Digital Natives vs Digital Immigrants... .

CEO Ryan Pinto Felicitates Mukesh Sharma

Siddhartha Mukherjee, Mukesh Sharma , Anil Wanwari

  With a motive to bring about changes in the existing educational system and to provide quality education to students, Ryan International Group of Institutions hosted the ASISC Conference, a three day event from 24th Nov. to 26th Nov. 2010, inviting nearly 1200 ICSE school  principals from all over India at Renaissance convention centre, Mumbai.The Conference was inaugurated by the. Governor of Maharashtra H.E   K.Sankaranarayanan .
Apart from various sessions involving Harsha Bhogle( on sports and; education), Dr Kiran Bedi ( for a key note address ),  a session on "Influence of Media and its implications on School Leadership"  was chaired by me. The other panelists were Anil Wanvari  (CEO Indiantelevision.com), Siddhartha Mukherjee (Sr. VP & Head of Communications TAM) & Shaji Jose(Editor, "Aspiration Unlimited") .

The connecting links between the D.Natives & D Immigrants

As the topic suggests the principals were in a media bashing mood. But ducking their googleys, I managed to survive the session, by changing the course of session without changing the topic.The principal wanted to talk about the Media Content ,whereas  I was keen to talk about the Media Tools lacking in the School education system. My concern was based on the fact that the school going children are living in two universe . At home they do multitasking & are always wired with ipods, laptops, computers, video game consoles, mp3 players, television sets etc.& are doing amazing creative work with technology, apart from their home work & school projects..In fact they spend more time with the media than any other activity other than sleeping.

A digital native with Poonam Shatrughan Sinha

 At School the universe changes to chalk ,duster, blackboard & a teacher who is not as media savvy as the children. In fact at school the Digital Natives  (Children) interact with the Digital Immigrants (teachers). So there is a big gap and this wide culminates to a  digital divide, that if not filled soon will give rise to a total disconnect between the present and past generation.
The problem with the 50 plus lot is that they are not at all comfortable with the digital technology nor they are keen to learn it. I have seen senior Govt officers, School principals having computers on their side table, which is most of the time covered with a nice cloth. The solution is to start education through computers at school.                                                                                                                  

The Digital Immigrants

But the trainer must be trained first in order to get connected. Simply by providing the new technology will not help. It should be embraced by the teacher &
should not be forced upon anyone. Media must be integrated with the curriculum. In other words curriculum needs to drive the technology and not the other way round.
Last but not the least, every medium till date what we know is on the internet right next to each other.From Print,Music, Books, Photography,Radio, Video, films subsuming all previous mediums. How long will the stake holders of our generation, continue to ignore this reality, thats a million dollar quesition.....

A lot can happen over a cup of Tea.....

After Sahara Shree , another unassuming person whom I share a special bond is Ameen Sayani.... The Golden Voice of Radio.

The other day he was in my office at All India Radio to finalise broadcast of his radio programmes. I told him, he could have called me at his work place instead of taking the trouble to come all the way. But being a gentleman (as he is) he politely put his hand on my shoulder as if to say lets not talk about it. He was looking forward for a cup of Special Tea which is my trade mark.

I am lucky to have had the opportunity to have offered the tea to a great many celebrities , film personalities & political figures while I was heading Doordarshan Mumbai .

In fact once Malvika Sanghvi suddenly came to meet me in my office at Doordarshan . I was having my special tea . I got up from my chair went to my ante room, in a jiffy I was back with a fresh cup of tea for her . I could see she was surprised and her journalistic mind was a bit confused to understand that how can a Govt Babu do this. She did not comment much ,finished her work and left.

Next day the Times Of India carried an article about Malvika Sangghvi's

visit to Doordarshan Kendra Mumbai.

She wrote "............The times they really are changing .What a pleasant surprise to walk in to the Doordarshan headquarters in Mumbai and encounter a director who is so unlike the average government babu. Mukesh Sharma director DDK Mumbai wears spiffy suits. Offers guests personally brewed exotic tea, picks up the phone himself and keeps appointment to the dot.........." .

Coming back to Ameen Bhai, he enjoyed my cup of tea. We went down the memory lane. His association with All India Radio, Binaca Geetmala Days etc. etc.

As Ameen Bhai was leaving, I was wondering what life would have been without his golden voice for our generation when there were no TV channels , no multiplexes, no internet and no mobile phones to entertain us. I salute you SIR for being with us right from our school days till today. May your Golden voice continue to inspire todays DJS, & RJs of our times...The J is Jockeys and not Jokers, unless you are reading between the lines.

