INDIA VOL 25 NO. 3 MAY 2011
PERSPECTIVES
INDIA
PERSPECTIVES
Advancing India’s Conversations with the World WELCOME TO THE NEW WORLD OF INDIA PERSPECTIVES Now on Facebook! Become Friends of India Perspectives Join the Facebook Community http://www.facebook.com/IndiaPerspectives Read India Perspectives online: www.indiandiplomacy.in SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS, EXCHANGE IDEAS, SEND YOUR DARTS AND LAURELS
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PE C PERS
TIVES
ESSENTIAL READING ON INDIA
IN SI D
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NGI SARA Strings Soulful
S BOOK Architecture Majestic SARI Drape Magical
EL TRAV on Track Luxury LIBYA INDIA- mecoming Safe Ho
ISSN 09705074
AP RIL NO. 2 VOL 25
INSIDE
TIGERS Shining Bright
PHOTOFEATURE Sacred India
MANGO Golden Fruit
INDIA-AFRICA Towards Stronger Ties
INDIA THIS MONTH
Until May 13 Tiger Talk A collection of tiger photographs clicked by noted conservationists. Where: Azad Bhavan Auditorium, New Delhi
MAY-JUNE
2011 June 2 Musician Expo 2011 India’s largest expo showcasing professional music and acoustic instruments marks its eleventh successive year. Where: Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai, India
May 1-May 31 Khotachi Wadi Festival This one-month event celebrates the heritage precinct of Khotachi Wadi – a small street that has about 65 Portuguese houses. Where: Khotachi Wadi, Mumbai
April-May 31 Flower Festival This annual international event displays numerous varieties of flowers and shrubs including orchids, gladioli, roses and ferns. Where: White Hall, Gangtok, Sikkim
May 26-29 Inside Outside Mega Show Yearly event showcasing contemporary interior designs, furniture and fittings. Where: Pune College of Engineering Grounds, Pune
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June 11-12 Automotive Engineering Show An exhibition of automobile engineering and vehicle manufacturing processes. Where: Chennai Trade Centre, Nandabakkam, Chennai
June 2-11 Ganga Dussehra This festival celebrates the descent of the Ganga River on earth. Pilgrims throng the river banks pay homage to India’s most venerated river. Where: Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
June 1-3 Sindhu Darshan Held on a full moon day, the festival celebrates the history of River Indus or Sindhu from which India takes its name. Where: River Sindhu, Leh
EDITORIAL NOTE
June 28-29 Yuru Kabgyat Buddhists from all over the world congregate to pay tribute to Lord Padmasambhava in a colourful event. Where: Lamayuru Monastery, Leh
s daytime temperatures soar into the forties and the great Indian summer spreads its wings across the subcontinent, the mango, also known as the King of Fruits, starts to make its appearance in the stalls of fruit vendors and on dining tables around the country. We couldn’t resist the temptation of bringing a flavour of the mango into this issue of our magazine, exploring its many culinary avatars, its health benefits and even its impact on the world of fashion and design through the ubiquitous paisley. We also look at another equally iconic symbol of India – the tiger. India’s forests are home to almost half the world’s tigers but the survival of this regal animal has been threatened by the avarice of poachers and the relentless pressure to compete for space with the growing needs of 1.2 billion Indians. Yet, the determined efforts of government, civil society, wild life enthusiasts, forest officials and many others seem to have produced a silver lining. Recent census figures show a total of 1,706 tigers spread across almost 200,000 square kilometres of protected forest – a welcome increase of 295 tigers over the previous census. The month of May will also see the second India-Africa Forum Summit that will be held in partnership with the African Union at its headquarters in Addis Ababa. President John Kufuor, the former President of Ghana and also a former head of the African Union has always been a strong advocate of tapping the synergy between India and Africa. We are delighted to get a special article from him for this issue. A feature on a remarkable literature festival that builds cultural bridges and brings together writers from across South Asia provides a very different perspective on foreign affairs. The engaging account of a trek into a beautiful part of the Himalayas, a profile of environmentalist Sunita Narain and reviews of cinema, theatre and literature bring up the remaining sections of this issue. And of course, how could we complete it without a reference to India’s triumph at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 in Mumbai and the celebrations that it triggered amongst Indian communities around the globe. Happy reading.
Navdeep Suri
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INDIA
PERSPECTIVES MAY 2011 VOL 25 No. 3/2011
MAY 2011
Editor: Navdeep Suri Assistant Editor: Neelu Rohra
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M EDIA TR ANSASIA TEAM Editor-in- Chief: Maneesha Dube
Wildlife: Tiger Population Rises
TRAVEL
Editor: Mannika Chopra Creative Director: Bipin Kumar Desk: Urmila Marak Editorial Co-ordinator: Kanchan Rana Design: Ajay Kumar (Sr. Designer), Sujit Singh
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Essay: India-Africa
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Lead Story: Mango, the Golden Fruit
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Photofeature: Divine Frames
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Profile: Sunita Narain
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ENTHRALLING ENCOUNTERS
Production: Sunil Dubey (DGM), Ritesh Roy (Sr. Manager) Brijesh K. Juyal (Prepress Operator)
Driving from Rishikesh to Badrinath one espies majestic landscapes, mythology, herds of wild asses and more
Chairman: J.S. Uberoi President: Xavier Collaco
DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIPS
Financial Controller: Puneet Nanda
SAARC Festival of Literature: Letters of Peace
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Newsmakers: Cricket World Cup 2011
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IN REVIEW
Send editorial contributions and letters to Media Transasia India Ltd. 323, Udyog Vihar, Phase IV, Gurgaon 122016 Haryana, India E-mail: feedback.indiaperspectives@mtil.biz
Film: Living Stories
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Books: A Journey Down Melody Lane
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Theatre: Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards 2011
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Verbatim: Leela Samson
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Telephone: 91-124-4759500 Fax: 91-124-4759550 India Perspectives is published every month in Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia, Bengali, English, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Pashto, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Sinhala, Spanish, Tamil, Turkish, Urdu and Vietnamese. Views expressed in the articles are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of the magazine. This edition is published for the Ministry of External Affairs by Navdeep Suri, Joint Secretary, Public Diplomacy Division, New Delhi, 140 ‘A’ Wing, Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi-110001. Telephones: 91-11-23389471, 91-11-23388873, Fax: 91-11-23385549 Website: http://www.meaindia.nic.in Text may be reproduced with an acknowledgement to India Perspectives For a copy of India Perspectives contact the nearest Indian diplomatic mission.
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COVER PHOTO: A TIGER CUB / PHOTOLIBRARY COVER DESIGN: BIPIN KUMAR
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WILDLIFE
BABY
BOOM A recent census shows a rise in tiger population
TEXT: USHA RAI
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India, Wildlife Trust of India and Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology — gathering evidence of tigers from peripheral areas. Nothing demonstrates better the health of an area than the birth of young ones and clearly there has been a boom in the cub population in several reserves. In Pench, in Maharashtra, two tigresses have given birth to eight cubs in two months. A few years ago, tigers were wiped out from the Sariska sanctuary in Rajasthan and Panna in Madhya Pradesh in central India. Five tigers (two males and three females) were relocated from Ranthambhore to Sariska and a male and three females were relocated from Pench and Bandhavgarh to Panna. Not surprisingly, there is elation in Panna because two of the tigresses have given birth to five young ones, taking the tiger population of Panna to nine. The
BIRTH OF HOPE: Young cubs demonstrate that conservation efforts are paying off
PHOTO: ADITYA SINGH
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onservationists are elated with the recent 2011 census, which shows an increase of 295 tigers in the country. They now number 1,706 spread across 1,93,000 sq km of forests. Since India is home to half the tigers in the wild in the world, the joy transcends borders. The increase in population is not just because there are more reserves, currently 39, better patrolling and management, but because the census, conducted by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) with the support of four NGOs, has covered a greater area. Though camera traps were the dominant method, pug marks, actual sightings, cattle kills and human encounters helped arrive at the final figure. Sunderbans tigers in West Bengal, left out of the last census, were also included this time by using satellite telemetry. In fact, over the last ten years there has been a fine tuning of the census operation with the WII in the lead and key wildlife NGOs — Aaranyak in the Northeast, WWF-
SALIENT FEATURES OF THE TIGER CENSUS FOREST PERSONNEL INVOLVED IN DATA COLLECTION: 4,76,000 TOTAL DISTANCE WALKED IN PHASE I: 6,25,000 KM MAN DAYS OF RESEARCHERS NEEDED: MORE THAN 27,300 TOTAL CAMERA TRAPS USED: 800 TOTAL AREA CAMERA-TRAPPED: 10,500 SQ KM NUMBER OF INDIVIDUAL TIGERS CAMERA TRAPPED: 550 TOTAL COST: ` 91 MILLION
PRIVATE ENTERPRISE: Everybody is doing their bit to save the tiger
Polka Art Gallery’s exhibition, “Tiger! Tiger” aims to create awareness. The canvases include those by Sanjay Bhattacharya, Satish Gujral and Subodh Kerkar. The gallery is located in Defence Colony, New Delhi.
