Sub. Culture. Violence

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Project documentation of my research project, where I focused on violence as a subculture and worked on a magazine as my output for the same

Transcript of Sub. Culture. Violence

This record gives comprehensive data regarding the design process and development, which took place during the elective one. The allotted theme for the elective one, for batch GDPD 2009 Graphics batch was ‘Subculture’, within which everyone tried to discover something new. As a research subject I wanted to focus on violence and wanted to explore it as a subculture.

Violence can be defined as, the intentional use of physical force or power.

No matter what the action involves but it involves a set of people to establish. Gradually it is becoming more of an industry than the act of defense and anger. Youngsters get attracted to this field because of money and power involved in it; it serves as a medium to express their concealed adolescent violence, which actually gives them money as well.

As a part of this project I wanted to focus on different perspectives of different people

regardless of their status and experience. I wanted to work on a manifesto, which can be for everyone and serves everyone.

It is strange to denote the signifier of ‘subculture’ to violence. But the number of people getting involved in this and giving opportunities to others to enroll themselves in the sector can justify it turning it into a new dimension of subculture. Every other subculture, in my knowledge, had their way of defining their rebellion nature. Some

chose outrageous clothing, some chose addiction but apart from these there were few, who followed the smell of gunpowder. They got involved in the violent activities and nourished violence all around the globe.

Everyone wants power and the painless way is not always dependable. It involves sacrifices, money and blood. No matter if people are involved in it or not, they have strong opinions towards it… And that is something I was looking for.

Subculture, even when it’s widely used in India it doesn’t have a major significance. Only a handful of people would know about it. Everyone has freedom to define it in his or her way. It’s just a socio-political condition, which has different definitions. But it is not as confusing as other words like Karma or Aesthetics. It does talk for itself. Even an amateur can derive a rough meaning through the word itself. Well, I choose to define it simply as, people from different cultures come together to share the same belief and thoughts. Their actions and perceptions might

be same for a particular subject. Hence, we call it a sub-culture. I do believe it’s crude and bizarre to define it like this. Some might agree with it some might not. But on the other hand this is the simplest way I understood the meaning. I took this meaning and tried to expand my horizon and see things differently. I wanted to look beyond the existing movements and look for something from a new perspective. I don’t underestimate the existence of such significant movements; quite a few defined what we are today.

But I wanted to focus on an ordinary theme, which was never categorized as a subculture. Reasons can be very different and intense, might be someone did acknowledge it as one but the mass didn’t. I wanted to figure it out in a unusual way.

I started looking into my favorite theme, historical episodes, which can give me, hint. The initial idea was about the struggle for freedom in India. In that idea I wanted to focus on the mass communication during the reign of extremists and how they came together. I wanted to study the growth of

the movement in that era. Evidently they were from different religion, cast and regions but there was a reason for them to come together. I wanted to figure out what they felt and how did they do it.

As time passed I came up with different concepts, focusing more on the contemporary scenarios of violence and people involved in the activities. The idea of violence occurred from the revolution bit of the earlier idea but had a lot more scope. I found it much more challenging to explore as a theme within subculture. The first idea

strike my head was to study the violence and crime through one person. To build up a character sketch of a guilty person behind the bars. This approach would have thrown light on a person, his life before imprisonment, reasons for him to undertake this mode of expression and quite a few other questions, which would tell more about the person. But in this approach the theme was getting limited to one person rather than a research on subculture. As mentioned earlier, I thought the subject was interesting and can be treated in a pleasant way. Instead of getting stuck

with the same thing, I tried searching for the branches of the same theme.

One very interesting topic, which came up while discussing the theme, was Maoism. I was looking for groups of people who are involved in this activity and tried to figure out the reasons for their actions. The first name strike my head was Maoist, as they have a strong influence on the people and have a vast history. They are a threat to the country, yet they are a part of the country.

Subculture can be defined as a subversion of normalcy. It can be perceived as negative due to their of criticism to the dominant societal standard. Some thinkers would also like to express it as bringing together like-minded individuals who feel neglected by societal standards and allow them to develop a sense of identity.

While researching I stumbled upon something, which can be called the keywords of Subcultures. They are stated hereafter: • Their often relations to work.• Their negative/ambivalent relation to class.• Their association with territory.• Their movement out of the home into

non-domestic forms of belonging. • Their stylistic ties to excess and exaggeration.• Their refusal of the banalities of

ordinary life and manifestations. .

While researching and reading up on the topic, I thought of quite a few thoughts about the project, and I looked at it from a really different point of view. My first idea was to focus on a study on the decision-making process and actions of extremists, in context of freedom struggle.

For this concept I wanted to focus on the history of the freedom struggle and dig out the reasons which extremists shared, which brought them together. I found it really fascinating that people from different religions and places. The mode of communication would have been really interesting as it got people together in an interesting way. There were several activities people were involved in, and they hid their identities too sometimes. The whole concept for fighting for your country and starting a revolution was very interesting, and I still can’t imagine how they communicated at such a large scale and managed so many different activities.

The Subculture Theory:Certain groups or subcultures in society have values and attitudes that are conductive to crime and violence.

The primary Focus is on Juvenile Delinquency because theorists believe that if this pattern of offending can be understood and controlled. Culture represents the norms, customs and values, which both guide behavior and act as a framework from, which behavior is judged by the majority.

