India Perspectives - April 2012

iNDiA VOL 26 NO. 1 APRIL 2012

perspectives

inside Cover Story Joyous Beginnings Heritage Regal Marwari PartnerSHiPS Forging Friendship verbatim N.R. Narayana Murthy

INDIA THIS MONTH April 2

April 10-14

NEMMARA VALLANGI VELA A procession of beautifully caparisoned elephants and fireworks are part of the annual festival. The villages of Nemmara and Vallangi compete with each other to introduce new techniques in the firework displays.

Where: Palakkad, Kerala

SANKAT MOCHAN MUSIC FESTIVAL Celebrated to mark the birthday of Hanuman.

Plays and performances by music maestros continue through the night up to dawn.

Where: Sankat Mochan Temple, Varanasi

April 1-14

TULIP FESTIVAL The tulip garden, the largest in Asia, is at its best during the festival.

Enjoy folk music, shopping for local handicrafts and Kashmiri cuisine on the sidelines.

Where: Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden, Srinagar

April 8

EASTER The mass at the Mary Immaculate Conception Church, Panjim, attracts the largest crowd.

Colorful carnivals with street plays, songs, dances continue for a week or two.

Where: Goa, Mumbai and Northeastern states

April 22-May 4

CHITHIRAI FESTIVAL The popular festival attracts over a million visitors. It celebrates the wedding of Lord Shiva and Goddess Meenakshi with colourful rituals and a grand procession.

Where: Meenakshi Temple, Madurai

April 4-May 27

April 1-6

MAHAVIRJI FAIR Held to honour Mahavira, a Jain saint, it is known for its rath yatra, a ceremonial procession in which the deity is carried in a golden chariot pulled by bullocks to a river for a ritual bath.

Where: Chandangaon, near Jaipur

APRIL 2012

IPL SEASON 5 India’s mega cricketing event will feature around 75 matches played by a total of nine teams.

Bollywood stars will enthrall the audience during the opening ceremony at YMCA College of Physical Education, Chennai.

Where: 12 major cities across India

April 9-10

SHAD SUK MYNSIEM It marks the start of the sowing season and is a farewell to the harvest season. Men and women of the Khasi tribe dressed in traditional clothes dance to the music of drums, flutes and pipes called, tangmuri.

Where: Weiking Ground, Shillong

editorial note t is hazardous to speak about India’s ancient civilisation, its many religions, its numerous ethnicities and its myriad languages and dialects. Always, the risk of lapsing into clichés lurks round the corner. And yet, the sheer magic of our country’s diversity provides such a compelling narrative that we can’t resist the temptation of bringing yet another facet to our readers. Take a simple event like New Year.

A host of communities spread across the length and breadth of the Indian subcontinent celebrate New Year — each in its own inimitable fashion. According to the official calendar, which is used along side the Gregorian calendar by the government, New Year falls on the first day of the month of Chaitra (the spring equinox). From Kashmir in the north to Karnataka in the south this is the day the New Year is ushered in, though the celebrations are dyed in local colour and customs.

On the eve of new year or Navreh, Kashmiris prepare a plate bearing rice, a cup of curds, a bread, some walnuts, an inkpot, a pen, a silver coin and a panchang - an astrological almanac. They wake up in the early hours to look at it in the hope that this will bring them good fortune in the coming year.

In Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, new year day is called Ugadi and is marked by the preparation of a special dish that is a mix of six tastes which correspond to six experiences — sadness, happiness, anger, fear, disgust and surprise — that the year may bring, all of which should be faced with equanimity. The dish consists of neem flowers (bitter/sadness), jaggery and ripe banana pieces (sweet/happiness), green chillies (hot/anger), salt (saltiness/fear), tamarind juice (sour/disgust) and unripe mango (tang/surprise).

Some regions celebrate New Year a month later in mid-April, because this is the first day according to the Vikram Samvat calendar, which is in use for religious purposes. Among them are West Bengal, where it is known as Poila Baishakh and Assam where it is celebrated as Bohaag Bihu. On the same day, Punjab celebrates Baisakhi, Kerala Vishu and Tamil Nadu Varsha Pirappu, all different names for New Year Day. In Punjab, the Sikhs celebrate Baisakhi to mark, not just the new year but also the symbolic creation of the Khalsa faith and the start of the harvest season. The devout celebrate the festival with hymns and prayers at the gurdwara and religious processions through the main streets of the city, while villages reverberate with the beats of drums and the unbridled energy of bhangra dancers.

The connections established by calendars and festivals don’t just link the different regions of India. Ties of history and culture transcend national borders and manifest themselves in the celebrations of these festivals in countries like Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia and Laos.

Happy New Year, Indian style.

I

Navdeep Suri

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iNDiA

perspectives April 2012 n VOL 26 No. 1/2012

Editor: Navdeep Suri Assistant Editor: Abhay Kumar MEDIA TRANSASIA TEAM Editor-in-Chief: Maneesha Dube Creative Director: Bipin Kumar Desk: Urmila Marak Editorial Coordinator: Kanchan Rana Design: Ajay Kumar (Sr. Designer), Sujit Singh Production: Sunil Dubey (DGM), Ritesh Roy (Sr. Manager) Brijesh K. Juyal (Pre-Press Operator) Chairman: J.S. Uberoi President: Xavier Collaco Financial Controller: Puneet Nanda Send editorial contributions and letters to Media Transasia India Ltd. 323, Udyog Vihar, Phase IV, Gurgaon 122016 Haryana, India E-mail: feedback.indiaperspectives@mtil.biz Telephone: 91-124-4759500 Fax: 91-124-4759550

India Perspectives is published every month in Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia, Bengali, English, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Pashto, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Sinhala, Spanish, Tamil, Turkish, Urdu and Vietnamese. Views expressed in the articles are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of the Ministry of External Affairs.

This edition is published for the Ministry of External Affairs by Navdeep Suri, Joint Secretary, Public Diplomacy Division, New Delhi, 140 ‘A’ Wing, Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi-110001.

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COVER STORY:

JOYOUS BEGINNINGS The New Year is celebrated in April in many parts of the country; the day is a reflection of the rich and diverse culture of India

Calendar

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2

Essay: An Alluring Persona

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Global Perspectives: India-Africa

22

Partnerships: Forging Friendship

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Book Extract: A Journey in Time

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Heritage: Regal Marwari

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Travel: Assam’s Wild Side

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Foreign Brands: The Local Mantra

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REVIEWS: Exhibition: The Sacred and the Sensual

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Film: Home away from home

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Verbatim: N.R. Narayana Murthy

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COVER PHOTO: BHANGRA, THE TRADITIONAL FOLK DANCE FROM PUNJAB / DINODIA COVER DESIGN: BIPIN KUMAR

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Women dance to the beats of drums during Rongali Bihu in Assam

COVER STORY

Joyous Beginnings The New Year is celebrated in April in many parts of the country; the day is a reflection of local customs and the rich and diverse culture of India TEXT: URMILA MARAK

F

Men and women take part in a procession during Gudi Padwa in Mumbai

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AFP

rom Kashmir in the north to Kerala in the south, the Hindu New Year is synonymous with celebrations. Though India has a rich and diverse culture, festivities across the length and breadth of the country are touched with a certain commonality.

