In The Making: An International Journalist

This charming young lady in her early 20s, is all geared up to take life up on her sleeves and hit for a career in the ever exiting and lively field of journalism. Being raised by a single mother, Amanda has had a childhood different from others. She is the first person in her family to go for masters and has lots of dreams in her eyes, oozing confidence and a very positive approach towards life and future.

Career, passion and life:
Music and journalism are her passion and she blends the two really well. She was 18 when she had her first stint with journalism. While acting as the in-charge of the school music show she interviewed Jhony brawl, the lead singer of her favourite band Razor light. For her, it was like a dream come true, nervously shaking sitting in the backstage on an amplifier on a cold san fransisco night she conducted her very first interview and since then there was no looking back.
She made several short documentaries in a very short career span and a few of them aired on television as well. The aspect of going out, meeting new people, exploring new places and experiencing the unexpected are the few things that thrills her towards a career in journalism. “Music makes me calm and happy”, says she. Though, rock is her favourite genre and bands like Kaiser chiefs, specials, good shoes and north-westerns are her favourite bands. She loves going for concerts and never misses on the gigs in town. Music and journalism seems to be the joy of her life and with a very focussed approach towards life, she hasn’t got time for love or flings. Presently, she is in London persuing her masters in journalism and exploring the fantastic world of opportunities around her. She wishes to work all over the world, under different circumstances and situations- the traits of a true international journalist.

The New Moon: Is It Worth Watching?

The Twilight saga proves it can keep on magnetizing audiences as New Moon receives remarkable results at the Box Office.

The film received the highest opening day gross in history, cashing more money than Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Spiderman 3 and even Dark Night.
But New Moon is also generating controversies amongst parents. The film lingers on a number of mushy scenes and little action but violence and sex are not the issue this time. However, what worries are the behaviors and the system of thoughts that the characters expose:

* The main female character of the movie ‘Bella’ is completely obsessed with her vampire lover.

* Edward has total control over Bella.

* Bella doesn't care about school, all she wants is to live forever with Edward.

* Bella is capable of taking the highest risks to be with Edward

As CNN reported "many parents of teen girls are on the fence about letting their daughters see the vampire romance, saying they are worried the film sends the wrong messages about self-esteem to young girls".

Claire McCarthy, MD at Boston's Children's Hospital, expressed her worries in her blog. She worries for young girls because:

* "they will wish to emulate the relationship between Edward and Bella."

* "they will think it’s good to be obsessive, to think only about their boyfriend and nothing else at the expense of other relationships, schoolwork, or other activities."

* "if a boyfriend is controlling or wants to be with them all the time, they will think it’s romantic instead of seeing that it’s a warning sign for date violence"

* "taking extreme physical risks might be appealing to some readers who will associate it with being in love and that teens will be hurt."

But it has become a hard task for parents to keep their teens away from the Twilight sequel. Kimberly Noe, 46, says "as a parent I'm not just competing with the movie in the movie theater, I am competing with the millions of advertising dollars that has inundated every nook and cranny of my daughter's life."

The movie has received a lot of negative review by its critics, but, it is the audience who have the last say as they are the ones putting all the money in the box office.

A Glimpse Into The Indian Broadcast Media

Broadcast media has great potential in a vast country like India. It is the ideal medium for removing illiteracy and distance. Radio and Television were introduced in India for entertainment and education of the general public.

Radio broadcasting commenced in 1927, and was labelled as a suitable and cheap medium to reach a large number of people even in remote regions. Very recently, the opening of FM channels introduced new entertaining programs and highly increased the popularity of Radio, even in the urban areas.


Television made its beginning in the country in September 1959. Thus began the audio-visual era in Indian media. Television initially started for social change, national unity, to uphold high social values and involved the whole community in an open dialogue. Its main aim was to promote special educational programs in 2400 villages in six Indian states. In spite of the noble initiatives of the initial years, television gradually steered away from its goal and started concentrating on mainly entertaining the audience.

Rapid Growth
Since the 1980s, India has witnessed a rapid growth of television broadcasting that has helped shape popular culture and the course of politics. After the broadcast of first television program in 1959, it became popular and proper extension took place only during 1982 Asian Games. Later, keeping in view the need and popularity of television broadcasting, the government took initiative to expand its access to 90% of the population.

