'Liveness' as a Strategy employed in 'Ara Jeevithagalku Oru Swargam'

Eleven villages in Kasargod, Kerala had cashew plantations under the Plantation Corporation of Kerala, a state government undertaking.  Endosulfan pesticide was aerially sprayed on helicopters from the seventies over these plantations to fight the tea mosquito. Ideally, this pesticide had to be applied in a target specific manner. The indiscriminately sprayed pesticide, in a matter of no time seeped into the water bodies and affected the living and non-living forms living in the vicinity of the plantation. Endosulfan is a banned pesticide in at least 62 countries, including the European Union, several Asian and West African nations. But it is still used in countries like India and Brazil.

The neighboring villages of the cashew plantations in Kasaragod were mostly ordinary people who were either workers of the Plantation Corporation of Kerala or other daily wage workers who did not know much about the magnitude of the disaster awaiting them. Over time, hundreds of lives were lost after unimaginable suffering and generations affected by its toxic content, living for namesake. The pesticide had emerged as a controversial agrochemical due to its acute toxicity, potential for bioaccumulation and as an endocrine disruptor affecting hundreds of people, changing their lives forever. As a result of media reporting, the State Government appointed a panel to look into the reality of the accusation against the pesticide in 2001; the committee recommended a ban on the pesticide. In 2003, the issue was brought to the notice of the civil society at large, by a Documentary Film directed by MA Rahman titled Ara Jeevithangalku Oru Swargam(A Paradise for the Dying), a Social activist and documentary filmmaker from Kasaragod who had won a National award for his maiden documentary Basheer the Man, back in 1987. The screenings of the documentary on the disaster in educational institutions, churches and other people gatherings generated more than 80 lakhs for the victims of the disaster.

This study attempts to take clues from the HBO film Production of the Mathew Shepard incident  (1998) titled The Laramie Project, which problematized the brutal killing of Mathew who was a gay student at the University of Wyoming. The Laramie Project (2002), directed by Moises Kaufman uses the concept of Liveness to make the presentation more real and to effect immediacy. This study looks at the documentary A Paradise for the Dying and attempts to discover ways by which ‘liveness’ is used in the documentary to represent the magnitude of the Endosulfan tragedy.

Sources:

1.      A Paradise for the Dying(2003), a documentary by M A Rahman

The first documentary on the Endosulfan writ tragedy is ‘ara jeevithangalku oru swargam’ translated as A Paradise for the Dying, 2003 was directed by MA Rahman. In the background of a folk song, the documentary begins depicting the untouched beauty of the Kasaragodan villages, rivers, the beauty of wilderness along with a vivid description of the linguistic diversity (Kasaragod is called “saptha bhashakallude nadu” meaning ‘the land of seven languages’) and the quintessential art form of Kasaragod, Theyyam. Into this serene atmosphere, one hears a rather disturbing roar of the helicopter (the one to do the aerial spraying) followed by people underneath running here and there for life. The story begins to unfold here. The “Swargam” (meaning paradise) in the Malayalam title is a reference to the Swarga village of the district affected by the pesticide.

2.      HBO Film version: The Laramie Project

The HBO Film version The Laramie Project (2002) was inspired by the huge success of the play titled the same produced by the Tectonic Theatre Company in 2000. The film is an attempt to recreate the days followed by the infamous hate crime that took away the life of Mathew Shepard. The film is based on over 200 interview transcripts of the residents of Laramie. The responses of a cross section of the civil society of Laramie are presented to indicate the attitude of the town to the murder and homosexuality at large. The film follows the trial of McKinney and Henderson, the prime accused in the case. The film, like the play makes a strong case for the homosexual community, their basic human right to live in the society with dignity and security and not perceived as despicable deviants. On the background, the film also enquires into the religious basis governing the dominant attitudes towards same-sex couples in US.