Everywhere homes are cleaned and decorated, new clothes bought and worn, visits are made to elders to pay respects, jewellery is purchased and new ventures launched. Prayers, music and dance, offerings, feasts and fireworks mark the moment.

According to the Saka calendar, which is used alongside the Gregorian calendar, by the Government of India for calendars and communications, the Gazette of India and news broadcasts by All India Radio, the New Year falls on the first day of the month of Chaitra (see box March of Months) and its year zero begins in 78 CE. The day coincides with the vernal equinox. India’s official calendar follows the Shalivahan Shak calendar also known as the Saka calendar. In this, the year is structured like the Persian calendar and a leap year in the Gregorian calendar is a leap year in the Saka calendar as well.

The history of calendars in India is a complex one given the continuity of the country’s civilisation and the diversity of cultural influences. References to a lunisolar calendar divided into months are found in the hymns of the Rig Veda, which was composed between 1,700 and 1,100 BCE. In the first few centuries of the Common Era, as information on advances in Babylonian and Greek astronomy filtered into India, Indian astronomers — among them Aryabhata (5th century CE), Varahamihira (6th century) and Bhaskara (12th century) — adopted new astronomical constants and models for the motion of the Moon and Sun, which contributed to the development of the Hindu calendar.

The early theories, principles and methods of Indian astronomy were put down in treatises known as siddhantas, among them is the Surya Siddhanta, which originated in the fourth century and has influenced

MARCH OF MONTHS The Saka calendar, the official calendar of India, used alongside the Gregorian calendar and the Vikram Samvat, which is the religious calendar of Hindus, have 12 months.

The names of the months are: Chaitra (March-April).

Baishakh (April-May) Jyaishtha (May-June) Ashadha (June-July) Shravana (July-August) Bhadrapada (August-September) Ashvin (September-October) Kartika (October-November) Margashirsha (November-December) Pousha (December-January) Magha (January-February) Phalguna (February-March).

AFP

Indian calendar makers up to and even after the calendar reform of 1957. Moreover, all forms of the Buddhist calendar are based on the original version of the Surya Siddhanta, these include those used in Southeast Asian countries of Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

In 1947, when India gained Independence, like most other things in the multi-cultural, multi-faith, multi-lingual and multi-regional country there were a number of calendars in use. The Indian Calendar Reform Committee, appointed in 1952, identified more than 30 of them; these were in addition to the Islamic calendar used by Muslims in India and the Gregorian calendar used by the Indian government for administrative purposes. Based on the Surya Siddhanta, the Indian calendars were used for setting religious festivals for Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains, as also civil dating. Among them were the Vikrama and Shalivahana calendars and their regional variations, like the solar calendar used in Tamil Nadu and Kollavarsham calendar in Kerala.

India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, in his preface to the Report of the Committee, which was published in 1955, wrote: “They (different calendars) represent past political divisions in the country… now that we have attained Independence, it is obviously desirable that there should be a certain uniformity in the calendar for our civic, social and other purposes and this should be done on a scientific approach to this problem.” So after five years of sifting through numerous regional and religious calendars and studying astronomical data, in1957, the Calendar Reform Committee, with astrophysicist Meghnad Saha as its head, adopted the Saka calendar as the official calendar.

It was part of the Indian Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac that contained timings and formulae for preparing Hindu religious calendars. Usage of this calendar officially started on Chaitra 1, 1879 Saka Era, or March 22, 1957. However, the Gregorian calendar

A boy performs during Baisakhi

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(Clockwise from top) A priest distributes bevu bella, (a preparation of neem and jaggery) to devotees during Ugadi in Mysore; a child prays in front of the Vishukkani (an arrangement of auspicious objects) on Vishu; a woman carries the Baharana Sahib (a plate with an oil lamp, sugar, cardamom and fruits) during Sindi New Year

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PHOTO: INDIA PICTURE

was and is still used for administrative purposes, and holidays are determined according to regional, religious, and ethnic traditions.

Interestingly, the Saka calendar was used in Javanese courts until 1633, when a hybrid Javanese-Islamic, the Anno Javanico calendar, replaced it. The Saka Era has also aided historians in dating the Laguna Copperplate Inscription (LCI), the earliest written document found in the Philippines. The LCI has inscribed on it a date in the Saka Era calendar, year of Siyaka 822, month of Waisaka, the fourth day of the waning moon, which corresponds to Monday, April 21, 900 CE in the Gregorian calendar. The discovery of the plate has provided evidence of cultural links between the Philippines and kingdoms in ancient India.

Apart from the Saka and Gregorian calendars, in use in India today is the Vikrama calendar, which is widely used for religious purposes. The Vikram Samvat or era was founded by emperor Vikramaditya of Ujjain following his victory over the Sakas in 56 BCE. A lunar calendar, it is based on ancient Hindu tradition and is 56.7 years ahead (in count) of the Gregorian calendar.

In Northern India, the calendar starts with the first day after the new moon in the month of Chaitra (March/April). But in Western India the same era begins with the new moon of the month of Kartika (October/November). In Nepal, where it is the official calendar, it begins in mid-April and marks the start of the solar New Year.

The differences in the dates of the New Year can be explained by the precession of the Earth’s axis. The traditional Vedic calendar used to start with the month of Agrahayan (agrah meaning first and ayan meaning travel of the sun) or Margashirsha (October-November).

This is the month where the Sun crosses the equator, i.e. the vernal equinox. Due to the precession of the Earth’s axis, the vernal equinox now corresponds to the month of Chaitra (March-April). Thus, some calendars start with Chaitra as the first month, which is the present-day month of the vernal equinox. The shift in the vernal

HUE OF CELEBRATIONS The Hindu New Year is celebrated across India on the first day of the month of Chaitra, which according to the Gregorian calendar falls in March-April.

It marks the advent of spring and is linked with the agricultural cycle – the harvest or the sowing season. New Year in Maharashtra and Goa is called Gudi Padwa. Celebrated on the first day of Chaitra, it takes its name from the gudi that is hoisted from balconies or windows. The gudi is a pole bearing a green or yellow cloth with a brocade border at its tip placed on an inverted metal vessel, a string of decorative sugar crystals, margosa leaves, mango leaves and a garland of flowers. On this day, the speciality prepared is shirkhand, a sweet yogurt preparation.

In the south Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, Ugadi, which falls on the first day of Chaitra, marks the beginning of New Year. Devotees throng temples for prayers on that day. In Andhra Pradesh, Ugadi pachadi is prepared; it is a hand pounded mix of raw mango, raw banana, tamarind, fresh margosa flowers, chilli, sugarcane pieces, jaggery and salt. The mix of ingredients indicates that the year will have a mixture of all experiences.