Lenardo Di Caprio is keen to observe the big cat in India and will be extending his support to the Indian government through the WWF, according to discussions held with Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh. The actor has already donated $1 million towards conservation efforts.
WWF-India is restoring forest corridors, reducing biotic pressure on tigers, working to avoid human-tiger conflict, spreading awareness on conservation and providing need-based infrastructural support to the forest department.
ARTIGER, Arts for the Tiger, an initiative by the Ranthambore Foundation brought together 57 renowned artists and 50 corporates. Fifty seven life-size fibreglass tigers were displayed at 52 public locations across Delhi for the conservation of India’s national animal.
‘Save the Tigers’ is a campaign conducted by telecom operator Aircel, in association with WWF, that motivates people to blog, SMS and keep updated about tiger facts. Actor Amitabh Bachchan is the brand ambassador of the campaign.
Mike Pandey, eminent film-maker and conservationist is co-producing a film along with John Abraham. The film, The Return of the Tiger, is a docu-drama that aims to showcase tiger conservation issues to the Indian public.
NDTV’s recent 12-hour Save Our Tigers telethon raised ` 50 million to set up tiger task forces in key reserves. It also got the best minds in the country to suggest what needs to be done. Marches, cycle rallies and signature campaigns demanded the government to act before it’s too late.
Youth Tiger Ambassadors of WWF-India, Ansuha Shankar and Devanshu Sood will visit villages in protected areas to raise local awareness. They will also involve their peers and start a youth movement to save the tiger.
Sariska tigers, however, are yet to breed. The birth of seven cubs has been reported from Ranthambhore and 11 cubs have been seen in the Kaziranga National Park in Assam. Other steps have also helped in increasing the numbers. In December 2006, the Wildlife Protection Act was amended to make the Forests Rights Act inapplicable in critical tiger areas – this meant that entry was banned for the collection of forest produce or for any kind of land use. The setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority in 2005 also strengthened conservation efforts. Still a lot remains to be done. According to WII, in the last five years, some 20,000 sq kms of tiger area has been lost due to development activity, encroachments and highways passing through core, critical areas of tiger terrain. With the tremendous pressure of human population on protected areas, poaching and poisoning continue to be problems. However, on the positive side, there is a tremendous awareness and interest in protecting the tiger and the new numbers say it all. —Usha Rai is a pioneering journalist writing on development and environment issues
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ESSAY
H.E. JOHN AGYEKUM KUFUOR
PART OF A SERIES MARKING THE SECOND
INDIA-AFRICA FORUM SUMMIT 2011
GROWING PARTNERSHIP AFP
India is playing an increasing role in Africa’s resurgence and development
STRENGTHENING TIES: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other Africans leaders at the India-Africa Forum Summit 2008; (below) Flagstaff House in Accra, Ghana
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elations between India and Africa date back centuries to when Indian merchants conducted trade along the eastern littoral of the African continent. During that period, there was a large amount of commerce and migration between the Indian subcontinent and Africa. After the abolition of slavery in the 19th century, thousands of Indians were recruited to work in southern and eastern Africa, which has given rise to the vibrant Indian communities found in Africa today, who all make a significant contribution to the social, economic and political fabric of the continent. One of the greatest links between India and Africa can be found in Father of the Nation, Mohandas K. Gandhi, called the Mahatma. His political career began on the African continent, in South Africa, where he stayed from 1893-1914, leading him to become personally involved in the anti-colonial movement in South Africa and the fight for civil rights. It was during these struggles that he developed his hallmark approach of satyagraha, or nonviolent resistance to tyranny, an approach that led India to achieve Independence in 1947. The former President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, rightly remarked, “You gave us Gandhi, we gave you the Mahatma.”
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Indian Independence was an inspiration to Africa which was still bound by the shackles of colonialism during that time. Crusaders for African independence were motivated by Gandhi’s approach and philosophy and this inspired leaders such as Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, and Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia in their own national liberation campaigns. India’s charismatic first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, cemented the Indo-Africa relationship and gave it political structure in his quest for liberation of all nations under colonial rule. Under his premiership, India supported national liberation movements in Africa generously, both financially and politically. Nehru’s leading role in convening the first Asian-African Conference, along with China’s Zhou Enlai, Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser, Ghana’s Nkrumah, Indonesia’s Sukarno, and Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh, paved the way first for the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in 1955 and later for the Group of 77 (G-77) in 1964. India’s political commitment to NAM and emphasis on South-South co-operation has left it well positioned to take up engagements across the continent and forge new ties, as it has done in recent years. South-South regional
associations, such as the G-77, are being re-invigorated and bilateral agreements and diplomatic ties are flourishing. As an emerging global player, one of the two main Asian ‘drivers’, a BRIC country, a key player in the G-77, a member of the G-20 and a significant voice in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) India, has a potentially significant role to play in Africa’s resurgence. Many countries in the South, particularly in Africa, are looking to India to utilise its privileged position in the global economy to advocate for them in various fora such as G-20 and WTO. India has the advantage of being both a developed and developing nation (in different respects) and therefore can act as a bridging nation between the developed and developing world. As a long-standing friend to Africa, India can utilise its links between developed and developing countries to benefit the continent by partnering with Africans to enhance their economies, private sectors and human resources. Economic relations between India and Africa are rapidly on the increase and look set to burgeon in the coming years. Trade between India and African nations grew from a value of $3.39 billion in 2000 to $30 billion for the year 2007, and it is projected that India-Africa bilateral trade will grow to $150
FLAGSTAFF HOUSE STANDS AS A MONUMENT OF FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN GHANA AND INDIA AND IS A CENTREPIECE OF THE NATION’S CAPITAL
billion by 2012. Business and trade relationships are central to underpinning Indo-African ties. Commercial ties are further strengthened through programmes such as the Focus on Africa Programme which fosters an enabling environment for Indian companies trading in African nations. There is considerable support from both Indian and African governments for these growing economic relations. These linkages are being carefully cultivated in fora such as the India-Africa Forum Summit. The Africa-India Framework for Co-operation, adopted during the 2008 summit,
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project to grow jatropha for biodiesel. In the manufacturing sector, the Indian corporate stalwart Mahindra & Mahindra has made a huge investment in collaboration with Zoom Lion Ghana to build a tractor assembly plant and technology transfer centre in Kumasi. Also in this sector, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed in July 2010 between India and Ghana for setting up a $1.2 billion Joint Venture Fertiliser Project using gas to manufacture fertiliser. The manufacturing and agriculture sectors are not the only ones in Ghana that have benefited from Indian investments. IT in Ghana has received a tremendous amount of backing from India. During my watch as President, the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence for Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) was established by a significant contribution from the Indian A SPECIAL BOND government. NIIT, an Indian-owned ICT India and Ghana have a particularly educational organisation, is developing special bond, built by Ghana’s first the human resource capacity of many President Nkrumah and India’s first THE INDIAN TECHNICAL Ghanaians by providing training in a Prime Minister, Nehru. Significantly, India AND ECONOMIC number of different IT programmes. House, the residence of the High CO-OPERATION With regards to the ICT commercial Commissioner of India, is situated across PROGRAMME market, Bharti