November 2011 Issue

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India's Only Cultural Magazine for Global Citizens

the magic

wand Conversation with Children's Film Society of India's Chair - Nandita Das

age of innocence On literature for Indian children

VOLUME 2, iSSUE 9 November 2011

D e a r

R e a d e r s

Children are special anywhere, but especially so in India. I remember being surprised when I saw a Western child plonked on a high chair, fending for himself at meal time. We mollycoddle ours, we hand-feed them, readily take them out to show them the sights of the streets, trees and birds, coaxing them to eat a few morsels more.

India has always offered more interesting views from its verandahs than TV shows ever could. Maybe now, iPads have taken over the job of showing them the universe outside with apps that help point out which star is placed right above your head! I also remember feeling shocked when my Americanised sister, read a bedtime story and then left her baby safely in her crib, screaming and crying herself to sleep. We sing to our children, the stories of Indian mythology often turn into “lories” or lullabies, as we vigorously sway the cradles they lie in till they fall asleep and our arms fall off their socket. Maybe iPods sing those tunes now instead of grandmoms! We pay tribute to the guru of the ‘I’pad, phone and pod. We also pay tribute to India’s children. They are, after all, the ‘I' in India and the month of November is dedicated to them, as India celebrates 14th November as Children’s Day to commemorate India’s first Prime Minister Jawarhal Lal Nehru’s birth anniversary.

In this issue of Culturama, we bring to you Coffee and Conversation with the talented Nandita Das. She explores the children's film genre in the country while also throwing light on her work. I had the pleasure of being on a panel with Nandita at an event recently in Mumbai. In the Wisdom Trail, we have the pleasure of talking to Zena Sorabjee, on the occasion of the silver anniversary of the Lotus temple, I have meditated there, and strongly recommend it to all.

Starting with this issue, we have a special tie up with Vimanika Comics, where you will get to read about India's own traditional superheroes in a cool new graphic novel format! In View from the Top listen to the authors of a book for youngsters, Mayil Will Not Be Quiet. In our Feature this month, travel all across the country looking for the perfect bargain. And learn to ask yourselves what’s important in the Holistic Living column. Thanksgiving is of course most important, isn’t it?

Ranjini Manian Editor-in-Chief To contact me directly, e-mail globalindian@globaladjustments.com

Read Upworldly Mobile by Ranjini Manian published by Penguin India. Turn to page 59 for details.

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contents 22

10 Coffee & Conversation

Bold and the Beautiful!

14 A-Z of INdia

Art Land

Our cover image this month is of actor/ director/ and the Children's Film Society of India Chairperson, Nandita Das. The November issue iof Culturama is a tribute to the children of India.

18 curry country

Flavours of Yore 22 Feature

Street Smart 26 Look who's in town

Chennai, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi

28 bursting the bubble

Child's Play

34 Calendars

Chennai, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi

30 View from the top

Chatterbox!

Editor-in-Chief

Ranjini Manian

business head susanna kurian Associate Editor

Lakshmi Krupa

creative head

JayaKrishna Behera

Associate Designer

Prem Kumar

32 Cause & effect

40 Photo feature

33 wisdom trail

42 FESTIVALS OF INDIA

No Kidding!

Light of Lotus

44 TALES OF INDIA

Advertising Chennai rohini chandrakumar, trishla jain Bengaluru mukundan T Delhi-NCR

Preeti Bindra, Ruchika Srivastava

Mumbai & Pune

Farah Bakhshay, Ashish Chaulkar

Advisory Committee

Life as a Montage

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The Sixth

49 PORTRAIT OF INDIA 50 star struck

The Name is Khan

Timeri N Murari, N Ram, Elaine Wood, James J Williams, G Venket Ram, Carmen HUTHOEFER-HEINRICH

52 India & I

Heading to Himachal 58 namesake

Ground Beneath Her Feet

Chennai 5, 3rd Main Road, R. A. Puram, Chennai 600028, India.

Telefax. +91-44-24617902 E-mail: designstore@globaladjustments.com

58 inner space

Bengaluru 216, Prestige Center Point, Off Cunningham Road, 7, Edward Road, Bengaluru 560052. Tel.+91-80-41267152/41148540.

E-mail: blr@globaladjustments.com

60 Holisitic living

Gateway to Heaven

Ask What's Important

Delhi-NCR Level 4, Augusta Point, DLF Golf Course Road, Sector-53, Gurgaon - 122 002. Haryana. Tel.+91-124-435 4236.

E-mail: del@globaladjustments.com

64 OOFICE YOGA

Mumbai/Pune Rustom Court, 2nd Floor, Dr. Annie Besant Road, Worli, Mumbai 400030.

Tel.+91-22-66104191/2 E-mail: 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: Ranjini Manian

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66 space & the city

50

N e w s w o r t h y

World’s cheapest tablet

Letters to the Editor Dear Editor, Back from a rather rejuvenating trip from Mt. Abu and was pleasantly surprised to receive a brilliantly colourful copy of 'Culturama'. Congratulations to Team Culturama for a remarkable festival issue.

India will break new ground in bridging its digital divide by giving the world the cheapest tablet yet with its Aakash tablet. The tablet, to be sold at a cheaper rate to students and costing a small portion of what commercial tablets cost, will help India catch up with the rest of the developing world, where the Internet and access to digital media is much higher. The Indian government will buy the first run of the products for $50 and it will be available to students at a subsidised cost of $35. It will also be available in the market for $60.

The Indian government hopes to provide digital access and content for learning through these tablets with affordable Internet connectivity to students.

- Nilakshi Borgohain, Writer Dear Editor, Congratulations on your superb cover this month.

- Mini Krishnan, Oxford University Press Dear Editor, At no time did Tanjore have a costume like this for dancers (as mentioned in the A-Z column last month). It is an Iyer Brahmin sect traditional saree drape called 'madisaar' worn by a married lady. The painting is perfectly beautiful; only the classification is wrong.

Anyway it’s a beautiful compilation and nothing to question its merits. Keep up the good work.

- Padmhasini T Dear Editor, My younger daughter, Nivedita, who's eightand-a-half years old is drawing/ sketching all the time, she loves it.

She spotted your Culturama cover and did a freehand copy of Dithi Chakrabortty's Lakshmi!

Here is it attached for you to see - now, she's going to colour it!

- Vinay Kamath

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iMourn Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple died last month, unleashing an unprecedented outpouring of grief across social networking sites. Jobs passed away after a long battle with cancer, and all over the world Apple product connoisseurs and lovers of design and technology came together to express their regret over the passing away of the innovator. While many protested that Jobs was merely a good salesman with a penchant for design selling expensive tech gadgets and public grief must be reserved for those who work for the good of the society, it was evident that they were far too few in number. It was his entrepreneurship zeal that was being mourned by the millions.

On Twitter 10,000 tweets were sent per second, according to one report, mourning Jobs’ death.

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bold

and the

beautiful a cursory glance at the auteurs and artistes Nandita Das has worked with over the years is enough to really understand her stand – both socially and artistically. From Deepa Mehta to Mani Ratnam, Adoor Gopalakrishnan to Onir, all across the country directors looking for ‘serious’ actors who can handle meaty roles that so rarely are placed on the shoulders of women in India, seek Das... Ahead of Children’s Day that falls on November 14, the actor/director, who is also the Chairperson of the Children’s Film Society of India, talks to Lakshmi Krupa about the state of children’s films in the country and also her work…

Her body of work is as much an inspiration as it is one of introspection, often questioning stereotypes, clichés and delving deeper into the understanding of the human condition, all along keeping the focus on the female point of view. From the controversial to the most downtrodden, from the bold to the most unheard, Nandita Das, both as an actor and director, has been the voice of the marginalised. It is only right then that she chair the Children’s Film Society of India (CFSI) as there is a lot of work waiting to be done in that genre.

As the Chairperson of the Children's Film Society, what are your observations of the kind of films we are making for the young of our country? Are there enough quality films being made?

For sure not! There is a real dearth of quality content that provides wholesome entertainment to children. Children form a huge film audience the world over. I wonder why we haven’t explored this segment enough. In India, economics gets in the way of everything, more so filmmaking. Because of that,

people often don’t want to take a chance. However, it is possible to make low or medium budget films that are strong in content and form, do not compromise the ideals and are a lot of fun. Unfortunately, our films for children are either preachy and boring, or fluffy and sometimes even violent. Reality shows are putting a lot of pressure on children, which can be very harmful for their emotional growth.

What were your favourite films, while growing up?

No favourites as such but I remember watching good films as a kid. Ones like Boot Polish and Safed Haathi, Charandas Chor, Lilkee, Sunday, Anjali, and so on.

Has being a mother had any kind of impact on your role as the Chairperson?

While being a Chairperson is an honorary post, it is a great opportunity to make a difference as there is a real dearth of good quality children’s films. I have no magic wand, but I am trying my best. For now, I am enjoying my motherhood, and I try and relate things more easily. I think I have become more attached to

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children, post Vihaan (my son).

Do you think movies for children must always be message-based?

In fact, if the message is in your face then it defeats the purpose, as the film gets preachy and boring. A children’s film doesn’t need to have a ‘message’ per se. But we have to make sure that there is nothing offensive or regressive, even in the name of entertainment, as they have an impressionable mind.

Message, if any, needs to be subtle and sensitively and artistically conveyed.

Do you think commercially successful actors like Aamir Khan and Salman Khan promoting films for children has helped in creating a wider reach?

Projects backed by big stars always help in the marketing of the film. But I do hope the content will also get a chance as not everybody can afford to have the big names on their side. And we don’t want to lose out on seeing some amazing films that are being made in various languages all over India. We at CFSI are trying to see how we can market our films, both through conventional methods and thinking out of the box. You will soon hear about some really good films that we have been working on in the past two years.

