diaphanousworld

Call for Entries National Press Photo Contest 2014

2014-07-22T20:30:00.000+05:30

Adarsh Inquiry Commission full report

2014-01-02T21:44:00.000+05:30

Adarsh Inquiry Commission headed by Justice J A Patil was appointed by the Maharashtra government on January 8, 2011. It was given 13 terms of references to probe. The terms of reference no 1 was about whether the land on which the 31-storey highrise was built belonged to the Maharashtra government or to the Defence Ministry.

The terms of reference no 2 was about whether it was reserved for housing any defence personnel or martyrs of Kargil War. On April 13, 2012, the Commission submitted its interim report on these two points to the government, stating that the land belonged to the state government, and it was not reserved for Kargil War widows. The commission submitted the full report this year, but the government did not table the report it during the budget session or the monsoon session of the state legislature. On December 20, the state tabled the report during the winter session state legislature after the Bombay High Court cornered it to make a commitment.

The exhaustive 700-page report makes for stunning reading about a building which was originally supposed to be a six-storey structure went on to become a 31-storey highrise as its files moved in Mantralaya from one minister to the other, and one bureaucrat to the other. As the files moved, new floors and flats were added to the building.

I think Indian should read it to understand how a scam was perpetrated. After initially rejecting the commission findings, the Maharashtra government rolled back its decision after a public prod by Rahul Gandhi. The million-dollar question is when will those indicted by the report actually face any punishment.

You could read the full report here:

Adarsh Commission Report Part I

Adarsh Commission Report Part II

Wanted: Critical Writing on Photography

2013-10-10T21:15:00.002+05:30

WANTED: CRITICAL WRITING ON PHOTOGRAPHY – MUMBAI – OCT 13

October 11 2013, Mumbai

Goethe Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan

Niyatee Shinde
Niyatee Shinde is an Independent curator, photo-historian and writer on art and photography. In 1978 she graduated with a BA from University of Mumbai and later in 1986 did a Diploma in Copy-writing at Advertising Agencies Association of India. In 2003 she was Research Fellow, NMAH, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC; research subject: Interdisciplinary access to photographic collections within the Smithsonian units and museums. From 1995 to 2006 she was Director & Curator, Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Mumbai where she curated many exhibitions with Indian and International artists, conceptualized and conducted varied workshops on Indian folk and traditional crafts by Master craftspeople. She was one of the founder-editors of the Times Journal of Photography, TOI, Mumbai and was invited as nominator for the Leopold Godowsky Jr. Photography Awards 1997 and the Hasselblad Photographer Award for 2000 and 2006. She was also invited to judge several national photography exhibitions. In 1993 she conceptualized, researched and compiled ` The Legacy of Raja Deen Dayal’, a major exhibition of photographs by Raja Deen Dayal, for Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi. Also compiled and contributed text to the dossier on Raja Deen Dayal, presented by Air India on their 60th anniversary. As writer on art and photography critic and reviewer she contributed to the Times of India and later wrote several critical features on art and photography for the Indian Express. She continues to contribute essays and reviews on photography for national and International publications. Amongst many recognitions and honours she was awarded the Paul Getty grant in 2004 and the 1994 Goethe-Institut Scholarship for photography research.

She will speak about her experience in writing on photography for Times Journal of Photography and her writing on various photography curatorial projects.

Abhijeet Tahmane
Abhijeet Tamhane is an art critic based in Mumbai who has been writing critical weekly art reviews for the last decade or so. Apart from his regular weekly review essays, he has been writting smaller reviews and general interest articles on art, on a weekly basis for the last four years. Abhijeet has aslo written several catalogues in English, interviewed prominent artists and delivered several lectures on art. At present, he is working with Lok Satta.

He will speak about his experience in writing on art, both in English and Marathi.

Wanted: Critical Writing on Photography

2013-10-07T21:54:00.001+05:30

If you are in Mumbai on Oct 11, 2013, do join us for a chat.

World Press debate and other stories

2013-02-23T17:12:00.001+05:30

Thanks to Twitter on which I can track many things at the same time, I was clued into the results of the World Press Photo, which each year brings together an amazing body of work on its platforms, and is judged by some of the world's greatest photojournalists. Photo-shopping has always been a deeply debated issue, and this year's WPP winning image of Paul Hansen brought alive the debate again. It is also a difficult issue to deal with. On my computer, the image from the WPP winner's gallery seemed quite darker, but on my photographer colleague's computer the image appeared much brighter. Photoshelter blog has posted both the images. What do you think? I also like the original brighter image and don't see the need to photoshop it further. It has enough and soft light, is superbly composed, and captures the entire tragedy perfectly. I would really like to know what Paul Hansen has to say about this?

Copyright: Paul Hansen/ World Press Photo

Another debate is also on about Paolo Pellegrin's images of a former Marine sniper which won him the Freelance Photographer of the Year award at the equally prestigious POYi. NYT photography blog put the controversy in perspective.

I discovered Guernica magazine quite late, and everytime that I got to their website, it has some really thought provoking reading material. Sinnamon Love deals with the question if while doing pornography, she was being a feminist.

I also found an article by Prashant Reddy in Open magazine on the extent of foreign funding in Indian NGOs, and it is quite mind-boggling. Do read.

The British Film Institute is doing a retrospective of documentary film-maker Anand Patwardhan's brilliant body of work. An interview with ever eloquent Anand Patwardhan

A poster of Anand Patwardhan's controversial Raam Ke Naam

Happy reading!

Photo essay on India's women soldiers

2013-02-20T19:41:00.000+05:30

I came across Poulomi Basu's very interesting photo story on India's women soldiers in Tehelka magazine. In 2009, India's Border Security Force began training women soldiers to be deployed on its border with Pakistan. Poulomi captured their life at the training camp. The series of photographs were part of Tehelka's latest issue on One Billion Rising. The pictures are worth taking a look at Poulomi's website.

NYT's photo blog featured Poulomi's work last year.

Do read.

Nick Ut on Napalm Girl picture

2012-09-21T17:12:00.002+05:30

Just spotted this on Leica Camera blog. Vietnamese photojournalist Nick Ut on how he survived and shot the picture of the Napalm attack in Vietnam and the picture went on to become the face of the Vietnam war. Ut won the Pulitzer for his work. His interview

Kim Phuc, the little girl in the photograph howling in agony as napalm burns her back, defected to Canada, and has now set up the Kim Foundation International

happy reading!

Mumbai photojournalist wins MFI YES BANK National Press Contest grand prize

2012-08-24T19:54:00.000+05:30

Mandar Deodhar's Picture of the Year image

Winners of MFI-YES BANK National Press Photo Contest 2012 Declared

Mumbai, August 21, 2012: Media Foundation of India (MFI) in association with YES BANK, India’s fourth largest private sector bank, today announced the winners of the MFI-YES BANK National Press Photo Contest – 2012.

Mumbai-based photojournalist Mandar Deodhar of India Today news magazine was adjudged the winner of the “Picture of the Year” award for his photograph of a lone shopkeeper battling a massive fire at Sara-Sahara and Manish market shopping malls in South Mumbai. The picture was unanimously chosen by an eminent jury that comprised of award-winning international photojournalists Pablo Bartholomew, Kevin Frayer and Arko Datta.

The contest received over 6500 photographs submissions, sent by more than 200 photographers for the six categories under contention. Mandar Deodhar will be awarded the grand prize of Rs 75,000 at an awards ceremony scheduled in October. Additionally, three cash prizes worth Rs 50,000, Rs 30,000 and Rs 20,000 will be awarded to category winners in each of the six categories.

“I am extremely happy to have won the grand prize. I was not expecting it at all as the MFI contest is a national contest and some of the best photographs from Kashmir and other places compete for the top prize,” said 40-year-old Deodhar in his first reaction.

“I was on the terrace of a building when I noticed that some firemen were reluctant to climb on top of a metal roof because it was hot and a bit dangerous. But, an ordinary shopkeeper snatched the water pipe from them, climbed on that roof and started bravely battling the fire. I found that interesting,” said Deodhar, who has done stints with publications like Lokmat, Bombay Times, and Mid-Day before joining India Today in 2007.

“This photograph of a single man fighting the fire went beyond the realm of just spot news and spoke to us on many levels. The jury unanimously felt that this image needed to be recognized and honoured as the Picture of the Year 2012. And while it won 3rd place in the spot news category, it surpassed both in its category and every other winning image in the competition,” said Jury member Pablo Bartholomew, explaining the jury decision.

