Editor-in-Chief CHANDAN MITRA EDITORIAL BOARD Vice-Chairman & Joint Managing Director Amit Goel Chief Executive Officer Abhishek Saxena 09818600128 EDITORIAL Editor-in-Charge Rinku Ghosh Assistant Editor Saimi Sattar Feature Writer Priyanka Joshi Chief Designer Anand Singh Rawat Senior Designer Santosh Kumar Yadav Pre-press Manager Syed Nawab Raza Staff Photographer Pankaj Kumar SALES & MARKETING General Manager Kumar Gurudutta Jha Deputy General Manager Neeru Arora Senior Managers Madhukar Saxena & Sofiqul Islam Managers Bharat Singh Sajwan & Prabhakar Pathak Senior Marketing Executive Komal Sharma Media Coordinator Anil Kumar 09871379898 GOVERNMENT & PSU General Manager Tapan Ghosh Assistant General Manager Neeta Rai MUMBAI OFFICE General Manager Devendra Adhikari KOLKATA OFFICE Vice President Suzanna Roy General Manager (Circulation) Rajeev Gautam Printed and published by Chandan Mitra for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd, printed at JK Offset Graphics (P) Ltd, B-278, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-1, New Delhi-110020 and published at 2nd floor, Patriot House, 3, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi 110002. Editor: Chandan Mitra. Entire Contents Copyright (C) 2006 CMYK Printech Ltd. All rights reserved. Reproduction or translation in any language in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Requests for permission should be directed to CMYK Printech Ltd. Opinions carried in Exotica are the writers’ and not necessarily endorsed by CMYK Printech Ltd. The publisher assumes no responsibility for the return of unsolicited material or for material lost or damaged in transit. All correspondence should be addressed to CMYK Printech Ltd; 2nd Floor, Patriot House, 3, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi-110002 Phone: 23718296/40754136 Fax: 23755275 Email: exoticapioneer2016@gmail.com
FROM THE EDITOR
LET’S COME CLEAN!
WHILE
driving down India’s coastline around this time last year, Visakhapatnam struck me as a spic-and-span urban conglomerate, quite unusual by Indian standards. So I was happy to see Vizag listed as the third cleanest city in the latest Swachchh Bharat survey and more impressively jump to this position from its earlier rank of 205. Predictably, cities in North India, particularly UP, fared poorly with only Delhi's super-elite NDMC area (where mostly politicians and bureaucrats live), making it to the top ten. Apart from that, cities in the South and West of the country ranked well in this “Clean Cities” list, while not even one from Eastern India featured in it. Encouragingly, however, Varanasi, once a byword for urban filth, has jumped many notches to come into the reckoning and at this rate may just make it to the Top 10 list when the next survey is undertaken. One reason for Varanasi climbing rapidly up the charts is that it is now Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency and he takes a personal interest in its development and cleanliness. The Government must be complimented for introducing a competitive element to its Clean India drive, propelling cities to improve their hygiene quotient. Arguably, it is still a long haul because the average Indian mindset has little concern for community cleanliness. Paradoxically, we believe in keeping our indoors free of dirt and pollution. Most middle class homes frown at people walking into their residence wearing footwear. Yet most of us have no qualms about throwing out refuse from our homes onto the street, spitting, urinating or in some cases defecating in public. It is heartening to find that complete eradication of open defecation is among the major criteria for being adjudged a clean city and thus becoming eligible to enter this periodic competition to select India’s cleanest cities. This competition, therefore, is certain to generate greater awareness for public hygiene. It is to be hoped that this campaign is taken to schools and children’s playgrounds so that the consciousness of cleanliness is aroused in the next generation. Some of the middle class disregard for public hygiene grows out of certain age-old social divisions between “clean” and “unclean” castes. Unfortunately those employed for scavenging work in our towns and villages are drawn predominantly from the bottom of the social ladder. Indian society still attaches a stigma to those who work for services such as sweeping roads and collecting garbage or cleaning toilets. Such workers are also the most poorly paid among civic servants although in most developed countries, they draw high salaries since they work in jobs that are generally disincentivised. When Indians go abroad, they are not only impressed with the level of cleanliness of the cities but also follow rules quite diligently. Indian tourists don’t casually throw wrappers and empty food packets on the streets when they go to other countries. In Singapore for instance, myriad Indian visitors are well aware of the draconian public behavior rules and conform to them without demur. But the moment they land back in India, they merrily revert to old, dirty habits. The Government’s Swachchh Bharat Campaign is, therefore, a welcome instrument of behavioural change. Innovative plans like the cleanliness ranking among cities will undoubtedly encourage a change of mindset sooner rather than later.
