Impressions N 119

Le magazine de l’Alliance Française de Bombay

No. 119 Dec/ Feb 12

Sommaire/Contents 28

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57 Editorial This quarterly, Impressions is having a closer look at the Franco-Indian cooperation in Sciences.

You better revise your general knowledge about atoms, space tourism and mosquitoes: French and Indian scientists will soon come to your doorstep, check our program! Last but not the least, a small reminder for this New Year: party well, eat a lot, brush up your French and do not forget to renew your membership at Theosophy Hall. 2012 is not the end of the world at Alliance Française de Bombay but a promise that more projects and cultural festivals are awaiting you!

New readers, teachers and students, do not forget to send your feedback! Impressions is publishing write-ups, illustrations and photos, we are always open to suggestions!

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Retour Sur Formation, Taste Week

Discovery 24 A dinner with Picasso…

On y était Novotel, I am Kalam and more…

AF du Monde 26 Alliance Française de Medellin

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Rencontre avec…

Slow Joe

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Books For the love of the strip De vive voix : Guy Delisle Voix d’hier : Goscinny Notes de lecture

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CINEMA From BD to movies Rendez-vous with French cinema The Projectionist’s View: our DVDs’ selection

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Watch (Out) Jazz in France Science in the city

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France en Bref Battling the Virus

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Français en marche E-Tandems Dans ma classe, nous tweetons Actualités Français à vivre

Regards croisés 60 Science students France Pratique 61 Elections à Mumbai Buzz 62 Jean-Raphaël Peytregnet, new Consul

of France in Mumbai

Directrice de la publication Anne DUBOURG Rédactrice en chef Clea CHAKRAVERTY Maquette Neaha Nagpal - Spenta Multimedia Impression Spenta Multimedia Traductions, Sheryn Mulla Illustration et photographie Eve-Rachael ALOYSIUS, Clea CHAKRAVERTY, David CORDINA, Neha SHENDE, ATOUT France, Consulat général de France Mumbai, MAEE, AF de Medellin, UNIFRANCE, Bureau René Goscinny, Raindrop Media, Editions Delcourt, Editions Navayana, photothèque du CNRS, le Ganil, NASA Ont collaboré à ce numéro David CORDINA, Sayalee KARKARE, Judith ORIOL-Bureau du Livre, Prachee PALSULE, Nicolas POUSSIELGUE, Neha SHENDE, Ariane TRICAUD, Viral THAKKER Remerciements Raj ANAND, Déborah BENATTAR, Caroline FONTANIEU-TSF Jazz/Duc des Lombards, Abdul SHAIKH, Jean-Raphaël PEYTREGNET et l’équipe du Consulat Général de France à Mumbai, Caroline HUGUENET-Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie, TIFR, Patrick DEYVAN, Angélique GAYDIER-AF de Medellin, CNRS, Perrine Dubois- Bureau René Goscinny, éditions Grasset, éditions Albin-Michel, éditions P.O.L Shweta RANDIVE- Campus France Tirage 2500 ex

Calendar 64 December to February 2012 FRENCH CORNER 66 Preity Zinta

27-50 COVER STORY: Sciences in the city Did you know French and Indian scientists worked together for almost half a century? Or that both countries could compete for the number of brilliant mathematicians they produced over the years?

Through this general overview of various collaborations, discover the areas of expertise of French and Indian scientists, their common projects, how to make science more fun for all and what great scientific progress can be expected in the years to come.

ALLIANCE DE mosaic BOMBAY About theFRANCAISE cover picture: This of Europa, the smallest Galilean satellite, was taken by Voyager 2. This face of Europa is centered at about thehttp://bombay.afindia.org 300 degree meridian. The bright areas are probably ice deposits, whereas the darkened areas may be the rocky surface or areas with a more patchy contact: mag.mumbai@afindia.org distribution of ice. The most unusual features are the systems of long linear structures that cross the surface in various directions. Some of these

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NASA Center: Jet Propulsion Laboratory Image # : PIA00325 Date : 09/12/1996 Creator/Photographer: NASA Original Source: DIGITAL

linear structures are over 1,000 kilometers long and about 2 or 3 kilometers wide. They may be fractures or faults which have disrupted the surface.

Theosophy Hall 40, New Marine Lines, Mumbai 400020 Tel: (91-22) 22 03 59 93 / (91-22) 22 03 61 87 Fax: (91-22) 22 06 61 57

ALLIANCE FRANCAISE DE BOMBAY http://bombay.afindia.org contact: mag.mumbai@afindia.org Theosophy Hall 40, New Marine Lines, Mumbai 400020 Tel: (91-22) 22 03 59 93 / (91-22) 22 03 61 87 Fax: (91-22) 22 06 61 57 dec-feb 2012 Impressions

3

Retour Sur..

Retour Sur..

Formation communication et journalisme

Taste Week - Chez Vous

Du 26 au 30 septembre 2011, s’est déroulée une formation nationale des correspondants du futur magazine numérique du réseau des Alliances françaises en Inde.

n the 19th of October, the students of GD Somani A2 and B1 were in for a wonderful introduction to French food at the restaurant Chez Vous, as part of the Semaine du Goût. About 20 students were welcomed by David Cordina and Frederic Fernandez, co-owner of Chez Vous and the lively host of the event, into the chic, absinthe-themed French bistro. Frederic Fernandez, began by asking the unsuspecting students “c’est quoi, un bon plat?” or in plain English, “what makes a good dish?”. Answers ranged from “appearance” to the obvious “taste” to “texture” or the spice content of a dish until finally, a student answered that a good dish is one that makes you happy.

La formation a alterné approche théorique et activités d’écriture concrètes.

La semaine du patrimoine organisée à Mumbai durant cette semaine a permis

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aux stagiaires de s’exercer à des articles traitant de l’actualité culturelle.

Tous les articles écrits en groupe ou individuellement (brève, reportage, interview, portrait) peuvent être lus sur une version provisoire beta du magazine.

D’ici la fin de l’année 2011, l’ensemble des directeurs des Alliances françaises d’Inde statuera sur le fonctionnement et les responsabilités inhérentes à ce nouveau magazine en ligne.

Lisez les premiers http://afmagazine.in

essais

sur:

L'équipe de l'AF Mag beta

Les stagiaires ont été initiés aux techniques d’écriture et de mise en forme journalistique sur Internet. Cléa

Chakraverty, journaliste et rédactrice en chef du magazine Impressions a apporté son expérience vis-à-vis du public mixte franco-indien. Pour les aspects techniques de la rédaction sur Internet, David Cordina, directeur des cours de l’Alliance Française de Bombay est intervenu pour initier les stagiaires à l’usage de l’outil Wordpress, support technique du magazine.

This set the mood for a hedonistic foray into food and French cuisine in particular. Fernandez described how food, its flavours and aromas are a means to an end, the end being the pleasure and satisfaction of having consumed a good meal. He dissected the ubiquitous pani-puri: it is sweet and savoury - it has a crunchy exterior with a soft, warm filling submerged in a deliciously cold, sweet-n-spicy liquid. All of these flavours explode in your mouth and you cannot explain exactly why, but ça marche! The pani-puri works, and the numerous street food stalls on the foot path right outside Chez Vous are testimony to this fact.

To demonstrate just exactly what he meant, the participants were served aumonière de légumes stuffed with succulent, juicy bits of chicken and stir fried veggies, surrounded by a sweetish tomato sauce. The entrée was followed by a delightful Tarte Tatin, warm and moist, with apples caramelized to perfection, topped by a scoop of cold and refreshing vanilla icecream. The crème brûlée was exquisite with a delicate, crispy layer, cracked to reveal the most soft and creamy inside possible.

All photographs : E-R. Aloysius

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reize représentants des Alliances françaises en Inde (Chandigarh, Delhi, Bhopal/Indore, Ahmedabad, Bombay, Bengale, Pune, Pondichéry, Jaipur, Madras, Trivandrum, Hyderabad, Bangalore) ont été formés à la rédaction journalistique par Sébastien Langevin, journaliste et secrétaire général de la rédaction du Français dans le Monde.

A tasty workshop at French restaurant Chez-Vous. Eve-Rachael Aloysius, student of Alliance Française de Bombay, tried all the dishes.

In conclusion, Chez Vous successfully provided a gentle introduction to French gastronomy, devoid of the snobbery normally associated with European haute cuisine.

The event served as a reminder that the final purpose of food is, ultimately, to please and stimulate warm feelings of happiness and satisfaction upon consumption.

Sayalee Karkare

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dec-feb 2012 Impressions

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On y Était

On y Était

A Workshop with Gilles Stassart The Semaine du goût or Taste Week was the occasion for third year students of the renowned Institute of Hotel Management in Dadar to participate in a workshop by Chef Stassart (read Impressions 118) and Chef Jordan Bischoff, the guest chefs of the Taste Week organized by Alliance Française de Bombay. They made two dishes – a Choucroute and vegetarian sausages. Chef Stassart’s speciality is to play on the element of surprise using unusual ingredients for a dish and making them look like something else. So he used vegetables and herbs to make sausages that looked exactly like the normal meat

sausages. While cooking, both chefs stressed on the need for precision in quantity to balance the taste. They talked of cultural differences in cooking in France and India and asked the students queries on Indian foodstuff. The class was interactive with the students smelling and tasting concoctions that the chefs prepared. Rahul, one of the students said ‘I’m enjoying the workshop immensely.

We have learnt many new techniques like the fire plate and smoking herbs which we didn’t know of before. Also this is the first vegetarian Charcuterie product that we are seeing here.’

Another student, Karishma, said ‘this is a great experience for us. We usually read theory on these dishes; today we are actually seeing the practical. We are also seeing some ingredients being used that we had heard of but never used in our cooking.’ After the dishes were ready, the chefs plated them in their unique style – which they called ‘An Organized Mess.’ The students tasted the dishes and then clicked pictures with the chefs as the pleasant afternoon workshop came to an end.

Anne Dubourg, Zhun Peytregnet, Gulshan Grover, Jean-Raphaël Peytregnet, Consul general of France in Mumbai, Manisha Koirala, a friend

...and the result! without meat sausages but veggies: but can you spot the difference?

Students laughing as they are smelling the herbal veg preparation

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Gulshan Grover, Déborah Bénattar, Anne Dubourg, a friend

Neha Shende

Anne Dubourg, Gulshan Grover, Manisha Koirala, Clea Chakraverty, Swatantra Gupta, Pitobash

A preparation of a desi choucroute...

Clea Chakraverty, Gautam Bhatt

Sanjay Chauhan, Déborah Bénattar

Sheryn Mulla with friends from the Smile Foundation

Chef Jordan Bischoff and Chef Gilles Stassart at the Dadar Catering college kitchen

Chef Gilles Stassart starting the workshop in front of the Dadar Catering college third year students.

First dish served at Gilles Stassart special dinner at the Novotel, Taste Week

Bernd Schneider, MarcAntoine Hureau

David Cordina, Kainaz Messman, Joel Fernandes

Second dish by chefs Gilles Stassart and Jordan Bischoff with Novotel team

Guests at Novotel

Anne Dubourg, Gary Robert Wallang, Matthieu Gugummus Leguillon

Guests at Novotel

Soazic Guezennec, Ariane Tricaud, Aykut Tugtepe

dec-feb 2012 Impressions

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rencontre AVEC

rencontre AVEC

Slow Joe, l’éternel voyage de la France à Goa

Slow Joe, an unending journey from France to Goa

Slow Joe des plages de Goa aux Transmusicales de Rennes, d’un enregistrement a cappella sur un mini disque au premier album Sunny side up sorti mi octobre, Slow Joe & the Ginger Accident a dépassé la jolie histoire pour s’ancrer solidement dans le paysage musical. Après avoir écumé les scènes françaises, ils seront à l’affiche du Mood Indigo Festival, le 18 décembre.

From the beaches of Goa to Transmusicales in Rennes, from an a capella recording on a mini disc to an entire album Sunny side up, released last October, Slow Joe & the Ginger Accident is now solidly anchored on the musical scene. After skimming over the French scene, they will have star billing at the Mood Indigo festival in Mumbai on 18th December.

low Joe and the Ginger Accident, c’est le groupe qui suscite l’engouement de la presse française cet automne. Il faut dire que l’histoire est improbable mais séduisante : en 2007, Cédric de la Chapelle, en vacances à Goa, croise la route de Joseph Rocha -alias Slow Joe-, un bluesman d’une bonne soixantaine d’années à la voix incroyable. Le crooner et le musicien français ne se quitteront plus. Cédric réalise des enregistrements de Joe a cappella et crée, lorsqu’il rentre en France, the Ginger Accident.

low Joe and the Ginger Accident was much talked about in the French media this autumn. Their story is improbable but beguiling: In 2007, Cédric de la Chapelle, on holiday in Goa, came across Joseph Rocha, alias Slow Joe, a bluesman of around sixty with an incredible voice. The crooner and the French musician have been together ever since. Cédric arranged for a capella recordings by Joe and created, after returning to France, the Ginger Accident.

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Après un vrai parcours du combattant administratif pour obtenir papiers d’identité et visas et un avion raté, Slow Joe débarque en France pour sa première date à Rennes. L’alchimie est au rendez vous, un moment « intense, sur le fil » pour Cédric de la Chapelle : Slow Joe déploie un charisme fou, les musiciens du Ginger Accident sont excellents et la complicité est immédiate.

Mais l’histoire, si belle soit–elle, ne suffit pas. Le succès de Slow Joe & the Ginger Accident s’explique aussi par le travail réalisé. « A nos débuts, l’émotion prenait le pas sur la musique », explique Cédric de la Chapelle, « les répétitions et les nombreuses dates nous ont permis de faire repasser la musique sur le devant de la scène ».

Même Slow Joe qui affirme pourtant «Je 8 Impressions DEC-feb 2012

In the following two years, Cédric de la Chapelle would travel to and from between the group in France, and Slow Joe in India, until one day, they were heard by Jean-Louis Brossard, co-

Credit: Magalie Fouquet

Pendant les deux années suivantes, Cédric de la Chapelle va faire des aller et retours entre le groupe en France et Slow Joe en Inde, jusqu’à ce que la musique de Slow Joe & the Ginger Accident arrive aux oreilles de Jean Louis Brossard, cofondateur des Transmusicales, qui décide de les programmer.

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ne peux pas chanter pour quelqu’un, je ne peux pas chanter pour de l’argent, parfois je ne suis pas d’humeur à chanter » reconnaît qu’avec le travail des répétitions, les compositions du groupe ont acquis une vraie solidité, une nouvelle puissance. Le son est vintage, rétro, sans jamais être poussiéreux ou pincer la corde trop facile de la nostalgie.

C’est un mélange de blues, de soul, d’un rock’n’roll à la Elvis avec des accents de jazz et de pop, le tout pourtant résolument contemporain. Slow Joe pose sa voix de crooner enjôleuse et d’une sensibilité désarmante sur des morceaux servis par un quartet impeccable. « De bien c’est devenu excellent ! » explique Slow Joe.Très fier, il ajoute «C’est devenu un métier, tu sais ».

Deux années se sont en effet écoulées

depuis les Transmusicales, pendant lesquelles Slow Joe and the Ginger Accident a tourné dans les meilleures salles de France, de l’Ubu à Rennes au Café de la Danse à Paris. Deux années pendant lesquelles Slow Joe s’est installé en France, a rencontré ses amis et est devenu « un véritable électron libre » selon Cédric de la Chapelle. Si le crooner indien est donc désormais installé en France et commence à bientôt 70 ans une nouvelle vie de musicien loin de la douceur de Goa, il repasse tout de même par Mumbai le temps d’une tournée, pour faire danser le public mumbaikar…

Il y a quelques temps, Slow Joe and the Ginger Accident confiait à l’AFP «crever d’envie de venir jouer en Inde » . On les attend avec impatience !

Ariane Tricaud

founder of Transmusicales who decided to program them.

After many administrative hassles and a missed flight, Slow Joe lands in France for his first date in Rennes. Magic is in the air…Slow Joe exudes immense charisma, the musicians of Ginger Accident are excellent and the rapport between them all is immediate. But however happy a story; it’s not enough. The success of Slow Joe & the Ginger Accident is also due to hard work. “In the beginning emotion took precedence over the music”, explains Cédric de la Chapelle, “the rehearsal enabled us to streamline the music. Even Slow Joe who states “I don’t sing for anybody, I don’t sing for money and sometimes I don’t want

to sing at all, admits that due to all the rehearsals, the compositions of the group achieved a certain solidity, a new force.

The sound is vintage, retro without ever sounding outdated or relying too much on nostalgia. It’s a mélange of blues, rock’ n’ roll à la Elvis with jazz and pop accents but the overall feel is resolutely contemporary. Slow Joe’s cajoling voice and disarming sensitivity adds to the excellence of the quartet.

“Good became excellent” says Slow Joe very proudly adding “It’s now become a career”. Two years have passed since Transmusicales during which Slow Joe and the Ginger Accident have performed in the best addresses in France from the Ubu in Rennes to the Café de la Danse in Paris. Two years since Slow Joe moved to France, met his friends and became ‘a veritable free spirit’ according to Cédric de la Chapelle.

Even if the crooner, now almost seventy, is based in France, he still finds the time to do a gig in Mumbai and to make Mumbaikars dance. Some time ago Slow Joe & the Ginger Accident admited to AFP that they were longing to come to India and perform. We are all impatient to hear them!

Slow Joe, 18th of December- In partnership with Embassy of France, Institut Français and Mood Indigo Festival.

dec-feb 2012 Impressions

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books

books

For the love of the strip

L’Inde dans la course aux BD

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In the tiny city of Angoulême, in the south-west of France (Poitou-Charentes) a major event awaits the 50 000 inhabitants each January: the most amazing francophone BD festival of Europe.

According to S.Anand, traditional comic books such as Amar Chitra Katha reach masses but they “mythologize and simplify all issues. They perpetuate clichés and prejudices. We want to give a new approach, look at the contemporary sides of the stories”. His publishing

Books to educate and entertain: Navayana publishing is releasing a graphic novel on Jyotiba Phule.

10 Impressions DEC-feb 2012

house is also releasing a graphic novel on Jyotiba Phule –another historical public figure- and a satirical one titled How to torture dalits, a manual. Another one will be presented in Angoulême, The vanishing parts (on how Buddhism disappeared from India). “It’s like starting a small resistance through our books. I am conscious we are targeting a niche but so far Bhimayana got a nice response abroad. People like Joe Sacco blogged about it”.

Indeed, for S. Anand great hopes can come from France. Indeed, for most «bédéistes » (comic books readers) of all kind, France, Switzerland and Belgium are a haven. Those small countries have been home to many famous series such as Tintin, Astérix, Lucky Luke or, more close to us, creations by Joann Sfar (Le chat du Rabbin) Pénélope Bagieu (Joséphine) or Marian Satrapi (Persépolis).

For Jean-Christophe Ogier, president of the Association des Critiques de Bandes Dessinées (ACBD) - a trust that attributes a comic book award every year - and a BD columnist on the famous French radio France-Info for the last eighteen years, BD is just “part of French cultural heritage. However there is a tendency to consider BD less noble than regular books and to look at it as kids stuff. There is a real lack of knowledge about it. Today BD genres are as various as those you can find in novels”.

Indeed, “although generally, the book production has decreased, the BD segment is still strong and one can count already between 100 to 200 BD more than last year” explains Gilles Ratier, editor in chief on the website BDzoom, who keeps a regular column on the production and market of the comic books in francophone territories. He is also the general secretary of the ACBD. “However, in France and francophone

territories, this year, there are no huge blockbusters” points the journalist. A blockbuster counts around 3 million copies sold, like Astérix, or even 1,8 million for a Titeuf.

Through the years, BD has known a definite evolution. Jean-Christophe Ogier classifies it briefly according to genres.

Action, western genres and hero models were big in the 60s’, directly interacting with a young public. The 70’s focused on the teenagers and the young adults as the albums dealt with caricatures, sex, and politics. However, periodicals such as Tintin, Pilote, Spirou, A suivre, Metal Hurlant, Fluide glacial, in which comic books were published, declined. “With Internet and the new media, the notion of immediateness took over” explains Jean-Christophe Ogier. In the 90’s, the biography and autofiction became the trend (think Satrapi). “From 2000 to 2010 we saw a new genre, the BD-reportage” points out the specialist. “I think we reached a new golden age for the BD. I feel there is more self introspection, essays, generational issues and social and political context addressed by the authors”.

Charles (série Casterman).

Par ailleurs, de grands classiques, tels Astérix, ont déjà conquis les Indiens.