It is transmitted Socially rather than Biologically. Most of the time people

discover that in the poorest zones of the city, certain forms of behavior become the cultural norm transmitted from one generation to the next as a part of the normal socialization process. The majority of norms, which forces individual to form community in new and different ways, dominates the cultural structure.

Delinquent Subculture Theory: Delinquent behavior from youths were how a society should be, because these conditions make them incapable of achieving success legitimately lower case youths experience a form of culture conflict that Cohen labels status frustration.

Youth can’t really attach themselves to a particular cultural sect in the society; as a result they look for something, which can provide them a refuge. In most of the cases, because of their rebellious nature they end up taking up the path of violence and vandalism.

SUBCULTURE THEORY: Four indicators of Subcultural substanceConsistent Distinctiveness: Functions, meanings and symbols of subcultural involvement are liable to vary between participants and to reflect complex processes of cultural choice and co-incidence rather than an automatic shared reaction to circumstances. The first indicator of subcultural substance comprises the existence of a set of shared tastes and values, which is distinctive from those of other groups and reasonably consistent, from one participant to the next one place to next and one year to the next.

Identity: A clear and sustained subjective sense of group identity in itself begins to establish a grouping as substantive rather than ephemeral. Commitment: Depends upon the nature of the group in question, subcultures are liable to account for a considerable proportion of free time, friendship patterns, shopping routes, collections and commodities, going out habits and even internet use.

Autonomy: Profit making operations will ruin alongside extensive semi-commercial and voluntary activities indicating particularly high levels of grass-roots insider participations in cultural production.

• Homicide and other violent assaultive crimes must be viewed in the terms of the cultural context from which they spring.

• Homicide is most prevalent, or the highest rates of homicide occur, among a relatively homogenous subculture group in any large urban community.

• The value system of their group, we are contending, constitutes of subculture of violence.

• The subculture of violence theory holds that the overt use of violence is generally a reflection of basic values that stand apart from the dominant, the central or the parent culture.

• This overt use of violence constitutes part of a subculture normative system that is reflected in the psychological traits of the members of the Subculture.

Violence, as defined by Wikipedia, is the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person or against a group or community that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment or deprivation.

As stated by World Health Organization, for each single death due to violence there are several hospitalsations, hundreds of emergency department visits and thousands of doctors appointment. The figures state that more than 1.5 million die annually. Potential modifiable factors can be: Concentrated Poverty, Income and gender inequality and Harmful use of alcohol. Underlying causes of violence can be effective in preventing violence.

After reading up on violence and understanding that working on a character sketch won’t be productive for the study for the subject like Violence. Eventually I started reading up on crowd violence, and came across a lot of information. One question, which was really interesting was, why is most violence represented as pure events without identifiable actors but as mobs? Crowd can turn into an unknown monster very easily. Spontaneous combustion, spontaneous rage, earlier incidents of grievances and insults can lead up to crowd violence. Crowd in India got a lot of signifiers

attached to it; some of them are faceless, aggressive and unfathomable. The explanations of riots varied from religious fanaticism gripping the great unwashed, to instigation by the habitual criminal, or to instigation by people with political agendas. The style of policing and the view of crowds as a destructive, wild power rising from the people still prevail in the legal system, in the police academics and in police compounds. Hereafter is an excerpt found on the ‘crowds are faceless’

The proliferating crime channels on Indian TV

channels tend to reproduce and reinforce the notion of the men in khaki as a thin brown line defending respectable society against its enemies. Among poor people, political people organize riots. There is also a widespread endorsement of such actions that outrage, anger or frustration somehow naturally manifests themselves in crowds that can easily turn irate and commit acts of violence and destruction. And it comes as a surprise but if a Muslim/Tribal dies by the hand of the authority, they are seen as martyrs within their own communities but not in the wider political community.

While studying about crowd violence I branched out to Riots, the most socio-politically messed up part of crowd violence. During riots the category of the other almost invariably overshadows the identity of the individual. Riots situations suspend most parameters of appropriate behavior, proportionality and justice. Instead, intense feeling of fear anger and revenge take over along with forms of wild enjoyment, exhilaration, shame and guilt.

Two categories of Public violence are:• The register of public protest, of breaking the law

peacefully is deeply embedded in the current situation across the Indian political landscape as a set of possible languages of political expression and dissent.

• Public violence is a form of collective catharsis.

At one point of time of my research I thought I will study the pattern of mass violence and confidence of individuals in the same regard. I found it interesting because there were quite a few opportunities in the same. From instigators to victims, everything had a chance to grow in itself. During that time I came across a link, which had quite a few case studies on the mass violence and specially riots. This made me feel even more confident about the subject. Initially I decided to take up 7 case studies and deconstruct them. I wanted to figure out the similar pattern of mass

violence in all the given activities. Two of them were like Anti Sikh Pogrom* and Boxer Uprising**. *Anti Sikh Pogrom: Contrary to what is commonly believed this pogrom was not the result of a spontaneous reaction of the masses due to anger caused by the death of Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. It was rather an organized politically engineered action involving congress politicians, Delhi police officers and Hindu civilians. **Boxer uprising: This war was not planned by either side, but resulted from the mismanagement of the boxer crisis by both the

Chinese government and the allied powers. Four structural factors also underline the outbreak and course of the war. First was the Informal Empire in China.

