Culturama April 2013

`40

India's Only Cultural Magazine for Global Citizens

VOLUME 4, iSSUE 2 April 2013

Brought to you by Global Adjustments

Line of Trade

2

culturama | march 2013

D e a r

R e a d e r s

AS WE celebrated our 18th anniversary (March 4, 1995–2013), I received an inspiring e-mail from Jim Kouzes that gave meaning for what we do at Global Adjustments and Culturama. Jim Kouzes is a bestselling author, an award-winning speaker and, according to the Wall Street Journal, one of the twelve best executive educators in the United States of America.

“Everything you will ever do as a leader is based on one audacious assumption. It's the assumption that you matter.

Before you can lead others you have to believe that you can have a positive impact on others. You have to believe that your words can inspire and your actions can move others. You have to believe that what you do counts for something. If you don't, you won't even try. Leadership begins with you. The truth is that you make a difference. It is not a question of ‘Will I make a difference?’

Rather, it’s ‘What difference I will make?’

For the last 209 issues of producing this free magazine, we realised we were promoting understanding of India as the core difference. This is the dharma of our work for the cross-cultural relocation of thousands who allowed us to serve. And we are grateful because we learnt all along. The audacious assumption now is that we matter even more in the electronic age. We are proud to announce that Culturama has gone digital to enhance this learning and experience. It’s all about C for Culture, C for Connect and C for Community. To enable a “dialogue” we present to you this magazine as a Portal. You don’t have to wait another 30 days for Culturama, we can now have an ongoing relationship. We welcome you to join us at www.culturama.in.

Whether you agree with all our page views, or it sets you off thinking on your own of a different view point, we can now truly share ideas. We will continue to help take the India on your mind to an India in your heart.

We commit to making Culturama the Cultural Gateway to India for the upcoming decade. We commit to making that positive impact and live up to that original audacious assumption.

Ranjini Manian Editor-in-Chief E-mail: globalindian@globaladjustments.com

culturama | march 2013

3

Letters to the Editor Dear Editor, “Thank you for writing about my community in the February issue of ‘In your Kitchen’. It warmed my heart. I am from the Kayastha community but from UP. This community, over the ages, has always been book-keepers or administrators and loyal to the ruler. Raja Todarmal, well known from King Akbar’s court, was a Kayastha. One of the most favoured professions during the British rule was of lawyers and administrators. The Mughal and British influence is very large in our lifestyle, food and customs. They Kayasthas are known for their food and living life to the fullest.”

— Niyati Sareen, India

Editor-in-Chief Ranjini Manian

Consultant Editor praveena shivram

Business Head Sheeba radhamohan

creative head J K Behera Editorial Coordinator Shefali Ganesh

Associate Designer Prem Kumar

Advertising

Bengaluru mukundan T Delhi-NCR preeti bindra, ruchika srivastava Mumbai & Pune Farah bakshay Chennai sheeba RaDHAMOHAN

E-Culturama Shezina Kallarakkal

Advisory Committee N Ram, Camilla Skaremyr Krook, G Venket Ram, Marina Marangos, Suzanne Mcneill, Babette verbeek

Chennai (Headquarters) 5, 3rd Main Road, R. A. Puram, Chennai 600028, India Telefax. +91-44-24617902 E-mail: culturama@globaladjustments.com Bengaluru 7/2, Edward Road, Off Cunningham Road, Bangalore - 560 052. Tel.+91-80-41267152 E-mail: culturamablr@globaladjustments.com Delhi-Gurgaon Level 4, Augusta Point, DLF Golf Course Road, Sector-53, Gurgaon - 122 002. Haryana. Tel.+91-124-435 4236.

E-mail: del@globaladjustments.com 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 Vivek Sachdev at NPT Offset Press Pvt.Ltd., Royapettah, Chennai - 600014.

Editor: Ranjini Manian DISCLAIMER: Views and opinions expressed by writers do not necessarily reflect the publisher's or the magazine's.

4

culturama | march 2013

Dear Editor, “It is wonderful to note that Global Adjustments has completed 18 years of yeoman service to the expat community, helping them blend seamlessly with the local population. I wish you many more years of fruitful service and hope you achieve all the goals you have set yourself with the same success as you have these 18 years.”

— Prabha Chakravarti, India Dear Editor, “Happy Birthday, Global Adjustments is now an adult! My best wishes from overseas, so to say globally and internationally. Even nine months after my relocation back to Switzerland I am suffering from the lack of India” — Carmen Heinrich, India Dear Editor, “I came across Culturama, your monthly magazine for expatriates, quite unexpectedly one day. Being an ardent fan of Indian culture myself, I found the articles both interesting and enlightening. Whenever I pick up a Culturama and read it, I feel a certain kind of soothing pleasure” — Monisha Leah, India Dear Editor, “I am fortunate in receiving Culturama for several years now. Congratulations to Global Adjustments on turning 18!”

— Dr.S.S.Badrinath, Chairman – Emeritus, Sankara Nethralaya, India Dear Editor, “The ‘Tales of India’ inserts in your March 2013 edition were absolutely adorable. Please continue to include them in your forthcoming issues as well. All the best for Culturama and the Global Adjustments team" — Sri Ganesh, India

culturama | march 2013

5

Culturama’s Contributors

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 and thankful for what nature offers him.

Marina Marangos is a lawyer by profession but enjoys travel and writing. She has lived in Africa, Switzerland, India, and now lives in Australia. She blogs at www.mezzemoments. blogspot.com

Devdutt Pattanaik is the Chief Belief Officer of the Future Group, and a writer and illustrator of several books on Indian mythology. For more of his work, log on to www.devdutt.com

Christine Easwaran cofounded the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation in California with her husband, Eknath Easwaran (1910 – 1999) and continues to spread Sri Easwaran’s work.

Susan Philip is a freelance writer based in Chennai.

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.

Harini Sankaranarayanan is a professional chocolatier and an amateur baker.

Harini is an ardent foodie.

With a degree in Hotel Management, English Literature and Theatre, she loves exploring different cuisines and writing about it.

Avehi Menon is a freelance TV producer, part-time teacher, part-time writer and full-time traveller.

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 while meeting engaging people.

6

culturama | march 2013

Neil Miller is Head of Business Strategy for Global Adjustments (GA).

He is an American and has been living in India for the past two years.

Write to Neil at courses@ globaladjustments.com.

Ian Watkinson is a wrestler of words, a cooker of curries, a dabbler with tabla, a persistent photographer and haphazard historian.

culturama | march 2013

7

Contents On the Cover

24

24 Line of Trade

A look at India’s ubiquitous street-side trades

46 Currently Occupied

A round up of current events that shook the nation last month

52 Cultural Connectors

A look at a traditional thanksgiving session held at the India Immersion Centre for Trimble

India’s People

10 Three is Company

In conversation with Amish Tripathi, bestselling author of the Shiva Trilogy

54 Formal is Normal

44 Mind Speak

Thought leader Sangeeta Prasad, CEO of Mahindra World City, shares her success story

10

62 Same Difference

Celebrating the contrasts of India

60 Teach and Learn

A cross-cultural perspective on the different cultures of formality in relationships

46 The Eureka Effect

Aid India’s work in transforming rural communities in India

Stories from India’s mythology reinterpreted for practical living

50

Journeys into India

48 The Back of Beyond Journeying through the rustic beauty of North Karnataka

50 To the Wonder India’s Culture

12 A-Z of India

Is it possible to beat the heat in India?

Yes and there are 26 ways to do so

16 Short Message Service Snippets of Indian culture

22 In Your Kitchen

Featuring the cuisine of India’s Kayastha community from Bengal

42 River of Dreams

A brand new column that tells a story through images. Spotlight on the colourful Kumbh Mela this month

52 & 68 Postcards from India 8

culturama | march 2013

Stop by the mythical, magical and mysterious Sunderbans, India’s only mangrove forest

56 The Gift of Time

Understanding the true essence of time and its power in everyday living

58 Soft Spoken

A new column that sees India’s spiritual wealth through expatriate eyes

Regulars

30 Look Who’s in Town Expats in India share their stories on a practical theme for everyday survival in India

36 Calendars

See what’s going on in Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai

64 Festivals of India

A look at what’s being celebrated in India this month

66 India Writes

A space for India’s abounding world of literature

Relocations and Property

70 Tell Us Your Story

Practical advice from Global Adjustments’ relocation expert

71, 72 Space and the City Property listings across the metros

culturama | march 2013

9

In Focus

team culturama

Spotlight on an Indian trailblazer

Bestselling author Amish Tripathi, described by an Indian filmmaker as a ‘Literary Popstar’, might have completed his Shiva Trilogy, but having just landed himself a million dollar advance for his next series, a first in the history of Indian publishing, his journey has only just begun WHEN the Immortals of Meluha, the first of the Shiva Trilogy, hit the stands in India, written by yet another bankerturned-author (we seem to have a lot of this in India: Chetan Bhagat, Ashwin Sanghi and Ravi Subramanian are all bestselling writers who were bankers in their previous avatars), no one expected the storm it would kick up in the world of Indian publishing. A storm that steadily gained momentum with the next two instalments of the Trilogy, culminating in a recordbreaking deal for Tripathi’s next series, something he hasn’t even thought about yet. “The way I see it, success and fame are illusions, they are not permanent. What’s most important is if you are happy with your life and whether you are happy doing what you are doing. Which I certainly am – what I am doing is my passion and I am making a living out of it. God can’t be any kinder,” he says, his affable smile and relaxed demeanour adding to the charm of his modesty. “I will keep writing and hopefully people will keep reading. Else, I will go back to banking,” he adds. Considering Tripathi’s popularity, considering his obvious talent in pulling out stories from the depths of mythology and squarely planting them in the Indian mindset, and considering he has managed to do that in a language that is easy and familiar, we think it’s safe to say his banking days are over for good!

You have often said that most of your knowledge on Indian mythology comes from your grandfather. Is there a memorable anecdote from your childhood that you could share with us?

This is a story that my father has told me. We come from a humble background. My grandfather, who lived in Benaras, was very poor, but highly educated. He was obsessed with education and so the family moved ahead. Every Sunday, he would read from the Ramayan and explain the story to all the people gathered. We call these sessions ‘Ucharans’ in Hindi.

My father asked him why he couldn’t just make money out of

10

culturama | march 2013

this, as they weren’t very well off. To which, my grandfather said, that there are only few people blessed with a liberal interpretation of religion. If we don’t speak, religious extremists would misinterpret the text and corrupt the religion. That, to me, was an important message. In modern India, religious and secular extremists dominate the space. But the vast majority are liberals who don’t speak loud enough. I do believe, as my grandfather did, that it is the duty of us liberals to speak louder.

In your journey from an atheist to a believer, do you think the Shiva trilogy caused this shift or do you think the series is a result of this journey?

It is the book which brought me back into religion. I was religious when I was young and then I turned into an atheist in the early 1990s. I’ve grown up with religion and have been a voracious reader. Much of what I know is from this background.

I did not do much research for the Shiva Trilogy, it was all within.

The line between fact and fiction, between what was and what could be, is often blurred, open to several interpretations. How do you reconcile the two when you write?

I don’t reconcile the two because these books are purely fiction. I write the story the way it comes to me. Only Lord Shiva knows the truth. I don’t know the truth. This is my interpretation.

That’s the beauty of India. Except for the last 200 years, the tradition of modernising and liberalising has been there for long. The objective is to find God, each takes his own path.

Within the Puranas (ancient Indian scriptures) itself, God comes in different ways.

Indian mythology is vast, so there is no dearth of themes. But there is the danger of it becoming too Hindu-centric. How do you deal with this dichotomy defined by religion?

This question would make sense to a person who thinks religion is antithetical to liberalism. Religion and liberalism go hand in hand in India. I write the story that comes to me. If I have a story idea on Emperor Akbar, in my mind it’s not Islamic, it’s just the story of Akbar.

Also, many of my readers are Muslims and Sikhs.

In many of my events, I see people from different religions. It shows the secular nature of the country.

In the North, the tomb of Ajmer Sharif has Hindus and even Christians visiting and praying. Many of the idolmakers of Lord Ganesha and Durga are Muslims. They even do the first aarti (prayer) before the idol goes out.

But these are little known facts about India.

What are the three things you would tell the aspiring Indian author, who could be a banker sitting at his desk right now?

Never write for money. If your purpose is to make money, there are better ways.

Write for yourself, not for anyone else. If it succeeds, good, else no problem. The book is a blessing for the author. He has to be true to it. Be open to feedback but only take what is applicable.

Always have a job on the side. Then you don’t have to compromise on what you write. Also, most of us have to pay bills at the end of the month end and the job helps.

Did you know?

As part of their unique marketing strategy for the third instalment of the Shiva Trilogy, ‘The Oath of the Vayuputras’, a music album titled ‘Vayuputras’ was released. It has nine songs inspired from different sections of the book. Watch the lead song here: http://tinyurl.com/c8trjcs

culturama | march 2013

11

A to Z of India

Susan Philip

Just Beat It!

