[Reader-list] General Audience Highlights and Programme for tomorrpw, Tuesday 4 December -- Independent Fellows Workshop

[Vivek Narayanan]

Hi all,

Not with the intention to overkill, but I thought you might find it more 
manageable to get a day-by-day programme.

If anybody would like to blog reports on the sessions (and give a link 
to the reader list) or indeed, write in to this list with comments and 
questions, that would be very helpful. Critical engagement appreciated!

Also, please note that the events from 4-7 December are not at CSDS but 
in the centre of town, the LTG Auditorium at Mandi House.

But first-- highlights of tomorrow that would be good for a general 
audience:

1. *Curated Multimedia Exhibition*
10.00 am – 8.00 pm
Tuesday 4 December – Friday 7 December)
(Upstairs)

This curated journey gathers together a wide and various range of 
audio-visual and print material from Sarai’s archives, collected and 
produced by Independent Fellows. It features photographic work, graphic 
panels, audio and visual loops, short films, etc., from research areas 
as diverse as Jazz in Bollywood, glass negatives from early cinema, 
signage in the Indian city, digital imaging in photo studios, street 
musicians, video theaters, and much much more…

2. *Special Panel: The Past of Research and the Present of Practice*
4.30—6.30 pm (Main auditorium)

Featuring: TP Sabitha, Yousuf Saeed, Mahmood Farooqui and Rahaab Allana
Discussant: Shuddhabrata Sengupta

How might a detailed study of the past, dredging and building archives, 
serve not just to make museums, but invigorate and change our sense of 
the present, feed directly into practice? The panelists, who are all 
former Sarai-CSDS Independent Fellows, are all people whose research has 
engaged deeply with the archive, with documents and images from the 
past. At the same time, as performers, writers, photographers, and 
filmmakers they are also people who work with and produce highly 
contemporary forms.

TP Sabitha (sabitha_tp @yahoo.co.uk) is a writer who writes in both 
Malayalam and English, as well as a teacher and researcher of literature 
and art.

Yousuf Saeed (ysaeed7 @yahoo.com) is a filmmaker and writer in Urdu and 
English. He is currently associated with a new archival initiative for 
visual culture, TasveerGhar.

Mahmood Farooqui (mahmood @sarai.net) is a historian and performance 
artist. He works with the Independent Fellowship programme and with the 
translation and editing of Hindi publications at Sarai.

Rahaab Allana (rahaab @acparchives.com) currently works as a curator for 
the Alkazi Foundation for Photography.

Shuddhabrata Sengupta (shuddha @sarai.net) is a writer, columnist and 
media practitioner with training in sociology and filmmaking. He is one 
of the co-initiators of Sarai, one of the editors of the Sarai Reader 
series and a member of the Raqs Media Collective. He has contributed 
numerous scholarly and popular articles in newspapers, magazines, 
journals, anthologies and books on a range of themes. He coordinates the 
distributed research network at Sarai.

AND THE REST OF TUESDAY'S PROGRAMME BELOW...

Thanks
Vivek

*****************************************************
Tuesday 4 December
Venue: LTG Auditorium, Mandi House

10.30 – 12.00
History Versus Reminiscence
Chair: Debjani Sengupta
[Debjani Sengupta (debjanisgupta @yahoo.com) is an ex independent fellow 
and teaches English Literature at Indraprastha College, Delhi 
University. She is the editor of Mapmaking: Partition Stories from two 
Bengals, and has translated Taslima Nasreen’s Selected Columns. Most 
recently, she co-edited and wrote Working Questions , the Sarai 
Independent Fellowship book.]

Anuja Ghosalkar
Papa Ajoba: My Grandfather, the Film Make Up Artist

The project chronicles the life of my grandfather, who was a make up 
artist in the Hindi film industry from 1941 to 2000: from his early 
years at Raj Kamal studio with V. Shantaram (when they literally made 
their own make-up) to his 17 years spent at the Filmistan studio. There 
is a sharper focus on the 1960’s - when he predominantly worked with 
Shammi Kapoor, Asha Parekh, Sadhana & Saira Banu. It also documents film 
history from the point of view of a technician who might lacquer it with 
his own stories. It is finally, a tribute to a grandfather who narrated 
stories of his everyday life, not knowing that stories often become 
history.

The research is primarily through interviews. The presentation will be 
in an audio-visual form with a written essay.

Anuja Ghosalkar (anu.ghosalkar @gmail.com) is a lecturer and researcher 
in film and has been involved with an experimental theatre group in 
Mumbai for over half a decade. She is currently working with 
Breakthrough – a globally active human rights organization. Her project 
blog can be found at: http://www.papaajoba.blogspot.com/


Renee C. Lulam and Julius L. Basaiawmoit
Changing Faces of Democratic Spaces in Urban Cosmopolitan Shillong

Understanding personal events as profoundly social allows a broader 
perception of human interactions that have shaped the past and continue 
into the present. As the research progresses and we meet more people 
sharing their versions of ‘cosmopolitan’, we find that the backdrop we 
initially placed the research against has often proven inadequate and 
therefore challenging.