Wouldn’t you want to direct a film for children some day?

I’m toying with the idea. But it will take me a while. I sure can’t direct during my tenure as CFSI chairperson. Once I’m through with my responsibilities here and at home, I’ll move behind the camera.

What kind of films would you recommend for children?

Anything that can help them evolve – animation, wildlife, even classics. We all know that children these days are thriving on Western content. As parents and elders, we must ensure that they are also exposed to ‘desi’ folk tales like the Panchatantra and Amar Chitra Katha. Children today don’t know a single Indian superhero although there are many in the titles that I have just

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A children’s film doesn’t need to have a ’message’ per se. But we have to make sure that there is nothing that is offensive or regressive, even in the name of entertainment, as they have an impressionable mind.

mentioned. For them to relish these local folktales, we, as producers, have to ensure that we recycle such content, giving it a contemporary touch.

Can you tell us about your 2011 film I Am. How was the experience of working on such a unique project?

I was five months pregnant while shooting for I Am. Even if I wasn't pregnant, I would have definitely related to the character. Afia (the role I played) was keener at being a mother than I was at that time. I think you don't need to go through every experience to relate to a character if you can empathise with the character's journey and with her emotions and see what she is feeling and why she is feeling it. It was more of conflict that whether I have made the right choice to embark on a journey that I can really handle. The reason I connected with Afia was not because it had much to do about me being a mother, but whether, in our society we

have enough to make the choices we want. Afia wanted to make the choice of being a mother, and I think that's not too much to ask for. Despite her wanting it in a certain way that doesn't harm anybody still gets a great deal of opposition from friends, family and society at large; added to this was her own conditioning and dilemma.

What about acting projects?

I am looking at various scripts, both as an actor and director and when the time and project is right, I will definitely do it. For now I am doing a bit of writing, working towards making CFSI a more dynamic organisation and, of course, loving mothering my little one.

A to Z of India

Art land

In India, the arts have been revered since time immemorial. Said to have been gifts to man from the gods, there are 64 of these that have been traditionally passed on from generation to generation. Here we offer a glimpse of a few…

Bhushana-yojana

Alekya vidya

Applying or setting ornaments: Using gold predominantly and the navaratnas (nine precious gems), Indians have been known for their exquisite jewellery for centuries.

The art of painting: From temples to monasteries, fresco to tribal, Indian art has been thriving since 3,500 BC.

Citra-sakapupabhakshya-vikara-kriya Preparing a variety of foods: Curries, soups and sweetmeats – Indian cuisine using a large variety of home grown spices has been revered as an art from ancient times.

Dhatu-vada Metallurgy: Called alchemists earlier, men who mastered the metals were given utmost importance in India. From bronze vessels to war accessories, their wares found use everywhere.

Geet vidya Hasta laghava Sleight of hand: A branch of magic, it refers to the techniques used by magicians while trying to manipulate objects such as coins.

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Singing: Music has been an integral part of India’s culture – while in the northern parts classical music called Hindustani is popular, in the South it is Carnatic music.

Kaucumara

Pustaka-vacana Recitation: In the Indian system of gurukula, learning verses from sacred texts and books and reciting them was considered a sacred and very essential art.

Disguise: For many reasons, such as espionage (for kings) the art of disguise was considered one of the most important arts in ancient India.

Lord Krishna, legend has it, was a master of disguises.

Nritya vidya

Takshana

Dancing: Across India – be it Kathak, Kathakalli, Bharatnatyam or Odissi, they have been passed on from generation to generation in the traditional and most original form.

Carpentry: From carving beautiful doors to creating exquisite furniture, carpentry was an art form practised by a particular sect who passed on their wisdom to their children.

Vadya Vidya Sugandha-yukti Practical application of aromatics: Today, the world has embraced aromatherapy for its benefits. Indians have for long been involved in understanding the science of aromas and their effects on the body.

Udaka-vadya Playing music on water: Instruments such as jal tarang that use water to produce wonderful sounds have been a part of India’s artistic repertoire.

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Playing musical instruments: Sitar, veena, ektara, sarod, have all been played – for both entertainment and for appeasing the gods, and have been referred to abundantly in Indian mythologies and epic tales.

Curry Country

Nisha Thomas

Flavours of

yore!

While sampling Anglo-Indian cuisine, one can’t help but wonder how delicious the marriage of Indian flavours with that of the English is! This thanksgiving, instead of the usual eggnog, try this anglo-indian egg curry

My first tryst with Anglo-Indian cuisine was at one of the food festivals held at a hotel and it was a revelation for me. I was thoroughly intrigued by the marriage of flavours – Indian and English in nature – and how they completely took over the taste of the dish. With the British making their presence felt in India completely towards the 18th century and with the excessive mingling of the various European races, a new multicultural and racial community developed and later came to be known as the Anglo-Indian community. With their own ways, lifestyle and culture, they also developed the Anglo-Indian cuisine combining the best of both worlds.

Anglo-Indian cooking, or colonial cooking as it is widely known, is quite interesting in the sense it creates the perfect balance of British and Indian cuisine and delivers something truly unique. All those bland English dishes are altered with Indian ingredients and cooking methods and turn into something fabulous. Take the roast beef for example. While the traditional British version is made with basic ingredients like a few herbs and salt and pepper, the Anglo-Indian version uses Indian dry spices like cinnamon and cloves and dry red chillies, and produces a dish with a completely different taste altogether. It suits the Indian palate perfectly well, and is perhaps the reason for the Anglo-Indian cuisine’s soaring popularity The use of yoghurt and coconut milk is quite persistent and it goes without saying or that we Indians like our curries and spices to no extent. This has given rise to some amazing Anglo-Indian dishes such as the Country Captain, made in a stew form with chicken and curry powder, the quintessential mulligatawny soup that is known the world over and Kalkals, which are colourful sweets made usually during Christmas.

This easy-to-make egg curry is no different from the usual, except that it has been anglicised with the addition of celery and potatoes. They pair well with rice and roti and you can also serve it cold with some wilted spinach for a picnic at the park.

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Method

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Anglo-Indian Egg Curry Ingredients

3 eggs 200 gm baby potatoes or large potatoes 1 tsp coriander seeds 1 tsp cumin seeds Seeds from 3 cardamom pods 1/2 tsp grated ginger 1/4 tsp turmeric powder 1 dried red chilli (adjust according to spice tolerance) 1 tbsp oil 3 cloves of garlic, minced 1 medium size onion, roughly chopped 2 celery stalks, finely chopped 1 tomato, purĂŠed or 1 tbsp tomato paste 100 ml cream Coriander leaves to garnish

- Boil, peel and slice the eggs into quarters and keep aside.

- Boil the potatoes in some salt water till they are cooked through, but not falling apart.

- Slice each of them into four and keep aside. If using large potatoes, then slice them into smaller bite size cubes.

- Grind the coriander, cumin and cardamom seeds in a coffee grinder or spice mill into a fine powder.

- Add the ginger, turmeric and dried red chilli to the spice powder and pulse once or twice to get a coarse mix.

- Place a wok over medium high heat and dry fry the ground ingredients for about a minute or so, till they are fragrant.

- Add the oil into the wok and when it sizzles throw in the garlic, onion and celery.

- Cook till they appear wilted and slightly brown in colour, about 10 to 12 minutes on medium flame.

- In goes the purĂŠed tomato, and stir it all in. Cook till you see the oil slightly resurfacing.

- Reduce the heat and then add the par boiled potatoes and cream.

- Season with enough salt and carefully mix it all in, making sure the potatoes are intact.

- Add the quartered eggs and fold it into the masala, coating it with the gravy as much as possible.

This can be a bit tricky, as the yolks are just waiting to fall off.

- Slightly warm the eggs and then garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve.

Note: If you are doing individual servings, then divide the masala between plates and place the quartered eggs on top followed by chopped coriander leaves.

The dish is not spicy at all, so add more dried red chillies if you want to.

Substituting the cream with coconut milk should give it an interesting twist.

Nisha Thomas is an award-winning food blogger. She is an Indian, currently living in the UK. Read her recipes at www.mykitchenantics.blogspot.com 20

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Feature

Samyuktha PC

Street

Smart Call it shopping or street hopping, but looking at the best bargains in the streets of India makes for a great way to get to know the country and its people

The Delhi Way

From the exotic to the common, from the most colourful to the minimalist, and from fake labels to authentic craft works, Delhi's eclectic taste can be grabbed off its pavements. Right opposite the New Delhi railway station, the best bargain shopping corners of Delhi can be found in the crumbling Main Bazaar of Paharganj.

Janpath Road is an estuary of Indian and Tibetan cultures, hanging together in rows and rows of street stalls.

Colourful clothes, footwear, paintings, brassware, jewellery and leatherwork are available all days of the week for the shrewd bargainer. It sits in the heart of New Delhi, just off Connaught Place, a conglomeration of ancient and chic shops, modelled on the Royal Crescent in Bath, England. For good and rare reads, not far from India Gate, in south New Delhi, is a small and classy market.

Khan Market is a ready short tour for the explorer seeking to understand the many traditions of India such as Ayurveda, batik printing or khadi. For over a hundred years, Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi has been an adventure trip filled with winding and narrow alleyways, each selling a different piece of India.

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From electronic goods to a delicious assortment of Delhi street food, every day except Sunday, this is a classic one-stop place.

It will be a crime to miss one of the oldest markets in India, with its array of Indian clothing and accessories. The Lajpat or Central Market, near Defence Colony in the south of the city, is famous for its ingenious mehendiwalas, who will create exquisite henna designs on your hands with astonishing speed.

If you want to buy by bulk, the Chawri Bazaar, to the west of Jama Masjid, sells everything from copper to paper in wholesale.

