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Email: elan@gardencitycollege.eduwww.gccelan.comYouth Spark

Volume 4 Issue 28

Wednesday, 3rd December 2014

“2014: The Election That Changed India”

Chitrakala Parishath, Bangalore: “The city

has always been warm and welcoming to me. Bengaluru has always been my second favorite city after Mumbai” says renowned Indian journalist Rajdeep Sardesai about the Silicon City. November 16th, 2014 witnessed a one of its kind get together, as Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath played host to the launch of Rajdeep Sardesai’s book “2014 - The Election That Changed India”. The event was pioneered by Prof. K.E. Radhakrishna, Chief Functionary, Samudra Foundation, Bengaluru.The veteran journalist was accompanied by noted Indian historian Ramachandra Guha, former Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde and noted lawyer B.V Acharya, Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs minister Dinesh Gundu Rao, BJP MP Shobha Karandlaje, writer B.L Shankar and a noted political scientist Dr. Sandeep Shastri. Politics and literature enthusiasts from across the silicon city had gathered in order to get their hands on the eye-witness account as the expert presented his views on the radical change that the subcontinent

witnessed during the by-poll elections - 2014.Mr. Rajdeep Sardesai spoke about his knowledge of Sri Narendrabhai Modi, and his journey from a Pracharak to Pradhan Mantri(Prime Minister). Elucidating further, Mr. Sardesai went back into his memory lane to recall, “In the year 1999, Narendra Modi had agreed to rush to a television studio in a taxi when another BJP spokesperson backed out of the news show at the last minute”.In further discourse, Mr. Sardesai argued that his book was not against any political agenda or politician, but an unbiased outlook of the 2014 elections. He said “the book was harsher on the Congress” as the party failed in its election campaign and won only 44 seats.When asked about the increasing

conglomerate ownership pattern in media venture, posing a threat to radical journalism, Mr. Sardesai hammered on the point that “Media should never stop asking questions. It is one way that can keep us in the power play.” Taking questions from the audience, he pointed out that the online media possibilities were

broadcasting news and information that have not been published by the main stream media.The event witnessed several newbies from various media institutes from in and around the city, who quoted, “It was one of its kind experience and was amazing to get a first-hand report from Mr. Rajdeep Sardesai”, “The book has been anticipated a lot. I just can’t wait to turn the pages” etc. Media students from Garden City College along with Mr. Manjunath M, HOD of Department of Media Studies, had the rare experience of witnessing the event and meeting the great journalist personally.The book and its context were rationally discussed by the audience and guests who graced the events.

Pratiksha MishraMS Communication

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The Nostalgic journey of Ranga Shankara

J.P. Nagar, Bengaluru: Ten years have passed since the inception of the theatre Ranga Shankara. The brainchild of Arundhati Nag, built in the memory of her late husband veteran Kannada actor and theatre artist Shankar Nag. Every year, they conduct a two week festival which concludes with the birthday of Shankar Nag which falls on November 9th. This year marked his 60th birthday.Every year’s festival has a particular theme. This year, it is ‘Nostalgia’. So, they have incorporated all the popular plays that have already been played at the venue. It also includes Rahul daCunha’s “Love Letters” and Naseeruddin Shah’s “Ismat Apa ke Naam.”Ranga Shankara, without any doubt, is the destination hub for all theatre lovers. A café and a bookstall are also situated inside the premises. We can see people

chatting and discussing on various topics for long hours sipping cups of coffee. We can feel the creative and imaginative aura, just by sitting next to them.The theatre is designed in the model of the famous Prithvi Theatre of Mumbai. The design is so acoustically perfect that the plays need not use any microphone to be heard. They have 320 seats and there is no such thing as a seat reservation, as the first row and the last row will get the same experience while watching the play.They go by the concept of “a play a day.” Except for Mondays, they have been showing at least one play a day for the past one decade without any exception. Ranga Shankara spread out its wings with various contributions from various sources. Now, their main contribution is from Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) teams

of big corporate companies, some of them being Infosys and Vodafone.Shilpa Mudbi Kothakota, a filmmaker who has long been associated with Ranga Shankara as the festival manager says that “We may have many income sources, but it survives only due to a few theatre loving people who work day and night selflessly”. Most of the volunteers that work for Ranga Shankara work mostly for free, just due to the love and passion for theatres.In the modern era, the ardent practice of the vibrant Theatric cult is widely being tagged as a diminishing or dying art. To prove this wrong, one should more often visit this monumental arena in order to embrace a wider vision of life and its articulations.