Airtel has successfully the road to Flagstaff House, the office of AND SPECIAL bought out Zain and entered into President Nkrumah, reinforcing the COMMONWEALTH Ghana’s tele-communications sector. special relationship between India and AFRICAN ASSISTANCE In addition to the IT sector, Ghana’s Ghana. It was on account of this special PROGRAMME PROVIDE booming financial sector is also bond that my administration, in the THE OPPORTUNITY attracting Indian investment. One of building of the new presidential palace, FOR THE PEOPLE OF India’s reputable banks, Bank of Baroda, decided to collaborate with Indian AFRICA TO UPGRADE THEIR SKILLS IN AREAS has established a branch in Ghana and partners. India offered invaluable SUCH AS INFORMATION Ghana welcomes further investment technical and financial assistance in this TECHNOLOGY AND from India’s financial organisations. joint venture and the partnership COMPUTING. Indian solidarity with African resulted in the creation of a particularly countries, such as Ghana, in key unique architectural edifice that areas and its respect for sovereignty encapsulates Ghanaian culture and tradition. The building, originally christened Jubilee House to strengthen progressive economic, social and political forces in mark the 50th anniversary of Independence but later re-named Africa. The heightened interest in rekindling long-standing ties Flagstaff House, stands as a monument of friendship between to Africa offers the continent new avenues of growth and progress towards equitable and sustainable development. Ghana and India and is a centrepiece of the nation’s capital. The present challenge is for leaders, in Africa and India, to India has demonstrated a commitment to Ghana’s development agenda by not only providing lines of credit and harness these linkages so that they are mutually beneficial to grants but also through investments and partnerships with their countries, sectors and peoples. companies from a range of sectors in the Ghanaian economy. —Extracted from an essay by H.E. John Agyekum Kufuor, former For example, in the agriculture sector the Indian company, President of the Republic of Ghana, for the John A. Kufuor Foundation for Leadership, Governance and Development Hazel Mercantile, has invested $45 million in Ghana in a
benefit. The Techno-Economic Approach for the Africa-India Movement (TEAM-9) initiative is one such example, as it aims to improve food security, healthcare, telecommunications and transport through a technological focus to eight West African countries — Burkina Faso, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Mali and Senegal. India has also been particularly generous in providing much needed development assistance to countries in Africa. India has cancelled the debts of five Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs) in Africa — Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia — while its EXIM Bank has extended lines of credit to institutions in a number of African countries, including Angola, Djibouti, Ghana, South Africa, Sudan, Togo and Zambia.
BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE: India-Ghana Kofi Annan Centre for Excellence in ICT, Accra, Ghana
promises to elevate the scope of the Indian-African partnership and thereby challenge the existing uneven architectures of economic, political and institutional power. ECONOMIC TIES India’s burgeoning economic expansion in Africa is demonstrated by the diverse portfolio of Indian investment activity on the continent: from numerous small family firms and small and medium enterprises to large-scale bids by Indian companies such as Tata, Essar and Bharti Airtel. Through these investments, India and Africa are able to solidify economic ties and use these to enhance the economic performance of a wide range of sectors. Africa can utilise India’s expertise in creating a knowledge economy for sustainable development. India is second to none in its experience in this endeavour, especially in the context of low-income societies, and is able to channelise this experience to Africa. Agriculture and food security are other areas in which Indian knowledge and experience are vital to Africa. The success of the Green Revolution in India enabled such a populous nation to achieve food security and African nations have much to learn from India in this regard as food security is still a stumbling block to many countries on the continent. Internationally, India is regarded as an IT superpower and
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it can assist Africa in bridging the digital divide. The PanAfrican e-Network, launched in July 2007 in Addis Ababa, goes some way in achieving this by providing facilities for tele-education, tele-medicine and network video conferencing for universities, education centres and clinics across the continent through a network of satellite, fibre optics and wireless connections. Over the recent decades India has successfully harnessed its human resource capacity. This is currently a great challenge in Africa and India can be a source of enlightenment in this regard. The Indian Technical and Economic Co-operation (ITEC) programme and Special Commonwealth African Assistance Programme (SCAAP) provide the opportunity for the people of Africa to upgrade their skills in areas such as IT and computing, which, in turn, benefits the continent as a whole by ensuring the international competitiveness of its people. Through its focus on providing short training programmes in areas as diverse as small and medium-scale industries, rural credit programmes, food processing, textiles and women’s entrepreneurship, the ITEC also provides a means of strengthening private sector development, a key component of Africa’s resurgence. India has been extremely forthcoming in the creation of initiatives to bolster Indo-African partnerships for mutual
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LEAD STORY
A FRUIT FULL OF
MEMORIES Mangoes form an integral part of a childhood summer TEXT: ASHOK VAJPAYEE
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n the small university town of Sagar, located in central India, we lived in a rented house in a mohalla (neighbourhood) largely inhabited by officers, clerks and such like. Directly in front of our house grew an impressive Maulshari tree; across the road on the other side was a gigantic Kathchandan tree behind which was a typically colonial creation – a garden known in those times as the Company Garden. The garden was full of huge mango (aam) and jamun trees around which we, the local children, used to continuously play around. Oftentimes, our play would involve climbing these trees especially when the green fruits appeared. I can’t remember if we ever allowed the tiny fruits to ripen on the trees. As soon as the raw mangoes appeared they were eagerly plucked off for on-thespot eating or taken home in bulk for making into spicy chutney and pickles. The story was the same in our ancestral village of Rajapur Garhewa, where our family owned an orchard of mangoes. The fruits hardly survived long enough to ripen on the trees before they were picked off by dexterous, mischievious fingers. The ones that remained were buried deep under heaps of grain, ripening under the natural heat that was created. My maternal grandfather lived in a house across the road from us in Sagar, and it was he who was the true connoisseur of the mango. I remember a fruitvendor, who walked with a slight limp, was a regular fixture in my grandfather’s verandah during the mango season. On each visit, he would be laden with many varieties of the fruit: Chausa, Dussehri, Langda, Totapari, Alphonso and others whose names were not so familiar. These different varieties would not come simultaneously, but one after the other, wave after delicious wave. The golden-coloured Alphonso was the earliest to mark its arrival and bringing up the rear was the green-hued Langda. My otherwise large-hearted grandfather would inevitably haggle with the vendor, both about the quality and the price of the fruit, feigning outrage and ultimately grudgingly coming to a reasonable
settlement. The vendor was a veritable poet when it came to selling his wares. He would go into a verbal ecstasy while describing the qualities of the fruit. The Alphonso was labelled a coy lady, the Dussehri a sweet mistress and the Langda was hailed as the uncrowned king. While the vendor was waxing eloquently about the mango we children would wait impatiently to eat them, squabbling when one of us got the largest mango. Sometimes a ripe one would go missing from the secret stock kept away and my grandmother knew immediately that I must have stolen it. She knew I found it difficult, indeed almost unbearable, to wait for the portions to be distributed. Yes, the one big problem with the mango is that you never seem to have enough of the fruit. It was the great poet Mirza Ghalib who once wrote in a letter to a friend: “Aam meethey hon aur bahut se hon’’ (One can only say this about mangoes; they should be sweet and in great abundance). Indeed, sweet abundance is the hallmark of true ‘mango-hood.’ Perhaps that is why there are so many varieties of the fruit. Just as developing a specific school of music or dance, or patronising one, became the pastime of the nobility, developing a new or a unique variety of the mango became an obsession, not only of the nobility and royalty, but also of ordinary farmers and villagers. There are, therefore, hundreds of varieties of mangoes in India, many of them owing their origin to some humble farmer or an illiterate gardener. I recall once eating a delicious variety of mango called Karelia aam since it had wrinkles like those found on a karela (bitter gourd). The fruit is laden with folklore too. The flowers of mangoes have a long and continuing presence in Indian literature and mythology. Out of the five flowers that go to make the arrows of Kamdev, the God of Love in the Hindu pantheon, one happens to be the mango flower. And let’s not forget, that the wood of the auspicious mango tree is invariably used in sacrificial and ritualistic fires. By that token even the simple act of eating a mango becomes an immortal act, rarely possible by us ‘mortals’. —Ashok Vajpayee is a leading Hindi poet and author
