Culturama june 2014

culturama your cultural gateway to india

18 Capital Route

A look at the recent Indian General Election results

June 2014 Volume 5, Issue 4

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Where God Came to Stay Glimpses of the holy places of India

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Dear readers, Oh Calcutta!

I am writing this from India’s fourth largest metropolitan city. As I drive past the ubiquitous ambassador taxis, I am fascinated by the blue-and-white meridians painted all along sidewalks and dividers, the simple cotton sari worn by the Chief Minister of this state of West Bengal – which also echoes the eternal blue and pure white. I muse about my travel today from a state ruled by ‘Amma’ (as Chief Minister Jayalalithaa is warmly referred to in Tamil Nadu), to a state governed by ‘Didi’ (as chief minister Mamata Banerjee is fondly known as in West Bengal).

I ruminate on the power of two women, able administrators, which could well be harnessed for the

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betterment of India post the election of the new government.

The election and the formation of a new government has been the talk of every town, metro and village. As Narendra Modi prepares to take charge as the 15th Prime Minster of India, we train our eyes on the future. And what do you, our dear readers, feel about this significant political event in the world’s largest democracy? We asked some of you – and collated your reactions on Page 18.

My thoughts take on a new turn, in line with the sights that meet my eyes – oh Calcutta, how can you bear the contrast of a glistening mall across from a street of mendicants? Then again, maybe this is a land where contrasts not only thrive, but become a symbol of symbiotic relationships. This is probably the reason behind the continued practice and prevalence of several major religions – some of them several centuries old.

Read about the holy places associated with all prominent religions across the length and breadth of India in our Feature of the month.

And yet, tradition is not only seen in the grandiose structure of a temple – the thread of continuity can be felt in the recipes passed down by families over several generations. One such example is that of the Bol De Coco (coconut cake) – a popular Christmas delicacy among the East Indian community of Mumbai. The recipe is carefully guarded, it is said, such that even mothers-in-law will not share it with their daughters-in-law. Read all about it in our food segment, In Your Kitchen.

Thus, life does not stand still – metamorphosis is imperative and imminent in India. And yet, this land has always embraced the winds of change and imbued them with the fragrance of its soil.

I wish you all a wonderful month ahead.

Ranjini Manian Editor-in-Chief globalindian@globaladjustments.com

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Credits

Letters to the editor Dear Editor, Cover image Darren Burnham, UK

Editor-in-Chief Ranjini Manian

“For me, Culturama is a monthly Indian buffet with small tastes of the culture, new discoveries, choice nuggets of information, interesting perspectives and valuable insights offered in a lovely presentation.”

– Teresa Manlowe, USA

Associate Editor Yamini Vasudevan Business Head Sheeba Radhamohan

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To subscribe to this magazine, write to circulation@globaladjustments.com or access it online at www.culturama.in

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Chennai (Headquarters) 5, 3rd Main Road, R A Puram, Chennai – 600028 Telefax +91-44-24617902 Email culturama@globaladjustments.com Bengaluru 17/16,“Brown Nugget”, Ali Asker Road, Off. Cunningham Road, Bengaluru – 560 052 Mobile +91 99869 60316 Email blr@globaladjustments.com Delhi-NCR Level 4, Augusta Point, DLF Golf Course Road, Sector-53, Gurgaon – 122002 Tel +91-124-4354236 Email del@globaladjustments.com Mumbai Rustom Court, 2nd Floor, Dr. Annie Besant Road, Worli, Mumbai – 400030 Tel +91-22-66104191/92 Email mum@globaladjustments.com Published and owned by Ranjini Manian at #5, 3rd Main Road, Raja Annamalai Puram, Chennai – 600028, and printed by K Srinivasan of Srikals Graphics Pvt Ltd at #5, Balaji Nagar, 1st Street, Ekkattuthangal, Chennai – 600032 Editor-in-Chief Ranjini Manian Disclaimer Views and opinions expressed by writers do not necessarily reflect the publisher’s or the magazine’s.

“I loved the Feature on saris in your May issue. It brought out so much about the sari that I as an Indian did not know!”

Dear Editor,

“I read the recent April issue of Culturama. Great content and very educative.”

– Dharini Joshi (on Facebook)

Dear Editor,

“Culturama is a really cool magazine! I have read a few articles from the recent issues and I really like them.”

– Jessica Klecker, USA

Look out for icons On our website and in our magazine we are now using the five icons below to help guide you through the contents. They are based on the five areas where Culturama can really help — giving you an insight into India, its life and culture; finding you great places to shop and fun things to do to enrich your Indian experience; helping you find a home; and connecting you to new friends.

1 Read 4 Locate

2 Shop 5 Connect

3 Do

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Culturama’s contributors 03 Saritha Rao Rayachoti is a Chennai-based writer who loves, and writes about, films, food, books and travel.

04 Anita Krishnaswamy is President of Global Adjustments and a relocation expert. She has several years of experience working with expat clients across the country.

01 Susan Philip is a freelance writer based in Chennai, and the editorial coordinator of Culturama’s various coffee table books.

02 Harini Sankaranarayanan is an ardent foodie and a professional chocolatier. She has a degree in Hotel Management, English Literature and Theatre.

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05 Devdutt Pattanaik is the Chief Belief Officer of the Future Group, and a writer and illustrator of several books on Indian mythology.

Visit www.devdutt.com 06 Ian Watkinson is a wrestler of words, a cooker of curries, a dabbler with the tabla, a persistent photographer and haphazard historian. http://www.ianwatkinson.co.uk

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07 Resham Gellatly and Zach Marks are journalists whose work has appeared in The New York Times and Time Out Magazine among others. Zach is a journalist and contributor to The New York Times.

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Advisory Board members 08 N. Ram is an award-winning journalist and former Editorin-Chief of The Hindu. He is Director of Kasturi & Sons Limited, publishers of The Hindu.

09 Suzanne McNeill lived in India for seven years, first in Chennai and then in Delhi. She has now returned to Scotland, where she works as a freelance writer and graphic designer.

10 Babette Verbeek is a correspondent for BNR Nieuwsradio who previously worked in Amsterdam and Milan. Now she joyfully explores the beauty of South Indian culture.

11 Marina Marangos is a lawyer by profession but enjoys travel and writing. She lived in India for four years before moving to Australia. She blogs at www.mezzemoments.blogspot.com

12 G. Venket Ram is an acclaimed photographer and the creative mind behind many a Culturama issue. To know more about his work, log on to www.gvenketram.com 13 Beth Chapman is an American business management consultant living in Bengaluru.

Former President of the city’s Overseas Women’s Club, Beth is an Indian culture aficionado.

14 Marcel Van Mourik is a Dutch photographer living in New Delhi for the past three years. Together with his cameras, he is passionate about discovering Indian culture.

15 Kathelijne van Eldik, from Holland, has been in Mumbai since 2004. Her employment with an airline is not a surprise, considering she has been raised in different countries and has it in her DNA to travel.

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Contents 54

Daily Cuppa

Explore India’s chai culture through the eyes of its myriad chaiwallahs.

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Calendar of Events

See what’s going on in the main metros and suburbs.

26 Feature A look at the different religions that thrive in the subcontinent, and the holy places associated with them.

India’s Culture 10

Short Message Service

Short, engaging snippets of Indian culture.

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In your Kitchen

Indulge in Bol De Coco – a specialty of the East Indian community.

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Myth & Mythology

Stories from India’s mythology, reinterpreted for practical living.

Journeys Into India 44

Seeing India

Take in the sights of rural Bengal in Bishnapur, or explore the hidden pleasures of Kodaikanal.

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Holistic Living

Prepare to embark on the ultimate journey of your life.

Regulars 14

Cultural Lens

Understanding the nuances of communication across countries.

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The Lighter Side

When you decide to get behind the wheel, keep in mind just one thing – nothing you have learned to date will be of any help!

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Give to India

Featuring worthy causes across the country.

Relocations and Property 72

Realty Bytes

Practical advice from Global Adjustments’ relocation expert.

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Space and the City

Property listings across the metros.

India Now

A recap of events, people and places that made news in the past month.

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Ten for the Road

Trivia about an Indian state – featuring Bihar this month.

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India Writes

A space for discussing the best from India’s world of literature.

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Look Who’s In Town

Expats in India share their stories on a practical theme for everyday survival in this country.

Special coverage 18

Capital Route

A special look at Narendra Modi’s win in the Indian General Elections – with comments from expats on what this means for the country on the global stage.

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by Suzanne McNeill Short cultural snippets for an easily digestible India

Photo: www.priyaeasyntastyrecipes.blogspot.in

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Food and Drink

Words

Coarse wheat flour, dal and spices are the main ingredients in Dal-Baati-Churma, the baati being unleavened, flaky round breads that are baked over firewood or kandas (cow dung cakes) in the villages of Rajasthan. The dal is cooked, then fried in ghee with an array of ground spices. Finally, the trio of dishes is completed with the churma, deep-fried flour and semolina balls that are then ground coarsely and mixed with sugar, cardamom, almonds and pistachios to form a sweet dish. The three dishes are served together with spicy chutney and more ghee. Dal Baati Churma is always served at festivals and weddings.

A shayar is a poet who composes sher, or sha’iri, which is the name given to a rich tradition of poetry written in the Urdu, language. The principal form of sher is the ghazal, verses of rhyming couplets often about the beauty and pain of love.

The 19th century poet Mirza Ghalib is India’s most popular and influential shayar.

Sher is also a Persian word that has entered Urdu meaning ‘lion’, and is used to denote a courageous person. It has been used throughout history as a given name for kings and military commanders.

Dal Baati Churma (Rajasthan)

Shayar versus Sher (poet versus lion)

Art, Textile and Craft Moonj Basketry Allahabad

Coiled baskets made of wild grass are woven in the villages around Allahabad in eastern Uttar Pradesh. Moonj is the outer layer of the freely growing sarpat grass. The stalks are peeled into layers, left out in the dew to lighten the natural colour, then dried, gently knotted, and soaked to ensure flexibility.

The moonja strips are wrapped around lengths of dried grass talks. These are coiled to create the base and built up to form the curved sides of the baskets. Patterns are woven into the baskets using moonj strips that have been dyed red or green.

The baskets, which are lightweight but sturdy, are used as containers. Interestingly, hermits used to wear cloth made from the fibre of moonja grass, and bundles of the grass were spread for priests to sit upon during worship.

Photo: Shivani Saran (www.coroflot.com)

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Interpretations The passer-by, running his hands along the row of prayer wheels on each of which is inscribed a mantra, has set in motion a blessing that is circling outwards to all parts of the world. Prayer wheels are particularly associated with Tibetan Buddhism, of which there are many adherents in northern India. The prayer wheel is a physical manifestation of the phrase ‘turning the wheel of dharma (truth)’, which describes the way the Buddha disclosed his new teachings. Spinning the prayer wheel has the same meritorious effect on the devotee as reciting the mantra.

Photo: Maricou Annelies, Belgium

Photo: www.maggiemumbaimoments.blogspot.com

He/She Lives On

Urban Adventure

Francis Newton Souza was the first of India’s modern painters to achieve international success. His disturbing and powerful works have been exhibited alongside those of Picasso and are held in museum collections around the world.

Souza was born in 1924 into a Roman Catholic family in Goa. He was expelled from art school for participating in the Quit India movement and, in 1947, became a founder member of the Progressive Artists’ Group whose manifesto called for a total break with the constraints of the colonial past, and the creation of an art entirely Indian and modern. He painted still-lives, landscapes, erotic nudes and crucifixion scenes, and experimented tirelessly, developing a bold and vital style with forms distorted by heavy black contours and glowing colours.

Souza died in 2002.

Bustling Chor Bazaar is one of the largest flea markets in India, and is located on Mutton Street in a conservative Muslim area of south Mumbai. Chor means ‘thief’, and it was said if anything was lost in Mumbai, it could be bought back from Chor Bazaar! Now the crowded streets and crumbling buildings of Chor Bazaar are famous for second-hand, vintage and antique items, including bronze statues, brassware, musical instruments, old gramophone players, lamps, clocks, and spare parts for everything from cameras to cars. On a Friday the shops close and a vibrant street market takes over.

Dress modestly, prepare to bargain and beware of pickpockets!

