From an uncertain journalism college student to a grasping news reader to an entrepreneur empowering youth through social media, Dil Bhushan Pathak needs no introduction. Yet, when he came to our Development Communication class as a guest lecturer, I had sort of lost track post his decade long news reading career at Kantipur Television. I was familiar he was still in the media arena as his pictures and small interviews keep popping up in life style magazines of Kathmandu along with his wife, but I was unaware at how brilliantly he made the public conscious of social issues though animation, which works best for a country like Nepal, where more than two third of its population is illiterate.
After having a decent amount of experience at the television and for the desire to be an entrepreneur, and do something constructive on his own, Dil Bhushan Pathal moved on with the motive of promoting arts and rights through media. The company is called Interface Nepal and it has the involvement of highly experienced and creative independents from media houses. Founded by Dil Bhushan Pathak himself, Interface Nepal provides all types of media services using different mediums of print, radio, TV, drama and 3D technology. However, when he attended our class, he limited his lecture to animation that his company created. Probably because it was moving and also due to time constraint. It was a five minute documentary with various clippings about the Nepalese Constitution that lasted for a minute each. The advantage I saw was that it was short and it was in Nepali which would grasp the attention of the rural population and make them more alert about the issues surrounding our government. That is the charm about 3D animation in Nepal. Not only is it a powerful animation tool, but it also delivers information which grabs instant attention of a large audience including youth, the future of Nepal.
Though the press and radio are still very informative, the youth is more likely to be involved in technology related fields such as animation, documentaries and social networking websites on the internet these days. Even though they can go outside and buy a two rupees costing news paper, they will rather sit at home on their work station and log on to news reading websites and often post their opinions. For e.g, just yesterday on 18th September, 2011 at 6:20 PM, Nepal witnessed a 6.8 Richter scale earth quake, which lasted for a minute and a half. Just five to ten minutes after the quake, many youth logged on to the infamous social networking website called Facebook. Not only were there thousands of status updates, ok not that I have that many friends on it, lets say hundreds of updates but also a group created by young people who shared the live news and updated about it in seconds. You can view the page here http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/18-September-2011-I-Survived-the-earthquake/194133360660204 as you might learn about some precautions for the future. After you hit the ‘like’ button, you can even contribute about the safety measures if you have any. That is the thing about social media. It hypes you up and not being a part of it, especially in this 21st century will only make us oblivious, if not any dumber.
I am certain that even after this incident, Dil Bhushan Pathak will have a lot of things on his platter to work upon, whether it is making an earth quake related animation, contributing about its consequences on the press or updating his status for his five thousand followers on Facebook. I don’t know whether it was his far sightedness that led him to where he is today, or for his sheer interest in captivating the attention of the youth, Dil Bhushak Pathak has our votes. And I have a feeling, at least 90% of his motivation comes because of his wife, who also is a part of his professional life.
Thank you MissBhattachan for reminding us of the inspirational guest lecture of Mr. Pathak. As a youth and a development practitioner, it is our responsibility for helping the poor, marginalized, deprived and vulnerable people to achieve their goals. As Mr. Pathak, served the people through media, it's our turn to assist them through different innovative approaches, so that many Dil Bhusan Pathak borns everyday serving the country selflessly.
ReplyDeleteMr. Pathak reminds us how media can be utilized in a positive way to empower the youth and generate awareness. In terms of the earthquake, facebook statuses were updated regarding the earthquake way before the Nepal media had announced it on the news, you have got to love Facebook.
ReplyDeleteThanks to MissBhattachan for acknowledging the contribution of media in circulating the message to audiences and its impact upon them, and dragging it for discussion through this post. No doubt, media has crucial role to play to help achieve development that society has reason to value, if and only if media, is provided substantial freedom and, is used properly to communicate the reality with clear message enlarging the horizons even to the marginalized strata of social spectrum excluded from mainstreams of state development. For this, media personnel like Mr. Pathak, have a lot to do (even if they have been doing very well). As the post stated, mediums like animations, and social networks in the internet are playing positive role in communicating the message but majority of the population living in the developing countries like Nepal don’t have required access to such mediums. And we can’t help remain communicating messages for development purpose just because of this. So, this is the time to contemplate in what ways we can communicate message to diverse segments of society in order to achieve desired development outcomes.
ReplyDeleteThe Documentary presented by Mr. Pathak about Nepali youth was most exciting. The way he inspired the youth of Nepal was marvelous. The negative connotation about Nepali youth has been detached by the documentary. We should really appreciate the hope Mr. Pathak raised for the youth of Nepal and its future. Another important lesson was how to grab the attention of the audience and raise awareness through different modern mediums like animation.
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ReplyDeleteIndeed, we very much have to appreciate the works of Mr. Pathak who has been contributing in the field of media for past several years. His attempts to create a mass awareness about various social issues through media is very applauding. What I liked the most about him is the fact that he is extremely optimistic and has some real passion inside him to bring change in the society, which reflects directly in the documentaries that his company produces. Each documentary has a message embedded in them; a message of hope, peace and prosperity. In a way, he is trying to persuade that no matter who we are, where we stand and what we do, our simple efforts can bring some positive changes in our society.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, thank you for your comments. Secondly, I am glad that you too feel that media especially animations and documentaries have a powerful impact on everyone these days. D.R Joshi has mentioned that 'majority of the populations living in developing countries like Nepal don'd have much access.' I think that is exactly why Mr. Pathak was motivating us 'young guns' to do. To help and make the public, mostly rural population aware by showing vidoes on village buses like him and his team. The question is, are we willing to do this, for the sake of development? If we don't get the motivation, then how will there be any development for our country that we are hopeful for?
