Blink issue 20 june07 2014

25 YEARS LATER The pen of an artist chronicles the bloody horrors of Tiananmen Square in a graphic novel p18 saturday, june 7, 2014

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Played in Brazil, but loved in Kolkata. The story of the World Cup in India is one of crazed fans, enthusiastic tyros, clubs with vested interests, and of course, a few sceptics p5

A SPHINX RISES Sugar sculptures in New York, which tell of America’s embittered history p14

HAPOOS ON MY MIND Author Ruchir Joshi on why the alphonso deserves every bit of syrupy praise p21

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Brisk business The Bhowanipore branch of Balaram Mullick & Radharaman Mullick in South Kolkata keeps pace with the times ashoke chakrabarty

Interpreters of maladies

debates are considered an integral part of West Bengal’s genetic makeup, Mullick believes the decibel levels this year were a good notch higher. “It didn’t matter whether I was taking a swim or trying to enjoy a drink at the club. Regardless of where I went, I heard people discussing the pros and cons of some leader or another.” His ears buzzing with shrill punditry, Mullick decided that he was well-positioned to offer his clients a taste of their politics. Hitting upon the idea of nirbachoni mishti (election sweets), the young proprietor introduced four types of sandesh, each with the party symbol of a prominent political outfit etched upon it.

Rather than go from door to door, psephologists should have perhaps been advised to make their way to Balaram’s instead. As it turned out, the sale of its nirbachoni line helped predict trends in Bengal as convincingly as opinion polls. While the store sold 500 pieces of the Trinamool sandesh, it found there was also a demand for 200-250 BJP lotuses. Only 50 customers asked for a show of the Congress’ hand and an even fewer 30-40 were interested in the CPI(M)’s hammer-and-sickle.

The confectioner also offered other concoctions. Impressed by Modi’s humble tea-selling background, they infused CTC and Darjeeling tea to invent a NaMo cutting chai mousse.

Helpings of nolen gurer payodhi (baked yoghurt) were named ‘Didi’ because, as Mullick later clarified, “Like nolen gur, Mamata di was Speak easy Shahid Tasleem (below) is certified to teach Uzbek, and his students are in demand as flavour of Bengal withramesh 34 Lok Sabha seats.” sharma interpreters for international patients at hospitals suchthe as Fortis (above) in Gurgaon But the most interesting item on Balaram’s uous trial-and-error, craftsman Uttam Bhatta- election menu was possibly the RaGa dessert. charya that the to artIndia of accurate sandesh 1.5 lakhargues patients travel each year, with Mullick says his reasons dedicating a chocjobs in hospitals are thefor safest and most conportraiture is often coming as difficult winning a olate a sizeable number fromascentral and sandesh to the Gandhi scion were simple venient,” he says. tricky constituency. “Sometimes we’d get the — “He west Asia. is younginand a little He“Havhas The doctors, turn, valueWestern. their role. beard wrong. Sometimes the spectacles studied abroad andknows has some Italian heritage. ing someone who the language is very wouldn’t fit. And each time we’d have to start Iuseful,” Get-well lingo felt a fewsays chocolate flakes Sharma, were warranted.”

Dr Hemant an orthofrom scratch.”have become an important link paedics “Interpreters Did heconsultant ever worry thathospital. his innovations at the “We have After having seen flysays off Ashthe might between patients andhis thecreation hospital,” lead a partyfor orbone leader to taketreatment, umbrage, patients coming marrow shelves forCOO, more than a fortnight, Bhattaish Bhatia, Fortis Healthcare.

“With inter- Mullick is aproblems risk,” he patientsturns with philosophical. mental issues, “Life gastric charya to see NaMo sandesh being preters,was it sad is easy forthe doctors to explain to muses.

“Moreover, one can accuse us of havand a wide variety no of other illnesses.

They also discontinued thisnative week.language “I felt it the diagnos- come from troubled patients in their ing beennations, undemocratic.

We have so the interprethad at least another six months care.” is, treatment and post-treatment made sure every party was repreer is all the more helpful.” leftJaved in it,” he confides Akhtar, 28, worksruefully. as an interpreter for sented.” Sensitivity, however, Owner Sudip however, patients whoMullick, speak Arabic andisUzbek. Until a Never tongue-tied isn’t just limited to politics in a Narendra face afew firm believer oft-cited years ago, allinhethat could have hoped for was Modi’s Kolkata.

“I have neversometimes understoodorthodox how a person reon the adage — invention is the mother a teaching job, but today his proficiency in sweet subverting the searches or Balaram’s works in is a also region but doesn’t of ato speak of necessity.

Hefetches explains, these languages him“We a decentresembled income that city’stheir age-old traditions of sandbother tongue,” says Tasleem. beatific Santa Claus, have to keep experimenting. as an interpreter.

“After complet-I esh-making.

More than Mullick, “There are many businessmen, perhaps the most have customers whofrom walk Jamia, in eving my graduation though, his father, especiallyit isfrom GujaratPradip and appropriate likeness ery what’s for week a yearand or ask, so ISo tried to new be a Mullick, who makes an impasMaharashtra, who venture out a new PM could have today? are great exteacherThese in myreally hometown Auransioned pleaAsian for more experimento central countries today. wished for pectations.”

InFinancially the fourteen gabad in Bihar. it betation.

“Yougroups must realise A lot He of says, tourist head Many businessmen, years 33-year-old came since difficult though,Mullick and I we areas living the age of people the futhere well,inapart from especially from took charge, heDelhi has tried to shifted back to and hard took up sion People wantnations’ somewho mishti. research on those Gujarat and capture State’s zeitgeist this job atthe the hospital,” he says. like What a NaMo issandesh.

On history. peculiar, Maharashtra, venture thing through his mishtis.

There of washis a Explaining the nature the day Narendra Modi was though, is that it is only recently out to central Asian large for Pranab Mukherjee he be- sworn work cake at Fortis’ Gurgaon facility, when countries doubled sales if we thathave people are our beginning to todayin, I could came President andmoment a gur (jaggery) he says, “From the they sandesh for had enough stock. demand is really crazy.” learnThe Uzbek or the other lanMamata Banerjee she became (patients) land atwhen the airport till chief minA regular guages. at Balaram’s, I think Chandan it is a goodPrasad sign.” ister, butonthese last back, elections, they are their way we trysays Mullick, feels the ₹120 price tag forNalin a NaMo sandesh was Colonel Bhatia readily captured the public more than justified. to help them with“had everything.

“The him. shopThe usesarmy sulphuragrees with man liketerms, no free The only problem isimagination with medical sugar.

You might payon more here, but you learnt Uzbek with an eye the future.

“I have other.” which are sometimes difficult to translate, but pay for quality and, moreinimportantly, you pay a postgraduate degree human rights and Though after a few months you get a hang of thatheattoo.” for one disappoint his pamyinnovation.” work mightNot take metoto Uzbekistan,” he ed interpretpolitical trons, The hospital currently has seven Mullick is trying hard tothought ensure says. “ISudip had already learnt Persian and ers who are, between them, familiar with Ara- that the hysteria election fast replaced it would be goodof toan learn Uzbekistoo.” bic, Persian, Turkmen, Kazakh, Russian, Pashto by Professor football frenzy.

A replica the trophy for SM Pasha, who of teaches political and Uzbek. the upcoming World Cupofalready occupies a science, sees it as a mark good neighbourliAkhtar’s colleague Barkhat Ali, 22, is an in- corner of his store and more specialswith are said ness. “We have so much in common our terpreter for the Afghan patients. “I learnt to be onAsian the way.

“I’m just waiting for the why day central neighbours, so I thought Pashto at an academy in Malviya Nagar in India playssome in the the not learn oftournament,” the languagesconcludes as well. There south Delhi. The experience is quite good, and proprietor. that happens, make is still a lot“When of research requiredI won’t in these rewhile other job opportunities are available for just eleven mishtis. should I’ll make 11,000.” gions and Indians surely lead the way.” us — at the embassies here in India or in Afsibi arasu nevatia is a writer based in Kolkata ghanistan and other countries, interpreter shreevatsa

For patients arriving from central Asian countries for treatment in India, a growing army of interpreters is at hand to smooth the linguistic bumps in their road to recovery

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hahid Tasleem, a 45-year-old assistant professor at Jamia Millia Islamia University, is that rare Indian qualified to teach Uzbek. Over the past decade, he has taught the language to nearly 20-40 students each year. While none of them have turned to teaching it, many have used it to find work or further their academic research.

“In India, in the last five years there has been an ever-increasing demand to learn central Asian languages,” says Tasleem, when we meet him at his house in Laxmi Nagar, just beyond the Yamuna river in east Delhi. The certificate he acquired from the University of Tashkent, where he spent a few years in the ’90s, is the centrepiece in his living room. “For medical tourism, for business and for academic research, a lot of Indians are benefiting from the connection between these countries, which were a part of the former USSR. And with Indian businessmen making regular trips to Uzbekistan and other countries there, and their people coming to India for treatment, ties will only grow,” he says. or all oftourism 129 years, Balaram Mullick & The medical business in India is exRadharaman Mullick has done pected to touch $2 billion by 2015.

Moremuch than to help satisfy the cravings of South Kolkata’s sweet tooth. But during the recently concluded general elections, the confectioner realised it also had an opportunity to exploit the city’s stomach for politics. The best demonstration of Balaram’s ingenuity came in the days after May 16. Amidst rows of traditional mishtis (sweets) such as the kachagolla and patisapta, there sat the rectangular NaMo sandesh. Made with chhena (sweetened cottage cheese) and sugar, Narendra Modi’s face on the sweet resembled that of a beatific Santa Claus, perhaps the most appropriate likeness a new prime minister could have wished for. The broad smile made it clear.

Achhe din had finally arrived.

Rajendra Nath Moulick visits Balaram’s at least once a week. Though avowedly apolitical, he confesses he was particularly impressed by the still talked about NaMo sandesh. “We need to put Narendra Modi’s efforts in perspective,” he says. “Think about the number of rallies he addressed, the amount he travelled and then consider the margin of his win. For all that labour, I think Balaram’s was justified in putting his portrait on a special sandesh.”

Describing an arduous process of contin-

When victory is sweetmeat

Kolkata’s sweet tooth was spoilt for choice between a NaMo sandesh, Didi yoghurt and other ‘election mishtis’ churned out by a 129-year-old confectionery

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Poll pudding The NaMo cutting chai mousse and an assortment of sandesh graced by sundry party symbols, Didi and PM Modi ashoke chakrabarty

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Cultured corners Mumbai gets creative with a set of new, reimagined spaces

more noise than us,” says Wood, who performs regularly with his band at both venues.

His current agenda is to scout for talent in the neighbourhood: “Young, upcoming artistes need a platform to polish their art. This could be a stepping stone for them.” Thanks to the association with Mukta Arts, Ghai’s production company, Wood admits they managed to bypass many obstacles, including Mumbai’s cut-throat rents. Having their own space also meant more creative licence to feature acts they believed in. “Commercial ventures like Blue Frog have large overheads. They’re under all kinds of pressure to deliver, so they have to be careful about their programming,” he says.

For the Jhavars, too, finding a home for Easel was stress-free. Since their primary business is real estate, they dedicated an unused property to this passion project. The challenge however, was to convert a building under lockand-key for 15 years into a canvas worthy of displaying high-end paintings and sculptures.

Unlike the others, Kilachand says she checked out a number of venues before stumbling upon an old furniture shop in central Mumbai. She now has an exorbitant rent to cough up for The Warehouse, and the modest-

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n October last year, Mumbai-based Neha Sheth breathed life into a rotting godown her family owned in the city’s Kala Ghoda area. After flirting with the idea of turning it into an eatery, she decided to use the 1,700sqft area to host art and cultural events instead. Not that there was a dearth of them in South Mumbai. Sheth’s friendly neighbours are institutions like the Jehangir Art Gallery, National Gallery of Modern Art and the Chatterjee and Lal gallery, among others. Yet she chased away the rats, disposed the furniture and gutted the base, only to replace it with marble flooring. The pillars were retained to preserve the underground vibe of its former avatar. The beauty of House of Tales, says Sheth, is that it can be anything you want it to be. Construct a makeshift stage, lay out a few mattresses, and it turns into a theatre venue. For celebrity chef Ritu Dalmia’s pop-up kitchen, it was transformed into a replica of her Delhi restaurant, Diva, for three days. “We recreated it entirely, right down to the orangeand-brown chairs,” she says.

Last week, Nidhi, Dhruv and Deep Jhavar unveiled a similar initiative in Juhu called Easel.

The two-storeyed contemporary space debuted as an art gallery featuring reputed artists such as Ajay De, Anjum Motiwala and Brinda Miller. The trio are also looking to add fashion, film and food-related events to their roster.

Apart from Easel, the week that went by also

Open spaces (clockwise from left) The Warehouse, House of Tales and Easel paul noronha

saw the launch of two other hubs — The Ware- ly priced classes (up to ₹3,000) alone might house in Mahalakshmi and Andheri Base. not generate sufficient revenue. “There’s very For a while now, restaurants and cafés in little money in cultural activities. I hope to Mumbai have tried to satiate the city’s artistic sustain this for as long as I can. I’m open to appetite by doubling as venues for plays, renting it out for photo shoots and college stand-up comedy and music gigs. Last year, events. But I’ll avoid private parties,” she says.

Bandra’s Big Bang Café dialled down the deciSheth is clear that House of Tales is a forbels to stage Quasar Thakore Padamsee’s play profit gallery. She does, however, alter the fee Nostalgia Brand Chewing Gum. Bar and lounge for small-scale gatherings: “Right now I’m a litChevel in Kala Ghoda and The Little Door in tle confused about how we should position Andheri often throw open their doors for new ourselves. Do we take bookings for everything, bands on the block. But now a handful of plac- or give the space an identity by being a little es have taken it upon themselves choosy?” In comparison, the revto focus solely on culture. enue model of Andheri Base is Rohita Kilachand, a former simple — the ticket prices for Teach for India educator, has paid events must be cheaper The Andheri Base been nursing the idea of The revenue model: ticket than a bottle of beer. “People Warehouse for nearly two years. prices for paid events want things for free. They don’t What makes her project stand must be cheaper than think twice before spending on out is its exciting tap-dancing, five-six beers, but when it comes a bottle of beer hula-hooping and copper-enamto cultural events, it’s a different elling workshops, which are matter. So I didn’t want the ticket hard to come by elsewhere in prices to discourage them from the city. “There are two types of coming here,” says Wood. learning — one, doing it with your hands and That such projects are burgeoning in differthe other, audio visual, where you learn from ent corners of the city is encouraging. But is it other people’s journeys. I wanted both for my enough? “Not really,” says Wood, “This is an space. And it doesn’t matter if you’re not artis- artist-unfriendly city. For a city this large, it is tically inclined. The point is to learn. You never shocking how little cultural activity there is. know what you get out of it,” says Kilachand.

In a place like Amsterdam, with a much smallAndheri Base is a bigger, more ambitious er population, you’ll find hundreds of comversion of its sibling Bandra Base, an initiative munity-based initiatives.” Kilachand and by filmmaker Subhash Ghai. Both spaces are Sheth, both raised in the city, are more forgivmanaged by musician D Wood and Meghna ing — they’ve noticed an exponential rise in Ghai Puri (Ghai’s daughter). While Bandra cultural events from when they were growing Base’s charm lies in its no-fuss, intimate gath- up. One can only hope their initiatives mark erings, its location in a residential area can be the shape of things to come. a bit of a downer. “Now we are near Hard Rock Café in Andheri, so I’m sure they’ll be making mohini chaudhuri

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from the mirror, it’s time to try scrying. One by one, group members sit before a mirror holding a flashlight under their chins, waiting for their facial features to slowly morph into the spirit’s. Nothing happens.

But things change dramatically once we set up the ouija board in Room 6. The upturned glass on the board goes into overdrive as the spirit of a woman named Mary appears to answer our questions. Did you live at the inn, someone asks. The glass, held down lightly by our fingertips, moves to ‘No’. Did you work here? ‘Yes’. We gather that she was a lady of the night and was murdered in this room a couple of hundred years ago.

Six hours after we began, it’s time to call it a night. Several people have unusual experiences to report, though no actual spectral apparitions have been spotted. While I remain sceptical about paranormal occurrences, the hunt has been a unique adventure. Then, just before we retire to our rooms, Dutton narrates a story about a couple who moved into Room 7 in December but checked out in the middle of the night following a spooky encounter. Room 7 happens to be where I have to spend the remainder of the night alone.