“It was very strong and layered, both beautiful and terrifyingly tragic. Adding to its beauty was the near monochromatic colourlessness of the tones, the bleak sadness of an unwinnable war against the fire, of a stark consumed, devastated urban landscape, at the point of no return and within this is setting is this human figure that one cannot help but gape and laud the courage, spirit and strength. The body language of this figure engaged in battle, the immense tenacity to fight on against all odds was what made it a compelling and enduring winning image,” he said on behalf of the three-member jury.

Jury member Kevin Frayer of The Associated Press observed “The picture of the year is striking in many ways. But for me it is simply one man fighting alone something far bigger then himself...a kind of a "David and Goliath" scene. The fire has razed the entire market yet he battles on. The viewer can study the sheer determination as he fights to save what he can. It is strong photojournalism in its most simple form."

Ranjit Hoskote, Media Foundation of India Chairman and poet /art curator said, “I am happy that YES BANK has stepped forward to partner MFI National Press Photo Contest from this year. I am certain that this partnership will help strengthen the MFI National Press Photo Contest brand and help broaden its activities across India. I would like to thank our eminent jury for doing such a fantastic job for the second consecutive year.”

Commenting on the association and the contest, Dr. Rana Kapoor, Managing Director and CEO, YES BANK, said, "We are pleased to be involved with this unique initiative which is highlighting the importance of photo journalism in print media, as their exemplary efforts need far greater appreciation and recognition. These photo media stalwarts consistently narrate to us highly relevant stories predicated on images which at times cannot be expressed as effectively through words. We look forward to making this an annual event in association with MFI.”

About Media Foundation of India

Media Foundation of India is a not-for-profit trust started byfour Mumbai-based media professionals as an independent platform to organise media-relatedactivities that could extend beyond journalistic endeavours to promote a knowledgeexchange on wide-ranging contemporary issues. MFI National Press Photo Contest is India’s only national-level contest for professional press photographers and is in its second year.

About Yes Bank

YES BANK, India’s fourth largest private sector Bank, is the outcome of the professional & entrepreneurial commitment of its Founder, Dr. Rana Kapoor and his top management team, to establish a high quality, customer centric, service driven, private Indian Bank catering to the Future Businesses of India. YES BANK has adopted international best practices, the highest standards of service quality and operational excellence, and offers comprehensive banking and financial solutions to all its valued customers. YES BANK has a knowledge driven approach to banking, and a superior customer experience for its retail, corporate and emerging corporate banking clients. YES BANK is steadily evolving as the Professionals’ Bank of India with the vision of “Building the Best Quality Bank of the World in India” by 2015.

MFI Yesbank National Press Photo Contest 2012

List of all Award Winners

Picture of the Year: Mandar Deodhar/India Today

General News

First Prize - Arijit Sen/Hindustan Times

Second Prize – Manish Swaroop/The Associated Press

Third Prize – Prasad Gori/Hindustan Times

Honorable Mention 1 - Ajay Agarwal/Hindustan Times

Honorable Mention 2 – Raj k Raj/Hindustan Times

Honorable Mention 3 - Ajay Agarwal/Hindustan Times

Spot News

First Prize – Salil Bera/The Week

Second Prize – Sachin Kadvekar/Fotocorp

Third Prize – Mandar Deodhar/India Today

Honorable Mention 1 – Anshuman Poyrekar/Hindustan Times

Honorable Mention 2 – Dar Yasin/The Associated Press

Honorable Mention 3 – Partha Paul/The Indian Express

Daily Life

First Prize – Vijayanand Gupta/Hindustan Times

Second Prize – Sivaram V/Reuters

Third Prize – Prasad Gori/Hindustan Times

Honorable Mention 1 – Shankar Lattur/The Times of India

Honorable Mention 2 – Sachin Vaidya/Saamana

Honorable Mention 3 – Swastik Pal/Freelance

Sports

First Prize – Senthil Kumaran/Trikaya Photos

Second Prize – Sudipto Das/The Times of India

Third Prize – Manvender Vashist/PTI

Honorable Mention – KR Deepak/The Hindu

Art & Culture

First Prize – Raul Irani/Open Magazine

Second Prize – Rajesh Singh/The Associated Press

Third Prize – Shantanu Das/Bombay Times

Honorable Mention – Chhandak Pradhan/Freelance

Best Photo Stories

First Prize – Rafiq Maqbool/The Associated Press

Second Prize – Dar Yasin//The Associated Press

Third Prize – Zishaan Akbar Latif/Freelance

Honorable Mention – Nishant Ratnakar/Freelance

To view all the winning images, log on to Media Foundation of India website

2011 deadliest year for journalists

2012-07-05T18:41:00.002+05:30

2011 turned out to be the deadliest for journalists. 72 journalists were killed worldwide. A report from International Press Institute Congress in Trinidad. IPI Congress had several interesting interactions which you could read here

Another wonderful article by James Estrin of NYT Lens -- Iraq war through the eyes and the work of photojournalists

Interesting story on BBC - Riding NY's A train

One of the largest photo festivals, Chobi Mela's eighth edition will be held in Dhaka, Bangladesh in Jan 2013. Last date of submissions for the festival is July 31. So hurry!

Happy reading!

The white paper on Black Money or the 108 page bikini!

2012-05-21T18:20:00.000+05:30

The UPA government today tabled the white paper published by the Finance Ministry headed by Pranab Mukherjee. BJP's Jaswant Singh described it as a "bikini" that conceals the essentials and displays the non-essentials! Here is the full text of the document in pdf sourced from the news website, Ibnlive.com. You can download this document and read.

Happy reading!

RIP Horst Faas

2012-05-11T17:59:00.000+05:30

Picture Copyright: AP
Horst Faas on assignment in Vietnam

I had never before seen Horst Faas' work till a photojournalist friend post a link to this mind blowing series of photographs on Denver Post website to mark the 30th anniversary of The Fall of Saigon in the Vietnam war. There are some stunning shots by Faas in this series posted in a previous post on this blog. But, Faas was clearly more than just a war photographer covering Vietnam. As this obituary on National Public Radio points out, he also trained a number of young photographers during the war coverage who went on to create iconic images. Two of them are significant. The Saigaon police chief executing a captured prisor by Eddie Adams, and the "Napalm Girl" by Nick Ut. In fact, he is widely credited as the picture editor who pushed these image past AP editors to the AP wire.

Couple of Faas' pictures are here
His interview with Digital Journalist where he speaks about the Saigaon Execution picture which is a must-read.
Do also read an obituary by Richard Pyle, former AP bureau chief and Faas' colleague, on Lens Blog

My salute to the great man. May his soul rest in peace.

Media Foundation of India announces photo contest 2012

2012-05-11T17:29:00.000+05:30

Media Foundation of India announces photo contest 2012

Mumbai, May 10: Mumbai-based Media Foundation of India has announced its second national press photo contest for full-time professional press photographers.

The MFI National Press Photo Contest 2012 invites entries from professional press photographers working with media organizations to send in their photographs shot during the calendar year of 2011. Photographs shot during January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011 would be eligible as entries in the contest.

(This contest is open only for full time professional photojournalists who earn a living from photojournalism, and is not open to amateur photographers)

Contest Categories:

General News (GN): Pictures of scheduled events or planned events

Spot News (SN): Pictures shot on the spot without any advance planning

Daily Life (DL): Glimpses of richness and diversity of daily life

Sports (SP): Pictures capturing sporting moments

Arts & Culture (AC): Pictures of the literary and performing arts; festivals etc

Best Photo Stories (BPS): Picture sequence of a minimum of 2 and maximum of 12 images narrating a story pictorially. Photo stories shot in any of the five categories could be entered here.

Awards structure:

Picture of the Year award: Rs 75,000 and a trophy

First Prize: Rs 50,000 and a trophy
Second Prize: Rs 30,000 and a trophy

Third Prize: Rs 20,000 and trophy

Jury

A three-member eminent jury consisting award-winning photojournalists would judge the images submitted. This year the jury includes senior photo journalists Pablo Bartholomew, Kevin Frayer and Arko Datta.

Deadline

Entries could be sent in a CD to MFI registered address or sent on email to MFIcontest2012@gmail.com on or before the extended deadline of June 7, 2012

Website: For more information about the contest, please log on to http://www.mfi.org.in

Contact: Vikas Khot 9820039847/Satish Nandgaonkar 9820942662

About Media Foundation of India

Media Foundation of India (MFI) is a trust started by four media professionals as an independent platform to organise media-related activities that could extend beyond mere journalistic endeavours to promote a knowledge exchange on wide-ranging contemporary issues. As a broader media and cultural platform, it plans to undertake activities that include journalism fellowships and awards, workshops, publishing, travelling exhibitions, art shows, music concerts, film festivals among other things.