F.N Souza

Chor Bazaar in Mumbai

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Cultural Lens

by Ranjini Manian

Highs and Lows of Context 1 In India, the relationship is given importance even in admonishing someone. In a direct culture, no thoughtlessness is intended, but no thought is given to the relationship

Photo: Valade Christine , France

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“No culture can survive if it attempts to be exclusive,” said Gandhiji. The communication gap caused by cultural differences is one that we all need to bridge. While for many Westerners there is only black or white, we Easterners have our shades of grey.

We were working with an executive from a German company that was going to set up a large manufacturing facility in India. The executive’s family was in the process of moving into their new home in India. Deadlines for completing the house had long passed and the delays went on and on. “We have never faced this lying and cheating and taking our money before. We were not prepared for this side of India,” our German client remarked.

My immediate reaction was: “These are harsh terms to bandy around when all that happened is that a project has been delayed.” But when I re-examined the background the client came from I realised the difference.

In the scenario there: You said ‘yes’ if you could do something.

You said ‘no’ if you couldn’t.

If you said ‘yes’ and couldn’t do it, you then forewarned people.

Next, you said by when you could finally do it.

And you jolly well did it.

If you said ‘yes’ and didn’t do it, then you were a liar and could not be trusted.

In the scenario here: You said ‘yes’ if you planned to do something.

You said ‘no’ or, more likely, ‘I will try’ if you were not sure or couldn’t.

If you said ‘yes’ and couldn’t, then you said ‘sorry’ when the deadline arrived and asked for more time.

Next, you said by when you could now do it.

You tried to really deliver this time.

If you said ‘yes’ and didn’t do it, you didn’t keep your word.

So you may or may not get another chance, but you were not branded for it.

High- and Low-context Cultures Hall’s theory of cultural context is in play in the above scenario. In India, we are a high-context culture. People develop close connections over a long time and know each other well. They value relationships more than the business at hand. People know what to expect of others and, so, don't really state everything explicitly. It is akin to the situation in a family where we know what to do and what to think from years of interaction.

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Many Western countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany belong to a low-context culture. In this society, people may have many connections, but they will be of shorter duration or only for some specific purpose.

Here, cultural behaviour may need to be spelt out explicitly so that those coming into this environment know how to behave. Here, it is similar to a sports group where rules are clearly spelt out and adhered to.

In high-context cultures, communication is indirect and what is said may have multiple interpretations based on body language, tone and words used. In low-context cultures, communication is direct and what you say is what you mean.

When cultures collide What happens when people from these two opposite cultures meet? There is bound to be a culture clash.

The Indian is offended when his American boss tapping his finger on the desk, says, “This delay is ridiculous. I want that report on my desk at 4 p.m.” He would have heard his Indian boss say “With this delay, you have let me down, considering you usually do such a good job on projects. I expect the report on my desk by 4 p.m.”

In India, the relationship is given importance even in admonishing someone. In a direct culture, no thoughtlessness is intended but no thought is given to the relationship. Period.

So too, when the protagonist of the story did not deliver the house on time, the German felt that he had been lied to and cheated.

An Indian, on the other hand, would probably have reacted with a feeling of, “Here we go again. I hope they have got the date right at least now”. Both will complain, but the latter will hesitate to use harsh judgemental words as that is not what his culture expects and also not what he would appreciate either when at the receiving end.

So goes the world of culture contextual communication.

We live in a world that is increasingly becoming flat.

We have to understand this difference and take off our cultural lenses when we look at a situation. It is only then that we will not take things personally, and that we will be careful about remarks that could be taken personally. This will ensure that jobs are done well, resulting in win-win situations for both parties. 1 (This article is a modified version of a piece published by the author in The Hindu Business Line print edition, January 15, 2007. Read the article at http://tinyurl.com/qyxy3le )

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India now

by Susan Philip

The month that was

1 A quick recap of events, people and places that made news in the past month

Arty Happenings

Business Matters

Barmer Boys Abroad

When in India, do business as Indians do…

The Barmer boys have concluded a coast-to-coast tour of the United States. No, they’re not a rock band. Their style is not rap or heavy metal or even gospel. They’re a group of singers from the desert state of Rajasthan, exponents of a centuriesold tradition of music practiced by the Manganiyars, a Muslim group. Their repertoire includes not just the music of the Sufi saints, but also typical wedding music of India and energising jamming sessions. The powerful voice of the chief vocalist, Mangey Khan, is accompanied by traditional percussion instruments played by other members of the group. The Barmer Boys have performed with worldrenowned groups such as Vieux FarkaToure, Bombino, Ba Ba Zu La, Madou Sidiki Diabate and Rupa and the April Fishes.

Amazon is piloting a project to use mom-and-pop stores, or kirana as they’re called in India, to give a thrust to its delivery system. The e-commerce major, which has, in almost sci-fi language, been talking of using drones for home deliveries in the United States, is trying out this down-to-earth option here in India as a way to overcome last-mile hurdles that have been plaguing e-retailers of every hue. The pilot is under way in Bengaluru, where staff at selected corner stores have been given special training, said Amit Agarwal, Amazon’s India head. If successful, the model will bridge a gap between online sales using sophisticated technology and small stores that are usually one-man shows.

1 Check out ‘Doing Business in India for Dummies’ by Ranjini Manian, Founder-CEO of Global Adjustments, for practical information on how to adapt to Indian working conditions.

Politics and Polity First among Voters The world watched in wonder as the biggest democratic process unfolded over the last couple of months in India. The 2014 General Elections saw the most number of voters who became eligible for the first time to choose 543 candidates to represent them in Parliament. Incredibly, it also saw Shyam Saran Negi, the first person to cast his vote in the first ever general elections in independent India – held way back in 1951 – exercise his franchise. Ninety seven-year-old Negi and his wife Hira Mani (92) came to the polling booth at Kalpa in Himachal Pradesh and cast their votes. This grand old man has exercised his constitutional right to choose his representative in every election so far – Panchayat, Assembly and Lok Sabha.

1 For a better understanding of the Indian electoral process, read ‘The Undocumented Wonder’ by Dr. S. Y. Qureshi.

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Sports Spots Stop! says the Court

Photo: Emmanuel Mancion, France

The Supreme Court recently imposed a ban on jallikattu, a bull-taming sport that is popular in parts of Tamil Nadu. Customarily held during the harvest season, this contest between man and beast puts both combatants, and sometimes the audience, in danger. Criticised by animal rights activists as a sport that is chillingly cruel, it has also resulted in serious injuries, if not death, to humans. The sport has many layers of implications, the obvious one being the valour of the man who subdues a raging beast. Jallikattu may be controversial, but there are many traditional sports across India that are not cruel.

This and That

The last ride

Two bridges over a bustling city

The hill station of Mussoorie has said its last farewell to a well-loved tradition – that of clip-clopping down the long stretch of the Mall Road on horseback. Around 25 horse owners have been offering regular rides to tourists and the people of the town itself. The local authorities, however, found that the horses left little room for pedestrians, and persuaded the horse owners to accept alternative means of livelihood. Though many of the horse owners are optimistic about the change, some are worried about adapting. And equestrians from surrounding areas who liked to canter along Mall Road will also now have to look for other riding ground.

4 The summer months usually see hill stations like Mussoorie in the Himalayas and Ooty in the South clogged with tourists. Try Chikaldhara in Maharashtra, Kausani in Uttaranchal or Yercaud in the South for a less crowded ‘cool’ break.

The traffic-choked city of Mumbai now boasts of a double-decker flyover.

The stunning facility, termed an ‘engineering marvel’ by the National Geographic Society, is expected to decongest traffic and cut travel time between Santacruz and Chembur by a precious half-hour or more. The upper and lower layers of the flyover have two lanes each for up and down traffic.

As many as 3,500 families who were displaced by the flyover had to be resettled by the implementing agency, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority.

Breeds Apart Pon Elangovan, a breeder of Rajapalayam dogs indigenous to Tamil Nadu, has been honoured with the ‘Breed Saviour Award’ by SEVA, an NGO. This species of hound is characterised by a white coat and pink skin, predominantly around the eyes and muzzle. The Rajapalayams, which make excellent guard dogs, and other breeds native to India are either fading out or being damaged by excessive in-breeding.

Pon Elangovan has been specially commended for taking care to avoid in-breeding.

3 Dog lovers can see the Rajapalayam and indigenous Indian breeds at dog shows regularly held across the country.

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Narendra Modi Capital Route Varanasi to New Delhi

Photo: Olya Morvan, Ukraine

Narendra Damodardas Modi (born on September 17, 1950) was sworn in as the Prime Minister of India on May 26, 2014. A member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Modi was a key strategist for the party in the 1995 and 1998 Gujarat state election campaigns. He became Chief Minister of Gujarat in October 2001 and served longer (2001 to 2014) in that position than anyone else to date.

He led the BJP in the 2014 General Elections, and won an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha (House of the People, lower house of the Indian Parliament).

Established in 1980, the BJP is one of the two major parties in the Indian political system (the other is the Indian National Congress). From 1998 to 2004, the BJPled National Democratic Alliance (NDA), a coalition of several parties, formed the national government. The BJP is currently in power in five states – including Gujarat, whose Chief Minister Narendra Modi led the NDA to a landslide win in the 2014 General Election. The BJP’s logo is the lotus – which is also the national flower of India. The lotus holds a special place in Indian spiritual tradition as it manages to retain its pristine state despite growing in marshes and slush. 1

The Prime Ministers of independent India since 1947.

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1 Culturama spoke to expatriate diplomats and business heads of various industries in all major cities. these are comments by numero uno expats about what Modi’s win could mean for india in the global scene “Mr. Narendra Modi has been widely acknowledged as the champion for economic progress and a good advocate for sound infrastructure development, something that the Indian economy desperately needs as it struggles to achieve growth.

The landslide victory has raised our expectations from the new government. We are particularly looking forward to the development in policies that will address vital employment and nationwide development concerns, as it is the need of the hour.”

German residing in Chennai “I see the result as a victory of the young generation. I feel the real issue was ‘Living For A Better Tomorrow – can we aspire for a better quality life?’ Mr. Modi and his team succeeded in projecting a bright future for the country, capturing the imagination of the people. It is good to emphasise a forwardlooking approach in business as well as in diplomacy. I hope Mr. Modi will live up to the huge expectation of the youth in the coming days.”

Japanese residing in Chennai “India is rapidly urbanising as people come to cities seeking jobs. Unfortunately, something as simple as lack of infrastructure is making that difficult. This, coupled with India’s struggle to take its place on the global stage while maintaining traditional values, customs and culture, creates a massive ideological divide that is a challenge for any Prime Minister to manage, no matter who is in power.”

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“The landslide victory of Mr. Modi is an indication of how much the Indian people want to change. All these hopes lie on the replication of what Mr. Modi did in Gujarat. The unexpressed potential of India is such that if Mr. Modi will win this challenge, India will definitely be one of the future world economic behemoths.”

Italian residing in New Delhi

“Change of a leader only does not mean as much as we anticipate, judging from my experience. What really matters is the people of the country. I can say that I have a confidence on the power and wisdom of Indian people. And I feel Mr. Modi is a man who can fully mobilize potential of Great Indian nation.”

Korean residing in Chennai “Having a clear majority government is a great success in a country where real and certainly tough decisions need to be made. Today, decisions should aim at driving long-term economic growth for generations to come – driving the job market – and, therefore, focus on a pro-business environment. From my limited perspective, a tough regimen to get the country to accelerate growth. Cutting red-tape, pushing back corruption and driving the job-market have. in all economies around the world, helped hundreds of millions out of poverty. I wish Modi good luck in driving India to a modern balanced society.”

Dutch residing in New Delhi “Whilst personally I am more of a Congress supporter than BJP, I think this election result could be good for India. Modi has good credentials from his time in Gujarat and has a clear mandate for change. Modi now has to deliver what he promised – and that’s the hard part. I hope it is all good for India and that your businesses all benefit.”

Australian former resident of Chennai

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Ten for the Road

by Susan Philip

Bihar

1 Explore the 29 states of this fascinating subcontinent from your armchair. This new segment will set out a collection of interesting, bite-size facts from each state – this month, we look at Bihar 1.

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How the land lies: Bihar is a land-locked state in eastern India. Its name is derived from the word vihara or monastery.

Political Pressures: Bihar’s capital, Patna, has been important, literally, for ages. It was the capital of the famous Magadh Empire. It was named Patna during the reign of Sher Shah Suri.

Past Glories: This was the birthplace of Prince Siddhartha, who later became the Buddha. It was at Bodh Gaya that the Buddha attained enlightenment, and at Vaishali that he preached his last sermon.