That proves to be my nemesis, as rising panic replaces rational thought. I switch on all the lights as soon as I enter my room, turn on the television to loud football commentary, and call my husband, demanding that he either t’s just before midnight and the Smug- here that the English author Maurier sought come over right away CHOWDHURY (he is an hour’s SHOVON is train glers Museum is shrouded in darkness, refuge after getting lost in the mist while out ride away) orchief keepTruthdigger talking to me daybreak. andtill author making it impossible to see the other horse riding on the moor. The intriguing tales Eventually I fall asleep, but upon waking I find of The Competent Authority people in the room. “Will the spirit that she heard inspired the eponymous 1936 novel the TV inexplicably silent and the lights turnhere make its presence based on it), India ed will off. be Nocutting amount of flicking the switches costs while maintainn news described as ‘a giant step for lives tor, andplease scare people into pay- known?” (and later, Alfred Hitchcock’s film accident Paul Dutton, the group leader, calls out into in which she refers to Jamaica Inn as “a place helps.

“Spirits use any form of energy in the those who have left us’ by Deceased ing attention during in-flight would ing productivity levels.” dark, addressing the spectre of a man who of tense excitement and claustrophobia of re- Further room tocost-cutting indicate their presence.”

Persons International, Air India has thesafety announcements.

During mean we may still be Dutton’s rehere some years ago. There’s al peril and thrill.” wordsdue flash mind of and I leap out of to across a debtmy burden ₹45,000 announced that henceforth it will be wasa lynched recent trial run on a200 Delhi-Guwawould be join- quired, silence except for a couple of coughs.

Then, a Haunted Happenings, one of Britain’s leadbed, heart pounding, and rush outside ing them. For the crore, incurred mainly through the pur- to inrecruiting dead people. hati flight, the announcement comes toby life,dead blinking once, twice, a ing paranormal investigation form ofthe 111 group. planes — for ₹70,000 crore in “For far too long, recruitment practices flashlight was preceded people first time incompanies, my life, I lis-has chase third time.

A woman next to me feels somebeen conducting tours at the inn since 2011.

“Oh, that,” says aare fellow hunter, in corporate India have been prejudiced in describing conditions in the aftened to what the flight 2007 — five of which nowghost being sold atsheepcold“Apparently brush pastthe herfood ear,isand several experi- attractive ishly, “I blew while switching on a light attendant was saying.” pricesa fuse to Etihad Airways, partfavour of the living,” said a spokesperson thing terlife. aw- a young Tonight’s group comprises man grows faint and has to be rushed outside. enced ghost hunters as well as enthusiastic this morning.”

Management consult- ners of Jet, to maintain friendly relations for the airline, “Our action is designed to ful, and none of it is vegetarian,” said have IMrityunjay got myself into, I wonder, shift- first-timers. A couple, like me,also arewelcomed sceptics. “It’s with Clearly, ghostsWhile visit those who gotaxlooking rectify this historic injustice. Some people What passenger Chaturvedi from ants have Abu Dhabi. a proposed a tad nervously in place.

After all, I am giv- not our job to change beliefs; we just for them. Orbailout perhapsofI have developed ₹30,000 crore aishighly have criticised us for giving free tickets to ingVaranasi, “We asked them whether it was the your move.

“Thanks to fa- payer-funded to getting Yet here Dutton us be- likely strung sixthAirsense brothers, sisters, parents, in-laws, pets, en worse thanspooked the foodeasily. on board.

TheyI am, saidof it cilitate the experience,” movies suchassures as Bhoot, to help, Indiaovernight. itself is notWhatever sitting the ownPlus accord, participating in awere huntterrible. for the fore theand startRagini of theMMS, hunt.dead “We guarantee that idle. case, to see that whatsodraws seekers Phoonk people have “Weit’s areplain conscious manythrill family well-wishers and children of employees, mywas. their personalities one of jokes.

Bri- Some tried become an integral we haven’t up anything.” on paranormal hunts, especially this legeven after their demise, not realising that ghostly Theyinhabitants kept telling of Gujarati part set of mainstream so- members flying free is looking bad,”atsaid most locations.

The sixth endary inn in the“Hence, middle in of response a desolatetomoor. spokesperson, this was the first step for uplifting a crucial- tain’s to hit on haunted the female passengers. Others cial consciousness,” saidsense Kiranis important Khalap of in their From 10pm to the weetime hours experiencing the paranormal, As for me,pleas I needfrom a little more time to calm both male and fe- my ly neglected section of our society.” sang.

Oneup spent a long explaining why chlorophyll. “Dead people occupy very lit- passionate of the morning, our group of 20he explains, but its strength, like nerves before I venture out for another According to sources, dead people will Madhu Kishwar should be HRD minister. tle space, require no medical benefits, and male employees, mothers-in-law will soonnightWe carry odd adventure seekers will be sense of smell, them, varies Air from be time adventure. be used to terrify rivals, improve load fac- This gave us an incentive to live. Dying in an do very little the work.

By recruiting dropped from theAnd list.”this time around, I’ll electromagnetic field channelling the paranormal at person to person. So the first make sure my husband is with me. detectors and small various spots across Jamaica Inn step is a brief meditation to help Maglite flashlights — from the bar and the converted Dear Julius, open up our sixth sense, after girija duggal is a freelance writer based in Cornwall that “child spirits stables that now the type of I have to say thishouse is very unfair which Dutton’s colleague Mark love to play with” Daphne du Maurier room and partiality.

When Sridevi was wearing Sommer takes over to showcase the Smugglers Museum to jacks, the did you shorts and doing jumping the various tools that we will be old rooms onTry theto first floor — trycomplain? re-adjust your thought using on our hunt. These range Get there ing to attune ourpost-secular sixth sensesworld, to process.

In this we are from ouija boards and dowsing Jamaica Inn (from £69; hear, feel or see the slightest ofto anwear other- rods that can point to a paranormal presence all one.

Nitinbhai has everyhint right worldly shorts,presence. although when he is sitting down in a room to more modern paraphernalia like jamaicainn.co.uk) is located codebetween different.”

This exohe room is full detectors, of weeping co- lar, but the dress It shouldn’t difficult, for the Inn’s his- electromagnetic he should trybe totoo minimise thigh exposure. field (EMF) trigger midway Bodmin and Reliance pays well. There’s medians packing their bags. tory is riddled with tales of smugglers cut- balls that light If the RSS added a flowing cape to and their up with the slightest move- dus is puzzling.

Launceston in Cornwall, and is Out of the box Their belongings are few.

Clown will take Comedy to by throats, and stories of ghostly sightings costume, this also would be helpful.

Untilby ment, laser temperature testers and small Ma- no doubt theyabout 4 hours fromCentral London Paraphernalia to heights.

TheyThe have already noses, condoms, bottles of Old new, greatertrain staff andplace visitors stark grey slatethen, a abound. picture The of Nitinbhai in glite flashlights that “child spirits especially or road.

Smugglers detect paranormal Monk. of Thus them is wearing a up inannounced a slewand of new shows, du inand-stone building, shorts, preferably reclining, on your bedlove to playOne with”. armed, we break activity girija duggal Museum the Daphne Ally Subramaniam was born in the cluding It’s Always Sunny Porswimsuit flippers. As built 1750 goas a to two side table. Gaze at it every dayinbefore groups and and commence our Isearch.

Maurier room are openIn from south-west Sundarbans, but was blown bandar, Met Mani-ben, watch, pulls his swimming public stands ing to sleep.house, Over time, The firsthe stop is the museum, once a stable 8am toHow 9pmI (adults £3.95, away by a cyclone and washed up on the over his eyesthe and Everybody Loves Narendra-bhai in the middle the pain will ofre-the forgoggles coach horses, where spirits of the children and hotel guests £2.95). shore near Chennai. He was adopted by and Whose Gas Is It Anyway? marches the children are bleak Moor lynched duce.Bodmin Alternamanpurposefully as well as twoto young a poor Brahmin family from Tirupur. He door. “What’s I ask.the torch beWhy would they not want in tively, Cornwall, you UK’s supposed to lurk.heItdoing?” is here that Get spooked can answer all your questions. Write to toHaunted be part Happenings of this? It’s a mys“He can’t afford airfare,and so he’s southernmost could buy couna gins flashing inexplicably the young man askallysubramaniam@gmail.com tery.

Nevertheless, the room is swimming to Sri Lanka,”comes says to life too. ty. Back theknickday, its goes pairinof pale. The EMF detector (hauntedhappenings.co.uk) empty now, ghost barring a fatacross man the patting histo false beard isolated setting WePapa ers and wear then CJ, head upstairs Room 4, where Somconducts hunts ear Ally, withUK. a foot He is sobbing into trim and authormade them.it a favouraMany mer hasplace. tunedIt’s a radio to the static between Theinjury. next available overnight I know it’s a matter of princiHe hasSpirits shornsometimes off his locks. into coffee. Dandiya ble have halfway people altwoitative. frequencies. communihunt his at Jamaica Inn is onmuple for the RSS, but is there any sic blares through He’s now aradio phenotype.

“I’m going readyhouse startedfor cate through waves, an event known as November 15 (£69 the per interperson, way we can prevent Nitin Gadcom. I of pick up a thepla on undercover,” he says, “I’ve got ofdoingsmugglers this.

Electronic Voice Phenomenon, he explains.

We inclusive dinner) and the kari from wearing shorts? my way out, nodding to fersour from Ramdev moving con- strain Yours affectionears Baba but only manageand to make out 2-night Cut-throat Weekend on Regards, Julius, Calicut the beat.

McKinsey.

The face codechatter. is simi-Down the traband up- some ately, Ally incomprehensible December 5 (from £235, dinner, country from the corridor in Room 5, whose previous occubreakfast and board included).

The Investigator is a fortnightly round-up of all things droll and newsy.

All views are And personal.

Really personal Cornish coast. it was pants havet@shovonc reported a woman’s figure emerge Great expectations At Jamaica Inn in the middle of the bleak Bodmin Moor

AIR INDIA TO That’s the spirit RECRUIT DEAD PEOPLE! I On a ghost hunt at Cornwall’s legendary Jamaica Inn

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RELIANCE TAKES Travel Log OVER COMEDY RCENTRAL!

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A league of its own The action may be 24 hours and 15,000km away, but as Brazil kicks off the FIFA World Cup this week, time and distance cease to matter in the bylanes of Kolkata. Elsewhere in the country, new academies, many championed by international clubs, thrive and feed the football fever, even as experts wonder why, yet again, India remains a football-watching, not a football-playing, nation

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No madness such as this Tiananmen

Morgan we Chua meet some of its biggest fans, fanatics and With the World Cup starting this week Navayana promoters — all to be found, but of₹350course, in the city of Kolkata

EXCERPT

Tiananmen Singapore-born cartoonist Morgan Chua — whose brush weeps for what happened at the Tiananmen Square — warns of the dangers when a government turns its guns on its people in a graphic novel of the same name

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supported Deng Xiaoping through my cartoons in the FEER (Far Eastern Economic Review; he used cartoon posters — a good visual weapon — himself across China to oust the Gang of Four) because I respected his pragmatic reforms. Most of all, he suffered during the Cultural Revolution and was later purged by the Gang of Four. I believed that he would lead China into a brighter future with care and understanding, without repeating the horrors of the past.

On 4 June 1989, he betrayed me, just as he betrayed his people and the international community who trusted him. His govern-

Runs in the blood Almost every boy in Kolkata has a connection with football, here they practise at the Kolkata Maidan ashoke chakrabarty

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queezed around the edge of Kolkata’s busy Chowringhee and its expansive Maidan, a small cluster of shops has long catered to the city’s many sporting needs. Awash with the purple of Kolkata Knight Riders jerseys until recently, Maidan Market is finally showing signs of more colour. Sheikh Amin, a salesperson at AH Sports, points to a row of freshly arrived stock. “Holland, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Argentina — we have all their shirts. The football World Cup comes once every four years, and given our sales, that one month starts to feel like a religious festival.” Each of Amin’s imitation jerseys is priced at ₹300 and he hopes to sell more than a thousand in the days to come.

When asked which team is his favourite, he laughs. “I support the team that helps me sell the most.”

Just a few shops down, Amin’s materialistic predilections are clearly considered the stuff of blasphemy. In the merchandise business for 35 years, 63-year-old Jacky first rattles off the names of many a local great. “They have all played either in my boots or in my jerseys.”

With the World Cup just days away, the shop owner is paid a visit by Narayan Mukherjee, one of his first customers. Mukherjee, who once played professionally for Eastern Railway FC, is accompanied by his 22-year-old son Akash. Together they place an order for nine jerseys, six of which are in a Brazilian yellow.

“There is one thing that you must know,” says Mukherjee. “No sporting event will ever

ment used the military to suppress its own innocent, unarmed people with firepower, brutality and insanity. And this on the authority of a parvenu who had suffered so much in the past yet was imposing it all over again on others!

Their suffering and agonies made me pick up my brush again to depict the plain truth and express my anguish, my sadness over the madness that had beset China once more.

(Excerpts from Tiananmen, 25th anniversary edition, by Morgan Chua; published with permission of Navayana.) morgan chua

be able to match the football World Cup.” As fish. Chaitali sells sarees from home. When the Akash inspects Brazil’s No 10 Neymar Jr shirt, Sikkim Football Association sends its foundhe finds it hard to contain his excitement. ing member Pannalal an air ticket to travel, he “From Ronaldo to Ronaldinho to Neymar, I opts for a train’s sleeper class instead. “We sufhave always worn a Brazilian jersey when fer four years of hardship, but at least this way watching the game. Most of my friends and I can go with my head held high. I wish I could family are Brazil fans, or should I say, we are describe to you the joy of being able to sit in Brazil fanatics. Since the team is playing at the stands,” says Chaitali. home this time, we have a 100 per cent advanAs her face lights up and her gestures turn tage.” Meanwhile, Akash’s father and Jacky more animated, Chaitali’s disposition behave already started arguing over who will be comes endearingly childlike. She talks of livBrazil’s opponent in the final — Argentina or ing in a hotel adjacent to Pelé during the 1986 Spain. “You’ll only see this in Calcutta,” says Mexico World Cup. “I was barely introduced to Akash. “If football were a person, him, but years later during the Kolkata would be its heart. Crick1994 US World Cup, he recoget is a religion, yes, but football is nised me instantly. I’m sure it our faith.” was because of my saree. He asked, ‘Madam, you’ve come If football were a Oldest and biggest fans again?’ I just smiled and smiled.” person, Kolkata Amongst all of Kolkata’s football She points to her picture with would be its heart faithfuls, it might perhaps be the Brazilian legend as proof. hard to find a fan who can match When it comes to matters on the the zeal of 81-year-old Pannalal pitch, Pannalal and Chaitali finChatterjee and his 70-year-old ish each other’s sentences. They wife Chaitali. Ever since 1982, the couple have discuss Diego Maradona’s ‘Goal of the Centusuccessfully made their way to all World Cup ry’ against England in 1986 as if it were scored venues in order to watch at least a few games the previous night. But it is usually Pannalal, a of the tournament live. “And this year, we are former club footballer, who delivers the final travelling to Brazil, the Mecca of football,” analysis. “I’ll never forget the ’86 final between gushes Chaitali, “Our ninth World Cup.” Living Argentina and West Germany. When the Aron a meagre pension that Pannalal Chatterjee gentinians came out on the field, it looked like receives as a retired employee of Kolkata’s they hadn’t eaten for a fortnight. I thought Dock Labour Board, the aging couple save ev- they would bite the flesh off this well-fed Gerery possible penny. They have even given up man side. They obviously won 3-2.” But for all

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his 1986 memories, Pannalal remains a diehard fan of the team in yellow and green.

While a local tour operator has subsidised their airfare to Rio de Janeiro, a sports management firm has helped buy tickets that will allow the Chatterjees an opportunity to watch at least four games this World Cup. Thrilled that he might possibly get the chance to witness Brazil play in the tournament’s Round of 16 stages, Pannalal still has to allay some of his wife’s immediate fears. Even though FIFA has promised to provide them free accommodation, Chaitali is worried for her husband’s and her own safety. “Many people have asked us to avoid lanes and stick to main roads. We’ve been told that if a criminal spots two rings on your fingers, you risk losing your hand.” Her octogenarian husband, however, tries to stay upbeat. “This may well be our last World Cup,” he tells her. “Who knows how much our health will deteriorate.” For someone who still can’t tire of debating Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ goal, it’s hard to admit that his World Cup future “is now in God’s hands”.

