Photojournalists in all our countries do not respond to events as they happen unplanned and impromptu, because the cameras are just not there. We are therefore fed a whole lot of images that are the result of pre-planned photo-ops. Event photography is the bane of South Asian photojournalism, and I am tired of pictures of assorted suns setting over India Gate (Delhi), Shahid Minar (Lahore), mountainsides (Kathmandu), bucolic, pre-flooding godhuli hours (Dhaka). Hence I perk up whenever I see event-photography suddenly turn into actual news photography, as when opposition MLAs of the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha (State Assembly) in Lucknow started pelting Governor Suraj Bhan with paper balls (one is seen in mid-flight) and the marshals strove with upraised hands to block the missiles. Well, at least they did not bring in bricks to the sadan. A press note from Unicef in Geneva alerts me to the need for toilets for people. The fact is that 2.4 billion people, nearly half of humanity, do not have proper sanitation facilities, and I suspect that at least half of that is right here in the subcontinental neighbourhood. Inadequate sanitation facilities, says Unicef's head for water, environment and sanitation, hits young and adolescent girls before anyone else. We know well, as he says, that "lack of adequate latrines forces girls and women to wait till dark to use a field". Even in urban areas, the proportion of male urinals to female toilets is a fine indicator of gender imbalance.
While still on the topic of hygiene, another Unicef report, this one for Nepal, presents an additional bit of sobering data. A survey in the district of Kavre, just east of Kathmandu Valley, indicated that fully 12 percent of 'Kavrelis' do not wash their hands after defecation. No wonder, as The Rising Nepal writes in an editorial, given also that 68 percent of the district's population do not have toilets (not even pit latrines), 60 percent of the children there suffer from water-and-sanitation related diseases. "Kavre is not a lone exception in latrine coverage… For throughout Nepal similar or much worse facts and figures remain true."
Chhetria Patrakar has on occasion railed against the invasion of South Asia by Valentine's Day, which was aided by the advent of FM teeny-bopper radio and 10+2 schooling all over. And he was reminded again of the matter by a letter from "Typist Md. Nurul Islam" in The Bangladesh Observer: "Are (we) losing the romance of secret love? Do they now want to start the Westernised process of living together ignoring the age-old concept of family structures and religion? Are our next generations going to behave like beasts at least in respect of sexual behaviour? Oh the time, Oh the manner!" With that bit of conservative wisdom, I have decided to go the other way and change my views on V-Day, and welcome it to the extent that it actually allows a release for boys to meet girls and vice-versa. Over time, doubtless, this very Western import will be infused with South Asian mores, values and traditions and then we can truly call it our own. Till then, better that there be some legitimacy for open if kitschy boy-meets-girl situations than clandestine venues, which can be so much more dangerous.
Fine and creative advertising copy needs to be appreciated and talked about. I like the full-column-length ad that appeared on page 9 of the 20 February Deccan Herald, proclaiming "Traditional South Indian sambhar…for busy North Indians." Besides the simplicity of the copy and use of all-too-rare white space, I liked this piece because of its alertness to the geographical and mental separation of North South Asia and South South Asia, and an appeal to the busy professional. All in all, a pleasing effort for a thoughtful, intelligent ad copy, which was the product of the ad agency Trikaya Grey.