MEDIA
WHEN ISSUES & CONCERNS WENT NATIONAL
In Dec 2009, J. Shriyan, editor, was interviewed by Dr. K. S. Chaitra, for Doordarshn Bangalore Centre for its Kannada Channel 'CHANDANA'. Translated Excerpts.
Chaitra: Having born in a small village, you went to Mega city of Mumbai chasing a bright future and also to continue studies. How did you feel the environment from a village to the city?
J.S.: In 50s and 60s there were few day schools teaching Kannada.To continue my studies, I had to go to one Mogaveera Night School which was nearby, where I completed my SSLC. But the
opportunites for personality development, which day schools offer, I missed in the night school. And that has certainly affected our personality development in general. Joined a college of Commerce to pursue higher studies. In the meanwhile, my father sold his shop and returned to the village. I had to take up employment to support my education and living as well. Managed to pass B.Com, then M.Com and intermediate ICWA. After a break in a low paying job got into a better job. Life saw some improvements.
Chaitra: Despite doing better you went to a Gulf country seeking good future. Despite doing well, after some years you decided to come back to India. You have so much attraction towards motherland?
J.S.: In Gulf countries undoubtedly there are lot of opportunities to make good money. But life wasn’t easy there. I even got opportunity of going to Canada as Entrepreneur. I did not use even that opportunity. Because whether it is Oman or Canada, the aim is to make money only. But the question was after making money there was no vision of what next? Not only that, in such an environment we are only 2nd class or 3rd class citizens. An uneasy feeling, whether making money is the only thing or is there anything we can do for the society? That question always rankled me. I always had the desire to touch the society and reach out to people. Hence when I felt that I had enough money, it’s enough for us, then I left that environment and returned back.
Chaitra: In a world where making more and more money is an all pervading obsession, to know there are likes of you, who says ‘its enough’ and return home to be of service to the motherland, its indeed rare. It’s a good decision. Jana Gana Mana is our national song. You published a book named ‘Jana Gana Mana’, what is it about and why this name?
J.S.: I always had the tendency to take up issues of relevance. But how to go about? We had the opportunity of only writing to the media. So I went on writing. Some times it got published, some times it was going to the waste paper basket. But I did not stop writing. For 20 years, what I had written may be letters or articles, I had the desire of publishing it in a book form. ‘Jana Gana Mana’ is an attempt to tell the world, what a single person initiative can do.
Chaitra: But Why Sir, Only Jana Gana Mana?
J.S.: Anupam Kher who released this book also asked the same question, why this ‘Jana Gana Mana’ for a book. After reading the book he concurred, ‘no other title would have suited book’. Because that is about the people, and the mind of the writer. Then Jana Gana Mana is our national anthem. My wish was that within the title I could convey everything. Anupam Kher also liked it very much. So was my ‘Guru’ M. V. Kamath sir, who wrote the foreword.
Chaitra: In this book you dealt many different issues. One of the important one was, the ‘Tragedy of Somalia’. Why were you so troubled about Somalia tragedy?
J.S: Somalia is a Muslim country. There were different Muslim groups continuously fighting among themselves. Ordinary Somalis were fed up with the situation there. They didn’t have food to eat. No houses. No health care. That was indeed a great tragedy. But in the Muslim world Somalia was not in their radar. Around that time Islamic Conference Organisation was having its meeting. They discussed about Bosnia. Bosnia was a political problem. That was not a human problem. But their attention was there only, Somalia was not discussed. Emperor of Abu Dhabi, also attending the meet, was very upset, that Somalia was not discussed. ‘This Somalia and we, are like brothers. They are part of our brotherhood. We don’t discuss about them when there is a huge tragedy occurred there. This is strange’ he had said. Then I also felt that I should certainly write about this. I had written to the Dubai paper. I had written to the Abu Dhabi Emperor also. I wished him good and commended what he said.
Chaitra: After Somalia tragedy, you have written about the ‘Traffic of Mangalore’. In what way, traffic is creating a problem for the people? What were you saying?