In the second month of Baisakh is the harvest festival or Baisakhi, which falls on April 13. It is celebrated in north India, especially in Punjab; it is also a religious festival for the Sikh community as it was on Baisakhi day in 1699 that the Khalsa, a Sikh brotherhood of saint-soldiers was founded. Devotees pray at the gurdwara, the Sikh temple of worship. The most exuberant part of the celebrations is the bhangra, a vigorous dance performed by men in colourful attire. It is also a day of feasting.

Again, down south in Kerala, the first day of the New Year is celebrated as Vishu on April 14. The most important ritual first thing in the morning is viewing the Vishukkani – an arrangement of auspicious objects including rice, a lemon, betel leaves, flowers, a scripture, a metal vessel, a lighted traditional lamp in the worship room. Children celebrate the day with firecrackers and elders gift them money as way of blessing them. A grand sadya (feast) is prepared in every household.

In the northeastern state of Assam, Rongali Bihu falls on April 14, but the festivities continue for a week. It is celebrated with Bihu songs and dances performed in the fields, on road-sides and over stages constructed for the occasion. It is also a time for fairs and feasting.

—Brinda Gill

PHOTOS: AFP

JAMSHEDI NOWRUZ Parsis, followers of Zoroaster, arrived in India from Iran in the 9th Century. Zoroastrians ring in the New Year, Jamshedi Nowruz, named after the legendary King Jamshed of Persia, on March 21. It marks the advent of spring and the spring equinox. Celebrations involve the setting up of a beautiful Haft Sin table, which is laden with many symbolic objects and ingredients, signifying plentifulness. Nowruz is also celebrated later in the year by some Parsi Zoroastrians according to their calendar (this year, it falls on August 18) after marking ten days of prayers for the dead and Pateti, the day of repentance. Both these New Year Days are welcomed with prayers at the fire temple, giving to charity, meeting family and friends, wearing new clothes and traditional feasts.

equinox by nearly four months, calculated according to the movement of the stars, shows that the original naming conventions may date to the fourth or fifth millennium BCE, since the period of precession in the Earth’s axis is about 25,800 years.

Both the Vikrama and the Shalivahana have annual cycles of 12 months, each month is divided into two phases: the ‘bright half’ (shukla paksha) or when the moon waxes and the ‘dark half’ (krishna paksha) when it wanes. Thus, the period beginning from the first day after the new moon and ending on the full moon day constitutes the shukla paksha or ‘bright part’ of the month; the period beginning from the day after the full moon and including the next new moon day constitutes the krishna paksha or ‘dark part’ of the month. While each month in the Shalivahana calendar begins with the ‘bright half’ and is followed by the ‘dark half’, the opposite obtains in the Vikrama calendar.

The names of the 12 months, as also their sequence, are the same in both calendars; however, the New Year is celebrated at separate points during the year. The Vikrama calendar begins with the month of Baishakh (April) or Kartik (October/November) in Gujarat. In Gujarat, Diwali is held on the final day of the Vikrama calendar and the next day marks the beginning of the New Year and is also referred as Annakut or Nutan Varsh or Bestu Varsh. The Shalivahana calendar begins with the month of Chaitra (March) and the Ugadi in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh and Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra and Goa mark the New Year.

So be it March, April or October/November, it is possible to join New Year celebrations somewhere or the other in India. Baisakhi in Punjab, Bihu in Assam, Vishu in Kerala, Ugadi in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra and Goa, Vishuwa Sankaranti in Orissa, New Year is known by different names in different parts of the country, but everywhere it is celebrated to ensure peace, harmony and good fortune. Happy New Year. n

(From extreme left) Young girls in their traditional finery on Bengali New Year; a mother and child pose in front of the fire temple on Nowruz

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ESSAY

AN ALLURING

PERSONA BALMIKI PRASAD SINGH

M

aulana Azad was a man whose life and work have an enduring relevance for our country. Great men and women, have timeless messages. Azad was one of them. Popularly known as Maulana Azad, Maulana Abdul Kalam Muhiyuddin Ahmed was born in Mecca on November 11, 1888. He adopted azad (free) as his pen name, his birth anniversary is celebrated as National Education Day in India. Azad, a man of many facets — scholar, poet, journalist, freedom fighter and leader of the Indian National Congress — was an adept linguist able to communicate in Arabic, English, Urdu, Hindi, Persian and Bengali.

Azad was groomed to become a Muslim clergyman.

However, he shaped his own life in a different manner and bloomed into a valiant freedom fighter; an apostle of Hindu-Muslim unity; and a builder of modern India.

He rose on the national scene quite early in life. World War-I led to the military occupation of Istanbul (then Constantinople) and abolition of the caliphate, which had a religious importance for Muslims all over the world. The sympathy of Indian Muslims, particularly Sunni Muslims, with Turkey and the Ottoman caliphate, was sincere, deep and widespread. Azad gave expressions to all these in an Urdu magazine, Al-Hilal, established and edited by him in 1912.

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An innate spirit of freedom and the indifference of the British rulers towards the plight of the common people of India made him a rebel. In Mahatma Gandhi, 19 years his senior, he found a friend. The fact that Gandhi too supported the Khilafat movement brought them closer. Azad became an enthusiastic supporter of Gandhi and his ideals of non-violence and civil disobedience. He too started non-cooperation movements at various places as a Congress activist.

The British were quick to see him as an enemy of formidable prowess. After Al-Hilal was banned in 1914, Azad started another weekly Al-Balagh, this was banned two years later. He was expelled from his hometown Calcutta and interned in Ranchi in 1916 – a ban that was lifted only after the conclusion of the World War-I. When Azad was barely 35, his colleagues in the Indian National Congress chose him to be president at a special session held in Delhi in 1923. He was elected Congress president at a session in Ramgarh in 1940, and continued to lead the Indian National Congress till 1946.

This was an extraordinary display of confidence, as there were several claimants to this high office.

Two contrasting visions about the future of India predominated the freedom struggle: one, advocating integrity of India based on Hindu-Muslim unity; the other, the creation of Pakistan based on two-nation

theory. These sentiments found powerful exposition in the Congress presidential address made by Azad and the Muslim League presidential address delivered by Muhammad Ali Jinnah in 1940.

Azad asserted: “It was India’s historic destiny that many human races and cultures should flow to her, finding a home in her hospitable soil, and that many a caravan should find rest here…. Eleven hundred years of common history (of Islam and Hinduism) have enriched India with our common achievements. Our languages, our poetry, our literature, our culture, our art, our dress, our manners and customs… everything bears the stamp of our joint endeavour…. These thousand years of our joint life have moulded us into a common nationality… whether we like it or not, we have now become an Indian nation, united and indivisible. No fantasy or artificial scheming to separate and divide can break this unity”.

