Monday, March 30, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Twittering badminton
Am at the India Open in Hyderabad... struck me that we could offer live match updates via Twitter. Cricinfo has done this sort of thing for a long time, but as far as I know, badminton has yet to adopt such a system.
You can get my badminton updates at www.twitter.com/shuttlemania
You can get my badminton updates at www.twitter.com/shuttlemania
Friday, March 20, 2009
Sorry Mr Sanyal
Like the famous 'Too Little Too Late' comes this post. I logged into the blog after a really long time and felt compelled to write abt my interaction with Mr Sanyal. Clara Juliet, the receptionist--frontoffice desk-cum-counseller-friend of ACJ and I were great friends. Yes, we even planned dinners and movies, which of course never happened. But Clara was so fond of me that everytime the name Manju came up (during an office communication, eg to Ms Manju Varma etc), she would add a Latha and make it Manju Latha inadvertently. Mr Sanyal was mad at her and finally asked her 'Who the (*&& is Manju Latha). She told him abt our great friendship. When I went to Bangalore after four years to ACJ, he got to know that Manju Latha was among those to attend the Convocation. He immediately sent a word for me and yes, I was treated to a cup of coffee (or was it Tea for being the Manju Latha who had charmed Clara so much. I was just so touched that suddenly the current Dean, who ive never met or heard of, asks me join me for Tea. Well, I guess thatz him.
Unfortunately, a few years later I was working for a magazine in Hyderabad to which he had send his book Indlish for a review. The guys at the office misplaced it and did a big mess up with the book and the review. He held me responsible (though I had long quit that mag when all this happened). We wrote back nasty mails to each other and yes, shouted at each other - he accusing me of stealing the book :((( and I asking him to mind his words and blah blah blah. Sad that my communication with him ended with a bitter mail to him. Sorry Mr Sanyal. I never saw ur book at the magazine office and no, I never flicked it either. I hope u will forgive me for the mistake Ive never committed. RIP Mr Sanya.
Unfortunately, a few years later I was working for a magazine in Hyderabad to which he had send his book Indlish for a review. The guys at the office misplaced it and did a big mess up with the book and the review. He held me responsible (though I had long quit that mag when all this happened). We wrote back nasty mails to each other and yes, shouted at each other - he accusing me of stealing the book :((( and I asking him to mind his words and blah blah blah. Sad that my communication with him ended with a bitter mail to him. Sorry Mr Sanyal. I never saw ur book at the magazine office and no, I never flicked it either. I hope u will forgive me for the mistake Ive never committed. RIP Mr Sanya.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
CONGRATULATIONS!
Hi Friends,
Glad to have read in the newspaper that Yeshodha, of the batch of 1996, (extreme left in the pic) was given the 'Woman of Substance' award by the Rotary Club recently, for her reportage on women. You could congratulate her by writing to
yeshodha_raju@yahoo.com
or read the following link:
http://kannadajournalists.ning.com/profiles/blogs/kannada-prabha-yeshoda-is
In her words:
"One book regarding journalism I had done in 1999. For that book Mysore University has recognised and made a reference book for B.A. Journalism course. And my second book regarding journalism is going to be published by Mysore University by the end of April this year.
In our Kannada Prabha paper I am writing a column called Dhana-Kanaka. Under this I have interviewed more than 110 women who are underprevilaged. This column is going to be a book. Vasantha Prakashana is going to publish it in the 2nd week of April. In recognition of all this, I have received the award."
Monday, September 8, 2008
Once more
Just chanced upon some photos of Meena's last book release ('Black Lentil Doughnuts'). Her second book is due to be released later this month. She tells me it's a thriller based in Bangalore. Please pass the word around.
Buy the book as a gift for friends. Recommend it. Blog about it. Let's see some old-fashioned acj spirit!