J.S.: Here I just divert a little. In this world, we are told, there are four good things. One is American salary, an Indian wife, a Chinese cook and British discipline. When there are four good things, then must be four comparable-not good-things also. They are, Chinese salary, no body goes there, for $25 salary per week. Then American wife, not many wants to take home to the mother. Then English cook. He doesn’t know how to cook. Lastly Indian discipline. That means in the whole world India is the only country which is most indisciplined. It is my opinion. This question of discipline in traffic is not only for Mangalore but for whole of India. I wrote which I saw, when I was in Mangalore. There is indiscipline in Mangalore traffic. When I say there is indiscipline in traffic, let us take this four laned roads. One is fast track, another is slow track. Which vehicles goes on fast track? They are tankers, bullet tankers, fully laden trucks and auto rickshaws. There is no space for four wheeler private vehicles. Whether police understands this or not, I don’t know. They won’t stop them also. They keep on going. See, when we have to over-take, we can’t over-take from left. That is the rule. We should go on the right only. But how to go? When there is no road at all how can we go? System should understand this. Not only that, I hope that Home Minister of this state sees this programme. He should see this system. He should see the system of the traffic. There is no back light for the trucks, and no number plate. Police don’t do anything. They openly keep going. What can we do? We can only write. Like this.
Chaitra: What ever you told is certainly true. I feel that if we have more discipline in our life then we can make our country better. While writing to important people you also wrote to late Prime Minister Rajeev Gandhi. What did you write?
J.S.: Rajeev Gandhi was a leader of the younger generation. He was not interested to come into politics. But he came. Because of the situation at that time was like that. Younger generation had hopes in him. They had the expectation of what he should do or he may do. I gave an example. In our country, there is no control on price rise. The common people do not understand why it happens. I wrote him that when I was in Oman, before twelve years, one rice plate’s rate was ½ a Riyal. But even after 12 years the rate was ½ Riyal only. In that situation, there was no mechanism to make the common man in India understand this price rise. This price rise in India was causing lot of difficulties to the common people, I wrote to him that he should explain to the people what steps are being taken to control prices.
Chaitra: In the year 2000, you started your own magazine. What was the inspiration for that?
J.S.: I want to tell one thing to every body. Every person, what ever the situation he may be in, we all can make a difference. We can certainly make a difference in the society. How a tiny squirrel did, (to ‘Ram Sethu’) we humans are far superior to squirrels. Therefore in my opinion we all can certainly make the difference. Coming to Issues and Concerns, why this magazine came about? In our main stream media, issues concerning weak and marginalised section of the society is not taken seriously. So as an individual, I had the desire to put my little financial resources and little mental resources together for the purpose. And when I asked my ‘Guru’ M V Kamath sir, he said that ‘you are mad. You are going to waste all your money.’ But, I was so convinced, that there is a serious vacuum and whether I should sit helplessly or I should do something? that desire was very strong. I went on doing, I went on doing. Now nine years are over. We are in the tenth year. As I look back, I strongly feel Issues & Concerns shall succeed.
Chaitra: In your way to journalism, how were the early years of the magazine?
J.S.: When I started, one said ‘you have gone mad’. Another said ‘you have got lot of money’. I said both are partially true. When one is doing this kind of work, he must be little mad, and I should be prepared to spend money from my pocket. Because all that we have, we got from this society. What should we give back to the society? is a question that must come to everybody’s mind. Only then there are the possibilities of change in our society. In my opinion every body must contribute to the society, if a society has to come forward. It is important.
Chaitra: Can you share some of the important topics you have focused on in your Issues & Concerns?
J.S.: We discussed about the population problem in the first issue, since that is the problem of all the problems. This is the biggest problem among all problems. Our country is second in population. We are seeing how much our infrastructures have been stretched by this problem. If we do not control this, we certainly cannot be a super power. How we will become super power, when half of our population, some 500 million people, are still shitting in open. If we didn’t have that much population, would we come to this situation? This question every government should ask. In my opinion there is no population policy in our country. There should be a separate minister for population affairs.
Chaitra: Child labour is the other important problem which you discussed. What have you to say on this menace?
J.S.: When you see a helpless child we understand. He doesn’t know where to go. Any system which puts a small helpless boy in a helpless situation is always very bad, and who ever exploits his helpless situation, they are the enemies of the society.
Chaitra: You have discussed problems of naxals and shared your thoughts with the readers. Can you tell us some of the important points?