Vaishali was also the birthplace of Mahavir, the last saint of Jainism. Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth guru in Sikhism, was also born here! On the academic front, Bihar is where the famed Nalanda University – said to be the world’s first international one – was located.

Ethnic Fingerprint: Like most Indian States, Bihar is home to many tribes. Each has its distinctive patterns of language, dressing and cuisine. But some things are shared, such as reverence for the sal tree. When the sal blooms, the tribes of the region worship the spirit of the tree and seeking blessings for a good harvest.

Culture Quotient: Bihar’s unique Sama-Chadeva festival celebrates the coming of migratory birds. Young girls make clay images of the winged visitors and perform various rituals, ending with the vidai or farewell ceremony with a ‘till-we-meet-again’ element – the birds are invited to return the next year.

Personality Plus: Many people from this part of India contributed significantly to the freedom movement.

One holds a special place – Raj Kumar Shukla. A man who worked hard to secure a better future for lakhs of poor indigo farmers labouring under exploitative British rule, he made such an impression on Mahatma Gandhi that he chose the Champaran region of Bihar to launch his historic Satyagraha campaign.

7. Sights to See: The Sufi festival at Kako is a must-see. It is a state-promoted celebration at Hazrat Kamal Saheb Bibi’s mausoleum.

8. Tasty Treats: Littichoka – wheat flour balls with a spicy filling, served with a vegetable gravy – is a favourite Bihari snack. Taste the Mughal influence in the Bihari kebab. The sweet-toothed must try the murabba and peda.

9. Crafted with Care: The typically Bihari madhubani style of painting was traditionally done on freshly plastered walls of village houses. Now, it is done on canvas and cloth. Another rural art form is sujani embroidery.

Originally a way of recycling old clothes to make quilts for new-borns, layers of fabric were stitched together and embroidered in a distinctive style. Now, the same style is used to embellish skirts, stoles and other apparel.

10. Worshipfully Yours: The 400-metre-high Vishwa Shanti Stupa in Rajgir, built in shining white marble, is said to be the world’s tallest peace pagoda. It was built under the supervision of Nichidatsu Fujii, a Japanese Buddhist monk. 1 6.

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India writes

iREAD

My Iron Wings

by Subhashini Dinesh

Reviewed by Yamini Vasudevan

What is it about?

My Iron Wings revolves around Maya Srinivasan – a journalist in her late 20s; a woman of South Indian descent, who is born and brought up in the city of Kolkata.

At home, she finds herself in a battle of wills with her authoritarian father; Maya’s unmarried status at the age of 29 is a source of tension and worry for her family – and a flashpoint for the many battles fought between father and daughter. She meets several ‘suitable’ young men at the behest of her family, but inwardly seethes at the conservative arranged marriage system. Some attractive male colleagues and friends cross her path, but her experiences of a relationship are not fulfilled, and Maya is left with heartache and regret.

Workwise, she finds her niche in the news desk, and rises from the ranks of a trainee to that of a news editor. For a while, the office acts as a comforting distraction to the troubles at home, but a change at the top management means the introduction of technology and letting go of old hands. Maya finds herself at the crossroads – unable to tolerate her own decline in the new hierarchy, yet finding it hard to land herself a new gig elsewhere.

The story, which begins with Maya’s trip to Chennai to meet a prospective groom, ends with her family being forced to move from Kolkata (where they had resided for 52 years) to Chennai, where their extended family lives. In the journey between both points, the reader gets a glimpse of Kolkata in the 1990s, enlivened by the characters who pepper her narrative – a strong-willed patriarch in her father; a timid mother who finds her voice and strength when pushed to the limits; men who use physical intimacy to cajole and belittle Maya; aunts who use relationships as a leverage for negotiations; and friends and mentors who draw Maya out from the bounds of her family and neighbourhood.

The down-to-earth language and unpretentious tone of the narrative draw the reader in, and effortlessly link their interest with that of the principal character. And, in a refreshing change, Maya’s narrative ends not with her riding off into the sunset with a Prince Charming (even though she does eventually meet one), but with her decision to pursue the freedom she has been denying herself all along.

About the author: Subhashini Dinesh is a journalist who worked with several newspapers before taking up her present assignment as Assistant Professor at the Asian College of Journalism in Chennai. 1

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Advertiser's Feature

A bookstore with a difference The Amethyst shopping experience just got better with the opening of the CMYK bookstore at the boutique. The sprawling store on Whites Road now has a section dedicated to beautiful volumes on subjects ranging from food and cookery to travel and art.

CMYK Bookstore is an initiative of Roli Books and is a first of its kind concept bookstore in the country. The focus is on books dedicated to art and design, from award-winning publishers such as Phaidon, Thames and Hudson, Laurence King, Antique Collector’s Club, Tate Museum, British Museum, Abrams, Skira, Braun, and more. This is in addition to books from parent concern, Roli Books, publishers of quality illustrated books for over three decades. Over 20,000 titles in art, design, photography, architecture, jewelry, travel, lifestyle, specialty cookbooks, fashion, gardening, and a select collection of fiction, non-fiction and biography are available.

Amethyst, with its exclusive section of designer clothing, accessories and jewellery, flower shop and cafe, is set in a beautifully restored old warehouse. It has always been a sought-after space for art, theatre and culture in the city, hosting book and poetry readings, music recitals and art

exhibitions. The CMYK philosophy is similar, and aims to provide a space for a dialogue between like-minded people.

Together, Amethyst and CMYK seek to push the boundaries of a conventional store to become a vibrant cultural space.

The store opened in March with the launch of Dance of the Weave, a book by photographer Briana Blasko chronicling her journey through dance and weaving communities around the country, in photos that beautifully capture movement, colour and feeling. The event brought together some of the leading cultural commentators and thinkers in the city for an evening of dialogue.

Amethyst first opened its doors in 2000 and has since grown into a dynamic space that offers a complete shopping experience, showcasing some of India’s leading designers through exhibitions and events at the store upstairs. The flower shop has a unique range of exotic flowers and foliage and the café set in a verdant garden is a lush hideaway in the heart of the city. 1

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Photo: Savera Hotel, Chennai

In your kitchen

by Harini Sankaranarayanan

Postcard from Portugal

1 Food occupies pride of place in the households of Marathispeaking East Indians – so much so that culinary secrets are regarded as family treasures

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The East Indians were the original inhabitants of Mumbai, who were converted to Christianity by the Portuguese. Even though a lot of other converted Christians moved to the city in the years to follow under the British rule, this Marathispeaking community retained a separate identity of its own.

To differentiate themselves from the later Christian converts, they called themselves The East Indians. JoAnne Sandhana was born in Mumbai, and later moved to Chennai, but retains very strong ties with her community and ethnic roots. “Food and recipes to the East Indians has always been very precious.

It is very difficult to pry a family recipe out of an East Indian,” says JoAnne, whose family has been in the catering business for decades. “Even a mother-in-law will not share her recipes with her daughter-in-law. A few subtle changes will be made so that the recipe will never be the same.”

JoAnne recalls times from childhood summers, where exotic spices would be spread out in the sun and dried – to be pounded by hand later by the ladies of the house to make the famous ‘bottle masala’. “This is a masala that you will never find in any of the stores,” says JoAnne. “It contains over 50 spices including cinnamon, cloves and at least three to four different kinds of chillies.” Once hand-pounded, the masala was carefully stored in dark beer bottles – hence the name ‘bottle masala’. “We use this masala for almost everything,” continues JoAnne. "Somehow, it takes on different characteristics depending on the dish in which it is used.”

Mornings always started with a simple breakfast. “The original East Indians probably had pancake-like bread made of rice, but our family always had regular bread or toast for breakfast.” Lunch was always rice accompanied with a fish or prawn curry made with a touch of bottle masala. Vegetables were a must; broad beans, eggplant, cluster beans, raw mango, Method

Ingredients

Pre-heat the oven to 180 deg C.

Sugar – 500 gm

Grease and line two thalis or shallow baking pans. (Commonly used pans are 7.5 inches across the base.)

Semolina (sujee/rava) – 250 gm Dessicated coconut – 250 gm Eggs – 6 Butter – 2 tbsp Rose essence – ¾ tsp Almond essence – ½ tsp Baking powder – 1 tsp (dissolved in a tablespoon of warm water)

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radish and turnips were added to the fish or meat, or cooked on their own with a sprinkling of coconut. This simple foogath, as the dish was called, featured in most meals. Pearly white baby onions were hung from the rafters, dried and used whole to flavour the curries. Rice rotis with similar curries was a part of the dinner menus.

The pièce de résistance is probably the centre piece for Christmas or wedding dinners. A whole roasted suckling pig complete with the apple and stuffing is preferred to the more traditional turkey the rest of the world may be used to.

Local bakeries with their huge professional ovens are hired to roast the pig. “Since we owned a catering establishment,” JoAnne reminisces, “our entire house used to be filled with the savoury aroma for days before Christmas.” The fresh crisp crackling was sliced off and served as a snack or appetiser before the commencement of the main meal. This was always served with caramelised brown rice replete with nuts, fruits and eggs.

“We also love our ‘Bombay duck’ – a small fish dried and fried whole as do we the tiny little prawns fried to a crisp.” says JoAnne. Ox tongue sandwiches were a British influence, while the use of vinegar as a souring agent and chillies for spice came from the Portuguese.

Christmas was always a big celebration and was never complete without huge platters of sweets. Elaborate trays of beautifully arranged nankatai cookies, marzipan fruits, spongy marshmallows, crumbly coconut burfi, milk creams and date rolls make their way to neighbouring homes. Among the simplest of the Christmas recipes is Bol De Coco – a coconut cake that is almost just thrown together. Try this simple recipe and partake of an East Indian tradition passed down through the generations. 1

Bol De Coco Or Thali Sweet

Water – 200 ml

June 2014

Make a thin syrup of the sugar with 200 ml water. Dissolve the sugar as much as you can by stirring it off the flame.Once most of the sugar has been dissolved, put the liquid back on the flame. Do not stir the syrup or it will crystallise.

When all the sugar has melted, add the desiccated coconut and semolina.

Mix well while the mixture is still on the stove and add the butter. Keep stirring on a low flame for 7–10 minutes.

The mixture needs to be moist and not dry or lumpy. Take the mixture off the fire and leave it to cool completely.

Beat the eggs with the rose and almond essence.

When the mixture is completely cool, add the baking powder dissolved in water and the egg and essence mixture, making sure that the mixture is not lumpy.

Pour the batter into the prepared tins. Bake for 40 minutes or till a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

(This cake does not rise much.)

Cool, cut into diamond shapes and serve.

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Feature

by Suzanne McNeill

Where God Came to Stay Photo: Valade Christine, France

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1 India holds within its borders a number of sites that are of paramount importance to followers of the many religions in the country. For devotees, these holy places provide a meeting point between heaven and earth – where the visitor will feel he or she has passed into God’s presence “[India] is the holy land, the place of pilgrimage, the tirtha.”

– Swami Vivekananda India’s landscape is teeming with temples and tombs, monuments and shrines that attract millions of pilgrims each year. For devotees, these holy places provide a meeting point between heaven and earth – where the visitor will feel he or she has passed into God’s presence. India’s major religions all have sites that are considered holy – these may have mythical or historical significance, or they may attract pilgrims at a significant time in that religion’s calendar.

Hinduism The practices and iconography of Hinduism are evident across the entire country, and places considered holy are usually associated with the gods. Hindus believe in a progressive spiritual path that begins with the worship of one preferred deity to the recognition of God in all beings. The formless God is thus manifest everywhere and in everything and, at the final stage of the spiritual path, is worshipped as pure consciousness. It is no exaggeration to say that the chief temple of Hinduism is the universe, and that river banks and confluences of rivers (called sangam), the summits of mountains, coasts and forests are considered sacred places. Above all, water, the agent of purification, is revered, particularly the water of the Ganges river.

Ganges, India’s most holy river, was brought to earth from heaven through the intervention of Lord Vishnu, and its turbulence was calmed by the matted hair of Lord Shiva.

Thus, the water of the Ganges is believed to be always pure and purifying. Situated on the banks of the Ganges where it meets the Varuna river, the city of Benares is India’s most famous centre of pilgrimage and is especially sacred to Shiva, who is said to have lived there as an ascetic. The city is also associated with Rama. Hindus hold the belief that people who die here, and whose ashes are thrown into the Ganges, will be delivered from the cycle of death and rebirth.