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FOOD
MANGO MANIA Curries, jams, pickles, and cooling drinks, the fruit has many culinary avatars TEXT: MARRYAM H. RESHII
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ango is native to India, the largest producer of the fruit in the world. Very little of the Indian crop is exported since most of it is consumed locally. How much we love our mangoes can be told by the uses to which we put them: aam papad (fruit leather made from pressed mango pulp), aamchur (sundried, powdered raw mangoes), murrabba (sweet mango preserve) and assorted jams, squashes and pickles. These are but a few of the different end products of this delicious fruit and you haven’t even begun to scratch the surface. What is beyond doubt is the way in which mangoes are used in cooking all over the country. If Goa has caap, an unusual cross between a soup and a curry, the Punjabi version of it is gudumba, and the Uttar Pradesh’s rendering is panna. Gudumba, made by boiling raw mangoes with sugar, black salt, chilli powder and black pepper, is drunk in order to prevent heat stroke. In the days before mass transportation made mangoes available to all at different times of the year, grandmothers would warn their grandchildren never to pick mangoes from the tree before Baisakhi, on April 13. Before that date, the fruit was considered far too sour, and contained too much sap, guaranteed to give one a sore throat. The sap of the mango tree is even today considered to be strong, and so, when mangoes are bought in the beginning of summer, even the most modern family will soak them in water for a few hours, to ‘make them less
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SWEET AND SOUR: With ice cream and as a pickle
heating to the system’. This procedure is followed until the first rain of the season, when nature herself washes off the inherent heat of the fruit. Mango panna, like gudumba, is a drink. Recent efforts to make it commercially have however imbued it with a chemical aftertaste. In my opinion, it is worth the trouble and effort to make this juice at least once a year at home because of the danger of forgetting the real taste and mistaking the chemical version for the natural one. In Bengal, diced raw mango is used to perk up tomato chutney, while in Mumbai raw mango is used as a souring agent in bhel puri, a crispy puffed rice dish doused with a tangy sauce. Ayurveda considers raw mangoes cooling to the system, and so they are used in a number of dishes, including as a souring agent for dal in Bengal. On the other side of the country, Gujarat has a thick puree of ripe mangoes, called aamras, which is eaten with breads like puris at breakfast time. Shrikhand is eaten in a similar manner in the neighbouring Maharashtra, but it contains curd that is hung and thick and so, is comparatively richer and more sour. However, it is in the making of mango pickles that you get
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MANGO CHUTNEY INGREDIENTS 1 kg raw mangoes 1 kg sugar 2 tsp ginger (cut julienne) 50 gm salt 6 cardamoms (seeds only) 4 cinnamon sticks 4 bay leaves 3 tsp red chilli powder 1/4 cup raisins
2 tsp peppercorns (crushed) 1/4 cup dry coconut (sliced thin) 1/4 cup cashew nuts 1/4 cup almonds 2 tbsp melon seeds 150 gm vinegar 2 tsp cumin (roasted and powdered)
METHOD In a frying pan, dry roast the melon seeds till they puff up. Remove and keep aside. Roast almonds and cashews till lightly coloured. Peel and grate mangoes. In a thick bottomed pan, place the grated mangoes, sugar and salt. Cook till sugar dissolves, add ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaf, red chilli powder and peppercorns and cook till it acquires a thick, mushy consistency. Add vinegar and cook for five minutes. Add the nuts, raisins, coconut and cumin powder. Mix well and check for taste. Add more vinegar if desired.
the greatest variation from one state to the other. The mango pickle from Andhra Pradesh is fiery hot, owing to the quantity of Guntur chillies that go into it, while the pickle from Punjab has a strong aftertaste of the mustard oil and aniseed that is used liberally in its preparation. Gujarati chhunda is shredded raw mango that has been cooked with sugar syrup so that it becomes like a sweet relish while the Goan water pickle is a rather spartan preserve, which has quartered raw mangoes pickled in brine, and is something of an acquired taste. Bona fide Indian desserts, such as the mango kulfi, use mangoes as the main ingredient in this local ice cream dish, but innovative chefs get around that problem
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by making a concentrated mango sauce called a coulis and drizzling it on a plate containing pannacotta, or indeed, any other dessert, so that the word ‘mango’ can, quite legitimately, appear in the name of the final dish. The same approach is followed in a main course: grill a chicken, or any other meat, combine it with a mango salsa, or diced mangoes mixed with jalapenos, curry leaves and mustard seeds, or any other ingredient, Indian or otherwise, and you have a ‘mango dish.’ Finally, what do you do if you want your fix of the golden fruit long after the mango season is over? Why look forward to next year’s mango crop of course. —Marryam H. Reshii is a well known food critic
FASHION
MAGIC MOTIF From Delhi’s Chandni Chowk to New York, the ambi, or paisley, is a staple of couture TEXT: SMRITI MUKHERJEE
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he king of fruits has made its way to our hearts not just through the stomach, but also through the clothes we wear, the bags we carry and the jewellery we sport. The mango has moved Indian weavers and artisans through centuries to craft the most exquisite pieces of embroidery and other forms of handiwork. The ambi (or paisley) motif is a sartorial ode to the mango, and is one of the most widely recognised symbols of Indian craft. What’s more, its reach now extends to wardrobes across the world, with the swirling paisley finding its way on scarves, dresses, jackets and denims. By some accounts, the mango motif gained style-status during the Mughal rule, when aristocrats and nobility donned rich silks embroidered with this design in threads of gold and silver. Soon Kashmiri jamavar shawls were decorated with this symbol, catapulting the humble ambi to haute couture heights. The motif didn’t need a passport to travel abroad. Just as the Mughals were agents for its spread in India, the British carried its seeds to the world. They were so struck by the beauty of this design, that women back in England demanded it be re-created on dresses. For this purpose, a settlement of weavers and tailors was employed, in a village called Paisley. Hence the name, paisley. The paisley, like a lot of other traditional designs, has been reinvented in modern fashion. Today, contemporary designers rely upon it as a universally understood fashion alphabet. No wonder, it co-exists on traditional couture, as well as Western pant-suits and day dresses. “The ambi is a stamp we use to identify our ware as Indian
CREATING MAGIC ON FABRIC: Mango motifs have an international appeal
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FASHION FRUIT: The shape of the fruit inspires many designers
in the global market,” says renowned fashion designer Leena Singh, from the fashion label Ashima & Leena. As a marketing expert Leena feels this motif makes for great branding. “We cater to people of different nationalities in various countries. And we’re expected to deliver international clothes with a slight Indian flavour. How do you do that? Just place an ambi print or hand-embellished block on a stark business suit,” she declares. “It’s an exotic reference to a mystic culture, understood by people regardless of the language they speak or the passport they hold.” Says Ashima: “A traditional motif, like the ambi, is an alphabet we Indians don’t need to learn; it runs in our blood. We use it with natural ease. For inspiration, I turn to old borders and brocade patches.” In their collections, the duo have embroidered and appliquéd ambis onto garments. They are partial to jamdani, kantha and brocade ambis — all of which are used in their collections. Veteran designer Ritu Kumar’s work is based on extensive research in tribal areas, and the expertise of master weavers. She has made ample use of the ambi in the Karabagh Collection. Ritu paid tribute to the paisley, popularised in the painted and printed tradition of kalamkari, the starting point of this collection. Known for his rich creations, ornate colours and drama, designer J.J. Valaya harbours a remarkable fondness for the ambi – a symbol of regalia and culture. The swirling handstitched designs on butter-soft jamavars stir something within the wearer and the beholder. Valaya reinvents the pattern through digital prints, tastefully enhanced with semi-precious stones, shimmering crystal and vivid splashes of colour. He also works with appliquéd ambis. His T-shirts, as well as his ornate trousseau line and home tapestry are all embellished with this motif. “The paisley is a constant at all times,” he says. “From finely done bootis to ambis measuring up to 40 inch in height (along the length of skirts), I’ve seen them all.” Designer Bobby Grover (of the Manju and Bobby Grover