Paint with Kolkata

Whether it’s the compound walls, the rusty lorries, the houses or the flyovers of Kolkata, they’ve all been painted with stories and messages from the city.

Everyone’s an artist in this city. When in Kolkata, you have to buy the traditional red and white shell Bengali bangles, the printed Bengali saris, terracotta, the books you cannot find anywhere else, and anything that looks edible if you have a sweet tooth. It’s good to start with what the city knows best, its oldest sprawling market with over 2,000 stalls.

Closed on Sundays, the New Market, also known as the Hogg’s Market ,is your best bet for saris. Adjacent to it, the shopping heaven extends on Chowringhee Road, known for its rows of pavement vendors who sell terracotta, clothes, food, textile material, and almost everything else whether bizarre or tacky. You should save one evening for these two markets as not even the city’s own people have ever managed to explore every inch of it.

It wouldn’t be surprising if someone tells you even the tiger’s eye is available in Burra Bazaar if you can pay the right price. College Street is famous for its curious book kiosks run by avid readers, who have the craziest collection of second-hand books.

The Goan Dream

Who comes to India and misses Goa? This city is not just about its beaches, parties and cheap liquor. It’s about a lifestyle where it’s okay to stare into the abyss, walk to the shops and meet random people and travel.

On Wednesdays, and sometimes on a Saturday, at nine in the morning a flea market starts unravelling itself on Anjuna beach. It grew from tourists

photo Julie Chitty , USA 23

culturama | november 2011

photo John Roberts, usa

photo saritha rao, india

selling their belongings for some quick cash to a place of colourful motifs on everything whether junk or novel.

Today, the entire place reeks of the 1970s nostalgia and sets the bar for the modern ‘hippie’. Make sure you visit it some time from October to April to catch a bit of the festival spirit.

If you’d like a whiff of local culture, spices and life, try out the Ponda Market. The classic Mapusa Friday Market is a good place to roam around and explore the flavours of Goan food. Or you could try the Margao or Madgaon Market targeted at providing every passerby with everything basic. Google ‘Ingo’s Saturday Nite Bazaar’ and you’d find that you could get yourself a stall.

Artisans, craftsmen, designers and artists from all over the world come to Goa during the months of November to April to sell their wares at this bazaar.

Rush around Mumbai

You can start your journey comfortably from the Colaba Causeway after a large pint of beer from either Café Leopold or Café Mondegar. Beware of all the mapsellers, unless you really need a map. Near the famous landmark, Gateway of India, this is a good place to pick up handicrafts, books, jewellery, crystals, spyglasses, pocket-watches, footwear, hookahs and clothes.

On Mutton Street, except on Fridays, you’ll find the infamous Chor Bazaar, literally translated as 'thieves market'. If you hunt through the stolen goods carefully and omit all the tacky electronics, you’d be able to probably buy a charming gramophone or a vintage typewriter.

Street stalls and high-brand value shops exist sideby-side on Linking Road, in Bandra. Try to avoid getting caught in the Sunday crowds, and take your time on a weekday to pick some good clothes and accessories.

But of course, when it comes to clothes and accessories, there’s Fashion Street for the experts. Outside every railway station lives a flowing market in Mumbai. It’s not really possible to walk around this huge city and maybe not advisable for the weak-hearted to take the trains.

Commercially Bengaluru

In this city, you look for strange junk jewellery, unbranded affordable clothes, colourful socks or scarves,

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photo Catherine Harte, USA

perfumes, shoes and all kinds of accessories. It’s so easy to walk and shop here, if you’re good at carrying heavy shopping bags. The heart of street shopping revolves around Commercial Street, Brigade Road and Mahatma Gandhi Road, all linked to one another.

When on Commercial Street, don’t forget to treat yourself to a Rs. 22 delicious ice cream.

Simply Chennai

This city at first sight seems pretty simple to explore, but even hardcore Chennaiites discover strange and new antiquities every day. T Nagar, Panagal Park and Ranganathan Street take more than a day to explore and the crowds and traffic make it extremely exhausting.

Make sure you’re ready to walk long distances and wait behind queues to buy saris, bangles, accessories, craftwork, mats, and just about anything else.

On Eliot’s Beach Road and Besant Avenue Road, don’t forget to visit the pavement stalls selling colourful exquisite beadwork for surprisingly cheap prices. Luz Corner’s infamous stalls crowd around all the pavements that you’d have walk on the road to explore them.

Parry’s Corner, George Town, Burma Bazaar and Ritchie Street would take seventeen volumes of seven thousand pages to succinctly explain. It’s the place for the daring explorer who doesn’t mind getting lost in their convoluted streets. From electronics to art material, from musical instruments to food, everything is available in wholesale and retail. Chennai likes to call itself simple and laid back.

But its crowded cities filled with unexplored histories say something else to the confused traveller.

Wherever in India you choose to attack the street stalls, there are certain things to keep in mind. You have to bargain if you don’t like being fleeced. Carry a few bottles of water, instead of buying one at every street and adding to the litter on its corners. Don’t be afraid of the people. Speak to them, respect them and you’ll find more about India on its pavements than in any museum or academic novel.

Look who’s in Town spain

delhi

chennai

uk

Israel Gómez and Telma Hermida Helene Wheeler

Works for Froude Hofmann My India, My Country The Indian way of life is quite different – family and religion are very important here, whereas, nowadays this is not often the case in the UK. My Favourite Indian I admire Ritu Kumar and I also like Aarya from the Tamil film Madrasapattanam.

My Indian Cuisine I like everything I have tasted so far - especially masala dosa, bindi masala and seer fish curry.

My India Insight What I really like is the feeling of adventure every day here while just trying to do normal tasks. The unexpected happens all the time and people just deal with it and don't let it stress them out. I love the colours, the noise, the festivals, the politics.

What I dislike is the way Indian men prefer to talk to my husband (or work colleague or any other male I may happen to be with) rather than me. I realise it is a cultural respect thing but it is hard to get used to.

My Tip to India We would recommend trying to remember a few ‘please’ or ‘thank yous’ when dealing with a Brit (and especially if you visit UK).

It will win you more friends.

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My India, My Country Like Spaniards, Indian people love going out with friends and family. There is always something to celebrate along with loved ones and places like restaurants, bars, etc, are always crowed.

Indian people normally do not get upset by stressful situations, but Spanish people do and get angry easily if something’s going wrong.

My Favourite Indian Indian women, in general, are admirable and particularly those ones from the lower classes who work and fight hard to keep their families going. As for a historical personality, R. Tagore was a great poet.

My Indian Cuisine Both of us love garlic/butter naan. Telma (vegetarian) likes palak paneer, and Israel specially loves Tandoori chicken.

My India Insight Indian cultural aspect we like: 1) The way people feel the music by dancing (India is full of gorgeous dancers).

2) Cows, we do love seeing them walking around free.

As for the “negative” aspects: 1) Indians should be more concerned about their cultural heritage (lots of historical places are not properly maintained, including the Taj Mahal).

2) Try to keep the places clean would enhance their beauty.

My Tip to India Most Spanish people speak loudly, but that does not necessarily mean we are angry, it is just our way of talking. Generally speaking, when we are introduced someone new, we kiss the other person in both cheeks, no matter if a man or a woman (in formal situation we just shakes hands).

USA

mumbai

bengaluru

FRANCE

Ashish Pal

GM, Merck-Sun JV My India, My Country Both cultures inherently value the victory of good over evil. Unfortunately, we have too many “evil characters” in the current world, in both the countries. The India we knew 22 years ago has changed dramatically and we don’t know if everything that has changed is for the better.

My Favourite Indian Currently, Anna Hazare.

My Indian Cuisine Indian Chinese.

My India Insight We love the warmth and affection Indians show towards one and all.

They are very welcoming of strangers.

However, consumerism seems to be gradually taking over a society which was once very giving. Change always begins at home so if I can influence my children and my family to be a little bit more giving, it will be a start.

My Tip to India People value time, efficiency and cleanliness!

Juliette

Head Sales & marketing at freshly new opened 5 star Park Plaza My India, My Country The passion for food, though the two cuisines are so opposed.

My Favourite Indian Mr. Deep Kalra, Founder of Makemytrip.com for his vision, integrity, simplicity and confidence in the way he built his company and made it a true success.

My Indian Cuisine Guajarati cuisine – my Jain friends cook the best Indian food for me!

My India Insight One that I like: the sense of hospitality, the curiosity, the ease with which they build relationships with people One that I dislike: Saying no is not in the Indian language and I sometimes would rather avoid this courtesy.

My Tip to India “Soft” Indian Food training: the cuisines are so different that it requires some time to educate the palette, so it would be appreciated by French people if you give them some time to discover Indian spicy delicacies with a step-by-step approach.

culturama | november 2011

27

Bursting the Bubble

I a n W at k i n s o n

child's

play My own childhood experiences in the 1950s seem light years away from the experiences many modern day children have. I was happy to sneak off with my friends for the whole day to bicycle, what at the time seemed huge distances, from my village. To climb old oak trees in the woodlands, to find meadows full of red poppies and yellow buttercups and lie staring at the clouds in the sky, to splash in streams where we would catch tiny, darting red and silver fish in little nets, trek to the yellow iris ponds to find small aquatic lizards and examine them in old glass jars before returning them all safely to their homes in the water. My children were brought up in the 1980s with the same mode of thinking – to play, to show respect to and learn from Nature and each other, to be happy with the simple things of life.

Now that past, simple life is changing faster than ever before, and it is changing everywhere, as the march of global consumerism and exponential technological discovery strains the true underlying values at the core of every society. The world is deemed a more dangerous place to be a child, than it was in the 1950s and the freedom we had as children has often vanished. Nature has taken a massive beating from humanity, and now the iris lilies and the small lizards are in decline or extinct, their habitats destroyed by expansive development, or victims of the pollution and chemicals that affect us all in this spiralling time of change.