3.      Chintha Ravindran’s article titled A Paradise for the Dying from his anthology of essays titled “cinema, society and ideology”

This write up on the documentary is from Chintha Ravindran’s (1946-2011) anthology of essays titled “cinema, society and ideology”. The article is titled ‘A Paradise for the Dying’. He compares the green politics of the ‘A Paradise for the Dying’ to the underground film tradition in the West, which is to counter the dominant narratives on the pesticide driven disaster. The essay discusses the success of the documentary in uncovering the attempts from the part of Governments, officials and pesticide companies to cover-up the whole thing from the eyes of the civil society, to mislead people and concerned parties from the real issue, how innocent people in Swarga, Cheemeni and other villages suffered for over decades without meaningful healing and rehabilitation intervention from the State.

4.      Introduction: An Orchid in the Land of Technology from Liveness by Philip Auslander

The concepts from the first chapter of liveness will be applied to the documentary A Paradise for the Dying. It includes the idea of ‘liveness’, the difference between live and mediatized events, the mutual give and take of the two in new media, how the live is increasing modeled on the mediatized, hyper-mediation etc. All these processes in short aim to make the performance more immediate (immediacy).

5.      The Documentary Film, A Very Short Introduction by Patricia Aufderheide

In this very concise book on the history of the documentary film, Patricia Aufderheide traces the history of this genre of films. She carefully distinguishes documentary under appropriate subgenres to best understand and classify the genre in its short history. She defines documentary as an analytical argument with a voice- of- god narration.

'facebook and me', effects of electronic culture

The citizens in the nation state are a myth while the netizens in the cyberspace is the reality. And some of us are still wrestling with this development not knowing where we really belong. My humble effort here is to try answer some of those questions that disturb me from time to time. Here come the queries. How growth of communication and technology has influenced my life? Also talk about how the electronic culture gets manifested in some of the very recent developments in my society. Have I come to terms with it? Do I feel the need for running away from all this or if I should immerse completely in it? Can I ever stay away from electronic culture and claim to actively participate in the society that I am part of? Where does the society exist now? The effort is here to share some of the anxieties.

The friend is not necessarily a friend in the ‘friend in need is a friend indeed’ sense. This is weird. But I am in touch with many people on face book. And I feel comfortable. If they were right infront of me, I would not have had the courage to extend my hand for their friendship. In a way I am able to hide the inferior aspects of my being when interacting on face book. Social networking sites as convenient ways of escapism.

The willing surrendering of privacy, things close to you to the whole world is a disgusting thought. But sometimes I feel that I am doing the same. By letting others know the kind of films and books that you love, all my secrets are told. But then does the projected personality have been truly representative of my self… no. The likes and dislikes on the virtual sphere are conditioned by demands placed on your personality by the virtual society. The virtual sphere expects you to be responsive to the myriad developments happening in that space. It is a prerequisite to think fast, to decide whether to go with the tide or not. Cyber space is vulnerable to panic attacks and it ‘pokes’ you to ‘share’ the panic.

It will be somewhat interesting to have a sense of the Anna Hazare movement for the JLB (Jan Lokpal Bill). Social networking sites like Facebook played a huge part in the so-called ‘success’ of the movement.  To quote Arvind Kejrival (the architect of the movement) from an interview dated on August 31,2011 in ‘the Hindu’ “ we had planned a single rally on January 30 at the Ramlila Maidan. But because we connected on Facebook, we were able to conduct simultaneous rallies in 64 cities”. SMS texting also played a critical role. They sent out two crore SMS text messages and got 50000 missed calls. Though it is partly true that in india facebook has a predominant urban following, it may be argued that concerted social action for good or evil can be generated through it. The experience of UK is a different story, as the lightning speed of the message transfer and the meaning lost in each transaction led to riots. But in Libya and Egypt helping people to come together and voice their dreams for the homeland.

These panic attacks in the social networking sites can manifest on a personal level as well. For instance I ran out of facebook for life twice. Your effort is to be a part of the community without making much of an uproar. But then you are mentioned, poked, suggested and asked hell lot of uncomfortable questions like how are you and where were you all these years? I paid the price for not being a digital native when my confessions to certain individuals were widely read and commented on by social scientists in the site.

