An Avid Observer

It was one of those days which now and then every working journalists faces while reporting in the field. It didn't start well at all. While cultivating sources for the story, I came across some phone numbers. I started by calling to the office of Tamil Nadu Government Employees' Associations (TNGEA) which was never picked up for six times in a row. And, the seventh attempt didn't do much wonder either. A lady on the other side responded and just cut the phone before I could even explain my purpose of calling them. I just wanted to ask them at what time can I be there so I can talk to someone who holds official position. However, as I have to go anyway, I decided to leave as early as possible. The same story again repeated. After taking off the MRTS at Thiruvallikeni Station, I again took the wrong root even after asking almost everyone who was passing by. After going around the place for twenty-minutes, I reached the place which was on the other side of the station, ...

CHANDAN KUMAR MANDAL Since I have been here in Chennai, reaching the reporting site has been the real problem for me. Even today, it took an hour to decide how to reach today's venue. After consulting local friends and those who have been in that part of city, I reached the location C.P. Art Centre in Alwarpet of Chennai. This afternoon, I was covering Textiles and Handicraft Exhibition being held at the centre. As soon as I reached there and started interacting, the trouble of reaching the location was forgotten. The first person I approached for my story was Mallika Venktesh, a 63-years-old woman entrepreneur. She has been running her family business of manufacturing and selling cotton and jute items for last 15 years. Her energy was infectious. Even at this age, she is energetic and enjoying what she is doing. Her software engineer son lives in London so if she wants then she could adjust for a normal life. But she is not only independent but also providing income opport...

Lucknow Boy: A Memoir by Vinod Mehta I used to be an avid fiction reader but of late, my interests have sort of shifted. These days I find myself more interested in exploring the various facets of our real society rather than the ideal world that fiction often tends to take us to. So speaking about motivational books, I just have to mention Vinod Mehta’s memoir. Vinod Mehta, journalist, founder editor-in-chief of Outlook magazine, and author of several books, presents his life through a candid and scandalous account in this autobiography. Being affiliated with media myself, I found this to be incredibly inspiring. The book contains so many interesting anecdotes. The reader gets a genuine behind the scenes access of how South Asian media works. He isn’t afraid to take us to the dark corners and talk about the shady businesses either. In between it all, he continuously addresses the questions about integrity of the reporters as well as our duty towards the public. It has really he...

CHANDAN KUMAR MANDAL What else can the game of football do except entertaining mass? If you think football is a mere sport played across the world for fun, you might be wrong. This glorious game has turned out to be 'life-changer' for girls in Western Nepal...My report from Bardiya, Nepal.

CHANDAN KUMAR MANDAL 1. Title of the study: Changing Face of Election Campaign in Nepal 2. Introduction Over the centuries, several civilizations and countless societies have fought starkly for their rights and freedoms. Several brutal wars have been waged that took centuries of struggle to reach where we are standing now with a number of human rights that were not possible just some decades ago. Human civilization has witnessed an atrocious past where no such rights were given to common people and the human society was ruled by 'atrocity'. One community will easily attack on others to capture their property and people as slaves. For scholars like Hobbes, human societies in the past were 'nasty and brutal'.  Overcoming all these terrible experience, now modern societies are standing firm and tall and enjoy a very pro-people system that is called 'Democracy'. Now, the present world is given with a very liberal political system, which provides them w...