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“The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives,� said Albert Einstein

What often springs to mind are the films of Satjayit Ray, the brilliant Bengali film maker, and his trilogy of monochrome films about ‘Apu’ made in the 1950s. In particular, the first – the beautifully filmed Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road) – when Apu and his sister come across the great pylons of telephone wires cascading seemingly forever to the distant horizon, and the intercity railway track with a fast train approaching like a demon from another world – this vision of modernity forever changing the simplicity of their rural life in their remote Bengali village. Ray knew what these technological changes would mean in agrarian India as elsewhere in the world, and what tremendous effects they would have on us all the world over. His silver screen metaphor is a potent today as it was nearly 60 years ago.

But even now in these times of global consumerism I still see children here in India with that real, pure connectivity with the world I felt as a small boy, taking delight in the creatures and flowers, not craving for the subliminally embedded game boy toys or latest plastic consumer gimmick.

Recently, in Assam, a young girl, who lived in a shanty hut built from old jute gunny sacks and plastic on the streets of Guwahati, gave us a perfect flower she had picked up from the flower market waste, smiled a beaming smile and went back to her small brothers, sitting by their poor home on the footpath. Impoverished of all the trappings that modern society often holds dear, but rich in spirit.

This young girl was wanting no more than to extend a welcome between her life and ours. A gap of light years bridged by a simple token of connectivity, a kind thought, a welcome. So often these small tokens are followed by the request for rupees, and the tiny hands extend, but here there was none.

It was the honesty of a child who saw no difference between us and her. Make no mistake, I know as well as any man here how much such poverty is a brutal curse, and often seeing children in such situations can wrench the heart from your being, but to see this open honesty cuts through that. The empathy becomes clear.

However we live our lives in this world of change and turmoil we should never forget that once we were all children, and that experience of childhood lies inside of us throughout our onward adult life.

Never forget that once we delighted in the simple things in life, in Nature, in companionship and learning.

Just as Einstein said, retaining that purity, that essence, is something we should all strive to, whether rich or poor, whether a professor or a pauper.

And we need to respect that in all children, that purity, and it should be protected from harm. As we are today living in the present of the former future of our childhood past, the children of today are the present of a future yet to come.

“Future India is in the hands of today's child.” — Jawaharlal Nehru

The writer is British and lives in Chennai. culturama | november 2011

29

View from the Top

L a k s h m i K r u pa

Chatterbox!

What makes Mayil Will Not Be Quiet so unique? Authors Niveditha Subramaniam and Sowmya Rajendran talk about their newest book that sheds light on an Indian pre-teen’s life‌

Tell us about Mayil Will Not Be Quiet. Who is it for and what can a young reader look forward to in it?

Mayil‌ is for a 10 + age group. We have had readers as young as ten and as old as sixty who have told us how much they enjoyed the book. Our aim was to write a book that is located strongly in the local and the familiar, about a childhood that we ourselves have experienced. A young reader will hopefully find those magical moments in the text that makes him or her say, "Hey, that's just like me!"

How did the book happen? Were you particular about writing for children?

The idea for the book came from our shared desire to write a simple and practical text that discusses gender issues from a child's point of view. Most of the literature for the subject is heavily theoretical and hence inaccessible to children. We wanted to write a beginner's text that introduces the social construct of gender and how it functions through

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storytelling. The book later became a diary and this made Mayil more real and more knowable to the reader.

Even within the genre of children's literature there seems to be a huge divide between content in English and local languages. How important is it for children to be able to learn and listen to stories in local languages?

Very. Children are often unable to articulate their own experiences because they are not familiar with a narrative that can accommodate them. Most of us in India are bilingual, if not multilingual. Our experiences too reflect this diversity, but sadly, because of several reasons, children's books in local languages are yet to take off in a big way. However, things are improving. More publishers are willing to produce good quality books in local languages. Tulika pioneered bilingual children's books in India and this has had a very positive response so far.

I first heard of Mayil on the

Internet and have since heard many testimonials for the book online. Are social networks playing an increasingly important role in increasing awareness for genres that otherwise might not reach the right audiences?

Social networks definitely help in increasing awareness. We may not be able to quantify the impact in terms of sales always but social media does help to reach out to people who may not be within your reader ambit otherwise. As far as Mayil goes, I wrote about it on my blog and many of my readers picked up a copy. When I started getting positive comments on it, I suggested that they write reviews for the book on their own blogs if they found the time. Many were kind enough to oblige! Apart from this, we also sent the book around to book review sites like Bookrack India that caters to a teen and upwards audience.

Cause & Effect

t e a m c u lt u r a m a

No Kidding!

This Children’s Day, learn about the work Pratham does.

It is the largest non-governmental organisation working to provide quality education to the underprivileged children of India

Can you tell us about the areas of work that Pratham is involved in?

Pratham is the largest NGO working to provide education to under privileged children in India. We have a presence in 21 states in the country. Pratham focuses on getting children admitted in schools and providing them quality education, which

is why our motto is "every child in school and learning well". We predominantly work in the area of early childhood education (pre-KG) to primary and secondary school education. However, we are now extending our programmes to include vocational skills for young adults.

What is your modus operandi?

We create teaching and learning methodologies to ensure that every child learns well. We also measure the impact of our programmes annually through a survey called ASER. The ASER findings are used by the Indian government.

How many children have benefited through Pratham's work so far?

Pratham's flagship programme Read India reached 33 million children in 20082009. In 2010-2011 Read India reached 2.4 million children. The strategy and approach has changed from 2008-2009 and we've scaled down our reach in order to demonstrate impact and replicate in blocks and villages.

How far are we from achieving

Pratham's goal of “every Child in School and learning well”?

The 2010 ASER report indicates that over time there has been a steady improvement in enrolment of children with the out-of-school rate improving from 6.6% in 2005 to 3.5% in 2010. This, though, has not necessarily translated into an improvement in the learning levels of children. According to ASER 2010, slightly more than 50% of children in Standard 5 can read at standard 2 levels. Numbers for math are similarly dismal – only about 36% of children in Standard 5 can do a simple division problem. There is still a long way to go.

How can people help or contribute towards Pratham's cause?

People can help Pratham by volunteering with us or by donating money to our cause. People can also contribute to the cause that Pratham works for by spreading awareness on the importance of education, especially among the underprivileged and urging them to send their children to school.

Pratham Mumbai Education Initiative, Y.B. Chavan Center, 4th Floor, Gen. J. Bhosale Marg. Nariman Point, Mumbai, Maharashtra400021; Phone-022-22819561 32

culturama | november 2011

Wisdom Trail

Zena Soli Sorabjee

Light of Lotus

As the Bahá'í House of Worship, also called the Lotus Temple, in Delhi completes 25 glorious years, Zena Soli Sorabjee talks about the temple, the Bahá'í Faith and more…

You have been involved with the temple from the very beginning. Can you tell us about some important memories you have associated with from the beginning of the Lotus Temple?

Back then, the land on which the temple now stands was a village called Mahapur. And it was bought by a generous man of Bahá'í faith for Rs 1 lakh. He wasn’t rich, he owned a tea stall. He spent all his life’s saving on it. There weren’t as many Bahá'ís in India back then.

But after that the land was acquired by the government as it was a green area. For 19 years we struggled to get the land and built only on 2 acres of the 26. Later the government gave us the land back. But all the agencies and ministries did help us in building and making the temple what it is now.

The Lotus Temple has more visitors than the Taj Mahal, we hear. Is there a reason for this, according to you?

We have four million visitors every year. Now, I am not sure if that’s more than what the Taj Mahal sees but the reason is certainly because Delhi is the capital and most people who come to Delhi and Delhiites themselves visit the temple a lot as it is serene and peaceful. Perhaps, not everyone has the time to go to Agra.

What sets the Baha’i faith apart?

We believe in one god for everybody. In the oneness of religions. We believe that all the religions came from the same soul but at different times of evolution. Bahá'í is the latest in that evolution not the last. One of our spiritual concerns is also gender equality.

Can you tell us about the etiquette to be followed in the temple?

Well first of all, there is a shoe room outside the temple. As the tradition is elsewhere in India, we remove our shoes. There is no set regimen, anyone can go in and meditate but has to maintain complete silence so others can meditate peacefully. Everyday we have three to four services - chanting and readings – from the Bible, Bhagavad Gita, Dhammapada including the Bahá'í script. We believe all religions originate from the same divine soul.

What days are special to the Bahá'í faith?

The birth anniversary of the prophet Bahá'u'lláh on November 12 which coincides with the 25th year of the Lotus Temple this year is special to us. March 21 is the Bahá'í New Year and April 21 is the day the prophet proclaimed his mission to the world.

culturama | november 2011

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CALENDAR CHENNAI THEATRE & MUSIC

* Event details are correct at the time of printing. However, we encourage readers to call and reconfirm at the venues concerned. Numbers beside each event indicate the date. Events are divided into categories like film, music, etc. Addresses and phone numbers of venues and places mentioned are listed under Venues.

Passes at Rs. 500, Rs. 200 and Rs. 200 Contact 9791065789 Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra December 4 Directed by the celebrated, Mr. Wolfgang Kussmaul, celebrity soloists György Bognar, Nikolaus von Bülow, violoncellos (Vivaldi), Adrian lliesu, Wolfgang Kussmaul, Klaus von Niswandt, violin (Bach) will perform in Chennai as an extension of ‘The year of Germany in India’ Sir Mutha Venkatasubba Rao Concert Hall, Chetpet

aRT & EXHIBITION DanSE Dialogues November 5—12 The French Embassy with Alliance Francaise of Madras, Prakriti Foundation and Kalakshetra Foundation presents ‘DanSe Dialogues,’ bringing six contemporary dance performances from France and India. Beautiful Things by Padmini Chettur, Pichet klunchun and Myself by Jérôme Bel, Zahrbat by Brahim Bouchelaghem, Transports exceptionnels by Dominique Boivin, Sweet Sorrow by Preeti Athreya and Dancing Girl by Sujatha Goel.

