Khasi daily completes fifty years
The newspaper that fought for Meghalaya’s statehood and reported on the struggle to gain it has turned 50. TERESA REHMAN traces its history
It's true. Just as Northeast India does not interest ‘mainstream' Indian media, the region too remains unmindful of the hullabaloo in the big media houses of the country. As the country is engrossed in one of the biggest media scandals involving some of the iconic journalists, a small vernacular daily in Meghalaya quietly celebrated its golden jubilee.
The ‘indifference' was no different in the sixties when U Nongsain Hima, literally meaning ‘The Nation Builder' was launched. The oldest Khasi daily was launched on December 6, 1960 with to reach out to the masses during the peaceful statehood movement, also known as the Hill State Movement. This need was felt because the then mainstream newspapers like Hindustan Standard published from Kolkata did not represent the struggle accurately. This daily in the Khasi language has been catering to local sentiments and playing a crucial role in carving the edifice of Meghalaya.
Lambok Thabah, Editor of the newspaper says, “Newspapers published from outside tried to downplay the movement. The founders of the newspaper like Late Prof. G G Swell felt it was pertinent to start something which gave a local flavour and popularize the movement.” In keeping with the objective, U Nongsaiñ Hima did extensive coverage of the political upheaval during that time which eventually paved the way for the creation of Meghalaya in 1972.
Apart from its contribution to the history of Meghalaya, this newspaper has overcoming all kinds of constraints associated with the vernacular press. The daily which started as a weekly has now crossed the 50 year milestone recently. “It is a great moment for them as well as for the press fraternity,” says David Laiphlang, President of the Shillong Press Club.
Listing limitations of the vernacular press Laiphlang says they cannot afford good quality newsprint, advertisements from the private sector are not forthcoming, government advertisements are doled out at Rs 75 per column cm whereas the standard new rate is in sq cm, the bills for these advertisements are recovered after 3-4 years and the newspapers cannot afford quality human resources.
U Nongsaiñ Hima is one of the five vernacular dailies published from Shillong ' four in Khasi and one in the Garo language. Thabah claims that his newspaper is the highest selling daily with 25,000 copies per day. “We are the only Khasi daily which has received a certificate on the circulation data from the Audit Bureau of Circulation,'' he adds.
Prasanta J Baruah, Executive Editor of The Assam Tribune writes, “Apart from spot news, most of the Khasi dailies provide ample space to crime and political reports. With the appointment of district correspondents, the emphasis on rural reporting has also gone up. Interestingly, most of the newspapers provide space in the inside pages for religious articles. Being a Christian majority state, this is not surprising. With all the newspaper being printed in colour and attractive layouts, people in the state today have a wide choice of newspapers.”
U Nongsain Hima too has witnessed technological upgradation associated with most media houses. S S Syiem, who was the editor of the newspaper from 1992 to 2003 recalls how everything was in black and white and there were no computers. “We had a tough time convincing private companies to give us advertisements. On an average, our circulation ranged from 8,000 to 9,000 copies. Our newspaper was widely read by the Khasi people, specially in the district headquarters,” he says.
As in most local dailies from the region, U Nongsain Hima is also not without political leanings. Veteran Hill State Movement leaders like G G Swell, former Deputy Speaker of the Rajya Sabha and former Chief Minister late E K Mawlang have been associated with the newspaper. In fact, A R Lyndoh, wife of Mawlang has been the publisher of the newspaper for the past 27 years.
Thabah says, “Though the genesis of the newspaper was political we have moved on since then. I have been the editor for the past five years and have found no interference from the management. Our editorial team can proudly claim that we have been functioning independently.”
More than a repository of history of the media in the state, the newspaper also has an important role in strengthening the native language. “We have been preserving our language particularly through articles written by various thinkers and scholars. Completion of 50 years is a proud achievement for us,” adds Thabah. The newspaper which was launched as a weekly in 1960 was turned into a daily in August 1992.
The daily is planning a year-long celebration next year with a series of events. They are also planning to raise the number of pages from eight to 12. The newspaper will also try to meet some of its dedicated old readers.
ends
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Poppy and her friends bake the perfect career
Teresa Rehman meets spirited young women who are wheelchair- bound and affected by polio, but turn out the best cookies and cakes ever. Fiercely independent, they are training to be self-employed and self-reliant
The aroma of freshly-baked cakes and biscuits wafts through the air as Poppy Borgohain(26) animatedly describes why her golden-brown biscuits with their crusty tops are delightfully soft and flaky inside when one bites into them. Poppy loves baking. She is the happiest when she is in a kitchen working with different ingredients, trying out new recipes and whipping up batches of sweet cookies or crunchy savouries.