Jobin VargheseMS Communication

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A Look Into Our Traditional World

Janapada Loka is a place that promotes and preserves Karnataka’s folk tradition,

located in Ramanagara on Mysore – Bangalore highway.

Janapada Loka, the first open-air theatre in Karnataka, has been designed and constructed in the Greek style. Eventhough it’s construction started in 1994, it was inaugurated in 1996. Set up on 15-acre campus, it also has a museum, studio and a lake.

This theatre consists of more than 220 varieties of Karnataka folk art and also has various sculptures

of folk tradition. Some of the traditional folk arts of Karnataka are ‘Dollu Kunitha’ which is a ritual dance, ‘Yakshagana’ which is a dance drama mostly performed in coastal regions of Malenadu, ‘Puppetry’ etc.

Apart from preserving Karnataka folk tradition and art, it also gives a platform for the talented artists who want to showcase their traditional art forms of the region they are associated with.

People who visit this place will also see the transformation in the lifestyle of people and

the equipments used from the traditional to the modern culture. The display in Janapada Loka includes an array of ancient agricultural equipments like grind mills, hunting weapons like spears and shadow puppets used during the early period. It also has a wide range of coin collection of Krishnadevaraya period.

This world of art & drama provides an opportunity to see and also reminds to preserve and promote the folk culture & traditions of all regions especially of Karnataka.

K.P.ReethuVarna MS Communication

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GOA CHRONICLEOne fine day as our group

of media studies was “ritually” loitering around

in the corridors of the department, I heard a slight buzz carried by the wind, echoing the word Goa…Goa…Goa… After a thorough scrutinizing of the grapevine, it was finally confirmed that we are visiting Goa, and what could have been a more apt reason than the 45th edition of the International Film Festival of India. With truckloads of excitement, much more aspirations and 42 bagsful of fun-thought, we made mental notes and check-lists on the dos’ and ‘how to do the dos’’ in Goa. As the weeks melted into days, that molded into hours, which in turn drafted into minutes, the A-factor (my nickname for Anxiety) was giving me a bout of thrilling chills. Happy-Stressed-Anxious-Excited-And their siblings formed a plethora of emotions in my mind. In the lines to come, I have tried to accumulate the varied colors of the vibrant city and my purview of it.

18th November 2014: The day of ‘The D-day’

As I opened the window in the morning to do a random weather check, I was mesmerized by the misty hew in the air. Cursing my terrible packing skills, I dragged myself to finish the ‘last-minute packing’. We all reported to college around the stipulated time and headed towards the station in the college bus. As the train left the Yesvanthpur station at 2:35 pm,

all we could do was shout and take selfies or ‘groufies’ as they are called now. The journey was quite a smooth one, with the beauty of the western belt adding to its glory.

19th November 2014: The day of Beach-viewing

We woke up in the morning amidst the humdrum of the train compartment. The message presented was to hurry up as the destination was approaching. As the train reached the Madgaon station, the breeze of fresh air hits my face, giving me a glimpse of Goa. We headed towards our resort by the name - Alor Grande, and post breakfast we walked to the Candolim beach. That afternoon,

we toured to the amazing flea-market at the Anjuna beach and thereafter gazed the serene waves in the Vagator beach. The day in totality was a ‘beach-full’ day, wherein I discovered the amazing beauty of Mother Nature and was proud to be a part of it.

20th November 2014: The day of insight

With all the activities of the previous night, waking up in the morning was a task in itself. Boarding the bus with a straight face seemed like a challenge from ‘the Takeshi’s Castle.’ The day marked our visit to the Bom Jesus Basilica, also known as the shrine of St. Francis Xavier. Decorated

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with remarkable architecture, the church carries its own history as St. Xaviers’ has left his golden footprints in the sands of time. The next stop was at 5 in the evening, where in we were marveled by the infrastructure of Fort Aguada. The scenic charm of the sea beside it alone added to its aesthetics. The evening culminated with a DJ night, organized at the resort, that made us all groove with our moves. The day marked a sense of solace and provided us with a brimful of opportunities to reflect and respond.