Rukmini Aranagam, Kalakshetra and Sir Mutha Venkatasubbarao Auditorium Son Kyung-Soon Yeajeon Dance November 13, 7.00 pm The Embassy of the Republic of Korea, New Delhi, Indian Council for Cultural Relations, and Korea Foundation with support from InKo Centre presents Son Kyung-Soon Yeajeon Dance Company in Chennai. The evening's performance includes a presentation of traditional and contemporary Korean music and dance.

Sir Mutha Venkatasubba Rao Concert Hall, Chetpet Friday Review Music Fest November 16 in Chennai 7:00 pm InKo Centre in association with The Hindu Friday Review Music Fest, Chennai and Song of Soul, Kolkata, present Ha Yong Bu & Dulsori – contemporary Korean percussion.

Sir Mutha Venkatasubba Rao Concert Hall, Chetpet Sworn Brothers November 25, 7.00 pm Starring Song Kang-ho and Gang Dong-wona the film has the former playing a man who has been kicked out of the National Intelligence Service because of his involvement in a gunfight in the centre of Seoul.

Gang Dong-won is Song Ji-won – a North Korean spy who has been cut loose from his job.

Entry Free.

InKo Centre, 6th Main Road, RA Puram Contact 044 24361224 The Looter’s Looty December 4, 6 pm A full-length comedy that is a sandwich of a mime and an English drama, narrating the story of an intelligent thief who doesn’t steal to make a living but for his immense passion for thievery.

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culturama | november 2011

November 13, 4:30 pm (afternoon walk) Nungambakkam High Road and environs November 20, 6:30 am.

On First Line Beach, from Dare House to Clive Battery November 27, at 8:30 am.

Along the Beach Tambaram Railway line, from Chetpet to Kodambakkam.

For details, www.selectiveamnesia.org

FOOD & SHOPPING Tulika Bookstore Launch Tulika Publishers launches a new bookstore in Chennai along with a new title – Oluguti Tologuti – a collection of 54 Indian rhymes in 18 languages in the original, in English translations and with transliterations in English and Hindi.

24/1 Ganapathy Colony, Third Street, Teynampet Contact 044 24331639

Painting Exhibition by Artist Chandramohan November – all month A solo painting exhibition by artist Chandramohan.

Apparao Galleries, Ground Floor, No. 7, Wallace Gardens 3rd Street.

Contact 044 28332226 Group show of four artists A painting exhibition of artists Mark Rathinaraj, Janarthanan, Suresh Kumar and Narayan Apparao Galleries, Second Floor, No.7 Wallace Garden 3rd Street Contact 044 28332226

wORKSHOPs & EVENTs

Bring & Buy Sale November 12 Vanilla Children Place presents a Bring & Buy Sale that allows parents and children to setup a stall and sell, buy and even exchange their products with other vendors. It's an opportunity to understand the value of money, recycling and pep up their personality skills.

Vanilla Children Place, No.89, Bishop Garden, Greenways Road, R.A Puram Contact 044-42266660.

S Square In stores now Language launches the S2 sneaker collection as part of its Fall Winter 2011 showcase.

Rutland Gate Road, Nungambakkam Contact 044 32210400

Walking Fourth – Photowalks Celebrating four years of Photowalks in Chennai with four photo walks (taking pictures while discovering parts of Chennai.)

November 6, 5:30 am.

From Southern Railway Headquarters (PH Road) to Madras High Court

Art world Look for the best of art, murals, statues, wall arts, traditional and tribal arts.

Satguru's, No.5, Sterling Avenue, Nungambakkam Contact 044 42140790

CALENDAR BENGALURU THEATRE & MUSIC

* Event details are correct at the time of printing. However, we encourage readers to call and reconfirm at the venues concerned. Numbers beside each event indicate the date. Events are divided into categories like film, music, etc. Addresses and phone numbers of venues and places mentioned are listed under Venues.

Apparao Galleries, "The Presidency", 82 St Marks Road, Ground Floor Contact 080 41329163 Silhouette Seasons Prints Expo November 1–7 A month-long expo of Project Emm's surprisingly affordable, original silhouette prints in vibrant hues.

64 Tap House and Bistro, 64, 1st Main, 7th Block, Koramangala Contact 080 42173536

Three Little Stories – An Ideal, an Elegy and Silence – Play November 5, 7 p.m.

A simple tale about a man who decides to play a fair game in life as fate tries to trick him every time. Just when they said old men don't learn, here's a tale of an old man who grows up.

K H Kala Saudha, Kengal Hanumantiah Kala Soudha, Ramanjaneya Temple Compound, Hanumantha Nagar, Basavanagudi Contact 0725 9998222 The Big Mushroom Cloud Festival November 5, 10 a.m.

The Big Mushroom Cloud Festival is a celebration of music that helps you transcend into a state of altered consciousness.

CounterCulture, 2D2, 4th Cross, Dyavasandra industrial area, Whitefield Road Contact 080 414 007 93

Paradise Regained – Painting Exhibition November 1–9 Paradise Regained - A group show of paintings by Radhika Neelakantan, Prakash Ghadge and Ganapati Hegde.

Kynkyny Art Gallery, 104 Embassy Square 148 Infantry Road Contact 080 40926202 Sojourn-III November 1–30, 11 a.m.

Art Exhibition by Sajal K Mitra and Sanjay Mehta.

Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, Kumarakrupa Rd, Highgrounds, Seshadripuram Contact 080 22263424

wORKSHOPs & EVENTs

aRT & EXHIBITION The Sartorial World – Art Exhibition November 1–6, 11 a.m. onwards Apparao Galleries presents 'The Sartorial World', marking the visuality of adornment (a cross disciplinary art show exploring the body as a museum

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Kal-Nadam November 12–19 Kal-Nadam is a mega festival of classical dance and music ADA Rangamandira, JC Road, Near Town Hall, behind Mysugar Building Contact 080 2344 4360

FOOD & SHOPPING Special Mexican Menu Promotion November 1 Le Meridien Sports Bar and Lounge will be hosting a special Mexican promotion, the menu has interesting combos in power of two, three or four with Mexican food and Drinks at a special price. All this you can savour while watching your favorite sporting action on the 10+ screens.

Hotel Le Meridien, 28, Sankey Road, P.B. No. 174 Contact 080 2226233 Candlelight Dinner November 1–12 Enjoy a candle light dinner with your near and dear one at Chaarcoals (Kebab'N'Curries).

Hotel Regaalis, Dr. Rajkumar Road Rajajinagar Contact 080 40333111

Pritam Chakraborty – Live in Concert November 5, 6 p.m.

The Night is planned to be a red carpet affair as Pritam Chakraborty performs live.

The concept and theme of the decoration is based on the different stages of the life cycle, personifying it with different songs.

Princess Academy, Bangalore.

Palace Grounds, Bellary Road Contact 9845005012 A Friend of Mine (Ein Freund von mir) - Film November 10, 6.15 p.m.

Karl and Hans are like fire and water. Karl works as a junior manager at an insurance company and is on the fast track to a dazzling career Max Muller Bhavan, Indira Nagar, No.716, CMH Main Road, Indiranagar

A Musical Journey of Mohd. Rafi November 11, 6 pm It's a tribute to the great master and aptly titled 'Adaab Rafi', organised by Rotary Bangalore Indiranagar (RBI). RBI delivered a highly successful tribute to Madan Mohan during April this year and thanks to public demand they are back with another awesome tribute, this time to Mohd Rafi Chowdiah Memorial Hall, Gayatri Devi Park Extension, 16th Cross, Malleshwaram Contact 99008877900

Music workshop with Biggi Vinkeloe November 4–6 Biggi Vinkeloe, a well-known German jazz artist from Sweden is one of the few female jazz musicians who work internationally.

Max Muller Bhavan, Indira Nagar, No.716, CMH Main Road,Indiranagar Movement and Stillness – Theatre Workshop November 9, 3 pm A three-hour theatre workshop on the themes of trust and conflict. During the workshop, the participants will use movement and storytelling to produce short improvisations that will be performed before an audience Alliance Francaise de Bangalore, 21, Palace Road, Vasanthnagar Contact 080 41231340

Food, Love & Me November 26, 8 p.m. every Friday and Saturday Listen to the best ever love songs performed by Prof.

Srinivas on 12-string guitar and vocals.

Bangalore Bistro 74, Sumeru Tower, 3rd Floor, Brigade Road, Contact 080 41131616

CALENDAR MUMBAI THEATRE & MUSIC

* Event details are correct at the time of printing. However, we encourage readers to call and reconfirm at the venues concerned. Numbers beside each event indicate the date. Events are divided into categories like film, music, etc. Addresses and phone numbers of venues and places mentioned are listed under Venues.

Fort, Mumbai – 400 001.

Tel:+91-22-2284 4484 Uncovering Layers – A show of paintings : Anita Mansata Up to 13 November Uncovering Layers – a show of paintings by Anita Mansata. Kolkatta based artist Anita Mansata , has a strongly developed aesthetic sense and keen visual inputs. Her paintings are a strong and sassy comment on society. Working with mixed media using photography , collages, inks, paints, dyes on paper and canvas, they excite you to think and see and think some more.

Jamaat, National House, Tullock Road, Near Council Hall, Colaba Contact 022 22820718

Arties Western Music Festival November 2011 November 7 Listen to Rossini, Mahler, Webern, Beethoven and Bottesini in Mumbai at the Arties Western Music Festival.