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duo), who specialises in primarily Indian and fusion clothes, says that even in the contemporary ‘crystal’ age, the motif is as relevant as ever. He likes to use it for the Indian collection a lot; and of late, on fusion designs. “I use lots of paisley prints in different sizes and techniques,” he says. “From embroidered ambis to prints, both Indian and digital, you’ll see variety in the age-old yet age-less paisley”. Large motifs are in fashion. The prints developed will remain the same for Indian and Western outfits, with only a change in placement, feel many designers. “I like the ambi because you can play with the motif — from modern abstracts to embroidered patterns and traditional designs,” says Bobby. Even a young designer like Gautam Rakha, of Rabani & Rakha, is inspired by the patterns on the jamavar shawl. “The ambi is basically a Kashmiri design but I love the way we use it all over the country,” he says, citing kantha and brocade depictions as examples. “It’s impossible to be Indian and not use the ambi,” he says. From pant-suits to embellished bridal lehengas, he splashes paisleys onto pretty much everything. Like his peers, Gautam sees the paisley making its presence felt in the future as well. Out in the West, designers have visited Paisley Park – printing, beading, and appliquéing the pattern to their clothes and accessories. In past collections, Monique Lhuillier explored the motif’s Indian roots in her Raj-inspired collection, while Miuccia Prada traded Scandinavian colour blocks for paisley weaves at Miu Miu. The Michael Kor Collection has also sported paisley prints on silk gowns and shirts. The print decorated dresses and even hosiery at Emporio Armani. The emphasis was also on the leg at Gucci and Emolio Pucci where paisley designs hung out with knee-high boots. Balenciaga, Diane Von Fursenburg, Etro, YSL, just about all the big names in fashion have cashed in on the print at some time or another. There is no doubt, the paisley and the ambi is here to stay. —Smriti Mukherjee is a fashion writer
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HEALTH
A MANGO A DAY The fruit has medicinal properties TEXT: NIVEDITA PANWAR
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he story of the mango began around 6,000 years ago. The fruit is mentioned in ancient Sanskrit literature including dedicated references in medical texts, like the Charaka Samhita (1000-800 BCE) and Sushruta Samhita (800-700 BCE). Highly appreciated in ayurvedic healing, all parts of the mango tree — root, bark, leaf, flowers, fruit and seed — have medicinal properties. The mango belongs to the same family as cashews and pistachios and is available in over a thousand varieties, shapes and sizes. Dr C.M. Pradyumna, director of Medicine, Sanjeeva Wellness Centre, the Vedic Village, Kolkata, has great faith in the mango’s medicinal and therapeutic applications. He says: “Mango flowers are a blood purifier and effective in curing diarrhoea and diabetes. Sun-dried unripe mango is used in treating anorexia as it stimulates taste buds and increases appetite. Ripe mangoes are aphrodisiacs and a great source of energy.” Delhi-based naturopath and diet consultant, Dr Bina Jain, agrees that the mango is full of therapeutic goodies. “It is not called the king of fruits for nothing. It is rich in vitamins and minerals; its insoluble fibre helps flush out waste from the colon; the bio-flavonoids help capture energy from the sun and strengthen the immune system; and eating mangoes cures anaemia,” she says. Now, all this sounds very exciting, and most of us are already planning a quick trip to the fruit mart. But how does one ignore its calorie-rich status given that a mango
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milkshake is an instant recipe to gain weight? “It is a myth,” says Dr Jain. “I have recommended milk-andmango diets to my clients and have seen the results myself. Milk and mango work together to reduce weight. In fact, in ancient times, sages used to survive on a milkmango diet to achieve optimum weight”. Mumbai-based aesthetician and cosmetologist Dr Jamuna Pai says: “Mangoes, like all fruits rich in deep colours like orange, deep red and yellow, are extremely nutritious and a major source of antioxidants. They take away free radicals from the body which we gather from the daily pollution and a stressful urban lifestyle. Free radicals make you wrinkle and age prematurely.” Antioxidants are useful in the prevention of cancer and heart disease as well. A fully ripe mango is high in Vitamins A, C, B1, B2, beta-carotene (a cancer-fighting agent), niacin, potassium, iron and fibre. Green mangoes have a higher proportion of Vitamin C. Besides, mangoes are good for the kidneys, digestive system and skin; they relieve clogged skin pores, reduce cysts, excess body heat and even fever. Eating ripe mangoes in season provides enough Vitamin A to last a whole year. Unripe mangoes have oxalic, citric, malic, tartaric and succinnic acids giving them a sour taste, and acidic and astringent properties. The mango kernel, or seed, contains over eight percent protein, vitamins and minerals. Dried mango flowers and the tree’s bark are astringent in nature. The gum is used
HEALING FRUIT: Mango benefits external and internal overhauling
in dressing kibes, a flaky skin condition, and scabies. According to Hakeem Hashmi, the reputed unani physician, a normal-sized mango nourishes the body more than butter or almonds, cleanses the body and is an ideal antidote for toxins. Besides internal overhauling, mango beautifies the exterior as well. Eating mango regularly improves the complexion and makes skin soft and glowing. “The mangoes’ antioxidant properties benefit the body only when it is consumed. However, applying mango in a facial treatment softens the skin and removes dead cells,” explains Dr Pai. “Raw mangoes can be peeled, grated and
mashed to be used as a face cleanser. And mixing a ripe mango’s pulp with curd and fuller’s earth helps remove sun tan,” says Dr Jain. Shahnaz Husain, of the herbal major Shahnaz Herbals, says, “The mango’s richness in Vitamin C helps in toning and rejuvenating the skin and delays signs of skin ageing, besides strengthening hair roots. The seed’s oil is used in formulations for both the face and body.” Mango, therefore, is a popular ingredient in body and beauty products. “Mango’s fragrance is happy and peppy, so begin your day with a mango moisturiser,” says Smriti Gupta, director, Kunchal’s store, Delhi. She rattles off a range of mango-based products — body butters, scrubs, lotions, fragrances, shower gels, massage creams, soaps, lip balms and essential oils. “The fruits’ essential oil is a mood-lifter and reminds you of childhood days. But the fragrance is too strong to be worn throughout the day,” she says. —Nivedita Panwar is a lifestyle and travel writer
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PHOTOFEATURE
BOOKS
DIVINE
FRAMES
Amit Pasricha’s The Sacred India Book captures the ecstasy and exaltation of our spiritual traditions
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(top) The roots of a sacred banyan tree at the Daksha Prajapati temple-complex in Kankhal, Haridwar; (left) Jain nuns in Kutch, Gujarat
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piritualism is infused in every part of India. It weaves its thread inexorably through the complex fabric of India. It can be seen in the way people greet each other; in nature, in the clothes you wear, in the food you eat. In its most obvious forms, spiritualism can be seen through the prism of rituals, worships in temples, mosques,
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(top) A seven-year-old being formally initiated into the Zoroastrian fold in a Navjote ceremony in Ahmedabad; (right) a man praying at the Malik Deenar Mosque, Kasaragod, Kerala
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(top) A Nihang encampment at Anandpur Sahib during Holla Mohalla; (right) Buddhist monks spin brass prayer wheels at Spituk and Thiksey Monastereries, Ladakh
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churches, gurudwaras and agiaries; each setting defining the faith of the followers. But much more encompassing is the ordinary, every day kind of spiritualism, a common denominator that requires no formal structures but links diverse communities with each other, connecting the worldly with the religious. MAY 2011 INDIA PERSPECTIVES
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PROFILE
VOICE OF THE
THE DYNAMIC ACTIVIST WAS AWARDED THE STOCKHOLM WATER PRIZE FOR HER WORK ON WATER MANAGEMENT.
