Will all journalists become freelancers?

New organizations are already finding it hard to justify full time staff for what amounts to part-time profit. As our industry-wide dive into digital journalism continues, and news organizations learn to compete with learner, meaner content producers, something's gotta give.

It might as well be the career.

I see a cloud of future, where people land full-time jobs at news organizations - a few editors, an ad sales team and several developers. Then, most of the writing would come from recurring contracts with various writers.

These writers would be working with a number of different) and probably competing) news organizations on a regular basis, making their living on a per-article basis. It's practical. Edgy.

Is this what's going to happen? Is it a good thing if it does?

*Pause. Let tomorrow speak.

CLICK,click,Click!

                             Look into the view finder-Zoom in,Focus!!Zoom out....Follow the rule-of-third.....Check-Shutter Speed,Aperture,ISO.....Bracketing....CLICK!!!! So many things to look into just to click one picture! 

                            As you read it,it may look complicated,which it is- just a little though,but once you start clicking,you would not want to stop. Believe me! No wonder so many people out there are getting hooked to photography.And I think I am going to be one of them too!!!

                             Learning to shoot and much more and I'm Loving It!

Grace Jaya.

Behind the Lens!

It is probably the hardest part of being a photographer. The part where you are asked to blog about it by a restless mind, resting away from a poxy attack.

I could exchange nothing in the world for the inexplicable joy that pellets my soul when I'm behind the lens.
The lens transform me. Into different people. Every time.
I move perhaps not an inch, and yet into a wanderer. An explorer. A philosopher. An analyst. A curious child. A divinely mad woman. A political bribe. A piece of god.
I find myself awaken and come alive.

Strange, how behind the viewfinder my eyes begin to see.
The same eyes looking at the same things, suddenly set out to explore, to behold and to capture a different space. A different world. A world between me and my camera.

Second Day of July. First Day of College.

When you have one million reasons to smile in one single day, you lose faith in the balance of nature! It was supposedly my first day in a Masters Degree, and it felt better than Christmas. Six bold, beautiful young ladies joined me on campus, all fiery to set out on a hands on adventure called Journalism. And the celebration of welcome was overwhelming in all its pious glory.
This first day revealed all the love IndiaCan holds for us. 
We are now obliged to make you proud. We will, and how!




( I blogged this on 2nd July itself, but edited the title from June to July as I mixed up the months at first, and the date of the blog is altered to 18th. To the day I fixed the above :/ Weird huh)

I Can. Says "PolkaDots".

Yes I am a little upset how my very dear classmates can't care less that I'm away, and for so long. But HEY I honestly don't blame them :) because the attention of one whole body and soul is hardly enough to digest each day's class at IndiaCan, and how foolish of me to ask an outline of the same once every 24 hours! There will be just oo much to say, it'd tire them at the outset itself. However, I am in awe of Vijoni's tireless updates that flood my phone. And the woman of most grace, Grace, has graciously agreed to send me one boring text everyday explaining briefly what I miss each day. This arrangement is on from today onward.

And having said that, I move on to that little part of the I-Can Journalism I do each day, since I left home due to Chicken Pox after class on July 9th, Monday. 

Being cast away, in one room does not cripple me anymore. The first day was hell however. From the second onward, it was a 12 hours license to the world of words.

I read two English and 2 Malayalam dailies each day. Helps me miss the Newspaper-Comparison sessions less. And then, I attempt to write about two or sometimes three articles. Article-writing session, the home made version! I have gotten to get back in touch with regional news this way.

Then of course, some infotainment follows. I have finished "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini. Painfully energizing Catharsis. 

"Away", edited by Amitava Kumar. A collection of soulful literature by Indian expatriate artists. John Keats' "Fugitive Poems" linger onto my late evenings. 

And, "The Other Half Lives" by Sophie Hannah is my current read. 

I wouldn't have finished these books by the end of even  August if I didn't lock myself away from the world for this while.

I read aloud (sorry not news paper articles!) poems and sonnets. They are all over my day! I lay down all and any of my feminist angle and evolve grateful to the domination of men in Elizabethan times. No, not social domination, the majority in poems that cast women as protagonists and men as narrators. How does it cheer me? - It reminds me to pick away my nasal voice, bring in the male bass and play with tones. 