Experimental Theatre, NCPA Marg & Dorabji Tata Road, Nariman Point Contact: +91-22-6622 3737.

Tilt by Anusha Lall Wednesday, 16, 7 pm Tilt: a dance performance in the round. Using the movement vocabulary of Bharatanatyam as a starting point, it attempts to discover fresh dynamics and create new perspectives, both, in the way that it is performed, and in the way it is viewed.

Tata Theatre, NCPA Marg & Dorabji Tata Road, Nariman Point Contact: +91-22-6622 3737.

aRT & EXHIBITION Artistic Expressions: Amit Makwana November 9–13, 10 a.m.–7 p.m.

Artistic Expressions an exhibition of work by artist Amit Makwana.

Coomaraswamy Hall, Fort

FOOD & SHOPPING

India Art Festival November 17–20 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.

India Art Festival, a modern and contemporary art fair, is scheduled to take place at Nehru Centre.

Nehru centre Art Gallery, Dr. Annie Besant Road, Near Nehru Planetorium, Worli Contact: 022 2496 3426

Sama’a: the Mystic Ecstasy: Festival of Sufi Music 11 November – 13th November, 7 pm This three-day festival will include poetry reading by Shabana Azmi, qawwali by Wadali Brothers, a performance by Konya Turkish Tasawwuf Music Ensemble (Whirling Dervishes) and film screenings.

Experimental Theatre and Tata Theatre, NCPA Marg & Dorabji Tata Road, Nariman Point Contact: +91-22-6622 3737.

Inhabited Geometry November 15, 7 pm Inhabited Geometry is a contemporary dance performance. by Mandeep Raikhy Experimental Theatre, NCPA Marg & Dorabji Tata Road, Nariman Point Contact: +91-22-6622 3737.

Parasailing Ongoing H20, 10 am – sunset H2O Netaji Subhashchandr Bose Road, Chowpatty, Mumabi Contact 022 2367 7546 If you're looking to get your adrenalin pumping, try something different this week. H20 promises that their instructors have experience of over 5,000 flights and there are certified life guards hovering nearby, just in case. A flight costs Rs 1,090

wORKSHOPs & EVENTs NCPA Centre Stage : Annual Theatre Festival November 18 – November 27 The festival will feature top groups from the city and beyond, including three international companies from UK, Singapore and Australia. Also to be held is a street theatre festival in the outdoor spaces along with workshops and interactions on theatre.

At Tata, Experimental, Godrej and Sunken Garden NCPA Marg & Dorabji Tata Road, Nariman Point, Mumbai – 400 021.

Tel: +91-22-6622 3737.

Belly Dancing Workshop Up to November 30, 11 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Enjoy Belly Dancing Workshops at Integym.

Perfect way to get into shape and enjoy yourself.

Day: Sunday; Duration: 12 sessions; Fees: Rs. 4,200 for members of Integym & Rs. 5,000 for others.

Contact: 98202 24323.

At INTEGYM – Intelligent Fitness, Colaba

OktoberFest Upto November 15, 8 am – 1 am Try a range of domestic beers and enjoy the draught pitchers! Also got great combo offers on food and drink! Try out the new starters like jalapeno poppers, crostini, chicken kati roll, chicken lollypop and more...!

At Crepe Staion Resto Bar, Tirupati Towers, 7 Bunglows, J.P. Road, Versova, Andheri West Contact 022 2631 4158.

Free Mocktails Up to November 15, 11 a.m. – 1.30 p.m.

Sample a variety of salads such as Fattoush, Greek and Moroccan salad. Appetizers such as falafel dumplings, cheese barakh, spinach fathayer, chicken kibbeh to name a few. There are also several sandwiches and rolls like paneer shawarma, Lebanese chicken, shish tawook roll and others to choose from.

Bistro Grill – Authentic Arabic Cuisine-Juhu, Hotel Bawa Continental, Juhu Tara Road, Juhu Contact 022 3210 8585

culturama | november 2011

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CALENDAR DELHI THEATRE & MUSIC

Paul Beaudry & Pathways November 1,1900h Paul Beaudry & Pathways (New York, New York) is deeply rooted in the jazz and blues traditions.

Founded in 2008, Paul Beaudry & Pathways balances original compositions and arrangements with selected standards from jazz’s broad stylistic range.

Kamani Auditorium, 1, Copernicus Marg, New Delhi

* Event details are correct at the time of printing. However, we encourage readers to call and reconfirm at the venues concerned. Numbers beside each event indicate the date. Events are divided into categories like film, music, etc. Addresses and phone numbers of venues and places mentioned are listed under Venues.

Rajwade a fortune in alimony, Rajwade proposes Ajay to steal his jewellery simulating a burglary.

When Ajay vanishes, a witty, funny and sharp sub inspector Dhanwade visits Rajwade to investigate what really happened that night, when deadly games are disclosed. Tickets @ Rs. 350, 250 & 150 available at the venue.

Epicenter Institutional Area, Sector 44, Gurgaon.

0124 2715000 Lady Swettenham November 22, 1830h Lady Swettenham is a play about the life of the manic depressive wife of one of the British residents of Malaya, Sir Frank Swettenham. Set in the 1880s till 1938, the 55 minute play traces the life of the couple as they travel through Malayaand Singapore.

The old days of the Raj comes to life as Sydney Swettenham relives the club scenes in Singaporeand the cricket matches her husband played.

The Attic, 36 Regal Building, Connaught Place, New Delhi

aRT & EXHIBITION

Indo – Hungarian Fusion Concert November 1, 1900h Ágnes Herczku is the best known folk-ethno singer in Hungary. Róbert Sinha was born in Budapest in 1973. Johar Ali Khan is the son and disciple of Late Ustad Gohar Ali Khan (of Rampur), the great violin genius of Indian music.

Baha’i House of Worship Monsoon Wedding November 3, 1930h A story set in the modern upper-middle class of India, where telecommunications and a western lifestyle mix with old traditions, like the arranged wedding young Aditi accepts when she ends her affair with a married TV producer.

Collab. Delhi International Arts Festival Epicenter Institutional Area, Sector 44, Gurgaon.

0124 2715000 Gergely Boganyi November 12, 1830h Gergely Boganyi, in cooperation with the India International Centre will perform a piano recital.

The recital will be part of the EU Sanskriti Festival.

Gergely Bogányi has become one of the most sought after and cherished pianists of his generation.

India International Centre 40, Max Mueller Marg, New Delhi Checkmate November 12, 1930h Based on Anthony Shauffer’s Tony Award winning play ‘SLEUTH’ Successful writer of detective, murder, mystery novels Rajwade and struggling actor Ajay Talwalkar have something in common, Rajwade's wife Sai. In an attempt to find a way out of this without costing

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wORKSHOPs & EVENTs

Sounds for Soul November 6, 0930h – 1400h This workshop attempts to explore the use of voice, percussive and melodic instruments through a variety of creative, expressive and innovative techniques to promote personal well being and relaxation. This workshop will be engaging, inspiring and aims to help participants acquire simple techniques to apply in daily life.

Zorba The Buddha, 7 , Tropical Drive, MG Road, Ghitorni 25 years of Lotus Temple November 12–13 The birth anniversary of the prophet Bahá'u'lláh on November 12 which coincides with the 25th year of the Lotus Temple this year will be celebrated at the temple.

Bahá'í House of Worship, New Delhi

FOOD & SHOPPING In You Is The Illusion Of Each Day November 1 – 5, 1100h The world is as much inside us as it is outside. 'In You is the Illusion of Each Day' draws its title and theme from a poem by Pablo Neruda, who understood our deep human need to feel intimately and inextricably connected to the world outside of each of us.

Latitude 28, F-208, Lado Sarai, Delhi (NCR) Yaadon Ki Baaraat - Digital Art Exhibition by Sharmistha Dutta.

November 1– 10, 0800h – 1100h Artist Sharmistha Dutta displays her unique and creative work: A Digital Art show celebrating Old Hindi movies. A look into the lost art of hand painted posters of the bygone era.

Bagels café, 47, Defence Colony Market, Ground Floor, New Delhi

At Pickwicks: 12:30 pm - 2:45 pm / 07:30 pm 11:00 pm.

At Sevilla: 07:30 pm - 12:30 pm.

November 1 – 5 At The Claridges, we have sourced organic food material from Navdanya, India's premier Organic food supplier and crafted a special menu featuring innovative and traditional organic recipes.

The Claridges Hotel, 12 Aurangzeb Road, Connaught Place Delhi (NCR)

Photo Feature

Life as a montage Our photo feature this month is a tribute to the memory of Philip Clegg from the United Kingdom, who recently passed on. All the photos in this feature were taken by Philip and sent to us as part of his entry for the expatriate photo competition across various topics about India such as Culture, Faces, Into India and Places.

Our 14th Annual Expatriate Photo Competition will be held on November 6 at The Hilton Chennai.

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photo: nancy reiseg, USA

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NOVEMBER

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Festivals of India

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Bakrid This is the festival of sacrifice, also called 'Id al-Adha' in Arabic.

It is celebrated by Muslims worldwide to commemorate the prophet Ibrahim, who was willing to sacrifice his son for God. Pleased with the depth of his devotion, God commanded that he sacrifice a ram instead. It is a time to spend with family and friends and give thanks for being able to afford food and housing. The meat of the sacrifice is divided into three parts: for family, for relatives and friends and lastly, for the poor.

This festival occasionally coincides with the Hajj (annual pilgrimage to Mecca).