Maradona’s oldest lovers Octogenarian Pannalal Chatterjee and his 70-year-old wife Chaitali will attend their ninth World Cup this year ashoke chakrabarty

Team loyal The industriousness and fervour of the Chat- ple become more aware of football talent.” terjees doesn’t come easily to most, and for Having watched Kolkata’s Manchester Unitthose left behind, a more distant enjoyment ed Fans Club grow from a Facebook page in must suffice. Trying to shorten that gap are 2010 to a registered society that now organises several television companies. Assuring ‘stadi- regular screenings and events, Sayan Chakraum-like thrills’, one in particular borty believes that the sport’s is advertising its new curved TV popularity can still be taken for as a ticket that will help you granted. Agreeing with Sardar, ‘bring Brazil home’. Manager of the fan club’s former president electronics retailer Great Eastern Each time the football says that before each World Cup, Technocity, Sanjib Sardar says, “I football followers have had World Cup comes have been in this trade for seven enough time to make up their around, the demand years and I can safely say that mind about which players they for LCD and LED TVs each time the football World Cup in Kolkata goes up by like the most. “This determines comes around, the demand for at least 30-35 per cent their preference for a national LCD and LED TVs in Kolkata goes team.” For 25-year-old Chakraup by at least 30-35 per cent. In borty, though, it wasn’t just telejust this first week of June, we are vision that proved a likely seeing the whole circumference catalyst. His passion for Argentiturn.” Though Sardar believes that cricket still na was reaffirmed when he watched Lionel has an edge over football, he thinks the last Messi play Venezuela in Kolkata in 2011. “Pelé, decade has seen a paradigm shift for the latter. Maradona and Oliver Kahn — they have all “I’d say the number of people watching inter- played in the city, but I was too young then. I national football has increased by a good 40 got to see Messi. I had never seen an internaper cent. By following European leagues, peo- tional star. It was brilliant.”

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C-grade grass Younger players often lament the lack of stadia and sponsorship ashoke chakrabarty

In a city where Brazil and Argentina often dominate allegiances, Chakraborty is aware that his choice of team isn’t unusual. “But you just need to look harder and you’d find a supporter for almost anyone,” he says. Chartered accountant Subham Pugalia remembers the night in 2002 when Brazil lifted the World Cup. “The people in the building opposite ours went crazy. It felt as if Diwali had arrived a few months early or like India had just won the cricket World Cup. I remember being very infuriated.” The cause for 25-year-old Pugalia’s anger was simple — he always prefers supporting an underdog. This year, for instance, he’ll be cheering for Belgium. “They have the best young talent.”

With time, the reasons for lending support to a side have also come to border on the absurd. Twelve years ago, a 6-year-old Suraj Sharma sat down to play FIFA Football on his PlayStation with a neighbour. “I still remember it as clear as day. David Beckham had scored me my first goal. Ever since then, I support England.” Being an England fan, says Sharma, helps him feel safe in a city where al-

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Heart on one’s sleeve T-shirts supporting Kolkata Knight Riders have given way to those brandishing the names of players from Spain, Germany and Brazil ashoke chakrabarty

anna mm vetticad

FILM FATALE

Cup for him — “Madness”. After describing in great depth some of Pelé’s 1,283 goals and post a realistic analysis of Brazil’s chances this year, Kotal starts talking of yesteryear Brazil forward Bebeto. “He weighed only 60kg,” he says.

“If someone with that kind of weight can play at the international level, am I to believe that we don’t have 22 players in this country to represent us?”

Pradip Mondal, cashier of Alipore Sarbojanin, chimes in. “If countries like Cameroon and Australia can play in the World Cup, why can’t we?” Kotal and Mondal together bemoan the lacklustre forms of popular club teams such as Mohun Bagan and East Bengal. “Why don’t we have better stadia,” asks Kotal. “Why do we have to play on C-grade grass?” Anuj Kichlu, CEO and director of football management firm The Football Edge, feels the real problem may lie elsewhere. “The biggest issue here is the development of talent into a final product. It’s around the ages of 15-20 that someone turns from a talented sportsman into a professional player. That’s where we have a gap.” Kichlu hopes that by hosting the Under-17 World Cup in 2017, India can finally assess its talent and its infrastructure.

With tournaments such as a football Indian Super League in the pipeline, Kolkata’s fans have greater reason to localise their support.

But for now, all their concerns seem international. Given the vast time difference between Brazil and India, most World Cup games will be broadcast after midnight. “It isn’t a problem,” says Mondal. “We’ll only sleep for an hour or two. As far as our jobs go, our bosses can expect some slacking off. The World Cup will always come first.”

When a woman says no

Despite all our differences, it appears we are a nation bound together by a love of films that legitimise, normalise, even romanticise stalkers

“A

ll love stories in real life starts (sic) after stalking,” a chap wrote to me on Twitter the other day.

“What if the stalker loves her more than anybody else?” asked another. The two were reacting tohoping tweetsfor I posted most everyone else is a Brazilafter or Ar-I chancedwin. upon the Malayalam film Annayum gentina “When I say I want England to lift Rasoolum on TV earlier the Cup, they just give that me aevening. strange look and case don’tthat know, Annayum Rasoolum letIn me be.you It’s then I start making fun of is an inter-community romance that earned them,” he says. critical acclaim, audience applause and multiple awards last year. It’s the love story of RaRaise high the goalpost sool,young a Muslim taxi driver would in Kochi played be by The Suraj Sharma perhaps Fahadhadvised Faasil, to and a Christian called better avoid any kindwoman of backtalk in Annaaround (AndreaChetla, Jeremiah) who is Kolkata a sales assistpara and a South ant in an upmarket sari shop. (neighbourhood) reputed for its love of footLike many Indian filmengineer heroes before him, ball.

Avijit Bhanja, a site working on falls for asite woman face he aRasool construction in thewhose area, pretty says, “Almost happens see one That’s whenwith the the unevery boytohere has day. a connection nerving behaviour begins.

Rasoolsomeone tails Anna sport.

Someone is just practicing; is down crowded roads andFootball deserted bylanes. playing in a tournament. is in every He starts taking the boat shewho takesused to work evdrop of our blood.”

Bhanja, to play ery the day.neighbourhood In some of the film’s most for club at onedisquieting point, says scenes, he follows her to the gategroups. of her that Chetla is divided intovery four home, then hangs around peeping over the low wall. In another scene that sent a shiver down my spine, he is seated right behind her on a bus and surreptitiously passes his hand over her flowing hair. As is usually the case with such creeps in Indian cinema, she is initially oblivious to him, then uninterested, and later intrigued. The film ultimately rewards him with her love.

“Watching Annayum Rasoolum on Asianet just now.ome That’s a seriously disturbing stalkSeptember, 23 of India’s finest er!” I tweeted that day. surprisingly, while footballers willNot pack their bags and some responses condemned thethe film, and head to South Korea for Asian some admitted it had not occurred to them Games. Around the same time, theto

“North, South and East support Brazil. West supports Argentina. If you want to watch skill, watch Brazil. For teamwork, watch Argentina.” Clearly an Argentinian supporter, the 34year-old is visibly excited that the World Cup is only a week away, but he cannot help a frown mid-sentence. “I just wish India was good enough to qualify by now.”

A few blocks away from Bhanja’s workplace, the club room of Alipore Sarbojanin is busy preparing itself for what some of the society’s members are calling ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’. The sewing machines that help the society fulfil its promise of social work are now being pushed to the corner. Brazil’s flags are being stuck to the walls and there is also some talk of a new LCD television being rented. Cultural secretary Satyajit Kotal says there is only one word that can aptly describe the World

shreevatsa nevatia is a freelance writer in Kolkata Close call Raanjhanaa (above) and Annayum Rasoolum (below) cater to the mass male audience

It’s all about the money, honey The tragedy is that Raanjhanaa marked a rabid return to a dictum Bollywood had been gradually letting go of since the 1990s: the assumption that when a girl says no, she means maybe or yes. Darr in 1993 epitomised a bucking of the horrendous trend by portraying the stalker as a murderous psychopath who remains repugnant to the heroine till the end.

Twenty years later in nered with Atletico de Raanjhanaa, Madrid for despite a Bengalhis crude conduct, Kundan gets tohas hear Zoya say club; and even John Abraham acquired she loves him for the first time when he slashthe Guwahati team with Shillong Lajong. Star es his wrists in her presence.

Large sections TV’s 35 per cent stake of ₹2,000 crore for theof

This then is what unites politicians, sexual predators and filmmakers across that fabled stretch from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, from Bollywood to Tollywood, Kollywood and Mollywood: the belief that stalking is an acceptable form of courtship. Despite all our differences, it appears we are a nation bound together by a love of films that legitimise, normalisethe and romanticise pests.concludleague, seventh editionmale of which Decent men women such ed recently, will and be the mostinured hit byto the transgressions through repeated exposure emergence of the ISL. The I-league, which cur-to insensitive films, and films as a rently has 14 teams, will men have who to besee truncated, justification of their crimes, need split to bebeconnext 15 years will guarantee the broadcast of with clubs, players and schedules stantly reminded that there’s the games. IMG-Reliance has already roped in tween the two leagues. Club loyalties will also nothing about stalkformer international players such as Robert be divided. “Bengal hasromantic three clubs already, ing; nothing charming about Pires, Hernan Crespo and Louis Saha among Goa has three clubs, who will they support in a man who shadows a woman, inothers. The league also requires participating the ISL,” says Kapadia. timidates and frightens in 1993Finally, buckedfinding franchises to develop the game from theDarr grassclub identities that canher, takeor intrudes into her life with unthis trend by roots, revamp stadia and provide internation- root in cities like Kolkata and Panjim, where wanted phone calls, SMSes portraying the stalker al-standard surfaces. With such football fans hold hard and fastor emails.and Delhi law student as a psychopath ambitious plans, what’s to stop loyalties rivalries, will be Priyadifdarshini Mattoo was raped and repugnant to the the ISL from climbing to IPL ficult say commentators.

While killed stalker Santosh heroine heights of fame and spawning the Boardbyof her Control for Cricket What’s to stop the ISL revenge she renumerous editions? inSingh India as (BCCI) can because dictate interfrom climbing to jected his advances.

Social activLaunched in 2010, however, national cricketing agenda, IMGIPL heights ist Laxmi’s destroyed has seen nearly three years of inReliance andface the was All India Foot-in anFederation acid attack by a man whose roaction. Originally slated for Januball (AIFF) command mantic overtures she turned down. ary this year, the ISL postponed no such stature in international thelaunch audience offended Mainstream cinema tends to IPL-style steer clear the date,seem inviting criti- — not by Kunfootball.

Even if the ISLof dan’s behaviour, but by the criticism of it.

The such horrific cases.

By presenting stalking in a cism. Now planned for September, the league takes off and generates big money, it will be comments sectionsetback below the Raanjhanaa humorous light insteadpremier and/or by repeatedly is looking at another as the dates clashre- hard to match Europe’s divisions — view onAsian my blog is filled such valued showing women Anna falling in love with with the Games.

Thiswith willresponses rule out the at more thanlike $3 billion. as, “What anofelitist review”; “You arein sooooo the of Rasool, too many films are — with participation the best Indian talent the Butlikes it’s not all bad news for Indian football. disconnected to the country” (sic); “You calculated intentto—bring catering to the wishful league.

Even the team composition, as don’t re- The ISL is expected in some major imhave by an the Indian heart”; areofan extreme thinking ofeven theirifmass audience.

They quired ISL, is not in“You favour local tal- provements, they male are not all of the feminist”; The Tiger campaign would sporting are not kind. merely portraying a condemnable ent, with “Save 10 foreigners, eight Indian Stadia and surfaces will get aresoon need to shift focus on men” (sic).talents much-needed ality, they are glorifying it. And likevisibility all trash, professional players and four under-23 facelift and the media Their words echo sentiments earlier excinematic garbage deserves nothing in each team. As football commentator Novy will put the spotlight on Indian football formore at pressed in Parliament

by Sharad22-year-old Yadav of Janathan tomonths be thrown dustbin — notfor just Kapadia says, “Even an unknown is least two in ainto year.the Fingers crossed ta Dal (United).

“Who among us has not by critics, but by audiences too. better than a 40-year-old biggie.” the 2026 World Cup. followed girls?” had asked while criticising Then, there’s noheroom for two leagues.

Inanna mm vetticad is the author of The Adventures the criminalisation of stalking kotamraju dia’s football premier league, and the voyeurism Aircel I- priyanka of an Intrepid Film Critic t @annavetticad in the new anti-rape bill (now an Act).

A new league hopes to bring IPL-like success to football

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Victory run Bengaluru FC captain Sunil Chhetri celebrates his I-league success this year pti

much-talked about Indian Super League (ISL) will make its debut in India. With an IPL-style format and big guns such as sports management giant IMG-Reliance backing it, the eightfranchise, two-month long tournament aims at bringing a revolution to Indian football. At the April auction, teams were bought by the usual suspects — Bollywood stars, sport celebs and media empires — starting at a base price of ₹25 crore per team. Sachin Tendulkar owns the Kerala Blasters; Sourav Ganguly has part-

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think in such terms, many went along these lines: “Relax! It’s just a movie”; “Maybe you’re right. It’s a good movie though”; “Stop looking at it as a feminist. It’s so romantic.”

This was mild in comparison with the reactions I had to contend with after reviewing the Bollywood release Raanjhanaa, a Hindu boyMuslim girl encounter starring Sonam Kapoor and Dhanush. In that film, Dhanush’s character Kundan unrelentingly chases Zoya (Sonam), although she slaps him on 15 occasions. She finally tells him she is impressed by his “consistency”, a choice of words that no doubt reaffirms convictions held dear by roadside Romeos across India.

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The slip between the Cup… Every four years we wonder why India doesn’t figure in world football, before returning our adoring gaze to an Argentinian or Brazilian or Spanish triumph telecast live on TV

T vijay lokapally

Kicked about When it comes to football, we are a nation that loves to watch and applaud foreign star-power afp

he World Cup is here. The football extravaganza that has the world in its thrall will leave educational institutions and workplaces grappling with thin attendance. Indeed, this will be the most glorious month or so for the couch potato. Parents will sulk as children stay up for latenight telecasts that leave them bleary-eyed for next day’s school. In some countries this passion acquires manic proportions, with workers going on month-long leave. Football merchandise, including everything from Tshirts and shorts to boots and socks in various national colours will be snapped up by fans in all age groups.

Of course, this frenzy is not for all. There are football lovers. And there are football haters.

But we Indians are essentially football watchers. Once every four years, we take serious stock of the state of the game in the country.

We wonder why we don’t figure in the World Cup. If Ivory Coast, Honduras, Angola, Togo can, why can’t we? The country does not even qualify for the Asian Games. This is the reality.

I was among an 80,000-strong audience at the Nehru Stadium in 1986 when Bochum Club from Germany arrived to play a series of matches. It was 90 minutes of entertainment, basically an annihilation of the home team, and all we gained from that match was a striker named Anadi Barua. He scored a sensational goal in that match; “From zero angle,”

as footballer Ghaus Mohammed, a reserve for these football telecasts. They are unlikely to that match, reminds me. improve the state of Indian football because, In later years, we had clubs like Sao Paola, according to Houghton, they are only “illuPSV Eindhoven and Bayern Munich coming, sions” and harmful to the “growth” of football but the result was the same. The Indian selec- in India. tion was pummelled, and the demoralisation As Basu explains, “Except in a few pockets, was pronounced through the ranks. In the Indian football falls in the ‘disorganised secprocess, fans of Indian football, a rapidly sink- tor’. Unlike in archery or boxing, a nation’s ing tribe, became crestfallen. success in football largely depends on a mass According to acclaimed football scribe Jay- movement. A majority of the State assocideep Basu, author of the superbly written Sto- ations are non-functional and have failed miries from Indian Football, the serably to take advantage of the malady is widespread. “The ingeneral enthusiasm of youngfrastructure is still primitive. sters towards the game. The naWorst is the rapidly declining tional body has a severe cash The national number of local playgrounds crunch and it is more involved in championship final across the country. State governcosmetic changes like setting up kicks off in searing ments are mute spectators. a few academies in metro areas.” heat because that is There’s no backing for local tourCosmetic changes indeed. Forthe only slot granted naments in the countryside, eign clubs come to India with an for live telecast by the which used to be the backbone agenda, to promote their memnational broadcaster of talent hunts. Indian football bership and merchandise. There would remain where it is or was a time when busloads of might go further down. An infootball fans in Delhi would digenous blueprint is needed. make a beeline for the Ambedkar Copy-pasting the FIFA and AFC manuals won’t Stadium to watch the local stars play in the take us anywhere.”