In one of the testimonies, Shillong has been called an ‘artifact of 
British administration….artificial…’ The place and people are variously 
known to have been tolerant, narrow, short sighted, confused, but most 
of all, absorbent. Our intention through this research is to explore the 
different ways Shillong considers ‘cosmopolitan’.
We were fortunate that in the course of our research, an event like the 
Indian Idol contest took place, evoking an almost ‘patriotic’ fervour 
over the finalist from Shillong. Many have quoted it as an example of 
how Shillong has progressed in cosmopolitan tolerance, though much of it 
was driven by emotion and tended towards the superficial and 
reactionary, in the observation of some others.

Through excerpts of audio interviews, video clips, newspaper or journal 
articles, photographs, city soundscapes, and an interpretative paper, we 
will attempt to present a picture of the changing faces of Shillong 
vis-à-vis the term ‘cosmopolitan’.

Julius Basaiawmoit (lemiwell @hotmail.com) specializes in sound for film 
and television. Renee Lulam (renee75 @gmail.com) works with independent 
research based projects. Both are from Shillong.


Sugata Nandi
Eventful Adolescence, Memorable Youth: The Politics of Personal 
Reminiscence in Calcutta, 1947-1967

Personal reminisces of the adolescents and youths of the 1950s and 1960s 
in Kolkata, of specific incidents listed above will be gathered through 
interviews with them. The oral data thus gathered will constitute the 
primary source for constructing a collage of remembered experiences. The 
project will treat the same as texts authored by individuals who 
endeavour to locate and to interpret through the emotional performance 
of remembering what may be termed as significant episodes in the recent 
history of the city.

The project, on completion of research, will be given the shape of a 
academic history paper. At the moment I have fixed the target of writing 
the paper in about 15 thousand words, which might have to be increased 
if required. As of now I have planned to record (in audio cassettes) the 
interviews that will constitute the archival text for the work, if 
resources permit then I would try to make audio-visual record of the 
interviews.

Sugata Nandi (largestriver @hotmail.com) is Lecturer in History, 
Krishnagar Government College, West Bengal


12.15 – 1.15
Proving Residence
Chair: Shveta Sarda
[Shveta Sarda (shveta @sarai.net) is a content editor and translator 
with Sarai. She works in Cybermohalla as a process chronicler and edits 
the labs' content for diverse circulation – books, website, blogs, 
broadsheets, and wall magazines. At present she is working with the 
various research projects at the CM mobile lab. She was part of the 
editorial collective of the broadsheet series Sarai.txt.]

Ajit K. Dwivedi
Sealing ke Nazar Mein: Sealing Banam Pusta ka Visthapan (Media Study: 
Comparative Reporting on Land Ceilings and Displacement from Jamuna Pushta)

Ajit K. Dwivedi (dajeet @gmail.com) is a career journalist. He just left 
Dainik Bhaskar to join ITV News as Associate Editor.

Bipul K. Pandey
The Residence Proof

Bipul Pandey (bipulpandey @gmail.com) worked in print media for nine 
years. He currently works with Star News as Associate Producer.


1.30 pm – 2.30 pm
Sub-metropolitan Dreams
Chair: Iram Ghufran

[Iram Ghufran (iram @sarai.net) is trained as a media practitioner and 
works as video/ audio editor in Sarai Media Lab. She has co-researched 
the work culture of call centres, and is part of the editorial 
collective of the broadsheet series Sarai.txt. She works on various 
multimedia, video and audio works produced at Sarai.]

Nalin Narain Mathur
B-Grade Engineering College Culture

Being subjected with the experience of studying at an engineering 
college, I happened to witness the living experiences, aspirations and 
values that make an 'engineer' beyond all the techy stuff he learns in 
the classroom. Add to it the different background and identity of 
students and the acute realization that "This – is- not – IIT", which 
more often then not looms large in everyone's conscience. Hence, 
engineering colleges constitute of interesting and fantastical cultural 
dynamics wherein a mix of identities, cultures and aspirations are 
played out in non-metropolitan spaces to get an amalgamation of 
different worlds in one campus. Through this project I aim to study the 
phase of social and emotional renaissance which unavoidably crops up 
during one's stay away from his natural locale.

Nalin Narain Mathur (nalin.mathur @gmail.com) works as a systems 
analyst. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Uttar 
Pradesh Technical University, Lucknow.


Syed Zaigham Imam
Sapno ke Rail (The Train of Dreams: Narratives from the 
Allahabad-Jaunpur Passenger Train): a short documentary film

If faster trains denote speed and arrival, slower trains can sometimes 
nurture dreams that compress a lifetime into a few hours. Zaigham’s 
project is to study how students, literally, arrive at Allahabad. The 
passenger trains, so called because they stop at even the smallest of 
stations connecting Allahabad (the educational headquarters of Northern 
India) to Jaunpur and Faizabad, two towns in the hinterland and 
encompassing other smaller towns such as Pratapgarh, Mau and Aimma. 
Sixty percent of the people travelling in these trains are students on 
their way to Allahabad. Not so much to enroll at the university but to 
join one of the innumerable coaching centres and to prepare for the 
Central and Provincial Civil Services Exams. In the seventies and 
eighties, students from Allahabad dominated the civil service 
selections, not only at the centre, but also in states such as UP, 
Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. The sons mainly of farmers, who 
travelled out of the smaller qasbas chasing a dream, even came to be 
known as ‘collectors.’