OWBT...

Jayashree Balasubramanian, Aaj Tak Chennai 600 040, India

Osei Boakye, TV-3 Network, Ghana

Anura Fonseka, Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation

Iffat Jabbar, Radio Pakistan

Mukesh Sharma, Doordarshan, India

The Sahara Shree I Know....

My acquaintance with Sahara Shree or Subrata Roy dates back to the year 1989 when I won the National Award for the Children's Film "Anokha Aspatal". When Bhaisahab (that is the way I address him) heard about my achievement he immediately organised a felicitation to honor me, since I was from his home town Lucknow. Apart from the fact that we developed an instant rapport, Bhaisahab always respected & supported upcoming talent.

The next time I saw his love, affection and concern for me when I had an attack of acute diarrhea at Lucknow, where I was heading the Doordarshan Kendra. The year was 1995. I remember he was so worried that he rushed to my house at Nirala Nagar with his entire team and took me to KGMC Medical college where I was admitted. He left the hospital only when he had the assurance from the doctors that my condition was absolutely under control.

Though we have been interacting as an when we meet; however todays meeting with him was purely impulsive.Last week of Oct 2010, I saw his photograph on page 3 of the TOI with Mrs Jaya Bachchan. I knew he was in Mumbai hence I called him and I was there at Sahara Star having mishti doi & sandesh with him. Though we discussed a lot of things, about our families, children etc, but one thing he said and I quote "The amount of work the almighty is taking out from me will need 4 to 5 times of rebirth to finish it. Even 18 hours a day is not enough."

I am 100% confident that he will continue to work with the same zeal & enthusiasm for many more years till he reaches a century mark and carry on the Sahara Bat for more runs. As I don't see any difference between him and Sachin Tendulkar vis-a-vis their appetite for more milestones in their respective fields.

Finally the parting gift was more of a mutual admiration society. I said"you don't look at all your age, you look more vibrant & more energetic. " And he said "you are looking more handsome"

Thanks Bhaisahab for being what you are the same old level headed humble, down to earth, gentleman.

Inauguration of Multi camera set up studio for Young Journalists in Mumbai Ryan school, Chembur

On the 2nd october 2010, I was invited by the Ryan International Group of Institutions to be the Guest of Honor and inaugurate their New Multi camera set up Studio at Ryan International school, Chembur. Ryan group has been in the forefront as far as media education is concerned. Education through lens has been their motto and they were the first to open a TV studio inside the school to ensure that the children have hands on experience at the primary level itself. I was also impressed with the young students who have been trained (by ICEPLEX.TV a media initiative of Ryan Group) in TV news broadcast viz. reporting, scripting, anchoring, newscast, interviews, editing, handling of camera & other equipments. These trained students are called YJs or Young Jourknows. There are more then 200 such YJs all over India.

The other Film, TV & Media personalities who were invited by the Ryan International Group to do the honors were CEO Ryan Pinto, Johny Lever, Roop kumar Rathod, Kalpana Lazmi, Padmshri Kumar Ketkar, Kaanchan adhikari (Adhikari Bros), Ryan group Head Francis Joseph & Imtiyaaz along with Young Journalists.

I was told that the New Studio will also cover the schools of New Mumbai & provide Hands On training to the students, interested in broadcast media. Its the 2nd TV studio in Mumbai to be housed inside a school. The first of its kind is at Ryan International school Malad, Mumbai which has a mention in the Limca book of records.

All the guests & I was impressed with the idea of training students at the school level itself. It was the right time to make them understand the ethics of News production as the present day content which is being churned out is of abysmally low quality.

During the course of discussion Roop Kumar Rathod raised his concern regarding the weak Intellectual Property Right laws in India. Kalpana Lazmi , the director of Rudali felt, a time will come when the future generation will only remember the remix songs, sung by the present generations of singers .Original numbers of Mohammed Rafi , Lata Mangeshkar, Kishor kumar, Mukesh, Asha Bhosle & others will be forgotten. This is alarming & the State is a mute spectator

Normally when you are invited for an inauguration, the ribbon is cut by the chief guest. But if you have six Guest of Honors how will you save the day. Ryan Group had envisaged this problem and they were ready with the idea. A ribbon was shared among the VIPs and they were together asked to cut it into pieces. Later on we signed each piece individually in order to display the same as a memoir in the studio. I thought that was a smart move by the organizers .

