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This isn?t a post on cinema though I have made some tenuous connections. This is a post on history, Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies, global trade and some personal observations.

September, 1833. As the Tuscany, that had set sail from Boston about four months ago, approached the Hooghly and made its way up into Calcutta, there was palpable excitement among the officers of the British Empire. The Tuscany carried a cargo so improbable that many thought it was a prank. It carried frozen water! Yes, Ice!

The improbability of ice ?harvested? from the many fresh water ponds of New England traveling over 15,000 miles to reach the greatest city, then, east of London makes for one of the more interesting anecdotes of global trade. Especially, when you consider mankind had not yet discovered industrial refrigeration. The Ice trade, one of the earliest instances of globalization, was pioneered by Frederic Tudor, a tenacious …

iView Author: Prabhu Jhingran
(Lucknow, India)

Email :
mediamantra2000 [at] gmail [dot] com

The Practical Illustrated Media Handbook : Film & Cinematography

At the outset, we should not hesitate to admit that in several regions of our country, the standard of imparting media education is far from being satisfactory. The rush of young people towards the media-print or electronic, has led to the mushroom growth of institutes of journalism and mass communication. Their brochures make big claims and the fee is even bigger. Most of these institutes not only lack the basic infrastructure but also the faculty of teachers with professional background and practical experience. The show limps on with the help of part timers the result is that when the students find a job, they are also surprised to find that they were not told things which they should have been told for smoothly performing the day to day professional …