MARGINALIA VOLUME 31 ANNUAL PUBLICATION 2017-2018 NEW SCM 2018 Cover FINAL 16 FEB.indd 3 3/1/18 1:42 PM 2 • • MARGINALIA 2017-2018 NEW SCM 2018 Cover FINAL 16 FEB.indd 4 3/1/18 1:42 PM MARGINALIA 2017 - 2018 • • 3 APOORVA GUPTA APOORVA KRUTIKA RAO KRUTIKA 4 • • MARGINALIA 2017-2018 / Contents 06 Acknowledgement 34 The Food Gateway 07 Editorial by Reebu Tandon 08 Alumnae Achievements 36 Educating Every Last Child 09 This Year At SCM: by Vivian Fernandes “Forget being a man, be a human first” by Karuna Sharma 38 Lessons From Ismat Chughtai by Aliya Khan 10 Your Digital Presence by Aliya Khan 40 Tip, Tip, Barsaa Rain Sequence by Inayat Sood 11 Mapping Places Through Stories by Dalreen Ramos 42 Telangana 2017: Of Routes And Roots by Inayat Sood and 12 Transplanting Knowledge Ipshita Dey by Natasha Trivedi 44 Reverse Racism? 13 You Want A Lot More of Udvada by Sarojini Pradhan by Amrita Rajput 46 It’s My Land Too 14 Addressing Negativity by Manita Nath by Shraddha Agarwal 48 An Actual Aadhar 15 Oh Shoot, It’s Shit! by Natasha Trivedi by Radhika Jayakumar 50 Sapotas To The Rescue 16 Documenting Documentaries by Krutika Rao by Reebu Tandon 52 A Loo Of Her Own KARUNA SHARMA KARUNA 17 Reclaiming Public Spaces by Manita Nath by Nandakumar Rammohan 54 Luxury For Leisure 18 In Defence by Sarojini Pradhan by Sakshi Bansal 19 On The Front Lines by Dalreen 56 Benjamin, Frankly by Sarojini Ramos and Inayat Sood Pradhan and Reebu Tandon 20 A Day Dedicated to Digital 58 The Art of Salt Making Media by Natasha Trivedi by Aishwarya Patil 21 Feminism and The Feminist 60 It’s Your Choice by Ipshita Dey by Apoorva Gupta 62 I Am Not a ‘Before’ Picture 22 From The Pages of Gauri by Shraddha Agarwal Lankesh’s Life by Manita Nath 64 The Whispered Routine 24 The Price of Sanity by Karuna Sharma by Dalreen Ramos 66 Railway Crossing 28 On Travelling Light by Aaditya Mudholkar by Dalreen Ramos 68 The Waiting Game 30 Conqueering the Stigma by Darshan Nakhwa by Haima Nizar 32 The Secret World of the Angadias by Nandakumar Rammohan NATASHA TRIVEDI NATASHA MARGINALIA 2017 - 2018 • • 5 / Acknowledgments DIRECTOR, SOPHIA POLYTECHNIC PHOTO EDITORS DR (SR) ANILA VERGHESE AMRITA RAJPUT NANDAKUMAR RAMMOHAN SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA DEPARTMENT, SOPHIA - SMT.MANORAMA DEVI SOMANI COLLEGE, MARKETING HEADS SOPHIA POLYTECHNIC AADITYA MUDHOLKAR KRUTIKA RAO HEAD OF DEPARTMENT DR SUNITHA CHITRAPU MARKETING TEAM APOORVA GUPTA CORE FACULTY CAROL VAID NIRMITA GUPTA MONESHA SHARMA SAKSHI BANSAL VISITING FACULTY SALONI JAIN GEETA RAO SHRADDHA AGARWAL JEROO MULLA VIVIAN FERNANDES JERRY PINTO MAYANK SEN DESIGN P SAINATH KAPIL BATUS PARTH VYAS RABINDRA HAZARI COVER PHOTOGRAPH SHOLA RAJACHANDRAN AMRITA RAJPUT SMRUTI KOPPIKAR NANDAKUMAR RAMMOHAN SUNAYANA SADARANGANI SURESH VENKAT We would like to thank Dr. Sunitha Chitrapu for her meticulous scrutiny of our work at every level. Thank you, MAGAZINE PROJECT IN-CHARGE Nirmita Gupta for your timely suggestions and prompt JERRY PINTO ideation; and to Jeroo Mulla, for helping us translate the reel to reality. We would also like to extend our thanks STUDENT EDITORS to our sponsors and Kapil Batus, who designed this DALREEN RAMOS magazine. We are grateful for Smruti Koppikar and P. MANITA NATH Sainath for insisting that we look past the margins of our SAROJINI PRADHAN pages; Parth Vyas for encouraging us to think beyond the AADITYA MUDHOLKAR edges of our frames and Sunayana Sadarangani for her unwavering support. We are highly indebted to Dinkar STUDENT ASSOCIATE EDITOR Sutar and Nilesh Correa for being our kindest supporters. NATASHA TRIVEDI Thank you, Neeta Shah and Gracy Vaz for your patience and guidance throughout this endeavor. And lastly, Jerry PHOTOGRAPHY MENTOR Pinto, for reminding us that there is always another draft to STASHIA DSOUZA be written. All of you are our reasons. 6 • • MARGINALIA 2017-2018 / Editorial Notes from the margin omewhere near the tried-and-tested horizontal lines of every book is a vertical waiting to be explored. Somewhere along these lines we’ve been told to write the unwritten, capture moments forgotten in the noise of market-driven media and above all, to ask questions whose answers might leave us uncomfortable. After two decades of being taught to toe the line, abide by the way things have always been, and to read no more or less than what was prescribed; this year we were lead to the scribbles in the margins. We were expected to look closely at the intricate patterns that underlie the world around us; we learned to give details that previously Saffected us only cursorily, importance. We stopped to take in the stories that illustrate the streets and lives of Mumbai and beyond, stories that made us feel a fondness for the lopsided doodles that make our everyday that much more real. This year, Marginalia is more than just writing in the margin; we question its very