The Ailing Kitten

After the first shock of being attacked, the kitten tried to stand straight on its four legs. The pursuit seemed impossible because of the heavy physical assault by the boys. The attempt was not even close to success since it’s front leg on the right side kept on bleeding and was not able to move. The kitten wanted to have a look at its bleeding leg but couldn’t as its eyes were covered with blood.  Unable to stand, it had nothing else to do other than lying on the ground, but the conflicting cat genes was not ready to submit. The kitten opened its tiny eyes and stared at the boys who were still in positions and were ready to attack. Boys are always boys who can’t even think of leaving their object of entertainment at any cost.

Although it was difficult to resist those multiple assaulters at once, the kitten refused to fail and snorted with rage. Its blood coated eyes widened in anger and it stood all of a sudden with a very fast drive. Though, the anger was big enough to get the kitten in its legs, the pain linked with the action was bigger. The meow sound that roused simultaneously with the movement that brought the kitten on its legs proved it. Yet, it was not in its four legs. The kitten was holding one of its front legs from touching the ground. Each piece of sand appeared like needles to that tiny ailing leg. As there was no object to hide or depend while rounded by a group of assaulters carrying stones in the midst of that sandy ground, the kitten had no way other than becoming an angry young kitten.

The blood coated kitten from head to toe when stood on its legs, the assaulting boys became conscious and was about to throw stones again. The presence of girls around increased the interest of the boys. Each painful sound came from the kitten increased anxiety among the watching crowd. Suddenly that sweet but sharp voice was heard, Stop it! The lone girl in the fourth form, who never used to speak to anyone stood like a savior in front of the crowd. The boys looked at her as if she came from another planet. Even the girls looked at her like an alien. ‘Don’t kill the kitten. It is also a life”. The teasing laughter that came in response was clear enough for the girl to understand that she will never be able to save the creature.

Yet, she was not ready to leave that life forever without giving a try to save it. She ran to the teacher’s room and informed about the injustice that happens on the playground. The teachers who were busy in having lunch while gossiping did not even were ready to hear her. Being helpless, she could find herself as a useless creature. Her sad heart compared her life with the life of an ailing kitten. To avoid seeing the final moments of the beautiful furry kitten, she went into her class. She could not control the flow of tears. Though, it seemed impossible, she prayed to God for the kitten. Losing all hope, she anticipated the mouth of the kitten. “It would have died by now”, she thought.

The two hour long afternoon session was like twenty hours to her. However, she could not maintain patience till four ‘o’clock to see what had happened to the kitten. Once, the first period was over, she let the class without informing the teacher and ran to the playground. The kitten who still had traits of life in its body was battling for life on the hot play ground. The girl, while extending its hand to help also appeared like an attacker to the kitten and it puffed meow. Hesitant to leave the kitten at the edge of death, the girl sought ways to take it home safely. Finally, she got a big leaf of Areca nut tree and made a soft pad with its leaf palm. She could manage to get the kitten laid in the palm and took it away from the ground, where the cruel attackers will be able to reach only after the school hours.

Though, she was not sure of saving the tiny life, she carted the kitten in the palm from the hot playground. Once out of the barbarous attack and flaming sunlight, the kitten slowly opened it’s eyes and looked at her. A slow and awful meow got blocked on it’s throat. The blocked meow suddenly reminded the girl that the kitten is badly in need of water. She looked into her water bottle which was empty. Leaving the kitten alone in the mid of the road to get water appeared to be more dangerous and she decided to make the kitten wait till the next public tap comes on the road. While dragging the palm cart, her heart kept praying for that precious life. Much before she moves ahead a lot, a miserable meow came from the kitten. The kitten seemed to take huge effort to make that voice.

As there was no way to get water immediately, she sat beside the palm and touched gently on its right leg. As there was no resistance from the kitten as before, she gave a smoothing touch of relief on its shivering body. On this, the kitten slowly opened its eyes and looked at her in agony. The intense feeling of pain and suffering seen in those eyes made her realize her obligation of saving that life and she lifted that leaf palm in her hands and started walking fast. On reaching the next public water tap, she got water in her water bottle and slowly poured it into kitten’s mouth. When it got water, the kitten seemed a bit fine and opened it’s eyes completely. The girl cleaned the blood coated wounds of the kitten. She saw that all the four legs and the head was wounded. She took the kitten home and solaced its wounds with medicine and let it sleep. None of her family other than her, believed that the kitten will survive. Later, that night while she was on the dining table her leg was kissed by a tiny furry creature who looked at her with all the love and passion in the world. 

I was dead

Being a girl, I was shocked,

When you blamed that I stole your childhood.

Being a daughter, I was dismayed;

When you blared that I slipped your honor.

Being a sis, I was disheartened;

When you darned that I took your future.

Being a friend, I was offended,

When you damned that I denied affection.

