maraa

Having studied a Social Communication Media Course in Mumbai, Ekta Mittal was inclined to work in the development sector. She joined VOICES , a media advocacy group in Bangalore to bring out a publication on Community Media and stuck on there a little more than two years. She had the opportunity to get hands on experience with community radio, video and theatre, both in Bangalore and rural Karnataka. She is one of the founding members of Masrah , an eight year old theatre group. Passionate about travel, Ekta has also worked as Research Manager for The Blue Yonder , a responsible tourism company where she identified communities to work with in Karnataka and Rajasthan. She is one of the founding members of Maraa and works here full time. Studying art, media and culture, meeting people, writing and photography are her keen interests. All in all, the journeys are always more important than destinations for her.

From a student who discovered his passion for media, Nagaraj joined Namma Dhwani as a volunteer of and learned tricks of the trade on the job. Being a quick and keen learner, he learned all traits in radio and technology. Nagaraj has experience in all practical aspects of community radio, from field recording and interviewing, to training and editing on various platforms. Nagaraj has niche expertise in community mobilization, awareness building for CR and managerial aspects. He continues to work with radio and is a full time employee for Maraa now. His interests range from gaming to information gathering to creating innovative programmes.

Having quit Industrial Production engineering at Manipal Institute of Technology midway through the course, Ram Bhat is a graduate of Manipal Institute of Communication. He joined VOICES in 2004, and worked there as Media Head. He worked closely with Community Radio, and was involved in set up and day to day running of two community radio stations – Namma Dhwani, Kolar and Kalanjiam Samuga Vanoli, Nagapattinum. He has also worked as a contractor for UNESCO, New Delhi, as an ICT trainer, in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka. Ram, being another founding member, works full time with Maraa and offers informal support for VOICES as a consultant. He is currently high on FOSS. He interests cover films, books, music and art.

Its certainly been quite a journey to discover larger interests and life’s calling. Yes, I- Deepak Srinivasan almost, always think that way and have a obessive compulsive disorder in figuring out relevance and purpose to everything. Try to do it creatively though. Its good to talk about interests and areas of intrigue rather than pursuits of the past. My current areas of interest lie in everything that will merge, or is seeking to merge, socio-economic aspects of science and research, scientific approach to the arts, creative governance practices etc. The underlying thread I believe is creativity. Recognising old patterns, cleaning them out and moving forward. Using media creatively, using it to demystify our collective selves and identities-these are a few of my favorite phrases

Pallavi Chander is a studying sculpture in Chitra Kala Parishad (CKP), an art college in Bangalore. She works part time in Maraa, helping us document our work. Apart from this, Pallavi also is looking at developing art practice to feed into our work towards social change. From painting to art installations and sculptures, she brings about a certain youthful energy to our work. She als has been instrumental in helping out with the design and illustration work within our projects, not to mention her active involvement in all the protests and campaigns we are a part of. We look forward to some new and innovative art practice through which we can take our core objectives forward.

Trustees

Lawrence Liang

A member of the Alternative Law Forum, Lawrence is a graduate of National Law School, Bangalore, and pursued his Master’s at Charwick, England. A well known speaker on the Intellectual Property Regime, as well as other related issues like media piracy, the knowledge/culture commons etc, Lawrence is a key supporter of Maraa, giving insights into innovative ways to take community media forward. Lawrence has also played a key role in shaping our views on concepts like development, and media content in the context of development. Of course, as a media lawyer, his advice is, always useful!

Prof. Leela Rao

Professor Leela Rao was the Dir ector of the Manipal Institute of Communication in Mangalore, India. She has been a researcher and trainer for over 20 years and has several publications to her credit. Since 1999, she has been the co-ordinator of and a consultant to the Asian Network of Women in Communication. She was the India co-ordinator for the Global Media Monitoring Project 2000. She currently supports St. Joseph’s College, Bangalore, with their Media Studies curriculum.

Supporters

Seema Nair

Seema helped us to set up Maraa in the initial stages of the organisation, and played a role in conceptualising our vision. Currently, a part of the ICT and Gender division at HIVOS , Seema continues to provide support for Maraa, from outside.

Benjamin Grubb

Ben has been a long time friend and has supported us in more ways than we can count. From setting up our domain and website, to helping us with buying plants for our new office! Currently pursuing his Ph.D in Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, on telephony and media interface, Ben is widely recognised as the brains behind the ingenious E- tuk tuk in Kothmale community radio station, Sri Lanka.

Abhijit Shylanath

A man of multitudes, Abhi, is a designer, musician, photographer and Linux whiz! We’re sure there are more facets to him, we’re yet to see. We have him to thank for our logo, which he came up with in a moment of inspiration. Abhijit, also a keen afficianado of radio, has helped us with editing, hardware, and other aspects of radio.

Agni Janakiram

A part of Masrah , Agni is a wonderfully talented and multifaceted designer, who has helped us with many hours of her work. It is to her, we owe our brochure design. She also helped us with our logo designs.

Centre for Education and Documentation

Sharing an office space with them, they have been enormously helpful by generously allowing us to use their beautiful space for performances and use of their office and publications. We hope to do some work in partnership with CED, to strengthen our association.

Alternative Law Forum

A lawyers’ collective, based in Bangalore, ALF was started with the belief that there is a need for an alternative practice of law. Lawrence Liang, from ALF has been a supporter as a Trustee. In addition, others have also generously donated their valuable advice in terms of nature of registration, potential projects, partnering with us for local events and so on. As a media collective, we see a continued association between the two organisations.

Masrah

An eight year old theatre group, Masrah has not only been performing diverse plays as well as organizing workshops for groups like children with disabilities etc. Ekta, a founding member of Maraa, has also been with this theatre group from the beginning. From helping us with designing our office space, to partnering with us by producing community radio programs, Masrah remains a key supporter, and a friend.