Blink issue 12 april12 2014

HTTP 404 A page-by-page movement to correct the gender imbalance on Wikipedia p2 saturday, april 12, 2014

As the seventh season of IPL kicks off, should we weep for cricket? p10

Game Over

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POWER DRESSING Meet the men who make our political heavyweights look good p6

PULLING APART SEAMS Author Tansy E Hoskins provides an anti-capitalist approach to fashion p17

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Age is a number Arvind Bhat has persisted even though he started playing before the ‘badminton boom’ hit India

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afp/saeed khan

A recent edit-a-thon attempts to correct the online gender imbalance by creating Wiki entries for Indian women

Not done yet Badminton player Arvind Bhat’s best years might be behind him, but the recent German Open gold proves he is still fighting fit

The weight of history Wikipedia hopes to start a pink revolution on its India pages dipankar bhattacharya

A cup of joy The men’s singles champion at the 75th National Badminton Championship held at Rohtak in 2011 rakesh rao

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t is not the ideal time to meet Arvind Bhat. He might be one of India’s longestserving badminton players, the winner of the recent German Open, but he has just lost to 301-ranked Ajay Kumar, in straight sets, and that too at the qualifier of the India Open Super Series.

When Bhat eventually meets me, an hour or so after hisodefeat, at the heavily guarded but you know of Charusita Chakravarnow emptytySiri Stadium in Delhi, he is disorFort Rohini Godbole?

Chances are appointed that but you not have inconsolable. not heardHe of even eitheradof vances ourthem. appointment because he wants to Even though Chakravarty is “cheer his buddies who willisbea the donforofsome fluid of dynamics and Godbole playing the day.”

Asdown we sitand down in a physicistlater whoinhelped hunt deciphquiet of theparticle. stands, But he says, “It’shardnot er thecorner Higgs-Boson you can that me out or anything.

It ly beKumar blamed.blanked The problem is that they barely was inWeb; bothand games, and in end, he exist20-all on the this tells us the more about played really well,”omissions adding, “At the same time society’s systemic rather than an init’s a good wake up callIn fortoday’s me. I’mdigital not worried dividual’s ignorance. world, too much about theWeb badisresults and tryintohalf foto not exist on the to exist only cus on the it positive.” measure; is to be unsearchable, to be unBhat’sto wisdom is born of experience. He has known, be a nobody. been top badminton for more than 12 Thea World Wide Webplayer abducted us two decyears long life stintthrough for any ades now, ago. an Weexceptionally now experience athlete He has won at least fiveRSS internaTwitter today. feeds, Facebook streams and alerts. tional tournaments, reached the national We know what our friends and followers read, championship final six everything. times and But wonthe it and we think we know twice.

He was partthrough of the Indian teamare from whispers thataslip the cracks as 2002 to 2011. wonambient the German badminton important asHe all the sound and white league inremedy 2008, and German— Open gold noise. To that,the Wikipedia the world’s was the elusive win’ he was looking for. omniscient and‘big omnipresent encyclopaedia Bhat says, “Ithe amGender more proud of beingin the2011 third — started Gap project to Indian in Europe to be the first to bridge to thewin online genderthan imbalance. winGiven the the German Open. vast, let’s say,Indian infiniteplayers scope ofhave the won in Europe in lower levels, like internet, it is easy to overlook the challenger fact that it levels, only Prakash andpatriar(Pulletoo is abut gendered space,Padukone with its own la) Gopichand succeeded at that suchwomen a prechal fissures. A have 2011 study showed mier level.only While Grand not the comprise 15aper centPrix of Gold globalis contribsame as Wikipedia. a Super Series win,women it is definitely utors on In India, make up comparable.” a paltry three per cent of contributors.

In professional badminton, calenRecently a group of 20-odd players’ volunteers asdars are to divided between league Working tournasembled help right this wrong. ments, national-level tournaments, Grand with Wiki, along with Women in Free Software Prix tournaments and thegathered most coveted and Gold Culture (WFS India), they at the Badminton Federation’sanSuper Series.

Delhi office World of Breakthrough, NGO for the Bhat has been regular ‘bridesmaid’ at many prevention of aviolence against women and of these events the winner, last children.

Theybut hadnever a simple task —until update month, is. The German Open wasorhis first “stubs” that (incomplete Wiki entries) create title five years and nine months.

“That scienweek newin pages for specific Indian women Itists was and in peak form in terms of my physical conparliamentarians.

dition. I really don’t know how it happened. jury, which put him out of the game for many While the final was tight, I was glad to hold out months, but he has come out of all that and is and get the gold this time around.” Bhat de- still a very dangerous player.” feated Danish player Hans-Kristian VittingEven after playing the game for over a dechus, a good 53 ranks above him, in a thrilling ade, Bhat finds a personal coach too expenmatch. The final scores read 24-22, 19-21, 21-11 in sive. He trains on his own, spending two hours Bhat’s favour. “I had just come from a terrible every day on weightlifting and running before defeat by a 16-year-old boy in Bangalore. I joining the boys of the Karnataka Badminton booked my ticketsedit-a-thon, (for Germany) only the Association The Wikipedia which hadatbeen for two tosays, three“In hours in the afterdia of Breakthrough this day and age last minute,” Bhat, “So this win was some- noon. publicised onsays Facebook and Twitter, brought Sometimesoverload, he travelsless from Bangalore to of information information is thing special.” together a motley crew of computer geeks, re- Hyderabad at Gopichand’s academy. also a form to of train violence.

Events like this edit-asearchers, a documentary filmmaker and As a father a young child he cannot to thon and of a recent hackathon aim toafford correct Ups downs evenand a civil aviation engineer. To be part of it, move there permanently. He adds, “In badthese imbalances.”

Badminton waswas nota laptop the obvious choiceGoofor minton, all one needed and average it’s so important to staya Wiki completely For Lakshané, who has been editor Bhat, who grew up in Banaswadi, eastern fit gle skills.

Mumbai-based Rohini an Lakshané, part of pages your body worked forbecause English every and Marathi sinceis2008, the suburb of Bangalore.

He initially took upinthe chairperson of the Gender Gap project In- out; since most of snakes the action the lack and of women editors backistoabove multiple game because his brother played and heart-level, dia, explained the elder structure of Wiki anditwent takes a greater toll on your body social andit technological reasons: women his fatherthe loved it. Not one to createThe his fifthown as through steps to make a page. blood constantly needs to be pumped don’t project themselves enough; they up. are path, he didwebsite mechanical engi- Wiki uses re- afraid of antagonism; most visited in the world, Sometimes thehave shuttle they littletravels access at to neering from UVC College, Banga-sources. The computers; 300kmph, liable, independent third-party so you need asreally they have less free time they lore, because brother chose volunteers firsthis tried to update the page of sci- spend moregood too.” the Wiki syntime reflexes on the family; engineering. the similarities entist PrabhaBut Chatterjee.

When a tax is intimidating and, with fewended there.

He says, brother LinkedIn account was“My found, they Bhat has been a top Future tense women, newcomers er tech-savvy played at theenthused. nationalBut level but were highly LakshFor Puri, vice findTPS it difficult topresident negotiate.of the badminton player couldn’t getdisqualified a job through the ané quickly that as it Badminton Association of hopes India The Gender Gap project for has more than Wiki one lakh sport.

While for me, I References was lucky volunteers, was a primary source. has watched over Arat to tap who into Galleries, Libraries, 12 years,but anonly (BAI), enough to get selected in the Indion blogs, Twitter and YouTube least two generations of badminchives and Media (GLAM) as these exceptionally long 2,000 active Indian an inignored 2002.” He adds, hadteam to be too.

The“More team stint players, Bhat’s German institutions stash most of win the for any athlete ton editors a month importantly, got a jobathrough soon realisedI updating page rewas well-deserved. found him world’s knowledge.“I By working the sportsome with serious Bharat Petroleum quired sleuthing, to be them disciplined and committed. with Wiki hopes to conjure Corporation Ltd, respect under its sports and a newfound grew for Arvind a no-frills guy and his up moreispages for women. quota.

The company and other the countless, anonymous ediachievements laudable.”engiHe Satabdi Das,are a software sponsors funded my equipment, travel etc. It adds, tors who had created millions of pages.

“Yes, works he has in been inconsistent, but that is neer who electronic design automawasWiki onlyboasts after aone fewlakh seasons that I decided that due volunteers worldwide, has been lack of tion,toiscircumstances. acutely aware ofThere the absence ofawomen pursuing sportactive was theIndian best foreditors me, finanbut onlythe 2,000 per training at times, a player does not in both the onlineand andwhen real world.

A graduate cially and otherwise.” month.

This leads to a serious knowledge dis- train enoughscience it shows directly in hisUniversity, performin computer from Jadavpur Bhat Look wentfor on Kamla to represent German parity.

Bhasinvarious (an activist and ance on the she was onecourt.” of three girls in a class of nearly clubs in their Badminton Bundesliga, of feminist) or Khabar Lahariya (a regionalone newsis To notbring readywomen to retirewho justcode yet. However, 60Bhat boys. together the bestand leagues the sport in the He he paper) you’llfor quickly identify theworld. deficienis wears certaina that even afterwhen retirement he will (she coder’s t-shirt we meet), she is oneThese of the Wiki few players before cies. pages who existthrived as stubs or be with the WFS sportIndia, as a which coach hopes or in hasinvolved started the group the real ‘badminton came India. ‘orphans’ (no otherboom’ articles linktoto it). As As some other capacity.

But for now, all his to address “the injustices we feel weattenhave Anup Sridhar, friendthe andsum contemLakshané says, long-time “Wiki represents of hu- tion onour his lives, game.some “I know there have been a facedisin of which aren’t even porary says, “We were from a batch man knowledge that is already putjust outbefore there. lot of fluctuations, I’m happy,” he tangible”.

An event but like overall the Wiki edit-a-thon is the gotWestern numerous benefits, which led says, Butone it isthat a very point of view.”

“I wanted onestep big in prize catchspaces and that another important creating for to History the game’s overall improvement.

I’ve has has always been a battle between come.She Butsays, I don’t feel I’m done yet. I want women.

“I enjoy programming beknown Arvind I wasgets 10 years old.about.

And I to who writes it since and who written giveititisatcreating least one more yearWhen and make to cause something.

I edititWihaven’t seen being anyone more professional.

If the With March Women’s History Month, top write 30s. I’m currently 65,I so I’m go-I ki and about theseranked women, feel like there is something do,Wiki he makes sure Breakthrough alongto with focused on he ar- ing give it something, my best shot.” am to creating as well.” does it.” He adds,of “There haveonline. been aAs lotShobha of ups chiving records women arasu nandini nair and his career and a major ankle in- sibi SV, adowns formerin journalist and manager-multime-

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A mantastic world Narendra Modi’s words and gestures reinforce a masculine discourse and patriarchal notions

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antastic figures are being unleashed on popular consciousness with higher frequency. The Phantom, Mandrake, Flash Gordon, Batman, Superman, all with their ornamental female partners, are particularly inspirational for the male of the species. From my perennially excitable nephew to the denim-clad, comb-in-the-pocket youngsters styling ladies’ hair in the neighbourhood beauty parlour, the superhero personifies an ideal.

The suspension of this disbelief is not temporary. We would like to believe they exist in real life; that they relieve us of the harsh realities of our existence. Nowhere is this disbelief so clearly expressed as in politics. Thus, in his heyday as the angry young man, Amitabh Bachchan could trounce the veteran Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna in Allahabad, Rajesh Khanna almost defeated Lal Krishna Advani, Dharmendra emerged victorious in Bikaner and down south, the political landscape is dotted with glittering cine stars — MGR, NTR, J Jayalalithaa, Chiranjeevi, Vijayakanth et al. The women, of course, hardly have a choice when rakish knaves decide to claim their hearts with a thump of their muscular chest.

The chest, all the proclaimed 56-inches of it, is not the only recurring masculine motif sported by the Superman of Indian politics. Through his utterances and gestures over the last few months, Narendra Modi has created exactly the kind of dominant discourse that perpetrates brazenly masculine and patriarchal notions. His appeal to a collective manliness is coupled with an archaic, patronising promise to his female audience.

Sample the suggestion he made to a farmer, obviously male, when he is obviously burdened with the birth of a daughter. “If five trees are planted when a daughter is born in the family, these five trees, when the time comes, can be cut and sold to arrange the money for the wedding of the daughter and our farmers would be saved from taking loans, but to take society ahead, we need proper thought, aim and leadership,” he said in Gorakhpur on January 25.

Not exactly ‘Kinder, Küche, Kirche’ (Children, Kitchen, Church) but it does reflect the predominant ethos of his ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The RSS does not include women among its pracharaks, an apparently celibate tribe of full-timers who have officially renounced worldly desires and family life for the larger good of the Nation. Modi is a pracharak.

In her paper ‘Manwatching Mister Modi’, linguist Rukmini Bhaya Nair illustrates how people identify fight (aggressive) or flight (defensive) gestures and are subliminally influenced by a strong ‘fight’ gestural system used by a given politician.

Modi’s gestures were almost invariably judged to be heavily skewed towards an unambiguous ‘fight’ schema. The paper examines Modi’s language by analysing a number of his speeches made over the past two years.

“A determined effort to include women is revealed in the bar-graphs on gender. Women, these graphs show, are mostly seen in relational terms (sisters, mothers, daughters) except for the ubiqui-

All agog Why should women cheer for Modi? reuters

tous use of the term ‘ladies’, which appears to be a polite way to refer to working women. References to men and brothers, understandably, outnumber ones to women and sisters. To me, perhaps the most interesting feature hidden away in this gender-chart is that sons are mentioned twice as often as daughters,” writes Nair.

Thus, in Modi’s India, ‘daughters’ are to be protected and the sanctity of marriage upheld even at the cost of burdening fathers/brothers with debts.

The ‘mothers’, of course, are to be revered.

“In our culture and heritage, mothers come above everyone else. ‘Ma’ evokes reverence — that is our tradition. We call ‘Bharat’ — our country — Ma... anything we hold in reverence we address as Ma. I know of families where women have decided not to marry so they can dedicate their lives to looking after their parents in their old age…Women say ‘I have been burnt’ to get their husbands’ attention.

That same woman will concentrate on buying a saree from a sale but will drop everything when her house is on fire — if her child is stuck inside, she will try and get the child out of a burning house — that same mother who was singed by a roti. That is the power of a woman,” Modi told businesswomen in FICCI on April 8.

Of course, allowances have to be made to the likes of Jassuben, who launched a successful pizza brand in Gujarat, but as a matter of routine, women are viewed in relation to the men and their primary role is that of a homemaker.

The menfolk must attend to the more serious business of earning a livelihood. Whether it is his party’s manifesto or public rallies, the predominant responses are towards an aggressive male and universally dissatisfied followers. From tiny, decrepit towns to glittering metropolises, his largely male audience throngs his public meetings in a euphoric haze, looking for answers no ordinary politician can provide.

He rises spectacularly to the challenge. His image magnified in three dimensions, he promises them jobs, rapid growth, 100 new smart cities, bullet trains, a whole new world. As he traipses around from Solapur to Jammu and Bareilly, he sells a dream that seduces the cynical and hypnotises those who are desperately seeking a new India. There is, of course, some space there for brave mothers, daughters and wives. For those who may have opted for singlehood, be sure it is only in the service of the family. But for the ones living in sin, Hindu Rashtra may not exactly resemble Ram Rajya. Metaphorically speaking. poornima joshi

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Funny Business From Osama to MGR, lookalikes make quite an impression in election season

Slow spirits Lunch on the beachfront in Kangaroo Island; and (right) Jon Lark, the maker of 3,000 bottles of artisanal gin, also on the island nandini nair

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n 2005, businessman Khalid Noor made his campaign debut as Bihar’s Osama.

Bearing a close resemblance to the slain al-Qaeda leader, he was first used by Ram Vilas Paswan and later, by Lalu Prasad Yadav to woo the Muslim electorate in the Assembly herbs, which could only imagine.

Be- the sun. Started 10 years ago, and held every elections.

In theone run-up to the Gujarat Assembtween husband and wife andModi withlashed just one ly elections in 2012, Narendra out Saturday, the Barossa market, like other weekhelper, Kangaroo Island Spirits at the Bihar government in hischurns rallies.out In end markets held across the country, is a great combination of economics, com3,000 bottles year,accusations from their against Nitspeeches ladena with traditional gin still. the Thelittle-known (Robo). I wasmunity and food. Here is says. where ish Kumar’scopper administration, a robotic dancer,” Sathish inspiration, Jon told me, is slow money and friends are made.

Osama impersonator was also criticised.

A few years later, while watching Super Dupspirits.

Slow food was a fadisand is out of the er, a show on Sun Children lickstruck ice cream This year, Khalid Noor sitting TV, he was by thecones, politThe simple tomato now a fact,forgotten but he believes is However, ical impersonators the adults on sip on iced coffee, stage.

Today,they he elections, by allnow parties. exploded in one’s the time for slow spirits to abanpick up homemade egg noodles, employs MGR, Vijayakanth and Abhinandan Pathak, a Modi loomouth like citrusdon their andhis shine forth on dark-hued oils, and kalike, hasstill found moment in Jayalalithaaolive lookalikes fordukkah shows sweet candy. tables. to eat with the marthe sun. The Saharanpur-based across Tamilbread.

Nadu.From “During elecIn anisingredient-rich food culket we went to the legendary MagPathak now on a three-month tions, parties hire my services Saharanpur’s Modi gie ture, must tap the source.

Beer’s Shop, where her mainly to Farm draw crowds,” he says. tour ofone India to campaign for Molookalike is now on daughter Saskia cooked a meal And we soon made‘Junior our way to a “These days, I hold about fivefor to di, calling himself Modi’. a three-month front ofsix us.shows Once again we saw farmer’s marketmay in the Barossa Valley, where us intour per day, it’splebeian a busy While Pathak be running a of India piles of zucchini, tomatoes, ingredients shine For appetiser, we had time.”forth.

The Jayalalithaa lookalike, personal campaign for lettuce; BJP’s bunches of fennel, dill, coriander; shelves yellow tomatoes prime ministerial candidate, in brimming a salad of redheand says, doesn’t speak.garnished “Her huswith eggs, meats andhave oils gleamed in with fresh dill and doesn’t parsley. allow The simple Tamilyabbies, Nadu, political parties band her totomato interact.” With the AIADMK’s tacit hired lookalikes to manage roadsupport, Amma’s lookalike meets shows and rallies. In 2000, Robo Sathish started an event management compa- and greets supporters, smiling and waving. ny called Every Second. “We organised song MGR and Vijayakanth impersonators, howand dance shows. That’s how I got my name ever, do a little bit more — they sing their most

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exploded in one’s mouth like citrus-sweet candy. It had never tasted so good.

Like all Indians, I harbour deep suspicions for all things raw, leafy and uncooked. My grandmother washed grapes in potassium permanganate. I know of relatives who boiled ice cream. At Saskia’s kitchen, I marvelled as she flicked ingredients bought from the market straight into the pan, without as much as a baptism by water.

A few days later, I shared my consternation with Kate Lamont, owner of multiple restaurants in Australia. She explained that Australians don’t really need to wash their groceries before using them. They are so certain of their quality. She said, “I also work in operations, let me tell you that no farmer or businessperson would spend a cent more than they need to on anything like that (pesticides). And we have really stringent quarantine laws so the issues around plant disease are really not that significant as in other places. So much food here is from the natural environment. The chefs unMGR 2.0 a tricycle in Tirunelveli shaikmohideen derstand theOn cycle of growing food,a they don’t give their supplier one week’s time, they give famous songs and mimic their as them three months’ notice, somannerisms they can grow crowds go wild.

PRM Thyagarajan aka is the desired plants.

Grow to order — in MGR, Austramuch after for his spot-on imitation of lia thatsought is not unique.” theIn legendary “I Istarted with MGR the food of leader.

Australia, tasted the country. songsitsincuisine, ’90s, and began imitating his gesLike which is ingredient-driven, turesbelieves later,” says Thyagarajan.

Kumar, a Vijayaand in slow spirits, and grow to order, kanth lookalike, doesn’treality even have to wear Australians also choose over whimsy, make-up to look like the Captain.

“I have they believe that time is not something to apbe peared in more 2,000 shows as Vijayaconquered but tothan be savoured in teaspoons — kanth,” says Kumar, who started campaigning and preferably on the beach. writer wasCaptain’s in Australia on the invitation forThe DMDK at the rallies in March. of Dreamtime 2013 and Tourism Australia In a State overrun with MGR impersonators — there are at least 250 — the demand is now nandini for DMKnair president Karunanidhi, whose public appearances have dropped considerably. “I keep getting calls for his doubles,” says Sathish, “The problem is finding convincing ones.”

The boatman’s calling The spy who came in for the polls priyanka kotamraju

A man who knows the Ganges river dolphin as intimately as he knows the waters of Patna

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n old hand, Rajendra Sahni, a fisherman, river patroller, diver, retriever of dead bodies and river dolphin specialist, pares your expectations down even before you set out on a boat ride with him in the hope of seeing the Ganges river dolphin: “They wild Punjab, animals.a In the next n a district inare central nail-biting 2-3 hours, I’ll try my best toA help you spot contest is brewing. filmstar whoone. has But there’s no guarantee.

I hope you underbeen a four-time MP from the constituenstand.”

Patna’s Gandhi who Ghathad and won Sahcy We’re versusatthe incumbent ni, is onebyofathe few tenuous linksoftoa theI’m lasttold, election wafer-thin margin this fast disappearing species.

Confined to the few thousand votes. Weeks before the polling Indus, Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna andcamthe date, the constituency is hit by a smear paign. Embarrassing details tumble out, clans get involved. Contents of one of the candidate’s speech are leaked to the local media. An inflammatory video too does the rounds. Looks like somebody’s election campaign just got derailed. Operating silently in the background, a team of private detectives wraps up and heads back.

Their job, in this district, is done.

While this is a hypothetical sequence of events, it might very well be a truthful narrative of any constituency, anywhere in the country. For private detective agencies, this election season is ripe with possibility of ‘extra business’. For political parties, it’s all about winning.

“I have been flooded with calls,” says the 71year-old Subhash Wadhawan, who has been a detective for almost half a century now and sports the James Bond theme as his caller tune. “There was a demand in 2009 but this year has seen maximum number of cases. In

Karnaphuli-Sangu river systems, the Ganges years. Dr Gopal Sharma, a scientist with the river dolphin was categorised as ‘endangered’ Gangetic Plains Regional Centre, Zoological two years ago by the International Union for Survey of India, Patna, says his knowledge of the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Bihar Tou- the river, its meanderings and its geo-morrism even initiated a dolphin-spotting pack- phology, is legendary. He also reports dolphin age in end 2012 — but it has since been sightings, especially young ones, and deaths. discontinued due tobeen a “lack of response”. he’smore not helping researchers, Sahni the last 10 days, I’ve approached by near- hasWhen received than 25 cases this season.

If thetake boatman thatAnd I’m all happy just continues to fish. livelihood depends prily I35reassure people to up cases. of them AAP is a factor, theHis ruling party’s fear of losing to be out Gangaji — a common form of ad- marily on patrolling riverinterest during in festiviwant theiron cases fast-tracked.” the elections has also the spurred condress in Patna, though, barring them, a few ties and diving for bodies.

