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11. Ajit Kr. Dvivedi, Delhi: Media Study: Comparative Reporting on Ceilings and Displacement from Jamuna Pushta
12. Anuja Ghoshalkar, Mumbai. Papa Aajoba.
The project will chronicle the life of my grand father, who was a make up artist in the Hindi film industry from 1941 to 2000: from his early
years at Raj Kamal studio with V. Shantaram (when they literally made their own make-up) to his 17 years spent at the Filmistan studio. There
will be a sharper focus on the 1960’s - when he predominantly worked with Shammi Kapoor, Asha Parekh, Sadhana & Saira Banu. It will also
document film history from the point of view of a technician who might lacquer it with his own stories. It is finally, a tribute to a grandfather who narrated stories of his everyday life, not knowing that stories often become history.
The research will primarily be through interviews, previously published books on the history of Indian cinema and material from magazines like Film India, Rangabhoomi, Screen, etc. The presentation will be in an audio-visual form with a written essay.
Anuja Ghosalkar is a lecturer and researcher in film and has been involved with an experimental theatre group in Mumbai for over half a
decade. She is currently working with Breakthrough – a globally active human rights organization.
13. Ranu Ghosh, Kolkata. The Changing Industrial Landscape of Kolkata: Jay Engineering Works
I have been following the transformation of a productive, half a century old Jay Engineering Works into Kolkata’s South City Project, “Eastern
India's largest mixed use real estate development”. Jay Engineering, commonly called Usha Factory, started operations manufacturing electrical consumer durables in the 1950s. The labour force of this reasonably large manufacturing unit was mostly comprised of migrants
from Bihar and UP, and refugees from East Pakistan. The Works was closed down, made defunct and the land was handed over to the real estate
consortium of five major real estate “magnates” in 2003. The factory buildings were demolished and the construction of the South City
Projects comprising three 35-storey and one 28-storey tower, a shopping mall, school, multiplex, club etc, started from February 2004, which
included the illegal filling up of one of south Calcutta's largest natural water bodies. The workers of Jay were forced into retirement with little or no compensation and sent into limbo, except for Shambhu Prasad Singh. Shambhu has refused to opt for the meagre handouts and has
instead taken his case to court. Against all odds, and withstanding the sustained pressure of the builders, he continues to live in his original
quarters, surrounded and dwarfed on all sides by the construction in progress of South City. This brave stand taken by an individual is an example of how such “development” can be challenged.
Since the latter half of 2004 I have been documenting in video and still formats, the stages of development at the construction site as the work
progressed and the displaced labour force, and out of that, Shambhu Prasad evolved as an outstanding example of the protest against this “development”. I began to follow his everyday life, his improvised strategies of survival in the face of difficult circumstances and his
innate zeal to fight for his rights. He has transformed from a character in my film into that of a collaborator, adding a unique dimension to the
project.
Ranu Ghosh has worked as a freelance camera person and director in the Indian industry for the past eight years.
14. Sukanya Ghosh, Kolkata. Animation and the Development Ideal: The Idea of Nation, the Socialist Impetus and Animation Film Design in India
This project seeks to trace the history of Animation film design within India and to find within it a parallel history of the developing nation
state. It will look at institutions such as the Doordarshan, Films Division, Lok Seva Sanchar, and The National Institute of Design, meet
and interview various people associated with this history, and gather and examine archival material that is available. The nature of this research will be to record, analyse and seek out a definitive historical path for Indian animation, and to locate it within a broader perspective
of social and industrial change. The research will be compiled as a visual presentation which can be used as archival material as well as something that can be presented as an exhibit or presentation independently.