position, its erasure, its existence. Then sometimes we draw a new line from our excursions into the outside world. It was an exciting year at SCM, a year that has been an eye opener for most of us. Beginning with the Mumbai treasure hunt, we got to explore Mumbai as we never have. We also got the opportunity to meet and converse with alumnae like Leena Yadav and Sonora Jha, who have done exceptional work in their respective fields. A big event that took place was an Indian Media Economy conference panel which discussed social transactions in the media economy, with eminent speakers like Sidharth Bhatia (Co-founder, The Wire) and Raj Gupta (CEO, Lowe Lintas). The students were introduced to many films through the year, with a documentary workshop as well as the films made by Anand Patwardhan, whom we got to question face-to-face. His films shed light on the issues of communal violence taking place in India. We also had an open discussion on the politics of America and India, and the radical feminist movement with Professor Robert Jensen, from the University of Texas at Austin. Chandan Gowda’s powerful talk on his latest book, “The Way I See It: A Gauri Lankesh Reader” gave us an insight on Gauri Lankesh and her uncompromising work. THIS Read about the economics of mental health, and about how the members of the LGBTQ community struggle with threats to their mental health; we YEAR, investigate whether toilets are accessible to women in public spaces, and the MARGINALIA unaddressed issues of Northeast India. Pay heed to the opinion of the women IS MORE THAN who speak in the age-old debate of home makers v/s working women. Be JUST WRITING enthralled by one of the first female ADs in Bollywood, and learn more about IN THE MARGIN; the railway unions and an annual chikoo festival! WE QUESTION ITS VERY POSITION, Through Marginalia 2018, we attempt to document and give space to ITS ERASURE, the inscriptions that deserve more notice. Let us take you through the ITS EXISTENCE. bibliography of the world as we see it, one page at a time. THEN SOMETIMES WE DRAW A NEW LINE FROM OUR DALREEN RAMOS EXCURSIONS INTO MANITA NATH THE OUTSIDE SAROJINI PRADHAN WORLD. AADITYA MUDHOLKAR MARGINALIA 2017 - 2018 • • 7 / Achievements SCM Sophia Alumnae Achievements In 2017 restigious awards, › Melinda Viegas (SCM 2015-16) won coveted fellowships, the JICA Bagan Tourism Development books, award- Project Prize at the Bagan Photo Festival winning photos, in June 2017 for her photograph of a they have done painter in Bagan, Myanmar. She said, them all, yet again. “I take inspiration from one of the SCM alumnae assignments we had at SCM called Hands have had another of Mumbai.” Hands of Mumbai is a media productive and ethics assignment where students take achievement-filled year in 2017. photographs that document labour around PIn May 2017, Shalini Singh (SCM the city and features the hands that power 2003-04), a journalist with The Week, Mumbai’s economy. They explore issues was selected for the Nieman Foundation of migration of labour and visual ways of Fellowship at Harvard University. In her telling stories about issues that touch all our social media post, Singh said, “I owe all lives through this experience. professional achievements to the base set in SCM days. I am a super proud alum. Grateful to Sainath, Jeroo, Jerry, Smruti › Rituparna Chatterjee (SCM 2004-05) co-wrote wrote and all others who taught us.” the memoir of actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui, An Ordinary Life, published by Penguin/Viking in 2017. She also began › Chatura Rao (SCM 1994-95) has had a busy and award- a column with The Economic Times called California filled year. In May 2017, her article titled Women and the Dreaming on life lessons and celebrating the slower, more Trouble Within/ Without Homeswon the National Laadli subtle things in life. Award for the Best Web Feature. This article had previously won the Laadli Media Award for Gender Sensitive Reporting › Bhavna Singh (SCM 1999-00) put together a coffee table (Western Region) in February. In January 2018, her book book, The Colour of White, on the low gender ratios in the for children, Gone Grandmother, won the Hindu Good pharma industry. This publication won the prestigious Asia Books Award 2018 for Best Picture Book. In the midst of Pacific Communications Award in the publications category all of this, her novel, A Blueprint for Love, was in November 2017 in Hong Kong. This was the 50 years published by Bloomsbury India in October 2017. commemorative publication of her organisation, The International School Libraries Network OPPI, the Organisation of Pharmaceutical (Singapore) has nominated Shabnam Producers of India, an industry association Minwalla’s (SCM 1989-90) book, The Shy representing the research based pharma Supergirl, for the Red Dot Book Awards in the companies in India.