DCM and Durand tournaments. Then came We only applaud and cheer; not Indian foot- the 1982 World Cup in Spain, with some of the ball, not from the stadium. We participate in matches telecast live; Zico won our hearts. But an Argentinian or Italian or Brazilian or Span- it harmed Indian football owing to the unfaish triumph from the comfort of home. For- vourable comparisons. mer India coach Bob Houghton was critical of The 1986 World Cup, beamed from Mexico, created new heroes with the sublime Diego Maradona becoming a household name. Posters of Paolo Rossi, Roger Milla, Gary Lineker, Mario Kempes, Jorge Valdano, Jurgen Klinsmann, Roberto Baggio, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Zinedine Zidane, Andres Iniesta, David Villa adorned our walls. Figures like Bhaichung Bhutia, IM Vijayan, Jo Paul Ancheri blurred over the years, in an impeccable reflection of the state of Indian football.

It is one thing to be a fan. Quite another to be a supporter! Indian football needs supporters, the infrastructure to develop into a football nation, the sponsors and the talent pool.

What can you say when the final of the national championship kicks off in searing heat because that is the only slot granted for live telecast by the national broadcaster, unmindful of the fact that there is no one watching, at the stadium or at home.

When it comes to football, we are a nation of watchers and applauders of foreign star-power. Or “pretenders”, as a yesteryear champion lamented. I once called ace striker Subhash Bhowmick for his views on the eve of a World Cup. “We don’t qualify to even discuss World Cup” — his acidic quip said it all. It is World Cup time again and, as we discover every four years, nothing has changed.

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Fresh arrivals She rises ‘A Subtlety: A practice session at Or the Marvelous the Tata Football Sugar Baby,’ is the Academy in of an centrepiece Jamshedpurbysushanta installation Kara patronobish; and (below) Walker (below) and young talenthighlight at the the present FCBEscola in Gurgaon of New York’s cultural scene ap/richard drew

No sweet little thing Game on

Sugar sculptures that locate humour in sites of trauma and tell of America’s troubled history It’s not just about supporting Arsenal or Liverpool anymore. Brick by brick, India is finally building its own future too Sphinx rises football in Williamsburg, since then. The decline of industrial WilliamsInto this milieu, in the wide area between

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Brooklyn. She is 12 metres tall, 25 andthe sits in a wareormetres Vedantlong, Khanna, eight-year-old house that feels like Khanna, a cathedral, son of Puneet and Anju footwhere the drip awith She is ballwalls is already way molasses. of life. Every othmade oferpolystyrene drenched gleaming day, his parents drivein him up and white sugar from that spills off her haunches and down 50km their residence in Dwarka to arms onto theFootball floor. SheFCBEscola is nude save for a cenkerthe Conscient training chief.

Her expression is blank.

Her rear is tre in Shivaji College, near Raja Garden in Delmountainous.

Her vulva exposed. hi. “We have realised thatisVedant hasHer hadname what is Subtlety: Marvelous special’ Sugar Baby,’ we‘Alike to thinkOr of the as ‘something since and she ais toddler,” the centrepiece of an installation by he was says Puneet Khanna, a reKara thatwho is this season’s art tired Walker army man now worksmust-see as a private in New Yorkpilot.

City. “We want to provide him the helicopter Walker, who is 44 and African-American, has best opportunities to improve on his skills. made a reputation as a major artist with And starting at a young age prepares the works most madewe ofend cut-paper silground—for thefamously future. While up spendhouettes — time that stage the ₹60,000 history ofa year race on in ing a lot of and over America in allalone, its pain, sexual viohis training wedebasement, feel the investment is lence worthand it.” the grotesque. She has a devastating grasp of oppression’s violent absurdity, and her portrayals locate macabre humour in the sites of trauma. They are unflinching and sometimes hard to take.

In Brooklyn, the arts group Creative Time and the property developer who will soon demolish this sugar factory have handed Walker a site freighted with exploitation. Here, just across from Manhattan, ships unloaded sugar from the plantations of Cuba and the Dominican Republic, where slavery lasted late and gave way to only marginally better conditions.

The raw cane stacked up as high as Sugar Baby is tall. Workers lugged it into the adjacent refinery, which at the start of the 20th century was the world’s largest.

The sugar cartel, led by the Havemeyer family, controlled the industry — the sugar brand it launched, Domino, is still the most common in US shops.

Over the years the trade lost value, and as industry gave way to banking as the city’s economic engine, sugar refining moved to Baltimore and New Orleans.

The factory shut down for good in 2004 and the site has lain idle

burg and depletion of its working class set the the entrance and Sugar Baby, Walker has set 15 A decade ago,for most parentsgentrification like Khanna, life-size stage, however, aggressive the hours together in the 14-16 our figures of young boyswindow. carryingInbaswhomade are this to their sportthat thecommitted neighbourhood anchild’s epicenter of kets. first year as are a club, we’ve started training proSome light brown, made of metal ing abilities in now a ‘one-sport country’ likeartists India, sprayed bohemia, and — as the first-wave grams forwith players under nine, 11, 13,darker, 15 and 17-19, molasses.

Others, are would have put their wards through theget ri- made and assorted marginal characters in turn providing everything one expects from Evan of sugar, and have started to break. gours of cricket instead. Thiswealthy is not the case erything the boot — an increasingly yuppie elite player It’s aMolasses matter ofpool timeon before is set-up. melting. the anymore. topoftraining academies, ev- floor. haven.

JustWith north the factory, titanican glass our boys of ball skills Theshowcase wreckagethe of kind the broken boys and lies er-increasing focusthe on football the apartdevel- strewn towers rise above water inand which physicalatcompetence that in loaded advanced their own feet, or we hassee been inopment of for young talent, the game, it would to ments rent $4,000 monthly. football cultures in Asia and across the world.” the baskets of the others. seem, finally turned a corner.

Newhas York City puts effort into historic presRobin Singh,bodies 24, whosend playstheir as a own striker for The broken clear Across but the itcountry, especially regions message ervation, is little against thein dominant Bengaluru FC and for the national team, and is a about the debasement of slavery wherewhich there ishas great interest in football, train- indentured force, been erasure.

As the factory product of labour. a similar albeitshifts the Tata Butsystem, the melting the ing centres up by gives way to set a forest of internadesirable waterfront energy, and paradoxically Football Academy Jamshedbringsin them to life tional and the localtrace clubsofare laying high-rises, sugar will vanish. The in a kind of perverse pur. “I chose football cricket, worksite thatover implicates the groundwork for a successful ties of New York traders to plantaprimarily because my the visitor viscerally.

The grandfaboys are Indian footballing future.

At last tion violence — sugar interests ther hadand played the game for Intender; they nearly At last count, at least spooky count, at York leasta seven European kept New major chartering dia in the ’60s, and I’ve always steal the show. seven European and and one Latinships American clubthe — port for slave long after loved more,” he says.

“It It is football impossible to visit an inone Latin American Barcelona FC trade (which runs the trans-Atlantic was banned was due to my training at TFA stallation like this without noting clubThe hadboys expressed are FCBEscola program Vedant is en— have always been shameful and thatthe I got to represent East Benhow work is being consumed. interest or tender; set up spooky and rolled in), Arsenal, FC, downplayed.

Now Liverpool that history gal, thenpose Bengaluru FC and India.

Tourists between Sugar Baacademies here they nearly steal Inter Milan, threatens to Manchester evaporate. United, But outstretched the systems hands now are by’s andmore mug the show Blackburn Rovers and Boca Juprofessional.

I wish for the camera.Sometimes There is awe in theI niors than frombrash Argentina, among More wasbut 10 years because air, littleyounger solemnity.

Onlythe a others — titled had expressed interest Though a “subtlety” — a next generation of players small fraction of visitors have are or setused up academies here.sculpFees range from access to better term for sugar table infrastructure andneeds training.”

Black.

A critique that hear₹36,000 ₹4.5 lakh. Apart from—this, clubs in tures in to Renaissance Europe Back in Delhi FCBEscola, Chauding,atbythe Jamilah KingTarun in Colorlines, the I-League (or Indian league) are also getting Walker’s sculpture is big and brash.

There is a points hry, COO Conscient football, request is confident outofthat the organisers’ that intoprinted the act,inand soletters are potential long subtitle, large on the visitors that the post external inputs receive from pictures onthey Instagram with the an participants of the upcoming In- “official” outside wall as visitors approach the building.

European football trainers will spawn hashtaggiant’s (#KaraWalkerDomino) dian to Super all these It reads: “Homage the League; unpaid and over- drifts a newtoward breed presenting, of Indian players.

“Around 400 once again, the slave clubs arehave expected to have an in- as worked Artisans who refined our Sweet kids have enrolled in our programs in theconlast spectacle.

It surfaces broader, ongoing ternational-standard grassroots tastes from the cane fields to the Kitchens of cerns four years. take pride in our aboutWethe interaction of system-based Black artists football program in the region they and the New World on the Occasion of the demoliapproach where weart concentrate individual the white-run world, the on types of work areDomino based in,Sugar if theyRefining are to retain their tion of the Plant.”

A that ball skills as well as onthe building a team player,” get funded and narratives they perfranchise. minimum didactic mission is achieved. says Chaudhry.

And for people like Khanna petuate and bolster.

Bengaluru FC,more. who won championBut there is much Onlythe at first glance who putting their the As aare site-specific piece,children however,through Sugar Baby shipwarehouse in their debut season at theindustrial I-League triumphantly is the a basic, derelict system in the hope successful footballing rises of to athe scale and stakes of this year, is also identifying nurturing tal- its space.

Steel columns and and girders enshrine career, it is At one stepwhite at a time.

“I don’t know setting. once and black, submisent. “The biggest India is thateffect play- sive Sugar Baby as if problem in a nave,inthe church about thedominant, future but alone I’m confident Vedant will and and with an army, ers start tooby late, most get the right she heightened theand light thatdon’t streams through keephas improving. the and same time, don’t returned toAtbless curse thisI place, sort ofwindows. nutrition,” says Richard head of high Nestled into theHood, steelwork — one wantlast him to feel burdened time before it turnsor tobored,” rubble. he says, theiratyouth development program.

“At our and the hinges of the warehouse doors, the “My wife and runs I have whichever (The show at decided Dominothat Sugar Factory, club, thein focus on getting cumulative hours crevices the is walls — is encrusted sugar, the Brooklyn, way it goes, we’re for 6.) the long run.”

New York,in tillitJuly of developmentofwhen the players are between accumulation decades.

The dark splashes sibi arasu mitter is a New York-based writer thethe ages of five 19 and not trying to cram siddhartha on walls are and molasses.

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Bottoms up A barman prepares caipirinhas, Brazil’s Urbanscapes Works by reuters/ national cocktail, in a restaurant Sao (left) Pauloand Atul in Bhalla Ruby sell World paulo whitaker; (below) street vendors Chishti (below) tell Cup of merchandise in Rio bloomberg/dado man’sgaldieri destruction and nature’s plight vadehra art gallery

will be, so the excitement will rival that of a stadium. Order a caipirinha, Brazil’s signature drink of cachaca (a local distillate made from sugarcane juice), crushed lemons and ice.

Don’t root for Argentina. You will get kicked out. (Rightfully so, I might add.)

What is sleeve juice?

For those travelling to Brazil this season, here are a few helpful tips to ensure that you have a rollickin’ time

Don’t trust your credit card It’s easy to find an ATM in Brazil; whether it will accept your card is a different deal altogether. Many tourists have found it hard to get money in the country, so don’t arrive empty handed or smugly totting your Platinum card.

Many places are cash-only and prices will be higher because of all the tourists in town.

When you’re there, stick to the obvious: don’t flash cash, phones or jewellery, and, like Brazil’s own police has warned, ‘Don’t react if you do end up being mugged’.

Feast on rice, beans and the signature caipirinha For day-to-day meals, go for pay-by-weight resDon’t stare taurants (called por It’s winter in Brazil now, kilo) and fix yourself a so don’t pack just a tdish of rice and beans. shirt, especially if you The food is usually not plan to visit cities like spicy, so if you want that Porto Alegre, which can Indian kick, ask for dedo get colder. You’ll still probde moça peppers. Braziably see more skin than on a lians are hearty carnivores — Think big for travel time — then double it summer’s day in India. But If you ask a Sao Paulo native (a ‘Paulistano’) even the beans are prepared smaller, tighter clothing is not a how long it takes to get to the city’s interna- with bacon — so watch out if free pass to stare. Don’t gawk, and vegetarian.

If you’re not, make tional airport, answer is unlikely to be anyn oldthe man, wrapped in a purple lun- you’re consider a pair of sunglasses before real Alice in Wonderland moment.

Another perhaps thatbuying was the intention.

The black and for all-you-cango to a churrascaria thing less gi, than hours. You stuck sits1.5stooped overwill thebesteps ofina sure to aappear beachlike filled with tiny bikinis and set ofyou photographs by him positions a bovine you greygo birds silent sentries or scavenand allow for some hours traffic in cities as Sao Riobody de Janeighatsuch leading to aPaulo, river. His rav- eat-beef, swimming trunks. in the midst of construction work.of“I sleep shot tighter gers waiting to peck at the remains of human days, put on a yelro or Salvador, whichthe are hosting agedallbyof time, outline matchof his when these you’re in 2011,done. nearOn mygame studio, where a lot of figures. Pakistani-born Chishti is based in New ferreira a journalist from Rio de Janeiro, t-shirt to was match Brazil’s colours and idea join isabel es.

Think hourthe in skin Mumbai. bones peeprush through on hisDon’t back, be he low construction happening.

The whole York and knownisfor her soft sculptures creatat a bar — that’s most people basedof in New Yorkand natural materials like optimistic when making your travel schedule. the remains focused on washing a saffron-colwaslocals to capture the cow atwhere the centre of the now ed out fabric oured garment. With each successive wash, construction work, as if seeing the world from twigs. Her works embody a feminine energy the saffron from the garment bleeds into the the animal’s point of view. In the photos the that is fragile yet tenacious. The crows, which water, colouring it. Symbolising the fragility cow appears larger than the strucmight appear sinister at first, sucof life and the environment, this video, titled ture — the same principle was ceed in underscoring these op‘Yudhisthira Washing’, was created by Delhi- applied for the snail. Essenpositional qualities. based artist Atul Bhalla around 2007, as part of tially it is to say that living Elaborating on the tranhis ongoing Yamuna Project, chronicling the beings are bigger and sient nature of human degradation of the river. However, it gains new more important than edand animal life, B Ajay significance given the current political scena- ifices,” says Panda.

Sharma’s delicate prints rio. “The work was inspired from the Yaksha Another eye-catching on paper document the Prashna portion of the Mahabharata — a series work at the exhibition is atrophy of a fish, from of questions between Yudhisthira and the a large canvas by Ashim the moment it is pulled Yaksha of a lake — which is open to rguably, multiple thePurkayastha.

Migrating of the sea till it transgreatest moment in Chennai- What do you think of the state of out Indian football today? meanings,” says Bhalla, who has over the years easterners are set refer- The All India Football Federationforms a mere skeletal born Sankarnorth Komaleeswaran’s football (AIFF)into is doing an excelworked extensively with water and itseeing centrala desolate rust-colIn facilities ‘Piece, piece and careeragainst was being part of the 2002 World lent job. Compared to a decadespectre. back, the availity. Another photographic work by him shows oured landscape, with the car-the able today are great, and are pieces’, sliced paCup. Not only has the 51-year-old manned idealhe foruses new,a talented words floating on the Yamuna that cass of a bull in thehe foreground. paya as a metaphor for the fraglines at thetogether Cup of all cups, over the years, has also of- players to come to the fore.

While more support from read ho raha hai aaj bhi wahi sab in (the same Upon closer examination theyear, tiand such isolation ficiated more than 250 international games. Last the government would bementation good, programs as the of thing still happens even today). nybase figures of theLumpur north easterhuman society.

The papaya slice Komaleeswaran shifted to Kuala to be a special referee development are already doing very well.

These works are part of an ongoing exhibinersConfederation’s seem to be referee taken from contains a vignette of human part of the Asian Football develtion titled ‘Degenerate’ inopment Delhi. Curated by caught mediaup images of the womfrom women harteam. BLink with the onlynude Indian ever How your experience inexperiences, Malaysia been so far?

Thehas black and grey Blessy Augustine, it also features works enWorld who protested outside the Asvesting rice to vendors at their to havethe been partofof the Cup jamboree.

Great.

I’m learning many new facets of the game from birds appear like Ruby Chishti, Minal Damani, Jagannath Pan- sam Rifles headquarters in vegetable and fruit stalls. the AFC team.

I’mor also learning the guidelines for being silent sentries da, Ashim Purkayastha andWhat B Ajaywas Kumar Manipur after the alleged rape “I am interested in engaging the Shar2002 World Cup like?

Does it feel like it of a perfect football professional.