Buy the book as a gift for friends. Recommend it. Blog about it. Let's see some old-fashioned acj spirit!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Lessons from a shoot
(Something I wrote last week. Thought I'd post it on the ACJ blog because I know we have some filmmakers here -- Ram)
If you have two weekends free, you can sign up for a filmmaking course. I did, and our batch of 22 students passed out on Sunday.
Of course no art can be learnt in two weekends. But what courses such as this one do is give you an introduction that you can build on. They also put you in touch with people with similar interests.
This particular course, which costs Rs 3,500, is favoured by software engineers, but our batch had a diverse mix of college students, animators, graphic designers, techies, sales and real estate executives, a human resource consultant, and a couple of NGO activists.
The course is conducted by ACTor Productions every couple of months. Siddharth, who has studied at Rajeev Menon's cinematography institute in Chennai, and Rabi Kisku, who has produced and directed a digital feature film, gave lectures. Both have an IIT background. They have now moved to full time filmmaking.
The boyish faculty was enthusiastic, and so were the students. Siddharth spoke about lighting and camera angles, and quoted movie actress Suhasini who said cinematographers are often the smartest people on the sets. Rabi taught a couple of modules on direction and editing.
After two days of lectures, they divided our class into four groups. Each of us had to produce a three-minute film. After discussing a couple of other story ideas, our team decided to go with a song I had attempted to write and record. Our choice was a music video.
Baare sakhi, hoova kadiyuva (Come beloved, let's steal flowers!) had romantic nature images, and I suggested we should shoot it on a couple working in a city office. It would be ironic, I thought, to have them dream of stealing flowers, when in reality they would have to pay through their nose at a florist to get any. Similarly, they could sing grandly about crossing the seas when they couldn't even cross a puddle or a busy road.
We went and shot our film at a village called Raogodlu on Kanakapura Road. Inside Bangalore, we got some crowd scenes at Basavangudi and Jayanagar.
We learnt several things in the course of the shoot. The first was that an incompetent technician could undo everyone else's good work.
When our team played back the footage, it looked bleached and jerky. It turned out the camera guy assigned to us only knew how to shoot wedding videos.
That problem was solved when the organisers offered us a camera and a different cameraman for a reshoot. We drove up to the picturesque village a second time, and shot the film with a slightly different crew.
The lesson we learnt here was that we had to employ the same cast and get them to wear the same costumes if we wanted to mix and match footage from two shoots.
And we had to be wary of pretty frames. We tend to be impressed with almost everything we see through the lens, and end up capturing scenes that do little to tell our story. In the process, we lose precious time (and raw stock, if working with celluloid).
The most important lesson was that we had to do rigorous paperwork before we set out. On both days that we went to an outdoor location, we gave in to the temptation of composing and shooting scenes on the spot, forgetting altogether that we needed specific images to make our story go forward. Spontaneity helps, but if it isn't accompanied by planning, it can ruin a film.
And when we tell a story, we need our actors to do scenes that don't always show them in a flattering light. If everything turns out cheerful and pleasant, we end up creating something that either looks like an ad, or is too trite to hold anyone’s interest.
We also have to train ourselves to think in images and avoid the obvious. Matching our shots with the words makes the film hopelessly literal. (If the song talks of a horse, we don’t really need to show a horse on screen).
The student films were shown and critiqued on the last day. I liked the one about a day in the life of a telemarketer. Our music video wasn't disliked, but the irony hadn't come across sharply enough.
If you have two weekends free, you can sign up for a filmmaking course. I did, and our batch of 22 students passed out on Sunday.
Of course no art can be learnt in two weekends. But what courses such as this one do is give you an introduction that you can build on. They also put you in touch with people with similar interests.
This particular course, which costs Rs 3,500, is favoured by software engineers, but our batch had a diverse mix of college students, animators, graphic designers, techies, sales and real estate executives, a human resource consultant, and a couple of NGO activists.
