, as cinema ensures that the audience is aware that these women live outside the purview of society. Though there may be varying degrees of truth to the way they are showed shunned by their own families, deceived into their profession, treated brutally by the police, stigmatized by all - it does perhaps help in creating certain bonds of awareness and sensitivity about these issues and the audience. Another interesting phenomena may be the weaving of the star subtext into characters. Most leading actresses of their time have played sex workers (Kareena Kapoor, Smita Patil, Shabana Azmi, Rekha, Sharmila Tagore, Meena Kumari, Madhuri Dixit, Preity Zinta, Rani Mukherjee, Tabu)- the popularity and adulation that these actresses gained from the audience may often interact with the way the characters played by them on screen are perceived.Yes1844http://www.pad.ma/Vt8fde84/info2012-01-10weekly1.0Hell: Zinda Laash, Representation of Sex Workers in Bollywood.http://www.pad.ma/Vt8fde84/poster.75.jpgThe phrase 'Zinda Laash' (living corpse) was immortalized in Pakeezah, and since then it has been the most common form of expressing the sex worker's angst in Bollywood cinema: they are living corpses who live in hell. It perhaps also signifies a way of dividing the body and the soul, a way of suggesting that despite the body being a commercial object or living corpse, the soul remains untouched. Such allegories are common in most films that show women in prostitution, it is both a way of evoking self pity as well as the audience's sympathy towards the prostitute with a heart of gold. The clip from Pakeezah, exemplifies both these positions.Yes259http://www.pad.ma/Vumjev8w/info2012-01-10weekly1.0Police: Zinda Laash, Representation of Sex Workers in Bollywood.http://www.pad.ma/Vumjev8w/poster.75.jpgGiven the legal ambiguity of prostitution in India, it is not surprising that the police attitude towards sex workers is derogatory and hugely moralistic. The treatment of sex workers is extremely harsh and insensitive. However, this ensures that the sympathy of the viewers are firmly with the sex workers, as the police and law is often shown to be corrupt and abusing their power.Yes211http://www.pad.ma/Vdxht2sy/info2012-01-10weekly1.0Marriage and Love; Zinda Laash: Representation of Sex Workers in Bollywood.http://www.pad.ma/Vdxht2sy/poster.75.jpgMarriage between a woman in prostitution and the lead hero of the film is not entirely unknown in Bollywood cinema. However, its depiction is rather problematic, as marriage is always seen as a solution or an escape to a better, more respectable life. Since women in prostitution are rarely ever shown to enter the profession by choice, and they are always coerced or deceived into it, marriage is presented as the sole avenue of escape. This sort of an association is so stigma ridden that the hero and the prostitute have to overcome almost impossible circumstances, as seen in Sadak and Pakeezah. Also, though prostitutes in Hindi film aspire for marriage, they always see it as a romanticized ideal and wallow in self pity about how they can never enter 'respectable' society. However, constant reiteration of this also creates a certain sympathy or maybe in some cases identification between the plight of the prostitute and the viewer. Bollywood cinema does therefore succeed in highlighting the marginalization of prostitutes by society. In two of the most recent films (Laaga Chunari Main Daag, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom) there seems to be a complete rejection of the earlier tragedies that must ultimately meet the prostitute.Yes652http://www.pad.ma/Veekr5hy/info2012-01-10weekly1.0Clients: Zinda Laash, Representation of Sex Workers in Bollywood.http://www.pad.ma/Veekr5hy/poster.75.jpgClients in Bollywood films representing women in prostitution are often both caricatures (Market) or leading men of the film (Baaghi, Sadak), who go on to fall in love with a prostitute. What is interesting here, is a reversal of sexual politics. Usually in a hero-heroine scenario of the commercial Bollywood film, it is the hero who makes the first move and has the upper hand in the entire process of romance. Here, the women are obviously more experienced sexually; they are outspoken, make lewd jokes, and use a more impersonal way of addressing and talking. What is also observed is exhibition of the women, as they are all made to stand in a line as soon as the clients come and choice of sexual partner still lies with the male. A notable exception is Amar Prem, where the interaction is between a sex worker and her maalak (lover), and it is here that we see shades of jealousy, possession and violence.Yes602http://www.pad.ma/Vh6gtajl/info2009-02-08weekly1.0Gharwalis and Pimps: Zinda Laash, representations of sex workers in Bollywoodhttp://www.pad.ma/Vh6gtajl/poster.75.jpgBollywood has indeed traversed an entire range of characterizations when it comes to depictions of gharwalis and pimps, as it has in the depiction of sex workers themselves. The clips here show some of that diversity. One can see a difference between the older films like Amar Prem and the newer films like Julie and Chameli. There is a divide on rural (Market) and urban (Chameli, Julie) characterizations.Two interesting cases are Sadak where the pimp is transgender and Umrao Jaan, where the brothel madam is not really a gharwali or a pimp, but definitely a more refined Urdu speaking, classical character - as the film itself is a historical. Mandi can be classified as art or middle cinema. This collection of clips shows that women in prostitution have been a popular concern with film makers across all Bollywood genres (commercial, art house, historical, B-grade). One common thread is definitely that in most of these films the women are shown entering prostitution through deceit, with the gharwalis (whether good or evil) in compliance with the deception. Julie is a notable exception where she enters the profession as a personal choice.With the exception of Sadak and Chameli, all female patrons of the brothels are referred too as Aunty and the brothel itself is often seen as a place where helpless women live together to serve the economic interests of the matriarch. Mostly, these gharwalis are also not entirely black or white characters, they are seen as both kind and manipulative in their dealings with the sex workers. In contrast most of the women entering prostitution as portrayed as innocent, creating a duality of the good/bad woman in the representations of the sex worker and the gharwali. Except in Mandi, there has been little effort to see these brothels as independent economic units, run on matriarchal codes, where the birth of a girl is more welcome than that of a boy.Yes679http://www.pad.ma/Vfc3nh5d/info2009-02-06weekly1.0CCTV Social: Day I Session II. 2pmhttp://www.pad.ma/Vfc3nh5d/poster.75.jpgFor CCTV Social, artist Shaina Anand collaborated with Manchester Metropolitan University and Arndale Shopping Centre to open working CCTV environments to a general audience. People normally 'enclosed' by these networks came into the control rooms to view, observe and monitor this condition, endemic in the UK. About thirty people signed up for one-hour sessions in the MMU security center to engage with the CCTV operators and monitor surveillance procedures. These sessions became somewhat like a diagnostic clinic, where we discussed symptoms, anxieties and inoculations about our 'public health', under surveillance. These therapy sessions seemed to work both ways, for the participants as well as the security officers. This is footage of Sarah and Gwen's interaction with Joe a surveillance officer at Manchester metropolitan University. The footage offers some interesting insights about profiling, paranoia and the assumed neutrality of electronic surveillance. We see Joe relentlessly 'following' a certain man throughout the footage. His reason for doing it was that the man in question was not 'nice'. We also find out that Sarah had also been a victim of street crime , her account of the incident and the way the authorities dealt with it brings up issues of the actual 'effectiveness' of CCTV, the myth of security and police response time to crime. This is footage also includes footage of Mathew and Rachel's conversation with Joe and Steve. They talk about the legalities involved in the use of 'dummy' CCTV cameras. They also discuss the emergence of a new trend in electronic surveillance: Talking CCTV. Joe defends the 'interestingness' of CCTV footage when Mathew suggests that he would probably 'doze off' with boredom if he had a similar job.Yes1017http://www.pad.ma/Vuh763bj/info2012-01-10weekly1.0Now Talking TV: Cable wars, local content and service providers. Suroor TVhttp://www.pad.ma/Vuh763bj/poster.75.jpgA candid conversation with Kashif Haq and D. H. Lokesh. Kashif is a young entrepreneur who had tried to run an Urdu language channel out of his family house in Cox town. A discussion of Suroor TV's twists and trials in going on air, its popularity amongst the large Urdu and Deccani speaking population of Shivaji Nagar, and its ultimate removal from the air waves by MSOs (Multi-Service Operators) after about six months, formed the basis of a no-holds-barred talk show on local media politics and monopolies. In it, Lokesh also makes reference to the issues faced by small cable operators because of MSO monopolies and rampant suppression tactics. The conversation concludes on a note of hope for Suroor, as Kashif talks about making it a satellite channel by the use of DTH technology.Yes2818http://www.pad.ma/Vgok2z1f/info2012-01-29weekly1.0Human Question: Interview with Stefan Etegon, consumer rights activist (4)http://www.pad.ma/Vgok2z1f/poster.75.jpgYes134http://www.pad.ma/Vh6f3prp/info2012-01-29weekly1.0Human Question: Interview with Stefan Etegon, Consumer Activist (2)http://www.pad.ma/Vh6f3prp/poster.75.jpgYes1188http://www.pad.ma/Vdxzq6tl/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Kashmir: Interview with Pather Artist Ghulam Ali Majboorhttp://www.pad.ma/Vdxzq6tl/poster.75.jpgKashmir, the conflict torn land at the border between Pakistan and India have been at the centre of various power wars between states, between peoples, between religious fundamentalists and between conflicting representations. The main casualty of this decades old wars is the syncretic culture of Kashmir. For the rest of India, and most probably for the rest of Pakistan too, the people of Kashmir is only to be seen and then imagined through various and contradictory representations. In order to counter this we have tried to create a small reservoir of non-hegemonic images from Kashmir in our digital media archive Godaam. Unedited footage from documentary films, published and unpublished photos from newspaper offices, images from the local photo studios, works of contemporary artists, people's private memoirs and image collections etc are part of the collection. This event is part of that collection. The interview is of an artist of Bhand Pather, the celebrated and one of the oldest folk theatre forms in the subcontinent. "Understanding why the survival of Kashmir's folk theatre is imperative requires an engagement with its history. Performers of the Bhand Pather, who are often also custodians of classical Sufiana music, date the origins of their traditions to the 8th century AD. From this time to the 15th century AD, Kashmir saw a dramatic development of its performing arts traditions. "Each village had a stage of its own where dramatic performances were held". These traditions were consolidated and expanded with the coming of Muslim rule in 1339. In fact, the courts attracted musicians and dancers from as far as Kabul, Lahore, Delhi, Samarkand, Tashkent and Persia. Bhand Pather emerged from the high traditions of these courts, but took a unique course. Each Pather typically had two layers of narrative meaning. The first was expressly secular, using farce and satire to assault the powerful. Typically, the character of the peasant would be pitted against the feudal elite. In the Dard Pather, for example, the peasant characters contrive to seduce the wives of the oppressive ruler, who is drunk on liquor. Each performance would have explicit contemporary significance, with Maskare (clowns) irreverently exposing the pretensions of policemen and patwaris; priests and politicians. One performance of the Haanz Pather contained references to politicians who built roads that led only to each others homes. The Maskare in a rendition of the Dard Pather, might joke about a village mullah who tries to loot pilgrims wishing to go to Mecca by building a fake Kaaba in his backyard. At a larger level, the Pathers dealt with mystical themes: the relationship between individuals and their Pirs, and between human beings and god. Each Pather begins with a prayer for the well being of the community and its crops, and village tradition has it that divine blessings asked for by a Bhand are never refused. "Rich families from as far away as Lahore, Delhi, Rawalpindi and Kabul used to invite us to perform at weddings during the winter", recalls Ghulam Hassan Bhagat, "and in the summer, villagers used to give us a share of the crop for performing at fairs, and on holy days at Sufi Ziarats and Dargahs". Before India,s Independence, Bhand theatres had managed to make a living from cash patronage from the court elite, and support from the rural community. After independence, this network of patronage vanished. "People who received land through Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah's reforms", he says, "began to think of us as beggars". "They were in search of social respectability, and some of the more coarse kinds of humour which had entered Bhand Pather during the period of Dogra rule led many to disassociate themselves from what they thought was a vulgar form". Akingam's small Bhagat community illustrates the crisis in the traditions of Kashmiri folk theatre. Like other communities of Bhands, the Akingam Bhagats are desperately poor. Unlike other social groupings in Kashmir, they did not benefit from post - Independence land reform, and historically depended for their survival on patronage for their art. Low in the caste hierarchy of rural Kashmir, most young people in the community have been forced into no - future jobs like peddling pots and pans to make up for the death of income from performing. "People look down on us", says Ghulam Rasool Bhagat, one of the leading figures in Akingam's famous Bhagat Theatre, and son of one of Bhand Pather's best known exponents, Mohammad Subhan Bhagat (see event titles 'Bhand Pather Artists Subhan Bhagat and Mahjoor Bhagat' in this site). "Younger people are very conscious of the fact that others will not give their daughters to us in marriage because we are performers, and more and more look to government jobs in the cities as a way to escape from their roots". Folk theatre survived these new times, but only just. Minimal state support came in the early 1950s. in the form of a monthly grant of Rs. 50 (1$) per person, which was revised to Rs. 200 (4$) a decade later. The Jammu and Kashmir Cultural Academy continues to give annual grants of Rs. 9,500 (200$) for musical instruments and costumes". Pankaj RishikumarYes2063http://www.pad.ma/Vt393ifb/info2009-06-12weekly1.0Bar Dancers Case: Talk Show in Hindihttp://www.pad.ma/Vt393ifb/poster.75.jpgThis is a Hindi talk show "Humlog" on NDTV on the controversy of proposed ban on the dance bar in Mumbai. This footage was given to Majlis by a member of the bar owners' association. Obviously it was shot off the TV screen on a handycam. Hence the image and audio quality is not very sharp and at many places the audio is lost. Still we think it is an important document as the programme was in Hindi and included politicians of the ruling Congress party and the right wing opposition party Shivsena. Though in other events in PADMA we have elaborately presentated the voices of the bar dancers and their movement, this event covers the agenda of the ruling party and their associates. Mumbai is one of those cities where dance bars have been thriving and have met no open or big opposition till 2004. To the commoners' eyes, they are invisible, yet they are starkly a part of the Mumbai folklore. Dancing to the beat of popular Hindi numbers and entertaining a male audience of a diverse age group, these girls and women earn their livelihood. Dancing at beer bars started in Maharashtra in the '70s. They were recognizable by the heavy door at the entrance and by the uniformed bouncers. In order to increase the revenue from alcohol sale the govt. kept issuing licenses for the dance bars and over the three decades these bars sprouted all over the state and specially in Bombay. In 2005 the Govt. proposed a bill to ban dancing at the bars on the pretext of public morality. But by then around 75,000 women were employed in the unorganized sector of bar dancing. Most of these women were migrants from the other parts of the state, country and the subcontinent. The bars though have been part of the cityscape for a long time, always maintained a low profile in terms of social visibility. It seems invisibility was a kind of shield for them. So, the silent existence of these bars was thrown into turmoil when a ban was proposed. It got implemented on August 15, 2005, ironically (or maybe not) on India's Independence Day. But this programme was made soon after the Govt. proposed a bill to ban the bars. Hence in this programme the panel is still discussing the legal, moral and constitutional validity of such a proposal. The Govt. proposal sparked a huge public debate on the issues of morality, sexuality and livelihood. The home minister in the state govt. R R Patil took it as a mission and persuaded it till the end. The civil society got vertically divided on the issue. While all the right wing outfits supported the ban, some old school women's organizations too were vocal against bar dancing based on the argument of commodifying women's body. Some feminist groups and other social movements campaigned against the ban foregrounding issues of right to livelihood, validity of sex based works and against moral policing. As the campaign progressed other issues and agenda - such as migration and regional chauvinism; nexus between police, politician and crime world; hypocrisy of public morality; interpretation of women's rights and dignity etc. became part of the debate. In some sense the issue mirrored the contradictions of contemporary urban life. Eventually the ban was passed in the assembly with hundred percent support - the centreist ruling parties Congress and NCP, the chauvinist parties BJP and Shivsena, the left parties CPI and CPM and the socialists parties - all unconditionally supported the ban. The cross section of the political parties who are fundamentally against each other, came together in unison on the issue of sexual morality. The main speakers: Madhukar Sarpotdar, MP and leader of Shivsena (he was proved guilty of rioting and carrying illegal fire arms during '92-'93 riots in Bombay even by the partisan Mumbai police and judiciary); Javed Akhtar, Lyricist and script writer in Bombay film industry; Mr. Kulkarni, Cngress leader; M N Singh, former police commissioner; Vidya Chauhan, a member of NCP party (she has spearheaded many cleansing operation in the city, a former socialist activist she is a morality fanatic); Manjit Singh, President of Bar Owners' Association (later he was persecuted, harassed and jailed many times by the state as the Home Minister R R Patil took it as a vendetta to teach him a lesson for challenging the moral authority of the state), Bar dancers. The Anchor Pankaj Pachori is very impressive with his clarity of thought and skill of persuation.Yes2218http://www.pad.ma/Vhrf7jbu/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Neighbourhood Video Project: Freelance Beauticianhttp://www.pad.ma/Vhrf7jbu/poster.75.jpgThis is part of Majlis' neighbourhood and video literacy project. Under this project a niche group from a neighbourhood is given training in video literacy. After the initial project they are given technical assistance (camera, editing and sound facilities and personnel) to shoot their own surroundings. At the end of the project they become auteur of a film made on their own lives. This project was conducted with the neo-adult girls from the Muslim settlements in Jogeswari. The workshop was conducted under a local initiative titled Darakht-e- Ilm (tree of knowledge). This initiative started by former journalist Firoze Ashraf, is structured on the principle of earner-learner, where older girls are involved with teaching the younger students and in the process are supported and persuaded to complete graduation and encouraged into skill development. The older girls who are mainly graduate students participated in the workshop. Though the video was shot in the location of their neighbourhood the training took place in Majlis office, far away from their homes. The exercise of traveling to a cosmopolitan area for training in something like video making was by itself an emancipating process for them. By the end of the two weeks workshop the girls were divided into two groups to shoot two different narratives on their lives. One group chose the subject of women run beauty parlours in the vicinity as role models for economic independence. The other group covered various livelihood choices available to them in order to emancipate other girls. The project then was named 'Yahan se Wahan tak' (From here to there) as a measure of their consistent yet small progress. At the end of it the two films were screened in the neighbourhood in front of the local people and some invited guests. When the credit with the girls' names as directors rolled the all encompassing ecstasy was overwhelming. Another aim of the video literacy project is to initiate non-hegemonic image productions produced by the protagonists themselves. Towards this end the project is planned as a part of the Godaam digital media archive. Other than this we have also conducted similar projects with the youngsters of the closed textile mills area (Rojgar hakk samiti) and the inhabitants of the fisherfolks village in Versova. Footage initiated by those projects are also available in PAD.MA. Following is an interview with Ruksana Khan, a small time beautician in the area. One of the groups wanted to portray women with independent economic status in their film. After much deliberation they decided on the profession of beautician. Though their conservative society is fundamentally against women working outside the house, over the years the profession of beautician has got accepted as a women's vocation. The wide spread culture of beauty treatment and cosmetic industry must have permeated into the conservative fort. Besides, women's earning has become an absolute necessity for some families. So working exclusively as beautician for women has somewhat become an accepted norm and not considered as a serious threat to the prevailing patriarchy. But still a section of the society considers hair as a symbol of carnal desire and thus hair cutting remains a serious taboo.Yes1023http://www.pad.ma/Vhavpudr/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Koli: The Jains, the Bhaiyas and the Livelihoodhttp://www.pad.ma/Vhavpudr/poster.75.jpgKolis are the fisherfolks of Bombay, the original inhabitants of the islands that constituted the city. The community has largely kept to their original vocation of fishing. The women in Koli community are very distinct and visible even in the contemporary cityscape. Traditional Koli women with their large body structure, draped in traditional 9-yard sarees and antic jewelry are confident, professional women. The work distribution in the Koli community is like this: men are incharge of fishing which include ferrying to the deep sea, making fishing nets and looking after the boats. Women handle the entire marketing network - preserving the fish, selling in wholesale market, purchasing in wholesale market and selling in the retail market, handling issues of licenses and permits etc. The license and permit to sell fish in the market are considered family property and goes down along the women's line - mother-in-law to daughter-in-law to grand daughter-in-law. The Koli community claims that there are 800 fish markets in the city. Though we are not sure of the number, it is undisputable that the fish markets are a symbol of culinary culture of the coastal city. They are most patronized by the Marathi community. The repertoire between the fisher women and the male customers is a major social interaction which goes far beyond simple shopping. But oflate the demography of the city has changed radically, as has the cityscape. With the rise of the service industry and consumers' market, the prime areas in the city are getting invaded by the upper class Gujarati Hindu and Jain communities who are fanatic vegetarian. Elphinston and neighbouring Lower Parel are some such areas. There was once the mighty textile industry situated in this area. But the industry died slowly since '80s. Since late '90s the industrial land is being leased out for luxurious apartments and service industries. As a result the upper class people are moving into their skyscrapers situated next to a lower middle class settlement or a fish market. As the gentrification of the area gets accomplished the old fashioned living quarters and their neighbourhood fish markets become the bone of contention. The vegetarian gentry find the smell of the fish objectionable and exert influence to evict the markets. Elphinston fish market is one such controversial one. Though the political parties such as Shivsena and Maharashtra mahanirvan sena, who pride themselves as a champion of Marathi supremacy in Mumbai, have deliberately kept quiet on this issue. The obvious reason is the muscle and money power of the rich Gujarati community. Instead the chauvinist parties distracted the anger of the Koli community towards the Bhaiyas, the migrant wage workers who got into vending fish door-to-door. Bhaiya is generic term to indicate all Hindi speaking male migrants. Some of them got into a trade of buying fish from the wholesale market and sell them as door-to-door vendors. This practice has, to some extent, affected the retail business as some customers preferred to get delivery at home than visiting the market. Moreover, the fish in the market work out to be little more expensive than what is offered by the vendors. The Koli women pay for their license, permit and infrastructure whereas the Bhaiya vendors sell directly to the customers. This is a classical case of a conflict of interest between the organised sectors and unorganized wagers. But due to political maneuvering the Koli community is up in terms against the Bhaiyas and fail to rise against the mighty vegetarian gentries.Yes633http://www.pad.ma/Vfrz16gd/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Interview with Saeed Akhtar Mirza: Crisis of Ideology 2http://www.pad.ma/Vfrz16gd/poster.75.jpgThis interview is part of Majlis' attempt to document the some of the voices of the people in Bombay whose visions and works have stood apart due to their integrity and creative thinking. Saeed Akhtar Mirza is known to the world as a distinguished filmmaker. His films Alberto Pinto ko Gussa Kyun Ata Hai (Why Alberto Pinto get angry), Arvind Desai ka Ajeeb Dastan (Strange Saga of Arvind Desai) in the late '70s laid the foundation stone for the new wave cinema in India. Later he made several other films and television programme depicting a completely different reality of the city of Bombay, than shown in the popular culture of Bollywood. Salim Langde pe Mat Ro (Don't cry over Salim, the lame), Mohan Joshi Hazir ho (Mohan Joshi, appear in the court), Naseem are his feature films in the genre of city cinema. In those three films Saeed unveiled the layers of criminality, real estate menace and the functioning of the identity politics in the city of Bombay. Much before Bombay crimes became a media commodity Saeed ventured to make those films. Yet he has always been considered as the 'alternative' filmmaker, a term which is used with a kind of patronizing respect. He had also directed several television programme and documentaries. Whatever he did his Marxist conviction was the mainstay of his form and text. As Bombay cinema entered into the international market in the name of Bollywood, by killing all other conventions of cinema in India and in the neighbouring countries, filmmakers like Saeed Mirza became obsolete. Many of his colleagues and comrades have tried to keep floating by adopting to the hegemonic convention of Bollywood, butSaeed refused to do that. It could be interpreted as an instance of uncompromising conviction or, in the worst term as an inability to cope with time. This interview was conducted mainly around a television programme 'Tryst with the people of India', directed by Saeed. The programme was produced by the Govt. of India as part of the celebration of 50 years of India's independence. For this programme Saeed and his crew traveled the entire length and breadth of the country to know what the 50 years of democracy meant for the ordinary citizens. Saeed has donated the entire footage of the programme to Godaam, the footage archive ran by Majlis. A part of that collection in also available on PADMA site. The title 'Tryst with the people of India' is a take on the famous speech by the first prime minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, on the eve of independence. The speech is known as 'Tryst with destiny'. As the first generation in the independent India, people like Saeed have witnessed the euphoria of a new nation and the subsequent collapse of the democratic principles. In the era of aggressive global market it has become an urgent task to document the thinking of Saeed Akhtar Mirza. It is interesting that at this stage Saeed proclaims that he has lost faith in cinema as a social interventionist. In his opinion the post colonial literature can be far more dynamic. He has himself got engaged with writing. His first book titled 'Ammi: a letter to a democratic mother' has just been published by Westland Books. This title too has a resonance of 'Discovery of India: Letters to a daughter' written by Nehru from the prison in 1942-46. The recipient of those letters, Indira Gandhi, later became the first fascist ruler of India. As the titles, as well as the texts, of all his works suggest the issues of nation-state engage Saeed very deeply.Yes1393http://www.pad.ma/Vt8jf0hf/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Interview with Saeed Akhtar Mirza: Crisis of Ideology 1http://www.pad.ma/Vt8jf0hf/poster.75.jpgThis interview is part of Majlis' attempt to document the some of the voices of the people in Bombay whose visions and works have stood apart due to their integrity and creative thinking. Saeed Akhtar Mirza is known to the world as a distinguished filmmaker. His films Alberto Pinto ko Gussa Kyun Ata Hai (Why Alberto Pinto get angry), Arvind Desai ka Ajeeb Dastan (Strange Saga of Arvind Desai) in the late '70s laid the foundation stone for the new wave cinema in India. Later he made several other films and television programme depicting a completely different reality of the city of Bombay, than shown in the popular culture of Bollywood. Salim Langde pe Mat Ro (Don't cry over Salim, the lame), Mohan Joshi Hazir ho (Mohan Joshi, appear in the court), Naseem are his feature films in the genre of city cinema. In those three films Saeed unveiled the layers of criminality, real estate menace and the functioning of the identity politics in the city of Bombay. Much before Bombay crimes became a media commodity Saeed ventured to make those films. Yet he has always been considered as the 'alternative' filmmaker, a term which is used with a kind of patronizing respect. He had also directed several television programme and documentaries. Whatever he did his Marxist conviction was the mainstay of his form and text. As Bombay cinema entered into the international market in the name of Bollywood, by killing all other conventions of cinema in India and in the neighbouring countries, filmmakers like Saeed Mirza became obsolete. Many of his colleagues and comrades have tried to keep floating by adopting to the hegemonic convention of Bollywood, but Saeed refused to do that. It could be interpreted as an instance of uncompromising conviction or, in the worst term as an inability to cope with time. This interview was conducted mainly around a television programme 'Tryst with the people of India', directed by Saeed. The programme was produced by the Govt. of India as part of the celebration of 50 years of India's independence. For this programme Saeed and his crew traveled the entire length and breadth of the country to know what the 50 years of democracy meant for the ordinary citizens. Saeed has donated the entire footage of the programme to Godaam, the footage archive ran by Majlis. A part of that collection in also available on PADMA site. The title 'Tryst with the people of India' is a take on the famous speech by the first prime minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, on the eve of independence. The speech is known as 'Tryst with destiny'. As the first generation in the independent India, people like Saeed have witnessed the euphoria of a new nation and the subsequent collapse of the democratic principles. In the era of aggressive global market it has become an urgent task to document the thinking of Saeed Akhtar Mirza. It is interesting that at this stage Saeed proclaims that he has lost faith in cinema as a social interventionist. In his opinion the post colonial literature can be far more dynamic. He has himself got engaged with writing. His first book titled 'Ammi: a letter to a democratic mother' has just been published by Westland Books. This title too has a resonance of 'Discovery of India: Letters to a daughter' written by Nehru from the prison in 1942-46. The recipient of those letters, Indira Gandhi, later became the first fascist ruler of India. As the titles, as well as the texts, of all his works suggest the issues of nation-state engage Saeed very deeply. Interviewer of this piece is Tilottama Karlekar. Tilottama is doing her Phd on social and political realities of Indian documentaries at NYU.Yes1803http://www.pad.ma/Ve2iazzw/info2009-03-17weekly1.0Arrivals & Departures: Baha'i Sect in Bombayhttp://www.pad.ma/Ve2iazzw/poster.75.jpgInterviewer: Madhusree Dutta. Shot by Avijit Mukul; Kishore This interview is part of a series of study on the cemeteries of different communities in Bombay. In order to trace the multi-lingual, multi-cultural and multi-religious composition of the city the history, anecdotes, locations and class structures of cemeteries were studied. This cemetery is known as the cemetery for the Baha'i faith. Baha'i is a modern and syncretic faith founded by Baha'u'llah, a nobleman in Tehran, in mid 19th century. There are approximately five million Baha'i believers in the world. Among them around two million Baha'i -s live in the Indian sub-continent. An offshoot of reformist the Babi movement which spread throughout Iran and Iraq in the mid-nineteenth century, the Baha'i Faith has slowly moved beyond the Shi`ite Islam and established itself as a new and independent religion. The movement's founder, Mirza Husayn 'Ali of Nur, Baha'u'llah (1817-1892), is considered to be a messenger of God - equal in station to, among others, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha and Krishna. He was exiled from Iran and lived in Baghdad, Istanbul (Constantinople), Edirne (Adrianople), and, finally, the prison city of Acre (Akka or now Akko) located in the bay near Haifa in what was then Ottoman Syria and is now Israel. After Baha'u'llah's death his eldest son, Abbas Effendi, Abdu'l-Baha (1844-1921), visited both Europe and North America to spread the religion. Two members of the Afnan clan who were resident in Bombay, Haji Sayyid Mirza and Sayyid Muhammad, became Baha'is in the 1860s. In 1872, Sulayman Khan Tunukabani (known as Jamal Effendi), who was both a Sufi and a learned scholar of Arabic and Persian, was sent by Baha'u'llah to Bombay. Thus started the organized missionary activity of the Baha'i faith in the subcontinent. The two Baha'i cemeteries that we document in this event are located in Antop hill in Bombay. Antop hill area is dotted by cemeteries of various communities - Chinese, European, Armenian, Prarthana Samaj etc. It is likely that in colonial period of early 19th century, this area, away from the European head quarters in Fort and beyond the native bazaars and living quarters, was leased out by the British administration for burial grounds for various communities. Now the area has come to be in the heart of the busy and populated city. This causes various social conflicts. The local population resents the wide open space reserved for the dead. There has been encroachment, theft of property and vandalism. Many of these cemeteries are also owned by communities who are miniscule and politically unimportant and thus cannot protect their boundaries. The second Baha'i cemetery is located in the same compound with an Armenian cemetery. The presence of Armenians in India is very old. It is believed that some Armenians came to India in 325 BC with the forces of Alexander the Great. Since 7th century Armenian settlements can be traced in the Malabar Coast and other parts of Kerala. Mainly a traders' community they flourished in the port cities of Calcutta, Bombay, Surat, Madras, Karachi and Dhaka. These cities still have landmarks of Armenian churches and Armenian cemeteries. But the population started dwindling since the independence of India as overseas trading became more regulated and corporatised. The cemeteries in question was an Armenian cemetery but in late 20th century the community found it very difficult to maintain it. They offered space to the growing Baha'i community in exchange of the service to maintain the plot and the graves. It is quite a heartening story. The Armenians practice a school of Christianity and come from the trans-continental region between Western Asia and Eastern Europe while the Baha'i-s are an off shoot of Shi'ite Islam in Iran. As the contemporary world politics dub these two religions as warring communities such instance of friendship and cooperation in a far away land stands apart.Yes2242http://www.pad.ma/Vdxdomo9/info2009-12-28weekly1.0Koli Women: Livelihood Practice 2http://www.pad.ma/Vdxdomo9/poster.75.jpgThis event, along with others under the other event titled Koli Women: Livelihood Practice 1 on the same site, depicts the day cycle in the life of a fisher woman in Versova fishing village. This event starts at 4 at dawn and ends around noon time. The other event starts at 3.30 in the afternoon and ends at around 9 in the evening. This is the schedule of an average Koli woman's work in the public place. The schedule gets further burdened by domestic chores. The trading of fish in Mumbai is traditionally a women's field. The Koli women are a distinct feature of Mumbai. Before the small islands were joined together to make a big city this region was full of salt pans and fishing hamlets. The fisherfolks are called Koli community. In the community tradition Koli men go to the deep sea to catch fish. While the women run the entire marketing section. Marketing involves wholesale market, retailers' market and door to door vending. Some women are connected with fishing boats and some others buy fish in the wholesale market and sell in the retailers' market. In the process Koli women often dominate the public space of the city with their impressive gait, professional confidence, 9 yards sarees and antique jewelry and stinking merchandise. They can be seen in the local trains, taxis and 3-wheeler auto rickshaws and in the pedestrian by-lanes making brisk business. The wholesale fish markets in the city are strewn around the sea shore. Most famous among them are Crawford market, Bhaucha Dhakka jetty, Sasoon dock, Versova market etc. The sea shores are also traditionally lined by fisher folks' villages - in Colaba, Worli, Mahim, Juhu, Versova, Gorai, Manori, Marve etc. There are also supposed to be 800 authorised retailers' fish markets in the city other than a hordes of unauthorized independent vendors. Fish markets in Bombay, much like any other coastal settlement, is the spine of its culinary culture. The fisherman community, the Koli community, too is very distinct in their appearance, culture and social practices. Their dress code, language, cuisine, body structure, rituals - all are distinct and more or less well preserved. They are an integral part of the city and yet the urbanization has not affected their racial characteristics. They survived through the port making, city making, colonization, urbanization and industrialization. But for last one decade their survival has been threatened. The current phase of development under the philosophy of globalization has permeated into their lives too. The entry of multi-national corporation and export house into the sea food business, the constructions around and on the sea, the pressure from the real estate lobby on the fish markets in prime lands, public campaigns by the fanatic vegetarian lobby and influx of cheap labour in the form of migrant workers, making the noose of development tight on their necks. Unfortunately the labour movement has never considered the Kolis as a sector under their aegis. Neither the women's movement regarded this convention of all women fish markets as a women's rights issue. As a result the right wing politicians have come in to mobilize the distraught Koli community within the regressive identity politics. In this context we are documenting a series of events around the Koli community and specially the Koli women.Yes2586http://www.pad.ma/Vfwtku3c/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Koli Women: Livelihood Practice 1http://www.pad.ma/Vfwtku3c/poster.75.jpgThis event, along with others under the category of Koli in the same site, depicts the day cycle in the life of a fisher woman in Versova fishing village. The event starts at around 11'0 clock in the morning at the Versova beach. The fishermen come back after the whole night trip into the deep sea. The casual workers store the catch in baskets and carry them to the market which is in the close proximity. The women take over from this point and run the trading starting around 3pm. Versova is a wholesale market and mainly people from retailers' markets and big hotels and restaurants make their purchases here. The trading of fish in Mumbai is traditionally a women's field. The Koli women are a distinct feature of Mumbai. Before the small islands were joined together to make a big city this region was full of salt pans and fishing hamlets. The fisherfolks are called Koli community. In the community tradition Koli men go to the deep sea to catch fish. While the women run the entire marketing section. Marketing involves wholesale market, retailers' market and door to door vending. Some women are connected with fishing boats and some others buy fish in the wholesale market and sell in the retailers' market. In the process Koli women often dominate the public space of the city with their impressive gait, professional confidence, 9 yards sarees and antic jewelry and stinking merchandise. They can be seen in the local trains, taxis and 3-wheeler auto rickshaws and in the pedestrian by-lanes making brisk business. Mumbai's fish markets - almost 800 of them - is another special feature. These markets are mostly ran by Koli women. They are the licensees of the Municipal Corporation and the licenses are inherited along the women's line - mother-in-law to daughter-in-law to grand daughter-in-law. But currently the spree of development and gentrification in the city the Koli community and their livelihood have come under serious threat. The fishing is affected seriously as hi-tech trawlers owned by corporations are killing the business for the small and traditional boat owners. Moreover, the construction projects around and over the sea (buildings, bridges and chemical spewing establishments) have driven the marine lives further away from the coast. On the other hand, the fish markets, once considered as an important characteristic of the city are under threat of extinction. In the real estate development policy the single story markets on prime land are considered as colossal waste of property. In the name of public health and development there has been a scheme to demolish some of the markets. The third angle is entry of migrant workers from other parts of the country into the fishing trade. Many migrants from the Uttar Pradesh, popularly called as Bhaiyyas, these days are either working for the fishing boats or vending fish at door steps. The traditional base of Koli community is threatened by the vitality and enterprise of these migrant male workers. The right wing political parties Shivsena and Maharashtra Mahanirvan Sena (MNS) have taken this opportunity to turn the issue into a communal clash. In recent years there have been many violent incidences around the conflict between kolis and migrant workers in fish market. While actually the issue is that of an organized sector (the Kolis) and unorganized labour force (migrant workers). Unfortunately the labour movement or feminist movement never paid much attention to this issue, resulting it to fester into a communal clash. This event is part of a series to document the Koli community in that context.Yes2088http://www.pad.ma/Vfsn6pnx/info2012-01-29weekly1.0Human Question: Interview with Stefan Etegon, Consumer rights activist (1)http://www.pad.ma/Vfsn6pnx/poster.75.jpgInterview with Stefan Etegan, Consumer Rights ActivistYes1200http://www.pad.ma/Vu1bs970/info2012-01-29weekly1.0Human Question: Interview with Stefan Etgeton, Consumer rights activist (3)http://www.pad.ma/Vu1bs970/poster.75.jpgThis is new. It could be a short blurb of what the film human question was about and a short one-line context of the footage in question.Yes1200http://www.pad.ma/Vu0hlr0d/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Roadside Shrines: Christmas Crib in Contemporary Bombayhttp://www.pad.ma/Vu0hlr0d/poster.75.jpgIndian Christianity owes its genesis to many sources - St. Thomas, the disciple of Christ in 1st century AD and later other preachers from several other denominations from middle East and Central Asia; Portuguese, Dutch, French and British colonials since 15th century; missionaries from Europe and more recently from the US and so on. The spread of the religion has spanned through many regions, classes and sources and also varied motivations, resulting in many versions of religious practices. Thus the local Christian practices in many parts of India are more organic than monolithic. In Bombay, the spread of Christianity started with the Portuguese. One of the main communities to become Christian was the Marathi speaking agriculture and salt pan based inhabitants of the Solset Island and the Vasai sea coast. This community later called East Indians. The East Indians in Bombay observe Christianity with rituals and forms of their earlier practices as well as classical Christian rituals. In grottos and cribs, sometimes even in the Church architecture and decors this mixed culture is visible. Christmas cribs are popularly known as tableaux of nativity (story of birth) of Jesus. In the year 1220 St. Francis of Assissi visited Bethlehem and witnessed the participatory way Christmas was celebrated there through these tableaux which recreated the birth of Jesus. He brought the ritual to Europe and then it spread all over the world. Though the cribs are religious, they are not essentially institutional. Any devotee can create a crib either in their houses or in public places or in the church premise. Setting up the manger figures is a favorite family activity. Christmas cribs have become more part of the festivity than religion. In that sense it has become part of the local popular cultures. As a result, often the cribs demonstrate local flavours and sentiments instead of the linear story of nativity in the Bible. Making cribs in public places have also become a popular social activity for the neighbourhood youngsters. This event is documentation of a few cribs in the Juhu neighbourhood.Yes1505http://www.pad.ma/Vfgkn2eq/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Neighbourhood Video Project: Jogeswari Beauty Clinichttp://www.pad.ma/Vfgkn2eq/poster.75.jpgThis is part of Majlis' neighbourhood and video literacy project. Under this project a niche group from a neighbourhood is given training in video literacy. After the initial project they are given technical assistance (camera, editing and sound facilities and personnel) to shoot their own surroundings. At the end of the project they become author of a film made on their own lives. This project was conducted with the neo-adult girls from the Muslim settlements in Jogeswari. The workshop was conducted under a local initiative titled Darakht-e- Ilm (tree of knowledge). This initiative started by former journalist Firoze Ashraf, is structured on the principle of earner-learner, where older girls are involved with teaching the younger students and in the process are supported and persuaded to complete graduation and encouraged into skill development. The older girls who are mainly graduate students participated in the workshop. Though the video was shot in the location of their neighbourhood the training took place in Majlis office, far away from their homes. The exercise of traveling to a cosmopolitan area for training in something like video making was by itself an emancipating process for them. By the end of the two weeks workshop the girls were divided into two groups to shoot two different narratives on their lives. One group chose the subject of women run beauty parlours in the vicinity as role models for economic independence. The other group covered various livelihood choices available to them in order to emancipate other girls. The project then was named 'Yahan se Wahan tak' (From here to there) as a measure of their consistent yet small progress. At the end of it the two films were screened in the neighbourhood in front of the local people and some invited guests. When the credit with the girls' names as directors rolled the all encompassing ecstasy was overwhelming. Another aim of the video literacy project is to initiate non-hegemonic image productions produced by the protagonists themselves. Towards this end the project is planned as a part of the Godaam digital media