Being a woman, I was aggrieved;

When you faulted that I didn’t take care of you.

Being a mother, I was dead;

When you deuced that I didn't love you;

Communication does not exist in vacuum

Though communication is a term that coined in the recent past in the west, it is not a new concept. It is the fundamental process of interaction between living beings. Since man is created as a social being, he is meant to interact with each other to facilitate a social life. In that aspect, communication is a lifeless term without living beings.  Communication is possible only between living beings. Whether it is animals, birds or human beings, communication is a routine affair.

Thus it was always believed that, the fundamental process of communication is not possible without a partner, but in the context of our nation during the past, when mysticism was on the air, communication to oneself gained significance. As mysticism is based on a self-centred life where one understands his or her deep realization of God and the universe by himself or herself. Budha, Mirabai, Kabeer Das etc were a few who could perform such interaction within themselves without being a visible receiver. In such communication both the sender and receiver are the same person. Such a communication is known by the name intra personnel communication.

This kind of intra personnel communication enriched the inter personnel communication as all those who practiced intra personnel communication could practice inter personnel communication much effectively than others.  The above discussion indicates that communication and social life is not parallel phenomena, instead both of them go hand in hand like a simultaneous phenomenon as an individual can communicate only from his thoughts that is based on his social and cultural life. As the current life of one person is influenced by the past of his culture, the culture has a close association with the communication of that particular person.

This indicate that the language and other communicative aspects of a person who lives in a rural area will never have urban flavours. One can easily identify the socio cultural life of an individual from the way he communicate from others. This idea can put it most effectively with the statement ‘Communication does not exist in vacuum, it is an integral part of our socio-political and cultural life’. In the current world as well, the media of communication are not independent from the socio-political and cultural life of the society. The expressions and manifestations of the media are depended on the events and thoughts of the social, political and cultural life of the society. 

What went wrong... . ?

After a sound stream of sleep

I pat on myself to see the sun

But the sun didn't rise up

After a long schedule of the day

I wanted the moon to appear

Yet the moon didn't turn up

After an elongated lap of run

I craved for the flow of breeze

Alas! the breeze was hesitant

After a severe drought on throat

I waited for the water to flow

My fortune wasn't good for it to come

After having all these hassles across

My heart landed me in a dilemma

There was a frigid state of anarchy

That made no delay to ask me

What went wrong... . ???

What went wrong... . ???

What went wrong... . ???

Impact of media in the society

The impact of media in the society has grown to various sectors like the source of Information, education, Socialization of children and youth, entertainment, Political awareness, Cultural transmission, the catalyst to development etc. Let’s have a look on each of these aspects in detail.

The source of Information

The news items carried by the mass media are instrumental to bring a lot of information required for social life, such as current affairs, government policies, traffic regulations, weather forecasts, examination results, alerts, precautions etc. With the growth of audiovisual media, we are able to get live updates of almost all the latest events and could make our daily lives better.

Education

Along with assisting the formal education system with educational channels, educational programs and features broadcasted or published in various types of mass media, they also provide an informal kind of education to people with predefined objectives. Such informal education includes a wide variety of news based contents like reports, features, photos, cartoons, editorials and articles and non-news contents like advertisements to educate people about the newest trends in their surroundings. Mass media in our city directly participate in the educational system by publishing educational Supplements for students. Education Plus of The Hindu, Also, we have a number of educational TV channels such as national geographic channel and Gyandarshan.

Socialization

In our city, mass media has shown its impact as an agent of socialization. It could empower people to acquire norms and experiences of the group as a whole, to maintain cultural consensus and communal harmony. It helps us to understand the cultural and social norms of various groups in our society. On the basis of this information, individuals honor others and behave according to the common values and thus create an integrated society.

Entertainment

With the advent and growth of mass media, especially television and social media, the city life became much more entertained. Having a monotonous life of troubles and tensions with hectic schedules and stressful events, mass media is a blessing for the city dwellers with all its entertainment content. Newspapers publish cartoons, comics, puzzles and special weekend supplements. The major share of magazine content includes short stories, novels, and comics. Television and radio primarily concentrate on entertainment function through their programs based on sports, film, serials, music, dance, comedy, animation and fashion shows.

Political functions

Usually the mass media, be it television or newspapers, most of their content, is centered on politics in our society. We see our leaders criticize officials and political leaders and advocate for better living conditions during panel discussions on television. Similarly, journalists expose corruption, show up developments and condemn or praise political activities considering their merits. Actually, these actions of the media make our democracy vibrant. Thus, mass media assume a key role in setting the agenda for the entire political system and policy making by forming public opinion on various issues

Cultural transmission

Mass media are the bridge between our past and present. They report day to day affairs which will become the history of tomorrow. The best records of modern history are newspapers of yester years. We get our cultural tradition from history and we follow the best of them. In keeping our culture flowing, media play a vital role. It focuses on the genuine aspects of our culture and points out the undesirable trends.