«Les ventes de la collection en langue anglaise et à l’export pour l’Inde sont très importantes – et elles augmentent d’année en année. En outre, Astérix est déjà vendu en bengali (les 12 premiers titres). Nous sommes aussi en finalisation de négociation avec Om Books qui devrait lancer les premiers titres en hindi l’année prochaine» confiait par ailleurs Mathilde Jablonski, responsable des droits internationaux pour les livres illustrés jeunesse et Astérix chez Hachette livre.

“France is absolutely critical to the survival of narrative in the image and text form” 3 questions to Sarnath Banerjee, renowned author of the Corridor, one of the first Indian graphic novelists (published in France by Denoël Graphic).

Clea Chakraverty

How do you perceive the Indian comic scene nowadays?

Credit: Navayana Publishing

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n 2011 more than 2 lakhs visitors and 6 000 professionals from the comic book world met during the four day festival. Awards, prices, meetings, conferences and animations punctuated every day while the crowd could interact with their favorite authors and discovered new books. Last year Indian authors George Mathen and Vishwajyoti Ghosh, were invited (on the initiative of the French Book Office in New-Delhi). For 2012, publisher S.Anand of Navayana Books will promote a couple of new graphic novels he just released. One of his books, Bhimayana, has been bought by French publisher MeMo. “Our publishing house is focused on caste issues. Bhimayana explores the life and work of Ambedkar from new perspectives. The idea is to educate and entertain. Abroad many people asked me to explain casteism in two minutes.

The problem is complex hence we had to work on something fresh”.

t en Inde ? En janvier 2012 le célèbre festival de la Bande Dessinée d’Angoulême devrait accueillir S.Anand, directeur des éditions Navayana, invité par le Bureau du livre de New Delhi. «Les éditions Navayana ont publié un roman graphique l'année dernière qui a eu beaucoup de succès, Bhimayana racontant la vie de l'intouchable Ambedkar. Les droits ont été vendus en France à la maison d'édition MeMo en la personne de sa directrice Christine Morault, venue en Inde fin août pour un festival jeunesse à Delhi, Jumpstart » indique Judith Oriol, responsable du Bureau du Livre à New-Delhi qui a mis en place les échanges entre ces éditeurs.

Côté indien, le marché s’ouvre. Ainsi, souligne Judith Oriol, les éditions Om Books (qui éditent déjà Tintin) publient en septembre les 4 premiers volumes, en traduction anglaise, de la série India Dreams de Jean-François et Maryse

Indian comics scene is subdivided into two categories, there is the commercial category- those who work with Hindu myths and then there is the independent comic book artists category, who deal with more contemporary socio political realities of India. The latter is doing surprisingly well, considering it has zero patronage. Although the publishers will readily publish them, the investment is extremely low, so the creator has to use up her own resources to sustain.

The future doesn’t look very good, but the biggest strength of comics is the

creator's absolute need to do comics and that would sustain the genre.

Do you read a lot of comics, especially Francophone ones ?

I really am influenced by it, I like the level of story-telling and its inventiveness. Some of the older artists puts in a lot of effort on the art and the composition of the book, which makes it very beautiful, although I myself am not interested in that kind of an aesthetisation, I cannot stop admiring it. I like the new brash voices that are emerging in the French scene. France is absolutely critical to the survival of narrative in the image and text form.

Indian graphic novels seem to be dealing with very sensitive topics how do you explain it ?

Indian graphic novels are commendable in their inventiveness and daring. They do take on very complex subjects that are non-traditional to comic books.

That is partially because there is no baggage or tradition that they have to adhere to. Also India generates a whole host of complex subjects that requires challenging forms and language. We are new in this game, we are often fumbling a bit, but I am convinced that the most powerful graphic novels will come from this region. dec-feb 2012 Impressions 11

books

books

 Comics come from a more American tradition: think super heroes and Marvel comics with bright colors, smaller format.

DU 27 AU 30 JANVIER 2011

ANGOULEME

FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL DE LA BANDE DESSINÉE

 Graphic novel is a different format, with more pages, not necessarily colors, more text.  Manga is a genre originated in the Japanese culture and drawing tradition, where verticality of text and illustrations is not shocking, and allows many variations of themes and genres.

Aya de Yopougon et Persépolis Sayalee Karkare, étudiante de l’Alliance Française de Bombay (C1), revient sur deux BD l’ayant marquée dans son apprentissage francophone.

Même si j’avais connu des romans graphiques depuis longtemps, quand j’ai finalement lu Persépolis de Marjane Satrapi, j’ai été très impressionnée! C’était la première fois que je lisais un roman graphique écrit (et dessiné!) par une femme, surtout une femme orientale. Étant femme indienne moi-même, je pourrais m’identifier avec plusieurs thématiques dans la BD, qui est essentiellement une histoire d’une fille qui arrive à maturité. Par ailleurs Persépolis est aussi le premier mémoire que j’ai lu dans la forme de BD et ce fut une agréable surprise.

Plus récemment et par hasard, j’ai lu une autre BD créée par une femme: Aya de Yopougon de Marguerite Abouet. D’origine ivorienne elle-même, Abouet raconte avec une voix unique les histoires d’une Afrique loin des clichés, de la guerre et de la famine. Comme Abouet elle-même le dit : “Malheureusement, en Occident, on sait comment meurent les Africains mais pas comment ils vivent.”

Même si ces deux romans graphiques sont écrits par des femmes et parlent de sujets concernant les femmes des différences demeurent. Persépolis traite de la guerre et des questions difficiles de la religion et de l’identité mais d’autre part, les jeunes qui vivent dans la Côte d’Ivoire d’Abouet sont complètement sans soucis et sont assez contents de s’amuser.

En racontant les histoires de leurs pays d’origine avec une voix fraîche, Abouet et Satrapi ont innové dans le format de bande dessinée. Toutes les deux ont gagné des prix au festival d’Angoulême.

Persépolis a déjà été adaptée en un film d’animation en 2007 et suivant cette tradition, Aya aussi sera bientôt adaptée en 2011.

12 Impressions DEC-feb 2012

Angoulême festival, a major event every January for BDphiles.

The experts pick : Gilles Ratier : “for French learners, I suggest Joann Sfar, Le chat du rabbin, or Persépolis, by Satrapi, as they can start by watching the movies first.

My favorite BD in 2011 was Polina, Casterman publisher, by Bastien Vives”.

Jean-Christophe Ogier : “Authors such as JP Fillii, David D, Etienne Davandari, Emmanuel Moynot are to watch for. My favorite BD of all times are: Tintin au Tibet by Hergé Corto Maltese by Hugo Pratt, 122 rue de la Gare by Tardi, Lapino by Lewis Trondheim, Chroniques birmanes by Guy Delisle”.

Sarnath Banerjee: "Amruta Patil, Parismita Singh, Vishwajyoti Ghosh, Orijit Sen, Amitabh Kumar, Appupen…”

Persépolis and Aya are both available at the library of Alliance Française de Bombay.

De vive voix: Guy Delisle Son regard tendre et acéré sur les pays qu’il découvre, son style clair, presque naïf et drôle, en font un auteur de BD contemporain, élégant et apprécié.

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oyageur (et) bédéiste, Guy Delisle s’est fait un nom en France et dans le monde entier, ses BD ont été traduites en anglais et en plusieurs langues, avec Shenzhen et Chroniques Birmanes, récits graphiques de séjours asiatiques.

Il rejoint dans les années 90 le collectif L’Association, qui lance le genre de la BD indépendante, proche du graphisme, de l’abstrait, et de la biographie. « Ce style était encore confidentiel à l’époque. On travaillait pour le plaisir sans même penser aux ventes. Aujourd’hui le mouvement a beaucoup grossi, le public s’est créé. Beaucoup d’auteurs avec qui j’ai commencé sont désormais très suivis et reconnus dans le monde de la BD » explique Guy Delisle depuis sa résidence de Montpellier, où il a choisi de vivre désormais. « C’est assez tranquille pour travailler et puis on va réduire nos voyages car nos enfants sont un peu plus grands » annonce l’auteur qui signe avec Chroniques de Jérusalem, son plus récent ouvrage (paru chez Delcourt en novembre). Né en 1966 à Québec (Canada), Guy Delisle a cependant passé la moitié de sa vie en France. «J’étais venu pour travailler dans le dessin animé. A l’époque je voyageais de studio en studio, en tant qu’animateur. Et puis à côté je créais des histoires courtes pour le mag de L’Association. J’ai toujours aimé la BD et lire des BD. » Comme beaucoup, Guy Delisle commence avec les classiques franco-belges (Astérix, Tintin, les Schtroumpfs) avec une prédilection particulière pour Lucky Luke de Morris et Goscinny qu’il conservera à l’âge adulte. « Aujourd’hui je relis certaines de ces BD avec mes enfants et ça continue de me faire rire. Ce sont des bijoux de narration». Le jeune québécois, un fan de Moebius, n’ a «jamais été un grand passionné de superhéros. On trouvait les BD américaines dans les tabageries (tabacs-journaux au Québec), le papier faisait cheap tandis que les BD européennes étaient

cartonnées, classes, vendues en librairie». C’est néanmoins un Américain, Art Spiegelman, qui séduira Guy Delisle avec son chef d’œuvre, Maus. « Ce fut une révélation: soudainement il y avait un auteur qui répondait à beaucoup de questions, qui pouvait mêler une narration d’adulte, forte et un trait de génie.

Malheureusement aux Etats-Unis le mouvement n’a pas pris comme en Europe». A travers sa carrière d’animateur Guy Delisle découvre la Chine. En aboutira un premier roman graphique, Shenzhen, «à la fois carnet de voyage et chronique drôlatique d’un animateur confronté au système de production chinois et, plus largement, à une culture impénétrable » lit-on dans la présentation de son éditeur, Delcourt.

En 2002, Guy Delisle publie sur le même principe Pyongyang, qui plonge le lecteur en Corée du nord. « Je ne sais pas pourquoi mes récits de voyage ont autant passionné mes lecteurs, peut-être qu’ils aiment voyager avec moi ? Ce qui m’a agréablement surpris est le fait que beaucoup sont venus à la BD grâce à ce type de récit ». Ainsi, Chroniques Birmanes a vendu plus de 60 000 ouvrages, un excellent chiffre dans le paysage éditorial français. « Je n’ai pas de fonctionnement précis mais je prends des notes, je fais des croquis sur mon quotidien. Je ne les utilise pas directement mais je travaille à partir de ces éléments plus tard, pour me rafraîchir la mémoire. Le décalage de temps [il a travaillé pendant plus d’un an sur l’album de Jérusalem, après son retour, ndlr] permet de prendre de la distance, de voir ce qui fonctionnait aussi uniquement dans le contexte du voyage »

Olivier Roller, Delcourt publications

 BD means Bandes Dessinées and is a generic terminology. The traditional album BD (like a Tintin or Astérix) is called a CC, as “cartonné-couleurs”, of 46 pages and rigid cover.

La Fnac et SNCF présentent

Delcourt, 2011

Did you know: BD, comics, manga or graphic novel ?

explique l’auteur. Il travaille désormais à de nouveaux projets. Des voyages ? Peutêtre. L’Inde ? Un joli souvenir. Guy Delisle s’était en effet rendu à New-Delhi afin d’encadrer un stage de bande dessinée en 2008. Quelques planches de ce séjour furtif ont même vu le jour sur son blog.

Qui sait, peut-être Mumbai prendra-telle un jour vie sous ses doigts?

dec-feb 2012 Impressions 13

books

books

Voix d’hier… René Goscinny

Notes de lecture

He was one of the parent of the most famous Gaul in the world. Discover the world through the eyes of René Goscinny.

Michèle Halberstadt, La petite, Albin-Michel

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In 1959 Goscinny became one of the most productive writers for the magazine Pilote.

In the magazine’s first issue, he launched

14 Impressions DEC-feb 2012

difficile

A douze ans, “la petite” a décidé de mettre fin à ses jours. La narratrice explique au lecteur cette décision, prise et réalisée dans la journée et partage avec lui ses angoisses, ses peurs, son dégoût de la vie et ses frustrations, envers l’école, les amies, les parents, ainsi que son introversion progressive.

Le langage est simple, direct pour cette auto-fiction qui sublime le « moi », parfois un peu ennuyant, un peu trop présent. Un très joli roman d’adolescence et de découverte de soi.

he year is 50 BC. Gaul is entirely occupied by the Romans. Well not entirely… One small village of indomitable Gauls still holds out against the invaders”. You can’t be seriously studying French without knowing this introduction. Yes, even you, adult reader.

As odd as it seems, the Adventures of Asterix, are maybe amongst the most read in the world. But do you know who created Asterix? The duo Albert UderzoRené Goscinny. The latter was an editor, cartoonist and writer, born on the 14th of August 1926.

Marien Defalvard, Du temps qu’on existait, Grasset

R.G.Cannes

Goscinny, brought up in Argentina, left for the USA after his father’s death.

After a brief service in the French army in 1946, he returned to New York and developed his talent as an illustrator with various artists. Indeed he met Joseph Gillain, better known as Jijé, and Maurice de Bevere aka Morris. In later years the two would create the “lonesome” and nonetheless famous hero Lucky Luke. But in those years, it was Georges Troisfontaines, chief of the World Press agency, who convinced him to return to France and work for his agency as the head of Paris office in 1951. There, he met Albert Uderzo, with whom he started a longtime cooperation.

Niveau de lecture: facile moyen

© Archives Anne Goscinny

his most famous creation, Astérix, with Uderzo. According to an article from the Financial Times (December 2005), the character of Asterix was created by Uderzo and Goscinny to suit their publisher who wanted something on French culture and history for children. As a result, the adventures of the little blond moustache guy and his friends have been translated over three generations into 110 languages and dialects and sold over 350 million copies worldwide. Is it the chauvinism in Asterix and the stereotypes about Europe and France that made him one of the most known “Gaul” in the world?

Or the well researched, well-documented French humor that one is delighted to discover while growing up in the stories?

Or perhaps the fantastic characters and the fictitious Gaul created for generations of children (and adults). His love for France, its cultural paradoxes, his talent in retracing childhood led naturally to another very famous little French boy, Le Petit Nicolas created with illustrator JeanJacques Sempé. The work appeared as a graphic novel and was well received by the public. René Goscinny passed away in 1977. But till date, no one in the world is able to forget that date of French history: “The year is 50 BC. Gaul is entirely occupied …Well not entirely”.

In Alliance Française de Bombay library you are strongly advised to read:  Asterix (all of them!)  Iznogoud (another creation with illustrator Jean Tabary, who passed away in August 2011)  Le Petit Nicolas (with Sempé) recommended for more advanced levels.

Did you know?  According to the director of international sales at Hachette Jeunesse, Asterix sales in English totalize around 80 000 copies per year. Those in Bengali reached between 6000 and 7000 copies per year. The launch of Asterix in Hindi will be effective by end of 2011.  The René Goscinny award, named after the writer of Asterix and Lucky Luke, is awarded to comic writers at the Angoulême International Comics Festival.

It was first awarded in 1988.

The award is given in order to encourage young comic writers, those whose comic careers have only began to flourish.

Dans ce roman, d’une candeur et profondeur paradoxales mais désarmantes, on passe son temps à résister. On résiste tout d’abord au choix d’un récit en va et vient, des années 60 à la fin des années 2000. On résiste à ce gamin de dix-neuf ans, auteur et narrateur, énervant d’érudition et de voyages à travers l’Hexagone. On résiste à son vocabulaire emphatique, trop soutenu pour être XXIe. On résiste à ses errements existentiels, à ses descriptions magnifiques, des ciels, des lieux, des paysages, éprouvés par ses questionnements, ses périples perpétuels vers le soi. Et à force de résister à travers ce long monologue, on tourne la dernière page sans réaliser avoir été déjà conquis.

Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, La femme au miroir, Albin Michel « Je ne sais pas être la femme que notre époque exige ». Différentes, révoltées, indépendantes, trois femmes tendent vers un absolu difficile à nommer : Dieu ? L’inconscient ? La transcendance permise par l’art ? Anne vit la Renaissance à Bruges, Hanna la Vienne des années 1900 et Anny est une star hollywodienne d’aujourd’hui. Ces femmes qui ont à priori tout pour être heureuses vont, chacune à leur manière, transgresser les codes moraux, sociaux et familiaux de leur époque.

Dans ce récit gigogne, Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt interroge avec talent et simplicité le sentiment d’imposture ressenti par ces femmes en marge de leurs contemporains ainsi que la complexité de la condition féminine.

Amélie Nothomb, Tuer le père, Albin Michel Joe est un jeune passionné et surdoué de magie. Lorsque sa famille l’abandonne, il trouve refuge chez Norman Terrence, le plus grand magicien de son temps. Joe cherche un professeur, Norman en fera son fils. Pour son vingtième livre, Amélie Nothomb « tue le père ». S’il s’agit évidemment d’un meurtre symbolique, cette histoire permet toutefois à l’auteure de reprendre ses thèmes de prédilection : l’usurpation de l’identité et la confiance trahie.

Marie Darrieussecq, Clèves, P.O.L Clèves raconte l’éveil à la vie amoureuse et sexuelle d’une petite fille, en province, il y a une trentaine d’années environ... La protagoniste Solange, vit dans la petite ville de Clèves et part à la découverte d’elle-même, à travers sa puberté, son adolescence, sa sexualité. Le langage cru et la (dé)construction narrative peuvent décourager les jeunes apprenants de français mais les amateurs d’écriture politiquement incorrecte seront ravis.

C.C et A.T

SEP-NOV 2011 Impressions 15

CINEMA

CINEMA

From BD to Film

Rendez-vous with French Cinema

With 3D and more sophisticated technology, familiar faces from francophone comic books come to life on the big screen. Impressions has a look at this recent trend.

The 4th edition of the French movie festival, organized by Unifrance and the Embassy of France in India was a huge success. The Artist opened the Rendez-vous to loud applause.

or the uninitiated, Persepolis (2007) was the first introduction into the glory world of comic books and graphic novels. Both, an animated movie and a graphic novel, Marjane Satrapi's memoir reached wide audiences and re-popularised the “bande dessinée”.

endez-vous with French Cinema was the highlight of the 13th edition of the Mumbai Film festival (MAMI), a Reliance entertainment initiative, that took place in Mumbai from the 13th to the 20th of October. For the first time the French film festival was part of the MAMI. In total, with 31 productions and coproductions, the French movies were the best represented ones after the Indian movies. My little princess by Eva Ionesco which was part of the international selection, won three prices including the main award of the MAMI. Overall, according to sources from the Unifrance bureau in Mumbai, 18 000 people have seen the French movies. Over 1 lakh people attended the MAMI.

Very simply, the term “bande dessinée” means “drawn art” and encompasses both, comics as well as the more serious graphic novels. Within the English speaking world, the term “comics” has acquired something of a notoriety, with comics being deemed as frivolous and lacking in serious or meaningful content.

However, unlike its English counterpart, in the Franco-Belgian world no such distinctions exist, with the bande dessinée considered as an art-form in itself.

The invention of film in the beginning of the twentieth century marked a revolution in the way information was relayed. This new and exciting medium proved to be a boon to the art of story-

Hergé’s The Crab with the Golden Claws was the first comic to be transformed into a stop-motion animation movie in 1947. Unfortunately, it was screened only once for the public although a copy of the film still survives at Belgium's Cinémathèque Royale. Despite this spluttering start, a number of the classic BDs such as Hergé’s Tintin and Uderzo & Goscinny’s Asterix were made into films in the following decades. Some of these were animated while others were live action films with original story lines that reprised characters from the BDs. These early experiments set in motion the now popular trend of adapting BDs into films.

Although die-hard BD fans mourned the loss of their favourite character to the big screen, in a happy consequence, the movies often serve to popularise the BDs amongst the uninformed segments.

One such notable example is Jean Van Damme and Philippe Francq's Largo Winch written through the 1970s and

made into a TV series in the early 2000s and a film in 2008.

The year 2011 has been generous to BD films. It has already seen Marguerite Abouet's Aya de Yopougon (BD, 200510) and Joann Sfar's The Rabbi's Cat (BD, 2005) screened to eager audiences. With the move to 3D cinema, BD films are not far behind: a 3D American version of Peyo's Les Schtroumpfs (BD, 1958-1992) was released this summer and Steven Spielberg’s 3D version of The Adventures of Tintin (Le Secret de la licorne) was eagerly awaited by fans.

Despite the popularity of the BD films, the demand for BDs continues to be as strong. Unlike the sensory overload of films, the BD combines the visual appeal of images with the strength of the written word, creating an intense but tempered experience that has a lasting impact.