A sought after diver Despite all theeven secrecy accompanying ducting investigations, says Wadhawan. ghats, theespionage river is thecases, dump yard of the city, printed on his visitpolitical nevertheless, fall rein- (with Thegothakhor turnaround time proudly for a case in these vered and abused in equal measure.

As his ing card), times Sahni’sis moment of glory arrived to three broad categories.

To verify credentials ‘fast-track’ around three to five days, boat (andown its diesel engine) the when he got State medal for The rescuing of their candidates, to chugs verify along, opponent according toasome agencies. cost, three on a mighty river, expanse, gentle members flow and women whobasis, had accidentally fallen the claims and to its check on dissident case-to-case varies from ₹5 lakhinto to ₹25 quiet take over.

“The best place to see river. by the police and local adminiswithinpower their own parties to avoid embarrasslakh. Sought “We work in adverse conditions,” says dolphins at the elections, confluenceanyof Gandak and tration, he and his team“Our (adding up to 100 ment. “Inis these Wadhawan. investigations Ganga, but they surprise men times), willelection be patrolling body who has can been deniedyoua start at even before dates by showing up anywhere atKunall,” 32 during the Pooja ticket is a major factor,” says areghats announced.

AndChhath then, within says keeping a keen, later thisour year.detectives “My job is demandwar Sahni, Vikramwhile Singh, president of a week have to This is what the meditative lookout.

We talk Detecabout party cadres should ing risky. Butabout whilethe an conunthe Association of Private learnand everything The best place to Ganga and the powerful Gandak, labourer getsinformation. ₹300 a day, I tives and Investigators (APDI), be doing but parties skilled stituency, and get see dolphins is at which its way from get mere ₹249.

I alsothe wish we who isforces currently on down an assignThisa is really what party have no cadresof the confluence the Himalayas. force The was most such had a good, even if small, submament in central“Its Punjab. cadres should be doing but paranymore Gandak and Ganga we would hear its roarheover all the rine in Patna makeanymore.” our jobs dangerous enemies, adds, are ties have no to cadres sounds of this land,” he says emeasier.

I’ve trained in one Kolkawithin the parties.

This, despite the fact thatin the Conphatically. we turnthe to Congress enter the ta,” he BJP says.and even AAP claim to Earlier inAsMarch, gress, main of the Ganga, with Later, coursing closer to the officescourse were ransacked in Chhathave more than 1 crore members. the massive Bridgewhile as the backdrop… we see a services numbersuch of dolphins. tisgarh over Gandhi ticket denial, both AAP and confluence, With sophisticated as “voter “There,” spots a dolphin.over I don’t (I was busy They come up for air, sometimes rewardingand us BJP havehe seen discontent tickets.

(Think management packages, risk analysis taking notes!). like Jaswant Singh, Murli Ma- with a spectacular jump.intelligence”, But as the sunthese sets party stalwarts gathering of political A veritable encyclopaedia a chilly breeze picks up,more Sahnithan steers his nohar Joshi, and LK Advani.) on the dolphin, and agencies claim to be much mere the“Maybe sacred river andsurge its tributaries, of which as he must, towardsrates the crowded shore. it (the in cases)all has some- boat, detectives.

Their success are also 100 per he hastosurveyed, sometimes weeks at a cent.

Call“Really, Rajendra Sahni to see dolthing do with the Aam Aadmifor Party.

Verificathere is (09852235261) nothing like an unsucstretch, as part of a small, dedicated of phins, morning or late tion of the candidates nominated hasgroup become cessfulearly investigation,” saysafternoon.

Jain. researchers ledyear,”

by Professor RK Sinha, Sahni important this says Naman Jain, head of is an architect and geographer priyankasekhsaria kotamraju has been a key cog in the wheel for 30 odd peeyush the Delhi-based Sleuths India, whose agency

Beware ticket-holder! Private investigators are on the prowl at a constituency near you

peeyush sekhsaria

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Offscreen theatrics Actor Pawan Kalyan launching his new political outfit, Jana Sena Party, in Hyderabad PV SIVAKUMAR

Star power and Pawanism Telugu actor Pawan Kalyan now channels the angry young man on the political platform

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n 2013, the little-known director Chaitanya announced the launch of a film titled Pawanism. It was meant to be a tribute to Pawan Kalyan, the youngest brother of Telugu cinema’s megastar-turned-politician Chiranjeevi. Pawanism, the director went on to elaborate, is “the collective adulation of crores of Pawan Kalyan fans ... (which) could set a new path for youngsters.” The film was not completed but it drew attention to the puzzle that is Pawanism, defined as a religion by some of his followers. With the launch of the Jana Sena Party (JSP), Pawan has institutionalised this ism, limited so far to t-shirts, stickers and tattoos sighted at screenings of the star’s films and IPL matches in Hyderabad.

Notwithstanding such hype, no one seems to know what Pawanism really is. As a blogger put it most unhelpfully, “It is a religion formed

by Pawan fans and followed (by them). It is about his style, ideologies, creativity, etc.” Understandably, with stardom and glamour comes style. Pawan is one of Telugu cinema’s biggest stars, despite his modest tally of 19 films in as many years in the industry. He has delivered phenomenal hits such as Badri (2000), Kushi (2001), Jalsa (2008) and, more recently, Gabbar Singh (2012). One might even concede that Pawan is creative, albeit with a pinch of salt. Unlike Chiranjeevi, Pawan is not a particularly versatile actor. Most of his films are romantic action-comedies centred on an invincible hero. His only directorial venture, Johnny (2003), was an expensive flop. To his credit, however, he has tried his hand at choreography, action and even playback singing.

The most intriguing thing about Pawanism, though, is the ideology, or rather the absence of it (unless you take the logo, with the actor sporting a Che Guevera look, as a heavy hint).

Having played an active role in the 2009 campaign for Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam Party (PRP), Pawan is not a political novice. Yet, nei-

ther his ‘Congress hatao, Desh bachao’ slogan at the launch of JSP, Varma tweeted: “Way Kalyan the launch of JSP nor his open endorsement of spoke, if 10 per cent Chiranjeevigaru spoke at Narendra Modi — which has earned him some Praja Rajyam launch... forget AP CM, forget Indetractors in the show business — add up to an dian PM, he would have become American ideology. The vagueness of the party’s website president (sic).” on the ideological front is disarming: “JSP’s From his movies, Pawan brings to the politiideology comes from this firm belief of Mr Pa- cal platform the angry, albeit not-so-young wan Kalyan that in public life one must stand man. Back in 2000, in Badri, he redefined anby one’s convictions and not lose faith in them ger on the Telugu screen. In his films, and when the situations become tough.” What those of other stars that followed, the hero’s then do we make of Pawan and his ‘isms’? anger has had no immediate cause: no dead Not easily accessible to the media (this au- father to avenge (like Amitabh Bachchan’s thor tried but failed to reach him), Pawan is character in Zanjeer), no feudal oppressor to prone to making news by other means and for fight back (like in Chiranjeevi’s Khaidi)… Inactions unrelated to acting. He is definitely stead, anger now springs from an arrogant not Mr Nice Guy. On the contrary, and defiant disposition. It is attihe is Telugu cinema’s most contude in its purest form. troversial celebrity. Breaking traThe anger that drives Pawanditional values, he is divorced and ism is, first of all, a style stateWhile it’s too early has children from two other relament. Second, not prompted by to tell if his political tionships. He has been accused of specific causes, it can be directed career will take off, temperamental behaviour in the at any cause that comes in the way his speeches will, past, including a punch or two of youth with ‘attitude’. “I want doubtless, leave his aimed at media persons. A waranswers,” demands Pawan’s charopponents smarting rant was issued against him for acter in Cameraman Gangatho and the crowds an election speech in 2009, when Rambabu (2012), after thrashing cheering he attacked several important goondas out to instigate a caste Congress leaders and gave a call riot at a university campus. Offto “chase and hit them (Congressscreen too, he has now establishmen) till their loincloths fall.” Eared a “party which questions” and lier this year, online forums were abuzz with an army that will fight for a “just and balanced speculations about his family’s role in abet- society.” The entire enterprise will be powered ting the suicide of a young Telugu actor. by inciting and harnessing the anger of a genWhile it’s too early to tell if Pawan’s political eration of de-politicised, movie-crazy youth. career will take off, there can be little doubt The moment is pregnant with possibilities that his speeches will leave his opponents and fraught with danger. Because anger is not smarting and the crowds cheering. Pawan is a just about being cool. Whether Pawanism is a powerful orator. Even as he prepares to take productive force or merely an illusory emoon the Congress, whose campaign is being led tion remains to be seen. by his older brother Chiranjeevi in Seemandhra, director Ram Gopal Varma revealed the sv srinivas is the author of Megastar and Politics as worst-kept secret of the 2009 elections in And- Performance and senior fellow at the Centre for the hra Pradesh. Responding to Pawan’s speech at Study of Culture and Society, Bangalore (CSCS)

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Grace period Jawaharlal Nehru astride a horse in his trademark achkan hindu

Triumph

photo archives

A book that makes up in spirit what it lacks in style

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f Shivani Gupta is anything like the protagonist of her autobiographical novel — a fiercely independent and a proud tetraplegic — she’d be offended if her book was judged not on merit but as a feat that defies disability.

So it must be said that the book is good, just not well-written. But what No Looking Back lacks in technique and style, it makes up in spirit. The sheer enormity of the tragedies that unspool in the life of Chots — 22 years old when an accident first leaves her wheelchair-bound and dependent on a personal carer — is powerful enough to propel the narrative forward. One that is peopled at all times by friends and family, some of whom stay by her side right till the epilogue.

As with all autobiographies, however, disregarding the liminal space between truth and overemphasis can render a good story into a laboured one. And one wishes, when too many characters crowd a frame or too many sentences are spent on mapping a moment emotionally, that the Bright ideas publisher had choNarendra Modi’s sen a better editor neon-green kurta for the job. and saffron Among the bestwaistcoat is offset known accessibility

by Rajnath Singh’s ‘politically correct’ consultants in the B&W ensemble at country today, GupBahraich, UP ta has had a diffiarunangshu roy chowdhury cult life — marked No Looking Back not just by the chalA true story lenges of a spinal Shivani Gupta injury in the early Rupa Non-fiction ’90s, when informa₹295 tion and sensitivity towards issues of disability were scarce, but also by a greater personal loss. A second accident, days after her wedding, which she survives and her long-time partner doesn’t, mires her in grief yet again. Their relationship, having finally overcome dilemmas bred by personal ambitions and self-doubt, and surmounting resistance from the family of her able-bodied paramedic spouse, seven years her junior, is brought to a cruel, abrupt end.

Theirs was a marriage of equals, mirrored best, perhaps, by an incident in Paris. Stranded at a subway station near the Eiffel Tower without a lift or a ramp, Vikas had to lift his then girlfriend and her wheelchair up a steep flight of steps without any help (no one came forward). They are left fuming and embarrassed. But when they finally reach the top of the monument of love, “Being there together was all that mattered,” she says. A rude surprise in a ‘developed nation’, it also leads Chots and Vikas to their final vocation — improving accessibility in public spaces. One that she continues to go the distance for.

Read this book, if the true stories in your Reader’s Digests are dog-eared.

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arunava sinha

When two become one

Will it be a love story or a boxing match? How will the Random-Penguin merger play out on bookshelves and in boardrooms?

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he big merger is done. The important question now that Random House and Penguin are one is this: what happens to the competing imprints? Of course, since the publishing company is now part of the extremely corporatised Bertlesmann — versus the more ‘literary’ Pearson — all decisions will probably be taken at the global headquarters. (A minor cause for alarm: on Sunday, April 6, the Bertlesmann website listed 1745 Broadway, New York, as the world headquarters of Penguin Random House.) But here in India, publisher Chiki Sarkar and editorial director Meru Gokhale will have to grapple with the problem of resolving the obvious conflicts between Hamish Hamilton (contributed by the erstwhile Penguin) and Vintage (from the former Random House), since they both focus on literary fiction and non-fiction. Will existing authors be kept with their respective imprints? What of new authors and new books being signed up?

Likewise, when it comes to commercial fiction, editorial director Milee Aishwarya will have to work out a balance between Penguin’s Metro Reads and Random House’s Ebury. There is also the matter of choosing between Viking and Penguin Classics for, well, classics. Will the Bertlesmann factor — the conglomerate bought Random House in 1998 — make the Random House imprints prevail over Penguin’s?

Interestingly, although Penguin India was much larger than Random House India in terms of sales and profits, it is mostly the RHI people who are in the senior-most positions. Penguin Random House CEO Gaurav Shrinagesh was the CEO of RHI, for instance, and both Gokhale and Aishwarya were with RHI too, running the literary and commercial imprints, respectively. And Sarkar herself was the editorial head at RHI till she joined Penguin India as publisher. Along with Sarkar, the other Penguin India representatives in the top leadership are the new head of children’s books, Hemali Sodhi — who was earlier head of marketing — and head of sales Ananth Padmanabhan. As Gokhale relocates to India from London, the answers should be evident soon.

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Although Penguin India was much larger than Random House, mostly RHI people are in senior positions

Measuring up mantriji R Who cuts the cloth for our top politicians? Meet the men who define power dressing and the personal style of our netas

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hanges are afoot elsewhere too — physically close to the new Penguin Random House office in Gurgaon. Also in Gurgaon, Hachette is seeing off Nandita Aggarwal, who has been its editorial di-

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hrice a month, Madhav Agasti flies restricted to attires for special occasions,” says of YodaChauhan, Press and the indie bookstore rector sinceto theDelhi inception of the compato meet political bigwigs. who sells 18,000 Yo‘Modi Kurtas’ dakin, which, sadly, every had toyear. close down — ny. Aggarwal’s place ofwill taken by and Members thebe ruling alliance across India Saikia and Manish Purohit. The Poulomi Chatterjee, who has also give beenhimManas the opposition readily an idea is to enablestripes authors to publish their with Hachette India thetobeginning. audience.

From LKsince Advani Farooq Abdullah Maratha own books with packaging, de- Bal ThackeThe switchover willtocome into effecthe from and Praful Patel Sharad Yadav, has access Much likeeditorial, Modi, Shiv Sena founder sign, distribution andhas marketing August 1. Chatterjee hasinathe formidable to the high and mighty power corridors. ray’s style too changedservicover time. Agasti es fromwas the the company.

Unlike fly-by-night task competing nottape just and withfabric the samTheahead, humble measuring one who brought Thackeray out of his in the same game, Authors Up- and shawl, combined strength the cross-Gurgaon ples — the tools ofofhis trade — opens theseoperators inblack sherwani and into a kurta front, currently four titles old, could rivals but also withto signing blockbusfluential doors him. up Agasti is the man which endeared the right-wing regional leadprobably give competition to Par-“I used to get terbehind local authors, an area wherejackets Hachette the three-buttoned of Advani er to thesome masses in Maharashtra. tridge, coloured which shawls is Penguin Random has notthe had as much success as others. and khadi kurtas that Bihar chief minister made for him from Kashmir.

House’s self-publishing business.

Its lat- thick linNitish Kumar unfailingly sports.

For kurtas, he preferred ublishers areinunusually happy Wars Cronyand CapitalMiles away Ahmedabad, Bi- with est publication, Gasens in — white off-white,” Agasti election season. by store, journalist pin Chauhan hasIf book-buyers secured therepre- ism and the Ambanis, says. His Madhav’s Men’s sented votingrights choices, Aadmi Paranjoy Guha Thakurta may well trademark forthe theAam halfModes,etis al, a regular stopover for neWhen Modi became Party’s Arvind Kejriwal Modi wouldkurta, be a run- become a talking point in today’s politisleeved, buttoned-up tas visiting Mumbai.

Gujarat’s CM, the away sooner. political credo,and Swaraj — cal climate. which nowHis retails in India The man who has been dressing whites made way originally published Hindi Harperabroad. Tailor to theinBJP’s PMby canpolitical leaders since 1977 observfor blues,hat’s pinks, the biggest change that the Collins — has reportedly crossed one lakh didate, Chauhan has seen Narenes that politicians today “are far greens and yellows editors at Penguin Random House indra sales.Modi’s Collectively, half-a-dozen dress the sense evolve or more stylish and conscious about — clothes which has sofrom bookshis ondays Narendra Modi — mostly as a pracharak for li- and at HarperCollins their and also looks than they office, though onising though Swayamsevak a few are critical — moved into a newwere the him, Rashtriya in the ’80s”.just The reason, he its old one in Noida, may haveinsold more, of course. Harper- across the road from Sangh the 1980s. believes, is that people no longer in the judge National Capital Region will educationCollins alsohe has a success itsSangh, handshe trav“When (Modi) was inon the leaders for their work—alone; fact that theypersonality will work on thelooks are imwith Sengupta’s 100 wash Thingsclothes To face? elledHindol frequently and would on The al background, and with theirtoo. colleagues from Know And Debate Before You Vote. cumbersome All of same floor his own.

He found full-sleeves portant factors marketing and sales. As the metaphorical which also substantiates the publishing and decided to go for half-sleeved kurtas with Young bespoke turks credo thatsays non-fiction outsells by walls pants,” Chauhan, who isfiction the co-owner of crumble, will this mean that the different This departments of thecould companies a mile or twochain in India. transformation in part be attributmenswear Jade Blue, along with brother will findedit easier to be on the same to globalisation, whichpage? opened up the Jitendra Chauhan. Back then, Modi preferred here’s serious new player in the than a country not only economically, but also to inkhadi in awhites and off-whites.

More self-publishing and thethe people ternational fashions decade later, whenpool, he became CM of Gujaarunava sinha translates classicand and trends. Little wonder behind are sure they can makeway a sucthenBengali that the young leaders who rat in it2001, the whites made for blues, contemporary fiction and non-fiction into emerged on cess of it.greens Meet Authors Upfront, backed the national political scene in the 1990s redepinks, and yellows.

And linen beganEnglish to t@arunava byshare publishing veterans Arpita Das — fined political dressing in India. space with khadilike in his wardrobe.

This trend was led by Ghulam Nabi Azad, “He then started opting for more detailing Madhavrao Scindia, Rajesh Pilot, Vilasrao in kurtas even though embroidery remained

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Old loves Bihar’s Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has always been a khadi loyalist ranjeet kumar

Deshmukh and Pramod Mahajan. While Scindia’s style included a collarless jacket with a narrow pocket to hold his pen, Pilot brought the Rajasthani safa (turban) centre stage.

“Stylish dressing, with colours, started with these leaders,” says Agasti, whose client list includes Gopinath Munde, Shahnawaz Hussain and Sushil Kumar Shinde.

It was also around the ’90s that the Hindi film industry moved towards slick flicks, marked by well-dressed actors and colourful settings. “The film industry definitely influenced the dressing style of leaders,” says Agasti.

So loose kurtas gave way to well-fitted attires. And raw silk, jute silk and variations of woollen fabric became the materials of choice, beyond good old khadi.

Style guru Madhav Agasti of Madhav’s Men’s Modes got Thackeray to switch from sherwanis to kurtas

A cut above Bipin and Jitendra Chauhan of Jade Blue, makers of the Modi kurta

After becoming prime minister, however, Rajiv Gandhi preferred trousers with bandhgala coats for his overseas trips.

Changing colours Vaish laments that the achkan and bandhgala have gone out of mainstream fashion. “After VV Giri, Giani Zail Singh and VP Singh, no leader has worn the achkan. It is now a part of wedding attires only,” he says. But the Nehru jacket, with its half-inch mandarin collar, remains trendy even today. As also the fabric that’s inextricably woven into Indian politics, the khadi. Despite repeated death knells, khadi still holds it own among linen, silk and other fabric blends. “Nobody has given up khadi.

It is just that other fabrics have come up too,” says Agasti.

So while you have staunch khadi loyalists Nehru in fashion But the one man who set the country’s ever- such as Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav, green standard for a well-dressed politico was there’s also the younger crop of leaders who prefer not to have any fixed style.

India’s first prime minister, Jawa“They also buy readymade clothes harlal Nehru. His achkan — a kneelength coat with a stand-up collar unlike the previous generation, — was always in shades of black, which swore by bespoke styling,” white and grey. says Vaish.

At the wedding of PK Vaish, one of Nehru’s tailors, So while Rahul Gandhi might Charles and Diana, recalls visits to the late prime be seen in a suit at formal ceremoRajiv Gandhi wore minister’s Teen Murti Bhawan resnies, at a meeting with party his first silk achkan idence for measurements and workers he wears a Gandhi cap. trials for stitched clothes. “His Rallies in the hinterland bring physique was fit and he carried out the kurta-pyjamas and stuoff his clothes well,” says Vaish, dent interactions, a pair of jeans. now 73.

Even Modi has been experimenting with He later tailored the outfit worn by actor bolder colours during his election rallies this Roshan Seth for his role of Nehru in the 1982 time around. The tone-to-tone kurta and film Gandhi. “I had to pad up his dresses as his waistcoat (for instance, a light yellow kurta structure was leaner than Nehru’s,” he says. and a darker yellow waistcoat) are giving way The exclusivity of Nehru’s achkan has been to contrasting colours. At a rally in Bahraich, captured by historian Tilak Ranjan Bera in his Uttar Pradesh, he teamed a neon-green kurta book A Journey through Nicobars. He details with a saffron-coloured waistcoat, while Barehow Edward Kutchat, the head of the tribal illy saw him in a sky blue waistcoat worn over council in Car Nicobar Island, agreed to pro- a saffron kurta . vide additional land for expanding an airfield The saffron waistcoat appeared with a darkonly if Nehru parted with one of his achkans. grey kurta at a rally in Delhi. Saffron, synonyThat was done, and the land changed hands. mous with the BJP, is clearly his colour of Nehru always teamed his kurtas and ach- choice ahead of elections. “I finished stitching kans with cotton churidars to make a distinc- for Mr Modi a month before his rallies began. tive style statement. So when Rajiv Gandhi was Now I will meet him after he becomes the travelling to London to attend the wedding of prime minister,” Chauhan says. And if his taiPrince Charles and Diana in 1981, his mother, lor’s wishes do come true, Modi might go in Indira, felt that he should wear an achkan. “He for another round of wardrobe updates, just was a pilot then, and had not entered politics. as he did after becoming the Gujarat chief On Mrs Gandhi’s advice, he wore a raw silk ach- minister 13 years ago. kan for the first time,” says Vaish, who had tairashmi pratap lored that outfit.

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Germany in Cuddalore

An autobiographical movie that shows we are not so different, after all

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hat happens when a damsel from Bavaria and a gent from Cuddalore meet, fall in love, and then make their parents meet? While a clash of cultures is assured, lots of laughter and tender moments also ensue.

Franziska Schönenberger and Jayakrishnan Subramanian, a filmmaker and artist couple who met in Mumbai, chronicle this journey from ‘otherness’ to ‘happily ever after’ in Amma & Appa, a documentary which premiered at the recent Berlinale. Shot in German, Tamil and English, the film tells the story of Schö-

nenberger’s parents first meeting with the Subramanians in Cuddalore. From the difficulty that the German couple face while trying to eat with their hands to the bemusement of the Tamil couple when they taste their counterparts’ food. As the filmmaker-couple say, the film is a “humorous and sensitive exploration of the biographies and love stories of all the three couples, who are so different, but only at first glance.”

looked at their faces. But after they started laughing I felt most relieved. But now the film has a chance of being released in cinemas in Germany, so my father said recently that if he had known better, he would have given it a second thought.