MFI launched its activities with MFI National Press Photo Contest 2011. The contest received over 6,000 photographs as entries from 290 photojournalists across India. Kashmir-based freelance photojournalist Showkat Nanda won the “Picture of the Year” award for his image of three widowed sisters who lost their husbands to different causes arising out of the violent conflict in Jammu and Kashmir.

Jury Profile

Kevin Frayer

Born in Canada in 1973, Kevin Frayer is chief photographer for the Associated Press in South Asia based in New Delhi, India. Frayer began his career in 1991 in the former Yugoslavia, and worked for the Canadian Press before joining the AP in the Gaza Strip in 2003. He has covered major stories across the Middle East and South and Central Asia, and his work has been published in leading newspapers, magazines and websites around the world.

Over the years his work has received numerous awards, including from World Press Photo, POYi, the Headliner Awards, and the APME. His work was part of the AP’s finalist entry for the Pulitzer Prize twice in recent years- in 2006 for the war in Lebanon and in 2009 for the agency’s coverage in Afghanistan.

Arko Datta

Pulitzer award nominee and winner of the Picture of the Year at the World Press Photo 2004, Arko has extensively covered news and sports events across the world for the last two decades, including wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the kargil conflict, Summer Olympics, cricket World Cups to name a few. Hid work has regularly appeared in leading newspaper and magazines like The New York Times, Washington Post, Guardian, International Herald Tribune, and on the covers of Time magazine, Newsweek, The Economist etc.

Arko Datta was featured among the 20 photographers in Rotovision’s coffee table book “World’s Top Photographers”. One of Arko’s award-winning images also appeared on a postage stamp in Europe. Twice recipient of the “Photographer of the Year” award by Asian Photography magazine, Arko started his career at The Indian Express in 1991 and has since worked for The Telegraph, AFP and Reuters. Arko is also a member of the faculty at Udaan School of Photography.

Pablo Bartholomew

Influenced greatly by his father, Pablo Bartholomew is a self- taught photographer who learnt his first photography lessons at home.

In his early teens he photographed in the documentary tradition-family, friends, people and cities around him. At the age of 19, he was awarded the first prize for his series on morphine addicts, by World Press Photo in 1975.

Represented by Gamma Liaison for over 20 years, he worked as a photojournalist recording societies in conflict and transition. Published in every major magazine and journal in the world, he was awarded the World Press Photo, Picture of the Year, for an image of a dead body of a child, a victim of the disastrous Bhopal Gas Tragedy in 1984.

He won the World Press Photo award for his series Morphine Addicts in India (1975) and the World Press Picture of the Year for the Bhopal Gas Tragedy (1984). He has taken part in several international exhibitions & published in New York Times, Newsweek, Time, Business Week, National Geographic and Geo amongst other prestigious magazines and journals.

Between 2001 and 2003 as a time to give back to the younger generation of photographers in India, he ran workshops with the support of the World Press Photo Foundation in Amsterdam.

With strong belief in the exhibition space, he has widely shown in galleries in India, photography festivals and museums internationally. Recent shows include Noorderlicht Photo Festival “Another Asia”, Netherlands,2006; ChobiMela, Dhaka, Bangladesh 2006; Angkor Photo Festival, Cambodia 2006; Month of Photography, Tokyo, Japan 2007; Recontres d'Arles, Festival of photography, Arles, France, 2007; Private Spaces Public Places, Newark Museum, USA, 2007 & Noorderlicht Photo Festival “Act of Faith”, Netherlands 2007.

His first one person exhibitions in New Delhi in 1980 and in Bombay in 1981, dealt with themes of the fringe and the marginal worlds that he then lived and traversed in and shown at the Art Heritage Gallery, New Delhi and at the Jehangir Art gallery, Bombay

His recent exhibition, OUTSIDE IN! 70’s & 80’s A TALE OF 3 CITIES… a visual diary of his teenage work, has shown at the Rencontres d’Arles, July 2007, At the National Museum, New Delhi, January 2008 and at the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, March 2008. Bodhi Art in New York May 08 -14th June 2008. And at Bodhi Berlin in March 2009 in conjunction with the Berlinale. This concluded in Kolkata in 2010 as a joint show the Harrington Street Art Centre with his fathers photographs “A Critics’ Eye”.

Vietnam war pictures

2012-05-02T17:38:00.000+05:30

Picture Copyright: AP Photo/Horst Faas

(Photographs used in this blog are used purely with the intention of creating awareness about great photojournalism. I specify the name of the photographer and the source of the photograph to acknowledge the copyright. This blog has no commercial purpose.)

A friend posted this link from a Denverpost blog on facebook, and I am reposting it here as I feel these are very powerful images and reportage that underlines the crucial role played by photojournalists on the Vietnam war front in creating public opinion. Several iconic images here, but also several pictures that perhaps have not been seen before. April 30 marked the 35th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, and these photographs strongly bring back pain of the Vietnam war.

Also posting a fascinating link from Nieman Lab about how 15 news organisation collaborated to narrate a single story

Happy reading!

10th Third Eye Asian Film Festival in Mumbai next week

2011-12-17T19:13:00.000+05:30

It's film festival time, and the Third Eye Asian Film Festival has chalked out an interesting line up of films for its 10th edition.

Third Eye will be inuaugrated on Dec 22 at Ravindra Natya Mandir, or also called PL Deshpande Maharashtra Kala Academy, Prabhadevi in Mumbai. A total of 156 films including 110 feature-length films, and 46 short fiction films would be screened during the week.

Chinese film-maker Wong Xiaoshuai's latest film 11 Flowers will be the opening film of the festival, and Ketan Mehta's much acclaimed Rang Rasiya, based on painter Raja Ravi Varma's life, is likely to be the closing film on Dec 29.

The centrepiece of the festival will be a not-to-be-missed film, Iranian director Asghar Farhadi's A Separation, which won the Golden Bear for Best Film at the 2011 Berlin International Film Festival and Silver Bear for the Best Actor and Best Actress!

The prestigious Asian Film Culture Award, given every year to an Asian director for his outstanding contribution, will be presented to noted Afghan director Siddiq Barmak, who made the acclaimed film Osama.

Bengali actress Madhabi Mukherjee, the lead actress of many of Satyajit Ray's classics including Charulata, will inaugurate a special section, Tagore Week, to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore. The section will showcase a selection of seven films made from 1957 to 2011 based on Thakurda's works. It includes Teen Kanya, and Charulata by Manikda, Kabuliwala, Kshudit Pashan and Atithi by Tapan Sinha, and Choker Bali and Nauka Dubi by Rituparno Ghosh.

In the Asian Master section, the festival will showcase Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu, and screen six of his films including The Munketa Sisters, Tokyo Story, Early Spring, Drifting Weeds, The Early Autumn, and Autumn Afternoon. Ozu needs no introduction to Indian cinema lovers.

In Reflection section, five films will be showcased from Iran, Afghanistan and Egypt. Siddiq Barmak's Osama, and Opium War, Asghar Farahadi's Dancing in the Dust, and Beautiful City, and Youssef Chahine's The Destiny

A still from The History of Cinema in village of Popielawy

The festival has started a new section in the last two years titled European Connection which will showcase the work of Polish director Jan Jacob Kolski. Indian cineastes are familiar with the cinema of Polish directors like Kieslowski, and Zanussi who largely made films when Polish government was still involved in film production. Post 1990, there was a major shift in Polish cinema policy, and private sector began making films. Kolski's work belongs to the period after this shift.

The festival will also celebrate the golden jubilee of Film and Television Institute of India which completes 50 years this year by showcasing some films made by FTII alumni. The section will feature Adoor Gopalakrishnan's Katha Purusham, Girish Kasarvalli's Thaisaheba, Vikas Desai's Gehrai, Janu Barua's Haldiya Chore, Ketan Mehta's Mirch Masala, and Shaji Karun's Piravi.

The Focus on Filmmaker section will feature Chinese director Xie Fei. Five of his films including A Girl from Hunan, Silver Bear winner Black Snow, Golden Bear winner Woman from the Lake of Scented Souls, Best Direction winner at Montreal Film festival A Mongolian Tale, and Song of Tibet. Japanese film-maker Takeshi Kitano's three films -- Kids Return, Kikujiro, and A Scene at the Sea -- will also be showcased.