It’s hot, and going to get hotter. While the sun is warmly welcomed after a season of mists and biting cold, summers in India can quickly become very trying for the uninitiated and unwary. But as the season comes with the territory, so to speak, it has to be endured. Here’s a cheat sheet on ways to minimise the heat of the moment, Indian style!

First Aid: Despite best efforts, sun-strokes might occur. If they do, get the victim quickly into the shade, elevate the head, spoon in an electrolyte drink and get professional help ASAP. Ground Realities: Water shortage is a given in summer. Do take care to conserve this precious commodity. Recycle all you can. Use the water that vegetables and cereals are washed in to water house plants, for instance.

photo: Ben Bowling, USA

Aam Panna: A lightly spiced drink made of green mangoes, it’s a tasty way to combat heat exhaustion.

Blinding Heat: Window blinds made of natural materials

such as bamboo and can work wonders in blocking out the bludgeoning rays of the sun. Blinds woven from vetiver (a native Indian grass species also known as Khus) are especially good. Spray them with the plant’s essential oils and feel sweetscented coolness waft through your room. The aroma calms the mind and simultaneously repels bugs!

Curd Rice: Well-cooked rice mixed with yogurt and your choice of finely diced cucumber, carrots, ginger and pomegranate seeds, tempered with curry leaves, mustard and red chilies and garnished with chopped coriander leaves makes a heavenly summer lunch.

Photo: Catherine Rose G. Torres

Dress Demands: Cotton, preferably Khadi or homespun, is Earthenware Pots: These are a special blessing in summer. the textile to go for. Style-wise, opt for loose and flowing. The

What truly refreshes you on a hot day is a cool drink, not a cold one, and that’s where the pot scores over the fridge. Earthenware is porous, and optimally cools water. It is inexpensive and ecofriendly too.

12

culturama | march 2013

salwar kameez is most practical for women, and the dupatta or shawl that goes with it comes in handy as a face wrap to block the burning heat. For men, the kurta pyjama of the North and the adjustable dhoti of the South are the best summer wear.

Lassi: There’s nothing like a tall glass of frothy lassi to cool down an overheated body. Made of thick churned curd, it can be sweet or salty, lightly spiced or fruit-mixed.

Moravla: It’s a sweet dish made of amla or gooseberry. A

short-cut method is to pressure cook the fruit, known to be a coolant, mix in an equal quantity of sugar, and simmer till thick.

Store in a sterile container, and eat as often as you like!

Nannari: Better known as sarsaparilla, this herb, when made Alan Dougans, Australia

Hill Stations: The officers of the British Raj high-tailed it to the hills with their families at the first hint of summer on the plains.

Places such as Shimla, Darjeeling, Dehradun, Udhagamandalam (Ooty) and Kodaikanal are well frequented summer getaways.

But if you seek silence so that you may hear the music of the hills, it’s best to try roads less travelled, leading to places like Yelagiri (TN), Kalimpong (WB), Anantagiri (AP) and Tawang (Arunachal).

into a syrup, can be added to water or mixed with lime juice for a quick pick-me-up to combat heat-induced fatigue.

Outings: Keep these to the minimum during the summer months. If you must go out, try to avoid doing so between noon and 4 p.m. at least.

Indian Summer: The phrase has nothing to do with India! It means unseasonably warm weather, usually occurring after a spell of intense cold in autumn, and originates from North America, the early European settlers and the native Indians there. The jury is still out on what exactly the term refers to.

Jigerthanda: It originated in the southern Indian city of Madurai, but the word is a portmanteau Hindi one. It means ‘cool the heart’, and that’s just what it does on a hot summer day. It’s made of milk, china grass, rose syrup, sugar syrup and various other ingredients.

Kokum Sherbet: The fruit of the kokum tree, indigenous to the

Western coastal regions of India, looks something like a plum.

It is dried and stored for use in various ways. The juice is used to make an extremely refreshing drink.

Punkahs: Get the better of power cuts with punkahs or fans.

From simple woven palm leaf ones to elaborately ornamented contraptions that rotate on their support sticks, these handheld devices will raise a breeze any time.

Quick Fixes: Hold your wrists under a tap of cool running

water, and feel the heat subside. If you’re out in the sun and feeling the heat despite your cap, turn it around backwards – you’ll not only look cool, but feel cooler too – the brim will protect the extra-sensitive back of your neck.

PHOTO: Ben Bowling, USA

Ragi Koozh: It’s a kind of fermented porridge made from finger millet and buttermilk. It is rich in vitamins and minerals, besides being amazingly cooling and easy to digest.

culturama | march 2013

13

Visualising Coolness: Believe it or not, it works. When you’re sweltering even in the shade, dream up a picture of a cool, cool waterfall, or summon the sound of drumming raindrops, and you’ll definitely feel better.

Watermelons: They’re everywhere in summer. Slice them up, juice them, freeze them. Any which way they’re satisfyingly refreshing.

Photo: Catherine Rose G. Torres

Tender Coconut Water: It’s the coolest one! Perfectly safe, and beautifully balanced with essential salts and minerals, it’s nature’s best OR (oral rehydration) drink.

Xtra Precautions: Don’t take summer lightly. Use sunblock products generously, and keep a supply with you. Also, liberally use traditional Indian remedies such as rose water and sandalwood paste on the face, particularly the forehead, and on pulse points, to keep cool.

Yoga: There are ‘asanas’ specifically designed to reduce heat-

induced stress and fatigue. Get a qualified instructor to teach these exercises and practice them regularly for long-term benefit.

Zinc: This mineral is particularly important in summer. Intake of zinc-rich food keeps unpleasant body odour under control.

Peanuts, sprouts and wheat bran are some zinc-rich foods that are easily available and tasty too!

Photo: Michelle Klakulak, USA

Umbrellas: They’re your best friends in the summer months.

Go for stylishly subdued or flamboyantly colourful hues, or just plain black – whatever suits you best.

14

culturama | march 2013

Sattu: This unique drink is a summer favourite in some parts of North India. Made from roasted and powdered grams and barley, water, fresh lemon juice, rock salt and roasted cumin seeds, it is an effective thirst-quencher. A regular drink of Sattu is believed to increase tolerance to heat.

culturama | march 2013

15

Short Message Service

Suzanne Mcneill

Easily digestible cultural snippets

textile silk weaving

g Showcasin aspects of re in Indian cultu tible easily diges snippets

THE north-east state of Assam contains the largest concentration of handlooms and weavers in India. Silk weaving is a traditional cottage industry here, produced for home consumption, but also commercially by collectives in weavers’ villages, and is integral to the rural culture and economy of Assam. The weavers create textiles that are famous for their quality, brightness of colour and durability, and which are woven from three varieties of silk. Muga is one of the costliest silks in the world and is produced from a silkworm found only in the region. Paat silk comes from silkworms fed only on mulberry leaves, and produces textiles that are light and cool, both delicate and resilient, whilst textiles produced from endi silk are coarse but warm, and used for winter garments.

Madhya Pradesh

DRAWING inspiration from their distinct pantheon of gods and spirits and from the natural world around them, Gond artists surround themselves with their art, which is traditionally painted on the floors and walls of their houses.

The Gond is central India’s largest indigenous community and art is perceived as a sort of prayer. The Gond community believes that blessing comes to those who set their eyes on good art. The paintings are two-dimensional and naïve in style, representing in brilliant colour the flora and fauna of the forest, which is imbued with a fantastical, dreamlike quality. Traditional motifs, such as the tree of life, are a common theme, yet each of the artists has signature styles – patterns of fine lines, dots and dashes, representing natural elements such as seeds, drops of water and fish scales – that are the essence of this tribal art form.

www.northeasternbeauty.blogspot.in

art g ond

Assam

Crafts

Bidriware

Karnataka

Photo Vrksa arts & crafts www.vrksa.in

www.saffrontree.org

BIDRIWARE is regarded as the hallmark of Muslim metalwork in India. The craft originated in the city of Bidra in north-east Karnataka during the 15th century when Persian silversmiths were invited by the sultan to decorate his splendid palace.

Bidri objects are cast from an alloy of zinc and copper. The design of swirling floral motifs framed by geometric patterns is etched into the surface using a metal stylus, and thin strips of silver are hammered into these grooves and cavities. The object is then coated in a unique paste made from soil from the base of the ancient buildings inside the city’s fort. This soil has not been exposed to rain or sunlight for centuries, and contains chemicals that give the lustrous black colour unique to Bidriware. The paste is rinsed off to reveal a shiny silver design resplendent against the black surface.

16

culturama | march 2013

culturama | march 2013

17

Short Message Service Interpretation

Fire Walking in Temples

THE Hindu festival of Timiti is celebrated during October or November in honour of Draupadi, who is worshipped as a guardian spirit in villages throughout Tamil Nadu. Draupadi was the wife of the five Pandava brothers, and her humiliation at the hands of their enemy set in process the war that is at the heart of the epic Mahabharata, at the end of which she walked through a bed of fire unharmed to prove her purity. During the festival, devotees re-enact scenes from the epic. The culmination is the ritual walk through a four-metre pit of hot, burning coal or sandalwood. For weeks before the ceremony, devotees practice strict fasting rituals.

Once the pit is ready, the chief priest takes the first walk followed by the barefooted devotees, blessed, garlanded and clutching Neem leaves to ward off evil spirits and infections, who wish to fulfil a vow or prove their faith.

Tribes of India

photo tobias Schmidt, france

Gujjar

Past influencer

Sant Tukaram

THE 17th-century poet-saint Tukaram is revered by the people of Maharashtra for his teaching, manifested in the thousands of abhangs or devotional songs he wrote. He was born a shudra at the bottom of the caste hierarchy, and early suffering led him to deep introspection on the human condition. A revelation inspired Tukaram to write poetry in praise of Vitthal, an avatar of Vishnu, in colloquial Marathi. These songs of mystical enlightenment began to attract ecstatic devotees, drawn by his definition of Truth as sama darshana, ‘Truth is loving others as thy own self’, and his doctrine of equality. He was given the honorific ‘Sant’, meaning ‘one who has attained God’.

Mahatma Gandhi translated Tukaram’s poetry while in jail in the 1930s, and spoke of the abhangs as ‘Treasures of knowledge contained in pithy epigrams’.

photo Enrice Donate Sànchez

The Gujjars are an ethnic people with communities in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. They are both Hindus and Muslims and were originally nomadic shepherds. They appeared in north-western India about the time of the invasions of the Western Huna from Central Asia in the late 5th century and spread from Kashmir through to Gujarat and Maharashtra, establishing themselves in a vast region known as Gurjaratra or ‘the country ruled by the Gurjars’, which they held until the Mughal period. They gave an identity to Gujarat, assimilated with the Rajput peoples, and survive today as a politically powerful northern Indian tribe of agriculturalists. Gujjars are categorised as OBCs (other backward castes) in India’s affirmative action programmes, but recent years have seen Gujjars demand that government recategorise them as STs (scheduled tribes), who are guaranteed preferential access to jobs and schools, under a system that assists disadvantaged citizens.

18

culturama | march 2013

www.anand-ashram.com

culturama | march 2013

19

Short Message Service language

dogri

Jammu

Dogri is one of a number of languages and dialects spoken across the Himalayan range. The Indian census of 2001 recorded 2,282,589 speakers, mostly in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, where Dogri is one of the state’s official languages, and also extending into Himachal Pradesh and parts of the Punjab. Speakers of Dogri are called Dogras and the Dogri-speaking region is known as Duggar. Whilst it was recognised only recently as an official language of India, Dogri was included in a list of Indian languages compiled by the great scholar, musician and poet, Amir Khusru, in the 13th century. Kiyaan oo ji means ‘How are you?’ in Dogri, to which the reply is Vaddijaa, ‘Fine, thank you’.

words

Hawala vs Halwa

Chants

Divinity in Everything

Om sahasrashirshapurushaha sahasrakshasahasrapat sabhumimvishvatovritva atyatishthaddhashangulam

www.foodydelight.com

Hawala is a system of transferring money, primarily in Islamic societies. The debtor approaches a money broker or hawalador in his city and gives him the sum of money that is owed to the creditor, along with a password. The hawalador informs a fellow money broker in the creditor’s city about the transaction, whilst the debtor tells the creditor the password.

The second money broker then releases the sum to the creditor when told the correct password. The hawaladors settle the outstanding sum between themselves in a transaction that relies entirely on trust.

Halwa is a dense, sweet style of confectionary. Different regions use different ingredients, but the basis is syrup made with sugar and water, thickened with milk or cream. To this is added the main ingredient, semolina perhaps, or ground cashew nuts, banana or carrots. Halwa can be served warm, but is often left to cool and set, then cut into diamond shapes and decorated with almonds.

20

culturama | march 2013

The Purusha (the Supreme Being) has a thousand heads, a thousand eyes and a thousand feet. He has enveloped this world from all sides and has (even) transcended it by ten angulas or inches.