Raymond Carver's "The Ashtray"

Speak up and Negotiate to be heard

The transformation of Live Secular Music Performance (Ganamellas) in Kerala

The transformation of Live Secular Music Performance (Ganamellas) in Kerala

The live and the mediatized are not polar opposites anymore. When it comes to actual consumption, mediatized events have an edge over live ones. As the society is becoming more and more mediatized, the strategy is to model live events on mediatized ones. The approximation of liveness by the mediatized has led to serious compromise in quality. In a recent interview to Manorama News, KJ Jesudas, the uncontested voice in the Malayalam Film Music Industry for the last fifty years or so took a dig at the over dependence on technology which he felt has adversely affected the quality of songs that we have in Malayalam. That often music is made to embellish an elaborate dancing extravaganza in some of the most beautiful locations of the world, he observed. Therefore songs have shed their pretensions of originality in composition and are contend to be in the background paving the way for some exciting acrobatics.

We might take a look at how this has influenced the tradition of live performance of film music that we have in the state popularly known as ‘Ganamela’ (music show). A Ganamela is a music performance with a vocalist and an elaborate music accompaniment. Usually secular music is played but not necessarily. Ganamela is almost a compulsory aspect of temple festivals, celebrations of some sections of the Christian churches etc. The success of a College Union is sometimes determined by the quality of the orchestra they get for the Arts Day and College day in Kerala. The orchestra in the traditional sense, a famous male and female vocalist duo leading the group of instrumentalists have given way to just one vocalist in most cases now. The electronic key board that can reproduce all the instruments has effectively replaced the accompanists. Even if there are some instrumentalists present, one can never be sure if the music is played by them or the Yamaha 2000. The organizers love this for it is pleasantly “cost effective”.

This has seriously affected the lives of many instrumentalists making a living out of live performances and for many of them their only source of income is teaching music in schools and home tuitions. When Amrita TV came up with the concept of a Music Reality Show in the form of Amrita Superstar, they had only one instrumentalist, a damn good key board player equally good with technology. But Asianet Idea Star Singer followed suit but with a Live orchestra. Despite all the hullabaloo of a reality show, this seemingly live aspect of the show won them more audience, from especially the carnatic music fan base.

Another interesting feature of today’s live performances is the vocalist who knows how to move his/her body to the progression of the song enticing audience to dance. Rimy Tomy who is the quintessential Malayalam artist in this regard is known for her ability to drive the audience crazy with her energetic moves and vocals, has invited lot of appreciation from among the youngsters and scathing criticism from the purists. This kind of performance goes down particularly well with those who take to drinking among the audience waiting for an opportunity to go wild (In Kerala lot of drinking takes place around Ganamelas).

"i feel the heat, i feel the rain": the play within the play in "The Fire and the Rain"

A story can be told in many ways. Many story telling devices come in handy when the attempt is to discuss multi-layered narratives. The material for the story may be sometimes as pregnant as the myth of Yavakri. The myths are reworked in a telling manner by the playwright to come up with a challenging play to stage. Apart from the retelling of the myths (myth of Yavakri, the myth of Indra slaying Vritra), the play with in the play technique open up further vistas for enquiry enabling deeper understanding of the making of the play.

The play gives way to the play with in the play. The drama performed can bring rain, only a yajna wont do. Rain is an objective reality, but raining is not really objective. The Yajna is a performance but it is an orchestrated performance while drama is orchestrated and more. As Paravasu maintains “fire sacrifice is a formal rite. Structured. It involves no emotional acrobatics from the participants”. But there is an element of tentativeness when it comes to the fifth Veda, a performative undercurrent which may redefine the expectations and go beyond the realm of reason: An outcome that might upset the linear, systematic and plausible expectations. Against the warning given by the stage manager not to get lost in the character, Aravasu goes wild in a moment of rage when Vishwarupa falls into the trap of Indra. Fury loosened upon the sacrificial altar but does not stop Aravasu from completing the sacrifice. This performative episode finally enables the performer to break the possibilities opened up by the technique and come back to the actual play.