21st November 2014: A day with the glimpses of the

Tinsel townOur Day-1 at the International

Film Festival of India was a one-of-its kind experience. I watched an insightful movie - “Jhola”, based on ‘the shackles of the sati-system in Nepal.’ Post the movie, I was met by a sense of nostalgia as I walked the talk with Ms. Mrinal Kulkarni and Mr. Ashok Lokhande, both veteran Marathi actors and heroes from my childhood days. The experience of listening to them and getting to know their perspectives is something so elated, that I cannot summarize in mere words. The evening took us to a cruise ride in the river- Mandovi, wherein we were touched by three indigenous dance styles of the state: -“Deknni”, a dance done on marriages to welcome guests, “Bhawradi”, a

harvest dance performed by the ‘kunbi’ sect and “Kotti Fugdi”, famous as the coconut dance tuned by the toddy-makers. The day brought in a bagful of surprises and we learnt a lot from the experiences.

22nd November 2014: A day into the Cauldron of

CinemaDay-2 of the film festival and also our last day at Goa started with the havoc created by packing all our grabs giving us a very hard time. But all the jitters vanished as we entered the IFFI gates and watched the documentary- “Songs of the Blue Hills”- a story of the varied tunes of the Nagamese music and culture. This was followed by the movie “Hope”- that threw light on the journey of a couple to reach Europe and the poignant tale that blossomed into fruits of love. Post that, we left for the station in order to catch the train to Bangalore scheduled at 9:20 pm. As we boarded the train, a chain of events flooded my mind and made me silently ponder on my journey to Goa.

23rd November 2014: A day of Reflections

The train reached the Yeswanthpur station at 11:20 am and headed home by bidding adieu to my friends and companions of this amazing journey.The films and their fancies, the beaches and the cruise, the food and the fluids, the total loss of voice, the never-ending shopping spree and the stories told and the secrets shared, I took back more than I brought - a plethora of poignant memoirs.

Pratiksha MishraMS Communication

I Semester

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The addicted “Stuff” in Indian youngsters

Enjoyment, Ambience, Curiosity, Promotion and ability, Cost are the major five reasons for 7.5 crore drug addicts in India. Nowadays, drug consumption is a qualification to get into some friendship bond among some youngsters. If people are not addictive to any kind of drugs, then he or she is marooned.

“White-collar addiction is coming out of the woodwork”. Many youngsters are driven to drugs by peer pressure, boredom, stress etc. In India, the youngsters get habituated and addicted to drugs between the ages of 12-18 as it’s the time of experimentation and identity formation and continues

till the age of 60. In India, 20 million children a year, that is nearly 55,000 children a day, crave towards tobacco addiction. The use of certain drugs such as whitener, alcohol, tobacco, hard and soft drugs is especially wide spread among school children. Whereas Heroin, opium, alcohol, proxy sphere, cannabis are the forms of drugs the adolescents intake in India.

The youth’s attitude reflects that they are ready to adapt the foreign culture in our country in the form of enjoyment, celebrations, clothing, and technology including the current trend of taking selfies. But when it comes to contribution to our nation, it is entirely zero. When asked people who indulges in drugs, many answered - “I am earning, I am having drugs”, “Why should I worry about my country and our people”.

Eventhough the government takes initiative in creating awareness in people, it lacks in taking necessary action on the abusers. Even after education evolved as major factor in our country, the same scenario is continuing where drug abuse by the youngsters cannot be controlled completely.

Rajkumar ChekuMSc Electronic Media

The major reasons why Indian youth take drugs…

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Photo Courtesy - Pratheek Valiant Photography

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Publisher: GCC Publication, Garden City CollegePatron-in- Chief: Dr. Joseph V. G. Chairman, Garden City CollegeChief Editor: Mr. Steven DavidEditorial Board Patron: Principal, Garden City CollegeStaff Editorial Board : Prof. Meghana H.R Dr. Payel Dutta Chowdhury Prof. Manjunath M. Prof. Violet McHardy Prof. Sudeshna DasStudent Contributors:

Jobin Varghese Rajkumar Cheku Pratiksha Mishra K.P.ReethuVarna Pratheek Valiant Student Editor:

Cherryl Kuriakose

Goa Trip - GCC Students with Celebs at IFFI