Hindi Poetry Finds New Space Among City Youth

As the poetry movement of Delhi catches flame, Hindi and Urdu poetry is finding its linchpins in the young, passionate writers who’d rather write in a new language they call Hindustani. A mix of Hindi and Urdu, this is the language that neo-India speaks, when not trying to cavort with Hinglish. Amit Dahiya who has been writing English and Hindi poetry for the past several years and is the founder of Delhi Poetree says that Hindi poetry scene today is not what it used to be. “There are a few names that get brandished around, but the scene is much larger today. Poets are writing without the inhibitions of either language and expressing themselves beautifully,” he says adding that they have an eight-year-old girl, who attends the readings and recites poetry in Hindi.
Shikha Khanna, a photographer and a poet feels that her poetry connects with today’s youth as it talks about their issues. “Earlier, youth did not have young poets writing about things that they could relate to, but today people instantly associate with poetry,” she says adding that her poetry is enjoyed and appreciated by not just poetry lovers, but even friends and acquaintances. “I started with writing in English, a lot of which was appreciated as well. But I found my poetic voice only in Hindustani, in which I felt I could best express myself,” says Shikha.
The English-Hindi divide does a complete 180 degrees, when it enters the portals of poetry. Abhniva Niranjan, who is a marketing professional opines that Hindi, Hindustani and regional poetry are much respected in India over its English cousin. “Hindi poetry is considered way more evolved than English simply because it is not our mothertongue. The nuances and alliterations, which sound magical in Hindi, lose their meaning in English.”
While Anaf Khan, works a regional manager for a multi-national and writes as he is passionate, says that Hindustani poetry being written today follows a strict form, derived from Urdu poetry. “The poetry written in Hindustani works on the same principle as music, with a very precise technique, which is very difficult to achieve and usually overlooked in English. So, it makes the Hindustani version lyrical and pleasing to the soul.”

http://www.asianage.com/life-and-style/hindi-poetry-finds-new-space-among-city-youth-810

Youth Readership Survey, India: Some Trends

How much and what is the Indian youth reading? For answering this question the National Book Trust (NBT) in India undertook a readership survey among the youth of the country. The survey was conducted by the National Council of Applied Economic Research in 2009. According to Bipin Chandra, Chairman of NBT, “We often say that youngsters these days just don’t read much. In order to really assess the situation, we are conducting a national readership survey amongst the youth to see how much they read and what do they read.”

Some findings of the survey were carried in a news report by the Financial Express in February. Before sharing these results, a few words about the objectives of the survey. The survey aimed at preparing a detailed demographic profile of the Indian youth (13-35 years) according to sex, age, level of education, occupation and other socio-economic characteristics. It was also expected to explore the usage pattern of various information sources, in the print and electronic media in terms of accessibility, frequency, time spent, place of exposure etc. It was an attempt to understand the readership status, reading habits and preferences of the Indian youth.
According to the Financial Express, The survey—with a sample of over 3,11,431 literate youth (1,02,021 rural and 2,09,410 urban) covering 432 villages in 207 districts as rural and 753 urban blocks in 199 towns as urban—is a first-of-its-kind exercise aimed at providing an objective understanding of the media consumption, reading habits and preferences of literate Indian youth.

Survey results, reported in the Financial Express, are:

1. India’s youth population grew at over 2% to 459 million in 2009 from 390 million in the 2001 census, while the literate youth population grew at a more rapid 2.5% to 333 million from 273 million. Growth was faster inurban India (3.15% a year) than in rural India (2.11%)

2. Of the country’s total youth population of 459 million, literate youth constitute around three-fourths, numbering 333 million. Literate youth in rural India number 207 million (62.1% of the total) and 126 million (or, 37.9%) in urban areas. A large proportion, over 41%, is in the older 25-35 age group, followed by teenagers (36.7%), with the rest in the 20-24 age bracket (22.1%).

3. Almost three-fourths (73%) of literate youth in the country are from schedule castes (22.7%), schedule tribes (9.8%) and other backward classes (40.3%), according to the survey. Currently, caste-based reservation in educational institutes stands at 15% for SCs, 7.5% for STs and 27% for OBCs.

4. Awareness of government flagship social schemes like the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is higher among rural youth compared to city dwellers.

5. Television emerges as the biggest media, with over 77% of the 333 million literate, or 259 million, youth exposed to it. Newspapers too are able to maintain their dominance, with over half (53%) of all literate youth, or 177 million, exposed to them. But in terms of preferred media for news & current affairs, newspapers win hands down, with around two-thirds (63.4%) selecting them compared with just a third (22.2%) for television.

6. Book readers (non-syllabus) number around 83 million (25% of literate youth), of which 39 million are in urban areas and 44 million in rural India.

7. Television emerges the biggest engager, with average time spent a day at over 97 minutes. Radio (61 minutes), magazines (44 minutes) and newspapers (32 minutes) lag far behind. Though the Internet reaches fewer than 4% of all youth (8% in urban areas), time spent with the medium is proportionately higher at over an hour a day (70 minutes), reflecting the medium’s stickiness.