This mantra states that Purusha is manifest in the world, meaning that all beings are divine. Purusha dwells in the heart of every creature with a head that thinks, representing intelligence, with eyes that see, meaning a balanced vision of the material and spiritual goals of life, and with feet that move, signifying action throughout life. This ancient hymn, often chanted at temple rituals early in the morning, is a reminder that this world was created in the likeness of God, that all heads and eyes and feet are the Lord, and all creation is divine.

photo Brock Whittakker

culturama | march 2013

21

In Your Kitchen

harini sankaranarayan

Understanding an indian community through their food

Poetry of Taste We continue to follow the footsteps of the Kayastha community, and this time, we halt on the soils of tradition-rich, Bengal

IN THE course of writing this column, we have discovered little-known communities, always surprised at the depth and range of tradition that a simple meal on the table can reveal. It is indeed true that there is a marked cultural shift every ten miles in India. Much like the Kayastha community we featured in the February issue. From the rustic terrain of Bihar in Uttar Pradesh to its neighbouring state of Bengal, the Kayasthas’ story is like the changing face of the same river running its course through different lands.

Alo Roy does not remember much of East Bengal from where her family hails, but what she does remember is growing up in the sylvan surroundings of Shantiniketan, Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s dream institution. “Food and living were simple, with the emphasis on higher thinking. I still have a house in Shantiniketan. When the hustle of the rest of the world becomes too much, I return to nature and my real home,” says Alo. For a true Bengali, however, delicious food can never be ignored. “Even vegetarians eat fish,” she says with a smile. Plenty of fresh vegetables, rice and milk-based sweets form the rest of the meal.

For the Kayasthas settled by the coastal regions, plenty of fresh coconut is used in their cooking, but never coconut oil. The preferred cooking medium is always mustard oil. While mutton is very popular, chicken is rarely eaten. Panch Phoran or the five spices, a mix of mustard, fenugreek, nigella seeds, cumin and fennel, is a staple spice mix. Unlike many

22

culturama | march 2013

communities that serve all the courses together, the Bengali Kayasthas serve their food almost like the French – one course following another. Each course is eaten with a little steamed rice and relished for their individual flavours.

A typical meal starts with a bitter course, which acts like a cleanser. Bitter gourd or neem leaves are commonly used. If it is a celebration, then it is Shukato, a combination of vegetables known for their bitter qualities. In fact, many a Bengali cook’s skill is judged by his or her Shukato. This is followed by rice and dal, served with a fried vegetable usually called a baaji. Cauliflower, potatoes, eggplant and stuffed gourd are popular choices.

This would be followed by lightly spiced vegetable or the fish. The fish could either be a Jaal (spicy gravy) or a Jhol (thin soupy gravy). Wrapped in banana leaf, the healthy steamed fish is delicately flavoured with spiced yogurt, mustard gravy or coconut milk. The fish is sometimes substituted with prawns.

Then comes something unique to Bengali cuisine – the paapad, a crunchy wafer served with chutney.

For their chutneys, the Bengalis use many vegetables in combination to produce this tangy and spicy course. And finally, the meal ends with sweetened curd or Mishti Doi. “It is highly unlikely that any family follows all these courses every day,” says Alo. “But, nevertheless, the concept remains the same.” As for Mrs. Roy, home is Shantiniketan and comfort food is always homecooked Hilsa fish, in true Bengali style.

Recipe Doi Maach For the Ghugni Fish (preferably fresh water carp, locally called Rohu, or any other locally available fish) – 4 large pieces Onion – 1 medium, ground to paste Ginger paste – 1½ tsp Yoghurt – 1/4 cup Red chilli powder – 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder –1/4 tsp Green chillies – 4, cut in slits Salt to taste Sugar –1 tsp Mustard oil to sauté Coriander leaves to garnish Whole pieces roughly pounded: Cardamom – 3, Cloves – 2, Bay Leaves – 1, Cinnamon stick – 1/2” stick

Method

1. Clean the fish pieces and lightly rub with salt and turmeric. Marinate for half an hour.

2. Heat oil in frying pan and fry the fish till light golden.

Take out the fish and drain on paper towel.

3. In a bowl, add yoghurt, ½ tsp ginger paste, 1 tbsp of onion paste, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and blend well.

4. Heat a couple of tablespoons of mustard oil and add the pounded spices. When they start sputtering, add the remaining onion paste.

5. Add the sugar and fry the onion paste till the oil separates and the onion turns a light brown.

6. Add the remaining 1 tsp of ginger paste and the green chillies and sauté well.

7. Remove the frying pan off the heat and give it a couple of minutes to cool.

8. Add the beaten yoghurt and mix with the masala. (If you add the yoghurt when the pan is on heat, the curd may curdle). Put the frying pan back on the stove.

9. Add salt as required.

10. Add about ¼ to ½ cup of water at this point depending on how much gravy you might need.

Simmer on low heat till the gravy comes to a boil.

11. Add the fried fish pieces. They should partially submerge in the gravy. Let it simmer till the excess water dries off and the gravy is thick, smooth and coats all the fish pieces. Do not overcook the fish.

The texture of the gravy should be silky smooth.

12. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with steamed rice.

Did you know?

In most parts of the Indian subcontinent, individual caste and communities have their own food habits; this is not true of Bengal. Bengalis are somewhat unique in their food habits in that nearly every community will eat meat or fish.

Bengali food has seen many influences including that of the Nawabs, the Mughals, the British and even the Chinese.

Most of the Indo-Chinese foods we see in restaurants today have their origin in Bengal.

Some of the significant figures of the Indian Independence movement were Kayasthas, including the spiritual leaders Swami Vivekananda and Shri Aurobindo, and the revolutionary leader, Subhas Chandra Bose.

culturama | march 2013

23

Feature

Suzanne McNeill

Line of Trade Street-side vendors of India are as varied as they are ubiquitous, lending a rare quality of identity to India’s sprawling metropolises.

And you will find, no matter what you think, that you can’t quite live without them

photo: Marlon Pieris, canada 24

culturama | march 2013

Vending has been a profession since time immemorial, with street vendors an integral part of our urban history and culture. Shopping and marketing, in a traditional Indian sense, have primarily been informal.

India's crowded, bustling streets are for many of her citizens the primary place of work, and it is estimated that ten million people make their living in India by offering goods and services for sale direct from the street. Street vendors have long been an integral part of India’s social fabric and culture, and rapid urbanisation offers densely populated vibrant hubs, where street vendors can hawk their eclectic and sometimes curious mix of goods and trades, from food, toys and suitcases, to fake hair, household utilities and personal grooming services.

With no rents to pay, no permanent structures to maintain and stock purchases limited literally to what they can carry, street vendors carry no overheads and can offer city dwellers affordable retail choices. In particular, lower income groups spend a higher proportion of their income on purchases from street vendors. As such, street vendors are invaluable to the urban economy, adding to the diversity and dynamics of metro life. Here’s an introduction to some of the different trades you’ll see plying their business from the side of the road.

The Regular The hawker, peddler, street vendor or pheriwala sell articles of daily utility and general merchandise […] He loads them in a basket or on a pushcart, wheelbarrow or tricycle, and moves in selected areas to effect sales. Loudly announces goods or articles on sale and their prices to attract customers.

Fresh fruit and vegetable produce is sold by street vendors in every neighbourhood. You will see baskets of tomatoes, cucumbers and bananas spread out on plastic or arranged in woven baskets on pavements around the country, kept cool with flicks of water. Street vendors account for the greater part of the sales made at wholesale markets in cities such as Mumbai, and dealing in perishables as they are, the vendors must purchase their produce early in the morning, and transport it swiftly to their place of sale. It demands long hours and heavy, physical labour.

Street vendors come into their own with seasonal favourites such as papaya, mangoes and watermelons, which are piled spectacularly high on city pavements and sold whole, or sliced for immediate consumption. Once stacked, the watermelons must be guarded at night, and it’s not unusual to find the street seller or members of his family sleeping amongst his valuable produce. In fact, entire families will be involved in the microenterprise of street selling, just as in rural communities where agricultural tasks are organised around the family unit. At a roadside tea-stall, for example, the husband may look after customers while his wife prepares the drink, and their children wash utensils.

The tea-stall is, of course, ubiquitous, vital to the smooth running of everyday life and integral to the nation’s wellbeing. Here, at street corners and under trees, at bus stops

and college entrances, will be IT corporates in their smart shirts and ID tags standing shoulder-to-shoulder with traffic policemen and rickshaw drivers, all pausing at the tea-stall for refreshment, a quick flick through the newspaper, and a discussion that will put the world to rights.

Capturing the tea-wallahs as they mix the sweet tea is a photographer’s delight. Other examples of the street-seller’s artistry include the skillfully-arranged pyramids of fresh green coconuts, the mehendi designs on the hands and feet of young women, created swiftly by a roadside artist with a simple handmade cone of flowing henna, and the vibrant orange of the piles of marigold flower heads sold by street vendors at temples and places of worship. Here you will usually find one or more ladies, with flower petals spread around them, threading marigolds or jasmine buds into garlands to present as offerings. On the banks of India’s great sacred rivers will be vendors selling little paper receptacles combining marigold and rose flowers with sticks of incense, ready for pilgrims to light and set afloat on the holy waters.

Streetside dentist

photo Deborah Miller, usa

The Necessary Street vendors may be stationary in the sense that they occupy space on the pavements or other public/private spaces or they may be mobile in the sense that move from place to place by carrying their wares on push carts or in baskets on their heads.

Roadside repair and maintenance services find ready customers. With so many bicycles in use for essential deliveries and transport throughout India, bicycle repair stands offering immediate while-you-wait repairs for flat tyres, broken spokes and damaged chains can prevent a worker losing a day’s wage. A cobbler will polish shoes, replace broken laces, re-sole

culturama | march 2013

25

and heel shoes, and do simple repairs to broken sandals to help people get on their way again.

A very common sight in Indian cities and villages is the knife-sharpener, sharpening knives and scissors for housewives and fruit vendors alike on a pedal-driven grindstone. Rather than wait for customers to come to him, the knife-sharpener will visit the residential colonies and districts, and it’s not uncommon to see small groups of household maids gathering around and chatting while he hones the blades on their kitchen implements.

By the same principle, baggage-fixers ply their trade on crowded platforms at railway stations, fitting new zip fasteners and repairing split seams in the short minutes before commuters board their trains. Mobile one-man hardware stores, on bicycles adapted to carry an array of brooms, mops and plungers, roam around the residential areas, looking for customers, and key-makers run portable workshops.

In built-up areas, you’re never far from a two-wheel handcart proffering cigarettes, betel and salt and sweet snacks, while the four-wheeled barrowcum-boutique, which specialises in mens’ belts, handkerchiefs and caps, can be found trading on the edges of the permanent marketplaces. Social commentators have noted that the street is often the only sale outlet available to small producers of clothing or household goods, and that street vendors provide a valuable service that helps to sustain employment in these industries. A more direct approach sees young boys hawking paperback copies of Dan Brown and Sidney Sheldon paperbacks to sophisticated urbanites at their car windows at traffic lights.

A very common sight in Indian cities and villages is the knife-sharpener, sharpening knives and scissors for housewives and fruit vendors alike on a pedal-driven grindstone

Photo : Kees Koster, the netherlands

The Unusual Every social system must cater to the needs of its members to enable them to survive; it must have effective means of allocating and distributing resources. The vendors provide a wide array of goods and commodities to the urban populace at reasonable prices and convenient locations.

Street vendors show an entrepreneurial spirit in responding to the needs of their communities. Outside post offices, vendors sell envelopes, tape, string and anything else needed to prepare letters and parcels from temporary stalls. They can be partnered Photo : Francois Daniele, france 26

culturama | march 2013

ADVERTISER'S FEATURE

An Oasis of luxury The recently launched Siddh Spa and Fitness Centre at Hyatt Regency Chennai offers guests and members an oasis of luxury. The treatments at the spa are inspired by the ten thousand year old Siddha medicine.

Siddha medicine uses the ancient wisdom of India and rejuvenates dysfunctional internal systems of the body to promote natural wellness.

Siddha, meaning ‘perfect’ aims to balance the energies in the body, namely Vatham, Pitham, and Kapam and bring about the ideal ratio.

The Siddh Spa and Fitness Centre pampers one with specially handcrafted treatments enhanced with body massages, facials, wraps, scrubs and signature June Jacob treatments.

The spa has six suites with residential ambience, locker rooms with steam, sauna Jacuzzi and outdoor swimming pool located amidst ceramic garden art work called Garden of Earthly delights. The Fitness Centre is equipped with state-of-art ‘Life Fitness’ brand from USA. It is the only spa in Chennai offering the experience of a tranquil haven for the guests to rejuvenate, de-stress and enjoy paramount luxury. June Jacobs and Iraya, the much sought after retail brands are also available at Siddh Spa. At this Spa you will get a carefully choreographed package to enhance the experience, based on the wisdom of Siddha. Your journey to complete wellness starts with an aromatic steam bath to prepare the body for the spa treatment followed by an herbal shower with green gram and gram flour to remove excess oil and maintain skin’s hydro-balance as it refines, nourishes and brightens. You can choose your exclusive spa therapy depending on your desire to attain tranquility, replenishment or radiance.