Stills from Turkish films, Distant and My Only Sunshine

The Focus on One Country will feature Turkey this year, and will screen seven films, and all of them have won awards at the international film festival circuit. My Marlon and Brando won the Fipresci award at Jerusalem and Yerevan film festival, Uzak (Distant) won the Grand prize of jury at Cannes FIlm festival, Yamurta (Egg) won the Golden Tulip at Istabul film festival, , My Only Sunshine won the Special Jury award at Berlin.

The festival will also pay tribute to Ashok Kumar on the occasion of his 100th birth anniversary by screening BR Chopra's Gumraah. A tribute to Dev Anand, who passed away on Dec 4, has also been planned.

A package from Uzbekistan will be screened for the first time in India. The festival will also have its other regular sections including Spectrum Asia (38 films), Indian Vista (seven films), and competition sections -- First and Second Film of a Director (16 films), and Short Fiction Film (46 films).

These films would also be screened simultaneously in Pune, and Kolhapur.

How to get your pass for Third Eye

1. Write an email to affmumbai@gmail.com with the subject line: Delegate Registration. Write your name, age, address, and phone number, and put in a request for a delegate pass. The pass costs Rs 500 and will include an ID card with multiple access to the screenings, and a festival catalogue. Based on your email, a pass would be made for you which you can collect the Delegate Registration desks functioning at Plaza Cinema and Ravindra Natya Mandir from Dec 20 onwards. The desk timing are 1 to 7 pm.

2. Visit the Delegate Registration Desks at Plaza Cinema and Ravindra Natya Mandir, and enrol yourself as a delegate after paying a fee of Rs 500. College students and film society members can avail of a special discount and pay only Rs 250.

So happy viewing!

Rahul Dravid's Bradman Oration 2011

2011-12-15T16:48:00.001+05:30

Rahul Dravid’s created history by becoming the first cricketer outside Australia to deliver the prestigious Bradman Oration this year. Like his sublime batting, the man spoke really well, and made some thoughtful points. The speech is not just wonderful for explaining what Indian cricket is all about, Dravid has also mapped what it means to be a sportsman. A must read for everyone.

Rahul Dravid walks back after an epic innings with VVS Laxman

Picture Copyright: AFP

The full text of Rahul Dravid’s lecture at Bradman Oration 2011 at Austalian War Memorial, Canberra on Dec 14, 2011

Thank you for inviting me to deliver the Bradman Oration; the respect and the regard that came with the invitation to speak tonight, is deeply appreciated.

I realise a very distinguished list of gentlemen have preceded me in the ten years that the Bradman Oration has been held. I know that this Oration is held every year to appreciate the life and career of Sir Don Bradman, a great Australian and a great cricketer. I understand that I am supposed to speak about cricket and issues in the game - and I will.

Yet, but first before all else, I must say that I find myself humbled by the venue we find ourselves in. Even though there is neither a pitch in sight, nor stumps or bat and balls, as a cricketer, I feel I stand on very sacred ground tonight. When I was told that I would be speaking at the National War Memorial, I thought of how often and how meaninglessly, the words 'war', 'battle', 'fight' are used to describe cricket matches.

Yes, we cricketers devote the better part of our adult lives to being prepared to perform for our countries, to persist and compete as intensely as we can - and more. This building, however, recognises the men and women who lived out the words - war, battle, fight - for real and then gave it all up for their country, their lives left incomplete, futures extinguished.

The people of both our countries are often told that cricket is the one thing that brings Indians and Australians together. That cricket is our single common denominator.

India's first Test series as a free country was played against Australia in November 1947, three months after our independence. Yet the histories of our countries are linked together far more deeply than we think and further back in time than 1947.

We share something else other than cricket. Before they played the first Test match against each other, Indians and Australians fought wars together, on the same side. In Gallipoli, where, along with the thousands of Australians, over 1300 Indians also lost their lives. In World War II, there were Indian and Australian soldiers in El Alamein, North Africa, in the Syria-Lebanon campaign, in Burma, in the battle for Singapore.

Before we were competitors, Indians and Australians were comrades. So it is only appropriate that we are here this evening at the Australian War Memorial, where along with celebrating cricket and cricketers, we remember the unknown soldiers of both nations.

It is however, incongruous, that I, an Indian, happen to be the first cricketer from outside Australia, invited to deliver the the Bradman Oration. I don't say that only because Sir Don once scored a hundred before lunch at Lord's and my 100 at Lord's this year took almost an entire day.

But more seriously, Sir Don played just five Tests against India; that was in the first India-Australia series in 1947-48, which was to be his last season at home. He didn't even play in India, and remains the most venerated cricketer in India not to have played there.

We know that he set foot in India though, in May 1953, when on his way to England to report on the Ashes for an English newspaper, his plane stopped in Calcutta airport. There were said to be close to a 1000 people waiting to greet him; as you know, he was a very private person and so got into an army jeep and rushed into a barricaded building, annoyed with the airline for having 'breached confidentiality.' That was all Indians of the time saw of Bradman who remains a mythical figure.

For one generation of fans in my country, those who grew up in the 1930s, when India was still under British rule, Bradman represented a cricketing excellence that belonged to somewhere outside England. To a country taking its first steps in Test cricket, that meant something. His success against England at that time was thought of as our personal success. He was striking one for all of us ruled by the common enemy. Or as your country has so poetically called them, the Poms.

There are two stories that I thought I should bring to your notice. On June 28, 1930, the day Bradman scored 254 at Lord's against England, was also the day Jawaharlal Nehru was arrested by the police. Nehru was, at the time, one of the most prominent leaders of the Indian independence movement and later, independent India's first Prime Minister. The coincidence of the two events, was noted by a young boy KN Prabhu, who was both nationalist, cricket fan and later became independent India's foremost cricket writer. In the 30s, as Nehru went in and out of jail, Bradman went after the England bowling and, for KN Prabhu, became a kind of avenging angel.

There's another story I've heard about the day in 1933, when the news reached India that Bradman's record for the highest Test score of 334 had been broken by Wally Hammond. As much as we love our records, they say some Indian fans at the time were not exactly happy. Now, there's a tale that a few even wanted to wear black bands to mourn the fact that this precious record that belonged to Australia - and by extension, us - had gone back. To an Englishman. We will never know if this is true, if black bands were ever worn, but as journalists sometimes tell me, why let facts get in the way of a good story.

My own link with Bradman was much like that of most other Indians - through history books, some old video footage and his wise words. About leaving the game better than you found it. About playing it positively, as Bradman, then a selector, told Richie Benaud before the 1960-61 West Indies tour of Australia. Of sending a right message out from cricket to its public. Of players being temporary trustees of a great game.

While there may be very little similarity in our records or our strike-rates or our fielding - and I can say this only today in front of all of you - I am actually pleased that I share something very important with Sir Don.

He was, primarily, like me, a No.3 batsman. It is a tough, tough job.

We're the ones who make life easier for the kings of batting, the middle order that follows us. Bradman did that with a bit more success and style than I did. He dominated bowling attacks and put bums on seats, if i bat for any length of time I am more likely to bore people to sleep. Still, it is nice to have batted for a long time in a position, whose benchmark is, in fact, the benchmark for batsmanship itself.

Before he retired from public life in his 80s, I do know that Bradman watched Sunil Gavaskar's generation play a series in Australia. I remember the excitement that went through Indian cricket when we heard the news that Bradman had seen Sachin Tendulkar bat on TV and thought he batted like him. It was more than mere approval, it was as if the great Don had finally, passed on his torch. Not to an Aussie or an Englishman or a West Indian. But to one of our own.

One of the things, Bradman said has stayed in my mind. That the finest of athletes had, along with skill, a few more essential qualities: to conduct their life with dignity, with integrity, with courage and modesty. All this he believed, were totally compatible with pride, ambition, determination and competitiveness. Maybe those words should be put up in cricket dressing rooms all over the world.

As all of you know, Don Bradman passed away on February 25, 2001, two days before the India v Australia series was to begin in Mumbai.

Whenever an important figure in cricket leaves us, cricket's global community pauses in the midst of contests and debates, to remember what he represented of us, what he stood for, and Bradman was the pinnacle. The standard against which all Test batsmen must take guard.

The series that followed two days after Bradman's death later went on to become what many believe was one of the greatest in cricket. It is a series, I'd like to believe, he would have enjoyed following.