J.S. In every system there is an action and reaction. This naxalism is a reaction to what has happened. Naxalism has come up as a result of what happened in our society. That’s all. Therefore in this situation we have to think what we have to do. But violence is an absolute ‘No’. We are Mahatma Gandhi’s nation. Dialogues is the only solution for all our problems. My opinion is that we can go further only if there are dialogues.
Chaitra: In the same way, these days we are hearing about more farmers committing suicides. What is your opinion?
J.S.: This one also, is the fall-out of our system’s irrational approach. Farmers are experiencing difficulties. And every government is doing something. And that something is incomplete. Agrarian crisis need a comprehensive relook.
Chaitra: Having successfully reached the people, through your magazine, you started a trust through your magazine. What is the reason for that?
J.S: As I already stated we all can make a difference. We have only taken from the society. We are making everything as one way traffic, ‘Swaaha’. We don’t think about what we have to give. We only think of our home, our children, and our family. But we all have a soul. That soul will keep on asking us, aren’t we indebted to anyone? Everything we have is from the society. What are we giving back to the society? That question always disturbed me. This trust is a small attempt to answer that question.
Chaitra: Under your trust you have this ‘Child Reach Out Programme’ of providing safe drinking water to school children. Where you started?
J.S.: There is a Lions Club nearby, which has a special school for differently abled children. The first aqua guard was fixed there. Here what we need to know, is according to UNDP report, India is 128th rank in the list of 177 countries, indicating poor Human Development Index. After 62 years as a free nation, we could not ensure safe drinking water to our people. Most of the diseases, we all know, are water borne. Here my first interest was to provide safe drinking water to these children from marginalized sections, at Municipal Schools.
Chaitra: Now you have had this programme in seven schools. Almost 2000 children are getting the benefit of this facility. In the same way you have been distributing biscuits to the children. We know that children like the biscuits. But why distributing the biscuits only?
J.S.: If you see the latest report of UNICEF, India is having the highest number of malnutritioned children. Does it look nice to a country which is trying to become a super power? Our government should try to answer this question. Biscuit distribution is a small effort at addressing the problem of this malnutrition. Unlike other food products biscuit has got better shelf life, hence if we fail to give it one day it can be given on the next day also. There is no problem. Here it is important to observe that our South Canara district stands 2nd in per- capita income, only after Chandigarh. Even in such a district there are children who have never seen biscuits. That is the tragedy of our system. We have to identify this. For that purpose I tried to distribute biscuits. It is an ongoing activity.
Chaitra: Being very much concerned about children, besides distributing biscuits to the children and providing safe drinking water facility, you are also providing different kinds of charts and picture photos which are helpful for educating the children. From this, did they get help?
J.S.: In these Municipal schools the need to involve children in the process of learning is not appreciated. Teachers there do not understand the need for these charts. After all the basis of all learning is to incite questions. These charts do help a child ask incisive questions. I believe they help greatly in the process of learning.
Chaitra: In society, we hear only speeches being made on social harmony but you are also working towards it. You have written a book, ‘Saare Jahan Se Acchha’ and you had conducted several meetings. What are your thoughts about that?
J.S.: Ours is a pluralistic society. Here there are different types of people of different religions. Our India is a model to the whole world. We should maintain that model. Some problems will certainly happen. We should manage it without blowing it big and we all should think that we are all human beings. Because in this society we don’t need walls, we need bridges. But we are only constructing walls. We should not make vote bank politics. For every party, I will only tell to treat all of them as humans. We should try to touch them. Then society will definitely improve. I feel
that we should create a society of interdependence.
Chaitra: As a senior journalist what would you like to say to others?
J.S.: Man is selfish. But man has got a bit of god in him, as we all know. Between the selfishness and god, we are all there. I feel that we have to share the beauty of our soul with others. What ever may be our profession, in journalism and in this media there are lot of opportunities. We have to leave our selfishness and try to touch the people with selflessness.
As ‘Manku Timmana kagga’ has said
Hullaagu bettadadi, manege malligeyaagu, Kallaagu kashtagala maleya vidhisuriye
Bella sakkareyaagu deena durbalarige, Ellarolagondaagu – Manku Timma
(Be a meadow below the mountain, Be a jasmine to your dwelling,
When difficulties surround you, be like a stone,
Be a sweetened candy to the weak and vulnerable, Be one among all)
In Dec 2009, J. Shriyan, editor, was interviewed by Dr. K. S. Chaitra, for Doordarshn Bangalore Centre for its Kannada Channel 'CHANDANA'. Translated Excerpts.