The vision of Muhammad Ali Jinnah was sharply different: “It is a dream that Hindus and Muslims can evolve a common nationality and this misconception of one Indian nation has gone far beyond the limits, and is the cause of most of our troubles, and will lead India to destruction, if we fail to revise our actions in time. The Hindus and Muslims belong to two different religious philosophies, social customs and literature.

They neither inter-marry, nor inter-dine together, and indeed they belong to two different civilisations which are based mainly on conflicting ideas and conceptions.

Their aspects on and of life are different”.

These two statements were the manifestos of the Congress and the Muslim League. The conflict over these visions became central to the outcome of the freedom struggle. In many ways, we are still grappling with the legacies of these notions.

On June 3, 1947, the British announced a proposal to partition India and Pakistan on religious lines, with the princely states free to choose between either dominion.

Jinnah won the day, and his vision became a reality and the rest is history. However, while Jinnah claimed success, a sizeable portion of the Muslim community

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preferred Azad’s ideas. The Partition was not only a political tragedy but also a civilisation failure. Azad advocated that religion must not be used as an instrument for gaining political power but for transformation of the human soul. He had then declared, “God alone knows what is in the womb of the future.”

And yet, history of the freedom struggle would be incomplete without appreciation of the contrasting roles of Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Azad. The saga of the freedom struggle would have been different both in character and content without the inspiring presence of Azad. As a member of the Constituent Assembly that drafted India’s Constitution, Azad was instrumental in enshrining principles of secularism, religious freedom and equality for all Indians in the Constitution.

He became India’s first education minister in the council of ministers headed by prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. He, along with Nehru, was one of the founders of the first Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, in 1951, and the University Grants Commission, New Delhi, in 1953. He foresaw a great future in IITs for India’s progress. As culture minister, he helped establish Sangeet Natak Akademy (1953) for promotion of drama and music, Sahitya Akademi (1954) for promotion of Indian literature, and Lalit Kala Akademi (1954) for promotion of painting and sculpture and to strengthen the vibrancy and independence of our artists and scholars. These institutions were established to provide public space for national conversations in their respective fields of activity.

Nehru and Azad approached India’s policy in the realm of culture with considerable sensitivity that was amply reflected in the introduction of cultural pageantry at the Republic Day parade and the state purchase of works of art for the national and regional museums. On occasions similar to our Republic Day, several countries hold impressive military parades to demonstrate their armed strength to the world. Azad and Nehru thought it would be appropriate for India to display its cultural strength along with its military power. This has since been adopted by several other countries.

In June 1948, Nehru chanced upon a large number

DINODIA IMAGES

Mahatma Gandhi with Maulana Az ad

“Eleven

hundred years of common history (of Islam and Hinduism) have enriched India with our common achievements. Our languages, our poetry, our literature, our culture, our art, our dress, our manners and customs… everything bears the stamp of our joint endeavour.…These thousand years of our joint life have moulded us into a common nationality… whether we like it or not, we have now become an Indian nation, united and indivisible.”

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rary at Maulana Azad Lib

desh iversity, Uttar Pra Aligarh Muslim Un

Azad

, a man of many facets — scholar, poet, journalist, freedom fighter and leader of the Indian National Congress — was groomed to become a Muslim clergyman. However, he shaped his own life in a different manner and bloomed into a valiant freedom fighter; an apostle of Hindu-Muslim unity; and a builder of modern India. He rose on the national scene quite early in life.

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of paintings of the mother-daughter duo of Hungarian artists, Sass and Elizabeth Brunner in Nainital. He purchased a few paintings. On his return, he wrote to Azad recommending eight of their paintings to be acquired by the Government for Rs 15,000 (as indicated by the artists). When this was communicated to the experts, they felt that the price was too high.

A series of letters and notes were exchanged, but the experts did not yield to the price asked by the artists.

This compelled Nehru to observe that if the government was unable to pay for the paintings, he would pay for them himself. In a minute, on September 23, 1948, Azad closed the matter saying: “The bill for the paintings may be sanctioned and the price asked for may be given to the artists.” This kind of sensitivity and high level of attention in purchasing these paintings, besides respecting the opinions of officials and experts, paved the way for the constitution of the Art Purchase Committee for government museums under the chairmanship of the vice-president of India.

True to his name, Maulana Azad, which literally means master of dialogue, was a gifted speaker. Prime minister Indira Gandhi, would recall that whenever Azad stayed at Anand Bhavan, the breakfast table would be full; many would even eat standing to hear him. Azad had a wonderful ability to succinctly reduce long narrations into a phrase or two, which had great impact.

Azad served India admirably and combined in himself the qualities of a freedom fighter, a thinker of extraordinary ability and a nation-builder. Nehru aptly referred to him as “Mir-i-Karawan (the caravan leader), a very brave and gallant gentleman, a finished product of culture that in these days, pertains to few”.

On August 15, 1947, India’s top five leaders were: Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Maulana Azad and Rajendra Prasad. Gandhi was assassinated on January 30, 1948. The indomitable Sardar Patel, who played a sterling role in the integration and stability of the Indian nation-state, passed away on December 15, 1950. This left the triumvirate of Nehru, Azad and Prasad to give direction and guidance to the country. Together they worked to keep India united.

These leaders were deeply conscious that India can remain one only as a secular state. Nehru, in particular, went on to emphasise these secular values frequently and several of the chief ministers followed him. Years after the death of these stalwarts, the legacy of maintaining peace and harmony among Hindus and Muslims remained the foremost task of the district magistrates and the superintendents of police in their respective districts. As a district magistrate in early 1970s, I recall how promptly we acted to tackle the communal virus whenever it sought to raise its ugly head. In hindsight, I feel that we might not have remained a liberal democracy or a strong united nation if secularism was not emphasised in a manner that was done in the early years of the new Indian nation-state.

Azad, the scholar-statesman of our times was a person, “To whom India was unity and its people Indians whatever other diversity among them there might be…”?

Azad’s life, belief and attitudes are an enduring reminder of how an individual can rise above parochial interests and community ties to enlightened citizenship.

Azad symbolises how the higher instincts of nationalism can overcome the often unhealthy and exclusive attachments that we have to our localities and our inherited prejudices. India may fulfill its greatness through its economic prowess, its political stability and its social achievements. Yet, India will only realise the fullness of its destiny when Indians learn to look beyond sectarianism and see their community and communal progress linked to the wholeness that the phrase Mother India implies.

That integrated vision was what Azad perceived in the ideas and ideals of Mahatma Gandhi and the Freedom Movement — ideas and ideals that have served this country well for decades. The best tribute we can pay to this man of ideas and action is to think of ways that will expand his approach and strengthen India. For ideas and ideals also have to be refreshed and re-integrated from time to time.