Jay My parents initially refused to watch the film, as they thought we made fun of them, but later when they saw the film and realised that all their complaints and concerns were represented in a graceful manner, they were happy. They keep asking me when they can see the film on the ‘big screen’.

How did it feel to be the subjects of your own documentary?

All smile A still from Amma & Appa Franziska Being one’s own subject was not that difficult. I try to convince other people to Was there a similar clash of cultures when speak in front of my camera as a documentary you guys met? filmmaker and they share their innermost Franziska Yes, definitely. In the beginning, I feelings with me. A filmmaker should be able had a problem eating with my hands or using to be in front of the camera, like her other ‘vic- an Indian toilet. And although Jay is from tims’. I thought, why not start with my own South India I prefer North Indian dishes. Even story before trying to tell other people’s sto- before I knew Jay I was travelling in India but ries. But now when I see myself on the screen I mostly in the North. I even tried to learn some Hindi and Indian dishes. But Jay wasn’t imfeel a bit embarrassed.

Jay It was difficult for me to put myself in pressed that I knew how to make chapatis or CHOWDHURY is of Hindi Even my knowledge front of the camera, but I think it made it palak paneer. SHOVON chief Truthdigger and author when I met his parents, I had much easier for my parents when we were also didn’t help at all; of The Competent Authority front and centre. By the end of it, we all forgot to learn Tamil.

Jay I don’t like to plan ahead, but Germans the camera completely. will stress even a holiday.

They structure I have to fear is hard-boiled lighter vein’. over The Election Commission has feel a little intimidated by the flowing requested them. I don’t How did your parents react to the film? their leisure We both have different him bytime. ‘accepting apology’. locks of Papa CJ. I adjust my own hair think anyone was arrested.” eggs. Sometimes they pour punished Franziska My parents saw finished film on- rhythms of life. wish to reach resonance. in the reflection of his impossibly shi“But the same man did beer on mythe head.”

Capitalising on Ithis success, hisa National ly at the Berlinale.Papa During screening, I sat Comedy Tour will start after the elections, CJ isthe not alone. The ny shoes. His chest is slightly concave throw a flowerpot at Kapil sibi arasu next to my mother and father and cover 16 towns in Maharashtra, along announcement of constantly the Na- and from the impact of women who constantly Sibal in 2013,” I say, hoping tional Comedy Tour by Pa- with three in Switzerland. The leader will be throw themselves at him. The veteran co- to cheer him up. “He missed war has led to widespread accompanied by his nephew, who will permedian is depressed. I detect a hint of tears by just a few inches.” behind his spectacles. “I knew this day “That’s true,” he says, depression amongst the na- form magic tricks, including a personal vertion’s comedians. The tall sion of magician PC Sorcar’s famous ‘Water would come,” he says, “Politicians are get- brightening considerably, leader of Maharashtra took of India’, in which an empty glass keeps ting into everything. Cricket. Cinema. Tea. “His accuracy is improving.

Airlines. Ayurvedic medicine. Boxing. Big You can’t keep a good man this novel decision after the magically refilling itself. The NCP will also success of his recent come- be changing its name to the National ComeBoss. Why should comedy be any different? down. After all, he is an adBut why did it have to be Sharad Pawar? mirer of Bhagat Singh. But dy routine at a rally in Mum- dy Party, with the slogan, ‘A smile on every bai, where he urged his face… or we’ll come to your house.’

Who can compete with him? After that man all of us can’t be brave like A girl rushes past me and tries to leap on Harvinder Singh slapped him on November him. I’m averse to physical pain. If Pawar’s supporters to vote in Mumbai, wipe the ink hree years ago, when 39-year-old Gupta, grew up on a Papa CJ.brought He remains in gloom.

He cine24, 2011, he was beaten up in Delhi in De- followers demand that I tellwriter-director bad jokes, I’m offThe their fingers, and votewho again in Satara. films in a sunken revolution in Indian Manish wrote Rahasya, he vi- healthy of Agatha novels, says pushes herIaway listlessly.by “Leave me alone,” cember, January, February. The police re- going to agree Gupta instantly.

In fact, I’m thinkOn beingdiet questioned byChristie the Election Comma and was affected it,” says Gupta, who sualised filmUK,towhere be a the murder inspired to write Rahafused to file any cases, until local papers ing of going backthe to the most murder mission,mysteries he revealed that hehim meant this ‘in a hehas says, “I’m yesterday’s news.” also directed Darna Zaroori Hai (2006). mystery that the audience could re- sya. But even before the film’s release, Rajesh Confident about the director’s style, the cast late to. What he hadn’t visualised was the con- and Nupur Talwar, who are serving a life sen- has no reservations about Rahasya. “The story troversy and being mired in a legal hurdle. tence for the murder of their daughter Aa- is very interesting. That’s why I agreed. There Dear Mani, Rahasya revolves around urban couple in rushi, feel that the movie is based on them. might be one or two similarities with the case, In our dreams, all of us are an Rajinikanth.

Mumbai and their teenaged daughter, This is nothing unusual. The beauty of who is The producer, UVI Film, got a notice from the but it’s a completely fictionalised murder murdered in her sleep.

Suspicion and allega- Bombay High Court after the Talwars filed a mystery,” says Chopra, who essays the role of Rajnikanth is that he is still Rajnikanth tions quickly fall on the father. petition alleging that the movie would paint the mother.

Whodunit Writer-director Manish Gupta when he is awake. However your quesis inspired by Ram Gopal Varma’s films them in the wrong light and be defamatory.

Ashish Vidyarthi plays the father and is untion is very poorly framed, perhaps due Gupta doesn’t think so. “I wrote it almost perturbed by the petition, saying, “In most to lack of sleep. Is it that you prefer not three years ago. The judgment was passed last murder cases, the obvious suspects are the to wake up? Then the key question is, year.asanti’s It is fiction no resemblance to any near dear. This is nothing new. It’s a whoeyes with are like limpid pools.

Unless theand Congress revives its cow-and-calf do you dream when unconscious? If so, real character,” he says.

He argues that his film dunit plot with many twists and turns.”

Through them you can see the gentle symbol, later replaced by the hand. Apparentyou could position a loved one with a focuses on a Central Bureau of Investigation Gupta admits that he followed the BuAarushi soul within. I can understand Gangu ly, they almost chose an elephant, because cricket bat close to your bed. He or she (CBI) officer who investigates solves the Talwargotmurder casebetween very closely through ta Singh confused haath and Ram’s affection for her as and he stands can then tap you firmly whenever it Guptaher evenneck made severalShe tripsseems to the CBI newspapers and TV, Rao but insists the everyfilm’s plot haathi, until Narasimha explained there,case. nuzzling lovingly. seems like you are waking up. In this office in Mumbai to help him flesh out the is his own.

Having started his Bollywood like a fine, upstanding citizen, although in this thing. No doubt, surveys will soon be conduct- caway you can maximise your time spent of theon CBI officer, as the writer of preferences.

Sarkar (2005),That’s he is no ed toreer investigate bovine case, character she is standing four legs.played by Kay Kay as Rajnikanth.

Menon.

Also starring Tisca Chopra, Ashish Vistranger to controversy, as people quickly “The social composition of our state is when things will become clearer. Overall, Alternatively, perhaps you are asking dyarthi, Mita Vashisht and Ashwini Kalsekar, parallelswill between the lead character Ally Subramaniam was born in the southchanging,” says village pradhan Gangu Ram, somedrew adjustment be required.

I foresee ‘Sarhow you can possibly get through your theBasanti’s murder mystery film has beenpeople cleared by kar’ and the Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray. west Sundarbans, but was blown away problems getting them into polling booths, patting head, “Many young waking hours, knowing that you are the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

“We are not inhuman to cash on to such a by a cyclone and washed up on the shore have turned 18, and become old enough to for example. Also, once they have the in right not Rajnikanth. I find that nachos help. near Chennai. He was adopted by a poor Gupta is known for making films inspired sensitive case.

We completely understand vote, how long before some of them decide to vote.

In Haryana, only 30 per cent of them are Large quantities of cheap alcohol could Brahmin family from Tirupur. He can headlines.

TheWe Stoneman Murdersthis (2009) the Talwar family is they going through. fightwhat elections?

Eventually, will not aspire We girls. by Society is in peril. need to correct also be a solution. I am suggesting answer all your questions at was based onbuffalos serial killings that shocked Bomnever intended to hurt their feelings,” Gupta to ministerial positions? imbalance.

If our are allowed to vote, cheap alcohol because you must not be askallysubramaniam@gmail.com baymake in the ’80s,Itand (2011)adealt “Aren’t says, you adding that will may not stop afraid thatcontroversies one day a buffalo we can upearly the gap. willHostel also mean working much, given your sleep schedwith the terrors of ragging. him from broaching realistic subjects. ear Ally, In my dreams, some- ule. Whichever path you choose, you proper representation of our village society.” become a minister?” I ask. Gangu Ram laughsAs he Annods engineering awaits the court Basanti’s verdict, flank.

GuptaBasanti hopes the times I’m Rajnikanth. Then I must remember one thing. Being Rajuproariously, slapping Basanti her head.graduate, She seemsGupta to likesays the Ram Gopal Varma’s Company (2002) prompted him cloud over Rahasya will clear and the film will wake up. Help! idea of enfranchisement. I imagine she will eyes him indulgently, chewing. nikanth is a heavy responsibility. You to switch from advertising to films.

“I can nevreach its audience.

Regards, Mani, Tirunelveli “We’ve had that for years,” he says. vote for the BJP, given their position on cows. must never treat it lightly. er relate to the Sooraj Barjatya or Karan Johar The Investigator is a fortnightly round-up of all things droll and newsy. All views are personal. Really personal t@shovonc style of making films. But Ram Gopal Varma’s sarbani sen is a Delhi-based freelance journalist

SHARAD PAWAR ANNOUNCES NATIONAL COMEDY TOUR!

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Fact or fiction

Manish Gupta protests that his thriller is not based on Delhi’s infamous double murder

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LIGHTHOUSE

The language of Indian politics There is no Left or Right in our politics today. Only the lust for power

Keeping the voters sweet Political offerings at a sweet shop in Kolkata pti/swapan mahapatra

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Amit Varma is a novelist. He blogs at indiauncut.com

ndian politics is a strange beast. I just completed an online politics quiz that promised to tell me which party I should vote for based on issues. I answered questions on economics, foreign policy, healthcare and brands of dog food to be told that I supported 81 per cent, 78 per cent and 68 per cent respectively of the main three parties’ positions. In truth, I am repulsed by Indian politics — but that finding is not as absurd as it seems.

How does one think about Indian politics?

In Arnold Kling’s excellent book The Three Languages of Politics, he argues that American politics revolves around “three dominant heuristics (oppressor-oppressed, civilisationbarbarism, freedom-coercion).” Progressives look at the world through the prism of oppression, conservatives through that of Western civilisational values being under threat, and for libertarians, individual freedom is paramount. These three ‘tribes’ have their own political language which usually just serves the purpose of talking past others, who they typically regard as ‘unreasonable’. They frequently engage in ‘motivated reasoning’ — parsing the facts for only those that support the conclusions they’ve already reached — instead of ‘constructive reasoning’, analysing the facts on their own merit to try and arrive at the truth. Kling argues that the political space in America is getting more and more polarised because these three tribes just can’t talk to each other anymore.

Now, in a superficial sense, it might seem that these heuristics are relevant to Indian politics. The BJP, with its religious nationalism, might seem like our version of American conservatism. The Congress, from Jawaharlal Nehru’s Fabian socialism to Indira Gandhi’s ‘Garibi Hatao’ to Rahul Gandhi’s vacuous social welfare talk, might seem to fall into the progressive camp. Local political commentators have long been used to analysing Indian politics in terms of ‘left’ and ‘right’. This is misplaced.

In America, while the beliefs of each side might seem idiotic to the other, they are at

least internally coherent. The political parties ing pursued here: Indian politics is about pain India, in contrast, are all over the map. If tronage, about mustering up enough votes to you cut-paste paragraphs from the party man- get to power; and rewarding those who got ifestos and submit me to a blind test on who you in. said what, I’d surely fail. (The fault wouldn’t be Our two main parties are an abomination. mine.) And if we ignore rhetoric and examine The Congress is an empty shell devoid of bethe behaviour of the parties when in power, lief, and tied up in a feudalism that has whether at the centre or state level, the differ- harmed our nation and made Modi possible. ence between them is negligible. If the BJP is (India would have been a better place if Kamaagainst free markets (witness their stand on la Nehru had had a headache all of February FDI in retail), the Congress has always been an 1917.) The BJP has its roots in a religious outfit enemy of free speech (they banned The Satanic in which grown men show how macho they Verses). Who is left and who is right? are by doing PT drills in khaki knickers, There are two factors that shape politics in though I believe their leader is more in thrall India. One is the nature and structure of gov- of Mukesh Ambani than Veer Savarkar. Hinernment. Ours is far more powerful than it dutva is just a political tool. Offer Modi a should be, with an excess of discretionary chance to rule in hell or serve in heaven, and power over the common man. We are worse he’ll choose hell. Power is the only religion. off under our government, reAAP might appear to be an exgardless of which party is in ception to this — but is it really? It charge, than we were under the defines itself mainly in opposiBritish. Our government is effection to others — ‘politicians are Politics is to tively set up not to serve us, but to bad, we’re the common man, vote governance what rule us — and to extract hafta. for us’ — but what exactly do they courtship is to Think of political parties as rival stand for? How do you reconcile a marriage mafia gangs fighting for the right party that brings together to loot us for five years. strange bedfellows such as Kumar The second factor shaping our Vishwas and Medha Patkar, Meera politics is the nature of our electoSanyal and Prashant Bhushan? Arrate. Most of our politics is local; and all of it is vind Kejriwal correctly focussed on a huge tribal. Our tribes aren’t formed around ideas problem in India — corruption — but came up or ideologies, but around identity. (Caste and with a solution that would make it worse. (Inreligion, mainly, in that order.) And the art of stead of reducing the discretionary power of Indian politics is creating and sustaining vote government, the root cause of corruption, he banks out of these many disparate tribes. The wants to add an extra layer of discretion alleged pseudo-secularism of the Congress, through Jan Lokpal.) They’re an outstanding for example, is a result of their wooing minor- political start-up, but politics is to governance ity vote banks. The rise of BJP in Gujarat in the what courtship is to marriage, and we all saw late ’80s and ’90s was partly because the Patels how they behaved in Delhi. and Brahmins came into the BJP fold as a backOne remarkable thing about these elections lash to the Congress masterplan of consolidat- is that it seems to have shaken the young, the ing their KHAM vote bank (Kshatriya, Harijan, urban, the middle-class out of apathy. I can’t Adivasi, Muslim) with the help of reservations. say the same for myself. It’s going to be a long, The Ram Janmabhoomi movement, a political hot summer, and I’d like some lemonade. masterstroke, finished off what was left of the KHAM alliance. There are no higher ideals be- t@amitvarma

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When and how did the hallowed sport of cricket become an eyesore, with meaningless matches played in empty grounds?

Master of contrasts KG Subramanyan’s latest exhibition reconfirms his love for contradictions

T Ownsome lonesome Empty spectator stands during a Test match between India and West Indies at Eden Gardens in Kolkata (2011) s subramanium

Bold and beautiful The veteran artist's work combines myth with reality art heritage gallery

he colours bouncing off the walls jocular retellings of the Mahabharat and immediately catch one’s attention Ramayan. on walking into the Art Heritage galWhile his mediums are diverse, his style lery in Delhi. It is only after a closer clearly recalls the confluence of the effects of examination of the burning reds, blazing Modernism on the Indian sensibility. His Faufuchsias and bright indigos that the subjects vist application of colour and expressionistic of the paintings — lively monkeys, decorative lines depart from the traditional folk methods foliage, humans engaged in quotidian acts of prescribed hues and controlled lines. His and fearsome devis — swim into focus. Veteran devi images do not evoke gentle goddesses in artist KG Subramanyan’s work has always domestic bliss. Instead, they tend to be fearweapons and ride been distinguished the coming together he searingbyApril heat was hardlyofa some A merefigures 20 off that eightbrandish balls is hailed as a “great efthe mundane and theThe spiritual. and realdeterrent. biggerMyth question was atop fort”;tigers. two wickets for 20 runs earns the bowler “I havepraise. always believed that both the devi ity unite in much of Subramanyan’s work, as how to enter the grounds. Unable to profuse do modernity and traditions. the asura (demon) are present in all of us, afford a folk ticket, I looked for an ave- and While it’s true that the spirited Australia-Enit isAshes the struggle between Astoa sneak painter, sculptor and muralist has and nue into the Ferozeshah Kotla,he where gland tie continues to these hold two the forces attenlife interesting.

In order for worked on playing a range of mediums Delhi was Bombay in afrom RanjiterracotTrophy that tion makes of cricket lovers worldwide, it’sa peralso ta bas-reliefs to woodcut. Art to grow they experience the push semifinal in and late glass ’70s. To some of us itmaking was no son increasingly clearhave thattothe longer version of according Subramanyan consists not justinof and pull ofhas these twovictim powers,” says Subramaless than ato Test match. The teams included the game fallen to modern attracthe artist’s ideas but Sunil also the mediums he nyan, who just turned 90 and commemorated ternational stars like Gavaskar, Eknath tions such as the T20 even in those countries. works which whyand he gives it equal im- this landmark with an exhibition that took a Solkar,with, Bishan SinghisBedi Mohinder Amarportance as the subject experi- year nath. Cricket was at its matter. Having best, as a near-packed How to thecomplete. Talking might have fallen about the devi figmented with weaving and toy-making, he and has ure, adds, “Every artist ahas his recurring Kotla savoured some fierce competition A fewhe years ago, I watching first-class match While for (Pablo) Picasso it was the even witty children’s books, which are leitmotif. both created teams enjoyed staunch support.

But how at Ferozeshah Kotla when the former batting bullfight, for me Amarnath it is this clash between the was one to enter those hallowed grounds? great Mohinder called.

I invited and divine forces.”

I remember jumping across from the adja- dark him to join me at the stadium, which he once Over the lit decades, Subramanyan has becent Ambedkar Stadium, and one up with some fascinating come more knocks. confident in his the use game of colour, of my friends slipping and sufferWatching with moving toward brighter palette, while his ing a fracture. Our friend missed me afrom the pavilion, he said, lines have grown more spontaout on the live action, but we pro“Don’tstronger tell meand you cover this Today theneous. gameBut his interest very in experimenting withI vided him a ball-by-ball account cricket… poor standards. suffers not only while medium uniting thethis modern and the later that day. Thirty years later, can’t believe is domestic from a surfeit of traditional continues inform his work. the joke is that any spectator cricket.” Ato couple of years laterHe he matches but also believes thatwas all growing traditions have a sauntering into the Kotla, or for traversing the country, the shortened growing resilience the ability to innovate. that matter any stadium hosting forcedand to watch domestic cricket formatSome of his have been rea first-class match, will be greeted as ainnovations national selector.

His in views verse glass did painting, examples of which with a garland. not change. abound in this Amarnath recent show. For instance, ‘CouIs it time then to weep for the belongs to a generaple’ is a jocular take on domestic game of cricket? tion for which a domesticdiscord match and wife appear to beof splitFive years ago, the legendary West Indian where was nothusband to be missed at any cost. Some the what isvsinteresting is that they both batsman Brian Lara remarked cricket was a ting duelshairs; — Bombay Delhi or Karnataka vs Delhi the viewer, to the audience to “dying sport”, even as he backed the Twenty20 face — would be the appealing stuff of international gamestheirEven dispute.

What is most tellingcolis format. Lara told Jamaica Observer, “Twenty20 referee manship.

Amarnath’s younger thin notice line of anegative space thatVVS runs down is going to be beneficial for many reasons. The the leagues fall in standards.

Laxman, middle composition, separating the new game has brought in a different specta- the famous for of histhe stirring knocks against formidThe technique involves on tor. Not necessarily the right one… the one couple. able opponents, confessed he painting was “disapside ofwith the glass but displaying who wants to go to the game but doesn’t know one pointed” the drop in qualitythe in other 2012, side. this techwhat happens on the field.” whenByzantine he spent aartists seasonemployed on the domestic cirin the 19th century although it has an olToday the game suffers not only from a sur- nique cuit after retiring from international cricket. in India.

Muchbowling of Tanjore painting feit of matches but also the shortened format. der “Thehistory standards of spin have come

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down,” he said. He was also shocked at the absence of spectators.

With Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara and Graeme Smith leaving the field, there is a profound dearth of classy cricket in the international circuit. They were great because they took the game to a different level, leading by example and setting benchmarks. They played with dignity and won appreciation with their longevity. It is hard to imagine today’s cricketer lasting beyond 10 years given the amount of cricket being played.

Older fans are losing interest with the fall in standards. The aggression with which club cricket is played in India gives the impression of a ‘gang war’ rather than the avowed gentleman’s game. As S Ganesh, a passionate club cricketer says, “This aggression does not transis done technique, dating back to late intousing betterthis cricket in India.”

1600 AD. Domestic cricket has suffered due to poor Subramanyan has also been a professor structuring and planning, as also fleetingand aptaught at Santiniketan’s Kala Bhavan MS pearances by the stars. Mahendra Singhand Dhoni University, He carries thematch influences of has played Baroda. barely one first-class for his Santiniketan that aimedsince to revive a sense of home team, Jharkhand, his internationpride in India’s folk and miniature traditions al debut. and the modern narrative style of the Baroda School, where painters like GulammoEmpty house hammed a contemporary ap‘Two menSheikh brought and a dog’ is how English cricket proach to the Mughal writers often sum upminiatures. the audience on the Paintercircuit.

Indrapramit a student of Subracounty “ManyRoy, football clubs have manyan during the most inmore spectators for’80s, onerecalls gamethe than some spiring of his often the referred to countiesaspect manage in ateacher, year,” wrote seasonas “Four years when KGinSubraed Mani-da, scribe Scyld Berry in ago, The Telegraph 2013. manyan was 86, he was asked up his The reasons ranged from lacktooftouch interest to own muralplay at Santiniketan, he responded mediocre and fans confined indoors by painting it afresh.But When broke his the wet summer. thehe clincher wasleg thelast atyear, we thought it and would slowmatches, him down but traction of football tennis where he a huge mural-sizedhas work for the Inthefinished intensity of competition rarely been dia Art Fair! ThatThe is theInternational spirit that keeps him compromised.

Cricket going athas 90,”failed says Roy. Council to add one decent Test team have earned my living as a teacher of art to “I the eight longtime cricket-playing nations. butThis I would saytoI mind have been moreincident of a student brings a bizarre that than teacher.

The process is less 12, prescriptive took aplace in Mumbai on March 1995. Forand tomer more greatsabout from absorbing India and and the learning West Indies gether with your students — it at is the an endless were playing a one-day match packed process,” says Subramanyan.

He himself Brabourne Stadium.

The sold-out ticketsstudand ied famed painters like Benode Behari longunder queues proved that quality, not just nosMukherjee, Nandalal Bose talgia, was paramount.

