a world of my own

The Background

December 20th, 2009, Chennai:

I was invited to the EMS Janmasatabdi celebrations organized by Madras Kerala Samaajam, Chennai by my friend Sunil Krishnan [He have already published a report on the event using some of my photos in his Malayalam blog] together with my friend Saswat. Eminent media personalities like N Madhavankutty, Sasikumar, K. A. Johny  and Communist leaders like W. R. Varadarajan [who was the then Chief editor of Theekkathir], Hon. minister for Education of Kerala, Comrade. M. A. Baby, Comrade. E.M. Radha attended the function. Though I didn’t get any “good photos” that day, I was happy that I was able to talk to a few of them personally. After I returned from the meeting, I processed all the photos and uploaded some to my Flickr account and contributed some of them to wikipedia articles. As I publish/share my photographs via a Creative Commons by-sa license [even this blog is licensed by the same license], anyone can use my photographs without my prior permission but conforming to the conditions as stated in the license.

Recent Developments

February 19th, 2010:

The CPI(M) central committee (former) member and (former) state secretary of CPI(M) of Tamilnadu, Comrade. W. R. Varadarajan went missing on February 11th 2010 and police is still searching for him.

The Problem

I was very much excited to see one of my work being used by a mainstream media. That excitement was short lived and gave way to an uneasy feeling. I wasn’t given the credit for my work. The copyright violation was first noticed in Mathrubhumi, then in Manorama. Later I found them in few other websites too. Here I have a list of them, and the link to the stolen content.

1. മാതൃഭൂമി
2. മലയാള മനോരമ
3. Our-Kerala
4. Asian Tribune
5. Dinakaran
6. Daily Thanthi
7. Thatstamil [they have removed it now]

The Evidences

I have taken the screenshots of Google news page as well as the content page, as soon as I noticed the content theft and are presented over here. Click the image to see a bigger version.

1. മാതൃഭൂമി
   • Google News

   

   • Site

   

2. മലയാള മനോരമ
   • Google News

   

   • Site

   

3. Our-Kerala
   • Site

   

4. Asian Tribune
   • Site

   

5. Dinakaran
   • Google News

   

   • Site

   

6. Daily Thanthi
   • Google News

   

   • Site

   

7. Thatstamil [they have removed it now and too lazy to upload the screenshot]

The Actions

I have mailed the respective editors/content managers about the matter and waiting for their reply/action. So far, only Thatstamil have responded positively by removing the said image.

Post Script

The photograph is the first result of the Google image search for the query “W R Varadarajan”, which made its way to the news portals. The content managers ignored the copyright warning by the Google as well as the notice on my flickr album.

When will the conventional media starts respecting the copyright and creative commons licenses? If I am right this is not the first incident of this kind.

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[youtube=http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=14rTDOVr8i0]

The chief minister, V S Achuthananthan starts speaking from the 27-28th second of the video. There are at two places the video is broken (cut). Even the question asked to him is NOT shown [UPDATE0: Imagine how a person will answer to a question like this - "Haven't Sandeep's father told you before that not even a dog should enter my house. Why did you go then?"]. In this attempt I am explaining a word-to-word translation and explanation of CM’s statements.

He Starts….[0:28 to 0:43]

കര്‍ണ്ണാടകത്തിലെ chief minister-ഉം പരിവാരങ്ങളും വരുന്നതിന്റെ കൂടെ … അല്ലെങ്കില്‍ അതിനു മുമ്പോ, കേരളത്തിലെ മുഖ്യമന്ത്രിയും മറ്റും കൂടെ വന്നില്ല…. ഒരാളും തിരിഞ്ഞു നോക്കിയില്ല…. അതില്‍ വികാരവിക്ഷോഭിതനായി എന്ന്….
<CUT>

The word-to-word translation,

Along with the Karnataka chief minister and his team…. or even before, the Kerala chief minister didn’t come… everyone from Kerala turned their back…. and he got over it…

The meaning,

Sandeep’s father got emotional over the fact that Kerala Chief minister or his representative couldn’t attend the funeral with or even before the Karnataka chief minister.

Kerala CM resumes speaking after the <CUT> [0:44-0:48]

കര്‍ണ്ണാടകത്തിലെ മുഖ്യമന്ത്രിയും കേരളത്തിലെ മുഖ്യമന്ത്രിയും നമ്മുക്കൊരുമിച്ച് പോകാമെന്ന് ഇവിടെ അറിയിച്ചിട്ടുണ്ടോ?
<CUT>

The meaning,

Did the Karnatka CM had messaged anything to visit the home together?

The controversial part of the footage comes after the next <CUT> [0:49-end]

സന്ദീപിന്റെ വീടല്ലനെങ്കില്‍ ഒരു പട്ടി തിരിഞ്ഞുനോക്കുമോ അവിടെ?സന്ദീപിന്റെ കുടുംബം, സന്ദീപിന്റെ പിതാവ്, സന്ദീപിന്റെ മാതാവ്, സന്ദീപിന്റെ കുടുംബാംഗങ്ങള്‍ എന്നിവരോടുള്ള ഞങ്ങളുടെ attachment…. ഒരു പ്രത്യേകമല്ലേ അത്? അതു മനസ്സിലാക്കുവാന്‍ ഉണ്ണികൃഷ്ണനെപ്പോലിള്ള ഒരു soldier-ന്റെ പിതാവിന് കഴിയേണ്ടതല്ലേ?

Word-to-word translation,

Had it not been Sandeep’s house, not even a dog would have glanced in. Sandeeps family, Sandeeps father, Sandeeps mother, Sandeeps family members, the attachment we have for them… that is very special, right? A soldiers father should have understood those?

Meaning,

Had it not been Sandeep’s house, not even a dog would have glanced in. The attachment we have with Sandeep’s family, Sandeep’s father, Sandeep’s mother, Sandeep’s family members is very special. A soldiers father should have understood those feelings.

Now, please tell me where he (Kerala CM) had insulted Major. Sandeep’s family?. Why ONLY the first sentence in his quote was colored and made in BOLD (in the footage)?

This is where I criticize the media of communist bashing! This is CHEATING! The TimesNOW had cheated ALL OF YOU!

The TimesNOW channel should publish the unedited footage of the interview if they have the minimal ethics/morals a journalist is expected to possess. It is so pity that the media is sensationalizing the issue just to score ahead in viewership by capitalizing the patriotic emotions of people.

I can understand it when non-Malayalam speaking friends criticize the CM, because they can ONLY swallow what TimesNOW says. Let me express by protest against my Malayalee friends who could understand Malayalam very well, consciously and will-fully became a part of this fact-hijacking footage by TimesNOW that too in the name of patriotism. Shame on YOU for capitalizing the fellow country-men’s patriotic emotions for satisfying your anti-communist needs.

FAQ

Q0. Karat had criticized CM’s remarks, CM had apologized and still what you are blabbering?

Their actions are completely political….just to save their face. My actions are completely personal, to expose the TRUTH, to explain MY STAND!… “I fear no DOGS”

Q1. Are you a Communist?

I am NOT a member of any of the main-stream left party and don’t wish to join, as of now, in the near future. But I am a staunch leftist.

Q2. So you blindly support CPI(M) or CPI for all their actions?

Read Q4. in this FAQ. (scroll down)

I wish if you could read Malayalam, so that you can read this beautiful post.

“May be patriotism is the adrenaline rush you get when watching the final overs of a 20-20 match for most of you… that is NOT the same for me and many others!“

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