Today, a number of independent French comic publishing houses publishing stories with alternative styles and content continue to exist, assuring the survival of the BD well into the next epoch of multimedia entertainment.

Sayalee Karkare

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will mark the end of his career. Peppy Miller, a young woman working as an extra, becomes a major movie star.” A simple plot, a beautiful cinematography, wonderful actors and a clever dog: who said you need talking?

Jean Dujardin, disarming

Focus on Jean Dujardin

Jean Dujardin first became famous on the French talent show Graines de star in 1996 as part of the comedy group Nous C Nous, formed by members of the Carré blanc theater. From 1999 to 2003 he starred in the French version of the comedy television series Un gars, une fille before transitioning into a film career. In 2005 he starred as the titular character in the popular comedy film Brice de Nice, a favorite amongst French youth and teenagers. In 2006 Dujardin portrayed the character Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath, agent OSS 117, in OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies in a role which earned him a César Award nomination for Best Actor, something of exceptional rarity for a performance in comedy. Essentially a comedian, he however tried various genres, in which his performances were acclaimed and well received too. He received the award for best actor at the Cannes Film Festival in 2011 for his main role in the silent film The Artist.

Jean-Raphael Peytregnet, Consul General of France said, “We are happy to be associated with the Mumbai Film Festival. The Mumbai Film Festival has certainly etched a place for itself, to be recognized as one of the best film festivals both in India and Internationally». The special section seeks to establish an exhilarating platform for showcasing the various facets of French contemporary cinema, helping Indian distributors to promote new French films and celebrate the growing Indo-French ties.

Unifrance

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telling and it wasn’t long before BDs too, along with many old classics, were adapted for the big screen.

Still from The Artist

all photographs: Unifrance

A good example of Indo-French collaboration is the opening movie of the Rendez-vous: The Artist, a film by Michel Hazanavicius as a worldwide premiere.

The Artist was a huge hit and should be soon hitting the Indian screens through its Indian distributor, Tanweer. The Artist was a real challenge as it is a silent movie shot in black and white. However as the lights came back on, at the end of the screening in Cinemax (Versova), the movie was received with huge applause.

Catch it soon : “Hollywood 1927. George Valentin is a very successful silent movie star. The arrival of talking pictures 16 Impressions DEC-feb 2012

Unifrance

The Artist

dec-feb 2012 Impressions 17

CINEMA

watch OUT Niveau de compréhension: facile  moyen  difficile

The Projectionist’s View: our DVDs’ selection

Jazz in France Hadouk Trio comes to Mumbai

Alliance Française de Bombay’s projectionist Abdul Shaikh recommends your pick of the trimester on the theme of war in the 20th century, and its vast effect on humanity, both physically and psychologically.

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Set in the period of the Second World War, this film tells the story of Julien Quentin, a young French boy and his friend Jean Bonnet who develop a close bond. Soon Julien discovers that his friend is actually Jean Kippelstein, a Jew who has been given a Christian identity by the kind friar of the school Father Jean. One day, Joseph the school cook is caught for selling the school food supplies in the black market. After a few days the Gestapo carries out a raid on the school and catches two Jewish students who are also studying there with Christian identities.

This time again, Joseph has betrayed Father Jean. The viewer sees how all too soon the story comes to its tragic end. It is a beautiful movie, an emotional ride, a must watch for those who want to take a look at the dark periods of modern history.

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ollowing in the footsteps of Hermann Melville and Saint Exupery, Hadouk give us escapism. Welcome aboard Air Hadouk! Fly ‘Aerozen’ on a hedonistic interplanetary flight to emerging destinations. The line of sight: the horizon where external influences and intimacy meet, and from which point the continents redraw themselves exploring the beginning of new instrumental metamorphoses. Thus the khen, the Laotian mouth organ, is wrapped in electrical energy, the hang, a mix between a steel drum and a gamelan, enters into the world of chromaticism; the doudouk steps into the shoes of jazz, the hajouj, a bass originally from the desert made from camel skin becomes a piccolo, heightening the tone; the appearance of the bahu flute, with its free Chinese reed, creates a wave of movement. Aiming at the azure, Hadouk purifies the lines, becoming lighter and rising up into the atmosphere. Swings and loops, high voltage rhythms and gliding harmonies, our 3 co-pilots opt for free style. But they also know how to help you land gently with no turbulence. Enjoy your flight!

D.R

Au revoir les enfants, by Louis Malle, 1987

After the success of « Utopies » and « Baldamore » (50 000 albums sold) and having been awarded the prestigious prize ‘Victoires de la Musique Jazz’ in 2008, Hadouk Trio is back with a new album, taking us a step further towards and into an ethereal world.

Projectionist’s view: I loved the movie. It shows how love and humanity transcend all faiths.

I was moved when I saw the movie.

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D.R

Une Exécution Ordinaire by Marc Dugain, 2010

Projectionist’s view: It was definitely a disturbing film but nicely done, a must watch!

Note: Une Exécution Ordinaire is not available in the library. We recommend Ne le dis à personne, a thriller starring the same actor – André Dussolier which is available in the library.

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This is the story of Hélène who is a forty something widow who lives with her step son Bernard in the town of Boulogne-sur-Mer. She deals in antiques. She calls over her ex-lover Alphonse to live with her. He brings along his mistress whom he introduces as his niece to Hélène. They all have their own troublesome past memories. Hélène, of her lost love that she’s trying to rekindle and Bernard who remembers his torturing of a girl called Muriel along with fellow soldiers in Algeria during the war. The Algerian war has just finished and a recuperating society is the backdrop for this film. The taking of this film portrays the disconnectedness and the cold numbness in the minds of the characters after having lived through the Second World War. Projectionist’s view: The film has an unusual taking. There are several disconnected scenes, a sense of unease and an almost abrupt end which shows the psyche of the characters post the trauma of a war beautifully.

Neha Shende 18 Impressions Sep-Nov 2011

Joséphine Baker, one of the first jazz artist to settle in France. She became worlwide famous for her daring dances

Unifrance

Muriel ou le temps d’un retour by Alain Resnais, 1963

Unifrance

This is the story of a young urologist – Anna, who is happily married. At this point of time, the Russian ruler, Stalin has become old and is on the verge of dying. He has already killed his doctor. To Anna’s terror, she is called upon by him to look after him. He establishes a friendly but manipulative relationship with her, asking her to even leave her husband. This film shows us the dark side of humanity. The film has a grey feeling to it. It is witness again to the black patches of the twentieth century.

JAZZ in France Jazz began to become significant in France starting in the 1920s. An important event in that is the creation of the Quintette du Hot Club de France in 1934. This is among the most significant jazz groups in European history. Starting in the late 1940s the Le Caveau de la Huchette would become an important place for French and American jazz musicians to work at. Many American jazz artists have lived in France from Sidney Bechet to Archie Shepp or Josephine Baker.

France is also the host of a series of major Jazz Festivals throughout the country.

This January do not miss the second edition of the French Quarter festival in Paris, which is taking place and organized at the Duc des Lombards bar, one of the most happening jazz cafés in town!

Hadouk trio célèbre Mumbai Depuis leur premier album éponyme il y a quinze ans, 50 000 albums vendus et un prix aux Victoires de la Musique Jazz (2008) les baroudeurs d’Hadouk Trio ont repris la route.

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u gré de leurs errances, ils ont chacun rapporté de quoi nourrir Air Hadouk, un petit bijou paru chez Naïve en 2010, qu’ils viennent présenter à Mumbai en février.

Au-delà de l’éclectisme des inspirations, la fusion est intrinsèque à leur formation puisque le trio se définit comme la rencontre de trois éléments fondamentaux. Didier Malherbe et son doudouk sont le vent, Steve Shehan et ses percussions, la terre et Loy Erlich apporte l’élément aquatique, en maîtrisant aussi bien le piano, la kora ou le hajouj. Le nom d’Hadouk tient d’ailleurs son origine dans le mélange des genres et plus précisément, dans la contraction des noms du hajouj et du doudouk.

Loin de s’enfermer dans un style ou de vouloir créer leur signature phonique, les musiciens se confrontent sans cesse à de nouvelles sonorités issues de la subtilité des métissages. Ils possèdent un univers musical inclassable, du jazz à la world en passant par le swing. Hadouk trio offre, par la richesse de ses compositions, un voyage à la frontière de l’Afrique, de l’Orient et de l’Occident. Les mélodies, planantes et nomades, invitent à l’immensité du voyage et de l’imaginaire.

Ariane Tricaud

Did you know? Jazz in Mumbai

Watch out for the most recent and innovative compilation of Mumbai love stories with Jazz: Taj Mahal Foxtro, the story of Bombay jazz age, by journalist Naresh Fernandes. This coffee table book takes you back to the golden age of Jazz bands in Mumbai through amazing archives, research and interviews. http://www.tajmahalfoxtrot.com/

dec-feb 2012 Impressions 19

watch OUT

watch OUT

Science in the city

Who said science is boring? At Alliance Française de Bombay, the French and Indian scientists come together to prove to you the contrary.

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Bill Anders - Nasa

hey do not wear Jimmy Choo everyday nor little black Chanel black dresses on their way to work. It’s more like white blouses, masks, plastic lab gloves or astronaut outfits. They spill blood and acid instead of sipping Cosmopolitan and Dry Martini. And there is very little chance you will meet them eyeing the boys in the posh clubs of Mumbai. Think them eyeing the stars on that far-away galaxy from a gigantic space station. But it doesn’t mean they aren’t sexy.

Alliance Française de Bombay, in partnership with the French Embassy, is proud to present Science in the city, a date with French and Indian scientists through the year.

While featuring a new passionate scientist each time, Science in the city will explore, without any constraint, relations between science and society, philosophy, evolution of science, science and risks. All these topics will be covered in the talks.

Taken by Apollo 8 crewmember Bill Anders on December 24, 1968, showing the Earth seemingly rising above the lunar surface. Note that this phenomenon is only visible from someone in orbit around the Moon. Because of the Moon's synchronous rotation about the Earth (i.e., the same side of the Moon is always facing the Earth), no Earthrise can be observed by a stationary observer on the surface of the Moon.

Get in touch with Alliance Française de Bombay to know more about the program and the various venues.

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Living on a spaceship, by Susmita Mohanty, founder Earth 2 Orbit (read P33) date and venue to be confirmed, presented by Nicolas Poussielgue, scientific attaché

20 Impressions DEC-feb 2012

How the Brain is Built ?

Friday, December, 2nd By Pr Shubha Tole, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Life Explained Friday, January 20th, By Prof Michel Morange, French Researcher in Science History and Biology at Ecole normale Supérieure, Paris

Magnetic resonance venogram demonstrating occlusion of the left sigmoid and transverse sinuses

dec-feb 2012 Impressions 21

FRANCE EN BREF

FRANCE EN BREF AIDES or Sidaction NGOs use strong images and famous faces (below Gad Elmaleh, a French actor) to spread awareness

Battling the Virus

What about India?

As the 1st of December – World Aids Day came, millions across the world sported the red ribbon on their bags, chests, collars or hats, reminding the planet that no one is immune from the deadly disease. French NGOs are amongst the most active to remind it to you.

India ranks 3rd in the world where number of people living with the virus are concerned. A whooping 2,400,000 people in India are victims of the disease out of which 170,000 die each year. In 1996, HAART - an effective combination therapy that delays the onset of AIDS became available to those living with HIV in developed countries. Within four years, death rates for people with HIV/AIDS in developed countries had dropped by 84 percent. At a cost of US$10,000-15,000 per person per year, these antiretroviral drugs were far too expensive for the majority of people infected with HIV in resource poor countries. Five years later, only 2 percent of people in developing countries were receiving the life-saving drugs. But over the past decade activist pressure, the emergence of competition from generic manufacturers, and direct negotiation with pharmaceutical companies have all contributed to a dramatic drop in the price of certain drugs to treat HIV and AIDS in developing countries.

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a part of the AIDES campaign, this photo portrays candidate running for President Ségolène Royal.

22 Impressions DEC-feb 2012

There are many NGOs in France fighting against AIDS, providing shelter to victims and creating awareness. One of the most prominent among them is Act Up France (AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power, an international direct action advocacy group working to impact the lives of people with AIDS, founded in New-York in 1987).

Their rallies and campaigns to support the AIDS victims and to create tolerance for them have been covered hugely by the media for their gory and often shocking –but efficientslogans and pictures. They are fighting for the rights of the illegal immigrants who are sometimes denied access to medical treatment. They also make T-shirts and other objects with slogans like ‘Colère=Action’ and ‘Act Up’ to create awareness visually. Traditionally, different associations fighting against

AIDS have been invited by the President for meeting and dinner on World AIDS Day but this time, Act Up refused an invitation by Carla Bruni-Sarkozy to show their dissatisfaction concerning lack of any real action on part of the French government to fight AIDS.

@Sidaction

A large red ribbon is mounted on the façade of the UN Human Rights Office's Palais Wilson in Geneva, Switzerland, in a campaign to fight discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS. Every 30-Swiss-Franc donation illuminates one light towards efforts to fight discrimination.

@Sidaction

@AIDES

In spite of this, associations around France like the Institut National de Prévention et d’Éducation pour la Santé (INPES) and the Agence Nationale de Recherches sur le Sida et les Hépatites virales (ANRS) stress on protective measures like the use of condoms and gel. They have information services like phone helplines and websites. They also spend a large part of their budgets on awareness campaigns directed towards the youth and other vulnerable groups.

@AIDES

ccording to WHO stats, France ranks 33rd in the world where number of people living with the virus is concerned with over 150,000 people living with the disease. 1,700 people die each year due to this deadly virus. There is no vaccine or medicine for absolute cure but there is Anti Retroviral Therapy which helps keep the disease in control.

This therapy is costly and may not be available everywhere in France. All the same, in comparison to the developing countries in Africa where AIDS is widespread, France and the other European countries stand higher in the field of therapy and medication.

Another prominent association is Sidaction, a major French public event that started in 1994 for raising awareness and collecting charitable funds for AIDS. The association AIDES is also working on the same line. Helped by socialites, politicians, singers, designers, actors, sportsmen and women, the association is very popular amongst the French and create its buzz thanks to vibrant visual campaigns and strong messages delivered by celebs.

Also various hospitals and other associations all over France are doing something or the other to manifest their support to AIDS victims all over the country on the 1st of December. There will be question and answer sessions, small quizzes and small plays based on

However the generic drug manufacturers in India could be weakened by the much discussed (13 rounds of negotiations since 2007!) Free Trade Agreement between European Union and India. This agreement, if applied as it is, on goods, services, investment and intellectual property, pushed by a strong lobby of European pharmaceutical drug companies, would be a threat to generics as it implements stricter patent laws.

Many NGOs such as Doctors Without Borders (Médecins sans frontières) and others associations have been proactive on this topic. the subject. There will also be free blood testing. Besides, documentaries will be shown to make people aware of unknown potential infection. Some schools are organizing various workshops for adolescents to make the students aware of the dangers of unsafe sex, common needles for drugs, etc. A school in NordPas-de-Calais has also planted a tree in

their courtyard called the ‘Tree of Hope’ in the hope of reducing the spread of AIDS. Neha Shende Sources: World Health Organization statistics database, Les Crips official site – National manifestations, Avert International HIV and AIDS charity official site, Act-Up Paris Official site, INPES and ANRS Official site, MSF

dec-feb 2012 Impressions 23

DISCOVERY

DISCOVERY

A dinner with Picasso, Lenin or Hemingway

France offers an unique opportunity to mix great tables and culture. Amongst the many restaurants in the country, find out which ones played host to famous patrons, from cinema stars to writers, painters to great politicians of our times. Dining in such places will just make you feel special.

Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Nice

Nantes

One can find at least two prestigious places around the beautiful Place Graslin in the heart of the capital of the Loire. Adjacent to the Opera, the Café Molière was the favorite of the writer Stendhal. Right next door the Café Cigale established in 1895 in art deco style remembers meetings between André Breton and Jacques Prévert and the shooting of Jacques Demy’s film Lola.

Aix en Provence

The Café Les Deux Garçons’ founded, of course, by two waiters , and nicknamed ‘the 2 G’s’ by the locals, was built in the ‘empire’ style, all gold and mirrors and sculpted ceilings. Destroyed in a fire, it was recently rebuilt in identical fashion.

The superb hall continues upto the terrace which overlooks the superb Cours Mirabeau, an avenue that is lined with luxury private homes built during the XVI century. Centre for cultural events, it plays host to famous lawyers, heads of education and international stars during the Festival of Lyrical Art held each July.

Edith Piaf, Marcel Pagnol, Albert Camus and many others have passed through its doors. Above all there are memories of the passionate discussions held during 1858 between the painter Paul Cezanne, a local and the writer Emile Zola (whose father, an engineer, was based in the town).

Arles

At the café Van Gogh, two emblematic works of the master have been hanging there since 1888 painted during his

Grenoble

Situated on the Place Saint-André opposite the old Dauphin’s palace and the Parliament ( XVI century), the Café de la Table Ronde bistro opened in 1739, still retains the old world atmosphere serving local dishes in this town which is capital of the Alps and which is beginning to gain a reputation of being ‘young” and student centric. Stendhal was born just next door; Gambetta, Leon Blum or Sarah Bernard were often to be found in the bistro.

The legendary addresses of Paris

Founded in 1686, the Procope holds the title of the oldest ‘bistro-restaurant’. Its regular clients were Condorcet, Voltaire and Diderot. The ambience remains

revolutionary with a debonair Germanic charm. There is another address, this time founded in the 19th century and also named after a waiter – Maxime Gaillard: one is, of course, talking about the Bistro Maxims opened in 1893. But it was his successor Eugène Cornuché who turned it into a celebrated address where, in an ‘art nouveau’ décor made popular by the Universal Exhibition of 1900, all Paris celebrated with the ‘chic” courtesans and the music of Offenbach. The décor still remains the same as it was in the days of Mistinguett or Proust (1915-1920), the aristocrats, Maria Callas (1950-1960)…

Today, it is owned by the couturier Pierre Cardin and has lent its name to a museum, and several replica restaurants in other big cities all over the world.

A salesman from Alsace opened the Drouant in 1880 near the Opera. He played host to two celebrated ‘ Augustes’: Renoir and the sculptor Rodin! In 1903, a literary committee began to meet regularly. Thus was born the Prix Goncourt (named after the initiators, two brothers, members of Parisian intelligentsia). The meetings continue to

this day. The prize is always declared in November after endless discussions and a good meal.

Another celebrated restaurant Les Deux Magots began as a modest shop in SaintGermain in the Quartier Latin and which became by the end of the 19th century a café for romantics , frequented by the likes of Arthur Rimbaud and fifty years later by Jean-Paul Sartre as it became a meeting place for writers and philosophers just like its neighbor Le Café Flore which still remains the incontestable meeting place for the cultural and literary world. Here, the rebel writer Boris Vian in the 1950’s discussed his existentialist theories. These gave way in the 1960’s to the audacious theories of the New Wave film makers.

Further south of Paris, La Closerie de Lilas reigns supreme over the XIV. Surrounded by a small garden of lilac bushes, this café with a dance floor in the Montparnasse area was opened in 1847 and during the 19th century was another meeting place for poets (Verlaine, etc) and also for a certain Lenin, then in exile who came to play chess. Later came Hemingway, Aragon, Picasso and many others…

Atout France

D.R.

Atout France

Atout France

To eat at Café des Arts in Saint-Rémyde-Provence, was even, until recently, an occasion to relive a joyous era. It was a stopover for Jean Cocteau or Picasso on on their way to Alpilles in the 1930’s.

They would simply lean against the shiny bar and drink together with the other locals. However time was stronger and the café no longer exists. But there are still many opther special addresses to relive the past and enjoy the present with a good glass of wine and many memories.

The Colombe d’Or, is one of these place.

Situated in an old, picturesque village in Nice – haunt of the painter Chagall in the 70’s , it resembles a small museum, covered with sketches by its genial guests: Matisse, Calder, César, Picasso etc. This place, not far from Cannes was also the favorite rendezvous of film stars of thirty

years ago: notably Sophia Loren, Lino Ventura or Yves Montand.

tormented stay in Provence and Camargue. The works are of an interior and an exterior scene titled The Café, the night. The bistro still stands restored to its original colors and looks on to the pretty Place du Forum in the heart of this historic town where vestiges of the medieval age and antiquity still remain.

24 Impressions DEC-feb 2012

Atout France

French intellectual of the XVIIIth century meeting in Procope

dec-feb 2012 Impressions 25

AF du Monde

COVER STORY

Colombie, Alliance Française de Medellin Une vie culturelle « florissante » aux cimes du monde : bienvenue à Medellin.