I presented this but later when I discussed with my guide, Ms. Shilpa Das, I realized something like this will need more time then what I can provide. Initially I got even more confused but after the discussion I got to

know other possibilities of the theme. There were a lot of different topics for me to focus on, when my theme

remains the same. I decided to stress on a group, which according to the mass is involved in their own intentions

is different. So depending on the discussion I made another proposal, this time it was centered on Maoism.

Theme: Subculture/ Study of violence as a subcultureTopic: Similar pattern of mass violence in different parts of the world. Guide: Ms. Shilpa DasSUBCULTURE: In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture (whether distinct or hidden), which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.Why Mass Violence?I want to focus on mass violence as the topic as it describes more about the emotional and cognitive aspects of a mass rather then just an individual. I wanted to study the actions and reactions of different masses for an act of violence, and find the similarity amongst them. As an act it might be smaller but it can have a huge impact on the mass psychologically. And most of the time the mass will be unable to think about the act and will become a part of it. THE PROCESS:I want to study the pattern of similarity in mass violence around the world through available case studies and research how the crowd reacts and why. • I have divided the process in main key points, which are as follows:• Brief study of crowd psychology.• Detailed study of available case studies.• Deconstruction of the case studies.• Research on instigators and victims. • Study of physical and psychological impressions left on the mass after the act of violence. • A comparative study of all the case studies. • Study of the similar pattern of actions and consequences. • Understanding the medium for execution • ExecutionTHE 7 CASE STUDIES:• Setif and Guelma, 1945- Algeria• The repression of the Koçgiri Rebellion, 1920 – Turkey• Oradour, 1944- France• The last military dictatorship, 1976- Argentina• Calcutta riots, 1946 – India• Anti-Sikh pogrom, 1984 – India• The Boxer War, 1899 - ChinaTHE OUTCOME:The outcome has a lot of possibilities. The execution will be dependent on the material generated from the research and deconstruction of the case studies. Following are the possible approaches for the execution: • Publication:Adocument,whichgivesabriefofallthecasestudies. • Exhibition:Anarrativebasedexhibition,whichbindsallthestoriestogether and tells the viewer about the similarities of all the acts • InteractiveMedia:Amodule,whichservesasaguidetoexperiencethe case studies and understand the similarity of the same. THE TIMELINE:FIRST PHASE: Collection and finalizing on the research material. Narrowing down to the final research material. SECOND PHASE: Study the finalized research material. Mark out the points of similarity and narrow down on the text. THIRD PHASE: Finalizing the content and deciding the medium of execution. FOURTH WEEK: Execution

Theme: Subculture/ Study of violence as a subcultureTopic: Study of development and growth of Maoists. Guide: Ms. Shilpa DasSUBCULTURE: In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture (whether distinct or hidden), which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.What are Maoists?The Naxalites are left-wing extremists who take their name from Naxalbari, a village in the state of West Bengal where they first staged an uprising in 1967. India nearly wiped out the movement during counterinsurgency efforts in the 1970s that left the group broken into smaller factions, including the People’s War Group and Maoist Communist Center. In 2004, these two groups aligned to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist). The group, now made up of a loose coalition of factions, challenges state power with violence to support its stated goal of helping the landless poor, tribal people, and lower castes.I would like to focus on their development as a group and influences. THE PROCESS:I want to study the pattern of similarity in mass violence around the world through available case studies and research how the crowd reacts and why. I have divided the process in main key points, which are as follows:• Study of Maoists in India• Identifying the reasons and conditions of the formation of Maoists• Studying the political conditions of the state in that specific decade• Brief study of Mao Tse Tung’s ideologies• Study of development of the group over time. • Changes in ideology and focus. Study the diversions, if there were any.• Focus- People’s Government- People’s WarTHE OUTCOME:The outcome has a lot of possibilities. The execution will be dependent on the material generated from the research and deconstruction of the available study material. Following are the possible approaches for the execution:• Publication: An interactive document, which gives a brief on their ideologies and developments.• Exhibition: A narrative based exhibition, which binds the study together

and takes viewer through the information like a journey. THE TIMELINE:FIRST PHASE: Collection and finalizing on the research material. Narrowing down to the final research material. SECOND PHASE: Study the finalized research material. Mark out the points of similarity and narrow down on the text. THIRD PHASE: Finalizing the content and deciding the medium of execution. FOURTH PHASE: Execution

I started researching on Maoism and Maoists after the discussion with my guide, as it had more possibilities. I came a lot of information through several mediums and in different mediums.

To start with, Maoism is a communist theory derived from the teachings of the Chinese Maoists, Also known as Mao Zedong thought. It is an anti-revolutionist of Marxism. Certain people believe that mobilization of the masses, particularly in large-scale political movements; it can also refer to the egalitarianism that was seen during Mao’s era as opposed to the free-market ideology of Deng Xiaoping. Some scholars additionally define personality cults and political sloganeering as Maoist practices. Maoism is defined more by its theoretical and ideological departures from orthodox Marxism and Leninism. The modern Chinese intellectual tradition of the turn of the 20th century is defined by two central concepts.

