S.L.F.C. four letters seemingly of no significance. But the impact these four letters have had on the Indian domestic sports scenario is huge and unimaginable. The first club from the North East to have made in to the national scenario, it has stunned big players with its performances and style. Just the fact that on one of their first national tournaments, they reached the finals is enough proof of this. Though they did not win the finals, it is not to be forgotten that they lost at a stage when the match could have been won by anyone
Yes it is football we are talking about and the Shillong Lajong Football Club that has gathered so many fans for itself. Football has always been the primary sports for the north-eastern people. In meghalaya too, the craze is so much that nothing usually stops the locals from playing their favourite outdoor game in any weather and in any circumstances. the humble start of the club in 1983 saw some dedication and hard work through all these years that have resulted in its thumping success today. It was about time too for the football crazy state and region to get its due and be finally recognized by the country.
As for the small town from where these four letter emerged….they have literally gone crazy. The club was first noticed nationally when it stormed into the Elite division of the I-League last year and stunned everyone with their performance. And as the saying goes the rest is history now. The colour RED has become the current favourite of the city and their latest accessories that of the club batches and logos. Even on a chilly winter they traveled by truck loads to watch their team in the Federation Cup finals in Guwahati. The stadium with a capacity of more than 20,000 people was filled with the colour red and slogans for the new club in town.
As for the country they have realized that on the football front the SHILLONG LAJONG FOOTBALL CLUB have definitely arrived.
As each New Year comes, so too comes the celebrations, the thrill, the excitement of welcoming a new year. Also comes the time to bid farewell to the year gone by. The year that goes leaves by some personal successes, some failures and more hope for a better tomorrow. With the New Year comes a new beginning.
Ok…it sounds preachy. But it is how a new year is welcomed, isn’t it? Of course, we need to thank the liberalization policyof 1991 that has brought much more celebrations with every year. Commercialization, consumerisms are reaching frenzied heights making simple people into competitors who have to celebrate EVERY occasion they get out in the pub or in some high profile party. If you aren’t in the top-most party, you are a no one. What? Did I hear u right? You want to stay at home and celebrate the New Year? That’s unheard of and totally down market and boring. One can’t just do it. You need to be in the streets shouting like hooligans, making a ruckus and disturbing an insignificant few who want to spend the eve as he/she does any another day.
In one of the glossy newspapers there was an article about how this decade brought lifestyle changes to our society and life. The article, though not really informative revealed quite a few things. The article wrote about all the things that have become very much a part of our lives like mobile phones, the internet, DTH Television, malls, coffee lounges and the likes. These things, among many others have really changed our lives. We can’t even comprehend our lives without these things today. Imagine having to live without a mobile phone or not getting to check your mails for a day. It’s more than torture. Gone are the days when Doordashan gave us our staple diet of entertainment (yes diet…nothing more, maybe a little less). We didn’t have much choice and were quite happy with it. But today we need the big parties, the bigger mobiles and better connectivity. It’s the time for 3G technology and Ipv6.It’s the information society we are in that will soon make way for the Knowledge society. We have all the information we want in our fingertips and today’s economists are also giving due importance to the local knowledge of indigenous people.
This decade has truly been significant for India. We have progressed in many ways, especially economically. When the world was hit with the recession, India could claim to have been hit the least as our banks have been nationalized years ago. Our cities are growing; our technocrats are finding recognition all over the world. India is the hub for outsourcing companies giving employment to thousands of youth. Indian sports, other than cricket too has made a mark in the world, Indian fashion has gone places so have Indian movies. We gave the world the musical maestro A R Rahman. Truly, this decade has been spectacular.
Ok...this is the good side of our country, the side we should be proud of, the side we need to project to the world. But what about the 70% of the population who also live in this same country? Our media, primarily the English media reported heavily on what WE have been doing this Christmas and New Year. But just one question, don’t those people living in the villages or the small towns also constitute WE THE PEOPLE. Can’t we know how these people celebrated the New Year and how New Year can also be celebrated without the glitz and the glamour? These stories may not be the right ingredients for fetching the high raking advertisements but surely there is more to reporting than advertisements? I know there isn’t any answer to them. Afterall its public demand. Am I part of the same public.
Kolkata….the city of joy, now more popularly, the city of Dharnas and rallies. The city that almost all Bengalis living outside the region has a relative in, the city where childhood memories are carved in, the city where strangers come and make it their home and as a friend recently told me, a city that is politically conscious and not religiously divided.
