SCM SOPHIA COVER.indd 1-3 1/18/17 12:53 PM • • Acknowledgements DIRECTOR, SOPHIA POLYTECHNIC STUDENT ASSOCIATE EDITORS DR (SR) ANILA VERGHESE ANANYA DESAI ELTON GOMES SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS VINDHYA BARWAL MEDIA DEPARTMENT, SOPHIA - SMT.MANORAMA PHOTOGRAPHY HEADS DEVI SOMANI COLLEGE, NILOFER KHAN SOPHIA POLYTECHNIC VEDIKA SINGHANIA HEAD OF DEPARTMENT PHOTOGRAPHY TEAM DR SUNITHA CHITRAPU MINAL SANCHETI PRIYANKA ARORA CORE FACULTY RITIKA DEBNATH NIRMITA GUPTA RITU SHARMA SHAMA DESAI VISITING FACULTY TUSHAR ARYA AJAY NORONHA CHIRODEEP CHAUDHURI ILLUSTRATION HEAD GEETA RAO KIRTI CHATURVEDI JEROO MULLA JERRY PINTO ILLUSTRATION TEAM MADHAVI TANGELLA PRIYANKA ARORA MANAS MITTAL UPASANA BOSE MAYANK SEN SHIVANI KUMAR P SAINATH PARTH VYAS PRODUCTION HEADS RABINDRA HAZARI MINAL KHOSLA SHOLA RAJACHANDRAN YASH SHAH SMRUTI KOPPIKAR SONALINI MIRCHANDANI PRODUCTION TEAM SUNAYANA SADARANGANI AKRITI BINDAL SUPRIA LAL PRIYANKA ARORA SURESH VENKAT SHYMA RAJAGOPAL DESIGN KAPIL BATUS MAGAZINE PROJECT IN-CHARGE TANVI SHAH JERRY PINTO COVER PHOTOGRAPH STUDENT EDITORS NILOFER KHAN JOVITA ARANHA MAYANKA GOEL SURYASARATHI BHATTACHARYA SCM SOPHIA COVER.indd 4-6 1/18/17 12:53 PM • • Editorial ime and again we hear about the ‘real world’ being an entity quite beyond the world of books and movies. It’s a dangerous place, we’re told, before being sent out there armed with degrees. More often than not, we’re trained to expect the worst. With SCM, we set foot in that territory. We covered and uncovered unknown parts of the city and interviewed people from different walks of life. Often, it got difficult and we were left disappointed. And yet, at the end we were left with a number of accounts that changed our ways of perception. All around us, every corner and every individual had a story waiting to be told; Tand often we were able to get them to tell us those stories. This magazine is an outcome of those excursions. Over the years Marginalia has attempted to bridge the gap that separates ‘us’ and ‘them’ and to uncover stories that go unnoticed. Students at SCM have come together to pool their experiences into this magazine, and every story has had something to say, whether about visits to jails in Mumbai, or about the condition of Tibetans in the country. This issue brings together thirty years of such encounters that must be acknowledged and enjoyed. With stories about young professionals in Welcome to Yuppiedom in 1987, or the environment, with Nature’s Barricade in 2005, this edition of Marginalia aims to restore memories that deserve to be preserved for all time. The issue also takes into account the fair share of adventures that this year has had. The third demonetisation in our country, and the first of our lives, has been chronicled in the magazine. Progress found its voice in the stories of Jockin Arputham of Dharavi, Dalit editor Sudhir Dhawale and the doughty activist Medha Patkar, among others. A rare glimpse into the life of poet and To all those who have helped and writer Javed Akhtar was afforded to us in an interview. Many exciting things supported us in making this year’s special happened in our very own classroom as well. We got to meet and talk to some anniversary edition of Marginalia a reality, highly talented people such as graphic novelist Amruta Patil, filmmaker and we extend our heartfelt gratitude. We SCM alum Leena Yadav, Karnatic musician T M Krishna. Established SCM would like to thank Dr. Sunitha Chitrapu alumni walked down memory lane about their time at the institute and their for being one of our fiercest teachers. time working on the magazine. Thank you, Nirmita Gupta, for being one of our kindest supporters; and to Jeroo Finally, with this magazine we realised what it is that makes this world Mulla, for being our best critic and our real, after all. It’s the telling of stories, of real lives and real experiences. Yet, source of inspiration. We are grateful to even with thirty years of history backing us, we, as a collective body, have Chirodeep Chaudhuri, for making our barely scratched the surface. Many stories are yet to be discovered, with this stories come alive and Kapil Batus for being just the tip of the iceberg. We feel it is a good start, however, to our lives designing this magazine. Thank you, as professionals, and hope to carry this zeal to explore into the future. Smruti Koppikar and P. Sainath, for encouraging us to look beyond what the eyes can see and the ears can hear. Nilesh — Jovita Aranha Correia and Dinkar Sutar, thank you, for — Mayanka Goel helping us through all hurdles. We would — Suryasarathi Bhattacharya also like to thank Neeta Shah, for being so patient with us. And