Theses and Dissertations
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Item Open Access Bandhana Aur Kholna: Riti anek, Bhasha ek(Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology, 2017) Desai, Riddhi; Pandya, Vishvajit & Mazumdar, Madhumita"Having an interest in understanding rituals and popular religious practices, I started my research with how the practices become a way to communicate something, how it becomes a representation or a symbol that allows people to communicate with one another. A simple ritual of tying and untying is deeply embedded in meaning and symbolism and is, in fact, a language of communication which people use across cultures and religions. In everyday life, in many rituals or everyday practices, we do the act of tying and untying. If you are interested in understanding the language of communication then how does the everyday ritual or everyday practice of tying and untying give us an insight into a different form of communication is what tried to be shown in the project. Acts of tying and untying are an integral part of our everyday lives. From tying shoe laces to tie hair, tying a kalawa, locking and unlocking a door, tying Rakhi on Raksha Bandhan, tying a knot in wedding, etc are important parts of our daily life. We tie and untie objects to keep them secure and safe, mobile and durable. Even the material we use to tie for instance a thread or a piece of cloth or a metal is strong and that?s why durable. But beyond such utilitarian purposes of tying and untying, we also see other acts of tying that symbolically, mark relations between human beings themselves and between human beings and the divine. The focus of your project is on these acts of tying and untying that reveal themselves as a language of devotion and affection that binds the God and his devotee. The broader impulse of my project derives from my interest in the issue of Culture and Communication. The main issue is the way people look at things, understand their acts. If we look at the rituals and the act of tying and untying in the rituals, at one level it is an act of belief, but on a deeper layer, it is a language of communication. I am trying to add some value to the acts of tying and untying by showing how it is more than the obvious means of tying and untying and by these acts how do the cultures communicate beyond the textual, visual and oral ways. The documentary as a medium to show this problem takes us from the ordinary realm of tying and untying to that of the world of belief, faith, devotion and rituals, where tying and untying becomes a way of communicating with God. These acts are common to all religions and communities, when we go deep into the topic, we realize how the language of tying and untying connects people of different faiths and communities. There may be a difference in rituals, objects but the faith in the acts of tying and untying are the same. Throughout the film, I am trying to show the observed patterns and commonalities of practices through people?s voice and from those patterns I am trying to show the broader language, where the thoughts and emotions of people are entwined with the act. There is a language of devotion and a common thread of stories of despair, loss, sadness and finally hope. Through this film, through the acts of hearing, knowing and sharing, we come to know ourselves and society a little better. In The Interpretation of Cultures (1973), Clifford Geertz outlined culture as ""a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes toward life."" According to Geertz, culture is the common interpretation of public signs and symbols. If we talk about symbols, we have representation for things in real world, so that we can communicate with one another, the symbolic meaning can change from culture to culture. Here, the act of tying and untying is same in a different culture in different events, but how it changes culture to culture and event to event is what I have tried to show."Item Open Access I believe(Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology, 2011) Sharma, Kartikeya; Devy, GaneshPeople Believe, They believe in God, religion, relationships, aliens, ghosts, politicians… We believe in everything and anything, which could help us get through or prevent us from bad luck, bring in money, preserve our health. People who say they do not believe in anything also believe in their theory of non- existence of something else. India, known as the land of spirituality and philosophy, is home to many religions. Like Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and other innumerable religious traditions. In India, religion is life, it is an integral part of the entire Indian tradition. With over 330 million Gods and Goddesses to worship for the majority of Indians, religion permeates in every aspect of life, from commonplace to daily chores to education and politics. This gives birth to, many beliefs and practises which are followed around us. For example, like wearing gem stones, lockets of Gods and Goddessess, rudraksha , yantras , pooja ki thaliyan, worshiping cows, praying around banyan tree, palmistry, tarot card reading, vastu shastra… and the list goes on. Some of them could be termed as superstition but then, isn’t it said that someone’s belief is someone else’s superstition. We go great lengths to show our commitment to our beliefs, be it Physical suffering (like walking 14 Kms in harsh terrain of mountains to visit Kedarnath temple), keeping fasts for days or be it donating huge amount of money to Temples and Shrines. With massive participation of people and day by day more money pouring in, now these religious sectors are becoming more and more commercialized. We can find various books on religion, bhajan CD’s & DVD’s, rings, lockets, yantras, and with science of vastu, payra-vastu and Feng-Shui are also coming up over the years, there has been a tremendous boom in these Belief Markets. This has helped in generating revenue as various services and production of products in these religious sectors is frequent nowadays, which in turn also helps in circulation of money in our economy. With increase in involvement of money, there is also a chance of people being misled to earn profit from them. People are tipped off on wrong interpretation of scripts and manuscripts. Things that might have held true in yesteryears might not hold true in today’s world but still they are being practiced, and this leads to the point that people follow what is being told instead of understanding the logic, which raises the question: Is the Act for believing more important than the belief itself?