I can get highly dramatic when it comes to reading creative content, and so my urge to sound all manly sways aside the nasal squeak.

As I also heard; discussions over things like the fine line between fact and truth, my true nationality, and such others twinkled on in class, I did my part of reading. Discussions lead to narcissism however since I couldn’t take sides on certain debates and loved where the topics lead me altogether.

SO, though it may look like I am only whiling away days happily nick naming myself as PolkaDots (my pockmarks ARE cute), and savoring every fruit that comes my way, I am doing my little bit too.

I CAN. I can be a part of today.

And, media, I am forever obliged.

Rooted.

So we are supposed to read up on nationality and write about it from our perspective. I'm not sure if reading about a certain topic and writing about the said topic is something I would chose to do, because I would either rewrite the whole thing in my own words or just whip up an entire essay on what I think about the matter.

Nationality. I began with trying to find out what people think about it. Best source? Yahoo!Answers. If asked why, and speaking with respect to the subject, I'd say it is because people from different nationalities, cultures and backgrounds come together to ask, answer and share their thoughts. It isn't always a reliable source with respect to facts, but owing to the want to know what everybody thinks about EVERYTHING, that's my search preference by default!

"The status of belonging to a particular nation by origin, birth, or naturalization."
When a baby is born, the first distinguishing feature would be its race. Blue eyes, black hair, dark skin, whatever it is. You see that the baby is also the part of an ethnic group. But as you broaden the circle, the baby also becomes the part of a culture, and a region "enclosed" within the tangles of a whole nation; and yes, I say tangles because almost every nation exhibits diversity in practically every sense. Let it be based on geography, language, environment, niche or culture, these diverse strings are entwined together to form the nation as a whole. As the baby grows up, it begins to identify itself with its surroundings; the people around, the place, even the food and environment. This is what becomes its identity. Identity is a part of the person no matter where they go, the different places they chose to travel to or the diverse cultures that they experience, the person will always stay rooted to the one place they identify themselves with, and this is where the whole concept of nationality comes in.
Okay so I am a lovely daughter according to my parents, a GSB according to my extended family and other Brahmins, a konkani according to my friends, and a South Indian according to the North Indians. But then again, I do not see the point of, lets say "segregating" ourselves based on such trivial facts. I can be a brahmin, but as far as I know, I would share more interests and qualities with a greek I met on a plane than a brahmin guy my parents would want me to marry!
This, I think is because I was never "made" to follow a certain culture or "made" to believe in a deity. I was given the freedom to chose what I want to believe in and I eventually learnt to just be myself no matter what the situation is, as a result of which the only way in which I can actually, truly, identify myself with are the things I love. But this does not mean I don't enjoy Holi or Diwali, laddoos or the Christmas desserts which have a touch of Indian-ness to it! These bits represent the nation that I am a part of and make me who I am. I do consider myself to be a pakka Indian, and that is by choice, not by default. Your country is what binds the culture that you are a part of together, and no matter how diverse it is, I believe that your nationality does define you in a way, whether you like it or not.

No Google, No Yahoo, Just Class!!

I'm a Google person. No, I do not own any Google or Google-aided devices, but run to Google for every other thing I have no clue about. I love learning new things, too. It's built within, since long. And, yes, Google is like my anytime-support-search engine to solve the dumbest of questions hovering among the numerous cells of my tiny little brain. But, you know what's fun! I've stopped "googling" a lot of Technology (esp, regarding to Camera and Video making) related topics. And why should I, when I get all what I need as and when I ask for it, live, and, in person! Isn't that wonderful? It actually helps retaining in my mind as I can recall every word spoken, every action undertaken at that moment when my question is being answered! Most of all, the thrill of learning new things every new day is simply M-I-N-D-B-L-O-W-I-N-G! Rather than, already knowing the concept, just because I checked that on Google, a week ago.

No, I'm not going to start hating Google for this, nor am I going far away from it! I just want to learn new things a different way and let them grow in me forever and ever, rather than look for them over and over again, helplessly over the World Wide Web!!