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Haridwar, at the head of the Ganges, where the river leaves the Himalayas and enters the plains of India, is amongst the holiest places in India. The name of the city means ‘the Lord’s Gate’, and it is another place where the ashes of the dead are committed to the Ganges. Haridwar is one of the four sacred sites where the kumbh mela, the world’s largest religious gathering, is held. The other sites are at Ujjain on the Shipra, at Nasik on the Godavari, and at Allahabad at the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Sarasvati. Drinking the waters of the Yamuna River is said to absolve one from sin, and the river is second only to the Ganges in terms of its holiness. The city of Vrindavan, situated on the Yamuna, is regarded as the birthplace of Lord Krishna, and associated with the forests and sacred groves where he danced with the gopis (female cowherds) during his youth.

Kanyakumari at the southern tip of India is where the waters of the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean merge. Thousands visit each year to bathe here, to see the sun rise and set from the same position and to visit the temple associated with the goddess Kanya Devi, the local deity who guards the shoreline. A further 300 km along the coast, opposite Sri Lanka, is the sacred island of Rameswaram. It was here that Rama, an incarnation of Vishnu, landed with his wife Sita after she had been saved from Ravana, the demon king of Lanka.

The city of Puri in the eastern state of Orissa is one of Hinduism’s most holy and auspicious sites. It is believed to be the home of Jagannath, the Lord of the Universe, another form of Vishnu. Countless pilgrims visit the beach each year to ritually purify themselves in the sea before visiting the Jagannath temple and participating in the great devotional procession called the rath yatra, or Chariot Festival.

The most popular Vishnu shrine, however, is the Shri Venkateshwara Temple on the Tirumala Hills outside Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, which receives several thousand pilgrims each day. Pilgrims queue for hours to reach the inner sanctum of the complex to behold the presiding deity and receive darshan, the ‘auspicious viewing’. The experience of darshan bestows blessing on the pilgrim. High in the Trikuta Hills in the state of Jammu and Kashmir sits another of India’s ancient shrines – the Vaishno Devi Temple, which is dedicated to Shakti. The prominent site here for the millions of devotees who visit is the narrow cave that was the abode of the Goddess, who lived a learned and ascetic life and was blessed by Rama before she shed her human form, assumed the face of the rock and immersed herself in her meditation for ever.

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Jainism

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Photo: Bipin Khimasia

The word ‘Jain’ comes from jina, which means one who conquers one’s enemies, such as jealousy, anger and passion. The religion was given its present-day form by Mahavira, a saint who was born in the 6th century BCE and is regarded as the last and most important of the religion’s 24 teachers. The central theme of Jainism is ahimsa – non-violence in thought, word and deed. Jains do not worship any deities.

There are about three to four million adherents of Jainism, who live mostly in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, and Jain temples are some of the most beautiful in India. The most sacred Jain site is Sravanabelagola in Karnataka, where stands an eight-metre-high monolithic statue of Gomateshvara, who rejected the world and was the first human to achieve liberation or moksha by meditation and austerity. Thousands of devotees congregate here to perform the Mahamastakabhisheta or ‘sacred anointment’ – a spectacular ceremony that is the focus for Jain pilgrims, and is held once every 12 years. The Palitana Temples at Shatrunjaya, in Gujarat, are India’s principal Jain pilgrimage site. More than 900 temples crown a single hill, which is believed to have been the place where Rishaba, Jainism’s first great teacher, gained enlightenment.

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Photo: Leann Canty, USA

Buddhism’s most sacred sites are centred around the prince who became a pauper, and whose awakening sits at the heart of the faith. The enlightenment of the Buddha came at Bodh Gaya, where, under a fig tree, Prince Siddartha meditated until he entered a state of great clarity in which he felt no sense of himself and others as separate entities.

This sense of peace is the enlightenment that Buddhists call anatman (not self), and leads to the pureness of understanding that is nirvana, Buddhism’s ultimate end.

Even as it flourished beyond India, Buddhism lost influence within the land of its birth as Brahminic ideology evolved, and the religion lost royal patronage. It had all but disappeared from India by the 13th century BCE. However, small pockets of Buddhist adherents remain in Himalayan areas such as Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. Also, the migration of many Tibetan exiles into northern India has created in the city of Dharamsala one of the main centres of Buddhism in the world.

Buddhism’s most sacred place of pilgrimage, however, remains Bodh Gaya in Bihar, the site of the Buddha’s enlightenment. A giant resort has grown up around the sacred Mahabodhi Temple (also sacred to Hindus), which holds the offshoot of the original Bodhi tree. Visiting Bodh Gaya bestows blessings on the pilgrim, earns merit for a better rebirth and makes a karmic connection with the place of enlightenment. Pilgrims tie coloured threads to the branches of the Bodhi tree and decorate it with prayer flags.

A few kilometres from Benares is Sarnath, and the Deer Park where the Buddha preached his first sermon, listing the Four Noble Truths that identified the problem and causes of suffering, and the Eight-fold Path that told adherents how to live an appropriate life and achieve release from suffering.

As the place where the voice of Buddhism was first heard, the Deer Park is considered one of the most holy sites of

Buddhism. A particular focus for visitors is the 6th century Dhamekha stupa – visitors walk around it, chanting mantras, to symbolise the eternal wheel of existence. Kushinara, near Kasia in Uttar Pradesh, is the site of the Buddha’s death, and its cluster of temples, Tibetan, Burmese and Chinese monasteries and ruined stupas is the final site of Buddhist pilgrimage within India.

Photo: Ruzka Vanda Keus

Buddhism

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Photo: Yngve Andersson, Sweden

Christianity It is believed that Christianity was rooted in India by the 6th century CE. India had a flourishing trade with the Mediterranean and the Middle East, and it is likely that Christian merchants settled along the coastal trading routes.

Legend has it, however, that Christianity was introduced to India by Thomas – one of the 12 apostles or disciples of Jesus Christ (sometimes called Doubting Thomas), who landed in Kerala in 52 CE. His first church is located at Thiruvithancode in Tamil Nadu, now an international St. Thomas pilgrim centre. Thomas was martyred in 72 BCE at Mylapore in Chennai, and the San Thome Cathedral, built by the Portuguese, later Christian arrivals, now marks the site of his tomb. To this day, there are Christian populations across Kerala and Tamil Nadu. From the 16th century onwards, Christianity in India is linked with the arrival of foreign invaders. Francis Xavier was the first Jesuit missionary to arrive in Portuguese Goa, where he founded numerous churches and is credited with performing miracles. The 400-year-old Basilica of Bom Jesus holds his mortal remains, and a ceremony of ‘exposition’ held every 10 years attracts thousands of pilgrims.

Photo: Babette Verbeek, The Netherlands

An alternative site of religious significance for India’s Christians is Velankanni Church, situated on the Bay of Bengal in Tamil Nadu, and fondly known as the ‘Lourdes of the East’. Dedicated to the Virgin Mary, who appeared with the infant Jesus in this small hamlet around the end of the 16th century and performed three miracles, the church draws nearly two million pilgrims each year.

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Photo: Carles Berruezo Domingo

Photo: Aurelie Marsan, France

Islam Unique amongst religions, pilgrimage, call hajj, is a duty that followers of Islam are obliged to fulfil, and is one of the five pillars of faith that provide a complete guide to a Muslim’s life. The prominent site of hajj for every practising Muslim in India, as elsewhere, is Mecca, the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad in 570 CE. Within northern India, where the largest concentration of India’s Muslim population still lives, the great Islamic cities and monuments of the medieval Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal dynasty attract millions of visitors each year. However, the sites of particular religious pilgrimage are India’s Sufi shrines. A sufi is a Muslim ascetic and mystic, and Sufism found a sympathetic environment in India. The inward life is preferred over the material world, and Sufi saints are believed to be in closer communication with God, and therefore worthy of reverence.

Hence, the tombs of their saints are a source of spiritual power and good luck.

The life of Hazrat Nizamuddin (1238–1325) exemplified the mystic interpretation of Islamic life. After years of academic study, he settled with his disciples in a simple community on the banks of the Yamuna River near Delhi.

His fame spread, and thousands began to visit to receive instruction and blessings from him. Nizamuddin’s daily life radiated love, tolerance and service to mankind, and he

dispersed food and money to the poor. By the time he died, he was generally accepted as a saint, and the site of his tomb in central Delhi, now part of a complex of mosques and shrines, is one of the principle places of Islamic reverence in India.

A sacred destination for Muslims (and also for Hindus) is the dargah, or shrine, of Khwaja Moin-ud-din Chisti at Ajmer Sharif, 135 km from Jaipur. Moin-ud-din Chisti, born in the 12th century, is revered as India’s first Sufi saint. He travelled widely, studying at all the great centres of Muslim culture, before being directed to India by the Prophet. He settled at Ajmer, where he attracted a substantial following and preaching tolerance and respect for religious differences. The Mughal Emperor Akbar undertook a pilgrimage on foot to the shrine, establishing it as a centre of pilgrimage. The saint is renowned for fulfilling the wishes of his followers.

Immensely popular is a visit to the 15th century dargah of Haji Ali Shah Bukhari, sited at the end of a causeway on the shoreline of southern Mumbai. Haji Ali was a wealthy merchant who gave away all his wealth before making the hajj to Mecca. His followers believe he performed several miracles in his life, and that his spirit lives on. Thousands of Sikhs and Hindus are among the millions of devotees who visit the dargah every year to pray for miracles, and the number of visitors swells during Ramadan and Bakrid.

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1 the Golden Temple faces all four directions, with four gates at each corner, making it accessible to all Sikhism The Sikh faith was revealed through the nine messengers or gurus who lived in North India between 1469 and 1708 BCE. The religion’s founder was Guru Nanak, who had a mystical experience and became a full-time preacher, helping men and women to know the God who was quietly present in their hearts, rather than merely carrying out prescribed rituals.

The city of Amritsar is home to the Golden Temple, the spiritual centre of the Sikh faith and Sikhism’s holiest site.

The site was originally a small lake in a quiet forest, which became a meditation retreat for wandering sages and a shrine before the fifth guru, Arjan, built the temple. As does the Sikh faith, the temple architecture draws on both Hindu and Muslim elements – but where Hindu temples face east, and Muslim temples face Mecca, the Golden Temple faces all four directions, with four gates at each corner, making it accessible to all with no distinction based on caste, creed, sex or race. A major tourist destination as well as a holy site, the dining hall serves free meals in shifts of hundreds of people at a time, feeding 30,000–40,000 a day. 1

Photo: Gemmarie Venkataramani, Phillipines

4 The Global Vipassana Pagoda, a giant meditation hall near Mumbai, was built as a monument of peace and harmony. Vipassana is India’s most ancient technique of meditation, as passed down in the Buddhist tradition.

1 Pick up Banaras, City of Light by Diana Eck for a comprehensive read about the holy town of Varnasi.

3 Witness the town of Puri come alive during the Puri Jagannath Rath Yatra. http://tinyurl.com/mvxjnr8 3 Catch glimpses of the Urs Festival, held to commemorate the Sufi saint Moinuddin Chisthi.

The festival, an annual event, is held in Ajmer, and attracts pilgrims from across India and the world. http://vimeo.com/72983923 3 The Golden Temple at Amritsar has a community kitchen that feeds 50,000 pilgrims on an average every day. Watch the preparation of the langar or free meals at the kitchen – a tradition honoured by the Sikh community. http://tinyurl.com/kbj4r5c 4 Pay a visit to the Velankanni Church – said to be the only one in India where Mother Mary is portrayed wearing an Indian sari.

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Advertiser's Feature

Your Home, Your Temple “One who earns the Grace of Bhairavi neither has to live in concern or fear of life or death, of poverty or failure. All that a human being considers as wellbeing will be his if only he earns the Grace of Bhairavi.”

– Sadhguru, mystic and yogi In ancient Indian culture, every aspect of life was carefully studied with a view to assist the individual’s inner growth.

Spiritual masters and yogis of the past strived to provide people with the necessary atmosphere for this spiritual growth. They created powerful energy fields in the forms of temples and consecrated spaces,which stood at the heart of every town and city.

Life within these sacred spaces was a manifestation of the most unbridled exuberance. This was because people always found that the energies emanating from these spaces were conducive to prosperity, good health, success and spiritual wellbeing. Hence, living in an energised space was considered an indispensable necessity, valued over everything else.

But over the years, people have forgotten about the significance of these spaces and today, humanity is largely deprived of these benefits. To bring the grace and energy of consecrated spaces back into people’s lives, Sadhguru has devised the Linga Bhairavi Yantra.

