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 Independent Documentary Filmmaker. After a 26-year-career as a television newscast producer and broadcast journalism professor, Somani moved to LA and enrolled in the MFA in Directing/Production, Documentary film program at UCLA. Currently in production is a personal documentary about her role as a caregiver for her Mom who battles depression. The film reveals how much Somani and her mother rely on each other for emotional support. Other films Somani has directed and produced include Life on the Ganges (2017), a 10- minute documentary directed, produced and filmed in Varanasi, India, during Dev Diwali, when people from all over India travel there to bathe in the Ganges River. The film screened in film festivals in the U.S., India and Europe and won Best Short Documentary at the Berlin Independent Film Festival, and the Cannes Short Film Festival. Another film Somani directed, produced and wrote was, Crossing Lines (2007), a 30-minute personal essay documentary about her struggle to stay connected to India after the loss of her father and to maintain and preserve her Indian cultural identity. The film won numerous awards, screened in film festivals nationally and internationally, aired on PBS affiliates through NETA from 2008-2011, and has been used by more than 100 universities as a tool to teach intercultural communication in the classroom. Both films are in distribution through New Day films.
Somani’s doctoral research studied the media habits and effects of satellite television on the Indian diaspora, specifically the generation of the Asian Indians in the Washington, DC metro area, who migrated to the U.S. between 1960 and 1972. She expanded her research to study the media habits, acculturation, and social identity of the same generation in the New York-New Jersey area, San Francisco, Houston and Chicago. For the fall of 2011, Somani was awarded a Fulbright-Nehru Senior Research Fellowship to study the Western influence of Indian programming in India.
While teaching at Howard University’s School of Communications from 2012-2021, Somani’s research shifted to study Black Broadcast Journalists and how race had an impact on their success in the newsroom. She has been published in several academic journals and has also co-authored two book chapters.
Somani’s academic career was preceded by 10 years as a television news producer, most notably with CNBC and WJLA-TV, the ABC affiliate in Washington, D.C. Somani has also been a leader of the South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA), where she has also won several “Outstanding” awards for her coverage of South Asians in North America. Prior to teaching at Howard, Somani taught 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 Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland, College Park in 2008. Somani is expected to earn her MFA in Directing/Production from UCLA by Dec. of 2022.