A different kind of Durga Puja in 2020, all thanks to Corona

Published in Best Media Info

A different kind of Durga Puja in 2020, all thanks to Corona

The pandemic has forced most of us to remain indoors and limit the festivities, but no virus has the ability to dampen a Bengali’s Durga Puja spirit. So what if there are a few pandals? A Bengali can celebrate Durga Puja from anywhere —  even from homes!

  https://bestmediainfo.com/2020/10/a-different-kind-of-durga-puja-in-2020-all-thanks-to-corona/

Kakoli Thakur | Delhi | October 22, 2020

Durga Puja is an emotion for a Bengali which only a Bengali can understand. But this year, an invisible virus has entered our lives, forcing us to adjust to a new way of life — ‘the new normal’ of maintaining social distance and wearing masks.

So what are we missing out this year?

To start with, puja shopping starts a month ago or even more for some. This time as it was not safe to visit crowded markets, most of the shopping was done online; at least the sensible ones did so. So we already missed the craze of puja crowds in markets, trying out dozens of clothes in trial rooms. Though some disturbing pictures are doing the rounds where people are seen crowding markets for last-minute puja shopping even amid the corona threat.

Before puja days, we all ask each other “kota holo”, (how many dresses this year?) and fashion is one of the main topics of discussion. This year we can’t do that in our puja pandal but we can always video call our friends and relatives and show off our new dresses.

We will miss eating bhog, especially khichuri-labra in community pandals. Yes we can make it at home but we will miss for sure that taste and the wonderful community feeling.

The late risers will miss the Ashtami puspanjali as in most pandals, only limited people will be allowed, so first-come, first-served basis will apply mostly. So the late comers, this year you don’t have the chance to request the purohit (again and again) to do another round of puspanjali!

Witnessing and experiencing puja rituals sitting in front of Ma Durga give us goose bumps. This year, most pandals will live stream those moments. So at least something is better than nothing, the perks of having internet.

Puja evenings mean eating out and having all kinds of food — rolls, biryani, chop, cutlet and what not. This year, there are no food stalls in pandals. But you can always put on your chef’s hat and fulfil those food cravings.

Cultural programmes are a major attraction during puja, staying at the pandal till the wee hours and indulging in a lot of adda (chit-chat). This year due to restrictions, we have to behave like early birds. But nobody can stop us from playing antakshri at home and dance to the dhak beats, chanting “Durga Mai Ki Jai”.

Pandal hopping will take a backseat as it’s no use traveling the whole city to each and every pandal as most won’t allow any sort of crowds. But at night, you can try to visit one or two nearby pandals and have Ma’s darshan.

Wearing mask is compulsory, so a no make-up look will also do. Especially, lipstick would be of no use. So ladies, don’t dig a hole in your pocket on make-up. But I am sure as it is Puja time, most of you will put full make-up, even below the mask.

Kola kuli (hugging each other) on Dashami gives us a warm feeling after bidding an emotional adieu to Ma Durga. This year we have to say Shubho Bijoya only with a nomoskar. But we will definitely say “Ashche bochor abar hobe” (Ma Durga will visit us next year as well), with the hope that everything will be back to normal in the next Puja and we Bengalies will again go crazy, asking “Pujor koto din baki re” (How many days left for Puja) — months before the actual date.

 

A different kind of Durga Puja in 2020, all thanks to Corona

 

 

Coding: Need of the hour or just FOMO

 https://bestmediainfo.com/2020/09/coding-need-of-the-hour-or-just-fomo/

Coding: Need of the hour or just FOMO 

Coding is all over social media and TV these days. The government plans to introduce coding from class 6. But is the hype really justified? What should be the ripe age to teach coding to kids? Is exposing kids as small as five or six to coding good?

I came across the word ‘coding’ on social media when celebrity influencers were seen talking about it, often arguing that it is the most ‘in’ thing and that is why they are enrolling their children for the course. It was all over on most social media platforms, so it was bound to catch my attention again and again.

When the Government of India introduced the National Education Policy 2020, one of the prominent reforms was the initiation of classes on ‘coding’ for students from class 6. The argument is introducing coding and increasing exposure to technology at a young age will help the youth lead the way to a world of innovation and creativity, and give them an opportunity to set their goals and reach new heights. So it made me think more about coding.