Iconoclastic revolution: Skeptical iconoclasts formed a new segment of Chinese society, a modern intelligentsia whose arrival, or as lauded historian of China Maurice Meisner, would label it, their defection, heralded the beginning of the destruction of the gentry as a social class in china. The fall of the last Chinese imperial dynasty in 1911 marked the final failure of the Confucian moral order, and did much to make Confucianism synonyms with potential and social conservation in the minds of Chinese intellectuals. Chen Duxiu, proposed ‘total destruction of the traditions and values of the past.

Nationalism and the appeal of Marxism: Along with iconoclasm, radical anti-imperialism dominated the Chinese intellectual tradition and slowly evolved into a fierce nationalist fervor, which influenced Mao’s philosophy immensely and was crucial in adapting Marxism to the Chinese model. In China, the protest began with 3000 students in the Beijing displaying their anger at the announcement of the Versailles treaty’s concessions to Japan yet rapidly took a violent turn as protesters began attacking the homes and offices of ministers who were seen as cooperating with, or in the direct pay of the Japanese. It had a large impact of Bolshevik Revolution.

Human consciousness is the key factor on the human history. Directly contravenes the deterministic tenets of orthodox Marxism. ‘Dedicated revolutionaries’ a new social reality could be formed, which would be in harmony with his ideas. Basic Components of Maoism:

People’s war: to conduct a successful revolution the needs and demands of the masses and demands of the masses must be the most important issues.

New Democracy: Socialism cannot be introduced before that country has gone through a period in which the material conditions improve.

Most important feature of the of the society: the most important divide is the divide between contradictions among the masses and contradictions between the masses and their enemies, where the enemies are recognized as all who contradict Maoism.

Cultural Revolution: a constant struggle against these ideologies and their social roots must be conducted. Cultural revolution is directed also against traditionalism.

Three world’s theory: During the Cold War, 2 imperialist states formed the ‘first world’; the United States and the Soviet Union. The second world consisted of the other imperialist states in their spheres of influence. Third consisted of Non-Imperialistic Countries. The workers in first and second world are ‘bought up’ by imperialism, preventing socialist revolution.

Revolutionary struggle of the vast majority of people against the exploiting classes and their state structures, which Mao termed as “People’s War”. This involved peasants; its military strategies have involved guerrilla war tactics focused on surrounding the cities from the countryside, with a heavy emphasis on political transformation through mass involvement of the lower classes of society.

The increasing presence of Naxalites in areas dominated by adivasis has a geographical reason, namely that the hills and forests of central India are well suited to the methods of roaming guerilla warfare.

Public officials are unwilling to work hard and often unwilling to work at all. Doctors do not attend the clinics assigned to them; Schoolteachers stay away from school; magistrates spend their time lobbying for a transfer back to the plains. On the other hand, the Maoists are prepared to walk miles to hold a village meeting and listen.

Some of their actions have sometimes helped the adivasis can also be conceded. This is especially the case with rates for the collection by non-timber forest produce, which have gone up by as much as 200 percent in areas where the Naxalites are active and the contractors fearful of their wrath. However, the principal aim of the Maoists is not the social or economic development of the adivasis. The Naxalite movement was risen by internal discord by sharp and often bloody rivalries between different factions, each claiming itself to be the only true Indian interpreter of Mao Zedong’s thought. MCC’s base was initially in Bihar.

Naxalites have attacked and killed those they see as working in the service of the state. An atmosphere of fear and insecurity pervades the district. Gun in hand; they now strut around the countryside, forcing those without weapons to fall in line. The first tragedy is that the state has treated its adivasis citizens with contempt and condescension.

The second tragedy is that their presumed protectors, the Naxalites, offer no long-term solution either. It is highly unlikely that a revolution based on Maoist principles will succeed in India.

Excerpt from an article printed in Economic and Political Weekly.

Adivasis, Naxalites and Indian Democracy. Part 5

An editorial from Hindustan times, talks about the present scenario of Maoism in the country. It also asks questions like: • Are not our mainstream parties equally

contemptuous of the law?• Why did the NDA regime try and do away

with schedule 5 of the constitution?• Why is it still being violated?

Dilip questioned about the massacres in Delhi and Gujarat and the involvement of the politicians’ involvement and why are we addicted to the double standards? Every killing launches yet another cycle of trauma and revenge. He says, hindutva is the Maoism of the elite.

Summary of the editorial by Dilip Simeon, editor of Hindustan Times.

The Naxalite movement itself was ruthlessly crushed but its ideology proved to be a hydra, springing various people’s movements and struggles, such as the CPI-ML, MCC and PW. • Who make up the Maoist leaders and cadres? • What is their alternative vision of development? • How do they continue to exert a powerful influence

on Adivasis, Dalits and then disenfranchised. A book, which talks about Maoism and Pandita’s experience the books lacks connection between chapters but gives you a different perspective for sure. It tries to tell you about the inside stories.

Understanding of the book ‘Hello Bastar’, by Rahul Pandita.

After staying with and researching on Maoists in India, he came up with this product.

The younger Mao said he did not see a connection between India’s Maoists and his grandfather’s teaching replying to question from the Hindu in a meeting with a small group of journalists along the sidelines of the annual session of China’s top political advisory body the Chinese people’s political consultative conference.

Summary of a news article from Hindu.

Titled: Indian Maoists are missing Mao’s name.

• News and Media makes you lose track of the bigger picture.