8. Newspapers and the Internet share a high out-of-home exposure. Around half of all youth get to read a newspaper outside their homes, with shops/cafes/restaurants and neighbors as chief access points. Around two-thirds accessed the internet at cyber cafes and/or the workplace.

Detailed statistics of the survey are available at the special issue of the Financial Express.

Going through the survey results, I came across something interesting. When asked by the survey, about the motivation behind reading leisure books, only 18.8% said they were encouraged by their parents. If the NBT’s plan to make all youths in the age group of 15-25 active readers by 2025 is to be realized, parents have to be made aware of the benefits of reading. Moreover, use of the internet as a source of information remains abysmally poor in India.

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FOOTBALL AND / OR CRICKET?

Cricket is a habit but football now has a greater aspiration value attached due to its intensity, unique style and global flavour

FOOTBALL AND / OR CRICKET?

Initially, there was a small set of audience who understood the game at its fundamentals & there were opinion leaders in the conversations about sports. The first set has slowly caught onto the superficial knowledge about the game, the players, teams, their expensive acquisitions & lifestyles. Football lovers are a small but a growing set in campuses — especially with FIFA around the corner.

RONALDO OR DHONI - Who sells

Better?

Surprisingly, we did not find a definite answer because it comes down to category and brand specifics. A Dhoni would any day sell a Cola or a mobile service to an Indian youth better than Ronaldo. But when it came to products with high aspiration attached to it like expensive watches, imported cars, vacation destinations & other luxury items — the footballer's endorsement certainly adds more weight. On probing deeper we realised that the average young cricket lover connects better with the cricketers at the grassroot level whereas as a football fan, he would look to the players on the TV screen with a huge price tag attached.

WATCHING THE GAME

Unlike Cricket, watching a football game for most is more about the drink — beer. ManU VS Arsenal arguments, the ambience, cheering & shouting with friends rather than paying attention to the subtle nuances of the game. A Mumbaikar will not have the same passion for ManU as he would have for Mumbai Indians, but will still spend more money to buy a pass at a pub to see a football match rather than watch it at home. But having said that, very few football fans would cancel their engagements or leave office early just to watch a tournament like they would do for Cricket.

DOES FOOTBALL MAKE A GOOD

PROPERTY FOR ADVERTISERS?

Students remembered very few of the ads or sponsor brand activities. The one's they recollect were mainly that of sports brands like Nike. This is because their focus & attention on-screen during commercials is lesser. However, football does make an interesting platform for off-screen engagement especially at key touch points where they go to watch the matches. If effectively used, there could be innovative activities done at these spaces around the tournament as the activation would be inclusive, therefore strengthening recall.

Publication: The Economic Times Mumbai;

Date: Jun 9, 2010;

Section: Brand Equity;

Page: 26

Bihar boy's story of rags to radio star

The rollercoaster ride to success of an illiterate Bihar youth, who launched a radio station and promoted social messages on polio, AIDS and other issues but was arrested for illegally running it, has found place in school textbooks.

The story of Raghav, in his mid-20s, and his 'Raghav Radio' has been published by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) in its book Bharat Mein Samajik Parivartan Evam Vikas(Social change and development in India) for Class 12.

The book describes Raghav as a role model for development in society. It highlights his struggle and the difficulties he faced after starting 'Raghav Radio' in Mansoorpur village in Vaishali district.

Raghav, who currently works as the project head of a community radio station in Rajasthan's Ajmer district, told IANS over the phone that his "story in the NCERT book will inspire people, particularly the youths, to make a difference in society".

The book mentions Raghav as being born in a family of agricultural labourers who were too poor to provide him with education.

It was in 2004 that Raghav, who had an electronics repair shop at Gudri Bazar near Mansoorpur and loved to tinker with old equipment, stumbled upon the innovative idea of launching a radio station.

With the old tools and gadgets that he had stored over the years, he launched his radio station that very soon became a hit with the villagers.

The station operated like a community radio service in Muzaffarpur, Vaishali and Saran districts, providing local news and views in the local dialect.

Apart from Hindi songs and news, it provided information about crime in the area, programmes on AIDS awareness, polio eradication, literacy initiatives and news about missing people as well as on local functions and festivals. And all that free of cost.

The media highlighted his story and he became very popular. The union communications ministry took notice too -- but that was to be his undoing.

In 2006, the ministry sought a report on the legality of the private radio station. Raghav did not possess an operating licence as he was too poor to pay the licence fee and too naive to understand that it was illegal.

'Raghav Radio' closed down. The district authorities said it was closed for violating the Indian Telegraphs Act.

The government held him an offender and arrested him for a brief period but for people residing in and around Mansoorpur village, he was a hero.

Later, many NGOs came forward to help him and gave him vocational training.

Impressed by his talent and struggle, the Barefoot College at Tilonia in Rajasthan, run by Bunker Roy, appointed him the head of Barefoot Community Radio Station, the first of its kind in Rajasthan.

The radio service caters to the educational, development and socio-cultural needs of the local community in a radius of six to 10 kilometres through indigenously created broadcast programming.

From an ordinary illiterate youth to becoming someone who has the ability to inspire people through his simple deeds, Raghav has indeed come a long way. And the mission to inform and educate continues.

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