A fierce contest between bat and ball went down to the final session of the final day of the final Test. Between an Australian team who had risen to their most imposing powers and a young Indian team determined to rewrite some chapters of its own history.

The 2001 series contained high-quality cricket from both sides and had a deep impact on the careers of those who played a part in it. The Australians were near unbeatable in the first half of the new decade, both home and away. As others floundered against them, India became the only team that competed with them on even terms.

India kept answering questions put to them by the Australians and asking a few themselves. The quality demanded of those contests, sometimes acrimonious, sometimes uplifting, made us, the Indian team, grow and rise. As individuals, we were asked to play to the absolute outer limits of our capabilities and we often extended them.

Now, whenever India and Australia meet, there is expectation and anticipation - and as we get into the next two months of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, players on both sides will want to deliver their best.

When we toured in 2007-08, I thought it was going to be my last tour of Australia. The Australians thought it was going to be the last time they would be seeing Sachin Tendulkar on their shores. He received warm standing ovations from wonderful crowds all around the country.

Well, like a few, creaking Terminators, we're back. Older, wiser and I hope improved.

The Australian public will want to stand up to send Sachin off all over again this time. But I must warn you, given how he's been playing these days, there are no guarantees about final goodbyes.

In all seriousness, though, the cricket world is going to stop and watch Australia and India. It is Australia's first chance to defend their supremacy at home following defeat in the 2010 Ashes and a drawn series against New Zealand. It is India's opportunity to prove that the defeat to England in the summer was an aberration that we will bounce back from.

If both teams look back to their last 2007-08 series in Australia, they will know that they should have done things a little differently in the Sydney Test. But I think both sides have moved on from there; we've played each other twice in India already and relations between the two teams are much better than they have been as far as I can remember.

Thanks to the IPL, Indians and Australians have even shared dressing rooms. Shane Watson's involvement in Rajasthan, Mike Hussey's role with Chennai to mention a few, are greatly appreciated back home. And even Shane Warne likes India now. I really enjoyed playing alongside him at Rajasthan last season and can confidently report to you that he is not eating imported baked beans any more.

In fact, looking at him, it seems, he is not eating anything.

It is often said that cricketers are ambassadors for their country; when there's a match to be won, sometimes we think that is an unreasonable demand. After all, what would career diplomats do if the result of a Test series depended on them, say, walking? But, as ties between India and Australia have strengthened and our contests have become more frequent, we realise that as Indian players, we stand for a vast, varied, often unfathomable and endlessly fascinating country.

At the moment, to much of the outside world, Indian cricket represents only two things - money and power. Yes, that aspect of Indian cricket is a part of the whole, but it is not the complete picture. As a player, as a proud and privileged member of the Indian cricket team, I want to say that, this one-dimensional, often cliched image relentlessly repeated is not what Indian cricket is really all about.

I cannot take all of you into the towns and villages our players come from, and introduce you to their families, teachers, coaches, mentors and team-mates who made them international cricketers. I cannot take all of you here to India to show you the belief, struggle, effort and sacrifice from hundreds of people that runs through our game.

As I stand here today, it is important for me to bring Indian cricket and its own remarkable story to you. I believe it is very necessary that cricketing nations try to find out about each other, try to understand each other and the different role cricket plays in different countries, because ours is, eventually, a very small world.

In India, cricket is a buzzing, humming, living entity going through a most remarkable time, like no other in our cricketing history. In this last decade, the Indian team represents more than ever before, the country we come from - of people from vastly different cultures, who speak different languages, follow different religions, belong to all classes of society. I went around our dressing room to work out how many languages could be spoken in there and the number I have arrived at is: 15, including Shona and Afrikaans.

Most foreign captains, I think, would baulk at the idea. But, when I led India, I enjoyed it, I marvelled at the range of difference and the ability of people from so many different backgrounds to share a dressing room, to accept, accommodate and respect that difference. In a world growing more insular, that is a precious quality to acquire, because it stays for life and helps you understand people better, understand the significance of the other.

Let me tell you one of my favourite stories from my Under-19 days, when the India Under-19 team played a match against the New Zealand junior team. We had two bowlers in the team, one from the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh - he spoke only Hindi, which is usually a link language for players from all over India, ahead even of English. It should have been all right, except the other bowler came from Kerala, in the deep south, and he spoke only the state's regional language, Malayalam. Now even that should have been okay as they were both bowlers and could bowl simultaneous spells.

Yet in one game, they happened to come together at the crease. In the dressing room, we were in splits, wondering how they were going to manage the business of a partnership, calling for runs or sharing the strike. Neither man could understand a word of what the other was saying and they were batting together. This could only happen in Indian cricket. Except that these two guys came up with a 100-run partnership. Their common language was cricket and that worked out just fine.

The everyday richness of Indian cricket lies right there, not in the news you hear about million-dollar deals and television rights. When I look back over the 25 years I've spent in cricket, I realise two things. First, rather alarmingly, that I am the oldest man in the game, older to even Sachin by three months. More importantly, I realise that Indian cricket actually reflects our country's own growth story during this time. Cricket is so much a part of our national fabric that as India - its economy, society and popular culture - transformed itself, so did our most-loved sport.

As players we are appreciative beneficiaries of the financial strength of Indian cricket, but we are more than just mascots of that economic power. The caricature often made of Indian cricket and its cricketers in the rest of the world is that we are pampered superstars. Overpaid, underworked, treated like a cross between royalty and rock stars.

Yes, the Indian team has an enormous, emotional following and we do need security when we get around the country as a group. It is also why we make it a point to always try and conduct ourselves with composure and dignity. On tour, I must point out, we don't attack fans or do drugs or get into drunken theatrics. And at home, despite what some of you may have heard, we don't live in mansions with swimming pools.

The news about the money may well overpower all else, but along with it, our cricket is full of stories the outside world does not see. Television rights generated around Indian cricket, are much talked about. Let me tell you what the television - around those much sought-after rights - has done to our game.

A sport that was largely played and patronised by princes and businessmen in traditional urban centres, cities like Bombay, Bangalore, Chennai, Baroda, Hyderabad, Delhi - has begun to pull in cricketers from everywhere.

As the earnings from Indian cricket have grown in the past 2 decades, mainly through television, the BCCI has spread revenues to various pockets in the country and improved where we play. The field is now spread wider than it ever has been, the ground covered by Indian cricket, has shifted.

Twenty seven teams compete in our national championship, the Ranji Trophy. Last season Rajasthan, a state best known for its palaces, fortresses and tourism won the Ranji Trophy title for the first time in its history. The national one-day championship also had a first-time winner in the newly formed state of Jharkand, where our captain MS Dhoni comes from.

The growth and scale of cricket on our television was the engine of this population shift. Like Bradman was the boy from Bowral, a stream of Indian cricketers now come from what you could call India's outback.

Zaheer Khan belongs to the Maharashtra heartland, from a town that didn't have even one proper turf wicket. He could have been an instrumentation engineer but was drawn to cricket through TV and modelled his bowling by practising in front of the mirror on his cupboard at home, and first bowled with a proper cricket ball at the age of 17.

One day out of nowhere, a boy from a village in Gujarat turned up as India's fastest bowler. After Munaf Patel made his debut for India, the road from the nearest railway station to his village had to be improved because journalists and TV crews from the cities kept landing up there.

We are delighted that Umesh Yadav didn't become a policeman like he was planning and turned to cricket instead. He is the first cricketer from the central Indian first-class team of Vidarbha to play Test cricket.

Virender Sehwag, it shouldn't surprise you, belongs to the wild west just outside Delhi. He had to be enrolled in a college which had a good cricket programme and travelled 84kms every day by bus to get to practice and matches.

Every player in this room wearing an India blazer has a story like this. Here, ladies and gentlemen, is the heart and soul of Indian cricket.

Playing for India completely changes our lives. The game has given us a chance to pay back our debt to all those who gave their time, energy and resources for us to be better cricketers: we can build new homes for our parents, get our siblings married off in style, give our families very comfortable lives.

The Indian cricket team is in fact, India itself, in microcosm. A sport that was played first by princes, then their subordinates, then the urban elite, is now a sport played by all of India. Cricket, as my two under-19 team-mates proved, is India's most widely-spoken language. Even Indian cinema has its regional favourites; a movie star in the south may not be popular in the north. But a cricketer? Loved everywhere.

It is also a very tough environment to grow up in - criticism can be severe, responses to victory and defeat extreme. There are invasions of privacy and stones have been thrown at our homes after some defeats.