Yes it is a city with hordes of problems, it is a city where the Red mark is etched out in every corner (and recently the flower of the Trinamool Congress) and where taking public matter to the streets is the only solution. Like almost all Bengalis living elsewhere, I have had relatives here and thus every winter I would visit this place. Unfortunately for me, I was cut out from the hustle-buslte of the city as my relatives decided to stay some kilometers away from the centre. Thus I, as a child, saw a part of Kolkata that was serene, green and filled with common faces. Very unlike the real Calcutta (as was known then).
But that did not mean I did not visit the centre at all. Most of my experiences were bitter feeling a bad impression on my young mind. Whenever, we would come to Park Street or Park Circus, we had to battle the terrifying bus rides, having to quarrel with all the passengers and the conductors for a rupee or even lesser than that. If this wasn’t enough, such matter would become public matter and everyone would join either side to battle the cases (as if it was required). This was something I faced every time I traveled to the centre. Naturally, my idea of Calcutta was bad. My child’s mind did not understand all these matters and I simply didn’t like the place.
Coming here after a long time and actually getting to stay in the centre has made me change my opinion a lot and also the fact that it has been some years from that experience now. I am commuting to my workplace everyday without any hassles though I should state that I am not traveling in those buses any longer but in the metro. Yes, the rallies are still there, the loudspeakers still cracking with those voices but I feel there is a change. I am feeling that the people are changing, their attitudes are changing and ultimately there is chance for some progress to take place. Mamata Bannerjee has already spear-headed the campaign for a wind of change with ousting the Left in many local elections and with the upcoming State Elections coming up soon, things are likely to change much more.
It may take many more years for the city of rallies to go back to being the City of Joy. For this to happen many things will need to change. Firstly, the people, who as I said are already change. I feel it is time for the people specially the politicians to realize that battles can also be fought in places other than the roads shouting slogans and calling bandhs. This only cripples the lives of many and makes the country loose millions in the process. It is also time for the private investments to come into the state and make it once more a prosperous place. It is time for the city to be the centre of developmental process.
As for me, right now I am liking the place and the amiable people who are ready to help you at every step.
Sitting in a university and talking big stuffs is always easy. Most of the world’s intellects do that. But going there to the place where the problem lies and trying to finding solution is quite another thing. Though many may say that both the aspects are important and change in the field cannot happen without the help of the intelligentsia, the truth remains that theories and seminars and conferences hardly ever reach the people it should. Seminars and conferences are always attended by the same group of people (the people who formulate the ideas and the theories). In many few important seminars do the field workers find place .
As part of the course, recently we were to do a street play in the tea gardens of Assam. Our play was on witch-hunting, a common menace among the tea tribes of the state. There are frequent reports on how innocent women are killed by frenzied mob on the pretext that they are witches. However, for me (and I am sure the most of the performers), it was just a topic and we had to play our part for the sake of marks. We were provided with an excellent teacher, a theatre artist, a ready-made script, dialogues in place and whatever we required. With some struggled efforts of collaboration, we managed to carry on with our rehearsals, most of the times in the AC studio of the department or otherwise, much to our distress, in the open field. (I am here mentioning the location to prove the point that we were in comfort zones, still we didn’t stop complaining).
After about two weeks rehearsals we were ready to go to the place and perform. We chose Balipara, one hour drive from our university, as they had been recent cases of witch hunting. We were helped in our efforts by the field workers of the Mahila Samita. They guided us to the heart of a tea estate were we were to perform. We gathered people and put up a good show with most people being impressed with the acting. We too were satisfied with our efforts. After the show, the field workers had arranged a small tea party in our honour. While sipping some delightful tea, one woman narrated a recent incident of witch hunting. She told how she and her husband rescued the poor woman and averted another death during the festive season of Diwali.
That was the time, reality struck me. Here we were cocooned in the serene atmosphere of lush green campus, merrily arriving at our “spot of performance’ as if we were going for a picnic, we acted our parts without feeling any of the emotions and there were a group of people struggling for were doing something with conviction. Specially for me, it was nothing more than an assignment we were pushed into. But after listening to that lady, I realized what was just an assignment for me was the reality she lived with everyday. We can afford to come in buses and perform and have tea and go away, she can’t. She has to think of ways of stopping this superstition and educating the people. What was more touching was the fact that her husband came to us with folded hands thanking us for the encouragement our play gave him. The whole idea that we encouraged him was ludicrous. He did not see us arguing and complaining for having to do this assignment.