Consecrated spaces are filled with limitless possibility.

Imagine an atmosphere akin to ancient temples but

within the four walls of the house. Imagine a maternal compassionate energy in whose lap you are nurtured to your full potential. Imagine a higher intelligence steeped in ancient culture, helping you to flow effortlessly through life.

Yantras are powerful consecrated forms which are uniquely personalized and will work to create the right energy for your home and workplace. “Yantra” in Sanskrit means “machine.”

These yantras are machines for empowerment: materially and spiritually.

Living in a consecrated space, created by yantras, nurtures wellbeing, bringing stability to body and mind, leading to spiritual growth as well as material prosperity. 1 You can receive the Linga Bhairavi Yantra from Sadhguru during the YantraCeremony – a powerful initiation conducted on 26th June 2014 at Isha Yoga Center, Coimbatore. For more information – please call 09367777771 or 094890 45132, or email yantra@lingabhairavi.org.

What the people touched by these Yantras have to say: “Since Sadhguru blessed us with the Linga Bhairavi Avighna Yantra, unbelievable things have happened in our life. I’m a surgeon. The moment patients arrive at our unit, they experience a tremendous sense of peace and serenity. I’ve begun to understand what Sadhguru always says about the importance of living and working in a consecrated space.”

–J.D. Ghosh, Professional, Essex, UK

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Look who’s in town Mumbai

Made in Mumbai

1 German Judith Evers maps her way around Mumbai, discovering exceptional handcrafted products of the city Rather than fit Judith Evers into a specific job profile, it would be better to call her a ‘discoverer’. The co-founder of e-commerce site, www.discovered.us, Judith is on a mission to hunt down forgotten handcrafted products that Mumbai’s artisans offer. She came to Mumbai first in 2010 – since then, this has been her ‘city of dreams’.

“Besides the everyday challenges of riding the local trains and the hot summers, I experience the atmosphere as busy but positive,” she says. In her travels across the city, she came across artisans who struggle to survive, which led her to come up with “our e-market place, where we connect artisans from emerging economies to buyers who prefer these unique products.” Judith also had her moments of fun in Mumbai: “Once I got lost in Dharavi and a huge group of kids was helping me to find my way out, while we had the funniest conversations in a Hindi-English mix. Another time, I got lost again, so I had to open my laptop in the middle of the street and several rickshaw drivers and a chaiwallah were helping me figure out my way on Google maps.”

German Style Back home from Germany, you can find some really creative people designing their own jewellery or clothes, but that’s a minority.

Most people just don’t have the time or money for handmade products. So they go to H&M to shop for a scarf or buy jewellery from Accessorize. In India, on the other hand, handmade products are way more present. You will always stumble across some beautiful handwoven stoles, block-printed fabrics or handmade jewellery.

Designer destination Mumbai really has it all – there are awesome young talents such as the designers of Bombay Atelier or Arjun Rathi Design. There is also cheap Rajasthani jewellery sold on the streets, or beautiful leather sandals made locally in Dharavi. If you want to find more handicrafts from all across the country under one roof, take a look at Loveknits in Bandra or Tribal Route in Versova. Designer products can be found at the Filter shop or Bombay Electric in Colaba.

Tips to take You have to remember that not much is actually produced in Mumbai. The city with the Gateway of India is a transition point for beautiful local handicrafts. You can buy many beautiful things here, but if you actually want to talk and meet the maker of your product of choice you have to travel deep into the country.

When in Germany Look out for traditional handicrafts, such as the famous Cuckoo clocks or Meißner porcelain, that Germany is famous for. 1

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The London story

Look who’s in town Bengaluru

Bend it in Bengaluru 1 Young Britisher Myles Magidsohn gives us the highs and lows of life in Bengaluru, where he lives with HIS parents Myles Magidsohn has just learnt the rules of street cricket – and he loves to play this game with his friends. A much-loved game in India, it is popular during summer when school holidays have begun. Myles, an 11-year-old Britisher, never played street cricket before – but that hasn’t come in the way of his learning the sport.

Myles, who is from London, moved to Bengaluru with his parents, Deborah and Jon. The family maintains a common blog (www.ourdailychapati.com), in which they write about life in this new city. According to Myles, “I thought the city would be overwhelming and I wouldn’t get used to it; lots of garbage, and people on the streets. But the auto rickshaws were fun, and I liked riding around the city”. Less than a year later, the family says Bengaluru is a city with “never a dull moment”. As Myles says, “Now it feels like home, I have good friends and I like going around looking at the buildings, cows, and I even see monkeys.”

My school in Bengaluru, Trio World School, is better in a way.

In London, I had more friends, but our playing field was concrete and there was no grass – the best thing here is that there’s grass! In London, we could play football only twice a week; here we play every day. There are fewer kids in my class here (only eight, compared to 30) so I can’t mess around as much. I like Indian food – especially prawn curry and egg curry. But I do miss fish and chips and good pizza. Most people live in apartments around where we live, in Cooketown, including us; in London, we lived in a house.

Bengaluru Adventures Travel: There are good trips from Bengaluru to climb mountains and go hiking such as Savandurgh and Nandi Hills. I like Lalbagh, but there aren’t quite as many parks here. My favourite holiday was on a houseboat in Kerala. I also liked sleeping on a train.

Sports: I’ve been lucky to see lots of sports. I watched a One-Day International cricket match of India versus Australia – and I saw a double century! I play cricket on my street with the local kids. I also play cricket at my cricket club, KIOC – I’m the only non-Indian there, but it feels okay.

Festivals: When we first arrived, we went to the Ganesha parade and lots of kids wanted to take our picture. I still feel like a foreigner here because people are always asking me where I’m from, but some people are really nice and welcoming.

Getting into the groove When you first arrive, try to only do a little bit for the first few days. It can be overwhelming – people might ask you questions and the crowds will be large.

• If you have a chance, visit some markets, get out and meet new friends.

• Try to learn about what there is to do here. Be prepared for people asking you where you’re from. And definitely be prepared for the mosquitoes!

• Go watch football and cricket.

• If you’re homesick, go to UB City or some of the malls, where you can see films or go bowling and eat Krispy Kreme donuts. 1

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Look who’s in town Chennai

The Chennai Express 1 Australian Meredith Chipperton lets us peek into her little black book for places to entertain children in sunny Chennai Meredith Chipperton equates life in Chennai to “organised chaos that works so harmoniously well while also providing a major sensory experience”. Even after having lived here for more than a year, Meredith and her two daughters are still discovering the city.

While Chennai continues to amaze the family, they wonder about the “few incidents in regard to all the cars, cows, water buffaloes, goats, dogs and people all with their own sense of direction and purpose!” Meredith’s six-year-old, Charlotte, loves Indian dance and said, ‘You don’t smile – not the big Broadway smile that Western dancers use – when dancing here.” Meredith was left stupefied at the little child’s understanding of Indian dance forms.

The Great Outback Australia is known for its ‘Great Outdoors’ and it really doesn’t disappoint! The beaches, the ‘bush’, the red desert, the Great Barrier Reef, snow, rivers and waterfalls, green space, playgrounds, sporting events and animals – kangaroos, koalas, emus, wombats, kookaburras! Whether it’s a beach holiday, camping, bushwalking or just a park for the little ones, there’s so much to experience outdoors.

The museums and art galleries are fantastic for children as young as two years old, as they have designated interactive areas where children can explore, learn and tap into their own creativity and have fun!

Going outdoors in India means exploring the rich history and culture that the country has to offer – mingling with and experiencing all the festivals, rituals for the pujas and events like Ganesh Chaturthi, the creative drawings of rangoli and kolams, lighting of incense, forts, palaces and all the different varieties of mangoes… India is such a sensory experience!

The Chennai outdoors -

- - -

Visit ‘The Farm’ on OMR – a great outdoor space where kids can make their own pizzas, have a tour around, ride a horse, and take home fresh produce. Their yoghurt and strawberry jam are the best in Chennai!

The Theosophical Park is a magnificent space full of trees in the heart of Chennai – a great space to go for a long walk.

Tara bookshop in Thiruvanmiyur has an area where kids can draw – plus, you can also take a small tour of where the children screen-print and hand-make their books.

Ideal Beach is a lovely getaway for the day with a group of friends under the thatched huts on the sand, where the kids can play in the sand or water, or have a nap in the hammocks.

Summer tips - - -

Water! When kids are busy they forget to drink, so keep offering them water.

Dress your kids in cotton only – no synthetics. Anokhi and Fab India have a lovely range of cotton clothing for kids.

Introduce your kids to coconut water – a nutritious health drink (plus, it helps calm upset tummies).

When in Australia In Victoria, drive along the Great Ocean Road and see the natural beauty of the bush meeting the ocean, spot the native flora and fauna or go and see the penguin parade at Phillip Island, which is fun and educational. The museums are interactive and a go-to option for when it’s raining. Also, check out Science Works in Melbourne.

The Ian Potter Playground in the Botanical gardens is a wonderful exploratory, sensory garden designed for children – and there’s a great café right near it using produce from their own garden. 1

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Seeing India

by Ian Watkinson

Rubies in Mustard 1 Nestled in the surreal surrounds of rural Bengal is Bishnapur – a seemingly quiet village that is home to several monuments and a bit of chequered history

Kolkata’s Santragachi railway junction is bleak – empty concrete platforms and cold steel rails converge in the distant foggy light. The few waiting passengers huddle in small groups, thin dark shawls wrapped around their heads against the chill. Mustachioed men under woollen caps draw deeply on beedis and spit in unison onto the silent tracks. More people drift slowly onto Platform One clutching small cups of tea in both hands – succour against the chill. As we wait, shuffling our feet like so many mechanised mannequins, the sun’s glow lights the sky through sultry mist. Slowly the platform comes alive, imbued by an invisible vitality. The light forms shadow and contrast around eyes and mouth and nose; flat light gives way to depth and dimensionality.

Another day is born.

The western bound train arrives late, and slowly makes its way into the countryside of West Bengal. Its line of carriages splits the green silent carpet of endless rice-paddy

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like a blade. Lines of women in vibrant colours bend over, ankle deep in water; bundles of young rice are neatly replanted from the nursery. Bengal’s rural beauty is surreal.

At railway crossings, bamboo barriers patiently block the roads of red beaten soil, halting a few Hercules bicycles here, a cart there. Flowering mustard (sarsang) explodes as glorious yellow on green.

Streams of vendors traverse the train selling jhal muri – puffed rice tossed with onion, spicy sauce and sprouted channa (chickpeas). The ingredients are mixed in a tin pot with the skill of a bar tender mixing an exotic cocktail, then deftly poured with a theatrical flourish into a newspaper cone. ‘Vegetable Chop’ (a kind of croquette) with an egg in the middle is consumed with great appreciation by our new companions, a group of elderly Bengali gentlemen.

A varied selection of Bengali newspapers is circulated, quickly stimulating the passengers’ delightful indulgence in

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articulate and intense discussion dissecting the political news of the day.

By mid-morning, the train reaches the ancient town of Bishnapur. There are no eager auto rickshaw drivers and hustlers here. Only a balmy silence, gently broken by a surfeit of cycle rickshaw pullers who huddle around the station buildings; friendly, lungi-clad, thin-faced men, coloured bandanas across their foreheads, rickshaws held together with string, rope and tape, rusty screws and rough wood, stuffing escaping from the ancient seats. These are poor yet strong and proud people, their rickshaws giving them a fragile lifeline into the monetary system by providing an honest if minimal income. There are many more rickshaws than passengers. The few who gracefully undercut their competitors’ fares set off to pedal the five kilometres into town. Residents or visitors, all headed for town; cases, packages and jute parcels piled high on the rickety rickshaws, random arms conduct a comical

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choreography designed to prevent anyone or anything from tumbling onto the road.

Bishnapur defies conformity to stereotypes of generic modernity. Hardly any cars traverse its lanes, most of which are compacted red dirt barely wide enough for a rickshaw to navigate. The tinkle of bells delicately freshens the air, a welcome lightness to the standard belch and screech of modern diesel beasts. Nothing much happens in a hurry here; my kind of town. A few wooden tea shops with long benches and jars of round biscuits are the only forms of publically available refreshment. Laughing women in bright saris congregate around stand pipes along the streets, scouring cooking pots and beating clothes on stones. At the side of the road, shiny buffalos and jovial wire-haired pigs share the muddy ponds with purple-flowered wild shrubs. As the light of day turns into a water-colour pale evening, a murder of crows noisily invades an ancient banyan tree, and serenity fades with the light.