The course is conducted by ACTor Productions every couple of months. Siddharth, who has studied at Rajeev Menon's cinematography institute in Chennai, and Rabi Kisku, who has produced and directed a digital feature film, gave lectures. Both have an IIT background. They have now moved to full time filmmaking.
The boyish faculty was enthusiastic, and so were the students. Siddharth spoke about lighting and camera angles, and quoted movie actress Suhasini who said cinematographers are often the smartest people on the sets. Rabi taught a couple of modules on direction and editing.
After two days of lectures, they divided our class into four groups. Each of us had to produce a three-minute film. After discussing a couple of other story ideas, our team decided to go with a song I had attempted to write and record. Our choice was a music video.
Baare sakhi, hoova kadiyuva (Come beloved, let's steal flowers!) had romantic nature images, and I suggested we should shoot it on a couple working in a city office. It would be ironic, I thought, to have them dream of stealing flowers, when in reality they would have to pay through their nose at a florist to get any. Similarly, they could sing grandly about crossing the seas when they couldn't even cross a puddle or a busy road.
We went and shot our film at a village called Raogodlu on Kanakapura Road. Inside Bangalore, we got some crowd scenes at Basavangudi and Jayanagar.
We learnt several things in the course of the shoot. The first was that an incompetent technician could undo everyone else's good work.
When our team played back the footage, it looked bleached and jerky. It turned out the camera guy assigned to us only knew how to shoot wedding videos.
That problem was solved when the organisers offered us a camera and a different cameraman for a reshoot. We drove up to the picturesque village a second time, and shot the film with a slightly different crew.
The lesson we learnt here was that we had to employ the same cast and get them to wear the same costumes if we wanted to mix and match footage from two shoots.
And we had to be wary of pretty frames. We tend to be impressed with almost everything we see through the lens, and end up capturing scenes that do little to tell our story. In the process, we lose precious time (and raw stock, if working with celluloid).
The most important lesson was that we had to do rigorous paperwork before we set out. On both days that we went to an outdoor location, we gave in to the temptation of composing and shooting scenes on the spot, forgetting altogether that we needed specific images to make our story go forward. Spontaneity helps, but if it isn't accompanied by planning, it can ruin a film.
And when we tell a story, we need our actors to do scenes that don't always show them in a flattering light. If everything turns out cheerful and pleasant, we end up creating something that either looks like an ad, or is too trite to hold anyone’s interest.
We also have to train ourselves to think in images and avoid the obvious. Matching our shots with the words makes the film hopelessly literal. (If the song talks of a horse, we don’t really need to show a horse on screen).
The student films were shown and critiqued on the last day. I liked the one about a day in the life of a telemarketer. Our music video wasn't disliked, but the irony hadn't come across sharply enough.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
JYOTIRMOY SANYAL - A FLASH BACK
By D P SATISH
It may sound strange. I am writing something (obituary?) about Jyoti Sanyal, four months after his death. I didn't know that his full name was Jyotirmoy Sanyal till recently. Dada (Diptosh Majumdar), the most affectionate person in my channel CNN IBN told me that his name was Jyotirmoy Sanyal. Me and dada were discussing something else and I asked him about ' Statesman '. Dada started his career with ' Statesman ' during its glory days. I mentioned Sanyal's name and dada's eyes lit up. He said ' Jyotirmoy Sanyal was already a news editor, when i joined as a cub reporter in early 80 s. We used to fight a lot. For him, journalism was all about desk. He always used to wear dhoti and kurta. He was a very difficult man. But, good at heart '.
****************************************************************************************** Sometime in mid 2001, I got a call from Prof. Sanyal. I had finished my ACJ course two years before that. But, i was still in touch with him. He wanted me to join him for dinner. He used to live alone in a rented house on Coles road in Contonment area of Bangalore. I reached his house exactly at 7-30 PM. He was waiting for me. I was under the impression that he would take me out for dinner as there was nobody at his house to prepare food. Sanyal himself had prepared a pure vegetarian dinner for me. It was a great surprise and a touching moment. We had a long talk after dinner. He was very happy that i was doing well in journalism. He came down with me to the main road to get me an auto to return home in the night. He even paid my auto fare in advance! It was Sanyal. He was a very warm person with a kind heart. He truly loved his students. He was very fond of me from the very beginning. Sanyal was new to Bangalore, when he landed there in 1997. He knew no Kannada. He used to take me everywhere to help him.