—An abridged version of the Maulana Azad Memorial Lecture delivered by the Governor of Sikkim, who is also a distinguished scholar, thinker and public servant

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GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

Building Businesses,

Creating Value Besides forging enduring relations, deals worth billions were struck at the India-Africa business conclave TEXT: MANISH CHAND

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(From left): CII’s Director-General Chandrajit Banerjee, CII’s President B. Muthuraman, Zimbabwe’s Vice-President Joice Mujuru, India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma, Central African Republic’s Prime Minister Faustin Archangel Touadera, Ambassador of Zimbabwe Jonathan Wutawunashe, and Chairman, CII Africa Committee, Syamal Gupta at the India-Africa conclave in Delhi

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fro-optimism is no longer a fashionable cliché spouted by diehard Africanists. The ongoing African resurgence is gaining new converts by the day. This was more visible at the annual IndiaAfrica business conclave in New Delhi held from March 18-20. It was not just deals worth billions that were struck here, but enduring partnerships were forged, driven by the quest for mutual resurgence and co-development.

The eight edition of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)-EXIM Bank Conclave on India-Africa Project Partnership lived up to its reputation as a key platform for leveraging business synergies and economic complementarities between the two fastest growing regions in the world. The master theme of the conclave was: “Creating Possibilities; Delivering Values.”

Thirty-six ministers from over 20 African countries addressed the conclave, over 600 delegates from Africa and over 500 from India participated in the three-day jamboree and 200 projects worth ` 1,539 billion were on the table. The ambition was soaring, with both sides setting a target of scaling up bilateral trade by ` 4,617 billion by 2015. The projects straddled diverse areas, including agriculture, skill development, finance, infrastructure, information technology, manufacturing, mining, health, power, textiles, telecom, tourism, trade and transport. These projects included a proposal for setting up tomato production plants in Burundi, an upgraded cement plant in Djibouti, developing hydropower in Mozambique and new railway lines in Rwanda.

Placing the burgeoning business ties between India and Africa in perspective, Commerce and Industry Minister

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(Above) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with Vice-President of Zimbabwe Joice Mujuru (left) and Prime Minister of Central African Republic Faustin Archange Tauadera in New Delhi; and African delegates at the conclave

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EXIM Bank of India and the Central African Republic signed an agreement for a new line of credit valued at ` 3,078 million for agricultural and mining projects

Anand Sharma underlined that deeper economic cooperation between the two sides will provide the growth impetus to both the regions in times of the global economic downturn. “We will have to act together. In doing so we will emerge as the engines of global economic recovery,” said Sharma in his keynote address.

“A new eastern wind is blowing over our continent,” said Central African Republic’s Prime Minister Faustin Archangel Touadera, whose country, along with Zimbabwe, was the guest country at the conclave. Touadera stressed that the bilateral ties with India need to be revitalised through greater investment flows, and technology sharing. Pitching for greater investment from India, Zimbabwe’s Vice-President Joice Mujuru said there is enormous scope for value-added business activities, specially in view of expected double digit Gross Domestic Product growth in her country by 2015.

EXIM Bank of India and the government of Central African Republic signed an agreement for a new line of credit valued at around ` 3,078 million which will be directed for projects in agriculture and mining sectors.

The overarching theme that underpinned the conclave was forging and sustaining a multi-faceted development partnership between India and Africa, once co-sharers in the anti-colonial struggle and now equal partners in co-scripting a narrative of economic renaissance and renewal. India’s Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur encapsulated the essence of this blossoming partnership.

“The tripod on which the India-Africa relationship stands today with the resonance of South-South cooperation is that of technology, investment and training,” she said.

Mutual development was the reigning ethos. “We are committed to work with Africa for fulfilling its developmental aspirations and we know both the pain and the pleasure of the processes of development in a democratic framework for multi-cultural and pluralistic societies.” The minister also exhorted both sides to move beyond traditional markets and develop new markets.

India reaffirmed its commitment to fast-tracking the establishment of over 100 training institutes. The training institutes encompass areas from IT, foreign trade and

education, planning and administration, civil aviation and vocational training. India also plans to set up 32 institutions at regional level and approximately 40 institutions at bilateral level. “Through interventions like this, African industry will be better placed to promote value-addition in their industrial and business sectors,” said Madhusudan Ganapathi, secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs.

The last six months have seen an intensification of bilateral engagement at multiple levels that includes the India-Africa Hydrocarbon Conference, India-Africa Science and Technology Ministers’ Conference.

The focus is on adding greater economic content to the India-Africa partnership. The launch of the India-Africa Business Council, comprising leading business leaders of both sides, is another milestone in this direction. The council is cochaired by Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman, Bharti Group, and Alhaji Aliko Dangote, president and chief executive, Dangote Group, Nigeria. The CII, India’s apex business body, signed eight MoUs with business chambers from Cameroon, Rwanda, Gambia, Seychelles, Malawi, Ghana and Sierra Leone. The conclave also sought to rope in the youth to sustain this partnership with over 25 young parliamentarians from African countries who participated in the three-day event.

The joint pursuit for food security was another important theme. “Innovative financing options for agriculture and irrigation will be crucial for spurring food production growth,” said Sanjay Kirloskar, chairman, Kirloskar Brothers Ltd. “Given Africa’s land and water resources, the continent could become the world’s bread basket,” he said.

T.C.A. Ranganathan, chief of EXIM Bank of India, stressed that even as Indian companies are increasing their footprint in African markets, Indian industry would do well to strengthen the ‘Brand India’ presence in Africa. It is about over two billion dreams of young people in India and 54 African nations. The annual conclave has acted as a forum for miracles, says Jonathan Wutawunashe, Dean, African Diplomatic Corps and Zimbabawe’s ambassador to India.

“We are pursuing the right goals and our partnership should become more visible to the world,” said the envoy.

—Manish Chand is Editor, Africa Quarterly, and Senior Editor, IANS

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PARTNERSHIPS

Forging Friendship The ITEC programme is an ideal platform for participants to interact with fellow drafters from other countries TEXT: MEENAKSHI KUMAR

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Participants in front of Parliament House

ebates in Indian Parliament are driven and dramatic, discovered Jamiel Greenaway, a 28year-old legislative drafter from Montserrat, West Indies, after visiting the Indian Legislature.

This was quite unlike in her country she found out.

Greenaway is one of 40 students from 29 different countries who are here to pursue an International Training Programme in Legislative Drafting at the Bureau of Parliamentary Studies and Training (BPST), New Delhi.

Like many others in the group, she has chosen the month-long course for the invaluable experience it will provide. She believes her fledgling career as a drafter will get a boost after this experience.

The course conducted by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme for the last 27 years is unique. It gives participants a platform to interact with fellow drafters from other countries and jurisdictions. It offers them an invaluable experience that they wouldn’t get anywhere else. Says R.L. Shali, director, BPST, “Here a Sri Lankan gets to know about the laws of a country he may vaguely know about. Or somebody from Africa learns the nuances of drafting from a Vietnamese. We have country specific presentations which expose participants to the practices prevalent in other countries.