But while talking to a professor in NEHU (North-Eastern Hill University), it made me ponder. He was talking about ads, promoting teaching coding to very young kids. He says, “This really baffles me to see how this new phenomenon is being pushed into our lives. Kids are meant to play, let them be kids and not a programmer. It is worrying that parents are going with the flow, and people are calling me to teach coding to their kids.”    

I told him that if the new education policy is implemented, then they might introduce coding from class 6 in schools. To that he smiled and said, “Class 6 is still acceptable, but primary level?”

The death of Sushant Singh Rajput was all over the news and one of the things that was said about him was that he was intelligent, a thinker and a visionary. After the announcement of several reforms under the New Education Policy, a clip of Sushant Singh Rajput's video went viral, where he was stressing on the need to have coding in school curriculum. "65% of the students who are going to kindergarten this year will do jobs in technology that we haven't invented yet," Sushant said in an old interview, adding that in a situation like this, even schools are clueless as to what to teach. He said coding will have to be included in the curriculum as this is going to be the language we will need in the next few years. So I got another point to convince myself that yes, may be coding is the future.

Immediately after, I came across one such ad on social media promoting free one-hour coding session on weekends for children up to 14 years. The ad had the picture of Sundar Pichai, the Chief Executive Officer of Alphabet Inc. and its subsidiary Google LLC. To be frank, the picture of Pichai convinced me more to give a thought about it as I have a 12-year-old at home. In the comment section, a lot of parents even enquired whether Pichai would take the session. But I was sure he won’t. But still, we registered for our son and finally the day came.

After a few initial glitches, the class started. And we were in the next room, we could hear our son’s voice on and off. After about 45 minutes, we just thought we should peep what our son was doing. And we could see him engrossed in the session. After the session was over, the teacher called us to give feedback about our son. We could make from our son’s face that he liked the session. The teacher told us that they don’t try to convince all parents to enrol their kids for the course but only do that when they see real interest in the children. And that our son had completed the session successfully. They also sent us the programing he made with the help of the online teacher. The education counsellor tried hard to convince us, but for now, we said no to enrolling for the classes as his exam was going on — even though we are bombarded with emails almost every day.

Meanwhile, one of the ads being telecast on television and is all over social media.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjmGvPD5A7s

Whenever our son sees this ad, he keeps on reminding us that he really liked the coding session.

We told him that let’s see if coding is introduced in school in the next academic session. If yes, then definitely he could choose that option. If no, then we would enrol him in some coding course for a month in the next summer vacations.

My son will be in class 8 next year and I will be happy if coding is introduced in schools. I am okay with it because he understood it and he is really interested to explore more of it.

My son is old enough to understand if he should go for coding or if he has that aptitude so that he can pursue it further in life.

Now the question remains how right is it to force children as young as six or seven years to introduce coding in their lives — in fact most coding ads show very young children who seem to be very happy making their own apps, marking it as some kind of achievement.

In fact, there have been studies galore on how over-exposure to technology can have a negative bearing on children and lead to health and psychological problems. Social media users have also not taken kindly to the carpet-bombing of coding ads, perceiving them as an intention to force-feed parents into accepting coding — creating some kind of FOMO (fear of missing out).

Should parents go with the flow just because it’s all over social media? Or should we not let kids be happy in their own beautiful world and enjoy their childhood and let them take a call when time is ripe for them? Maybe it is time for a debate.

Coding: Need of the hour or just FOMO

Is it really possible to ban Made In China products?

https://bestmediainfo.com/2020/06/an-indian-home-made-in-china/

An Indian home made in China!

Look around, right from the mobile phone to the hair dryer, you will find almost everything has a Chinese connection. So just saying boycott Made-in-China products is easier said than done

Kakoli Thakur | Delhi | June 22, 2020

Ever since the India-China violent stand-off in Ladakh, social media in India is going hammer and tongs with anti-China sentiment — calling for banning Made-in-China products and going local by embracing Made-in-India stuff. But, thinking practically, given the way Chinese have made inroads in India, is it really possible, I wondered? I thought of starting off with my own house and looked around if I could junk some Chinese products.

To start with, I thought of the most important thing in our lives today — the mobile phone. And found myself facing the Shakespearean dialogue, ‘Et Tu Brutus?’ For, I possessed a Redmi (read Chinese phone), using it for the last six months. To be honest, I would think twice before dumping it as I had to dig deep into my pocket to get one. In fact, India’s mobile phone market is dominated by China. Xiaomi, Lenovo, Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus to name a few — these are all Chinese mobile companies, assembling and manufacturing smartphones in India as a part of the Make-in-India initiative.