DISPOSSESSED Director-General of the Centre for Science and Environment Sunita Narain is driven to defend the rights of the poor over environmental resources TEXT: ARCHITA BHATTA
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has more than appropriately been carried forward by Narain. It is a desire to bring change that drives the diminutive, grey-streaked Narain. There is a sense of urgency in all she does, whether it is pelting down the six-floor CSE building to keep an appointment, brainstorming story ideas for Down to Earth, the monthly magazine she heads or vigourously defending the right of the poor over environmental resources. “Movements of the poor and dispossessed against environmental degradation are demanding more than simple technology changes to suit the new generation of needs. They want hard and uncomfortable issues of access to natural resources to be resolved; they want equity and justice to be the bedrock of the environmental movement of the future,” she said at the K.R. Narayan oration in 2008. In the on-going international debate on global warming, as the rights of developing countries over atmospheric commons are being trampled, fifty yearold Narain has been emphatic about the historical responsibility of developed countries to reduce emissions, and
soft drinks brands tested in the CSE’s laboratory, investigations that showed high levels of pesticide content. Her subsequent condemnation of international soft drink manufacturers, Coca-Cola and Pepsi, drew world-wide attention. Later, tests on the bottled mineral water of some reputed brands also revealed high levels of pesticides while investigations on popular cooking oils exposed constituents that would adversely affect health. Despite the many global and domestic accolades, the writer and environmentalist still maintains an open-door policy to all her colleagues. The dynamic activist was awarded the Stockholm Water Prize for her work on water management. Narain has been repeatedly included in the list of 100 public intellectuals by the US Journal of Foreign Policy. Awarded the Padma Shri in 2005 for her relentless work, Narain, who began her career as a researcher and rose to the position of the Director-General of CSE, continues to research and write relentlessly on long-term sustainable benefits, pushing for changes in polices, practices and mindsets.
India’s right to develop so that its citizens are not denied energy needed for their survival. At various international fora, she has been critical that rich developed countries are simply not doing enough to reduce their emissions. “Over the past 20 years of the climate negotiations — from Rio to Copenhagen — the rich world has been looking for small answers to this big problem,“ she writes, almost with anger. Back home, Narain has not ignored national responsibility to curb global warming. Constantly campaigning to reduce India’s fossil fuel usage she has made significant contributions as a member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change. She has been advocating the effective use of public transport and has been criticised for supporting the capital’s Bus Rapid Transport System because it limited space for car users. Her conviction and courage has inspired many triggering several environmental investigations that have been challenging both the government and the corporate sector. Questioning the lack of standards for processed food in India she had some of the country’s major
—Archita Bhatta is an environmental communications’ consultant and science journalist AFP
hen the renowned environmentalist and Padma Bhushan awardee Anil Aggarwal passed way in 2002, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), an NGO he had set up, and its staff of committed people felt orphaned. The vacuum was ably filled by Sunita Narain who has been associated with the centre since its inception. It was the Vikram Sarabhai Institute of Developmental Research that initiated Narain’s baby-steps into India’s growing environmental movement. She worked on the state of environment of Gujarat and soon moved on to become a founder-member of the Delhi-based CSE, where she cut her teeth working on the State of India’s Environment 198485: The Second Citizens’ Report. She went on to work on several publications of the centre on a vast array of environmental issues ranging from local problems like tribal rights, traditional water harvesting, national issues like environmental policies to international concerns like global warming and the debates surrounding it. For many, Agarwal’s daunting legacy
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DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIPS
LETTERS OF PEACE The SAARC Festival of Literature builds bridges beyond borders
SAARC
TEXT: MEENAKSHI KUMAR
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very year writers, poets, thinkers, scholars and artists from eight countries overcome bureaucratic hurdles and personal problems to be part of poetry sessions and literary discussions. For the past 36 years they have been following their hearts and their love for literature which brings them to the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation) Festival of Literature. This year the festival was organised from March 25 to 27 in New Delhi. The topics of the various seminars were:
‘Contemporary creativity and socio-political conflicts’, ‘Voices of the oppressed and the excluded’, ‘Literary legacy of Rabindranath Tagore, Nazrul Islam, Ghalib and Faiz’, ‘New voices of young writers’ and ‘SAARC identity and global culture: Literature and ground realities’. The SAARC Lifetime Literary Achievement Award was given to Urdu poet Joginder Paul. The festival is a brainchild of eminent Punjabi writer Ajeet Cour. Initially, Pakistan was the only participating country. Cour, a spunky woman who runs the Academy of Fine Arts and Literature in the capital, had
been organising the Indian languages writers’ meet since 1975. She strongly felt the need for a cultural exchange between India’s neighbouring countries and was keen that a dialogue on peace be initiated through a writers’ meet and thus started the whole process. “It wasn’t an easy task to get all the permissions,” recalls Cour. The first conference in 1987 saw the visit of Jamilludin Aali, a poet who has the unique distinction of writing dohas in a mix of khari boli (a dialect of Hindi spoken in Uttar Pradesh) and Urdu.
WORD POWER: (clockwise from facing page) Dr Abid Hussain on the podium; Dr Joginder Paul, Gursharan Kaur, wife of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Mani Shankar Aiyar; and Ajeet Cour with Professor Shafi Ahmed from Bangladesh
The first conference turned out to be a success, with prominent names from Pakistan such as Fakhar Zaman, Fahmida Riaz and Kishwar Naheed participating. The conference proved that cultural contact between the two neighbours was possible. For the next 12 years, this cultural exchange has continued to grow with more writers joining in. Then in 2000, Cour was asked to include other SAARC nations in the conference. So in April 2000, the first SAARC Writers Conference was organised along with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature (FOSWAL). The first-ever resolution beautifully summed up the spirit behind the conference: “We are the mad dreamers of the SAARC region. Let
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us, the writers and the creative fraternity of the region, endeavour to create bridges of friendship across borders and beyond borders.” It has indeed been a journey of longlasting friendships and relationships. As Prof Rafaqat Ali Khan, who has been associated with this conference for nearly 20 years, says, “It’s after the day’s sessions, when we sit down for dinner that we loosen up and discuss matters which are close to our hearts. We talk about Ghalib, Faiz, visa problems but never Kashmir.” Cour has constantly striven to find new writers from across the SAARC region. She fondly remembers how she discovered Mano Manzil, a young writer from the Maoist region of Biratnagar in Nepal. “When the Maoist problem began,
I went to Kathmandu and after a long search discovered this young man who wrote poetry. I invited him to our conference in 2002-03.” He was obviously thrilled. Today, he sources new writers for the conference. When funds run short, Cour’s celebrated painter-daughter Arpana steps in with her generous assistance. Yet, Cour can never think of giving this project up. For her every moment is a high point. Whether it was the visit of Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi, the Pakistani poet whom lyricist Gulzar considers his guru and who seldom attends any seminars or being complimented by noted singer Ghulam Ali or even getting writers from the neighbouring countries to sit together at the conference, it has been a most satisfying journey.