Chaitra: Having born in a small village, you went to Mega city of Mumbai chasing a bright future and also to continue studies. How did you feel the environment from a village to the city?
J.S.: In 50s and 60s there were few day schools teaching Kannada.To continue my studies, I had to go to one Mogaveera Night School which was nearby, where I completed my SSLC. But the
opportunites for personality development, which day schools offer, I missed in the night school. And that has certainly affected our personality development in general. Joined a college of Commerce to pursue higher studies. In the meanwhile, my father sold his shop and returned to the village. I had to take up employment to support my education and living as well. Managed to pass B.Com, then M.Com and intermediate ICWA. After a break in a low paying job got into a better job. Life saw some improvements.Chaitra: Despite doing better you went to a Gulf country seeking good future. Despite doing well, after some years you decided to come back to India. You have so much attraction towards motherland?
J.S.: In Gulf countries undoubtedly there are lot of opportunities to make good money. But life wasn’t easy there. I even got opportunity of going to Canada as Entrepreneur. I did not use even that opportunity. Because whether it is Oman or Canada, the aim is to make money only. But the question was after making money there was no vision of what next? Not only that, in such an environment we are only 2nd class or 3rd class citizens. An uneasy feeling, whether making money is the only thing or is there anything we can do for the society? That question always rankled me. I always had the desire to touch the society and reach out to people. Hence when I felt that I had enough money, it’s enough for us, then I left that environment and returned back.
Chaitra: In a world where making more and more money is an all pervading obsession, to know there are likes of you, who says ‘its enough’ and return home to be of service to the motherland, its indeed rare. It’s a good decision. Jana Gana Mana is our national song. You published a book named ‘Jana Gana Mana’, what is it about and why this name?
J.S.: I always had the tendency to take up issues of relevance. But how to go about? We had the opportunity of only writing to the media. So I went on writing. Some times it got published, some times it was going to the waste paper basket. But I did not stop writing. For 20 years, what I had written may be letters or articles, I had the desire of publishing it in a book form. ‘Jana Gana Mana’ is an attempt to tell the world, what a single person initiative can do.
Chaitra: But Why Sir, Only Jana Gana Mana?
J.S.: Anupam Kher who released this book also asked the same question, why this ‘Jana Gana Mana’ for a book. After reading the book he concurred, ‘no other title would have suited book’. Because that is about the people, and the mind of the writer. Then Jana Gana Mana is our national anthem. My wish was that within the title I could convey everything. Anupam Kher also liked it very much. So was my ‘Guru’ M. V. Kamath sir, who wrote the foreword.
Chaitra: In this book you dealt many different issues. One of the important one was, the ‘Tragedy of Somalia’. Why were you so troubled about Somalia tragedy?
J.S: Somalia is a Muslim country. There were different Muslim groups continuously fighting among themselves. Ordinary Somalis were fed up with the situation there. They didn’t have food to eat. No houses. No health care. That was indeed a great tragedy. But in the Muslim world Somalia was not in their radar. Around that time Islamic Conference Organisation was having its meeting. They discussed about Bosnia. Bosnia was a political problem. That was not a human problem. But their attention was there only, Somalia was not discussed. Emperor of Abu Dhabi, also attending the meet, was very upset, that Somalia was not discussed. ‘This Somalia and we, are like brothers. They are part of our brotherhood. We don’t discuss about them when there is a huge tragedy occurred there. This is strange’ he had said. Then I also felt that I should certainly write about this. I had written to the Dubai paper. I had written to the Abu Dhabi Emperor also. I wished him good and commended what he said.
Chaitra: After Somalia tragedy, you have written about the ‘Traffic of Mangalore’. In what way, traffic is creating a problem for the people? What were you saying?
