On the special day of my dad's birthday. One of my favorite songs by Jim Croce dedicated to my father.

If i could save time in a bottle,

the first thing that i'd like to do,

is to save everyday till eternity passes away

just to spend them with you.

If i could make days last forever,

if words could make wishes come true.

I'd save everyday like a treasure and then again i would spend them with you.

But there never seems to be enough time

to do the things you want to do once you find 'em.

I've looked around enough to know

that you're the one i wanna go

through time with

If i had a box just for wishes

and dreams that had never come true,

the box would be empty except for the memory of how they were answered by you.

But there never seems to be enough time

to do the things you want to do once you find 'em.

I've looked around enough to know

that you're the one i wanna go

through time with

The great indian chamcha

Hello and welcome to the society of India. A holy land where its inhabitants are divided into two comprehensive breeds: the “chamcha Indians” or as they prefer it- “chindi-an” and the ever-oiling-hungry “makkhan-indians” or often termed as- “makkhindian”.

Now, the equation is such that a makkhindian is always in need of ‘oiling’ and this breed quenches this thirst of ‘oil’ from various sources. The most loved form: ‘buttering’ which involves superficially elevating the makkhindian to the supreme most levels of perfections for all its actions ranging from its dressing sense to the projectile at which its urine cascades into the toilet commode.  Some makkhindians also prefer ‘jee- hazoori’, where all its ideas and thoughts are incessantly accepted as theorems and diktats of nature.

The “chindian” on the other hand dedicates its entire existence to the eminent satisfaction of the “makkhindian” by providing the above services. Such is the circle of life here. The chindian believes that in order to become a makkhindian one day it must dedicate all its effort to ‘oiling’ another makkhindian.

Historians claim that the earliest forms of ‘oiling’ can be traced back to the Mughal empires but neo-modern researchers claim that the chindian and makkhindian breeds came openly into existence only in the late 17^th century when a foreign parasitic breed called ‘firangus- makkhanas’ injected the country with the virus of ‘oiling’. Sadly, the virus was a ‘trojan’ and has only spread its menace with time in the Indian society. So much so that ‘oiling’ a makkhindian is an art a chindian learns to master right from its birth. And being ‘oiled’ has become the dynastical right of a makkhindian.

Figure 1: A live demonstration of two corporate chindians executing the art of 'buttering' a makkhindian boss.

     Figure 2 displays how the corporate makkhindian controls the rise and fall of a chindian

 

 

Figure 3 shows political makkhindian rendering services from a chindian as its loyal chindian bodyguard stands alert

Graph 1.1 shows the relation between Number of Chamchas and Popularity  

A live example of ‘oiling’:

The Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival is single handedly the best representative of Kolkata’s intimate relationship with the literary world. The Oxford Bookstore should be declared as a heritage site for the deep cultural and literary enchantment that it stands for. Also, the Times of India is the best newspaper ever, others don’t even come close. And, the panel reviewing this blog, you’re the smartest most laureate-est one that ever existed in the history of makkhindians and chindians.

                                                    -     Mohammed Sohail                                                                                

This Christmas, team Beacon decided to try and light up the day of the children you see in and around parkstreet. Not the ones tightly held on to by their parents muncing a bag of chips but the ones standing in a corner trying to sell you a balloon or a hat to earn a meal. The child hidden inside her mother's torn shawl, too scared to say her real name when asked. The girl-child too scared to take a meal box when given one. The one whom you bargain with for a santa-cap when you come to ParkStreet for a walk with your friends. The ones we are accustomed to just looking over. They deserve gifts too. Not used gifts thrown in a lot, but brand-new seald ones, hand packed and decorated with love.

Hello everybody, here's presenting the 15th December edition of 'The Beacon'. 

Also, This is just page 1, page 2 will be up on the 18th. Examinations are on, hence the delay. Thank you for your support. Looking forward to your valuable feedback.

Trial by Media and its loopholes

Welcome to the latest court of law in India. The jury members are: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, regional and national news (?) television channels. 1 like/ share/ retweet is equivalent to an evidence point and if the picture/video starts #trending and goes viral, you’re sentenced. This is the Media Court.

Take the recent example of a video of the ‘Rohtak brave hearts’ which has taken the internet by storm. Or, the image of our ‘aam aadmi’, Arvind Kejriwal travelling via business class. The science is simple, show the public what it likes to see, allow your viewers/readers to passively make up a convenient mind set and your content for tonight’s segment is ready.

Media today plays such a mammoth of a role in our daily lives that it is no surprise seeing us so driven by it. It’s the magic bullet theory and the spiral of silence all in practical application in India today. What is trending is assumed to be right. What is most shared/viewed is blindly accepted as the fact. All this in the backdrop citizen journalism and the web explosion. It is funny that how being ‘different’ has become so necessary that its ‘regular’ now.

While the media trial is a tough judicial procedure, there are a victorious few who have swept the media jury off their feet.

How to do it? Well, it’s simple.

A little dash of ‘mainstream feminism’, sprinkle some ‘rural development’, pour in a few ml about ‘eradicating poverty’ and the last and most overused tried and tested formula of ‘women empowerment’ and don’t forget to garnish it with ‘the ideal son/daughter’ edge. There, the recipe’s out there. Go, make your carefully crafted media approved video/ appearance. After all, it did give us a very important elected-representive, didn’t it? 

Hello, here’s presenting the 1^st December issue of 'The Beacon', please do check it out. I look froward to your feedback. Also if you want a hard copy delivered to you please do let me know. It costs 2 Rs and is hand delivered by me personally : p.

The Newsmen

The Newsmen

Be it rain or sunshine; a holiday or just another average working day, the daily newspaper has reached our doorstep every morning without failure ever since we were born.  But how does a newspaper actually reach our dwelling with every rising sun? One would often think of this query as trivial. After all it is the news that matters; why worry about how it reaches us? But it is important to understand that news is of no use if it is not voiced, and if not voiced in a well-timed manner.

What makes this printed vehicle of media more interesting than any other news-carrier is the way it carries news. It’s the 21^st century and the digitized media is functioning at an electrifying pace, invading your smart phones and tablets and contrastingly, in this same era, the newspaper uses the human chain to travel up to you.

Yes, the nation is bitten by the cash on delivery (COD) bug of e-tailers, but have we realized that the latest trend of cutting edge supply- chain management and timely door step delivery is not new to us at all?

What struck me most about the process of newspaper circulation is that it appears to work like any other corporate firm – Applying minimum resources it obtains the maximum results. And what is generalized by us as ‘newspaper-wala’ is a job dexterously executed by a team of dedicated people.

Newspaper delivery boys manually sort their newspaper copies and are popularly seen on bicycles during delivery. Cost of their service is normally based on the cover price of newspaper which is not more than Rs. 100-300 per month on an average, depending upon the number and type of newspaper ordered.

Application of technology in newspaper circulation is limited but the procedure functions as phenomenally and efficiently as any other vehicle of media. Possibly, it is this competence that keeps re-instilling the impact of print media in me time and again.