It takes time getting used to, extreme reactions can fill us with anger. But every cricketer realises at some stage of his career, that the Indian cricket fan is best understood by remembering the sentiment of the majority, not the actions of a minority.

One of the things that has always lifted me as a player is looking out of the team bus when we travelled somewhere in India. When people see the Indian bus going by, see some of us sitting with our curtains drawn back, it always amazes me how much they light up. There is an instantaneous smile, directed not just at the player they see - but at the game we play that, for whatever reason, means something to people's lives. Win or lose, the man on the street will smile and give you a wave.

After India won the World Cup this year, our players were not congratulated as much as they were thanked by people they ran into. "You have given us everything," they were told, "all of us have won." Cricket in India now stands not just for sport, but possibility, hope, opportunities.

On our way to the Indian team, we know of so many of our team-mates, some of whom may have been equally or more talented than those sitting here, who missed out. When I started out, for a young Indian, cricket was the ultimate gamble - all or nothing, no safety nets. No second chances for those without an education or a college degree or second careers. Indian cricket's wealth now means a wider pool of well paid cricketers even at first-class level.

For those of us who make it to the Indian team, cricket is not merely our livelihood, it is a gift we have been given. Without the game, we would just be average people leading average lives. As Indian cricketers, our sport has given us the chance do something worthwhile with our lives. How many people could say that?

This is the time Indian cricket should be flowering; we are the world champions in the short game, and over the space of the next 12 months should be involved in a tight contest with Australia, South Africa and England to determine which one of us is the world's strongest Test team.

Yet I believe this is also a time for introspection within our game, not only in india, but all over the world. We have been given some alerts and responding to them quickly is the smart thing to do.

I was surprised a few months ago to see the lack of crowds in an ODI series featuring India. By that I don't mean the lack of full houses, I think it was the sight of empty stands I found somewhat alarming.

India played its first one-day international at home in November 1981, when I was nine. Between then and now India have played 227 ODIs at home; the October five-match series against England was the first time that the grounds have not been full for an ODI featuring the Indian team.

In the summer of 1998, I played in a one-dayer against Kenya in Kolkata and the Eden Gardens was full. Our next game was held in the 48-degree heat of Gwalior and the stands were heaving.

The October series against England was the first one at home after India's World Cup win. It was called the 'revenge' series meant to wipe away the memory of a forgettable tour of England. India kept winning every game, and yet the stands did not fill up. Five days after a 5-0 victory 95,000 turned up to watch the India's first Formula One race.

A few weeks later I played in a Test match against West Indies in Calcutta, in front of what was the lowest turn out in Eden Gardens' history. Yes we still wanted to win and our intensity did not dip. But at the end of the day, we are performers, entertainers and we love an audience. The audience amplifies everything you are doing, the bigger the crowd the bigger the occasion, its magnitude, its emotion. When I think about the Eden Gardens crowds this year, I wonder what the famous Calcutta Test of 2001 would have felt like with 50,000 people less watching us.

Australia and South Africa played an exciting and thrilling Test series recently and two great Test matches produced some fantastic performances from players of both teams, but were sadly played in front of sparse crowds.

It is not the numbers that Test players need, it is the atmosphere of a Test that every player wants to revel in and draw energy from. My first reaction to the lack of crowds for cricket was that there had been a lot of cricket and so perhaps, a certain amount of spectator-fatigue. That is too simplistic a view; it's the easy thing to say but might not be the only thing.

The India v England ODI series had no context, because the two countries had played each other in four Tests and five ODIs just a few weeks before. When India and West Indies played ODIs a month after that the grounds were full, but this time the matches were played in smaller venues that didn't host too much international cricket. Maybe our clues are all there and we must remain vigilant.

Unlike Australia or England, Indian cricket has never had to compete with other sports for a share of revenues, mind space or crowd attendance at international matches. The lack of crowds may not directly impact on revenues or how important the sport is to Indians, but we do need to accept that there has definitely been a change in temperature over, I think, the last two years.

Whatever the reasons are - maybe it is too much cricket or too little by way of comfort for spectators - the fan has sent us a message and we must listen. This is not mere sentimentality. Empty stands do not make for good television. Bad television can lead to a fall in ratings, the fall in ratings will be felt by media planners and advertisers looking elsewhere.

If that happens, it is hard to see television rights around cricket being as sought after as they have always been in the last 15 years. And where does that leave everyone? I'm not trying to be an economist or doomsday prophet - this is just how I see it.

Let us not be so satisfied with the present, with deals and finances in hand that we get blindsided. Everything that has given cricket its power and influence in the world of sports has started from that fan in the stadium. They deserve our respect and let us not take them for granted. Disrespecting fans is disrespecting the game. The fans have stood by our game through everything. When we play, we need to think of them. As players, the balance between competitiveness and fairness can be tough but it must be found.

If we stand up for the game's basic decencies, it will be far easier to tackle its bigger dangers - whether it is finding short cuts to easy money or being lured by the scourge of spot-fixing and contemplating any involvement with the betting industry.

Cricket's financial success means it will face threats from outside the game and keep facing them. The last two decades have proved this over and over again. The internet and modern technology may just end up being a step ahead of every anti-corruption regulation in place in the game. As players, the one way we can stay ahead for the game, is if we are willing to be monitored and regulated closely.

Even if it means giving up a little bit of freedom of movement and privacy. If it means undergoing dope tests, let us never say no. If it means undergoing lie-detector tests, let us understand the technology, what purpose it serves and accept it. Now lie-detectors are by no means perfect but they could actually help the innocent clear their names. Similarly, we should not object to having our finances scrutinised if that is what is required.

When the first anti-corruption measures were put into place, we did moan a little bit about being accredited and depositing our cell phones with the manager. But now we must treat it like we do airport security because we know it is for our own good and our own security.

Players should be ready to give up a little personal space and personal comfort for this game, which has given us so much. If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.

Other sports have borrowed from cricket's anti-corruption measures to set up their own ethical governance programmes and we must take pride in belonging to a sport that is professional and progressive.

One of the biggest challenges that the game must respond to today, I believe, is charting out a clear road map for the three formats. We now realise that the sport's three formats cannot be played in equal numbers - that will only throw scheduling and the true development of players completely off gear.

There is a place for all three formats, though, we are the only sport I can think of which has three versions. Cricket must treasure this originality. These three versions require different skills, skills that have evolved, grown, changed over the last four decades, one impacting on the other.

Test cricket is the gold standard, it is the form the players want to play. The 50-over game is the one that has kept cricket's revenues alive for more than three decades now. Twenty20 has come upon us and it is the format people, the fans want to see.

Cricket must find a middle path, it must scale down this mad merry-go-round that teams and players find themselves in: heading off for two-Test tours and seven-match ODI series with a few Twenty20s thrown in.

Test cricket deserves to be protected, it is what the world's best know they will be judged by. Where I come from, nation versus nation is what got people interested in cricket in the first place. When I hear the news that a country is playing without some of its best players, I always wonder, what do their fans think?

People may not be able to turn up to watch Test cricket but everyone follows the scores. We may not fill 65,000 capacity stadiums for Test matches, but we must actively fight to get as many as we can in, to create a Test match environment that the players and the fans feed off. Anything but the sight of Tests played on empty grounds. For that, we have got to play Test cricket that people can watch.

I don't think day-night Tests or a Test championship should be dismissed.

In March of last year I played a day-night first-class game in Abu Dhabi for the MCC and my experience from that was that day-night Tests is an idea seriously worth exploring. There may be some challenges in places where there is dew but the visibility and durability of the pink cricket ball was not an issue.

Similarly, a Test championship, with every team and player driving themselves to be winners of a sought after title, seems like it would have a context to every game.

Keeping Tests alive may mean different innovations in different countries - maybe taking it to smaller cities, playing it in grounds with smaller capacities like New Zealand has thought of doing, maybe reviving some old venues in the West Indies, like the old Recreation Ground in Antigua.

When I was around seven years old, I remember my father taking a Friday off so that we could watch three days of Test cricket together. On occasions he couldn't, I would accompany one of his friends, just to soak in a day of Test cricket and watch the drama slowly unfold.

What we have to do is find a way to ensure that Test matches fit into 21st century life, through timing, environments and the venues they are held in. I am still convinced it can be done, even in our fast-moving world with a short attention span. We will often get told that Test matches don't make financial sense, but no one ever fell in love with Test cricket because they wanted to be a businessman. Not everything of value comes at a price.