Also on offer are various packages for spa and fitness annual membership, catering to individuals, families and corporate organizations.

For appointments and to know more about Siddh Spa and Fitness Centre call: 09962000386 / 044 61001234

Hyatt Regency

Chennai, 365, Anna Salai, Teynampet, Chennai 600018; Website: chennai.regency.hyatt.com

culturama | march 2013

27

Photo : Veronica Guzman, mexico Photo : Francois Boulle, france

by typists, sitting on the ground behind a row of typewriters, ready to type up any correspondence.

Electric irons may be on sale in emporiums and shopping malls around India, but not all have the money to buy an iron, or the electricity to power it. Hence, the continuing survival of the roadside ironing-man, who presses clothes using an antique box iron filled with hot charcoal.

The street-side barber may not offer comfortable chairs and air-conditioning, but many have loyal clients who are happy to trade salon comfort for speed, convenience and rates that are a fraction of those charged by the barbershop. Barbers and clients appear oblivious to the cars, buses and pedestrians streaming by the roadside setting, where the tools of the trade are reduced to the bare minimum: a pair of scissors, a comb, a small wooden stool balanced on an uneven footpath, a mirror tacked to a tree, and a piece of tarpaulin to protect against the sun or rain. It’s not just haircuts on offer, either: roadside barbers offer shaves and head massages and are conscious of fashion trends, copying styles from the cricket pitch or Bollywood films.

For lower income groups, the skills offered by the roadside barber are equalled by handiness and value for money. The services offered by the roadside dentist are more crucial again.

The expertise of a qualified dentist is not easily accessible to many lower income groups, who may be reluctant to visit a hospital or clinic for reasons of cost, language barrier or social class. In contrast, the roadside ‘tooth-puller’ is seen as a ‘local man’, and they are comfortable discussing their problems with him. There is no need for an appointment – patients simply queue up, tell the dentist which tooth is troubling them, and it is then extracted. The tooth-pullers are often self-taught, or learned their trade by observation. They have rudimentary equipment: a chair, protective awning, basic instruments and disinfectant, yet their regular circuit around their local towns and villages are a godsend to the poorest members of the community.

The Future It would be hard to find an urban Indian who doesn’t purchase something from a vendor.

There’s no doubt that street vending is tough, laborious work. Many street vendors are impoverished migrants, others are workers laid off from traditional industries and factory

Photo : Carlo sem, italy

work. To these, street vending presents low-end but steady employment, yet one that is full of uncertainties. A major problem is the ongoing clash regarding the use of public space between vendors, pedestrians, householders and traffic. The authorities regularly conduct eviction drives to clear vendors from pavements, and confiscate their goods. All vendors are obliged to obtain a license permitting them to sell their wares in a public space, but the licensing regime has been described by one social commentator as ‘oppressive and opaque’, effectively illegalising the entire profession.

The Supreme Court of India has directed the government to legislate on the protection of legitimate street vendors. A bill is currently before Parliament that will allow street vendors to register with their local Town Vending Committee on payment of a one-time fee, and the freedom to trade within designated zones. However, the law would also permit municipal authorities to relocate or remove street vendors at seven days’ notice, a provision that falls short of the expectations of organisations such as the National Association of Street Vendors of India, who have long campaigned for central regulation and protection.

Yet, despite this struggle, many street vendors take pride in working for themselves and offering a service. They continue to fulfill popular and indispensable roles in the Indian community, as well as lending colour and vibrancy to India’s ever-busy streets.

All quotations taken from www.nasvinet.org, the website of the National Association of Street Vendors of India.

28

culturama | march 2013

culturama | march 2013

29

Look who's in Town bengaluru

Cecilia on the Shivaganga Temple hilltop

Living it Up!

italian risk management professional Cecilia Del Vecchio tells us how to make the most of your time in Bengaluru CECILIA DEL VECCHIO likes to think that Lord Ganesha takes care of people in the busy city of Bengaluru. “Otherwise, I really do not know how it is possible that despite the apparent chaos, there are no accidents at each crossing?” she says with mock seriousness, before adding, “The traffic is crazy and incredibly noisy. The city is so big, crowded and colourful, and so different from Europian cities. Where I come from, Como in Northern Italy, there are mountains surrounding a big lake, sunshine and sailboats everywhere during summertime, snow and a chance to go skiing in winter... I love the contrast Bengaluru offers and the weather? It’s never-ending spring!”

Having lived in the city since last September, Cecilia is already feeling at home, and we think that that’s probably because of Lord Ganesha too! Here’s her to-do list for the city.

Top Three Things First, enjoy the festival season. Starting with Ganesh Chathurthi in September and Diwali in November, there are always celebrations and amazing fireworks all around that it seems like New Year’s Eve just lasted three full months.

The second must-do is to go to the Shivaganga Temple on top of a rocky hill. You have to climb lots of steps (the way back is even more difficult), but the view makes it completely worthwhile.

30

culturama | march 2013

And three, lots of things! Go to a movie theatre, enjoy go-karting, visit palaces and temples, have meals with locals at open-air street kiosks, buy jasmine flowers every day, and drink fresh coconut milk or sugarcane juice that are available almost everywhere.

Tip Time Always keep a camera with you to capture all the colours and facets of this fascinating city. Bargain on everything.

Locals are likely to think that because you are a foreigner, you must be rich and you can pay at least five times what an Indian is normally paying. So, understand what is the normal price (ask your driver or colleagues) and then bargain, bargain, bargain! And make Indian friends. It will change the way you live in the city.

When In Italy I have heard many Indians in Italy telling me it is very cold, so keep in mind that we have snow and temperatures below 0 degrees are quite normal. Compared to Indian food, our pasta, pizza or anything else could appear sweet or even tasteless; so do bring some masala or chilli powder with you.

Visit Rome, Florence and Venice, places that are full of arts and history, and go to Sardinia during summer to enjoy its unique landscape.

culturama | march 2013

31

Look who's in Town delhi

Free Style Britain-born -Australia-settled, oil and natural gas specialist, ALAN DOUGANS shares his favourite fashion destinations in Delhi

32

culturama | march 2013

ALAN DOUGANS’ first and lasting impression of Delhi would be his visit to Connaught Place, a day after he arrived in the capital city. “I was immediately confronted by enthusiastic youths wanting to sell me everything and take me to various locations,” he says simply, probably safe in the retrospective knowledge of collective experience of most expats moving into India.

It’s been three-and-a-half years since then and a gamut of experiences for Alan and his wife, Carole. “I recently volunteered to participate in a fashion show run for charity. To walk the catwalk choreographed by one of India’s top fashion show directors, wearing clothes designed and made specifically for me by one of Delhi’s top designer’s in front of several hundred invited guests was one hell of a rush!” From Delhi’s markets to shopping malls, Alan tells you where to go for the best shopping experience in the city.

Perth Shopping Australia has grown in the 10–15 years in terms of establishing its own styles and culture. Many designers have emerged and in the big cities there are now amazing pockets of individualistic designers with one offs. I have to say that the choice is far bigger in Australia, even although we only have a population approximately 2% of India’s!

All Malls Visit the new Ambience Mall at Vasant Kunj, the collective store there has always got new items, both European and local. Visit Emporio Mall, also at Vasant Kunj, although I do find that somewhat over-priced. Gallery on MG Mall on MG Road is beginning to grow as well, probably more for designer wedding wear. There are many malls you can go to, but by far Haus Khaz Village is my favourite place for clothes shopping, both male and female. If you can’t find something there, you are not trying.

Style Tips Keep an open mind. Local designers have really good items and use some beautiful materials.

In Haus Khaz you’ll find clothes, designed and made locally, that are being bought by Italians and exported to Italy. Search the places out, when you find them its like finding lost treasure! What I love are these older areas that are being taken over by modern designers.

When in Australia The lanes of Melbourne CBD are worth exploring.

Perth, my home town, has improved in the last 10 years; King Street in the city is well worth a visit. Oh, and don’t bother trying to bargain – in Australia, when we say it costs $100, it costs $100!.

culturama | march 2013

33

Look who's in Town chennai

Kate and Michael at the beach with Dashiell

Child-Like Chennai

Freelance food and travel writer and mother of a four-year-old son, Kate Cathey, married to American diplomat Michael Cathey, tells us why Chennai is child-friendly

WHEN the Catheys arrived in Chennai, their first thought was, “there’s no way we are going to make it here”. “The easiest way to enjoy California, where we come from, is taking a picnic to the park or the beach. I was so frustrated when we first got here because I was used to strolling around with my son, Dashiell, being out and about. But here, the streets were so chaotic we felt like we shouldn’t walk on them, let alone with our son in the stroller,” says Kate. “But, a year-and-a-half later, we did make it and are doing just fine. Sure, there are challenges.

But we have found so many things that amaze us about India every day that these surprises balance out the hard times.” As for their son? “I think he would soon be more versed in Indian mythology than we could ever possibly be. We have started collecting Kolu dolls of the gods and Dashiell knows each by name. He is hooked!” Here’s Kate’s little peek into the world of childcare in Chennai.

Where to Go Alphabet Playschool: We chose Alphabet Playschool in R.A. Puram for our son because it was a secure and controlled environment. Dash has grown so much in so many ways in the time he has been there.

Play Gyms: Vanilla Play Place in Bishop Garden and Kartwheel in Alwarpet are secure indoor play gyms with an outdoor park area. Chennai lacks a good park system, these are our regular playground options.

34

culturama | march 2013

The Beach: Sometimes we go to Mahabalipuram to explore a new part of the ruins, then head to the Radisson Blue for the day. On the way home, we may stop at the alligator farm on the ECR. Sometimes we head to the Vivanta by Taj hotel at Fisherman’s Cove.

Temple Time: Kapaleeshwarar temple in Mylapore is a wonderful place to take kids, especially in the late afternoon when local families come for evening prayer ceremonies. The temple teems with energy and excitement, and being a part of temple life is captivating for all of us.

What to Keep in Mind Check first: It is very important to check the condition of equipment – slides, swings, jungle gyms. Also, the wet weather here makes things rust quickly, and nature too plays into it.

Know your child’s needs: I choose Alphabet school for Dash because I knew he needed a closely-monitored environment. He tended to go exploring away from the group, so I looked for a school that provided extra assistants.

Play outside: Since there are few options for play outside the home, we have set up our home for many kinds of play. When we first got here we were almost afraid to play outside, worried about the heat and the mosquitoes. Now, we got over that and life is a lot better. We just use lots of bug spray (I think the local brand Odomos works very well) and don’t worry about the heat.

We get messy and jump in the shower after it’s all done.

culturama | march 2013

35

CALENDAR

events

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

ART & EXHIBITIONS

Group Show

Solo Exhibition on Indian Mythology

Date: Till April 30

Date: Till April 10

Time: 1100h to 1900h

Time: 1100h to 1900h

Venue: Art Alive Gallery, S-221, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi

Venue: India Fine Art Gallery, 3rd Floor, Film Centre building, Tardeo, Mumbai

Art Alive Gallery will have a contemporary art show with leading Indian artists like Sakti Burman, Thota Vaikuntam, Manu Parekh, Paresh Maity, Yusuf Arakkal and many more.

Call 011-41639000 for more details.

Artist Ramesh Gorjala will showcase his works on Indian mythological gods in the traditional art form of Kalamkari (Andhra Pradesh). The paintings will depict a picturesque story from the life of gods like Shiva, Ganesha, Hanuman and other deities. Ramesh is known for his intricate detailing with a contemporary twist to his work.

Call 022 -23520438 for more details.

Commemorating Leonardo Da Vinci

Exhibition of Masks

Date: April 14 Time: 1100h to 1900h Venue: Art Houz, #41, Kasturi Rangan Road, Alwarpet, Chennai “Sometimes the heavens endow a single individual with such beauty, grace and abilities that, whatever he does, he leaves all other men far behind, thus demonstrating that his genius is a gift of god and not an acquirement of human art.” Art Houz pays a unique tribute to the great genius, Leonardo Da Vinci, interpreted through the vision of various artists.

Date: Till April 26

36

culturama | march 2013

Time: 1000h to 1700h Venue: National Crafts Museum, Bhairon Road, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi The National Crafts Museum is holding an exclusive exhibition titled ‘Masks, Other Worlds’. Architect Sibanand Bhol and art lover Kanu Agarwal have designed and curated this exhibition. The exhibition has some unique masks on display. Call 011-23371641 for details.