15. Rajeev Ranjan Giri, Delhi: The Public World of the Journal Saraswati, 1900-1920
16. M.S. Harilal, Thiruvananthapuram. Adopting Modernisation, Negotiating Modernisation: Modern and Traditional Ayurvedic Sectors in the Context of Transformation
The study endeavors to analyze responses of the larger transformation of a traditional medical system, namely Ayurveda, to a more affirmative institutional system and a well developed market. The modern forms of Ayurveda seem to be pulled by both pharmaceutical companies and modern practitioners in a direction that flaunts cultural authenticity and tradition as well as scientific efficacy and standardization for its products. It analyses how the stakeholders in this bifurcation - traditional and modern ayurvedic manufacturing, perceive and deal with modernization, which is two fold, both in form and content. The two specific questions that the study intends to explore, based on selected case analysis and necessary ethnographic works, are: one, How do we explain the recent gains made by many firms operating in the 'modern' sector? Two, what are the ways in which the traditional-informal sector has coped with the processes of transformation? To the gist, we are addressing the question of agential relation in the transformation and want to contrast and compare how the two sections deal with the challenge of globalization or negotiate to find their space in the global era. Three rationales may be given for this study: one, the traditional knowledge systems are increasingly become relevant, two, there is a universal concern to addressing community ownership of traditional knowledge and third, it will help us understand the struggle and revival of similarly placed traditional industries.
M.S. Harilal is, at present, a doctoral scholar in Economics at the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram. His current areas of
interests are the modernization of Indian systems of medicine, the medicinal plants sector, IPR and traditional knowledge.
17. Zaigham Imam, Delhi/Allahabad: Railways of Dreams
18. Santana Issar & Aditi Saraf, Delhi. Old Dog, New Tricks: Rethinking Animal Activism in an Urban Context
Human-animal relationships have been historically constituted in complex and intimate ways along the economic, the affective, the cultural and ritual, and the metaphoric. As these relationships have receded into an irretrievable past, it has been suggested that animals have been
reconfigured in the urban imagination; as household pets, as objects of wonder in zoos and circuses, and as (Kentucky or not) fried chicken.
Our question is - does this driving of a wedge between human lives and those of animals inform dominant notions of 'animal welfare'?
We will study the relationship between the theory of the human-animal interaction in a post-industrial urban context, and the practices of
animal rescue and welfare, in order to understand how, and to what extent, each is shaped by the other. All this in the particular context
of our very own urban jungle – Delhi.
Our research methodology and documentation will involve the textual as well as the visual. Research will be conducted through participant
observation, interviews and questionnaires, and photographic and video documentation.
Both Santana and Aditi are graduates of St Stephen's College. Santana is a filmmaker, Aditi works as a research associate at the National Knowledge Commission.
19. Vivek Kumar Jain, Delhi: A Study of Social and Cultural Spaces on the DU Campus
20. Deepak Kadyan, Delhi. Popular Musical Traditions and the Configuration of Jat Identity in Haryana
This research seeks to examine the relationship between popular musical traditions and the forging of a jat identity in north India in general
and in Haryana in particular. The processes of identity formation and self-perceived notions of community will be analyzed and discerned
through the prism of popular culture and as to how a 'community' viewed itself, and what its aspirations have been over a period of time.
An important aspect of this study would be an analysis of the sites of performance and circulation of this oral tradition. One such site is the
akharas (lit. a wrestling arena, but here, it refers to a space for rehearsals and practice), influential until the mid twentieth century. Another such site available to oral tradition for circulation was the colonial army and police. The history of oral tradition is intertwined with the history of prominent performers, and major structural and performative changes, whether in terms of musical instruments, rhythms, intonation, appropriation of symbols or content— in other words, the relationship between performers and performance. Interestingly, the
social composition of oral tradition in Haryana is different, as it wasn't dominated by any particular community.
This study seeks to use a variety of sources ranging from archival material to oral traditions and personal interviews. This study intends
to make use of all the documented oral tradition in the form of text and cassettes as well. A process of documentation of Sufi tradition, which
is so strong in this region will be initiated. Amongst other textual sources, diaries, personal letters, memoirs and compositions of prominent political leaders like Chotu Ram, Chajju Ram and others merit analysis. This study also seeks to use the letters received from Pakistani soldiers kept at All India Radio, and a personal collection of correspondence between people who left Haryana and were constantly interacting through letters.