J.S.: Here I just divert a little. In this world, we are told, there are four good things. One is American salary, an Indian wife, a Chinese cook and British discipline. When there are four good things, then must be four comparable-not good-things also. They are, Chinese salary, no body goes there, for $25 salary per week. Then American wife, not many wants to take home to the mother. Then English cook. He doesn’t know how to cook. Lastly Indian discipline. That means in the whole world India is the only country which is most indisciplined. It is my opinion. This question of discipline in traffic is not only for Mangalore but for whole of India. I wrote which I saw, when I was in Mangalore. There is indiscipline in Mangalore traffic. When I say there is indiscipline in traffic, let us take this four laned roads. One is fast track, another is slow track. Which vehicles goes on fast track? They are tankers, bullet tankers, fully laden trucks and auto rickshaws. There is no space for four wheeler private vehicles. Whether police understands this or not, I don’t know. They won’t stop them also. They keep on going. See, when we have to over-take, we can’t over-take from left. That is the rule. We should go on the right only. But how to go? When there is no road at all how can we go? System should understand this. Not only that, I hope that Home Minister of this state sees this programme. He should see this system. He should see the system of the traffic. There is no back light for the trucks, and no number plate. Police don’t do anything. They openly keep going. What can we do? We can only write. Like this.
Chaitra: What ever you told is certainly true. I feel that if we have more discipline in our life then we can make our country better. While writing to important people you also wrote to late Prime Minister Rajeev Gandhi. What did you write?
J.S.: Rajeev Gandhi was a leader of the younger generation. He was not interested to come into politics. But he came. Because of the situation at that time was like that. Younger generation had hopes in him. They had the expectation of what he should do or he may do. I gave an example. In our country, there is no control on price rise. The common people do not understand why it happens. I wrote him that when I was in Oman, before twelve years, one rice plate’s rate was ½ a Riyal. But even after 12 years the rate was ½ Riyal only. In that situation, there was no mechanism to make the common man in India understand this price rise. This price rise in India was causing lot of difficulties to the common people, I wrote to him that he should explain to the people what steps are being taken to control prices.
Chaitra: In the year 2000, you started your own magazine. What was the inspiration for that?
J.S.: I want to tell one thing to every body. Every person, what ever the situation he may be in, we all can make a difference. We can certainly make a difference in the society. How a tiny squirrel did, (to ‘Ram Sethu’) we humans are far superior to squirrels. Therefore in my opinion we all can certainly make the difference. Coming to Issues and Concerns, why this magazine came about? In our main stream media, issues concerning weak and marginalised section of the society is not taken seriously. So as an individual, I had the desire to put my little financial resources and little mental resources together for the purpose. And when I asked my ‘Guru’ M V Kamath sir, he said that ‘you are mad. You are going to waste all your money.’ But, I was so convinced, that there is a serious vacuum and whether I should sit helplessly or I should do something? that desire was very strong. I went on doing, I went on doing. Now nine years are over. We are in the tenth year. As I look back, I strongly feel Issues & Concerns shall succeed.
Chaitra: In your way to journalism, how were the early years of the magazine?
J.S.: When I started, one said ‘you have gone mad’. Another said ‘you have got lot of money’. I said both are partially true. When one is doing this kind of work, he must be little mad, and I should be prepared to spend money from my pocket. Because all that we have, we got from this society. What should we give back to the society? is a question that must come to everybody’s mind. Only then there are the possibilities of change in our society. In my opinion every body must contribute to the society, if a society has to come forward. It is important.
Chaitra: Can you share some of the important topics you have focused on in your Issues & Concerns?
J.S.: We discussed about the population problem in the first issue, since that is the problem of all the problems. This is the biggest problem among all problems. Our country is second in population. We are seeing how much our infrastructures have been stretched by this problem. If we do not control this, we certainly cannot be a super power. How we will become super power, when half of our population, some 500 million people, are still shitting in open. If we didn’t have that much population, would we come to this situation? This question every government should ask. In my opinion there is no population policy in our country. There should be a separate minister for population affairs.
Chaitra: Child labour is the other important problem which you discussed. What have you to say on this menace?
J.S.: When you see a helpless child we understand. He doesn’t know where to go. Any system which puts a small helpless boy in a helpless situation is always very bad, and who ever exploits his helpless situation, they are the enemies of the society.
Chaitra: You have discussed problems of naxals and shared your thoughts with the readers. Can you tell us some of the important points?