archive. Other than this we have also conducted similar projects with the youngsters of the closed textile mills area (Rojgar hakk samiti) and the inhabitants of the fisherfolks village in Versova. Footage initiated by those projects are also available in PAD.MA. Follwing is an interview with Aziza Hussain. Both the interviewers and the interviewee are new in front of the camera. But they are exposed to and influenced by the 'sound bite' culture on television. Thus the process initially suffered by the lifeless imitation of TV interviews, till the energy of the place and the situation warmed it up.Yes1998http://www.pad.ma/Vt8dq0b4/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Kashmir: Sajjad Lone Speaking at World Social Forumhttp://www.pad.ma/Vt8dq0b4/poster.75.jpgThis is an excerpt from WSF 2004. Panel discussion titled "Kashmir: Culture and Identity Formation" chaired by filmmaker Saeed Mirza. Other panelists include Balraj Puri, S. A. R. Geelani, Bhajan Sopori. Sajjad Lone leads Separatist People's Conference Party. He took over in 2002 after his father Abdul Ghani Lone was assassinated in 2002.Yes719http://www.pad.ma/Vh552ukw/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Dharavi Tamil Community: Redevelopment for a Working Class Manhttp://www.pad.ma/Vh552ukw/poster.75.jpgDharavi is popularly termed as the largest slum in Asia. Known to be one of the densest and most layered human settlements in the world, the origin of Dharavi can be traced back to early 20th Century, at the height of the industrialization in the region. Dharavi is an area, which was originally located at the northern periphery of Bombay, but with boundaries of this ever-growing city constantly extending on all sides it has come to occupy prime location today. Today, according to official records, Dharavi is marked as an area spread over 223 hectares, where as many as 18,000 people crowd into a single acre. A 1986 survey by the National Slum Dwellers Federation (NSDF) counted 530,225 people (106,045 households) living in 80,518 structures. But considering the large number of 'unofficial/illegal' migration influx, the real number of people living in Dharavi is likely to be much more. Home to approximately one million people, Dharavi populace includes diverse language groups, religious communities and economic units. Most of Dharavi's old residents are from interior Maharashtra, Kutch and Kathiawad region in Gujarat and from Kanyakumari, Thirunelveli, Thuthukudi and Nellai districts in Tamil Nadu. Currently, Dharavi is in the eye of a storm as the prime land that it occupies needs to be 're-developed' to keep in pace with the economic globalization that is sweeping the city. Bombay, the supposed trade capital of India and India, the media acclaimed neo-Asian tiger of the international market, needs to grab more land and the old fashioned settlement of Dharavi must go in order to facilitate that. Currently the whole settlement - the residents' associations, the govt., the international builders' lobby as well as the civil society in Bombay are engaged in intense debate and complex maneuvering to extract the best possible deal out of this. But the problem is what is best for one economic group can be considered damaging by the other. Following a proposal (valued at Rs. 93 billion -around USD 2.3 billion) by architect Mukesh Mehta, the Govt. has divided Dharavi in five sectors and announced call for tenders to develop each sector from international builders' agencies. The scheme is that profits from the sale of the high-end developments will fund the resettlement of eligible slum dwellers (those who can prove their residence prior to January 1, 1995 which now has been extended to the year 2000) in free 225 sq. ft. (which now has been increased to 269 sq. ft.) flats in multi-story buildings. Developers are also charged with providing some amenities and infrastructural improvements. Though the Govt. declared the names of 19 short listed bidders in January 2008, the whole scheme came under cloud for lack of transparency and absence of proper research. The whole process is stalled at the moment while some organizations are commissioned to conduct some field research on the existing socio-economic structure of Dharavi. Another reason for the 'go slow' policy of the Govt. could be due to impending general election. Most probably the Govt. and specially the ruling party do not want to risk public controversy at this stage. Following is an interview of a Tamil resident of Dharavi, Mr. Kanakaraj. He belongs to the Adi Dravidar community, the largest Tamil group in Dharavi. He is one of the main organizers of the Tamil migrants under the broad based caste association. Though he lived all his life in Dharavi he is not very sure of the validity of his claim of residence under the current regime of development. Kanakaraj, in some sense, is a typical case study of the urban poor. His parents migrated to this region to escape caste atrocities and acute poverty in their native place and worked as construction workers. The city of Bombay has provided adequate opportunity for them to get settled in the shanty town of Dharavi and provided basic education for the next generation. After 50 years as the son climbs up the social ladder, the neighbourhood of Dharavi gets marked for development and gentrification. Hence with rest of the city beyond their reach the family is once again under the threat of being displaced.Yes2083http://www.pad.ma/Vhr51orr/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Dharavi Tamil Community: Redevelopment for a Congress Workerhttp://www.pad.ma/Vhr51orr/poster.75.jpgDharavi is popularly termed as the largest slum in Asia. Known to be one of the densest and most layered human settlements in the world, the origin of Dharavi can be traced back to early 20th Century, at the height of the industrialization in the region. Dharavi is an area, which was originally located at the northern periphery of Bombay, but with boundaries of this ever-growing city constantly extending on all sides it has come to occupy prime location today. Today, according to official records, Dharavi is marked as an area spread over 223 hectares, where as many as 18,000 people crowd into a single acre. A 1986 survey by the National Slum Dwellers Federation (NSDF) counted 530,225 people (106,045 households) living in 80,518 structures. But considering the large number of 'unofficial/illegal' migration influx, the real number of people living in Dharavi is likely to be much more. Home to approximately one million people, Dharavi populace includes diverse language groups, religious communities and economic units. Most of Dharavi's old residents are from interior Maharashtra, Kutch and Kathiawad region in Gujarat and from Kanyakumari, Thirunelveli, Thuthukudi and Nellai districts in Tamilnadu. Currently, Dharavi is in the eye of a storm as the prime land that it occupies needs to be 're-developed' to keep in pace with the economic globalization that is sweeping the city. Bombay, the supposed trade capital of India and India, the media acclaimed neo-Asian tiger of the international market, needs to grab more land and the old fashioned settlement of Dharavi must go in order to facilitate that. Currently the whole settlement - the residents' associations, the govt., the international builders' lobby as well as the civil society in Bombay are engaged in intense debate and complex maneuvering to extract the best possible deal out of this. But the problem is what is best for one economic group can be considered damaging by the other. Dharavi first came to the light in reference to development and real estate in 1975 during emergency. The Govt. made roads and initiated some development measures in terms of electricity, water supply etc. (roads etc.). Next phase happened in '84-'85 under the aegis of Rajiv Gandhi foundation. In a way that was the first large scale rehabilitation programme. In the next phase in '90s the govt. created an autonomous body as SRA (slum rehabilitation authority) to implement various slum rehabilitation scheme along with independent builders. As the scheme came under severe criticism for charges of corruption, inferior construction quality and its piecemeal development policy, the Govt. formed another body called DRP (Dharavi Redevelopment Project) in 2004. Following a proposal (valued at Rs. 93 billion -around USD 2.3 billion) by architect Mukesh Mehta, the Govt. has divided Dharavi in five sectors and announced call for tenders to develop each sector from international builders' agencies. The scheme is that profits from the sale of the high-end developments will fund the resettlement of eligible slum dwellers (those who can prove their residence prior to January 1, 1995 which now has been extended to the year 2000) in free 225 sq. ft. (which now has been increased to 269 sq. ft.) flats in multi-story buildings. Developers are also charged with providing some amenities and infrastructural improvements. Though the Govt. declared the names of 19 short listed bidders in January 2008, the whole scheme came under cloud for lack of transparency and absence of proper research. The whole process is stalled at the moment while some organizations are commissioned to conduct some field research on the existing socio-economic structure of Dharavi. Another reason for the 'go slow' policy of the Govt. could be due to impending general election. Most probably the Govt. and specially the ruling party do not want to risk public controversy at this stage. Following is an interview of a Tamil resident of Dharavi, Mr. Natarajan. Natarajan is a middle level leader of the ruling Congress party and obediently mouths the party line. His disregard regarding the eventual extinction of traditional trades in Dharavi - such as Pottery in Kumbharwada and leather tannery - on the face of development is telling. He could either be just toeing the party position which is known for championing the cause of the builders' lobby or it could be a well be a class issue. Dharavi is a mixed settlement with wage workers, petty traders, artisans, industrial workshops and unorganized sweat shops. For people with jobs outside Dharavi it is only the living quarter and they consider the redevelopment scheme as a boon. While people whose livelihood is related to the unique structure of Dharavi, are resentful to the scheme with the fear that the homogenized urban space design will severely affect their livelihood. The interview was taken in the shop of their family business of electronic goods in the 90 feet road. From the attic of the same shop his brother runs a cable network which plays programme in all South Indian languages.Yes2793http://www.pad.ma/Vha3sk0z/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Dharavi Kumbharwada: Mud Bhattis and Gas Kilnshttp://www.pad.ma/Vha3sk0z/poster.75.jpgDharavi is popularly termed as the largest slum in Asia. Known to be one of the densest and most layered human settlements in the world, the origin of Dharavi can be traced back to early 20th Century, at the height of the industrialization in the region. Dharavi is an area, which was originally located at the northern periphery of Bombay, but with boundaries of this ever-growing city constantly extending on all sides it has come to occupy prime location today. Today, according to official records, Dharavi is marked as an area spread over 223 hectares, where as many as 18,000 people crowd into a single acre. A 1986 survey by the National Slum Dwellers Federation (NSDF) counted 530,225 people (106,045 households) living in 80,518 structures. But considering the large number of 'unofficial/illegal' migration influx, the real number of people living in Dharavi is likely to be much more. Home to approximately one million people, Dharavi populace includes diverse language groups, religious communities and economic units. Most of the citizens of Dharavi are urban artisans, functioning out of the outer space of their one-storey shanties. This seamlessness in working and living space, over the decades, has resulted not only in high number of female wage earners but also facilitated occupations to an entire family, making it some sort of a family business. Currently, Dharavi is in the eye of a storm as the prime land that it occupies needs to be 're-developed' to keep in pace with the economic globalization that is sweeping the city. Bombay, the supposed trade capital of India and India, the media acclaimed neo-Asian tiger of the international market, needs to grab more land and the old fashioned settlement of Dharavi must go in order to facilitate that. Currently the whole settlement - the residents' associations, the govt., the international builders' lobby as well as the civil society in Bombay are engaged in intense debate and complex maneuvering to extract the best possible deal out of this. But the problem is what is best for one economic group can be damaging for the other groups. The govt. has divided Dharavi into 5 administrative sectors in order to facilitate the development process in pieces. Besides, the neighbourhoods are also determined by community occupations and infrastructures - such as Kumbharwada (potters' colony), Koliwada (fisherman's colony) etc. Following is an evening shoot around the kilns in the Kumbharwada (potters colony). Kilns are spines of the Kumbharwada. Every lane in Kumbharwada have multiple number of kilns. Some people own and run the kilns and others bake their products on rental basis. The kilns are so important and primary in the Kumbharwada that any festival (diwali, holi, Navratri) which requires public space is celebrated around the kilns (see event titled Dharavi: Navratri Celebration in Khumbhawada). When the textile industry was running in the city, the potters used to buy the cotton waste from the mills to run the fire in the kilns. But as the textile industry shut down they are forced to use other material, some of which are highly polluting, to run the fire. Thus in last one decade or more the Kumbharwada has come to be the focus of debate as a centre of health hazard. Shot by Tapan Vyas.Yes1274http://www.pad.ma/Vss0f3z2/info2009-03-03weekly1.0Bazaar: Sunday Flea Market in Delhihttp://www.pad.ma/Vss0f3z2/poster.75.jpgSunday market of Delhi is a flea market. It takes place every Sunday behind Red Fort on Ring Road. It is a retail market for both old and new merchandises. Though there are some kiosks, most of the shopping takes place on the road where the goods are displayed either on a sheet of plastic or cloth or hung from the light poles. The market runs through the whole day into the night. The vendors take full advantage of the light traffic of the Sunday and encroach on the road with their wares. People come even from far away places to make their purchases at Sunday market. Second hand woolens, used shoes, army rejects as well as cheap Chinese made commodities are main attraction. By the time the camera crew reached the market it was late evening of December. A good part of the market was already closed. Though the street vendors were still going strong. Plastic toys, plastic flowers, real flowers, garments and street food were jostling for attention in the back drop of old city architecture and colourful street hoardings. A few stray customers and more onlookers were still hanging around. The presence of the camera raised a slight curiosity among the city dwellers. Quite unexpectedly the crew came across a wedding procession. As per the North Indian custom the groom, along with large number of friends and relatives, had set out for the bride's place on horse back. A local commercial music band played to the occasion. The bazaar was shot as part of a study of Indian visual cultures in bazaar, streets, shrines and homes. Shot by Avijit Mukul Kishore.Yes2487http://www.pad.ma/Vt3l4g19/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Bazaar: Kite Market in Ahmedabad, Nighthttp://www.pad.ma/Vt3l4g19/poster.75.jpgMakar Sankranti, which usually falls on 14th or 15th January is the last day of the month of poush, by the Hindu calendar. The season is celebrated for post harvest revelry at the end of winter. In some regions it is celebrated by holy bath at Ganga River where it has met the sea. In some other places the day is celebrated by making sweet made of the new rice. Yet in some other regions the day is marked by flying colourful kites. In India the kite festival on Makar Sankarnti is mainly observed in Gujarat and Rajasthan. In Gujarat the art of kite making and kite flying has been taken to a great height and has also become a vibrant craft industry. The artisans who make kites are mostly Muslims whereas the consumers are primarily Hindu. For many years this reciprocal structure of Muslim craft and Hindu festival has been celebrated as an example of communal harmony and social ecology. But the myth of harmony associated with this festival was shattered in March 2002, barely 45 days after this video of the kite festival in Ahmedabad was shot. Gujarat and specially its capital Ahmedabad unleashed a pogrom on the Muslim citizens. The carnage had full patronage from the state and from a large number of people from Hindu and Jain communities. Many of the traders and artisans in the kite markets might have become victims of the carnage and many of the kite players that we had shot with might have been the perpetuators of the violence. "I distinctly remember one striking moment. While working with the kite festival rushes to edit into a film I got tired and switched on the TV. It was the first week of March 2002. Images of Ahmedabad carnage was being reported and one shot came on screen which look like the same neighbourhood where we shot the festival only 6 weeks back. It was the same youngsters on the same terraces and the same sky littered with flying objects - only this time the objects were stones and crude bombs. Since then the colour of the kites in this footage changed for ever, for me" - Madhusree, about shooting these images. Shot by Avijit Mukul KishoreYes2108http://www.pad.ma/Vtjset7r/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Bazaar: Kite Market in Ahmedabad, Dayhttp://www.pad.ma/Vtjset7r/poster.75.jpgMakar Sankranti, which usually falls on 14th or 15th January is the last day of the month of poush, by the Hindu calendar. The season is celebrated for post harvest revelry at the end of winter. In some regions it is celebrated by holy bath at Ganga river where it has met the sea. In some other places the day is celebrated by making sweet made of the new rice. Yet in some other regions the day is marked by flying colourful kites. In India the kite festival on Makar Sankarnti is mainly observed in Gujarat and Rajasthan. In Gujarat the art of kite making and kite flying has been taken to a great height and has also become a vibrant craft industry. The artisans who make kites are mostly Muslims whereas the consumers are primarily Hindu. For many years this reciprocal structure of Muslim craft and Hindu festival has been celebrated as an example of communal harmony and social ecology. But the myth of harmony associated with this festival was shattered in March 2002, barely 45 days after this video of the kite festival in Ahmedabad was shot. Gujarat and specially its capital Ahmedabad unleashed a pogrom on the Muslim citizens. The carnage had full patronage from the state and from a large number of people from Hindu and Jain communities. Many of the traders and artisans in the kite markets might have become victims of the carnage and many of the kite players that we had shot with might have been the perpetuators of the violence. "I distinctly remember one striking moment. While working with the kite festival rushes to edit into a film I got tired and switched on the TV. It was the first week of March 2002. Images of Ahmedabad carnage was being reported and one shot came on screen which look like the same neighbourhood where we shot the festival only 6 weeks back. It was the same youngsters on the same terraces and the same sky littered with flying objects - only this time the objects were stones and crude bombs. Since then the colour of the kites in this footage changed for ever, for me" - Madhusree, about shooting these images. Shot by: Avijit Mukul KishoreYes2014http://www.pad.ma/Vgu2cb7z/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Bazaar: Calendar and Posters in Chandni Chowkhttp://www.pad.ma/Vgu2cb7z/poster.75.jpgChandni Chowk market in old Delhi, built by the Mughal emperor Shahjahan in 1650, is a large and multi-layered bazaar. The bazaar is divided into areas according to the merchandise - Kinari Bazaar, Nai sarak, Chawri bazaar, Tilak bazaar, Flea market etc. The Chawri bazaar is famous for its stationery market. An important part of that wholesale calendar market. Adding more colour to Chandni Chowk's psychedelic landscape is the calendar bazaar. The calendars mainly consist of oleographs - bearing pictures of Gods and Goddesses and pictorial depictions of the Indian Epics. Raja Ravi Varma, an aristocrat from Travancore was a celebrated artist. He was responsible for almost single-handedly creating a revolution in modern Indian aesthetics with the establishment of the Ravi Varma Press. His paintings of Gods and Goddesses, epic heroes and heroines, practically defined the new pan-Indian iconography. The prints became the most influential medium of visual communication in what was then a socially and culturally fragmented Indian society. Using German printers and high-speed steam driven presses, Ravi Varma published millions of copies of these famous paintings as well as other religious icons. This school of art eventually grew into a large industry called calendar art. The pictures in calendars, which are used to advertise goods and services doubled up as icons for political propaganda, where heroes, Gods, and national leaders merged into each other. This kitschy, hybrid form of calendar art is massively popular among the people and it will not be surprising to find every Indian household with one of these prints, in some form or the other, in their possession. In fact, most Indians perceive their Gods and Goddesses to be exactly like the ones seen in these images, so popular are they. And it is not just the Hindu Gods and Goddesses that find a place in these calendars. Islamic scriptures, Christian motifs - like the crucified Christ, or Mother Mary with the infant Jesus are also seen quite often. The ideal, the beautiful and the revered all find a place in the calendars that hang in this dingy wholesale shop. Bollywood stars, enjoy their Demi-God status next to the Lord Krishna and Goddess Laxmi, smiling divinely from the paper calendars, stacked atop each other in the crowded by-lanes of Chandni Chowk. In the month of December the bazaar is at its peak in preparation for the New Year. Shopkeepers, small traders, commercial establishments are seen choosing designs for the complimentary calendars for 2002. Iconography has a special place in the Indian social landscape. There are always popular reproductions of gods, religious motif, film stars, political leaders, sportsmen in various sizes, forms and formats available for popular consumption. It is most visible in the public places in the form of a phenomena popularly called as 'postering'. This event was shot as part of the study of Indian visual culture in the streets, bazaar, homes and shrines. Shot by Avijit Mukul Kishore.Yes1389http://www.pad.ma/Vu5o2oe2/info2009-06-12weekly1.0Bar Dancers Case: Meeting of the Bar Owners Association IIhttp://www.pad.ma/Vu5o2oe2/poster.75.jpgThis is footage of a public meeting organised by the Bar owners association against the proposed ban on dancing in bars in Maharashtra. Dancing in bars of Bombay and other parts of Maharashtra began in 1970s. In 2005, the Maharashtra government proposed to ban dancing in the bars. The proposal sparked wide public debate on sexual morality, women's rights and right to livelihood. The civil society division on the issue was sharp as many women's organisations, left parties and trade unions supported the ban on issues of public morality and degradation of women's body. While many others, including Majlis, Forum against oppression of women, Women's studies research unit of SNDT university and other feminist groups opposed the ban on account of gender assault on right to livelihood, sexuality and performance. The ban got implemented on 15th august, 2005, the Independence Day. The ban was challenged in Bombay High court by the Bar dancers' union, feminists groups and bar owners associations. Majlis represented the bar dancers' union in the High court. On 12th April 2006 the Bombay High Court struck down the ban as unconstitutional. The Govt. appealed to the Supreme Court and thus affectively kept the bar closed inspite of the High court order. Presently the case is subjudiced. This meeting was organized in the interim period of proposing the bill and actually implementing the ban. The bar owners and the bar dancers are traditionally not allies as their relationship is that of employers and employees. Many bars also exploited the dancers is severe manner. The stigma attached with dancing in bars prevented the women to raise voice against the bar owners. But in the present scenario the bar owners and the bar dancers are together against the Govt. decision to ban dance bars. Their survival are intertwined. The bars would suffer huge loss and many would close down in the eventuality of banning dancing. Varsha Kale, President of Bar Dancers Union; Manjit Singh, President of bar owners association and few other bar owners speak about the situation, their perspectives on the situation and how they need to work together to be able to combat the ban and its effects.Yes1240http://www.pad.ma/Vtoqvvms/info2009-06-12weekly1.0Bar Dancers Case: Meeting of the Bar Owners Association Ihttp://www.pad.ma/Vtoqvvms/poster.75.jpgThis is footage of a public meeting organised by the Bar owners association against the proposed ban on dancing in bars in Maharashtra. Dancing in bars of Bombay and other parts of Maharashtra began in 1970s. In 2005, the Maharashtra government proposed to ban dancing in the bars. The proposal sparked wide public debate on sexual morality, women's rights and right to livelihood. The civil society division on the issue was sharp as many women's organisations, left parties and trade unions supported the ban on issues of public morality and degradation of women's body. While many others, including Majlis, Forum against oppression of women, Women's studies research unit of SNDT university and other feminist groups opposed the ban on account of gender assault on right to livelihood, sexuality and performance. The ban got implemented on 15th august, 2005, the Independence Day. The ban was challenged in Bombay High court by the Bar dancers' union, feminists groups and bar owners associations. Majlis represented the bar dancers' union in the High court. On 12th April 2006 the Bombay High Court struck down the ban as unconstitutional. The Govt. appealed to the Supreme Court and thus affectively kept the bar closed inspite of the High court order. Presently the case is subjudiced. This meeting was organized in the interim period of proposing the bill and actually implementing the ban. The bar owners and the bar dancers are traditionally not allies as their relationship is that of employers and employees. Many bars also exploited the dancers is severe manner. The stigma attached with dancing in bars prevented the women to raise voice against the bar owners. But in the present scenario the bar owners and the bar dancers are together against the Govt. decision to ban dance bars. Their survival are intertwined. The bars would suffer huge loss and many would close down in the eventuality of banning dancing. Here Manjit Singh, President of the Bar Owners Association and Varsha Kale, President of Bar Dancers Union speak to the bar owners about the situation, their perspectives on the situation and how they need to work together to be able to combat the ban and its effects.Yes2015http://www.pad.ma/Vtolad8n/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Kashmir: Travelling Through Bakarwal Village Part 1http://www.pad.ma/Vtolad8n/poster.75.jpgIn 1997, Saeed Mirza and his film crew traveled the length and breadth of India to make "A tryst with the people of India," a documentary that marked fifty years of Indian independence. What has "independence" and "freedom" really meant for ordinary people across the country? How have they experienced modern India's "tryst with destiny?" Mirza hoped to get the people's perspectives on fifty years of freedom through conversations with a wide range of people across the country. As part of this trip, Mirza and his crew also traveled through Jammu and Kashmir, talking to a range of people from Jammu to the high mountains of Ladakh. In this segment, the crew stops at a nomadic settlement on their way to Srinagar. These people are "bakarwals" or shepherds who travel continually between the plains and the snowy mountain paths of Ladakh, camping temporarily in makeshift tents with their sheep, goats, and other animals. Theirs is a fragile existence: at the mercy of the elements, of course, but also, caught between the militants and the army in the ongoing turbulence in Kashmir. Over a meal of parathas and "namkeen chai," Mirza and the crew have an in-depth conversation with the "bakarwals" and with one in particular: Basharat Ali. Basharat is an articulate and very expressive young man, and the conversation becomes a philosophical discussion on the nomadic way of life at a time of great political and social upheaval. Years later, in his book "Ammi: Letters to a Democratic Mother," Mirza remembers this conversation and calls Basharat "the poet of the high mountains."Yes1453http://www.pad.ma/Vu5sm3uf/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Dharavi Kumbharwada: Navaratri Celebrationhttp://www.pad.ma/Vu5sm3uf/poster.75.jpgDharavi is a settlement popularly termed as the biggest slum in Asia. Known to be one of the densest and most layered human settlements in the world, the origin of Dharavi can be traced back to early 20th Century, at the height of the industrialization in the region. Dharavi is an area, which was originally located at the northern periphery of Bombay, but with boundaries of this ever-growing city constantly extending on all sides it has come to occupy prime location today. Today, according to official records, Dharavi is marked as an area spread over 223 hectares, where as many as 18,000 people crowd into a single acre. A 1986 survey by the National Slum Dwellers Federation (NSDF) counted 530,225 people (106,045 households) living in 80,518 structures. But considering the large presence of unofficial/illegal migrats, the real number of people living in Dharavi is likely to be much more. Home to approximately one million people, Dharavi populace includes diverse language groups, religious communities and economic units. Currently, Dharavi is in the eye of a storm as the prime land that it occupies needs to be ‘re-developed’ to keep in pace with the economic globalization that is sweeping the city. Bombay, the supposed trade capital of India and India, the media acclaimed neo-Asian tiger of the international market, needs to grab more land and the old fashioned settlement of Dharavi must go in order to facilitate that. Following is a night during Navratri (annual 9-days festival to celebrate fertility) in Kumbharwada (potters’ colony), which is spread over about 11 acres in Dharavi. Kumbhars (potters) are one of the most organized and visible communities in Dharavi. Most of them are traditional artisans from Gujarat who migrated to Mumbai in the first half of 20th century. As the potters’ work involve storing and making of clay, running potters’ wheel, baking and drying facilities and storage for the brittle products; space is very important for the Kumbharwada, both in terms of familial and communal use. It is a night of Navratri. Navratri is mainly observed by the Gujaratis and most of the potters in Kumbharwada are Gujarati. Navratri is also a business season for the potters. Navratri, the festival of fertility is observed around an earthen pot symbolizing the womb. Hence the potters make good business in this season. In this event the community celebrates business, culture and religion - in garba, the Gujarati folk dance form. Garba is a community dance form to be performed in large group in a circle. In Kumbharwada they dance around the same kilns in which they bake their pots during the day. The kilns are in the outdoor space and situated in the middle of the clusters of houses. The average size of the kilns are10 ft / 8 ft. In peak season the kilns are loaded every alternate day in the afternoon, set in fire in the evening, the fire runs for around 8 hours, by 3 am it starts colling down and then get unloaded in the morning. The whole process takes around 12 hours. Hence the evening in Kumbharwada is always full of smoke. Anybody who lights a klin in daytime or everyday instead of every alternate day becomes a subject of ridicule. The prosperous ones own kilns. Other people also can the kiln owned by somebody else. Some people only run kilns and do not get engaged with other aspects of pottery. Bhatti is like a studio – the owner may or may not use it for their own works. In the entire Dharavi we could find only one woman who runs a kiln. Though there are women who work as laborers in kilns. There are approximately 400 kilns of various sizes – depending on the status of the owner - in Dharavi. During Navratri they becomes the symbolic wombs for the community, other than solving the problem of paucity of communal space in the settlement. Under the impending threat of ‘redevelopment’ and ‘relocation’ to a modern settlement of multi-storied buildings, this scene of collective celebration acquires a different scale. This event is shot in Wadi 2. Kumbharwada is roughly divided into 4 wadis by the date of inception with Wadi 1 being the oldest. Shot by Tapan Vyas. Yes591http://www.pad.ma/Vejpbcwf/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Dharavi Papadwali: Livelihood and Developmenthttp://www.pad.ma/Vejpbcwf/poster.75.jpgDharavi is a slum popularly termed as the Asia’s biggest slum. Known to be one of the densest and most layered human settlements in the world, the origin of Dharavi can be traced back to mid 20th century, at the height of the industrialization in the region. Dharavi was originally located at the northern periphery of Bombay, but with boundaries of this ever-growing city constantly extending on all sides it has come to occupy prime location today. Today, according to official records, Dharavi is marked as an area spread over 175 hectares, where as many as 18,000 people crowd into a single acre. But considering the large presence of unofficial/illegal migration influx, the real number of people living in Dharavi is likely to be much more. Home to approximately one million people, Dharavi populace includes diverse language groups, religious communities and economic units. Most of the citizens of Dharavi are urban artisans, functioning out of the outer space of their one-storey shanties. This seamlessness in working and living space, over the decades, has resulted in high number of female wage earners. Currently, Dharavi is in the eye of a storm as the prime land that it occupies needs to be ‘re-developed’ to keep in pace with the economic globalization that is sweeping the city. Papad making is predominantly a female occupation, where women work in groups within families or neighbourhoods and operate from home. The most important part of this trade, drying of each papad, needs large open air space. Traditionally, when papad was made at home, women used the courtyards for this purpose. With urbanization Papad (same like pickles and other snacks) making emerged as a cottage industry. The New Muncipal Chawl in Dharavi which was originally built as military barracks for world war–II, presently functions as courtyards for drying Papad for a large number of women and their families. The Papadwalis are generally part of Lijjat, a large institution with numerous branches manufacturing and marketing Papad all over India and also exporting abroad. The institution is registered as a co-operative society of women and each branch is supposed to work autonomously. It started in 1959 in Girgaum in Mumbai and through the four decades grew to be a formidable brand name. However the institution had its fair share of controversies around the issue of ethics and transparency. Besides, the wage earned by the women does not really justify the working hours put into the job. Shooting is the courtyard of the new municipal chawl in Dharavi, where papads are kept to dry turned out to be a very difficult task. The women were hostile, some even threatened to break the camera. In some earlier occasion some reporters shot the courtyard and reported it in the media as an issue of public health considering the dirty courtyard where the papads were dried. A public outcry followed and some women lost their livelihood. Since then the women are wary of any camera. Following is a story of one such family whose livelihood is making Papads. The work was originally started by the mother of the family. Now the mother is employed in some other work while the next generation continue the Papad making. The present working team comprises of the daughter-in-law and the married daughter with some help from the male members. The married daughter earlier used to live outside Dharavi with her husband who is an auto rickshaw driver. But the contract of Papad making is scarce outside. So she has shifted back to her mother’s place to work in the family business and earn a livelihood. Presently there are 3 families – of the daughter, of the daughter-in-law and of the mother, living in the same house. All of them posses ration cards which are considered as valis proof of residency. After the brother gets married in near future there will be another family under the same roof. The house is in the BMC (Bombay Municipal corporation) chawl which was built as army barrack during 2nd world war. The residents are old tenant of the place. The house has three rooms one after the other much like an office space structure. These are one of the larger houses in the area. Still one wonders how under the redevelopment policy the existing three families (each of them has the proof of validity) and their work space would be accommodated in the one room tenement in the multi-storied building. It is part of our Dharavi documentation project. The project aims at documenting the various communities who have not only found homes for themselves in Dharavi but whose livelihoods are intrinsically tied to this space. We hope to evolve a comprehensive documentation and dissemination of the spaces and lives of Dharavi residents. Shot by Tapan Vyas. Yes1346http://www.pad.ma/Vh53r5jh/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Dharavi Kumbharwada: Community Occupation and Urban Developmenthttp://www.pad.ma/Vh53r5jh/poster.75.jpgDharavi is popularly termed as the largest slum in Asia. Known to be one of the densest and most layered human settlements in the world, the origin of Dharavi can be traced back to early 20th Century, at the height of the industrialization in the region. Dharavi is an area, which was originally located at the northern periphery of Bombay, but with boundaries of this ever-growing city constantly extending on all sides it has come to occupy prime location today. Today, according to official records, Dharavi is marked as an area spread over 223 hectares, where as many as 18,000 people crowd into a single acre. But considering the large number of ‘unofficial/illegal’ migration influx, the real number of people living in Dharavi is likely to be much more. Home to approximately one million people, Dharavi populace includes diverse language groups, religious communities and economic units. Most of the citizens of Dharavi are urban artisans, functioning out of the outer space of their one-storey shanties. This seamlessness in working and living space, over the decades, has resulted not only in high number of female wage earners but also facilitated occupations to an entire family, making it some sort of a family business. Currently, Dharavi is in the eye of a storm as the prime land that it occupies needs to be ‘re-developed’ to keep in pace with the economic globalization that is sweeping the city. Bombay, the supposed trade capital of India and India, the media acclaimed neo-Asian tiger of the international market, needs to grab more land and the old fashioned settlement of Dharavi must go in order to facilitate that. Following is the story of 12 year Akshay and his mother from the Wadi 3 in Kumbharwada (potters’ colony). The Kumbharwada is broadly divided in 4 wadis by the age of the settlement. The number of the wadis also loosely represent the economic status of the neighbourhood with Wadi 1 being the most prosporous.The traditional occupation Akshay’s family is to make clay pots. But pressure of earning more than what the traditional clay pots can generate Akshay’s father has gone to Qatar to work as a tailor. Yet the home based craft and trade had to be maintained. Specially this is the time for Diwali (the light festival) which is considered as the peak season for potters. So the woman alone handles wage labourers, productions and delivery along with the daily chores at home. Not only the private space, work space and public space collapse into one, even the working hours extend into nights. The family and the entire neighbourhood is geared to a frenzy of making diyas (earthen lamps used in large numbers in every Hindu household during diwali). We could have an easy access to the family due to our friendship with little Akshay. Though still a small boy, in the absence of the father he commands reasonable respect in the house as the next male member. Initially his mother was very happy about his association with the ‘outsiders’ 0 the shooting crew. But as the days passed she started getting worried and suspicious about the association. She communicated to us in no uncertain term that she does not want Akshay to ‘go away’ like his father. Though she aspires Akshay to grow up to be somebody more than a potter, she cannot overcome her apprehension about being deserted by the men in life. These conflicting thinking has had an impact on Akshay too. Though he loves to play with clay and proud of being the only male member among the female wage labourers and family members, he is also sure of showing contempt towards the vocation of pottery. This duality is symptomatic of the social stigma attached to skill based vocation and artisanship and also about living in the slum of Dharavi. An evening at Kumbharwada. Shot by Tapan Vyas. Yes986http://www.pad.ma/Vi7yvtw7/info2009-03-03weekly1.0Behrampada & Its Labyrinthshttp://www.pad.ma/Vi7yvtw7/poster.75.jpgThis is a collection of shots from the rushes of 'I live in Behrampada', a documentary on a Muslim ghetto in the context of the Bombay riots, an aftermath of the Babari Masjid demolition. I was 8 years old during the Bombay '92-93 riots. My only memory of the time was an unscheduled two-month holiday from school, though the adult talk about stray dead bodies and destruction remains stored in some corner. Later various other incidents of violent identity politics and representations of the Bombay riots in films etc. made a constant a reference point. Going through the rushes after 15 years has also been a process of coming to terms with my own city and its black holes. The shots of the interior of Behrampada are compiled in order to demystify the settlement. There were wide spread allegations of Behrampada being a harbor of terrorists, running bomb making factories, being filthy, being public health hazard… basically being a site of hell. These shots captured the normal life style of the settlement. Ordinary livelihood activities, house hold chores, children playing, bazaars, businesses etc. make the neighbourhood like any others, albeit of a poorer kind. The crew’s focus was not on whether this large settlement was home to any individual criminals or not, as that could be true of any settlement of this size. Yes2610http://www.pad.ma/Veej32pl/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Dharavi Livelihood: Female Cobblerhttp://www.pad.ma/Veej32pl/poster.75.jpgPopularly termed as Asia’s biggest slum, the origin of Dharavi can be traced back to mid 20th Century, at the height of the industrialization in the region. Today, according to official records, Dharavi is marked as an area spread over 223 hectares, where as many as 18,000 people crowd into a single acre. But, considering the large presence of unofficial/illegal migration influx, the real number of people living in Dharavi is likely to be much more. As a microcosm of contemporary urban phenomena of the developing countries, Dharavi populace includes diverse language groups, religious communities and economic units. Many of the citizens of Dharavi are petty traders, urban artisans or piecemeal workers, functioning out of the outer space of their one-storey shanties. This seamlessness in working and living space, over the decades, has resulted in high number of female wage earners. Currently, Dharavi is in the eye of a storm as the prime land that it occupies needs to be ‘re-developed’ to keep in pace with the economic globalization that is sweeping the city. Bombay, the supposed trade capital of India and India, the media acclaimed neo-Asian tiger of the international market, needs to grab more land and the old fashioned settlement of Dharavi must go in order to facilitate that. Dharavi today is home to approximately one million people, mostly migrants. Therefore, any sort of re-development of the area would imply mass rehabilitation of those living here. The rehabilitation package is likely to be delivered in terms of the exact measurement of the living space, and not considering the value- financial, cultural and social, attached to the living-cum-working space. Our project aims at documenting the various communities who have not only found homes for themselves in Dharavi but whose livelihoods are intrinsically tied to this space. Since the workspace is part of the living space women are key players in their home-based trades. We hope to evolve a comprehensive documentation and dissemination of the spaces and lives of Dharavi residents. The documentation is aimed to provide resources at the negotiating table with Govt. and the builders’ agencies, for urban study curriculum and for social movements against displacement of urban poor in the name of development. This event is portrait of a 80 year old woman, working as a cobbler. Cobbling is traditionally meant to be a male profession. Generally practiced by lower caste men there is a nasty stigma attached to the job. Cobbling as in shoe making could be a lucrative profession. But individual cobblers as local vendors, who repair people’s old shoes, are a far cry from the glitter of the shoe market. Our protagonist, the 80 years old woman, opted for this vocation 60 years back when her husband and son died of alcohol poisoning. She works under a flimsy plastic sheet on the road from 11 am to 7 pm. When she comes back home in the evening her first priority is to go to the toilet as she could not do that for the whole day. The next routine is to drink a glass full of country liquor. We failed to fit in an interview in this tight schedule. All the information that we gather about her is from the other family members. The family has been shifted to their present accommodation a few years back at the beginning of the current construction activities in Dharavi. The accommodation is called Transit camp. But the family members have no idea what they are supposed to be transited to. Yes1112http://www.pad.ma/Vu5i98sp/info2009-02-06weekly1.0CCTV Social: Re-generation. Manchester Arndale.http://www.pad.ma/Vu5i98sp/poster.75.jpgFor CCTV Social, artist Shaina Anand collaborated with Manchester Metropolitan University and Arndale Shopping Centre to open working CCTV environments to a general audience. People normally 'enclosed' by these networks came into the control rooms to view, observe and monitor this condition, so endemic to the UK. If the analog control room of MMU's Open Street Surveillance seemed "just like Nineteen Eighty-Four'", the CCTV control room of the Arndale Centre bore cold testimony to the much heard myth, 'the IRA bomb saved Manchester.' The mall was the site of the largest IRA bomb in the UK, (1996) and its rebuilding was the start of Manchester's regeneration program. Working with some members of the Livewire Youth Program at Cornerhouse, the team was able to make a 'public' request for the Mall's surveillance footage by using 'image-release' forms offered by documentary film-makers, combined with conditions of the UK Data Protection Act. Jai Redman and Joe Richardson, two artists from Manchester's Ultimate Holding Company, came in to survey on day two. After an illuminating conversation with Gayle and others in the control room, the artists took a walk around the mall. This is the transcript of part of this conversation pasted over some of the footage released. Yes544http://www.pad.ma/Veej57vg/info2009-02-06weekly1.0CCTV Social: Re-generation. The Mall 2.http://www.pad.ma/Veej57vg/poster.75.jpgFor CCTV Social, Shaina Anand collaborated with Manchester Metropolitan University and Arndale Shopping Centre to open working CCTV environments to a general audience. People normally 'enclosed' by these networks came into the control rooms to view, observe and monitor this condition, endemic in the UK. If the analog control room of MMU's Open Street Surveillance seemed 'just like 1984,' the CCTV control room of the Arndale Centre bore cold testimony to the much heard myth, 'the IRA bomb saved Manchester.' The mall was the site of the largest IRA bomb in the UK, (1996) and its rebuilding was the start of Manchester's regeneration program. Get to know Arndale's embedded history, with a 'virtual tour' courtesy Gayle, security supervisor sharpshooter at The Arndale. Learn how and why the public are her worst enemy, who ought to realise that the mall is not a public space but actually private property, owned by Prudential and Peel holdings, who together own half of Manchester. 