12. Anuja Ghoshalkar, Mumbai. Papa Aajoba.
The project will chronicle the life of my grand father, who was a make up artist in the Hindi film industry from 1941 to 2000: from his early
years at Raj Kamal studio with V. Shantaram (when they literally made their own make-up) to his 17 years spent at the Filmistan studio. There
will be a sharper focus on the 1960’s - when he predominantly worked with Shammi Kapoor, Asha Parekh, Sadhana & Saira Banu. It will also
document film history from the point of view of a technician who might lacquer it with his own stories. It is finally, a tribute to a grandfather who narrated stories of his everyday life, not knowing that stories often become history.
The research will primarily be through interviews, previously published books on the history of Indian cinema and material from magazines like Film India, Rangabhoomi, Screen, etc. The presentation will be in an audio-visual form with a written essay.
Anuja Ghosalkar is a lecturer and researcher in film and has been involved with an experimental theatre group in Mumbai for over half a
decade. She is currently working with Breakthrough – a globally active human rights organization.
13. Ranu Ghosh, Kolkata. The Changing Industrial Landscape of Kolkata: Jay Engineering Works
I have been following the transformation of a productive, half a century old Jay Engineering Works into Kolkata’s South City Project, “Eastern
India's largest mixed use real estate development”. Jay Engineering, commonly called Usha Factory, started operations manufacturing electrical consumer durables in the 1950s. The labour force of this reasonably large manufacturing unit was mostly comprised of migrants
from Bihar and UP, and refugees from East Pakistan. The Works was closed down, made defunct and the land was handed over to the real estate
consortium of five major real estate “magnates” in 2003. The factory buildings were demolished and the construction of the South City
Projects comprising three 35-storey and one 28-storey tower, a shopping mall, school, multiplex, club etc, started from February 2004, which
included the illegal filling up of one of south Calcutta's largest natural water bodies. The workers of Jay were forced into retirement with little or no compensation and sent into limbo, except for Shambhu Prasad Singh. Shambhu has refused to opt for the meagre handouts and has
instead taken his case to court. Against all odds, and withstanding the sustained pressure of the builders, he continues to live in his original
quarters, surrounded and dwarfed on all sides by the construction in progress of South City. This brave stand taken by an individual is an example of how such “development” can be challenged.
Since the latter half of 2004 I have been documenting in video and still formats, the stages of development at the construction site as the work
progressed and the displaced labour force, and out of that, Shambhu Prasad evolved as an outstanding example of the protest against this “development”. I began to follow his everyday life, his improvised strategies of survival in the face of difficult circumstances and his
innate zeal to fight for his rights. He has transformed from a character in my film into that of a collaborator, adding a unique dimension to the
project.
Ranu Ghosh has worked as a freelance camera person and director in the Indian industry for the past eight years.
14. Sukanya Ghosh, Kolkata. Animation and the Development Ideal: The Idea of Nation, the Socialist Impetus and Animation Film Design in India
This project seeks to trace the history of Animation film design within India and to find within it a parallel history of the developing nation
state. It will look at institutions such as the Doordarshan, Films Division, Lok Seva Sanchar, and The National Institute of Design, meet
and interview various people associated with this history, and gather and examine archival material that is available. The nature of this research will be to record, analyse and seek out a definitive historical path for Indian animation, and to locate it within a broader perspective
of social and industrial change. The research will be compiled as a visual presentation which can be used as archival material as well as something that can be presented as an exhibit or presentation independently.