L

’Alliance Française de Medellin a été créée le 23 novembre 1948.

Elle est l’une des plus importantes de Colombie mais également vitrine d’exception de la présence française dans cette deuxième ville la plus importante de Colombie et capitale du département d’Antioquia.

Medellin, 2 636 101 habitants, appelés communément les « paisas », est située dans le nord-ouest du pays au centre de la vallée d’Aburra. Elle est traversée par la rivière Medellin qui coule du sud au nord et a une longueur de 70 kilomètres.

Topographiquement la ville est une pente qui descend de 1800 mètres à 1500 mètres d’altitude au dessus du niveau de la mer. Les hauts plateaux et les montagnes entourent la vallée et ils dépassent les 2500 mètres.

Le climat de Medellin varie entre 16 et 30 degrés Celsius, ce qui lui a valu le nom de « la ville de l’éternel printemps ». Ce climat attire touristes et fous des fleurs, qui poussent abondement. Ces fleurs peuvent être découvertes dans des lieux tels que le Jardin Botanique où sont conservées de nombreuses variétés d'orchidées, d’arbres et de fleurs. Toute l’année, le Jardin présente des festivals comme la foire du livre, une exposition appelée « Orchidées, oiseaux et fleurs », des foires culturelles, etc.

La fameuse Fête des fleurs commence en août est dure environ dix jours et se déroule chaque année pendant les premières semaines du mois d’août. Cet événement propose plus de cent quarante manifestations culturelles, traditionnelles et contemporaines.

Medellín est, une ville extrêmement culturelle avec plusieurs rythmes musicaux et expressions culturelles. Certains artistes sont célèbres dans le monde entier, comme par exemple le chanteur Juanes qui est né dans une ville très proche de Medellín. La sculpture, la peinture et la littérature occupent aussi des places très importantes. Le célèbre peintre Botero, très réputé pour ses représentations aux

26 Impressions DEC-feb 2012

calendrier des manifestations défendues par la ville comme la Fête de la musique, l’une des plus importantes d’Amérique Latine.

formes volumineuses, est né ici et une partie de ses œuvres est exposée dans le musée municipal. Medellín en tant que lieu touristique peut offrir aux visiteurs non seulement une grande quantité d’événements culturels mais aussi un séjour magnifique dans un endroit chaleureux et accueillant.

L’Alliance Française est ainsi un partenaire de premier ordre dans le domaine académique et culturel. Elle accueille chaque année plus de 4000 étudiants dans son siège principal qui se trouve dans le centre ville, les deux autres étant située dans la zone sud. Son personnel, (plus de 70 personnes), est très attaché à l’institution.

Elle entretien des liens étroits avec de nombreuses institutions. Son identité culturelle est très marquée et elle est un acteur à tel point reconnu dans ce domaine que certains des événements que l’Alliance Française organise, sont inscrits dans le

L'Alliance Française de Medellin

Hermès, contemporar y artisan since 1837.

A goûter : Le plateau paisa En Antioquia, on trouve la cuisine typique régionale comme la haute cuisine internationale. Le plat le plus célèbre est « le plateau paisa», composé traditionnellement d’haricots rouges, accompagnés de riz, viande hachée, chorizos, boudin, bananes plantains frites, œuf, avocat, la tortilla arepa et la sauce hogao (à base de tomates et oignons).

Camila Giraldo Mossos- atelier C1 Juan Felipe Zuluaga Molina - atelier C1 Maria Andrea Ramirez Robledo - atelier C1 Ana Isabel Londono Restrepo- atelier C1 Gloria Esperanza Zapata Alzate - B2. 5 Claudia Marcela Catano Arenas - B2. 5 Adriana Ines Arango Arango - B2. 5

Le saviez-vous ?

L’Alliance Française de Medellin et de Bombay ont initié un e-tandem, c’est à dire un dispositif de correspondance entre les élèves via les outils TIC et les réseaux sociaux. Les élèves de ces deux Alliances françaises ont déjà correspondu sur des sujets divers, d’actualité, de société. Lisez la suite de l’aventure P.48

The Oberoi Hotel, New Delhi Ista Hotel, Pune Horniman Circle, Mumbai Hermes.com

dec-feb 2012 Impressions 27

COVER STORY

COVER STORY Jantar Mantar, detail

Parfum de sciences Nicolas Poussielgue, Attaché for Science and Technology at the French Consulate in Mumbai reviews the Indo-French collaborations and looks back at the art of learning sciences, the French way.

F

rance is not very well-known as a country of science. It has the image of a pleasant country, producer of wine and perfume and fashion items, but we often forget that France is a major contributor to world science, as shown by the very recent nomination of Jules Hoffmann for the Nobel Prize in Medicine.

Fifth largest scientific partner of India, a long-standing collaboration exists with India, since a scientific cooperation agreement was signed in 1966. Two French laboratories of social science research have been established, the French

Institute of Pondicherry since 1955 and the center of Human Sciences in Delhi since 1990. The most recent development is the launch of "Megha Tropiques", the Indo-French satellite for the observation of the monsoon. It is a good example of the result of strong cooperation in space.

We are also one of the few countries to have representatives of the Science department of the French Embassy in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. Scientific partnerships between our two countries are accelerating, more than a dozen international associated laboratories are in place, particularly in the field of chemistry with a lab shared between the National

Chemical Laboratory in Pune and University of Lille, and in particle physics with the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, BARC and the CNRS, and finally in immunology (Malaria) with TIFR and Pasteur Institute. A recent agreement signed between IIT Bombay and the group of engineering schools in Paris "ParisTech" allow ten Indian and French students to do part of their masters and doctorate in the partner country.

one hand funds research teams consisting of researchers from both countries, and on the other hand also finances seminars both in India and France.

The Indo-French Centre for the Promotion of Advanced Research (CEFIPRA), established in 1987 will celebrate its 25th anniversary next year. It is a funding agency which on

The general interest of India towards France and French researchers has been increasing and the image of India has improved significantly amongst the French researchers. The strong importance given to research in India and the purchase of new equipment by many laboratories contribute largely to this effect.

Taken by Apollo 8 crewmember Bill Anders on December 24, 1968,

French research in the field of science and education is recognized internationally, particularly with the establishment of the operation "La main à la pâte"(Hands-on) since 1996.

28 Impressions DEC-feb 2012

Daddy, why is the sky blue?

Teaching methods in France have been rapidly evolving since the sixties.

Inspired by Freinet, Montessori and Piaget, developmental activities initially evolved until the 1980s. In 1996, Georges Charpak, French Nobel Prize laureate in Physics, with colleagues from the Academy of Sciences, launched the experiment “La main à la pâte". Beginning with a few classes, this new way of teaching science in schools emerged as the official school curriculum in the 2000s. In the hands-on lectures, the teacher's direct explanation to the students is reduced. Students work in small groups and themselves try to solve

a scientific problem. By using various methods such as discussing, comparing their ideas with their peers, trials and errors, they understand how nature works. Why do boats float? What does a plant need? How can I store an ice-cube without a freezer? etc.

At the age of primary school, children are very curious and ask many questions to their parents. Instead of parents telling them "you will understand when you grow up", the better solution is to answer their questions and satiate their curiosity, because when they reach the age of adolescence, their curiosity will start to diminish. This active way of learning science can also enhance the mastery of language, it forces students to express themselves, to be understood in order to exchange and develop ideas.

The great success of “la main à la pâte” has led many countries to look at what was happening in France and develop similar methods at home. A few examples are Brazil, Morocco, China and Vietnam.

India has also recently been invited to a conference in France and collaboration on this subject is being designed with the help of a professor from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.

You can find more information about «la main à la pâte » on their website www. lamap.fr www.frenchsciencetoday.org dec-feb 2012 Impressions 29

COVER STORY

COVER STORY

The Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) is perhaps one of the oldest institutions for scientific research in France. After expanding across the world, the CNRS has opened offices in Asia, and, as recent as February 2011, one in India.

© CNRS Photothèque/Fonds historique

Jumelles de très longue portée (octobre 1930). Le poids des jumelles, de même que la nécessité d'obtenir une image stable et précise, ont conduit les inventeurs de Meudon à les monter sur un dispositif adapté à un véhicule de transport militaire. Office national des recherches scientifiques et industrielles et des inventions.

30 Impressions DEC-feb 2012

doctorates were working in French CNRS departments. The same year, 515 French scientists were visiting India. Amongst many projects CNRS has in India, one is the creation of a brand new lab, one with walls this time, in Bangalore. “It would be a UMI, “Unité mixte internationale” where people from CNRS and Indian scientists from various labs work together.

The common field of research would be applied mathematics: that concerns statistics, chaotic systems, modelisation, biology… About 30 researchers from each side would join, from France we would like to have permanently a few researchers in residency, maybe post-docs” announces Dominique Aymer.

The CNRS through history and figures Created by decree of President Albert Lebrun on 19th Oct 1939 while France was still fighting the Second World War, CNRS had as its objective, during this time, to regroup all non-specialized organisms of fundamental and applied research and to coordinate their research on a national level. It was the creation of a few farsighted scientists, amongst whom there was Jean Perrin, winner of the Nobel prize for Physics in 1926. The latter was responsible for merging the National Office for Scientific Research with the National Department for scientific research and inventions in 1938. And it is this national centre for applied science that became, in 1939, the CNRS.

CEFIPRA, a body for French and Indian science The Indo French Centre for the Promotion of Advanced Research (IFCPAR or CEFIPRA – le Centre Indo - Français Pour la Recherche Avancée) is a bilateral programme between India and France constituted for the promotion and financing of scientific collaboration between the two countries.

Born from an idea shared between the then Indian Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi and the then French President Mr. Valery Giscard d'Estaing, the formal decision to set up the Centre was taken in 1985. The centre is currently funded through an annual corpus of 3million €.

India and France equally contribute 1.5m € each. IFCPAR/CEFIPRA aims to promote the most cutting edge scientific

Masque à oxygène sur un malade à l'hopital Cochin, Paris, janvier 1924.

Key figures Till 31st December 2010, the CNRS counted: •

25 630 agents

• 1053 laboratories of research – of which 95% are in partnership with about 150 other research institutions) • 19 delegations in various regions of France • An approximative budget for 2011 of 3,204 billion euros Sources: CNRS © CNRS Photothèque/Fonds historique

A

fter Tokyo, Beijing and Hanoi, the CNRS has now opened a bureau in New-Delhi, its first in India. The office will allow the CNRS to extend its contacts with Indian institutions, researchers and laboratories. “Our particularity is to create joint laboratories without walls” says Dominique Aymer, the head of the institution in New-Delhi. “Scientists work on similar projects and meet several times a year either in France or in India in their respective labs. Our role is to help them in creating these groups and meeting, or organizing cross events” explains Mr. Aymer. Indeed recently there were four “LIA”, or “laboratoires internationaux associés” (International Joint Laboratories) created. Three in chemistry, one in nuclear sciences, in Mumbai, involving the GANIL from Caen, TIFR and BARC. The other exists in biology-immunology, NTIC, mathematics… as a big flow of French and Indian scientists as well as Pune in the astronomy and climatology departments. The CNRS also wants to promote more exchanges with students.

In 2010, 163 doctorates and 119 post-

research building upon both India and France’s vast expertise in the field. Over the years, IFCPAR/CEFIPRA has become the flagship body for the promotion of Indo-French scientific cooperation. Since its inception it has evaluated over 1050 projects and has supported the creation of over 380 scientific collaborations. These, in turn, have resulted in over 1800 journal articles and over 2000 exchanges visits between Indian and French scientists.

Space collaboration between France & India

India has collaborated with many countries across the world to carry out space research, France being one of them.

T

he Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and Centre National de Etudes Spatiales (CNES) signed a MOU in 2004-05 for the development and implementation of two satellites jointly developed by CNES and ISRO Prof. Mayank Vahia an astrophysicist from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) says, “ISRO has always focused on utilitarian satellites like the communication and remote sensing ones and even in the case of MeghaTropique, they have followed the same strategy.”

During President Sarkozy's December 2010 visit to India, an MOU has been signed between CNES and ISRO on future areas of co-operation in Earth Observation for climate change and space exploration. France will install a C11 telescope in one of the renowned space research institutes in Andhra Pradesh. The French Parliamentary Group on Space (GPE) visited the ISRO Headquarters on March 31, 2011 and interacted with the ISRO community to understand the Indian Space program and its linkage with the parliament and general public. The French President said the Indo-French collaboration symbolized a refusal “to allow the space adventure to ever become the monopoly of just one or two States.”

Going back in time, in the 60s the French had sounding rocket technology called the Centaur to measure activity in the upper atmosphere at altitudes of up to 200 km. This technology was made available to India and we began producing sounding rockets in Thumba, Kerala. In the 70s there was another major association, on the liquid propulsion Viking engine, a technology that we needed for the PSLV launch vehicles. India continues to use this technology today after understanding, assimilating and upgrading it.

Another milestone occurred when the French developed the Ariane rocket. They asked the international community if anyone was interested in using their developmental flights. The country did not have to pay for the launch, but if the mission failed they would have to bear the loss. India decided to take that risk, successfully launching the Ariane Passenger Payload Experiment (APPLE) on June 19, 1981. This paved the way for indigenously produced communications satellites such as the INSAT-2 series, INSAT-3 series and now the GSAT series. India has so far built 55 satellites — communications, remote sensing and satellites for space science, including the Chandrayaan-1 which was India's first unmanned lunar probe.

Prof. Vahia further states, “Chandrayaan-1 established the presence of water on Moon beyond all reasonable doubt and work is on for Chandrayaan-2. Also TIFR is working in collaboration with ISRO for the launch of ASTROSat, a satellite meant purely for research purposes by the end of 2012.” pslv-c18-8/ @CNRS/ISRO

The CNRS looks East

Will ISRO launch a manned mission to space? “Maybe,” says Prof. Vahia “they have not yet been able to develop such a mission which will be cost effective but

perhaps with the help of international organizations like the CNES and others, they might do it in the years to come,” he concludes.

Neha Shende • Sources: The Hindu, December 5, 2010; • The Hindu - Online edition of India's National Newspaper Sunday, May 22, 2011; • Mea Govt. site August 2011; • Indian defense official site – 03/28/2011 • Wikipedia - ISRO

dec-feb 2012 Impressions 31

COVER STORY

Megha, a very special cloud

Stairway to Heaven

Indian and French scientists can finally look at the sky together knowing that for the next monsoon, someone is up there, analyzing the clouds.

A protégée of Arthur C. Clarke, the late science fiction writer and author of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Susmita Mohanty is blurring the boundaries between science fiction and reality via her orbital enterprise.

would certainly help to understand the mechanisms of tropical climate in order to anticipate and control their impact on populations ( in particular monsoons and cyclones) and local economies which are major preoccupations in India. Moreover, sustainable development and the fight againstglobalwarmingaresomeofthemajor concerns towards which CNES orients its activities. The Megha Tropiques Mission, a result of these two preoccupations, is also witness to the common desire to develop space technologies for the protection of our planet.

Source : CNES

M

egha means “cloud” in sanskrit. Added to French “tropiques”, the name is a poetic twist for the real mission of this super satellite: study atmospheric water, in tropical regions.

Indeed these regions receive on an average more energy from the sun than they send back to space.

Megha Tropiques came to life thanks to a partnership between CNES, CNRS, many French laboratories and ISRO, following an agreement signed in 2004 between France and India,.

The excess energy is transported towards temperate and polar regions by the movement of the atmosphere and the ocean. All modifications on the energy scale consequently have an effect on the global climate. This mission will therefore help researchers understand the phenomena which are of great importance to the economies of tropical countries.

The utilization of space programs will help environmentalists in the XXI century. It 32 Impressions DEC-feb 2012

Did you know ? A few technical facts…

- The satellite of around 1 ton has been sent into orbit by the Indian launcher PSLV from the base at Srihari Kota in India. The satellite has been assembled in Bangalore. Once in orbit, the satellite was guided by ISRO. - It is constituted of one Indian IRS platform and one payload comprising 4 instruments which function simultaneously.

- The micro-wave radiometer MADRAS, principal instrument of the mission to study cloud formation, has been jointly created by both agencies CNES and ISRO .

- An MOU between CNES and NASA will facilitate the exchange of scientific data obtained from Megha Tropiques and from the mission GPM- Global Precpitation Measurement signed in Washington on 8 September 2011.

GPM will be a constellation dedicated to the study of global over the quasi totality of the planet . A similar MOU will shortly be signed between ISRO and NASA

S

usmita is one spunky lady who will give you the moon. Literally.

She grew up in Ahmedabad, within the area of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

Susmita Mohanty later pursued a career in multiple fields, one being space studies (International Space University - ISU, Strasbourg), another design (National Institute of Design - NID, Ahmedabad) and space architecture (Chalmers Institute of Technology, Sweden).

“India has a robust government space program, but no real space industry if you compare to the US and Europe. “ explains Susmita. In India, there are companies that supply parts to ISRO for its satellites, rockets and ground facilities, but none of them are competing with their American and European counterparts in the commercial space market. This market is worth nearly 160 billion dollars annually.

She adds: “India’s space policy, for many decades, has focused on technology independence.

That was a worthy post-independence goal. Now many decades have passed.

We need to look farther and aim higher. We need to overhaul our space policy and make it more extroverted.

The government needs to facilitate the privatization of routine satellite manufacturing and rocket launching activities while letting ISRO concentrate on new R&D.” To do so, Susmita Mohanty has set up Earth2Orbit (E2O). E2O serves as an extended business development arm for Antrix, ISRO’s marketing arm and it brings international clients who want to launch satellites on the ISRO’s PSLV rocket.

Susmita is also passionate about the design of advanced space ferries (for humans and cargo) and habitats. “I want

India to design and build a state-of-theart crew transportation system privately where ISRO outsources the work to a commercial consortium of high-tech companies (e.g. aviation, automobiles, IT).” says the entrepreneur.

Why taking so much trouble to design edgy and comfy spaceships? “To develop space tourism of course!”. Susmita gives the example of Virgin Galactic, a company started by Richard Branson.

Virgin Galactic offers sub-orbital flights starting at 200,000 dollars a ticket. “I’d love to build a commercial spaceport for new space tourism companies in Kerala just like the one they are building in New Mexico for Virgin.” Why not a space backwater indeed?

However she agrees that the conquest of space for an all-public accessibility brings out many questions: how to protect the space environment, how to reduce space debris, ownership rights on other planets, etc. The entrepreneur and creator in her never die. “Besides tourism, space can be used for research and the arts” says Susmita Mohanty.

Having relocated her “base-camp” in Mumbai a couple of years ago, Susmita is also thinking about developing intelligent cities that will be inspired by future off-the-planet settlements – where the emphasis will be on maximizing the use of scarce resources (water, food, air, energy, building materials, etc.) and minimizing waste. “I’d love to build a lunar colony right here in the desert of Kutch.”

Ask her and she is ready to leave Mumbai for the Moon. “Only about 525 people have travelled into space since Yuri Gargarin first flew in 1961. That is about to change”.

Susmita Mohanty

All photographs: Megha Tropiques @CNRS/ISRO

COVER STORY

Brief Overview of Susmita’s Career 1997: Susmita worked on Shuttle-Mir design projects and trained for parabolic flights at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston.

1998-2000: Susmita worked for the International Space Station Program at Boeing in California.

2001: Susmita launched MOONFRONT, a boutique aerospace consulting firm in San Francisco.

2002: Susmita co-founded SSOAR, a Berkeley based non-profit that ran two charter schools for inner-city kids in Oakland. The schools used an innovative curriculum using space exploration to inspire kids to stay in school and aim high.

2004: Susmita co-founded LIQUIFER, an aerospace architecture and design firm in Vienna, Austria.

2008: Susmita co-founded EARTH2ORBIT in Mumbai. www. earth2orbit.com

C.C. dec-feb 2012 Impressions 33

COVER STORY

An Atomic World The collaborative research between the TIFR and the BARC goes a long way on nuclear program.

Dr. Vandana Nanal, TIFR

Ganil

particles are useful for radiotherapy, ion implantation, industrial processing and research, and biomedical and other lowenergy research.

Franco-Indian team at the Ganil

Ganil

34 Impressions DEC-feb 2012

N.S

T

he Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC) and the Centre Internationale de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) have collaborated to undertake a joint nuclear initiative.

The team from TIFR constitutes of Prof.

R.G. Pillay, Prof. Vandana Nanal and Dr. R. Palit. Professor Vandana Nanal says, “This program began two years back in 2009. In India they are working with a stable beam accelerator and studying the properties of lithium.” An accelerator is an apparatus that provides energy to bring together the nuclei of elements. She further states “They are trying to change the composition of the nucleus. The proton to neutron ratio becomes higher.