206 cameras in The Arndale, but they only police the 'open areas.' Stores have their own networked security chain, Store-Net. Stumble upon an ironic act of kindness, a prayer room installed just to stop people from looking for quiet corners which would be deemed 'risky'. Some providence: the location of the prayer room is the only place in the mall which has 2 static cameras (as opposed to remote pan-tilt-zooms) resulting in a 6 metre blind-spot. Yes653http://www.pad.ma/Vu5o965c/info2009-02-05weekly1.0CCTV Social: Day II Session 4http://www.pad.ma/Vu5o965c/poster.75.jpgFor CCTV Social, artist Shaina Anand collaborated with Manchester Metropolitan University and Arndale Shopping Centre to open working CCTV environments to a general audience. People normally 'enclosed' by these networks came into the control rooms to view, observe and monitor this condition, so endemic to the UK. About thirty people signed up for one-hour sessions in the MMU security center to engage with the CCTV operators and monitor surveillance procedures. These sessions became somewhat like a diagnostic clinic, where they discussed symptoms, anxieties and inoculations about their 'public health,' under surveillance. These therapy sessions seemed to work both ways, for the participants as well as the security officers. Phil, an employee of BAE systems (which designs aeroplanes for the RAF) and Isabel, an employee of Cornerhouse in Manchester, indulge in a long conversation with Joe. They talk about the pervasiveness and effect of surveillance. We get a disturbing glimpse into the voyeuristic and intrusive aspect of CCTV when, while describing the process of ID'ing people, Joe zooms in on a homeless couple huddled behind a trash can and takes a still photo. Their discussion revolves around issues of information, control, biometric profiling and privacy in times marked by obsession with risk prediction, fear and paranoia.Yes1106http://www.pad.ma/Vtkyfckd/info2009-02-06weekly1.0CCTV Social: Re-generation. The Mall 1.http://www.pad.ma/Vtkyfckd/poster.75.jpgFor CCTV Social, artist Shaina Anand collaborated with Manchester Metropolitan University and Arndale Shopping Centre to open working CCTV environments to a general audience. People normally 'enclosed' by these networks came into the control rooms to view, observe and monitor this condition, so endemic to the UK. If the analog control room of MMU's Open Street Surveillance seemed "just like 'Nineteen Eighty-Four'", the CCTV control room of the Arndale Centre bore cold testimony to the much heard myth, 'the IRA bomb saved Manchester.' The mall was the site of the largest IRA bomb in the UK, (1996) and its rebuilding was the start of Manchester's regeneration program. It's our first morning in the Arndale control room. Colin, who was a janitor at the time of the bombings and now a security officer, defends his stand on privacy, iterating the "I've got nothing to hide, so I have nothing to fear" justification. Paul, newest on the job, takes us back into the data bank where blades and terabytes of drives store the data from 206 cameras. The last cupboard he opens reveals "'the one we hate the most": a top angle view of the control room. The watchers are not just watched. Eight microphones record the sounds of the control room. Yes842http://www.pad.ma/Vu5tyw1a/info2009-02-06weekly1.0CCTV Social: Day I Session 3. 1pmhttp://www.pad.ma/Vu5tyw1a/poster.75.jpgFor CCTV Social, Shaina Anand collaborated with Manchester Metropolitan University and Arndale Shopping Centre to open working CCTV environments to a general audience. People normally 'enclosed' by these networks came into the control rooms to view, observe and monitor this condition, endemic in the UK. About thirty people signed up for one-hour sessions in the MMU security center to engage with the CCTV operators and monitor surveillance procedures. These sessions became somewhat like a diagnostic clinic, where we discussed symptoms, anxieties and inoculations about our 'public health,' under surveillance. These therapy sessions seemed to work both ways, for the participants as well as the security officers. This is footage of Rob and Alasdair's interaction with Steve, the Surveillance Control Officer at Manchester Metropolitan University, along with Shaina and Chris. They inquire about the UK Data Protection Act and whether the department has ever received requests for footage from individuals. Alasdair talks to Shaina about her perspective and if she was interested in viewing the CCTV footage from an artistic point of view. During this time Steve keeps returning to a group of youngsters gathered at the back of a building (smoking). When they sensed the camera swinging towards them, they turned to look straight at it. Bernadette remembers an 'incident' they were all involved in and described the events leading up to the Mancunian Way bomb scare on July 13, 2005, with Steve illustrating the action on cameras. Yes455http://www.pad.ma/Vfgebc2x/info2009-02-06weekly1.0CCTV Social: Day II. Session 3http://www.pad.ma/Vfgebc2x/poster.75.jpgFor CCTV Social, artist Shaina Anand collaborated with Manchester Metropolitan University and Arndale Shopping Centre to open working CCTV environments to a general audience. People normally 'enclosed' by these networks came into the control rooms to view, observe and monitor this condition, so endemic to the UK. About thirty people signed up for one-hour sessions in the MMU security center to engage with the CCTV operators and monitor surveillance procedures. These sessions became somewhat like a diagnostic clinic, where they discussed symptoms, anxieties and inoculations about their 'public health,' under surveillance. These therapy sessions seemed to work both ways, for the participants as well as the security officers. This is footage of Julie's visit to the surveillance control room of the Manchester Metropolitan University. Julie works at ITV. The older security officers are also present in the room and the conversation opens up to involve them. Steve expresses their resentment at being stereotyped as a 'four-pound-an-hour security guard on a power trip' even as the patrol officers reassert the importance of the 'man on the ground' over CCTV. Julie talks about young kids on estates having no respect for the elderly, and is corrected by Steve who pointedly tells her that kids at Uni can be just as offensive. Soon the discussion moves to the pubs (as seen on CCTV) around the Uni and the near complete gentrification of the place, the resentment amongst locals who can no longer visit their local pub since it is now 'student-only.' In a subtle reversal of subjectivities, we hear first hand from the security guards about the rapid gentrification of the city, "Picadilly gardens used to be beautiful. It's a bloody Berlin wall now!"Yes1267http://www.pad.ma/Vfsutshl/info2009-02-04weekly1.0CCTV Social: Day I Session 7. Evening http://www.pad.ma/Vfsutshl/poster.75.jpgFor CCTV Social, artist Shaina Anand collaborated with Manchester Metropolitan University and Arndale Shopping Centre to open working CCTV environments to a general audience. People normally 'enclosed' by these networks came into the control rooms to view, observe and monitor this condition, endemic in the UK. About thirty people signed up for one-hour sessions in the MMU security center to engage with the CCTV operators and monitor surveillance procedures. These sessions became somewhat like a diagnostic clinic, where they discussed symptoms, anxieties and inoculations about their 'public health,' under surveillance. These therapy sessions seemed to work both ways, for the participants as well as the security officers. Both Lowri and Amy had been victims and witnesses of crime that had occurred in the area being surveyed by the MMU security Centre. They recount these instances, even as the operator tracks a a hooded male down several streets. Yes424http://www.pad.ma/Vfx9rui4/info2009-02-06weekly1.0CCTV Social: Day I Session 5. 4 pm. http://www.pad.ma/Vfx9rui4/poster.75.jpgFor CCTV Social, artist Shaina Anand collaborated with Manchester Metropolitan University and Arndale Shopping Centre to open working CCTV environments to a general audience. People normally 'enclosed' by these networks came into the control rooms to view, observe and monitor this condition, endemic in the UK. About thirty people signed up for one-hour sessions in the MMU security center to engage with the CCTV operators and monitor surveillance procedures. These sessions became somewhat like a diagnostic clinic, where we discussed symptoms, anxieties and inoculations about our 'public health,' under surveillance. These therapy sessions seemed to work both ways, for the participants as well as the security officers. At 4 pm, a young man and woman came in and started a conversation that considerably changed the dynamics of the room. They began by questioning CCTV's near total inefficacy when it came to preventing violent crime. Joe and Steve got defensive, and stated that they were the first people in the day who had such obvious issues with video surveillance and began speaking about actual crime in the estates and suburbs. When it turned out that both Joe and the participants lived in Moss Side, 'one of the roughest neighbourhoods around,' the discussion shifted towards policing versus community support. Daniel said that the only way to effective crime control was if the police officers had personal relationships with the community or neighbourhood they policed. Yes830http://www.pad.ma/Vha3qgya/info2009-02-05weekly1.0CCTV Social: Day II Session 2. 11amhttp://www.pad.ma/Vha3qgya/poster.75.jpgFor CCTV Social, artist Shaina Anand collaborated with Manchester Metropolitan University and Arndale Shopping Centre to open working CCTV environments to a general audience. People normally 'enclosed' by these networks came into the control rooms to view, observe and monitor this condition, so endemic in the UK. About thirty people signed up for one-hour sessions in the MMU security center to engage with the CCTV operators and monitor surveillance procedures. These sessions became somewhat like a diagnostic clinic, where they discussed symptoms, anxieties and inoculations about their 'public health,' under surveillance. These therapy sessions seemed to work both ways, for the participants as well as the security officers. This is footage of Kate's conversation with Steve, the surveillance officer at the Manchester Metropolitan University. Kate is a film curator working at FACT, Liverpool and is interested in looking at how artists and operators look at CCTV. The interaction was interesting in that it reveals Steve's perspective on being stereotyped as "the security guard on a power trip." He also talks about how his job has altered his way of "seeing" reality. He now perceives the world around him through the detached "eye" of the camera. They talk about how and when, in the process of "watching," does one realise that someone's privacy is being invaded.Yes585http://www.pad.ma/Vhajvzd3/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Kashmir: Bhand Pather Artists Subhan Bhagat and Mahjoor Bhagat IIhttp://www.pad.ma/Vhajvzd3/poster.75.jpgPather is a folk theatre form of Kashmir. Bhand is the community of performers. This is an interview of Pather artist Mahjoor. He is son of legendary Pather artist and historian Mohd. Subhan Bhagat. For more about Subhan Bhagat please see the event - Kashmir: Folk Theatre of Bhand Pather I in this site. Mahjoor is trying to take forward the unfinished work of his father of documenting the history of Kashmiri folk theatre. Pather like all folk forms is pedestrian, agile and reflexive of its time. However, these forms were looked down upon in the 20th century, under the influence of post-colonial modernity, for their bawdy qualities. Many forms got extinct at that time. Though after independence a few visionaries tried to revive some of these forms by providing state patronage. Mohd. Subhan Bhagat, father of interviewee Mahjoor, was trusted to revitilise the Pather form. In the present volatile situation of Kashmir, where the whole population is edgy under various forms of violence and betrayals, the secular folk theatre of Pather may provide the much needed discourse to peace. It is interesting that Mahjoor talked at length about the role of comedy in the society. Comedy has always been a pedestrian cultural form as against the epic tragedies of classical works. Folk theatre often creates / improvises subversive narrative under the disguise of robust and bawdy comedy. In academic terms they can be called social satire or subversive popular culture. These forms could dodge the wrath of authority at any given time due to its agility, both in terms of content and physicality (these troups were mostly nomadic). The interview is conducted by Pankaj Rishi Kumar and interviewee Mahjoor Bhagat. The interview was conducted at the memorial structure of Shubhan Bhagat.Yes1736http://www.pad.ma/Vfsis7od/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Kashmir: Bhand Pather Artists Subhan Bhagat and Mahjoor Bhagat Ihttp://www.pad.ma/Vfsis7od/poster.75.jpgPather is a folk theatre form of Kashmir. Bhand is the community of performers. The plays of the Bhands are called pather, a word that seems to have derived from patra, dramatic character. Bhand comes from the bhaana, a satirical and realistic drama, generally a monologue that is mentioned in Bharata's Natya Shastra. The Bhand Pather though is not a monologue but a social drama incorporating mythological legends and contemporary social satire. Born Hindus, the Bhands converted to Islam and remain very secular in their outlook. An extremely simple, witty and practical people. The Bhand Pather unfortunately does not sustain them economically and they have been driven to other professions primarily weaving the basket work of the kangris, wolloen blankets and carpets. Post tenth century onwards has been a time when there were foreign invasions in the valley, the social fibre was disturbed and the Kashmiri became a slave in his own land where he had to face and live with alien cultures, religious and socio- political systems. This cross exchange also come through in the folk tradition of the state. The injustice that the people suffered was expressed in the plays albeit as absurd or humourous be it the king in Darza Pather or the royal soldiers in Shikargah, who speak in Persian to the poor and illiterate Kashmiri and expect him to understand a foreign tongue and whip him for not replying. Or the English couple in Angrez Pather who speak a hilarious version of the language to a resthouse guard while out on a hunt. In the Gosain Pather which is about Shiva and the Saivites of Kashmir, large puppets with masks are used to project the sense of oppression through the characters of the king or the witch. In all the plays, the local character is the protaganist, victorious in the end. The tradition and form is handed down through the generations from father to son. The Bhand has to train himself to be a skillful actor, dancer, acrobat and musician. The leader of the troupe is called the magun, a word taken from maha guni, a man of varied talent. He teaches his people the art and expertise of their inheritance. Today the training is virtually non-existent. A danger signal of the impending doom on this form of entertainment. The finest performers all belong to the older generation. Acting, dance and music are an integral part of the form as a whole. In pure tradition, the performances begin in the evening with a ritualistic dance, also called a chhok but different from the one done at the Shiva Bhagvati temple. With the onset of night the play unfolds gradually and ends in the early hours of the morning with the magun doing a duay kher, a prayer or blessing. The Bhands dance to the tune of a specified mukam and the orcehstra includes the swarnai, dhol, nagara and the thalij. The swarnai is larger in size than the shehnai with a strong and metallic sound that has arresting impact in the open air arena. This instrument attracts audiences from the vicinity. A very special wind instrument, it is made in three parts: the nai or wooden pipe made by special carpenters, the barg, a reed of a particular grass found locally and a copper disc the diameter of the pipe into which the barg is fitted. Before the swarnai player adopts his newly made instrument a ritual offering is made in dargah. The composition played is called a mukam and each Bhand Pather has its own. The music follows a set pattern, the salaam, thurau, dubitch, nau patti and the salgah. There is a highly developed system of music based on the classical mould of the sufiyana kalaam with intricate and codified patterns. M. K. Raina, theatre director. This is an interview of a contemporary Bhand artist Mahjoor Bhagat. His father Mohd. Subhan Bhagat had revitalized the Pather tradition by playing the roles of teacher, performer, historian, archivist and reformer, rolled into one. This interview should be read in the context of the recent upheavals in Kashmir. A popular culture or a folk form always reflects and also hides the unutterables of a time in its body. The works of Pather artists can be a major source of understanding the sentiment of the ordinary people in Kashmir. This interview was conducted by filmmaker Pankaj Rishi Kumar for the film Pather Chaujeri. The interview was conducted near the memorial structure of Mohd. Subhan Bhagat.Yes1216http://www.pad.ma/Vev46pag/info2010-03-14weekly1.0Behrampada: Documentshttp://www.pad.ma/Vev46pag/poster.75.jpgThis is a collection of shots from the rushes of 'I live in Behrampada', a documentary on a Muslim ghetto in the context of the Bombay riots, an aftermath of the Babari Masjid demolition. I was 8 years old during the Bombay '92-93 riots. My only memory of the time was an unscheduled two-month holiday from school, though the adult talk about stray dead bodies and destruction remains stored in some corner. Later various other incidents of violent identity politics and representations of the Bombay riots in films etc. made a constant a reference point. Going through the rushes after 15 years has also been a process of coming to terms with my own city and its black holes. The documents signal to the popular sentiment and the street culture of that time. What the newspapers were writing, what were the writings on the wall, who were the people killed by the police, what were the foregrounded images of the city…. The images raise many more questions than they answer. Yes1555http://www.pad.ma/Vfsn6r98/info2009-03-03weekly1.0Behrampada: Topographyhttp://www.pad.ma/Vfsn6r98/poster.75.jpgThis is a collection of shots from the rushes of 'I live in Behrampada', a documentary on a Muslim ghetto in the context of the Bombay riots, an aftermath of the Babari Masjid demolition. I was 8 years old during the Bombay '92-93 riots. My only memory of the time was an unscheduled two-month holiday from school, though the adult talk about stray dead bodies and destruction remains stored in some corner. Later various other incidents of violent identity politics and representations of the Bombay riots in films etc. made a constant a reference point. Going through the rushes after 15 years has also been a process of coming to terms with my own city and its black holes. The riots of '92-93 divided the famed cosmopolitan city of Bombay on communal lines and the neighbourhood of Behrampada bore the brunt of this division. The film explored social biases, which under emergency can create mayhem. It is recommended to visit the other interviews under the same category in this site in order to understand the whole picture. In this event we have compiled the shots of the slum from the outskirt. The slum is walled by Bandra station, LIG colony (lower income group colony). MIG (middle income group colony), Railway colony and an artery road called Anant Kanekar Marg which connects the station to the busy Highway. The outer ring of the area are comprised of a few important Govt. establishments – ONGC, MSEB, Indian Oil, Provident fund, Bandra court etc and a large marsh land. It is very important to understand the topography of the ghetto in order to deconstruct the neighbourhood violence in the name of communal intolerance. The surrounding areas of Behrampada are part of the middle class urban development phenomena. The large area of the low rise settlements are mostly viewed from a vantage top angle from the terraces of the high rise buildings or the foot over bridge of Bandra station. The densely situated small shanties appear like crawling creatures – in turns either exotic or repulsive, but nonetheless unknown and de-human. This vague social discomfort and discrepancies between Behrampada and the milieu surrounding them, were used to whip up a violent animosity. Most of the Behrampada residents are Muslim. Infact most of the poor people in India are Muslims. The social reasons for it are many and complex and cannot be discussed here. But this fact about Behrampada were used by the Hindu fundamentalist during the post Babri Masjid demolition to incite the Hindu neighbours in high rise buildings who have never entered the bylanes of the settlement. Yes1148http://www.pad.ma/Vgodwnov/info2009-05-25weekly1.0Behrampada: Public Prayershttp://www.pad.ma/Vgodwnov/poster.75.jpgThis is a collection of shots from the rushes of 'I live in Behrampada', a documentary on a Muslim ghetto in the context of the Bombay riots, an aftermath of the Babari Masjid demolition. I was 8 years old during the Bombay '92-93 riots. My only memory of the time was an unscheduled two-month holiday from school, though the adult talk about stray dead bodies and destruction remains stored in some corner. Later various other incidents of violent identity politics and representations of the Bombay riots in films etc. made a constant a reference point. Going through the rushes after 15 years has also been a process of coming to terms with my own city and its black holes. The riots of '92-93 divided the famed cosmopolitan city of Bombay on communal lines and the neighbourhood of Behrampada bore the brunt of this division. The persecution of the Muslims of Bombay, more specifically of Behrampada, started from 7th December, 1992, the day after the infamous Babri Masjid demolition in Ayodhya by the cadres of Hindu fundamentalist outfits. The Babri Masjid was a 16th century structure, a fine example of Jaunpuri architecture. The Hindu fundamentalist outfits claimed that it was the birthplace of the mythical Hindu god and the prime character of epic Ramayana, Ram. By using the majoritarian forces and the right wing govt. in the state of Uttar Pradesh, they demolished the Masjid and established a Ram temple in its place. The issue of erecting a large fancy temple at the site of the erstwhile Masjid is still one of the main points on which the elections of the country are fought, even in 2008, after 16 years of the demolition. During the height of this controversy we shot a few images of the Namaaz and the Maha Arti in the vicinity of Behrampada. Yes1005http://www.pad.ma/Veed5elr/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Neighbourhood Video Project: Keeping Bharatmata Alive – IIhttp://www.pad.ma/Veed5elr/poster.75.jpgBharatmata theatre was built on the mill land in Parel during the peak of textile mills in Mumbai in the ‘60s. The cinema was built as a ploy to make the migrant workers addicted to the city. The workers who were mainly migrants from the rural areas of Maharashtra were prone to leave the workplace for long duration and go back to the villages. Hence the mill owners thought of building a theatre as a source of entertainment close to the living quarters of the workers in Parel. Bharatmata continued to screen Marathi cinema for the working class even after fifty years at an affordable price. Without any paraphernalia of large screen, Dolby sound or air conditioning the theatre remains a bastion of mass entertainment. Kapil Bhopatkar, the manager of Bharatmata, has a ancestral relationship with the theatre. His grandfather Sadashiv Bhopatkar was a silent film hero. He was chosen by the mill owners to run Bharatmata (then called Laxmi talkies). Infact it was Sadashiv who adopted a policy decision to “run only Marathi films”. A tradition that remains to this day, save some tough times during the 80’s with the video revolution. A painting of his is hung on the right hand side of the screen, along with Dadasaheb Phalke, the father of Indian cinema, on the left. During the Quit India movement Bharatmata, in response to patriotic nationalism, had its name changed from Laxmi talkies. Hence all three theatres in this vicinity were named accordingly - Hindmata, Jaihind and Bharatmata. But since early 2000, with large scale globalization and land acquisition for the service industry in the area, Bharatmata theatre has come under public scrutiny. In 1980 a historical workers’ strike took place in the textile industry of Mumbai. The mill owners took advantage of the inexperienced leadership and siphoned off the capital out of the state. Most of the 54 mills never started again leaving large number workers unemployed. Since mid ‘90s, with the hidden blessings from the Govt., the mill owners started leasing out the mill lands reserved for the industrial use to the consumers’ market and real estate developers. Thus the area today has become an edgy neighbourhood of consumers’ outlets, offices of the multi-national corporations, residential skyscrapers and low rise workers’ quarters. The prime land that Bharatmata stands on, thus become a centre of controversy. In 2004 Majlis conducted a video training workshop for the members of Rojgar hack samiti. The students were split up into two groups and facilitated to make two short film on their neighbourhood. One group decided to make a short documentary film on haircutting practices in their area and made ‘Kato Magar Pyaar Se’ (Cut but with love). The other group decided to do a portrait of Bharatmata (literally means Mother India), the popular stand alone cinema in the vicinity. The film was titled ‘Runanu Bandh’ (Enduring ties). These are rushes from Runanu Bandh, shot by those offspring of the mill workers and aided by the Majlis team.Yes1205http://www.pad.ma/Vfwy1lnh/info2009-03-02weekly1.0Bazaar: Neighbourhood Daily Market in Trivandrumhttp://www.pad.ma/Vfwy1lnh/poster.75.jpgIt is a document of the daily life in a neighbourhood bazaar in Trivandrum. It is all about the ordinariness of the everyday. The bazaar is not famous or specifically exotic (depends on the interpretation of exotic), it is not even a large enterprise. It is a daily market selling mainly flowers and vegetables. The city is known for its various temples. The early morning flower shops obviously cater to the devotees to these temples. Many vendors, specially the women, offer a meager ware. It is said that the economy of an area can be understood by the quantity of the merchandise sold by any individual in the market. By that logic this market paints a sad picture. But maybe it is too superficial to jump into such conclusion so easily. However, the visuals of women standing for hours with handfuls of petals to sell is a poignant one. Most vendors in this bazaar do not even have a stall but uses small baskets and gunny sacks. It appears to be a normal day at the market with the usual chatter and bustle. The people seem largely unconcerned about the video camera in their midst. It is quite a counter to the usual romantic exotica associated with the great Indian bazaars. Maybe the understated and non-exhibitionist culture of South India (as oppose to the pomp of the North India) too has something to do with this. It is interesting to note that the audio of the bazaar sometimes seems more animated that the visuals. On wonder then that the crew had spent considerable time recording the ambience sound. The bazaar was shot as part of a study of Indian visual cultures in bazaar, streets, shrines and homes. Shot by Avijit Mukul Kishore.Yes1856http://www.pad.ma/Vdxzlek7/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Kashmir: Conversation with Wood Craftsmanhttp://www.pad.ma/Vdxzlek7/poster.75.jpgIn 1997, Saeed Mirza and his film crew traveled the length and breadth of India to make “A tryst with the people of India,” a documentary that marked fifty years of Indian independence. What has “independence” and “freedom” really meant for ordinary people across the country? How have they experienced modern India’s “tryst with destiny?” Mirza hoped to get the people’s perspectives on fifty years of freedom through conversations with a wide range of people across the country. As part of this trip, Mirza and his crew also traveled through Jammu and Kashmir, talking to a range of people from Jammu to the high mountains of Ladakh. In this section, Saeed Mirza stop at a wood-carving workshop ner Srinagar and talk to a mastercraftsman, Rafique. Wood-carving is an important industry in Kashmir, and wood-carving is a craft that has come down through several generations in Kashmir. These pieces of wooden art are important export items. The worst of the conflict that wracked the valley in the 1990s may be over by this time; there may be less fighting and bombing. But the army is everywhere, and many, many Hindus have left. How have these ongoing events affected the craftsmen, their livelihood, their art?In a fairly long conversation, Mirza asks Rafique these questions. Rafique is slow to open up, preferring perhaps to focus on his work rather than talk with a strange crew. By the end of the conversation, though, Rafique is noticeably more relaxed.Yes1697http://www.pad.ma/Vf077dg5/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Kashmir: Conversation with Fishermen on Dal Lakehttp://www.pad.ma/Vf077dg5/poster.75.jpgIn 1997, Saeed Mirza and his film crew traveled the length and breadth of India to make “A tryst with the people of India,” a documentary that marked fifty years of Indian independence. What has “independence” and “freedom” really meant for ordinary people across the country? How have they experienced modern India’s “tryst with destiny?” Mirza hoped to get the people’s perspectives on fifty years of freedom through conversations with a wide range of people across the country. As part of this trip, Mirza and his crew also traveled through Jammu and Kashmir, talking to a range of people from Jammu to the high mountains of Ladakh. In this part, Mirza and his crew are at the famed Dal Lake in Srinagar. The lake is famous for its idyllic beauty, its flora and fauna, the houseboats and shikaras that float on it. At the time that the crew travel to Dal Lake though, tourism and all other industries have suffered because of the turmoil of the early 1990s. And as the crew find out, the predominant mood here seems to be characterized by fear and despair. They first stop at a small fishing village and try and talk to some of the fisherfolk. While they are friendly enough, though, it is clear that these people are not ready to open up about their lives, definitey not to strangers with cameras. And then, a little further on Dal Lake, Mirza and the crew talk to their boatmen, two young men named Javed and Parvez. They are more willing to talk than the fishermen, certainly, but they talk of a fear, the kind of fear that makes people too afraid to say anything at all. And, of a kind of suffering that’s almost incommunicable. “Its too hard…if you were Kashmiri, you wouldn’t be able to answer these questions either.” Says 19 year old Javed, their tour guide on Dal Lake.Yes1552http://www.pad.ma/Vsmpixv1/info2009-06-15weekly1.0World Social Forum: Work in Progress, Bombay, 2004http://www.pad.ma/Vsmpixv1/poster.75.jpgThe World Social Forum originated in Porto Alegre, Brazil as a joint platform of various groups working on an anti-globalisation platform including the French group ATTAC. The first WSF was partly supported by the Porto Alegre government led by the Brazilian Worker’s Party. It was attended by 12,000 people from around the world. In the following years the event grew in size and support and in its 4th year, it was held outside Brazil for the first time, in Mumbai, India. It was attended by over 75,000 people. It was notable for having marked participation from indigenous people’s movements and highlighting issues of caste, sexualities and gender, besides a significant incorporation of art and performance as a site of politics as well as protest. As part of the activities we ran a video bulletin where media students who had been in a workshop for three weeks, where they learnt about the political issues as well as the journalistic challenges of covering such an event, worked with professional camera, sound and editing technicians as well as a group of three supervising editors/producers. The bulletin played on TV sets spread across the WSF grounds. Part of the intent was to involve local media students and future media practitioners in a significant political moment. But the impulse and shape of the exercise was also a response to the growing idea of radical documentation in the indy-media mode- unedited and supposedly uncommenting and by extension the assumption that to be amateur/raw/instantaneous/access technology was to automatically be radical. While acknowledging the power of many of these approaches within the moment of something like the Seattle protests, the video bulletin sought to take the discussion ahead and think about documentation from a space of political thought, to communicate political ideas and not documentation as political by default. Among the considerations was how to document an event of such scale and multiplicity with as much diversity as possible, but also with lasting value as a document of response. Hence the mixture of the professional and the amateur, the journalistic and the impressionistic, the guided and the completely personal was evolved. The bulletins were presented in a newsmagazine format and were of varying lengths. The film Work in Progress was put together from the approximately 80 hours of material generated in the process. Editing the film was a challenge precisely because of the wildly varied nature of the material, shot by 6 different camera people directed at various times by either of 18 different student directors in a space where one thing was constantly interrupting another. Eventually the film sought to knit together this diversity without smoothening it into unity, by using a concert style. We kept in mind the central themes that were discussed at the WSF, but also looked for the different eyes and ears that had recorded it and used that to create some pattern in texture and representation, to present a sense of this event and the political ideas that it is composed of. Though PADMA is essentially a site for unedited footage, we have made an exception in this case to put an edited film. The main reason is that the collection of footage runs in 100 hours. Besides, since the material is shot by different groups of people even the edited film represents multiple views of the event.Yes3576http://www.pad.ma/Vt4gq085/info2009-06-12weekly1.0Arrivals & Departures: Sewri Cemeteryhttp://www.pad.ma/Vt4gq085/poster.75.jpgThis is part of a series of study on the cemeteries of different communities in Bombay. In order to trace the multi-lingual, multi-cultural and multi-religious composition of the city the history, anecdotes, location and class structure of cemeteries were studied. This cemetery is known as Sewri Christian cemetery. Founded in 1865, the cemetery was meant to be the burial ground of the ruling British personnel and other European residents. Below are some excerpts from online queries about the cemetery from all over the world. "My grandmother, Sophie NICHOLAS, d. 1951, and was buried in Sewri Cemetery, Church of England/Scottish Section (Plot #NE2, Row E, Grave No. 6--white border around grave, grassy top with a white stone cross on top), Bombay. My Mum's last visit to the gravesite was in 1997, and she took photos, and it was upkept well. Aloma" "Further to Aloma's query, does anyone know of a source (preferably online) which lists the names/details of those interred in the Sewri Cemetery. Trying to find Ernest FREED who died in Bombay about 1934. TIA. Warmest regards, Terry Waters-Marsh Australia" "Sewri Cemetery Bombay burial record Ellen Blunden (View posts) Posted: 7 Aug 2006 6:15PM I am seeking further information if possible on the record of burial for James Topliss buried 6 April 1924". Once situated in one of the original seven islands that formed Bombay city, the cemetery today is part of the dense population. Shot by Avijit Mukul KishoreYes2292http://www.pad.ma/Vsmlf2ih/info2009-06-12weekly1.0Bar Dancer on the Ban: An Interview with Geetahttp://www.pad.ma/Vsmlf2ih/poster.75.jpgDancing in bars of Bombay and other parts of Maharashtra began in 1970s. It was a device to attract more customers to the bars and boost up sale of alcohol. The Govt. initially encouraged it in order to increase their revenue. The practice also turned out to be a modernized version of commercial dance. It provided livelihood to large number of women including many migrants from neighbouring states and countries. Many women from traditional courtesan, devdasi and other such commercial dancing communities had opted for dancing in bars. As the feudal patronage dried up dancing at bars, other than in marginal capacity in Bollywood cinemas, became the only option for these women. In 2005, the Maharashtra government proposed to ban dancing in the bars on the pretext of public morality. The proposal sparked wide public debate on issues of sexual morality, women’s rights and right to livelihood. The civil society got vertically divided on the issue. Still the Govt. went ahead and implemented the ban on 15th August, independence day of India, rendering approximately 70,000 women jobless. This is an interview with a bar dancer in the intermediary period when the petitions against the ban was pending in front of the Bombay court. Geeta is an active member of the bar dancers union. A married woman and mother of two children she is already on the wrong side of the age. The insecurity of loosing youth can be severe in this profession. Geeta has reached the stage when she can already feel the pinch. At this stage the sudden ban makes it far worse. She thinks the debate is eating into her precious last few hours in the circulation. She is from Maharashtra. The govt., at one point, announced that it would only consider rehabilitation programme for the dancers who are from the state of Maharashtra. This could be a ploy to break the unity of the dancers. But anyway it goes with the chauvinist politics of the region. To understand the issue and the event better it is recommended to visit other file under the same title in this site. Shot by Avijit Mukul Kishore. Interviewee - Geeta (G), Interviewer- Madhusree (M)Yes693http://www.pad.ma/Vg8urs1x/info2009-06-12weekly1.0Bar Dancers Case: Report on NDTVhttp://www.pad.ma/Vg8urs1x/poster.75.jpgThis is an NDTV “Special Report” on the controversy of banned dance bars in Mumbai. Mumbai is one of those cities where dance bars have been thriving and have met no open or big opposition for years. To the commoners' eye, they are invisible, yet they are starkly a part of the Mumbai folklore. Dancing to the beat of popular Hindi numbers and entertaining a male audience of a diverse age group, these girls and women earn their livelihood. Dancing at beer bars started in Maharashtra in the ‘70s. They were recognizable by the heavy door at the entrance and by the uniformed bouncers. In order to increase the revenue from alcohol sale the govt. kept issuing licenses for the dance bars and over the three decades these bars sprouted all over the state and specially in Bombay. In 2005 the Govt. proposed a bill to ban dancing at the bars on the pretext of public morality. But by then around 75,000 women were employed in the unorganized sector of bar dancing. Most of these women were migrants from the other parts of the state, country and the subcontinent. The bars though have been part of the cityscape for a long time, always maintained a low profile in terms of social visibility. It seems invisibility was a kind of shield for them. So, the silent existence of these bars was thrown into turmoil when a ban was proposed. (It got implemented on August 15, 2005, ironically (or maybe not) India's Independence Day. But this programme was telecasted in the intermediary period of passing the bill to ban the dance bars and implementing it). The Govt. proposal sparked a huge public debate on the issues of morality, sexuality and livelihood. The home minister in the state govt. R R Patil took it as a mission and persuaded it till the end. The civil society got vertically divided on the issue. While all the right wing outfits supported the ban, some old school women’s organizations too were vocal against bar dancing based on the argument of commodifying women’s body. Some feminist groups and other social movements campaigned against the ban foregrounding issues of right to livelihood, validity of sex based works and against moral policing. As the campaign progressed other issues and agenda – such as migration and regional chauvinism; nexus between police, politician and crime world; hypocrisy of public morality; interpretation of women’s rights and dignity etc. became part of the debate. In some sense the issue mirrored the contradictions of contemporary urban life. The speakers: Geeta Shetty, bar dancer and spokesperson of the Bar dancers’ union; Simran: Bar dancer; Preeti Patkar: Social worker, founder of Prerana, a night school initiative for the children of sex workers and faculty of TISS; Sanjana: Bar dancer; S Balakrishnan: Journalist; R R Patil: Leader of ruling NCP party and home minister of Maharashtra who spearheaded the campaign against dance bars with a missionary zeal; A N Roy: Police commissioner of Mumbai; Vilasrao Deshmukh: Leader of ruling Congress party and chief minister of Maharashtra; Uddhav Thackrey: President of the Marathi chauvinist party Shivsena; Manjeet Singh Sethi: Bar owner and president of Bar Owners’ Association; Middle class men; middle class girl; Flavia Agnes: Women’s rights advocate and founder of Majlis, a centre for rights discourse and inter-disciplinary art initiatives, Anonymous bar dancers.Yes1196http://www.pad.ma/Vee7b8zt/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Bazaar: Pydhonie the Day Before Idhttp://www.pad.ma/Vee7b8zt/poster.75.jpgPydhonie is an area between Mazgaon and the island of Mumbai. Some believe that the name is derived from the Marathi word ‘py’ means feet and ‘dhone’ which means to wash – in reference to a small creek that formed during the high tide. This was probably the first land permanently reclaimed from the sea in Bombay. Pydhonie separates the predominantly Muslim population of the eastern part of the inner city from the mainly Hindu part to the west. The main landmark is the Mumbadevi Temple. There are many famous markets close by such as Mohmad Ali road, Crawford market, Null bazaar (hardware market), Chor Bazaar (thieves’ market) etc. This video was shot extensively in the bazaars of Pydhonie during ramzan on the day before the Id. The market was specially busy with transaction in preparation of the id. The market was shot as an exercise to study the visual cultures on the streets and bazaars of India. Yes852http://www.pad.ma/Vs6686ca/info2009-02-05weekly1.0CCTV Social: Day II. various. http://www.pad.ma/Vs6686ca/poster.75.jpgFor CCTV Social, artist Shaina Anand collaborated with Manchester Metropolitan University and Arndale Shopping Centre to open working CCTV environments to a general audience. People normally 'enclosed' by these networks came into the control rooms to view, observe and monitor this condition, so endemic to the UK. About thirty people signed up for one-hour sessions in the MMU security center to engage with the CCTV operators and monitor surveillance procedures. These sessions became somewhat like a diagnostic clinic, where they discussed symptoms, anxieties and inoculations about their 'public health,' under surveillance. These therapy sessions seemed to work both ways, for the participants as well as the security officers. This is footage of interactions between some of the participants and the surveillance control officers at the Manchester Metropolitan University. They talk about the "real" and imagined benefits of CCTV as a crime prevention measure. Hannah, a student of criminology feels good to know that "someone up there is always watching," Lowrie wonders about the omnipotence of the whole thing, finding it "a bit like God."Yes330http://www.pad.ma/Vumjlgdk/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Kashmir: Travelling Through Bakarwal Village Part 2http://www.pad.ma/Vumjlgdk/poster.75.jpgIn 1997, Saeed Mirza and his film crew traveled the length and breadth of India to make “A tryst with the people of India,” a documentary that marked fifty years of Indian independence. What has “independence” and “freedom” really meant for ordinary people across the country? How have they experienced modern India’s “tryst with destiny?” Mirza hoped to get the people’s perspectives on fifty years of freedom through conversations with a wide range of people across the country. As part of this trip, Mirza and his crew also traveled through Jammu and Kashmir, talking to a range of people from Jammu to the high mountains of Ladakh. In this part, Mirza and the crew continue their conversation with Basharat Ali and the people of “Bakarwal Village,” a small group of nomadic shepherds who have set up a temporary settlement on the way to Srinagar. Basharat describes the many difficulties they face: lack of access to education and any kind of medical care are two of the major concerns. At the same time, Basharat speaks eloquently of the freedom and independence of their way of life, and of their love for the environment and natural beauty that surrounds them. Finally, they share a meal with the shepherds before continuing on their journey. Basharat is an articulate and very expressive young man, and the conversation becomes a philosophical discussion on the nomadic way of life at a time of great political and social upheaval. Years later, in his book “Ammi: Letters to a Democratic Mother,” Mirza remembers this conversation and calls Basharat “the poet of the high mountains.” Yes1489http://www.pad.ma/Vfsn8vkx/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Kashmir: Enforced Disappearances and Civic Action 1http://www.pad.ma/Vfsn8vkx/poster.75.jpgEnforced disappearances are a reality in Kashmir. Like most other issues pertaining to the unresolved conflict, the number of disappearances, agencies responsible for these and of course the legal status of those missing are frequently contested. Former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Saeed put the number at 60 while the former Law Minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig told the State Assembly on March 25, 2003 that since December 1992, 3744 are reported missing of whom 135 have been declared dead. Activists such as Parveena Ahangar of the Association of the Parents of Disappeared Persons and Zahir-ud-din, editor of Greater Kashmir estimate the numbers to be in the range of 4000-10, 000. These two 'events' were recorded and given to us by Zahir-ud-din. We have not edited any portions from the tape. Figures and numbers aside, the matters shared by most interviewees bring attention not just to the personal grief resulting from such disappearances but also to the material and social incumbencies brought to bear upon women, especially wives of disappeared persons. In all cases, however, each woman has described numerous arduous journeys they have undertaken to institutions, prisons, courts and detention centres. Parveena Ahangar has been at the forefront, having formed the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons to forge a community and bring attention human rights violations as well as to the grievances of the relatives. Yes972http://www.pad.ma/Vsndf1jm/info2009-06-26weekly1.0Behrampada & Its Residents: Quran Chachihttp://www.pad.ma/Vsndf1jm/poster.75.jpgThis is an interview from the rushes of the 'I live in Behrampada', a documentary on a Muslim ghetto in the context of the Bombay riots, an aftermath of the Babari Masjid demolition. I was 8 years old during the Bombay '92-93 riots. My only memory of the time was an unscheduled two-month holiday from school, though the adult talk about stray dead bodies and destruction remains stored in some corner. Later various other incidents of violent identity politics and representations of the Bombay riots in films etc. made a constant a reference point. Going through the rushes after 15 years has also been a process of coming to terms with my own city and its black holes. The riots of '92-93 divided the famed cosmopolitan city of Bombay on communal lines and the neighbourhood of Behrampada bore the brunt of this division. The film explored social biases, which under emergency can create mayhem. In this search, the film interviewed people from different classes and religions – namely, Hindu building residences, and Muslim slum dwellers; authorized buildings and unauthorized or under-dispute settlements. However, reading/seeing the whole rushes makes it clear that it was a manifestation of old politics of majoritarianism. It is recommended to visit the other interviews under the same category in this site in order to understand the whole picture. Quran Chachi, whose name is not known to us, was a resident of Behrampada. During the Bombay riots, Chachi helped her neighbours of Behrampada by doing her bit – reciting the Quran and hence calling out to Allah for help. The crew chanced upon her while hanging around in the settlement and recorded her testimony. She provided some graphic detail of taming of the wild land that they reside on now. Yet, making a land does not make anyone a legitimate resident of that place! A class and community identity plays a much more vital role in right to citizenship / residents. "I Live in Behrampada" is a depiction of that. Interviewee: Chachi (C); Interviewer: Madhusree Dutta (M); Shot by: Moloy RoyYes316http://www.pad.ma/Vs5wa9bn/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Bazaar: Chandni Chowkhttp://www.pad.ma/Vs5wa9bn/poster.75.jpgGoing by the name and the location, Chandni Chowk (literary means Silver Square)was built by the Mughal emperor Shahjahan in 1650, just outside the historical Red Fort. Through the 350 years the bazaar has gone through various metamorphosis and has also expanded in size. Today Chndni Chowk is one of largest markets in the country for both wholesale and retail outlets. The market offers wide range of merchandise – textiles, tailored clothes, Jewellery, electorincs, hardware, vessels, religious accessories, papers, stationery and calendars, leather goods, musical instruments, antiques, Chemicals, medical equipments, kites, eateries, spices, sweetmeats, dry fruits and so on. No contemporary shopping mall can compete with Chandni Chowk both in terms of variety and quantity of merchandise. The bazaar is divided into areas according to the merchandise – Kinari Bazaar, Nai sarak, Chawri bazaar, Tilak bazaar, Flea market etc. Chandni Chowk is also populated by shrines of different faiths. Other than the famous Jama Masjid, there are also many Hindu and Jain temples, Sikh Gurudwara and Christian churches. Chnadni Chowk bazaar mirrors the Characteristics of India in its multiplicity in culture and religion, a cusp between tradition and modernity and the overlap between spaces and functions. Chandni Chowk is frequented not only by the traders and shoppers, but also by Indian and foreign tourists. If not for the silver jewellery or electronic goods, then for the prayer at the Jama Masjid or for the delicious Kebabs at Karim’s and the roadside chats at Khari Baoli. The old constructions and extremely narrow bylanes, smell of spices and street food, sound of many languages and many kinds of vehicles, slow moving cycle rickshaws and hand pulling carts, shop displays and event announcements spilling over on the road with the movement of a dense population – Chandni chowk is one seamless flow from old civilization to contemporary metropolis. The bazaar was shot as part of a study of Indian visual cultures in bazaar, streets, shrines and homes. Shot by Avijit Mukul Kishore.Yes2772http://www.pad.ma/Vevef9uf/info2009-06-12weekly1.0Arrivals & Departures: Memorial Plaques at Cathedral Churchhttp://www.pad.ma/Vevef9uf/poster.75.jpgSt. Thomas Cathedral in the fort area is one of the oldest churches in the city. The foundation stone of the church was laid in 1672 and the inauguration happened on Christmas day in 1718. The church was named after St. Thomas, one of the 12 disciples of Christ who came to India and established the first Christian church in Kerala in first century AD. The Church was built to ‘improve the moral standard’ of the growing British settlement. A protestant establishment the church was built next to the European Fort where the white colonials were housed. The entrance of the church was one of three gates to the fort. After that gate the area was named Churchgate – a name which is still in use as the current train terminus. The St. Thomas church of beautiful gothic structure was elevated to a cathedral in 1837. Popularly it is always called Cathedral church. Currently the cathedral stands in the middle of the commercial region in the Fort area. The immaculate grave stones and the memorial plaques silently display the history of 200 years of colonised India. The evolution of English language since mid 18th century can be read through the texts on the plaques. Also can be traced the landmarks in colonial history as many British generals, soldiers and administrators who died in various battles against the revolts and struggles by the ‘natives’ were either buried or paid homage to at the cathedral. The elegant marble tombstones and plaques with intricate calligraphy and skillful sculpting bear the sub-texts of much violence of last two and a half centuries. This cathedral was shot as part of a study of the cemeteries in the city. The study was undertaken as an exercise in reading the history of the city and the movement of various communities in and out of the city at various historical junctures. Shot by Avijit Mukul Kishore. Yes1225http://www.pad.ma/Vu0nov6c/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Cityscape and Citizenship: Interview with Bulldozer Driver Sanjayhttp://www.pad.ma/Vu0nov6c/poster.75.jpgThis interview is shot in a workshop of Tarmat Infrastructural & Engineering Ltd. It is an international company which provides construction vehicles such as cranes, bulldozers, cement mixers etc. This workshop is meant for maintenance of the vehicles. So there would be hundreds of big vehicles, some old and rusted and yet some others freshly painted lie all over the huge campus. The workshop was a temporary one with a very small office in the middle of it. Goregaon east at that time was at the height of construction activities with buildings coming up under SRA (slum rehabilitation authority) scheme, new sky scrapers and shopping mall being under construction and adjacent forest land being released. The frenzy of construction activity required a vehicle repair workshop in the vicinity. We met Sanjay in the Nagri Nivara Hakk Samiti (Citizens' Housing Rights Association) office. He was a migrant worker from UP. He worked in various capacities as casual worker and was unemployed when we met him. His casual work briefs also included demolishing huts of the 'illegal' migrants. So he did – demolished huts of the people who are like him, for his livelihood. Finally one day he had to demolish his own home. With 55% to 60% population in this city living in slums and shanties this might be a regular occurrence when one is hired to destroy one's own life in order to make place for 'development'.Yes1071http://www.pad.ma/Vhr32c3t/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Kashmir: Campaign & Exhibition in Support of S. A. R. Geelanihttp://www.pad.ma/Vhr32c3t/poster.75.jpgOn December 13th 2001, the Indian Parliament was attacked by 5 gunmen. The NDA Government squarely laid the blame on Pakistan based militant groups, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad. In the days that followed, the police arrested 3 Kashmiri men and one Sikh woman under Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA). While the world was still reeling from the aftermath of 9/11 and the culture of Islamic demonisation, several nations including India passed anti-terror laws which permitted the use of confessions, extracted by police authorities, as permissible evidence within courts. Not only was this an infringement of International Human Rights law, it led to unconstitutional judgements and judicial demands which led to the accused being given death sentences in what has come to be known as the Indian Parliament Attack case. The apparent logic appeared to be that the attack on the Indian parliament merited an emotionally volatile and constitutionally unhinged retribution. Thus, most notably Afzal Guru and Geelani were given death sentences. One of the accused, Syed Abdul Rehman Geelani, was a lecturer at the Zakir Hussain College in Delhi. Geelani was given a death sentence by Judge S. N. Dhingra in 2002. A group of concerned citizens and activists formed the All India Committee of Defence for S. A. R. Geelani which campaigned for his acquittal. 