**********************************************************************************************
Once, he took me to Max Muller Bhawan (it was on Lavelle road) to meet somebody. I was very young and shy. I waited near the reception, when he was busy talking inside.
He came out after 30 minutes. He came to know that somebody in the Max Muller Bhawan had stopped me there. He flew into a rage and started to shout at the people for not treating one of his favourite students properly. He even refused to have Tea with them and profusely apologised with me, even though it was not his mistake. He took me to the nearest Airlines Hotel for a sumptuous lunch. He even shot off a strongly worded letter to Max Muller Bhawan head in Germany. Sanyal never tolerated any kind of injustice and hierarchy. He was always informal and approachable.
***********************************************************************************************
One day we went to a Carnatic and Hindustani jugalbandi at Ravindra Kalakshetra in Bangalore. We were seated in the front row. Carnatic musician Rajkumar Bharti and Hindustani vocalist Parameshwara Hegde started aalaap. It continued for nearly 30 minutes. Somehow Sanyal didn't like that concert and ordered me to leave. We stopped an auto near Canara Bank head office. He demanded Rs. 30 to drop us back at the Indian Express. Sanyal protested like a true comrade. We tried at least 10-15 autos. All demanded the same fare. I told him that it was okay. But he was not ready to pay even a single paisa extra. He asked me to follow him and we walked back to Indian Express! He was not at all stingy. He was very generous and extremely helpful. But he never tolerated cheating, over charging etc........ He always used to protest in the true Gandhian ways.
***************************************************************************************************
I came to Delhi in late 2001. Sanyal was happy that I was moving to New Delhi in search of better prospects. He had given me a dozen contact numbers in New Delhi. He used to call me almost every week know about my progress in an alien city. He once sent me a cap asking me wear it in the hot summer of Delhi. It was really a touching gesture.
****************************************************************************************************
When his finest book on English writing ' Indlish ' was released, he gave me a call from Calcutta. He wanted me to translate some Kannada reviews for him. He wanted CNN IBN to do a story on his ' Clear English movement '. My boss Rajdeep Sardesai readily agreed and asked me to assign it to one of our Calcutta correspondents. The correspondent who was supposed to do that story was a very very lazy person like most Calcuttans. She took nearly 3 months to do that! Sadly, that story never went on air.
*******************************************************************************************************
I was in Calcutta in February 2006. I couldn't meet Sanyal as his wife was admitted to a hospital and he was busy taking care of her. I didn't call him because i didn't want to disturb him. Who knew that lean, mercurial and healthy Sanyal would die of cardiac arrest in his early 60s? I never got a chance to meet him after that. I missed my last chance in 2006. Before I came to Delhi in the end of 2001, I had gone to see him. It was our last meeting. I still remember his smiling face and warm hug he gave me on that day. He is no longer with us physically. But, he is always there for the people like me. He shaped the career of many young confused journalists like me.
I always remember you and love you sir.
It may sound strange. I am writing something (obituary?) about Jyoti Sanyal, four months after his death. I didn't know that his full name was Jyotirmoy Sanyal till recently. Dada (Diptosh Majumdar), the most affectionate person in my channel CNN IBN told me that his name was Jyotirmoy Sanyal. Me and dada were discussing something else and I asked him about ' Statesman '. Dada started his career with ' Statesman ' during its glory days. I mentioned Sanyal's name and dada's eyes lit up. He said ' Jyotirmoy Sanyal was already a news editor, when i joined as a cub reporter in early 80 s. We used to fight a lot. For him, journalism was all about desk. He always used to wear dhoti and kurta. He was a very difficult man. But, good at heart '.