• Who wants the war? • Who needs the war?• Situation of conflict of War. • Government breaking every sort of law about

tribal people and assault on millions of people, now the situation is becoming violent and ugly and if you start extracting morality out of it you are going to be in a mess.

• Maoist Ideology: Overthrowing the Indian state with violence. If Indian state is/was a just state, if ordinary people had minor hope for justice maoists would be a small group with no support.

• Real constitutionalists are Maoists and real breakers are the government, not just maoists all resistant movements.

Points from an episode of Devil’s Advocate. Following are the points, which defines the conversation.

Host: Karan ThapparGuest for the respective episode: Arundhati Roy

“Maoists are good human beings with a lot of dedication and commitment for the country...they could do what others cannot.” - Sri Sri Ravishankar

Idea one:As I tried researching more on the same idea, I came across writings on the revolutionary activities. The Indian revolutionary underground began gathering momentum through the first decade of 20th century. Several groups arouse in Bengal, Maharashtra, Orissa, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Madras Presidency. There were two significant revolutionary groups during the freedom struggle, which were, Jugantar and Anshilan Samiti. Aurobindo Ghosh, Bann Ghosh and Bhupendra Dutta made the Jugantar Party. The Party was formed in 1906. They were involved in cases like Muzaffarpur killings and Aupore bomb case. The founding of the ‘Indian House’ of the Indian Sociologist under Shyam Krishna Varma(1905) took the radical movement to Britain itself. Eventually in 1920s revolutionary activities began to recognize. One of the most famous revolutionary cases The Kakori Conspiracy, which was organized by the Hindustan Revolutionary Association. They were created to carry out revolutionary activities against the British.

Idea two:Case study of an individual involved in violent activities. I thought of this idea because I wanted to focus on one person and then based on that can speculate on his condition. I wanted to compare the official records and the story of his life according to him. It was a difficult thing to execute but it would have thrown light on how individuals get trapped into the circuit of confusion and id. I realized that it is important to know what individuals think of themselves when they are perceived as something else. But this concept didn’t really serve the study of a subculture as a whole; it could have been successful in depicting a character sketch and reasons for it.

Idea three:This concept was far away from the forte of violence, but it was influenced from the idea of a character sketch. In this I wanted to study a craft sector/ artisan. But I never really built up on this idea as I was still attracted by the ‘violence’ theme.

Finally I decided to continue with the ‘Violence’ as the grass root of my elective and think about an idea, which can complement the research phase and does not pile up as a burden. There were few options, stated hereafter:

• Study of a violent group/community, using media and Internet resources majorly.

• Character study of a victim of any kind of violent activity.

• Study of a character sketch of a person who is involved in a profession where they try to control crime and violence.

This concept was majorly focused on the research on a group of people, which is associated with violent activities, and their activities. I chose to research on Maoists in India. I tried to study the different point of views of people towards them and what they think of themselves and how they would like to be defined.

It took me quite a long time to contemplate, which end product can stand out as a better solution for the same. I was really confused between both the deliverables mentioned earlier. It was a difficult choice, as there was something I have worked with and on the other hand there was something was pretty alien. There were attractions in both of them but then there was a time limit also. Regardless of the fact that I crossed my dead line, I wanted to wrap up the project soon. I didn’t wan the project to grow on me so much that I get tired of it. After that point I wouldn’t have been able to work. So finally after comparing the cons of both the mediums, I decided to work on a third idea.This idea was of a magazine as a platform for discussing violence and topics related to it.

As I started working on the execution, I realized I need to research on ‘magazines’ as well to understand their minute details. For which, I studied different kind of magazines and how they have used elements and how they deal with themes. It was not just about the different graphic languages, I wanted to know about the different structures and how the structure can change the feel of a magazine. I found out that most of the magazines have a more of less sam structure but The content and emphasis-deemphasis can change the whole story. If you look into this, you’ll realize how graphic is just the fluid and it takes the shape according to the container. And the content is a really important part of this fluid as that is the major content and helps it takes the shape it wants to. I tried to study a number of magazines and found really interesting factors also. Three of them were Vogue, Outlook and My world.

After looking at few magazines, I wanted to look at something which has the same category but a different structure. To look for something like this, I referred to the trend report of Vogue, spring/summer 2011. Every season they work on an issue, which talks about the trend and what will be new in that specific collection. There are no articles, but a lot of pictures in an organized way under certain subjects. For starters, it has contents, masthead and editorial and the content gets divided with pictures and their categorization. This was an interesting concept and works for the kind of things they want to work on. It sells you the lifestyle and looks. It tries to convey what people should wear and what they should not try. They give a peek in the big world of versace, louis vuitton, mcqueen and etc. The whole magazine gave me a feel of a scrap book, but somehow didn’t invite me i it’s world. Would work with few people. agreed. But graphically the theme could have worked out in a better way. After all this I would still say the way they handled 70 different categories and over 600 looks was amazing.

Luckily, the issue I got to work on was the one with the theme of Naxals. Outlook can be placed in the category of sociopolitical magazine. It had three totally different topics mentioned on the cover page, which could work as a brilliant crowd puller. The test on cover was well-settled with a powerful image to attract ones attention. The cover story was on Maoism, and the magazine tried to attack emotionally with powerful imagery. I found the magazine pretty sorted with the info graphics and elements used. Generally I would think of the body type size as a big one, but I was surprised that it works for this magazine. I also feel supportive for the colors used and type synchronization. I had an eventful journey through this magazine, even the advertisements didn’t behave like potholes. If I put down the structure, it would go like

Structure of the magazine:ContentsNotesExclusiveHealthcareNational detailed studyCover StoryPoliticsOpinionUrban LandscapeOpinionMusicBooksMoviesDiary

Outlook, India

Vouge, India. Trend Report.