So, even though the element remains the same, its properties change. In France, CNRS is doing research in the Ganil Laboratory at Caen, Basse Normandie.

They are working with a radioactive ion beam accelerator called Spiral 2” The program comes under the collaborative laboratory created in 2010, an Associated International Laboratory (Laboratoire international associé-LIA) between the CNRS/IN2P3 and the BARC/TIFR. “They are studying the properties of the Helium isotopes 8Helium and 6Helium.

These have short lived nuclei as they are unstable. This will help in the development of various accelerating subsystems, diagnostic elements and various nuclear experiments” explains Professor Vandana Nanal. The CNRS signed an international MOU with research institutes from all over the world including India. According to which Spiral 2 will enter its 2nd phase and will emit its first radioactive beams of that phase in the next five years i.e. in 2013. During this program some exchange students also studied in India, one of them being Antoine Lemasson from the Ganil lab. This research also has practical applications. Beams of high-energy

COVER STORY

COVER STORY

A short and non-exhaustive overview on Indian and French mathematicians, show that both countries have more in common than one would think of.

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n 2010, Bao-Châu Ngô and Cédric Villani, two French mathematicians, received in Hyderabad the famous medal Fields, the equivalent of the Nobel prize for the mathematics. Le Figaro (24 march 2009) wrote that “the French mathematician community counts approximately over 3 700 researchers and teachers. It is commonly admitted that the only Parisian region has the biggest concentration of mathematicians in the world”. In India, mathematics is a genre found already in the Vedic texts along with philosophy and physics, carried to modern times by geniuses such as Ramanujan or Raman. Let’s not forget that perhaps, one of India’s greatest contributions would be the invention of decimal system of enumeration, including the invention of zero.

Bhaskara (1114–1185)

The knight of maths He was an Indian mathematician and astronomer, possibly the head of an astronomical observatory at Ujjain, the leading mathematical center of ancient India.

His main work was the Siddhanta Shiromani (Crown o f treatises) which is divided into f o u r parts and deals with arithmetic, algebra, mathematics of the planets, and spheres respectively. He is particularly known in the discovery of the principles of differential calculus and its application to astronomical problems and computations.

Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (1888

All photographs D.R.

–1970)

The Raman Effect In 1917, Raman took up the Palit Professorship in Physics at the University of Calcutta. Raman used to refer to this period as the golden era of his career during which he published 30 original research papers. On February 28, 1928, through his experiments on the scattering of light, he discovered the Raman Effect.

Raman won the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the effect named after him". He was the first Asian and first non-White to receive any Nobel Prize in the sciences.

42 Impressions DEC-feb 2012

Srinivasa Iyengar Ramanujan (1887 –1920)

The little genius Ramanujan was an autodidact who, with almost no formal training in pure mathematics, made extraordinary contributions to mathematical analysis, number theory, infinite series and continued fractions. In an important paper published in 1916, he initiated the study of the Pie function. Ramanujan's talent was said by the English mathematician G.H. Hardy to be in the same league as legendary mathematicians such as Gauss, Euler, Cauchy, Newton and Archimedes and he is widely regarded as one of the towering geniuses in mathematics.

D.R. Kaprekar (1905-1988)

The digit man Kaprekar received his secondary school education in Thane but didn’t received any formal training in mathematics, and was a teacher in Nasik. In 1927 he won the Wrangler R. P. Paranjpe Mathematical Prize for an original piece of work in Atomic World. He indeed had a great mind for numbers and invented the "Kaprekar Constant" 6174. Take any four digit number in which all digits are not alike. Arrange its digits in descending order and subtract from it the number formed by arranging the digits in ascending order. If this process is repeated with reminders, ultimately number 6174 is obtained, which then generates itself.

Narendra Karmarkar (b.1957)

The practical calculator Narendra Karmarkar received his B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from IIT Mumbai in 1978 but did his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley.

While he was working for Bell Laboratories in New Jersey in 1984,

Bhabha, père du nucléaire indien

Le brillant physicien Homi Jehangir Bhabha a fondé en Inde deux institutions de renommée internationale: le Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) et le Bhabha Atomique Research Centre (BARC). Visionnaire et patriote, il voulait que l’Inde profite de la nouvelle technologie nucléaire.

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é à Mumbai dans une famille Parsie, aisée et cultivée, Homi Bhabha a grandi dans l’ambiance culturelle occidentale du début du siècle. L’ enfant ne dormait que quelques heures par nuit et son médecin le disait hyperactif. À quinze ans, il obtient l’équivalent du baccalauréat. À dixneuf ans, sa licence en poche, il part étudier l’ingénierie mécanique à Cambridge. Le jeune Bhabha y trouve sa vocation : les sciences. Il écrit à son père son ambition de se lancer dans des études de physique et de mathématiques. Le père accepte, et Bhabha se lance dans la recherche. Il obtient son doctorat de physique théorique en 1934, à la grande époque des découvertes scientifiques.

En Europe, il côtoie de célèbres physiciens : le prix Nobel de physique 1939 Enrico Fermi à Rome, le britannique Paul Dirac prix Nobel 1933 en physique, ou encore Wolfgang Ernst Pauli. Il apprend beaucoup auprès de scientifiques qui ont notamment posé les bases de la théorie quantique, de la physique atomique et nucléaire et de la chimie.

Il rêvait d’une Inde forte La Seconde guerre mondiale éclate alors qu’il est en vacances chez ses parents. S’en est fini pour lui de l’ Angleterre. En 1944, Homi Bhabha écrit : «C’est le devoir de chacun de rester dans son propre pays et de bâtir les instituts comparables à ceux qui existent dans le reste du monde ». Proche de la grande famille Tata et du premier ministre Jawaharlal Nehru, il parvient à fonder le Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Bien avant la maîtrise du nucléaire, Homi Bhabha était convaincu de son importance pour l’approvisionnement énergétique et le développement économique du pays. Le scientifique se transforme alors en entrepreneur. « Son énergie, sa mémoire et sa capacité à saisir l’essentiel étaient phénoménales », raconte Jayant V. Kotwal, retraité du TIFR. Pour lui, Bhabha était plus qu’un physicien. « C’était aussi un administrateur formidable, un peintre, un musicien amateur et surtout, un perfectionniste, on n’arrêtait jamais

de travailler, poursuit-t-il. Et ce principe «bhabhaiste » a continué d’exister même après son décès dans un accident d’avion près du Mont blanc en 1966 ».

Harjeet JHANS, C1, ancienne élève de l’Alliance Française de Bombay Source : Impressions N106

Le paradis de la recherche scientifique

Le Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) attire des chercheurs du monde entier, dont des mathématiciens français, au sud de Mumbai. Environ deux cents chercheurs et une centaine d’étudiants mènent des recherches de pointe au bord de l’Océan indien.

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e projet que je vous soumets est embryonnaire, mais j’espère en faire, au cours des années à venir, une des meilleures grandes écoles de physique au monde », concluait ainsi le célèbre physicien Homi Jehangir Bhabha dans une lettre au grand industriel indien J.R.D. Tata. Grâce à de modestes dons du Sir Dorab Tata Trust, de la ville et de l’Etat, l’Institut de recherche fondamentale Tata (TIFR) voit le jour dans le bungalow de la tante de Bhabha en 1945 avec une poignée de scientifiques, Bhabha en tête. Bientôt, la renommée internationale d’Homi Bhabha

attire de nombreux scientifiques indiens.

L’institut s’agrandit puis déménage en 1949 danslebâtimentaujourd’huisurnomméOld Yacht Club, près de Gateway of India. Le 15 janvier 1962, le premier ministre Jawaharlal Nehru inaugure les locaux actuels du TIFR bâtis sous le regard bienveillant de son fondateur. (…) Dès les premières heures, le TIFR a acccueilli des mathématiciens, comme Damodar Kosambi, puis, en 1949 K. Chandrashekharan. Un éminent mathématicien français visite TIFR Laurent Schwartz, un grand mathématicien

français, après sa première en visite au TIFR dans les années cinquante, remarquait : « ’ai rencontré des étudiants à l’institut Tata qui sont le sel de la terre. » En 1971 il écrit « Je considère que l’Institut Tata est une réussite remarquable. Il est hors pair dans le monde ». Aujourd’hui les chercheurs mènent des programmes de pointe dans l’astronomie, les mathématiques, la physique théorétique et expérimentale, la biologie moléculaire, la science informatique…La liste est encore longue.

H.J

dec-feb 2012 Impressions 35

Apollo 19 Recovery, Credit: NASA/DIGITAL

Mathematics

Timeline Frise chronologique Al-Biruni 973 - 1048 CE

Aryabhata

He was Iranian Muslim scholar and polymath of the 11th century known for his remarkable scientific works in various fields as well as astounding study of India. He is regarded as one of the greatest scholars of the medieval Islamic era and was well versed in mathematics, astronomy, physical and natural sciences, and also distinguished himself as a geographer, historian, chronologist and linguist. According to Francis Robinson, Al-Biruni earned the “founder of Indology” and “first anthropologist” titles for his remarkable description of early 11th-century India. Al-Biruni wrote an encyclopedic work on India called “Tarikh Al-Hind” (History of India, also known as “Indica,” or simply “India”) in which he explored nearly every aspect of Indian life, including religion, history, geography, geology, science, and mathematics. He explores religion within a rich cultural context. Al-Biruni collected books and studied with Hindu scholars to become fluent in Sanskrit. He translated books both from Sanskrit to Arabic and vice versa.

(Ataman, 2005)

476-550 He was the first in the line of great mathematicianastronomers from the classical age of Indian mathematics and Indian astronomy. His most famous works are the Aryabhatiya and the Aryasiddhanta. The place-value system was clearly in place in his work. Aryabhata worked on the approximation for Pi (π), and may have come to the conclusion that π is irrational.

Solar and lunar eclipses were explained by him.

1236-1304

Brahmagupta 598-668 He was the head of the astronomical observatory at Ujjain.

The Brahmasphutasiddhanta is arguably his most famous work.

Brahmagupta was the first to use zero as a number. He discovered methods for calculating the position of heavenly bodies over time, their rising and setting, conjunctions, and the calculation of solar and lunar eclipses. He observed that the Earth and heaven were spherical and that the Earth is moving. Brahmagupta’s legacy still lives on.

AntoineLaurent de Lavoisier

Jean Buridan 1300 – after 1358

26 Aug. 1743 – 8 May 1794

He was a French priest who sowed the seeds of the Copernican revolution in Europe. He was one of the most famous and influential philosophers of the late Middle Ages. He developed the concept of impetus, the first step toward the modern concept of inertia, and an important development in the history of medieval science. His name is most familiar through the thought experiment known as Buridan’s ass.

He is the “father of modern chemistry”.

He is prominent in the history of chemistry and biology. He found and termed both oxygen and hydrogen , helped construct the metric system, put together the first extensive list of elements, and helped to reform chemical nomenclature. He was the first to establish that sulfur was an element rather than a compound. He discovered that, although matter may change its form or shape, its mass always remains the same.

Louis Pasteur Dec. 27, 1822 – Sep. 28, 1895

He was a French chemist and microbiologist . He is remembered for his remarkable breakthroughs in the causes and preventions of diseases.

He created the first vaccine for rabies and anthrax. He is best known for inventing the process of pasteurization.

He is regarded as one of the three main founders of microbiology. Pasteur also made many discoveries in the field of chemistry, most notably the molecular basis for the asymmetry of certain crystals.

Acharya Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, CSI, CIE, FRS

Meghnad Saha

30 Nov. 1858 – 23 Nov. 1937 He was a Bengali physicist, biologist, botanist, and archaeologist. He pioneered the investigation of radio and microwave optics, made very significant contributions to plant science, and laid the foundations of experimental science in the Indian subcontinent. He was the first person from the Indian subcontinent to receive a US patent, in 1904. He used his own invention, the crescograph, to measure plant response to various stimuli, and thereby scientifically proved parallelism between animal and plant tissues.

François Auguste Victor Grignard

Jan. 28, 1701 – Feb. 13, 1774

He was a French explorer, geographer, and mathematician.

He spent ten years in presentday Ecuador measuring the length of a degree latitude at the equator and preparing the first map of the Amazon region based on astronomical observations.

He was a Belgian astronomer, mathematician, statistician and sociologist. He founded and directed the Brussels Observatory and was influential in introducing statistical methods to the social sciences.

He made an outstanding contribution to the field of Astrophysics. In 1919, American Astrophysical Journal published a research paper by Meghnad Saha. He put forward an “ionization formula” which proved to be a breakthrough in astrophysics. In 1927, Meghnad Saha was elected as a fellow of London’s Royal Society. In 1947, he established Institute of Nuclear Physics which later was named after him as Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics.

May 6, 1871 in Cherbourg - December 13, 1935 in Lyon

b. Jan 9, 1922

Jacques Lucien Monod Feb 9, 1910 – May 31, 1976

He was a French biologist who was awarded a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1965, sharing it with François Jacob and Andre Lwoff “for their discoveries concerning genetic control of enzyme and virus synthesis”.

This showed that the living cell controls its manufacture of proteins through a feedback mechanism analogous to a thermostat. He was also awarded the Légion d’honneur. He is also famous for his work on the Lac operon. Monod is regarded as one of the founders of molecular biology.

He was a French chemist who won the Nobel Prize in 1912. He discovered the synthetic reaction which devised a new method for generating carbon-carbon bonds using magnesium to couple ketones and alkyl halides which came to be called the Grignard reaction. During World War I he studied chemical warfare agents, particularly the manufacture of phosgene and the detection of mustard gas.

Satyendra Nath Bose FRS

22 February 1796 – 17 February 1874

Charles Marie de La Condamine

Har Gobind Khorana

Oct 6, 1893-Feb 16, 1956

Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet

Jacob ben Machir ibn Tibbon He was a Jewish astronomer. His works, translated into Latin, were quoted by Copernicus, Reinhold, and Clavius. He was also highly reputed as a physician, and was regent of the faculty of medicine of Montpellier. He wrote a series of Hebrew translations of Arabic scientific and philosophical works, and above all by two original works on astronomy that are: a description of the astronomical instrument called the quadrant which also shows how to construct this instrument and astronomical tables, beginning with March 1, 1300.

Through this strip we will take you into flash back mode and help you witness the lives of some of the greatest achievers in the field of science both in India and in France right from the 5th century up to present day.

Srinivasa Iyengar Ramanujan FRS Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran 18 June 1845 – 18 May 1922

He was a physician. In 1880, he discovered that the cause of malaria is a protozoan. He also helped inspire the veterinarians today find a cure for animals.

He later worked on the trypanosomes, particularly sleeping sickness. For this work and later discoveries of protozoan diseases he was awarded the 1907 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.

22 Dec. 1887 – 26 April 1920

Marie Skłodowska Curie 7 Nov. 1867 – 4 July 1934

She was a Polish–French physicist–chemist famous for her pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first person honored with two Nobel Prizes—in physics and chemistry.

She was the first female professor at the University of Paris. She was the first woman to be entombed on her own merits (in 1995) in the Paris Panthéon.

He was an Indian mathematician and autodidact who made extra-ordinary contributions to mathematical analysis, number theory, infinite series and continued fractions.

Ramanujan compiled results such as the Ramanujan prime and the Ramanujan theta function.

Ramanujan’s formulae have found applications in crystallography and string theory. The Ramanujan Journal, an international publication, was launched to publish work in all areas of mathematics influenced by his work.

Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, FRS 7 Nov. 1888 – 21 Nov. 1970

On February 28, 1928, through his experiments on the scattering of light, he discovered the Raman Effect. He was conferred with knighthood that year. He won the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the scattering of light and for the Raman Effect. In 1954 he was awarded the Bharat Ratna and the Lenin Peace Prize in 1957.

India celebrates National Science Day on 28th of February every year to commemorate the discovery of the Raman Effect in 1928.

b. 7 March 1938 He is a French physicist and one of the discoverers of giant magneto resistance which brought about a breakthrough in gigabyte hard disks. He is currently an emeritus professor at Université Paris-Sud in Orsay and scientific director of a joint laboratory between the Centre national de la recherche scientifique and Thales Group.

Also, he is an Adjunct professor of physics at Michigan State University. He was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physics together with Peter Grünberg.

Yves Chauvin

Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai

12 Aug 1919 – 31 Dec 1971 He was Homi Bhabha’s successor as chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission. The establishment of ISRO was one of his greatest achievements. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1966. He was also awarded the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar award in 1962. The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre which is ISRO’s lead facility for launch vehicle development is named in his memory. He is considered to be the father of the Indian space program.

Georges Charpak

8 March 1924 – 29 Sep. 2010 He is a French physicist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1992 for his invention and development of particle detectors, in particular the multi wire proportional chamber. He invented the multi wire proportional chamber, which allowed for better data processing. He was the co-founder of Molecular Engines Laboratories, Biospace Instruments and SuperSonic Imagine. He was elected to the French Academy of Sciences on 20 May 1985.

He is a French chemist and Nobel Prize laureate. He is honorary research director at the Institut français du pétrole and a member of the French Academy of Science.

He was awarded the 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, along with Robert H. Grubbs and Richard R. Schrock, for his work from the early 1970s in the area of olefin metathesis.

b. July 19, 1938 He is a proponent of the steady state cosmology. He developed with Sir Fred Hoyle the conformal gravity theory, commonly known as Hoyle– Narlikar theory. He has worked in cosmology, especially in championing models alternative to the popular Big Bang model.

He is a recipient of Bhatnagar Award, M.P. Birla Award, and the Prix Jules Janssen of the French Astronomical Society.

Venkatraman “Venki” Ramakrishnan

b. Oct. 10, 1930

1 Jan 1894 – 4 Feb 1974 He was an Indian mathematician and physicist noted for his collaboration with Albert Einstein in developing a theory regarding the gas like qualities of electromagnetic radiation. He is best known for providing the foundation for Bose– Einstein statistics and the theory of the Bose–Einstein condensate.

He is honored as the namesake of the boson. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1954 by the Government of India.

He is an Indian-born American biochemist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1968 with Marshall W. Nirenberg and Robert W. Holley for research that helped to show how the nucleotides in nucleic acids, which carry the genetic code of the cell, control the cell’s synthesis of proteins.

Khorana and Nirenberg were also awarded the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia in the same year.

Albert (Bert) Fert

Dr. Jayant Vishnu Narlikar

b. 1952

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam b. 15 Oct. 1931

Abdul Kalam served as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007.

He was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honor. He has also worked as an aeronautical engineer with DRDO and ISRO. He worked on development of ballistic missile and space rocket technology.

He was heavily involved in the development of India’s first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-II).

Kalam played a pivotal organizational, technical and political role in India’s Pokhran-II nuclear test in 1998, the first since the original nuclear test by India in 1974.

He is an Indian-born American structural biologist, who shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Thomas A. Steitz and Ada E. Yonath, “for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome”. He was awarded the Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine in 2007 and the Padma Vibhushan was awarded by the Indian government in 2010. He currently works at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England.

COVER STORY he published his famous and new algorithm to solve linear programming problems. This made the complex calculations much faster, and had immediate applications in airports, warehouses and communication networks.

René Descartes (1596 –1650)

Cogito, ergo sum Descartes was a French philosopher and writer.

His text, Meditations on First Philosophy continues to be a standard text at most university philosophy departments.

Descartes' influence in mathematics is equally apparent; the Cartesian coordinate system — allowing algebraic equations to be expressed as geometric shapes, in a 2D coordinate system — was named after him. He is credited as the father of analytical geometry, the bridge between algebra and geometry, crucial to the discovery of infinitesimal calculus and analysis. Descartes was also one of the key figures in the Scientific Revolution.

Pierre de Fermat (1601-1665)

The one who tried it all Although mathematics was just his hobby (Fermat was a government lawyer), Fermat practically founded Number Theory, and also played key roles in the discoveries of Analytic Geometry and Calculus. Fermat developed a system of analytic geometry which b o t h preceded and surpassed that of Descartes; he developed methods of differential and integral calculus which Newton acknowledged as an inspiration.

Fermat was also the first European t o find the integration formula for the general polynomial; he used his calculus to find centers of gravity, etc.

Blaise Pascal (1623 –1662),

The spiritualist Pascal was a mathematician,

inventor, writer and Catholic philosopher. Pascal's earliest work was in the natural and applied sciences where he made important contributions to the study of fluids. Pascal also wrote in defense of the scientific method. He invented the mechanical calculator called the Pascaline. Following a mystical experience in late 1654, he abandoned his scientific work, and devoted himself to philosophy and theology. One of his most famous work is the Pensées.