Baking is a newfound passion in Poppy’s life, which has witnessed a series of rough patches. Poppy was paralysed on one side of her body when she was only seven, and after she failed to clear her Class 10 examinations, she was really unhappy and clueless about her future. She and her family, particularly her mother Anita, a homemaker, were finding it difficult to come to terms with her disability. Says Anita, “I kept wishing that my daughter could do something worthwhile and be independent. I didn’t want her to sit idle.”
It was at that point that Poppy heard about the one-year vocational training course in catering, housekeeping and food processing being offered at Sishu Sarothi, a centre for the rehabilitation and training of youngsters with multiple disabilities in Guwahati.
Bright future
Supported by the Foundation for Social Transformation (FST) and with a faculty drawn from the Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology & Applied Nutrition (IHM) and the North East Hotel Management Institute (NEHMI), the centre is popular among youth with disabilities ranging from polio and cerebral palsy to multiple sclerosis and locomotor dysfunction.
Ever since Poppy and her 10 other classmates — nine of whom are girls — have become familiar with baking, life is, quite literally, light and sweet, much like the oven-fresh goodies they make in class.
And, for most of them baking is something novel because they had never seen an oven until they stepped into ‘Sishu Sarothi’. Now, of course, they can’t imagine their daily routine without it.
Poppy, who moves around with the help of crutches, is enthusiastic about her future. So is her mother, who finds her biscuits tastier than the ones available in the market. Poppy now hopes to find a job at the bakery unit of a big hotel in Guwahati.
Just like Poppy, Silsila Das (20), who is wheelchair-bound, enjoys her baking lessons. She quickly rattles off the names of all the goodies she can bake with ease — cakes, pastries, buns, pizzas, breads and biscuits. “I hope to start my own bakery some day,” she says with a smile.
Rashmi Baruwa, co-ordinator of the project at ‘Sishu Sarothi’, understands the aspirations of girls like Poppy and Silsila. She also realises that although they have the same entitlements as their non-disabled peers, very few of them are able to enjoy equal educational and training opportunities. And, life for a disabled woman is even more challenging. This is why the work being done at ‘Sishu Sarothi’ is so significant.
Orders for X’mas cakes
Rashmi says, “We aim to empower differently-abled girls to become skilled, self-reliant and productive members of society. The programme is meant to bridge the educational divide, multiply opportunities and end discrimination.”
Trainees are taken on a study tour for an on-the-spot demonstration of various sub-sectors of catering technology at IHM. Silsila especially enjoys the practice sessions, where she tries out various goodies like biscuits, breads, cakes and pastries, muffins, buns, pizzas and sandwiches, along with fruit squashes, chutneys, pickles, and more.
“Goodies baked during the practice sessions are sold to in-house staff and the sale proceeds are utilised for purchasing raw materials and ingredients for the practice sessions. We also take orders for parties and meetings and have been delivering them successfully,” she says with a sense of pride. Now they are also looking forward to taking orders for Christmas cakes.
Dealing with a group of differently-abled girls has been a challenging exercise for the instructors as well. Baruwa says, “Our main hurdle is dealing with a group of differently-abled girls with restricted mobility and communication abilities, a weak memory and a low functional activity level. Sometimes, we have to repeat the lessons. But these students have picked up remarkably well.”
Jharna Sinha, an instructor of bakery is a satisfied woman today. “I had earlier conducted classes for homemakers, brides-to-be and busy professionals. But this is a diverse set of students with different sets of disabilities. Some can’t write while some can’t weigh. But they overcome their shortcomings by making a collective effort. I am really happy with their progress,” she says.
Sinha points out that though it might be difficult for some of her students to work in a general bakery they can definitely be good at on-counter selling, documentation, or as entrepreneurs and supervisors. “They have the basic knowledge of the different processes in baking. I am confident that their skills will be appreciated in any baking unit. A bakery is after all a business and profit matters. With knowledge and work comes respect. If a disabled person can work sincerely, they will definitely be an asset in this sector,” she says.
“Some can even opt to make products at home and supply them to the various outlets in hotels and shops. Others can offer baking lessons at home. The opportunities are many and waiting to be tapped,” she adds.