Gracy Vaz, for your unconditional support, we love you. And lastly, Jerry Pinto, for scandalising us at 8 in the morning and shutting the door in our faces. Congratulations on winning the Sahitya Akademi award. This magazine would have been impossible without you. MARGINALIA 1988 - 2017 • • 3 • • Guest Editorial The journalism debut In which SIDHARTH BHATIA looks back at the beginnings of the student magazine n 1987, when I first walked into the classroom of For the magazine, the students stepped out of their the lovely pink building of Sophia Polytechnic classroom to talk to people to understand issues and wrote to teach a batch of about 40 students, I am sure their copy as if they were already professional reporters. I was more anxious than they. The students, all By the end of the year, they had picked up some of the girls, were in fact full of anticipation and nervous necessary skills that any good journalist should have— energy; they wanted to know what their teachers balance, fairness, an objective tone and quoting a wide would be like and what they would learn. They variety of people. But like all students, they were also wanted to know about the world of media and earnest and idealistic, and their topics reflected that. Most communications. I, on the other hand, was full of of the ideas came from them, so clearly the magazines— self-doubt. with names like Debut, Swayam and Byline, (in the first IThough I had had a good number of years as a three years)— as well as the contents, reveal their views journalist, I was a relative newbie to teaching, having only and concerns. It is clear, looking back at the first issue and delivered a few general lectures here and there. How would subsequent ones, that they had a social conscience. (And of I hold up for an hour and a half? What would I teach? What course they were all warm and sensitive.) if they didn’t take me seriously? And did I have enough to I like to think (and I may well be right), that they last for an entire year? still nurture the same earnestness and idealism in their As it turned out, between us, we had a great year and professional lives today. Many of the names I see in the at the end I was as enlightened as presumably they were. I magazines of 30 years ago are today highly respected learnt a bit about classroom psychology too—students will professionals in their fields—SCM has undoubtedly played a respect you if they feel you have done your homework and big role in what they have become. are not going to waste their time. I am delighted that the student magazine is now a The highlight of the year was the student magazine— tradition and has an unbroken record of 30 years. I am sure that was the year the tradition was begun and the first one it has become thicker and better produced—the budgets was called, appropriately, Debut. I don’t recall every little all those years ago were laughably small. But I won’t be detail, but looking at the copy afresh recently triggered surprised if it still retains the same SCM spirit of excellence, some memories. a wide worldview and social concerns at its heart. MARGINALIA 1988 - 2017 • • 5 • • Guest Editorial Thirty years of writing from media ethics. Sainath has won the Magsaysay award (among one of the numerous prestigious awards for his incredible the margins contribution to journalism) and has been a great pillar of BY JEROO MULLA strength for the department. Ravi is an eminent lawyer. Their contribution and Sidharth’s to the shaping of students into award-winning journalists with high ethical standards, is riting this takes me back something SCM needs to be really proud of. many years to almost One of the magazines that stands out in my memory is forgotten memories. The Unequal Spheres. Sainath inspired the students that year to Social Communications write excellent articles on pertinent topics and bring out the Media department (SCM) issue to coincide with the World Social Forum held in 2004. magazine was where Sainath has also been the inspiration and role model for so many students who many SCM students—both journalists and non-journalists. are now well-known For a very brief period of time the magazine was journalists, writers, poets, supervised by Shernaz Engineer who is now the editor of script-writers and documentary film-makers got their first the Jam-e-Jamshed and then later by Pamela Cheema, also Wchance to explore their writing talents. a fine journalist. But the mainstay of the magazine since I write this piece to pay tribute to all the journalism Sidharth left SCM has been Jerry Pinto who recently won the teachers in the SCM department who taught them and Windham-Campbell prize and the Sahitya Akademi.