Atand the Ramkinkar Wankhede Baij Staat Santiniketan whose works were seminal to dium next door, Bombay was playing Uttar the making IndianTrophy art history. From he Pradesh in of a Ranji semifinal. Baij Sachin learnt the balance of spontaneity and formalTendulkar and Vinod Kambli were part of a ism in painting, whilebatted from BB and run-glut as Bombay inMukherjee one-day style.

Bose he imbibed thenear-empty love for Indian mytholoBut this match saw stands. gyAand literature. rare stage had brought together Viv RiSubramanyan known to doodle as much chards and Kapil is Dev in a not-to-be-missed enas he is known toafter paint.

In this exhibition, we counter six years their retirement.

Today, glimpse of would his spontaneous drawa similarsome venture most likely line fall flat beings the liveliness of a causeinofmonochrome, the surfeit of where such matches on televihopping monkey a birdsuch in flight is captured sion and the Web.or Names as David Gower, in oneDurani fluid and stroke.

Thering confidence Salim or clean Graeme Pollock no bell and surety of thespectators, line can only from among younger manycome of whom years of practice and developed aessee even Gavaskar as aahighly commentator rather thetic than asense. former opening batsman.

New Subramanyan runsisatmainly the Art TodayWorks thereofisKG fan fatigue. Cricket Heritage Delhi, tillatApril watchedGallery, on TV and less the 20. grand stadiums such as Eden Gardens (Kolkata), MA Chidamgeorgina maddox(Chennai), is a Delhi-based art writer Stadibaram Stadium Brabourne

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FILM FATALE

anna mm vetticad

The modern family A few feisty Bollywood daughters and parents are challenging the industry’s patriarchal ways

Now playing Cricket fans watch a Twenty20 match on a television set at a roadside shop in Allahabad ap/rajesh kumar singh

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No line too long The future of Test cricket lies in smaller centres. Here, fans line up for a glimpse of their favourite cricket players in Visakhapatnam cv subrahmanyam

n a season of opinion polls, here’s one of the non-electoral kind. Do you believe a majority of Bollywood stars are from film families? Chances are most of you will um andThe Chinnaswamy say yes. right answerStadium though, is(Bangalore). yes and no.

TheInroar the audience is no longer heard in thisof notoriously nepotistic film industry, the world of domestic cricket, not evenwhile for a there’s a gender angle even to nepotism: Twenty20 match.

Sehwag andHindi Gauit’s true that mostVirender male actors ruling tam Gambhir batted for Delhi in the North cinema today are relatives of producers, direcZone T20 league this April with insiders, practically no tors, actors and other industry most one watching. female actors are not.

Former Testthis skipper Dilip Vengsarkar If you think is a feminist over-readingadof mits, “There isjust a perceptible decline in cricket the scenario, run your eyes through the watching.”

He wasmainstream at his primeBollywood when the derpast fortnight’s reby of Indian domestic cricket, Delhi-Bombay leases and spot the star kids ina each lead cast: match, theDhawan’s most-awaited annualisevent, atdirectorwas David son Varun the hero tracting spectators in the thousands.

As a key of Main Tera Hero; producer Vashu Bhagnani’s batsman, Mumbai with disson JackkyVengsarkar headlinesserved Youngistaan; and Dishkitinction for producer-director 17 seasons. Sometimes team yaoon stars Harryhis Baweja’s son Harman and legendary actor Dharmendra’s son Sunny Deol. Score: film family sons — four, daughters — zero.

Alternatively, consider the male stars in the 30-50 age group who have dominated Bollywood for the past quarter century. Only three — Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar and John Abraham — are rank outsiders. Their contemporaries are Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Ajay Devgn, Saif Ali Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan, Ranbir Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor and Imran Khan, whose lineage needs no introduction. The percentage is dramatically reversed among leading ladies in the same age group, with outsiders (Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla, Manisha Koirala, Preity Zinta, Aishwarya Rai, Vidya Balan, Priyanka Chopra, Katrina Kaif) far exceeding the number of industry daughters (sisters Karisma and Kareena Kapoor, Kajol and cousin Rani Mukerji).

The explanation for this imbalance lies in Bollywood’s male chauvinism. Sanjay Dutt explicitly states that no daughter of the Dutt

Pomp and pompoms Twenty20 has brought in moolah but not merit akhilesh kumar

at IPL. Even a Virender Sehwag feels that a successful stint in IPL may get him a place in the Indian Test team,” he says, adding that in reality, however, success at the IPL does not translate into success in other forms (especially Test cricket), as is evident in the case of players Changing such as roles Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh.

Alia Bhatt Lackisofamong sponsorship for domestic cricket is a the new batch of clearwho indication of where market interests lie. actors The administrators make no effort to attract continue to defy the bias younger generation to cricket venues, gender in Bollywood families even after Tendulkar had advocated “free access” for the student community. When several key players missed training ahead of a crucial contest against Pakistan in the Asia lastdo. month, Gavaskar hadno slammed clan can act in films. Some star parivaars opt Cup always If there had been Karismathem and TV,who’s saying, “India’s workRani ethic been for politically correct public utterances on on Kajol, to say whether andhas Kareena It has let the down. this matter, but Dharmendra — who openly pretty wouldabysmal. have joined films.

If itteam weren’t forThey this notwould practised well seven and there be opposed daughter Esha’s film career — was un- have quartet, the past yearscannot have witfaltered. thehis spectators never complained. ‘optional practice’.” of the blushingBut about conservatism when I inter- something nessed the like arrival of Anil Kapoor’sOne daughter Today,him there are75th no birthday tickets for domestic Rayudu, pleaded the “fatigue viewed on his in 2010.

“Aisi players, Sonam, Ambati Shatrughan Sinha’s daughter Somatches.

Sunil line Dev, mein a veteran cricket defence.

For old-timers, this was unpredictable jahaDelhi ladkon ke liyeoffibhi factor” nakshi,inorhis Mahesh Bhatt and Soni Razdan’s cial says,hai, “Weusme could not recover the ko cost of entirely unacceptable. mushkil bechari bachchiyon kyun daughter Alia? Coming soon is Suniel Shetty’s printing and soanyone it was best makepoor the daughter Cricket fatigue bhejoge? tickets, (Why would sendtotheir Athiya. is a modern invention to degates free.”into But even free access is no thegirls empty forin domestic cricket. daughters a profession which is guaranso diffi- scribe These arestands droplets the ocean, but tee packed stands.

Apart from the players skipper Amolchange Muzumdar, cultfor even for sons?)

Ultimately daughters have But theirformer entry Mumbai still marks a notable from and officials, there no “A one else watching or who 20 years played in 171 to settle down,” he is said, father wants nothearlierover decades, partly because theyfirst-class are not cheering.

Imagine a for batsman completing a matches, in remote venues as Poring but happiness his daughter.

They pliable orsome bechari and partly due such to evolving century with only hislive camp to applaud in mindsets.

Goa and Cuddapah in AP, unconshould settle down, a happy life andhim. work vorim parental Anyone who hasismet Anil vinced.

“If there noyou fatigue when earning according to their husbands (sic).” and Sonam couldis tell he’s far too liberal to Ads ad infinitum through cricket, then there shouldand be Don’t be shocked. After all, our film indus- money keep a daughter in a professional purdah In India, of the no fatigue from playing cricket…

AsLess for spectries are excessive not set incommercialisation Venus or Mars; they’ve she’s far too feisty to follow norms. obvigame hasfrom eroded fanown base.

The incessant tators, they ous havethough matured enough to distinemerged ourthe very genis the spiritedness of advertisements, bad cricketdaughter and goodSonakshi, cricket.” der-prejudiced sponsorship society heredeals on for cricket- guish between Shatrughan’s ers andLike theDharmendra, relentless chatter of “Cricket on an television Earth. most inwho cultivates image of every tradiexpert day” was how the formerfamily BCCI dustry comments families arebefore, fixatedduring on pationalism by discussing The industry is and after notions the game nauseatpresident IS Bindra visualised the triarchal of are “protecting” values, sanskaar and her family’s acutely aware of its ing.

Security concerns and the atfuture Sadly, there daughters who are too “bechari” dignityof in the mostgame. interviews. own culpability with tendant are instead robbingofthe hasAsbeen such overdose thata to take onchecks the world, inI write thisan column, I place Imagine a batsman the casting couch joy of afternoons spent fans to remember the vesting in changing thatrelishing world. quickstruggle call to Sinha Senior, who is completing a ton a match from theisstands. previous day’s results.

The future This industry acutely aware busy in Patna campaigning for with only his camp The disproportionate on of for sure, too of its own culpabilityfocus with the histhe seatgame, in theTest Lokcricket Sabha polls.

On to applaud him cricket also dries upisfunds and lies in small adminiscasting couch.

There also a hypthe drive to ancentres. electionIfrally, Shotviewership for other sports in the into types: gun — as hetrators don’t mend their ocritical categorisation of women is known to colleagues andways the country. instance, insignifand reduce theasnumber of matchif societyFor at large oftenanlabels women as ‘wife press — describes himself Sonakshi’s shield icant playedcouch. in a season, and don’t material’International and ‘girlfriend Lawyers’ material’, for people against the es casting I ask: Would she match (played by portly strug- stop tampering with the format, theher game in the film industry, there isgentlemen the ‘my mother/ have listened if you had commanded not gling to take a single) telecast live while a bleak wife/daughter-type’ whoismust not wear skim- faces to act?

“We’refuture. past the era when parents could there is noor coverage forother chessmen champ Viswa- dictate Twenty20 is being flogged because it brings py clothes romance on screen, terms to children,” he replies.

“You nathan in revenues and younger followers forthem the and theAnand ‘co-startaking type’. on Magnus Carlsen. have to treat them as your friends, guide Ganesh traces predominant position The to signs arecapacity, ominous, though.

AustraRare is the film the family where the baton has game. according their aptitude and qualenjoyed by thefrom gamefather in India the Worldrarer Cup lia and South Africa played a seven-overs-abeen passed totodaughter; ifications.”

Open-minded as Dad clearly is, it victory in 1983.

TV channels and marketingThe gu- side last that March.

It wouldofbethe catastrophstill from mother to child to grandchild. turnsmatch out too Sonakshi lowered rus would—have you believe thather it is the only ic if in they invented thewoman. cost of Samarths Shobhana Samarth, daughters gaze public, is veryTwenty10 much heratown in India.

“One the primary sport Nutanpursued and Tanuja, Nutan’s sonofMohnish Behl common sense, tradition and value. reasons is that with IPL becoming so huge, anna mm vetticad is the author of The Adventures and Tanuja’s daughter Kajol — are exceptions lokapally is deputy editor, sports, The Hindu players areopened interested only beingassuccessful t@annavetticad of an Intrepid Film Critic who have doors to in others, pioneers vijay

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Solo show Jumma Bhai sings of life at sea as he waits for the tide

Day’s end The sea at sunset, its monotones broken by floating scrub

The roadshow Young boys flank Jumma Bhai and his travelling music box

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Blurred boundaries The quality of water and the evening light create wonderful illusions

Fishy affair Catch of the day

Stranded The fishing boats weigh anchor, waiting for the tide

As the tide comes in...

A day in the life of a fisherman in Kutch

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umma Bhai Wagher is a fisherman who lives near Bhadreshwar, in an exceptionally picturesque part of the Gulf of Kutch. When we reach the coast, all the boats near his village look abandoned, mired in mud; there’s no water in sight. But glimmering in the distance is a silver lining — the tide, slowly moving in. Three hours later, the water reaches the boats, unmooring them from the bank as they begin to bounce and bob on its hip.

The sea moves in and out here by more than 7km every day, twice in 24 hours. Once Jumma Bhai and his fellow fishermen are out at sea, they must wait a whole day before they can return. On these long hauls, they sing songs about life at sea — some traditional strains, others on the modern vagaries of fishermen... Several large industries have, for instance, appeared along the coast over the last decade. Jumma Bhai tells us how these industries have affected the daily life of the fishing community, physically obstructing the boats by constructing embankments, polluting the water and disastrously affecting the catch.

anushka meenakshi, iswar srikumar are filmmakers currently working on the Uramili project (uramili.in)

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RIP cricket

When and how did the hallowed sport of cricket become an eyesore, with meaningless matches played in empty grounds?

Master of contrasts KG Subramanyan’s latest exhibition reconfirms his love for contradictions

T Ownsome lonesome Empty spectator stands during a Test match between India and West Indies at Eden Gardens in Kolkata (2011) s subramanium

Bold and beautiful The veteran artist's work combines myth with reality art heritage gallery

he colours bouncing off the walls jocular retellings of the Mahabharat and immediately catch one’s attention Ramayan. on walking into the Art Heritage galWhile his mediums are diverse, his style lery in Delhi. It is only after a closer clearly recalls the confluence of the effects of examination of the burning reds, blazing Modernism on the Indian sensibility. His Faufuchsias and bright indigos that the subjects vist application of colour and expressionistic of the paintings — lively monkeys, decorative lines depart from the traditional folk methods foliage, humans engaged in quotidian acts of prescribed hues and controlled lines. His and fearsome devis — swim into focus. Veteran devi images do not evoke gentle goddesses in artist KG Subramanyan’s work has always domestic bliss. Instead, they tend to be fearthat brandish weapons and ride been distinguished the coming together he searingbyApril heat was hardlyofa some A merefigures 20 off eight balls is hailed as a “great efthe mundane and theThe spiritual. and realdeterrent. biggerMyth question was atop fort”;tigers. two wickets for 20 runs earns the bowler “I have always believed that both the devi ity unite in much of Subramanyan’s work, to as profuse how to enter the grounds. Unable praise. do modernity and traditions. the asura (demon) present in all of us, afford a folk ticket, I looked for an ave- and While it’s true that theare spirited Australia-Enit is the struggle between Astoa sneak painter, sculptor and muralist has and nue into the Ferozeshah Kotla,he where gland Ashes tie continues to these hold two the forces attenlife interesting.

In order for perworked onplaying a range Bombay of mediums Delhi was in afrom RanjiterracotTrophy that tion makes of cricket lovers worldwide, it’sa also ta bas-reliefs and glass to woodcut. Art to grow they experience the push semifinal in late ’70s. To some of us itmaking was no son increasingly clearhave thattothe longer version of according Subramanyan consists not justinof and pull ofhas these twovictim powers,” says Subramaless than ato Test match. The teams included the game fallen to modern attracthe artist’s ideas but Sunil also the mediums he nyan, who just turned 90 and commemorated ternational stars like Gavaskar, Eknath tions such as the T20 even in those countries. works which whyand he gives it equal im- this landmark with an exhibition that took a Solkar,with, Bishan SinghisBedi Mohinder Amarto complete. Talking portance as the subject experi- year nath. Cricket was at its matter. Having best, as a near-packed How the might have fallen about the devi figmented with weaving and toy-making, he and has ure, adds, “Every artist ahas his recurring Kotla savoured some fierce competition A fewhe years ago, I watching first-class match While for (Pablo) Picasso it was the even witty children’s books, which are leitmotif. both created teams enjoyed staunch support.

But how at Ferozeshah Kotla when the former batting bullfight, for me Amarnath it is this clash between the was one to enter those hallowed grounds? great Mohinder called.

I invited and divine forces.”

I remember jumping across from the adja- dark him to join me at the stadium, which he once Over the lit decades, Subramanyan has becent Ambedkar Stadium, and one up with some fascinating come more knocks. confident in his the use game of colour, of my friends slipping and sufferWatching with moving toward brighter palette, while his ing a fracture. Our friend missed me afrom the pavilion, he said, lines have grown more spontaout on the live action, but we pro“Don’tstronger tell meand you cover this Today theneous. game But his interestvery in experimenting withI vided him a ball-by-ball account cricket… poor standards. suffers not only while medium uniting thethis modern and the later that day. Thirty years later, can’t believe is domestic from a surfeit of traditional continues inform his work. the joke is that any spectator cricket.” Ato couple of years later He he matches but also believes thatwas all growing traditions have a sauntering into the Kotla, or for traversing the country, the shortened growing resilience the ability to innovate. that matter any stadium hosting forced and to watch domestic cricket format Some of his have been in rea first-class match, will be greeted as ainnovations national selector.

His views verse glass did painting, examples of which with a garland. not change. abound in this Amarnath recent show. For instance, ‘CouIs it time then to weep for the belongs to a generaple’ is a jocular take on adomestic game of cricket? tion for which domesticdiscord match and wife appear to beofsplitFive years ago, the legendary West Indian where was nothusband to be missed at any cost. Some the what is is that they both batsman Brian Lara remarked cricket was a ting duelshairs; — Bombay vsinteresting Delhi or Karnataka vs Delhi the viewer, to the audience to “dying sport”, even as he backed the Twenty20 face — would be the appealing stuff of international gamestheir dispute.

What is most tellingcolis format. Lara told Jamaica Observer, “Twenty20 referee manship.

Even Amarnath’s younger thinnotice line ofanegative space that runs down is going to be beneficial for many reasons. The the leagues fall in standards.

VVS Laxman, middle of the composition, separating the new game has brought in a different specta- the famous for his stirring knocks against formidThe technique involves on tor. Not necessarily the right one… the one couple. able opponents, confessed he painting was “disapside ofwith the glass but displaying who wants to go to the game but doesn’t know one pointed” the drop in qualitythe in other 2012, side. this techwhat happens on the field.” when Byzantine he spent aartists seasonemployed on the domestic cirin the 19th century although it has an olToday the game suffers not only from a sur- nique cuit after retiring from international cricket. in India.

Muchbowling of Tanjore painting feit of matches but also the shortened format. der “Thehistory standards of spin have come

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down,” he said. He was also shocked at the absence of spectators.

With Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara and Graeme Smith leaving the field, there is a profound dearth of classy cricket in the international circuit. They were great because they took the game to a different level, leading by example and setting benchmarks. They played with dignity and won appreciation with their longevity. It is hard to imagine today’s cricketer lasting beyond 10 years given the amount of cricket being played.

Older fans are losing interest with the fall in standards. The aggression with which club cricket is played in India gives the impression of a ‘gang war’ rather than the avowed gentleman’s game. As S Ganesh, a passionate club cricketer says, “This aggression does not transis done technique, late intousing betterthis cricket in India.”dating back to 1600 AD. Domestic cricket has suffered due to poor Subramanyan has also been a professor structuring and planning, as also fleetingand aptaught at Santiniketan’s Kala Bhavan MS pearances by the stars. Mahendra Singhand Dhoni University, He carries thematch influences of has played Baroda. barely one first-class for his Santiniketan that aimedsince to revive a sense of home team, Jharkhand, his internationpride in India’s folk and miniature traditions al debut. and the modern narrative style of the Baroda School, where painters like GulammoEmpty house hammed a contemporary ap‘Two menSheikh brought and a dog’ is how English cricket proach to the Mughal writers often sum upminiatures. the audience on the Painter Indrapramit a student of Subracounty circuit.

“ManyRoy, football clubs have manyan during the most inmore spectators for’80s, onerecalls game the than some spiring of his often the referred to countiesaspect manage in ateacher, year,” wrote seasonas “Four years when KGinSubraed Mani-da, scribe Scyld Berry in ago, The Telegraph 2013. manyan was ranged 86, he was asked up his The reasons from lacktooftouch interest to own muralplay at Santiniketan, he responded mediocre and fans confined indoors by painting it afresh.But When broke was his leg the wet summer. thehe clincher thelast atyear, we thought it and would slowmatches, him down but traction of football tennis where he a huge mural-sizedhas work for the Inthefinished intensity of competition rarely been dia Art Fair! ThatThe is theInternational spirit that keeps him compromised.

Cricket going athas 90,”failed says Roy. Council to add one decent Test team have earned my living as a teacher of art to “I the eight longtime cricket-playing nations. but I would say have been moreincident of a student This brings toI mind a bizarre that than a teacher.

The process is less 12, prescriptive took place in Mumbai on March 1995. Forand tomer more greatsabout from absorbing India and and the learning West Indies gether with your students — itat is the an endless were playing a one-day match packed process,” says Subramanyan.

He himself Brabourne Stadium.

The sold-out ticketsstudand ied famed painters like Benode Behari longunder queues proved that quality, not just nosMukherjee, Nandalal Bose talgia, was paramount.

Atand the Ramkinkar Wankhede Baij Staat Santiniketan whose works were seminal to dium next door, Bombay was playing Uttar the making IndianTrophy art history. From he Pradesh in aofRanji semifinal. Baij Sachin learnt the balance of spontaneity and formalTendulkar and Vinod Kambli were part of a ism in painting, whilebatted from BB and run-glut as Bombay inMukherjee one-day style.

Bose he imbibed the love for Indian mytholoBut this match saw near-empty stands. gyAand literature. rare stage had brought together Viv RiSubramanyan known to doodle as much chards and Kapil is Dev in a not-to-be-missed enas he is known toafter paint.

In this exhibition, we counter six years their retirement.

Today, glimpse of would his spontaneous lineflat drawa similar some venture most likely fall beings the liveliness of a causeinofmonochrome, the surfeit of where such matches on televihopping monkey a birdsuch in flight is captured sion and the Web. or Names as David Gower, in oneDurani fluid and stroke.

Thering confidence Salim or clean Graeme Pollock no bell and surety of thespectators, line can only from among younger manycome of whom years of practice and developed aessee even Gavaskar as aa highly commentator rather thetic than asense. former opening batsman.

New Works Subramanyan runsisatmainly the Art Today thereofisKG fan fatigue. Cricket Heritage Delhi, tillatApril 20. watchedGallery, on TV and less the grand stadiums such as Eden Gardens (Kolkata), MA Chidamgeorgina maddox(Chennai), is a Delhi-based art writer Stadibaram Stadium Brabourne

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FILM FATALE

anna mm vetticad

The modern family A few feisty Bollywood daughters and parents are challenging the industry’s patriarchal ways

Now playing Cricket fans watch a Twenty20 match on a television set at a roadside shop in Allahabad ap/rajesh kumar singh

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No line too long The future of Test cricket lies in smaller centres. Here, fans line up for a glimpse of their favourite cricket players in Visakhapatnam cv subrahmanyam

n a season of opinion polls, here’s one of the non-electoral kind. Do you believe a majority of Bollywood stars are from film families? Chances are most of you will um andThe Chinnaswamy say yes. right answerStadium though, is(Bangalore). yes and no.

The the audience is no longer heard in Inroar thisof notoriously nepotistic film industry, the world of domestic cricket, not evenwhile for a there’s a gender angle even to nepotism: Twenty20 match.

Sehwag andHindi Gauit’s true that mostVirender male actors ruling tam Gambhir batted for Delhi in the North cinema today are relatives of producers, direcZone T20 league this April with insiders, practically no tors, actors and other industry most one watching. female actors are not.

Former Testthis skipper Dilip Vengsarkar If you think is a feminist over-readingadof mits, “There isjust a perceptible decline in cricket the scenario, run your eyes through the watching.”

He wasmainstream at his primeBollywood when the derpast fortnight’s reby of Indian domestic cricket, Delhi-Bombay leases and spot the star kids ina each lead cast: match, theDhawan’s most-awaited annualisevent, atdirectorwas David son Varun the hero tracting spectators in the thousands.

As a key of Main Tera Hero; producer Vashu Bhagnani’s batsman, Mumbai with disson JackkyVengsarkar headlines served Youngistaan; and Dishkitinction forproducer-director 17 seasons. Sometimes team yaoon stars Harry his Baweja’s son Harman and legendary actor Dharmendra’s son Sunny Deol. Score: film family sons — four, daughters — zero.