I don’t know if I will ever be able to do anything in the level the couple are working but that day I understood that the intellects sitting in the comforts of their office need to come out and share their knowledge with these field workers. If only this happens effectively will many conditions change.
Reading a lot of other blogs now has made me come back to my dear old blog. Its nice to write and publish. Slowly and quite steadily I am giving up the habit of writing in my dairy. Blogging is taking over. I keep wondering, is it because of the medium or is there some other reason?
The day the announcement came that Barack Obama has been conferred with the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize, I just gaped unbelievingly at the newspaper. It seemed so sudden and out of place. My novice notion of a person eligible for a Nobel Peace Prize had been a person who had done some substantial work for peace process in the world. US President and peace process? Doesn’t seem to go together somehow, or does it? So I did a little reading on the world opinion and here is what people have to say.
Most people that I have read up are criticizing this selection. Some say it is too early to award him when he hasn’t been in the post of the President for even a year. Just the promises of his election campaign does not make his words come true nor does it make him a prime peace-keeper. Many cynical pieces can be found on the net as reactions. The most interesting of them, as I observed, was that just a couple of days after the announcement of the prize, the US sent thousands of troops to Afghanistan to fight against Taliban. So much for the peace process! According to Washington Post a total of 34,000 troops have been sent since Obama took office in January. Some say it is a wrong moment to confer the award to him. He isn’t making any progress with the peace process around the world at the moment but surely has the potential to do so. In the Middle East, the Palestinians have now declared that their hopes in the new US President have "evaporated" while the Israeli Foreign Minister has openly stated that he doesn't believe peace is feasible. In Iran too amenable relationship has been stopped over the confrontation of Tehran’s nuclear plans. In Afghanistan, an example is already cited above.
US, being a super-power is always poking its nose in everyone’s matter. It believes it has the right to settle issues remotely related to it. Of course, now everyone has agreed more or less that this is the way America is surging on its super-power tag, but sometimes it becomes to much even for a critic. Obama is no less an American in taking this “super power” dream of US forward. But all interference is always in the name of PEACE. With his declaring that he is going to donate the prize money to charity, it just goes to show how “considerate” a person he is, doesn’t it?
As for us, the beares of this peace process, we can just sit and sing…YES HE CAN or may be better still…CAN HE???
During the 16th century, the Mughals termed India as a “Golden bird” not only because it had the riches but because it had the human resources too. The mystic country has been exploited by many over centuries. Mughals, British all had laid their hands in this “Golden Bird” and exploited it too. While the former became part of the customs and lifestyle, the latter tried to change the same to their style. Through these periods of accession, India learnt and gained many things. The diversity that we so commonly speak about today is nothing but a legacy of this heritage. It should also be remembered that India as a country is an amalgamation of many former regions like the the Rajputana, Punjab, Hyderabad, Bengal, Oudh and many more such small regions that were ruled by various dynasties since time immemorial. Only after the british came to India and with theor subsequent conquer of all these small territories did the amalgamation came together. This union of various regions have led to people of differentculture, religion, race come together and live in the same political embodiment.
India is till today made of people who are tied down to their culture yet battling to make a mark on the modern world. As the common cliché goes, “India is a land of paradox”. At the same time, India is an ancient civilization and a young Republic, there is stark poverty and undulating richness in the same street, there is health in one house while the neighbour is filled with illness. If one part of the country is progressing extensively in technology, the other part is still battling a quiet fight with bullocks and plough. India is an agricultural country yet today it is known for its Information Technology. The statement the “the rich gets richer here, the poor poorer” cannot be more true as it is in India. India boasts of many richest people in the world yet at the same time hesitantly admits that 42% of the population falls below the international poverty line of $1.25 per day. If we have the best human resources who gladly settle in the Silicon Valley, we also have about 40% illiterate in the country. This is India for the world. Yet it does not stop to attract people from everywhere for various reasons.
India has been making technological advancements like never before. Today, the country has a huge hub for science and health. Many significant inventions and innovations are coming out of the country’s larder and the world is taking note of all this. Very recently, India climbed a few steps in international recognition and standing when the international journal Science affirmed that images from India’s first moon mission Chandrayaan-I confirm that our only constellation has water in it. The fact that even after many missions to the moon by Russia and US, it was through an Indian satellite that particles of water was found in moon has a lot of signification for the country. India spent an estimate of Rs. 386 crore (US$ 80 million). It is a lot of money that has been spent on a mission to the outer world. Though the mission had to be called off within a year of its launch (its target was a two year revolving around the moon), the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) now claims that the mission was 95% successful. Already plans for another moon mission is underway and it expected to be launched within 2013 with a projected cost of Rs. 425 crore (US$ 90 million). This only shows that a lot is being invested in this but the question that necessarily arises is whether this investment is required or not.