What does the inside of these trains look like? Zaigham travels up and 
down the ravaged trains with missing bulbs, fans and fittings and 
investigates peculiarities like ACP, a short form for alarm chain 
pulling. People use it to stop the train at convenient points, an 
illegal practice that is stoically accepted by the authorities, and most 
travel ticket-less. The towns and stations falling on the way represent 
the rise and fall of the qasbas of UP, like Mau Aimma which is an 
important production centre for crackers. The story of these trains is 
also a metaphor for the democratisation of higher education that took 
place in the last three decades of the twentieth century. Through 
interviews with passengers and train officials, and unsuccessful 
attempts to get information through the Right to Information Act, 
Zaigham builds a picture of slow development and the aspiration for a 
government job that is primary, on the poor students all over India.

Trained as a journalist, Zaigham Imam (zaighamimam @rediffmail.com) also 
writes fiction and is currently trying his hand at filmmaking. He left 
Amar Ujala recently to work with BAG films. The project is blogged at: 
http://www.merirail.blogspot.com/


2.45 – 4.15
Hearing Spaces, Seeing Spaces
Chair: Aarti Sethi
[Aarti Sethi (aarti.sethi @gmail.com) previously worked with the Sarai 
Programme; currently she is pursuing her M.Phil in Film Studies at the 
School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU.]

Shahnawaz Khan
Entertainment Ghosts in Srinagar: A Tale of Cinema Halls in the City

This study aims to analyse the impact of the closure of cinema halls in 
Srinagar after the outbreak of armed insurgency in early nineties. Most 
of the closed cinema halls are occupied by paramilitary troopers and 
have even functioned as torture centres in the nineties. Some others 
have changed business. Only one is functional, but not in good condition.

Shahnawaz talks to people associated with the trade, cine goers who have 
been to these halls when they functioned, and the youth today who do not 
find a place to go for a movie in the city.

The study also looks at the psychological impact of these structures in 
the city, which stand witness to the times they have gone through.

Shahnawaz Khan (fsrnkashmir @gmail.com) is a journalist based in 
Srinagar, associated with the US based Free Speech Radio News. Along 
with some friends he launched Kashmirnewz.com in 2006.


Zubin Pastakia
A Photographic Study of Bombay’s Cinema Halls

The project seeks to photographically examine the cultural experience of 
different types of cinema halls in Bombay city.

In part, this is a meditation on different urban spaces. More 
importantly, this is an attempt to illustrate the subjective nature of 
the film-going experience. From the designer shop - to cinema hall - to 
chain restaurant mall/multiplex experience, to the still-standing 
single-screen bastions of the art-deco era, to the musty largely 
male-dominated "c-grade" halls, the photographs will evoke the unique 
experience of these different spaces.

The intention is to eventually produce a monograph on Bombay's cinema 
halls as well as to exhibit the photographs publicly.

Zubin Pastakia (zubinpastakia @gmail.com) is a photographer and 
filmmaker living in Bombay. He blogs his photos at: 
http://peripheralvision.blogspot.com/


Sayandeb Mukherjee
Corridors: An Exploration of Sound and Space

This project delves into the emotional and acoustic contours of 
corridors. This contemporary architectural design which may appear 
simple structurally possesses a complicated and sometimes convoluted 
auditory space due to reflective and diffractive properties of sound. 
The project attempts to enlighten the variability of these acoustic 
qualities/characterestics of corridors integrated in different urban spaces.

The process of research includes a vivid physical involvement and 
exploration in the corridor like spaces, taking notes in a descriptive 
way in the spot itself, acquiring photographs and live recordings of the 
acoustic environments at different spots of the same space. The 
recording process may also involve time stamps (i.e. recordings of the 
same space over the different parts of a day) for the analysis of the 
soundscape in a particular space. The process also includes the 
collection of films, texts or any other form of art, where one can 
notice a conscious application of such corridor-like spaces.

Sayandeb Mukherjee (sayandebmukherjee @yahoo.co.in) is a graduate of the 
Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute in Kolkata who now works as a 
professional sound recordist in Ramoji Film City, Hyderabad.


4.30—6.30 pm
Special Panel: The Past of Research and the Present of Practice

Featuring: TP Sabitha, Yousuf Saeed, Mahmood Farooqui and Rahaab Allana
Discussant: Shuddhabrata Sengupta

7.00—7.30
(In Upstairs Gallery Space)
Performance Art: “This Evening Too: From Lal Ded to Abdul Ahad Zargar”
by Inder Salim: Space limited to 25 persons only—first come, first serve.

Inder Salim (indersalim @gmail.com), an Independent Fellow this year, is 
a performance artist based in Delhi. He blogs his work at: 
http://indersalim.livejournal.com/