Alternatively, consider the male stars in the 30-50 age group who have dominated Bollywood for the past quarter century. Only three — Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar and John Abraham — are rank outsiders. Their contemporaries are Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Ajay Devgn, Saif Ali Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan, Ranbir Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor and Imran Khan, whose lineage needs no introduction. The percentage is dramatically reversed among leading ladies in the same age group, with outsiders (Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla, Manisha Koirala, Preity Zinta, Aishwarya Rai, Vidya Balan, Priyanka Chopra, Katrina Kaif) far exceeding the number of industry daughters (sisters Karisma and Kareena Kapoor, Kajol and cousin Rani Mukerji).

The explanation for this imbalance lies in Bollywood’s male chauvinism. Sanjay Dutt explicitly states that no daughter of the Dutt

Pomp and pompoms Twenty20 has brought in moolah but not merit akhilesh kumar

at IPL. Even a Virender Sehwag feels that a successful stint in IPL may get him a place in the Indian Test team,” he says, adding that in reality, however, success at the IPL does not translate into success in other forms (especially Test cricket), as is evident in the case of players Changing such asroles Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh.

Alia Bhatt Lackisofamong sponsorship for domestic cricket is a the new batch of clearwho indication of where market interests lie. actors The administrators make no effort to attract continue to defy the bias younger generation to cricket venues, gender in Bollywood families even after Tendulkar had advocated “free access” for the student community. When several key players missed training ahead of a crucial contest against Pakistan in the Asia lastdo. month, Gavaskar hadno slammed clan can act in films. Some star parivaars opt Cup always If there had been Karismathem and TV,who’s saying, “India’s work ethic been for politically correct public utterances on on Kajol, to say whether Rani andhas Kareena It has let the down. this matter, but Dharmendra — who openly pretty would abysmal. have joined films.

If itteam weren’t forThey this notwould practised well seven and there be opposed daughter Esha’s film career — was un- have quartet, the past yearscannot have witfaltered. thehis spectators never when complained. ‘optional of the blushingBut about conservatism I inter- something nessed the like arrival of Anilpractice’.”

Kapoor’sOne daughter Today,him there are75th no birthday tickets for domestic Rayudu, pleaded the “fatigue viewed on his in 2010.

“Aisi players, Sonam, Ambati Shatrughan Sinha’s daughter Somatches.

Sunil line Dev, mein a veteran cricket defence.

For old-timers, this was unpredictable jahaDelhi ladkon ke liyeoffibhi factor” nakshi,in orhis Mahesh Bhatt and Soni Razdan’s cial says,hai, “We could not recover the ko cost of entirely mushkil usme bechari bachchiyon kyun daughterunacceptable.

Alia? Coming soon is Suniel Shetty’s printing and soanyone it was best makepoor the daughter Cricket Athiya. fatigue is a modern invention to debhejoge? tickets, (Why would sendtotheir gates free.”into But even free access is no thegirls empty forin domestic cricket. daughters a profession which is guaranso diffi- scribe These are stands droplets the ocean, but tee packed stands.

Apart from the players skipper Amolchange Muzumdar, cultfor even for sons?)

Ultimately daughters have But theirformer entry Mumbai still marks a notable from and officials, there is no “A one else watching or who 20 years played in 171 to settle down,” he said, father wants nothearlierover decades, partly because theyfirst-class are not cheering.

Imagine a for batsman completing in remote venues as Poring but happiness his daughter.

Theya matches, pliable orsome bechari and partly due such to evolving century with only hislive camp to applaud in mindsets.

Goa and Cuddapah in AP, unconshould settle down, a happy life andhim. work vorim parental Anyone who hasismet Anil vinced.

“If there fatigue when earning according to their husbands (sic).” and Sonam could is tellno you he’s far too liberal to Ads ad infinitum through cricket, then there shouldand be Don’t be shocked. After all, our film indus- money keep a daughter in a professional purdah In India, of the no fatigue from playing cricket…

AsLess for spectries are excessive not set incommercialisation Venus or Mars; they’ve she’s far too feisty to follow norms. obvigame hasfrom eroded fan base.

The incessant tators, they ous havethough matured enough to distinemerged ourthe very own genis the spiritedness of advertisements, sponsorship bad cricketdaughter and goodSonakshi, cricket.” der-prejudiced society heredeals on for cricket- guish between Shatrughan’s ers and theDharmendra, relentless chatter of “Cricket on an television every Earth.

Like most inwho cultivates image of tradiexpert day” was how the formerfamily BCCI dustry comments families arebefore, fixatedduring on pationalism by discussing The industry is and after notions the game nauseatpresident IS Bindra the triarchal of are “protecting” values, sanskaar andvisualised her family’s acutely aware of its ing.

Security concerns and the atfuture Sadly, there daughters who are too “bechari” dignityof in the mostgame. interviews. own culpability with tendant are instead robbingofthe hasAsbeen such overdose thata to take onchecks the world, inI write thisan column, I place Imagine a batsman the casting couch joy of afternoons spent fans to remember vesting in changing thatrelishing world. quickstruggle call to Sinha Senior, whothe is completing a ton a match from theisstands. previous day’s results.

The future This industry acutely aware busy in Patna campaigning for with only his camp disproportionate on of for sure, tooThe of its own culpabilityfocus with the histhe seatgame, in theTest Lokcricket Sabha polls.

On to applaud him cricket also dries upis funds and lies in small adminiscasting couch.

There also a hypthe drive to ancentres. electionIfrally, Shotviewership for other sports in the into types: gun — as hetrators don’t mend their ocritical categorisation of women is known to colleagues andways the country. instance, insignifand reduce the of matchif societyFor at large oftenanlabels women as ‘wife press — describes himself asnumber Sonakshi’s shield icant playedcouch. in a season, and don’t material’International and ‘girlfriend Lawyers’ material’, for people against the es casting I ask: Would she match (played by portly strug- stop tampering with the format, theher game in the film industry, there isgentlemen the ‘my mother/ have listened if you had commanded not gling to take a single) telecast live while bleak future. wife/daughter-type’ whoismust not wear skim- faces to act?a “We’re past the era when parents could there is noor coverage forother chessmen champ Viswa- dictate Twenty20 is being flogged because it brings py clothes romance on screen, terms to children,” he replies.

“You nathan in revenues and younger followers forthem the and theAnand ‘co-startaking type’. on Magnus Carlsen. have to treat them as your friends, guide Ganesh traces predominant position The to signs are ominous, though.

AustraRare is the film the family where the baton has game. according their capacity, aptitude and qualenjoyed by thefrom gamefather in India the Worldrarer Cup lia and South Africa played a seven-overs-abeen passed to to daughter; ifications.”

Open-minded as Dad clearly is, it victory in 1983.

TV channels and marketingThe gu- side last that March.

It wouldofbethe catastrophstill from mother to child to grandchild. turnsmatch out too Sonakshi lowered rus would—have you believe thather it is the only ic if in they invented thewoman. cost of Samarths Shobhana Samarth, daughters gaze public, is veryTwenty10 much heratown in India.

“One the primary sport Nutanpursued and Tanuja, Nutan’s sonofMohnish Behl common sense, tradition and value. reasons is that with IPL becoming so huge, anna mm vetticad is the author of The Adventures and Tanuja’s daughter Kajol — are exceptions lokapally is deputy editor, sports, The Hindu players areopened interested only beingassuccessful t@annavetticad of an Intrepid Film Critic who have doors to in others, pioneers vijay

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Germany in Cuddalore

An autobiographical movie that shows we are not so different, after all

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hat happens when a damsel from Bavaria and a gent from Cuddalore meet, fall in love, and then make their parents meet? While a clash of cultures is assured, lots of laughter and tender moments also ensue.

Franziska Schönenberger and Jayakrishnan Subramanian, a filmmaker and artist couple who met in Mumbai, chronicle this journey from ‘otherness’ to ‘happily ever after’ in Amma & Appa, a documentary which premiered at the recent Berlinale. Shot in German, Tamil and English, the film tells the story of Schö-

nenberger’s parents first meeting with the Subramanians in Cuddalore. From the difficulty that the German couple face while trying to eat with their hands to the bemusement of the Tamil couple when they taste their counterparts’ food. As the filmmaker-couple say, the film is a “humorous and sensitive exploration of the biographies and love stories of all the three couples, who are so different, but only at first glance.”

looked at their faces. But after they started laughing I felt most relieved. But now the film has a chance of being released in cinemas in Germany, so my father said recently that if he had known better, he would have given it a second thought.

Jay My parents initially refused to watch the film, as they thought we made fun of them, but later when they saw the film and realised that all their complaints and concerns were represented in a graceful manner, they were happy. They keep asking me when they can see the film on the ‘big screen’.

How did it feel to be the subjects of your own documentary?

All smile A still from Amma & Appa Franziska Being one’s own subject was not that difficult. I try to convince other people to Was there a similar clash of cultures when speak in front of my camera as a documentary you guys met? filmmaker and they share their innermost Franziska Yes, definitely. In the beginning, I feelings with me. A filmmaker should be able had a problem eating with my hands or using to be in front of the camera, like her other ‘vic- an Indian toilet. And although Jay is from tims’. I thought, why not start with my own South India I prefer North Indian dishes. Even story before trying to tell other people’s sto- before I knew Jay I was travelling in India but ries. But now when I see myself on the screen I mostly in the North. I even tried to learn some Hindi and Indian dishes. But Jay wasn’t imfeel a bit embarrassed.

Jay It was difficult for me to put myself in pressed that I knew how to make chapatis or CHOWDHURY is of Hindi Even my knowledge front of the camera, but I think it made it palak paneer. SHOVON chief Truthdigger and author when I met his parents, I had much easier for my parents when we were also didn’t help at all; of The Competent Authority front and centre. By the end of it, we all forgot to learn Tamil.

Jay I don’t like to plan ahead, but Germans the camera completely. will stress even a holiday.

They structure I have to fear is hard-boiled lighter vein’. over The Election Commission has feel a little intimidated by the flowing requested them. I don’t How did your parents react to thethey film? their leisure We both have different him bytime. ‘accepting apology’. locks of Papa CJ. I adjust my own hair think anyone was arrested.” eggs. Sometimes pour punished Franziska My parents saw finished film on- rhythms of life. wish to reach resonance. in the reflection of his impossibly shi“But the same man did beer on mythe head.”

Capitalising on Ithis success, hisa National ly at the Berlinale.Papa During screening, I sat Comedy Tour will start after the elections, CJ isthe not alone. The ny shoes. His chest is slightly concave throw a flowerpot at Kapil sibicover arasu next to my mother and father and 16 towns in Maharashtra, along announcement of constantly the Na- and from the impact of women who constantly Sibal in 2013,” I say, hoping tional Comedy Tour by Pa- with three in Switzerland. The leader will be throw themselves at him. The veteran co- to cheer him up. “He missed war has led to widespread accompanied by his nephew, who will permedian is depressed. I detect a hint of tears by just a few inches.” behind his spectacles. “I knew this day “That’s true,” he says, depression amongst the na- form magic tricks, including a personal vertion’s comedians. The tall sion of magician PC Sorcar’s famous ‘Water would come,” he says, “Politicians are get- brightening considerably, leader of Maharashtra took of India’, in which an empty glass keeps ting into everything. Cricket. Cinema. Tea. “His accuracy is improving.

Airlines. Ayurvedic medicine. Boxing. Big You can’t keep a good man this novel decision after the magically refilling itself. The NCP will also success of his recent come- be changing its name to the National ComeBoss. Why should comedy be any different? down. After all, he is an adBut why did it have to be Sharad Pawar? mirer of Bhagat Singh. But dy routine at a rally in Mum- dy Party, with the slogan, ‘A smile on every bai, where he urged his face… or we’ll come to your house.’

Who can compete with him? After that man all of us can’t be brave like A girl rushes past me and tries to leap on Harvinder Singh slapped him on November him. I’m averse to physical pain. If Pawar’s supporters to vote in Mumbai, wipe the ink hree years ago, when 39-year-old Gupta, grew up on a Papa CJ.brought He remains in gloom.

Hecine24, 2011, he was beaten up in Delhi in De- followers demand that I tellwriter-director bad jokes, I’m offThe their fingers, and votewho again in Satara. films in a sunken revolution in Indian Manish wrote Rahasya, he vi- healthy of Agatha novels, says pushes herIaway listlessly.by “Leave me alone,” cember, January, February. The police re- going to agree Gupta instantly.

In fact, I’m thinkOn beingdiet questioned byChristie the Election Comma and was affected it,” says Gupta, who sualised filmUK, towhere be a the murder inspired to write Rahafused to file any cases, until local papers ing of going backthe to the most murder mission,mysteries he revealed that hehim meant this ‘in a hehas says, “I’m yesterday’s news.” also directed Darna Zaroori Hai (2006). mystery that the audience could re- sya. But even before the film’s release, Rajesh Confident about the director’s style, the cast late to. What he hadn’t visualised was the con- and Nupur Talwar, who are serving a life sen- has no reservations about Rahasya. “The story troversy and being mired in a legal hurdle. tence for the murder of their daughter Aa- is very interesting. That’s why I agreed. There Dear Mani, Rahasya revolves around urban couple in rushi, feel that the movie is based on them. might be one or two similarities with the case, In our dreams, all of us are an Rajinikanth.

Mumbai and their teenaged daughter, This is nothing unusual. The beauty of who is The producer, UVI Film, got a notice from the but it’s a completely fictionalised murder murdered in her sleep.

Suspicion and allega- Bombay High Court after the Talwars filed a mystery,” says Chopra, who essays the role of Rajnikanth is that he is still Rajnikanth tions quickly fall on the father. petition alleging that the movie would paint the mother.

Whodunit Writer-director Manish Gupta when he is awake. However your quesis inspired by Ram Gopal Varma’s films them in the wrong light and be defamatory.

Ashish Vidyarthi plays the father and is untion is very poorly framed, perhaps due Gupta doesn’t think so. “I wrote it almost perturbed by the petition, saying, “In most to lack of sleep. Is it that you prefer not three years ago. The judgment was passed last murder cases, the obvious suspects are the to wake up? Then the key question is, year.asanti’s It is fiction no resemblance to any near dear. This is nothing new. It’s a whoeyes with are like limpid pools.

Unless theand Congress revives its cow-and-calf do you dream when unconscious? If so, real character,” he says.

He argues that his film dunit plot with many twists and turns.”

Through them you can see the gentle symbol, later replaced by the hand. Apparentyou could position a loved one with a focuses on a Central Bureau of Investigation Gupta admits that he followed the Aarushi Busoul within. I can understand Gangu ly, they almost chose an elephant, because cricket bat close to your bed. He or she (CBI)Ram’s officer who investigates solves the Talwargotmurder casebetween very closely ta Singh confused haath through and affection for her as and he stands can then tap you firmly whenever it Guptaher evenneck made several She tripsseems to the CBI newspapers and TV, Rao but insists the everyfilm’s plot haathi, until Narasimha explained there,case. nuzzling lovingly. seems like you are waking up. In this office in Mumbai to help him flesh out the is his own.

Having started his Bollywood like a fine, upstanding citizen, although in this thing. No doubt, surveys will soon be conduct- caway you can maximise your time spent of theon CBI officer, as the writer of preferences.

Sarkar (2005),That’s he is no ed toreer investigate bovine case, character she is standing four legs.played by Kay Kay as Rajnikanth.

Menon.

Also starring Tisca Chopra, Ashish Vistranger to controversy, as people quickly “The social composition of our state is when things will become clearer. Overall, Alternatively, perhaps you are asking dyarthi,says Mita Vashisht and Ashwini Kalsekar, parallelswill between the lead character Ally Subramaniam was born in the southchanging,” village pradhan Gangu Ram, somedrew adjustment be required.

I foresee ‘Sarhow you can possibly get through your theBasanti’s murder mystery film has beenpeople cleared by kar’ and the Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray. west Sundarbans, but was blown away problems getting them into polling booths, patting head, “Many young waking hours, knowing that you are the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

“We are not inhuman to cash on to such a by a cyclone and washed up on the shore have turned 18, and become old enough to for example. Also, once they have the in right not Rajnikanth. I find that nachos help. near Chennai. He was adopted by a poor Gupta is known for making films inspired sensitive case.

We completely understand vote, how long before some of them decide to vote.

In Haryana, only 30 per cent of them are Large quantities of cheap alcohol could Brahmin family from Tirupur. He can headlines.

TheWe Stoneman Murdersthis (2009) the Talwar family is they going through. fightwhat elections?

Eventually, will not aspire We girls.by Society is in peril. need to correct also be a solution. I am suggesting answer all your questions at was based onbuffalos serial killings that shocked Bomnever intended to hurt their feelings,” Gupta to ministerial positions? imbalance.

If our are allowed to vote, cheap alcohol because you must not be askallysubramaniam@gmail.com baymake in the ’80s,Itand (2011)adealt “Aren’t says, you adding that controversies will may not stop afraid that one day a buffalo we can upearly the gap. willHostel also mean working much, given your sleep schedwith the terrors of ragging. him from broaching realistic subjects. ear Ally, In my dreams, some- ule. Whichever path you choose, you proper representation of our village society.” become a minister?” I ask. Gangu Ram laughsAs he An nods engineering Gupta awaits the court Basanti’s verdict, flank.

GuptaBasanti hopes the times I’m Rajnikanth. Then I must remember one thing. Being Rajuproariously, slapping Basanti her head.graduate, She seems to likesays the Ram Gopal Varma’s Company (2002) prompted him cloud over Rahasya will clear and the film will wake up. Help! idea of enfranchisement. I imagine she will eyes him indulgently, chewing. nikanth is a heavy responsibility. You to switch from advertising to films.

“I can nevreach its audience.

Regards, Mani, Tirunelveli “We’ve had that for years,” he says. vote for the BJP, given their position on cows. must never treat it lightly. er relate to the Sooraj Barjatya or Karan Johar The Investigator is a fortnightly round-up of all things droll and newsy. All views are personal. Really personal t@shovonc style of making films. But Ram Gopal Varma’s sarbani sen is a Delhi-based freelance journalist

SHARAD PAWAR ANNOUNCES NATIONAL COMEDY TOUR!

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Fact or fiction

Manish Gupta protests that his thriller is not based on Delhi’s infamous double murder

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HARYANA KHAP DEMANDS VOTE FOR BUFFALOES!

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Hoskins' anger is palpable, but the book is far from a diatribe. It meticulously documents the history and current state of the fashion industry’s many insalubrious facets. Hoskins is quick to debunk the myth that it is just the low-end cheap brands that are guilty of abuses, pointing out the dependence of luxury brands on their own mass-market goods — sunglasses and t-shirts, for example — that make its brands affordable to the ordinary person. “Why discuss only the pollution caused by high street brands in China when “It bags” are made in the factory next door?” she asks.

Hoskins approaches the industry from an anti-capitalist perspective, but even for those who don’t share her worldview her book offers much that is interesting and disturbing. A recurrent theme is the extent to which the fashion industry seems to get away with things that would be deemed unacceptable in any other walk of life. She examines just how much the fashion media must kowtow to the industry it is meant to critique and cover. She does a quick survey of several magazines Fashion reinforces and finds startling tallies between racism, sexism, the number of ads for a particular gender stereotypes, brand and the brands featured in class and unequal stories. If the notion of paid-for power relations news hasthe outraged us so much, Keeping how does fashion get away with it voters sweet Political offerings at routinely and across the globe? a sweet shop in Other issues include fashion jourKolkata pti/swapan nalism’s treatment of poverty (Vogue India’s mahapatra notorious 2008 ‘slum-dweller’ shoot) and use of children (fashion pages thrive on images of under-16 models). ndian politics is a strange beast. I just least internally coherent. The political parties ing pursued here: Indian politics is about paHer analysis of the environmental impact completed an online politics quiz that in India, in contrast, are all over the map. If tronage, about mustering up enough votes to of the industry makes worrying reading. In promised to tell me which party I should you cut-paste paragraphs from the party man- get to power; and rewarding those who got China, for example, a study found the textile vote for based on issues. I answered ques- ifestos and submit me to a blind test on who you in. industry to be the third worst water polluter tions on economics, foreign policy, healthcare said what, I’d surely fail. (The fault wouldn’t be Our two main parties are an abomination. out of 39. “Of all the industries, who’d have and brands of dog food to be told that I sup- mine.) And if we ignore rhetoric and examine The Congress is an empty shell devoid of bethought it would be fashion?” exclaimed Hosported 81 per cent, 78 per cent and 68 per cent the behaviour of the parties when in power, lief, and tied up in a feudalism that has kins, who hopes to leave her readers with a respectively of the main three parties’ posi- whether at the centre or state level, the differ- harmed our nation and made Modi possible. greater awareness of such facts. tions. In truth, I am repulsed by Indian politics ence between them is negligible. If the BJP is (India would have been a better place if KamaWhile many of us have probably long nurs— but that finding is not as absurd as it seems. against free markets (witness their stand on la Nehru had had a headache all of February ed a sense of unease about aspects of the inHow does one think about Indian politics? FDI in retail), the Congress has always been an 1917.) The BJP has its roots in a religious outfit dustry, fashion — with its beautiful products In Arnold Kling’s excellent book The Three Lan- enemy of free speech (they banned The Satanic in which grown men show how macho they and ability to make us hanker after them — guages of Politics, he argues that American poli- Verses). Who is left and who is right? are by doing PT drills in khaki knickers, still somehow manages to distance itself from tics revolves around “three dominant There are two factors that shape politics in though I believe their leader is more in thrall its ugly, on-the-ground realities. “I want peoheuristics (oppressor-oppressed, civilisation- India. One is the nature and structure of gov- of Mukesh Ambani than Veer Savarkar. Hinple, when they wear clothes, to be aware of the barbarism, freedom-coercion).” Progressives ernment. Ours is far more powerful than it dutva is just a political tool. Offer Modi a story behind them, the garment workers who look at the world through the prism of oppres- should be, with an excess of discretionary chance to rule in hell or serve in heaven, and made them, the chemicals that went into sion, conservatives through that of Western power over the common man. We are worse he’ll choose hell. Power is the only religion. them,” she says. civilisational values being under threat, and off under our government, reAAP might appear to be an exThe book concludes that little will change for libertarians, individual freedom is para- gardless of which party is in ception to this — but is it really? It under the current economic system, but does mount. These three ‘tribes’ have their own po- charge, than we were under the defines itself mainly in opposifind some cause for optimism, highlighting litical language which usually just serves the British. Our government is effection to others — ‘politicians are Politics is toindustry changes that have resulted from colpurpose of talking past others, who they typi- tively set up not to serve us, but to bad, we’re the common man, vote governance what lective action. These include the Bangladesh cally regard as ‘unreasonable’. They frequently rule us — and to extract hafta. for us’ — but what exactly do they courtship is to Accord, a legally binding set of health and engage in ‘motivated reasoning’ — parsing the Think of political parties as rival stand for? How do you reconcile a marriage safety requirements agreed upon by some of facts for only those that support the conclu- mafia gangs fighting for the right party that brings together hat links Rana Plaza, the eight- paigns, including the Campaign for Nuclear the world’s biggest clothing brands in resions they’ve already reached — instead of to loot us for five years. strange bedfellows such as Kumar storey building in Dhaka that Disarmament, and Hyderabad-based Prajwa- sponse to the horrific events at Rana Plaza. ‘constructive reasoning’, analysing the facts The second factor shaping our Vishwas and Medha Patkar, Meera collapsed just under a year la, which works against trafficking, admits en- Hoskins also points to a recently launched on their own merit to try and arrive at the politics is the nature of our electoSanyal and Prashant Bhushan? Arago killing over 1,100 garment joying clothes. “I get a lot of pleasure out of union for fashion models in the UK, which truth. Kling argues that the political space in rate. Most of our politics is local; and all of it is vind Kejriwal correctly focussed on a huge workers, to Linkenholt, a dreamy village in the fashion and design — I don’t think I’d have aims to improve workplace conditions and America is getting more and more polarised tribal. Our tribes aren’t formed around ideas problem in India — corruption — but came up British countryside bought lock, stock and been able to write the book if I didn’t,” she rights. As she notes, this is particularly imporbecause these three tribes just can’t talk to or ideologies, but around identity. (Caste and with a solution that would make it worse. (Incricket pitch by Swedish retail billionaire Ste- says. “But if you love something you want it to tant given the number of children working in each other anymore. religion, mainly, in that order.) And the art of stead of reducing the discretionary power of fan Persson? They both form part of the story be as good as it can be.” the industry.