This magazine was used as a promotional magazine for future group, people could pick one and walk away with a souvenir. It talks about food, fashion, beauty, wellness, decor and technology. Starts with masthead and a passage by the CEO of future group. To me this magazine seemed a bit confused in itself The issue I referred to was from June 2011. It’s focus was men and talked mainly about fathers’ day. It would come under lifestyle category but had a bit of film industry in it. Like other lifestyle magazines, this one tried to impose a lifestyle by talking about ‘Real Men’ makeovers, fruit of the month and grooming guide for men. This magazine is trying hard to fit in and for that they are trying to show the desirable components of ones life to make them come and read the same unnecessary reading material.

The structure seemed a bit itch-kitch to me. The major topics would go like:

Experts of the monthFruit of the monthUpcoming eventsReader’s cornerQuestion-AnswersTrend Celeb TalkFitnessMale grooming productsDiva of the month FashionMakeoverTrend alertCover StoryHot picksFoodMovies+books+musicTarotShopping guide

My World, IndiaFuture Group venture

This is a part of information I found on the web, which states very simply and beautifully how the structure works traditionally. And if you compare this with magazines, you’ll realize that people follow this to quite an extent. The structure of a magazine is based upon a certain order that many publications follow. And there is a reason for the popular approach. It maintains professionalism and makes it easier for readers to process the information quickly and efficiently.

Editorial Order and Flow of a Magazine• The cover is what entices readers to pick up the

magazine. It has an appealing photo or illustration, cover lines, roof lines and a UPC code.

• Also known as the Table of Contents, the TOC captures the personality and character of the publication. Advertisers eye this section to get a glimpse of what the magazine is about. Readers turn to it to see if there are any pages or articles that pique their interest and if it is worthy enough to read.

• The nameplate of the magazine’s staff, the masthead is a recognition page like movie credits seen at the end of a film.

• Written by the chief editor, the editor’s letter usually covers his or her thoughts on the issue’s theme, how it came into fruition, how it’s relevant and/or the part that should especially be read.

• The publisher’s letter is sometimes left out in some larger publications, but generally he or she talks about the magazine and how it relates to the bigger picture. This page can go before or after the editor’s letter. It can also be placed on the same page, as there are no spoken rules.

• A common industry term for Front of Book pages,

the FOB covers short roundups on different topics. Sections are short and are mostly assigned to junior editors, assistants and skilled interns.

• The feature well is located at the center of the magazine and is usually 800 to 2,300 words.

• The Back of Book is like the FOB, but it covers short closers like events, listings, essays, etc.

• Last page. • Deciphering what to put on the last editorial page

can be challenging, but the page is consistent for every issue, whether it’s an essay or photo collage.

• Ad Placement Structure in a Magazine• An acronym for Inside Front Cover, the IFC or Second

Cover is one of the more expensive positions for advertisements because the quality of paper is thicker and better, and it is more readily visible to readers.

• The Inside Back Cover or Third Cover is also reserved for advertisements because it can garner more profit due to better paper quality and visibility.

• The Back Cover or Fourth Cover is the most expensive position for placing an ad because it generates the most visibility. When people are carrying or reading the magazine, the back and front cover are always in plain sight.

For the ads that go in between pages, advertisers can have a say in where they want the ads to be placed, but it should not interfere with the editorial. This means that ads should not be placed next to editorial content with the same colors or product because readers can be tricked into thinking the advertising is part of the editorial. If an ad looks like an editorial, it should say “Promotion” or “Advertisement” at the top of the page to distinguish itself. It’s important that editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Again, the above outline is a standard structure of a magazine, but the page sequencing of ads and editorial can slightly vary from publication to publication depending on the company’s preferences.

Concept OneThis concept was all about writing and talking about

my own point of view. I wanted to see what I could write after all this research and what it can turn into. I started writing as well. For this concept I thought I’ll work on a publication and use reference to finish up the material. I kept researching and contemplating about the idea. I read essays like Hello Baster and Walking with the

comrades. These essays were quite influential and had a really deep research and experience behind them.

Concept TwoWhile reading up on resources I realized that another

nice way to represent the material would be exhibition. I wanted to work on a narrative, which could work as a

dialogue between the viewer and the narrative. Through this concept I wanted to present the subconscious of a confused person. I wanted to reflect the inner chaos of

citizens of India, who are aware about the topic. There is a dilemma in everyone’s head about the right and wrong in our country. After collecting the material I worked on the narrative, which clearly stated the confused state of our lovely state. I wanted to use this narrative as a part of the exhibition, and wanted to create an experiential typographic exhibition. The concept was to work on a

journey, which talks to you rather than showing the viewer artifacts and boring panels which are bigger than them.