I work from home and my son has to attend online classes. Luckily we have two computers at home. I have an HP all-in-one, an American company. So far, so good! I dug a little deeper into their website to find that Hewlett-Packard sources a lot of its components from China. But I can’t dump my comp for that one reason.

Then our old computer, which our son uses, had become very slow and so we took it to a computer shop to see if it can be salvaged. The technician convinced us that he would reassemble it with the price less than a new computer by changing just a few parts. No prizes for guessing where the parts came from—all Made in China of course! 

I looked down and noticed that the two UPS inverters attached to the two computers were made in China. Now if we have to go with the flow and ban China-made products, we need to dump them and buy that of Indian brands. Not a cost-effective proposition at all!

Visit any toy shop and the shopkeeper would always try to convince you to buy China-made toys as you will get exact replicas of branded toys and at a much lesser price (he would never mention the huge margin he gets, of course). When all the hue and cry began about boycotting China-made products, out of curiosity, we checked a few old toys, including a Holi phichkari, of our son, and to our surprise, we found that most of them had a tag written in tiny alphabets — Made in China.

In the lockdown, we started ordering grocery online. The payment would be through Paytm, as it was convenient. An Indian e-commerce payment company at last! But no, Paytm also has Chinese investors investing big in the company. In the meantime, my help called and asked me to send her salary through Paytm as she is in a containment zone now, and so am I, due to Covid positive cases in the areas. Now if I tell her, no I can’t do that as the company has a China connection and it will be ‘unpatriotic’ to do so, will she even understand it? But I am sure she must have heard that ‘China ko ban karna chahiye’, as everywhere people are talking about it in every strata of society.

Surfing news websites, I found quite a lot of information about where Chinese firms had invested big in India. 

In 2018, Alibaba invested huge in online grocer BigBasket (from where we order stuff). It had also invested in food delivery app Zomato (so, no online ordering of food). Tencent has a huge investment on ride-hailing app Ola, and e-commerce platform Flipkart too. Alibaba is a large investor also in Paytm, while Tencent has invested in BYJU’s, the education start-up.

Seeing the medicine box I remembered coming across an article that had this para: “Your medicine, prescription or otherwise, may not come from China (although many do), but there’s a high likelihood it contains ingredients that originated in China and other countries affected by the coronavirus.” And it is true — China is a major producer of drug ingredients, known as ‘active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs)’. In fact, two-thirds of the total imports of bulk drugs come from China, Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers DV Sadananda Gowda had told the Lok Sabha earlier this year. So does that mean, we will stop taking medicines? Absolutely not!

You all must have LED bulbs at home, emitting that brilliant white light. Well, even these have a China link with manufacturing hubs located in China or the use of China technology.

Love your silk sarees? Well, then don’t forget that silk fabric was invented in ancient China and played an important role in their culture and economy for thousands of years. We got it much later when the famous Silk Road opened.

How to forget the popular app TikTok, which is an American video-sharing social networking service but owned by ByteDance, a Beijing-based internet technology company? But how many people will uninstall TikTok, which is a craze among youngsters, from their phones? The irony is that a lot of anti-China memes and videos are being made on TikTok and shared. Even otherwise, people are enjoying funny videos made on the platform and sharing it freely — forgetting at that moment the ‘ban China’ sentiment.  

If asked what is your favourite food many of us would promptly reply Chinese — until now, maybe. Now we have to think of a second best option. Being a Bengali, I would prefer Bengali cuisine. For many, may be, Punjabi would be the best reply. But is it really possible to say no to noodles if it is made in India as the concept after all is Chinese? Though the Indian version of Chinese food is different from that of original Chinese cuisine, after all it has a China connection.

Felt like laughing when I read on a website that a political figure said that the best option is to shut down Chinese restaurants. But is it really possible? Or will it really help to counter the Chinese by banning some eateries, which, obviously, would be owned by Indians.

Even that morning cuppa you have to begin your day afresh has a Chinese connection as tea is said to have originated in north Burma and southwestern China as a medicated drink.

Such is the craze of people to ban China that some political party worker in Bengal’s Asansol burnt the effigy of North Korea’s Kim Jong-un confusing him with China’s Xi Jinping.

There is no dearth of memes on social media. A video was doing the rounds where a group bought a Chinese TV just to throw it and break it into pieces. Who will tell those people that you have wasted your money, not China’s.