And more importantly, students forge friendships here that they can go back to for help whenever they need to.”

Anna Chykiliova, legislative drafter from Belarus, agrees with Shali. The course as a “comparative study is very helpful”, she says. “I could never imagine meeting so many people from different jurisdictions at one place.

The interaction has taught me a lot about how different countries function, their laws and the drafting procedures. When I return and draft laws, I will hopefully be able to draw from these experiences and try to make a difference to my country’s laws,” she says.

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Minister of Corporate Affairs M. Veerappa Moily (centre) interacts with the participants; (below) a group interactive session

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Students attend practical drafting classes conducted by experts from the Ministry of Law; they also get a chance to draft a law.

ITEC was instituted in 1964 as a bilateral assistance programme to share India’s technological achievements with other developing countries and is totally demanddriven and response-oriented. The International Training Programme in Legislative Drafting is a good example of how demand-driven the entire ITEC programme is. In 1985 when it started, there were only five participants.

The number didn’t vary much, hovering between 5 and 15 students, for more than a decade.

But from 2000 onwards, there is a substantial increase in the numbers. More and more participants wanted to take up the course and as a result the MEA had to increase the number to 40. While participation from our African partner countries has been substantial since the beginning of the programme," says Shali, participants from new democracies such as Georgia, Belarus have also started coming. The popularity of the course can be gauged from the fact that many participants finance themselves to be a part of it.

The course exposes the students, who have to have legal training, to various aspects of drafting. Practical drafting classes are held by experts from the Ministry of Law and students even get a chance to draft a law. In addition, field trips are organised. This year, the participants visited Madhya Pradesh legislative assembly.

Jakub Bennewicz, a drafter from Poland’s Government Legislation Centre, rates the trip as a great learning opportunity. “I knew some basics about the Indian parliamentary system but to get such a first-hand experience is great. Besides, we got to see the historical city of Bhopal. Overall, it’s been a fantastic experience,” he says. He echoes the sentiments of all the other attendees. n

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BOOK EXTRACT

A Journey in

Time

V&A, LONDON

Kalighat paintings have found public space not only within the country, but beyond them as well. A selection of photographs taken from Kalighat Paintings

(Facing page) Krishna disguised as a woman, playing the violin to Radha; (above) the Jagannatha trio: Balbhadra, Subhadra and Jagannatha

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V&A, LONDON

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VMH, KOLKATA

V&A, LONDON

Contemporary Kalighat paintings focus on secular themes and current events

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V&A, LONDON

(Facing page) The Mahant sitting outside the Tarakeshwar temple; (clockwise from above) a cat with a prawn; Jatayu attempts to stop the capture of Sita; and a fish-eagle carrying a fish

Extracted from: Edited by: Suhashini Sinha and Prof. C. Panda Publisher: Mapin Publishing in association with V&A Publishing (2011) Price: ` 995 Pages: 112

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he practice of Kalighat painting continues in the villages of Bengal, being handed down through the generations in a way that renews the traditions of the early twentieth century. The areas surrounding the Kalighat temple are no longer home to the patua (painter) families or the communities that once made a living from their art. Rural patuas, though, are keeping the tradition alive along with scroll painting, in the districts surrounding Kolkata.

Of the contemporary artists whose works are included in Kalighat Paintings, four live in the village of Naya in Medinipur district. A small settlement there is known as the patua village, as each family is either of patuas or is connected to the tradition of patachitra.

The contemporary artists, like their nineteenth-century ancestors, take the title of chitrakar (artist) or patua indicating their status as belonging to the artists’ caste.

V&A, LONDON

KALIGHAT PAINTINGS

Today’s patuas affiliate themselves with neither Hindu nor Muslim religions, using both Hindu and Islamic first names, and they observe festivals and customs of both religions. The contemporary Kalighat paintings they create focus on secular themes and current events as well as a mixture of religious depictions, executed in a modern style.

The women in the community also paint, often helping to prepare colours and to draw outlines for detailed works, while simultaneously carrying out household tasks. Some of the women have branched out to new media – painting, patachitra designs on Tshirts and greetings cards – as a form of self employment. In the last ten years, a number of organisations have been set up in Kolkata, to support rural arts and crafts, and are helping patua families to promote their work to a wide range of audiences.

—Reproduced with permission.

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HERITAGE

Regal

Marwari An indigenous equine breed escapes extinction and looks at a bright future

TEXT: PREETI VERMA LAL

PHOTOS: DALE DURFEE/WWW.DALEDURFEE.COM

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he Marwari horse, with ears that arch at the tip like a lyre, long eyelashes, lustrous mane, flared nostrils — its appearance wild and temperamental — is the pride of Rajasthan. The Rajputs in times gone by, rode the Marwaris, kicked dust in sandy terrain, conquered fiefs and loved their steeds to distraction. Minstrels sang paeans to the animals, stones were chiselled into statues to pay tribute to them, and shades of chestnut and honey were added to the palette of painters to capture the power and regal splendour of the Marwaris.

The Marwaris thrived in the royal stables of Rajasthan.

When war bugles were sounded, the queens not only anointed the kings, but also their steeds. Many a folksong records the maharanis pleading with the horse to bring back their husbands, the maharajah, safe from the battle front. Trained to fight enemies on elephants and bred to withstand the crippling desert heat, the Marwari was the custodian, the protector of Rajput honour. The Rathores, traditional rulers of the Marwar region of western India, were the first to breed the Marwari. Beginning in the 12th century, they set down strict breeding guidelines that promoted purity and hardiness. Legendary horse, Chetak, a Marwari, is credited with saving the life of his master Maharana Pratap Singh during the Battle of Haldighati in 1576.

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‘The Marwaris date back to at least 2,000 years’ A lifelong horse rider, Elizabeth Barrett, works as an independent researcher with the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research in the University of Cambridge, UK. She has worked on a project, Origins of the Domestic Horse, which includes the Marwari. Barrett spoke to Preeti Verma Lal about the breed. Excerpts: How would you trace the history of the Marwaris?

Marwari is certainly as old as the Turkman horse and so it probably dates back to at least 2,000 years.

But would you consider Marwaris a pure breed?

There is no such thing as a pure-bred horse. It is possible that the Marwari and the Persian developed from the Oriental sub-species and later may have crossed lineage with the Tarpan.

Define the distinguishing image of a Marwari.

I would mention the ears and the long eyelashes, but the important feature is the shape of the skull and the general body shape.

What sets it apart from other breeds?

It must be their endurance, their ability to travel long distances for days together with little food or water, and without showing any signs of fatigue.