50,000 postcards had been sent to the Home Ministry during the campaign by citizens demanding a fair trial. The shoddy police investigation, sensationalist media reportage and nationalistic chauvinism by BJP generated a blind hysteria which overlooked the basic tenets of judicial procedures. The growth of global Islamophobia, as well as a long ongoing resistance to Kashmiri disaffection created an atmosphere where these two intersected to produce an even more acute and sinister sentiment. For further reading kindly refer to 13 DEC: A Reader which has reprints of articles and essays by Nandita Haksar, Arundhati Roy, A. G. Noorani and Nirmalangshu Mukherji. The present video is a recording of the poster exhibition titled From Death Penalty to Acquittal: Lies of our Times Yes1433http://www.pad.ma/Vi7ce8b6/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Roadside Shrines: Christmas Cribs after WTC Attackhttp://www.pad.ma/Vi7ce8b6/poster.75.jpgChristianity though claimed to be a monolithic religion, actually survives in many versions all over the world. In turn local practices and rituals, over the years, permeated into the fortress of the centralized religion. The first known sign of Christianity in the region of India was the arrival of St. Thomas, one of the 12 disciples of Christ, in Kerala in first century AD. Christmas cribs are popularly known as tableaux of nativity (story of birth) of Jesus. In the year 1220 St. Francis of Assissi visited Bethlehem and witnessed the participatory way Christmas was celebrated there through these tableaux which recreated the birth of Jesus. He brought the ritual to Europe and then it spread all over the world. Though the cribs are religious, they are not essentially institutional. Any devotee can create a crib either in their houses or in public places or in the church. Setting up the manger figures is a favorite family activity. Children like to arrange the figures of Mary and Joseph in the stable, and the shepherds, animals and other figurines that are moved closer to the stable each day in anticipation of the arrival of baby Jesus. In many families, the figure of the Baby Jesus remains hidden until Christmas morning, when the children "discover" Him in the manger. It is also a custom to have the figures of the wise men begin their approach towards Bethlehem on Christmas Day after the star has appeared, to arrive at the stable. Christmas cribs have become more part of the festivity than religion. In that sense it has become part of the local popular cultures. As a result, often the cribs demonstrate local flavours and sentiments instead of the linear story of nativity in the Bible. Making cribs in public places have also become a popular social activity for the neighbourhood youngsters. This sequence was shot in Bombay during the Christmas of 2001, soon after the attack on WTC in New York and US invasion in Afghanistan. Overwhelming number of cribs referred to this development in their own ways. The cribs portrayed a curious mixture of traditional & kitsch and classical & contemporary. The young crib makers betrayed their own complex identity while interpreting the fall of WTC and the related events. A vague sense of Asian or third world identity made them sympathetic to the people of Afghanistan. At the same time their commitment to the Church made them critical about the alleged Islamic involvement in the violence of WTC attack. The young boys could not really articulate this complexity, but it was clearly evident in their works and words. However much the propaganda machine of George Bush had claimed that it was only ‘a war against terrorism’, these young boys in India understood the issue very well as a war against the Islamic Asia. Yes1282http://www.pad.ma/Vfs57ij4/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Behrampada & Its Neighbours: Female Residents of the LIG Colonyhttp://www.pad.ma/Vfs57ij4/poster.75.jpgThis is one interview from the rushes of the ‘I live in Behrampada’, a documentary on a Muslim ghetto in the context of the Bombay riots, an aftermath of the Babari Masjid demolition. I was 8 years old during the Bombay ’92-93 riots. My only memory of the time was an unscheduled two-month holiday from school, though the adult talk about stray dead bodies and destruction remains stored in some corner. Later various other incidents of violent identity politics and representations of the Bombay riots in films etc. made a constant a reference point. Going through the rushes after 15 years has also been a process of coming to terms with my own city and its black holes. The riots of ’92-93 divided the famed cosmopolitan city of Bombay on communal lines and the neighbourhood of Behrampada bore the brunt of this division. The film explored social biases, which under emergency can create mayhem. In this search, the film interviewed people from different classes and religions – namely, Hindu building residences, and Muslim slum dwellers; authorized buildings and unauthorized or under-dispute settlements. What is apparent in the interviews is the different perspectives on each event, accusation of the ‘other’ community and the feeling of being wronged and rejected. However, reading/seeing the whole rushes, makes it clear that it was a manifestation of old politics of majoritarianism. It is recommended to visit the other interviews under the same category in this site in order to understand the whole picture. This is an interview with the women of the building no. 30 in LIG (lower income group) colony, a building cluster made by the government that flanked the settlement of Behrampada. The building no. 30 is located at the vantage point between the slum and the middle class neighbourhood. In the two months period of the riots this building has often been marked as a source of attacks on the low rise slum. In this interview the women residents vehemently denies the allegation. This interview was conducted primarily in Hindi. Interviewees: LIG residents; Interviewer: Neera Adharkar (N) and Madhusree Dutta (M); Shot by: Moloy Roy.Yes901http://www.pad.ma/Vg8ielth/info2009-02-06weekly1.0CCTV Social: Day I Session 1. 11amhttp://www.pad.ma/Vg8ielth/poster.75.jpgFor CCTV Social, Shaina Anand collaborated with Manchester Metropolitan University and Arndale Shopping Centre to open working CCTV environments to a general audience. People normally 'enclosed' by these networks came into the control rooms to view, observe and monitor this condition, endemic in the UK. About thirty people signed up for one-hour sessions in the MMU security center to engage with the CCTV operators and monitor surveillance procedures. These sessions became somewhat like a diagnostic clinic, where they discussed symptoms, anxieties and inoculations about their 'public health,' under surveillance. These therapy sessions seemed to work both ways, for the participants as well as the security officers. This is a cut from the first session of the day. A young film-maker from London shows up with her camera, and quizzes the surveillance control room officer of Manchester Metropolitan University about how the system works. She expresses her reservations about surveillance as a preventative measure against crime. Interestingly, she brings her camera along and films as much as she can. Yes494http://www.pad.ma/Vumc143l/info2009-02-14weekly1.0Disket Document: Dinner Discoursehttp://www.pad.ma/Vumc143l/poster.75.jpgA number of historians, journalists and activists are invited to Disket in the Nubra Valley, Ladakh to participate in National Integration Conference. However, it appears that the same has been misrepresented, on arrival they are told that the actual event is the celebration of "Buddh Mahotsav", the first in a series of Nation-wide Events (the next was to be in Arunachal Pradsh) master-minded and organised by the VHP. What were a bunch of left-liberal folks to do? They performed their speeches for the good citizens and children of Disket, and talked late into the night. This clip depicts their discussions over dinner - making reference to everything from Leftist ideology, politics and workers rights, to feminism. The participants consist of : Shaina - Shaina Anand SA – Shubhadra Anand, Historian (Former Principal and Professor of History, R. D. National College, Bandra, Mumbai) IE – Irfan Engineer, Social Activist and Advocate (Director - Center for Study of Society and Secularism, Mumbai) MM – Meena Menon, Political and Trade Union Activist (Vice President, Girni Kamgar Sangharsh Samiti (Mill Workers' Action Committee) and Senior Associate, Focus on the Global South) RM - Rama Menon, journalist NS - Nandini Sunder, journalist SV - Siddharth Vardarajan, Former Editor, Times of India; currently the Strategic Affairs Editor, The Hindu. KMC - Kamal Mitra Chenoy, Professor, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru UniversityYes1025http://www.pad.ma/Vsbonyun/info2009-02-06weekly1.0CCTV Social: Day I Session 2. 12 pmhttp://www.pad.ma/Vsbonyun/poster.75.jpgFor CCTV Social, artist Shaina Anand collaborated with Manchester Metropolitan University and Arndale Shopping Centre to open working CCTV environments to a general audience. People normally 'enclosed' by these networks came into the control rooms to view, observe and monitor this condition, endemic in the UK.. About thirty people signed up for one-hour sessions in the MMU security center to engage with the CCTV operators and monitor surveillance procedures. These sessions became somewhat like a diagnostic clinic, where they discussed symptoms, anxieties and inoculations about their 'public health', under surveillance. These therapy sessions seemed to work both ways, for the participants as well as the security officers. 2 colleagues from the Cornerhouse education program (the work was commissioned Cornerhouse) signed on for the noon session. Joe, one of the operators, (blurred on request) explains how the CCTV camera would be "effective" in preventing crime as he demonstrates a series of hypothetical scenarios. Bernadette shows us the VHS tape cabinets and explains the record/erase procedure. Steve, on a ground patrol radios in and asks her to watch over a 'guy and a girl having a blazing row, pushing a trolley (with a baby).'Yes334http://www.pad.ma/Vevkc5lp/info2010-12-26weekly1.0Disket Document: Masked Dance Performancehttp://www.pad.ma/Vevkc5lp/poster.75.jpgA number of historians, journalists and activists are invited to Disket in the Nubra Valley, Ladakh to participate in National Integration Conference. However, it appears that the same has been misrepresented, on arrival they are told that the actual event is the celebration of "Buddh Mahotsav", the first in a series of Nation-wide Events (the next was to be in Arunachal Pradsh) master-minded and organised by the VHP. What were a bunch of left-liberal folks to do? They performed their speeches for the good citizens and children of Disket, and talked late into the night. This clip shows the delegates whisked off to the Disket Gompa (the only Gompa or monastery in the Disket region) for a two and a half hour cleansing ritual and masked dance performance. Locals, tourists and participants of the seminar are all gathered at the monastery for this breath-taking and hugely religious ritual-cum-performance by the <i>Lamas</i> (monks) of the Gompa.Yes2535http://www.pad.ma/Vi35vs9j/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Disket Document: Stadium Roundtable 3http://www.pad.ma/Vi35vs9j/poster.75.jpgA number of historians, journalists and activists are invited to Disket in the Nubra Valley, Ladakh to participate in National Integration Conference. However, it appears that the same has been misrepresented, on arrival they are told that the actual event is the celebration of "Buddh Mahotsav", the first in a series of Nation-wide Events (the next was to be in Arunachal Pradsh) master-minded and organised by the VHP. What were a bunch of left-liberal folks to do? They performed their speeches for the good citizens and children of Disket, and talked late into the night. It turned out that this part of the "Buddh Mahotsav" was organised along with 'Operation <i>Sadbhavana</i>', an insidious army-led initiative that was only very recently introduced (mid 2001) by Maj. Gen. Arjun Ray. The cultural festival of Ladakhi dance and music was organised by the Army officers' wives. Our delegates found themselves co-opted into this farce as they addressed this vast crowd in Hindi, Urdu or English on the topic of National Integration, the speeched interspersed with various performances. This is part three of the 'Stadium Roundtable.' (While their conference was completely hijacked by the VHP machinery, the colleagues did have many candid and sometimes intense discussions over meal times, etc. For more, search for 'Disket')Yes1161http://www.pad.ma/Vdxvhzez/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Interview with Namdeo Dhasal: The Poet and the Politician -1http://www.pad.ma/Vdxvhzez/poster.75.jpgInterview with Namdeo Dhasal (ND). Interviewer Madhusree Dutta (M). Shot by Avijit Mukul Kishore. Namdeo Dhasal is an eminent poet, a Dalit poet (dalit- a generic name for untouchable communities). Famous for his volatile personality he remains an enigma in the history of Maharashtra. Namdeo's political journey spreads from communism to Dalit Panther (Dalit liberation party) to right wing Shiv Sena, the extremist party which brought regional chauvinism in the politics of Maharashtra. In some way the life of Namdeo Dhasal is also a map of Maharashtra, specially of Mumbai - from vibrant trade union movement to assertion of regional identity of the working class in Sanyukta Maharashtra movement to sectarian politics to destructive 'development' under ruthless globalization and resulted identity politics. The poet Namdeo, the Dalit Namdeo, the power broker Namdeo, the survivor Namdeo, the rebel Namdeo, the melancholic Namdeo, the cunning Namdeo, the defeated Namdeo, the avant garde Namdeo, the idealist Namdeo, the compromised Namdeo - he has been everywhere, from the fringes to the centre. Quoting Dilip Chitre, “ Uprooted from the countryside and replanted in the inner city and the rotten core of Mumbai - a city of the most extreme and dehumanizing forms of exploitation - Namdeo's human roots proved not only tenacious, but also triumphant. He grew up out of a cesspool, drawing nourishment from it, metabolizing its toxic waste and thriving on the immunity he acquired, to become the poet of the underworld, a lumpen messiah, a poor man's bodhisattva". (Namdeo Dhasal, Poet of the Underworld) The interview was a feeble attempt to get into the phenomena that is Namdeo Dhasal. He was a reluctant interviewee. The session was interrupted by numerous phone calls - most of which are complicated 'business' affairs which needed to be fixed. Still at some points in the middle of the session he became real, approachable and maybe somewhat vulnerable. At the end though when we asked him to recite his famous poem Mumbai, Mumbai, Mazhya Priya Rande (Mumbai, my beloved whore) to the camera he said it was too long for him to read.Yes2619http://www.pad.ma/Vhqlefcx/info2011-03-10weekly1.0Interview with Namdeo Dhasal: The Poet and the Politician -2http://www.pad.ma/Vhqlefcx/poster.75.jpgInterview with Namdeo Dhasal (ND). Interviewer Madhusree Dutta (M). Shot by Avijit Mukul Kishore. Namdeo Dhasal is an eminent poet, a Dalit poet (dalit- a generic name for untouchable communities). Famous for his volatile personality he remains an enigma in the history of Maharashtra. Namdeo's political journey spreads from communism to Dalit Panther (Dalit liberation party) to right wing Shiv Sena, the extremist party which brought regional chauvinism in the politics of Maharashtra. In some way the life of Namdeo Dhasal is also a map of Maharashtra, specially of Mumbai - from vibrant trade union movement to assertion of regional identity of the working class in Sanyukta Maharashtra movement to sectarian politics to destructive 'development' under ruthless globalization and resulted identity politics. The poet Namdeo, the Dalit Namdeo, the power broker Namdeo, the survivor Namdeo, the rebel Namdeo, the melancholic Namdeo, the cunning Namdeo, the defeated Namdeo, the avant garde Namdeo, the idealist Namdeo, the compromised Namdeo - he has been everywhere, from the fringes to the centre. Quoting Dilip Chitre, " Uprooted from the countryside and replanted in the inner city and the rotten core of Mumbai - a city of the most extreme and dehumanizing forms of exploitation - Namdeo's human roots proved not only tenacious, but also triumphant. He grew up out of a cesspool, drawing nourishment from it, metabolizing its toxic waste and thriving on the immunity he acquired, to become the poet of the underworld, a lumpen messiah, a poor man's bodhisattva". (Namdeo Dhasal, Poet of the Underworld) The interview was a feeble attempt to get into the phenomena that is Namdeo Dhasal. He was a reluctant interviewee. The session was interrupted by numerous phone calls - most of which are complicated 'business' affairs which needed to be fixed. Still at some points in the middle of the session he became real, approachable and maybe somewhat vulnerable. At the end though when we asked him to recite his famous poem Mumbai, Mumbai, Mazhya Priya Rande (Mumbai, my beloved whore) to the camera he said it was too long for him to read. His lack of engagement with the most celebrated work of his, made him a phenomena in our eyes, yet again.Yes1406http://www.pad.ma/Vhmyrvyn/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Migrants, Settlers & Originals: Shama Vazifdarhttp://www.pad.ma/Vhmyrvyn/poster.75.jpgInterview with Shama Vazifdar. Interviewer: Madhusree Dutta (M). Shot by Avijit Mukul Kishore. Shama is a retired corporate executive. She used to work with ICICI bank before taking voluntary retirement. She is a Bohra Muslim living in Colaba. Colaba popularly known as an affluent part of the south Bombay has a large population of Bohra Muslim. The interview was taken in her family home. This interview was organized as part of tracing the plurality of Bombay’s social structure.Yes1913http://www.pad.ma/Vtor4k6n/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Popular Culture: Royal Cinema, Pila Househttp://www.pad.ma/Vtor4k6n/poster.75.jpgInterview of the gatemen at the Royal cinema. Royal cinema is situated in Pila house. Pila house is the district which in early 20th century British adminstration marked as entertainment district – Play house. In local tongue the Play house turned into Pila house. The area was surrounded by various Bazaars – Chor Bazaar (flea market), Null (water tap – broadly meant harware) Bazaar, Kanda-Batata (potato-onion) Bazaar, Bhendi (ladies finger) Bazaar etc. The bazaar with its floating population required entertainment centres. Pila house started with a cluster of theatres which mainly housed Parsee (a generic term for theatrical extravaganza with painted backdrop, historical or mythical themes and melodrama) plays in Hindusthani, Urdu, Gujarati and occasionally Marathi. The theatres later got converted into cinema houses. Some of the century old theatres are still functioning in the area. Interestingly the theatres in 'pila house' have names like Royal theatre, Albert cinema, Alexandra, Imperial – a reminiscent of the colonial legacy. Close to the Pila house and the Bazaars is Kamatipura – the famed red light area. With the international attention on AIDS epidemic and rise of sexual morality in public life, Kamatipura girls have started fading out since late 80s. As one sex worker once commented 'the red light area is now under white light (surveillance)'. And on the other side is Congress house, the community houses for traditional musicians and dancers who migrated to the city after the collapse of the tawaif (courtesan) culture patronized by the feudal system. For more information about Congress house please read The music room by Namita Devidayal, 2007, Random house India. Many of the Congress House artists opted for dancing at bars, made popular around 1970s. In 2005 the state govt. of Maharashtra banned dancing in bars. (for more information about bar dancers and the ban please see events under title Bar dancers, in this site.) With other entertainment establishments in the area under threat, the Pila house theatres are not in pink of heath. The tickets still cost only Rs.15/-, compared to Rs.150/- to Rs.200/- in the multiplexes. As the sites are leased from the govt. at concessional rate for entertainment purposes, they cannot be used for residential buildings. It is only a matter of time when the vicious real estate politics of the city manipulates this stipulation and grab it for 'development'. Interviewer: Madhusree (M), Mukul (MU), abeer. Interviewee: Gateman 1 (G1) and Gateman 2 (G2). Shot by Avijit Mukul KishoreYes1642http://www.pad.ma/Vi2i2gvb/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Neighbourhood Video Project: Saloon Culture in Public Spaces, Girangaon 2http://www.pad.ma/Vi2i2gvb/poster.75.jpgGirangaon, which translates as the village of mills, first began to take shape in the 19th century. Girangoan stretches over thousand acres from Byculla to Dadar and from Mahalaxmi to Elphinstone Road. Throughout its history it has been known to have witnessed extensive industrial action and frequent strikes. Most of the workers in these mills were migrants (about 84 % in 1921) who came to the city to work and often returned to their village in old age, in periods of sickness or unemployment and, of course, each year to help with the harvest. There are over 53 mills within Girangoan, most of them shut down. Although Girangoan has traditionally been a working-class district, the prices of real estate have soared over the past decade and the chances of further 'developing' overcrowded and expensive South Bombay – the business district – diminished. Hence, Bombay's most powerful builder lobby turned towards this area. In 2004 Majlis in conjunction with The Girangaon Rozgar Hakk Samiti organized filmmaking workshops with young students from Girangoan. The idea was to facilitate an exploration of the neighbourhood through filmmaking. Two groups were formed and each group chose their area of interest: one made a film on Bharatmata Cinema, the other a film on local men's saloons and hair-dressers titled Kato Magar Pyar se. It is a short and fun film for which they seem to have to interviewed well established saloons as well as street hair-dressers. Among them are citizens from various backgrounds, some playful and spirited others less so. This is an interview with one of them.Yes459http://www.pad.ma/Vgtqiblr/info2009-05-05weekly1.0Dharavi Kumbharwada: Ghanshorebhai Tank on Redevelopment Schemehttp://www.pad.ma/Vgtqiblr/poster.75.jpgDharavi is popularly termed as the largest slum in Asia. Known to be one of the densest and most layered human settlements in the world, the origin of Dharavi can be traced back to early 20th Century, at the height of the industrialization in the region. Dharavi is an area, which was originally located at the northern periphery of Bombay, but with boundaries of this ever-growing city constantly extending on all sides it has come to occupy prime location today. Today, according to official records, Dharavi is marked as an area spread over 223 hectares, where as many as 18,000 people crowd into a single acre. A 1986 survey by the National Slum Dwellers Federation (NSDF) counted 530,225 people (106,045 households) living in 80,518 structures. But considering the large number of ‘unofficial/illegal’ migration influx, the real number of people living in Dharavi is likely to be much more. Home to approximately one million people, Dharavi populace includes diverse language groups, religious communities and economic units. Most of the citizens of Dharavi are urban artisans, functioning out of the outer space of their one-storey shanties. This seamlessness in working and living space, over the decades, has resulted not only in high number of female wage earners but also facilitated occupations to an entire family, making it some sort of a family business. Currently, Dharavi is in the eye of a storm as the prime land that it occupies needs to be ‘re-developed’ to keep in pace with the economic globalization that is sweeping the city. Bombay, the supposed trade capital of India and India, the media acclaimed neo-Asian tiger of the international market, needs to grab more land and the old fashioned settlement of Dharavi must go in order to facilitate that. Currently the whole settlement – the residents’ associations, the govt., the international builders’ lobby as well as the civil society in Bombay are engaged in intense debate and complex maneuvering to extract the best possible deal out of this. But the problem is what is best for one of these sectors can be considered damaging by the other sector. Dharavi has been divided into 5 administrative sectors to facilitate the development process in smaller chunks. Besides the neighbourhoods are also determined by community occupations and infrastructures – such as Kumbharwada (potters’ colony), Koliwada (fisherman’s colony) etc. Following is an encounter with a resident of Kumbharwada (Potters’ colony), Mr. Ghanshodbhai Tank. Kumbharwada is the most organized and prosperous settlement in Dharavi. This house in Kumbharwada Wadi no 1. Kumbharwada is broadly divided in 4 wadis according to the date of inception. The Wadi 1 is the oldest and still has some old mud houses with innovative architectural features. Hence they enjoy better visibility and media presence than the other communities and occupations in Dharavi. There are 150 kilns (bhattis in local language) in wadi 1. The other wadas (sectors) are less spectacular with smaller houses, less number of kilns, and less facilities in terms of shop outlets. Wada no 4 is a Muslim majority settlement and situated in the interior of Dharavi. Some residents of Kumbharwada, specially from wadi 1 are organized in a outfit named after their caste ‘Prajapati’. Many of them believe that they would be able to use this clout effectively and would achieve a role of participation in the model of ‘redevelopment’ to be followed. Ghanshodbhai Tank is one of the major voices for development, albeit in his own terms. He owns a beautiful large house with two workshop units and two residential buildings spread in multiple floors and two round Kilns (goal bhattis). Round kilns are rare, more efficient and of superior architecture. The floor space of Ghashodbhai’s house will be around 5000 square feet. Shot by Tapan Vyas. Yes1390http://www.pad.ma/Vhqxjl2f/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Behrampada & Its Neighbours: Arun Naik & Prakash Bhurtehttp://www.pad.ma/Vhqxjl2f/poster.75.jpgThis is an interview from the rushes of the 'I live in Behrampada', a documentary on a Mulim ghetto in the context of the Bombay riots, an aftermath of the Babari Masjid demolition. I was 8 years old during the Bombay '92-93 riots. My only memory of the time was an unscheduled two-month holiday from school, though the adult talk about stray dead bodies and destruction remains stored in some corner. Later various other incidents of violent identity politics and representations of the Bombay riots in films etc. made a constant a reference point. Going through the rushes after 15 years has also been a process of coming to terms with my own city and its black holes. The riots of '92-93 divided the famed cosmopolitan city of Bombay on communal lines and the neighbourhood of Behrampada bore the brunt of this division. The film explored social biases, which under emergency can create mayhem. In this search, the film interviewed people from different classes and religions – namely, Hindu building residences, and Muslim slum dwellers; authorized buildings and unauthorized or under-dispute settlements. What is apparent in the interviews is the different perspectives on each event, accusation of the 'other' community and the feeling of being wronged and rejected. However, reading/seeing the whole rushes makes it clear that it was a manifestation of old politics of majoritarianism. It is recommended to visit the other interviews under the same category in this site in order to understand the whole picture. Omar Qureshi was a kind of village elder in Behrampada. He was also an active Congress member. With the control of some co-operative bank and ration shop in his hand he was not beyond a fair share of controversy and name-calling. Throughout the riots he was very active in various peace initiatives and had been liaison with the civil society outside Behrampada. It was said that his opposite fraction within the Congress had won the previous municipality election in Behrampada and so he was trying to gain some clout by leading the community during this crisis. What was evident at that time was Omar Qureshi's excellent oratorical skill and high respect that he commanded from the residents of Behrampada. Liyaqat Ali was a service man and a lieutenant to Omar Qureshi. At that time he appeared to have political aspiration. But later he shifted more towards community social work. He came across as a reasonable man of logic, evidences and non-rhetorical. In that charged time of sectarian politics and identity rhetoric, Liyaqat's calm demeanor was very reassuring.Yes1229http://www.pad.ma/Vgdosujg/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Neighbourhood Video Project: Keeping Bharatmata Alive – Ihttp://www.pad.ma/Vgdosujg/poster.75.jpgThe textile industry of Mumbai started in late 19th century. By the mid 20th century the industry grew into a cluster of 85 mills with a workforce of 230,000 workers. The textile industry was also prominent for its organized labour unions under the broad left ideology. But after the formation of the state of Maharashtra with Mumbai as its capital following an intense movement of identity assertion by the Marathi working class in 1960, the trade union movement slowly started loosing its political significance. The independent and also some right wing unions started consolidating its base in the textile industry. Following a call of indefinite strike led by independent union leader Datta Samant in 1982, the industry started drying up. The mill owners siphoned off the capital out of the state and many declared the mills sick. But the area in lower Parel where most of the mill situated still remained a working class area because of the living quarters of the mill workers in the vicinity. Thus in that area grew up a generation of youngsters who had never seen those chimneys working. They started a youth organization Rojgar Hakk Samiti (right to livelihood organization) in 2000. In 2004 Majlis conducted a video training workshop for the members of Rojgar Hakk Samiti. The participants were split up into two groups and facilitated to make two short films on their neighbourhood. One group decided to make a short documentary film on haircutting practices in their area and made 'Kato Magar Pyaar Se' (Cut, but with love). The other group decided to do a portrait of Bharatmata (literally means Mother India) cinema hall, the popular stand alone cinema in the vicinity. The film was titled 'Runanu Bandh' (Enduring ties). With the various drives of gentrification in the city, Bharatmata has been on everyone's radar. The working class cinema with low ticket rates is also termed as the last bastion of Marathi cinema as against the hegemony of the Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood. But the politics of real estate and revenue generating entertainment industry have been trying for a long time to demolish the theatre. So far the public outcry and strategic mobilization with the eminent citizens and renowned artists have saved Bharatmata cinema from the eventual attack of the bulldozer. These are rushes from Runanu Bandh, shot by those offspring of the mill workers and aided by the Majlis team. Interview with projectionist Harishchandra Dalvi and trade unionist Datta Iswalkar.Yes1230http://www.pad.ma/Veeiscxt/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Behrampada & Its Residents: Pyari Apahttp://www.pad.ma/Veeiscxt/poster.75.jpgs is an interview from the rushes of the 'I live in Behrampada', a documentary on a Mulim ghetto in the context of the Bombay riots, an aftermath of the Babari Masjid demolition. I was 8 years old during the Bombay '92-93 riots. My only memory of the time was an unscheduled two-month holiday from school, though the adult talk about stray dead bodies and destruction remains stored in some corner. Later various other incidents of violent identity politics and representations of the Bombay riots in films etc. made a constant a reference point. Going through the rushes after 15 years has also been a process of coming to terms with my own city and its black holes. The riots of '92-93 divided the famed cosmopolitan city of Bombay on communal lines and the neighbourhood of Behrampada bore the brunt of this division. The film explored social biases, which under emergency can create mayhem. In this search, the film interviewed people from different classes and religions – namely, Hindu building residences, and Muslim slum dwellers; authorized buildings and unauthorized or under-dispute settlements. What is apparent in the interviews is the different perspectives on each event, accusation of the 'other' community and the feeling of being wronged and rejected. However, reading/seeing the whole rushes makes it clear that it was a manifestation of old politics of majoritarianism. It is recommended to visit the other interviews under the same category in this site in order to understand the whole picture. Sabira, fondly known as 'Pyari Apa' is a resident of Behrampada. At the time of the riot she used to run a tiny miscellaneous shop in Behrampada. She was known for her story telling skill. Her fame for her oratorical skills took us to her for an interview. Interviewee: Sabira aka Pyari Apa (PA); Interviewer: Madhusree Dutta (M); Shot by: Moloy Roy.Yes463http://www.pad.ma/Vs7dywxe/info2009-05-05weekly1.0Dharavi Kumbharwada: Female Artisans as Casual Workershttp://www.pad.ma/Vs7dywxe/poster.75.jpgDharavi is a slum most popularly termed as the Asia’s biggest slum. Known to be one of the densest and most layered human settlements in the world, the origin of Dharavi can be traced back to early 19th Century, at the height of the industrialization in the region. Dharavi is an area, which was originally located at the northern periphery of Bombay, but with boundaries of this ever-growing city constantly extending on all sides it has come to occupy prime location today. Home to approximately one million people, Dharavi populace includes diverse language groups, religious communities and economic units. Most of the citizens of Dharavi are urban artisans, functioning out of the outer space of their living quarters. This seamlessness in working and living space, over the decades, has resulted not only in high number of female wage earners but also facilitated occupations to an entire family, making it some sort of a family business. Following is a story of a business unit hosted at a home in Kumbharwada (potters’ colony) Wadi 1. Kumbharwada is broadly divided in 4 areas termed as wadis. Wadi 1 was the first of the settlements and thus has more spacious units than the other sectors. The space in Kumbharwada houses cannot be measured by floor space. Each structure is multistoried with many mezzanine floors in-between. Thus the floor space is much more than the ground space. In Wadi 1 some mud houses with typical architecture can still be seen. This particular house belongs to Ghanshodbhai Tank, one of the most prosperous potter in the area. (see the event ‘Dharavi redevelopment: Cityscape and Citizenship’ in this site) The house has four structures around a central courtyard and the accumulated floor space would be more than 5000 square feet. One structure is used for low end production of diyas (oil lamps) and small pots. The other structure is used for high end production of big pots. The other two structures are residential units. The roof top of all structures are used for sun drying of the clay pots. Behind the houses are two round kilns popularly called as ‘Goal Bhattis’. Round kilns are superior than the rectangular ones and in the entire Kumbharwada these are the only two functioning round kilns. These bhattis are estimated to be 150 years old. Women from the neighbourhood come together every afternoon to polish the pots and earn their daily wages along with some of the less fortunate relatives of the family. The shooting is happening inside the production workshop which is three storied. In the ground floor women prepare the clay and make clay casts. While the diyas and other smaller wares are made directly on wheels, the large pots are first moulded and then put on wheels. After the casts are ready the UP Bhaiyas put them on the wheel and make pots. Then the pots go to the terrace (on top of the 2nd floor) to get dried. After the sun dry the pots are put on the bhatti for baking. After baking (depending on the clay quality and requirement of finish quality some baked pots are dried again in the sun). After the pots are properly dried the larger ones come for polishing and colouring. Women are involved at the first phase of making cast, at various stages of drying and then the last stage of polishing, colouring and decorating. The wheels are sometimes ran by the migrant wage workers from UP (Bhaiyas). Though the wheel work is traditionally known as superior job and women are prohibited to do that, these days the Kumbhar women in this kind of a set up severely bully the male migrant workers (bhaiyas) on the wheels in order to settle century old grudges. So the gender, class and migration stature get complicatedly entangled here. With the presence of women workers who live in the same neighbourhood, the workshop turns into a community place to share, gossip and laugh together. The footage is a glimpse into the multilayered housing and multi-faceted life in the Kumbharwada. Layers and layers of spaces… like a vertical labyrinth… you never know from where a head would pop up or from where a pair of feet would dangle. Shot by: Tapan VyasYes1377http://www.pad.ma/Vu05tuzj/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Behrampada & Its Residents: Liyaqat & Qureshihttp://www.pad.ma/Vu05tuzj/poster.75.jpgThis is an interview from the rushes of the ‘I live in Behrampada’, a documentary on a Mulim ghetto in the context of the Bombay riots, an aftermath of the Babari Masjid demolition. I was 8 years old during the Bombay ’92-93 riots. My only memory of the time was an unscheduled two-month holiday from school, though the adult talk about stray dead bodies and destruction remains stored in some corner. Later various other incidents of violent identity politics and representations of the Bombay riots in films etc. made a constant a reference point. Going through the rushes after 15 years has also been a process of coming to terms with my own city and its black holes. The riots of ’92-93 divided the famed cosmopolitan city of Bombay on communal lines and the neighbourhood of Behrampada bore the brunt of this division. The film explored social biases, which under emergency can create mayhem. In this search, the film interviewed people from different classes and religions – namely, Hindu building residences, and Muslim slum dwellers; authorized buildings and unauthorized or under-dispute settlements. What is apparent in the interviews is the different perspectives on each event, accusation of the ‘other’ community and the feeling of being wronged and rejected. However, reading/seeing the whole rushes makes it clear that it was a manifestation of old politics of majoritarianism. It is recommended to visit the other interviews under the same category in this site in order to understand the whole picture. Omar Qureshi was a kind of village elder in Behrampada. He was also an active Congress member. With the control of some co-operative bank and ration shop in his hand he was not beyond a fair share of controversy and name-calling. Throughout the riots he was very active in various peace initiatives and had been liaison with the civil society outside Behrampada. It was said that his opposite fraction within the Congress had won the previous municipality election in Behrampada and so he was trying to gain some clout by leading the community during this crisis. What was evident at that time was Omar Qureshi’s excellent oratorical skill and high respect that he commanded from the residents of Behrampada. Liyaqat Ali was a service man and a lieutenant to Omar Qureshi. At that time he appeared to have political aspiration. But later he shifted more towards community social work. He came across as a reasonable man of logic, evidences and non-rhetorical. In that charged time of sectarian politics and identity rhetoric, Liyaqat’s calm demeanor was very reassuring.Yes1316http://www.pad.ma/Vsn7mjf2/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Neighbourhood Video Project: Saloon Culture in Public Spaces, Girangaon 1http://www.pad.ma/Vsn7mjf2/poster.75.jpgGirangaon, which translates as the village of mills, first began to take shape in the 19th century. Girangoan stretches over thousand acres from Byculla to Dadar and from Mahalaxmi to Elphinstone Road. Throughout its history it has been known to have witnessed extensive industrial action and frequent strikes. Most of the workers in these mills were migrants (about 84 % in 1921) who came to the city to work and often returned to their village in old age, in periods of sickness or unemployment and, of course, each year to help with the harvest. There are over 53 mills within Girangoan, most of them shut down. Although Girangoan has traditionally been a working-class district, the prices of real estate have soared over the past decade and the chances of further 'developing' overcrowded and expensive South Bombay – the business district – diminished. Hence, Bombay's most powerful builder lobby turned towards this area. In 2004 Majlis in conjunction with The Girangaon Rozgar Hakk Samiti organized filmmaking workshops with young students from Girangoan. The idea was to facilitate an exploration of the neighbourhood through filmmaking. Two groups were formed and each group chose their area of interest: one made a film on Bharatmata Cinema, the other a film on local men's saloons and hair-dressers titled Kato Magar Pyar se. It is a short and fun film for which they seem to have to interviewed well established saloons as well as street hair-dressers. Among them are citizens from various backgrounds, some playful and spirited others less so. This is an interview with one of them.Yes991http://www.pad.ma/Vi7coazr/info2009-02-07weekly1.0WICityTV: Gujri, oldest junk market. Interview with the shopkeeper.http://www.pad.ma/Vi7coazr/poster.75.jpgJayshree Reddy and Preeti Prakash, crew members of [http://chitrakarkhana.net/whycitytv.htm WiCityTV], spent the weekend in Shivaji Nagar's notoriously famous Gujri Market. Like Elgin talkies, possibly one of the oldest cinemas in India, Bangalore's Gujri market, established over 80 years ago bears witness to Bangalore's colonial past, the downtown hub of Shivaji Nagar, with its proximity to Cantonment is also home to Russell Market. Here they speak with an antique car parts dealer.Yes2467http://www.pad.ma/Vulo45jz/info2011-09-28weekly1.0Disket Document: Post Stadiumhttp://www.pad.ma/Vulo45jz/poster.75.jpgA number of historians, journalists and activists are invited to Disket in the Nubra Valley, Ladakh to participate in a "National Integration Conference". However, it appears that this was misrepresented, on arrival they are told that the actual event is the celebration of "Buddh Mahotsav", the first in a series of Nation-wide Events (the next was to be in Arunachal Pradesh) master-minded and organised by the VHP. What were a bunch of left-liberal folks to do? They performed their speeches for the good citizens and children of Disket, and talked late into the night. This clip depicts