Now, in a superficial sense, it might seem Indian politics is creating and sustaining vote government, the root cause of corruption, he of fashion, a $1.5 trillion global industry The fashion industry Hoskins portrays is a Hoskins is adamant in her opposition to the that these heuristics are relevant to Indian pol- banks out of these many disparate tribes. The wants to add an extra layer of discretion which, though one of the most toxic and de- long way from that. “Fashion reinforces rac- notion that buying so-called ethical clothing itics. The BJP, with its religious nationalism, alleged pseudo-secularism of the Congress, through Jan Lokpal.) They’re an outstanding structive, is also one of the least scrutinised in ism, sexism, gender stereotypes, class and un- can make a difference. “I am sick of the narramight seem like our version of American con- for example, is a result of their wooing minor- political start-up, but politics is to governance its totality, argues Tansy E Hoskins, the author equal power relations,” concludes Stitched Up. tive that we can change things by shopping servatism. The Congress, from Jawaharlal Neh- ity vote banks. The rise of BJP in Gujarat in the what courtship is to marriage, and we all saw of recently published Stitched Up: The Anti-Cap- “Fashion seriously exploits its impoverished differently,” she says, arguing that this perpetru’s Fabian socialism to Indira Gandhi’s ‘Garibi late ’80s and ’90s was partly because the Patels how they behaved in Delhi. italist Book of Fashion. workers and its customers. It pushes the value uates the myth that it’s individuals, and parHatao’ to Rahul Gandhi’s vacuous social wel- and Brahmins came into the BJP fold as a backOne remarkable thing about these elections A casual observer would not take Hoskins of wealth and greed and promotes body inse- ticularly the poorest consumers in society, fare talk, might seem to fall into the progres- lash to the Congress masterplan of consolidat- is that it seems to have shaken the young, the for what she is: a vehement critic of the fash- curity and dissatisfaction… In an industry who are to blame. “I have clothes from Zara sive camp. Local political commentators have ing their KHAM vote bank (Kshatriya, Harijan, urban, the middle-class out of apathy. I can’t ion industry. When we met at Goldsmith’s Col- that sells itself as a promoter of individuality, and H&M, but I know what I am putting on,” long been used to analysing Indian politics in Adivasi, Muslim) with the help of reservations. say the same for myself. It’s going to be a long, lege in South London, where she was about to the reality is one of conformity, with billions she says. “I carry around the stories of the peoterms of ‘left’ and ‘right’. This is misplaced.

The Ram Janmabhoomi movement, a political hot summer, and I’d like some lemonade. give a talk, she was strikingly dressed in a of pieces of trend-based clothing churned out ple who made them. I don’t want to disconIn America, while the beliefs of each side masterstroke, finished off what was left of the bright pink coat and quirky black boots, with each year and sent to identikit stores from Bir- nect from that.” might seem idiotic to the other, they are at KHAM alliance. There are no higher ideals be- t@amitvarma a large faux leopard skin coat to hand. Hos- mingham to Bangkok, with magazines on difkins, who has worked on a number of cam- ferent continents promoting the same styles.” vidya ram

Faux coat Author Tansy E Hoskins is a criticLIGHTHOUSE and a fan of the fashion world vidya ram

The language of Indian politics There is no Left or Right in our politics today. Only the lust for power

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Clothes make the man

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A vehement critique of the history and current state of the fashion industry worldwide

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Stitched Up: The Anti-Capitalist Book of Fashion Tansy E Hoskins Pluto Press Non-fiction ₹1,500 (approx.)

Amit Varma is a novelist. He blogs at indiauncut.com

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Grace period Jawaharlal Nehru astride a horse in his trademark achkan hindu

Triumph

photo archives

A book that makes up in spirit what it lacks in style

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f Shivani Gupta is anything like the protagonist of her autobiographical novel — a fiercely independent and a proud tetraplegic — she’d be offended if her book was judged not on merit but as a feat that defies disability.

So it must be said that the book is good, just not well-written. But what No Looking Back lacks in technique and style, it makes up in spirit. The sheer enormity of the tragedies that unspool in the life of Chots — 22 years old when an accident first leaves her wheelchair-bound and dependent on a personal carer — is powerful enough to propel the narrative forward. One that is peopled at all times by friends and family, some of whom stay by her side right till the epilogue.

As with all autobiographies, however, disregarding the liminal space between truth and overemphasis can render a good story into a laboured one. And one wishes, when too many characters crowd a frame or too many sentences are spent on mapping a moment emotionally, that the Bright ideas publisher had choNarendra Modi’s sen a better editor neon-green kurta for the job. and saffron Among the bestwaistcoat is offset known accessibility

by Rajnath Singh’s ‘politically correct’ consultants in the B&W ensemble at country today, GupBahraich, UP ta has had a diffiarunangshu roy chowdhury cult life — marked No Looking Back not just by the chalA true story lenges of a spinal Shivani Gupta injury in the early Rupa Non-fiction ’90s, when informa₹295 tion and sensitivity towards issues of disability were scarce, but also by a greater personal loss. A second accident, days after her wedding, which she survives and her long-time partner doesn’t, mires her in grief yet again. Their relationship, having finally overcome dilemmas bred by personal ambitions and self-doubt, and surmounting resistance from the family of her able-bodied paramedic spouse, seven years her junior, is brought to a cruel, abrupt end.

Theirs was a marriage of equals, mirrored best, perhaps, by an incident in Paris. Stranded at a subway station near the Eiffel Tower without a lift or a ramp, Vikas had to lift his then girlfriend and her wheelchair up a steep flight of steps without any help (no one came forward). They are left fuming and embarrassed. But when they finally reach the top of the monument of love, “Being there together was all that mattered,” she says. A rude surprise in a ‘developed nation’, it also leads Chots and Vikas to their final vocation — improving accessibility in public spaces. One that she continues to go the distance for.

Read this book, if the true stories in your Reader’s Digests are dog-eared.

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When two become one

Will it be a love story or a boxing match? How will the Random-Penguin merger play out on bookshelves and in boardrooms?

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he big merger is done. The important question now that Random House and Penguin are one is this: what happens to the competing imprints? Of course, since the publishing company is now part of the extremely corporatised Bertlesmann — versus the more ‘literary’ Pearson — all decisions will probably be taken at the global headquarters. (A minor cause for alarm: on Sunday, April 6, the Bertlesmann website listed 1745 Broadway, New York, as the world headquarters of Penguin Random House.) But here in India, publisher Chiki Sarkar and editorial director Meru Gokhale will have to grapple with the problem of resolving the obvious conflicts between Hamish Hamilton (contributed by the erstwhile Penguin) and Vintage (from the former Random House), since they both focus on literary fiction and non-fiction. Will existing authors be kept with their respective imprints? What of new authors and new books being signed up?

Likewise, when it comes to commercial fiction, editorial director Milee Aishwarya will have to work out a balance between Penguin’s Metro Reads and Random House’s Ebury. There is also the matter of choosing between Viking and Penguin Classics for, well, classics. Will the Bertlesmann factor — the conglomerate bought Random House in 1998 — make the Random House imprints prevail over Penguin’s?

Interestingly, although Penguin India was much larger than Random House India in terms of sales and profits, it is mostly the RHI people who are in the senior-most positions. Penguin Random House CEO Gaurav Shrinagesh was the CEO of RHI, for instance, and both Gokhale and Aishwarya were with RHI too, running the literary and commercial imprints, respectively. And Sarkar herself was the editorial head at RHI till she joined Penguin India as publisher. Along with Sarkar, the other Penguin India representatives in the top leadership are the new head of children’s books, Hemali Sodhi — who was earlier head of marketing — and head of sales Ananth Padmanabhan. As Gokhale relocates to India from London, the answers should be evident soon.

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Measuring up mantriji R Who cuts the cloth for our top politicians? Meet the men who define power dressing and the personal style of our netas

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hanges are afoot elsewhere too — physically close to the new Penguin Random House office in Gurgaon. Also in Gurgaon, Hachette is seeing off Nandita Aggarwal, who has been its editorial di-

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hrice a month, Madhav Agasti flies restricted to attires for special occasions,” says of YodaChauhan, Press and the indie bookstore rector sinceto theDelhi inception of the compato meet political bigwigs. who sells 18,000 Yo‘Modi Kurtas’ dakin, which, sadly,every had to close down — ny. Aggarwal’s place ofwill taken by and Members thebe ruling alliance across India year.

Saikia and Manish Purohit. The Poulomi Chatterjee, who has also give beenhimManas the opposition readily an idea is to enablestripes authors to publish their with Hachette India thetobeginning. audience.

From LKsince Advani Farooq Abdullah Maratha own books with packaging, de- Bal ThackeThe switchover willtocome into effecthe from and Praful Patel Sharad Yadav, has access Much likeeditorial, Modi, Shiv Sena founder sign, distribution andhas marketing August 1. Chatterjee hasin athe formidable to the high and mighty power corridors. ray’s style too changedservicover time. Agasti es fromwas thethe company.

Unlike fly-by-night task competing nottape just and withfabric the samTheahead, humble measuring one who brought Thackeray out of his in the same game, Authors Up- and shawl, combined strength the cross-Gurgaon ples — the tools ofofhis trade — opens theseoperators inblack sherwani and into a kurta front, currently four titles old, could rivals but also withto signing blockbusfluential doors him. up Agasti is the man which endeared the right-wing regional leadprobably give competition to Par-“I used to get terbehind local authors, an area wherejackets Hachette the three-buttoned of Advani er to thesome masses in Maharashtra. tridge, coloured which shawls is Penguin has not had as much success as others. and the khadi kurtas that Bihar chief minister made forRandom him from Kashmir.

House’s self-publishing business.

Its lat- thick linNitish Kumar unfailingly sports.

For kurtas, he preferred ublishers areinunusually happy Wars Crony CapitalMiles away Ahmedabad, Bi- with est publication, Gasens in — white and off-white,” Agasti election season. by store, journalist pin Chauhan hasIf book-buyers secured therepre- ism and the Ambanis, says. His Madhav’s Men’s sented votingrights choices, may well trademark forthe theAam half-Aadmi Paranjoy Guha Thakurta Modes,etis al, a regular stopover for neWhen Modi became Party’s Arvind Kejriwal Modi wouldkurta, be a run- become a talking point in today’s politisleeved, buttoned-up tas visiting Mumbai.

Gujarat’s CM, the away sooner. political credo,and Swaraj — cal climate. which nowHis retails in India The man who has been dressing whites made way originally published Hindi Harperabroad. Tailor to theinBJP’s PMby canpolitical leaders since 1977 observfor blues,hat’s pinks, the biggest change that the Collins — has reportedly crossed one lakh didate, Chauhan has seen Narenes that politicians today “are far greens and yellows editors at Penguin Random House indra sales.

Collectively, half-a-dozen Modi’s dress the sense evolve or more stylish and conscious about — clothes which has sofrom bookshis ondays Narendra Modi — mostly as a pracharak for li- and at HarperCollins their and also looks than they office, though onising though Swayamsevak a few are critical — moved into a newwere the him, Rashtriya in the ’80s”.just The reason, he its old one in Noida, may have more, of course. Harper- across the road from Sangh insold the 1980s. believes, is that people no longer in the judge National Capital Region will educationCollins alsohe has a success handshe trav“When (Modi) was inon theitsSangh, leaders for their work—alone; fact that theypersonality will work on thelooks are imwith Sengupta’s 100 wash Thingsclothes To face? elledHindol frequently and would on The al background, and with theirtoo. colleagues from Know And Debate Before You Vote. cumbersome All of same floor his own.

He found full-sleeves portant factors marketing and sales. As the metaphorical which also substantiates the publishing and decided to go for half-sleeved kurtas with Young bespoke turks credo thatsays non-fiction by walls pants,” Chauhan,outsells who isfiction the co-owner of crumble, will this mean that the different This departments of thecould companies a mile or twochain in India. transformation in part be attributmenswear Jade Blue, along with brother will findedit easier to be on the same to globalisation, whichpage? opened up the Jitendra Chauhan. Back then, Modi preferred here’s serious player in the than a country not only economically, but also to inkhadi in awhites andnew off-whites.

More self-publishing and thethe people ternational fashions decade later, whenpool, he became CM of Gujaarunava sinha translates classicand and trends. Little wonder behind are sure they can make a sucthenBengali that the young leaders who rat in it2001, the whites made way for blues, contemporary fiction and non-fiction into emerged on cess of it.greens Meet and Authors Upfront, backed the national political scene in the 1990s redepinks, yellows.

And linen beganEnglish to t@arunava byshare publishing veterans Arpita Das — fined political dressing in India. space with khadilike in his wardrobe.

This trend was led by Ghulam Nabi Azad, “He then started opting for more detailing Madhavrao Scindia, Rajesh Pilot, Vilasrao in kurtas even though embroidery remained

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Old loves Bihar’s Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has always been a khadi loyalist ranjeet kumar

Australia on my plate Experiencing the country beyond its celebrity tables and through its After becoming prime minister, however, Deshmukh and Pramod Mahajan. While Scindia’s style includedfood a collarless jacket with a Rajiv Gandhi preferred trousers with bandhphilosophy narrow pocket to hold his pen, Pilot brought the Rajasthani safa (turban) centre stage.

“Stylish dressing, with colours, started with these leaders,” says Agasti, whose client list includes Gopinath Munde, Shahnawaz Hussain and Sushil Kumar Shinde.

It was also around the ’90s that the Hindi film industry moved towards slick flicks, marked by well-dressed actors and colourful settings. “The film industry definitely influenced the dressing style of leaders,” says Agasti.

So loose kurtas gave way to well-fitted attires. And raw silk, jute silk and variations of woollen fabric became the materials of choice, beyond good old khadi.

Fields of gold The Barossa Valley calls it a day shutterstock

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t is perhaps a tad unfair to pit countries against one another. But to compare India and Australia is to throw up a host of telling differences. Indians are quick to take offence. The Australians like to laugh at themselves. We have too much history, they err on the side of too little history. In India, at work, attoschool, in the playground, Style guru Madhav Agasti of Madhav’s Men’s Modes got Thackeray switch from sherwanis to kurtas you can never be too keen, too eager; in Australia, on the other hand, to be the ‘tallest poppy’ is a slur. The tallest poppy is the first to lose its head to a hungry pair of shears. So the idea is to not stand out, to step back and to mingle, to be one with the troops.

As someone who prescribes to the ‘bheed ke beyond’ school of thought, I found Australia a rather good match. Like the US, it tends to be all sparkly and punctual; unlike the US it is happy to kick off its shoes and walk in the sand — on a weekday afternoon that too. When space is not a premium, when invasion is never a threat (only the Aboriginals had to fear that) one can afford to be a poppy in a field of flowers, carousing with the sunshine.

While my summer trip took me only to Adelaide, Kangaroo Island and Melbourne, I returned to India, not only bowled over by the generosity and efficiency of the Australian people, but also with a newfound interest in their food. I must confess here that I was fortunate to partake of meals prepared by some of Australia’s finest chefs such as Guy Grossi, Tony Panetta and Shannon Bennett. But looking beyond the celebrity tables with their 62-degreeofeggs, emu jerky and marshmallow desA cut above Bipin and Jitendra Chauhan of Jade Blue, makers the Modi kurta

gala coats for his overseas trips.

Changing colours Vaish laments that the achkan and bandhgala have gone out of mainstream fashion. “After VV Giri, Giani Zail Singh and VP Singh, no leader has worn the achkan. It is now a part of wedding attires only,” he says. But the Nehru jacket, with its half-inch mandarin collar, remains trendy even today. As also the fabric that’s inextricably woven into Indian politics, the khadi. Despite repeated death knells, khadi still holds it own among linen, silk and other fabric blends. “Nobody has given up khadi.

It is just that other fabrics have come up too,” says Agasti.

So while you have staunch khadi loyalists Nehru in fashion But the one man who set the country’s ever- such as Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav, green standard for a well-dressed politico was there’s also the younger crop of leaders who prefer not toand haveJanet any fixed style.

India’s first still prime minister, serts, I will vouch for theJawasuperiority and hot wet towels — Craig Wickham, also buy readymade clothes harlal Nehru.

His achkan freshness of their cuisine—asa akneewhole. who hosted“They the lunch, packed and cleaned length with a stand-up unlike previous generation, Guy coat Grossi, author of fivecollar cookbooks, told away every proof of the our presence; finally, only — was in shades black, whichthe swore styling,” me, “Inalways Australia, the foodofphilosophy is ingre- footsteps littered sand.byIf bespoke only we could be white and grey. says Vaish. dient-driven.

In other places, you startAtwith half asofrespectful to our environment. the awedding PK Vaish, one ofstart Nehru’s tailors, Sowe while might recipe and then cooking.

Here you look and Diana, Later that day wentRahul quadGandhi biking to spot Charles recalls visits toand thebest lateingredients prime be seen in akoalas suit atcanoodling. formal ceremofor the freshest and that loping and AnRajiv Gandhi worekangaroos minister’s Teen Murti Bhawan resnies, at a meeting with party is where you start.” drew, a burly Australian nursing a nasty sunhis first silk achkan idence forintroduction measurements and workers he wearsasaaGandhi cap.

My first to this was at a table burn, who described himself quad biker, trials foronstitched clothes.

Rallies in the hinterland bring laid out the white sands “His of Kangaroo Is- beekeeper and kangaroo culler, said he would physique fit few and islands he carried out island the kurta-pyjamas stuland, one was of the where you can never leave this — where peakand hour is off well,”grooming, says Vaish, interactions, pair of jeans. walkhis upclothes to sea-lions grunting and three cars ondent the road — as herea he feeds magnow 73. on the sands. Our lunch that after- pies Even experimenting basking

by Modi hand, has eatsbeen honey straight fromwith the He later worn by actor bolder colours during his election rallies fishthis noon at KI tailored — 150kmthe andoutfit a splencomb and spends afternoons Roshan Seth forride his role of Nehru tone-to-tone kurta did chopper away from in the 1982 time around. ing.The Though he loves this life,and he Gandhi.

“I had to pad up his film instance, a light yellow kurta Adelaide — consisted of King Ge-dresses as his waistcoat (for confesses it gets lonely at times. structure wasdrizzled leaner than and a darkerOn yellow waistcoat) areexpeditions, giving way orge whiting withNehru’s,” white he says. his quad biking All the ingredients The grilled exclusivity of Nehru’s At a rally inother Bahraich, wine, halloumi, bakedachkan po- has been to contrasting no colours. one sits behind him than had been sourced captured by historian he teamed a neon-green kurtaa tatoes, a salad of olives,Tilak feta,Ranjan cher- Bera in his Uttar Pradesh, sullen pre-teens, he lamented; from this island of A Journey through book waistcoat, ry tomatoes and lettuceNicobars. and a He details with a saffron-coloured curious journalist was while a first.Bare5,000 people in how Edward Kutchat, themelons head of the tribal illy saw him inOn a sky blue waistcoat wornKIover platter of strawberries, the way back from we South Australia council in The Car whiting Nicobar had Island, agreed to pro- a saffron kurta . and kiwi. been stopped at a micro-distillery run vide additional land forand expanding The saffron darkcaught the day before the lo- an airfield bywaistcoat Sarah andappeared Jon Lark.with Hereaagain a rally in Delhi.

Saffron, synonyonly if Nehru parted withthe onehalof his achkans. grey kurta atone cal dairy farmer provided noticed the attention, neigh That was done, the land hands. mous with obsession, the BJP, iswith clearly hisThe colour of loumi and and feta.

All changed the detail. couple ach- choice Nehru always teamed his kurtas and ahead of elections. finished stitching ingredients had been sourced from this island make their own gins from “I a secret recipe of juwithpeople cottoninchuridars to makeHalloumi, a distinc- for kans Mrcoriander, Modi a month before his rallies began. of 5,000 South Australia. niper, angelica, caraway, mace, castive style statement.

Soofwhen Rajiv Gandhi I will and meetginger-citrus him after he becomes the an Australian version a Cyprite cheese, was Now sia, pepper rind.

They serve travelling London to attend the through weddinginof prime Chauhan says.

And believing if his taiborn fromtocompulsion but grew them inminister,” long-stemmed wine glasses, Prince Charles and Diana in 1981,20his mother, wishes do come true, Modi might go in novation.

A severe wool crisis years ago lor’s that this prevents the essences from escaping. achkan.

“He forNot Indira, shouldfarmers wear anto another wardrobe updates, just forced felt the that localhesheep innovate. quite around liquorofconnoisseur, but familiar was pilot then, and had politics. he Bombay did afterSapphire, becomingBeefeater the Gujarat Theyaneeded to come up not withentered uses for sheep as with and chief GorOn Mrs Gandhi’s advice, wore a raw silk ach- minister 13 years milk, thus halloumi washe born. don’s, I found thisago. gin… quite simply sublime. theend firstoftime,” says Vaish,meal who had tai- It tasted like a mountain stream, clean, sparkan Atfor the the sit-down for our pratap lored groupthat of 13outfit.

— complete with crystalware and rashmi kling and infused with a bouquet of magical

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Funny Business From Osama to MGR, lookalikes make quite an impression in election season

Slow spirits Lunch on the beachfront in Kangaroo Island; and (right) Jon Lark, the maker of 3,000 bottles of artisanal gin, also on the island nandini nair

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n 2005, businessman Khalid Noor made his campaign debut as Bihar’s Osama.

Bearing a close resemblance to the slain al-Qaeda leader, he was first used by Ram Vilas Paswan and later, by Lalu Prasad Yadav to woo the Muslim electorate in the Assembly herbs, which could only imagine.

Be- the sun. Started 10 years ago, and held every elections.

In theone run-up to the Gujarat Assembtween husband and wife and withlashed just one ly elections in 2012, Narendra Modi out Saturday, the Barossa market, like other weekhelper, Kangaroo Island Spirits at the Bihar government in hischurns rallies.out In end markets held across the country, is a great combination of economics, com3,000 bottles year,accusations from their against Nitspeeches ladena with traditional gin still. the Thelittle-known (Robo). I wasmunity and food. Sathish Here is says. where ish Kumar’scopper administration, a robotic dancer,” inspiration, Jon told was me, also is slow money and friends are made.