Henri Poincaré (1854 –1912)

The chaos theory Henri Poincaré was a French mathematician, theoretical physicist, engineer, and a philosopher of science.

As a mathematician and physicist, he made many original fundamental contributions to pure and applied mathematics, mathematical physics, and celestial mechanics. He was responsible for formulating the Poincaré conjecture, one of the most famous problems in mathematics.

In his research on the three-body problem, Poincaré became the first person to discover a chaotic deterministic system which laid the foundations of modern chaos theory. He is also considered to be one of the founders of the field of topology.

Amongst many other discoveries, the Poincaré group used in physics and mathematics was named after him.

Cedric Villani (b.1973)

The young blood Cédric Villani was awarded the Fields Medal for his work on Landau damping and the Boltzmann equation, where, with Laurent Desvillettes, he was the first to prove how fast convergence occurred for initial values not near equilibrium.

After attending the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, Villani studied at the École Normale Supérieure from 1992 to 1996, where he was appointed an assistant professor. He is now professor at Lyon University. He has been the director of Institut Henri Poincaré in Paris since 2009.

French physicist, dec-feb 2012 Impressions 43

COVER STORY

COVER STORY

French and Indian scientists are working together for a better understanding of the Ocean and its impact on our day to day life.

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ater, lack of it, or its proximity, is part of every Mumbaikar’s life. The city is blessed by large shores, too often than not, polluted. Plush restaurants and villas have mushroomed on the shores of the Arabian Sea, while common men and their families spend their Sundays on over-crowded beaches. Few however would realize the importance of the Ocean in daily life.

Until maybe the level of the sea starts rising too much (read interview) ? Or until suddenly people realize the usual 3 months monsoon becomes 5 ?

Oceans, human activities and climate change are closely related. In 2010, a boat expedition led by French scientists, called Tara Oceans, moored close to Gateway of India. She has been sailing around the world for the 7th year, transporting various sea experts. They carry experimentations on samples, plankton, submarine microscopically biological life as well as observations of the various impacts of temperature, human activities, atmosphere, on the ocean and its biodiversity. Some of the datas collected and the daily log are online (oceans.taraexpeditions.org).

Why so much efforts to understand the ocean? The amazing ongoing exhibition at the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie in Paris (till end June 2012) explains it all. “The effects are already being observed around the world: melting of continental and oceanic ice, rising water levels, acidification of the ocean, etc. and their impact on human society will increase over the next half century.”

Indeed, according to the United Nations World Water Assessment Program, “the Asia-Pacific region is the most vulnerable in the world with regard to water related disasters that hinder sustainable development and poverty reduction. (…) Water withdrawals are predicted to increase by 50 percent by 2025 in developing countries, and 18 per cent in developed countries”. Oceans are connected to form a single global ocean covering 361 million sq.kms, or 97% of the volume of water on Earth.

Observations also demonstrate that the ocean is disturbed by changes to the climate: water temperatures and sea levels rise, water acidifies and marine life is impacted. These symptoms come on top of the adverse impact of pollution and over-fishing. How far will these disturbances develop?

(Sources : EPPDCSI, Universcience, Cité des sciences et de l'industrie, UN, Tara Ocean)

A chill in the Ocean, a storm in Mumbai ?

In Goa, Matthieu Lengaigne, researcher at the Institute for Research and Development and visiting scientist in the Physical Oceanography Division, explains to Impressions his collaboration with the National Institute of Oceanography, the equivalent of the Ifremer, a major institute for oceanography in France.

Matthieu Lengaigne, you describe the region of the Pacific and Indian tropical oceans as the “thermique machine” of the Earth with important climatic consequences, can you explain this?

Matthieu Lengaigne : The Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific exhibit very high sea surface temperature over 15 million square kilometers. This huge warm pool releases to the atmosphere large amounts of heat and humidity that are redistributed worldwide by the atmospheric circulation. Year-toyear changes of the characteristics of this warm-pool are knownto have very important climatic consequences and related impacts in both basins.

Like the El Niño phenomena …

M.L : Yes, during El Niño events, the warm-pool is displaced by thousands of kilometers eastward in the equatorial Pacific and there is a raise of temperature in the upper ocean. These events are usually responsible for widespread fires in Indonesia and modulate monsoon intensity, with droughts in India regularly observed during El Niño events.

Vertical mix, upwelling, oceanic variations: what are those phenomena and how do they affect climate?

All photographs Consulate of France, Mumbai

M.L: Upwelling involves wind-driven motion of deeper and colder waters towards the ocean surface. Upwelling regions are found in the eastern equatorial Pacific but also in the Indian Ocean, along the coast of Java, Sumatra and Africa. Mixing is also a key dynamics in the ocean, creating currents and exchanges between cold, deep waters and warmer surface waters.

These processes redistribute heat from low to high latitude in the ocean, carry nutrients from deeper water to the

students, which is great, but more trainers are also needed. The collaboration of my Institut with NIO has been continuous for the past seven years and allowed to build trust between french and indian researchers : it resulted in an extremely fuitful collaboration with numerous cosigned scientific publications and about ten co-guided PhD students. It was great for me to meet such students and to be immersed in their culture.

surface and shape the climates of the coastal regions. Modifications of the wind strength modulate the amplitude of these processes which in turn affect the surface temperature of the ocean and the related atmospheric circulation.

How do you work on those phenomena with NIO ?

M.L: Before visiting NIO, I was mainly working with climate models and satellite observations. In NIO, I had a chance also to study in-situ data collected by the Institute as the NIO has a fleet of boats going to sea. Satellite cannot « see » below the ocean surface so those data which provide temperature and salinity measures hundreds of meters below the ocean surface are precious to us. Analyzing these data allow us to understand why waters go through a cooling process at some time or the other.

“The sea level has risen by four to ten centimeters during the past 40 years along the Indian coastal areas, largely because of increasing amount of human activities”

What about the human impact on climate change in India?

M.L: According to our datas there is definitely a change. But it is quite early to assess it as we started collecting datas only 25 years ago. Solid studies show that the sea level has risen by four to ten centimeters during the past 40 years along the Indian coastal areas, largely because of increasing amount of human activities. We have also worked with models that suggest that there is a probability of more intense monsoons in India and bigger quantity of rains in the years to come.

What do you retain of your experience at NIO ?

M.L: At NIO I could bring some expertise on climate modeling, one of my core assets, as well as my experience as a teacher. But essentially I also learned a lot with my students and fellow professors.

India is increasing the number of

Universciences/Ocean, climat et nous (cité des sciences)

A drop and the ocean

Pictures from the exhibition Oceans, climate and us, at the cité des Sciences in Paris

The Tara expedition boat at the Gateway of India in 2010 44 Impressions DEC-feb 2012

dec-feb 2012 Impressions 45

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COVER STORY

Our friend Falci

No. Killing mosquitoes in your room with an electrical racket is not the only way to get rid of malaria.

A complex disease, malaria is caused by a tiny little fellow, called Plasmodium falciparum. Let’s call him Falci, so we can all pronounce it.

F

alci is a funny guy. His good friend Plasmodium vivax is also quite common but Falci is the deadliest one. Although, the World Health Organization (WHO) wrote in its latest report “in recent years, some human cases of malaria have also occurred with Plasmodium knowlesi – a monkey malaria that occurs in certain forested areas of South-East Asia” Falci is the one who strikes in India. He is a protozoan parasite transmitted by the female Anopheles mosquito. Luckily, amongst the 35 to 40 mosquito species in India (about 300 more in the world), only 6 to 8 transmit malaria.

So, the main thing is to kill those girls first. Especially since they just love nesting in your bathroom and other water sources. How to recognize them?

Well they are bigger but also they will be the only ones who will feed on you.

Falci, comfortable in the tiny mosquito guts will mate and reproduce (he is definitiaely a family guy). He will then travel thanks to the Anopheles’s bite up to your liver, where he might also mutate a bit (think Transformers), multiply and then take a trip all the way to your blood. That is when your symptoms can be detected. Finally

Mrs Anopheles will come round again and it is another free ride for Falci and his joint family to another carrier and host.

Today, according to WHO, approximately half of the world's population is at risk of malaria and in 2008, malaria was present in 108 countries and territories. So yes, Falci has absolutely global ambitions. And a pair of Made in China rackets are not going to be enough.

C.C.

From Lille to Mumbai, Falciparum is one attention-needy parasite France and India have been quietly active together in the fight against malaria. Meet Shobhona Sharma, Professor and chairperson, Biology of malarial parasite, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and Sylviane Pied, CNRS Research Director, CIIL - Center for Infection and Immunity of Lille. These researchers and their teams are sharing a three year love story together, against malaria.

What are your current research projects?

Shobhona Sharma: We are focused on various aspects of the biology of the parasite and parameters of the disease.We do not study the mosquito stages since it is difficult to culture the various stages of the mosquito or to breed malaria infected mosquitoes without risking safety issues.

Sylviane Pied: We are also studying the immune response to malaria, the different kinds of malaria…For example the disease symptoms maybe mild or severe, the latter can lead to death. There are different aspects to consider: cerebral, organ failure, severe anemia.

S.S: In India there are only endemic areas, pockets. In cities it is epidemic and not endemic. So we are working in particular pockets of, like Orissa where several severe malaria cases routinely

46 Impressions DEC-feb 2012

Extreme left: Sylviane Pied, extreme right, Shobhona Sharma, and their team.

occur in collaboration with core research teams there. In Orissa the parasite we are dealing with is called Plasmodium falciparum.

S.P: So, the questions as researchers we have to ask ourselves are related to the consequences of the infections.

Why some cases are leading to mild diseases and some to severe ones? We work towards finding these factors of immune response, eventually leading to severe disease and death such as cerebral malaria.

What are those factors?

S.P: They are many. Genetic factors, factors coming from the vectors (the mosquitoes) or the parasites. For instance we have to consider the mean of injection, like the saliva of the vector: does it have an incidence on the development of the disease later? We also have to observe the ability of human subjects to respond to the disease. This means looking at their genetics, the history of the subject, other infections, the environmental factor, the nutritional status, age and sex.

S.S: For instance, in Mumbai and in Orissa we found that young males are more affected than females, at a bigger frequency, according to hospital sources.

It would be an achievement to be able to predict which factors are involved in this sex-bias.

S.P: We work in Orissa with local partners, the SCB Medical College in Cuttack and the Institute of Life Sciences (a research institute). They provide us with clinical samples to study, protect and preserve them. The idea would be to model a state of a person thanks to its immunology, identify different patterns for the future. We need to validate datas, test and go to the field, check, get steady samples. But it is not always easy to take people’s blood, explain to them what it is about.

S.S: The nature of the parasite demands a full length for study, and that is our limitation with humans.

S.P: Since Falci has a complex developmental stage in human subjects, it is difficult to study all these steps in human, so we use mice.

S.S: Hence through the use of mouse

malaria, we try to understand the common molecular processes occurring in different species of parasites; the biology of parasites in the host liver and blood stages, the interaction of parasites, the invasion of procedures and their reactions to it.

S.P: Parasites are very complex. They mutate and there is a broad spectrum of parasites, that’s why it’s not so easy to find a common vaccine. Also once you are infected you keep on carrying the clones of the same parasites in different forms.

How is India different from Africa?

S.P: More adults are affected with severe diseases in India while in Africa it is mainly young children, there is also a risk in Africa of foetal exposure (mother to child, while delivery for example). In Africa the question for us is to understand how do the adults build their immunity?

And more essentially, how to transfer this knowledge ?

S.S: Africa possesses a large number of poorly administered countries. One has to keep in mind that porous borders across Africa and in South-east Asia, wars, political and economical instability make

Did you know?

- The 25th of April is the World Malaria Day - In 2008, 247 million cases of malaria were found and the disease caused nearly one million deaths, mostly among African children.

- Malaria can decrease gross domestic product by as much as 1.3% in countries with high disease rates. it easier for parasites and their carriers to travel. In many of these countries there are not appropriate health controls or infrastructures. Malaria is basically a poor man's disease.

dec-feb 2012 Impressions 47

COVER STORY

COVER STORY

The Better Alternative

Bonjour India at the NCPA. Both the film and the photographs conveyed the global issue of environmental degradation. It was fun volunteering for the exhibition on marine drive. People would come to have a look, ask us questions leave their comments and go back home a little wiser, a little more aware. Anagha, a fellow volunteer said ‘I found the work enjoyable, the photos were great and I

Jai hind and K.C. college started an ecofriendly Ganpati drive where they went from door to door and asked people to use clay or metal Ganpatis and immerse them in artificial tanks at home to stop pollution of the seas which ultimately leads to a loss of marine biodiversity. They also provided people with shop addresses supplying these idols. Colleges in Mumbai are going to great lengths to use renewable energy and protect the environment. There are also some other associations in India which promote the use of renewable energy.

N.S.

Green Festival Flashback

During the Bonjour India festival, students of various colleges (St Xavier, Mitibhai, Hr…) and students of Alliance Française de Bombay were the first ones to participate and volunteer for the Yann-Arthus Bertand exhibition on Marine Drive.

A

s I was sitting near the window sill the other day looking out I saw the last two remaining trees in my colony. Till some years back, there were ten, I sadly remembered. They cut them for building more houses. That reminded me of the exhibition that I had volunteered for in

48 Impressions DEC-feb 2012

the winter of 2009. It was called ‘Earth’s View from the Sky’ by the celebrated French photographer Mr. Yann Arthus Bertrand. A very friendly and amiable guy, he came personally to talk to us and told us as we sat in a café how he had gone all over the world in helicopters, hot-air balloons and planes and taken pictures

from those heights. The experiences he had while taking pictures were amazing.

He told us how some countries had even banned him from taking photographs as he had exposed the pollution these countries were causing. He had even made the film Home which was shown during the inauguration of the festival

got to interact with so many different people!’, another friend Rukshana, also a volunteer, said ‘It was an eye opener of sorts. We realized just how much we were hurting our planet. Volunteering was a good experience.’ Everyone really

enjoyed their time in the festival; and to work for such a great cause while having fun? I sure loved it. Volunteering for that one month was definitely one of the coolest experiences I have ever had.

N.S.

Welcome to Science city

The City of Sciences and Industry in Paris is one of leading centers to discover sciences and technology through fun and tactile programs.

O

ver 3 million visitors per year, of which over a million and half go straight to the exhibitions. 4 to 6 million euros are spent per year, on preparing the next most flamboyant scientific exhibition.

The Cité des Sciences et l’Industrie, in the north of Paris, today regrouped under the same scientific pole Universciences, with the Palais de la Découverte has become an institution in promoting sciences.

Dominique Botbol, head of the departement at the direction of exhibitions in the Cité des Sciences, and associated with the institution for the past 25 years, looks back at the process of making sciences popular.

When and how did it all start in the Cité des Sciences?

Dominique Botbol : The initiative was started under former French President of the Republic Valery Giscard d'Estaing. At that time (in the ’70s and early ‘80s) the buildings belonged to the slaughterhouses

of La Villette. Under the presidency of the Cité by Maurice Lévy (1985) was developed a real strategy of making sciences fun and accessible, the same way the Americans used to do it those days with the whole constructivist movement and the “hands-on” programs. The Palais de la Découverte is the oldest institution which popularized sciences but it was not interactive. We also innovated from the beginning with a pluridisciplinary and thematical approach.

How do you compose these exhibitions? Sometimes the topics could be touchy, or not very easy to understand…

D.B: There are various components: the permanent exhibitions and the temporary ones, as well as the Cité des enfants, a space dedicated to children from 2 to 11 and where exhibitions are designed specially for them. Each exhibition will come as a pluridisciplinary creation and integrate various themes. For instance, the Grand

Universcience

audits in their housing societies as part of their academic projects where they keep track of the carbon footprint of their neighborhood and help them reduce it. In Jai hind college, last year an international seminar on creating awareness for renewable energy was conducted. It was called ‘Planet Earth – take care, take charge’ and was convened by Dr. Ambika Joshi the biotechnology department coordinator.

This seminar aimed at making the students aware of other energy alternatives that can be utilized to save the degrading environment. The NSS departments of

Y.A.B

St Xavier College

Solar panels on a college terrace, unbelievable sight? Not anymore. St. Xavier’s college in Mumbai has installed solar panels which heat the water in the boys’ hostel. These panels have been installed some years back and were originally thought of by the hostel superintendent Fr. Terrence Quadros. Such an initiative thought of by colleges greatly reduces the load from our environment and makes for a more sustainable way of living. There are new panels installed this year in St. Xavier’s which run the computer department of the college which includes about 20 computers and the lighting of the entire department. These panels which generate about 2000 W of electricity are the brain child of the principal of the college Fr. Frazer Mascarenhas. Their college also has a vermi-compost pit started in 2005. Says Prof. Periyanayagi, “It serves three purposes: it reduces the amount of garbage going out of the college, it provides compost for the plants in the college so that they don’t have to use chemical products and it provides financial assistance to the gardener.”

Besides this the college also does rainwater harvesting. They collect rain water on the college terrace which then goes through a pipe into a bore well and waters the plants in the college gardens. They also have the BMM students conducting environmental

Mittal Gogri

Impressions finds out how the youth is doing its bit for a greener earth. From colleges to street initiatives, students try their bit to spread awareness for the planet.

récit de l’Univers permanent exhibition was a collaborative work of astronomy geology, physics, mathematics… In Oceans, a temporary ongoing show, the question of finding solutions for the planet are also raised. We work with a team of experts dec-feb 2012 Impressions 49

COVER STORY from all fields: scientists, sociologists, doctors, psychologists, pedagogues etc.

We constitute committees dedicated to each exhibition with a curator in charge of the project. All of our exhibitions have a deep scientific roots. The next one, Gauls!, is going to change some historical misconceptions about Gauls based on new technology in archeology. We also try

COVER STORY to outline the pluralism of points of views, especially on topics linked to sustainable environment, a big part of segment work.

Which are the favorites of the mainstream public?

D.B: I think that people just love it when we are able to connect a scientific theme, like galaxies, planets, with popular culture,

media culture. For example the exhibition Star Wars, was a rage. So was Crim’expo linking known themes, like TV crime series to actual science on crime scene. We actually have people coming for the first time, not at all into science and telling us, “thank you, I did not realize science could be so fun”. That is our reward.

C.C

Popularizing science in India: a cultural need

There was a time when India was known for its scientists all over the world. Today, few average Indians regularly follow the brilliant minds of the sub-continent. Lack of vulgarization in sciences is one of the reasons.

W

e are all familiar with Frankenstein or the Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy or 20,000 leagues under the sea. But ever wondered what their Indian counterparts were? Science fiction and generally popular science is an obscurity on the grand Indian media scene. Internationally, this is a thriving field but unfortunately in India, the scope is very limited. Prof. T.P. Singh, an astrophysicist at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) says “One of the main reasons is semantic barriers.

Scientists and other science experts prefer popularizing science in English. But not everyone understands English. Also there are so many languages in India, that there is not a particular language that can be used other than English.

The popularizing of science in the print and electronic media is very poor, almost absent and many of the shows on science on channels like Discovery and National Geographic are usually foreign.

So, mostly, popularizing of science takes place in the form of lectures and seminars in colleges or at the Nehru Science Centre at Worli (India’s largest interactive science centre). Popularizing of science is more widespread in south India.” In spite of the limited scope, India has its own little endeavors. Did you know that a Hall of Nuclear Power has been recently inaugurated at the Nehru Science centre? It has 3D models virtual walk-through areas and many other

50 Impressions DEC-feb 2012

exciting things. Popular science though not so popular is making its mark on the Indian entertainment scene today.

From science-fiction to just science One of the important personalities in the field of popular science is Dr. Jayant Narlikar (born July 19, 1938). He is a proponent of the steady state cosmology and developed with Sir Fred Hoyle the conformal gravity theory, commonly known as Hoyle–Narlikar theory. Along with his scientific research, Narlikar has been well known as a communicator of science through his books and articles like From Black Clouds to Black Holes, Seven Wonders of the Cosmos, The Lighter Side of Gravity, Akashashi Jadale Nate (in Marathi), Nabhat hasare taare (in Marathi) and many more. He has the unique ability of popularizing science in one of the regional languages of India – Marathi. He has written quite a bit of science fiction too some of them being The Return of Vaman, The Adventure, etc. For these efforts, he was honored in 1996 by the UNESCO with the Kalinga Award. He is also the consultant for the Science and Mathematics textbooks of the National Council for Educational Research and Training. One other popularizer of science, Yash Pal (born 26 November 1926) is an Indian scientist and educator and known for regular appearances on the science program Turning Point telecast

on Doordarshan and for explaining scientific concepts in layman's language along with participation on advisory boards for televised science programs such as Bharat ki chaap, a TV series on the history of science and technology in the subcontinent. He is Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi currently.