CALENDAR

events

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

DANCE & MUSIC

Ballet Performance for Children

India Fiesta Latina Festival

Date: April 19

Date: April 12 to 14

Time: 1800h

Venue: Atlantis Club, Jaypee Greens, Greater Noida

Venue: Siri Fort Auditorium, Asiad Village Complex, August Kranti Marg, New Delhi

The Festival is back in its second edition with three days of dance performances. The festival will feature an international line up of dancers with more than 50 dance performances. There will be daily workshops on all three days conducted by top artistes from across the world. Buy your tickets on www.bookmyshow.com

The School of Russian Classical Ballet will perform the ballet Cipollino in a two-hour show. The ballet is about brave little Cipollino, who along with his friends, the Radish girl, the Cherry boy and Magnolia, defeat the angry Prince Citron and Signor Tomato. Call 011-26493370 or 26499397 for more details.

Festival of Indian Instrumental Music

Classical Dance Performance

Date: April 12 and 13

Date: April 6

Time: 1800h

Time: 1900h

Venue: National Centre for the Performing Arts, Nariman Point, Mumbai

Venue: MLR Convention Centre, JP Nagar, Bengaluru

The fourth edition of ‘Saz-e-Bahar’ will feature string and percussion instruments. Day one has Saskia de Haas Rao on the Cello and Shubhendra Rao on the Sitar (stringplucked instrument). Day two has Sabir Khan on the Tabla (percussion) and N Ravikiran on the Chitravina (string-slide instrument). Tickets can be bought on www.bookmyshow. com.

Koodiyattam artiste Kapila Venu will perform the story of Indian God, Lord Krishna. Koodiyattam is a 2,000 year-old-art form of India, declared a World Heritage dance form. The performance narrates an episode in Lord Krishna’s life. The dancer will be accompanied by Mizhavu and Idakka, two traditional drums of Kerala. Book tickets on www.bookmyshow.com

culturama | march 2013

37

CALENDAR

events

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

WORKSHOPS & EVENTS

38

Kalaripayattu Workshop

Summer Workshop for Children

Date: Till April 26

Date: April 16 to May 15

Venue: West Room, National Centre for the Performing Arts, Nariman Point, Mumbai

Venue: # 36/2, 8th Cross, 2nd Phase, JP Nagar, Bengaluru

Learn the oldest form of Indian martial arts, Kalaripayattu, in an intensive course that teaches basic exercises and techniques. The sessions will give movement perspectives for dancers, athletes, actors or anyone interested in learning this ancient art form. Call 02266223737 for more details.

Ranga Shankara’s Summer Express, a series of workshops for children, is back with 18 programmes for children aged between 7 and 17 years. The best from the field of theatre, arts, crafts, science and math will come together to offer fun and educative activities.

Registrations can be sent to aha@rangashankara.in. Call 080-26493982 for more details.

Mango Camp

Flamingo Watch

Date: April 27 and 28

Date: April 27

Venue: Mango farms in and around Mumbai

Time: 0730h

Trek Mates India presents the Aamsutra Camp or the Mango Camp where campers can experience the mango in full season, fresh from the farm. The two-day camp will take participants across mango farms in Mumbai, will host mango-eating competitions, and more. Contact +919819021806, 9870775633 or email trekmates@gmail. com for more details.

Venue: Meet outside Sewri railway station

culturama | march 2013

The Bombay Natural History Society is organising a Flamingo bird watch at the mangroves of Sewri, a protected ecosystem. Other than the lesser and greater flamingoes, birds such as Broad Billed, Common, Sandpiper and the Common Kingfisher will also be seen. The bird watch will be on till 1130h and registrations are on the spot. Visit www.bnhs.org.

culturama | march 2013

39

CALENDAR

events

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

KNOW YOUR CITY

Hauz Khas Village, Delhi Hauz Khas Village is a unique urban village located amidst the greenery of the 800-year-old ruins of Feroshah Tughlak’s 13th century Old Delhi. The village houses a water tank, an Islamic seminary and a mosque. Hauz Khas also offers some of the most unique shops and concept restaurants, where one can shop for antiques, maps, posters, books and more. The village also houses modern art galleries and designer clothing boutiques. Visit www.hauzkhasvillage.in for more details.

40

National Centre for Performing Arts, Mumbai The National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) is one of India’s premier venues for the performing arts and holds the distinction of being South Asia’s first multipurpose cultural centre. NCPA is committed to promoting and preserving the country’s rich and vibrant traditions in music, dance and theatre and new forms of performing arts. The centre has five modern theatres, a photography gallery, archival and library facilities. It has more than 500 events each year in all major art forms.

Visit www.ncpamumbai.com for more details.

Attakkalari Centre, Bengaluru

Art Houz, Chennai

Established in 1992, the Attakkalari Centre is pioneered by artistes from different disciplines with a key objective of demystifying contemporary art forms and making it accessible to all sections of society. The Attakkalari Centre is a resource hub for young and upcoming artistes from across the globe, interested in Indian culture, aesthetics and movement idioms. The company’s dance productions articulate human dilemmas and socially relevant ideas through a contemporary performance idiom. Visit www. attakkalari.org for more details.

One of the fastest growing South Indian private art galleries that is spread across 7,200 sq.ft, this freestanding, sun-drenched gallery is led by contemporary design aesthetics and innovative architectural sensibilities. Open white spaces washed with natural light interspersed with strategically placed floor-to-ceiling glass walls with ceiling heights towering up to 25 ft. offers unparalleled versatility and scope for both. The gallery is at 41, Kasturi Rangan Road, Poes Garden, Alwarpet.

culturama | march 2013

culturama | march 2013

41

Picture Story

Marcel von Mourik

River of dreams

Every 12 years, millions of people gather for the most sacred Hindu pilgrimage at Allahabad – the Kumbh Mela. Not many know that the Maha Kumbh Mela occurs once in 144 years! The last one was in 2010. There are ‘Ardh Kumb Melas’ held annually, and ‘Purna Kumbh Melas’ once in 12 years. On these auspicious dates, the waters of the Ganga are believed to be especially effective in cleansing sins.

Culturama presents a new series that speaks less but says a whole lot more

Sadhus carrying a silver baton, leading the pageant of the sect for the scared dip in the river.

No Bollywood hero this, but a Naga Sadhu stylishly wearing his ‘jata’ (long hair), one of the distinguishing features of the Naga Sadhus. He is attending a ceremony at the Naga camp.

Sadhus carefully applying paint to their foreheads, moments after taking a dip in the Sangam River

A continuous stream of people crossing the pontoon bridges on their way to the already crowded river bank, a confluence of the rivers Yamuna, Ganga and the mythical Saraswati.

42

culturama | march 2013

Face of a naked Naga Sadhu (followers of Lord Shiva) smearing his face and body with holy ash.

Jangam Yogis, said to have originated from Lord Shiva’s thigh, following ritual ceremonies at the Naga camp.

A traditional dance and music performance prior to the official day of the Maha Kumbh Mela 2013.

A large group of Hindu pilgrims performing the ‘Jal Arpan’ ceremony, an offering of water to the Sun God at early sunrise. culturama | march 2013

43

Thought Leader

Team Culturama

Mind Speak CEO of Mahindra World City, Sangeeta Prasad, talks about why the “day we stop learning, we stop growing” A TYPICAL day for Sangeeta Prasad is something like this: “It begins with getting my daughter, Anusrita, ready and sending her to school and then rushing off to work. ‘The unusual is usual’ for me at work and I look forward to facing new challenges every day, as it keeps me invigorated and on my feet. Not to forget, my daughter too keeps me agile, alert and contemporary! I always try to imbibe signs and signals from the environment for continuous learning. There are enough examples of excellence in the world today and I am inspired by them and that eggs me on,” she says and it shows. As one of the youngest women to hold such a leadership role, with a successful stint at Tata Steel and now as CEO at Mahindra World City, Sangeeta’s surefooted journey in the corporate world is a result of a deep foundation nourishing her roots.

“One of the most important factors that has nurtured me is my upbringing – remaining simple, unaffected, pursuing excellence and being humble. I was brought up in Kolkata, a melting pot of literature, culture, sports, food and much more. My parents inculcated a strong value system in me. And my father, my idol in life, has always been my guiding light and I owe a lot of my success to him,” she says.

Having represented India last year at the World Economic Forum at Davos, one of the few women to do so, Sangeeta says her mantra for long-term success if what Steve Jobs said – “Stay hungry, stay foolish”. “In order to grow one has to be hungry, step out of the comfort zone and be willing to go the extra mile. It’s equally important to keep learning new things, 44

culturama | march 2013

because the day we stop learning, we stop growing. Sustainable excellence is contingent on an inspired, motivated and happy team and that is a key ingredient for long-term success,” she adds. With the Mahindra World City steadily gaining momentum and getting ready to launch its second township, also near Chennai, and constantly reinventing the real estate map of India, we wonder if India’s volatile economic reality could impact its sustained growth, but Sangeeta says India “remains among the world’s most promising economies”. “The confidence of foreign investors, growing middle class and rise of Indian multinationals are some indicators of the potential.

However, India faces daunting challenges in realising that potential. The nation will need targeted reforms in education, healthcare and infrastructure, which will provide an opportunity to shift the country’s growth engine into a higher gear. We, as individuals, have a constructive role to play in bringing about this transformation.”

Three tips for balancing career and home 1. Put your priorities in place and adhere to them with some amount of flexibility built-in.

2. Schedule quality time for your family, friends and activities that you like doing.

3. Drop work and activities that sap your energy or kill your time.

culturama | march 2013

45

Give to India

shefali ganesh

The Eureka Effect

A glimpse of an organisation that relentlessly works to bring the power of education and empowerment to the rural communities of India THE grassroots is where it begins for Eureka Child, the foundation that works to ‘ensure quality education for every child’ in India. An initiative of Balaji Sampath, an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) graduate, and a team of like-minded individuals, Eureka Child was started in 1996 focusing on education, health and livelihoods.

The Association for India’s Development (AID), the global organisation, is a volunteer movement promoting sustainable and equitable development through organisations in India. One such cause that AID supports is the Eureka Child initiative.

Working in more than 1,000 villages across Tamil Nadu and Bihar, the Eureka Child Foundation has an ingeniously developed education system that adds quality to education in rural India. Each village has three after-school education centres, where children up to Class 6 study mathematics, science and language. The aim is to not take these children away from school but to give them the additional support modern India takes for granted. A. Ravishankar, director of the education programmes, explains, “Few know that 99% of rural India's children attend school, but hardly 50% can read or do math additions after five years of school. Our aim is to make up for the home support that these children lack, as they are first generation learners.”

With creative learning material and the comfort of a local villager who doubles up as a teacher, individualised attention

becomes possible. “The potential in these children is the same as those that go to private schools in the city; it is unfair that we deny them a good future. Eureka’s efforts are also towards empowering parents to understand what their children are studying, a hugely motivating factor for both the parents and the child,” adds Ravishankar. For this, Eureka measures each child’s skills and captures them in a manner that’s easy to understand for the parents. While the teacher is accountable to Eureka, he or she is also paid a nominal fee by the parents, thereby creating responsibility on both sides.

Eureka’s other projects, like the Eureka Books Project and the Toy Joy Project, help in reaching a larger base of children in rural India. “We also began to work with children affected by the 2004 tsunami, helping them with a normal school environment,” says M. Damodaran, director in charge of implementing the reading programme. Elaborating on the livelihood programme, he adds, “The livelihood centres that we run help local communities create opportunities in agriculture and carpentry. Thereby, we don’t just do charity, we actually empower the community.”

The villages where Eureka Foundation works can be adopted by interested individuals or corporates. The foundation also invites volunteers to work in these villages in their education programmes.

Eureka Child Foundation is headquartered in #45, Pycrofts Road, 1st Street, Royapettah, Chennai – 600 014, India. www.eurekachild.org.

Email: Selva Ganapathy at aid.selva@gmail.com. Tel: 044-2860 2308 46

culturama | march 2013

culturama | march 2013

47

Seeing India

Ian Watkinson

The Back of Beyond MENTION visiting ‘Karnataka’ to most folks and the response is usually, “Oh, Mysore or Bengaluru?” Yet, take a little more time out, dig a little deeper and you will find a different Karnataka, a timeless gem.

Travelling through the northern rural parts of Karnataka, in the triangle between Belgaum, Shimoga and Bagalkot provides a peaceful insight into a life far away from the India which is fast being subsumed by ubiquitous modernisation and utilitarian urban concrete. Here, the high ridges of the coastal Western Ghats reveal breathtaking scenery, more dramatic and beautiful than better known areas further south in Kerala and the Nilgiris, but yet manage to remain one of India’s lesser visited areas of natural beauty.

Great waterfalls and lakes, the feeders of the mighty Tungabhadra and Krishna rivers, lodge themselves unseen above the fertile valleys, the valley sides swathed in sal, teak, maybe the occasional sandalwood tree, or a looming ancient jackwood. Higher up all are interspersed with coffee, moving

48

culturama | march 2013

lower to mango, coconut and areca palm plantations. Terraced paddy fields for the single rice crop of the year appear layered with fluid precision. Moving eastwards inland the landscape changes upon reaching the Dharwad plateau, fields spotted with the white balls of ripe cotton flowers. Here the climate is balmy and pleasant even in the torture of summer. At 800 metres above sea level, this was the ‘gateway’ between the Ghats and the eastern plains, and everyone from the Hoysalas, the Deccan Sultanates, Sufi saints and then the British took advantage of this moderate climate and settled here.