My job is to recruit referscavengers ma. In their own ways, the artists on a young woman by army offiwith ideas was a comment long time ago? ees and analyse their performance, so I around get to seeambiguity a lot of the tensions of life in the megalopolis which “I don’titsee myself just as and the contradictions of life After so many years ofcers. training, was awesome toan be new talent. always seems near burstingthere. point.I thoroughly enjoyed artist, but as an activist,” says and death, being and non-bethe experience, especially On a lighter note, the Orissa-born, Purkayastha, whose thrust has ing,” says the Banaras-born, Delsince it took aDelhilot of hard work to be selected.

I had to of- Is there an Indian contingent at Brazil this time? based Panda’s set of photographs sculpbeen on the “ecological rape” ofin his homeland hi-based artist, who experiments both ficiate inand more than eight international tournaments No, I don’t think so. But AFC referees from Iran, with Bahrain tural work looks at the man-nature struggleup tointhe Assam.

InCup this to instance, the for rape ofand theUzbekistan Ma- mediums painting and photography. the years leading World be eligible will beof part of the proceedings there. and the constant jostling for One may girlme byall army becomes a metaIn essence, this exhibition provides a sharp, thespace. tournament.

Whilenipuri this took overjawans the world, it be familiar with his larger-than-life peacocks the international pillage and level, de-forestation of to,eye-opening commentary on on? the fragility of was certainly not easy,phor sincefor at the If you had which team would you wager and golden deer, but this time chosenmistake Assam.

“My work is not nostalgic takesison andunpredictable animal life that appears evenhe thehas smallest is noted.

Having said that, af-butThis one ofhuman the most World Cups exacerever to enlarge one of the more marginal thetheproblems of Ian society bated by our urban ter being creatures involved with game since wasindustrialising five years played.

But my guess is that theexcesses. final will be played beof our urban landscape — the has head-on,” he adds.

(Degenerate is on at and Vadehra Art Gallery, Delhi, old,snail.

I felt Panda truly blessed that I got the opportunity to be in tween a team from Latin America Africa. created a miniature house,South complete a may be slightly startled by artist Ruby till June 17.)

Korea with and Japan inOne 2002.

SIBI ARASU garden and tiny furniture. A toy snail larger Chishti’s life-like sculptures of crows placed than the house crawls up its walls, creating a right next to Purkayastha’s vivid canvas, and georgina maddox is a Delhi-based art writer Work on your mimic skills As hard as Brazil’s prepared for the World Cup, it’s hard to get by speaking English, and accents only complicate matters. You’ll meet those with good-hearted intentions, but that won’t help you understand what ‘sleeve juice’ or ‘cheese mine’ are (mango juice and a traditional cheese from the Minas Gerais State, by the way). Be creative, and brush up on your gesturing abilities.

A delicate balance

Six artists provide a wry commentary on the tensions of life in the megalopolis and the mistreatment of our environment

A

Then and now

The only man to have ever represented India in the FIFA World Cup, referee Sankar Komaleeswaran talks about being the whistle blower

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1994

Ever since its inception in 1930, the FIFA World Cup has given football fans enough reason to rejoice (or bemoan) every four years. As the final countdown begins for the 20th edition of the tournament — to be held in a country where football has had its greatest run — we look back at some of the most iconic moments that have defined the World Cup over the last 20 years

1998

Of trials and trailb b

Parisian dream The ’98 World Cup drudgery of the ’94 edition in the US,, dismal. Among the images that have e foul on the Argentine Diego Simeonee

So close, yet so far The penalty shootout has made or broken dreams across decades of footballing history.

And yet, nothing surpasses the ‘Baggio miss’. One of football’s most prolific strikers at the peak of his career, Roberto Baggio was the last person Italian fans expected to miss a penalty. Whether it was a rare error of judgement or a rush of blood to the head, Baggio ended up missing the decisive shot, and in the process handed Brazil its fourth World Cup triumph.

These photographs capture (above) Baggio’s anguishreuters/andre camara; and (below) Brazil’s, especially their goalkeeper Claudio Taffarel’s, joy at winning the trophy after a gap of 24 years afp/daniel garcia

2002

Home run The lifting of the cup for Zinedine Zidane ‘Zizou’ afp/pedro ugartee

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in France was an action-packed affair following the , where attendance for the ‘soccer’ tournament was eendured is (above) David Beckham’s send off after a e (of Atletico Madrid fame) all sport

2006

b blazers

Dumb and dumber Even the greatest exponents of the game can take a fall. Zinedine Zidane, champion of the World Cup in 1998, literally threw away the tournament for himself and his team when he headbutted the Italian defender Marco Materazzi in the 2006 final. The defender had reportedly abused the French striker. Not only did Zidane’s reckless reaction get him a red card in the last match of his career but it also cost his country the cup afp/john macdougall

the very first time by home team France, led by

e

Asian games For the first time in its history, the World Cup reached the shores of Asia in 2002, when South Korea and Japan jointly hosted the tournament. While Korea and Turkey managed to make it to the semifinals, they were overcome in the last leg by the traditional powerhouses Brazil and Germany.

Pictured here is the Brazilian captain Cafu holding the cup aloft after his country won the series for an unprecedented fifth time ap /thomas kienzle

2010 An award-winning performance While Brazil’s attacking midfielder Rivaldo should be remembered for an otherwise exceptional career, the first thing that most football followers recall is the mockery of the game he made in the semifinal against Turkey that year.

Rivaldo went down at the corner flag for what was obviously not a hard hit and refused to get up for a good five minutes, buying valuable time for his team in the bargain afp/ christophe simon

Heave ho to Africa The last World Cup was held in South Africa, with the former president of the nation, late Nelson Mandela, overseeing the preparations Here, he holds aloft the trophy — named after Jules Rimet, the FIFA president who founded the tournament in 1930 — before the kick-off afp/ franck fife

Loud and clear While there were some great games, and the favourites Spain went on to win the cup, the 2010 edition is often remembered for the vuvuzela, a controversial plastic horn that created such a buzz, many in the stands nearly lost their hearing afp/ carl de souza

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Fresh arrivals She rises ‘A Subtlety: A practice session at Or the Marvelous the Tata Football Sugar Baby,’ is the Academy in of an centrepiece Jamshedpurbysushanta installation Kara patronobish; and (below) Walker (below) and young talenthighlight at the the present FCBEscola in Gurgaon of New York’s cultural scene ap/richard drew

No sweet little thing Game on

Sugar sculptures that locate humour in sites of trauma and tell of America’s troubled history It’s not just about supporting Arsenal or Liverpool anymore. Brick by brick, India is finally building its own future too Sphinx rises football in Williamsburg, since then. The decline of industrial WilliamsInto this milieu, in the wide area between

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Brooklyn. She is 12 metres tall, 25 andthe sits in a wareormetres Vedant long, Khanna, eight-year-old house that and feelsAnju like Khanna, a cathedral, son of Puneet footwhere the drip awith She is ballwalls is already way molasses. of life. Every othmade oferpolystyrene drenched gleaming day, his parents drive in him up and white sugar from that spills off her haunches and down 50km their residence in Dwarka to arms onto theFootball floor. She is nude save for a cenkerthe Conscient FCBEscola training chief.

Her expression is blank.

Her rear is tre in Shivaji College, near Raja Garden in Delmountainous.

Her vulva exposed. hi. “We have realised thatisVedant hasHer hadname what is Subtlety: Marvelousspecial’ Sugar Baby,’ we‘Alike to thinkOr of the as ‘something since and she ais toddler,” the centrepiece of an installation by he was says Puneet Khanna, a reKara thatwho is this season’s art tired Walker army man now worksmust-see as a private in New Yorkpilot.

City. “We want to provide him the helicopter Walker, who is 44 and African-American, has best opportunities to improve on his skills. made a reputation as a major artist with And starting at a young age prepares the works most made cut-paper silground—for thefamously future. While weofend up spendhouettes — time that stage the ₹60,000 history of race on in ing a lot of and over a year America in allalone, its pain, sexual viohis training wedebasement, feel the investment is lence worthand it.” the grotesque. She has a devastating grasp of oppression’s violent absurdity, and her portrayals locate macabre humour in the sites of trauma. They are unflinching and sometimes hard to take.

In Brooklyn, the arts group Creative Time and the property developer who will soon demolish this sugar factory have handed Walker a site freighted with exploitation. Here, just across from Manhattan, ships unloaded sugar from the plantations of Cuba and the Dominican Republic, where slavery lasted late and gave way to only marginally better conditions.

The raw cane stacked up as high as Sugar Baby is tall. Workers lugged it into the adjacent refinery, which at the start of the 20th century was the world’s largest.

The sugar cartel, led by the Havemeyer family, controlled the industry — the sugar brand it launched, Domino, is still the most common in US shops.

Over the years the trade lost value, and as industry gave way to banking as the city’s economic engine, sugar refining moved to Baltimore and New Orleans.

The factory shut down for good in 2004 and the site has lain idle

burg and depletion of its working class set the the entrance and Sugar Baby, Walker has set 15 A decade ago,for most parentsgentrification like Khanna, life-size stage, however, aggressive the hours together the 14-16 In basour figures of in young boyswindow. carrying who made are this to their sportthat thecommitted neighbourhood anchild’s epicenter of kets. first year as aare club, we’ve started training proSome light brown, made of metal ing abilities in anow ‘one-sport country’ likeartists India, sprayed bohemia, and — as the first-wave grams forwith players under nine, 11, 13, darker, 15 and 17-19, molasses.

Others, are would have put their wards through theget ri- made and assorted marginal characters in turn providing everything one expects from Evan of sugar, and have started to break. gours of cricket instead. Thiswealthy is not the case erything the boot — an increasingly yuppie elite player It’s aMolasses matter ofpool timeon before is set-up. melting. the anymore. topoftraining academies, ev- floor. haven.

JustWith north the factory, titanican glass our boys of ball skills Theshowcase wreckagethe of kind the broken boys and lies er-increasing focusthe on football the apartdevel- strewn towers rise above water inand which physicalatcompetence that in loaded advanced their own feet, orwe hassee been inopment of for young talent, the game, it would to ments rent $4,000 monthly. football cultures in Asia and across the world.” the baskets of the others. seem, finally turned a corner.

Newhas York City puts effort into historic presRobin Singh,bodies 24, whosend playstheir as a own striker for The broken clear Across but the itcountry, especially regions message ervation, is little against thein dominant Bengaluru FC and the national team, and is a about the for debasement of slavery wherewhich there ishas great interest in football, train- indentured force, been erasure.

As the factory product of labour. a similar albeitshifts the Tata Butsystem, the melting the ing centres up by gives way to set a forest of internadesirable waterfront energy, and paradoxically Football Academy Jamshedbringsin them to life tional and local clubsofare laying high-rises, the trace sugar will vanish. The in a kind of perverse pur. “I chose football cricket, worksite thatover implicates the groundwork for a successful ties of New York traders to plantaprimarily because my the visitor viscerally.

The grandfaboys are Indian footballing future.interests At last tion violence — sugar ther hadand played the game for Intender; they nearly At last count, at least spooky count, at York leasta seven kept New major European chartering seven European and steal dia in ’60s, and I’ve always thethe show. and one Latinships American clubthe — port for slave long after loved more,” he says.

“It It is football impossible to visit an inone Latin American Barcelona FC trade (whichwas runs the trans-Atlantic banned was due to my training at TFA stallation like this without noting clubThad expressed he boys are FCBEscola program Vedant is en— have always been shameful and thatthe I got to represent East Benhow work is being consumed. interestand or set up spooky tender; rolled in), Arsenal, FC, downplayed.

Now Liverpool that history gal, thenpose Bengaluru FC and India.

Tourists between Sugar Baacademies here they nearly steal Inter Milan, threatens to Manchester evaporate. United, But outstretched the systems hands now are by’s andmore mug the show Blackburn Rovers and Boca Juprofessional.

I wish for the camera.Sometimes There is awe in theI niors than frombrash Argentina, among More wasbut 10 years because air, littleyounger solemnity.

Onlythea others — titled had expressed interest Though a “subtlety” — a next generation of players small fraction of visitors have are or setused up academies here.sculpFees range from access to better term for sugar table infrastructure andneeds training.”

Black.

A critique that hear₹36,000 ₹4.5 lakh. Apart from—this, clubs in tures in to Renaissance Europe Back in Delhi the FCBEscola, Chauding,atby Jamilah KingTarun in Colorlines, the I-League (or Indian league) are also getting Walker’s sculpture is big and brash.

There is a points hry, COO Conscient football, request is confident outofthat the organisers’ that intoprinted the act,inand so letters are potential long subtitle, large on the visitors that the post external inputsonthey receive from pictures Instagram with the an participants of the upcoming In- “official” outside wall as visitors approach the building.

European football trainers will spawn hashtaggiant’s (#KaraWalkerDomino) dian to Super all these It reads: “Homage the League; unpaid and over- drifts a newtoward breed presenting, of Indian players.

“Around 400 once again, the slave clubs arehave expected to have an in- as worked Artisans who refined our Sweet kids have enrolled in our programs in theconlast spectacle.

It surfaces broader, ongoing ternational-standard grassroots tastes from the cane fields to the Kitchens of cerns four years.

Wethe take pride in our about interaction of system-based Black artists football program in the region they and the New World on the Occasion of the demoliapproach where weart concentrate individual the white-run world, the on types of work are Domino based in,Sugar if theyRefining are to retain their tion of the Plant.”

A that ball skills as well as onthe building a team player,” get funded and narratives they perfranchise. minimum didactic mission is achieved. says Chaudhry.

And for people like Khanna petuate and bolster.

Bengaluru FC,more. who won championBut there is much Onlythe at first glance who putting their the As aare site-specific piece,children however,through Sugar Baby shipwarehouse in their debut season at theindustrial I-League triumphantly is the a basic, derelict system in the hope successful footballing rises of to athe scale and stakes of this year, is also identifying nurturing tal- its space.

Steel columns and and girders enshrine career, it is At one stepwhite at a time.

“I don’t know setting. once and black, submisent. “The biggest inthe India is thateffect play- sive Sugar Baby as if problem in a nave, church about thedominant, future but alone I’m confident Vedant will and and with an army, ers start too by late, most get the right she heightened theand light thatdon’t streams through keephas improving.

Atbless the and same time, don’t returned to curse thisI place, sort ofwindows. nutrition,” says Richard Hood, head of high Nestled into the steelwork — one wantlast him to feel burdened time before it turnsor tobored,” rubble.he says, theiratyouth development program.

“At our and the hinges of the warehouse doors, the “My wife and runs I haveatdecided whichever (The show Dominothat Sugar Factory, club, thein focus on getting cumulative hours crevices the is walls — is encrusted sugar, the Brooklyn, way it goes, we’re for 6.) the long run.”

New York,intillitJuly of developmentofwhen the players are between accumulation decades.

The dark splashes sibi arasu mitter is a New York-based writer thethe ages of five 19 and not trying to cram siddhartha on walls areand molasses.

Q Q R R

BL

cover watch

saturday, june 7, 2014

Bottoms up A barman prepares caipirinhas, Brazil’s Urbanscapes Works by reuters/ national cocktail, in a restaurant in Sao (left) Pauloand Atul Bhalla Ruby sell World paulo whitaker; (below) street vendors Chishti (below) tell Cup of merchandise in Rio bloomberg/dado man’sgaldieri destruction and nature’s plight vadehra art gallery

will be, so the excitement will rival that of a stadium. Order a caipirinha, Brazil’s signature drink of cachaca (a local distillate made from sugarcane juice), crushed lemons and ice.

Don’t root for Argentina. You will get kicked out. (Rightfully so, I might add.)

What is sleeve juice?

For those travelling to Brazil this season, here are a few helpful tips to ensure that you have a rollickin’ time

Don’t trust your credit card It’s easy to find an ATM in Brazil; whether it will accept your card is a different deal altogether. Many tourists have found it hard to get money in the country, so don’t arrive empty handed or smugly totting your Platinum card.

Many places are cash-only and prices will be higher because of all the tourists in town.

When you’re there, stick to the obvious: don’t flash cash, phones or jewellery, and, like Brazil’s own police has warned, ‘Don’t react if you do end up being mugged’.

Feast on rice, beans and the signature caipirinha For day-to-day meals, go for pay-by-weight resDon’t stare taurants (called por It’s winter in Brazil now, kilo) and fix yourself a so don’t pack just a tdish of rice and beans. shirt, especially if you The food is usually not plan to visit cities like spicy, so if you want that Porto Alegre, which can Indian kick, ask for dedo get colder. You’ll still probde moça peppers. Braziably see more skin than on a lians are hearty carnivores — Think big for travel time — then double it summer’s day in India. But If you ask a Sao Paulo native (a ‘Paulistano’) even the beans are prepared smaller, tighter clothing is not a how long it takes to get to the city’s interna- with bacon — so watch out if free pass to stare. Don’t gawk, and vegetarian.