Dawn brings crisp bright sun, which drives away the damp mist, leaving the red earth firm. Men and small boys fish in the many ponds and ancient tanks with cane rods and veil-like nets cast across the flat water; workshops fashion elaborate white bangles from conch shells; silk saris are woven. Bare feet patter on spotless earthen floors.

From this small city, beginning in the 7th century, the tribal Malla Shaivite kings ruled over the large surrounding area of jungle land named Mallabhum (‘Land of the Wrestlers’). Under a reformed Bir Hambir, the 49th king and initially a cruel tribal chieftain, the Malla kingdom converted to the Vishnaiva cult in the 17th century. Bishnapur was born. A contemporary of Akbar, Bir Hambir used his strategic position to cleverly maintain a degree of independence for Mallabhum during the power struggles between Muslim factions sweeping along the Ganges.

PhotoS: All photos by the author

Bishnapur was now entering its Golden Age. Fêted by the Nawabs of nearby Mushidabad, some of the most unique temple and palace structures in Northern India were built here from the 17th century until eventual annexation of the area by the East India Company. Indeed it was said that ‘Bishnapur is the most renowned city in the world, more beautiful than the house of Indra in heaven’.

Within a century or so, an abundance of new temples and palaces were constructed, all built in the Nagara (shikhara) style, the Chala-Bangla style, based on local curved-roofed thatched huts, or the Eka-Ratna (single tower) style. Initially built and carved from sharp laterite rock, and later from brick, these magnificent structures of massive red pillars and pink arches are covered with fine carvings, and further embellished with a cladding of elaborate terracotta tiles beautifully adorned with gods, demons, villagers, flora and fauna and scenes from the Ramayana. There are over 30 such beautiful temples scattered around the town – red rubies scattered in a sea of emerald mustard. Calcutta was still barely a feisty infant when the Malla dynasty fell sick in the late 18th century. The great famine of 1770 and raids by the Marathas finally laid it to rest.

Another red pillar catches the eye, and reasserts the present, as a giant stack of red plastic chairs leans perilously into the narrow street. A band playing drums, tuba, clarinet and trumpet swings and sways to celebrate the end of yesterday’s wedding at the Hotel Paradise, serenading the workers as they move generator, lights, speakers, chairs, bamboo scaffold and bunting a considerable eight metres across the road to the almost identical Hotel Luxury for another night of wedding festivity. The rickshaw wallahs are lined up in the market place, the crows regroup in the banyan tree, the stage is set. And another tomorrow again becomes today. 1

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Advertiser’s Feature

The Mindfulness retreat is a five-day immersion experience in personal and

Transformative workshop June 26 to 30

collective transformation. Mindfulness is our capacity to be aware and our capacity to be in the present. By building small practices of mindfulness on a daily basis, we become mindful over time. These practices can take different forms like breath work, yoga and sound. The retreat is designed as an allinclusive, deeply engaging experience that brings you in touch with others who are on their own journey of mindfulness.

To facilitate this journey, the retreat brings together some of the best practitioners of Mindfulness such as Celebrity coach Santosh Babu, Tibetian Yoga expert Raageshwari, Holotropic Breathwork practitioner Sharanya Naik, Kundalini Yoga expert Anita Prem Anand, renowned healer Shruti Poddar, Pranic healers Nidhi Jain and Shivani Hariharan.

All this, in a place where the loudest noise you hear is your own inner voice, creating that perfect space for you to grow and find yourself. This retreat is not for the casual explorer or for those who routinely avoid the whispered longings of the heart. It is for individuals interested in selfexploration and transformation, for those who wish to taste and explore new ways of knowing. This retreat will give you multiple tools to do all of this and bring about an intense transformative experience. 1 Venue: Kairali Ayurvedic Healing Village, Palakkad, Kerala.

Contact: wakeup@miruslifestyle.com or +91 9582645226 for more details.

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Seeing India

by Saritha Rao Rayachoti

Princess of the

hills

PhotoS: All photos by the author

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1 Cool off this summer in the pristine environs of the Kodaikanal hills where You can discover more than just hills and scenic beauty

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I have fond memories of an earlier time, when school excursions from Madurai were invariably to Kodaikanal – where friendships were forged over smuggled cigarettes and teen romances kindled on post-dinner walks. I have grown up since, and so has Kodaikanal, which now aspires to upgrade from the ‘Princess’ of hill stations to ‘Queen’. Lately, although I steer clear of tourist attractions such as Chettiar Park, Bryant Park, Coaker’s Walk and Pillar Rocks, I absently revert to calling this beloved hill station by its touristy nickname, Kodi.

I can’t help notice how some things remain the same and some have changed. The man-made lake – the brain child of Vere Henry Levinge – continues to be the tourist hub, with bicycles and horses for hire, and street-food indulgences of steamed peanuts and roasted corn-on-the-cob seasoned with lime, fiery chilli powder and salt. Cherubic toddlers of Tibetan origin belonging to the next generation of cling to their mothers’ chubas in shops selling woollens. The fruit stalls near the bus stand continue to sell plums that are always too ripe to behold and too sour to devour.

The homemade chocolate industry has grown by leaps and bounds, and the Cheese Factory is renowned for its cheddar. ‘Suicide Point’ has long since shed its besmirched reputation and now goes by the real-estate-friendly name

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of ‘Green Valley View’. I itch to do something different – to delve to find a deeper personal connection to the place. This is where a nature guide like Kumar comes in. He leads treks and nature walks in and around Kodaikanal and staunchly follows the adage: ‘Take only pictures, leave only footprints’.

He also believes that the Forest Department is justified in keeping some lush parts of the forest, particularly the area around Berijam Lake, off limits for tourist invaders.

Over the years, Kumar has added numerous words and phrases to our nature vocabulary – hipericum, yellow raspberry, wild passion fruit, wild lemon, blue gum, acacia bark and numerous kinds of lichen. We learned from him that the ‘idli-flower’, with its flower-head that looks like the South Indian steamed rice-cake, is hydrangea that grows blue in these parts because of the high iron content in the soil.

Thankfully, Kumar steers clear of mentioning the famed blue kurinji, whose blooming once in 12 years in these hills I have been unfortunate to miss thrice over.

On one of Kumar’s treks, we met two tireless German farmers who walked on ahead, discussing botanical names of the trees that they passed, while we wheezed weakly to catch up with them. Another time, we trudged up a hill to a little house that hugged the side of a steep hillside where we met someone who was presumed to be skilled at crafting moccasins the Native American way. I had my Pied Piper moment when we walked through a village handing out many kilos of ripe plums to the children of the village who pursued us till we ran out of fruit.

This morning, we are blessed with glorious weather on a half-day nature walk with Kumar and a few other trekkers.

The sun is only now beginning to slant into the Sholas, shooting slivers of light through the dense foliage that is still dripping moisture from last night’s rain. I inhale the wet, lush, earthy aroma and try to memorise the smell of this morning. The others in our group have moved ahead but I decide to take it slow, attempting to capture some of the experience in futile megapixels.

I feel something brush against the side of my leg, and jump back to let Shiva – Kumar’s companion – bound ahead of us. He is impatient for the opportunity to play ‘fetch’ and frequently jumps into ponds to retrieve sticks, liberally drenching us in the process. Ever since, as a child, I was chased by a ferocious dog, I have always been nervous even around an even-tempered Labrador like Shiva.

I admire the sight of a bunch of worms that walk in a weird manner on the shaded path. I crouch to get a good

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Global Wellness Series

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On sultry, humid days, muscles compete with the skin for blood circulation.

When it's hot outside, more blood flows near the skin to help dissipate body heat and cool the body down thereby keeping your body's temperature from rising to dangerous levels. But that can mean less blood reaches muscles, hence the lethargy.

Here are a few tips that will help you keep you cool in the sweltering Indian summer!

• Besides water, drink a lot of fluids to avoid dehydration like lemonade or coconut water. Water in earthenware pots is naturally cool.

• Avoid eating oily food and eat a lot of salads and fresh fruits that naturally contain water, like water melon – in fact this fruit contains nearly 92% water and up to 14% of vitamin C. But avoid eating cut fruit from vendors

Beat the Heat 1 With summer at its peak, Dr.K Baraneedharan, Diabetologist at Global Hospitals advises some essential tips to follow.

as it may have been exposed to flies and dust.

• Avoid moisturizer, especially if you have oily skin, and dust on some loose powder to seal the oil in. Wear sunglasses with 100 per cent UV protection and wear a cap • When you feel warm indoors hang a wet sheet by a window, which is open. Close your windows before it gets too hot outside. Shower at regular intervals to keep your body cool.

• Exercise at a time when heat and humidity is at its lowest but make sure to drink water after every 20 minutes of exercise.

• Spicy food makes one perspire and when the sweat evaporates it makes one feel quite cool!

If all else fails, take a break and head to any of India’s hill stations! 1

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angle to capture the mid-air wiggle that these worms make. Kumar usually sets his pace by those in the group who lag behind and I’m not surprised to find him standing nearby, observing me. But I am focused on capturing for digital posterity, this mysterious type of worm that uses both ends of its body to manoeuvre its way.

“If I were you,” says Kumar in a hushed voice, “I would be very still.”

In these parts, it is not uncommon to come across a gaur, an Indian bison that is indigenous to the region. I remember seeing one on a previous trek, a majestic beast with large horns, a muscular back and legs seemingly clad in white socks. It stared us down with unfathomable eyes for an unnerving duration of time.

I whisper, “Is it a gaur? Is it behind us?”

“No, but you are inches away from photographing a leech.”

I stand up in a rush, stomping my feet and brushing away hundreds of imaginary leeches. In my haste, I’ve dropped my

camera and hesitate to reach for it, as I look frantically for a sunny patch in which to examine my shoes. To my alarm, the leeches are all over the shaded sections, and for the rest of the morning, we stop occasionally to dislodge them from our shoes and socks. The others walk on, unperturbed, using their bare fingers to pick leeches off their ankles.

We walk along gurgling streams and sun-drenched grasslands, but I fear that unspeakable horrors might be hovering over our heads. I now have a compulsive need to check my footwear for imaginary blood-engorged worms that I’m anyway not supposed to feel.

On completing the walk, we pile into the back of a pickup truck. Kumar and the rest of the group sit among chatty village folk who take to Shiva rather effortlessly. I give him a wide berth and shrink against the side of the truck. Near the town centre, we alight from the pickup truck and walk along steep paths that have not seen tar in decades.

Kumar leads us through an upper road that overlooks the site of ‘The Church Under The Hill’, the first church to be erected here in 1858, with a roof that, some claim, was made entirely of biscuit tins. All that remains is a granite pillar marking the spot, and a cemetery around it. In all the years I have visited Kodi, the engraved history on those old tombstones have been kept out of bounds for us by ferocious hounds that seem to be the guardians of the cemetery. Shiva seems very mild in comparison and I decide, quite on a whim, to befriend him.

We finally stop at a cafe for refreshments, and I ask to hold Shiva’s leash.

I sit on a bench awaiting the coffee and chocolate brownie I have ordered. Shiva sits on his haunches regarding me. He finally decides to take charge and walks up to me.

I look into his eyes and stroke his forehead.

His tail wags joyfully and I am emboldened to stroke his back. In that moment I make two discoveries. I have a mortal fear of leeches, and I am a little less afraid of Labradors. 1

GETTING THERE Kodaikanal is a hill station in the Palani Hills, about 500 km from Chennai. The nearest airport is Madurai (120 km) or Trichy (150 km). The nearest railway station is Kodaikanal Road (80 km).

LEECH THERAPY Dhanvantari, the Hindu god of medicine, is usually depicted holding in his four hands auspicious symbols such as nectar, a conch, a disc and a leech. One of the forms of Ayurvedic therapy for conditions such as varicose veins and eczema is Jalauka Vacharana, which uses leeches for treatment.

BLUE KURINJI FLOWER Strobilanthes Kunthiana blooms every 12 years in the Nilgiris and Palani Hills. The next blooming is presumed to be in 2018.

THE INDIAN BISON The gaur is one of the largest living land animals in South East Asia.

In India, it is found predominantly in and near the Western Ghats. With a body length that can go up to 11 feet, gaurs can easily weigh a ton.