Concept ThreeAs I read more, I grew more and realized the limitations and thought practically about the project. Ideas would

come in a frenzy and leave me with thoughts and contemplation. One idea which I found useful was

of the monthly magazine. This magazine was about violence, and each issue would talk about different

topics within the same. This would serve as a platform for laymen to discuss their views about the topics and

their own experience. With this concept I didn’t have to deal with the complexity of content, but I had to figure

out the structure of the magazine and the treatment. I had to understand the components of a magazine,

and discover the suitable journey for the reader to flip through. I decided to work on the masthead, the colour

palette, content management and other fine tunings.

I decided to go after the third concept, after a lot of emotional and practical thought. This concept was like a enlightenment to me, as I realized that I can never know enough do to justice to an exhibition, and the idea of a book was far far away. One of my colleagues told me, “We are graphic designers, we don’t have to generate the content. We have to give a message through our work. The content from be from anyone.” That idea hit me. I realized that I’ve been reading what people say, but everyone who is speaking has a well defined position in the society. I thought of depicting the thought of people who want to say something and don’t have a platform.

This was perfect and I started to work on it. I felt satisfied with the concept of involving people and giving space to speak up. But there was a long way to go. I decided to take the third idea forward and work on the masthead, the structure and other aspects of the magazine. And this was the time when the second research phase started. Now i started researching on how the magazines work and went through book stores to check the covers and how they stand out.

Simultaneously I worked on the mast head, I decided to call it ‘The Red Journal’( later changed to Red) There were options like Manch, Vichar, Dialogue and what not. One by one, each got neglected I went ahead with ‘Red’, because of the association of every person with the colour red. I realized that epitome of all the emotions could be associated with the colour red, I fell for the feel of the word but not for the colour. I decided to use a colour palette which doesn’t have red in it.

Part of the exploration would describe the process in brief, and the journey as well.

I worked on my own for a bit and realized that there is a lot to know before trying to structure the same. I thought of a rough structure and started talking to different people about it, and tried to explain my tentative outcome. I tried to take their inputs and work on their feedback. I agree that I started really really young, but people helped me to grow through this project.

They asked me questions like, why will people come back to my magazine, why it is a magazine at all, any not an internet portal, how will the budding artists will be recognized… What is in for people in it. Questions and a lot of questions, which still haunts me sometime. But I tried to get rid of most of them, and tried to achieve a place where I could serve all of them.

This concept was promising and it served the same way. I can say that it was perfect at that point of time and has a lot of capability of growing into a encouraging venture.

Based on the hand-drawn exploration, I narrowed down to this

look and feel of the masthead. I tried to explore within the same

range to understand what I want as a designer, not as a client.

Explorations for colour and the masthead. I was dead

sure to carry on this lanuage, but with time I realized the

drawbacks and tried to work on something more refine.

But there was one thing... Since the start I decided not to

use the colour red for the colour palette. I wanted to use a

colour palette which can be fresh and attract more attention.

Plus, the use of colour red would have made the magazine

look more communist, than it sounds because of it’s name.

Not that I completely abandoned red colour, I tried to

explore that also. But the idea of not using that colour

seemed more interestig, and proved interesting too.

Trials for the cover. I tried to explore different

treatments to predict the theme for the magazine.

These were the few masthead explorations, before I decided

to call it ‘Red’. This masthead was too long to remember and

was less dramatic and more confusing, than what I wanted.

I tried to balance composition of the characters, as one or the other was getting ignored. I wanted

a tilt in ‘e’ to give a dynamic feel to the type, which could look more humanist also. Finally I went

ahead with the fourth one, as it could balance the charaters and do justice o the name

Pages from the earlier draft. It served as per my

earlier mindset, but after getting the print I realized

the mistakes and tried to work on them.

After the first draft got printed, I realized that there were a lot of tthings to work upon. I tried to get away from the restrictive feel of the earlier one, and increase drama with the changes.

These are the few pages from the magazine, which come from differnt sections.

After refining the structure and design language over a several times, with all the confusions and limitations, I came up with a structure for the magazine. It didn’t only sere the purpose, but was a balanced venture between expression and information. With the structure I could work on what people want to express, and have the satisfaction of providing a medium for the same. The structure and the theme of the magazine was not very elaborate, but I can say it’s different in it’s own way. I decided not to use the colour red for the magazine, as I didn’t want to emphasis on red

and look bias towards the communist/ rebellious side of the country. I went with the colour palette which is not really associated with Indian colour palette. It seemed to work with the treatment because I wanted to mellow down the feeling of rage and opinion, and wanted to embrace expression. I wanted the reader just to pay attention to the text and what people are saying, so I decided to have black & white images with text, which can be full of emotions and colour.

This Magazine is a platform to discover talent, express themselves, and get information. The concept is to have a monthly magazine, which deals with topics related to violence. Each issue emphasizes on one patch of the big story. In this way people can talk about their stories, their ideas and read about the same topic. The magazine is not just for people who want to speak up, it’s for people who want to know whats happening in our country and what people have to say about it. The few starting pages of the magazine will introduce the topic by throwing light on the list of incidents

happened in the past and what do you mean by the phrase/ word itself. And while summing up the magazine one get to read about the current affairs of the same topic. The structure is worked out in such a way that even if a reader is equipped with the knowledge, the magazine can enlighten them.

The structure decided after all the research in the same domain was as follows: • Cover- The cover will have the masthead, volume

and issue number along with few catch phrases which give insight of the magazine. The masthead would be of a different colour depending on the colour which can be associated with the topic.