All in all it was a day to remember, as the drive back home from Chembur to Juhu with Johny Lever was an experience. I was on the driving seat and Johny Bhai was sitting next to me. At every signal there was a traffic jam since it was day time and people could see Johny Lever clearly. Some body wanted to shake hands, some body for his autograph. He obliged them where ever it was possible.

After watching the quality of work produced by the YJs of ICEPLEX.TV, I am of the opinion, they are the future of Television News as they are aiming Beyond Breaking News.

When James Bond Sir Roger Moore came to Mumbai......

The year was 2005. UNICEF approached DD Mumbai to do a program towards the empowerment of Girl Child Education.

Accordingly 9 girls were selected from the poorest of the poor families in the state of Maharashtra, who have done well in their studies, in spite of the hardship they faced in order to pursue their goal. They were between 11 to 13 years old.

After their selection by UNICEF India, they were invited to come to Mumbai and were groomed by a friend Dr Jamuna Pai , celebrity dermitologist.

In order to ensure, the Event does not go unnoticed, I invited Bollywood icons Raveen Tandon and Aruna Irani, Miss world Yukta Mukhi and a host of women celebrities at DD to felicitate and honor these angels.

The event was quite a successes. As luck would have it , the video of the event was seen on web by Sir Roger Moore(James Bond), the brand Ambassador of UNICEF. Needless to mention he was quite impressed the way these girls were projected by us. So During his visit to India along with his wife, Sir Roger Moore made it a point to meet the local director of DD and have lunch with him.

It was 18th November 2005, we met at Grand Hayatt , Mumbai. He was particularly happy to note that in spite of the onslaught of commercial Tv Channels in india, I have been able to create tv programming which has the glamor quotient as well it is socially relevent.

Although I had many such lunch & dinner meets with various celebraties, film personalities and public figures during my tenure at DD Mumbai but eating out with James bond was a humbling experience.

On 14th October 2010, Sir Roger Moore will complete 83years. I can only wish him a happy, healthy & stress free life and he continues to Bond with the Best.....

Remembering DDK Mumbai on its 41st Birthday.....on 2nd October 2012

On 2nd October 2012 DDK Mumbai celebrates its 41st birthday. The Kendra was set up on 2nd oct 1972. The last major celebrations took place  on Oct.2nd 2006 when I was the director of the Kendra.

We had especially invited all the past Producers, Engineers, Programmers.

The list of the who's who included Gajendra Singh, past video editor of DDK Mumbai who is today a successful creative head and the originator of Antakshari on Zee TV.

Bijondas Gupta , a successful Art director with Bollywood, once headed the Scenic department of DDK Mumbai.

Satish Bhatia a cameraman, associated with the popular serial Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi.

Madhvi Mutatkar, programme executive of DDK, later resigned and headed the Zee TV as its President.

  

Madhvi Mutatkar

Bijon Das Gupta

Vinay Apte , now a popular Actor and Director in the Marathi Film Industry, worked as the producer at DDK Mumbai.

Who does'nt know about the popular serial Aahat on Sony. But how many of us know that BP Singh the Director and Cameraman was DDK Mumbai's product . He too came for the reunion.

Also present was Nina Raut , the producer of the successful programme Tak Dhina Dhin which ran on DD sahyadri for more then 7 years. (Incidentally her husband Mr Bharat Kumar Raut is the sitting Shiv Sena MP from Rajya sabha).   

Neena Raut

Bharat Kumar Raut

Aadesh Bandekar who fought the recent election on Shiv Sena ticket, was present to grace the occasion.

Manju singh, Pradeep Bhide (the evergreen newscaster of DDK), Yakoob Sayeed, Madhu Shrivastav....the list is end less

Bijon das Gupta, Gajendra Singh and BP Singh

BP Singh of CID fame

Gajendra Singh of Sur Keshtra

After the telecast of the programme, I received numerous letters and phone calls from all parts of Maharashtra. Some thing new, something different was presented to Sahyadri viewers.

The Times of India , 8th Oct 2006 wrote an article entitled THEY KILLED THE RADIO by Bella Jasinghani. I quote the 1st para from it:

"Comparing two dinosaur not always a futile exercise. Last week,Vividh Bharti & Doordarshan (DD) observed their anniversaries one day apart. Sahyadri, which is the name Mumbai DD goes by, hosted a hugely successful live gathering of television stalwarts to celebrate its 35th birthday on Oct 2.However the very next day,Vividh Bharati, the radio station that was once the opium of the masses, stumbled its way into its golden jubilee without any fanfare"......

Hope in its 41st year DDK Mumbai will do something different, something new for its numerous FANS out there..