I read that while India exports mostly a basket of primary goods to China, including cotton, yarn, organic chemicals, ores, natural pearls, precious stones and fabrics. Chinese imports into India include electric machinery, electronic equipment, nuclear reactors, boilers, solar energy components, etc. The list of China’s footprint is long.

In our childhood, having a Wing Sung pen was a prized possession, which again was manufactured in China from The Shanghai Hero Pen Company. China is everywhere and we have been using Made-in-China products for the longest time. And banning Made-in-China products, at least in the present times when there are no sufficient valid Indian alternatives, is easier said than done.  

When I as an ordinary citizen am finding it difficult to ban China from my small home, I wonder how India as a country with billions of dollars at stake, will ban China.

An Indian home made in China!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Commentary: Do consumers really care about brands when bare essential is top priority?

https://bestmediainfo.com/2020/04/commentary-do-consumers-really-care-about-brands-when-bare-essential-is-top-priority/

Commentary: Do consumers really care about brands when bare essential is top priority? 

As consumers scramble to get their supply of daily essentials, it remains to be seen if they look for their preferred brands or just manage with whatever they can lay their hands on

Kakoli Thakur | April 13, 2020

In this hour of a global health crisis, when the Covid-19 threat has spread to every corner of the world, it is interesting to observe how relevant brands are to a consumer whose primary concern is now getting hold of his supply of daily essentials.

As mandated by the government, though grocery shops and pharmacies are open during the 21-day lockdown—which many states have extended till April 30—essential items are vanishing off the shelves either due to the non-availability or panic buying. The result: scarcity of items of daily use, forget your favourite brand.

Sample this. Suppose a consumer prefers Dettol hand wash over any other brand. But what happens when he goes to a nearby shop to get one and the shopkeeper informs him that only Savlon and some other brand is available. What will the consumer do? He will obviously buy whatever is available instead of thinking about his preference, knowing the importance of hand wash to keep the coronavirus at bay.

Again, there has been a lot of debate regarding the use of hand sanitiser in the absence of soap and water. Awareness ads and videos in different mediums say only sanitiser with at least 60% alcohol content should be used. Knowing the urgency, people are even hoarding sanitisers at home as they are not sure how long the lockdown will last. As such, branded ones are flying off shelves and people are buying whatever they are getting their hands on — even local products offered by fly-by-night operators. Though it’s specified on the bottles that there is 60% alcohol, what is the guarantee about it?

Some people argue that washing hands with soap and water is enough and also doubt the efficacy of hand sanitisers. Lifebuoy even went to the extent of creating an ad, showing a doctor saying, “Not only Lifebuoy, whatever hand wash or soap or hand sanitiser is handy, wash and clean your hand to save yourself from coronavirus”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlFhlJ2WHTc

Veterans and old-timers are saying the world has never faced such a crisis ever since World War-II. In fact, during World War II, only countries in war zones were affected but Covid-19 has spared no one and forced a global shutdown. So in this hour, food is the most essential thing anyone would need — branded or non-branded.

If a consumer visits a shop to buy Aashirvaad Atta, for example, and the shopkeeper says only some other brand or a local variant is available, that person will not return empty handed. Because the foremost thought in his mind would be choosing between staying hungry and getting something, at least.

For students staying away from home and bachelors who don’t know how to cook, the anytime favourite is Maggi instant noodles. So at the onset of this crisis, such people, and even families, hoarded Maggi packets — even in cartons. Three weeks into the lockdown, when home stocks have started drying out, people are buying whatever they are getting —it could be either Yippee or some other Maggi lookalike as it’s easy to make for whom cooking is an alien concept. The thought behind this is, obviously, getting an instant snack.

As positive cases increase every hour and people are scared to even step out of home, they are not even thinking of buying anything beyond essential — leave aside anything luxurious. Food takeaways are available but are people really getting what they want?

When a KFC fan called an outlet in a posh Delhi locality in the evening, he was told they were done for the day and nothing was left. So that person had to skip his evening snack that day. This is just an instance.

A lot of brands are delivering essentials at the doorstep — with a waiting time extending up to even days in some cases such as Bigbasket as one NCR resident pointed out — but even they can supply till stocks are available. But what about places where such deliveries are not available? In remote pockets? In unauthorised colonies in big cities? Or even in posh high-rises where delivery boys are not allowed in?

So manufacturing and distribution of essentials is more crucial at this hour at a time when staying safe, and alive, has become the top priority and people are not even thinking about brand preferences. 

Commentary: Do consumers really care about brands when bare essential is top priority?