It is no mystery to anyone that India is still a developing country and there are many areas that need immediate attention. The health care is one such area where immediate attention is needed. As already known India is a young nation with the average age of people being below 40 years. However, India contributes to 5.6 million child death rates in a year due to malnutrition. According to UNDP Human Development Report (1997), 88% of pregnant women (age 15-49) was found to be suffering from anemia. Only one-third of Indians have access to proper sanitation. India right now is waging under the threat of Swine Flu like the rest of the world, yet no one takes notice of the fact that 700,000 Indians die each year from diarrhoea. Though the situation is improving, it remains concentrated in the urban areas where most of the specialized treatment takes place. In the rural areas, the minimum health-care facility doesn’t reach.
According to the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) set by the UNDP, education is one basic requirement of development. However, in India, as already mentioned more than 40% are illiterate. The condition is such that even after the laucnch of schemes like the Sarva Shikya Abhiyan, the penetration of education does not seem to reach the grassroot. Even at the higher level, the Quota system and privatization of education has made the situation into more of a profitable business rather than a human development index.
In light of all these realities, the fact that India spends so much on a moon mission is sometimes unbelievable and laughable. If looked in perspective, it can be seen that India has now completely come out of its non-aligned stand and is actually fighting for a place among the “Big Nations”. Even though finding water, for example, was a big technological advancement, the question that looms over again is whether that is the requirement of the day or nor? Why cant a country like US send missions to the moon where their people are not battling for the basic requirements of life and their isn’t any abject poverty. India, at this moment need to improve the living conditions of its people rather than finding life in other planets. The debate that US is using this eagerness of India to get into the mainstream of “Big Nations” for its capitalistic goals will ever remain with having some truth in it. (it is to be noted here that though images of water on moon was found through an Indian mission, the device that recored it was a NASA product).
India needs to come out of its dual nature and face the realities of the day instead of building fantasies of the other world. It needs to solve the problem of its people first and than that of the world. Gopalakrishnan, Executive Director of Tata Group, called India the “land of paradox-a country that likes to do the most obvious thing after exhausting every possible alternative.” It seems the time is showing us just that. India
For a Mass Communication student, the best time probably during the course is the exams! Atleast, that’s my idea. I just relish these few days where others are studying, crying, squealing and going to unknown levels of frustrations and I get to sit relaxed and watch them all go by. Well, actually the course comprises of such practical work that exams seem nothing. Not that we don’t study, we do but lesser than others do. It’s all practical based.
The past week has been just great. Recently I have taken it as a habit to observe people. It’s so fascinating to do so. You get to see so many aspects of life just by seeing and observing people, you may get to learn many things. Just as I am writing this, I can catch glimpses of the girls from the other hostels running in frenzy to reach their examination halls. Probably they are getting late. Some are even running with open books in their hands. As if they can run and read at the same time! Well maybe they can! While some others are walking with a calm in their gait, looks like the silence before the big storm. My roommate just left too with a smile on her face. It’s so nice to see people going off with a smile. She hopefully is happy that today is the last day of this “torture”. Well this is an hour before the exams so the last minute emotions are what I am catching
In the evenings, sitting on the verandah and again observing the girls is another time of immense pleasure. Some then are busy eating (like filling up as much as they can before starting the battle of studying once again),some are over the phone (now I do want to know who do they talk to because that will make another interesting observation) while the rest do what girls like best. Yes, gossiping. Cummon, even during these trying days, you can’t take the real element of girls, their fodder, their survival instincts- gossiping! It makes what we are!
Staying at a girls’ hostels surrounded by another couple of similar hostels, another interesting observation I made is the boys coming up right to the gates of our hostels to get the notes. It’s so typically boys to do that, isn’t it? I mean cant they gather their own notes?? Do they need to come to the girls hostels?? Umm…..interesting.
During meals, well, I won’t repeat myself again. The girls mix studies with gossips so easily as if it’s one and the same thing.
As the others run for their exams, let me get back to the depressing mode of studying! Well, I too have exams, can’t forget that even though “its practical based”!!!