There is a proposal doing the rounds about scrapping the 50-over game completely. I am not sure I agree with that - I certainly know that the 50-over game helped us innovate strokes in our batting which we were then able to take into Test matches. We all know that the 50-over game has been responsible for improving fielding standards all over the world.

The future may well lie in playing one-day internationals centered around ICC events, like the Champions Trophy and the World Cups. This would ensure that all 50-over matches would build up for those tournaments.

That will cut back the number of one-day internationals played every year but at least those matches will have context. Since about I think 1985, people have been saying that there is too much meaningless one-day cricket. Maybe it's finally time to do something about it.

The Twenty20 game as we know has as many critics as it has supporters in the public. Given that an acceptable strike rate in T20 these days is about 120, I should probably complain about it the most. The crowd and revenue numbers, though, tell us that if we don't handle Twenty20 correctly, we may well have more and more private players stepping in to offer not just slices of pie, but maybe even bigger pies themselves.

So I'll re-iterate what I've just said very quickly because balancing three formats is important:

We have Test cricket like we have always had, nation versus nation, but carefully scheduled to attract crowds and planned fairly so that every Test playing country gets its fair share of Tests. And playing for a championship or a cup, not just a ranking.

The 50-overs format focused around fewer, significant multi-nation ICC events like the Champions Trophy and the World Cup. In the four-year cycle between World Cups, plan the ODI calendar and devise rankings around these few important events. Anything makes more sense than seven-match ODI series.

The best role for Twenty20 is as a domestic competition through official leagues, which will make it financially attractive for cricketers. That could also keep cricket viable in countries where it fights for space and attention.

Because the game is bigger than us all, we must think way ahead of how it stands today. Where do we want it to be in the year 2020? Or say in 2027, when it will be 150 years since the first Test match was played. If you think about it, cricket has been with us longer than the modern motor car, it existed before modern air travel took off.

As much as cricket's revenues are important to its growth, its traditions and its vibrancy are a necessary part of its progress in the future. We shouldn't let either go because we played too much of one format and too little of the other.

Professionalism has given cricketers of my generation privileged lives and we know it, even though you may often hear us whining about burn-out, travel and the lack of recovery time.

Whenever we begin to get into that mindset, it's good to remember a piece of Sachin's conversation with Bradman. Sachin told us that he had asked Sir Don how he had mentally prepared for big games, what his routines were. Sir Don said, that well, before a game he would go to work and after the game go back to work. Whenever a cricketer feels a whinge coming on, that would be good to remember.

Before I conclude, I also want to talk briefly about an experience I have often had over the course of my career. It is not to do with individuals or incidents, but one I believe is important to share. I have sometimes found myself in the middle of a big game, standing at slip or even at the non-strikers end and suddenly realised that everything else has vanished. At that moment, all that exists is the contest and the very real sense of the joy that comes from playing the game.

It is an almost meditative experience, where you reconnect with the game just like you did years ago, when you first began, when you hit your first boundary, took the first catch, scored your first century, or were involved in a big victory. It lasts for a very fleeting passage of time, but it is a very precious instant and every cricketer should hang on to it.

I know it is utterly fanciful to expect professional cricketers to play the game like amateurs; but the trick, I believe, is taking the spirit of the amateur - of discovery, of learning, of pure joy, of playing by the rules - into our profession. Taking it to practice or play, even when there's an epidemic of white-line fever breaking out all over the field.

In every cricketer there lies a competitor who hates losing, and yes, winning matters. But it is not the only thing that matters when you play cricket. How it is played is as important for every member of every team because every game we play leaves a footprint in cricket's history. We must never forget that.

What we do as professionals is easily carried over into the amateur game, in every way - batting, bowling, fielding, appealing, celebration, dissent, argument. In the players of 2027, we will see a reflection of this time and of ourselves and it had better not annoy or anguish us 50-year-olds.

As the game's custodians, it is important we are not tempted by the short-term gains of the backward step. We can be remembered for being the generation that could take the giant stride.

Thank you for the invitation to address all of you tonight, and your attention.

Riding the news story

2011-12-14T16:34:00.001+05:30

As information explodes at the readers from multiple platforms - newspapers, TV, internet, radio, blogs, facebook, tumblr, and twitter - news organisations are thinking of news ways of staying top of eye-balls and attention spans. The Associated Press recently organised a think-tank meeting on how to stay on top of the news stories. An interesting read on how the AP wants to bring the New Distinctiveness into its working.

AP strategy to go "distinctive" on news From Huffington Post

A new study by Pew's Project has found that twitter, blogs, and social media are harsher on US presidential candidates than the mainstream news media.

Survey shows twitter, blogs harsher on US Prez candidates than mainstream news media From Knight Digital Media Centre

Adolf Hitler at the opening of Grosse Deutsche Kunstausstellung in 1939 in an archived image

Photo courtesy: The Art Newspaper

New research has brought into focus Nazi-era art which includes some 100,000 photographs compiled in an online catalogue by Munich's Central Institute of Art

Research sheds light on Nazi-era art From The Art Newspaper

In an interesting development, twitter is being used by anti-government fighters, the Al-Shabab fighters, in Somalia. An Al Jazeera reporter interviewed them.

Somalian fighters tweet their way From Al Jazeera English

Happy reading!

Eternal dilemama of a photojournalist

2011-12-12T17:12:00.002+05:30

Picture copyright: Reuters
Taken from Blogs.Reuters.com

Desmond Boylan, whose tenure as the chief photographer in Reuters India office has left many good memories for the Indian photojournalists, faced the eternal dilemma of a photojournalist, perhaps for the nth time in his long and illustrious career. Posted in Cuba now, Boylan was driving his car when life threw a situation at him, and shooting the drama that unfolded before him was never on his mind. Obviously, the veteran photojournalist was busy saving a life. and how. Read the story in his own words...
A photo blog without photos From Reuters Blogs

What happens why a community does not get enough nourishment of information. Veteran editor Tom Stites analyses
News deserts anyone? From Nieman Lab

Judith Puckett-Rinella to take over from Susan White at Vanity Fair from Jan 3, 2012.
Vanity Fair names new photography director From Photo District News

A website which gives you all the data of how your government is spending. Where did the money for clean loos went, for example.
Money for toilets, spent on building kitchens

Giles Duley worked as a fashion photographer for world's top magazines before he went to Afghanistan on an assignment and became a triple amputee. A truly inspiring story. His exhibition "Becoming a Story" opened in London in Nov. From DazedDigital.com
Becoming a Story

CNN lay offs, Fukushima and other stories

2011-12-02T18:20:00.001+05:30

Some interesting links found on twitter. In a shocking development hardly expected from a large news group, CNN has laid off photojournalists citing easy availability of small cameras with HD quality recordings and rise in citizen journalism. CNN runs a citizen journalism initiative called iReport. They have their logic, but it is bad news for photojournalists, whose trained eyes seem to be taken for granted. I mean I have a 16 megapixel aim and shoot with HD quality video recording, but I can't capture a photograph the way a photojournalist can. I can only do fluke, blind recording if I happen to be at the right time at the right place. That too has its value if I am shooting a tsunami coming in, but how can it ever replace the skills of my photojournalist friends. There were hundreds of people and journalists below those towers on 9/11, but the pictures that a James Nachtwey or Steve McCurry or Thomas Hoepker shot stand out because they capture something that is beyond amateur eye. Read on

After 32 years in print, a newsroom veteran jumps to a digital-only job -- From Connecticut Newsroom

The latest IAEA status report on Fukushima Daiichi plant -- From IAEA.org

CNN lays off photojournalists citing increased camera availability -- From Petapixel.com

"People are tired of simple things. They want to be challenged," novelist Umberto Eco tells Stephen Moss of The Guardian in an interview.

Umberto Eco
Photo courtesy: templars.wordpress.com

Domestic Abuse

2011-11-11T21:07:00.001+05:30

I felt like crying after seeing these images by Donna Ferrato put up by NYT's photoblog, Lensblog.
The pictures speak for themselves, and James Estrin's text contextualises Donna's work. A must see for everyone.

Interesting reading

2011-11-08T19:12:00.000+05:30

Hi

Another set of interesting links.

New Yorker magazine's Beijing-based staff writer Evan Osnos writes on the divide between Japan's policymakers and the general public on giving up nuclear power. The context is interesting as India got its former president Abdul Kalam to intervene in protests over Kudankulam nuclear power station and moot a Rs 200 crore plan to boost development around the plant.