15. Rajeev Ranjan Giri, Delhi: The Public World of the Journal Saraswati, 1900-1920
16. M.S. Harilal, Thiruvananthapuram. Adopting Modernisation, Negotiating Modernisation: Modern and Traditional Ayurvedic Sectors in the Context of Transformation
The study endeavors to analyze responses of the larger transformation of a traditional medical system, namely Ayurveda, to a more affirmative institutional system and a well developed market. The modern forms of Ayurveda seem to be pulled by both pharmaceutical companies and modern practitioners in a direction that flaunts cultural authenticity and tradition as well as scientific efficacy and standardization for its products. It analyses how the stakeholders in this bifurcation - traditional and modern ayurvedic manufacturing, perceive and deal with modernization, which is two fold, both in form and content. The two specific questions that the study intends to explore, based on selected case analysis and necessary ethnographic works, are: one, How do we explain the recent gains made by many firms operating in the 'modern' sector? Two, what are the ways in which the traditional-informal sector has coped with the processes of transformation? To the gist, we are addressing the question of agential relation in the transformation and want to contrast and compare how the two sections deal with the challenge of globalization or negotiate to find their space in the global era. Three rationales may be given for this study: one, the traditional knowledge systems are increasingly become relevant, two, there is a universal concern to addressing community ownership of traditional knowledge and third, it will help us understand the struggle and revival of similarly placed traditional industries.
M.S. Harilal is, at present, a doctoral scholar in Economics at the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram. His current areas of
interests are the modernization of Indian systems of medicine, the medicinal plants sector, IPR and traditional knowledge.
17. Zaigham Imam, Delhi/Allahabad: Railways of Dreams
18. Santana Issar & Aditi Saraf, Delhi. Old Dog, New Tricks: Rethinking Animal Activism in an Urban Context
Human-animal relationships have been historically constituted in complex and intimate ways along the economic, the affective, the cultural and ritual, and the metaphoric. As these relationships have receded into an irretrievable past, it has been suggested that animals have been
reconfigured in the urban imagination; as household pets, as objects of wonder in zoos and circuses, and as (Kentucky or not) fried chicken.
Our question is - does this driving of a wedge between human lives and those of animals inform dominant notions of 'animal welfare'?
We will study the relationship between the theory of the human-animal interaction in a post-industrial urban context, and the practices of
animal rescue and welfare, in order to understand how, and to what extent, each is shaped by the other. All this in the particular context
of our very own urban jungle – Delhi.
Our research methodology and documentation will involve the textual as well as the visual. Research will be conducted through participant
observation, interviews and questionnaires, and photographic and video documentation.
Both Santana and Aditi are graduates of St Stephen's College. Santana is a filmmaker, Aditi works as a research associate at the National Knowledge Commission.
19. Vivek Kumar Jain, Delhi: A Study of Social and Cultural Spaces on the DU Campus
20. Deepak Kadyan, Delhi. Popular Musical Traditions and the Configuration of Jat Identity in Haryana
This research seeks to examine the relationship between popular musical traditions and the forging of a jat identity in north India in general
and in Haryana in particular. The processes of identity formation and self-perceived notions of community will be analyzed and discerned
through the prism of popular culture and as to how a 'community' viewed itself, and what its aspirations have been over a period of time.
An important aspect of this study would be an analysis of the sites of performance and circulation of this oral tradition. One such site is the
akharas (lit. a wrestling arena, but here, it refers to a space for rehearsals and practice), influential until the mid twentieth century. Another such site available to oral tradition for circulation was the colonial army and police. The history of oral tradition is intertwined with the history of prominent performers, and major structural and performative changes, whether in terms of musical instruments, rhythms, intonation, appropriation of symbols or content— in other words, the relationship between performers and performance. Interestingly, the
social composition of oral tradition in Haryana is different, as it wasn't dominated by any particular community.
This study seeks to use a variety of sources ranging from archival material to oral traditions and personal interviews. This study intends
to make use of all the documented oral tradition in the form of text and cassettes as well. A process of documentation of Sufi tradition, which
is so strong in this region will be initiated. Amongst other textual sources, diaries, personal letters, memoirs and compositions of prominent political leaders like Chotu Ram, Chajju Ram and others merit analysis. This study also seeks to use the letters received from Pakistani soldiers kept at All India Radio, and a personal collection of correspondence between people who left Haryana and were constantly interacting through letters.
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