Osama impersonator criticised.

A few years later, while watching Super Dupspirits.

Slow Khalid food was a fadisand is out of the er, a show on Sun Children lickstruck ice cream This year, Noor sitting TV, he was by thecones, politThe simple tomato now a fact,forgotten but he believes is However, ical impersonators the adults on sip on iced coffee, stage.

Today, they he elections, by allnow parties. exploded in one’s the time for slow spirits to abanpick up homemade egg noodles, employs MGR, Vijayakanth and Abhinandan Pathak, a Modi loomouth like citrusdon their andhis shine forth on dark-hued oils, and kalike, hasstill found moment in Jayalalithaaolive lookalikes fordukkah shows sweet candy. tables. to eat with the marthe sun. The Saharanpur-based across Tamilbread.

Nadu.From “During elecIn anisingredient-rich food culket we went to the legendary MagPathak now on a three-month tions, parties hire my services Saharanpur’s Modi gie ture, ofone must tap the source.

Beer’s Shop, where her mainly to Farm draw crowds,” he says. tour India to campaign for Molookalike is now on daughter Saskia cooked a meal Andcalling we soon made our way to a “These days, I hold about fivefor to di, himself ‘Junior Modi’. a three-month front ofsix us.shows Once again we saw farmer’s marketmay in the Barossa aValley, where us intour per day, it’splebeian a busy While Pathak be running of India piles of zucchini, tomatoes, ingredients shine For appetiser, we had time.”forth.

The Jayalalithaa lookalike, personal campaign for lettuce; BJP’s bunches of fennel, dill, coriander; shelves yellow tomatoes prime ministerial candidate, in brimming a salad of redheand says, doesn’t speak. garnished “Her huswith yabbies, eggs, meats andhave oils gleamed in with fresh dill anddoesn’t parsley. allow The simple Tamil Nadu, political parties band her totomato interact.” With the AIADMK’s tacit hired lookalikes to manage roadsupport, Amma’s lookalike meets shows and rallies. In 2000, Robo Sathish started an event management compa- and greets supporters, smiling and waving. ny called Every Second. “We organised song MGR and Vijayakanth impersonators, howand dance shows. That’s how I got my name ever, do a little bit more — they sing their most

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exploded in one’s mouth like citrus-sweet candy. It had never tasted so good.

Like all Indians, I harbour deep suspicions for all things raw, leafy and uncooked. My grandmother washed grapes in potassium permanganate. I know of relatives who boiled ice cream. At Saskia’s kitchen, I marvelled as she flicked ingredients bought from the market straight into the pan, without as much as a baptism by water.

A few days later, I shared my consternation with Kate Lamont, owner of multiple restaurants in Australia. She explained that Australians don’t really need to wash their groceries before using them. They are so certain of their quality. She said, “I also work in operations, let me tell you that no farmer or businessperson would spend a cent more than they need to on anything like that (pesticides). And we have really stringent quarantine laws so the issues around plant disease are really not that significant as in other places. So much food here is from the natural environment. The chefs unMGR 2.0 a tricycle in Tirunelveli shaikmohideen derstand theOn cycle of growing food,a they don’t give their supplier one week’s time, they give famous songs and mimic their as them three months’ notice, somannerisms they can grow crowds go wild.

PRM Thyagarajan aka is the desired plants.

Grow to order — inMGR, Austramuch after for his spot-on imitation of lia thatsought is not unique.” theInlegendary “I Istarted with MGR the food of leader.

Australia, tasted the country. songs ’90s, and began his gesLike itsincuisine, which is imitating ingredient-driven, tures later,” says Thyagarajan.

Kumar, a Vijayaand believes in slow spirits, and grow to order, kanth lookalike, doesn’treality even have to wear Australians also choose over whimsy, make-up to look like the Captain.

“I have they believe that time is not something toapbe peared in more 2,000 shows as Vijayaconquered but tothan be savoured in teaspoons — kanth,” says Kumar, who started campaigning and preferably on the beach. writer wasCaptain’s in Australia on the invitation forThe DMDK at the rallies in March. of Dreamtime 2013 and Tourism Australia In a State overrun with MGR impersonators — there are at least 250 — the demand is now nandini for DMK nair president Karunanidhi, whose public appearances have dropped considerably. “I keep getting calls for his doubles,” says Sathish, “The problem is finding convincing ones.”

The boatman’s calling The spy who came in for the polls priyanka kotamraju

A man who knows the Ganges river dolphin as intimately as he knows the waters of Patna

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n old hand, Rajendra Sahni, a fisherman, river patroller, diver, retriever of dead bodies and river dolphin specialist, pares your expectations down even before you set out on a boat ride with him in the hope of seeing the Ganges river dolphin: “They wildPunjab, animals.a In the next n a district inare central nail-biting 2-3 hours, I’ll try my best toA help you spot contest is brewing. filmstar who one. has But there’s no guarantee.

I hope you underbeen a four-time MP from the constituenstand.”

Patna’s Gandhi who Ghathad and won Sahcy We’re versusatthe incumbent ni, I’m is onebyofathe few tenuous links the lasttold, election wafer-thin margin oftoa this thousand fast disappearing species.

Confined to the few votes. Weeks before the polling Indus,the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna andcamthe date, constituency is hit by a smear paign. Embarrassing details tumble out, clans get involved. Contents of one of the candidate’s speech are leaked to the local media. An inflammatory video too does the rounds. Looks like somebody’s election campaign just got derailed. Operating silently in the background, a team of private detectives wraps up and heads back.

Their job, in this district, is done.

While this is a hypothetical sequence of events, it might very well be a truthful narrative of any constituency, anywhere in the country. For private detective agencies, this election season is ripe with possibility of ‘extra business’. For political parties, it’s all about winning.

“I have been flooded with calls,” says the 71year-old Subhash Wadhawan, who has been a detective for almost half a century now and sports the James Bond theme as his caller tune. “There was a demand in 2009 but this year has seen maximum number of cases. In

Karnaphuli-Sangu river systems, the Ganges years. Dr Gopal Sharma, a scientist with the river dolphin was categorised as ‘endangered’ Gangetic Plains Regional Centre, Zoological two years ago by the International Union for Survey of India, Patna, says his knowledge of the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Bihar Tou- the river, its meanderings and its geo-morrism even initiated a dolphin-spotting pack- phology, is legendary. He also reports dolphin age in end 2012 — but it has since been sightings, especially young ones, and deaths. discontinued due a “lack of response”. he’smore not helping researchers, Sahni the last 10 days, I’vetobeen approached by near- hasWhen received than 25 cases this season.

If I reassure thetake boatman thatAnd I’mall happy just AAP continues to fish. livelihood depends prily 35 people to up cases. of them is a factor, the His ruling party’s fear of losing to be their out on Gangaji — a common form of ad- the marily on patrolling riverinterest during in festiviwant cases fast-tracked.” elections has also the spurred condress in Patna, though, barring them, a few ducting ties and diving for bodies.

A sought after diver Despite all the even secrecy accompanying investigations, says Wadhawan. ghats, theespionage river is thecases, dump yard of the city, re- (with printed on his visitpolitical nevertheless, fall inThe gothakhor turnaround time proudly for a case in these vered and abused in equal measure.

As his ‘fast-track’ ing card), times Sahni’sis moment of glory arrived to three broad categories.

To verify credentials around three to five days, boat (and its diesel engine) the according when he got State medal for The rescuing of their own candidates, to chugs verify along, opponent to asome agencies. cost, three on a mighty and river, expanse, gentle members flow and case-to-case women whobasis, had accidentally fallen the claims to its check on dissident varies from ₹5 lakhinto to ₹25 quiet power take parties over. “The best place to see lakh. river. Sought by the police and local adminiswithin their own to avoid embarrass“We work in adverse conditions,” says dolphins at the elections, confluenceanyof Gandak and tration, he and his team“Our (adding up to 100 ment.

“Inis these Wadhawan. investigations Ganga,who but they surprise men at times), willelection be patrolling body has can been deniedyou a start even before dates by showing up anywhere atKunall,” 32 ghats during the Pooja ticket is a major factor,” says are announced.

AndChhath then, within says Sahni, keeping a keen, thisour year.detectives “My job is demandwar Vikramwhile Singh, president of alater week have to This is what the meditative lookout.

We talkDetecabout party cadres should learn ing and risky. Butabout whilethe anconunthe Association of Private everything The best place to Gangaand and the powerful Gandak, skilled labourer getsinformation. ₹300 a day, I tives Investigators (APDI), be doing but parties stituency, and get see dolphins is at whichisforces its way from get a is mere ₹249.

I alsothe wish we who currently on down an assignThis really what party have no cadresof the confluence the Himalayas. force The wasmost such had a good, even if small, submament in central“Its Punjab. cadres should be doing but paranymore Gandak and Ganga we would hear its roarheover all the rine have in Patna makeanymore.” our jobs dangerous enemies, adds, are ties no to cadres soundsthe of this land,” he says emeasier.

I’ve trained in that one in Kolkawithin parties.

This, despite the fact the Conphatically. we turnthe to Congress enter the ta,” heBJP says.and even AAP claim to Earlier inAsMarch, gress, main course of the Ganga, with Later, coursing closer to the offices were ransacked in Chhathave more than 1 crore members. the massive Bridgewhile as the backdrop… we see a services numbersuch of dolphins. tisgarh over Gandhi ticket denial, both AAP and confluence, With sophisticated as “voter “There,” spots a dolphin.

I don’t (I was busy management They come up for air, sometimes rewarding us BJP havehe seen discontent over tickets.

(Think packages, risk analysis and takingstalwarts notes!). like Jaswant Singh, Murli Ma- gathering with a spectacular jump.intelligence”, But as the sunthese sets party of political A veritable encyclopaedia and a chilly breeze picks up,more Sahnithan steers his nohar Joshi, and LK Advani.) on the dolphin, agencies claim to be much mere the“Maybe sacred river andsurge its tributaries, of which boat, as he must, towardsrates the crowded shore. it (the in cases)all has some- detectives.

Their success are also 100 per he hastosurveyed, weeks at a cent.

Call“Really, Rajendra Sahni to see dolthing do with thesometimes Aam Aadmifor Party.

Verificathere is (09852235261) nothing like an unsucstretch, as part of a small, dedicated of cessful phins, early morning or late tion of the candidates nominated hasgroup become investigation,” saysafternoon.

Jain. researchersthis ledyear,”

by Professor RK Sinha, Sahni important says Naman Jain, head of peeyush sekhsaria is an architect and geographer kotamraju has Delhi-based been a key cog in the wheel for 30 odd priyanka the Sleuths India, whose agency

Beware ticket-holder! Private investigators are on the prowl at a constituency near you

peeyush sekhsaria

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Offscreen theatrics Actor Pawan Kalyan launching his new political outfit, Jana Sena Party, in Hyderabad

Lavender tea, lemon and poppy seed cupcakes

PV SIVAKUMAR

Turning a new leaf Don’t just drink it, steep, smoke and cook with tea

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or over a 100 years, chai has been a permanent resident of the Indian kitchen. Yet in recent years, exposure to contemporary cooking techniques and global cuisines has meant that tea has undergone a notable transition — transformed from a humble brew to a quirky ingredient that chefs and amateur cooks routinely experiment with.

Ajay Chopra, executive chef at The Westin, Mumbai, says, “Every single tea leaf lends a dif-

Ingredients: 225gm or 1 2/3 cups flour 1tsp (heaped) baking powder 175gm or 2/3 cup caster sugar Zest of 6 lemons 1tbsp poppy seeds, toasted 3 large eggs 100gm or about 1/2 cup curd 175gm or 1/2 cup plus 1tbsp butter, melted and cooled slightly 24gm or 2tsp lavender tea

1 Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. 2 Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. Set aside.

3 Melt butter and add tea leaves to it.

Set aside for 3-4 minutes. Then strain the butter, pressing the leaves down on the sieve for optimum flavour.

Discard the tea leaves once done.

4 Whisk together the flour, sugar, lemon zest and poppy seeds. Beat the eggs into the curd and then tip this mixture into the dry ingredients along with the tea-infused melted butter. Mix with a wooden spoon, until lump free.

Fill the cake cases about 2/3 full.

5 Bake for 20-22 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the centre of one comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.

ferent flavour at different temperatures. The idea is to introduce the layered flavour of tea into other foods using popular methods such as smoking, poaching and grilling.” Dhungar, the age-old Indian tradition of adding smokiness to food, is the best alternative to smoking chambers. Here, essentially, spices like cloves and cardamom are added to a bowl of hot coal placed at the centre of a covered dish.

Devika Narula But since tea leaves are delicate, they must be mixed with dry ingredients such as salt, rice or Green tea smoked duck woodchips. The tea-smoke gradually infuses and beetroot salad the food, lending it a subtle aroma. This is cold Ingredients: smoking, which takes about 8-10 minutes, be 4 duck breasts it meat, red or white, or veggies. The hot smok100gm or 1 cup green tea Salt and pepper to taste ing process, where you cook and smoke the 2 large beetroots product simultaneously on a temperature as 100ml or 1/2 cup olive oil low as 30-35oC, could last 3-4 hours. sprigs thyme Poaching is a tad different, where aslogan concocther his ‘Congress hatao, Desh bachao’ at the2launch of JSP, Varma tweeted: “Way Kalyan 2 cloves of garlic tion using of teaJSPisnor made and the main ingrethe launch his open endorsement of spoke, if 10 per cent Chiranjeevigaru spoke at 2-3tbsp honey dient is Modi placed in it.has One can him make Narendra — which earned somea Praja Rajyam launch... forget AP CM, forget In6-7tbsp balsamic vinegar concoction teashow andbusiness water, orange juice or dian detractors inofthe — add up to an PM,orhe have become 30gm 1/4would cup Parmesan cheese American berry juice, and the temperature of thewebsite liquid president ideology.

The vagueness of the party’s (sic).”

4 fresh figs o C. Grilling, however,“JSP’s is by shouldn’t exceed 80front on the ideological is disarming: From his movies, Pawan brings to the politiBeet leaves to garnish far the least popular addbelief the goodness ideology comes fromway thisto firm of Mr Pa- cal1platform the angry, not-so-young Heat a smoker or a albeit pressure of teaKalyan to food.

“The dust oflife teaone leaves and tea man. wan that in public must stand Backon in slow 2000,flame. in Badri, he redefined ancooker twigs areconvictions added to the in the The ger2 on by one’s andwood not lose faithgrill. in them the salt Telugu screen. to In the his four films, and Apply and pepper trick monitoring the ratios closely, as those whenlies theinsituations become tough.”

What of other stars that followed, the hero’s breasts of duck. the might a bitter aftertaste. thendish do we makeacquire of Pawan and his ‘isms’? To anger noofimmediate 3 Athas thehad base the smokercause: or no dead pressure cooker, (like placeAmitabh green teaBachchan’s leaves avoid I usually prepare a potion pomeNotthis, easily accessible to the media of (this au- father to avenge in a steel andfeudal above oppressor it the granate juice Assam tea, him), reduce it to isa character thor tried but and failed to reach Pawan in container, Zanjeer), no to duck breasts wire rack. Place the Inglossy consistency, andbybrush on my duck prone to making news otheritmeans and for fight back (like on in aChiranjeevi’s Khaidi)… lid and sealnow it completely.

Smoke while rests in a marinade tamarind stead, actionsit unrelated to acting.ofHesalt, is definitely anger springs from anfor arrogant about 10 minutes and remove from and redNice chilliGuy. powder before it goes under the not Mr On the contrary, and defiant disposition. It is attiheat. Let it cool to room temperature. grill,” says Chopra. he is Telugu cinema’s most conin its purest form.

Open the tude lid and take out the breasts But cooking withBreaking tea is not oC for Pawantroversial celebrity. tra-restricted to The (then cook in an anger oven atthat 110drives these techniques. (now more popular ditional values, he Baking is divorced and ism is, first of all, a style stateWhile it’s too 25-30 early minutes). Keep aside. than ever before) also a great has children fromistwo other rela-way to make not prompted by 5 In a foilment. place Second, the beetroot, 50ml to tell if his political olive oil, salt and pepper thyme the most ofHe the versatility of tea.ofDevika Narutionships. has been accused specific causes,with it can be directed career will take off, and garlicatand Place inside la, one of the 11 finalists in MasterChef temperamental behaviour in the India Seaanycover causeit.that comes in the the way his speeches oven will, at 220oC and roast for 45 son took to baking with or teatwo leaves after her past,2, including a punch of youth with ‘attitude’. “I want doubtless, leave his Check if done, and when minutes. visit to at themedia Twinings Tea Boutique aimed persons.

A war- and café in answers,” demands Pawan’s charopponents smarting cooked, remove.

CoolCameraman and peel skins.

Bangkok.

“But if against it’s not him doneforcorrectly, the rant was issued acter in Gangatho Discard the thyme and garlic and keep and the crowds dish may not acquire the full-bodied flavours an election speech in 2009, when Rambabu (2012), after thrashing beet aside.

Reduce balsamic vinegar to cheering of she says. hetea,” attacked several important goondas to instigate a caste 50ml. (Add a pinch out of sugar at the end Baking with teaand leaves is aatwo-step process.

Congress leaders gave call a university campus. Offto replaceriot lostatsweetness and to At first, strong and loose tea leaves are steeped to “chase and hit them (Congressscreen too, he has now establishbalance the flavours). in thetill warm, ingredients men) theirliquid loincloths fall.” Ear-of the recipe, a “party which questions” and 6 Cut theedbeet into quarters, and a dressing withfor reduced balsamic such as melted butter, milk or water.

Thewith liq- an make lier this year, online forums were abuzz army that will fight a “just and balanced and honey. uid is then strained the desired flavour speculations about to hisget family’s role in abet- society.”

The entire enterprise will be powered Add salt pepper. Keep aside.of a genand Lavender tea-infused ting colour. the suicide of a young Telugu lemon actor. cup- by 7inciting andand harnessing the anger 8 Toofassemble: Drizzlemovie-crazy the dressingyouth. cakes or it’s cookies, jasmine vanilla eration While too early to tell tea-infused if Pawan’s political de-politicised, onto a plate. Slice duck breasts into scones, orange orcan biscuits combined career will takecupcakes off, there be little doubt The moment is pregnant with possibilities thin slices. Arrange on a plate with with a spicy tea blend (cinnamon, nutmeg andbeet that his speeches will leave his opponents fraught with danger. Because anger is not quarters. and clove),and Earlthe Grey macaroons andPawan chai brûsmarting crowds cheering. is a just9 about being Whether Pawanism is a Top it with cool. figs cut into quarters, lée are justorator. a few inspiring ideas.

Even savoury powerful Even as he prepares to take productive forceofor merely cheese. an illusory emoand shavings parmesan dishes, such as ginger tea-infused or chaon the Congress, whose campaignpasta is being led tion remains to be seen.

Drizzle remaining dressing and garnish with beet leaves. momile tea-infused pie, can in make for inby his older brotherleek Chiranjeevi Seemandis the author of Megastar and Politics as teresting combinations. hra, director Ram Gopal Varma revealed the sv srinivas Ajay Chopra worst-kept secret of the 2009 elections in And- Performance and senior fellow at the Centre for the arunima mazumdar is a Delhi-based writer hra Pradesh.

Responding to Pawan’s speech at Study of Culture and Society, Bangalore (CSCS)

Star power and Pawanism

Telugu actor Pawan Kalyan now channels the angry young man on the political platform

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n 2013, the little-known director Chaitanya announced the launch of a film titled Pawanism. It was meant to be a tribute to Pawan Kalyan, the youngest brother of Telugu cinema’s megastar-turned-politician Chiranjeevi. Pawanism, the director went on to elaborate, is “the collective adulation of crores of Pawan Kalyan fans ... (which) could set a new path for youngsters.” The film was not completed but it drew attention to the puzzle that is Pawanism, defined as a religion by some of his followers. With the launch of the Jana Sena Party (JSP), Pawan has institutionalised this ism, limited so far to t-shirts, stickers and tattoos sighted at screenings of the star’s films and IPL matches in Hyderabad.

Notwithstanding such hype, no one seems to know what Pawanism really is. As a blogger put it most unhelpfully, “It is a religion formed

by Pawan fans and followed (by them). It is about his style, ideologies, creativity, etc.” Understandably, with stardom and glamour comes style. Pawan is one of Telugu cinema’s biggest stars, despite his modest tally of 19 films in as many years in the industry. He has delivered phenomenal hits such as Badri (2000), Kushi (2001), Jalsa (2008) and, more recently, Gabbar Singh (2012). One might even concede that Pawan is creative, albeit with a pinch of salt. Unlike Chiranjeevi, Pawan is not a particularly versatile actor. Most of his films are romantic action-comedies centred on an invincible hero. His only directorial venture, Johnny (2003), was an expensive flop. To his credit, however, he has tried his hand at choreography, action and even playback singing.

The most intriguing thing about Pawanism, though, is the ideology, or rather the absence of it (unless you take the logo, with the actor sporting a Che Guevera look, as a heavy hint).

Having played an active role in the 2009 campaign for Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam Party (PRP), Pawan is not a political novice. Yet, nei-

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Age is a number Arvind Bhat has persisted even though he started playing before the ‘badminton boom’ hit India

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afp/saeed khan

A recent edit-a-thon attempts to correct the online gender imbalance by creating Wiki entries for Indian women

Not done yet Badminton player Arvind Bhat’s best years might be behind him, but the recent German Open gold proves he is still fighting fit

The weight of history Wikipedia hopes to start a pink revolution on its India pages dipankar bhattacharya

A cup of joy The men’s singles champion at the 75th National Badminton Championship held at Rohtak in 2011 rakesh rao

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t is not the ideal time to meet Arvind Bhat. He might be one of India’s longestserving badminton players, the winner of the recent German Open, but he has just lost to 301-ranked Ajay Kumar, in straight sets, and that too at the qualifier of the India Open Super Series.

When Bhat eventually meets me, an hour or so after hiso defeat, at the heavily guarded but you know of Charusita Chakravarnow emptytySiri Stadium in Delhi, he is disor Fort Rohini Godbole?

Chances are appointedthat but you not have inconsolable. even adnot heardHe of either of vances ourthem. appointment because he wants to Even though Chakravarty is “cheer his buddies who willisbea the donfor of some fluid of dynamics and Godbole playing the day.”

Asdown we sitand down in a physicistlater whoin helped hunt deciphquiet of theparticle. stands, But he says, “It’shardnot er the corner Higgs-Boson you can that me out or anything.

It ly be Kumar blamed.blanked The problem is that they barely was bothand games, and us in more the end, he exist20-all on theinWeb; this tells about played well,”omissions adding, “At the than samean time society’sreally systemic rather init’s a good wake up callInfor me. I’m not worried dividual’s ignorance. today’s digital world, too much the badisresults tryintohalf foto not existabout on the Web to existand only cus on theitpositive.” measure; is to be unsearchable, to be unBhat’sto wisdom is born of experience. He has known, be a nobody. been top badminton for more than 12 Thea World Wide Webplayer abducted us two decyears now, We an exceptionally long life stintthrough for any ades ago. now experience athlete today.Facebook He has won at least five internaTwitter feeds, streams and RSS alerts. tional tournaments, reached the national We know what our friends and followers read, championship final six everything. times and But wonthe it and we think we know twice.