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Guru Nanak Jayanti

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Children's Day

Guru Nanak Jayanti is the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism. It preaches ahimsa (nonviolence) of thought, action and speech, forgiveness, and physical, mental and spiritual endurance. The celebrations usually last for three days, beginning two days before his birthday. On the day before the birth anniversary, a procession is held, where hymns are sung and people display their swordsmanship. On the day, devotees wake up early, start their prayers and as per tradition, are served a free communal lunch. The significance of this lunch is that people should be served in the spirit of seva (service) and bhakti (devotion).

November 14, the birth anniversary of independent India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, is celebrated as Children’s Day. It was chosen to commemorate his lifelong adoration of and work for children. The day is marked by elocution, drama and quiz contests in schools.

Tales of India

Vimanika comics

Tales of India

Sometimes heroes come back… after death, after destruction, after millennia have passed.

Because their souls live on. These souls don’t give up their dream of vanquishing evil. And if they faltered the first time, the souls wait, replenishing themselves, preparing them for the final fight.

‘The Sixth’ is one such soul. In the battle of Mahabharata, there was a hero who fought for the villains. But his heroism remained untouched by the dirt around him. Karna… he is back.

To read the entire series, get your copy of Karna right now! Log on to http://www.vimanika.com or www.flipkart.com or call 09650457457

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Portrait of India According to Indian puranas, Lord Rama is the seventh avatar of Lord Vishnu and a king of Ayodha. He is considered to be the very personification of an ideal man. Rama is depicted here as a man of ‘Oka Baana , Oka Maata, Oka Patni Vritudai’, a take-off from the music composition by Sri Thyagaraja Music Saint which means of one bow, one word and one woman’s man.

Courtesy: ‘Art Heritage of India: A Collector’s Special’, published by ‘L&T - ECC & ECC Recreation Club’. culturama | november 2011

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STAR STRUCK

TEA M C ULTURA M A

The name is Khan This Indian icon is perhaps the only one in the country to have made a mark in both cinema and cricket – two things that are close to every Indian's heart!

He has come far from his ‘Circus’ days. No he wasn’t working for one, but acted in a hit television show called thus. Shah Rukh Khan (also called SRK) began his acting career in the 1980s with the TV shows ‘Fauji’ and later ‘Circus’. The star, who celebrates his birthday this month, entered Bollywood with the film Deewana in 1992. Offers soon started pouring in and the country caught a glimpse of what he was capable of in "Darr". Playing a negative role that was turned down by established actors, Shah Rukh rose to instant fame and portrayed a psychopathic stalker, with a stutter. All across the nation, everyone was saying K-k-k-kiran, the way he did. There has been no looking back for this immensely talented actor since.

He was and continues to the blue-eyed boy of

King Khan Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (The Big Hearted Will Take the Bride), DDLJ, made over Rs.106 crore in India and Rs.15 crore overseas. It is the longest-running film in the history of Indian cinema still playing at the Maratha Mandir theatre in Mumbai SRK studied acting under theatre director Barry John at Delhi's Theatre Action Group (TAG).

Some of his most critically acclaimed performances have been as a field hockey coach leading the women’s team to a World Cup win in the film Chak De!, as the radio journalist who falls in love with a terrorist in Dil Se, and as a Muslim who chooses to live in India post partition in Kamal Hassan’s Hey Ram. His latest film Ra One is a Hindi science fiction superhero film and features Chinese-American actor Tom Wu in a supporting role.

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Bollywood and the masses. The 1990s were, in a sense, the golden SRK era. He starred in several mega hits such as "Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge" (DDLJ) in 1995, a record-breaking film that still runs in a Mumbai theatre. Some of his other big hits from then were Baazigar, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Pardes, Karan Arjun, Dil to Pagal Hai and Dil Se. SRK ventured into production with Red Chillies Entertainment, a firm he owns along with wife Gauri Khan. Red Chillies is not just famous for the films it produces but also as the owner of one of the cricketing teams in the Indian Premier League, Kolkata Knight Riders. Recently, the firm launched the Indian version of the immensely popular music show Coke Studio in India. It was originally started in Pakistan.

India and I

Bogusia Sipiora

Heading to Himachal I have been to Himachal Pradesh a couple of times.

Whenever I go there, it rains! It is a clean rain that washes out all the dust of Delhi. However, it means a wet, wet, wet... and cloudy time. But once the gods decided to let the sun shine and let me experience some Himalayan warmth.

It is believed that the gods live in the Himalayas and that Himachal is Devbhumi or the Land of the Gods.

Indeed, I once found a tranquil and remote camp in the middle of an apple orchard in Tirthan Valley and I felt like I was being invited by the gods themselves.

This camp is called Camp Himalayan and is situated near the Great Himalayan National Park. It is built in a way that one can enjoy the beauty of Nature and have its protection too. Perfect for unwinding and lying

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A visit to the pristine landscapes of Assam is never complete without a pitstop at the Kaziranga National Park where the famous onehorned Rhinoceros lives

back in what is a homely atmosphere, the camp is aimed at sustaining village life by involving the local villagers in the activities. The camp’s cook serves simple yet delicious dishes, and the guide takes you on treks along trails that only locals know of.

In this valley, my experience of drinking crystal clear cold water from the forests was unforgettable. Unlike in the city, there is no stress or sadness.

I remember a woman who passed me by on a narrow stony path and stopped to chat. I was a lost tourist and she answered my questions with patience and an eagerness to help.

This heavenly place is also home to many Himalayan gods. While rowing amid mountain paths I noticed several trees with red cloth tied around them,

with offerings laid out in front. These are tree gods. It is said that when locals used to travel on foot and whenever a tree became a landmark or a shelter or was really old, they named it a tree god. Nowadays, people hesitate to cut down these trees.

Tirthan Valley is a belt famous for its fruits, which are exported to different parts of the world. June is the time for plums and apricots; the best apples and pears soon follow. We went to the Himalayas at a time when the apple trees were weighed down by their ripe fruits; the branches kept knocking against our cottage walls as they swayed in the Himalayan breeze.

Now in Delhi, whenever I bite into a fresh apple I think of Himachal and its vast beauty!

The writer is Polish and lives in Delhi

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aDVERTISER'S FEATURE

Kurangani Village Kurangani village is situated at a height of 400 ft in the Western Ghats, Theni District of Tamil Nadu. It is locate at an altitude of 400-6,500 Msl with an area spread over around 6,275 Hecter Acre. Promoted as a new tourism – endogenous spices tourism.

The new model aims at promoting a sustainable project that is communityowned, culturally expressive and environmentally sustainable based on rural lifestyle experience.

Kolukkumalai is the highest tea estate in the world. It is situated in a precipitious ledge atop Kurangani. The entire Kurangani Region is a storehouse of rich biodiversity.

How to reach?

Kurangani is 16 Kms from Badinayakkanur. The nearest Airpot is MAdurai which is 11 Kms away from Kurangani.

For bookings contact:

Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corp.

Tamil Nadu Tourism Complex, Wallajah Road, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.

Ph: 91-44-2538 3333, 2538,9857, 2536 1640, Fax: 91-44-2536 1385/ 2356 6633 Email: ttdc@vsnal.com. Website: www.tamilnadutourism.org For online booking log on to: www.ttdconline.com

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Name Sake

s nair

Inner Space

photo Natalie Von Hoffmeister, Canada

Ground beneath her feet!

Devata (female deity), from the Hindu term deva or male deity, has its international counterparts in dewata of Javanese, Sudanese, Malay, Balinese and Indonesian origins. Their close cousins are the guardian angels found in Christianity and Islamic mythology.

Considered the equivalent of guardian spirits, devatas take the form of the blithe forest spirit or vanadevata, village gods or gramadevatas, and ishta devata or one’s preferred deity(could be male or female). Added as a suffix, devata is often used in Sanskrit poetry and chants. For instance, Vak devata – Speech Goddess, means Saraswati, the Goddess of Wisdom who enables speech.

Mythology too had its share of devatas or apsaras, heavenly maidens sent to earth by the gods on seductive missions. The Hindu epics Ramayana, Mahabharata and some Buddhist scriptures speak of apsaras and their male counterpart, the gandharvas, who walked the earth in human form. The prefix deva also gave the name to the deodar tree, worshipped as the divine devatharu (the suffix means tree).

Interestingly, the popular tourist destination Bali is nicknamed Pulau Dewata (islands of devatas) because of its Hindu culture. These female guardian spirits are rendered in stone in many a temple in India and abroad, classic examples being the 1,796 stone figurines decorating the walls of the Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

Apart from being objects of worship, devatas are believed to represent a higher consciousness. They are considered personal and universal, growing with worship (personal) and development of intellectual and spiritual realisation (universal). In daily life, the closest humans can reach the deva or devata status is to be compared to one by virtue of exemplary behaviour.

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Gateway to heaven A prominent feature in South Indian architecture, the gopuram is the monumental tower at the entrance of a Hindu temple. Having started out as small gateways, they developed over the years into elaborately sculpted structures, often eclipsing the inner sanctum of South Indian temples. Very often, a temple may have multiple such towers. The gopurams are topped by kalasams or bulbous structures, sometimes overlaid with gold.

In form, the gopuram is generally rectangular, with doors providing access at the ground level and then dividing into many stories, tapering towards the top.

They have carvings and paintings from Hindu mythology, especially associated with the presiding deity of that particular temple. Tamil Nadu boasts of a plethora of such gopurams, the famous among them being in the Sri Ranganathaswamy temple in Srirangam (the tallest in South India), the Meenakshi Amman temple in Madurai, the Siva temple in Chidambaram, and the Sri Andal temple in Srivilliputhur. Among other legendary temples renowned for such ornate gopurams are the Venkateswara temple in Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh) and the Siva temple in Murudeshwara in Karnataka.