their journey back from Disket.Yes535http://www.pad.ma/Vu15nmit/info2008-04-12weekly1.0Paul's Fallhttp://www.pad.ma/Vu15nmit/poster.75.jpgFootage from WI City TV, which was a pirate cable TV channel that ran in Shivaji Nagar, Bangalore in November 2005. Paul Keller falls in love with Shivaji Nagar. He bikes around clicking photographs of cows, painted signs and 'good question' posters from the World Info poster campaign. He falls off the bike and drops his camera. It needs to be repaired. He takes it to a Canon Authorized Service Center and is told that it will be sent to Delhi for an estimate and that alone will take a week. In one small lane near national market, paul meets his master and his camera is repaired the 'kaam chalao' way in twenty minutes for rupees two hundred only.Highlights include: A local translation of some of Sebastian Luetgert's, 'Good Question' posters, Pauls biker music video and Messiah Ajith's born again gift. Paul's Fall has a descriptive Voice Over which was written by Shaina Anand and recorded by Gaurav Chandelya in one smooth take.Yes1144http://www.pad.ma/Vha85py9/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Railway Station as Public Space: Bandra (Local)http://www.pad.ma/Vha85py9/poster.75.jpgBandra Railway Station is one of the busiest junctions in Mumbai. From here you can take trains to the Western and the Harbor lines and go to any other station on the vast Mumbai lines and therefore the crowd here consists of people from all over Mumbai, and from all sections of the society. The station also forms the distinguishing point between the Mumbai suburbs and the city. Most of the citizens of this “long” city choose to use public transportation for their everyday travel, and hence these railway tracks form the backbone of this metropolis. Mumbai's suburban rail systems carry estimatedly 2.2 billion passengers every year. Every Mumbaikar has their own unique experience and perspective of these trains and stations. Here you will see the famous “dabba walas” (lunchbox carriers) carrying hundreds of “dabbas” to offices all over or fisherwomen carrying fish in their “tokris” (basket), traveling side by side with the white collar office-goers and the college students. The unique concoction of sounds, smells and people that you will see here, will be found nowhere else. The Mumbai trains carry millions of people to work, college and back home daily and it is here that most of us build our tolerance to and understanding of this city. To me, the Mumbai trains are a lot more than just a means of transportation; they are a means of socializing, slogging, growing up, entertainment, escape and plain observation. An average Bombayite probably spends about an hour every week at a railway station, waiting for their train or trying to get into one; it’s part of the daily grind. In this clip we will see just that, a Bombay railway station right after rush hour, around 11 am because even our cameras would have refused to shoot in the middle of Bandra station rush hour! The Bandra station captures the true essence of this city and represents Bombay in its entirety: a metropolis.Yes1098http://www.pad.ma/Vfbnfw4g/info2009-03-02weekly1.0Bazaar: Mohd. Ali Roadhttp://www.pad.ma/Vfbnfw4g/poster.75.jpgMohd. Ali Road is one of the artery roads of the island city of Bombay. The densely populated area houses many wholesale and retail markets – Bhendi (ladies finger) Bazaar, Null (plumbing) Bazaar, Bora Bazaar, Chor (thieves) Bazaar etc.) throughout its stretch. The population of the area is mainly Muslim and significant part of them are traders. Though always a busy road it gets particularly overwhelming during Ramzaan. The ritual of Ramzaan which ends on Eid-ul-fitr on the day of the new moon, is widely practiced by all Muslims. During the month long Ramazan or Ramadan, the believers in Islam fast throughout the day and eat only after the sunset. The evenings are marked by prayers, family and social get-togethers and communal eating. Eid means happiness or festivity, and ul-fitr literally means breaking of fast. This busy streetscape takes us through the busiest time of the evening of Ramazan along Mohammed Ali road, where some roads are closed off and vendors put up food stalls and tables on the side of the road itself. People, including large number of non-Muslims, come even from fartherest part of the city to Mohd. Ali Road to take part in this social activity. Particularly the food in Bohri Mohalla (neighbourhood of Bohras) and around Minara Masjid is known to be connoisseur ’s delights. Ramzan at Mohd Ali road is an important landmark in Bombay’s social calendar. Garment shops, food stalls, cap stores, sweet marts, street vendors sell their wares; people rally for the evening prayers and the city gather to socialize - on the street. These shots were taken just the day before Eid. Shot by Avijit Mukul Kishore.Yes2071http://www.pad.ma/Vi35xauj/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Dharavi Kumbharwada: Matrilineal Artisanryhttp://www.pad.ma/Vi35xauj/poster.75.jpgDharavi is a slum popularly termed as the Asia’s biggest slum. Known to be one of the densest and most layered human settlements in the world, the origin of Dharavi can be traced back to early 19th Century, at the height of the industrialization in the region. Dharavi was originally located at the northern periphery of Bombay, but with boundaries of this ever-growing city constantly extending on all sides it has come to occupy prime location today. Today, according to official records, Dharavi is marked as an area spread over 175 hectares, where as many as 18,000 people crowd into a single acre. But considering the large presence of unofficial/illegal migration influx, the real number of people living in Dharavi is likely to be much more. Home to approximately one million people, Dharavi populace includes diverse language groups, religious communities and economic units. Most of the citizens of Dharavi are urban artisans, functioning out of the outer space of their one-storey shanties. This seamlessness in working and living space, over the decades, has resulted in high number of female wage earners. Most of these small enterprises run by contributions from all family members of any age. Kumbharwada (Potters’ colony) is one of the most prosperous, organized and well known areas of Dharavi. They supply earthen pots for daily uses, festivities and rituals, decoration and also for film shootings. Following is the documentation of one evening in the life of 19 year old Kirit Rathod and his family including two sisters, one brother, mother and grandmother. All members of the family work in the family occupation of pottery. This event was shot two days before Navratri. Navratri is a 9 –day long festival to celebrate fertility. It is mainly observed among the Gujarati community. The Kumbhars (potters) in Dharavi are also mostly Gujarati. In Navaratri pots are used as symbol of womb/fertility and worshipped. So this is the busiest season for the local potters. The following story is about the frenzy of last minute back log clearance, dispatches to the markets, selling from the domestic outlet etc. What is remarkable in this house and several such houses in Kumbharwada, is its structure. This house is in Wadi 2. There are 4 wadis in Kumbharwada. Wadi 2 is on the main 90 feet road with the shops at the front door of the houses opening on the road. The houses are linear with rooms one behind the other. In the rear of the houses is a common open space where the bhattis (kiln) are situated. Every few families share one Bhatti. The houses in wadi 2 are not as sprawling as Wadi 1 and the construction is somewhat more contemporary. Unlike the Wadi 1 houses these constructions do not facilitate as much roof top drying. They use the ground space behind the bhattis for sun drying. Though with new residents occupying houses and through various stages of repairs and renovations these specific characteristics of each Wadi have edged out to a great extent. From preparing the clay to production of the pots – making, baking, colouring- to storage to display to sell, everything happens under one roof. The small houses are erected with multiple layers with ladders, ventilators, lofts, scaffold and bunks in order to facilitate the work space as well as fulfil the requirements of a living quarter. Such imaginative and economic use of space should be treated as an example in architectural planning, instead of attempting to break them for the sake of ‘development’. Shot be Tapan Vyas. Yes851http://www.pad.ma/Vu606dbh/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Dharavi Municipal School: Cityscape & Childhoodhttp://www.pad.ma/Vu606dbh/poster.75.jpgDharavi is a settlement popularly termed as the Asia’s biggest slum. Known to be one of the densest and most layered human settlements in the world, the origin of Dharavi can be traced back to early 20th Century, at the height of the industrialization in the region. Dharavi is was originally located at the northern periphery of Bombay, but with boundaries of this ever-growing city constantly extending on all sides it has come to occupy prime location today. Today, according to official records, Dharavi is marked as an area spread over 175 hectares, where as many as 18,000 people crowd into a single acre. But considering the large presence of unofficial/illegal migration influx, the real number of people living in Dharavi is likely to be much more. Currently, Dharavi is in the eye of a storm as the prime land that it occupies needs to be ‘re-developed’ to keep in pace with the economic globalization that is sweeping the city. Bombay, the supposed trade capital of India and India, the media acclaimed neo-Asian tiger of the international market, needs to acquire more commercial land and the old fashioned settlement of Dharavi must go in order to facilitate that. As there is influx of people into Dharavi, there is also an exodus of people out of Dharavi. While most of the women in Dharavi work in home based trades, men often venture out, some even migrate to other countries in order to earn enough to eventually shift out of the infamous slum of Dharavi. Some men join shipping cargos which is considered prestigious occupation in Dharavi. Some others go to Arab countries as tailors, waiters etc. So many children grow up without seeing their father much. This event is shot outside the Municipality school in Dharavi, a centre of high aspiration for the poor residents. As the adults worry about ‘re-devolopment’, eviction and future of the children, the students happily court the camera. Shot by Tapan Vyas. Yes525http://www.pad.ma/Vuhcwelh/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Cityscape and Food Politics: Kapasia Familyhttp://www.pad.ma/Vuhcwelh/poster.75.jpgKapasia family is a Jain trader family. The large joint family live in a few falts in the same apartment building in Borivali. Though basically a trader family, the younger generation have also acquired professional degree and work in professional set ups in addition to the business. Though the flat is inadequate for the large family and the building too is old fashioned for the economic status of the Kapasias they prefer to stay put in the area that they are comfortable in. Jains are strictly vegetarian as they believe in non-violence. But in order to maintain the purity of their non-violence practice some Jains resort to all sort of violence in order to push away the people who eat non-vegetarian food. In recent years there have been serious incidences of discrimination against the meat and fish eating communities in Mumbai – such as denying tenancy in housing societies, forcibly shutting down restaurants and evicting old fish markets and fishermen’s settlements. Jains are rich traders and majority of them are supporters of the right wing party BJP (Bhartiya Janta Party). They have been using their political clout and class position to ‘cleanse’ the city. There is a definite attempt to divide the modern Indian cities between vegetarian gentry side and non-vegetarian pedestrian city. Ahmedabad, the capital of Gujarat has been the first test case for this design. Mumbai is second in the list. The pogrom over food politics got nurtured specially during the BJP rule at the centre in 1999-2004. This interview was organized in order to understand the depth of this food politics and related intolerance.Yes2587http://www.pad.ma/Vgdhh5ff/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Bazaar: Mapusa Market on Friday Before Christmashttp://www.pad.ma/Vgdhh5ff/poster.75.jpgIndian bazaars are a much exposed phenomena. Sometimes it is associated with the oriental exotica, yet another time it is quoted as a symbol of the indomitable spirit of the Indian masses. We explore some well known and some not so well known characteristics of the bazaars to explore the regional and cultural specificities of each. The quest was part of documenting public spaces and public cultures. This bazaar was shot in Goa during Christmas season. Goa was colonized by the Portuguese till 1961. A large part of the population of Goa is Christians and some still speaks in Portuguese. Indian Christianity is as much a post colonial reality as it is an indigenous social and cultural form. Layered with various local and regional cultural forms Christianity exists in India in many forms and hues. Study of this market is only a slice of that plurality. Though Mapusa is a daily market the large weekly bazaar, with open air stalls, takes place on every Friday. The informal part of the market – selling spices, flowers, vegetables, fish, cane baskets and also Christmas articles in small stalls and on the ground are mostly women. In some cases the women represent the entire cycle of the trade such us growing vegetables or weaving baskets to selling them in the market. In other cases they buy from the wholesale market and sell it in retails - such as fish market or Christmas accessories. This video was shot on the Friday before Christmas of 2001. Shot by Avijit Mukul Kishore.Yes3602http://www.pad.ma/Vfwzle47/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Disket Document: Stadium Roundtable 1http://www.pad.ma/Vfwzle47/poster.75.jpgA number of historians, journalists and activists are invited to Disket in the Nubra Valley, Ladakh to participate in National Integration Conference. However, it appears that the same has been misrepresented, on arrival they are told that the actual event is the celebration of "Buddh Mahotsav", the first in a series of Nation-wide Events (the next was to be in Arunachal Pradsh) master-minded and organised by the VHP. What were a bunch of left-liberal folks to do? They performed their speeches for the good citizens and children of Disket, and talked late into the night. It turned out that this part of the "Buddh Mahotsav" was organised along with 'Operation Sadbhavana', an insidious army-led initiative that was only very recently introduced (mid 2001) by Maj. Gen. Arjun Ray. The cultural festival of Ladakhi dance and music was organised by the Army officers' wives. Our delegates found themselves co-opted into this farce as they addressed this vast crowd in Hindi, Urdu or English on the topic of National Integration, the speeched interspersed with various performances. This is part one of the 'Stadium Roundtable.' (While their conference was completely hijacked by the VHP machinery, the colleagues did have many candid and sometimes intense discussions over meal times, etc. For more, search for 'Disket')Yes2140http://www.pad.ma/Vhmsn56k/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Disket Document: Stadium Roundtable 2http://www.pad.ma/Vhmsn56k/poster.75.jpgA number of historians, journalists and activists are invited to Disket in the Nubra Valley, Ladakh to participate in National Integration Conference. However, it appears that the same has been misrepresented, on arrival they are told that the actual event is the celebration of "Buddh Mahotsav", the first in a series of Nation-wide Events (the next was to be in Arunachal Pradsh) master-minded and organised by the VHP. What were a bunch of left-liberal folks to do? They performed their speeches for the good citizens and children of Disket, and talked late into the night. It turned out that this part of the "Buddh Mahotsav" was organised along with 'Operation Sadbhavana', an insidious army-led initiative that was only very recently introduced (mid 2001) by Maj. Gen. Arjun Ray. The cultural festival of Ladakhi dance and music was organised by the Army officers' wives. Our delegates found themselves co-opted into this farce as they addressed this vast crowd in Hindi, Urdu or English on the topic of National Integration, the speeched interspersed with various performances. This is part two of the 'Stadium Roundtable.' (While their conference was completely hijacked by the VHP machinery, the colleagues did have many candid and sometimes intense discussions over meal times, etc. For more, search for 'Disket')Yes1609http://www.pad.ma/Vsn7oqc3/info2009-02-19weekly1.0Speech by Medha Patkar: nexus between globaisation,consumerism and exploitationhttp://www.pad.ma/Vsn7oqc3/poster.75.jpgMedha Patkar, renowned social activist, and founder of the Narmada Bachao Andolan and the National Alliance of People's Movements, delivers a speech at a meeting of the Mumbai Sarvodaya Mandal. Her talk covers the need to analyse urban consumption habits in an attempt to prevent wastage, discussing the need for awareness among consumers about how the poor are being exploited in the capitalist consumerist scenario. In this manner, she suggests that the underlying ideology behind violence and exploitation of all kind is greed. And to change this trend, the people need to be educated about the politics of globalisation, and its complicity in the inevitable destruction of indigenous enterprises. She concludes by expressing her opinion that a shift from consumer culture to simple living will go a long way in ending this cycle of exploitation and violence.Yes625http://www.pad.ma/Vum7kzpj/info2012-01-10weekly1.0Now Talking TV: Cable Wars and Local Mediahttp://www.pad.ma/Vum7kzpj/poster.75.jpgWe were told about Suroor TV, a local Urdu-language channel, that an enterprising young Banglorean had tried to run from his family home. Lokesh, a local cable operator, used to air the channel as it would be hugely popular in Deccani-speaking Shivaji Nagar. This clip shows Lokesh, his 'gang' of cable operators from the locality, and members of Suroor TV. Members were joined by Jawahar Raja and Shuddhabrata Sengupta (Sarai) and Lawrence Liang (ALF) for an unedited and uncensored 80 mins of talking. This has been shot in Suroor TV Studio, Cox town, Bangalore.Yes3747http://www.pad.ma/Vgdt10v3/info2012-01-10weekly1.0WICITYTV:Gujri youthhttp://www.pad.ma/Vgdt10v3/poster.75.jpgJayshree Reddy and Preeti Prakash, crew members of WiCityTV, spent the weekend in Shivaji Nagar's notoriously famous Gujri Market. Like Elgin talkies, possibly one of the oldest cinemas in India, Bangalore's Gujri market, established over 80 years ago bears witness to Bangalore's colonial past. The downtown hub of Shivaji Nagar, with its proximity to Cantonment is also home to Russell Market. Here they speak to a young BPO employee living in Shivaji Nagar, who visits the Gujri Market to get his bike modified. This is Jayshree and Preeti's first stint with a camera. They were studying documentary at St. Josephs College. We encouraged them to converse and not just question.Yes606http://www.pad.ma/Vi7yl4d4/info2009-03-03weekly1.0Bazaar: Sawantwadi Wooden Toyshttp://www.pad.ma/Vi7yl4d4/poster.75.jpgSawantwadi is a town at the border of Maharashtra and Goa. We chanced upon a small market of wooden toys while traveling on the Bombay-Goa Express Highway. The town is known for its craft industry of small wooden objects. The popular motifs are various fruits, vegetables, birds and vehicles - bullock cart, cycle, train, fire brigade van, truck, police jeep etc. The design of the fruits and vegetables are reflective of the local culture. Since it is a farmers’ belt, the wooden objects are actually a kind of abstraction of the main occupation of the region. Other than children’s games and home decoration, the vegetables and fruits are also used in local weddings as symbol of prosperity and fertility. Though there are a few factories who also produced larger objects such as swings, horses for children to ride on, chairs, food plates, bowls etc., most part of this industry is home based. Generally one entire family is involved with the whole circle of curving out the models in wood, scraping and drying them, colouring them, compiling sets and making the display in the shop, handling local customers and agents for export to other cities. The entire process takes place at the modest homes and handled by the family members. The sleeping area doubles up for indoor works such as storage space, compilation works; the verandah doubles up for the shop, workshop for scraping and colouring and also as children’s study and the social space to meet neighbours; the courtyard behind the house is where the workshop to make the objects would be and the lane in front of the house is used for drying the objects. It is a smooth flow between public and private spaces and personal, social and professional interactions. The toys are colourful, suitably abstract and durable. While the Indian market gets swept by the cheap Chinese plastic toys and expensive US made Barbies, Kens and their trivias, the Indian artisans in various corners of the country still try to survive on their modest and old fashioned wares. Is it really all that difficult to re-invent these crafts? Or is it that we prefer a part of our culture to remain static and thus exotic, only to be found at an obscure junction on the highway? We spent a few hours in a morning with one such family. This family is Kanada speaking, which is the language of the other neighbouring state Karnataka. Though they are well versed with the pre-dominant language of the region, Konkani and Marathi and conducts business in those languages too. The people in the other shops in that lane spoke in Marathi. Obviously in this area, like most parts of India, there is a lot of crisscrossing of different languages. Shot by Avijit Mukul KishoreYes2762http://www.pad.ma/Vgpq0ixp/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Behrampada & Its Neighbours: Women of LIG Colonyhttp://www.pad.ma/Vgpq0ixp/poster.75.jpgThis is one interview from the rushes of the ‘I live in Behrampada’, a documentary on a Mulim ghetto in the context of the Bombay riots, an aftermath of the Babari Masjid demolition. I was 8 years old during the Bombay ’92-93 riots. My only memory of the time was an unscheduled two-month holiday from school, though the adult talk about stray dead bodies and destruction remains stored in some corner. Later various other incidents of violent identity politics and representations of the Bombay riots in films etc. made a constant a reference point. Going through the rushes after 15 years has also been a process of coming to terms with my own city and its black holes. The riots of ’92-93 divided the famed cosmopolitan city of Bombay on communal lines and the neighbourhood of Behrampada bore the brunt of this division. The film explored social biases, which under emergency can create mayhem. In this search, the film interviewed people from different classes and religions – namely, Hindu building residences, and Muslim slum dwellers; authorized buildings and unauthorized or under-dispute settlements. What is apparent in the interviews is the different perspectives on each event, accusation of the ‘other’ community and the feeling of being wronged and rejected. However, reading/seeing the whole rushes makes it clear that it was a manifestation of old politics of majoritarianism. It is recommended to visit the other interviews under the same category in this site in order to understand the whole picture. The following interview was conducted in Marathi with the residents of the LIG colony, a building cluster made by the Government. It is called LIG – Lower income group colony. The undignified policy of the govt. making clusters of homes by the economic status and then making it obvious in the address itself. These are working class or lower-middle class, Marathi speaking women who are narrating the events of 15th of December. A sticker on their wall reads “Garv se kaho hum Hindu hain” (We are Hindu, say it with pride!)Yes516http://www.pad.ma/Vhm4y3u3/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Behrampada & Its Residents: Nasima Bihttp://www.pad.ma/Vhm4y3u3/poster.75.jpgThis is an interview from the rushes of the ‘I live in Behrampada’, a documentary on a Mulim ghetto in the context of the Bombay riots, an aftermath of the Babari Masjid demolition. I was 8 years old during the Bombay ’92-93 riots. My only memory of the time was an unscheduled two-month holiday from school, though the adult talk about stray dead bodies and destruction remains stored in some corner. Later various other incidents of violent identity politics and representations of the Bombay riots in films etc. made a constant a reference point. Going through the rushes after 15 years has also been a process of coming to terms with my own city and its black holes. The riots of ’92-93 divided the famed cosmopolitan city of Bombay on communal lines and the neighbourhood of Behrampada bore the brunt of this division. The film explored social biases, which under emergency can create mayhem. In this search, the film interviewed people from different classes and religions – namely, Hindu building residences, and Muslim slum dwellers; authorized buildings and unauthorized or under-dispute settlements. What is apparent in the interviews is the different perspectives on each event, accusation of the ‘other’ community and the feeling of being wronged and rejected. However, reading/seeing the whole rushes makes it clear that it was a manifestation of old politics of majoritarianism. It is recommended to visit the other interviews under the same category in this site in order to understand the whole picture. Nasima Bi was a daily wage worker who survives on odd jobs. Due to the riots on the city big business establishments had closed down, some had even been destroyed. Furthermore the Muslim settlements were under surveillance from the police and the right wing Hindu forces. These resulted in complete collapse of economic structure and the person like Nasima, who were at the bottom of the structure were the worst hit. With her excellent articulation and pragmatic logic Nasima exposes the prevalent politics of intolerance. This interview has become iconic and representative of the Indian politics of last one and a half decade. It was quoted often in academic and activist fora. Visual artists such as Nalini Malani and Navjot created art works based on this interview. Interviewee: Nasima bi (NB); Interviewer: Madhusree Dutta (M). Shot by: Moloy Roy Director: Madhusree DuttaYes246http://www.pad.ma/Vfwlsoy9/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Behrampada & Its Neighbours: Men of LIG Colonyhttp://www.pad.ma/Vfwlsoy9/poster.75.jpgThis is one interview from the rushes of the ‘I live in Behrampada’, a documentary on a Mulim ghetto in the context of the Bombay riots, an aftermath of the Babari Masjid demolition. I was 8 years old during the Bombay ’92-93 riots. My only memory of the time was an unscheduled two-month holiday from school, though the adult talk about stray dead bodies and destruction remains stored in some corner. Later various other incidents of violent identity politics and representations of the Bombay riots in films etc. made a constant a reference point. Going through the rushes after 15 years has also been a process of coming to terms with my own city and its black holes. The riots of ’92-93 divided the famed cosmopolitan city of Bombay on communal lines and the neighbourhood of Behrampada bore the brunt of this division. The film explored social biases, which under emergency can create mayhem. In this search, the film interviewed people from different classes and religions – namely, Hindu building residences, and Muslim slum dwellers; authorized buildings and unauthorized or under-dispute settlements. What is apparent in the interviews is the different perspectives on each event, accusation of the ‘other’ community and the feeling of being wronged and rejected. However, reading/seeing the whole rushes makes it clear that it was a manifestation of old politics of majoritarianism. It is recommended to visit the other interviews under the same category in this site in order to understand the whole picture. This is an interview with the residents of a building cluster made by the Government. It is called LIG – Lower income group colony. The undignified policy of the govt. making clusters of homes by the economic status and then making it obvious in the address itself. Shot by: Moloy Roy Director: Madhusree DuttaYes1373http://www.pad.ma/Vi80hnxt/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Bazaar: Panjim During Christmashttp://www.pad.ma/Vi80hnxt/poster.75.jpgIndian bazaars are a much exposed phenomena. Sometimes it is associated with the oriental exotica, yet another time it is quoted as a symbol of the indomitable spirit of the Indian masses. We explore some well known and some not so well known characteristics of the bazaars to explore the regional and cultural specificities of each bazaar. The quest was part of documenting public spaces and public cultures. This bazaar was shot in Goa during Christmas season. Goa was colonized by the Portuguese till 1961. A large part of the population of Goa is Christians and some still speaks in Portuguese. Indian Christianity is as much a post colonial reality as it is an indigenous social and cultural form. Layered with various local and regional cultural forms Christianity exists in India in many forms and hues. Study of this market is only a slice of that plurality. Shot by Avijit Mukul KishoreYes1243http://www.pad.ma/Vsn7szmi/info2010-03-20weekly1.0Kashmir Doordarshan Film: Ethnographic Documentary on Papier Mache Industryhttp://www.pad.ma/Vsn7szmi/poster.75.jpgA few years ago while visiting the media department at Kashmir University my colleague collected a few films that had been funded by the department and screened on Doordarshan during the early 90s. During conversation it emerged that, apart from stock images of Kashmir, a large portion of these films had actually been shot in Delhi masquerading as Kashmir. Shooting, especially outdoor shooting, was impossible during the early 90s. Muzaffar Ali's film 'Zooni' remained incomplete and Bollywood returned later only to represent high altitude terrorism. Mani Ratnam's 'Roja', which was released in 1993 in Tamil was shot in Himachal Pradesh. The production and memory of such films gesture towards a time when Kashmir was largely inaccessible, yet the 'national' desire to maintain the veneer of control resulted in continued production of state funded ethnographic films which presented the seemingly timeless quality of Kashmir. Between these extremely opposed representations: one, a rather romantic one of the Kashmiri man as timeless, ordinary artisan and the other as the Muslim terrorist, the Kashmiri as a subject continued to elude the mainstream apparatus of representation and understanding. The extreme close-up shots of the artisans' hands, reminiscent of 19th century romantic photography in Kashmir of the carpet weaver or perhaps even a much fetishized Shashi Kapoor as the naive Kashmiri boatman in 'Jab Jab phool Khile' (1965) indicate perhaps that this is an inherited and problematic legacy.Yes1004http://www.pad.ma/Vtk4be6j/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Kashmir Public Broadcast: Conflict, News and Broadcast in Early 90shttp://www.pad.ma/Vtk4be6j/poster.75.jpgThis is an interview with Dr. Farooq Nazki, former director of Doordarshan Kashmir and Radio Kashmir. His father Mir Ghulam Rasool Nazki was a renowned poet who wrote in Urdu, Kashmiri and Persian. In this interview Dr. Nazki talks about radio and television broadcast in Kashmir since its inception right up to the 90s when separatist movement was at its zenith. Yes1316http://www.pad.ma/Vedpbzir/info2009-03-03weekly1.0Behrampada and Its Residents: Zainab Bihttp://www.pad.ma/Vedpbzir/poster.75.jpgThis is an interview from the rushes of the ‘I live in Behrampada’, a documentary on a Mulim ghetto in the context of the Bombay riots, an aftermath of the Babari Masjid demolition. I was 8 years old during the Bombay ’92-93 riots. My only memory of the time was an unscheduled two-month holiday from school, though the adult talk about stray dead bodies and destruction remains stored in some corner. Later various other incidents of violent identity politics and representations of the Bombay riots in films etc. made a constant a reference point. Going through the rushes after 15 years has also been a process of coming to terms with my own city and its black holes. The riots of ’92-93 divided the famed cosmopolitan city of Bombay on communal lines and the neighbourhood of Behrampada bore the brunt of this division. The film explored social biases, which under emergency can create mayhem. In this search, the film interviewed people from different classes and religions – namely, Hindu building residences, and Muslim slum dwellers; authorized buildings and unauthorized or under-dispute settlements. What is apparent in the interviews is the different perspectives on each event, accusation of the ‘other’ community and the feeling of being wronged and rejected. However, reading/seeing the whole rushes makes it clear that it was a manifestation of old politics of majoritarianism. It is recommended to visit the other interviews under the same category in this site in order to understand the whole picture. Zainab Bi, was one of the first residents of Behrampada. She came to Behrampada around partition in 1948 and literally made this land with her own hands by feeding sand into the marshland. She has witnessed the growth of urbanisation from the unpopulated marshland to a vibrant settlement to the call of re-development which had rendered her as illegal and to the carnage of 1992-93. The history of the 46 year old would never consider her story as a valid source. The history of war, border, legislation and governance will never remember the tiny hands that actually created land for the next generation to live and contest over that land. Today’s Mother India is rendered illegal citizen and has been threatened to be displaced, all in the name of development and in the garb of religion. Interviewee: Zainab bi (ZB); Interviewer: Madhusree Dutta (M). Shot by: Moloy Roy Director: Madhusree DuttaYes484http://www.pad.ma/Vuhje11l/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Behrampada & Its Neighbours: Harish Bhanothttp://www.pad.ma/Vuhje11l/poster.75.jpgThis is one interview from the rushes of the ‘I live in Behrampada’, a documentary on a Mulim ghetto in the context of the Bombay riots, an aftermath of the Babari Masjid demolition. I was 8 years old during the Bombay ’92-93 riots. My only memory of the time was an unscheduled two-month holiday from school, though the adult talk about stray dead bodies and destruction remains stored in some corner. Later various other incidents of violent identity politics and representations of the Bombay riots in films etc. made a constant a reference point. Going through the rushes after 15 years has also been a process of coming to terms with my own city and its black holes. The riots of ’92-93 divided the famed cosmopolitan city of Bombay on communal lines and the neighbourhood of Behrampada bore the brunt of this division. The film explored social biases, which under emergency can create mayhem. In this search, the film interviewed people from different classes and religions – namely, Hindu building residences, and Muslim slum dwellers; authorized buildings and unauthorized or under-dispute settlements. What is apparent in the interviews is the different perspectives on each event, accusation of the ‘other’ community and the feeling of being wronged and rejected. However, reading/seeing the whole rushes makes it clear that it was a manifestation of old politics of majoritarianism. It is recommended to visit the other interviews under the same category in this site in order to understand the whole picture. Harish Bhanot, who was senior editor at Hindustan Times, attempts to provide an objective view of the happenings, yet some inevitable class and community biases seep in. The rhetoric of "My neighbours of Behrampada" cannot seal off all holes. Interviewee: Harish Bhanot (HB) Interviewer: Madhusree Dutta (M) Shot by: Moloy RoyYes1304http://www.pad.ma/Vtk6cdrb/info2010-03-13weekly1.0Bombay of the Silver Screenhttp://www.pad.ma/Vtk6cdrb/poster.75.jpgIf there is one city that exemplifies India's contradictory modernity, it has to be Bombay. The city of dreams and nightmares has had its fair share of cinematic time, and these two songs form the fifties show us two different Bombays.Yes797http://www.pad.ma/Vgorwd90/info2010-03-13weekly1.0Gangster Cityhttp://www.pad.ma/Vgorwd90/poster.75.jpgTwo glimpses of crime and the city, one located at the streets, and the other which mobilizes the idea of the city as an information network within a global contemporary in which time and space are completely reconfigured by technology.Yes255http://www.pad.ma/Vgdt81gf/info2012-01-10weekly1.0Desiring the Metropolishttp://www.pad.ma/Vgdt81gf/poster.75.jpgCinema exceeds any idea of the real, and also serves as the archive of aspirations of the ideal modern. These two clips engage with two differently located aspirations, one of the metropolis and the other from the margins of the metropolis.Yes85http://www.pad.ma/Vgduxp3d/info2008-02-27weekly1.0Song and Damshttp://www.pad.ma/Vgduxp3d/poster.75.jpgCinema as an apparatus of modernity takes on particularly interesting role in the history of India, with a number of films from the fifties and sixties being shot on dams. These film clips along with archival footage of Raj Kapoor speaking about the influence of Nehru on his filmsYes782http://www.pad.ma/Vfxa13n3/info2010-03-13weekly1.0Cinema as Sight Seeinghttp://www.pad.ma/Vfxa13n3/poster.75.jpgCinema as has always served as a panorama of the world, and these two clips take us through a 70mm sight seeing tour of the world for the costs of a movie ticket.Yes661http://www.pad.ma/Vtkny5c5/info2008-02-27weekly1.0The Lumpen Audiencehttp://www.pad.ma/Vtkny5c5/poster.75.jpgAll three clips deal with the question of spectatorship, and the distinction between the idea of the middle audience and the lumpen audience marked by its excessive behaviour. These clips illustrate the idea of cinema as a space of immense contestation, and the cinematic public as one that exceeds the logic of the public sphere as understood in political discourse.Yes311http://www.pad.ma/Vi37nf6l/info2010-03-13weekly1.0Cinematic Cityhttp://www.pad.ma/Vi37nf6l/poster.75.jpgThe flashback is one of the most popular devices in Hindi cinema, serving he purpose of mediating between public memory and private memory. A space of memory that only the audience has privy to, and which is often excluded to the characters in the narrative of the film. This clip is the opening sequence of Deewar made in 1975 by Yash Chopra. Shashi Kapoor who plays Inspector Ravi is being felicitated in a public function and calls his mother on stage to receive the award. We find out subsequently that he is being given the award for his bravery in killing a gangster Vijay who was also his brother. Deewar stages the conflict between the contractual law abiding citizen and its subterranean other, the illegal citizen, who can never fully occupy the space of the citizen. And yet the narrative of the citizen is doomed to be haunted by the memory of the denizen, a narrative that may have no space in official archives and records, but is articulated as a wound in personal memory. This clip is very similar to the opening sequence of another iconic film, Mother India in which nargis is asked to inaugurate a dam, and she falls back into private memory including the traumatic memory of having killed her son, Birju to uphold the law. The metaphor of a mother having killed her son, or having sanctioned the killing of her son is a repetitive one in Hindi cinema. It is also interesting to contrast sequences such as the Dewwar and Mother India with the words of Nehru to the oustees of the Hirakud dam "If you must suffer, suffer for the sake of the nation".Yes623http://www.pad.ma/Vgpe12kp/info2010-03-20weekly1.0Anthems of Citizenshiphttp://www.pad.ma/Vgpe12kp/poster.75.jpgThe unofficial anthems of citizenship which are almost the musical equivalents of Nehru's famous Tryst with destiny speech, these two clips highlight the important role of cinema in the construction of national consciousness and the identity of the citizen in postcolonial India.Yes807http://www.pad.ma/Vdxvjkjd/info2008-02-27weekly1.0The Tapori in Hindi Cinemahttp://www.pad.ma/Vdxvjkjd/poster.75.jpgCinema's role as an urban archive includes its role of documenting the various figures of the urban landscape. These three clips are devoted to the Tapori in Bombay, our very own flaneur who claims his space through dress, language and performance.Yes527http://www.pad.ma/Vt48zy5x/info2012-01-10weekly1.0The Public in and of Cinemahttp://www.pad.ma/Vt48zy5x/poster.75.jpgThese clips deal with the diverse publics, in and of cinema. In one an upright police officer plays the pedagogic role of reforming the unruly public, while addressing the audience at large, and in the other, the lumpen public dreams of its own vernacular modernity.Yes266http://www.pad.ma/Veve2e35/info2009-03-19weekly1.0A day in the life of Niranjan Hiranandani: At work.http://www.pad.ma/Veve2e35/poster.75.jpgNiranjan Hiranandani, MD of Hiranadani construction at work in his Headquarters in Powai. We are driving with Hiranandani to Powai. Nearing Powai, we are out of the BMW and we tail him in our Santro. In office, Hiranandani does a power walk through the entire office, taking stock of a weeks work and meeting his employees. 'Management by walking' he calls it. He then enters his cabin and begins meetings.Yes2454http://www.pad.ma/Vtowua9j/info2009-03-19weekly1.0A day in the life of Niranjan Hiranandani: Morning Home to Powaihttp://www.pad.ma/Vtowua9j/poster.75.jpgNiranjan Hiranandani, MD of Hiranadani construction takes a chauffeur driven car from his home on Malabar hill to his Headquarters in Powai. He leaves home and takes more than 6 new flyovers to cover the roughly 42 km distance to Powai.Yes2151http://www.pad.ma/Vfsooytt/info2012-01-10weekly1.0On Movement and Malls : Jagadeesh B, ALFhttp://www.pad.ma/Vfsooytt/poster.75.jpgJagdeesh works on cases for people who are too poor to afford legal assistance. Here, he expresses his views on rehabilitation, displacement, compensation and explains to filmmaker Sravanthi K (S) possible legal options available to shopkeepers working in the Bangalore's famous electronic grey market - National Market and Burma Bazaar, in the face of new upmarket shopping malls and the new 'mall culture' possibly replacing their small time business operations.Yes2200http://www.pad.ma/Vfbljdbd/info2012-01-10weekly1.0An interview with Tahir Amin.http://www.pad.ma/Vfbljdbd/poster.75.jpgTahir Amin is a lawyer from the UK currently working with the Alternative Law Forum in Bangalore, India on intellectual property issues and its affect on the public domain. Following his departure from the corporate legal world he has been an activist in the U.K Stop the War Coalition, the International Solidarity Movement as an international peace activist/observer in the West Bank, Palestine. Here, TA talks about the problem of the 2005 Amendment to the Patents Act, which he says will add fuel to the current trend of privatisation of healthcare. He says that information, knowledge, life-saving drugs should not be withheld from poor people, and the public in general. When patents for making these drugs are implemented, then the pharmaceutical companies have a monopoly and can decide to charge extravagant prices for medicines that could save lives.Yes725http://www.pad.ma/Vhmo6cdj/info2008-02-26weekly1.0Kavita covering Electionshttp://www.pad.ma/Vhmo6cdj/poster.75.jpgPart of footage of the film Taaza Khabar directed by Bishakha Datta and produced by Nirantar. The film is about the journey of a team of all women journalists of Khabar Lahariya (a grassroots newspaper published by the women themselves) through several obstacles. The determined efforts are to ensure the 62nd issue of Khabar Lahariya reaches its readers on time. The women are from Chitrakoot district in U.P. who report stories that find no space in mainstream media. It also portrays how these women have created their own space and established their identity in a context where patriarchy and caste-based discriminations are dominant. The event captures one of the journalist Kavita’s life story, her hardships in life and the struggle she came across in her journey to find her own identity as a woman and as a journalist.Yes1419http://www.pad.ma/Vdx5nvud/info2008-02-26weekly1.0Journos Journeyhttp://www.pad.ma/Vdx5nvud/poster.75.jpgPart of footage of the film Taaza Khabar directed by Bishakha Datta and produced by Nirantar. The film is about the journey of a team of all women journalists of Khabar Lahariya (a grassroots newspaper published by the women themselves) through several obstacles. The determined efforts are to ensure the 62nd issue of Khabar Lahariya reaches its readers on time. The women are from Chitrakoot district in U.P. who report stories that find no space in mainstream media. It also portrays how these women have created their own space and established their identity in a context where patriarchy and caste-based discriminations are dominant. In this event, members of the Khabar Lahariya team- Manju, Kavita and Mira are interviewed by Bishakha in which they share their experiences as a journalist and their personal stories. In the last series of sequence the event also captures Shanti distributing Khabar Lahariya in the village.Yes2665http://www.pad.ma/Vgp3q98y/info2009-02-07weekly1.0Rebuilding Hopehttp://www.pad.ma/Vgp3q98y/poster.75.jpgThe film Rebuilding Hope is a documentary that was made in 2002 to showcase CII’s (is a non-government, not-for profit industry led managed organization) proactive role in India’s development process. Every corporate organization has their role to play as a part of their mandate of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and if that role is played with sincerity and done justice to it has the potential to rebuild crumpled dreams. That is exactly what the film focuses on. It focuses on CII s role in rebuilding Kutch post the earthquake that hit the region in 2001. The film captures the rebuilding processes, the verbatim of the industrialists who have been associated with the project and the joy of the constituency whose hopes were rebuilt because of the CII initiative. This eight minute film is directed by Bishakha Datta.Yes519http://www.pad.ma/Ve2zxg8p/info2009-01-17weekly1.0ron merchanthttp://www.pad.ma/Ve2zxg8p/poster.75.jpgPart of footage of the film Taaza Khabar directed by Bishakha Datta and produced by Nirantar. The film is about the journey of a team of all women journalists of Khabar Lahariya (a grassroots newspaper published by the women themselves) through several obstacles. The determined efforts are to ensure the 62nd issue of Khabar Lahariya reaches its readers on time. The women are from Chitrakoot district in U.P. who report stories that find no space in mainstream media. It also portrays how these women have created their own space and established their identity in a context where patriarchy and caste-based discriminations are dominant. The event captures one of the journalist Kavita’s life story, her hardships in life and the struggle she came across in her journey to find her own identity as a woman and as a journalistYes486http://www.pad.ma/Vuhet2t0/info2008-05-27weekly1.0Walking Through Polling Boothshttp://www.pad.ma/Vuhet2t0/poster.75.jpgPart of footage of the film Taaza Khabar directed by Bishakha Datta and produced by Nirantar. The film is about the journey of a team of all women journalists of Khabar Lahariya (a grassroots newspaper published by the women themselves) through several obstacles. The determined efforts are to ensure the 62nd issue of Khabar Lahariya reaches its readers on time. The women are from Chitrakoot district in U.P. who report stories that find no space in mainstream media. It also portrays how these women have created their own space and established their identity in a context where patriarchy and caste-based discriminations are dominant. In this event, members of the Khabar Lahariya team travels through Chitrakoot during elections and unravels the politics of the gender space in the electoral system in the district. The event also opens up the topography of the district and how the reporters travel through difficult terrain in order to acquire news.Yes2578http://www.pad.ma/Vh5mxvaz/info2008-02-26weekly1.0Sati and Birth of Khabar Lahariyahttp://www.pad.ma/Vh5mxvaz/poster.75.jpgPart of footage of the film Taaza Khabar directed by Bishakha Datta and produced by Nirantar. The film is about the journey of a team of all women journalists of Khabar Lahariya (a grassroots newspaper published by the women themselves) through several obstacles. The determined efforts are to ensure the 62nd issue of Khabar Lahariya reaches its readers on time. The women are from Chitrakoot district in U.P. who report stories that find no space in mainstream media. It also portrays how these women have created their own space and established their identity in a context where patriarchy and caste-based discriminations are dominant. The event captures an Old man talking about his daughter-in-law’s death by observing the ritual of Sati ("Sati" means a virtuous woman. A woman who dies burning herself on her husbands funeral fire was considered most virtuous, and was believed to directly go to heaven, redeeming all the forefathers rotting in hell, by this "meritorious" act. The woman who committed Sati was worshipped as a Goddess, and temples were built in her memory. Sati was prevalent among certain sects of the society in ancient India, who either took the vow or deemed it a great honor to die on the funeral pyres of their husbands. Many hero-stones claim that the wife has committed Sati out of tremendous love for husband, so they can be together after death, but these are