Northeast of Dharwad begins a vast rural landscape; the villages have little or no electricity, water is drawn from wells, and traversing in the pitch black of night, one may see the occasional glimmer of a single light bulb in a village doorway.

Here we find Saundatti, where in a valley on the rocky Ramalinga Hills lies the ancient hidden temple of the Goddess Yellamah, a manifestation of Kali. A gushing spring here provides fresh clear water from the rocks and is said to never dry up. In the farming

There’s a lot more to Karnataka than what meets the eye, if we only care to look beyond and venture into its heart that resides in the idyllic countryside

villages, the Goddess ‘Banashankari’ is revered – a rural and primitive form of the Shakti archetype – she is the ‘Forest Parvati’ or ‘Vegetable Goddess’. Every rural village will have a shrine for her, for Mother Earth is their life, the very essence of the countryside, inseparable from the fertile ochre soil.

The Karnataka country people are wonderfully welcoming and friendly to strangers, and you will be offered ‘supari’ – betel or areca nut – by all you meet. You will be invited to village festivals, such as the Chennamma Rani festival in Kittur, or maybe to a country wedding in full swing. Drums, rhythm, costume, food and laughter abound.

Handsome farmers fill the buses, dhotis tucked into the waist between their legs, white khurtas stained brown with soil.

They fondly stroke fine long moustaches with strong gnarled hands, heads covered by bright yellow turbans or Gandhi caps.

Warm deep smiles betray decayed teeth, stained scarlet from the continual chewing of ‘supari’.

No one hurries here. The infrequent trains take their time to savour the fertile brown landscape and browse through peaceful little stations. The fields are full of crops in the winter and early spring – maize, ragi, jawa and sugarcane sway like tall grass on the Pampas. Nothing is wasted, everything is recycled. After harvest, the leaves and stems of the millet are carefully gathered and piled high for compost to plough back into the ground later in the year. The rice further southwest is harvested and the stems carefully stacked for feeding the bullocks that pull the carts – still the main form of transport, their grey leather, horned power engines scatter the landscape and tracks. But change is coming and the bullock carts now

share the crater ridden roads with the bullock of the future – the tractor – and the owners of these new glossy beasts drive them beaming with pride.

Every field has bullocks pulling ploughs, white muscle contrasting vividly with the canvas of flat, brown emptiness.

Herds of goats roam, by the hundreds, nibbling the shoots of scrawny shrubs. Villages dotted here and there in this brown land silhouette perfect triangular haystacks of rice grass, piled higher than the houses. In six months it will be verdant, bountiful, again. Banashankari is always here.

Along the Malaprabha River valley, under the harsh red gash of the southern headlands, lies the stunning idyll of Badami, the red cliffs around the lake sanctified with exquisitely cut Chalukyan cave temples dating back to the 6th century. More of these remarkable temples pepper the rocky red hills all around Aihole, a few kilometres away, where they are still an integral part of village life with ramshackle cowsheds and tea shops constructed amongst the ancient ruins. The Chalukyans developed both North Indian and South Indian architectural styles and created what has become known as ‘the temple laboratory’ at nearby Pattadakal, their second capital city, now an immaculate open air museum.

It’s a long hard journey over potholed roads to reach here from Bijapur or Dharwad, so few visitors make the journey.

They are missing some of India’s greatest treasures, some of the most wonderful rural landscapes, and most of all, the contact with the farmer folk who live here. Oh, and of course, the supari..

culturama | march 2013

49

Seeing India

Avehi Menon

the beautiful forest the beautiful forest

Photo riverbank studios

I LOVE the writer Amitav Ghosh. ‘Hungry Tide’ was the first book by him that I read and it remains a favourite. He is a master of reconstructing a visual context for the reader. In fact, in the ‘Hungry Tide’, the landscape is one of the central characters. So then, you can imagine my excitement when I heard friends of mine were going to the famed archipelago in the East – Sunderbans, the main character in my favourite book.

My friends, filmmakers from Delhi, were heading there to make a film on mangroves. I gatecrashed on the pretence of helping them with the shoot, taking photographs and being useful. Luckily, they bought it.

The Sunderbans is an enigma for many reasons. Its 54 islands are a UNESCO World Heritage Site stretching into India and Bangladesh. One of the three largest single tracts of tidal mangrove forests in the world, it has a complex and rich biodiversity and is one of the largest reserves of the famous, almost mythical, Bengal tiger.

50

culturama | march 2013

We reached Kolkata the previous evening and were to leave early the next morning. I was eager to see ‘the beautiful forest’, a rather rough translation for Sunderban in Bengali. Ghosh had painted it with so much promise and intrigue in his book, as a land where myth and magic conspired.

We travelled about three hours from Kolkata to Sonakhali by road. By the time we reached, the sun was out and shining bright, the soil was a dusty grey with pools of water and we could see a boat edged way up onto the bank. To get deeper into the park, one has to navigate the river. A delta formed by the confluence of the rivers Brahmaputra, Meghna and Padma, the river is swollen, heavy and brown, spilling over onto her banks. At the jetty, we were met with a boat by Forest Guard officials who were to accompany us on the shoot. The boat was straight out of a storybook. Freshly painted blue and white, we were led to the top of the boat and in accordance with Indian hospitality fed cups of tea and rusk.

A journey through the Sunderbans, one of the three largest single tracts of tidal mangrove forests in the world, means a journey through a land where myth and magic conspire

Photo riverbank studios

The landscape had slowly transformed.

As far as the eye could see were wide, deep waters, bordered by thick mangrove trees, with the roots spilling out, edging for space. I was fascinated by the roots.

Curling upwards, these massive roots created a complex labyrinth across the bank. Natural evolution through the millennia meant that the Sunderbans is a network of canals, waterways and sandy strips that display a diversity that is unparalleled. The mangroves are important barriers in natural disasters as they protected communities living in the Sunderbans for centuries against coastal cyclones and erosion.

Once the crew had finished with their recce, we decided the only way of ensuring that we took maximum advantage of the right light conditions was to stay the next four days on the river.

I was going to be an adventurer on the great high seas! Well, not quite, but it was as exciting. We found a boat, had a quick look around and negotiated a good price. Called Ma Jogmaya, it was a river launch. A rather big boat, with two clean cabins, a generous upper deck and a little kitchen that supplied us with fresh food and we were set.

We would wake up at the crack of dawn, catching the beautiful light that fell softly on the leaves and the day was spent in a languorous haze, the boat moving gently, as the river led us down a maze of canals. The forest officials told us stories. Of Bon Bibi, a local deity, who can be traced to Medina and is revered by Hindus and Muslims alike. She presides over the forests and is a talisman against attacks by tigers,

worshipped by honey collectors and woodcutters, men whose survival depends on entering the forest. Legend has it that she saved a honey collector, Dukhe, from the demon king Dakshin Rai, who was disguised as a tiger. So you can imagine the combination of fear and mystery that surrounds the tiger.

Famously known as maneaters, the tigers in the Sunderbans have, over the years, adapted to this terrain.

Learning to avoid the sharp roots and navigate the saline waters, they have survived an unfamiliar territory. Our last morning there, we docked at a small beach, a small sandy strip, devoid of mangroves. There was much excitement in the air because the forest official had spotted a pug mark.

We looked closely at it, took pictures, and glanced around nervously, waiting in anxious excitement. Would we finally see a tiger today? Unfortunately we didn’t, but we were still rewarded. About 30 metres from where we were, coiled around a tree was an enormous black king cobra. We stared in awe and tried desperately to capture it on camera.

Why should one visit the Sunderbans? It’s like stepping into another world. Still preserved in its raw natural state, it is so different from the manicured settings of the modern world. One must go in the spirit of adventure, in search of the Bengal tiger, but also to soak in solitude of the river and watch the sky light up with the most beautiful sunsets.

Two things I was glad about when I left the Sunderbans – one, my faith in Amitav Ghosh was validated and, two, that we didn’t see the tiger. Some things, I think, are better left to legend and myths. For then, there’s always a reason to go back.

culturama | march 2013

51

At Global Adjustments

Helping You Navigate India GLOBAL Adjustments is very proud to have been a partner to Trimble’s India success over the past three years, running immersion cross-cultural coaching programmes for almost all their senior leaders from around the world who work with team India. Trimble Navigation makes the world’s largest and best known GPS system. A lesser known fact is how a lot of their brilliant work happens with contributions from their India teams. This four-hour intercultural session has prepared leaders to be even more effective in 'This India Business'. It offers insights, case studies, and practical advice on how to work best with India. It reduces the chances of misunderstanding and strengthens communication, enhancing the bottom line.

See what one of the 50 leaders we interacted with has to say: “It is always a great pleasure to talk to the Global Adjustments team. You have built a unique experience and have been able to assemble what is to be Indian in a way like nobody I have ever met.”

— Bryn Fosburgh, Trimble Sector VP Can we help your expatriate team succeed in India? Contact: courses@globaladjustments.com

Postcard from India

Nip Nap Winkle!

ul sunny n on a beautif ke ta as w t e ur THIS pict Delhi. It wasn’ India Gate in e ty th et ar pr e ne Sunday ratures wer but the tempe in the a busy time, young man e know if th t ok the n’ to do I st . ju gh hi eper, or if he ke op tle sh e th hi ade for s lit picture is ace in the sh pl – a of be n ity ca un e opport w easy lif is ce to see ho th ni d st An ju s it!

It’ of p. na make out U YO t ha w it’s always f of that. picture is proo

laich

Tanja Brix-b

52

culturama | march 2013

Global Health City Wellness Series

Food Allergy

kerala break for high tea

Food allergies and food intolerance are important problems in children, affecting them in varying degrees.

Here’s a quick look at both

Food allergy occurs due to adverse immune response to food proteins, that is the body mistakes an ingredient in food, usually a protein, as harmful bacteria and creates a defence system to fight it. When the child is exposed to that protein either by oral ingestion, inhalation or even skin contact, the child can develop allergic reactions of varying severity. A life-threatening reaction called anaphylaxis could develop, which results in swelling of lips, face, tongue and difficulty in breathing, and unless treated it could be fatal. A milder form consists of itching, skin rashes, hives, stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting and headache.

Food intolerance is a non-immune response involving the digestive system. It is commonly caused by lactose, gluten (celiac disease), food additives (preservatives, colorants) etc. Intolerance is caused by lack of enzymes that digest lactose to simple sugars in the gut. Affected people can tolerate small amounts of lactose, but when given in large amounts it causes abdominal pain, diarrhoea, flatulence, stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, migraines, and asthmatic attacks.

Food Allergy

Food Intolerance

Usually reaction

Usually takes some time to develop

immediate

Cannot tolerate even small amounts

Can tolerate amounts

Can be treated with antihistamines, steroids

Needs diet exclusion, as medications are of no use

Allergic tendency can resolve as they grow older

Food intolerance stays for life

milesworth holidays india • srilanka • maldives • and beyond

small

visit: www.milesworth.com

Disclaimer: This series aims at understanding the nature of the disease. It is essential to consult a doctor for eliminating the problem.

Milesworth Travels & Tours Pvt. Ltd., 39 R M Towers, 108 Chamiers Road, Chennai. Tel: +91-44-24320522 / 24359554 Fax: +91-44-24342668 E-mail: holidays@milesworth.com culturama | march 2013

53

Globa l Citizen

Neil Miller

Formal is Normal

How culturally sensitive are we to the ‘meet and greet’ tradition in this global world? Our writer discovers that a touch of formality goes a long way in bridge building

“WELL, I guess we crashed the party,” my new American friend leaned over to whisper to me. I was attending a Rotary Club event where clubs from three different cultures were gathering – India was hosting, with Malaysia and the United States as guests. The meeting was to celebrate the clubs coming together and try to build stronger ties.

The Indian club started by playing a video on their recent work in a nearby village. The president gave a short speech and then read out each of the names of the visiting guests and their spouses and ceremoniously presented them with shawls and gifts.

The Malaysian club followed suit, playing a video highlighting their long and prestigious history. The president gave a speech and thanked their hosts, presenting gifts to the leadership and distributing mementos to all in attendance.

Then the American president stood up and said, “Thanks for inviting us”. No video, no speech, no gifts.

It was then that my friend made his party-crashing statement.

To be fair, there were only two Americans compared to the large groups of Malaysians and Indians, but it struck a cultural chord with me. Why is it that some cultures embrace and celebrate formality and others have nearly eliminated it altogether? Being American, I often find myself in situations where I know I should have done something more significant to receive a guest, or gone out and bought a gift for an occasion. Yet, it usually comes too late.

India and most other Asian cultures have a rich heritage of gift giving and treating guests as God. The American response to guests reaches its apex with, “Feel free to find something you like in the fridge!”

54

culturama | march 2013

This difference often creates clashes in the business world too. How many times has an Indian team arrived at an onsite project bearing engraved gifts and talking about the great historical partnership about to take place, only to be received with a handshake and an invitation to get their own coffee? Westerners of all walks would do well to adopt a little more ceremony in the way we welcome and act as guests.