[CHANDAN MITRA] Editor-in-Chief
IT
Touch the penguins, talk to dolphins and tower on your heels as Dubai offers you more than you can think. By DEVI SINGH
was Tom Cruise in Ghost Protocol who made the vertigo-inducing stegophily on Burj Khalifa look like a cakewalk. Mostly to the death-defying daredevils. But for us normals, it was just another act of sheer lunacy. But that is alright. We at least got to see the edgier side of Dubai all the while being on the edge of our seats in that one scene. Beyond sand-bashing, there lies a city dolled up just like a socialite. Glittering away in her highs of heels, sequins, an elaborate caked-up countenance and a hand-wave in the air as lofty as her ambitions and as florid as her overblown tresses. Not one out of place. This is Dubai...a city of superlatives, where a man’s unending conquests, fantastical dreams and impossible hankerings all get the best forcing house ever. What you imagine is right there in front of you. So much so that it competes with your imagination, pushing you to work your brains harder and think beyond what’s attainable, doable, and possible. It’s living by the rules of impossible and then making it possible. It’s like living on a constant high. The only motto Dubai knows of and lives by. The ever-growing, ever-expanding and ever- changing city. Burj Khalifa
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By RINKU GHOSH
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SOAP OPERA
hah Rukh Khan in a tub with petals......neither macho nor effeminate.....Ahh, Vinod Khanna in denims on a horse....now that’s a man,” said my mother over the phone from Kolkata, mourning the loss of the legendary actor. Tributes have been many — tearful, sombre and exalting — but two generations of women talking about his poster boy appeal speaks volumes about India’s original heartthrob. He, with a classic elegance, rugged earthiness, warm brown eyes, a cleft chin and a heart-warming, naughty smile. Above all was a colossal onscreen carriage and a debonair charm that kept and will keep Vinod Khanna alive in our consciousness. So much so that fans and colleagues across the industry pleaded for the dignity of his fragmented self in the last days, a cry that became a collective angst against images that would rather not be seen. Seldom has today’s “put it out there” brigade been so respectful about a star’s cult appeal. If the brooding Bachchan charisma was intimidating, Khanna, who was considered to be worthy of an equal appeal, was endearing, distant and immediate at the same time. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons why Godrej signed him up as a brand ambassador in the mid-80s to relaunch and upgrade Cinthol soap and create a Marlboro Man-type equivalent, a raw, too-good-to-be-true male who could get into your room with ease. “Vinod’s body confidence soap,” ran the tagline as the actor rode a horse on the beach and exuded confidence in a smart tux. That was Khanna, who rode his destiny. Perhaps even conquered it. Those days Cinthol was the family soap and Lux, with its cosmetic indulgence and airbrushed actresses, the wanted beauty bar. So when Cinthol wanted to upgrade itself as a luxuriant, aromatic option with a tinge of lemon, it got Khanna to win over the women’s demographic. When the lemony version hit the shop shelves, I remember my mother strictly refusing to add it to the monthly shopping list. But when Khanna burst on our first cuboid colour TV set, Cinthol quickly replaced Lux. Then Imran Khan got to endorsing the same brand and my mother promptly decided to change her loyalties. Khan, who had featured on a women’s magazine cover in a bathrobe and shower-fresh, tousled appearance, had by then become a collective
teen crush. More so after the cricketer’s outing at the Eden Gardens and a flourish of a hand-wave to the giggly girl brigade who would patiently wait outside The Grand Hotel to watch him drive by. But my mother would not play up to my fancies and instead strengthened hers. If Khanna were to return with a new campaign, we would have the soap back, she told me sternly. Not that I didn’t admire our gentleman-hero but as a teen thought it legitimate to justify peer dreams. So there it was. A man had driven a wedge in our generational preferences. Over time that slid down as smoothly as the suds. Till it became a talking point with the legend passing away. My mother was still loyal, our conversation then veering to the other Bollywood soap star, Shah Rukh Khan. Much before SRK made the anti-hero to hero switch seem like an achievement, Khanna began as a villain, she reminded me. Such was his stature that his negative characters left as much of an impression on us as his positive portrayals. Good-looking he was but when it came to his roles, that facet was incidental as the actor in him took charge. And then he was man enough to renounce the world when he had it all and become a spiritual seeker. Gracious enough to return to earthly roles as fate decreed. “Where do you get men like that?” my mother asked me. Indeed.
EXOTICA [106] MAY 2017