not historically substantiated. One finds a large number of Satis committed just after the war when the women must have died to protect their honor from the invading enemies after their men perished in the battlefield. Indian leader Rajaram Mohan Roy, through his organization Brahmo Samaj was among the first who fought to eliminate Sati. The ritual of sati was banned by the British Government in 1829. However, it took a large scale social reforms by Dayanand Saraswati(of Arya Samaj), Mahatma Gandhi and the like to actually stop the practice. In the recent times, there was one instance of a Sati reported in Rajasthan (late 1980s), and another in Madhya Pradesh (in 2002) that led to a lot of controversy and social turmoil. Under the Commission of Sati Prevention Act 1987, Sati is a punishable offence. More information on the Act on - http://wcd.nic.in/commissionofsatiprevention.htm) and reveals the age old social evil that exists in the country. In the same sequence the socio-economic context in which Khabar Lahariya was born is also captured.Yes2216http://www.pad.ma/Vtomz1gv/info2009-02-10weekly1.0Human Question: Interview with Chandrika, AIDS Activist, MILANA, Bangalorehttp://www.pad.ma/Vtomz1gv/poster.75.jpgTRACING THE STORY OF THE GLOBAL STRUGGLE TO MAKE HIV/AIDS DRUGS MORE AFFORDABLE AND AVAILABLE, A HUMAN QUESTION RAISES KEY QUESTIONS OF WHETHER PRIVATE OWNERSHIP OF KNOWLEDGE CAN BE AT THE COSTS OF HUMAN LIFE?Yes3689http://www.pad.ma/Vh5fd2bp/info2009-01-26weekly1.0Human Question: Interview with Chandrkia, Anasuya and Father Anthony from Snehadaan. http://www.pad.ma/Vh5fd2bp/poster.75.jpgTRACING THE STORY OF THE GLOBAL STRUGGLE TO MAKE HIV/AIDS DRUGS MORE AFFORDABLE AND AVAILABLE, A HUMAN QUESTION RAISES KEY QUESTIONS OF WHETHER PRIVATE OWNERSHIP OF KNOWLEDGE CAN BE AT THE COSTS OF HUMAN LIFE?Yes3411http://www.pad.ma/Vi2ntrti/info2009-02-10weekly1.0Interview with doctors and staff at the ART center, BOWRING HOSPITAL , Bangalore.http://www.pad.ma/Vi2ntrti/poster.75.jpgTRACING THE STORY OF THE GLOBAL STRUGGLE TO MAKE HIV/AIDS DRUGS MORE AFFORDABLE AND AVAILABLE, A HUMAN QUESTION RAISES KEY QUESTIONS OF WHETHER PRIVATE OWNERSHIP OF KNOWLEDGE CAN BE AT THE COSTS OF HUMAN LIFE?Yes3664http://www.pad.ma/Vugvhzny/info2009-02-12weekly1.0Human Question: Anonymous interview, Peer counselor, ART center BOWRING HOSPITAL , Bangalorehttp://www.pad.ma/Vugvhzny/poster.75.jpgTracing the story of the global struggle to make HIV/Aids drugs more affordable and available, a human question raises key questions of whether private ownership of knowledge can be at the costs of human life? Yes3477http://www.pad.ma/Vu11db0a/info2008-02-26weekly1.0Interview with Dr. Yusuf Hamied, CIPLA, Bombayhttp://www.pad.ma/Vu11db0a/poster.75.jpgTRACING THE STORY OF THE GLOBAL STRUGGLE TO MAKE HIV/AIDS DRUGS MORE AFFORDABLE AND AVAILABLE, A HUMAN QUESTION RAISES KEY QUESTIONS OF WHETHER PRIVATE OWNERSHIP OF KNOWLEDGE CAN BE AT THE COSTS OF HUMAN LIFE?Yes3461http://www.pad.ma/Veeox7jk/info2012-01-10weekly1.0Now Talking TV: Interview with Anees Ul Haq, Suroor TV.http://www.pad.ma/Veeox7jk/poster.75.jpgKashif Haq, a young 25 year old entrepreneur, started a Deccani/ Urdu television channel, which he operated from his home in Cox Town, Bangalore. We followed him home to see the studio and were introduced to his father. Incidentally his father turned out to be Anees Ul Haq, the former Deputy Director General of Doordarshan. What followed was an interesting interview in which he traces the history of the expansion of cable TV, and the difficulties of running a free-to-air television channel in the age of MSO monopolies. He highlights the importance of local and regional media in bringing about change. He also makes mention of the futility of the TRAI rules because of its lack of implementation. He also brings to light the issues facing effective community media in the current scenario.Yes2785http://www.pad.ma/Vsrodkyu/info2012-01-09weekly1.0 A day in the life of Mohammed Muslim: Navy Nagar: Man-powered.http://www.pad.ma/Vsrodkyu/poster.75.jpgMohammed Muslim lives in Colaba and moves around on his bicycle delivering bread and plastic bags. His beat stretches from Navy Nagar, the southern most tip of Bombay, to Mohammed Ali road and Dongri. We spent a day with him documenting his daily movement patterns. After his second round of deliveries, Mohammed is back home. He remembers that its friday and suggests to us, that he goes to offer namaaz at the navy nagar mosque. Here we follow him on a motorbike into navy nagar, we are not allowed to shoot, its restricted area we are told at the end of it all.Yes1127http://www.pad.ma/Vg9e8oby/info2008-02-27weekly1.0A day in the life of Mohammad Muslim. Daily route and routine.http://www.pad.ma/Vg9e8oby/poster.75.jpgMohammed Muslim lives in Colaba and moves around on his bicycle delivering bread and plastic bags. His beat stretches from Navy Nagar, the southern most tip of Bombay, to Mohammed Ali road and Dongri. We spent a day with him documenting his daily movement patterns. Here we take a break after round 2 of morning deliveries and have a short chat in his house, which is a small tenement in the compound of the posh shangri-la building behind baptist church colaba.Yes1139http://www.pad.ma/Vu01q202/info2012-01-09weekly1.0A day in the life of Mohammed Muslim. Evening beat to Masjidhttp://www.pad.ma/Vu01q202/poster.75.jpgMohammed Muslim lives in Colaba and moves around on his bicycle delivering bread and plastic bags. His beat stretches from Navy Nagar, the southern most tip of Bombay, to Mohammed Ali road and Dongri. We spent a day with him documenting his daily movement patterns. Here we follow him on his evening beat. He begins in Colaba, heads to Sassoon bakery and then decides to head towards Masjid Bundar via Mint Road, and P'Dmello road.Yes2789http://www.pad.ma/Vgody6hd/info2012-01-09weekly1.0A day in the life of Mohammad Muslim. Morning Deliveryhttp://www.pad.ma/Vgody6hd/poster.75.jpgMohammed Muslim lives in Colaba and moves around on his bicycle delivering bread and plastic bags. His beat stretches from Navy Nagar, the southern most tip of Bombay, to Mohammed Ali road and Dongri. We spent a day with him documenting his daily movement patterns. Here he begins his second round of deliveries for the day, going to colaba market, machimar nagar, Colaba, (fishing colony) and Geeta Nagar slums. Since he sells plastic bags, a few shopowners seem vary of the camera, of 'media' folks. Most trust him, but he senses some tension and tells us later, that we should avoid the bags and maybe just focus on bread deliveries. We agree.Yes1471http://www.pad.ma/Vhmgfski/info2009-02-07weekly1.0A Deccani Channel out of a home in Bangalorehttp://www.pad.ma/Vhmgfski/poster.75.jpgA visit to the studio-home of Kashif Haq, a young entrepreneur who had tried to run an Urdu language channel out of his family house in Cox town. His younger sister Safina was chief editor and set designer for 'Suroor TV'. Suroor TV 's twists and trials in going on air, its popularity amongst the large Urdu and Deccani speaking population of Shivaji Nagar, and its ultimate removal from the air waves by MSO's (multi service operator) after about six months, formed the basis of an uncensored talk show on local media politics and monopolies.Yes1709http://www.pad.ma/Vgpfnjp8/info2009-03-19weekly1.0A day in the life of Niranjan Hiranandani: At work, some site-seeinghttp://www.pad.ma/Vgpfnjp8/poster.75.jpgNiranjan Hiranandani, MD of Hiranadani construction at work in his Headquarters in Powai. Its almost noon. He has a few phone conversations. We take a ride in their van to see some 'show flats' , the LH Hiranandani hospital and up the Powai hill. We come back to the HQ. Catch him having a late lunch.Yes2239http://www.pad.ma/Vi7mfsi5/info2009-03-19weekly1.0A day in the life of Niranjan Hiranandani: day at work and journey back home.http://www.pad.ma/Vi7mfsi5/poster.75.jpgNiranjan Hiranandani, MD of Hiranadani construction at work in his Headquarters in Powai. Post-lunch he spends his day in a series of meetings. At about 3:30, we go with him in his mini-bus around Hiranandani gardens and up to the go-karting hill. Riddhima and Sanjay, talk with him about 'planning' and architecture amongst other things. Back in the office, he is back in a few close door meetings. The office is empty by 6:30. He is amongst the last to leave.Yes2221http://www.pad.ma/Vu0pgl3n/info2008-06-05weekly1.0A day in the life of Mohammed Muslim: Night Ride on Mohammed Ali Roadhttp://www.pad.ma/Vu0pgl3n/poster.75.jpgMohammed Muslim lives in Colaba and moves around on his bicycle delivering bread and plastic bags. His beat stretches from Navy Nagar, the southern most tip of Bombay, to Mohammed Ali road and Dongri. We spent a day with him documenting his daily movement patterns. He had some reservations filming his pickup and delivery of plastic bags since they are banned in the city. In his evening shift, he is on his way to Masjid Bundar to pick up wholesale quantity of plastic bags. He speaks with the owner at the store and the owner prefers not to have it filmed. So Mohammed tells us he knows of a bakery further down in Umerkhadi, Dongri. We could go there and he would pick up bread. Its a long ride from Masjid Bundar. It was a bakery he didn't frequent, and to be honest it was truly a beautiful find, worth the journey for all of us. We had paid Mohammed Bhai an honorarium for letting us spend the day filming him. On reaching the bakery, he seemed very happy to spend 200 rupees on stocks and supplies, and loaded his bicycle with pav bread, loaf bread and savories and biscuits.Yes3122http://www.pad.ma/Vhrf1sjy/info2008-02-26weekly1.0A day in the life of Niranjan Hiranandani: Late evening, Powai to Malabar Hillhttp://www.pad.ma/Vhrf1sjy/poster.75.jpgAfter a whole day's work, he heads home again via six new flyovers.Yes1524http://www.pad.ma/Vsb0nnad/info2010-08-19weekly1.0Ekta Sandesh (Message of Unity)http://www.pad.ma/Vsb0nnad/poster.75.jpgThis short film, directed and produced by the late Waqar P. Khan with the help of Bhau Korde, and in collaboration with the Mohalla Committee, was part of an endeavor to promote communal harmony in Mumbai, after the Gujarat carnage. The Mohalla Committee was set up by J. F. Ribero in the Dharavi slums in the aftermath of the 1992 Mumbai riots. The film has interviews with Shaikh Salauddin, Ravinder Jain, M. N. Singh, Satish Kumar, Sahni, J. F. Ribero and Ameen Sayani, interspersed with scenes from various Bollywood films. The film features talks on communal harmony, fictionalised rioting scenes and patriotic songs, and inspirational hymns.Yes3451http://www.pad.ma/Vffwv6w7/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Migrants, Settlers & Originals: Cawas Lalkaka 2http://www.pad.ma/Vffwv6w7/poster.75.jpgInterview with Mr. Cawas Lalkaka (CLK). Interviewer Madhusree Dutta (M). Shot by avijit Mukul Kishore. Cawas Lalkaka is a corporate person. He retired as the vice president of Tata Sons, a leading corporate house in India. He is member of, Zorastrians community - popularly called as Parsees. Parsee community is one of the smallest yet significant minority communities in India. They migrated from Iran in 13th century to Navsari, Gujarat. They adapted to the local culture quickly and became an integral part of India's social fabric. Many of them are industrialists, entrepreneurs, scientists and artists of great repute. Parsees are also known for various nationalist endeavors during the British rule and soon after the independence. Though generally they have stayed away from the field politics, barring a few exceptions. The population is mainly concentrated in the city of Bombay. Bombay is dotted with various Parsee institutions and public institutions built by Parsees - TIFR (Tata Institute of Fundamental research) TISS (Tata Institute of Social Sciences) NCPA (National Centre of Performing Arts) J B Petit School, Avabai Petit School, J J School of Arts etc. Many of the popular landmarks and signage in the city are actually named after some eminent Parsees - Nariman Point, Khusroo Baug, Wadia hospital, Gazdar Street etc. Various Parsee trusts are still the mainstay of philanthropy and social work activities in the city. The interview was conducted in the context of exploring the history of migration in the region. Representatives of many communities were interviewed in order to understand the demography and current identity politics of the city. The interview was conducted in his family home in a spacious apartment at Marine Drive in South Bombay. Marine Drive, occasionally mentioned as queen's necklace in memory of the British rule, is the most romantic and one the most expensive real estate zones in the world.Yes1185http://www.pad.ma/Vs5upvt5/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Migrants, Settlers & Originals: Cawas Lalkaka 1http://www.pad.ma/Vs5upvt5/poster.75.jpgInterview with Mr. Cawas Lalkaka (CLK). Interviewer Madhusree Dutta (M). Shot by avijit Mukul Kishore. Cawas Lalkaka is a corporate person. He retired as the vice president of Tata Sons, a leading corporate house in India. He is member of, Zorastrians community - popularly called as Parsees. Parsee community is one of the smallest yet significant minority community in India. They migrated from Iran in 13th century to Navsari, Gujarat. They adopted to the local culture quickly and became an integral part of India's social fabric. Many of them are industrialists, entrepreneurs, scientists and artists of great repute. Parsees are also known for various nationalist endeavors during the British rule and soon after the independence. Though generally they have stayed away from the field politics, except for a few exceptions. The population is mainly concentrated in the city of Bombay. Bombay is dotted with various Parsee institutions and public institutions built by Parsees - TIFR (Tata Institute of Fundamental research) TISS (Tata Institute of Social Sciences) NCPA (National Centre of Performing Arts) J B Petit School, Avabai Petit School, J J School of Arts etc. Many of the popular landmarks and signage in the city are actually named after some eminent parsees - Nariman Point, Khusroo Baug, Wadia hospital, Gazdar Street etc. Various Parsee trusts are still the mainstay of philanthropy and social work activities in the city. The interview was conducted in the context of exploring the history of migration in the region. Representatives of many communities were interviewed in order to understand the demography and current identity politics of the city. The interview was conducted in his family home in a spacious apartment at Marine Drive in South Bombay. Marine Drive, occasionally mentioned as queen's necklace in memory of the British rule, is the most romantic and one the most expensive real estate zones in the world.Yes1245http://www.pad.ma/Veuwqt82/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Migrants, Settlers & Originals: East Indian Priesthttp://www.pad.ma/Veuwqt82/poster.75.jpgEast Indian people by religion belong to Catholic church and linguistically Marathi. The origin of the term East Indian is not clear, though it is obvious that it has something to do with the British colonial rule and East India Company. Vasai with a port and fort was headquarter of Portuguese rule. Later as the islands of Bombay were merged and the natural port was renovated into a major port, the importance of Vasai city and port decreased. Along with Kolis (fisherfolk's community), Pathare Prabhus (white collar Hindu Marathi community), Bohras (Gujrati speaking Muslim traders' community), Parsees (Gujarati speaking Zorastrians) and a few others, East Indians are the early settlers in the 7 Islands of Bombay. The interviewee is a Catholic priest (father - Fr.) and a history scholar. He lives in Vasai. The interview was conducted as a part of a study of various communities who are early settlers in Bombay. The interview was taken in a vocational training institute ran by the church, in the background of a wide marshland. This region is known for its mangroves and marshlands which are increasingly under threat of destruction due to real estate greed. Interviewer Madhusree Dutta (M)Yes1008http://www.pad.ma/Veittpy9/info2009-03-17weekly1.0Arrivals & Departures: Chinese Community in Bombayhttp://www.pad.ma/Veittpy9/poster.75.jpgAt Antop Hill, Bombay one will find the burial grounds of Chinese, Iranian, Jews, Hindus and Muslims. Predominantly Chinese, the cemeteries date back to 1890 according to the caretaker of the Chinese cemeteries, Mohammed Rafi, an old Muslim man. The Chinese came to Bombay in the early 1800s with the East India Company for silk trade. Bombay’s 1826 census shows evidence of a total of 37 Chinese families, mostly residing in Girgaum. Today the population of Chinese in Bombay is limited to tourists and the Chinese people that were born and brought up here. This Antop Hill land, which was back then an isolated, uninhabited area, was selected as burial grounds in the 1880s. Buried in these grounds is the history of our own country that is uniquely intertwined with the history of others. Madhusree Dutta (M) conducted an interview here with Mohammed Rafi (MR). Shot by: Avijit Mukul KishoreYes1567http://www.pad.ma/Vtjsr3jn/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Migrants, Settlers & Originals: Mustanshir Barma 2http://www.pad.ma/Vtjsr3jn/poster.75.jpgInterview with Dr. Mustanshir Barma (Mr. B). Interviewer Madhusree Dutta (M). Shot by Avijit Mukul Kishore. Dr. Mustanshir Barma is an eminent scientist at TIFR (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research) and a member of the Bohra community. The interview was conducted in the context of exploring the history of migration in the region. Representatives of many communities were interviewed in order to understand the demography and current identity politics of the city. The interview was taken in his family home – an apartment in Sunny House, Colaba. It is one of the oldest urban settlement areas in the city, which is also known for its cosmopolitanism. The area has a heady mixture of aristocrat old family homes, backpackers’ dens; affluent clubs, restaurants and hotels; high brow art establishments and low brow govt. institutions, heritage buildings and vendors and vagabonds.Yes1506http://www.pad.ma/Vhm0f8e7/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Migrants, Settlers & Originals: Rajan Jaykar 2http://www.pad.ma/Vhm0f8e7/poster.75.jpgInterview with Rajan Jaykar (RJ). Interviewer Madhusree Dutta (M). Camera by avijit Mukul Kishore. Rajan Jaykar is a lawyer and artifacts collector. He is an important member of Pathare Prabhu community. Pathare Prabhus are believed to be one of the earliest settlers in the islands of Bombay. Many important citizens and philanthropists of the city are from this community. The interview was conducted in the context of exploring the history of migration in the region. Representatives of many community were interviewed in order to understand the demography and current identity politics of the city. The interview was taken in his family house in Opera house in South Bombay. The area is home for many old and aristocrat families and also hub for new commercial outlets.Yes1078http://www.pad.ma/Vgdd39ts/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Interview with Pramod Navalkar: The Charming Fascisthttp://www.pad.ma/Vgdd39ts/poster.75.jpgInterview with Pramod Navalkar. Interviewer Yuvaraj Mohite (YM) and Madhusree Dutta (MD). Pramod Navalkar was (he died in 2007) a first rank leader of Shivsena, a party which forefronted the demand of marking Mumbai essentially for the Marathi speaking people. The party, in recent past, has indulged in various violent activities against the ‘outsiders’ from other parts of the country. So far Shivsena have won only one assembly election and shared the power with BJP (a national party with communal lineage) in 1994-99. During that stint Pramod Navalkar was the Minister for cultural affairs and he initiated various schemes for the development of the city. His pet schemes involved making public parks for the citizens and then inserting a wide gap on the benches – in order to discourage couples to get too intimate. Dislocating the hawkers and the sex workers from the sea beach and appointing vigilant squads to stop eve teasing. Initiating programme to aid development of Marathi language and banning performances of artists from Pakisthan. The list is long and as charismatic as the leader! Pramod Navalkar was a member of Pathare Prabhu, the community which is believed to be one of the earliest settlers of Bombay. However while speaking against the ‘outsider’ many Pathare Prabhus tend to forget that they too came from Gujarat in 13th century and originally is not part of Marathi lineage. Pramod was a socialist before joining the right wing politics. He was also a writer, researcher and a cityphile. The interview was conducted in order to understand the pattern of migration and the root of the identity politics in this region.Yes3333http://www.pad.ma/Vfg8askl/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Migrants, Settlers & Originals: Mustanshir Barma 1http://www.pad.ma/Vfg8askl/poster.75.jpgInterview with Dr. Mustanshir Barma (Mr. B) Interviewer: Madhusree Dutta (M). Shot by Avijit Mukul Kishore. Dr. Barma is an eminent scientist at TIFR (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research) and a member of the Bohra community. The interview was conducted in the context of exploring the history of migration in the region. Representatives of many communities were interviewed in order to understand the demography and current identity politics of the city. The interview was taken in his family home – an apartment in Sunny House, Colaba. It is one of the oldest urban settlement areas in the city, which is also known for its cosmopolitanism. The area has a heady mixture of aristocrat old family homes, backpackers’ dens; affluent clubs, restaurants and hotels; high brow art establishments and low brow govt. institutions, heritage buildings and vendors and vagabonds. Yes2243http://www.pad.ma/Vhafnpcb/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Migrants, Settlers & Originals: Cecilia Vazhttp://www.pad.ma/Vhafnpcb/poster.75.jpgCecilia Vaz is a home maker and lives in Kalina. Kalina consists of Christian village, Muslim settlement and some gentrified housing colonies (Air India, India Airlines). The comparatively cheap location also attracts stray foreign students and young migrant professionals: African students in Bombay University which is situated close by or North Eastern BPO employees and so on. It is an old village which has witnessed hectic urbanisation in last two decades due to its proximity to a newly developed business district in Bandra Kurla complex. East Indian people by religion belong to Catholic church and linguistically Marathi. The origin of the term East Indian is not clear, though it is obvious that it has something to do with the British colonial rule. Along with Kolis (fisherfolk's community), Pathare Prabhus (white collar Hindu Marathi community), Bohras (Gujrati speaking Muslim traders' community), Parsees (Gujarati speaking Zorastrians) and a few others, East Indians are the early settlers in the 7 Islands of Bombay. Cecilia Vaz, who happened to be our neighbour as she lives next door to Majlis office, is known as a volatile person in the neighbourhood. Her articulation combined with a wide range of anecdotal memory made us request her for an interview. The interview was taken in two phases in two years. Though there was not much to interview in the face of her 'stream (deluge!) of consciousness' style of speaking. The first phase of the interview was conducted by Hansa Thapliyal and Nandini Ramnath. The second phase was conducted by Renu Savant and Madhusree Dutta.Yes2083http://www.pad.ma/Vui16z6k/info2009-03-17weekly1.0Arrivals & Departures: Jewish Community in Bombayhttp://www.pad.ma/Vui16z6k/poster.75.jpgInterview with Solomon Sopher (SS) I Interviewer: Madhusree Dutta. Shot by Avijit Mukul; Kishore This interview is part of a series of study on the cemeteries of different communities in Bombay. In order to trace the multi-lingual, multi-cultural and multi-religious composition of the city the history, anecdotes, location and class structure of cemeteries were studied. This cemetery is known as the cemetery of the Iraqi Jews, also known as Baghdadi Jews. Baghdadi Jews are one of the early settlers in the city. They first came as traders to the port city. They are known to be affluent and philanthropic community. Many public institutions of Bombay were build by them. But the sense of community was restricted to the Jews of central Asia. The local Marathi Jew community, known as Bene Israeli, were not accommodated either in the cemetery or at the synagogue. Even the European Jews who came during/after the IInd world war were resented initially. The universal Jew brotherhood concept was not applicable. Race affinity was worked out more on the line of linguistic and regional identity than on religious one. After the inception of Israel the community suffered a sudden drop in populace as many chose to migrate to the ‘promised land’. Hence the local Jews were accommodated, or even invited, to take part in the religious rituals in mainstream functions. There are tales about a special cemetery for the European Jew sex workers in the first half of 20th century. But Mr. Sopher refused to endorse it.Yes3386http://www.pad.ma/Vu5zzbh8/info2009-03-17weekly1.0Arrivals & Departures: Japanese Community in Bombayhttp://www.pad.ma/Vu5zzbh8/poster.75.jpgThe city of Bombay truly holds a vast array of customs and civilizations, but generally not in the way that you would expect. The Japanese cemetery, Niponnjin Bochi, holds the ashes of various Japanese immigrants right here in our city of Bombay. The Japanese cemetery is much unlike the cemeteries of Indian traditions; all it consists of is a shrine and two stupas. Nonetheless, it tells the story of thousands of Japanese traders and prostitutes who lived right here in Mumbai. This cemetery was founded in 1908 by Nichida Tsu Fujii, the founder of Nipponzan Myohoji, a Buddhist order, in order to give a rightful burial to them. Now, however, the population of Japanese in this so called cosmopolitan city has dwindled down to a mere 200 and therefore the use of the cemetery has been reduced to its minimum. The cemetery is now being run by Bhikshu Morita, a Japanese monk who came to India in 1970. Morita ji speaks better Hindi than an average Bombayite and runs a school for underprivileged children. Madhusree Dutta (M) conducted an interview with Bhikshu Morita (BM) at his cottage. This is a tale of unique connections. Shot by: Avijit Mukul KishoreYes1825http://www.pad.ma/Vfbtmuxn/info2011-07-17weekly1.0Cityscape: With the Superstarhttp://www.pad.ma/Vfbtmuxn/poster.75.jpgThis sequence was shot for a short film on Amitabh Bachchan. Kala Ghoda (the art district of Mumbai) festival of 2003 had a special theme as Amitabh Bachchan, the superstar. Madhusree was commissioned to make a short film as part of a Amitabh Bachchan film festival. The short thus made was Samvabhami Yuge Yuge (I shall be recycled again and again). This sequence is part of that film. 15 feet cutout of the superstar in his iconic proletariat avatar from the film Deewar traveled the city in an early Sunday morning. People’s reactions were baffling – it was illegal to take a heavy truck on the JJ Flyover, but the police patrol forgot to stop the shooting crew as they were busy watching the superstar. In the Sunday market under the Byculla bridge – people did not even pay more than a cursory glance. Only when Vibha, the young girl in the unit climbed the truck on some pretext that people started paying attention. Some women remarked- ‘ahh! Such a young Bachchan. So cute!’ Well, recycling means all of the above. Cutout painter:Ashrafilal Shot by Avijit Mukul KishoreYes2370http://www.pad.ma/Vezev1y9/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Migrants, Settlers & Originals: Rajan Jaykar 1http://www.pad.ma/Vezev1y9/poster.75.jpgInterview with Rajan Jaykar (RJ). Interviewer Madhusree Dutta (M). Camera by avijit Mukul Kishore. Rajan Jaykar is a lawyer and artifacts collector. He is an important member of Pathare Prabhu community. Pathare Prabhus are believed to be one of the earliest settlers in the islands of Bombay. Many important citizens and philanthropists of the city are from this community. The interview was conducted in the context of exploring the history of migration in the region. Representatives of many community were interviewed in order to understand the demography and current identity politics of the city. The interview was taken in his family house in Opera house in South Bombay. The area is home for many old and aristocrat families and also hub for new commercial outlets.Yes1229http://www.pad.ma/Vdy5qr4j/info2009-08-27weekly1.0Copyright This!http://www.pad.ma/Vdy5qr4j/poster.75.jpgSanjay Bhangar and Sravanthi K spent a few days in Shivaji Nagar and at National Market looking at the 'digital moment' and what it has meant for local economy and world information. They ended up with a footage bank, comprising of pirate dvds and vcds, shots of cyber cafés and shop fronts offering dtp, call center training, and language translation facilities, and spot interviews with vendors and owners. An interview with Shivaji Nagar local and renegade IP law-breaker L. Liang in Hindi, shot with a rather 'odd' frame formed the backbone of the film. Footage of ITPL, Forum Mall, the World Info poster campaign, google image searches and a gleaning of Alternative LawForums's CD compilations on IPR, combined with other interviews and visuals from the footage bank and manic editing by Sooraj Ravindran and Shaina resulted in COPYRIGHT THIS. Hightlights include Helen vs Truth Hurts vs Lata Mageshkar-remixed and the animated Mr. Liang.Yes2097http://www.pad.ma/Vu11jn5c/info2012-01-10weekly1.0Now Talking TV: Cable Wars and Local Media (2)http://www.pad.ma/Vu11jn5c/poster.75.jpgWe were told about Suroor TV, a local Urdu-language channel, that an enterprising young Banglorean had tried to run from his family home. Lokesh, a local cable operator, used to air the channel as it would be hugely popular in Deccani-speaking Shivaji Nagar. This clip shows Lokesh, his 'gang' of cable operators from the locality, and members of Suroor TV. Members were joined by Jawahar Raja and Shudhabrata Sengupta (Sarai) and Lawrence Liang (alf) for an unedited and uncensored 80 mins of talking. This has been shot in Suroor TV Studio, Cox town, Bangalore. Yes4795http://www.pad.ma/Vdxdg2sx/info2012-01-10weekly1.0 Anti-Gujarat carnage demonstration, through Mumbaihttp://www.pad.ma/Vdxdg2sx/poster.75.jpgMembers of different organizations and political parties come together to express their protest against Gujarat carnage and Narendra Modi. The participants begin the demonstration outside Azad Maidan at Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) and end it at Girgaon Chowpatty, Charni Road.Yes2625http://www.pad.ma/Vs6e2l0h/info2008-02-22weekly1.0Allahabad Presshttp://www.pad.ma/Vs6e2l0h/poster.75.jpgPart of footage of the film Taaza Khabar directed by Bishakha Datta and produced by Nirantar. The film is about the journey of a team of all women journalists of Khabar Lahariya (a grassroots newspaper published by the women themselves) through several obstacles. The determined efforts are to ensure the 62nd issue of Khabar Lahariya reaches its readers on time. The women are from Chitrakoot district in U.P. who report stories that find no space in mainstream media. It also portrays how these women have created their own space and established their identity in a context where patriarchy and caste-based discriminations are dominant.Yes2689http://www.pad.ma/Vg8csmgl/info2012-01-10weekly1.0Kolkatta with Umahttp://www.pad.ma/Vg8csmgl/poster.75.jpgThe event captures Uma, a veteran in prostitution and a theatre actress's way of life. She teaches about sexuality and sexual diseases to Babua, the transgender, she sings and talks about her old times with Bishakha, the director of the film and the event also gives the viewer a peek of visual images of several locations of Kolkata.Yes1439http://www.pad.ma/Vfbni0ig/info2012-01-10weekly1.0The journey of rescued girls from Kamathipura to Navjivan Shelter home in Chembur.http://www.pad.ma/Vfbni0ig/poster.75.jpgPart of raw footage for the film In the Flesh directed by Bishakha Datta and produced by Point of View, the event is about the camera capturing a municipal van that is transporting a group of rescued women from Kamathipura, the established red light area in Mumbai to Navjivan, a shelter home in Chembur. The camera captures candid conversations (in Hindi and Bengali) between the girls.Yes580http://www.pad.ma/Vtk4qfca/info2009-02-09weekly1.0Team from Nagpada Police Stataion headed by a Police Officer conducts a surprise check in brothels in Nagpada.http://www.pad.ma/Vtk4qfca/poster.75.jpgThe camera follows a police officer with his team as they go on their inspection of brothels in Nagapada and Kamathipura, the established red light areas in Mumbai. The event captures visuals of the sex workers in their working spaces and conditions. It also establishes their resistance to go back to the mainstream society. The event would give the viewer a complete idea of the location and details about the spaces of prostitution in the city.Yes2079http://www.pad.ma/Vezezzfz/info2012-01-10weekly1.0In the Fleshhttp://www.pad.ma/Vezezzfz/poster.75.jpgThe film depicts everyday life of three sex workers, Uma and Bhaskar from Kolkata and Shabana from Nippani in Maharashtra.Yes3144http://www.pad.ma/Vfsiubht/info2012-01-10weekly1.0Interviews with Transgender and women in prostitution followed by a staged scene of getting into the act of having sex between two prostitutes.http://www.pad.ma/Vfsiubht/poster.75.jpgPart of raw footage for the film In the Flesh the event depicts four interviews with three transgender (in Hindi, Bengali and Marathi) – Yuvraj, Ravi, Raosaheb and Bhaskar during the DMSC mela in 2001.They are interviewed by Durga, Nuri and another woman all of who are sexworkers by profession and Priyanka who is a sex workers daughter. The interviews bring into light the struggle to be human as a transgendered person goes through and their demand for their right to lead a dignified life.Yes1723http://www.pad.ma/Vtju4xb0/info2008-02-23weekly1.0Mira's Traveloguehttp://www.pad.ma/Vtju4xb0/poster.75.jpgPart of footage of the film Taaza Khabar directed by Bishakha Datta and produced by Nirantar. The film is about the journey of a team of all women journalists of Khabar Lahariya (a grassroots newspaper published by the women themselves) through several obstacles. The determined efforts are to ensure the 62nd issue of Khabar Lahariya reaches its readers on time. The women are from Chitrakoot district in U.P. who report stories that find no space in mainstream media. It also portrays how these women have created their own space and established their identity in a context where patriarchy and caste-based discriminations are dominant.Yes2306http://www.pad.ma/Vfxbfxw9/info2009-01-21weekly1.0Train to Manikpur from Chitrakoothttp://www.pad.ma/Vfxbfxw9/poster.75.jpgPart of footage of the film Taaza Khabar directed by Bishakha Datta and produced by Nirantar. The film is about the journey of a team of all women journalists of Khabar Lahariya (a grassroots newspaper published by the women themselves) through several obstacles. The determined efforts are to ensure the 62nd issue of Khabar Lahariya reaches its readers on time. The women are from Chitrakoot district in U.P. who report stories that find no space in mainstream media. It also portrays how these women have created their own space and established their identity in a context where patriarchy and caste-based discriminations are dominant.Yes1078http://www.pad.ma/Vfrt8mp0/info2009-06-12weekly1.0Bar Dancer: Post Ban Performance at Ellora Bar (Mujra Imitation)http://www.pad.ma/Vfrt8mp0/poster.75.jpgDancing in bars of Bombay and other parts of Maharashtra began in 1970s. It was a device to attract more customers to the bars and boost up sale of alcohol. The Govt. initially encouraged it in order to increase their revenue. The practice also turned out to be a modernized version of commercial dance. It provided livelihood to large number of women including many migrants from neighbouring states and countries. Many women from traditional courtesan, devdasi and other such commercial dancing communities had opted for dancing in bars. As the feudal patronage dried up dancing at bars, other than in marginal capacity in Bollywood cinemas, became the only option for these women. In 2005, the Maharashtra government proposed to ban dancing in the bars on the pretext of public morality. The proposal sparked wide public debate on issues of sexual morality, women’s rights and right to livelihood. The civil society got vertically divided on the issue. Even some conventional women’s organizations actively supported the ban on the issue of ‘degradation of women’s body’. Some feminist organizations along with the Bar Dancers’ union came together to mobilize support against the ban. Still the Govt. went ahead and implemented the ban on 15th August, independence day of India, rendering approximately 70,000 women jobless. Several feminist organizations, bar owners’ associations and others filed cases against the ban in the Bombay high court. Majlis legal centre filed the case on behalf of the Bar dancers’ union. This is a dance performance by a bar dancer during that time. The ban was already implemented and the bars were under strict surveillance. Hence the performance had to take place in the afternoon when the bar was closed. In this event a bar dancer dances to popular Hindi film song in a pale imitation of mujra. Mujra is a song performance form practiced by the courtesans for their feudal patrons. Many exponents of the courtesans have joined the dance bars for survival. Dance bar is an industrial and democratic version of the mujra, where the performances and patronage are much more generic and faceless. Yes132http://www.pad.ma/Vfbndt1l/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Kashmir News Rushes Compilation: Refugee Camp Residents and Fake Encountershttp://www.pad.ma/Vfbndt1l/poster.75.jpgEarly in 2005, with the exhumation and identification of the body of Abdul Rahman Paddar, an innocent civilian, a network of fake encounters came to light. More exhumations took place. All of Kashmir broke into spontaneous protests, which had massive crowds. All protests seem to have been non violent, but slogans which were common in 1989, demanding independence, once again could be loudly heard, along with a demand for justice. This tape was sent in response to a request for some footage of the protests. It seems to me, that the compilation of footage from Jammu and from Srinagar, was done partly to meet what might have been seen as my interests. Since half the tape had the footage we had asked for, the other half was filled with what could be of interest to us, or that might be seen as also useful to us. It could just be that these were simultaneously shot stories, or that we had previously expressed an interest in finding material on the Pandits. Related Link: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/01/31/india15227.htmYes3547http://www.pad.ma/Vsb4rj6n/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Cityscape: One Sunday Afternoon in Bombayhttp://www.pad.ma/Vsb4rj6n/poster.75.jpgShot by Avijit Mukul Kishore. As part of exploring the plurality in the street cultures of India, we decided to drive down from North Bombay to Nariman Point and shoot the various narratives scattered along the way. It was a Sunday in the month of December. So the sun was bright yet not bleaching out. The Sunday also provided a respite from the maddening crowd on the road which would have made it impossible to follow any thread or cue. We started on the Western Express Highway and stopped at first signal at Andheri. The Andheri flyover was then under construction and the signal was hugely populated by both vehicles and people. Then we passed the airport signal and followed the comparatively light and lazy traffic of the Sunday afternoon, to Kherwadi junction at Bandra east, followed the right hand traffic to Mahim creek and the Cadell road, crossed Haji Ali and took a detour to Bombay central station. After that we took Queens Road and then finally reached Gateway of India. At Gateway of India we hired a horse cart, favoured by the tourists, to Marine Drive. This trip had made us re-visit our own city – as if this was another Bombay, which only vaguely resembles the one we knew of. Yes2206http://www.pad.ma/Vhlsubt7/info2009-06-12weekly1.0Bar Dancers Speak: Testimonies at Public Hearing 3http://www.pad.ma/Vhlsubt7/poster.75.jpgDancing at beer bars started in Maharashtra in the ‘70s. These bars are popularly called Dance Bars. They were recognisable by the heavy door at the entrance and by the uniformed bouncers. In order to increase the revenue from alcohol sale the govt. kept issuing licenses for the dance bars and over the three decades these bars sprouted all over the state and specially in Bombay. In 2005 the Govt. proposed a bill to ban dancing at the bars on the pretext of public morality. But by then around 75,000 women were employed in the unorganized sector of bar dancing. Most of these women were migrants from the other parts of the state, country and the subcontinent. The proposal sparked a huge public debate on the issues of morality, sexuality and livelihood. The home minister in the state govt. R R Patil took it as a mission and persuaded it till the end. The civil society got vertically divided on the issue. While all the right wing outfits supported the ban, some old school women’s organizations too were vocal against bar dancing based on the argument of commodifying women’s body. Some feminist groups and other social movements campaigned against the ban foregrounding issues of right to livelihood, validity of sex based works and against moral policing. Amidst the frenzy of campaign and counter campaign the govt. implemented the bill on 15th August 2005, on the occasion of independence day of India. The act which rendered 70,000 women jobless was passed unanimously in the assembly, where all members including the communist party and women from various political parties cheered and voted for the bill. In the history of Indian democracy there are a very few bills that was passes with such absolute agreement. There were many theories for the Govt.’s motive to ban dance bars. Some says that it was a ploy to decrease the sale of beer and boost the outreach of wine as the wine industry had just started picking up in Maharashtra and many senior politicians were stake holders in wine industry. Some other claim that it was a populist measure to woo the middle class voters. Another theory ascribed the operation as an exercise to evict smaller eateries and pubs to make space for big franchises and multi-purpose eateries. It could also be a simple act of gentrifying the city. Throughout this period the most active campaign against the ban was from the bar dancers union in collaboration with some feminists groups. Majlis legal centre filed a case challenging the ban in the Bombay high court on behalf of the bar dancers’ union. The Women’s Study dept., SNDT university along with Forum against oppression of women conducted a survey around the bars in the city and published the report in order to inform the general public. Five days after the ban three city organisations Majlis, Pukar (Gender and Space unit), and Point of View organized a public hearing on the issue at KC College suditorium. Ten eminent citizens from various walks of life were invited to serve in the panel of Jury and hear the live testimonies of the retrenched dancers. The auditorium of around 700 capacity was chock-o-block with 500 bar dancers, members of bar owners association, family members of the bar dancers, concerned citizens and a large media presence. In this event some bar dancers gave testimonies. Yes577http://www.pad.ma/Vs6e0hew/info2009-06-12weekly1.0Bar Dancers: Post Ban Performance at Ellora Bar (Saloni)http://www.pad.ma/Vs6e0hew/poster.75.jpgDancing in bars of Bombay and other parts of Maharashtra began in 1970s. It was a device to attract more customers to the bars and boost up sale of alcohol. The Govt. initially encouraged it in order to increase their revenue. The practice also turned out to be a modernized version of commercial dance. It provided livelihood to large number of women including many migrants from neighbouring states and countries. Many women from traditional courtesan, devdasi and other such commercial dancing communities had opted for dancing in bars. As the feudal patronage dried up dancing at bars, other than in marginal capacity in Bollywood cinemas, became the only option for these women. In 2005, the Maharashtra government proposed to ban dancing in the bars on the pretext of public morality. The proposal sparked wide public debate on issues of sexual morality, women’s rights and right to livelihood. The civil society got vertically divided on the issue. Even some conventional women’s organizations actively supported the ban on the issue of ‘degradation of women’s body’. Some feminist organizations along with the Bar Dancers’ union came together to mobilize support against the ban. Still the Govt. went ahead and implemented the ban on 15th August, independence day of India, rendering approximately 70,000 women jobless. Several feminist organizations, bar owners’ associations and others filed cases against the ban in the Bombay high court. Majlis legal centre filed the case on behalf of the Bar dancers’ union. This is a dance performance by a bar dancer during that time. The ban was already implemented and the bars were under strict surveillance. Hence the performance had to take place in the afternoon when the bar was closed. It was part of our effort to document the performances and testimonies of the bar dancers. But with the enthusiasm that this dancer came and put on their costumes and make up can only be compared to the agony of any artist who had been denied access to work. Yes347http://www.pad.ma/Ve2sb959/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Roadside Shrines: Shrine by the Trackshttp://www.pad.ma/Ve2sb959/poster.75.jpgA hole in the wall erected by the railways (besides being an access walkway for commuters) which separates the railway line from this locality allows the commuters to view the shrine. Hence besides the locals, the commuter public who are regulars at that station inadvertently have 'access' to the shrine. They can visit the temple, either from the stations, or if they are commuters, do 'darshan' from the train itself. Sometimes, these shrines become religious markers for anyone who wants to associate themselves to the site. This is very site specific as it becomes a ritual and is convenient as it does not deviate from their usual route. A silent acknowledgement by way of nod or folded hands to reaffirm faith. The idea behind Vidya's project was to look at local histories, and communities that organize themselves around roadside shrines. This particular shrine meant a lot to people who lived, in the poverty stricken area around it. The locals believe that the frequency of deaths on the tracks, and suicides, reduced after the benign eye of Sai Baba protected the area once the shrine was constructed. Sai Baba is an interesting 'deity'/saint, he has been variously seen as a saint cutting across religions, and also, appropriated as the saint of one particular faith. The young boys of the locality, all aged between 18-21 mainly though the age group extends to about 35, initiated this shrine and chose Sai Baba with the 'sab ka maalik ek"(We all have one master) slogan. This was adopted to initiate a practice of neutrality between all the sections of the locality and to bring people from different religions together. The boy interviewed-Rupesh Kabre explains how the locality, usually reticent and self preservatory,began working more as a unit, and how the living conditions improved along with a sense of civic duty. The space became clean due to the presence of the shrine, and everyone chipped in, in terms of time and even money, to get things started. Troubles crop up, in terms of land dispute and the odd scuffle, but overall the mood is upbeat as there is purpose. The networks established have been fruitful in helping ailing people, accident victims, and people who need an immediate resource of manpower. The boys were being monitored by the elders, who form a sort of unofficial advisory council. In the course of interviewing his mother Anita Kabre next, we learn how they keep a watchful eye on them. The mother Anita Kabre interviewed is a member of the Shiv Sena (political party) shakha pramukh (local section) Mahila Mandal (women's collective) section. She is one of the 9 women members of the women's organisation. She helps out the boys during their ramnavmi celebrations, with the cleaning and decorating, but mainly her work had been to provide water lines for every tenant and getting tiles put in the locality. She did that independantly with the help of the local Shiv Sena corporator. Produced by Majlis.Yes1428http://www.pad.ma/Vt8dvtfn/info2009-06-12weekly1.0Bar Dancers: Post Ban Group Performance at Ellora Barhttp://www.pad.ma/Vt8dvtfn/poster.75.jpgDancing in bars of Bombay and other parts of Maharashtra began in 1970s. It was a device to attract more customers to the bars and boost up sale of alcohol. The Govt. initially encouraged it in order to increase their revenue. The practice also turned out to be a modernized version of commercial dance. It provided livelihood to large number of women including many migrants from neighbouring states and countries. Many women from traditional courtesan, devdasi and other such commercial dancing communities had opted for dancing in bars. As the feudal patronage dried up dancing at bars, other than in marginal capacity in Bollywood cinemas, became the only option for these women. In 2005, the Maharashtra government proposed to ban dancing in the bars on the pretext of public morality. The proposal sparked wide public debate on issues of sexual morality, women’s rights and right to livelihood. The civil society got vertically divided on the issue. Even some conventional women’s organizations actively supported the ban on the issue of ‘degradation of women’s body’. Some feminist organizations along with the Bar Dancers’ union came together to