ReplyDeleteBlue Heaven- I also agree that Mr. Pathak has this extreme optimism to do something right.
Red Panda- In total agreement of Facebook!
Mr. Pathak must be admired for his innovative work in media. His work in animation has proved being successful in explaining media as a powerful means of effective communication.Furthermore, his works in animation and documentaries are good examples which reflect media in Nepal is just not limited to journalism.
ReplyDeleteMr. Dil Bhusan Pathak is a young energetic social media worker. He has been contributing to explore positive changes in livelihoods options,community peace building initiatives,women empowerment,awareness building on constitution preparation etc. through excellent media mobilization across countries. Similarly, he has introduced a new pro-poor media work; it means media mobilization for the poor people, by the poor people and to the poor people which is significantly counted at national account. His works also supported to reduce poverty and awareness building among youths about productive works in stead of engaging any negative activities in communities. That's why, media is a effective means of delivering all the development activities in rural communities as well as empowerment of socially excluded people.
ReplyDeleteMan Bahadur BK
HNRS
I am of course, agreed with the post and the comments made so far.I salute Mr Pathak for his excellent deeds from media in peace and constitution building process. I am impressed from his working approach, "SEARCHING for COMMON GROUND". It is applicable in managing every sorts of conflicts prevail in a small community to state to among states. During my work, I have used this formula while negotiating conflicts among communities in managing forest resources. At present, emerging conflicts in ethnic, geographical, religious and control over natural resources are getting momentum in the country. Perhaps the best way to reunite the divided minds of any form in any part of the nation is rational use of media in the foundation of COMMON GROUND which Mr Pathak is doing since long. I vote Mr Pathak.
ReplyDeleteThank you Bhattachan for sharing information about mr.Pathak. Nepal is a country where media is consider as an third eye.The person like mr.Pathak can contribute here a lot and we can get lots of knowledge and motivation from him and Politicization of journalism must stop.Instead of focusing on business,
ReplyDeletemedia of Nepal must focus on delivering knowledge regarding various sector
It's a matter of immense pleasure to hear the sharing of Mr. Pathak. It was indeed motivating and enjoyable. He is the most influential personality who has contributed in the sector of animation. His work on "Women" and "Child" issues are praiseworthy. I would like to thank Surakshya ma'am for bringing Mr. Pathak as the guest lecturer. I really look forward for his informative animation in days to come.
ReplyDeleteMr. Pathak, who has been working for the positive changes in livelihoods options,community peace building initiatives,women empowerment,awareness building on constitution preparation etc. through excellent media mobilization across countries, sure deserves our fond thoughts and vote, like Miss Bhattachan said.His method of spreading awareness is praiseworthy.He has made sure that every Nepalese will understand and learn what they are shown. The use of 3D in raising awareness has indeed been a great help.
ReplyDeleteWe had a great lecture full of inspiration that day.
We are the fishes of a small pond and it will not be that hard for us to achieve something if we persevere rather than going out and struggling in the ocean. These were the inspiring words from Mr Pathak. I would like to thank him for such an inspiring presentation and sharing his motivational experiences. We wish him all the success in using media for development and creating awareness and may his optimism remain forever in him.
ReplyDeleteI was most impressed by how Mr. Pathak communicated his ideas and works. Doing good work is only half work done; the way we communicate it to people is as important as the work we have done. I think the way he presented himself in front our class was very impressive. We all need to learn from his excellent communication skills.
ReplyDeletewhat i liked most about Mr. Dil Bhusan Pathak was that he was not afraid to criticize the bad aspects of media, how media tends to exaggerate the small issues. Being optimistic and passionate is what we need to learn from him.
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ReplyDeleteNormally front page of our national dailies are filled with political news whereas other news related to our cultural and day to day activities go in the middle pages. Generally media people of Nepal have this pre-conceived stereotypical notion that political news are of more significance than other news. Thus, it’s nice to see People like Mr Pathak who have opted to come out of newsroom and reflect back on some minute yet important issues other than those related to politics. (Referring to his documentaries made on the ragged lives of people of rural Nepal and role of a citizen on constitution making process
ReplyDeleteBut in context of country like ours where Minister distributes cash alongside greeting cards to media people during Dashain it’s really hard to remain unbiased and unaffected. That’s the reason why media has become mere puppets of the bureaucrats and have somehow lost the respect that it demands, either they have to act according to the men at top or their progress is curtailed.
I sincerely hope and pray that Mr. Pathak doesn’t succumb to such economic and political favors and remain true to original media objectives (to report the reality with complete honesty) in the future also.
As per regards post by Miss Bhattachan, I somehow felt your post bit incomplete.
Referring to the last line of your post
"And I have a feeling; at least 90% of his motivation comes because of his wife, who also is a part of his professional life."
You have brought all together new women related issue in this concluding sentence. It would have been better if you have elaborated a bit on it (ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON WOMEN RELATED ISSUES) or either you should have omitted this whole sentence.