Chai ki chahat report

Approaches to Culture and Communication (PC-721)

“r.o sL r.xt” (THE LOVE FOR TEA)

Vrushin Goswami 201214005 11/29/2012

A report on the awareness video for North-Eastern states of India.

Introduction: Among many Indians who are ignorant about the problems faced or the progress made by the North-East Indians, I was one of them. Through this project, I have a little clarity about their issues. The project started off when we saw a “TATA Salt”[1] commercial and tried to understand the signified, signifier and sign from it. Moving forward with those concepts we were asked to design an advertisement as how and what a person from the North-East India would have to say and show to the people of rest of India. What signifier would the person use to signify his/her idea?

Understanding: While doing our brainstorming and research, we found out that people are unaware about a lot of things when North-Eastern states are concerned. From one of the many examples, most common stereotype for them is being “Chinese” or “Nepali”. Ignorance towards such issues was our major target, and our intent was to create a kind of communication which spreads awareness among such masses while maintaining their interest in it.

The designed communication in the movie is about the entire tea making process.

Idea was to shoot footages in a tight frame, so that the entire emphasis remains on the tea. We chose to work on Tea as Assam is the largest producer of tea in India. [2] In the entire tea making process, various events were used as signifiers. When we have the first sip of the morning tea, it refreshes us, but we are unaware of what the tea has to go through to get to our doorstep. The entire product makes us aware of the few issues that the North-Eastern states face. The first step in the advertisement, which is the lighting of the stove, signifies the independence of India. Sequentially the vessel on the stove signifies the complete area of North-Eastern states. Adding of milk signifies the mixing and peaceful co-existence of people of different tribes. The pounding of the ginger pieces in the grinding pot signifies the forceful entry of insurgents from the neighbouring countries.

The product is meant for public awareness. Primarily, it is designed for every citizen of India who may or may not be aware of the issues going on in the North-Eastern states. Secondarily, it isn’t just restricted to Indian citizens, but for the whole world to see.

Nearly 90% of Indian households are tea drinkers. [3] And most of the people do know how to make tea. Hence, using tea as an idea becomes useful in putting across our points. We have put respective events at every stage of making tea to which people can relate and better understand, what we are trying to communicate. The lyrics from the song by Dr. Bhupen Hazarika, “Ganga behti ho kyun (O Ganges why do you still flow)” make you wonder while strongly suggesting that Morality

is destroyed and Humanity has gone corrupt, yet the pure river Ganga keeps flowing boldly. These lyrics in themself are powerful and make a sarcastic protest. These lyrics add to the message we are trying to convey in the video. “ Vistar hain hazar, praja dono paar Oh Ganga tum, oh Ganga behti ho kyun?

Naitikta nasht hui, Manavta bhrasht hui, Nirlaj bhav se behti ho kyu? �

I think Ignorance is a very big menace. It need not be deliberate but maybe just the lack of knowledge among people. It could be confusion about some facts too. But, at the bottom, Ignorance plays a leading part for people to be insensitive towards certain issues. For this particular area of concern a lot of incidents have been recorded where, people think that the residents of the North-eastern states require a passport to enter in to other Indian states or cities. There have been some cases of mental harassment towards the students leading to their unfortunate demise. [4] People are unaware of the fact that there is illegal immigration, and the immigrants are taking up the land, job opportunities etc. by showing themselves as Indian citizens. There is a lot of struggle and a lot of protests going on which have failed to receive momentum because of lack of awareness.

Assam being the largest producer of tea in India is a fact to be proud of, but there are a lot of issues behind the tea production which remain unseen by the masses, in spite of them drinking tea, every day. Starting the day with a cup of tea, and having tea in the evening with snacks is an integral part of our culture. Even when a person suffers from a headache a herbal remedy of tea with ginger is recommended

[5]

. Through the entire process we have also concentrated on the aspect of

insurgency which is happening and goes un-noticed. This leads to lack of land space for the locals, lesser job opportunities, and Identity theft. We selected to work on these aspects as these were the one of the most basic ideas which everyone should know about as an Indian citizen. Learning about these would make them aware and they can show their support in the cause.

The main Idea is to keep the product simple and establish a relation with a routine day to day activity, such that people can easily understand the video and the intent behind it. On the images in the video we have put a one line or two line statements which convey the facts related to the image in particular and to the theme of the project. When the viewers watch the video the issues we are talking about become clear to them. As the advertisement is just video and text along with it, the communication remains simple and easy to understand for the viewer. And when the viewer understands the message conveyed, the communication succeeds in its purpose. Also, the text appears at a striking scene, which makes an impact in the minds of the viewer, and the facts would manage to

stay in their mind. We have used sounds from the speech “tryst with destiny” when we show the independence of India and Dr. Bhupen Hazarika’s song “Ganga behti ho kyon” as a song of protest.

One thing that I would like to change is the shooting of the footage, it should have been more still and in the tight shots, when the person is putting tea in the mix, the camera angle should be parallel to the container and the focus should remain on the container, vessel and tea.

Instead of the person putting tea with a teaspoon, I would want him to pour the tea from the container in a free flow. Unlike him putting tea with the spoon, the impact this would create in the scene with the appearing text, would be when the tea is freely flowing it signifies that an abundant amount of tea is produced in India, and that North-East states are the largest producers of tea in India. If provided with more time, I would take various different shots from different angles which would have more impact than the already existing shots. For example, the tea pouring shot, the ginger grinding shot (the movement of the camera is jerky), and the camera following person shot.

Bibliography: [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCQRQVEH6A8 28.11.12 01:56 a.m.

[2] http://assam.gov.in/business/business_entrprise.asp 27.11.12 02:59 p.m.

[3] http://www.waghbakritea.com/cover-story-tea-time.pdf 28.11.12 04:50 p.m.

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4xsA1aR0Wo 28.11.12 05:20 p.m. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJyrqDEhfow&feature=relmfu 28.11.12 05:20 p.m.

[5] http://www.medindia.net/homeremedies/headache.asp 28.11.12 02:21 a.m.