Temple construction reflects the creativity of the sthapathi or the temple architect, and the ornate gopurams can be traced back to the Pallavas and Pandyas, who ruled Tamil Nadu. Each storey of these gopurams had lamps lit at night, guiding the night time traveler in the days of yore. It is interesting that the South Indian gopuram may have a parallel in the Buddhist gateway seen at Sanchi and Bharhut in Madhya Pradesh.

World at

your feet

The launch of Penguin’s Upworldly Mobile by Ranjini Manian was held at the Taj Coromandel on October 20, 2011.

Dr. Sumantran, Executive Vice Chairman, Hinduja Automotive and Chairman of Nissan Ashok Leyland Powertrain, (the man who formerly led Tata Motors to create the revolutionary Tata Nano) and the US Consul General Ms. Jennifer McIntyre, discussed Culltural Intelligence with Ranjini Manian. The book equips Indian managers and expatriate colleagues with Cultural Intelligence to succeed in business!

"This book on behavioural and business skills comes at a time when India needs to do all it can to bridge the gap between talent and its effective use. The tips in this book will be excellent tools if practiced and assimilated by young professionals. The guidance it provides will also be useful for our business schools to culturally sensitise their young MBAs in order to better prepare them for the real world of global interactions."

– Dr. Shashi Tharoor, MP, Author and former Minister of State for External Affairs and United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information

Upworldly Mobile is a great instrument for becoming a Global Indian.

– N.R. Narayana Murthy

Find Upworldly Mobile - Behaviour and Business Skills for the New Indian Manager at leading bookstores across India or log on to www.penguinbooksindia.com ISBN 978-0-143-06803-7

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Holistic Living

e k n at h e s w a r a n

Once every few months re-evaluate the activities you are engaged in on a regular basis. Ask yourself what’s important, because of you don’t, soon the pressures of everyday life will make that choice for you Richard Buttrey, UK

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Ask what’s

Important Long ago, when I began to see the benefits of meditation, I wanted to be sure I made time for it every day. But I couldn’t see how I could fit it in. I had an extremely busy schedule, with responsibilities from early morning until late at night.

I valued all this, but I was determined to make meditation a top priority. So I sat down and made a list of all the things I felt bound to do.

Then I took my red pencil and crossed out everything that was not actually necessary or beneficial. Some of the results surprised me.

I found I had been involved in activities that I couldn’t honestly say benefited anyone, including myself. I had simply become used to doing them.

When I surveyed what remained, I found I had freed a number of hours every week.

This red-pencil exercise may seem painful, but very quickly you will find it liberating. You will find you have more time to do the things that are important to you, more time for family and friends, more time for everything that makes life worthwhile.

Of course, this list reflects your priorities, no one else’s. No one will be looking over your shoulder while you decide what gets the red pencil. And, of course, the list is not permanent.

Every now and then I still repeat this exercise, making a list and questioning all my activities because priorities change.

One of the most important things about this kind of review is that it is an admission to yourself that you can’t do everything. Once you make this realisation, you can begin to ask, “What do I want to do? What is important?”

When all is said and done, if you don’t make this list for yourself, the pressures of everyday life will simply make it for you.

When you have pared down your list, test your decision for a few weeks. Often you will find that you and the world can do without activities you had thought essential, and that you have all kinds of new time to allocate as you choose.

When I first did this, I found to my surprise that quite a few of the things I had been engaged in were actually expendable. I had never suspected this. When I dropped out of these activities, I was under the impression that people would miss me.

I even asked myself what I would do when people asked why I hadn’t been turning up. I was rather embarrassed to discover that nobody noticed my absence. Nobody even asked, “Where have you been?” It was a very healthy reminder.

Join us every Saturday India Immersion Centre facilitates a weekly spiritual fellowship group following Easwaran’s Eight Point Programme of Meditation in Chennai. E-mail us for more information at contactiic@ globaladjustments.com and Lakshmi Menon at 9710947713.

Reprinted with permission from “The Goal of Meditation” (Blue Mountain, Spring 2009). Copyright 2009 by the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation, PO Box 256, Tomales, CA 94971, http://www.easwaran.org Eknath Easwaran (1910–1999) founded the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation in 1961. The Center offers books and retreats based on the eight-point program of passage meditation that Easwaran developed, taught, and practiced. To learn more, visit http://www.easwaran.org

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Taste of India

Through the Five Senses, leaving you with a sixth Sense of Wonder

Mr. Morton Schapiro, President, Northwestern University, USA was given a traditional Indian welcome at the India Immersion Centre in June 2011.

“Why would anyone visit India and not visit the India Immersion Centre? I learnt a lot from the programme “Taste of India”.

Recently, we immersed the entire leadership board of the largest infrastructure company of France (VINCI) into India and this is how Xavier Huillard, President, VINCI evaluates us: “You have taught me more about India in the last 3 hours, than I have learned in the last 3 days being in India.”

A delegation of the Women’s Leadership Board of the Harvard Kennedy School was immersed into India through our “Taste of India” programme in March 2011.

“Customers rule! And you obviously know that because you’re treating your customers very, very well!” – Jeff Bezos, Founder CEO Amazon

Global Adjustments Easing your passage to and from India

Venue: India Immersion Centre, #5, 3rd Main Road, R A Puram, Chennai – 600028 www.globaladjustments.com

Sign up

for this cultural experience – Taste of India

Call :

Email : Register at :

+91-44-24617902 +91-98402 28008 contactiic@globaladjustments.com www.globaladjustments.com

If you have visiting delegations or overseas guests or are a curious Indian, bring this cut-out to avail of special offers.

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Office

Yoga

Bulletin Board Oh My God I’m Never Going to Make It Take a break, go for a walk, visualise your in-box as fan mail.

The india immersion centre recently hosted delegates from different corners of the world...

Allow yourself to do nothing and be completely bored!

Do this like a meditation.

Courtesy: Darrin Zeer “America’s relaxation expert!” –CNN www.HappyYoga.ME 64

culturama | november 2011

The India Immersion Centre (IIC) at Global Adjustments recently hosted a delegation of 40 members from the Centre of Wind Energy. These 40 members were truly global, enthusiastic participants from different corners of the world including Western Africa and the Middle East.

After some intense training in India about Wind Energy this delegation was looking to unwind in style and that’s when the IIC came into the picture. The IIC hosted its signature programme, Taste of India, which helped the participants experience India through their five senses. It served as a great stress-buster, indeed, for three hours.

The delegation was also happy to access entertainment and experience culture within the city without tedious travel and enjoyed the refreshing change of scenario. Not only did they love trying on traditional South Indian clothing, they also had ample lip-smacking full-course meal served on a banana leaf.

It was indeed a memorable day for them and the IIC!

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Space & The City

Global Adjustments

Owners, list your property with us for MNC clients. Renters and buyers, we are your one-stop shop for all real estate needs.

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15 years of bringing the world to India

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For the above sample and many more such properties call 91 80 41267152/9986960315 or email: blr@globaladjustments.com

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For the above sample and many more such properties call 91 22 66104191/9833392620 or email: mum@globaladjustments.com

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For the above sample and many more such properties call 91 124 435 4236/9811111759 or email: del@globaladjustments.com Please note that any changes to the information above are done at the property owner’s sole discretion. Global Adjustments assumes no responsibility for such changes.

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Space & The City

Global Adjustments Easing your passage to and from India

Owners, list your property with us for MNC clients. Renters and buyers, we are your one-stop shop for all real estate needs.

15 years of bringing the world to India

Chennai Beautiful House for Rent Anna Nagar • Brand new/contemporary • 4,000 sqft • 5BR • Fully furnished with modern furniture • Fully air-conditioned

Beautiful Villa for Rent Porur

Beautiful Apartment for Rent Anna Nagar

• 4,500 sqft • 4BR with home theatre • Brand new • Athangudi flooring • Servant's room

• 3,300 sqft/ Dupliex apartment • 6 bedrooms fully air-conditioned • Wooden floors • Centrally located

Heritage Individual Bungalow for Rent Egmore

Contemporary Dupliex House OMR

Sholinganallur Elite Apartment on OMR

• Ground floor, 2,500 sqft/ 3 bedrooms • Fully air-conditioned with UPS/generator back up • Modular kitchen seperate dining and utility • Servant's room with toilet • 3 car parks • Ideal for consulates and corporates

• 2,800 sq ft /4 bedrooms compliant to green building norms • Landscaped terrace, water bodies, art work • Fully-furnished with contemporary, straight-line premium furniture

• Fully-furnished 3 bedrooms • 100% power backup • Close to IT companies • Company/Corporate Guest House long lease preferred

Brand New Apartment on OMR

Brand New Apartment OMR

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• 2,000 sq.ft., 3 bedrooms • Fully air-conditioned, modular kitchen and power back-up • Swimming pool, gym, club facility and children's play area • Close to Siruseri IT Park and other software companies • Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan School within campus • Suitable for the walk to office concept

• Elite 3 bedroom apartments with private terrace; 2 covered car parks and servant's room • Elegantly furnished and air-conditioned.

• Facilities available: Gymnasium, swimming pool, indoor games and party hall • Creche to be set up shortly • Close to IT parks and software companies. 0.5 km from Siruseri IT park

• Elite 3 bedroom apartments with private terrace; 2 covered car parks and servants room • Elegantly furnished and air-conditioned • Facilities available: Gymnasium, swimming pool, indoor games and party hall • Creche to be set up shortly • Close to IT parks and software companies. 0.5 km from Siruseri IT park

For more such properties, call Global Adjustments at 91 44 24617902/9551695968 (Chennai), or e-mail: realty@globaladjustments.com Please note that any changes to the information above are done at the property owner’s sole discretion. Global Adjustments assumes no responsibility for such changes.

RNI NO.TNENG/2010/32752

REGISTERED No. TN/CC(S) Dn./396/10-12