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TRAVEL
ENTHRALLING
ENCOUNTERS Driving from Rishikesh to Badrinath one espies majestic landscapes, mythology, herds of wild asses and more TEXT: KEKI DARUWALA
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FORCE OF NATURE: (top) Glaciers in the higher reaches of the Himalayas and (left) River Ganges
PHOTOS: ASHOK DILWALI
e made straight for Rishikesh and then six miles upstream to Shivpuri on the first day of our second leg. Rishikesh and Haridwar were known territories for me since 1960 when I was posted to Dehradun. I had been to the Shivanand Ashram while the great man was alive. In fact, I had escorted the then President of India, Babu Rajendra Prasad to the ashram. But those were old days. This time we went river rafting in the evening. As always, it was a wonderful experience, especially since it was raining. We went past about five rapids and paddled with gusto. Across the river, the mountain was thickly wooded. There were lots of black buck there and they belled in the early morning, warning the jungle about the movement of a leopard. In the evening we had seen a sudden streak through the grass, which must have been a leopard giving chase to his prey. We slept in tents by the Ganga. It was a wonderful start to the trip. The next day was a long drive, past Tehri and Uttarkashi right up to Harsil. Uttarkashi was an exceptional experience; for the mountain that broods over the town was cracking up. Boulder after boulder plummeted down the hillside, each leaving a cloud of dust in its trail. The citizens of the town watched in terrified awe. The police had blocked the road and evacuated a part of the town. We were not sure how to get past, on our onward journey to Harsil. And oddly enough the leader decided we would just race through. And that is precisely what we did, our drivers never hesitating. We could have easily circled round without taking a risk, if we had just explored the area for a while.
GANGOTRI, AS IS WELL KNOWN, IS THE PLACE WHERE KING BHAGIRATH IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE WORSHIPPED SHIVA FOR YEARS ON END IN PENANCE, AND AS HIS REWARD, THE GANGES CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN – A TORRENT THAT COULD HAVE DESTROYED THE PLANET HAD SHIVA NOT CAUGHT IT IN HIS LOCKS.
MYSTIC MOUNTAINS: (top) An aerial view of Devprayag where the Bhagirathi and Alaknanda rivers join to form the Ganges and (right) Bhagirathi Peak
GANGOTRI We reached Harsil late in the evening in the pouring rain and early next morning left for Gangotri, which is at a height of 10,200 feet above sea level. Gangotri, as is well known, is the place where King Bhagirath is supposed to have worshipped Shiva for years on end in penance, and as his reward, the Ganges came down from heaven – a torrent that could have destroyed the planet had Shiva not caught it in his locks. A stone near the temple marks the spot where the Ganges landed. The shrine, a beautiful stone temple, was constructed by a Gurkha Commander, Amar Singh Thapa in the eighteenth century. Most glaciers in the Himalayas are wasting away, but the Gangotri glacier is receding at an even faster rate than the others. The real glacier at Gaumukh is about 20km from Gangotri. I had come to Uttarkashi in the mid-1960s, but my wife had clearly told me not to visit Gangotri without her, and as she was in Bombay, (now Mumbai) at that time, I didn’t go further north. Now, after her death, no such inhibitions shackled me. Like any place of pilgrimage, Gangotri was teeming with sadhus in differing shades of saffron and ochre, with differing ash-markings on their foreheads, some carrying trishuls (tridents), and all of them with the regulatory kamandalam (water pot). Some of them chanted bhajans as they walked, most of them barefoot, to the accompaniment of their sistrums or chimtas, though some were even in sneakers and Hawai chappals. In cars one misses the delights of the pilgrim on foot or the trekker of old who had no option but to traverse bridle paths. Old travellers, like Marco Pallis who trekked to Gaumukh in the 1930s and also climbed the central Satopant Peak, talk about white roses
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NEARING RUDRAPRAYAG, THE CAR IN FRONT SUDDENLY CAME TO A HALT AS A BIG PANTHER CROSSED THE ROAD WITH MAJESTIC UNCONCERN. WE DIDN’T GET TO SEE HIM. WE DID NOT GET TO SEE ENOUGH OF WILDLIFE DURING THE CAR TREK EXCEPT FOR HERDS OF WILD ASSES.
‘massed along the path for miles’, the coral tree which ‘lends here and there a touch of fire’, and rhododendron petals which, at 7,000 feet, turned ‘the path into a crimson carpet’. Autumn had not touched the maple leaves with gold yet, when we were there in late September. But the skies were clear and the view of the Satopant Peaks was unforgettable. ‘There are perfections about which the only eloquence is silence...’ Nearing Rudraprayag, the car in front of us suddenly came to a halt as a big panther crossed the road with majestic unconcern. We didn’t get to see him. We did not see enough of wildlife during the car trek except for herds of wild asses, an ibex peering at us from a cliff above and a pair of huge dark antelopes while we were proceeding to Gangtey in Bhutan. We stayed the night in Rudraprayag. Knowing the Alaknanda Valley as I did (for three years I traversed it every second day) I could hardly believe what I saw. Formerly each padav (halting area) was a rundown eyesore with people living off the pilgrims proceeding to the two great dhams (pilgrim centres) — Badrinath and Kedarnath. Now we stayed at a flourishing rest house of the Garhwal Vikas Mandal, as good as any hotel. And the shops were bursting with all varieties of goods. The next morning we pushed off to Badrinath, past Karan Prayag, where the Pindar runs into the Alaknanda, past Nand Prayag, where the Nandakini flows into Alaknanda, past Chamoli, Pipalkoti and Joshimath, where because of the lack of time I couldn’t visit my old house, though I saw it from above, the roof painted rust-red. We reached Badrinath in the afternoon. I think a look back is called for. —The author is a poet and a short story writer Courtesy: Niyogi Books
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DELIGHTS OF THE PILGRIM: (left) Sadhus praying in the Himalayas near Kedarnath and (below) Lakshman Jhula bridge
NEWSMAKERS
CUP OF CHEER! After 28 years, India lifted the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 in Mumbai. India and Indians living abroad burst into a frenzy of joyous celebration
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1. Team India poses with the long-awaited trophy 2. India’s best-known cricket fan Sudhir Kumar Chaudhary 3. Indians in Toronto, Canada, jubilate after the World Cup victory 4. Students rejoice at Pittsburg, United States 5. Fans gather at Trafalgar Square, London, to celebrate
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IN REVIEW
BOOKS Memories of six decades in Bollywood A JOURNEY DOWN MELODY LANE
By Raju Bharatan Publisher: Hay House Pages: 300 Price: ` 399
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Living Stories, supported by the Ministry of External Affairs’ Public Diplomacy Division, looks at some of these extant forms in India because there is ready audience for them. But by placing action and reflection side by side, the director widens her canvas. As South African author Gcina Mhlope says, “You connect with others wherever you go if you are true to yourself and to your indigenous material. Through storytelling, you recognise you are more alike than different.”
here is a preamble to each of the 22 chapters in Raju Bharatan’s treasure trove of Hindi film music that has facts that only he could have unearthed. It is a memoir punctuated with quotes that capture the triumphs, tragedies, tears, laughter, rivalry, and jealousies through six decades of Bollywood to which he was an observer, witness and participant. The only drawback is Bharatan’s ponderous, old fashioned narrative style. In the preamble to the last chapter, ‘Looking Back, Looking Ahead,’ Bharatan sums up the entire scenario: “Today songs vanish as swiftly as the singers. A number is here today, gone tomorrow, landing in the dung heap of instant history.” He grieves that this era of meaningless wordplay has resulted in the “virtual elimination of quality Urdu poetry from our cinema that earwitnessed Hindustani cine-sangeet declining to a point of no vintage return by the end of1996”. Bharatan analyses the works, styles, strengths of almost all major music directors. He refers to every significant number they composed, the raga, the film, the year, and on whom it was picturised. Let’s look at the facts the book has to offer. O.P. Nayyar scored music for 73 films without ever using Lata Mangeshkar; Asha Bhosle sang two-thirds of all the maestro’s compositions; in 36 years, Mohammed Rafi, recorded 4,856 film and non-film songs; Rafi-addict Naushad used Kishore Kumar only once for Sunehra Sansar the song which never got picturised; Rajsinh Dungarpur, said that “(Lata) has a split personality. Rub her the wrong way and she just won’t take it – she’s like a tigress”; Kishore Kumar, who rendered 2,845 songs in a career span of 38 years, was “classically unschooled”. Clearly, in between the covers of this book lies a treasure trove of data.
