Centre for Tagore Studies in Scotland

Tagore's deep connection with Scotland is well known. He had a special liking for Robert Burns, the Scottish poet. He took inspiration from some of Burns' songs. Tagore's connection with Scotland is now the central point of discussion between the two countries and has helped in strengthening the cultural ties. With the passage of time there is a growing interest among the literature students of Scotland to know more about Tagore, his works and his philosophy of life. To facilitate research on Tagore, Scottish government has set up Centre for Tagore Studies in the Napier University of Edinburgh. The centre envisages to address all research queries on Tagore and build up full fledged capacity to start department of under graduate and postgraduate studies.

                                                 

                                          picture source: Kevin Dayhoff (picasa) 

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Tagore without the West Bengal connection is so incomplete! Scottish Government acknowledged the  fact and has decided to extend the Centre to Kolkata's Scottish Church College. The Department of English, Bengali and Philosophy will be in direct contact with the Centre at Edinburgh in a bid to execute mutually fulfilling research projects on Tagore. The centre is presently in the process of collecting large number of Tagore's writing and research that have been performed by Tagore scholars across the globe. The centre is also mulling collaboration with Visva Bharati University and Rabindra Bharati University to augment its collection with the latest volumes.

Dr. Basabi Fraser, a Bengali settled in Scotland and a reputed Tagore scholar has been appointed as the coordinator of the centre in Scotland. She will work in tandem with the centre in Scottish Church College in Kolkata. In Scotland she is assisted by Prof. Linda Dryden in this endeavor.  Fraser specializes in Post colonial Literature and Theory and is one of the most accomplished persons for this job. To have a positive start to this venture there is an exhibition of rare pictures, manuscripts and letters of Tagore slated to be held in January next year. 

Initiatives like this will help in cultural exchange between the two countries and will also help in widening the knowledge base on different facets of Tagore. Possibilities are abound for the future.

The World of 1080p: HD TV

High Definition television or HDTV refers to video that has resolution (1080p) higher than that of traditional television system. HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame which is roughly five times that of the standard one. During the time of its launch, HDTV broadcasting used analog techniques but nowadays HDTV is digitally broadcast using video compression.

                                      

                                                    picture source: NEWMAN K (picasa) 

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HD television was first developed by Nippon Hs in 1969. HDTV, as we witness it today, had its birth in Japan in 1980’s and in Europe in 1990’s. By 2002, US had only 3 to 4 HD channels and the HD programming was also limited. American Football (NFL) was one of the first sports to air some games in HD. Today a number of HD channels are available in the US. In India, High Definition Television along with picture resolution comparable to a 35mm movie screen, surround sound audio, wider screen image with up to 6times the picture sharpness of standard television, was available in the market by the end of 2008. In addition to a much enhanced viewing experience which is augmented by a crystal clear display, HDTV also provides CD quality sound.

One thing that needs to be taken note of is that all HD television is digital but not all digital TV is HDTV. Today we see a number of commercial, advertisements in televisions, newspapers and magazines about HDTV in India. Many people who buy or are planning to buy are not aware of the fact that by just going for HD DTH connection, they will not be able to see all channels in HD. Only those channels that are telecasted in HD can be viewed in high quality. So, before going for HD DTH connection people must check the number of channels which are offering HD output. Recently a number of channels like Movies Now, Discovery World, National Geographic, Star Movies, Star World, Star Cricket, ESPN, Colors, UTV Stars, History are offering HD output for the viewers.

High Definition Television is popular because of its flat panel matrix displays (FPDs) in the home which have gradually replaced cathode ray tube (CRT) based television sets. FPDs are larger in size than CRT and are about 42 inches to 65 inches diagonal. HDTV broadcast has up to 1080 lines resulting in 6times the picture clarity in respect to standard television output. As already discussed earlier, when it comes to audio, 5.1 surround sound is much superior to the one available in standard television.

The High Definition television apart from being technically so demanding has some drawbacks. They are more expensive than regular standard televisions. Most cable and satellite companies charge additional monthly fees for providing HD programming. HDTV can suffer from ‘burn in’ resulting from static images and they have relatively short life expectancy of 20,000 to 30,000 hours. HD televisions consume a lot of power in comparison to other technologies. Watching HDTV from close distance can cause headache. So experts have recommended sitting at a distance from an HDTV which i equal to two to three times its diagonal length. Another disadvantage of High Definition television is that most of the operators stop short of following full HDTV specifications. Thus the HD picture quality ends up being not as good as promised. Operators use lower resolution or slower bit rates to accommodate more channels with the limited bandwidth; as a result the video quality suffers.

Though there are a number of disadvantages, HDTV is the future and no one can deny the fact that it is much superior to standard television. A revolution in the television viewing experience is waiting to happen. Pictures to die for!! 

About the Author- 

Sayanti Ghosh is student of Journalism and Mass Communication at Muralidhar Girl's College, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and they do not reflect in any way those of the Dispassionate Observer.

November Issue

The issue of Dispassionate Observer for this month has been delayed by some unavoidable circumstances. However, as it has been the case last month, the blog refuses to die down amidst all the overbearing work engagements which is making it difficult to maintain a healthy issue period from the first to the end of a month. This problem hopefully will not persist from December as things will be more streamlined. 

Till now the blog has tried to focus on national and international news, thought pieces and observations on media and society. There has been no dearth of ideas with a range of topics already in discussion. One of the important goals of Dispassionate Observer has been to provide a platform to budding journalism and mass communication students in colleges and universities. Their contributions have always been given priority. The healthy mix of views from the experts and the students of the trade has made Dispassionate Observer stronger. Now the blog wishes to explore a more challenging zone. It envisages to include research oriented papers and commentaries on television, globalisation and media, new media and its prospects and the problems that are plaguing media in the present century. This is being done with the intent to facilitate and empower media studies. 

As we move into the November issue of Dispassionate Observer there is a sense of loss. We were yet to cope up with the death of Ghazal legend, Jagjit Singh when the news of another sad demise flew in. Bhupen Hazarika, Bard of Brahmaputra, one of the brightest musical talents of the country died of a multi organ failure on 5th of this month at the age of 85. This is a huge loss for the nation as this multifaceted genius used folk music of Assam as an instrument of social change. We pay our tributes to this great soul with the words of another living music legend, Lata Mangeshkar: "There will never be another Bhupen Hazarika".