mobilize support against the ban. Still the Govt. went ahead and implemented the ban on 15th August, independence day of India, rendering approximately 70,000 women jobless. Several feminist organizations, bar owners’ associations and others filed cases against the ban in the Bombay high court. Majlis legal centre filed the case on behalf of the Bar dancers’ union. This is a dance performance by a group of three dancers during that time. The ban was already implemented and the bars were under strict surveillance. Hence the performance had to take place in the afternoon when the bar was closed. It was part of our effort to document the performances and testimonies of the bar dancers. Yes465http://www.pad.ma/Vgdtcbj3/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Railway Station- Gateway to the Dream City: Bombay Central (Long Distance)http://www.pad.ma/Vgdtcbj3/poster.75.jpgBombay Central station. For some reason nobody calls it Mumbai central station except in official announcement. This is the long distance train section of the terminus. Trains to Gujarat and upper north depart from here. The station has a distinctively north Indian vibes coming from the waiting passengers. Designed by the British architect Claude Batley the station was inaugurated on 18th December 1930. The station was planned in order to rechannelise the long distant trains which were operating from the station at Colaba. This is lazy afternoon time. The trains generally arrive in the morning and depart in the evening. Some waiting passengers of the evening trains are scattered around the premise along with the mandatory vagabonds, hawkers and coolies. A still moment before the overwhelming rush. This station is one of the major gateways on the journey to the dream city. Outside the station is Bombay Central-Grant road area which is known for its mixed languages, religions and cultural ethos. Yes242http://www.pad.ma/Vfrbiihr/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Sexuality, Morality and Livelihood: Activist's Presentation on Dance Barhttp://www.pad.ma/Vfrbiihr/poster.75.jpgMany women's groups and organisations felt the need for a study on bar dancers, which would present the real picture of the women working in the bars. The study is called Bar dancers- workers, citizens and rights. Here the salient points of the presentation is being shared with the bar dancers and other audience.Yes668http://www.pad.ma/Veeup116/info2009-06-12weekly1.0Bar Dancers: Statement of the Jury at the Public Hearinghttp://www.pad.ma/Veeup116/poster.75.jpgDancing at beer bars started in Maharashtra in the ‘70s. These bars are popularly called Dance Bars. They were recognizable by the heavy door at the entrance and by the uniformed bouncers. In order to increase the revenue from alcohol sale the govt. kept issuing licenses for the dance bars and over the three decades these bars sprouted all over the state and specially in Bombay. In 2005 the Govt. proposed a bill to ban dancing at the bars on the pretext of public morality. But by then around 75,000 women were employed in the unorganized sector of bar dancing. Most of these women were migrants from the other parts of the state, country and the subcontinent. The proposal sparked a huge public debate on the issues of morality, sexuality and livelihood. The home minister in the state govt. R R Patil took it as a mission and pursued it till the end. The civil society got vertically divided on the issue. While all the right wing outfits supported the ban, some old school women’s organizations too were vocal against bar dancing based on the argument of commodifying women’s body. Some feminist groups and other social movements campaigned against the ban foregrounding issues of right to livelihood, validity of sex based works and against moral policing. Amidst the frenzy of campaign and counter campaign the govt. implemented the bill on 15th August 2005, on the occasion of independence day of India. The act which rendered 70,000 women jobless was passed unanimously in the assembly, where all members including the communist party and women from various political parties cheered and voted for the bill. In the history of Indian democracy there are a very few bills that was passes with such absolute agreement. There were many theories for the Govt.’s motive to ban dance bars. Some says that it was a ploy to decrease the sale of beer and boost the outreach of wine as the wine industry had just started picking up in Maharashtra and many senior politicians were stake holders in wine industry. Some other claim that it was a populist measure to woo the middle class voters. Another theory ascribed the operation as an exercise to evict smaller eateries and pubs to make space for big franchises and multi-purpose eateries. It could also be a simple act of gentrifying the city. Throughout this period the most active campaign against the ban was from the bar dancers union in collaboration with some feminists groups. Majlis legal centre filed a case challenging the ban in the Bombay high court on behalf of the bar dancers’ union. The Women’s Study dept., SNDT university along with Forum against oppression of women conducted a survey around the bars in the city and published the report in order to inform the general public. Five days after the ban three-city organisations Majlis, Pukar (Gender and Space unit), and Point of View organized a public hearing on the issue at KC College auditorium. Ten eminent citizens from various walks of life were invited to serve in the panel of Jury and hear the live testimonies of the retrenched dancers. The auditorium of around 700 capacity was chock-o-block with 500 bar dancers, members of bar owners association, family members of the bar dancers, concerned citizens and a large media presence. In this event some bar dancers gave testimonies. This event is the culmination of the evening where the citizens’ jury submitted their statement. The statement is collected in order to use it in the court and also for the campaign. Yes916http://www.pad.ma/Vsn1o84z/info2009-06-12weekly1.0Bar Dancers Speak: Testimonies at Public Hearing 1http://www.pad.ma/Vsn1o84z/poster.75.jpgDancing at beer bars started in Maharashtra in the ‘70s. These bars are popularly called Dance Bars. They were recognisable by the heavy door at the entrance and by the uniformed bouncers. In order to increase the revenue from alcohol sale the govt. kept issuing licenses for the dance bars and over the three decades these bars sprouted all over the state and specially in Bombay. In 2005 the Govt. proposed a bill to ban dancing at the bars on the pretext of public morality. But by then around 75,000 women were employed in the unorganized sector of bar dancing. Most of these women were migrants from the other parts of the state, country and the subcontinent. The proposal sparked a huge public debate on the issues of morality, sexuality and livelihood. The home minister in the state govt. R R Patil took it as a mission and persuaded it till the end. The civil society got vertically divided on the issue. While all the right wing outfits supported the ban, some old school women’s organizations too were vocal against bar dancing based on the argument of commodifying women’s body. Some feminist groups and other social movements campaigned against the ban foregrounding issues of right to livelihood, validity of sex based works and against moral policing. Amidst the frenzy of campaign and counter campaign the govt. implemented the bill on the midnight 15th August 2005, the independence day of India. The act which rendered 70,000 women jobless was passed unanimously in the assembly, where all members including the communist party and women from various political parties cheered and voted for the bill. In the history of Indian democracy there are a very few bills that was passes with such absolute agreement. There were many theories for the Govt.’s motive to ban dance bars. Some says that it was a ploy to decrease the sale of beer and boost the outreach of wine as the wine industry had just started picking up in Maharashtra and many senior politicians were stake holders in wine industry. Some other claim that it was a populist measure to woo the middle class voters. Another theory ascribed the operation as an exercise to evict smaller eateries and pubs to make space for big franchises and multi-purpose eateries. It could also be a simple act of gentrifying the city. Throughout this period the most active campaign against the ban was from the bar dancers union in collaboration with some feminists groups. Majlis legal centre filed a case challenging the ban in the Bombay high court on behalf of the bar dancers’ union. There were also other petitions from the Bar owners’ association, women’s groups and others. The Women’s Study dept., SNDT university along with Forum against oppression of women conducted a survey around the bars in the city and published the report in order to inform the general public. The media too covered the issue quite extensively. On 12th April 2006 the Bombay High Court struck down the ban as unconstitutional. The Govt. appealed to the Supreme Court and thus affectively kept the bar closed inspite of the High court order. Presently the case is subjudiced. Still the initial win in the High Court in the face of such heightened morality campaign meant a lot. In the intermediary period of the implementation of the ban and the High Court judgement, three city organisations Majlis, Pukar (Gender and Space unit), and Point of View organized a public hearing on the issue at KC College suditorium. Ten eminent citizens from various walks of life were invited to serve in the panel of Jury and hear the live testimonies of the retrenched dancers. The auditorium of around 700 capacity was chock-o-block with 500 bar dancers, members of bar owners association, family members of the bar dancers, concerned citizens and a large media presence. In this event some bar dancers gave testimonies. Yes960http://www.pad.ma/Vi74zwcz/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Kashmir: Conflict and Image Archiveshttp://www.pad.ma/Vi74zwcz/poster.75.jpgThe immediate event was a photo exhibition that had been mounted at Batmalloo, Srinagar. We were keen to look at various collectors of images in the Valley, to see what propelled different image-collections. In this case, it seemed to be an attempt to keep a sort of photographic record, mostly of army atrocities in the Valley. Shakeel Bakshi has been a student leader of the ISA, in the Valley. In this conversation, he shows us sheets from the photo exhibition, talks of the reasons for the collection and his political views. Interviewed by Jayshree and Hansa Produced by Majlis.Yes2681http://www.pad.ma/Vfb45j81/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Popular Culture: Small Theatres Lining Bombay Roadshttp://www.pad.ma/Vfb45j81/poster.75.jpgThere are, in many areas of Bombay, small shop sized theatres that provide the communal experience of viewing cinema at cheap rates. Men from working class backgrounds frequent these small theatres. The video projection is not just of old films, or B grade films or pornographic content, but also relatively recent super hits. There is a licensing system and a semi- regularization of these theatres. In a way it harks back to the early day of cinemas, when cinema was a form of mass entertainments, and the Nickelodeon charged five cents for a ticket. A rough and ready seating arrangement is made in these theatres, on benches. There are exhaust fans for ventilation. There are multiple shows, often of different films.Yes724http://www.pad.ma/Vgtunpnu/info2009-06-12weekly1.0Bar Dancer on the Ban: An Interview with Salonihttp://www.pad.ma/Vgtunpnu/poster.75.jpgDancing in bars of Bombay and other parts of Maharashtra began in 1970s. It was a device to attract more customers to the bars and boost up sale of alcohol. The Govt. initially encouraged it in order to increase their revenue. The practice also turned out to be a modernized version of commercial dance. It provided livelihood to large number of women including many migrants from neighbouring states and countries. Many women from traditional courtesan, devdasi and other such commercial dancing communities had opted for dancing in bars. As the feudal patronage dried up dancing at bars, other than in marginal capacity in Bollywood cinemas, became the only option for these women. In 2005, the Maharashtra government proposed to ban dancing in the bars on the pretext of public morality. The proposal sparked wide public debate on issues of sexual morality, women’s rights and right to livelihood. The civil society got vertically divided on the issue. Still the Govt. went ahead and implemented the ban on 15th August, independence day of India, rendering approximately 70,000 women jobless. This is an interview with a bar dancer in the intermediary period when the petitions against the ban was pending in front of the Bombay court. Saloni was a celebrated dancer in Ellora bar. She migrated from a village in Muradabad, near Delhi, with the dream of becoming an accomplished dancer. Unlike many other dancers she neither has much of a personal life in Bombay, nor is she active in any forum such as bar dancers’ union. Bit of a recluse, Saloni just wants to dance. Saloni is in full dancing costume and make up. Determined to not miss the opportunity to once more wear the make up and costume, Saloni was very responsive during the shooting of her dance. But she turned out to be a reluctant interviewee. Shot by Avijit Mukul Kishore. Interviewee (S), Interviewer- Madhusree (M)Yes526http://www.pad.ma/Vfryyfwl/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Sanyukta Maharashtra: Talk Show 3http://www.pad.ma/Vfryyfwl/poster.75.jpgThe Sanyukta Maharashtra Movement in 1950s was the most important post-independent political movement in Bombay. The movement received active support from parties and groups whose ideological base ranged from radical left to the centerist. Popularly it is referred as a movement for assertion of the rights of majority language group - Marathi, and thus the inclusion of Bombay in the Maharashtra state is considered as the victory of the movement. But actually the historical period at which the movement picked up momentum was a junction between the existing vibrant trade union movement in the city and the beginning of identity politics in the region. We felt it is important to revisit the movement in order to understand the present social scenario. A discussion session was organized between various active members of the movement. After the initial discussion on the evaluation of the movement the discussion moved towards its impact on the state and public affair today. Anchor: Pushpa Bhave (PB), art and literary critic, teacher and social activist. Was a young student during the movement. (Unfortunately the footage with her image have got spoilt. So we only have her audio). Participants: Prof. Sadanand Varde(SV): Samajwadi (socialist) leader, economist, former state minister of education. Was in the forefront of the movement. Pushpa Trilokeka(PT): Journalist. Was part of the daily newspaper Maratha, which was considered as the mouthpiece of the movement. Tara Reddy(TR): Communist, Member of CPI (communist party of India), also active in women's movement. Was active participant of the movement. Himmatbhai(HB): Samajwadi (socialist) leader. Also part of the Gujarati community, which was largely against the movement.Yes1120http://www.pad.ma/Vum7kg71/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Bazaar: Juhu Beach on Sunday Eveninghttp://www.pad.ma/Vum7kg71/poster.75.jpgSearching for street culture and the associated aesthetics and narratives one Sunday evening we reached Juhu beach. The famous class leveler of Bombay. The beach is lined with multiple 5 star hotels and fancy eateries and designers wares. But at the foreground of the beach it also accommodates the lowest rungs of street entertainment. Open air massage, gigolo service, camel ride on the sea beach, assorted vendors, sumptuous food stalls, rides and sand castles, illegal drinks – Juhu beach has been a delight for all age and all class and immoratlised by various films and books. In 2006 the beach was cleansed and the food stalls have been re-located in neatly designed food mall. The unauthorised vendors and other services were chased out. The beach has become clean, safe, gentrifies but lost its colour. This shooting was commenced at the peak of Juhu beach’s glory.Yes1635http://www.pad.ma/Vulo8ea4/info2009-06-13weekly1.0Bar Dancers: Varsha Kale Speaks at Public Hearinghttp://www.pad.ma/Vulo8ea4/poster.75.jpgDancing at beer bars started in Maharashtra in the ‘70s. These bars are popularly called Dance Bars. They were recognisable by the heavy door at the entrance and by the uniformed bouncers. In order to increase the revenue from alcohol sale the govt. kept issuing licenses for the dance bars and over the three decades these bars sprouted all over the state and specially in Bombay. In 2005 the Govt. proposed a bill to ban dancing at the bars on the pretext of public morality. But by then around 75,000 women were employed in the unorganized sector of bar dancing. Most of these women were migrants from the other parts of the state, country and the subcontinent. The bars though have been part of the cityscape for a long time, always maintained a low profile in terms of social visibility. It seems invisibility was a kind of shield for them. A year ago some of the bar dancers try to form a trade union and evolve a few norms and practices to secure their future. One of the agenda of the union was to resist and publicise incidents of police assult. That did not go down well with the authority. It could be the temerity of these lowly women to challenge the patriarchal system or a threat of loosing the extra money that came as bribe from the bar owners and bar dancers or a development design to replace this form of entertainment with something more lucrative or anything else. But what was clear that the articulation of the union along with other things brought the bar dancers and dance bars in public visibility. The media jumped to the occasion and suddenly the whole society was debating about dance bars. Amidst the frenzy of campaign and counter campaign the govt. implemented the bill that ban dance bars on the midnight of 15th August 2005, the independence day of India. The act which rendered 70,000 women jobless was passed unanimously in the assembly, where all members including the communist party and women from various political parties cheered and voted for the bill. Throughout this period the most active campaign against the ban was from the bar dancers union in collaboration with some feminists groups. Majlis legal centre filed a case challenging the ban in the Bombay high court on behalf of the bar dancers’ union. The Women’s Study dept., SNDT university along with Forum against oppression of women conducted a survey around the bars in the city and published the report in order to inform the general public. Five days after the ban three city organisations Majlis, Pukar (Gender and Space unit), and Point of View organized a public hearing on the issue at KC College suditorium. Ten eminent citizens from various walks of life were invited to serve in the panel of Jury and hear the live testimonies of the retrenched dancers. The auditorium of around 700 capacity was chock-o-block with 500 bar dancers, members of bar owners association, family members of the bar dancers, concerned citizens and a large media presence. In this event some bar dancers gave testimonies. In this event Varsha Kale, the charismatic leader of the bar dancers and the president of the union speak at the public hearing. Yes1091http://www.pad.ma/Vt39bzxx/info2009-06-12weekly1.0Bar Dancer: Post Ban Performance at Ellora Bar (Saloni, Geeta)http://www.pad.ma/Vt39bzxx/poster.75.jpgDancing in bars of Bombay and other parts of Maharashtra began in 1970s. In 2005, the Maharashtra government proposed to ban dancing in the bars. The proposal sparked wide public debate on sexual morality, women’s rights and right to livelihood. This is a dance performance of two bar dancers.Yes344http://www.pad.ma/Vfrz2rjn/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Popular Cultures: Television and Patriotismhttp://www.pad.ma/Vfrz2rjn/poster.75.jpg26th January, 2002, 52nd Republic day of India. The citizens of India get to feel the federalism of the republic of India only on few days: the independence day on 15th August, the republic day on 26th January, the days of the parliament elections and ofcourse the days of wars with the neighbouring countries. The nationalist sentiments run high on those days, specially in the hours spent in front of the television or with the newspaper. The orchestrated visuals that get laid out evoke range of sentiments: pride, insecurity, vulnerability, bonhomie, benevolence, power, expanse and so on. The centre of all these is the state arranged republic day parade in New Delhi. There are many other public programme that take place throughout the country on that day, but they are all smaller replicas of the master programme, both in terms of look and theme. The parade is arranged by a series of floats: by the defense ministry, by the ministry of sports, by each state, by youth, by women, by issues, by public institutions and so on.Yes3783http://www.pad.ma/Vhavwc6i/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Roadside Shrines : Protection from Communal Mobshttp://www.pad.ma/Vhavwc6i/poster.75.jpgOne of the residents; a gritty lady describes some of the events she witnessed during the 1992 riots in one of the worst affected areas of the inner city precincts. There was mayhem during this time period where a lot of people were scared for their lives. Removal of fuses, total blackouts in areas so that people could not target zones based on ethnicities; people jumping into gutters to avoid mobs; vantage points used to hurl bombs; lynching and burning of people and possessions, and all sorts of horror stories were described by this woman. If not experienced, then episodes recounted to her. She talks of her association with the shrine by her house, her faith, which she says saved her life and the lives of her children during that difficult period. She attributes the proximity to the shrine as being one of the reasons for their survival, as people, despite the threats; infact chose not to attack that space, the place of worship. During the 1992- 1993 riots, the roadside shrines had their own history, that have not been explored. In this case, the shrine evokes in the interviewee a memory of being protected by the presence of this shrine. She also evokes a memory of the maha aarti, the aartis organized by the Shiv Senas to rally Hindus together. They would often serve as beginning points for a mob attack. Maha-aartis were a direct response to namaaz that was carried out on the streetsYes1196http://www.pad.ma/Vt87l9db/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Sanyukta Maharashtra: Talk Show 2http://www.pad.ma/Vt87l9db/poster.75.jpgThe Sanyukta Maharashtra Movement in 1950s, was the most important post-independent political movement in Bombay. The movement received active support from parties and groups whose ideological base ranged from radical left to the centerist. Popularly it is referred as a movement for assertion of the rights of majority language group - Marathi, and thus the inclusion of Bombay in the Maharashtra state is considered as the victory of the movement. But actually the historical period at which the movement picked up momentum was a junction between the existing vibrant trade union movement in the city and the beginning of identity politics in the region. We felt it is important to revisit the movement in order to understand the present social scenario. A discussion session was organized between various active members of the movement. Anchor: Pushpa Bhave (PB), art and literary critic, teacher and social activist. Was a young student during the movement. (Unfortunately the footage with her image have got spoilt. So we only have her audio). Participants: Prof. Sadanand Varde(SV): Samajwadi (socialist) leader, economist, former state minister of education. Was in the forefront of the movement. Pushpa Trilokeka(PT): Journalist. Was part of the daily newspaper Maratha, which was considered as the mouthpiece of the movement. Tara Reddy(TR): Communist, Member of CPI (communist party of India), also active in women’s movement. Was active participant of the movement. Himmatbhai(HB): Samajwadi (socialist) leader. Also part of the Gujarati community, which was largely against the movement.Yes723http://www.pad.ma/Vg9e292l/info2009-06-12weekly1.0Bar Dancers Speak: Testimonies at Public Hearinghttp://www.pad.ma/Vg9e292l/poster.75.jpgDancing at beer bars started in Maharashtra in the ‘70s. These bars are popularly called Dance Bars. They were recognisable by the heavy door at the entrance and by the uniformed bouncers. In order to increase the revenue from alcohol sale the govt. kept issuing licenses for the dance bars and over the three decades these bars sprouted all over the state and specially in Bombay. In 2005 the Govt. proposed a bill to ban dancing at the bars on the pretext of public morality. But by then around 75,000 women were employed in the unorganized sector of bar dancing. Most of these women were migrants from the other parts of the state, country and the subcontinent. The proposal sparked a huge public debate on the issues of morality, sexuality and livelihood. The home minister in the state govt. R R Patil took it as a mission and persuaded it till the end. The civil society got vertically divided on the issue. While all the right wing outfits supported the ban, some old school women’s organizations too were vocal against bar dancing based on the argument of commodifying women’s body. Some feminist groups and other social movements campaigned against the ban foregrounding issues of right to livelihood, validity of sex based works and against moral policing. Amidst the frenzy of campaign and counter campaign the govt. implemented the bill on the midnight of 15th August 2005, the independence day of India. The act which rendered 70,000 women jobless was passed unanimously in the assembly, where all members including the communist party and women from various political parties cheered and voted for the bill. In the history of Indian democracy there are a very few bills that was passes with such absolute agreement. There were many theories for the Govt.’s motive to ban dance bars. Some says that it was a ploy to decrease the sale of beer and boost the outreach of wine as the wine industry had just started picking up in Maharashtra and many senior politicians were stake holders in wine industry. Some other claim that it was a populist measure to woo the middle class voters. Another theory ascribed the operation as an exercise to evict smaller eateries and pubs to make space for big franchises and multi-purpose eateries. It could also be a simple act of gentrifying the city. Throughout this period the most active campaign against the ban was from the bar dancers union in collaboration with some feminists groups. Majlis legal centre filed a case challenging the ban in the Bombay high court on behalf of the bar dancers’ union. There were also other petitions from the Bar owners’ association, women’s groups and others. The Women’s Study dept., SNDT University along with Forum against oppression of women conducted a survey around the bars in the city and published the report in order to inform the general public. The media too covered the issue quite extensively. On 12th April 2006 the Bombay High Court struck down the ban as unconstitutional. The Govt. appealed to the Supreme Court and thus affectively kept the bar closed inspite of the High court order. Presently the case is subjudiced. Still the initial win in the High Court in the face of such heightened morality campaign meant a lot. In the intermediary period of the implementation of the ban and the High Court judgement, three city organizations Majlis, Pukar (Gender and Space unit), and Point of View organized a public hearing on the issue at KC College suditorium. Ten eminent citizens from various walks of life were invited to serve in the panel of Jury and hear the live testimonies of the retrenched dancers. The auditorium of around 700 capacity was chock-o-block with 500 bar dancers, members of bar owners association, family members of the bar dancers, concerned citizens and a large media presence. After hearing the bar dancers the jury made a statement which was later presented in the court. In this event the jury is being introduced. Yes563http://www.pad.ma/Vi35v80d/info2009-06-12weekly1.0Bar Dancer on the Ban: An Interview with Rekhahttp://www.pad.ma/Vi35v80d/poster.75.jpgDancing in bars of Bombay and other parts of Maharashtra began in 1970s. It was a device to attract more customers to the bars and boost up sale of alcohol. The Govt. initially encouraged it in order to increase their revenue. The practice also turned out to be a modernized version of commercial dance. It provided livelihood to large number of women including many migrants from neighbouring states and countries. Many women from traditional courtesan, devdasi and other such commercial dancing communities had opted for dancing in bars. As the feudal patronage dried up dancing at bars, other than in marginal capacity in Bollywood cinemas, became the only option for these women. In 2005, the Maharashtra government proposed to ban dancing in the bars on the pretext of public morality. The proposal sparked wide public debate on issues of sexual morality, women’s rights and right to livelihood. The civil society got vertically divided on the issue. Still the Govt. went ahead and implemented the ban on 15th August, independence day of India, rendering approximately 70,000 women jobless. This is an interview with a bar dancer in the intermediary period when the petitions against the ban was pending in front of the Bombay court. Rekha, a migrant from a village in Punjab, is an active member of the Bar dancers’ union. Young, energetic, flamboyant Rekha has all the ordinary girly streaks in her – love for coloured contact lense, flirting with handsome men, desire to get married, preference for jeans etc. Yet she led an extra ordinary life of a stigmatized bar dancer. Dance is only the available means to her and she does not have any special love for dancing. Shot by Avijit Mukul Kishore. Interviewee Rekha (R), Interviewer- Madhusree (M) Yes995http://www.pad.ma/Vfsumm01/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Popular Culture: Anupam Single Screen Theatrehttp://www.pad.ma/Vfsumm01/poster.75.jpgA projectionist describes his work with an old carbon arc projector, in an old single screen theatre in a Bombay suburb. He talks of how he came into this profession, and how his love for cinema finally led him here. He remembers old films he has seen. He talks in detail about the projectors and the work he does on them and the skill it requires. He talks of how films have changed. In the context of the almost virulent spread of multi screen multiplexes, old single screen theatres are fast losing business. This small suburban theatre barely survives, showing a combination of B grade films, some regional films. But the projectionist is an old worker with a love for the machine he works on, and a keen understanding of it.Yes1211http://www.pad.ma/Vfb5javr/info2009-06-12weekly1.0Bar Dancers: Post Ban Performance by a Senior Dancer (Geeta)http://www.pad.ma/Vfb5javr/poster.75.jpgDancing in bars of Bombay and other parts of Maharashtra began in 1970s. It was a device to attract more customers to the bars and boost up sale of alcohol. The Govt. initially encouraged it in order to increase their revenue. The practice also turned out to be a modernized version of commercial dance. It provided livelihood to large number of women including many migrants from neighbouring states and countries. Many women from traditional courtesan, devdasi and other such commercial dancing communities had opted for dancing in bars. As the feudal patronage dried up dancing at bars, other than in marginal capacity in Bollywood cinemas, became the only option for these women. In 2005, the Maharashtra government proposed to ban dancing in the bars on the pretext of public morality. The proposal sparked wide public debate on issues of sexual morality, women’s rights and right to livelihood. The civil society got vertically divided on the issue. Even some conventional women’s organizations actively supported the ban on the issue of ‘degradation of women’s body’. Some feminist organizations along with the Bar Dancers’ union came together to mobilize support against the ban. Still the Govt. went ahead and implemented the ban on 15th August, independence day of India, rendering approximately 70,000 women jobless. Several feminist organizations, bar owners’ associations and others filed cases against the ban in the Bombay high court. Majlis legal centre filed the case on behalf of the Bar dancers’ union. This is a dance performance by a bar dancer during that time. The ban was already implemented and the bars were under strict surveillance. Hence the performance had to take place in the afternoon when the bar was closed. It was part of our effort to document the performances and testimonies of the bar dancers. Shot by Avijit Mukul KishoreYes347http://www.pad.ma/Vuhj7onn/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Sanyukta Maharashtra: Talk Show 5http://www.pad.ma/Vuhj7onn/poster.75.jpgThe Sanyukta Maharashtra Movement in 1950s was the most important post-independent political movement in Bombay. The movement received active support from parties and groups whose ideological base ranged from radical left to the centerist. Popularly it is referred as a movement for assertion of the rights of majority language group - Marathi, and thus the inclusion of Bombay in the Maharashtra state is considered as the victory of the movement. But actually the historical period at which the movement picked up momentum was a junction between the existing vibrant trade union movement in the city and the beginning of identity politics in the region. We felt it is important to revisit the movement in order to understand the present social scenario. A discussion session was organized between various active members of the movement. Though the discussion initially went around the evaluation of the movement, by this time the discussion invariably zeroed down on the present situation of the city. The discussion moved to the mayhem around the real estate, demographic issues and development. The ideologues that were so articulate in assessing the movement of their days - Sanyukta Maharashtra Movement - became sort of rhetorical when it came to the present situation. Anchor: Pushpa Bhave (PB), art and literary critic, teacher and social activist. Was a young student during the movement. (Unfortunately the footage with her image has got spoilt. So we only have her audio). Participants: Prof. Sadanand Varde (SV): Samajwadi (socialist) leader, economist, former state minister of education. Was in the forefront of the movement. Pushpa Trilokekar (PT): Journalist. Was part of the daily newspaper Maratha, which was considered as the mouthpiece of the movement. Tara Reddy (TR): Communist, Member of CPI (communist party of India), also active in women’s movement. Was active participant of the movement. Himmatbhai Zaveri (HB): Samajwadi (socialist) leader. Also part of the Gujarati community, which was largely against the movement.Yes1101http://www.pad.ma/Vh59nwi2/info2009-03-03weekly1.0Cityscape: Street Children on Republic Dayhttp://www.pad.ma/Vh59nwi2/poster.75.jpgIt was 52nd anniversary of Republic of India. The fifty two years of constitutional democracy, electoral politics, language based federalism and assertion of the nation state in public life we come to the iconic rendering of it. The nation warms up to the nation state and the metropolis makes a display of that. The authorized and prioritized citizens belonging to the middle class display their allegiance to the nation state by making the national flag a fashionable accessory. That provides some children of the lesser god an opportunity to make quick bucks. Long live the republic!Yes1571http://www.pad.ma/Vfscw0zb/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Sanyukta Maharashtra: Talk Show 1http://www.pad.ma/Vfscw0zb/poster.75.jpgThe Sanyukta Maharashtra Movement in 1950s, was the most important post-independent political movement in Bombay. The movement received active support from parties and groups whose ideological base ranged from radical left to the centerist. Popularly it is referred as a movement for assertion of the rights of majority language group - Marathi, and thus the inclusion of Bombay in the Maharashtra state is considered as the victory of the movement. But actually the historical period at which the movement picked up momentum was a junction between the existing vibrant trade union movement in the city and the beginning of identity politics in the region. We felt it is important to revisit the movement in order to understand the present social scenario. A discussion session was organized between various active members of the movement. Anchor: Pushpa Bhave (PB), art and literary critic, teacher and social activist. Was a young student during the movement. (Unfortunately the footage with her image has got spoilt. So we only have her audio). Participants: Prof. Sadanand Varde (SV): Samajwadi (socialist) leader, economist, former state minister of education. Was in the forefront of the movement. Pushpa Trilokeka(PT): Journalist. Was part of the daily newspaper Maratha, which was considered as the mouthpiece of the movement. Tara Reddy(TR): Communist, Member of CPI (communist party of India), also active in women's movement. Was active participant of the movement. Himmatbhai Zaveri(HB): Samajwadi (socialist) leader. Also part of the Gujarati community, which was largely against the movement.Yes866http://www.pad.ma/Vfs71v72/info2009-06-12weekly1.0Bar Dancers Speak: Testimonies at Public Hearing 4http://www.pad.ma/Vfs71v72/poster.75.jpgDancing at beer bars started in Maharashtra in the ‘70s. These bars are popularly called Dance Bars. They were recognisable by the heavy door at the entrance and by the uniformed bouncers. In order to increase the revenue from alcohol sale the govt. kept issuing licenses for the dance bars and over the three decades these bars sprouted all over the state and specially in Bombay. In 2005 the Govt. proposed a bill to ban dancing at the bars on the pretext of public morality. But by then around 75,000 women were employed in the unorganized sector of bar dancing. Most of these women were migrants from the other parts of the state, country and the subcontinent. The proposal sparked a huge public debate on the issues of morality, sexuality and livelihood. The home minister in the state govt. R R Patil took it as a mission and persuaded it till the end. The civil society got vertically divided on the issue. While all the right wing outfits supported the ban, some old school women’s organizations too were vocal against bar dancing based on the argument of commodifying women’s body. Some feminist groups and other social movements campaigned against the ban foregrounding issues of right to livelihood, validity of sex based works and against moral policing. Amidst the frenzy of campaign and counter campaign the govt. implemented the bill on 15th August 2005, on the occasion of independence day of India. The act which rendered 70,000 women jobless was passed unanimously in the assembly, where all members including the communist party and women from various political parties cheered and voted for the bill. In the history of Indian democracy there are a very few bills that was passes with such absolute agreement. There were many theories for the Govt.’s motive to ban dance bars. Some says that it was a ploy to decrease the sale of beer and boost the outreach of wine as the wine industry had just started picking up in Maharashtra and many senior politicians were stake holders in wine industry. Some other claim that it was a populist measure to woo the middle class voters. Another theory ascribed the operation as an exercise to evict smaller eateries and pubs to make space for big franchises and multi-purpose eateries. It could also be a simple act of gentrifying the city. Throughout this period the most active campaign against the ban was from the bar dancers union in collaboration with some feminists groups. Majlis legal centre filed a case challenging the ban in the Bombay high court on behalf of the bar dancers’ union. The Women’s Study dept., SNDT university along with Forum against oppression of women conducted a survey around the bars in the city and published the report in order to inform the general public. Five days after the ban three city organisations Majlis, Pukar (Gender and Space unit), and Point of View organized a public hearing on the issue at KC College suditorium. Ten eminent citizens from various walks of life were invited to serve in the panel of Jury and hear the live testimonies of the retrenched dancers. The auditorium of around 700 capacity was chock-o-block with 500 bar dancers, members of bar owners association, family members of the bar dancers, concerned citizens and a large media presence. In this event some bar dancers gave testimonies. Yes429http://www.pad.ma/Vejbx6uz/info2010-07-08weekly1.0Bar Dancer: Post Ban Performance at Ellora Bar (Live Music)http://www.pad.ma/Vejbx6uz/poster.75.jpgDancing in bars of Bombay and other parts of Maharashtra began in 1970s. It was a device to attract more customers to the bars and boost up sale of alcohol. The Govt. initially encouraged it in order to increase their revenue. The practice also turned out to be a modernized version of commercial dance. It provided livelihood to large number of women including many migrants from neighbouring states and countries. Many women from traditional courtesan, devdasi and other such commercial dancing communities had opted for dancing in bars. As the feudal patronage dried up dancing at bars, other than in marginal capacity in Bollywood cinemas, became the only option for these women. In 2005, the Maharashtra government proposed to ban dancing in the bars on the pretext of public morality. The proposal sparked wide public debate on issues of sexual morality, women’s rights and right to livelihood. The civil society got vertically divided on the issue. Even some conventional women’s organizations actively supported the ban on the issue of ‘degradation of women’s body’. Some feminist organizations along with the Bar Dancers’ union came together to mobilize support against the ban. Still the Govt. went ahead and implemented the ban on 15th August, independence day of India, rendering approximately 70,000 women jobless. Several feminist organizations, bar owners’ associations and others filed cases against the ban in the Bombay high court. Majlis legal centre filed the case on behalf of the Bar dancers’ union. This is a dance performance by a bar dancer during that time. The ban was already implemented and the bars were under strict surveillance. Hence the performance had to take place in the afternoon when the bar was closed. It was part of our effort to document the performances and testimonies of the bar dancers. In this event the bar dancer dances to live music played and sang by a group of male musicians, instead of recorded music. The presence of harmonium and table is reminiscent old mujra performances. Yes621http://www.pad.ma/Vsru9pbq/info2009-07-10weekly1.0Popular Cultures: Migrant Street Theatrehttp://www.pad.ma/Vsru9pbq/poster.75.jpgFor a quarter century now, a large number migrants from Uttar Pradesh have been staging a Ramleela on Film City Road, Goregaon, East, Bombay. This annual event, which is staged over ten days and more, during Dusshera, is very popular among the community living in the area. The performance happens just adjacent to the road. A stage is put up flanking the traffic. There is an enthusiastic participation in performance. As the organizer said, not on camera, he feels that if a young boy can face an audience on stage, he is well equipped to face Bombay. There is a sense of a community negotiating its way through a city. In 2003, the Shiv Sena mounted a series of attacks on North Indians. They claimed the bhaiyyas were flooding the city, and that eight lac of them were appearing for the Railway Recruitment Board Examination, for posts of gangmen and unskilled labour in the Railways. They attacked a Varanasi-Bombay train in Kalyan, beat up North Indians and forced some to take outgoing trains. Subsequently, during election time, the same party tried to woo the North Indians in many Bombay pockets where they are in majority. In this context, too, the tradition of enacting Ramleelas, also becomes an occasion for creating links with political parties, and a way for a community to assert its presence in Bombay, and demand a kind of recognition and patronage from mainstream parties.Yes932http://www.pad.ma/Vhm508zb/info2009-06-12weekly1.0Bar Dancers Speak: Testimonies at Public Hearing 2http://www.pad.ma/Vhm508zb/poster.75.jpgDancing at beer bars started in Maharashtra in the ‘70s. These bars are popularly called Dance Bars. They were recognisable by the heavy door at the entrance and by the uniformed bouncers. In order to increase the revenue from alcohol sale the govt. kept issuing licenses for the dance bars and over the three decades these bars sprouted all over the state and specially in Bombay. In 2005 the Govt. proposed a bill to ban dancing at the bars on the pretext of public morality. But by then around 75,000 women were employed in the unorganized sector of bar dancing. Most of these women were migrants from the other parts of the state, country and the subcontinent. The proposal sparked a huge public debate on the issues of morality, sexuality and livelihood. The home minister in the state govt. R R Patil took it as a mission and persuaded it till the end. The civil society got vertically divided on the issue. While all the right wing outfits supported the ban, some old school women’s organizations too were vocal against bar dancing based on the argument of commodifying women’s body. Some feminist groups and other social movements campaigned against the ban foregrounding issues of right to livelihood, validity of sex based works and against moral policing. Amidst the frenzy of campaign and counter campaign the govt. implemented the bill on the midnight of 15th August 2005, the independence day of India. The act which rendered 70,000 women jobless was passed unanimously in the assembly, where all members including the communist party and women from various political parties cheered and voted for the bill. In the history of Indian democracy there are a very few bills that was passes with such absolute agreement. There were many theories for the Govt.’s motive to ban dance bars. Some says that it was a ploy to decrease the sale of beer and boost the outreach of wine as the wine industry had just started picking up in Maharashtra and many senior politicians were stake holders in wine industry. Some other claim that it was a populist measure to woo the middle class voters. Another theory ascribed the operation as an exercise to evict smaller eateries and pubs to make space for big franchises and multi-purpose eateries. It could also be a simple act of gentrifying the city. Throughout this period the most active campaign against the ban was from the bar dancers union in collaboration with some feminists groups. Majlis legal centre filed a case challenging the ban in the Bombay high court on behalf of the bar dancers’ union. There were also other petitions from the Bar owners’ association, women’s groups and others. The Women’s Study dept., SNDT university along with Forum against oppression of women conducted a survey around the bars in the city and published the report in order to inform the general public. The media too covered the issue quite extensively. On 12th April 2006 the Bombay High Court struck down the ban as unconstitutional. The Govt. appealed to the Supreme Court and thus affectively kept the bar closed inspite of the High court order. Presently the case is subjudiced. Still the initial win in the High Court in the face of such heightened morality campaign meant a lot. In the intermediary period of the implementation of the ban and the High Court judgement, three city organizations, three city organisations Majlis, Pukar (Gender and Space unit), and Point of View organized a public hearing on the issue at KC College suditorium. Ten eminent citizens from various walks of life were invited to serve in the panel of Jury and hear the live testimonies of the retrenched dancers. The auditorium of around 700 capacity was chock-o-block with 500 bar dancers, members of bar owners association, family members of the bar dancers, concerned citizens and a large media presence. In this event some bar dancers gave testimonies. Yes431http://www.pad.ma/Vtky2iee/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Sanyukta Maharashtra: Talk Show 4http://www.pad.ma/Vtky2iee/poster.75.jpgThe Sanyukta Maharashtra Movement in 1950s, was the most important post-independent political movement in Bombay. The movement received active support from parties and groups whose ideological base ranged from radical left to the centerist. Popularly it is referred as a movement for assertion of the rights of majority language group - Marathi, and thus the inclusion of Bombay in the Maharashtra state is considered as the victory of the movement. But actually the historical period at which the movement picked up momentum was a junction between the existing vibrant trade union movement in the city and the beginning of identity politics in the region. We felt it is important to revisit the movement in order to understand the present social scenario. A discussion session was organized between various active members of the movement. Though initially the discussion centred around the overwhelming reach of the movement, by this time it moved to the issues of post-colonial patterns in our public life.Yes1057http://www.pad.ma/Vtjoavt1/info2009-06-15weekly1.0Roadside Shrines: BMC Demolition Drivehttp://www.pad.ma/Vtjoavt1/poster.75.jpgA woman named Jaya Dhure runs her late husband's roadside shrine which was razed recently by the govt. officials despite having the requisite paperwork. The locals & passersby rally around her to let the shrine continue to exist. The location of the shrine at the cusp of the market behind and the road in front offers a streetscape around the broken shrine shows the accessibility of the temple which is inherently convenient for passersby and devotees. despite have the paperwork, officials are finicky and end up using these local pockets of activity sometimes to even do nothing more than make an example of, be it the destruction of the shrine marking it as a supposed illegal structure, or the backing of it to for legitimization and personal gain. Towards late 2003, the BMC, acting under High Court Orders, started a massive drive to clear illegal road side shrines. The court order was passed as a consequence of a Public Interest Litigation filed by a citizen, Mr. Bhagwan Raiyani. There were various allegations and various protests mounted from all sides. There were city planning 'experts' who felt the shrines were a obstruction to public thoroughfare. There were those who felt that some shrines had become a site for the outbreak of violence during the 1992-1993 riots. There were politicians and religious interests who wanted to defend the shrines. There were newspaper stories of policemen feeling unhappy with the demolition. And shrine 'owners' or custodians, and others who frequented the shrines, who protested the demolition.Yes498http://www.pad.ma/Vha20aru/info2009-06-12weekly1.0Bar Dancers Speak: Testimonies at Public Hearing 5http://www.pad.ma/Vha20aru/poster.75.jpgDancing at beer bars started in Maharashtra in the ‘70s. These bars are popularly called Dance Bars. They were recognisable by the heavy door at the entrance and by the uniformed bouncers. In order to increase the revenue from alcohol sale the govt. kept issuing licenses for the dance bars and over the three decades these bars sprouted all over the state and specially in Bombay. In 2005 the Govt. proposed a bill to ban dancing at the bars on the pretext of public morality. But by then around 75,000 women were employed in the unorganized sector of bar dancing. Most of these women were migrants from the other parts of the state, country and the subcontinent. The proposal sparked a huge public debate on the issues of morality, sexuality and livelihood. The home minister in the state govt. R R Patil took it as a mission and persuaded it till the end. The civil society got vertically divided on the issue. While all the right wing outfits supported the ban, some old school women’s organizations too were vocal against bar dancing based on the argument of commodifying women’s body. Some feminist groups and other social movements campaigned against the ban foregrounding issues of right to livelihood, validity of sex based works and against moral policing. Amidst the frenzy of campaign and counter campaign the govt. implemented the bill on 15th August 2005, on the occasion of independence day of India. The act which rendered 70,000 women jobless was passed unanimously in the assembly, where all members including the communist party and women from various political parties cheered and voted for the bill. In the history of Indian democracy there are a very few bills that was passes with such absolute agreement. There were many theories for the Govt.’s motive to ban dance bars. Some says that it was a ploy to decrease the sale of beer and boost the outreach of wine as the wine industry had just started picking up in Maharashtra and many senior politicians were stake holders in wine industry. Some other claim that it was a populist measure to woo the middle class voters. Another theory ascribed the operation as an exercise to evict smaller eateries and pubs to make space for big franchises and multi-purpose eateries. It could also be a simple act of gentrifying the city. Throughout this period the most active campaign against the ban was from the bar dancers union in collaboration with some feminists groups. Majlis legal centre filed a case challenging the ban in the Bombay high court on behalf of the bar dancers’ union. The Women’s Study dept., SNDT university along with Forum against oppression of women conducted a survey around the bars in the city and published the report in order to inform the general public. Five days after the ban three city organisations Majlis, Pukar (Gender and Space unit), and Point of View organized a public hearing on the issue at KC College suditorium. Ten eminent citizens from various walks of life were invited to serve in the panel of Jury and hear the live testimonies of the retrenched dancers. The auditorium of around 700 capacity was chock-o-block with 500 bar dancers, members of bar owners association, family members of the bar dancers, concerned citizens and a large media presence. In this event some bar dancers gave testimonies. Yes558http://www.pad.ma/Vg981rnm/info2009-06-12weekly1.0Bar Dancers Case: Television Interview with Manjit Singhhttp://www.pad.ma/Vg981rnm/poster.75.jpgDancing at beer bars started in Maharashtra in the ‘70s. These bars are popularly called Dance Bars. They were recognisable by the heavy door at the entrance and by the uniformed bouncers. In order to increase the revenue from alcohol sale the govt. kept issuing licenses for the dance bars and over the three decades these bars sprouted all over the state and specially in Bombay. In 2005 the Govt. proposed a bill to ban dancing at the bars on the pretext of public morality. But by then around 75,000 women were employed in the unorganized sector of bar dancing. Most of these women were migrants from the other parts of the state, country and the subcontinent. The proposal sparked a huge public debate on the issues of morality, sexuality and livelihood. The home minister in the state govt. R R Patil took it as a mission and persuaded it till the end. The civil society got vertically divided on the issue. While all the right wing outfits supported the ban, some old school women’s organizations too were vocal against bar dancing based on the argument of commodifying women’s body. Some feminist groups and other social movements campaigned against the ban foregrounding issues of right to livelihood, validity of sex based works and against moral policing. The media too got its share by producing substantial amount of programme around the debate. There were many theories for the Govt.’s motive to ban dance bars. Some says that it was a ploy to decrease the sale of beer and boost the outreach of wine as the wine industry had just started picking up in Maharashtra and many senior politicians were stake holders in wine industry. Some other claim that it was a populist measure to woo the middle class voters. Another theory ascribed the operation as an exercise to evict smaller eateries and pubs to make space for big franchises and multi-purpose eateries. It could also be a simple act of gentrifying the city. Amidst the frenzy of campaign and counter campaign the govt. implemented the bill on the midnight of 15th August 2005, the independence day of India. In the campaign against the ban most vocal were two organizations – Bar owners association and Bar dancers union. Both these organizes quickly consolidated their base in order to make the protest campaign substantial. They were public meetings, press conferences, press statement, rallies and television interviews. This event is a television interview of Manjit Singh, the president of the bar owners association at the peak of the campaign. His apparent confidence in this interview proves that initially they were very hopeful to win the battle. But later things detoriated fast as R R Patil, the home minister in the state cabinet took up the issue like a mission. Mr. Manjit Singh was persecuted, harassed and jailed many times by the state. But this interview was taken at the beginning of the season. Yes1300http://www.pad.ma/Vsn9ckfe/info2010-08-02weekly1.0David Lyon Q and Ahttp://www.pad.ma/Vsn9ckfe/poster.75.jpgQuestion and Answer sessions with David Lyon about surveillance, information etcetera.Yes776http://www.pad.ma/Vhlue5th/info2008-04-29weekly1.0Eric Klutenberg talkhttp://www.pad.ma/Vhlue5th/poster.75.jpgEric Klutenberg about the media situation in the Netherlands.Yes613http://www.pad.ma/Vt87tt6s/info2008-02-27weekly1.0Stalder, Klutenberg answer questionshttp://www.pad.ma/Vt87tt6s/poster.75.jpgStalder, Klutenberg have a question and answer session.Yes1553http://www.pad.ma/Vhr353wo/info2009-02-02weekly1.0Becker interviews Royhttp://www.pad.ma/Vhr353wo/poster.75.jpgInterview of Arundhati Roy by Konrad Becker, around the World Information City event. Yes1607http://www.pad.ma/Vgu26j5z/info2008-02-21weekly1.0Wolfgang Sutzl interviews Lata Manihttp://www.pad.ma/Vgu26j5z/poster.75.jpgWolfgang Sutzl interviews Lata Mani.Yes1026http://www.pad.ma/Vgue59vx/info2008-02-27weekly1.0Someplace (by S. Gowda)http://www.pad.ma/Vgue59vx/poster.75.jpgEach window was covered over with translite films and transformed into a readymade light-box. The photographs printed onto these translite films were of other translite boxes that one typically encounters in the relatively newer bus stands in Bangalore. The wall surface was painted white and drawn over with loose, gestural black and grey brush marks that made it resemble a marble surface. Interspersed within the brush marks were dotted lines that guided the eye to textual annotations. The third section of the installation was a sculptural assemblage of GI pupes where segments of pipe were linked up together. As one pressed ones ear to openings in the pipe, voices made themselves audible.Yes56http://www.pad.ma/Vhr3792g/info2008-02-21weekly1.0Raja, Kashif, Tanejahttp://www.pad.ma/Vhr3792g/poster.75.jpgYes3603http://www.pad.ma/Vfbzerhj/info2010-08-02weekly1.0Collateral damage of breaking news: discussion part twohttp://www.pad.ma/Vfbzerhj/poster.75.jpgRoy, Liang and Shuddha discussion on the collateral damage of breaking news continues.Yes3370http://www.pad.ma/Vuhusvf7/info2008-04-28weekly1.0Amin, Sengupta, Kant conversationhttp://www.pad.ma/Vuhusvf7/poster.75.jpgA conversation between Shuddhabrata Sengupta, Ravi Kant and Shahid Amin about history, the archives etc.Yes1274http://www.pad.ma/Vezd9b8d/info2008-02-27weekly1.0Discussion on Bordershttp://www.pad.ma/Vezd9b8d/poster.75.jpgFelix Stalder, Shuddhabrata Sengupta, David Lyon and Florian Schneider have a discussion on borders.Yes1558http://www.pad.ma/Vt3ss7b7/info2010-08-02weekly1.0Collateral damage of breaking news: discussion part 1http://www.pad.ma/Vt3ss7b7/poster.75.jpgLawrence Liang, Arundhati Roy and Shuddhabrata Sengupta participate in a panel discussion about the 'Collateral damage of breaking news', based on the title of an article written by Roy.Yes1994http://www.pad.ma/Vs6ih4lm/info2008-06-17weekly1.0Rickshaw Billboards publicising WIChttp://www.pad.ma/Vs6ih4lm/poster.75.jpgRickshaw with the billboard publicizing World Information City, with three rickshaws carrying the 'Good Question' series, 'Who Owns Your Knowledge' and 'You are free to download..' billboards respectively, driving around the streets of Bangalore in the night-time.Yes49http://www.pad.ma/Vsbn3n19/info2012-01-10weekly1.0Elgin Talkies - Fandom / Night Showhttp://www.pad.ma/Vsbn3n19/poster.75.jpgFootage from WICITYTV, which was a pirate cable TV channel that ran in Shivaji Nagar, Bangalore in November 2005. Elgin Talkies is a 116-year-old decrepit cinema house in Shivaji Nagar that still uses carbon arc projectors. Older than cinema itself, it was first a playhouse, and its logbook catalogues a veritable history of early cinema from silent films to the screening of India’s first talkie, Alam Ara. Gaurav Chandelya spent 48 hours inside Elgin, clocking the daily films and changes.The film, Kahani Elgin Ki [http://chitrakarkhana.net/elgintalkies.htm] was aired on local cable. (http://chitrakarkhana.net/whycitytv.htm)Yes3291http://www.pad.ma/Vfgg8ia5/info2009-02-07weekly1.0Tellavision Mumbai: demonstration, locomotion, televisionhttp://www.pad.ma/Vfgg8ia5/poster.75.jpgTellavision Mumbai is a documentation of one delicately poised edge of global conflict, a documentation of public action post September 11. This rough cut starts with boarding the train at Bandra station. Now from the train, sometimes from the road, one gets a peak into Mumbai along the city's lifeline – its Suburban Railway Line. Slums, mills and crowds of people. Finally, destination reached... Currey Road where an antiwar protest is taking place. A street play is performed to show how India and Pakistan are re-aligning to America's whims. On the train journey back, more of Mumbai's landscape is revealed till the filmmaker turns the camera on the media and its coverage of what is referred to as the world's first television war – America's war in Afghanistan. We see news clippings from BBC, CNN, NDTV and other channels. We watch Bush try to justify his 'war against terror' as the filmmaker deftly parallels these arguments with similar statements made by Chief Minister of Gujarat and controversial right wing Hindu hardliner Narendra Modi.Yes1185http://www.pad.ma/Vfrhmmwq/info2012-01-10weekly1.0A day in the life of Sandeep Gawde. Morning Worli Koliwadahttp://www.pad.ma/Vfrhmmwq/poster.75.jpgFootage from a day spent with Sandeep Gawde documenting his movement patterns in the city. Sandep lives in Worli Koliwada.Yes879http://www.pad.ma/Veeqq3dh/info2009-01-13weekly1.0Speech by Janab Maulana Aijaz Islamsaab, Khilafat Househttp://www.pad.ma/Veeqq3dh/poster.75.jpgFootage from Tellavision Mumbai. Janab Maulana Aijaz Islamsaab delivers a speech in which he opines that our efforts to root out terrorism from the world need to start by focusing on similar issues within India. He says that the well meaning citizens of our country need to make whatever efforts they can to solve the problem of terrorism. He stresses on the sanctity of human life and says that any action that leads to the death of any innocent person is condemnable even in the eyes of god. MA speaks about many instances of America’s unjust policies and it’s manipulation of the Security Council. He bemoans the misuse of the term <i>Jihad</i> and clarifies it’s real meaning. MA also opines that India must examine it's own stand on the War in Afghanistan he says that we should stick to the principles on which our constitution has been based. He also asserts that the long term solution to the problem of terrorism lies in dialogue and discussion. He commends India for being able to sustain democracy despite many short comings and concludes by congratulating the participants of the symposium. The speech took place at a meeting called by the Students Islamic Organisation of India: Terrorism- Reality and Solutions.Yes1488http://www.pad.ma/Vu1jabf7/info2008-02-21weekly1.0Elgin Talkies oldest cinema: posters, tickets, film canshttp://www.pad.ma/Vu1jabf7/poster.75.jpgFootage from WICITYTV, which was a pirate cable TV channel that ran in Shivajinagar, Bangalore in November 2005. Elgin Talkies is a 116-year-old decrepit cinema house in Shivajinagar that still uses carbon arc projectors. Older than cinema itself, it was first a playhouse, and its logbook catalogues a veritable history of early cinema from silent films to the screening of India’s first talkie, Alam Ara. Gaurav Chandelya spent 48 hours inside Elgin, clocking the daily films and changes.The film, Kahani Elgin Ki [http://chitrakarkhana.net/elgintalkies.htm] was aired on local cable. (http://chitrakarkhana.net/whycitytv.htm)Yes1277http://www.pad.ma/Vevk1h5p/info2010-08-05weekly1.0A day in the life of Lajja Shah. Evening: Atria Millenium Mall, Worli to Lower Parelhttp://www.pad.ma/Vevk1h5p/poster.75.jpgLajja Shah is a freelance stylist residing in Malad E. Most days are unpredictable and are spent networking through the city. Speed, mobility and connectivity are crucial; all modes of transport are exploited. Here, filmmaker Shaina Anand (SA) follows Lajja in Atria Millenium Mall, as she picks up clothes from stores for photo shoots that she is the stylist for. After she finishes shopping, she takes a taxi back to Mahalaxmi station and then hops on the train. She reaches Lower Parel.Yes1248http://www.pad.ma/Vsb500x1/info2009-02-09weekly1.0Teesta Setalvaad: Combat Communalismhttp://www.pad.ma/Vsb500x1/poster.75.jpgShaina Anand (SA ) interviews Teesta Setalvad – Civil Rights Activist. Nikhil Anand also present poses a few questions from the perspective of urban Indian youth. Throughout the interview, she seeks to highlight issues like the irony that an Indian can relate to the Afghan war, because it involves the criminalisation of a religion, Islam, rather than what is happening much closer to home, and at home. She provides various reasons, stating that post colonial India has managed to severe ties with its neighbours, because the elite who were in power sought links more with the Western world. She also said that India, especially the Bombay police, has a history of set bias against Indian Muslims, a sentiment widely prevalent the nation over. She also talks about repressive laws that came about to counter-terrorism that, she opines, choked protesters rather than the terrorists, highlighting a need to look at existing laws and why they are not implemented correctly. Secularism is under attack in India as a result, and more and more, there is a gaping distance between the people's movement... and the people. In campuses, Right Wing politics are rampant, whereas the Left gathers in pockets and discuss amongst themselves. There is a need for the Left to reconsolidate its argument. She condemns the media's representation of 9/11 and the events thereafter as a polarisation of the world on religious lines, stating that the notion of religion needs to be de-linked from the notion of the state. Once a group of people, part of a larger movement, resort to violence, the entire movement loses credibility – something that has happened to the Naxalbari Movement in India. Restraint is needed in conflict resolution.Yes2058http://www.pad.ma/Vt81k3o6/info2008-02-21weekly1.0Elgin Talkies oldest cinema: Posters, old officehttp://www.pad.ma/Vt81k3o6/poster.75.jpgFootage from WICITYTV, which was a pirate cable TV channel that ran in Shivaji Nagar, Bangalore in November 2005. Elgin Talkies is a 116-year-old decrepit cinema house in Shivaji Nagar that still uses carbon arc projectors. Older than cinema itself, it was first a playhouse, and its logbook catalogues a veritable history of early cinema from silent films to the screening of India’s first talkie, Alam Ara. Gaurav Chandelya spent 48 hours inside Elgin, clocking the daily films and changes.The film, Kahani Elgin Ki [http://chitrakarkhana.net/elgintalkies.htm] was aired on local cable.Yes638http://www.pad.ma/Vu5mixyv/info2008-02-27weekly1.0A walk with Peter Papri, head of the Machimar Sangh, Manori Beachhttp://www.pad.ma/Vu5mixyv/poster.75.jpgA conversation with Peter Papri, head of the Machimar Sangh, Manori Beach.Yes833http://www.pad.ma/Vs5uf8j3/info2012-01-10weekly1.0Talk with Nikhil Anand in Bandrahttp://www.pad.ma/Vs5uf8j3/poster.75.jpgNikhil Anand talks to citizens of Bandra, the last sunday group at chez nous building in Bandra. His talk was titled globalised civilisation or civilised globalisation . Nikhil was also associate director for the tellavision Mumbai project.Yes667http://www.pad.ma/Vgtkaskf/info2008-06-06weekly1.0A day in the life of Lajja Shah. Mahalaxmi to Worlihttp://www.pad.ma/Vgtkaskf/poster.75.jpgLajja Shah is a freelance stylist residing in Malad E. Most days are unpredictable and are spent networking through the city. Speed, mobility and connectivity are crucial; all modes of transport are exploited. Here, filmmaker Shaina Anand (SA) follows Lajja on from Dadar station to Mahalaxmi, and then by taxi from Mahalaxmi station to Atria Mall, on Dr Annie Besant Road in Worli.Yes1060http://www.pad.ma/Vuhqxjzx/info2009-02-09weekly1.0Disket Document: Midnight Conversationshttp://www.pad.ma/Vuhqxjzx/poster.75.jpgA number of historians, journalists and activists are invited to Disket in the Nubra Valley, Ladakh to participate in National Integration Conference. However, it appears that the same has been misrepresented, on arrival they are told that the actual event is the celebration of "Buddh Mahotsav", the first in a series of Nation-wide Events (the next was to be in Arunachal Pradsh) master-minded and organised by the VHP. What were a bunch of left-liberal folks to do? They performed their speeches for the good citizens and children of Disket, and talked late into the night. Two of the participants, Rama Menon (RM) and Meena Menon (MM), are sharing a room. In this clip, Shaina Anand (SA) puts them in the spotlight as they conduct a post-mortem on the many strains of conversation which occurred over dinner earlier, with particular reference to Maulana Dehlvi’s (MD) observations and insights, as well as his reactions to their viewpoints The participants consist of : SA - Shaina Anand SH – Shubhadra Anand, Historian (Former Principal and Professor of History, R. D. National College, Bandra, Mumbai ) MM – Meena Menon, Political and Trade Union Activist (Vice President, Girni Kamgar Sangharsh Samiti (Mill Workers' Action Committee) and Senior Associate, Focus on the Global South) RM - Rama Menon, journalist.Yes1548http://www.pad.ma/Vhlsjkzx/info2008-02-27weekly1.0Speech by Kumar Ketkar the editor of Maharashtra Times, Khilafat Househttp://www.pad.ma/Vhlsjkzx/poster.75.jpgFootage from the Tellavision Mumbai project. Kumar Ketkar, senior journalist and the editor of Maharashtra Times delivers an impassioned speech on the genesis of “terrorism” as we know it today and America's involvement in it, at a meeting called by the Students Islamic Organisation of India: Terrorism- Reality and Solutions. The meeting took place at Khilafat House, Byculla, Mumbai on 2nd November 2001.Yes1415http://www.pad.ma/Vsmjvwfl/info2012-01-10weekly1.0Elgin movie theatre- workers' interviewshttp://www.pad.ma/Vsmjvwfl/poster.75.jpgFootage from WICITYTV, which was a pirate cable TV channel that ran in Shivaji Nagar, Bangalore in November 2005. Elgin Talkies is a 116-year-old decrepit cinema house in Shivaji Nagar that still uses carbon arc projectors. Older than cinema itself, it was first a playhouse, and its logbook catalogues a veritable history of early cinema from silent films to the screening of India’s first talkie, Alam Ara. Gaurav Chandelya spent 48 hours inside Elgin, clocking the daily films and changes. The film, [http://chitrakarkhana.net/elgintalkies.htm Kahani Elgin Ki ] was aired on local cable.Yes1354http://www.pad.ma/Vs7c79t1/info2008-02-27weekly1.0A day in the life of Selina Uttankar. Late morning, heading home.http://www.pad.ma/Vs7c79t1/poster.75.jpgFootage from the day spent with Selina Uttankar, a native of Manori Village, Mumbai documenting her movement patterns in the city. Traditional Koli occupation. Mid Morning, Selina leaves the fish market and heads back to Malad by train and then to Malad the jetty by bus,. Mumbai.Yes1186http://www.pad.ma/Vhqlrb54/info2008-02-27weekly1.0A day in the life of Lajja Shah.Andheri East to Channel Vhttp://www.pad.ma/Vhqlrb54/poster.75.jpgLajja Shah is a freelance stylist residing in Malad E. Most days are unpredictable and are spent networking through the city. Speed, mobility and connectivity are crucial; all modes of transport are exploited.Here filmmaker Shaina Anand (SA) follows Lajja as she travels from Andheri East to Andheri West, by auto rickshaw.Yes1310http://www.pad.ma/Vt89jdgt/info2009-02-08weekly1.0Jashn-e-Azadi Video chat with Sanjay Kakhttp://www.pad.ma/Vt89jdgt/poster.75.jpg<i>Jashn-e-Azadi</i> (How We Celebrate Freedom, 2007) is the latest work to have been produced by acclaimed documentary film maker Sanjay Kak. The film, which took over three years to make, examines the violence of the last two decades in the struggle for <i>azadi</i> (freedom) in Kashmir's complex history with India. Kak himself has stated that the movie, while focusing primarily on the situation in Kashmir, also subversively examines "... the degrees of freedom in India." This fact was borne out by the disruption of the Mumbai screening of <i>Jashn-e-Azadi</i> by the police on the 27th of July, 2007. The police broke into a screening of the film organised by VIKALP, a group of independent documentary film-makers that constitute Films For Freedom (FFF), and confiscated the DVD, claiming that the showing could not proceed without an appropriate censor certificate due to the fact that the film was supposedly 'needlessly provocative', 'inflammatory' and 'might create a law and order problem.' Ashok Pandit, a Mumbai-based film-maker and member of the Kashmiri Pandit group, <i>Panun Kashmir</i> backed the actions taken by the police, stating “This city is sitting on a volcano. It has been hit by terrorism. This film looks like it has been produced by Bin Laden. In the name of freedom of expression, we must not allow anyone to sell terrorism.” (sic!) Kak fought back by stating that the need for a censor certificate was moot at a private showing. However, the police held strong on the issue and the subsequent screening of the film at Prithvi House, Juhu on the 30th of July, 2007 was also prevented. In protest against this censorship, Majlis arranged for a private viewing of <i>Jashn-e-Azadi</i> on August 4, 2008. Following the screening, Majlis, in association with CAMP, asked Sanjay Kak, who had returned to Delhi after the aborted screenings to join the audience for a quick conversation via Skype post screening. Opening with a few clips taken from the film itself, the recording then proceeds with footage of the interview itself. CAMP, KRVIA, Wilson College, and others also arranged to have private showings of the film. Yes2168http://www.pad.ma/Vdy1bhwf/info2011-12-26weekly1.0WSF Mumbai: Performance, protest, song, dance IIIhttp://www.pad.ma/Vdy1bhwf/poster.75.jpgFootage from WSF Mumbai, specifically the people in yellow t-shirts playing the Nashik <i> dhol </i>, while the others do an elaborate dance in formation, while playing tassled cymbals. Various activist groups sloganeer and perform folk dances in support of their causes.Yes455http://www.pad.ma/Vhadr72u/info2008-02-24weekly1.0A day in the life of Selina Uttankar. Early morning: Train from Malad yo Elphinstone Road Market.http://www.pad.ma/Vhadr72u/poster.75.jpgFootage from the day spent with Selina Uttankar, a native of Manori Village, Mumbai documenting her movement patterns in the city. Traditional Koli occupation. Mumbai. Arriving at Elphinstone Road station. Walking to the market. Auction and brisk sales at the fish market.Yes1747http://www.pad.ma/Vfg49mgl/info2008-06-23weekly1.0A day in the life of Sandeep Gawde. Morning to Noon. Days work at Rachna Sansad Collegehttp://www.pad.ma/Vfg49mgl/poster.75.jpgFootage from a day spent with Sandeep Gawde documenting his movement patterns in the city. Here we spend a day with him as he works his first shift as a peon at Rachna Sansad. (his evening job is with Dominoes as a pizza delivery boy)Yes1099http://www.pad.ma/Vi2hvh3z/info2008-02-21weekly1.0War on Iraq Protest at Azad Maidanhttp://www.pad.ma/Vi2hvh3z/poster.75.jpgYes393http://www.pad.ma/Vsmpxxyx/info2008-02-27weekly1.0Some time spent with Hareshwar on Manori beach.http://www.pad.ma/Vsmpxxyx/poster.75.jpgFootage from the day spent with Selina Uttankar and Hereshwar Patil, natives of Manori Village, Mumbai documenting their movement patterns in the city. Traditional Koli fishing occupation.Yes535http://www.pad.ma/Vi3jmwvq/info2008-04-22weekly1.0A day in the life of Selina Uttankar. Home and beachhttp://www.pad.ma/Vi3jmwvq/poster.75.jpgFootage from the day spent with Selina Uttankar, a native of Manori Village, Mumbai documenting her movement patterns in the city. Traditional Koli occupation. Selina gets home at noon. Washes up and tends to her newborn. Cooks lunch, nurses infant and then gets ready to head to the beach to buy the new catch of the day. At home and at the fish market on the beach, Manori. Koli way of life. Traditional occupations. Machimar. Mumbai.Yes1392http://www.pad.ma/Vt34unb3/info2009-02-18weekly1.0 Economics Professor Ritu Dewanhttp://www.pad.ma/Vt34unb3/poster.75.jpgShaina Anand converses with Ritu Dewan, A Professor of Gender Economics teaching at the University of Mumbai. Their conversation attempts to unveils possible underlying hazards beneath the guise of globalisation, and delves deep into the economics motivating America and its policies. Ritu attempts to expose a host of contradictions within the West's rhetoric on topics such as 'structural adjustment programmes,' the war on Iraq, Afghanistan; the deadlocked WTO rounds, especially at Doha, and more. She comments on what she believes to be the reasons for the 'failure' of an alternate rhetoric in response to this. However, Ritu also provides a number of possible solutions to these issues, encouraging the youth to question, critique, and join in the movement for improvement in whatever manner or means by which they can. Yes3432http://www.pad.ma/Vg8iid3h/info2008-06-20weekly1.0An anti-POTA demonstration on Human Rights Day, 2001, Mumbaihttp://www.pad.ma/Vg8iid3h/poster.75.jpgA group of activists from various organizations held a demonstration on December 10 2001 (international human rights day), to express their opposition to POTO (Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance), outside Hanuman Mandir, Dadar TT, Mumbai.Yes902http://www.pad.ma/Ve2apbeh/info2008-02-28weekly1.0Be Fearless + Be Bigottedhttp://www.pad.ma/Ve2apbeh/poster.75.jpgFootage from Tellavision Mumbai, Rahul a young social activist from Nirbhay Bano Andolan (Be fearless Movement) speaks fearlessly about the events that occurred in the aftermath of 9/11, specifically America's war on terrorism and what are it's socio political and economic implications for Indians and the rest of the world. The interview takes place opposite VT station , in front of Jhunka Bakar Trust. Following in order of the raw footage is an interview, what could be called VOX POP, or popular voice by mainstream media. Retaliation is justified. If Taliban kills, innocents (Afghanis must die!)Yes1099http://www.pad.ma/Vfsom79x/info2010-08-05weekly1.0A day in the life of Lajja Shah. Afternoon.Train to Dadar.http://www.pad.ma/Vfsom79x/poster.75.jpgLajja Shah is a freelance stylist residing in Malad E. Most days are unpredictable and are spent networking through the city. Speed, mobility and connectivity are crucial; all modes of transport are exploited. Here filmmaker Shaina Anand (SA) follows Lajja on the train from Andheri station to Dadar station, as Lajja makes her way from the suburbs of Mumbai, into town.Yes1095http://www.pad.ma/Vfbrltai/info2008-08-18weekly1.0A day in the life of Sandeep Gawde. Evening: End of shift 1http://www.pad.ma/Vfbrltai/poster.75.jpgFootage from a day spent with Sandeep Gawde documenting his movement patterns in the city. Here, Sandeep leaves his day job at the college and takes his bike home to get ready for his second job. Returning home from Prabhadevi to Worli Koliwada, Mumbai.Yes994http://www.pad.ma/Vdxhkhej/info2012-01-10weekly1.0A day in the life of Sandeep Gawde: Evening deliveries.http://www.pad.ma/Vdxhkhej/poster.75.jpg. Footage from a day spent with Sandeep Gawde documenting his movement patterns in the city. Here, Sandeep does his first delivery for the day. Sunset, heading to worli sea-face.Yes2068http://www.pad.ma/Vsnr5iij/info2009-01-09weekly1.0WSF Mumbai: Protest, song and dance.http://www.pad.ma/Vsnr5iij/poster.75.jpgFootage from WSF Mumbai, where people from many countries and states in India sloganeer and perform folk dances in support of their causes. There are various groups. Some wear their traditional costumes and perform, some have slogans on their t-shirts. Some carry banners, hold placards, sloganeer and sing. There is either music or chanting as the multicultural colourful groups march or dance by.Yes1055http://www.pad.ma/Vg906yjj/info2008-09-30weekly1.0A day in the life of Sandeep Gawde. Evening. Job 2http://www.pad.ma/Vg906yjj/poster.75.jpgFootage from a day spent with Sandeep Gawde documenting his movement patterns in the city. Sandeep, having freshened up at home, heads back towards Siddhivinayak for his second job, htat of a pizza delivery man at Dominoes.Yes1418http://www.pad.ma/Veva0r90/info2012-01-10weekly1.0An evening with the youth of Prerna Sangathan,Jogeshwarihttp://www.pad.ma/Veva0r90/poster.75.jpgPrerna youth work out of a small community center called Prerna Vachnalaya (library). They meet in the evenings to discuss local and world issues. Very active during the post 9/11 protests and dissent in the city. Performed several street plays on the war in Afghanistan, Iraq etc. Here they sing Jageera... a political song whose lyrics are continually updated to be current and relevant. They also sing some womens liberation songs. Shots of their library and some press clippings from the october 1 demonstration on Currey road where Prerna enacted a street play.Yes971http://www.pad.ma/Vhadvidb/info2008-02-21weekly1.0A day in the life of Sandeep Gawde: Interview at Rachna Sansad College.http://www.pad.ma/Vhadvidb/poster.75.jpgFootage from a day spent with Sandeep Gawde documenting his movement patterns in the city. A tea break and an interview with Sandeep near the college canteen. He talks about livelhood, work-culture and his daily life working 2 jobs. (He works his first shift as a peon at Rachna Sansad., his evening job is with Dominoes as a pizza delivery boy)Yes1479http://www.pad.ma/Vg7uxjsi/info2008-02-26weekly1.0Speech by S.S Hosseini, president of the Student Islamic Organization. (SIO)http://www.pad.ma/Vg7uxjsi/poster.75.jpgFootage from Tellavision Mumbai. S.S Hosseini the president of the Student Islamic Organization (SIO) delivers a speech on Terrorism: Reality and Solutions, a symposium organised by the SIO. Here he defines terrorism, cites examples of America's interventions and disregard for international law and the United Nations. He opines that a selective approach in dealing with terrorism is harmful and under no circumstances should we give it a communal color. He concludes by stressing on how India should not support America's war on Afghanistan and harks back to India's foreign policy during the NAM years.Yes1075http://www.pad.ma/Vs7c9fzh/info2009-02-07weekly1.0BUILD Malegaonhttp://www.pad.ma/Vs7c9fzh/poster.75.jpginterview with an activist from Bombay Urban Industrial League for Development (BUILD), an NGO working on socio-economic development issues. He is reporting about a fact finding mission they had undertaken in Malegaon in the wake of the riots in October 2001.Yes798http://www.pad.ma/Vdy19dq0/info2011-12-26weekly1.0WSF Mumbai: Performance, protest, song, dance Ihttp://www.pad.ma/Vdy19dq0/poster.75.jpgFootage covering various activist groups sloganeering and performing folk dances in support of their causes during World Social Forum, Mumbai at NSE grounds, Goregaon.Yes1090http://www.pad.ma/Vgopz77j/info2009-02-09weekly1.0Interview with Trade Union Activist Meena Menonhttp://www.pad.ma/Vgopz77j/poster.75.jpgMeena Menon (MM) is a long-standing trade union activist, and Vice President of the Girni Kamgar Sangharsh Samiti (Mill Workers' Action Committee). She was on the committee that organised the 2004 World Social Forum (WSF) in Mumbai. Here she talks with Shaina Anand (SA) about the effects of globalisation in a post-911 world, and particularly in post-911 India. Meena argues strongly against globalisation, attempting to bring to our notice the unseen (or largely ignored) pitfalls associated with the same. She lays emphasis on the responsibility of the middle class to effect positive social change, the need for alternative discourse so as to result in a socially and morally responsible populace. and the unseen (or largely ignored) pitfalls associated with globalisation. Yes3354http://www.pad.ma/Vu5yjrro/info2008-02-26weekly1.0 Vamnali hall public meeting: manufacturing consent, infotainmenthttp://www.pad.ma/Vu5yjrro/poster.75.jpgRough cut starts with shots of Dadar station. Meeting at Dadar called by Trade Union Solidarity Committee members after September 11, to condemn America's preparations for war in Afghanistan. Towards the latter portion of this clip, the filmmaker – Shaina Anand (SA) again turns the camera on mainstream media to follow the aftermath of 9/11 – the anthrax attacks, the attacks on Sikhs, the USA Patriot Act... numerous instances where the discerning individual should have an inkling as to the hypocrisy of America's War on Terror. The parody is more pronounced when we see scenes from the satirical American animated sitcom – The Simpsons, juxtaposed with the highly suggestive lyrics in two Hindi songs. Back and forth parallel cutting between Bush and Modi ensure the viewer detects the religious fundamentalism both leaders propagate.Yes1269http://www.pad.ma/Vulnuzhh/info2010-08-02weekly1.0Pad.ma Preparation: Archive Fever and the Delirium of Copyright by Lawrence Lianghttp://www.pad.ma/Vulnuzhh/poster.75.jpgIn the early days of pad.ma in October 2007, the collaborators meet in Mumbai. Lawrence Liang from the Alternative Law Forum made this presentation at the Majlis cultural center to a small invited audience, mostly pad.ma crew and some peers from the film-making community. The intention was to inspire, to have us question our own ideas about what constitutes publics and archives, and confront our own enemies: ego, authority and copyright.Yes5536http://www.pad.ma/Vt48mgnl/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Disket Document: Dinner debatehttp://www.pad.ma/Vt48mgnl/poster.75.jpgA number of historians, journalists and activists are invited to Disket in the Nubra Valley, Ladakh to participate in National Integration Conference. However, it appears that the same has been misrepresented, on arrival they are told that the actual event is the celebration of "Buddh Mahotsav", the first in a series of Nation-wide Events (the next was to be in Arunachal Pradsh) master-minded and organised by the VHP. What were a bunch of left-liberal folks to do? They performed their speeches for the good citizens and children of Disket, and talked late into the night. Here, after a bizarre day, that began with breakfast and a conversation with the VHP 'paratrooper', Mr. Dewan, and ended with the closed-door round table becoming a public address-cum-cultural programme organised by army officers' wives (as part of operation Sadbhavna), the participants are chatting over dinner. Several strains from previous conversations continue. Here they discuss women's law and property rights. The participants consist of : Shaina - Shaina Anand SA – Shubhadra Anand, Historian (Former Principal and Professor of History, R. D. National College, Bandra, Mumbai) IE – Irfan Engineer, Social Activist and Advocate (Director - Center for Study of Society and Secularism, Mumbai) MM – Meena Menon, Political and Trade Union Activist (Vice President, Girni Kamgar Sangharsh Samiti (Mill Workers' Action Committee) and Senior Associate, Focus on the Global South) RM - Rama Menon, journalist NS - Nandini Sunder, journalist SV - Siddharth Vardarajan, Former Editor, Times of India; currently the Strategic Affairs Editor, The Hindu. KMC- Kamal Mitra Chenoy, Professor, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru UniversityYes2022http://www.pad.ma/Vh5fhail/info2008-04-29weekly1.0A day in the life of Selina Uttankar. Malad to Elphinstone Fish Markethttp://www.pad.ma/Vh5fhail/poster.75.jpgFootage from the day spent with Selina Uttankar, a native of Manori Village, Mumbai documenting her movement patterns in the city. She leaves with her sister and colleague Hareshwar, to sell fish at the Elphinstone Fish Market, Mumbai. Rickshaw to Malad and then train (in the maalgaadi, goods compartment) to Elphinstone Road.Yes1148http://www.pad.ma/Vu5yjxy6/info2008-06-23weekly1.0A day in the life of Sandeep Gawde. Morning: Riding to work. Worli to Prabhadevihttp://www.pad.ma/Vu5yjxy6/poster.75.jpgFootage from a day spent with Sandeep Gawde documenting his movement patterns in the city. Sandeep lives close to his workplace. Even though he commutes in 'rush hour', Sandeep rides in the opposite direction. He gets to work in ten minutes. (worli Koliwada to Rachna Sansad, Prabhadevi.Yes462http://www.pad.ma/Vt3kxd6t/info2012-01-10weekly1.0An evening with the youth of Prerna Sangathan, Jogeshwarihttp://www.pad.ma/Vt3kxd6t/poster.75.jpgPrerna youth work out of a small community centre called Prerna Vachnalaya (library) in Jogeshwari. They meet in the evenings to discuss local and global issues. They were active during the post 9/11 protests and dissent in the city. Performed several street plays on the war in Afghanistan, Iraq etc.Yes2409http://www.pad.ma/Vg8opbbn/info2008-02-25weekly1.0 Speech by Bishop Thomas Dabre at a meeting called by the SIO.http://www.pad.ma/Vg8opbbn/poster.75.jpgFootage from Tellavision Mumbai. Bishop Thomas Dabre of the Diocese of Vasai delivers a speech in which he condemns terrorist acts that lead to the deaths of innocent people and stresses that stereotyping the Muslim community on the basis of acts committed by a group of misled people is wrong. He opines that the use of military action against terrorism does not offer a long term solution to the problem instead, efforts must be made to bring about a conversion in the 'minds and hearts of people' by solving their issues; he also says that this aim cannot be achieved by political endeavors alone and that God's blessings are required too. He concludes on an optimistic note by expressing a vision for a peaceful world, a vision that can be attained with God's help. The speech took place at a meeting called by the Students Islamic Organisation of India: Terrorism - Reality and Solutions.Yes589http://www.pad.ma/Ve3421ti/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Disket Document: 'chance' meeting at breakfasthttp://www.pad.ma/Ve3421ti/poster.75.jpgA number of historians, journalists and activists are invited to Disket in the Nubra Valley, Ladakh to participate in a National Integration Seminar. However, it appears that the same has been misrepresented, on arrival they are told that the actual event is the celebration of "Buddh Mahotsav", the first in a series of Nation-wide Events (the next was to be in Arunachal Pradesh) master-minded and organised by the VHP. What were a bunch of left-liberal folks to do? They performed their speeches for the good citizens and children of Disket, and talked late into the night. The participants flew into Leh, from sea-level to 13000 feet and without acclimatising, made their way up the highest motorable road in the world to arrive late at night. The delegates are settling down to breakfast, when a VHP representative arrives to discuss the event with them. He informs them that they are invited guests of the VHP's "Buddh Mahotsav. The participants consist of : Shaina - Shaina Anand SA – Shubhadra Anand, Historian (Former Principal and Professor of History, R. D. National College, Bandra, Mumbai) IE – Irfan Engineer, Social Activist and Advocate (Director - Center for Study of Society and Secularism, Mumbai) MM – Meena Menon, Political and Trade Union Activist (Vice President, Girni Kamgar Sangharsh Samiti (Mill Workers' Action Committee) and Senior Associate, Focus on the Global South) RM - Rama Menon, journalist NS - Nandini Sunder, journalist SV - Siddharth Vardarajan, Former Editor, Times of India; currently the Strategic Affairs Editor, The Hindu. KMC - Kamal Mitra Chenoy, Professor, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University Yes1041http://www.pad.ma/Vhqrijr2/info2008-06-07weekly1.0Elgin Talkies oldest cimena: Office, canteen, camera printhttp://www.pad.ma/Vhqrijr2/poster.75.jpgFootage from WICITYTV, which was a pirate cable TV channel that ran in Shivaji Nagar, Bangalore in November 2005. Elgin Talkies is a 116-year-old decrepit cinema house in Shivaji Nagar that still uses carbon arc projectors. Older than cinema itself, it was first a playhouse, and its logbook catalogues a veritable history of early cinema from silent films to the screening of India’s first talkie, Alam Ara. Gaurav Chandelya spent 48 hours inside Elgin, clocking the daily films and changes.The film, [http://chitrakarkhana.net/elgintalkies.htm Kahani Elgin Ki] was aired on local cable. [http://chitrakarkhana.net/whycitytv.htm WICITYTV]Yes676http://www.pad.ma/Vdypbbbn/info2009-01-08weekly1.0A day in the life of Selina Uttankar: Bus, ferry and rickshawhttp://www.pad.ma/Vdypbbbn/poster.75.jpgFootage from the day spent with Selina Uttankar, a native of Manori Village, Mumbai documenting her movement patterns in the city. Traditional Koli occupation. Selina gets of the bus to take the ferry from Malad Jetty to Manori Village. She shares a tempo rickshaw and gets home by noon.Yes879http://www.pad.ma/Vsnfi304/info2011-12-26weekly1.0WSF Mumbai: Performance, protest, song, dance IIhttp://www.pad.ma/Vsnfi304/poster.75.jpgFootage covering various activist groups sloganeering and performing folk dances in support of their causes during World Social Forum, Mumbai at Azad Maidan. Lots of colourful people from colourful places in India and abroad. There is always the sound of some music, from drums, from cymbal, from musicians on stage, or singing. This is only drowned out by the voices of sloganeering activistsYes426http://www.pad.ma/Vfbbsgle/info2009-08-02weekly1.0 Ladies Special Distributionhttp://www.pad.ma/Vfbbsgle/poster.75.jpgTellavision Mumbai is a documentation of one delicately poised edge of global conflict, a documentation of public action post September 11 in Mumbai. Rough cut of Train campaign called by Forum Against Oppression of Women, Akshara, Majlis, Awaaz e Niswaan, Women's Centre, Stree Sangam, Vacha;City based women’s voluntary organizations and NGOs distributing anti-war flyer's and siging songs in the Churchgate-Virar Ladies special train.Yes495http://www.pad.ma/Vfwrr1t7/info2008-02-27weekly1.0Elgin Talkies oldest cinema: Flowers, Posters, Fandomhttp://www.pad.ma/Vfwrr1t7/poster.75.jpgFootage from WICITYTV, which was a pirate cable TV channel that ran in Shivaji Nagar, Bangalore in November 2005. Elgin Talkies is a 116-year-old decrepit cinema house in Shivaji Nagar that still uses carbon arc projectors. Older than cinema itself, it was first a playhouse, and its logbook catalogues a veritable history of early cinema from silent films to the screening of India’s first talkie, Alam Ara. Gaurav Chandelya spent 48 hours inside Elgin, clocking the daily films and changes.The film, Kahani Elgin Ki [http://chitrakarkhana.net/elgintalkies.htm] was aired on local cable. (http://chitrakarkhana.net/whycitytv.htm)Yes1797http://www.pad.ma/Vhrgtdc9/info2008-02-21weekly1.0Video Feedbackhttp://www.pad.ma/Vhrgtdc9/poster.75.jpgYes68http://www.pad.ma/Vi76mas7/info2008-02-26weekly1.0Elgin Talkies oldest cinema: Projection Room, Premises, postershttp://www.pad.ma/Vi76mas7/poster.75.jpgFootage from WICITYTV, which was a pirate cable TV channel that ran in Shivaji Nagar, Bangalore in November 2005. Elgin Talkies is a 116-year-old decrepit cinema house in Shivaji Nagar that still uses carbon arc projectors. Older than cinema itself, it was first a playhouse, and its logbook catalogues a veritable history of early cinema from silent films to the screening of India’s first talkie, Alam Ara. Gaurav Chandelya spent 48 hours inside Elgin, clocking the daily films and changes.The film, Kahani Elgin Ki [http://chitrakarkhana.net/elgintalkies.htm] was aired on local cable. (http://chitrakarkhana.net/whycitytv.htm)Yes863http://www.pad.ma/Vfbs0zma/info2008-04-09weekly1.0A day in the life of Selina Uttankar. Dawn.http://www.pad.ma/Vfbs0zma/poster.75.jpgFootage from the day spent with Selina Uttankar, a native of Manori Village, Mumbai documenting her movement patterns in the city. Selina (Shilu), her sister Lilu and their colleague Hareshwar go to the Elphinstone fish market and return to Manori. Dawn, before sunrise, leaving Manori by ferry to Malad Jetty and Auto rickshaw to Malad Station with her sister and another colleague with kilos of fish.Yes1079http://www.pad.ma/Vha3z017/info2012-01-09weekly1.0Khirkeeyaan Episode 6 - Village Girlshttp://www.pad.ma/Vha3z017/poster.75.jpgFrom the project KhirkeeYaan. See: http://chitrakarkhana.net/khirkeyaan.htm Khirkee Village is a sleepy feudal small world whose historic center of attraction is the stark and stunning Khirkee Masjid. Surrounding the Masjid are curving warrens that lead right into homes with inner courtyards; most belong to Chauhans and Sainis, who still live in large joint families. The lanes are cloistered, on the steps and in the courtyard sit women with their ghungats poised on their heads. On the main road side of village was Shyama Beauty Parlour, whose owner Renu readily agreed to participate. We found an STD (phone) booth run by a lady, Indu. She agreed in principal and said she would inform her husband and confirm the following evening. We already had our third participant, Suddha, a kaamwali (maid) who had been introduced to us by Anusha Lal, a dancer who had her studio near Khoj. "Suddha is a firebrand and a muh phat, smart mouth." The 3rd TV was to be in her rented room, near the Masjid. The search for the feudal family took some knocking on doors. Most women welcomed us, but said that we would have to seek permission from their husbands or the patriarch. When we entered Seema's house, it immediately felt like a different place. The paanch bahuraniyan (5 daughters- in-law), welcomed us instantly. Seema said they have been trying to bring some sort of awakening in the village. "We would love to do this, and we will also bring other women to watch and talk." The idea was to 'stage' an event. To bring into this cloistered community, an element from the outside. Next morning, we were set up by 11:30. And into the parlour walked artist Anita Dube for a much-needed wax.Yes4706http://www.pad.ma/Vu0jkibs/info2009-02-07weekly1.0WICityTV: Gujri, oldest junk market. Meeting the merchant's association.http://www.pad.ma/Vu0jkibs/poster.75.jpgJayshree Reddy and Preeti Prakash, crew members of [http://chitrakarkhana.net/whycitytv.htm WiCityTV], spent the weekend in Shivaji Nagar's notoriously famous Gujri Market. Like Elgin talkies, possibly one of the oldest cinemas in India, Bangalore's Gujri market, established over 80 years ago bears witness to Bangalore's colonial past. The downtown hub of Shivaji Nagar, with its proximity to Cantonment is also home to Russell Market. Here they speak with all the members of Stephen Square Merchant's Association, the Gujri shop owners. This is Jayshree and Preeti's first stint with a camera. They were studying documentary at St. Josephs College. We encouraged them to converse and not just question. Yes2653