If you’re not, make tional airport, answer is unlikely to be anyn oldthe man, wrapped in a purple lun- you’re consider a pair of sunglasses before real Alice in Wonderland moment.

Another perhaps thatbuying was the intention.

The black and for all-you-cango to a churrascaria thing less gi, than hours. You stuck sits1.5stooped overwill thebe steps ofina sure to aappear beachlike filled with tiny bikinis and set ofyou photographs by him positions a bovine you greygo birds silent sentries or scavenand allow for some hours traffic in cities as Sao Riobody de Janeighat such leading to aPaulo, river. His rav- eat-beef, swimming trunks. in the midst of construction work.of“I sleep shot tighter gers waiting to peck at the remains of human days, put on a yelro or Salvador, whichthe are hosting agedallbyof time, outline matchof his when these you’re in 2011,done. nearOn mygame studio, where a lot of figures. Pakistani-born Chishti is based in New ferreira a journalist from Rio de Janeiro, t-shirt to was match Brazil’s colours and idea join isabel es.

Think hourthe in skin Mumbai. be low bones peeprush through on hisDon’t back, he construction happening.

The whole York and knownisfor her soft sculptures creatat a bar — that’s most people basedofin New Yorkand natural materials like optimistic when making your travel schedule. the remains focused on washing a saffron-colwaslocals to capture the cow atwhere the centre of the now ed out fabric oured garment. With each successive wash, construction work, as if seeing the world from twigs. Her works embody a feminine energy the saffron from the garment bleeds into the the animal’s point of view. In the photos the that is fragile yet tenacious. The crows, which water, colouring it. Symbolising the fragility cow appears larger than the strucmight appear sinister at first, sucof life and the environment, this video, titled ture — the same principle was ceed in underscoring these op‘Yudhisthira Washing’, was created by Delhi- applied for the snail. Essenpositional qualities. based artist Atul Bhalla around 2007, as part of tially it is to say that living Elaborating on the tranhis ongoing Yamuna Project, chronicling the beings are bigger and sient nature of human degradation of the river. However, it gains new more important than edand animal life, B Ajay significance given the current political scena- ifices,” says Panda.

Sharma’s delicate prints rio. “The work was inspired from the Yaksha Another eye-catching on paper document the Prashna portion of the Mahabharata — a series work at the exhibition is atrophy of a fish, from of questions between Yudhisthira and the a large canvas by Ashim the moment it is pulled Yaksha of a lake — which is open to multiple Migrating of the sea till it transrguably, thePurkayastha. greatest moment in Chennai- What do you think of the state of out Indian football today? meanings,” says Bhalla, who has over the years easterners are set refer- The All India Football Federationforms a mere skeletal born Sankarnorth Komaleeswaran’s football (AIFF)into is doing an excelworked extensively with water and itseeing centrala desolate rust-colIn ‘Piece, piece and careeragainst was being part of the 2002 World lent job. Compared to a decadespectre. back, the facilities availity. Another photographic work by him shows oured landscape, withmanned the car-the able today are great, and are pieces’, sliced paCup. Not only has the 51-year-old idealheforuses new,a talented words floating on the Yamuna cass of a bull in thehe foreground. paya as a metaphor for the fraglines that at thetogether Cup of all cups, over the years, has also of- players to come to the fore.

While more support from read ho raha hai aaj bhi wahi sab in (the same Upon closer examination theyear, tiand such isolation ficiated more than 250 international games. Last the government would bementation good, programs as the of thing still happens even today). ny base figures of theLumpur north easterhuman society.

The papaya slice Komaleeswaran shifted to Kuala to be a special referee development are already doing very well.

These works are part of an ongoing exhibinersConfederation’s seem to be taken contains a vignette of human part of the Asian Football referee from develtion titled ‘Degenerate’ in opment Delhi. Curated by caught mediaup images of the womfrom women harteam. BLink with the onlynude Indian ever How your experience inexperiences, Malaysia been so far?

The has black and grey Blessy Augustine, it also features works enWorld who protested outside the Asvesting rice to vendors at their to havethe been partofof the Cup jamboree.

Great.

I’m learning many new facets of the game from birds appear like Ruby Chishti, Minal Damani, Jagannath Pan- sam Rifles headquarters in vegetable and fruit stalls. the AFC team.

I’mor also learning the guidelines for being silent sentries da, Ashim Purkayastha and What B Ajaywas Kumar Manipur after the alleged rape “I am interested in engaging the Shar2002 World Cup like?

Does it feel like it of a perfect football professional.

My job is to recruit referscavengers ma. In their own ways, the artists on a young woman by army offiwith ideas was a comment long time ago? ees and analyse their performance, so Iaround get to seeambiguity a lot of the tensions of life in the megalopolis which “I don’titsee myself just as and the contradictions of life After so many years ofcers. training, was awesome toan be new talent. always seems near burstingthere. point.I thoroughly enjoyed artist, but as an activist,” says and death, being and non-bethe experience, especially On a lighter note, the Orissa-born, Purkayastha, has ing,” says the Banaras-born, Delsince it took aDelhilot of hard work to be whose selected.thrust I had to of- Is there an Indian contingent at Brazil this time? based Panda’s set of photographs sculpbeeninternational on the “ecological rape” ofin his homeland hi-based artist, who experiments both ficiate inand more than eight tournaments No, I don’t think so. But AFC referees from Iran, with Bahrain tural work looks at the man-nature struggleup tointhe Assam.

InCup this to instance, the rape theUzbekistan Ma- mediums painting photography. the years leading World be eligible for ofand will beof part of the and proceedings there. and the constant jostling for One may girlme byall army becomes a metaIn essence, this exhibition provides a sharp, thespace. tournament.

Whilenipuri this took overjawans the world, it be familiar with his larger-than-life peacocks the international pillage and de-forestation of to,eye-opening commentary on on? the fragility of was certainly not easy,phor sincefor at the level, If you had which team would you wager and golden deer, but this time chosenmistake Assam.

“My work is not nostalgic takesison human andunpredictable animal life that appears evenhe thehas smallest is noted.

Having said that, af-butThis one of the most World Cups exacerever to enlarge one of the more marginal thetheproblems of Ian societyBut my bated by our urban ter being creatures involved with game since wasindustrialising five years played. guess is that theexcesses. final will be played beof our urban landscape — the has head-on,” he adds.

(Degenerate is on at Vadehra Art Gallery, Delhi, old,snail.

I feltPanda truly blessed that I got the opportunity to be in tween a team from Latin America and Africa. created a miniature house,South complete a may be slightly startled by artist Ruby till June 17.)

Koreawith and Japan inOne 2002.

SIBI ARASU garden and tiny furniture. A toy snail larger Chishti’s life-like sculptures of crows placed than the house crawls up its walls, creating a right next to Purkayastha’s vivid canvas, and georgina maddox is a Delhi-based art writer Work on your mimic skills As hard as Brazil’s prepared for the World Cup, it’s hard to get by speaking English, and accents only complicate matters. You’ll meet those with good-hearted intentions, but that won’t help you understand what ‘sleeve juice’ or ‘cheese mine’ are (mango juice and a traditional cheese from the Minas Gerais State, by the way). Be creative, and brush up on your gesturing abilities.

A delicate balance

Six artists provide a wry commentary on the tensions of life in the megalopolis and the mistreatment of our environment

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Then and now

The only man to have ever represented India in the FIFA World Cup, referee Sankar Komaleeswaran talks about being the whistle blower

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Heart on one’s sleeve T-shirts supporting Kolkata Knight Riders have given way to those brandishing the names of players from Spain, Germany and Brazil ashoke chakrabarty

anna mm vetticad

FILM FATALE

Cup for him — “Madness”. After describing in great depth some of Pelé’s 1,283 goals and post a realistic analysis of Brazil’s chances this year, Kotal starts talking of yesteryear Brazil forward Bebeto. “He weighed only 60kg,” he says.

“If someone with that kind of weight can play at the international level, am I to believe that we don’t have 22 players in this country to represent us?”

Pradip Mondal, cashier of Alipore Sarbojanin, chimes in. “If countries like Cameroon and Australia can play in the World Cup, why can’t we?” Kotal and Mondal together bemoan the lacklustre forms of popular club teams such as Mohun Bagan and East Bengal. “Why don’t we have better stadia,” asks Kotal. “Why do we have to play on C-grade grass?” Anuj Kichlu, CEO and director of football management firm The Football Edge, feels the real problem may lie elsewhere. “The biggest issue here is the development of talent into a final product. It’s around the ages of 15-20 that someone turns from a talented sportsman into a professional player. That’s where we have a gap.” Kichlu hopes that by hosting the Under-17 World Cup in 2017, India can finally assess its talent and its infrastructure.

With tournaments such as a football Indian Super League in the pipeline, Kolkata’s fans have greater reason to localise their support.

But for now, all their concerns seem international. Given the vast time difference between Brazil and India, most World Cup games will be broadcast after midnight. “It isn’t a problem,” says Mondal. “We’ll only sleep for an hour or two. As far as our jobs go, our bosses can expect some slacking off. The World Cup will always come first.”

When a woman says no

Despite all our differences, it appears we are a nation bound together by a love of films that legitimise, normalise, even romanticise stalkers

“A

ll love stories in real life starts (sic) after stalking,” a chap wrote to me on Twitter the other day.

“What if the stalker loves her more than anybody else?” asked another. The two reacting tohoping tweetsfor I posted mostwere everyone else is a Brazilafter or Ar-I chanced upon the Malayalam film Annayum gentina win.

“When I say I want England to lift Rasoolum on TV earlier the Cup, they just give that me aevening. strange look and case know, Annayum Rasoolum letIn me be.you It’s don’t then that I start making fun of is an inter-community romance that earned them,” he says. critical acclaim, audience applause and multiple awards lastgoalpost year. It’s the love story of RaRaise high the sool, a Muslim taxi driver in Kochiperhaps played be by The young Suraj Sharma would Fahadh Faasil, to and a Christian called better advised avoid any kindwoman of backtalk in Anna (Andrea Chetla, Jeremiah) who is Kolkata a sales assistpara and around a South ant in an upmarketreputed sari shop. (neighbourhood) for its love of footLike many Indian filmengineer heroes before him, ball.

Avijit Bhanja, a site working on Rasool falls for asite woman face he a construction in thewhose area, pretty says, “Almost happens see one That’s whenwith the unevery boytohere has day. a connection the nerving behaviour begins.

Rasoolsomeone tails Anna sport. Someone is just practicing; is down roads andFootball deserted playingcrowded in a tournament. is bylanes. in every He starts taking the boat shewho takesused to work evdrop of our blood.”

Bhanja, to play ery day.neighbourhood In some of the film’s most for the club at onedisquieting point, says scenes, he follows her to the gategroups. of her that Chetla is divided intovery four home, then hangs around peeping over the low wall. In another scene that sent a shiver down my spine, he is seated right behind her on a bus and surreptitiously passes his hand over her flowing hair. As is usually the case with such creeps in Indian cinema, she is initially oblivious to him, then uninterested, and later intrigued. The film ultimately rewards him with her love.

“Watching Annayum Rasoolum on Asianet just now.ome That’s a seriously disturbing stalkSeptember, 23 of India’s finest er!” I tweeted that day. surprisingly, while footballers willNot pack their bags and some responses condemned thethe film, and head to South Korea for Asian some admitted it had not occurred to them Games. Around the same time, theto

“North, South and East support Brazil. West supports Argentina. If you want to watch skill, watch Brazil. For teamwork, watch Argentina.” Clearly an Argentinian supporter, the 34year-old is visibly excited that the World Cup is only a week away, but he cannot help a frown mid-sentence. “I just wish India was good enough to qualify by now.”

A few blocks away from Bhanja’s workplace, the club room of Alipore Sarbojanin is busy preparing itself for what some of the society’s members are calling ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’. The sewing machines that help the society fulfil its promise of social work are now being pushed to the corner. Brazil’s flags are being stuck to the walls and there is also some talk of a new LCD television being rented. Cultural secretary Satyajit Kotal says there is only one word that can aptly describe the World

shreevatsa nevatia is a freelance writer in Kolkata Close call Raanjhanaa (above) and Annayum Rasoolum (below) cater to the mass male audience

It’s all about the money, honey The tragedy is that Raanjhanaa marked a rabid return to a dictum Bollywood had been gradually letting go of since the 1990s: the assumption that when a girl says no, she means maybe or yes. Darr in 1993 epitomised a bucking of the horrendous trend by portraying the stalker as a murderous psychopath who remains repugnant to the heroine till the end.

Twenty years later in nered with Atletico de Raanjhanaa, Madrid for despite a Bengalhis crude conduct, Kundan gets tohas hear Zoya say club; and even John Abraham acquired she loves him for the first time when he slashthe Guwahati team with Shillong Lajong. Star es his wrists in her presence.

Large sections TV’s 35 per cent stake of ₹2,000 crore for theof

This then is what unites politicians, sexual predators and filmmakers across that fabled stretch from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, from Bollywood to Tollywood, Kollywood and Mollywood: the belief that stalking is an acceptable form of courtship. Despite all our differences, it appears we are a nation bound together by a love of films that legitimise, normalisethe and romanticise male pests.concludleague, seventh edition of which Decent men women to the such ed recently, will and be the mostinured hit by transgressions through repeated exposure emergence of the ISL. The I-league, which cur-to insensitive films, and films as a rently has 14 teams, will men have who to besee truncated, justification of their crimes, need split to be beconnext 15 years will guarantee the broadcast of with clubs, players and schedules stantly reminded that there’s the games. IMG-Reliance has already roped in tween the two leagues. Club loyalties will also nothing about stalkformer international players such as Robert be divided. “Bengal hasromantic three clubs already, ing; nothing charming about Pires, Hernan Crespo and Louis Saha among Goa has three clubs, who will they support in a man who shadows a woman, inothers. The league also requires participating the ISL,” says Kapadia. timidates and frightens in 1993 Finally, buckedfinding franchises to develop the game from theDarr grassclub identities that canher, takeor intrudes into her life with unthis trend by roots, revamp stadia and provide internation- root in cities like Kolkata and Panjim, where wanted phone calls, SMSes portraying the stalker al-standard surfaces. With such football fans hold hard and fastor emails.and Delhi law student as a psychopath ambitious plans, what’s to stop loyalties rivalries, will be Priyadifdarshini Mattoo was raped and repugnant to the the ISL from climbing to IPL ficult say commentators.

While killed stalker Santosh heroine heights of fame and spawning the Boardbyof her Control for Cricket What’s to stop the ISL revenge she renumerous editions? inSingh India as (BCCI) can because dictate interfrom climbing to jected his advances.

Social activLaunched in 2010, however, national cricketing agenda, IMGIPL heights ist Laxmi’s destroyed has seen nearly three years of inReliance andface the was All India Foot-in an Federation acid attack by a man whose roaction. Originally slated for Januball (AIFF) command mantic overtures she turned down. ary this year, the ISL postponed no such stature in international thelaunch audience offended Mainstream cinema tends to IPL-style steer clear the date,seem inviting criti- — not by Kunfootball.

Even if the ISLof dan’s behaviour, but by the criticism of it.

The such horrific cases.

By presenting stalking in a cism. Now planned for September, the league takes off and generates big money, it will be sectionsetback below the Raanjhanaa humorous light insteadpremier and/or by repeatedly is comments looking at another as the dates clashre- hard to match Europe’s divisions — viewthe onAsian my blog is filled such valued showing women Anna falling in love with with Games.

Thiswith willresponses rule out the at more thanlike $3 billion. as, “What anofelitist review”; “You arein sooooo the of Rasool, too many films are — with participation the best Indian talent the Butlikes it’s not all bad news for Indian football. disconnected to the country” (sic); “You calculated intentto—bring catering to the wishful league.

Even the team composition, as don’t re- The ISL is expected in some major imhave by an the Indian heart”; areofan extreme thinking ofeven theirifmass audience.

They quired ISL, is not in“You favour local tal- provements, they male are not all of the feminist”; The Tiger campaign would sporting are not kind. merely portraying a condemnable ent, with “Save 10 foreigners, eight Indian Stadia and surfaces will get aresoon need to shift focus on men” (sic).talents much-needed ality, they arefacelift glorifying it. And likevisibility all trash, professional players and four under-23 and the media Their words echo sentiments earlier excinematic garbage deserves nothing in each team. As football commentator Novy will put the spotlight on Indian football formore at pressedsays, in Parliament

by Sharad22-year-old Yadav of Janathan to months be thrown dustbin — notfor just Kapadia “Even an unknown is least two in ainto year.the Fingers crossed ta Dal (United).

“Who among us has not by critics, but by audiences too. better than a 40-year-old biggie.” the 2026 World Cup. followed girls?” had asked while criticising Then, there’s noheroom for two leagues.