The Report

We are proud to present to you, "The Report", a weekly that is going to contain articles and much more, on the week thats gone by in India Can and the world! It has had a humble beginning with just three articles on the most scintillating news of the past week-The God Particle/Higgs Boson. But i can assure you that there's more to be added to The Report in the coming weeks. Keep reading this space to know more!

Grace Jaya

Mango Tree

My first time blogging!

I'm not really a person who would prefer using the internet as a live journal but let's face it. The human brain is like a computer, and my hard drive is loaded! I figured I'd need to relieve those brain cells of all the excess information waiting to pour out. And blogging is a much better option compared to keeping a diary. That is SO not my thing.

I have come to understand that writing, it is like planting a seed. The thoughts just seem to pour out, once you begin, like water. It develops into a plant and in the process, you just learn new things, the ones you thought you knew but wouldn't really understand unless you have an actual sapling to tend to. And before you even know, there's a full fledged apple tree in front of your house for people to look at, maybe once in a while take a break under its shade, and now and then, enjoy the fruits!
So here I am, planting my first seed. A mango seed. because I love mangoes and let's face it, who doesn't?!


 - Shweta Prabhu.

Can a bunch of girls discuss "Indian Politics"?
                                  Yes,they can! If they are super enthusiatic,if they have a dream to make it big as Journalists, and if they are the 8 girls studying in India Can-NDTV Broadcast and Journalism Programme,Class of 2012-2013,yes they absolutely can!!! Hard to believe? Wait for a year, and you'll see them live on your TV sets.

Grace Jaya.

Cheers to womachos, the batch of NDTVIndiaCan 2012-13! :)

July 2nd/2012: All right... its the first day @ NDTV_indiaCan! well, where to start... as usual, m sort of out of my mind, back in five secs... 


Well, the day began like talking to myself. Yes! That’s what you usually do when you are over punctual and reach like an hour before the time! What to do... what to do, ma good lord now! Ahh! Sooner I got introduced with all ma mates “Fortunately & Unfortunately” all the 7 are Gurlz! Fortunate because I can think about whatever I want in class without worrying about boners. And the reason of unfortunate I guess it’s understood… 


 In anyways preceding with new beginnings, 1st day was very interactive and pretty informative through and a loads of excitement and fun... So I am all ready for a journey of a thousand miles… So here its begins with a single step… Yea! Yea! Its all sounds poetry or archaic types though! Ok… just not being too seriously and emotional with the new beginning stuff again, or else I won't get out alive. 


Anyways I hold the key to world of fun, but somebody changed the lock! Lol ;) 


Cheers to womachos, the batch of NDTVIndiaCan 2012-13! :)

Five years

I have a challenge in front of me. A huge challenge. Condense 5 years of learning into 2 months and how. Cultural Studies, Literature, Media, Writing, Reading, Indian Philosophy, Film Analysis, Gender and Culture, Postcolonial Literatures, Where can I stop? Today, I feel truly educated. And I need to be able to convert this: transform this into 2 months of ground-breaking and simple mind-altering realities? I hope I"m up to the task.

Here I come, girls. Grab all you can get.

Nostalgic on the First Day

Fuzzy Logic --> Well, there's where we begin our journey, sculpting and shaping our future, to being "Celebrities" someday. I don't know why but I felt we all were bound to be at that place and then, all the beautiful sentences of The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho flashed through my mind.

It was indeed a beautiful day where all I could grasp was "Writing should be made a habit deep rooted within all of us, so that we don't lose the flare of writing someday". So we've all started off with this blog where we'd put in all we've learned throughout.

It's definitely going to be fun!!

                                         HARD-WORK, ASK and  DETACH; three key words i picked up at the orientation session of India Can-NDTV Broadcast and Digital Journalism programme, for the batch of 2012-2013.
                                       Want to know what the best part about this batch is?? Well, i'll tell you...we are 7 of us,and all girls!!! An all girls batch for a Journalism programme!!Now i can say that we truly are in the 21st century.A century where girls are taking up bold courses like journalism and are not afraid to explore,to learn more and to make a difference to our society. Seriously,where have all the men gone???                                          To Girl Power!!!!!!!

Grace Jaya.