The current world of globalization considers media as a part of its daily routine and can’t even think of going a day without internet, television and newspaper. Social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and Blogs have become instrumental to exchange ideas so promptly and widely than other conventional media. Whether it is social, financial, educational, and cultural or anything: every field of life is focussed on 4C’s: creativity, communication, connection, and creation. Thanks to the growth of technology.

Qatar Travelogue - Part 3

Once again, I am back with my travelogue series. I still remember my promise of writing about my long journey from Hyderabad to Kochi and the cultural and political traits of Qatar. I will indeed apply my pen in motion for those great experiences, however now…I thought of writing about some more of my experiences at Villaggio Mall, of which I already had given a mention in my last post. The motivation behind me drawing a step back is something really refreshing and exciting!!! Yes…it is nothing other than food….The memory of mouth-watering cuisines….
Though, my taste buds have a great role in inspiring me to return to Villagio, it is not the only motivational factor that made me write about the experience in the mall. It is something else that is often not seen with a private business group in Doha. I revisited Villaggio mall on somewhere in the mid of last year with three of my friends. As usual, the mall was brightening with all its previously mentioned appealing features. This time, I went inside through gate no: 4 of which, I entered the food court. Walking towards the right side, the first sight that captured my eyes was the line of restaurants located against the ice skating rink. Though, I had a temptation to watch the children who skate in the rink, I could not resist the pleasing aroma from the line of restaurants. There was a plenty of cuisines to choose from such as Chinese, Indian, Continental, Filipino, European etc.
The multitude of options sweetly launched me into confusion and so I decided to walk along to see all the available options at first. On the go, there was a strange sight prevented our path. Ice creams are thrown!!! When a customer chooses their flavours, the sales man mixes the ice cream by throwing the ice cream balls rapidly up and down and across. Once they are mixed and garnished with toppings, they are thrown again to another end to be served. I watched this beautiful and rare process for some time and in the mean, a small crowd in front of a restaurant, opposite to the ice cream shop caught my attention.
As, I could not see such a crowd in any other restaurants in that line, I have decided to follow my friends who already started walking towards it. From the scenario, it was evident that the crowd is not only there to dine, but something else is happening there. It was the donation event of the charity program organized by that restaurant. From the signboard that kept in front of the restaurant, we could understand that the restaurant is donating an approximate amount of QAR 50,000 TO Qatar Charity. They gathered this money by donating 10% of the total bill amount from their customers who spent more than 150 QAR in the restaurant. Though, the reason of us being attracted towards the restaurant was their generosity, what made us stay there for the next 2 hours was the quality of the delicacies they had. The restaurant’s name was dunia. They served both Persian and oriental cuisines.
Though, I was not familiar with these delicacies, my friends had a great idea about the dishes in the menu. While they were busy ordering food what impressed me the most was the dandy ambience and the cleanliness of the restaurant. Unlike many other eateries I visited during my one year stay in Doha, we didn’t have to wait a long for the food to reach the table. Even before ordering, the table was packed with some breads and salads. All of us being foodies, we began the lunch with a soup. I preferred a vegetable soup and exchanged my chicken soup with the lentil soup of my friend. The soup was grand enough to prepare my stomach for a heavy lunch. Once we were done with the soup, a combo appetizer was served. There were four shells of dishes within a single plate. In spite of being new to my taste buds, I could not resist from trying all the four of them. I loved vine leaves, Tabouk and Hammos, but I could not handle the different savour of eggplant dish Moutabbal. But my friends didn’t even leave that plate vacant.

Even before finishing the plate, the table was ready with the main course. As I preferred fish, Persian fish was served on my plate. The yellow coloured rice tasted above all the tastes, I had till then. The white colour fish was cooked in some sauce, I guess saffron sauce fascinated me a lot. Even my friends who had Oriental Rice with Lamb, Kabab mix and Sayadieh Samak seemed hooked with the luscious delicacies. Whilst, I didn’t want to let that enthralling taste to leave from my tongue, I preferred not to have the dessert, but my friends tried Basbousa, Kounafa Cheese and Om Ali. The restaurant offered us a very different experience, and now as I am back to Qatar again looks forward to visit dunia restaurant once again to pamper the foodie in me. Yet, I will not forget my promise and will focus on the cultural traits of Doha in my next post in this travelogue series.

Then and Now

Then, he saw the petals, now he sees the thorns

          Whilst there was jasmine around the corner

Then she saw the light, now she feels the heat

         Bearing a wish for the breeze to come and soothe

Then he heard the music, now he hears the scream

         Evoking an assay for rhythmic joy of delight

Then She felt the comfort, now she stands the ail

         To bring forth a desire to have a relief

Then he relished love, now he endures queer

        Hence was in need of a superfluous spirit

Then she found the refuge, now she lost her faith

         Landing an appeal for final moments to come