J.S. In every system there is an action and reaction. This naxalism is a reaction to what has happened. Naxalism has come up as a result of what happened in our society. That’s all. Therefore in this situation we have to think what we have to do. But violence is an absolute ‘No’. We are Mahatma Gandhi’s nation. Dialogues is the only solution for all our problems. My opinion is that we can go further only if there are dialogues.
Chaitra: In the same way, these days we are hearing about more farmers committing suicides. What is your opinion?
J.S.: This one also, is the fall-out of our system’s irrational approach. Farmers are experiencing difficulties. And every government is doing something. And that something is incomplete. Agrarian crisis need a comprehensive relook.
Chaitra: Having successfully reached the people, through your magazine, you started a trust through your magazine. What is the reason for that?
J.S: As I already stated we all can make a difference. We have only taken from the society. We are making everything as one way traffic, ‘Swaaha’. We don’t think about what we have to give. We only think of our home, our children, and our family. But we all have a soul. That soul will keep on asking us, aren’t we indebted to anyone? Everything we have is from the society. What are we giving back to the society? That question always disturbed me. This trust is a small attempt to answer that question.
Chaitra: Under your trust you have this ‘Child Reach Out Programme’ of providing safe drinking water to school children. Where you started?
J.S.: There is a Lions Club nearby, which has a special school for differently abled children. The first aqua guard was fixed there. Here what we need to know, is according to UNDP report, India is 128th rank in the list of 177 countries, indicating poor Human Development Index. After 62 years as a free nation, we could not ensure safe drinking water to our people. Most of the diseases, we all know, are water borne. Here my first interest was to provide safe drinking water to these children from marginalized sections, at Municipal Schools.
Chaitra: Now you have had this programme in seven schools. Almost 2000 children are getting the benefit of this facility. In the same way you have been distributing biscuits to the children. We know that children like the biscuits. But why distributing the biscuits only?
J.S.: If you see the latest report of UNICEF, India is having the highest number of malnutritioned children. Does it look nice to a country which is trying to become a super power? Our government should try to answer this question. Biscuit distribution is a small effort at addressing the problem of this malnutrition. Unlike other food products biscuit has got better shelf life, hence if we fail to give it one day it can be given on the next day also. There is no problem. Here it is important to observe that our South Canara district stands 2nd in per- capita income, only after Chandigarh. Even in such a district there are children who have never seen biscuits. That is the tragedy of our system. We have to identify this. For that purpose I tried to distribute biscuits. It is an ongoing activity.
Chaitra: Being very much concerned about children, besides distributing biscuits to the children and providing safe drinking water facility, you are also providing different kinds of charts and picture photos which are helpful for educating the children. From this, did they get help?
J.S.: In these Municipal schools the need to involve children in the process of learning is not appreciated. Teachers there do not understand the need for these charts. After all the basis of all learning is to incite questions. These charts do help a child ask incisive questions. I believe they help greatly in the process of learning.
Chaitra: In society, we hear only speeches being made on social harmony but you are also working towards it. You have written a book, ‘Saare Jahan Se Acchha’ and you had conducted several meetings. What are your thoughts about that?
J.S.: Ours is a pluralistic society. Here there are different types of people of different religions. Our India is a model to the whole world. We should maintain that model. Some problems will certainly happen. We should manage it without blowing it big and we all should think that we are all human beings. Because in this society we don’t need walls, we need bridges. But we are only constructing walls. We should not make vote bank politics. For every party, I will only tell to treat all of them as humans. We should try to touch them. Then society will definitely improve. I feel
that we should create a society of interdependence.
Chaitra: As a senior journalist what would you like to say to others?
J.S.: Man is selfish. But man has got a bit of god in him, as we all know. Between the selfishness and god, we are all there. I feel that we have to share the beauty of our soul with others. What ever may be our profession, in journalism and in this media there are lot of opportunities. We have to leave our selfishness and try to touch the people with selflessness.
As ‘Manku Timmana kagga’ has said
Hullaagu bettadadi, manege malligeyaagu, Kallaagu kashtagala maleya vidhisuriye
Bella sakkareyaagu deena durbalarige, Ellarolagondaagu – Manku Timma
(Be a meadow below the mountain, Be a jasmine to your dwelling,
When difficulties surround you, be like a stone,
Be a sweetened candy to the weak and vulnerable, Be one among all)
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