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Daily Cuppa

by Zach Marks and Resham Gellatly

Chai on a Canoe 1 Entrepreneurial spirit thrives in Kerala’s picturesque backwaters – where a ‘Coffee Hut’ serves up local tea and delicacies

The sleepy backwaters of Kerala provide a tranquil escape to a simpler world. On quiet waterways under sunny skies, fishermen let their lines hang from small wooden canoes and birds swoop down occasionally to see what fish might be swimming close to the surface. Towering coconut palms line the water banks and rice paddies stretch as far as the eye can see.

Drawn by this idyllic setting, tourists come from around the globe to float down the backwaters in kettuvallams – traditional houseboats with thatched roofs covering

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wooden hulls. With tourism comes an infusion of money into a part of the world where most residents practice small-scale fishing and agriculture. It would not be India if there were not eager entrepreneurs setting up businesses to get a piece of the action.

Amid the thick foliage in the backwater village of Kainakary hangs a tire brightly painted with the words “Coffee Hut”. A sign next to the tire promises visitors “spicy tea” and “homely lunch”. This is the work of Preejith Lal, a 22-year-old Keralite who proves the Indian entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well even in the remote backwaters. Two years ago Preejith started selling tender coconuts, surplus from his home supply, to tourists floating by the three-room house he shares with his parents. “We had this nice space under a mango tree with a good view of the rice paddy so I set up a table and some chairs and started selling tea.” Preejith’s friend Akhil snagged a spare tyre from the auto shop where he works as a mechanic and painted the Coffee Hut sign.

Despite the name, Preejith said most customers order tea.

“Kerala is famous for its tea from Munnar,” he said, referring to the hill station some 140 km inland where tea estates cover the terrain. The menu includes a range of flavoured teas including masala, chocolate, coconut and vanilla.

Preejith has a theory about why his sweet, milky flavoured teas outsell coffee. “Coffee is not so nice. I went to drink an espresso at a modern shop with air conditioning in Alleppey,” referring to the town that serves as the gateway to the backwaters. “The coffee cost Rs. 90 and I thought it was not so nice. The taste was so dry and irritating and they just give you some small biscuits. They are even charging Rs. 70 or Rs. 80 for a masala tea. I am charging just Rs. 15 – and I give a whole plate of biscuits!”

At Rs. 15, Coffee Hut’s tea is more than double the price of a cup at one of the local tea stalls that dot the backwaters (typically between Rs. 5 and Rs. 7). Preejith explained that he provides a service diffrerent from these local enterprises. “I serve premium tea mostly to tourists. The local shops use tea

PhotoS: All photos by the authors

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that is Rs. 35 for 250 gm, but I go to Munnar and pay Rs. 150 for 250 gm. I used to charge just Rs. 10 a cup but we could not make any profit.”

Before he started Coffee Hut, Preejith’s family depended on agriculture. His father Prasannan worked as a toddy tapper, climbing coconut palms and collecting their sap, which quickly ferments into a sour alcoholic beverage known as toddy.

Coffee Hut brings a welcome additional source of income.

“With farming, we only get money after harvesting, which happens twice a year,” Prasannan said. “For the first five months of the year we are only spending money. The shop is good because it brings more money than the field.”

Preejith’s mother Saima serves as Coffee Hut’s chaiwali and chef, making dishes such as mango fish curry and duck roasted in coconut oil. She said she is happy for the newfound employment. “I like making tea for people and having something extra to do. It feels good to earn and I am proud of my son for starting the business.”

Preejith, who completed a course in marine engineering, has ambitions beyond the backwaters. “I am hoping to work at sea and I gave my application to many shipping companies, but we need to give two or three lakh rupees to get admission onto a ship [one lakh is 100,000],” he said. In the meantime, Preejith contemplates Coffee Hut’s expansion.

He is considering building a small house next to his family’s where guests could stay overnight. “It would be a new concept for this area. There are many tourists on houseboats, but no homestays.” But he would be sure to do it in an eco-friendly way. “I don’t want to disturb the habitat and the natural beauty of this place,” he said, pointing to the surrounding bamboo groves.

But Preejith said his neighbors do not mind the traffic that Coffee Hut brings. “The tourists who come here are all nice and do not give any trouble. Plus, the local people support us because they bring their kids here to get ice cream.” 1

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Calendar of events

June

Presenting the best of India’s events in different categories across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and nearby suburbs

Art & Exhibitions

Affordable Art Show Chennai The much anticipated annual art event is back at Vinyasa Premier Art gallery in its 14th year. The Affordable Art Show aims to highlight the works of budding artists and is also a great opportunity for art buyers who have just began to buy art. Explore the works of rising artists and eminent ones at this art show.

Call +91 44 32533655 for more details.

Date: June 1 to 15 Time: 1100h to 1900h Venue: Vinyasa Art Gallery, 1st Main Road, CIT Colony, Mylapore, Chennai

Art Exhibition Delhi The Japan Foundation is hosting an exhibition by artist Sreejata Roy. The exhibition, titled ‘Frozen Words’, will focus on the aspects of modern gadgets and how they alienate people from their immediate surroundings and social world. Sreejata Roy is an artist with an interest in communityrelated projects.

Date: May 22 to July 18 Time: 1100h to 1900h Venue: Japan Foundation, A5 Ring Road, Lajpat Nagar-IV, Delhi

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Art Show Bengaluru

EVENTS

Kynkyny Art Gallery presents ‘50 Under 50’ – a group show featuring 50 works of art by an array of artists, with artworks priced affordably at Rs. 50,000 and under. The exhibition features upcoming and critically acclaimed artists like Amaresh Bijjal, Bakula Nayak, Basuki Dasgupta, Bharat Das, Chandan Chowdhury and more. Entry is free.

Call +91 80 40926202 for more details.

Music Concert Chennai

Date: June 7 to 18 Venue: Kynkyny Art Gallery, Embassy Square, Infantry Road, Bengaluru Time: 1000h to 1900h

Exhibition of Urban Cartography Mumbai Gallery Beyond invites you for a preview of Urban Cartographers, a group art show.

The show will depict artworks by three cartographers - Mitali Shah, Neeraj Patel and Shrikant Kadam, all from urban backgrounds of Pune, Udaipur and Baroda who have combined science, aesthetics, and technique, creating map urbanisation in their own, unique palettes.

Call +91 22 22837345 for more details.

Date: May 19 to June 25 Venue: Gallery Beyond, Great Western Building, Shahid Bhagat Singh Marg, Fort Mumbai.

Time: 1100h to 1900h

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German musician Prem Joshua brings his eclectic brand of music for the first time in Chennai. The concert will feature a mix of jazz, funk and traditional Indian music. The proceeds of this event will go towards charities supported by Duchess Helping Hands.

For fundraiser donor passes, inclusive of dinner, call Neelu at 98410 82652.

Date: June 19 Time: 2000h Venue: Samvesh Hall, Savera Hotel, Chennai

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Theatre Festival Mumbai

Music Show Delhi

The National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) is holding its annual celebration of comedy, wit and laughter – the Cheer Festival. The festival will have new comic plays, workshop and stand-up acts over three days. Started in 2012, the festival explores various ways of spreading joy. Three new plays and workshop series bring together a selection of the best writers, directors, actors and comedians in India.

For more details, call +91 22 22824567.

Epicentre presents the Kutle Khan Project, a unique collective of Rajasthani folk musicians highlighting Kutle Khan, a multitalented folk musician who has performed on various stages across the world. The project features Kutle Khan as singer, multiinstrumentalist and artistic director, Champe Khan on the harmonium and as vocal sarangi player, Dayam Khan on the khartal, Gafur Khan playing the bhapang and morchang, Roshan Khan on the tabla and dholak.

For more details call +91 124 2715200.

Date: June 14 to 16 Venue: National Centre for Performing Arts, Nariman Point, Mumbai

Chennai Coastal Cleanup Chennai The annual Chennai Coastal Cleanup is back in its fifth edition. Organised jointly by The Hindu and the Chennai Trekking Club, the project has an ambitious target of collecting 50-plus tons of garbage from 20-plus km of Chennai beaches. More than 5,000 volunteers – individuals, corporates, schools and NGOs will participate. The theme of this year’s cleanup is both conservation and recycling. On the evening of June 7, there will be an exhibition at Eliots Beach of recycled products to create awareness.

Visit www.chennaicoastalcleanup.com for more details.

Date: June 8 Venue: 15 beaches along Chennai coastline Time: 0600 h

Date: June 17 Venue: Epicentre, Apparel House, Sector 44, Gurgaon Time: 1930h

Green Bazaar Bengaluru The sixth edition of the Green Bazaar is back on World Environment Day, as a call to reconnect with nature. Embrace the creepy crawlies, invite the birds, and plant seeds for a better living through walks, talks, photography exhibitions, wildlife warriors meet, film screenings and workshops.

Featured in this bazaar are earth-friendly products such as recycled/upcycled products, energy efficiency solutions, traditional handcrafted products, Indian children’s books, handmade toys, organic food, ecofriendly home accessories and gardening tools. In ‘Wildspotting: Walks’, ant walks, tree walks, and birding will also be held.

There will also be film screenings, talks by renowned wildlife conservationists and a photography exhibition.

Date: June 8 Venue: TERI Lawns and campus, Domlur 2nd Stage, Indira Nagar, Bengaluru Time: 1000 h to 1900h

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Spotlight

by Team Culturama

Historical Drama Chennai

To celebrate the completion of 60 years after Kalki’s Ponniyin Selvan was written, the epic Tamil novel is being brought out as a theatre performance. The novel was authored by R. Krishnamurthy under his pen name ‘Kalki’ in the 1950s in five volumes. It tells the story of a king from the Chola dynasty – the narrative is based on Tamil history and brings to life scenes from the royal household in the 10th and 11th centuries. Ponniyin Selvan (The son of Ponni) is being adapted for the theatre stage by Magic Lantern and SS International Live.

Directed by Pravin of Magic Lantern, the script for the play was adapted by theatre artists Elango Kumaran and Kumaravel.

EVENT DETAILS: Date: June 8 to 14 Venue: Music Academy, Alwarpet, Chennai Time: 1800h Tickets: Log on to: www.eventjini.com; www.Indianstage.com; or www.ticketnew.com.

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Photo: Diana Grieger, Germany

The Lighter Side

by Marina Marangos

The Road Less Travelled

1 To drive in India, you must have the ability to erase everything you have ever learnt about driving in your country of origin. Why? Because adhering to those rules may actually put you in more danger than not You may be surprised to hear that I thought Delhi was the perfect place for my son to learn how to drive. Driving in Delhi without being hampered by what you learnt back home is a great asset and dare I say even a survival tactic.

Most of you would disagree with that idea, but an anecdotal story from a good friend would suggest that there is little rigour applied to the rules and regulations.

In short, she lost her licence and needed to get one in India. So having been a seasoned driver for years she assumed that this would be relatively straightforward. She applied and was told to her horror that she needed to sit a test so she dutifully obliged. It was in the form a multiple-question paper and one of the questions was: Where do you put a child on a motorbike? The answers were: Between your legs; on the handlebars; and balancing behind. She put her hand up and said, “I am sorry but I cannot answer this question – you shouldn’t really have a child on a motorbike like that!” The official in charge, in a fit of exasperation having to deal with these fussy expats, took her questionnaire and proceeded to

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Photo: Marina Marangos, Greece

Photo: Christèle Gauthier, France

mark all the ‘right’ answers in his expert eyes. She was suitably amused, perhaps a little surprised – and you will be pleased to hear she got her licence.

So, when my son wanted to learn how to drive, we contacted a number of driving schools and he had a couple of lessons, which can only be characterised as rather ‘hit and miss’.

The best thing, having got his Provisional Licence, was to actually allow him to drive under supervision and for him to realise that to be a good driver perhaps eyes at the back of your head are best but, failing them, an acute sense of space.

You see the formula for driving in the city according to my expat judgement involves the three As – “AGH!” for the moment of horror at the impending impact.

“Accommodation”, which involves squeezing yourself into a pin-tight position before someone else gets in there before you; and “Aggression”, because, if you are not forward on the Delhi roads, you are likely to find yourself going backward.

Once these three have been mastered, you are well on the way.

(Excuse the un-roadworthy pun.)

Finally, but perhaps not completely, the ability to erase everything you have ever learnt about driving in Europe or your country of origin. Why? Because adhering to those rules may actually put you in more danger than not and I will explain.

Photo: Diana Grieger, Germany

Most expatriates have been taught to stop at red lights.

Why bother when you can slip through? Coming in from a side road to a main road again most expatriates would stop, look left and right and then left again before inching out carefully. No, this is not the right way in India.