****************************************************************************************** Sometime in mid 2001, I got a call from Prof. Sanyal. I had finished my ACJ course two years before that. But, i was still in touch with him. He wanted me to join him for dinner. He used to live alone in a rented house on Coles road in Contonment area of Bangalore. I reached his house exactly at 7-30 PM. He was waiting for me. I was under the impression that he would take me out for dinner as there was nobody at his house to prepare food. Sanyal himself had prepared a pure vegetarian dinner for me. It was a great surprise and a touching moment. We had a long talk after dinner. He was very happy that i was doing well in journalism. He came down with me to the main road to get me an auto to return home in the night. He even paid my auto fare in advance! It was Sanyal. He was a very warm person with a kind heart. He truly loved his students. He was very fond of me from the very beginning. Sanyal was new to Bangalore, when he landed there in 1997. He knew no Kannada. He used to take me everywhere to help him.
**********************************************************************************************
Once, he took me to Max Muller Bhawan (it was on Lavelle road) to meet somebody. I was very young and shy. I waited near the reception, when he was busy talking inside.
He came out after 30 minutes. He came to know that somebody in the Max Muller Bhawan had stopped me there. He flew into a rage and started to shout at the people for not treating one of his favourite students properly. He even refused to have Tea with them and profusely apologised with me, even though it was not his mistake. He took me to the nearest Airlines Hotel for a sumptuous lunch. He even shot off a strongly worded letter to Max Muller Bhawan head in Germany. Sanyal never tolerated any kind of injustice and hierarchy. He was always informal and approachable.
***********************************************************************************************
One day we went to a Carnatic and Hindustani jugalbandi at Ravindra Kalakshetra in Bangalore. We were seated in the front row. Carnatic musician Rajkumar Bharti and Hindustani vocalist Parameshwara Hegde started aalaap. It continued for nearly 30 minutes. Somehow Sanyal didn't like that concert and ordered me to leave. We stopped an auto near Canara Bank head office. He demanded Rs. 30 to drop us back at the Indian Express. Sanyal protested like a true comrade. We tried at least 10-15 autos. All demanded the same fare. I told him that it was okay. But he was not ready to pay even a single paisa extra. He asked me to follow him and we walked back to Indian Express! He was not at all stingy. He was very generous and extremely helpful. But he never tolerated cheating, over charging etc........ He always used to protest in the true Gandhian ways.
***************************************************************************************************
I came to Delhi in late 2001. Sanyal was happy that I was moving to New Delhi in search of better prospects. He had given me a dozen contact numbers in New Delhi. He used to call me almost every week know about my progress in an alien city. He once sent me a cap asking me wear it in the hot summer of Delhi. It was really a touching gesture.
****************************************************************************************************
When his finest book on English writing ' Indlish ' was released, he gave me a call from Calcutta. He wanted me to translate some Kannada reviews for him. He wanted CNN IBN to do a story on his ' Clear English movement '. My boss Rajdeep Sardesai readily agreed and asked me to assign it to one of our Calcutta correspondents. The correspondent who was supposed to do that story was a very very lazy person like most Calcuttans. She took nearly 3 months to do that! Sadly, that story never went on air.
*******************************************************************************************************
I was in Calcutta in February 2006. I couldn't meet Sanyal as his wife was admitted to a hospital and he was busy taking care of her. I didn't call him because i didn't want to disturb him. Who knew that lean, mercurial and healthy Sanyal would die of cardiac arrest in his early 60s? I never got a chance to meet him after that. I missed my last chance in 2006. Before I came to Delhi in the end of 2001, I had gone to see him. It was our last meeting. I still remember his smiling face and warm hug he gave me on that day. He is no longer with us physically. But, he is always there for the people like me. He shaped the career of many young confused journalists like me.
I always remember you and love you sir.
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