It so happens that when there is a play within the play, the seemingly fictional artifact of the original play  sheds its fictitious air to a considerable extent and become more immediate to the viewer. A sense of immediacy and liveness is achieved. The viewer is now more interested in the proceedings of the play within the play. Here the dramatist has a better chance of winning over the trust of the audience. Now that there is a second-degree remediation, the larger play becomes more legitimate. What happens with the play within the play is that the wall separating the audience and performance disappears and the audiences are paved the way to enter the visual artifact that Karnad has created which is the large play. There are ways to remain removed from the workings of the art form even then, but then the distance is much less: one still remains within the play even though a distance can be maintained from the play with in the play. There is willing suspension of disbelief here. Therefore the experience become more immediate, more live. One feels the heat and the moisture. 

Prime Minister's take on literacy on the eve of Independence revisited..

 Brothers and Sisters,

Education was the priority in the eleventh five year plan (2007-2012). In this our efforts were directed toward significantly reforming and building on the National Education Policy of 1986. As per the plan, 2.70 lakh crore rupees which constitute 20% of the plan expenditure were allocated for the education sector.  The objectives of the plan include the reduction of dropout rates of children from elementary schools from 52.2% in 2003-2004 to 20% by 2011-2012, increase literacy rate to 85%, lower the gender gap in literacy to 10 percentage points and increase the higher education intake from the present 10% to 15%. 

The setting up of National Knowledge Commission (NKC) and the implementation of the Right to Education Act (RTE Act, 2009) are integral to the educational initiatives of the UPA Government. The recommendations of the National Knowledge Commission are integrated into the eleventh plan and implementation is underway at the State and National level. The RTE Act makes education a fundamental right of every child between 6 and 14, first of its kind in the world that puts the responsibility to send the children to schools on the Government. The Act also specifies 25% of seats in the private schools reserved for disadvantaged children.

I strongly feel that in the context of the changes and possibilities opened up by Information Technology in the field of education, we got to radically redefine our understanding of literacy. I admit that we are falling short of our target of 85% in this plan period, but we have made a significant stride in reducing the gender gap in literacy from 21% in 2001 to 16% in 2011. But even then the parameters of literacy have to be extended to accommodate computer knowledge and vocational skills to exercise the knowledge acquired in class rooms. I believe that rigid compartmentalization of knowledge and standard distinctions of the curricular and co-curricular may not take us further. The demarcation of the muscular nervous activity and the intellectual activity is regressive in this sense. The overriding primacy given to the latter got to be discouraged. Children should be encouraged to develop their aptitude in sports. A healthy society produces healthy athletes and sportsmen.  

 So we have to consciously try erasing these sharp contours to inculcate a holistic understanding of knowledge in our young minds.  This becomes extremely important in the primary and secondary levels. Teachers have to play an important role in this. Their task is never easy as they are trying to deal with a heterogeneous group of young minds. The teacher empowerment programs as part of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (‘Education for all’ program) impart IT oriented ways of learning and aims to equip our teachers to meet the diverse demands arising out of a heterogeneous student community. Towards the attainment of the same we have to periodically review and strengthen our curriculum.

The National Education Policy of 1986 complimented the economic reforms of 1991 encouraging emerging sectors like Information Technology. The private capital in the technical education sector led to capacity expansion in the private sector. But we have to think whether the benefits have reached everybody. The menace of capitation fee is plaguing the private education sector making quality education the privilege of a few particularly in the medical and technical education sector. How to bring about qualitative changes in this area is a big challenge that we have to take up.