Inanna mm vetticad is the author of The Adventures the criminalisation of stalking kotamraju dia’s football premier league, and the voyeurism Aircel I- priyanka of an Intrepid Film Critic t @annavetticad in the new anti-rape bill (now an Act).

A new league hopes to bring IPL-like success to football

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Victory run Bengaluru FC captain Sunil Chhetri celebrates his I-league success this year pti

much-talked about Indian Super League (ISL) will make its debut in India. With an IPL-style format and big guns such as sports management giant IMG-Reliance backing it, the eightfranchise, two-month long tournament aims at bringing a revolution to Indian football. At the April auction, teams were bought by the usual suspects — Bollywood stars, sport celebs and media empires — starting at a base price of ₹25 crore per team. Sachin Tendulkar owns the Kerala Blasters; Sourav Ganguly has part-

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think in such terms, many went along these lines: “Relax! It’s just a movie”; “Maybe you’re right. It’s a good movie though”; “Stop looking at it as a feminist. It’s so romantic.”

This was mild in comparison with the reactions I had to contend with after reviewing the Bollywood release Raanjhanaa, a Hindu boyMuslim girl encounter starring Sonam Kapoor and Dhanush. In that film, Dhanush’s character Kundan unrelentingly chases Zoya (Sonam), although she slaps him on 15 occasions. She finally tells him she is impressed by his “consistency”, a choice of words that no doubt reaffirms convictions held dear by roadside Romeos across India.

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Not just wrath The Lodi period wasn’t merely about war, it left us these iconic Delhi monuments as well vv krishnan

The slip between the Cup… Every four years we wonder why India doesn’t figure in world football, before returning our adoring gaze to an Argentinian or Brazilian or Spanish triumph telecast live on TV

T vijay lokapally

he World Cup is here. The football extravaganza that has the world in its thrall will leave educational institutions and workplaces grappling with thin attendance. Indeed, this will be the most glorious month or so for the couch potato. Parents will sulk as children stay up for latenight telecasts that leave them bleary-eyed for next day’s school. In some countries this passion acquires manic proportions, with workers going on month-long leave. Football merchandise, including everything from Tshirts and shorts to boots and socks in various national colours will be snapped up by fans in all age groups.

Of course, this frenzy is not for all. There are football lovers. And there are football haters.

But we Indians essentially football ividedare into nine sections andwatchcomers. Once prising every four years, take serious some 30 we chapters, both stock of the state of the game in the political country. chronologically arranged We wondernarratives why we don’t in the World and figure thematically orgaCup. Ivory Coast, Honduras, Angola, Togo nisedIfdiscussions, Abraham Eraly’s The Age of can, why can’t The country does even Wrath offers anwe? occasion to reflect on not the wide qualify for thethe Asian Games.

This is theresearch reality. gap between state of historical among an 80,000-strong audience at ledI was by professional historians and what the the Nehru Stadium in read.

1986 when Bochum general public wants to Club Germany a series of Thefrom scholars of thearrived historyto of play Sultanate perimatches.

It washave 90 minutes of entertainment, od (1206-1526) been deeply involved in basically an annihilation of the home team, rigorous analysis of historical literature, evaland allthe wehistoricity gained from that match was a uating of evidence, combating striker named Anadi Barua. Heand scored a sensahistoriographical positions interpretational goalestablishing in that match; zeroofangle,” tions, and the“From accuracy terms and categories relevant to the period. Little of this gets disseminated in the popular domain, and is not even deployed in otherwise fine narratives produced by widely acclaimed authors like Eraly.

The last few decades have thrown up some fascinating research on the political and cultural history of medieval India. For instance, the crucial theme of religion and political culture is being analysed by focusing on critical connections between religion and politics, the significance of the intermeshing of religious and political ideas in statecraft, religious justifications of not only political conquests, but also of governance, and roles of holy men (ulama, Sufis, yogis, gurus, Brahmins) as power-brokers or legitimisers of political authority. Even a cursory glance at the religious and courtly literature in medieval Indo-Persian and a variety of Indic vernaculars as well as numismatic, epigraphic, and archaeological evidence reveal interesting possibilities of refining our understanding of some of the key issues. Recent works of scholars like Simon Digby, Richard Eaton, Carl Ernst, Bruce Lawrence, Cynthia Talbot, et al, have polished our understanding of some of the above issues. This body of current research has not been used by Eraly. Similarly, the stateof-the-art research on literary and historical traditions in medieval India has focused on

as footballer Ghaus Mohammed, a reserve for these football telecasts. They are unlikely to that match, reminds me. improve the state of Indian football because, In later years, we had clubs like Sao Paola, according to Houghton, they are only “illuPSV Eindhoven and Bayern Munich coming, sions” and harmful to the “growth” of football but the result was the same. The Indian selec- in India. tion was pummelled, and the demoralisation As Basu explains, “Except in a few pockets, was pronounced through the ranks. In the Indian football falls in the ‘disorganised secprocess, fans of Indian football, a rapidly sink- tor’. Unlike in archery or boxing, a nation’s ing tribe, became crestfallen. success in football largely depends on a mass According to acclaimed football scribe Jay- movement. A majority of the State assocideep Basu, author of the superbly written Sto- ations are non-functional and have failed miries from Indian Football, the serably to take advantage of the malady is widespread. “The ingeneral enthusiasm of youngfrastructure is still primitive. sters towards the game. The naWorst is the rapidly declining tional body has a severe cash The national number of local playgrounds crunch and it is more involved in championship final across the country. State governcosmetic changes like setting up kicks off in searing ments areinterconnections mute spectators. significant between litera- Sultans: Ala-ud-din a few academies in metro Khilji (1296-1316) andareas.”

Firuzheat because that is There’s nohistory. backing for local tourture and Pre-modern India witnessed shah Tughluq (1351-1388).

Cosmetic changes indeed. ForThe formidable fathe only slot granted naments in theofcountryside, a strong tradition writing history in several ther-son duo eignofclubs come(1451-1489) to India withand an Bahlul for live telecast by the which usedacross to be the languages thebackbone subcontinent. Often Sikandar Lodiagenda, to promote mem(1489-1517) saw off their another 67 national broadcaster of talent hunts.

Indian football these histories were embedded in literature in years between bership There them. and The merchandise. noticeable political would where it they is orwere not con- and cultural achievements a varietyremain of genre.

Earlier, was a time when busloadsand of of Vijayanagar might furtherenough down. by An modern insideredgo reliable histori- Deccani Sultanates football fans Delhi would have alsoin been the subject digenous is needed. ans, but blueprint some recent researches have of some interesting make a new beeline for theHowever, Ambedkara research.

Copy-pasting the FIFA and AFCThe manuals won’t Stadium modified older assumptions. huge corpus to watch the localofstars in the good historical biography the play much-mistake us anywhere.” of medieval literature in Indo-Persian and In- DCM and Durand tournaments. came understood Muhammad TughluqThen (1325-51) is only applaud andbeing cheer;studied not Indian dicWe languages is now not footonly the WorldThe Cup Tughluq in Spain, with some of the still1982 awaited.

Sultan presided ball, not from thevalue, stadium.

We participate for their literary but also for writingina matches telecastof live; Zico won our hearts.

But over, for quarter a century, a large subcontian Argentinian or Italian or Brazilian or Spanmore nuanced history.

Besides the eternal Ro- it harmed Indian footballinowing theofunfanental empire matching extenttothat the ish from athe comfort of home.

For- vourable milatriumph Thapar (with new synthesis on historicomparisons. ancient Mauryas.

His image was tarnished by mer India coach critical of three cal traditions in Bob earlyHoughton medievalwas north India), Thehighly 1986 World Cup, contemporary beamed from Mexico, motivated writers recent decades have witnessed valuable con- created new heroes the sublime Diego — Ziya-ud-din Barani, with Izz-ud-din Isami, and Ibn tributions from scholars such as Allison Maradona becoming household name.

PostBattuta. Certainly, theaphilosophers, Hindu yoBusch, Kumkum Chatterjee, David Curley, Ra- ers Rogerconverts Milla, Gary Lineker, gis, of JainPaolo sagesRossi, and Indian to Islam, inmya Sreenivasan and Chitralekha Zutshi.

Mario Jorge Valdano, KlinscludingKempes, the powerful minister Jurgen Khan-i-Jahan, Even if Eraly’s readers may not be interested mann, Baggio, Zinewould Roberto not subscribe toRonaldo, the view Rivaldo, that Muhamin complex historiographical arguments, it dine Zidane, was Andres Iniesta, Davidnature.

Villa mad Tughluq mad or of devilish would be worthwhile for the auadorned ourFiruzshah walls. Figures like Bhaichung certainly cherished thor to take on board current reBhutia, IM Vijayan, Jo Paul blurred the memory of Ancheri good deeds and search to offer a more informed over the years, in an impeccable reflection of kindness of his cousin, friend narrative. This would also help the state of Indian football. and predecessor.

Pre-modern India him to work with a fine-tuned It is one thingIntoconclusion, be a fan. Quite to suchanother generaliwitnessed a strong set of assumptions on available be a supporter!

Indiancould football needs supportsations also have been tradition of writing historical evidence and processers, the infrastructure develop a footavoided: to “The entireinto medieval history es. For instance, the over-deball nation, the sponsors and the talent pool. history of India, stretching over pendence on Persian chronicles, What can youasayperiod when the of the nationof final about thousand mainly through early 19th-centual championship off the in searing beyears,kicks from eighthheat to the ry mediations of HM Elliot and cause that iseighteenth the only slot granted live century, wasfordomJohn Dowson, with their agenda of depicting telecast

by Muslim the national broadcaster, unmindinated by invaders and rulers”, and pre-colonial India as a dark age with wide- ful the factHindu that there no one watching, at “… ofthough and isMuslim civilisations spread violence by Muslim conquerors, could the stadium at home. coexisted in or India for many centuries, there have been avoided for a better appreciation of was When it comes to football, we are a nation of hardly any creative interaction between the period than its characterisation as an age watchers applauders of foreign star-powthem, no and significant change in either, in reof wrath, governed by alien invaders. er.

Or “pretenders”, as a yesteryear champion sponse to the challenge by the other.

The two No serious scholar of the history of the Sul- lamented.

I once called ace striker Subhash coexisted, but did not interact.”

It is important tanate period would now lament: ‘It is on the Bhowmick for his that viewsEraly on the a Worlda to note, however, haseve notofoffered whole a sordid tale of treachery, rebellions, Cup. “We don’t qualify that to even controversial narrative willdiscuss provokeWorld a fatusurpations, murders, fiendish punishments, Cup” his the acidic quip said it all. practice It is World wa to—ban book, a barbarous in and barbaric mass slaughter (p 259)’.

Cup time again and,of asour we discover every four the cultural politics popular domain.

Even on the question of political instability, years, nothing has changed. the fact remains that the period witnessed a raziuddin aquil is a historian and author of In the is deputy editor, TheHistory Hindu Name lokapally of Allah: Understanding Islamsports, & Indian 58-year-long rule under two ‘radical’ and ‘wise’ vijay

Mind the gap

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A history of the Sultanate period, which doesn’t take on board crucial current research

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The Age of Wrath A History of the Delhi Sultanate Abraham Eraly Penguin-Viking Non-fiction ₹699

Kicked about When it comes to football, we are a nation that loves to watch and applaud foreign star-power afp

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No madness such as this Tiananmen

Morgan we Chua meet some of its biggest fans, fanatics and With the World Cup starting this week Navayana promoters — all to be found, but of₹350course, in the city of Kolkata

EXCERPT

Tiananmen Singapore-born cartoonist Morgan Chua — whose brush weeps for what happened at the Tiananmen Square — warns of the dangers when a government turns its guns on its people in a graphic novel of the same name

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supported Deng Xiaoping through my cartoons in the FEER (Far Eastern Economic Review; he used cartoon posters — a good visual weapon — himself across China to oust the Gang of Four) because I respected his pragmatic reforms. Most of all, he suffered during the Cultural Revolution and was later purged by the Gang of Four. I believed that he would lead China into a brighter future with care and understanding, without repeating the horrors of the past.

On 4 June 1989, he betrayed me, just as he betrayed his people and the international community who trusted him. His govern-

Runs in the blood Almost every boy in Kolkata has a connection with football, here they practise at the Kolkata Maidan ashoke chakrabarty

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queezed around the edge of Kolkata’s busy Chowringhee and its expansive Maidan, a small cluster of shops has long catered to the city’s many sporting needs. Awash with the purple of Kolkata Knight Riders jerseys until recently, Maidan Market is finally showing signs of more colour. Sheikh Amin, a salesperson at AH Sports, points to a row of freshly arrived stock. “Holland, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Argentina — we have all their shirts. The football World Cup comes once every four years, and given our sales, that one month starts to feel like a religious festival.” Each of Amin’s imitation jerseys is priced at ₹300 and he hopes to sell more than a thousand in the days to come.

When asked which team is his favourite, he laughs. “I support the team that helps me sell the most.”

Just a few shops down, Amin’s materialistic predilections are clearly considered the stuff of blasphemy. In the merchandise business for 35 years, 63-year-old Jacky first rattles off the names of many a local great. “They have all played either in my boots or in my jerseys.”

With the World Cup just days away, the shop owner is paid a visit by Narayan Mukherjee, one of his first customers. Mukherjee, who once played professionally for Eastern Railway FC, is accompanied by his 22-year-old son Akash. Together they place an order for nine jerseys, six of which are in a Brazilian yellow.

“There is one thing that you must know,” says Mukherjee. “No sporting event will ever

ment used the military to suppress its own innocent, unarmed people with firepower, brutality and insanity. And this on the authority of a parvenu who had suffered so much in the past yet was imposing it all over again on others!

Their suffering and agonies made me pick up my brush again to depict the plain truth and express my anguish, my sadness over the madness that had beset China once more.

(Excerpts from Tiananmen, 25th anniversary edition, by Morgan Chua; published with permission of Navayana.) morgan chua

be able to match the football World Cup.” As fish. Chaitali sells sarees from home. When the Akash inspects Brazil’s No 10 Neymar Jr shirt, Sikkim Football Association sends its foundhe finds it hard to contain his excitement. ing member Pannalal an air ticket to travel, he “From Ronaldo to Ronaldinho to Neymar, I opts for a train’s sleeper class instead. “We sufhave always worn a Brazilian jersey when fer four years of hardship, but at least this way watching the game. Most of my friends and I can go with my head held high. I wish I could family are Brazil fans, or should I say, we are describe to you the joy of being able to sit in Brazil fanatics. Since the team is playing at the stands,” says Chaitali. home this time, we have a 100 per cent advanAs her face lights up and her gestures turn tage.” Meanwhile, Akash’s father and Jacky more animated, Chaitali’s disposition behave already started arguing over who will be comes endearingly childlike. She talks of livBrazil’s opponent in the final — Argentina or ing in a hotel adjacent to Pelé during the 1986 Spain. “You’ll only see this in Calcutta,” says Mexico World Cup. “I was barely introduced to Akash. “If football were a person, him, but years later during the Kolkata would be its heart. Crick1994 US World Cup, he recoget is a religion, yes, but football is nised me instantly. I’m sure it our faith.” was because of my saree. He asked, ‘Madam, you’ve come If football were a Oldest and biggest fans again?’ I just smiled and smiled.” person, Kolkata Amongst all of Kolkata’s football She points to her picture with would be its heart faithfuls, it might perhaps be the Brazilian legend as proof. hard to find a fan who can match When it comes to matters on the the zeal of 81-year-old Pannalal pitch, Pannalal and Chaitali finChatterjee and his 70-year-old ish each other’s sentences. They wife Chaitali. Ever since 1982, the couple have discuss Diego Maradona’s ‘Goal of the Centusuccessfully made their way to all World Cup ry’ against England in 1986 as if it were scored venues in order to watch at least a few games the previous night. But it is usually Pannalal, a of the tournament live. “And this year, we are former club footballer, who delivers the final travelling to Brazil, the Mecca of football,” analysis. “I’ll never forget the ’86 final between gushes Chaitali, “Our ninth World Cup.” Living Argentina and West Germany. When the Aron a meagre pension that Pannalal Chatterjee gentinians came out on the field, it looked like receives as a retired employee of Kolkata’s they hadn’t eaten for a fortnight. I thought Dock Labour Board, the aging couple save ev- they would bite the flesh off this well-fed Gerery possible penny. They have even given up man side. They obviously won 3-2.” But for all

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his 1986 memories, Pannalal remains a diehard fan of the team in yellow and green.