In India when you are coming from a side road you definitely do not stop, nor do you look to see if there is any traffic coming, why would you after all? Three thousand and five hundred Gods are looking after you, so you simply carry on and slither into the main road without hesitation, repetition or deviation as the game dictates.

On occasion, if caught in a traffic jam, the hard shoulder, normally reserved, would be the place for you – and a zebra crossing, normally reserved for pedestrians should definitely, be overlooked. If you stop, you are only likely to cause a pile-up behind you, as drivers simply do not expect this.

If, in any of these eventualities, you are feeling a little squeezed or threatened by other equally competent drivers, do not hesitate to use your horn to the maximum and effectively deafen them out the way.

Finally, and to counter all evil that might be lurking behind corners, you need a Ganesh god with a wobbly head on your dashboard and lots of coloured garlands to celebrate your safe passage on Delhi’s delightful roads. 1

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Give to India

by Shefali Ganesh

The Mobile Future

1 Mumbai Mobile Creches provides a safe childcare option for women who work at construction sites – an initiative that serves a segment that is usually on the fringes of society

The illustration that makes up the Mumbai Mobile Creches’ (MMC) logo – of a mother reading to her child – is a poignant one . A closer look reveals that the mother is balancing a basket on her head – the kind used by women who work at building construction sites in India to carry sand or bricks.

Construction sites in India employ several thousand migrant labourers.

According to a study by the National Commission for Women in 2004, onethird of those employed were women. Normally, these women leave their children in a corner of the work site – which means added anxiety over the safety of the child during the day. However, the pair depicted in the MMC’s logo wears a happy smile– a telling statement of the organisation’s work in this segment of society.

Forty-two-year-old MMC is an offshoot of the Mobile Creches that was begun in Delhi. Mobile Creches was envisioned by Meera Mahadevan in 1969, moved as she was by the sight of a wailing infant at a construction site in Delhi. In 2006, Mumbai Mobile Creches was formally established to attend to the needs of the children of women working at these sites. MMC, which was formed soon after, developed a revolutionary model of childcare for this segment, which was hitherto neglected in Mumbai and Pune.

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MMC’s aim is to lay a strong foundation for the children of tomorrow – hence their tagline, ‘Futures under construction’. When young mothers go to work at construction sites, they are reassured that their children are taken care of in the vicinity of the workplace. Children up to the age of 14 are taken in – a crèche takes care of the children under three; a balwadi (pre-school) takes in three- to five-year-olds; the older children go to after-school support classes. Fresh meals, vaccinations and health check-ups are administered to prevent malnourishment – a common issue.

The MMC’s health and nutrition programme ensures that the children’s education is not affected because of ill health.

The programme’s success can be seen by the increasing number of centres, and the number of children that go on to study in Government-run schools.

As Vrishali Pispati, CEO of MMC, says, “We have had 30 centres that reach over 4,600 children in the past year. A significant achievement is that 49% of eligible children were enrolled and attended schools; this is vitally important to our programme.”

Engaging events, such as the Annual Book Week, has children participating in a series of activities centred on books and stories. By reading to their juniors, the primaryschool children gain confidence and inspire those in preschool. Puppet shows and theatre activities encourage their creative instincts and make learning fun. To ensure that quality care is given to the children at all centres, women from the community are roped in and given complete training on child development and education.

Community outreach is an essential part of MMC’s work.

Their lokdoots (‘messengers to the public’) hold regular street plays, which highlight important social issues. Basic hygiene, prevention of diseases, operation of bank accounts and the harmful effects of alcohol are some of the important themes of these street theatre events. MMC also offers training programmes in childcare to women across Mumbai.

A society with safe, healthy, educated children is the MMC’s vision. While their mothers work at laying strong foundations for buildings, Mumbai Mobile Creches helps them by providing their children with a solid foundation for the future. At the busy construction sites, many a mother has regained her smile, and many a child its laughter. 1

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3 Visit MMC at www.mumbaimobilecreches.org, email them at contact@mmcmail.org.in, or call them at +91-22-22020869 / +91-22-22020879.

3 Volunteer by spending time at the centre, organise an outing for the children or donate. (Details on their official website.)

3 The annual Mumbai Marathon in January is MMC’s biggest event – participate in this and show your support. (Details on their official website.)

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Myth & Mythology

by Devdutt Pattanaik

A Change of Language

Photo: Magali Reynaud, France

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1 Words have no fixed meaning; people change meanings of old words or create new worlds to create new vocabularies that explain new experiences What does 9/11 mean? Does it mean 11th of September or 9th of November? All our lives, in Indian schools, which followed the British system of dating, date was written as DDMMYY, and so 9/11 should mean 9th of November.

But the American system of dating MMDDYY makes it September 11th and the media accepts it so. So what is the rational system of dating? The British system or the American system? By rejecting the old British or European system of dating, the Americans asserted their autonomy and independence. There was nothing rational about it. It reveals the human need for identity that surpasses the need for rationality.

Yet, when Bombay is renamed Mumbai, and Madras is renamed Chennai, and Bangalore is renamed Bengaluru, many intellectuals mock this as petty regionalism, not recognising the potent power of asserting identity. Logically we may frown upon it, but humans are not, and have never been, logical creatures. Emotions supersede rationality all the time.

In the same vein, let us ask what does the word ‘gay’ mean? In the 19th century it meant happy. In the 21st century it refers to the homosexual male. What is the right definition? What is the logical definition? When we think about it we realise that meanings of words change over time just as dating systems change over geography.

Words have no fixed meaning. People change meanings of old words or create new worlds to create new vocabularies

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that explain new experiences that cannot be expressed through old words.

Thus, language is dynamic. And because words create worlds, the world is dynamic. This dynamism is seen in religion too. Religions have changed over time. The earliest form of Christianity was about slaves and included women in senior positions. Later as Christianity became institutionalized, the male order of popes came into being.

When the emperor of the Roman Empire became Christian, the church became a major political institution and a new papacy arose in Byzantium challenging the might of Rome.

There was a papacy in ancient Alexandria too, but this was wiped out by the rise of Islam. When the crusades ended with the fall of Byzantium, Greek wisdom was rediscovered and this provoked the rise of the Protestant revolution in Europe and the reformation of the Catholic Church.

Hinduism too has transformed dramatically from the yagna rituals of the Vedic period to the temple culture of the Puranic period and the worship of a formless God celebrated by bhakti saints and the redefinition of Hinduism by Hindu intellectuals such as Dayananda Saraswati and Vivekanand in the face of the British rule. Hinduism that is practised today in different parts of India and in different parts of the world is as different as Christianity as it is practised in different parts of the world.

The same holds true for Islam with the Sunni orders favouring the old tribal egalitarianism of the Arabs and the Shia order favouring the dynastic rules of the Persians.

In such a dynamic world it becomes difficult to answer what is authentic Hinduism or Christianity or Islam. Just as what the word gay really means or what is the correct way to write a date. It is contextual and context changes always with space and time and the people observing the context. 1

Published on 20th October, 2013, in Mid-Day. Reprinted with permission from www.devdutt.com

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5 Join Us Every Saturday India Immersion Centre in Chennai facilitates a weekly spiritual fellowship group following Easwaran’s Eight Point Programme of Meditation.

E-mail us for more information at globalindian@globaladjustments.com.

If you are in other cities, visit www.easwaran.org for e-satsangs.

Holistic living

by Eknath Easwaran

En Route to Liberation 1 there is an inner person with an itinerary and a destination – the only baggage you are allowed are the lifetime accumulation of all that you have thought, done, felt, feared, coveted and loved

Photo: Michelle Klakulak

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I have often quoted the words with which India’s greatest poet and playwright, Kalidasa, describes the goal of the last of these stages: “In retirement, live like sages; at the end of life, let the body go.” Most of us can relate to living like sages; even if we don’t quite qualify, we can see the appeal. But “let the body go” doesn’t sound appealing for any age.

The words become meaningful only when we understand that they mean letting go of identification with the body – that is, not clinging to the body as it declines, but letting go of the obsessive idea that this failing body is what we are.

I have been looking at the commemorative volume presented to me for my eightieth birthday, The King’s Messenger, which has a large number of pictures. On the opening pages, there I am as a teenager.

Then a few pages later I am in my forties, and finally I am in my late seventies. But if you ask me how I have changed, I would not say I have grown older. My body has grown older; I have grown wiser.

This brings a new perspective to the passage of time. It is true that I can’t swim or run like a child any more, but as all the great spiritual teachers say, this is nothing to gnash one’s teeth about. Clinging to the body for identification can only bring increasing insecurity as we age, because we are identifying ourselves with something that is inevitably on the wane.

Fortunately, with most of us this deeprooted insecurity can not only be avoided, it can be reversed. Through meditation and its allied disciplines, we can actually make ourselves more secure as time passes – and so, in a very real sense, more beautiful. As time passes, we can actually gain in beauty.

When the light is lit within, all of us can look forward to a breathtaking future of increasing beauty as we age.

The Buddha conveys the urgency of this message with a universal image. “You are about to go on a long journey,” he says.

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“Don’t you want to be prepared?” This is not rhetoric. The body may not be going anywhere, but rest assured there is an inner person with an itinerary and a destination.

If you have a ticket for Europe, don’t you plan what you want to take? Don’t you ask in advance what the airline will allow? At this border there is no forty-pound limit: nothing material can cross. Whatever you’re carrying, you can’t take it with you.

The only baggage you are allowed – in fact, the one thing you can’t help taking with you – is who you are: your character, the contents of your consciousness, the lifetime accumulation of all that you have thought, done, felt, feared, coveted and loved. Don’t take any negative attachments, the Buddha urges us. Don’t take any anger, any hostility, any resentment, any greed or selfish craving.

Throw it all out now, while you can. Lighten the load.

Older people often tell me that in these years they feel the need to get rid of the possessions they have accumulated: furniture, photographs, papers, letters. “We don’t want to leave this for our children to deal with,” they say. I want to tell them, “Don’t spend your time on things like that now!” If you have the detachment just to call Goodwill and deal with it in a single stroke, well and good. But rather than go through each letter, each photograph, each memory, it’s much better to leave everything in the garage for those who come after you. I can assure you that they will attend to it with much more detachment, and letting it go now will be far less painful than having it torn away at the time of death. At this stage of life, more than ever, why stir up the past?

Work on what you want to take with you: don’t work on your past; work on who you are and what you want to become. 1 Reprinted with permission from ‘Letting Go’ an article

by Eknath Easwaran from The Blue Mountain Journal.

Copyright The Blue Mountain Center of Meditation, P.O. Box 256, Tomales, CA 94971, www.easwaran.org. (Extract from http://www.easwaran.org/letting-go.html)

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Realty Bytes

by Anita Krishnaswamy

Special Standards

For all those niggling questions you might have on housing and realty in India, write to anita@globaladjustments.com

Why do Indian windows not have standard sizes? It is so hard to fit out the soft furnishings because there is no uniformity of windows!

- American tenant, Delhi It is true that there isn’t any uniformity of windows in the construction of homes in India. In the North, the openings are smaller to keep the warmth in, while in the South, windows and doors have grills, a remnant of the British days. Currently, windows are becoming very modern, light and airy, but custom-made drapes are still the way to go.

Why don’t homes have a clean welcoming look when we view them?

- British tenant, Mumbai Landlords in India feel it is better to spend money to clean, polish, scrub and paint after a tenant is confirmed,

to suit their taste. They don’t want to do it up first and then have it changed again to suit another person who might rent the property. External appearances are not given much importance, but once fixed up, it can look wonderful. We encourage visitors to use their imagination and work closely with their realtors to find their perfect homes.

What is a phase changer in a home?

- Australian tenant, Chennai It is an electric rotary switch that can be swapped when power goes out in one of the incoming lines to a home, especially in areas known for power outages. The three phases of power supply have been created to distribute the load evenly in a home. Clarify with your landlord if this is a problem in the property you take. Usually, the modern ones have automatic phase changeovers. 1

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Postcard from India cause my akes me cry be This photo m ening a heartfelt awak ch su d ha er ht daug er last year. an elderly pott h it w g n ki or w mer, and s over the sum She took lesson . This and confidence m ee st -e lf se grew in as brave ck – and she w ba t en w e w , year his wheel. to try again on enough to ask er. In this rge pot togeth They made a la pressing r devotion to ex photo, I see he g beyond see her growin I d an ty vi ti crea ude to the my own gratit me, and I feel sed her genuinely prai kind potter who bravery. sensitivity and , USA – Susan Milde

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