Who would have thought when we welcomed the New Year in January 2011 that this would be more than just the beginning of a new decade? As I sit on my rocking chair and bask in the gentle warmth of a winter morning, I marvel at the hurricane of the year that was. I am not talking about the 7 billionth baby in the world, nor about marriages between royalty and commoners or the birth of a new era in Libya with the end of tyranny. I am saluting the medium through which, dear reader, you and I interface. The phrase ‘the coming of change’ refers to the tsunami of change and innovation in communication. Here are some notable changes of last year:
The medium’s evolution: There was a time when evolution in the method of communication happened by and large over a five year span. However, 2011 seemed to be reverberating with innovations in the medium that were spell-binding in their occurrence. India saw its first technologically produced superhero film based on the mythological Ravana. The holistic and aggressive promotions and glitz via the traditional and e-media through Ra-One websites and Ra-One gaming zones declared the coming of age of technology in Hindi cinema. If 2009 saw the evolution of Avatar, 2011 belonged to the experiments in realistic animation by Steven Speilberg with his Adventures of Tintin. And if this was stupendous, what was happening in the virtual parallel world had everyone gasping for breath. Flash mobs at Mumbai Central and the most popular song of 2011—Kolavari di were surprises that had the antaryami pundits of the world of communication biting their nails in perplexity and asking Why this, why this…we don’t have choice-u...
Evolution in thought: The evolution of thought in the fabric of any society is reflected by the spoken and today by the tweeted word. Of all the advertised offerings, I will speak only of the critical three. The first was a reflection of a busy double income couple preoccupied on 3G, with no time to increase the aabadi, truly a winner of an Idea sirji! Second, was the most popular jingle that resonated with young and old as the new world was not about family but Dosti…kyon ki har ek friend jaroori hota hai. And the third was the emergence of the quintessential self-willed Indian woman. She scoffed at sharafat as Ms. Balan had all the men sweating under the collar as Silk, who lived on her own terms a la The Dirty Picture.
Evolution in the communicator: Every year, regardless of the sub-prime or the 2G scam, nothing changes as Pista aam aadmi hi hai and as Pink Floyd rebelliously croons, We’re just a brick in the wall. Till from Agneepath, and the ashes of 2010 rises that nondescript nameless, faceless common man on A Wednesday. Suddenly in 2011, he was everywhere. Sometimes in Egypt instigating a revolution and the fall of a government; sometimes in Tunisia or Libya and then he came home to Ram Lila Maidan. And suddenly the whole country was communicating in one voice: Anna tum sungursh karo hum tumhare saath hain.
Like sukh aur dukh, the emergence of a new order was also accompanied by the loss of some legendary communication facilitators like Steve Jobs and communicators like Sha-mmi Kapoor, Dev Anand, Jagjit Singh and Bhupen Hazarika.
Bob Dylan take heed when you lamented, How many ears must one man have before he can hear people cry? How many deaths will it take before he knows that too many people have died? The answer my friend in 2011 whether in Egypt through Ola Salem or in India is finally blowing in the wind…
As January unfolds its welcoming white arms and we all move together towards a beautiful tomorrow I wonder what the music and lyrics orchestrated in 2012 will be ? Will the concert halls be in the virtual or the traditional medium or on a virtual cloud?
I have no crystal ball to foresee. And as my mother used to sing to me: Whatever will be, will be. The future’s not ours to see, que sera, sera…
The writer is professor, marketing, IMI, Delhi