Washington Post's Senior News Designer Jon Wile responds to reader's questions on designing the Page One of the newspaper. Interesting insights into what goes on in the news rooms to package the day's news attractively and arrest the rapidly shorterning attention span of readers, who get bombarded with information from multiple sources every day.

An interesting visual take by Boston.com, which uses photographs to narrate news stories, on the Seven Billion population story. This story has wonderful pictures and please don't miss them!

Enjoy reading!

Koudelka takes Prague Spring exhibit to Russia

2011-10-31T20:43:00.000+05:30

Picture copyright: Josef Koudelka/Magnum

Josef Koudelka's iconic image of Russian tanks rolling into Prague

Picture Courtesy: http://www.guardian.co.uk

Czech photojournalist Josef Koudelka, an engineer by training, was shooting gypsies as a personal hobby when he eyewitnessed the Soviet invasion of 1968, and in the process shot some 5000 images in the first week which eventually became a visual record of the act. Russia has denied that it was an invasion, and maintained that its armed forces were helping fellow state. Now Koudelka's exhibition of the 1968 invasion photographs has gone to Moscow for the first time. A fascinating report by Tom Parfitt of the The Guardian

Taking citizen and community journalism a step further, The Guardian will launch n0tice, an open community news platform. Interesting report on NeimanLab

Mumbai largest city, Delhi NCR largest Urban Agglomeration

2011-10-31T18:51:00.001+05:30

Picture Courtesy: http://thegreatindian.tripod.com

INDIA STATS : Million plus cities in India as per Census 2011

The Census 2011, released by the Registrar General of India, has shown that Mumbai continues to be India's largest populated city among its four metros with 10 million plus population. Mumbai has a population of
18,414,288, followed by Delhi - 16,314,838 and Kolkata- 14,112,536.

However, when the metros along with their extended suburbs are considered, Delhi NCR, which includes Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida, Ghaziabad emerged as the largest Urban Agglomeration with a population of 21,753,486, Mumbai Metropolitan Region which comprises of Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, Vasai-Virar, Bhiwandi, and Panvel emerges second largest with a population of 20,748,395. Urban Agglomeration means an extended city comprising built up area of central core and any suburbs linked by continuous urban area.

Chennai, Hyderabad emerge as the next largest cities followed by Bangalore, Ahmedabad, and Pune. The Census findings show that Surat has added 1.7 million people during the past decade, and Jaipur has pipped Kanpur to the 10th spot. The full table of cities, and their urban agglomerations along with the 2001 Census figures is given below:

		UA 2011	Extended UA 2011	2001 Census
1	Delhi	16,314,838	21,753,486	12,877,470
2	Greater Mumbai	18,414,288	20,748,395	16,434,386
3	Kolkata	14,112,536	14,617,882	13,205,697
4	Chennai	8,696,010	8,917,749	6,560,242
5	Bangalore	8,499,399	8,728,906	5,701,446
6	Hyderabad		7,749,334	5,742,036
7	Ahmedabad	6,240,201	6,352,254	4,525,013
8	Pune		5,049,968	3,760,636
9	Surat		4,585,367	2,811,614
10	Jaipur		3,073,350	2,322,575
11	Kanpur		2,920,067	2,715,555
12	Lucknow		2,901,474	2,245,509
13	Nagpur	2,497,777	2,583,911	2,129,500
14	Ghaziabad (NCR)	2,358,525	(NCR)	968,256
15	Indore		2,167,447	1,506,062
16	Coimbatore		2,151,466	1,461,139
17	Kochi		2,117,990	1,355,972
18	Patna		2,046,652	1,697,976
19	Kozhikode*		2,030,519	880,247
20	Bhopal		1,883,381	1,458,416
21	Thrissur *		1,854,783	330,122
22	Vadodara		1,817,191	1,491,045
23	Agra		1,746,467	1,331,339
24	Vishakhapatnam		1,730,320	1,345,938
25	Malappuram*		1,698,645	170,409
26	Thiruvananthapuram*		1,687,406	889,635
27	Ludhiana		1,613,878	1,398,467
28	Kannur*		1,642,892	498,207
29	Nashik		1,562,769	1,152,326
30	Vijayawada		1,491,202	1,039,518
31	Madurai		1,462,420	1,203,095
32	Varanasi		1,435,113	1,203,961
33	Meerut		1,424,908	1,161,716
34	Faridabad (NCR)	1,404,653	(NCR)	1,055,938
35	Rajkot		1,390,933	1,003,015
36	Jamshedpur		1,337,131	1,104,713
37	Srinagar		1,273,312	988,210
38	Jabalpur		1,267,564	1,098,000
39	Asansol		1,243,008	1,067,369
40	Vasai - Virar (MMR)	1,221,233	(MMR)	…
41	Allahabad		1,216,719	1,042,229
42	Dhanbad		1,195,298	1,065,327
43	Aurangabad		1,189,376	892,483
44	Amritsar		1,183,705	1,003,917
45	Jodhpur		1,137,815	860,818
46	Ranchi		1,126,741	863,495
47	Raipur		1,122,555	700,113
48	Kollam*		1,110,005	380,091
49	Gwalior		1,101,981	865,548
50	Durg-Bhilainagar		1,064,077	927,864
51	Chandigarh		1,025,682	808,515
52	Tiruchirapalli		1,021,717	866,354
53	Kota		1,001,365	703,150

*As per new definition of Urban Agglomeration in Kerala

Some interesting links

2011-09-12T15:48:00.000+05:30

Picture courtesy: blog.nj.com

Some interesting links from the web, twitter and my own newspaper, The Telegraph.

Our Science reporter GS Mudur writes about a mathematical analysis of terror facing India and its response
Game theory-based analysis of terrorism. From The Telegraph, Calcutta

How Young Children Learn about Terrorism and 9/11 From Daily Source

A poignant 9/11 story from New York Times on The Telegraph's international page today
The quiet boy who grew up fast and focused after losing his father to 9/11

The Telegraph's Roving Editor Sankarshan Thakur writes from Kashmir
20-year battle for son who was taken away

Inside NYPD's counter terrorism unit

2011-09-08T22:16:00.001+05:30

The 9/11 tenth anniversary coverage has been exhaustive in the American press. I came across this interesting blog by a Reuters photographer trying to show how the NYPD has adapted and modernised itself since 9/11 to combat all forms of terror attacks. I thought it was especially relevant in the context of the Delhi and Mumbai bombings where Indian authorities appear to be reacting to the attacks rather than pre-empting them.

New York put Vietnam War veteran Raymond Kelly at the helm of NYPD three months after 9/11 for a second tenure as the commissioner and his present tenure is uninterrupted for the past 10 years.Can you compare that with how police officers are appointed in India and how short their tenures are? Kelly has gradually built a powerful anti terrorism unit. It was he who expressed concern about the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai, and took steps to combat this kind of attack at multiple locations. I was stunned to read that NYPD has stationed its officers in 11 other foreign cities. I hope they have one in Pakistan.

There are many things Indian police can learn from NYPD. Just look at their Press Relations page. In today's 24 X 7 media age, the right dissemination of information is also crucial especially during emergencies like terror attacks. Wrong information can get magnified rapidly and lead to a dangerous situation. As an example, I can cite rumours on Nov 28 when the 26/11 siege was still on, and a malicious rumour spread that armed gunmen are roaming around in the city killing people. For nearly an hour, the police made no attempt to deny this information and the rumour kept circulating, leading to panic. I remember a friend of mine ran back to his government office, and the office doors were shut as the rumour said that a gunman was roaming free at CST in broad daylight.

That NYPD has a crack terror unit does not mean that their ordinary crimes are way down. I looked at their crime statistics.

James Nachtwey on 9/11 coverage

2011-09-08T16:50:00.001+05:30

The front page of New York Times
picture courtesy: www.mitchellarchives.com

This is a must read interview for all those who read this blog. James Nachtwey narrates the story of how he landed in New York the night before 9/11 and almost got killed when the North Tower collapsed on him. As a photo journalist, he must have faced these moments a number of time, but what unfolded on 9/11 was so shocking and unbelievable.

I find it incredible that Nachtwey shot 28 film rolls that day, and did not look at the unpublished pictures in 27 of those rolls for 10 years! The photos from the remaining one roll were used by Time Magazine soon after 9/11. Read on

Also see the 1971 picture that Nachtwey shot of the Twin Towers. It has an eerie resemblance to 9/11