Neha Shende

In Mumbai, TIFR is one institute which strongly advocates popularizing of science. They have a Public Outreach Program through which they conduct 2-3 activities yearly.

TIFR published a booklet called ‘Revolution in Physics’ in 2005 that marked the 100 years anniversary of three of the greatest discoveries by Einstein.

There are public lectures every year on National Science Day (28th Feb) and J.R.D. Tata’s birth anniversary (29th July).

There’s an Open Science Day every year in November where 200-300 selected students from 10th and 11th grade from schools all over Mumbai are taken to the TIFR labs where they can observe and study all the experiments.

On 13th December 2011, they are organizing four public lectures by scientists and experts from the UK, US and Canada on ‘Relativity and Cosmology’.

Français en marche

Français en marche

Ecrire sans frontières A l’Alliance Française de Bombay, les étudiants peuvent communiquer entre eux mais depuis quelques temps déjà, certaines classes s’ouvrent de plus en plus au monde entier grâce à des projets d’e-tandems.

Retour sur une pratique ancienne que les technologies TIC revalorisent.

U

n e-tandem désigne un mode d’échange et d’apprentissage entre deux étudiants ou deux classes et à un niveau supérieur entre deux communautés apprenantes. Il n’y a pas si longtemps encore, en France, les élèves pouvaient (et peuvent toujours) écrire à leurs correspondants anglais, allemands ou espagnols par des échanges épistolaires dans la langue étudiée. De nos jours, les échanges plus rapides prennent d’autres formes grâce aux supports numériques et aux technologies contemporaines : que ce soit sur les blogs (outil blogger), sur les espaces d’écriture d’un réseau social (ning) ou même encore par du micro-blogging (outil twitter), tout est prétexte pour mieux échanger textes, images et vidéos.

Duo gagnant

Le e-tandem tel que l’université allemande de Bochum l’a défini dans les années 1970 met en relation deux locuteurs souhaitant apprendre la langue de l’autre, par un dispositif équilibré d’échange de paroles : 30 minutes d’anglais pour un français 30 minutes de français pour l’anglais, par exemple. Les rôles enseignant-apprenant alternent et la posture de chaque acteur est volontairement modifiée. Ce dispositif met en avant également des modes d’apprentissage informel avec une mise en valeur de l’approche collaborative entre pairs. A l’Alliance Française de Bombay, les e-tandems ne prennent pas cette forme mais ils essayent pourtant de garder la logique gagnant-gagnant.

En octobre 2010, les e-tandems menés sous la balise twitter #indofr ont permis aux lycéens de Laurence Juin du lycée Doriole de La Rochelle et à une classe d’étudiants indiens d’échanger sur la culture indienne. Les français avaient des attentes et des questionnements sur la culture, les indiens mettaient en pratique leur langue française dans un 52 Impressions DEC-feb 2012

deux enseignants, des projets d’etandems peuvent durer une après-midi, d’autres des mois, certains, la vie : les liens numériques aboutissent parfois à de réelles amitiés qui dépassent le cadre et l’intention pédagogiques.

Bientôt viendront dans Mumbaikar in French, de nouveaux e-tandems iraniens avec Téhéran menés par une nouvelle équipe d'enseignantes, des questions de lycéens finlandais sur Twitter et bien

sûr des interventions de français de tout âge et tout niveau qui souhaiteraient partager leur curiosité avec les habitants de Mumbai.

Ce sera une nouvelle occasion pour les étudiants de l’Alliance Française de Bombay communiquer en situation réelle et de donner un sens à la pédagogie des langues.

David Cordina http://davidcordina.free.fr

En route pour Québec ?

Porté par l’Organisation mondiale de la Francophonie, le Forum mondial de la langue française se tiendra du 2 au 6 juillet 2012 à Québec.

cadre de communication authentique.

De même, des élèves de 6è du collège de Wattrelos (encadré par l’enseignant, Ghislain Dominé) sont venus en janvier 2011 poster dans le cadre de leur cours sur la géographie de la ville de Mumbai, des questions sous format vidéo aux étudiants de Mumbai.

D’autres projets sont en cours avec les Alliances françaises de Mexico et de Medellin sous l’impulsion et l’encadrement de Prachee Palsule, Amandine Pallandre et Angélique Gaydier, toutes trois enseignantes de FLE en Inde, au Mexique et en Colombie. Les discussions foisonnent entre ces classes et de nombreux sujets sont abordés: la chirurgie esthétique, l’avortement, les fêtes religieuses, les drogues, le port de l’uniforme... “Les étudiants peuvent connaître la culture des pays comme la Colombie ou le Mexique grâce à la langue étrangère d’apprentissage, dit Prachee Palsule. Le français devient un moyen de communication entre les anglophones et les hispanophones.”

Mode d’emploi : contraintes et difficultés

Faire échanger une classe avec une autre classe demande de la part des enseignants un travail de préparation en amont. S’ils partagent déjà un document où ils testent eux-mêmes un mode collaboratif (comme par exemple, le partage d’un document google), le projet peut prendre forme rapidement. Il s’agit de se mettre d’accord sur le support numérique, le mode de communication synchrone ou asynchrone, les attentes de chacun liée à la logique gagnant-gagnant.

Ensuite, il faut définir les grandes lignes du scénario pédagogique (durée, acteurs, déroulement, tâches, objectifs, type de productions - texte, image, video (placées sur youtube et incrustées ensuite sur les blogs, cartes postales sonores (outil audioboo). Ces étapes préliminaires sont importantes pour éviter l’échec car il y a une part d’imprévus qu’il faut prendre en compte dans ces échanges.

Selon cette écriture commune entre

Le Forum mondial de la langue française proposera aux participants de tous les continents des échanges portant sur la place et l’avenir du français. Cet événement permettra aux participants de partager leur amour de la langue française et leurs meilleures idées.

Aux grandes discussions s’ajouteront de nombreuses festivités et activités culturelles. À l’heure de la mondialisation et de la standardisation commerciale, vivre et s’épanouir en français relèvent‑ils de l’utopie ? Comment préserver la richesse de l’écriture quand les échanges se limitent de plus en plus à 140 caractères ?

Peut‑on vraiment espérer « vivre de son art » en français ?

l’enseignant en e-pédagogie et également du côté de l’apprenant et des nouvelles formes d’apprentissage que le nouvel univers numérique et les usages variés des réseaux sociaux proposent pour la langue française.

Contribuant à l’équité dans la répartition géographique (l’ouverture mondiale des e-tandems, par exemple), ces actions innovantes prennent en compte le public jeune de cette gigantesque métropole.

D.C. Source : http://www. forumfrancophonie2012.org/

L’Alliance Française de Bombay proposera une contribution au forum dans le volet intitulé « Le nouvel univers numérique ». Dans le caractère novateur de l’environnement numérique qu’elle propose, l’Alliance Française de Bombay tente de contribuer à l’avancement et au partage des connaissances, du côté de

dec-feb 2012 Impressions 53

Français en marche

Français en marche

Dans ma classe, nous tweetons, nous apprenons

Plaisir d’écrire

Prachee Palsule, enseignante et formatrice de formateur de l’Alliance Française de Bombay, a commencé à utiliser un outil de microblogage (outil Twitter) en classe de Français Langue Etrangère (FLE) en août 2010. Plus d’un an plus tard, Prachee propose un bilan de ses usages.

For the very first time, discover a book in French for essays, letters and agendas with attractive photographs, dealing with various aspects related to the life of the French and the Indians.

Pourquoi et comment utiliser Twitter dans les classes ?

En août 2010, le réseau Mumbaikar in French n’ était pas encore créé. Il n’y avait pas encore de plateforme commune pour les apprenants après leurs cours. Je cherchais un moyen simple et efficace pour mes étudiants du niveau B2, avec de grosses difficultés en compréhension orale (CO) mais, n’ayant cours que deux fois par semaine. Comment pouvaient-ils rester en contact avec leurs camarades de classe et avec le français? Comment pouvais-je leur proposer des exercices en CO tout au long de la semaine ? Comment allais-je les pousser vers l’autonomie en me glissant dans les coulisses de leur apprentissage?

A ma demande, chaque apprenant a ouvert un compte twitter et s’est engagé à s’exprimer uniquement en français.

Grâce à la liste tandemafb, les étudiants sont restés en contact avec leurs camarades de classe et les étudiants venant de mes autres groupes du niveau B2. Ce réseautage a aidé les étudiants à trouver des collaborateurs pour leur projet culturel. Ils ont commencé à

annoncer les événements culturels de l’Alliance Française de Bombay mais aussi à prévenir leur absence ou le retard. Bref, j’ai assisté à l’éclosion de leur communauté virtuelle sur Twitter.

Proposer des liens et des exercices hors de la classe J’ai commencé par afficher des liens vers des sites incontournables comme TV5, RFI etc. Mon expérience antérieure avec des blogs m’avait appris que mes étudiants ne consultaient pas les sites francophones eux-mêmes. En revanche, amenés à faire une activité ou une tâche en français en ligne, ils se laissaient aller et continuaient de naviguer sur la Toile francophone, chacun créant son propre parcours. Au début, j’ai compté sur cette attitude et heureusement, mes étudiants ne m’ont pas déçue. J’ai également préparé de petits exercices ou des tâches à partir des documents authentiques: un support audio ou vidéo ou un article et quelques questions simples dont les réponses pouvaient être courtes. Les supports, les questions ainsi que les réponses étaient affichées sur Twitter. J’ai aussi conseillé

de s’abonner aux comptes de la presse francophone et des sites éducatifs.

Ma consigne pour l’étape suivante était de « Laissez une trace sur Twitter de ce que vous avez lu, vu et écouté en français » C’était un pas vers les échanges horizontaux entre pairs et l’autonomie de l’apprenant. Résultats: les échanges se sont multipliés, leur direction s’est diversifiée et par conséquent, mes messages sont devenus moins directifs. J’ai accompagné les étudiants sur les pistes d’apprentissages qu’ils ont choisies eux-mêmes.

Une autre activité proposée fut le travail collaboratif autour de la balise #ety.

Après avoir observé les origines latines ou grecques de quelques mots français, les étudiants devaient chercher au moins deux mots à l’aide d’un dictionnaire ou d’Internet. Ensuite, ils les publiaient sur Twitter avec la balise #ety : l’abréviation de l’étymologie. 70 mots ont été inventoriés.

La nouveauté du projet réside dans la mutualisation. Chacun a apporté une pierre pour construire l’édifice, chacun a contribué un petit peu pour pouvoir apprendre ces mots. Le travail s’est fait en dehors de la classe et sur quelques jours.

«Ritudsyadav, écrit par exemple, à mon avis, équitation ne vient pas de la racine equi. Tous les mots dont lesquels il s'agit de cheval viennent de mot 'equus'. (sic)» Une meilleure systématisation opérée en mode collaboratif en a résulté.

Plusieurs activités faites sur Twitter sont désormais possibles grâce à un réseau plus complet «Mumbaikar in French ».

Pourtant, certains usages de Twitter dont la contrainte de 140 signes donnent envie de trouver de nouvelles pistes. Après tout, toute contrainte n’est-elle pas propice à la créativité ?

D.C

54 Impressions DEC-feb 2012

Retrouvez les comptes Twitter de l’Alliance Française de Bombay @pracheefle @pracheepalsule @w2YDAVid @afmumbai @afbombay

V

iral Thakker, professor at Alliance Française de Bombay has authored her very first book on France, French culture and language.

The book deals with various aspects related to the life of the French. It has many topics like festivals, meals, monuments, seasons, authors, vacations, visits to supermarkets, cinema and many more. It presents some cultural topics of the Indians as well. Many debatable topics like Internet, mobile phones are also covered.

It is useful also for students of SSC, ISCE, IGSCE, CBSE, HSC and various other state boards. Every person interested in the French language will find this book a pleasure to read. The topics can also be used for working on oral and written expression skills even at the Alliance Française. “Experiences of my trips to France and Europe make this book an original and emotional one !” says the author.

Viral Thakker, M.A Fench, B.Ed. Masters ( F.L.E from France). Winner of the award of national competition: French Nightingale organised by French Embassy in India and French scholarships). Co-author on a book on French phonetics.

Available with the author and published

by Anuj Gupta, Saraswati House Pvt Ltd. Contact the magazine for more information.

Prix de la Francophonie

Le jury du Prix des cinq continents de la Francophonie, réuni le 30 septembre au siège de l’Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) à Paris, a désigné Jocelyne Saucier (Canada-Québec) pour son roman Il pleuvait des oiseaux (Éd. XYZ), lauréate de l’édition 2011. Le jury a également décerné une mention spéciale à Patrice Nganang (Cameroun) pour son roman Mont-Plaisant (Éd.

Philippe Rey). Pour cette dixième édition, Abdou Diouf, Secrétaire général de la Francophonie, a remis ces

distinctions au cours d’une cérémonie organisée à Paris, au siège de l’OIF, le vendredi 9 décembre.

Jocelyne Saucier a été désignée parmi dix finalistes en lice pour l’édition 2011. Les auteurs étaient ressortissants des pays suivants : Afghanistan, Algérie, Cameroun, Canada-Québec, Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, France métropolitaine et d’Outre-mer, Gabon, Grèce, Haïti, Liban, Madagascar, Sénégal, Suisse, Tchad, Togo et Tunisie.

Un Wiki pour le français

Le ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (Délégation générale à la langue française et aux langues de France) lance un nouvel outil collaboratif pour associer les internautes à l’évolution de la langue française : le wiki langue française (www.wikilf.culture.fr).

Donner accès à un vocabulaire français clair et précis est un service rendu à chaque citoyen pour améliorer sa compréhension des réalités contemporaines. La diffusion de la langue française dans le monde dépend aussi largement de sa capacité à désigner ces réalités. Dans de nombreux domaines spécialisés (audiovisuel, environnement technologies numériques…), des experts sont chargés de proposer des termes répondant à des besoins d’expression très spécifiques (www.franceterme.fr).

Pour certains termes relevant de ces domaines mais d’un usage plus courant, il paraît nécessaire de recueillir les propositions du plus grand nombre : le wikiLF répond à cet objectif.

Les internautes sont ainsi invités à proposer des termes nouveaux et à donner leur avis ou émettre des suggestions sur les termes examinés par les experts des commissions de terminologie.

dec-feb 2012 Impressions 55

Français en marche

Français en marche

Concours des mets et des mots

Mot à Mot

Impressions publie le texte de la gagnante, Pearl qui livre ici un texte plein de tendresse et de nostalgie toute mumbaikar.

Vous croyiez les connaitre? Impressions décortique pour vous des expressions et mots de tous les jours finalement pas si simples... En voici quelques-uns, en accord avec le thème du dossier.

Avoir la science infuse

Cette expression ne signifie pas que la connaissance a infusé comme le tilleul dans la tasse d'eau ! C'est une histoire d'origine biblique, qui nous vient d'Adam et Eve. En théologie, la science infuse, c'est la connaissance qu'Adam reçut de Dieu.

J'adore manger. Cela me donne du bonheur, me fait rêver. La nourriture, c'est comme un stupéfiant. C'est pourquoi je conseille à mes amis de cesser de fumer ou de prendre des drogues et de fêter la vie avec la bonne cuisine.

L'expression signifie : prétendre tout savoir. On le dit souvent de façon négative : "tu n'as pas la science infuse", à une personne qui croit tout savoir sans rien avoir appris.

Pearl F. Irani

Etre né sous une bonne étoile

Expression française qui puise ses origines dans l'astrologie où le terme étoile est le symbole de la destinée. En effet, de tous les temps l'astrologie a joué un role important dans la vie des gens. Cette science va enseigner l'idéologie selon laquelle les astres exercent une influence sur le destin des hommes et le fait de la déterminer faciliterait la lecture de l'avenir. De ce fait être né sous une bonne étoile ou une mauvaise d'ailleurs va signifier avoir ou ne pas avoir de la chance en fonction de la décision des astres.

Mumbaikar in French : notre sélection

Un grand-petit pas — écœurée, elle se plonge dans le cœur du foyer.

Les résidents la surveillent aveuglement : des patates avec des yeux 56 Impressions DEC-feb 2012

Il faut qu’elle se consomme : ouroboros pour qu’elle les consomme : mante religieuse ; mangeuse d’hommes, il faut qu’elle les mette en gril avant de repartir à zéro.

Les souvenirs de ses neuf ex-amants étincèlent ; elle médite sur son bracelet navaratna ancien selon les navagrahas saisisseurs donné par sa superstitieuse maman.

© Norbert Buchholz | Dreamstime.com

Consommer/Être consommé par Archana Jayakumar (second texte choisi pour le Concours Des Mets et des Mots 2010)

Cette expression est née dans les années 1830 des suites des nombreux développements de l’aérostat. On avait alors pris l’habitude de lancer, avant chaque ascension, un ballon d’essai pour connaître la direction des vents et les courants atmosphériques. Rapidement, elle fut également employée dans un sens figuré pour parler d’une expérience, d’un sondage d’opinion. Cette expression signifie jauger les réactions, tâter le terrain.

© ATOUT FRANCE/Michel Laurent/CRT Lorraine

Donc, tout ça dans un puri vous est présenté Et bien sûr, c'est un plat à manger !!

le frigo — excusez l’argot — s’occupant des ses oignons, c’est la fin des haricots et les carottes sont cuites, ses choux mi-chèvre, mi-chou ont dit leurs « Saluts ! »

© ATOUT FRANCE/ Pascal Gréboval

Rouge comme le piment, Il faut le manger doucement...

Vert comme la menthe, On devient calme et contente...

Jaune comme les lentilles, Qui ne l'aime pas, est un andouille...

Brun comme la pomme de terre, Et des épicés comme on préfére...

pleins d’attente, des tomates rougissant jusqu’aux oreilles, des dents de maïs ne pas mâchant de mots... se cassant du sucre sur le dos,

© ATOUT FRANCE/ Michel Laurent/CRT Lorraine

Goûtez le Pani Puri par Neha Valecha (xéna)

Lancer un ballon d’essai

Eclairer la quelqu’un

lanterne

de

Expression française de la fin du XIXème siècle qui puise ses origines dans la fable

du singe de Clarisse de Florian qui voulant épater ses amis les convia à un spectacle dans lequel il leur montrera la lanterne magique de son maître mais le jour venu il ne sut pas comment l'allumer. Elle prendra donc le sens figuré d'omettre un point essentiel pour se faire comprendre.

Les termes éclairer et lanterne utiliseront en outre l'équivalence traditionnelle entre lumière et compréhension intellectuelle.

Au Maghreb et plus particulièrement en Tunisie, le fait de demander des éclaircissements à propos d'une situation donnée a recours à l'expression "nawarni" qui signifie "éclaire moi" dont l'origine viendrait de l'islam où la science est définie comme lumière avec "Al elmou nour" se traduisant par "la science est lumière".

«Eclairer la lanterne » signifie donc apporter à cette personne les éléments nécessaires à la compréhension d'un fait.

© Pichayasri | Dreamstime.com

Mumbai nous offre une variété de plats comme le bhel puri que je mangeais à Gateway of India avec ma grand-mère, des frankies à Breach Candy, sans oublier le goût unique des pani puris dans les ruelles. L'eau me vient à la bouche à

la pensée des kebabs de Bade Miyan.

Toutefois, je suis écœurée quand je pense à la soupe de tomates que j'avais préparée il y a quelques années. Quand le plat est mal cuisiné, la journée est gâchée.

© Ashestosky | Dreamstime.com

L

'amour: sa définition? qu'est-ce que l'amour demande? la fidélité ? l'honnêteté? Non. C'est la passion qui fait vivre une relation.

Mais il y a aussi un amour éternel: celui de la nourriture. La nourriture évoque en nous, des souvenirs comme ma première tentative de cuisiner, les moments où je dérobais des bonbons ou le plaisir de déjeuner avec des amis pendant l'école.

L'arôme du pain me rappelle les jours quand j'allais à la boulangerie de mon grand-père pour me régaler des gâteaux sortis du four.

Les bons plats ont un effet sur notre moral. Quand je me fâche, la glace aux fraises me calme. La cuisine est comme une thérapie. Ma tristesse, ma colère, mes déceptions disparaissent après que j'ai cuisiné. Il est de coutume de fêter la réussite en buvant du champagne. On mange des sucreries pendant les fêtes, des gâteaux pour fêter un anniversaire.