—Latika Padgaonkar
—Suresh Kohli
CULTURE LOVERS: (clockwise from left) Teejan Bai; an artiste performing a classical dance; and filmmaker and fashion designer Muzaffar Ali
FILM Living Stories showcases our storytelling traditions in their myriad forms
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iving Stories, Neela Venkataraman’s 26-minute documentary, offers a look at some of India’s varied traditions of performed storytelling. Alternating images of such forms with thoughtful comments by renowned writers (and some performers) on man’s need for stories, Venkataraman juxtaposes the artistic and the philosophical, the particular and the universal. For stories, as the writers say, “engage, entertain... provide consolation and continuity... they are inherent to living.”
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Performed storytelling – through song, dance, drama and pictures – is a living tradition in India. These stories, drawn mainly from the epics and local lore, belong to a community’s collective consciousness, making the storyteller a custodian of its history, rituals and even its world view. Whether solo or group, the forms are vibrant and dramatic. Some weave current issues into epic tales; some are kept alive by Muslim singers; others emphasise costume, movement, stagecraft, make-up; elsewhere, they are
sung with the help of painted boxes or cloth; while for some, storytelling and performing is a path to spiritual fulfilment. Most endearing are the words of the performers themselves on their craft. “For Bauls,” says Parvathy, “the song must become the body... only then can we give.” “The storyteller has to drown in that moment of expression, of narration,” declares Teejan Bai. “If you don’t drown or feel the emotion, how will the audience?... And so I become the characters. I am them.”
THEATRE Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards 2011
ound, light, word and sequence, are considered to be the four basic ingredients needed to tell a story. Put them together in the right combination and you find an audience. But, to move an audience, perhaps you need a fifth ingredient, catharsis, an element that impacts persons, leaving them changed from when they first sat down to watch the play. Whether it was the dramatisation of the Kurukshetra war or the dialogues between B. R. Ambedkar, widely considered to be the author of the Indian Constitution and the legendary Mahatma Gandhi, this year’s Mahindra Excellence Theatre Awards showing ten select plays in March, revealed those elements of catharsis, impacting their audience in different ways. Selected from 243 entries sent in from all over India in English and regional languages, these plays told of great people, their vulnerabilities and recounted great themes taking along with them their audience to far away places and bringing them back to introspect. Out of the ten plays, four of them stood out in terms of their message, their interpretation (and reinterpretation of history) and the depth of their narratives. Gandhi Aur Ambedkar: Taking on history, evolving it and making it into the present is a complex task. Seldom can we merge the personal and the political when it comes to national figures like Ambedkar and Gandhi, both who played a large part in shaping the way India is today. The Hindi play Ambedkar Aur Gandhi performs this task with interesting results. A socio-political play, which brings to the fore the idiosyncrasies of Gandhi and Ambedkar, it also humanises these larger-than-life figures rather than limiting them to historical entities encountered only in school textbooks.
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ACTING VIRTUOSO: (clockwise from left) Scenes from the plays Gandhi Aur Ambedkar; Bayaa Daar Ugaad; Mythical Surrender and Red Sparrow
Red Sparrow: The play is about a search for something that only exists in the minds of people. The playwright of Red Sparrow, preformed in Hindi, elevates certain Russian authors and then hijacks them and their fictional characters making them the protagonists of his play; they are his ‘rockstars’ as the playwright calls them. From the beginning to the end, the play is a sequence of entertaining, yet highly confusing scenes that the audience tries, almost maddeningly, to fit into a grand scheme of things. Meaning is sought, but alas, there is no meaning, only a celebration of madness. There are certain clues about where the story may lead, but they are merely enticing dead-ends; in fact there is no end. Bayaa Daar Ugaad: The play is based on women saints who lived in Maharashtra between the 13th and 18th centuries. The Marathi play consists of a number of abhangas (the poetry of these saints), separated by the intervention of one of the three characters on stage – a journalist, an Indian who is settled abroad and a student of sociology. The drama highlights the chronic struggles of women and juxtaposes it with contemporary concerns. Mythical Surrender: If author George Orwell and activist Arundhati Roy were ever to collaborate and write a story on the evils of military power and its oppression of simple village people, it would probably read like the script of Mythical Surrender. The Manipuri play employs symbolism (as Orwell did) and talks about underlying social evil and the repression of the state (as perhaps Roy does). The comparison may be far fetched, but the kernel of that idea is there. Mythical Surrender is a play, which has a story that entails evil serpentine creatures and common fisher-folk. —Vipin Krishna
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VERBATIM
“INDIAN DANCE HAS INFLUENCED UNIVERSAL DANCE GENRES”
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What is the future of classical Indian dance forms? What needs to be done to spread the word? The future of dance has never been better. It needs no help, just careful nurturing and some sensitivity. Do you see Indian dance attracting a wider international audience? It is already being seriously looked at by the western dancer and choreographer. That is huge. It does not get better than that. It has influenced universal dance genres. But we lack in consistency and presentation. In choreography, we can learn from the great masters of our country and from the eastern practitioners of kabuki and the like, as well as from the choreographers of the West, though the sensibilities in dance and music, in costumes and colours, in philosophy and thought processes of these forms and countries are different from ours. Lastly, a few words to the readers of India Perspectives. Learn about our arts and the crafts, the variety of cinema, the foods, the historical sites and the temples, the literature and art practitioners, the languages and the politics and you will find a truer appreciation of our culture and heritage.
THE HINDU PHOTO ARCHIVES
In this day and age where do you think the guru-shishya (teacher-student) relationship is headed. Does it need to
be reinvented? Can you compare it with the relationship you had with Rukmini Arundale? As students, we did not share a 'typical' relationship with Rukmini Devi. She was a non-conformist and did not appreciate servility of any kind. One hardly ever touched her feet and I do not think anyone aided or served her in a personal way, as is common in the guru-shishya parampara. Yet there is a sense of the gurushishya relationship in every association you have with anyone who teaches you. Humility, bhakti or devotion and shraddha or application are required whether you are learning the nuances of cricket or dance. So that essential quality is not going anywhere. I hope it is there to stay in all learning processes. It is a delicate and generous relationship. One in which you respect the other and encourage every one’s latent existence to flower. Really, I do not think it needs reinvention. It requires true understanding of what it actually is by the teacher and
the taught. It is because it is misunderstood that gurus are disappointed and students disillusioned. Imparting knowledge with affection is at the heart of the tradition and that ought not to be forgotten.
COURTESY: SAFFRONART
You are a dancer, a guru, an author, an administrator and now CBFC Chairperson. Of all the hats you wear which gives you the most sense of accomplishment? It takes a lot to be satisfied. I suppose, one never is. And yet it is good to see things grow and flourish. At the moment, my students, dance and writing are on a back-burner and administration is what I am learning about. With the positive energy of the learning process, comes disappointment in the ways of the world. This is hard to take and makes one want to join up with larger issues that confront us.
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eela Samson, Bharatnatyam dancer and director of Kalakshetra — an institute of the classical arts founded by Rukmini Devi Arundale — has taken over as the Chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification (popularly known as the Censor Board) from actor Sharmila Tagore. She is also Chairperson of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama, and recipient of the Padma Shri. Founder of Spanda, a dance group which has been reviewing the traditional vocabulary of Bharatnatyam, Samson has had two films — Sanchari and The Flowering Tree made on her works. She speaks to India Perspectives about her passions and predicaments.