The decline of the Marwari began with the advent of the English in India. In the heyday of the British rule the Marwari was slowly but surely ousted from royal stables by other breeds. The British preferred other breeds, such as thoroughbreds and polo ponies. In fact, the inward-turning ears of the Marwari breed became a characteristic to be shunned in a horse. The passing of the feudal age spelt doom for the breed. From royal stables, the Marwaris moved to farms. Life chugged along, and with inbreeding and crossbreeding, their numbers dwindled and their gene pool depleted. In 1999, the Indigenous Horse Society of India was formed. And the Equestrian Federation of India sanctioned a national show for indigenous horses – the first in the country. This held out hope for the dwindling number of Marwari horses.

The biggest challenge for the Indigenous Horse Society was to list breed standards for the Marwaris. In several meetings and fora, the members brainstormed to define a horse that would fall into the category of a Marwari.

Once that was done, it was a huge headway towards saving the Marwari. With the recognition of Indigenous Horse Society it became imperative for all breeders to register their horses. This resulted in an increase in the number of the Marwari horses. So much so that some have been exported to the US and Europe. The first Marwari to be exported to Europe in 2006 was a stallion given to the French Living Museum of the Horse.

In late 2007, plans were announced to create a stud book for the breed, a collaborative venture between the Marwari Horse Society of India and the Indian government which, too, has met with success. A registration process was initiated and the Marwari Horse Society became a government body in which the horses have been registered, cold branded and photographed.

In late 2009, the Indian government released a set of stamps that commemorated the Marwari horse, along with other Indian horse breeds. These six Indian breeds are the Marwari, Kathiawari, Spiti pony, Bhutia pony, Manipuri Pony, and Zanskari. n

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PHOTO: SANJAY AUSTA

AFP

TRAVEL

Assam’s

Wild Side

Kaziranga National Park, home to the largest herds of the great Indian one-horned rhinoceros in the world, is a nature lover’s dream TEXT: CHRISTINE PEMBERTON

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NAVIGATOR

By Air: The nearest airports are Jorhat, 88 km, and Guwahati, a 255-km taxi ride away from the park.

By Rail: The nearest railhead is Furkating, around 75 km from the park.

By Road: Assam State Travel and private buses stop here on their way to and from Guwahati, Tezpur and Upper Assam. Some private buses also operate on the route.

(Clockwise from above) Royal Bengal Tiger at Kaziranga; a pair of swamp deer; an Asian wild elephant and its calf; and the only way to spot the great Indian one-horned rhinoceros is from elephant back

s we drove through the fabulous landscapes of the Kaziranga National Park in Assam, we realised it was a nature lover’s dream.

This beautiful 430-sq km National Park is home to the largest herds of the great Indian one-horned rhinoceros in the world and the Asiatic wild water buffalo, both of which we saw in large numbers.

There were elephants as well as swamp deer, sambar and the elusive tiger.

The Kaziranga National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is currently home to 1,855 of the world’s estimated population of 2,700 one-horned rhinos, according to recent statistics. On our recent trip, we counted 189 rhinos in just four days.

One morning, we drove along the banks of the Brahmaputra, which is the lifeblood of the park and we were delighted to see a small herd of elephants wading across the river, knee-deep in water lilies and greenery.

They all made their way to the far bank where, suddenly, we spotted a rhino drinking at the water’s edge, close to where a mother and her young elephant were wading ashore. The young elephant was having none of it, and waving his trunk around, he charged the rhino who shot off at high speed.

We were privileged to see a family of otters basking in the sun on the river bank, their damp furry coats glistening with drops of water. Startled by the noise of our jeep, they dived gracefully into the river in one combined swoop.

Kaziranga showed us wonderful creatures day after day. We saw a tiger, so camouflaged that everyone in our two jeeps had to struggle to find him.

He sat there deep in the riverine vegetation, blending in so perfectly that we would never have spotted him without the driver’s keen eyes.

On our final day in Kaziranga, we were invited to have lunch with the resident forest guards in their log huts. Lunch was long and delicious, and afterwards, while some of us dozed, and others sat and chatted with the guards, I sat out on the deck and looked out in quiet contemplation at the wide, flood plains of the Brahmaputra. It was a fitting end to an amazing, occasionally alarming, and eye-opening trip to a beautiful sanctuary. n

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BUSINESS

The

Local Mantra Increasingly, multinationals are selling products that are not just made in India but are made just for India

TEXT: BINDU GOPAL RAO

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Hermes sari; (facing page) a man enjoying his McVeggie burger

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here is an influx of international top-end brands and labels into India today. This is no surprise given the growing purchasing power of people not just in urban centres but in rural areas too. Reportedly, the Indian retail industry will be worth ` 76.9 billion in 2012. And the West wants a share of the market. Increasingly, multinational companies are selling products that are not just made in India but made for India. Global giants are tweaking products to suit the Indian market and ensuring that they appeal to Indian sensibilities. An example is that of French luxury shoe designer Christian Louboutin’s latest line with its trademark glossy red soles, which includes two staggeringly tall styles inspired by Indian films named Bollywoody and Devidas.

It all began with food chains like McDonald’s who made thinking global and acting local its mantra for success. The company, with its philosophy of respect for cultural sentiments, does not serve its most popular product the BigMac (a beef burger) in the country as most Hindus do not eat beef for religious reasons. Instead, on offer are the McAloo Tikki burger (a burger with a potato patty), Veg Pizza McPuff (a vegetarian pizza) and Chicken McGrill burger with a very spicy mint sauce popular with Indians. Furthermore, each restaurant kitchen is designed to maintain separate vegetarian and nonvegetarian food counters.

Likewise, after 15 successful years in India, Pizza Hut has added 15 new pizzas, among them are Chettinadu Paneer (with a topping of Indian cottage cheese flavoured with spices from the Chettinad region in south India), Nimbu Mirchi (chilli and lemon pizza) and Chicken Achaari (with a topping

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(Clockwise from left) Devanagiri script design watch by a Swiss manufacturer; Lladro’s Rama and Sita figurines; Patchi Chocolates’ Diwali collection; and Christian Louboutin’s latest line of shoes inspired by Bollywood

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of Indian chicken pickle). Cottage cheese and ground meat cooked Indian style can also be found on pizzas from Dominos.

Festivals mean big business. Come Diwali, a festival celebrated across the length and breadth of the country, and shoppers throng stores and purchases peak. Recognising that sweets are an integral part of a celebration, famous chocolate brand Patchi, last year introduced symbols like the sacred Om, the auspicious Swastik, Lord Ganesha and a diya (a small clay lamp) on their products for the Indian market.

Lladro, a Spain-based producer of high quality porcelain, has several collections inspired by India. The Krishna series is a culmination of two years of research at Lord Krishna’s birthplace, Mathura. Other gods that have been moulded in porcelain are Rama and Sita and the elephant God Ganesha in as many as nine different poses. Recently, Hermès, manufacturer of luxury goods, created a line of limited edition saris for the Indian market. The saris were priced between ` 81,000 and ` 4,20,000, a “wink” to Indian customers, said Patrick Thomas, chief executive of Hermès International.