This also raises the question of genuine research. We got to introspect whether genuine research is happening in our Universities. Earlier policies put larger emphasis on research in the sciences. Research in arts and the social sciences need strong financial backing from the government. The thrust should be equally placed on research in Humanities as well. Like the IITs and IIMs we have to have Centers’ of Excellence in the Arts and Social Sciences. The twelfth five year plan seeks to put equal emphasis on research in the Sciences and Humanities. We have to transform our Universities from being centers of learning to knowledge production centers.

We have to ensure that our education system is more inclusive ensuring equality of opportunity to all. The government looks forward to intervene and fix the discrepancies in this sector through negotiations and strong legislations. This intervention is imperative given the fact that we have six hundred million youth under the age of 25 and the number is expected to grow until 2050. It is in this regard, to cater to a growing population of youth that the Central Universities Act was passed in 2009.  Under the act, 12 Universities have come to function in those states that did not have a Central University. The Central Universities thus established have state wide jurisdiction to establish its campus and centers significantly contributing to the educational demands of the state as well. My Government would encourage programs that ensure the participation and capacity building of the community. These centres of excellence are expected to usher in a new era of scholarship and tap the vast potential of youth into productive learning. The National Education Commission that we propose to establish will look at all the issues pertaining to primary, secondary and higher education. Its recommendations will pave the way for a new National Educational Policy. I believe that all the issues I raised on education will come under their consideration.

 High literacy rate presupposes the upliftment of all spheres of the society. Therefore it is a huge challenge in front of us. Because I believe that for effective and universal literacy, food security and access to other basic amenities such as drinking water and electricity are absolutely necessary. In this sense literacy has close links with other socio-economic problems like hunger, poverty, malnutrition, child labor etc. it is only after responding to these fundamental problems constructively that we can confidently approach the larger issues of caste, gender equality, freedom of speech, and other relevant human rights concerns. So in order to increase the effective literacy rate and to reduce the gender gap in literacy, we need to first ensure the right to life and livelihood resources to all citizens of this nation irrespective of religion, caste, gender and political affiliation.

written by satchin,mary,anu

What is literacy to you? literacy is....

  

According to the provisional data released of the 2011 Census, effective literacy rate of India has improved to 74.4%, a rise of 9.2% from 64.8% in 2001(guys listen... The Indian Census is done once in ten years, (see for more info http://www.censusindia.gov.in/). One of the positives about this is the sharp rise in the number of literate women as compared to men. While the effective literacy rate for males rose from 75.26 in 2001 to 82.1 percent this year, a rise of 6.9%, it increased by 11.8% for the women to go from 53.67% in 2001 to 65.46% in 2011. But we are far below the World average of 84%. Kerala stands on the top among states with 93.91% and Bihar at the bottom with 63.82%.

Literacy is the ability of a person to read and write with understanding in any language as per the Census India operation. In addition to reading and writing, the Mass literacy programs in India, aims at imparting some basic math (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division). But this definition is very basic in the sense that advanced forms of thinking like comparing, reasoning, analyzing, interpreting skills do not come into the picture here. Nowadays literacy has acquired a broader meaning and refers to all kinds of knowledge and the possibility of accessing it to meaningful use. In this sense knowing the price of vegetables and seeing through the price differences to derive comparative advantage out of a purchase is also an application of literacy that one has acquired.

 Reading and writing is definitely important and a doorway into the understanding of the working of organized social life. But the use value of literacy requires further more resources at the disposal of the literate. The literate we are talking about here is introduced to concepts like state, citizenship, equal rights, and duties through education. But unless he/she has access to different forms of media (print media, visual media, internet) the implications of the concepts mentioned will escape him. It is really important to be aware of how different people are using their literacy in absolutely diverse ways to highlight the issues close to their heart in a manner appropriate to their selves. This awareness is essential and it encourages application of knowledge, of literacy. Then the question of access to the fourth estate (the press) thus is significant in educating masses to process their literacy. One has to note here that the success of literacy depends upon so many factors than just access to education(the press as one among the many resources required for true literacy).

                  to be continued...