© Akhilesh Sharma | Dreamstime.com

La Nourriture: Mon Amour

Une chaleur caniculaire

Le terme caniculaire nous vient d’une étoile : Canicule (du latin canicula, petite chienne) aussi appelée Sirius qui entre le 22 juillet et le 22 août se lève et se couche avec le soleil, et devint donc l’étoile de la chaleur.

Une chaleur caniculaire est une chaleur torride, difficilement supportable.

dec-feb 2012 Impressions 57

Français en marche

En astronomie, les nombres manipulés se composent d’un grand nombre de chiffres.

Faites le calcul : une année-lumière représente environ 9 000 milliards de

kilomètres ; la Voie lactée a un diamètre d’environ 300 000 années lumières… On en vient donc vite à des nombres qui comptabilisent 14, 16 chiffres voire plus.

Il s’agit ici d’un nombre qui ne finit pas, tellement il est long.

© Gnurf | Dreamstime.com

Un nombre astronomique

© Fabrizio Mariani | Dreamstime.com

Être dans les vapes

Apparu dans les années 1920, le terme «vape », abréviation familière de « vapeur» faisait partie de l'argot des voyous, désignant une sorte de torpeur due à une trop grande consommation d'alcool ou de drogue. Il était alors employé au singulier : « être à la vape ». L'expression telle que nous la connaissons aujourd'hui ne date vraisemblablement que des

58 Impressions DEC-feb 2012

OF PARTNERING WITH

années 1960. L'emploi au singulier est désormais très rare. L’expression signifie être un peu abruti, endormi à cause de la fatigue, d’une drogue ou de l’alcool. (sources : www.expressio.fr, http://www.lesexpressions.com, www.expressions-francaises.com)

dec-feb 2012 Impressions 59

Regards croisés

France Pratique

Sciences anyone?

Elections – vote des français à l’étranger

The IITs in India and a top French university ParisTech have signed an agreement to promote student exchanges. Violette, Marion and Shwetali tell us more about their experiences.

Le Consulat général de France à Bombay vous invite à vous inscrire sur sa liste électorale consulaire [LEC] avant le 31 décembre 2011.

Violette Louisot Violette is at the IIT Mumbai for two semesters till May next year. She’s an undergraduate student in electrical and mechanical engineering and computer science. “I came to India because I wanted to experience a culture that was very different from the French culture. I have seen Jaipur, Agra and Delhi already,” she says enthusiastically. Studying at IIT was difficult for her in the beginning as all the courses were in English. Besides the syllabus did not have much of practicals.

Also the hostels had two students in one room which she wasn’t used to. But Violette has started feeling much more integrated. “Yet, I have much to discover of Mumbai and its culture,” she says.

eux élections auront lieu en 2012 : les élections présidentielles et les élections législatives. Vous pouvez tout à fait être inscrit à la fois sur la LEC de Bombay ainsi que sur la liste électorale d'une commune en France. En vous inscrivant sur la LEC de Bombay, vous devez préciser quelle est votre situation entre les trois options possibles suivantes :

École Normale Supérieure de Paris (ENS Paris) Website: http://www.ens.fr/?lang=en Courses held in French and English

60 Impressions DEC-feb 2012

Shwetali Bhandare Shwetali, is at ESIEE, Paris as an MSc student in management of technology for two semesters after which she’ll do an internship. After a bachelor from SIES graduate school of technology, she decided of going to France for a truly international experience in education. Only one month into the course, she has made really good friends there, finds Parisians friendly and genuine people and loves her campus “which is in the shape of a keyboard and mouse by the way!” she adds. Paris has its similarities to Mumbai “except it’s really cold in winter,” she says. She has already gone around Paris and done quite a bit of sightseeing. “I plan to go to the south of France in the coming vacations!” she excitedly concludes.

École Polytechnique, ParisTech Website: http://www.polytechnique.fr/ Courses held in English Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC) Website: http://www.upmc.fr/en/ Courses held in English and French INSA Lyon Website: http://www.insa-lyon.fr/en Courses held in French and English ISEP, Paris Website: http://www.isep.fr/ Courses held in French and English Source: Brain Gain magazine official site, QS University rankings official site, Campus France recommendations.

2] Vous êtes inscrit sur la liste électorale d'une commune en France et vous êtes inscrit sur la LEC de Bombay : Vous faîtes le choix [à faire avant le 31 décembre 2011] de voter à Bombay pour les élections des Conseillers à l'Assemblée des Français de l'Etranger [AFE], Présidentielles, Référendums, Législatives et Européennes.

Vous ne pourrez donc pas voter à ces quatre derniers scrutins en France et vous voterez en France pour les Municipales, Cantonales et Régionales.

3] Vous êtes inscrit sur la liste électorale d'une commune en France et vous êtes inscrit sur la LEC de Bombay : Vous faîtes le choix [à faire avant le 31 décembre 2011] de voter en France pour les Présidentielles, Référendums, Législatives et Européennes [vous ne pourrez donc pas voter à ces quatre scrutins à Bombay], ainsi que pour les Municipales, Cantonales et Régionales.

Vous voterez à Bombay uniquement pour les élections des Conseillers à l'Assemblée des Français de l'Etranger [AFE].

MAEE

1] Vous n'êtes pas inscrit sur la liste électorale d'une commune en France et vous êtes inscrit sur la LEC de Bombay: Vous pourrez voter au CGF Bombay pour les élections des Conseillers à l'Assemblée des Français de l'Etranger [AFE], Présidentielles, Référendums, Législatives et Européennes.

Here are some French universities that you should consider if you plan to pursue higher education in France:

Marion Peyrou Marion is here for one semester till December this year. She is an M. Tech student in computer science and networking. She says, “In the beginning, I think it was easier to talk to people who had visited France and other European countries before and knew a little about the French culture.” But now she is well habituated to IIT and after her trip to Pune for Raksha Bandhan at a friend’s house “where I wore a sari!” she quips, returning to IIT was like returning home “I felt such a sense of relief, “she says. Now, as Mood Indigo, IIT’s annual festival approaches, she’s all set to take part in organizing it.

D

Pour la première fois en 2012, les Français inscrits sur les listes électorales consulaires pourront élire onze députés des Français de l'Etranger Le calendrier [pour le vote à l'urne] des élections organisées à l'étranger pour 2012 et les modalités de vote à l’étranger sont les suivantes : - Présidentielles : dimanche 22 avril 2012 et dimanche 06 mai 2012 Vote à l'urne et vote par procuration [les procurations peuvent être établies au Consulat Général de France à Bombay].

- Législatives : dimanche 03 juin 2012 et dimanche 17 juin 2012 Vote à l'urne, vote par procuration, vote par correspondance sous pli fermé, vote électronique [vote par internet].

Pour plus d’informations veuillez consulter: Addresse Wockhardt Towers, East Wing, 5th Floor, Bandra - Kurla Complex, Mumbai 400 051 Tel: [0091] (22) 66 69 40 00 Fax: [0091] (22) 66 69 40 66 Website: www.consulfrance-bombay.org Email: mail@consulfrance-bombay.org Horaires Lundi au Jeudi: 9h – 13h/ 14h – 17h30 Vendredi 9h– 13h/14h – 17h

dec-feb 2012 Impressions 61

Buzz

BUZZ

Mumbai accueille son nouveau consul général de France Jean-Raphaël Peytregnet, nouveau Consul général de France à Mumbai revient sur son parcours professionnel et sa relation avec l’Inde.

Jean-Raphaël Peytregnet, vous avez un passé de sinologue et vous avez d’ailleurs vécu de nombreuses années en Chine, avant d’avoir choisi Mumbai il y a quelques mois, pourriez-vous expliquer ce choix ?

Jean-Raphaël Peytregnet : C’est vrai que j’ai une longue histoire avec la Chine et les régions avoisinantes (Taiwan notamment où j’ai vécu). Mon dernier poste était Canton, qui, comme Mumbai, représentait dans mon travail une circonscription très vaste et qui est aussi, à l’image de Mumbai pour l’Inde, le poumon économique chinois.

Je fais ce parallèle avec Mumbai car j’ai toujours eu un œil tourné vers l’Inde, un intérêt naturel. Si je reviens un peu plus en arrière, j’ai effectué des études de chinois (mandarin) et d’économie, puis j’ai enseigné cette langue à l’Inalco et à Normal Sup, et j’ai ainsi commencé à découvrir l’Asie à travers plusieurs séjours.

En tout j’y ai déjà passé vingt ans. J’ai aussi travaillé à l’Unesco dans les années 80 comme chef de projet d’une mission au Laos -nous restaurions une université-, c’est à ce moment que j’ai commencé à me rendre régulièrement en Inde.

62 Impressions DEC-feb 2012

Quelle forme prenaient vos séjours indiens ?

J-R.P : C’était très culturel. Mon épouse et moi louions une petite voiture et nous partions à la découverte de lieux culturels et historiques pendant cinq à six semaines. Nous avons commencé par l’Inde du Nord et le Népal, puis dans les années 90 les temples du sud et en 2008 le Rajasthan. Nous avons même séjourné au Sri-Lanka et à Mumbai pendant la mousson ! Aujourd’hui je redécouvre l’aspect vibrant de cette ville en activité permanente, je suis d’ailleurs agréablement surpris par ce rythme intense. Je suis également frappé par le niveau intellectuel et culturel élevé parmi les Indiens éduqués, tout comme par l’intérêt porté à la France et à la francophonie.

Quels sont vos défis vis-à-vis de la ville, des relations bilatérales, de projets culturels ?

J-R.P : Je suis pour le moment à l’écoute de la communauté française. Je constate qu’il y aussi un manque de connaissance en France sur l’Inde, et qu’il y a peu de Français dans ma circonscription.

Je souhaite donc mieux explorer le potentiel de ma circonscription, attirer des entreprises, des étudiants mais aussi encourager les courants humains dans les deux sens. Evidemment travailler de concert avec les acteurs de la communauté franco-indienne (Ubifrance, IFFCI, Atout France, l’Alliance Française de Bombay) tombe sous le sens. Nous aimerions aussi soutenir l’Ecole française internationale de Bombay (Efib) qui s’agrandit. Je crois aussi beaucoup en une meilleure collaboration européenne, qui peut prendre plusieurs formes. Sur le plan économique, il faut mettre en valeur le potentiel de nos PME/TPE qui ont encore du mal à obtenir de la visibilité à Mumbai

et en Inde. Enfin il y a cinq Alliances françaises dans ma circonscription et je compte beaucoup sur ce réseau : je trouve que c’est impressionnant à quel point la culture française a pénétré les réseaux d’élites indiennes, formées à la française !

Vos recommandations pour la communauté française ?

J-R.P : Je souhaiterais rappeler aux Français de ma circonscription que le consulat général fait office de mairie ou de préfecture, et que nous sommes à leur service. Il n’est pas obligatoire de s’enregistrer mais je le conseille car cela nous aide à mieux connaitre la communauté française et à la situer géographiquement, ce qui est important en cas de crise par exemple, mais aussi parce que cette inscription permet à nos compatriotes de bénéficier d’un certain nombre d’avantages comme ceux de pouvoir voter sur place, d’obtenir une bourse scolaire pour leurs enfants, de rendre plus faciles et rapides leurs démarches administratives, de faciliter leur retour définitif, etc.. Par ailleurs le consulat général de France à Bombay a lancé sa lettre d’information mensuelle le 1er novembre afin de se rapprocher des Français, mais aussi de tous les francophiles et de nos amis indiens, car cette lettre sera bilingue.

C.C

Le saviez-vous? L’enregistrement au consulat peut se faire à distance, pour les Français de passage (audelà d’un mois) ainsi que pour les conjoints étrangers de Français (liste sous protection).

Anais Rieu, the French voice of the Consulate For this 24 years old young woman, India was always on her agenda. “I studied in Aix en Provence at Sciences Po and I was quite attracted to Asia” she says.

Indeed, at a young age, she left France for many internships: in Laos, with an NGO working on an elephant sanctuary (“an incredible and unforgettable experience” she recalls) and in Indonesia, at the French Institute of Surabaya and at the Alliance Française of Denpasar. After learning some lao she is not afraid to start hindi classes, and is right now deeply involved in reading and understanding the current political economical and cultural Mumbai scene.

cooperation department when posted in Africa or in Germany. She enjoys change and eagerly accepted the position as a Visa administrator in Mumbai. For this native of coastal Brittany, it’s “a step closer to the sea, finally!” she smiles.

Françoise Le Bouter, hence looked for a place near the ocean. “I found one where I can even see flamingos and escape from the noise”.

you know things are going to be quite unusual. But, if you come from Poland, where I was posted before, you see that India is actually not so different. The sensitivity is very similar; people are equally hospitable and warm, as, like in Poland, the guest is very important. Also the problems are not dissimilar with infrastructural issues”. A topic that she is already working on.

Her tip for your visa procedure: “read the website well before sending any queries as very often, all the information is already online”

Rencontre avec Puneeta Budhraja (enseignante de A1 – cours intensif) Puneeta Budhraja a commencé à apprendre le français il y a dix ans. Elle est allée à Vichy pour une formation pédagogique où elle a apprit à travailler la communication en classe avec des méthodes créatives comme les jeux de rôle et des vidéos. À son retour en Inde, elle rejoint l'Alliance Française de Bombay en tant que professeur. Enseigner dans cette institution était un rêve qui s’est réalisé. «J’apprends tellement chaque jour, j’ai mon indépendance, en même temps, il y a un sentiment d'unité dans l’enseignement » dit-elle en souriant.

D’autant plus qu’elle a commencé avec le cours intensif à Bandra, où elle a grandi.

Aussi, depuis qu'elle a déménagé à Santacruz, elle se sent nostalgique quand elle passe par les petites ruelles où l’on entend les cloches des églises dans l'école le soir.

Iwona Kuczma, from Poland to India Ubifrance has recently welcomed a new collaborator: Iwona Kuczma, in charge of aeronautic, technologies and services, has landed in Mumbai last October.

From Polish descent, born and brought up in France, Iwona has immediately noticed a close bond between India and Poland. “When you come from France

N.S

Françoise Le Bouter, the smile behind your visa For Françoise Le Bouter, Mumbai is just one of many other challenges. “I already had many professional ‘lives’, from the private sector to the public. For some years now I am with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs”. Françoise has experienced various positions, such as assistant to the Ambassador in Canada, or within the

dec-feb 2012 Impressions 63

Calendar

Calendar

Do not miss our events to come

1

15

Conférence Science in the city

By Prof. Shubha Tole and in collaboration with Nicolas Poussielgue scientific attaché at the French Embassy in India.

How the brain is built hour and place to be confirmed

2

Cinéma Belle épine, by Rebecca Zlotowski 6.30pm, Alliance Française auditorium

5

8-10

Flashpoint The festival is organized by Solaris Pictures with support from Movies That Matter, Netherlands Alliance Française auditorium

12

Cinéma Sauf le respect que je vous dois, by Fabienne Godet 6.30pm, Alliance Française auditorium

18

21

21

27

Concert In partnership with Blue Frog and Institut Français Saiyuki Trio 10pm at Blue Frog Documentary In partnership with Vikalp Film Archive Between the border and the fence. On the edge of the map, by Ajay Raina 7pm, Alliance Française auditorium Concert In partnership with Institut Français, French Embassy in India and Mood Indigo Festival Slow Joe Mood Indigo Festival, 4pm Cinema In partnership with the Prithvi Theatre Alain Resnais @ Prithvi Mon oncle d’Amérique, by Alain Resnais 7pm, Prithvi House, Juhu

In partnership with Blue Frog, Sayuki Trio Saiyuki is an Asian trio that started in 2009, with Nguyên Lê, Mieko Miyazaki & Prabhu Edouard. Guitarist Nguyên Lê embodies the exotic multi-cultural mosaic fueling the vibrant jazz and world music scenes flourishing in the French capital. Mieko Miyazaki learned Koto & Shamisen at the famous Tokyo National University for Arts & Music. Prabhu Edouard is a tabla virtuoso of south-Indian origin based in Paris. The signature edition was released in 2010.

Saiyuki the Japanese name for the “Journey to the West” is a famous Chinese novel written in the 16th century by Wu Cheng'en. Saiyuki is the meeting of three shades of Asia, from both today and yesterday. In this playground, identities have so much to share and learn from each other!

Cinema L’arbre et la forêt,

by Olivier Ducastel et Jacques Martineau 6.30pm, Alliance Française auditorium

Hadouk Trio (read P19)

Cinema Un homme qui crie, by Mahamat Saleh Haroun 6.30pm, Alliance Française auditorium

See program for more information

MEMBERSHIP !

How to become a member of the Alliance Française ?

If you wish to register as a member of the Alliance and participate in all our activities and take advantage of all that we offer, come to Theosophy Hall with 1000 rps and one passport size photo. Membership is open to everybody.

Contact : director.assistant@afindia.org

22 03 59 93

Wed. 14th December, 10pm at Blue Frog

Philippe Glorioso

14

Concert In partnership with Blue Frog, Fondation Alliance Française and Spedidam Kwak 10pm at Blue Frog

Lili Rose

December 2011

The famous French jazz trio awaits you in February in Mumbai with their upcoming album, Air Hadouk. Following in the footsteps of Hermann Melville and Saint Exupery, Hadouk give us escapism. Welcome aboard Air Hadouk!

Fly ‘Aerozen’ on a hedonistic interplanetary flight to emerging destinations. The line of sight: the horizon where external influences and intimacy meet, and from which point the continents redraw themselves exploring the beginning of new instrumental metamorphoses.

More info: See January program

With Best Compliments from

FRANCO- I N D I A N PHARMACEUTICALS PVT. LT D

20, Dr. E. Moses Road, MUMBAI-400011 Tel. 2493 4026 Fax 2495 0557 E.mail: francoip@bom7.vsnl.net.in

64 Impressions DEC-feb 2012

dec-feb 2012 Impressions 65

French corner

BUZZ

“I was French in another life” She is the most popular “girl next door” in India and her dimples have become famous worldwide, as many NRIs and Bollywood lovers from all over have already fallen for them! And this winter, it is the turn of the French to discover the girl behind the star.

S

Raindrop Media

he is known for her frank attitude and her professionalism.

However one discovers with happy surprise a simple girl, in a floral dress and cardigan while being interviewed for this magazine, with no star hang ups, a liking for Oscar De La Renta and a love story with the South of France. “Maybe I will live there one day. I really think I was born French in another life. I have this deep rooted connection

66 Impressions DEC-feb 2012

with France” she explains. Her next Bollywood movie is to be shot in Paris.

“It is a romantic comedy, so of course, Paris being the most romantic city in the world was absolutely fitting!” Preity Zinta has been going to France since 2000, nothing new then for her. “However this time, audiences will discover a completely different Paris, very authentic, and we are shooting during winter, the colors will be darker and Indians will be able to see real French culture”. Indeed, the movie will be made by a French and Indian crew. The plot itself is Indo-French and Preity Zinta will have to immerse herself into French culture and start learning French for her role, as she will be playing an IndoFrench Parisian. “ I will be speaking Hindi of course, and English but it is important I know French as my role implies a lot of dialogues in French” she explains. Because of her many trips, she can already communicate with the locals: “Bonjour, merci, order something or even discussing a bit is easy as I spend a lot of time in the south, like SaintTropez or Bordeaux – I love Bordeaux-, and the Riviera, but I want to get the language right for the film” she says. Preity Zinta also praises French movies, and, interestingly, fell for Gérard Depardieu.

“French movies

have a very realistic feel, they are quite minimalistic. In India we are overloaded, our basic format has to be colorful and I love it! But there is a certain chicness in French movies which is amazing, the movies are full of pretty people. Even if a girl is upset and crying she will be still looking perfect in her looks and natural at the same time”. The actress, a fashion lover (“which chick isn’t?” she rolls her eyes), is also really excited about her new look, for which she has already lost a lot of weight. “ People will see a new avatar of me. My stylist, Surili Goel is doing a fantastic job. The look will be understated and chic, a French company will do my hair. I have to be truly authentic”.

Clea Chakraverty with serious thanks to Raj Anand for his kind help.

Preity Zinta’s French list Fashion: not very faithful but Chanel and Balmain are amongst her favorites.

Food: not a huge meat eater, but any cheese and wine will work for her!

French movies: Asterix, Paris je t’aime, Beautiful Lies, La jupe, Nikita She does not like: “Being stuck in the traffic in Paris : after living in Mumbai, you don’t want that in Paris !”

Curses you will hear her say: “Merde!

Putain!” but always with that cute twist.

Why you should learn French: “It is a difficult language especially for an Indian but it is absolutely worth it, a whole new world will open to you.”

dec-feb 2012 Impressions 67

68 Impressions DEC-feb 2012