He that was aslip partthrough of the Indian teamare from whispers the cracks as 2002 to 2011. wonambient the German important as He all the soundbadminton and white league 2008, and German Open gold noise. Toinremedy that,the Wikipedia — the world’s was the elusive win’ he was looking for. omniscient and ‘big omnipresent encyclopaedia Bhat says, “I amGender more proud of beinginthe third — started the Gap project 2011 to Indian to win in Europe to be the first to bridge the online genderthan imbalance. win the the German Open.

Given vast, let’s say,Indian infiniteplayers scope ofhave the won in Europe in lower levels, like internet, it is easy to overlook the challenger fact that it levels, only Prakash andpatriar(Pulletoo is abut gendered space,Padukone with its own la) havestudy succeeded atthat suchwomen a prechalGopichand fissures. A 2011 showed mier level.only While Grand Gold iscontribnot the comprise 15 aper centPrix of global same as Wikipedia. a Super Series win,women it is definitely utors on In India, make up comparable.” a paltry three per cent of contributors.

In professional badminton, calenRecently a group of 20-odd players’ volunteers asdars are todivided between league Working tournasembled help right this wrong. ments, national-level tournaments, Grand with Wiki, along with Women in Free Software Prix Gold tournaments the most coveted and Culture (WFS India),and they gathered at the Badminton World Federation’s Series.

Delhi office of Breakthrough, anSuper NGO for the Bhat has been regular ‘bridesmaid’ at many prevention of aviolence against women and of these events the winner, last children.

They but hadnever a simple task —until update month, is. The German Open was first “stubs” that (incomplete Wiki entries) orhis create title five years and nine months.

“Thatscienweek new in pages for specific Indian women Itists wasand in peak form in terms of my physical conparliamentarians.

dition. I really don’t know how it happened. jury, which put him out of the game for many While the final was tight, I was glad to hold out months, but he has come out of all that and is and get the gold this time around.” Bhat de- still a very dangerous player.” feated Danish player Hans-Kristian VittingEven after playing the game for over a dechus, a good 53 ranks above him, in a thrilling ade, Bhat finds a personal coach too expenmatch. The final scores read 24-22, 19-21, 21-11 in sive. He trains on his own, spending two hours Bhat’s favour. “I had just come from a terrible every day on weightlifting and running before defeat by a 16-year-old boy in Bangalore. I joining the boys of the Karnataka Badminton booked my tickets (for Germany) the Association The Wikipedia edit-a-thon, whichonly hadatbeen for two tosays, three in the afterdia of Breakthrough “Inhours this day and age last minute,” Bhat, “So this win was some- noon. publicised onsays Facebook and Twitter, brought Sometimes he travelsless from Bangalore to of information overload, information is thing special.” together a motley crew of computer geeks, re- Hyderabad to violence. train at Gopichand’s academy. also a form of Events like this edit-asearchers, a documentary filmmaker and As a father a young child he cannot to thon and aofrecent hackathon aim toafford correct Ups downs evenand a civil aviation engineer. To be part of it, move there permanently. He adds, “In badthese imbalances.”

Badminton waswas nota laptop the obvious choiceGoofor minton, all one needed and average it’s so important to stay completely For Lakshané, who has been a Wiki editor Bhat, who grew up in Banaswadi, eastern fit gle skills.

Mumbai-based Rohini an Lakshané, everyMarathi part ofpages your body worked forbecause English and sinceis 2008, the suburb of Bangalore.

He initially took up chairperson of the Gender Gap project inthe In- out; and since most ofsnakes the action the lack of women editors backistoabove multiple game because the his elder brother played and heart-level, dia, explained structure of Wiki anditwent takes a greater reasons: toll on your body social and ittechnological women his fatherthe loved it. to Notmake one to createThe his fifthown as through steps a page. blood constantly needs to be pumped don’t project themselves enough; they up. are path, he did mechanical engi-Wiki uses re- afraid of antagonism; most visited website in the world, Sometimes thehave shuttle at they littletravels access to neering from UVC College, Banga-sources. The computers; 300kmph, liable, independent third-party so free you time needasreally they have less they lore, because brother chose volunteers firsthis tried to update the page of sci- spend more good too.” the Wiki syntime reflexes on the family; engineering. the similarities entist Prabha But Chatterjee.

When a tax is intimidating and, with fewended there.

He says, brother LinkedIn account was“My found, they Future tense women, newcomers tech-savvy Bhat has been a top er played at the nationalBut level but were highly enthused.

LakshFor TPS Puri, vice find it difficult to president negotiate.of the badminton player couldn’t getdisqualified a job through ané quickly that asthe it Badminton Association of hopes India The Gender Gap project forhas more than Wiki one lakh sport.

While for me, IReferences was lucky volunteers, was a primary source.

(BAI), who has watched over at to tap into Galleries, Libraries, Ar12 years, an but only enough to get selected the Indion blogs, Twitter andin YouTube least two of badminchives andgenerations Media (GLAM) as these exceptionally long 2,000 active Indian an 2002.” He adds, hadteam to beinignored too.

The“More team stint ton players, stash Bhat’s most German of win the for any athlete institutions editors a month importantly, got a joba through soon realisedIupdating page rewas well-deserved. found him world’s knowledge.“IBy working the sport withserious Bharat Petroleum quired some sleuthing, to bethem disciplined and committed. with Wiki hopes to conjure Corporation Ltd, respect under its sports and a newfound grew for Arvind a no-frills guy and his up moreispages for women. quota.

The company and other the countless, anonymous ediachievements laudable.”engiHe Satabdi Das,are a software sponsors funded my equipment, travel etc. It adds, tors who had created millions of pages.

“Yes,works he hasin been inconsistent, that is neer who electronic designbut automawas only after aone fewlakh seasons that I decided that due Wiki boasts volunteers worldwide, has been lack of tion,to iscircumstances. acutely aware ofThere the absence ofawomen pursuing sportactive was the best for me, finanbut only the 2,000 Indian editors per training at times, a player does not in both the onlineand andwhen real world.

A graduate cially and otherwise.” month.

This leads to a serious knowledge dis- train enoughscience it shows directly in hisUniversity, performin computer from Jadavpur BhatLook wentfor onKamla to represent German parity.

Bhasinvarious (an activist and ance on the she was onecourt.” of three girls in a class of nearly clubs in their Badminton Bundesliga, of 60Bhat feminist) or Khabar Lahariya (a regionalone newsnotbring readywomen to retirewho justcode yet. However, boys.is To together the bestand leagues the sport in the He he paper) you’llfor quickly identify theworld. deficieniswears certain that even afterwhen retirement he will (she a coder’s t-shirt we meet), she is oneThese of theWiki few players before cies. pages who existthrived as stubs or be with the WFS sport as awhich coachhopes or in hasinvolved started the group India, the real ‘badminton came ‘orphans’ (no other boom’ articles linktotoIndia. it). As some other capacity.

But for we now,feel all his to address “the injustices weattenhave Anup Sridhar, long-time friendthe and contemLakshané says, “Wiki represents sum of hu- tion onour his lives, game.some “I know there have been facedisin of which aren’t evena porary says, “We were from a batch man knowledge that is already putjust outbefore there. lot of fluctuations, but the overall happy,” he tangible”.

An event like WikiI’m edit-a-thon is the got numerous benefits, which led says, But one it is that a very Western point of view.”

“I wanted onestep big in prize catchspaces and that another important creating for to History the game’s overall improvement.

I’ve has has always been a battle between come.She Butsays, I don’t feel I’m done yet. I want women.

“I enjoy programming beknown Arvind I wasgets 10 years old.about.

And I to who writes it since and who written giveititisatcreating least one more yearWhen and make to cause something.

I edititWihaven’t seenbeing anyone more History professional.

If the With March Women’s Month, topwrite 30s. I’m currently so I’m go-I ki and about these ranked women,65,I feel like there is something do,Wiki he makes sure he ing Breakthrough alongto with focused on arto give itsomething, my best shot.” am creating as well.” does it.” records He adds,of“There have been aAslotShobha of ups chiving women online. arasu nandini nair and his career and a major ankle in- sibi SV, a downs formerin journalist and manager-multime-

Q Q R

scan know

saturday, april 12,12, 2014 saturday, april 2014

A mantastic world

The Italian job

Narendra Modi’s words and gestures reinforce a masculine discourse and patriarchal notions For a wealthy Dubai sheikh, shopping is serious business

F

antastic figures are being unleashed on popular consciousness with higher frequency. The Phantom, Mandrake, Flash Gordon, Batman, Superman, all with their ornamental female partners, are particularly inspirational for the male of the species. From my perennially excitable nephew to the denim-clad, comb-in-the-pocket youngsters styling ladies’ hair in the neighbourhood beauty parlour, the superhero personifies an ideal.

The suspension of this disbelief is not temporary. We would like to believe they exist in real life; that they relieve us of the harsh realities of our existence. Nowhere is this disbelief so clearly expressed as in politics. Thus, in his heyday as the angry young man, Amitabh Bachchan could trounce the veteran Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna in Allahabad, Rajesh Khanna almost defeated Lal Krishna Advani, Dharmendra emerged victorious or down those south, livingthe with an eye on in Bikaner and political landscape doomsday what is dotted with glittering(so cine starsif— nothing MGR, NTR, J happened on December 21, 2012), Jayalalithaa, Chiranjeevi, Vijayakanth et the al. The annual National and rakwomen,third of course, hardly have aPreppers choice when Survivalists Expo at Oklahoma waswith a a ish knaves decide to claim their hearts good to start preparing for the thump of theirplace muscular chest. collapse of civilisation, a zombie of at-it, is The chest, all the proclaimed 56-inches tack recurring and other masculine such apocalypses.

“This by not the only motif sported was forof the ordinary who the Superman Indian politics.person Through his utto be ready teranceswants and gestures overfor theany lastsituation,” few months, said Ray McCreary, who organised the of Narendra Modi has created exactly the kind event.

Any situation included everydominant discourse that perpetrates brazenly thing an EF5notions. tornadoHis (5 on the to a masculine andfrom patriarchal appeal Enhanced Fujita scale is the worst) to collective manliness is coupled with an archaic, an economic collapse.

On audience. offer at the patronising promise to his female expo: tornado safe rooms, Sample the suggestion he made to atactical farmer, obknives, masshe casualty bags, burdened gravity-fedwith viously male, when is obviously and vacuum-sealed packs the birthwater of a filters daughter.

“If five trees are planted alligatorisjerky. when a of daughter born As in end-of-the-worldthe family, these five believers stocked oncut calamity trees, when the time comes, up can be and sold to Black Dogwedding Survivalof School arrange goods, the money for the the daughBobwould Gaskinbegrimly warned ter and founder our farmers saved from taking them “yousociety aren’t ahead, going to loans, but to take wemake need it.” proper you bought hisinmerthought,Well, aim not andunless leadership,” he said Gorakhchandise pur on January 25.— a year’s supply of freezedried food for $1,300 only.

Not exactly ‘Kinder, Küche, Kirche’ (Children, Kitchen, Church) but it does reflect the predominant ethos of his ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The RSS does not include women among its pracharaks, an apparently celibate tribe of full-timers who have officially renounced worldly desires and family life for the larger good of the Nation. Modi is a pracharak.

In her paper ‘Manwatching Mister Modi’, linguist Rukmini Bhaya Nair illustrates how people identify fight (aggressive) or flight (defensive) gestures and are subliminally influenced by a strong ‘fight’ gestural system used by a given politician.

Modi’s gestures were almost invariably judged to be heavily skewed towards an unambiguous ‘fight’ schema. The paper examines Modi’s language by analysing a number of his speeches made over the past two years.

“A determined effort to include women is revealed in the bar-graphs on gender. Women, these graphs show, are mostly seen in relational terms (sisters, mothers, daughters) except for the ubiqui-

This is the end

When disaster strikes, only one question will matter: Are you prepared?

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T

his is no April Fools’ joke. On April 1, residents of Italy got wind of a new job opening. A Dubai sheikh was looking for 60 personal shoppers. Applicants who were female, attractive, aged between 18 and 28, conversant in English (French and Arabic a plus), and, most importantly, had unerring shopping skills. This unlikely harem would be offered €100 per day to assist the sheikh’s numerous wives and daughters with their shopping. So far 100 women have applied. Only “one or two” have made the cut. In a rigorous screening process, applicants must face a panel that includes an image consultant, a personal shopper and a lawyer. Last week, when a hopeful was asked what the word ‘baguette’ meant to her, she was rejected for her saying ‘bread’. The right answer? The famed Fendi bag of the same name.

All agog Why should women cheer for Modi? reuters

tous use of the term ‘ladies’, which appears to be a polite way to refer to working women. References to men and brothers, understandably, outnumber ones to women and sisters. To me, perhaps the most interesting feature hidden away in this gender-chart is that sons are mentioned twice as often as daughters,” writes Nair.

Thus, in Modi’s India, ‘daughters’ are to be protected and the sanctity of marriage upheld even at the cost of burdening fathers/brothers with debts.

The ‘mothers’, of course, are to be revered.

“In our culture and heritage, mothers come above everyone else. ‘Ma’ evokes reverence — that is our tradition. We call ‘Bharat’ — our country — Ma... anything we hold in reverence we address as Ma. I know of families where women have decided not to marry so they can dedicate their lives to looking after their parents in their old age…Women say ‘I have been burnt’ to get their husbands’ attention.

That same woman will concentrate on buying a saree from a sale but will drop everything when her house is on fire — if her child is stuck inside, she will try and get the child out of a burning house — that same mother who was singed by a roti. That is the power of a woman,” Modi told businesswomen ucky indeed. Results of an online survey — created by British writer Alex Belin FICCI on seven April 8. los and allowances administered to 44,000 respondents Of course, have to be made to the — reveal that seven is the world’s favourite number.

“When it comes to myths, stories and traditions, humans have likes of Jassuben, who launched a successful pizza always favouredbut seven numbers.

And this heptophilia continues,” says brand in Gujarat, as a above matterother of routine, womFor those who think that the question is rather pointless, Bellos explains that enBellos. are viewed in relation to the men and their prithe role aim isofthat theof survey was to “research the emotional connection people have with mary a homemaker. numbers.”

Themust survey showstothat The menfolk attend thewhile morenumbers serious ending with 0 and 5 are particularly unloved, day ofa birth is a favourite. if you business of the earning livelihood.

WhetherBut it is his are born on the 10th, or the 20th, or the 30th, you are likely to choose 10, 20 or 30 as your favourite than you are to party’s manifesto orless public rallies, the predomin3, 7 or if you were born on those antchoose responses are13towards an aggressive male dates. and Seven came out on top because it “stands out”.

And wait, there’s the world’s least favourite number too: 110. universally dissatisfied followers.

From tiny, decrepit towns to glittering metropolises, his largely male audience throngs his public meetings in a euphoric haze, looking for answers no ordinary politician can provide.

He rises spectacularly to the challenge. His image magnified in three dimensions, he promises them jobs, rapid growth, 100 new smart cities, bullet trains, a whole new world. As he traipses around from Solapur to Jammu and Bareilly, he sells a dream that seduces the cynical and hypnotises those who are desperately urrently seeking a deployed new In- in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan dia. There is, of course, some space there for brave is not a secret American drone taking aim at a may “bug splat”, but an artwork strong mothers, daughters and wives.

For those who enough the world’s most powerful air force. A have opted for singlehood, be sure itto is avert only in the of artist-activists service of the family. But forgroup the ones living in sin, have travelled to the region with a giant posterRam of anRaunnamed child who is said to have Hindu Rashtra may not exactly resemble lost her family in a drone attack. The intention of this coljya. Metaphorically speaking. lective: Tragedy has a human face. poornima joshi

There is such a thing as the world’s favourite number

L

Not a bug splat

Artists give drone victims a face with a new project

C

A hero’s death This July, loverboy Archie Andrews will die

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or fans of the love-struck teenager from Riverdale, this is a huge blow.

Bigger than the one the Just Married series inflicted in 2009. Come July, the publishers of Archie Comics will kill off their most popular character, frecklefaced Archie Andrews. In the last few years, Archie comics have made news for edgier storylines; Riverdale’s first openly gay character was created in 2013. In the 36th issue of the Life With Archie series, Archie will die a “heroic” death in a bloody incident. But all is not lost. Life in Riverdale will continue for readers of other series (Lena Dunham of Girls will also write a mini storyline next year) and Life With Archie will continue to chronicle the lives of the others without dear Archiekins. Whose affections Betty and Veronica will vie for is still a suspense.

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3 23BL BL

HANG

saturday, april 12, 2014

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cornerstone in-faq by joy bhattacharjya

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aybe it’s summer and I’m seeing more skin around me. Or maybe it’s the news that David Beckham just got his 32nd tattoo and does not regret a single one of them. Whatever the reason, it’s time for a quiz on tattoos.

1

While body scarring and painting have been around since Roman times, which explorer popularised the Samoan word ‘tatau’ in the western world after his travels in Tahiti and New Zealand in the 18th century?

2

The first western sailors to widely use tattoos were Roman Catholics, especially in the UK, and they usually had a crucifix tattooed on their back. This is believed to have served two purposes, one being that they would be given proper Roman Catholic rites when they died.

What was the second reason?

3

Till the 19th century, when new recruits were enlisted in the British army, they were always checked for the letters ‘BC’ and ‘D’ tattooed on their arms or torso. ‘BC’ stood for bad character, not to be enlisted unless absolutely necessary.

What did ‘D’ stand for?

4

Eight members of the cast of which film had themselves tattooed with a representation of the number ‘9’? Incidentally, the director sported a tattoo with a representation of the number ‘10’.

the new york times crossword-0223

passing grades

5

In their search of Nazi war criminals, one of the easiest ways for the allies to find former SS officers was to look for a single letter, usually tattooed on the underside of the left arm. What did it indicate?

6

Recently, Victor Whitmill, a tattoo artist sued the makers of Hangover 2 for copyright infringement when one of the characters of the film woke up with a tattoo like the one Whitmill had designed for a celebrity. Whose intricate Maori-inspired tattoo was inked by the artist?

7 8

Johnny Depp has a tattoo reading ‘Wino Forever’. What did it read originally?

In American prisons, one of the most common tattoos is of a tear drop just below the eye. What is it supposed to indicate?

9

This cricketer thought he was the 356th player for Australia and had the number 356 tattooed on his arm. It later turned out he was actually number 357 and his fellow debutant Brendon Julien was the 356th. Finally, the ACB assigned him the number 356 and he was spared a painful modification job. Name the cricketer.

10

While on celebrities, which actor had a line from the Beatles song Sexy Sadie tattooed on his person?

Across

Answers 1. Captain James Cook 2. Officers were often hesitant to flog a back decorated with a religious symbol 3. Deserter 4. The Lord Of The Rings. You can spot Orlando Bloom's tattoo in some scenes of Pirates of the Caribbean 5. Blood Group 6. Mike Tyson’s unmistakable facial tattoo 7. Winona Forever, before he and Ryder broke up.

Wine is probably more durable 8. That the wearer has killed another human 9. Michael Slater 10. Jude Law. He did have a long relationship with Sadie Frost

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joy bhattacharjya is, in this age of television pundits and Facebook gurus, simply grateful that facts are not opinions t@joybhattacharj

1 Summer refreshers 5 Israel’s Netanyahu, informally 9 Bowler and sailor 13 Tracking systems 19 Ports 21 Memphis deity 22 Actress Cuthbert of “24” 23 One who turned Cinderella’s pumpkin into pumpkin cheesecake?

25 Drive away 26 Reference 27 New York’s Jacob ___ Park 28 Crude coconut opener 29 Cherry part 30 Worth mentioning 32 Iglu and yoghurt, e.g.

33 Bad beginning?

36 ___ cycle 37 Dustin Hoffman title role 39 County or lake of Cooperstown, N.Y. 42 Dunking cookie 44 Be too syrupy 45 Liquor unit 49 Snorkeling bargain?

52 Hip-hop artist with the

2013 #1 album “Born Sinner” 53 Up to, shortly 54 French noodles?

55 What makes blue jeans blue 56 “She’s got electric boots, a ___ suit” (“Bennie and the Jets” lyric) 57 Rust-causing agents 59 Vex 60 Stomachs 61 Fit to ___ 62 Tin can plinker, maybe 63 Challenge for a speech coach 64 Oscar winner Leachman 67 Setting of “The Crucible” 68 Nappy fabric 72 Undeveloped 73 Elizabeth Taylor role of ’63 74 Roman ruler before Caesar 75 Subj. of Snowden leaks 76 Dismantle on a ship 77 Transportation company that skimps on safety?

80 Conk 81 Wisecrack 82 Of the flock

83 Lawn care brand 84 Mythological monster 87 Addr. book datum 88 Even if, in brief 89 Corkscrewed 92 “___ no turning back” 95 Dress accessory 99 Knacks 100 Reason for an ophthalmologist’s visit 101 It might be answered, “Muy bien, gracias” 104 Sergeant’s order 105 Stephen Hawking’s computer-generated voice?

107 Church vessel 108 Bring in 109 Duvel pub offering 110 Prepares to propose 111 Kind of rug 112 Buttonhole, for example 113 NASA’s ___ Research Center

Down

1 Acting family 2 Did a Vegas job 3 Return option 4 Pulled strings, maybe?

5 Former 6’9" N.B.A.’er Hayes, to fans

6 “What did ___ deserve this?”

7 Comfortable state 8 Suffix with age 9 Band’s cue 10 More wan 11 Draws 12 Old atlas initials 13 Force under Stalin 14 Keys on a piano 15 Two things seen beside James Bond at a casino?

16 Popular ski spot 17 Butler of literature 18 Register ring-ups 20 Screenwriting guru Field 24 Call from a balcony 28 Massenet opera 31 Indoor balls 32 In a loathsome way 34 Starting trouble 35 Tryst site 38 Director’s cry 39 “The Simpsons” character with a habit of calling things “gnarly” 40 Candy bar that comes two to a pack 41 Most arias 43 Insect repellent ingredient

46 Artery 47 “That’s ___!”

48 Bodies of eau 50 Little: Suffix 51 Per ___ 52 Use for a résumé 56 Spammer enabler 58 “Oh, yeah? Let’s see you hold your breath for two minutes!” e.g.?

59 Better qualified 62 Like Bruce Willis, in his later movie roles 63 She “drank champagne and danced all night,” in song 64 Crude weapon 65 46-Down division 66 Spanish alternative?

67 Checked (out) 68 Myocyte 69 Sweater, e.g.

70 “___ it rich?” (Sondheim lyric) 71 Highlands refusals

74 Better at conniving 77 Handles 78 Triangular sail 79 Infuser contents 81 Altar no-shows 85 Gingerbread house visitor 86 Enrobe 89 Heap 90 Eucharist holder 91 TV actress Graff 93 Spotted scavenger 94 “Ditto” 96 “Take me ___” 97 Lifted 98 Hosiery brand 100 Kind of tissue 102 Coin grade 103 Repetitive behavior condition, for short 105 View from a boardwalk 106 Grammy Awards airer

By Yaakov Bendavid / Edited by Will Shortz

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