In a classic case where Indian heritage meets Swiss tradition, a watch major has a unique product for India. Sebastien Cretegny, International Sales Manager, Frederique Constant, explains, “As a family-owned independent Swiss manufacturer, we have been thinking for a long time about a relevant strategy for India. When I came up with the Devanagiri script design, everybody involved was very enthusiastic. Our research and development department immediately started elaborating this high-classical watch. Ever since its launch, this model is a true success story here and even abroad where Indian communities are well-represented such as the Middle-East,” Says Sundarrajan, Managing Director, S.P Apparels and Crocodile Ltd., “Though brands plays a major role, the need of the hour is that instead of the labels being manufactured abroad it is necessary for the brands to understand the demographics and psychographic factors of the Indian market and manufacture them in India.” He feels that tapping the target customer and identifying and understanding the flavour and taste of the Indian public is the biggest challenge.

So far, say experts, India may not be a large market in terms of units sold, but the potential for growth is more than any other market in the world. In such a scenario, the forecast is good times ahead for both buyers and sellers. n

“Customization of products to woo the Indian consumers is an emerging trend among manufacturers who collaborate with their Indian partners to develop these unique products” —Ankur Bhatia, Executive Director, Bird Group

“The global practices are getting inculcated into the traditional way of distribution, marketing and retailing, giving rise to newer challenges in India” —Rahul Kulkarni, Director Marketing at West Coast Fine Foods Pvt. Ltd

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REVIEWS EXHIBITION

The Sacred and the Sensual Manu Parekh’s show, Faith, depicts his love for the holy city of Benaras

Manu Parekh’s oil on canvas

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aith came calling for acclaimed painter Manu Parekh this spring. His first major solo show in over six years was held at the Art Alive Gallery, Gurgaon.

Faith, Manu Parekh in Benaras 1980-2012, was inspired by the holy city of Benaras or Varanasi. It is a city that Parekh had painted ever since his first visit during which he sailed down the Ganges in a boat past the ghats (flight of steps leading down to the river) almost 50 years ago.

Benaras continues to haunt Parekh’s mindscape. His works are not expressionistic in the traditional sense but veer towards the abstract. His canvases bring in the deep colours of ritual and prayer in vermillion reds and turmeric yellows; the glow of the flickering flames dancing on the clay lamps sailing on the Ganges at twilight; the shameless bursts or orange of marigold garlands and petals floating on the river. Fecundity and fertility are

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symbols that are ubiquitous to Parekh’s works. Flora and fauna, birds and bodies, limbs and organs mingle, twist and coil around plants, flowers and birds.

Divided into four sections, the exhibition invites the visitor to join Parekh in his journey. “Glimpses from a Boat”, “Transformed Stone”, “Repeating Forms” and “Flowers” are part of various sections displayed in a single or large diptych works. They touch upon beauty, light and darkness in the city; sacred objects of worship; the power of repetition and ritual and the beauty of including the body and the element of the sexual in Hindu symbols of worship represented by lush flowers, juice and nectar.

The exhibition is a journey into a world of colour, beauty, carnal and the sacred. It is important to have ‘faith’ in beauty in all its forms to enjoy Parekh’s bursts of visual fecundity.

—Sudha G. Tilak

FILM

Home Away From Home It looks into the tales of the expatriates who have set up their homes in India INDIA BY CHOICE Genre: Documentary Running Time: 29 minutes Director: Yasmin Kidwai Producer: Public Diplomacy Division, Ministry of External Affairs

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AFP

he most visible of the multiple manifestations of this nation’s dramatic growth story of the last two decades is perhaps embodied by the swelling population of men and women who have arrived from various parts of the world and made India their home.

Yasmin Kidwai’s 29-minute documentary, India by Choice, places this phenomenon in its historical context.

The film delves into the reasons why a young entrepreneur from South Korea, a dance guru from France, a tour operator from the UK, among others, have chosen to put their eggs in the Indian basket and celebrate that life-altering decision in unique ways.

Academic Mushirul Hasan and writer William Dalrymple, who describes himself on camera as the world’s “only Punjabi Scotsman”, explain why India draws these foreigners in search of business and job opportunities, which, as some of these immigrants assert, are far better here than in Europe.

Hasan, on his part, refers to the high “degree of receptivity” inherent in Indian culture. There is, he points out, “a long tradition of people coming into our country… and making it their home”.

None of these people are willing to exchange the joy they derive from living in India for anything else.

Lalita de Goederen, who relocated from Amsterdam to Delhi in 2007, dreams of ramping up her unique Bagel’s Café in Defence Colony as her husband, Alex, establishes his real estate business. On the other hand, Peter Kronschnabel, president of BMW India, is sure the friendships he has made in this country are for a lifetime.

Writer William Dalrymple

YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9inonQ1e8PA

—Saibal Chatterjee is a film and media critic

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VERBATIM

“Infosys demonstrated that India can have a world-class company”

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.R. Narayana Murthy, 65, is the face of software major Infosys, which he co-founded in 1981. He was its CEO till 2002 and Chairman till 2011, now he is Chairman Emeritus. Awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian honour of the country, he had taken up cudgels for corporate governance in the country.

He spoke to Bindu Gopal Rao about the industry he has been part of for the last three decades.

Tell us about your journey so far.

The journey of founding and nurturing Infosys has been very satisfying. The company created huge employment opportunities and enhanced corporate governance practices. Two of our major innovations — the global delivery model and the 24-hour work-day — have managed to sell the value of Indian software corporations to the Western world. I am happy that we could demonstrate that it is possible to run a world-class organisation in India.

Are you enjoying your role as Chairman Emeritus?

As Chairman Emeritus I have no role in the day-to-day governance, I do not have a position on the board and I am not responsible for any strategy formulation. However, I am often requested to meet prospective customers and I am available for any kind of consultation. When we founded the company, it was clear that all founders have the option to leave between the age of 60 and 65. The leadership mantle needs to be passed on so it was not really a hard decision to leave the company.

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What is your assessment of the software industry?

As an industry, software has created a positive image of India in the world. Its revenue of USD 100 million in 1991 has grown to USD 60 billion as on March 31, 2011.

The sector has grown 600 times over the last 20 years and has created three million jobs. Today, the industry is growing at 15 per cent per annum, almost double of India’s Gross Domestic Product mainly through exports.

What more can the government do to further the sector’s growth?

The government can help develop quality talent and be an ally to the industry on this front. Also, it can help reduce friction in areas of transfer pricing, the definition of software exports and information security. In the past, National Association of Software and Services Companies, the Indian Embassies and the Government have worked as partners to create the software brand and it is important to continue working together.

What advice do you have for young entrepreneurs?

For the first time in 300 years, India today is being considered as the software centre of the world and entrepreneurs have a great opportunity to work smart, work hard, innovate and be successful. I want them to be confident and realise that they have an extraordinary role to play in bringing a smile on the face of the poorest of children in the remotest parts of India. n

AFP

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