The coverage of Gulf War by CNN in 1991 proved to be a turning point for the beginning of a new era in this field. The Indian media reached its zenith with the coming of cable television. Five new channels belonging to the Hong Kong based STAR TV gave Indians a fresh breadth of life. Zee TV was the first private owned Indian channel to broadcast over cable. By 2001-2003, other international channels such as Cartoon Network, Discovery and VH1 came to India. 2003 onwards, the Indian subcontinent saw a boom in the number of news channels.

With the coming of computer and Internet technology, emerged the aspects of web journalism. However it is in its nascent stage and still a long way to go to proclaim as a separate medium just like print, radio and television. Indian media is an epitome of diversity and variety as reflected in the whole identity of Indian tradition and cultural scenario.

FARM LIFE

While walking down a busy street in London I discovered a beautiful farmland. The farm consists of 60 acres of permanent pasture grazed by traditional breeds of cattle and sheep. There are also two ferrets and two pet donkeys. There is a range of activities to get involved in, including animal handling, tractor driving, hedgerow planting etc. The farm is managed by a school’s resident forester, Tom Perkins and some apprentices. The farm provides relevant activities for anyone who is interested in a veterinary or land management career or who just likes working with animals. It also provides a wonderful rural retreat right in the middle of London to those who love the countryside.The farm owner, Tom Perkins organises seasonal activities for school children which include clearing scrub, planting trees, erecting nestboxes and conducting surveys of different habitats. Sheep and cows are the mainstay of life on the farm. It reflects the modern view of working with nature, growing and breeding the finest quality cattle, sheep and many other animals without being a detriment to the environment.The farm has always been at the centre of the local community and a huge magnet for local children. The work atmosphere in the farm buzzes with enthusiasm. Tom loves the fact that he works with his family and that his children are growing up in such a happy, thriving atmosphere.

Queen’s land to Curry’s land

British people have taken up to the Indian food in a big way and the big cities of England including London have streets spread around the city, full of Indian restaurants. No wonder, Chicken tikka masala is the favourite British food.

This Holiday season, like others over the years has attracted a lot of British people to Indian restaurants. According to an estimate, curry houses, balti restaurants, Indian take-aways account for 2.5 billion pounds of trade today. This was not the same until few centuries ago, when a british family would not like to stay next to an Indian family because Indian food smelled nauseous. The Indian food started getting popular in the UK in 1970’s when laid off Bengali dockers started opening Indian food restaurants. Today the curry houses and Indian take-aways are being upstaged by big breweries like Whitbreads which are opening chains of 'curry pubs'. The founder of Café Rouge has taken over Bass tied houses and formed the East India Pub company. Regent Inns have opened the Pukka Bar and Curry Hall.

Most of the Indian restaurants are full of British people and other Europeans, for whom the concept of curry is alien. The common Indian enjoys their food at their home and go out to dine Italian, Chinese and Mediterranean food. Even in super markets like Marks and Spencer’s and Sainbury’s, they have and Indian section full of Pilau, Chicken tikka masala and Chicken jalferazi. Other Indian dishes may include,pickle sandwich, bhaji, samosa and pakora. Italian dishes are the most popular followed by Chinese, which still is more popular than Indian food. Middle-east food has become very popular with range of falafel and hummus.

London is today also called one of the food capitals and rightly so, as there are every kind of world food available, in this city. Food is the gift of the immigrants to the country, which are from every corners of this world. Food is what is left with the immigrants when they change their clothes and language.

Freedom of Press

The Indian constitution, while not mentioning the word 'Press', provides for the right to freedom of speech and expression. In article 19(1a). However, this right is subject to restriction under sub clause 2, whereby this freedom can be restricted for reasons of soverignity and integrity of India, the security of the state, friendly relation with foreign state, public order, preserving decency, morality in relation to contempt, court, defamation or incitement to an offence.
Law such as the official secret act and prevention of terrorist activity act(POTA) have been used to limit press freedom. Under POTA, person could be detained for up to 6 months for being in contact with a terrorist or a terrorist group. POTA was repealed in 2006, but official Secret Act 1923 continues. For the first half of the century of independence, media control by the state was major constraint on Press freedom. Indira Gandhi famously stated in 1975 that "All India Radio is a government organ, it will remain a government organ..."
With the liberalisation starting in 1990s, private control of media has burgeoned, leading to independence and greater security of government organisation like Tehelka and NDTV have been particularly influential.