Women’s Feature Service
Teresa Rehman meets spirited young women who are wheelchair- bound and affected by polio, but turn out the best cookies and cakes ever. Fiercely independent, they are training to be self-employed and self-reliant
The aroma of freshly-baked cakes and biscuits wafts through the air as Poppy Borgohain(26) animatedly describes why her golden-brown biscuits with their crusty tops are delightfully soft and flaky inside when one bites into them. Poppy loves baking. She is the happiest when she is in a kitchen working with different ingredients, trying out new recipes and whipping up batches of sweet cookies or crunchy savouries.
Baking is a newfound passion in Poppy’s life, which has witnessed a series of rough patches. Poppy was paralysed on one side of her body when she was only seven, and after she failed to clear her Class 10 examinations, she was really unhappy and clueless about her future. She and her family, particularly her mother Anita, a homemaker, were finding it difficult to come to terms with her disability. Says Anita, “I kept wishing that my daughter could do something worthwhile and be independent. I didn’t want her to sit idle.”
It was at that point that Poppy heard about the one-year vocational training course in catering, housekeeping and food processing being offered at Sishu Sarothi, a centre for the rehabilitation and training of youngsters with multiple disabilities in Guwahati.
Bright future
Supported by the Foundation for Social Transformation (FST) and with a faculty drawn from the Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology & Applied Nutrition (IHM) and the North East Hotel Management Institute (NEHMI), the centre is popular among youth with disabilities ranging from polio and cerebral palsy to multiple sclerosis and locomotor dysfunction.
Ever since Poppy and her 10 other classmates — nine of whom are girls — have become familiar with baking, life is, quite literally, light and sweet, much like the oven-fresh goodies they make in class.
And, for most of them baking is something novel because they had never seen an oven until they stepped into ‘Sishu Sarothi’. Now, of course, they can’t imagine their daily routine without it.
Poppy, who moves around with the help of crutches, is enthusiastic about her future. So is her mother, who finds her biscuits tastier than the ones available in the market. Poppy now hopes to find a job at the bakery unit of a big hotel in Guwahati.
Just like Poppy, Silsila Das (20), who is wheelchair-bound, enjoys her baking lessons. She quickly rattles off the names of all the goodies she can bake with ease — cakes, pastries, buns, pizzas, breads and biscuits. “I hope to start my own bakery some day,” she says with a smile.
Rashmi Baruwa, co-ordinator of the project at ‘Sishu Sarothi’, understands the aspirations of girls like Poppy and Silsila. She also realises that although they have the same entitlements as their non-disabled peers, very few of them are able to enjoy equal educational and training opportunities. And, life for a disabled woman is even more challenging. This is why the work being done at ‘Sishu Sarothi’ is so significant.
Orders for X’mas cakes
Rashmi says, “We aim to empower differently-abled girls to become skilled, self-reliant and productive members of society. The programme is meant to bridge the educational divide, multiply opportunities and end discrimination.”
Trainees are taken on a study tour for an on-the-spot demonstration of various sub-sectors of catering technology at IHM. Silsila especially enjoys the practice sessions, where she tries out various goodies like biscuits, breads, cakes and pastries, muffins, buns, pizzas and sandwiches, along with fruit squashes, chutneys, pickles, and more.
“Goodies baked during the practice sessions are sold to in-house staff and the sale proceeds are utilised for purchasing raw materials and ingredients for the practice sessions. We also take orders for parties and meetings and have been delivering them successfully,” she says with a sense of pride. Now they are also looking forward to taking orders for Christmas cakes.
Dealing with a group of differently-abled girls has been a challenging exercise for the instructors as well. Baruwa says, “Our main hurdle is dealing with a group of differently-abled girls with restricted mobility and communication abilities, a weak memory and a low functional activity level. Sometimes, we have to repeat the lessons. But these students have picked up remarkably well.”
Jharna Sinha, an instructor of bakery is a satisfied woman today. “I had earlier conducted classes for homemakers, brides-to-be and busy professionals. But this is a diverse set of students with different sets of disabilities. Some can’t write while some can’t weigh. But they overcome their shortcomings by making a collective effort. I am really happy with their progress,” she says.
Sinha points out that though it might be difficult for some of her students to work in a general bakery they can definitely be good at on-counter selling, documentation, or as entrepreneurs and supervisors. “They have the basic knowledge of the different processes in baking. I am confident that their skills will be appreciated in any baking unit. A bakery is after all a business and profit matters. With knowledge and work comes respect. If a disabled person can work sincerely, they will definitely be an asset in this sector,” she says.
“Some can even opt to make products at home and supply them to the various outlets in hotels and shops. Others can offer baking lessons at home. The opportunities are many and waiting to be tapped,” she adds.
Women’s Feature Service
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