Back to the Rotary night, my culturally intelligent balloon was inflating after noticing the gaffe my countrymen had made. However, it came to a huge pop when my Indian friend came up and asked me, “Where did they go?” Earlier, the American couple had politely said goodbye to me and I let them walk out of the room, alone, without walking them out. I quickly rushed out with my friend to the entrance to find them waiting for their car. We talked with them for a while longer, thanked them for coming, and I realised how long the journey to acting as a Global Citizen can be!

Food for Thought Questions expatriates asked us about India this month As a manager, what should I keep in mind when I manage Indians or an Indian team?

When someone in India says “good luck” after a discussion, is that a bad thing?

At meetings, what is the seating protocol to be followed in India?

If you have a question or an answer, write to us at courses@globaladjustments.com

culturama | march 2013

55

Holistic Living

Christine Easwaran

pHOTO: Alan Dougans, AUSTRALIA

The Gift of Time When you are the master of time, you experience you a sense of profound peace, says Christine Easwaran, wife of Eknath Easwaran, and a life trustee of the board of the Blue Mountain Centre of Meditation

I HAD the privilege of knowing someone who had full possession of every moment – all the time there is. And he gave it away freely. Time isn’t a thing, of course. We can’t really possess it or give it in the same way as we can give an object.

When I say Eknath Easwaran had all the time there is, I mean that he lived completely in the present. Instead of being hurried by time, he was master of it.

Living in the moment is not the prerogative of mystics. It is prized by athletes, dancers, and other performing artists.

56

culturama | march 2013

Without warning, they tell us, they sometimes find themselves so absorbed in what they are doing that events slip into slow motion; time even seems to stop. They forget themselves, the limitations of the body and their everyday personality; there is nothing but them and the ball, them and the music, them and a vision too rarefied to be described. They are experiencing “flow”; they are “in the zone.”

Experiences like these, when one is lifted out of ordinary time, are often accompanied by a sense of profound peace.

Scientists explain this by brain chemistry, but to Easwaran, brain changes are effects. The cause, he explained, is that complete absorption brings a healing pause in the frantic activity of the mind. Whatever we are doing in that instant fills our consciousness. We are too absorbed to worry, to fret over the past or feel anxious about the future, to be divided by conflicts or dwell on what others might be thinking of us; we simply live. It’s as if the flickering of thoughts is our real clock: when it slows significantly, we are lifted into a higher level of awareness.

This is a precious clue, Easwaran tells us. It suggests that the secret of fulfilment lies not outside us but in the way the mind works. We may associate being “in the zone” with performances like gymnastics or ballet, but activity is not what matters. What these peak experiences teach us is that living in the moment is a mental skill, a matter of training the mind – and that means it can be learned. We don’t have to be a star performer or rocket scientist to learn this; it’s within reach of all of us.

Easwaran offers ways to develop the skill of living in the present so that we can open up the promise held within each moment of our lives. The more we practice, the more we discover in the time we have – and so the nearer we move to having all the time in the world. That, Easwaran says, is our birthright as human beings. It has already been granted to us; we simply have to learn how to claim it.

When I met him in 1960, soon after his arrival in California as a professor from India on the Fulbright program, Easwaran was full to overflowing with the desire to teach these skills. A born teacher, he had distilled his experience into an eightpoint programme that he himself followed. In addition to his obligations at the University of California, he had speaking engagements throughout the Bay Area and even some popular lectures on campuses in Southern California.

The schedule was always tight, but he was never in a hurry.

Not once, then or since, did I see him pressured into speeding up to get more done in the time available. By his example, he was constantly teaching what he knew from experience: the most effective way to accomplish a lot is to do one thing at a time and do it well.

In those days, I simply couldn’t understand why Easwaran placed so much importance on such matters. I thought it might be cultural. As an American, I took hurry for granted and considered it self-evident that speed means efficiency and faster is better. I soon learned that efficiency comes from complete concentration on one thing at a time, even when one

has to manage several tasks. The secret is the unbroken flow of attention that characterises peak performance.

Easwaran enjoyed watching sports – especially those he understood from playing them, such as tennis and soccer – because he enjoyed the concentration of a champion. I began to see that he too moved with the efficiency and grace of the performers he liked to watch. They understood the “inner game,” he said; they knew the importance of the mind. That was his field, the mind. He wanted everyone to see that this training of the mind is the secret not just of first-rate tennis or ballet but of everything – of what he called the art of living – and that, just as in tennis or ballet, it could be learned. He was, if you like, everyone’s personal trainer in the inner game of living. The word “slow” is misleading when it implies sluggish. Easwaran was unhurried, but he was never sluggish. In an emergency he could act instantly, before those around him grasped what was happening. When planning was called for, however, he would often slow down like a gymnast poised before bursting into her routine. It was as if physical activity was a distraction at such times; everything important was happening deep inside. (I have read something very similar about Mahatma Gandhi.) Then, suddenly, he would act, still without hurry but with intense precision, setting in motion one by one the things that needed to be done.

Helping others to slow down occupied Easwaran’s attention from the beginning of his career as a spiritual teacher until the end of his life.

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.

Reprinted with permission from Take Your Time: The Wisdom of Slowing Down by Eknath Easwaran. Copyright The Blue Mountain Center of Meditation, P.O. Box 256, Tomales, CA 94971. www.easwaran.org

culturama | march 2013

57

From the Other Side

Marina Marangos

Soft Spoken Introducing a new series on looking at Indian spirituality and the experiences it brings through expatriate eyes and encounters. We begin with the Buddhist message of truth, compassion and tolerance ONE of the first places I visited when I moved to India was Sanchi, in the heart of Madhya Pradesh, the creation of the Emperor Ashoka in the 3rd Century BCE. A magnificent stupa was built over the relics of the Buddha where you can see many carvings depicting scenes from the life of the Buddha. It is from here that Ashoka’s son Mahendra set out to spread the word and teachings of the Buddha to many neighbouring countries. Thousands of years later, we can still see the relevance of his teachings in our lives. When you live in India, you cannot be oblivious to the considerable spirituality

58

culturama | march 2013

that pervades so many aspects of life in this complex country.

You don’t even have to have strong religious feelings to sense that there is a whole new world out there, which offers you another dimension to life on earth, and, more importantly, how you chose to live that life.

There is perhaps no greater example of that spiritual goodness and guidance than His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, the spiritual leader and head of State of Tibet. The Dalai Lamas are believed to be manifestations of Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of compassion, the patron

saint of Tibet. Bodhisattvas are enlightened beings who have postponed their own nirvana and chosen the cycle of rebirth in order to serve humanity.

This Dalai Lama has used peace and compassion in his treatment of his own people and his oppressors. In doing so, he is the embodiment of Tibetan values and culture.

He is the author of ‘My Spiritual Journey’ and ‘Towards a Kinship of Faith’ and more recently, ‘Beyond Religion’. The literary works of the Dalai Lamas have, over the centuries, inspired millions of people. The writings, reflecting the fusion of Buddhist philosophy embodied in Tibetan Buddhism, have become one of the world’s great sources of spiritual thought.

I have had the honour and opportunity to see and hear the Dalai Lama speak twice while in India. The first was in 2011 when he came to Delhi to speak. He appeared in his maroon robes, covered only with the customary bright orange shawl and the whole auditorium rose in reverence.

He, in turn, prostrated in front of images of the Buddha that lined the backdrop of the auditorium before taking his place on a flower-filled dais. He did that with a wobble and a giggle and I heard the person next to me say, “There is happiness already”.

The Dalai Lama is of course the embodiment of the Buddha on earth and the leader of Tibet, but to me he is an elderly teacher with the sparkle of youth in his eyes and a guffawing laugh to rival any schoolboy. He is a man of incredible inner peace but also has an acute sense of humour. The whole afternoon was dotted with anecdotes and funny asides that he shared with his audience, an audience of Tibetans, Europeans, Indians, young and old, all hanging from his soft sometimes barely audible voice.

He was speaking about attaining happiness and he started by stating that for nearly 3,000 years, humans have been trying to find themselves. It doesn’t matter if you are a believer or a non-believer, he urged honesty and commitment, genuine cooperation and friendship are key factors. In a happy person there is no room for jealousy or competition and a warm heart is the basis of selfconfidence. Trust brings friendship as does the practice of love, forgiveness and tolerance.

The second time I came across the Dalai Lama was when he appeared as the surprise guest speaker at the Jaipur Literature Festival in January this year. You could see the respect he commanded. When he speaks, people listen, no mobiles ring, no chit chat in the back row, silence and craning of necks to catch the very essence of his soft spoken words of wisdom. Pico Iyer, an author who is so well-known and respected, had the honour of introducing and conversing with His Holiness, an honour bestowed upon him quite deservedly as he has worked with the Dalai Lama for over 30 years and had written, ‘The Open Road, the Global Journey of the 14th Dalai Lama’.

So often the message is so simple, and yet so rewarding to hear, and at the same time so easy to adopt. In this

Marina with her family at Sarnath

forum, his overriding message was that you don’t even need to belong to an organised religion to practice compassion in your life. Even in secular societies there is a place for moral ethics by which to live one’s life. He cited India as a good example of a country that lived in religious harmony and for many years practised Ahimsa, the doctrine of nonviolence of which he is such a supporter.

His words made headline news in the newspapers the next day but he doesn’t do this to create them; he does it to remind us how easy and simple it is to live life on a level that can be rewarding and spiritual for each and every one of us drawing on the lessons of Buddhism and compassion irrespective of our background, culture or religious affiliation. A message that can be wholeheartedly embraced by all.

culturama | march 2013

59

Myth and Mythology

Devdutt Pattanaik

The teacher–student relationship in India is an ancient and sacred relationship, built on the premise of teachers learning by teaching and students teaching by learning IT IS with the rise of Buddhism that we hear of sermons, a sage seated under a tree in a park surrounded by thousands of students waiting to hear him speak.

Before that, in the Upanishadic texts, we hear of people conversing: sages and kings, husbands and wives, gods and humans. And before that, in the Vedic texts we find people busy in ritual, or alone in the forest, each one individually contemplating on the meaning of the gestures and the exclamations and the offerings. And somewhere along the way, in the epics, the Ramayan and Mahabharat, we hear of gurukuls, hermitages, where students stay with teachers and learn about life and skills that will help them go through life. In modern imagery, the gurukul is imagined with a teacher seated under a tree with students around him, as if listening to a sermon, or in a modern day classroom. In this imagination lies the flaw in understanding the guru–shishya parampara.

Parampara means tradition, or path. The fundamental difference between the modern education system and sermons and the guru–shishya parampara is the notion of objectivity. Is knowledge objective or subjective?

60

culturama | march 2013

PHOTO: Alan Dougans, Australia

Teach and Learn

Information is objective but knowledge is subjective. To know, you have to understand. To understand, you have to interpret what the other says, analyse it and place in within the context of what you already know and understand. Learning is an extremely complex process, especially cognition. And ancient Indians were aware of that.

Martial arts training demonstrates the Chinese approach to education. It is all about discipline ruthlessly enforced and pushing the boundaries under the relentless gaze of a demanding master. European education systems were rooted in the Greek and Roman concepts of debate. Arguments between philosophers led to establishment of the truth, either through triumph of one or consensus of all. This truth is then passed on to students in classrooms, often by rote learning. They may challenge it but ultimately have to submit to it. This is the approach followed in modern education, where tests reveal achievement and measure development, where one has to present a thesis and ‘defend’ it successfully to achieve a doctorate. In Judaic, Christian and Islamic

traditions, wisdom ultimately comes from God; everything else is human interpretation. These three religious traditions are often at odds with the Greco-Roman thinking that is often marketed as ‘secular’ systems.

Understanding the guru–shishya parampara has been warped by our desire to benchmark it against European models of education and, to some degree, connect it with Oriental models of education. Both these models have become popular, the first because of missionary schools and colonisation, and the second because of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Kung Fu Panda.

The key to the guru–shishya parampara is that the teachers learn by teaching and the student teaches by learning. The guru accepts that the subjective reality of the student is different from his or her own. And, therefore, each one has to figure out wisdom on one’s own terms and pace. At best, the guru can provoke the desire to learn and the moments of insight. But, ultimately, it is the student’s responsibility to learn. The teacher is like a river that the student comes to when thirsty. It is not the teacher’s responsibility to teach; it is the student’s responsibility to learn.

Saraswati, the Goddess of Knowledge, flows invisibly everywhere. To see her, we have to first be thirsty, not pretend to be thirsty. Learning is about opening (brah) the mind (manas) to receive new data and churning the mind so that patterns can be identified, so that data becomes information and information knowledge. What the guru gives is merely Smriti, ideas that can be documented and transmitted. What makes a student knowledgeable and wise, is Shruti, the inner voice of insight, that leads to the ‘penny dropping’, of figuring out things. The modern ‘instruction’-based model does not acknowledge the existence of the inner voice: so, there is an obsession with simplifying and repeating information, hoping that will get the information through.

