I was out two nights ago buying a tripod and light-kit for my camera. We were in Gandhi Nagar, a shopping district in Bangalore, but not close to my apartment complex. The faculty van dropped us (me and another faculty member, William, although he is Indian) at the corporation (as it’s called) intersection. We slowly crossed the street as that alone is a skill that I need to acquire in India. After not being able to hail a an “auto” rickshaw William and I walked around until an auto stopped for us. The auto wanted to charge 40 rupees without running the meter. This is less than a dollar, which means nothing to me. But that’s like taking a cab in New York city and the cabbie saying pay this flat amount without running the meter. I’ve only seen that with transporation to and from the airport. The autos are supposed to run the meter. I was thankful we got an auto and were on our way to R.K. Photo Guide. After I bought the tripod and light kit, William hailed another auto. This driver wanted 150 rupees as a flat rate and would also not run the meter. Again, 150 rupees amounts to just over $3, which is nothing for me. But for the average Bangalorean that’s a lot of money. According to one website, the official charge should be seven rupees per kilometer with minimum charge being fourteen rupees for first two kilometers. But I’m also told that the meters don’t always function properly, so you might even be better off with a set fare. The real issue is that during rush hour there are not enough cabs and definitely not enough auto rickshaws to transport people home. To get a cab, you have to book it in advance. After trying several cab companies, I was told a cab would not be available before 10pm– it was 7:30pm when we were leaving the camera shop.
Indira S. Somani, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Media, Journalism and Film at Howard University, Washington, D.C. Somani studies effects of satellite television on the Indian diaspora, specifically the generation of the Asian Indians who migrated to the U.S. between 1960 and 1972, and their media habits.
She has been published in the Howard Journal of Communication, Journal of Communication Inquiry, International Communication Research Journal, Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, and the Asian Journal of Communication.
For the fall of 2011, Somani was awarded a Fulbright-Nehru Senior Research Fellowship to study the Western influence of Indian programming in India.
Somani is also an award winning independent producer and director of documentaries. Her most recent production, Life on the Ganges (2016), is a 10- minute documentary short about the life of one boatman, who rows tourists along the Ganges River in Varanasi, India, particularly around Dev Diwali when people from all over India travel there to bathe in the Ganges to wash away their sins and purify their souls. The film has been screening in film festivals all over the U.S.
Another production, Crossing Lines (2007), is a personal essay 30-minute documentary about her struggle to stay connected to India after the loss of her father, and about how Asian Indians maintain and preserve their cultural identity. The film has won numerous awards, screened in film festivals nationally and internationally, screened on PBS affiliates, and has also been distributed to more than 100 university libraries in the U.S. through New Day films.
Somani brings 10 years of broadcast journalism experience as a television news producer to the classroom, most notably with CNBC and WJLA-TV, the ABC affiliate in Washington, D.C. She has been a leader of the South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA), where she has also won several “Outstanding” awards on her coverage of South Asians in North America.
Prior to joining Howard University, Somani was an Assistant Professor of Journalism at Washington and Lee University (Lexington, VA) and American University’s School of Communication (Washington, DC). Somani earned her Master’s in Journalism from the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University in 1993, and her Ph.D. from the Phillip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland, College Park in May 2008.