• The Red Journal- This section gives a detailed timeline and talks about the history of the respective topic/ theme.

• Introduction- This part tells you how one can define the topic and what are the confusions and misconceptions.

• Contents page• Red Squad- This is the masthead, it gives information

about the writers and their contact information. • Editorial• Post- This is a space where people

talk about the earlier issue. • Featured Essay 1- One of the two essays, which are

written by professional writers to get the magazine to a considerable level, and to have a come back value.

• Stance- In this section people talk about their point of views, and try to express themselves.

• Whisper- This section is for the photo essay, which gives the user a journey in the most unusual and extensive way.

• Featured Essay 2• Encounter- Here readers will get to know about

the experiences shared by different people, related to the same topic and how they feel about it.

• Hustle & Bustle- As we started with a timeline, this would be perfect way to end it, because this part updates you with current affairs and conclude the magazine as well.

• Back Cover- In this magazine back cover is pretty important, as it invites people for the net issue and discloses the theme for people to generate and work on their text.

After announcing the next issue, the magazine would get a number of e-mails and post. They are then sorted out and checked for potential. The short-listed pieces then head to the research department, where the correspondents make sure that the content is real and have not grain of forgery. It is, according to the law, the author’s responsibility to take charge of the content presented under his name. It is not the the magazine’s content, and magazine is just a medium to express.

The statistics of the same magazine would be as follows:

Finished Size- 21x29.7 cmsOpen Size- 42x29.7 cmsFrom paper size- 63.5x91 cms

16 pages from each sheet, with extra margins for clipping and finishing.

Paper type: Royal Art Paper, 90 GSM

Minimum no. of pages in the magazine: 40(covering 2½ sheets)Maximum: 80 pages. With more contribution the number of the pages can increase.  

This project took me almost a year to complete, but I think I wouldn’t have been happy if I just wrapped it up for academic requirements. This project is my own brainchild and helped me a lot to grow as a person. I started as a dreamer and realized the importance of my work and what I can do with it. I don’t know when will I get to learn so much from my work again. I keep mentioning how this project grew on me and made me think in a different way. I remember sitting on my chair in the graphic studio and staring at the trial prints put up on the board. I would wonder for hours, and think what is missing. I kept trying to put all the pieces together and look at the big picture. As a learning experience, this project was the best teacher. It was a hypothetical project, which taught me more responsibility when I was trying hard to make my dream sound logical. I tried to work both with my heart and brain, and now I can say I’m satisfied with what I have done. There will always be space to grow, and things to change, but the outcome suits my current notion.

Now. To conclude this project, I’m excited but don’t know how to conclude something which was your life for so long. No matter what I did, I kept thinking about my concept and how I can improve it. I might have lost the thread of thought somewhere, but I regained the confidence and tried to develop something people would like to welcome. I remember that 5 days into the project and I decided to change my subject. Then people encouraged me and told me to carry on with it. I keep wondering how it would have been if I focused on something else. It’s pretty naive to say that I like my project, but I would certainly take this opportunity to say that I know some time down the line, this project will make me feel proud. I don’t know if I’ll continue to do work like this, but whatever I’ve done makes me feel good as a person and as a graphic designer. It wouldn’t have been such brilliant if it was not for Suresh and Shilpa. Both of them helped me a lot in really different ways. I was scared to even start the project. I thought of myself as a child, Shilpa’s encouragement helped me to arrive to my destination. Her belief in me and positive comments helped me regain confidence and deal with such a serious topic. And if it was not for Suresh, I wouldn’t have understood the complexities of a magazine, and how they follow a structure. It was not just my work which brought out this design. It was a culmination of efforts of many more.

Peopel: Immanuel SureshShilpa DasRupesh VyasTarun Deep GirdherRana SnehalVivek ShethSachin RavindaranRhea RawatKetki JadhavPranay Arun-KumarNihar DesaiShraddha JainAntara JhaBrij Raj SinghM. P. RanjanRajesh DahiyaJyothi IyerBatchmates… and everyone who was there for me through all the jumpy ride.

Keywords & CelebritiesCommunist party of India- documents and statementsAman Panchayat Sanity Sucks BlogSeamus Murphy Photography Soak ExhibitionSee off Earth week in Buenos AiresRahul PanditaArundhati RoyIndian PunchlineThe HinduMaoism in India- Tilak DasguptaTerror groups in IndiaSatp.orgWikipediaRedsun.orgnaxalrevolution.blogspot.incfr.oegThe political theology of violenceSubculture of violence- Marvin WolfgangAnti-Sikh Pogrom- Jagdish Tytler and H S PhoolkaBoxer WarHello BasterAmartya SenGyan PandeyDipesh Chakraborty

Few weblinks:http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/article3346306.ecehttp://sanhati.com/articles/2250/http://southasiarev.wordpress.com/nepal-worker-11/the-worker-11-communist-party-of-india-maoist/https://reddiarypk.wordpress.com/2010/05/18/maoism-critique/#more-621http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/terroristoutfits/CPI_M_Timeline11.htmhttp://naxalrevolution.blogspot.in/p/quotes_04.htmlhttp://southasiarev.wordpress.com/2009/04/04/a-timeline-of-maoist-revolution-in-india/http://www.civilserviceindia.com/subject/Essay/maoists-in-india.html