As the guru teaches the student what he knows, he realises how unique every individual is. He improves his skill of communication. His faith is restored when the student responds. His patience is built as the student is unable or refuses to respond. Thus, the teacher learns from the student too.

This article originally appeared in First City, November 2012.

Reprinted with permission from www.devdutt.com culturama | march 2013

61

Same Difference

Team Culturama

Celebrating the obvious and the not-so-obvious contrasts of India

Dolls Day Out THIS little crowd ‘kolu dolls’ of inanimate gods and goddesses, animals and people is probably reminiscent of the times of India’s famous epics, where divine intervention literally meant the physical presence of a god popping in the midst of everyday life to grant a boon or avert a deadly curse.

Kolu is a doll festival celebrated in the southern states of India during the Hindu festival of Navaratri or Nine Nights dedicated to the Goddess of Wisdom (Saraswati), Goddess of Wealth (Lakshmi) and Goddess of Power (Durga).

Photo : Carlo sem, italy

DollS Day In

Photo : Francois Daniele, france

62

culturama | march 2013

TWENTY years ago, we couldn’t have imagined Barbie coming to India, leave alone dress up in Indian clothes! But who said liberalisation was meant only for the adults? The Barbie phenomenon swept into the Indian mindset, her smile and hair intact, wearing colourful saris and ethnic Indian jewellery. Even Ken accompanied Barbie in a traditional sherwani! There’s even a commemorative Barbie doll for popular Bollywood star, Katrina Kaif, chosen as the ‘Indian Face’ for the brand. What more can we say, except, “I’m a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world, life in plastic, it’s fantastic”.

culturama | march 2013

63

Festival of the Month

5

22

8

13

pHOTO: Christèle GAUTHIER, France

APRIL

19 A performer gets ready for the Ram Navami performance

PHOTO: Bipin Khimasia, CANADA

24 A priest stands at the feet of the 57-foot tall monolithic statue of Jain monk, Bahubali, in Shravanabelagola, Karnataka

Ram Navami Ram Navami is a Hindu festival commemorating the birth of Lord Ram, whose tales of valour and virtue are spoken of in the epic Ramayana. The festival is celebrated across India for nine days (na-va-mi is Sanskrit for nine). Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, being the birthplace of Lord Ram, is where the grandest of all Ram Navami celebrations take place. Devotees come in droves to take a dip in the holy river Sarayu, and chariot processions of Ram, his consort Sita, brother Lakshman, and the loyal monkey god, Hanuman, are organised. Southern festivities include a ceremonial wedding of Lord Ram in temples and the traditional jaggery drink, Panagam.

Visit: The annual fair in Ayodhya, or head to Bhadrachalam in Andhra Pradesh or Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu for an authentic experience of Ram Navami. If you are in Mumbai, participate in ISKCON temple’s annual Ram Navami celebrations.

Mahavir Jayanti Unity of life forms and non-injury to all livings beings is what the monk Mahavira established as the core aspects of Jainism.

He was the 24th and last Jain monk or Tirthankar and Mahavir Jayanti is his birth anniversary. Jain temples are decked with flags, the idol of Mahivara is taken out on processions, and Jain monks often give talks on the ideology of Jainism. An important aspect of the festival is donating money, food and clothing to the poor.

Visit: Bihar is the birthplace of Mahavira and the Pawapuri shrine there hosts grand celebrations. The ancient Jain shrines of Mahava in Rajasthan, Girnar and Palitana in Gujarat, Parasnath temple in Kolkata is where the main celebrations of Mahavir Jayanti are hosted.

Lunar New Year The New Year, as per the Indian lunar calendar, is celebrated in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka this month as Ugadi on April 11, as Puthandu in Tamil Nadu on April 14, as Vishu in Kerala on April 14, and as Baisakhi in Maharashtra and Punjab on April 14. The festival marks the start of a new year and welcomes the season of spring.

64

culturama | march 2013

culturama | march 2013

65

India Writes

The Anza Deception

by P.R. Ganapathy

Reviewed by Babette Verbeek

What is it about?

The year is 2015. The India-Pakistan relations have slowly defrosted and peace between the two nations is achieved. However, a powerful old boy’s network behind the scenes in New Delhi is not convinced. As a result, India comes under attack from within. Major Anwar Islam, a decorated war hero, and Mumbai police inspector, Vishal Karandikar, frantically fight a race against the clock to save India. But they have no idea what they’re really up against.

Who is it by?

P.R. Ganapathy is a management executive based in Chennai.

This is his first book and a second book of the same genre is on its way. His father was a senior Air Force officer and this fuelled the writer’s interest in military history and geopolitics, evident in ‘The Anza Deception’.

Why should I read it?

Read it because it’s a thriller set on Indian soil. Although it is fiction, it gives an insight on the complexities of South Asian military and political relations, while at the same time providing full entertainment. Ganapathy takes the reader on a geopolitical, terrorism ride and in the process shakes up all assumptions to then go out with a final bang.

Bitch Goddess for Dummies

by Maya Sharma Sriram Reviewed by Praveena Shivram

What is it about?

Twenty-seven-year-old Mira Iyer decides that she’s had enough of being a pushover after a disastrous dinner with the 16th ‘ideal man’ that her mother convinces her to meet believing it to be a “match made in arranged marriage heaven”. Thus begins Project Bitch Goddess where Mira not just transforms the way she looks, but begins to change on the inside as well.

Through this journey of self-discovery, she finds love, finds her confidence, finds friendship, finds a family and eventually finds herself.

Who is it by?

Maya Sharma Sriram is a writer based in Mumbai and one of the winners of the Elle Fiction Award in 2010.

Why should I read it?

If you fancy a fun chick lit, then this is for you. Maya creates a wonderfully rounded character in Mira that you instantly identify with. The writing fits the genre, with the right dose of humour and drama laced into the narrative. Even though the pace suffers in between, and annoying little typos crop up here and there, Mira’s animated and honest voice, that is always true to the character, sees you through.

66

culturama | march 2013

culturama | march 2013

67

Postcard from India

Hand Held Mome

nts

ai the Neelankar was taken at e on ur si ct er pi m S im h THI e Ganes nnai, during th r we beach in Che shot this afte d I d an ife w y M h y. the beac an ceremon the crowd on ere om fr d ge emer policemen w these same ene at sc th e Th ed . is ds al re e crow to govern th aternity there trying e sense of fr th d in m y m in d how ed an ht highlig stivities le during fe op e in a pe en g sc on e am the sam ad re s re ltu t the readers different cu t way. I will le en er ff di y el complet r view on it. dia) post thei In d an rn te (Wes

Carlo Sem,

68

Italy

culturama | march 2013

cream centre

culturama | march 2013

69

Tell us your Story

The ouse Whisperer Anita Krishnaswamy, President of Global Adjustments and relocation expert, will answer all those niggling questions you might have on housing and realty in India. Anita comes with many years of experience of working with expat clients across the major metros in India to help them find their perfect home. She can be reached at anita@globaladjustments.com

Why is it that in India a manual generator is preferred over an automatic one?

(American tenant in Chennai) In India, the power situation is not as good as in most Western countries. Power supply, particularly to the domestic sector, is interrupted and shortages in India are common.

Though an automatic generator is not labour dependent (could be treated as an advantage), it picks up even the slightest voltage fluctuation, which is very frequent in India. The frequent kick-starts and shutdowns damage the timer and the panel board causing greater damage to the generator.

A manual generator, though it is labour dependent (could be treated as a disadvantage), only signals the voltage drop. To run the generator at such times is at the discretion of the person operating the generator. This gives more life to the generator.

The generator is most crucial, useful and necessary during long outages, and, hence, manual generators are preferred over automatic generators.

Even after the lease is signed, why does the landlord wait to receive the security deposit to begin work?

(British tenant in Bombay) Actually, this isn’t true of all landlords. Most of them begin preparatory work on the leased property on receipt of any official document that ensures the lease. There are some, however, who wait for the security deposit as they may not want to use existing funds for any repairs or refurbishments.

Also, a financial commitment right at the beginning reassures the landlord, mitigating risks of the lessee terminating the lease midway.

At the Global Adjustments Headquarters in Chennai too a manual generator (extreme right) is preferred

Follow us on If you have any comments, suggestions or queries for this column, write to anita@globaladjustments.com

70

culturama | march 2013

home search - listings by global adjustments Chennai

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

Central Property for Rent — Alwarpet

Two Centrally Located Apartments for Rent — Teynampet

Beautiful Villa for Rent — ECR

• Approx. 4,000 sq. ft.

• Quiet and posh locality • Proximity to all amenities and 24x7 water • Ample greenery, car parking space • Suitable as a small office for an MNC

• 2 bedrooms each • 1,060 sq.ft. each • Recently renovated • Other facilities: Pool, Gym and Squash Court • Power back-up and car parking space

• 4 bedrooms, 5,000 sq.ft., brand new • Landscaped garden and pool • Secure neighbourhood • Fully equipped kitchen • 100% power back-up

Brand New Villa for Rent — ECR

Villa House in Gated Community for Rent — OMR

Charming House for Rent — ECR

• 4 bedrooms, 5,400 sq.ft.

• Contemporary architecture • Lots of natural light • Playroom, pantry and home theatre • Pool and generator

• • • • •

• • • • •

Three Contemporary Apartments for Rent — Nungambakkam • Heart of the central business district • Fully furnished • Contemporary design • Wi-fi connectivity, 100% power back-up • Available for immediate occupation

3 bedrooms and study, 2,850 sq.ft.

Serene surroundings Children’s play area 24-hour security, Power back-up Pool, Gym, Tennis Court, Clubhouse

3 bedrooms and study, 2,200 sq. ft Aesthetically designed Proximity to schools and shops Close to the beach Lovely rooftop terrace

Fully Furnished Luxury Apartment for Rent — Thiruvanmiyur

Independent House for Rent — Thiruvanmiyur

• 3,400 sq.ft., 4 bedrooms • Tasteful interiors, sunny patio • Fully-equipped kitchen (dishwasher and built-in oven), Gym and power back-up • 1 of 4 apartments

• 2,500 sq.ft., 4 bedrooms • Brand New • Quiet neighbourhood • Cheerful kitchen • Proximity to schools

For more properties, call Global Adjustments at 91 44 24617902/91 72999 12605 (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.

culturama | march 2013

71

home search - listings by global adjustments Bengaluru

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

South West Bangalore Apartment for Rent • • • •

3 bedrooms Semi furnished Apartment complex Gym facilities

North Bangalore Furnished Apartment for Rent • • • •

3 bedrooms Fully furnished Apartment complex Club amenities

North Bangalore Spacious Apartment for Rent

North Bangalore Bungalow for Rent

• 4 bedrooms • Apartment complex • Semi furnished

• • • •

3 bedrooms Semi furnished Quiet neighborhood Independent bungalow

Mumbai

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

Powai Furnished Apartment for Rent • 5 bedrooms, 4925 sq.ft.

• Marble flooring, modular kitchen • Two car parking spaces, garden • Children’s play area, servant’s quarters

Powai Spacious Apartment for Rent • 3 bedrooms, 2125 sq.ft.

• Marble flooring, modular kitchen • Gym, garden, swimming pool • Car parking space and Servant’s quarters

Bandra West Large Furnished Apartment for Rent • 3 bedrooms, 2425 sq.ft.

• Marble flooring, modular kitchen • Gym, garden, swimming pool • Two car parking spaces and servant’s quarters

Juhu Apartment for Rent • 3 bedrooms, 1800 sq.ft.

• Marble flooring, modular kitchen • Car parking • Servant’s quarters

Delhi

For the above sample and many more such properties call 91 22 66104191/ 9769001515 or email: mum@globaladjustments.com

Chanakyapuri New Independent House for Rent

Gurgaon, Palm Springs Spacious Villa for Rent

Gurgaon, Beverly Park Apartment for Rent

Gurgaon Independent house for Rent

• • • • •

• 5 bedrooms • 100% security and power backup • Back garden, splash pool • Clubhouse, gym, bowling alley, movie theatre • Children’s play area

• 3 bedrooms, well lit and airy • 100% power backup, and security • Tennis court, gym, swimming pool • Well located, close to malls and metro station

• 5 bedrooms • Swimming pool and movie theatre • Air-conditioned with power backup • Nice location, quiet street

6 bedrooms Fully air-conditioned Duplex with lift Spacious living room Front garden, park facing

For the above sample and many more such properties call 91 124 435 4236/ 981551070 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.

72

culturama | march 2013

culturama | march 2013

73

74

culturama | march 2013

Celebrating 18 years of service, 1995-2013

culturama | march 2013

75

Registered with the Registrar of Newspapers for India RNI No.TNENG/2010/32752. Postal Reg.No.TN/CC(S)Dn./396/2013-15.

Licensed to post without prepayment under WPP No. TN/PMG(CCR)/WPP-268/2013-15. Date of Publication:1st of every month.