While a local tour operator has subsidised their airfare to Rio de Janeiro, a sports management firm has helped buy tickets that will allow the Chatterjees an opportunity to watch at least four games this World Cup. Thrilled that he might possibly get the chance to witness Brazil play in the tournament’s Round of 16 stages, Pannalal still has to allay some of his wife’s immediate fears. Even though FIFA has promised to provide them free accommodation, Chaitali is worried for her husband’s and her own safety. “Many people have asked us to avoid lanes and stick to main roads. We’ve been told that if a criminal spots two rings on your fingers, you risk losing your hand.” Her octogenarian husband, however, tries to stay upbeat. “This may well be our last World Cup,” he tells her. “Who knows how much our health will deteriorate.” For someone who still can’t tire of debating Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ goal, it’s hard to admit that his World Cup future “is now in God’s hands”.

Maradona’s oldest lovers Octogenarian Pannalal Chatterjee and his 70-year-old wife Chaitali will attend their ninth World Cup this year ashoke chakrabarty

Team loyal The industriousness and fervour of the Chat- ple become more aware of football talent.”

THE 27TH ARMY WAS SENT TO BEIJING FROM ANOTHER PROVINCE AND LOST THEIR WAY terjees doesn’t come easily to most, and for Having watched Kolkata’s Manchester Unitthose left behind, a more distant enjoyment ed Fans Club grow from a Facebook page in must suffice. Trying to shorten that gap are 2010 to a registered society that now organises several television companies. Assuring ‘stadi- regular screenings and events, Sayan Chakraum-like thrills’, one in particular borty believes that the sport’s is advertising its new curved TV popularity can still be taken for as a ticket that will help you granted. Agreeing with Sardar, ‘bring Brazil home’. Manager of the fan club’s former president electronics retailer Great Eastern Each time the football says that before each World Cup, Technocity, Sanjib Sardar says, “I football followers have had World Cup comes have been in this trade for seven enough time to make up their around, the demand years and I can safely say that mind about which players they for LCD and LED TVs each time the football World Cup in Kolkata goes up by like the most. “This determines comes around, the demand for at least 30-35 per cent their preference for a national LCD and LED TVs in Kolkata goes team.” For 25-year-old Chakraup by at least 30-35 per cent. In borty, though, it wasn’t just telejust this first week of June, we are vision that proved a likely seeing the whole circumference catalyst. His passion for Argentiturn.” Though Sardar believes that cricket still na was reaffirmed when he watched Lionel has an edge over football, he thinks the last Messi play Venezuela in Kolkata in 2011. “Pelé, decade has seen a paradigm shift for the latter. Maradona and Oliver Kahn — they have all “I’d say the number of people watching inter- played in the city, but I was too young then. I national football has increased by a good 40 got to see Messi. I had never seen an internaper cent. By following European leagues, peo- tional star. It was brilliant.”

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C-grade grass Younger players often lament the lack of stadia and sponsorship ashoke chakrabarty

In a city where Brazil and Argentina often dominate allegiances, Chakraborty is aware that his choice of team isn’t unusual. “But you just need to look harder and you’d find a supporter for almost anyone,” he says. Chartered accountant Subham Pugalia remembers the night in 2002 when Brazil lifted the World Cup. “The people in the building opposite ours went crazy. It felt as if Diwali had arrived a few months early or like India had just won the cricket World Cup. I remember being very infuriated.” The cause for 25-year-old Pugalia’s anger was simple — he always prefers supporting an underdog. This year, for instance, he’ll be cheering for Belgium. “They have the best young talent.”

With time, the reasons for lending support to a side have also come to border on the absurd. Twelve years ago, a 6-year-old Suraj Sharma sat down to play FIFA Football on his PlayStation with a neighbour. “I still remember it as clear as day. David Beckham had scored me my first goal. Ever since then, I support England.” Being an England fan, says Sharma, helps him feel safe in a city where al-

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from the mirror, it’s time to try scrying. One by one, group members sit before a mirror holding a flashlight under their chins, waiting for their facial features to slowly morph into the spirit’s. Nothing happens.

But things change dramatically once we set up the ouija board in Room 6. The upturned glass on the board goes into overdrive as the spirit of a woman named Mary appears to answer our questions. Did you live at the inn, someone asks. The glass, held down lightly by our fingertips, moves to ‘No’. Did you work here? ‘Yes’. We gather that she was a lady of the night and was murdered in this room a couple of hundred years ago.

Six hours after we began, it’s time to call it a night. Several people have unusual experiences to report, though no actual spectral apparitions have been spotted. While I remain sceptical about paranormal occurrences, the hunt has been a unique adventure. Then, just before we retire to our rooms, Dutton narrates a story about a couple who moved into Room 7 in December but checked out in the middle of the night following a spooky encounter. Room 7 happens to be where I have to spend the remainder of the night alone.

That proves to be my nemesis, as rising panic replaces rational thought. I switch on all the lights as soon as I enter my room, turn on the television to loud football commentary, and call my husband, demanding that he either t’s just before midnight and the Smug- here that the English author Maurier sought come over right awayCHOWDHURY (he is an hour’s SHOVON is train glers Museum is shrouded in darkness, refuge after getting lost in the mist while out ride away) orchief keepTruthdigger talking to me daybreak. andtill author making it impossible to see the other horse riding on the moor. The intriguing tales Eventually I fall asleep, but upon waking I find of The Competent Authority people in the room. “Will the spirit that she heard inspired the eponymous 1936 novel the TV inexplicably silent and the lights turnmake its presence based on it), India ed will off. be Nocutting amount of flicking the switches costs while maintainn news described as ‘a giant step for lives tor,here andplease scare people into pay- known?” (and later, Alfred Hitchcock’s film accident Paul Dutton, the group leader, calls out into in which she refers to Jamaica Inn as “a place helps.

“Spirits use any form of energy in the those who have left us’ by Deceased ing attention during in-flight would ing productivity levels.” dark, addressing the spectre of a man who of tense excitement and claustrophobia of re- Further room tocost-cutting indicate their Persons International, Air India has thesafety announcements.

During mean we maypresence.” still be Dutton’s rehere some years ago. There’s al peril and thrill.” wordsdue flash mind of and I leap out of to across a debtmy burden ₹45,000 announced that henceforth it will be wasa lynched recent trial run on a200 Delhi-Guwawould be join- quired, silence except for a couple of coughs.

Then, a Haunted Happenings, one of Britain’s leadbed, heart pounding, and rush outside ing them. For the crore, incurred mainly through the pur- to inrecruiting dead people. hati flight, the announcement comes toby life, blinking once, twice, a ing paranormal investigation form ofthe 111 group. planes — for ₹70,000 crore in “For far too long, recruitment practices flashlight was preceded dead people first time incompanies, my life, I lis-has chase third time.

A woman next to me feels somebeen conducting tours at the inn since 2011.

“Oh, that,” says aare fellow hunter, in corporate India have been prejudiced in describing conditions in the aftened to what the flight 2007 — five of which nowghost being sold atsheepcold“Apparently brush pastthe herfood ear,isand several experi- attractive ishly, “I blew while switching on a light attendant was saying.” pricesa fuse to Etihad Airways, partfavour of the living,” said a spokesperson thing terlife. aw- a young Tonight’s group comprises man grows faint and has to be rushed outside. enced ghost hunters as well as enthusiastic this morning.”

Management consult- ners of Jet, to maintain friendly relations for the airline, “Our action is designed to ful, and none of it is vegetarian,” said have IMrityunjay got myself into, I wonder, shift- first-timers. A couple, me,also arewelcomed sceptics. “It’s with Clearly, ghostsWhile visit those who gotaxlooking rectify this historic injustice. Some people What passenger Chaturvedi from antslike have Abu Dhabi. a proposed a tad nervously in place. all, I am giv- not our job to change beliefs; we just for them. Orbailout perhapsofI have developed ₹30,000 crore aishighly have criticised us for giving free tickets to ingVaranasi, “We asked themAfter whether it was the your move.

“Thanks to fa- payer-funded to getting Yet here Dutton us be- likely strung sixthAirsense brothers, sisters, parents, in-laws, pets, en worse thanspooked the foodeasily. on board.

TheyI am, saidof it cilitate the experience,” movies such assures as Bhoot, to help, Indiaovernight. itself is notWhatever sitting the ownPlus accord, participating in were a huntterrible. for the fore theand startRagini of theMMS, hunt.dead “We people guarantee that idle. case, to see that whatsodraws seekers Phoonk have “Weit’s areplain conscious manythrill family well-wishers and children of employees, mywas. their personalities one ofjokes.

Bri- Some tried become an integral we haven’t up anything.” on paranormal hunts, especially this legeven after their demise, not realising that ghostly They inhabitants kept telling of Gujarati part set of mainstream so- members flying free is looking bad,”atsaid most locations.

The sixth endary inn in the“Hence, middlein ofresponse a desolate spokesperson, tomoor. this was the first step for uplifting a crucial- tain’s to hit on haunted the female passengers. Others cial consciousness,” saidsense Kiranis important Khalap of in their From 10pm to the weetime hours experiencing the paranormal, As for me,pleas I need a little more time to calm from both male and fe- my ly neglected section of our society.” sang.

Oneup spent a long explaining why chlorophyll. “Dead people occupy very lit- passionate morning, our should group ofbe20he explains, but its strength, nerves before Imothers-in-law venture out for will another According to sources, dead people will of the Madhu Kishwar HRD minister. tle space, require no medical benefits, andlike male employees, soonnightWe carry odd adventure seekers will be the sense of smell, varies from time adventure.

And this time around, I’ll be used to terrify rivals, improve load fac- This gave us an incentive to live. Dying in an do very little work. By recruiting them, Air be dropped from the list.” electromagnetic field channelling the paranormal at person to person. So the first make sure my husband is with me. detectors and small various spots across Jamaica Inn step is a brief meditation to help Maglite flashlights — from the bar and the converted Dear Julius, open up our sixth sense, after girija duggal is a freelance writer based in Cornwall that “child spirits stables that now the type of I have to say this house is very unfair which Dutton’s colleague Mark love to play with” Daphne du Maurier room and partiality.

When Sridevi was wearing Sommer takes over to showcase the Smugglers Museum to jacks, the did you shorts and doing jumping the various tools that we will be old rooms onTry theto first floor — trycomplain? re-adjust your thought using on our hunt. These range Get there ing to attune ourpost-secular sixth sensesworld, to process.

In this we are from ouija boards and dowsing Jamaica Inn (from £69; hear, feel Nitinbhai or see the slightest other- rods that can point to a paranormal presence all one. has everyhint rightoftoanwear worldly shorts,presence. although when he is sitting down in a room to more modern paraphernalia like jamaicainn.co.uk) is located codebetween different.”

This exohe room is full detectors, of weeping co- lar, but the dress It shouldn’t difficult, for the Inn’s his- electromagnetic he should trybe totoo minimise thigh exposure. field (EMF) trigger midway Bodmin and Reliance pays well. There’s medians packing their bags. tory is riddled with tales of smugglers cut- balls that light If the RSS added a flowing cape to and their up with the slightest move- dus is puzzling.

Launceston in Cornwall, and is Out of the box Their belongings are few.

Clown will take Comedy to by throats, and stories of ghostly sightings costume, this also would be helpful.

Until by ment, laser temperature testers and small Ma- no doubt theyabout 4 hours fromCentral London Paraphernalia to heights.

TheyThe have already noses, condoms, bottlesespecially of Old new, greater train staff andplace visitors stark grey slatethen, a abound. picture The of Nitinbhai in glite flashlights that “child spirits or road.

Smugglers detect paranormal Monk. of Thus themarmed, is wearing a up inannounced a slewand of new shows, du inand-stone building, shorts, preferably reclining, on your bedlove to playOne with”. we break activity girija duggal Museum the Daphne Ally Subramaniam was born in the cluding It’s Always Sunny In from Porswimsuit flippers. As built 1750 goas a to two side table. Gaze at it every dayinbefore groupsand and commence our Isearch.

Maurier room are open south-west Sundarbans, but was blown bandar, Met Mani-ben, watch, pulls his swimming stands ing topublic sleep.house, Over time, The firsthestop is the museum, once a stable 8am toHow 9pmI (adults £3.95, away by a cyclone and washed up on the over his eyesthe and Everybody Loves Narendra-bhai in the middle the pain will ofre-the forgoggles coach horses, where spirits of the children and hotel guests £2.95). shore near Chennai. He was adopted by and Whose Gas Is It Anyway? marches the children are bleak Moor lynched duce.Bodmin Alternamanpurposefully as well as twoto young a poor Brahmin family from Tirupur. He door. “What’s I ask.the torch beWhy would they not want in tively, Cornwall, you UK’s supposed to lurk.heItdoing?” is here that Get spooked can answer all your questions. Write to toHaunted be part Happenings of this? It’s a mys“He can’t afford airfare,and so he’s southernmost could buy couna gins flashing inexplicably the young man askallysubramaniam@gmail.com tery.

Nevertheless, the room is swimming to Sridetector Lanka,”comes says to life too. ty. Back day, its goes pairinoftheknickpale. The EMF (hauntedhappenings.co.uk) empty now, ghost barring a fatacross man the patting histo false beard isolated setting WePapa ers and wear thenCJ, head upstairs Room 4, where Somconducts hunts ear Ally, withUK. a foot He is sobbing into trim and authormade them.it a favouraMany mer hasplace. tunedIt’s a radio to the static between Theinjury. next available overnight I know it’s a matter of princiHe hasSpirits shornsometimes off his locks. into coffee. Dandiya ble have halfway people altwoitative. frequencies. communihunt his at Jamaica Inn is onmuple for the RSS, but is there any sic blares through He’s now aradio phenotype.

“I’m going readyhouse startedfor cate through waves, an event known as November 15 (£69 the per interperson, way we can prevent Nitin Gadcom. I of pick up a thepla on undercover,” he says, “I’ve got ofdoing smugglers this.

Electronic Voice Phenomenon, he explains.

We inclusive dinner) and the kari from wearing shorts? my way out, nodding to fers our from Ramdev moving con- strain Yours affectionears Baba but only manageand to make out 2-night Cut-throat Weekend on Regards, Julius, Calicut the beat.

McKinsey.

The face codechatter. is simi-Down the traband up- some ately, Ally incomprehensible December 5 (from £235, dinner, country from the corridor in Room 5, whose previous occubreakfast and board included).

The Investigator is a fortnightly round-up of all things droll and newsy.

All views are And personal.

Really personal Cornish coast. it was pants havet@shovonc reported a woman’s figure emerge Great expectations At Jamaica Inn in the middle of the bleak Bodmin Moor

AIR INDIA TO That’s the spirit RECRUIT DEAD PEOPLE! I On a ghost hunt at Cornwall’s legendary Jamaica Inn

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RELIANCE TAKES Travel Log OVER COMEDY RCENTRAL!

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A case of exploring mangoes Import bans be praised… for the Alphonso devotee, all is well this summer, and god is in his orange-yellow heaven

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Not a summer of discontent A vendor sells hapoos at Crawford market in Mumbai paul noronha

f you’re any kind of a north Indian, that is, from anywhere north of a latitude that passes just above Udaipur, then you should not even be allowed to approach a box of these. Just don’t bother. Walk on by.

Keep away. Because we who truly worship do not need to hear your crass, dismissive, ignorantly blasphemous comparisons of our — I can’t bear to even put the name in the same sentence — with your langdas, safedas, dussehras and chausas. The same applies to those deluded southies who swear by the banganapallis, imam-pasands and whatnots, not to mention philistine easterners who wave the flags of gulabkhaas and himsagar.

The only thing one can concede is that in the matter of names the beautifully named southern totapari and the tiny, nearly extinct Bengali madhugulguli win out over our champion, but that hardly matters when the only sound that escapes after you eat one of our miracles is an ecstatic sigh.

First of all, you have to find some genuine ones, not any of the many wannabe pretenderimpostors that hustlers will try and sell you.

They should be in one of these garishly coloured boxes you get nowadays (these boxes that are part of the problem, because all of us tend to believe stuff printed on boxes), but in the olden golden days even we end-point consumers got them in proper tokris, baskets

about the size and shape of a big Indian bath- nados are not dismissive of the many fine room bucket, and that just added to the sense mango varieties. We give due respect to the of repletion, to the full five-sensory delivery of beauties of the south, the heavy-hitters of the the meaning, point and reward of existence. north and the great aams of the east. There’s Box or basket, you should know when you’re no arguing that the mango is the most iconic in the presence, you should have no doubts, of Indian fruits. And under that big-tent defiyour nose should slide towards and then trip nition the fruit’s glory actually lies in its mindover into a subtle but undeniable olfactory or- boggling variety. There is a mango taste, there gasm. Your nose should know before your eyes is a mango look, there is a mango feel that come into play, but, when you see them, your ranges from stringy to buttery, from firm to eyes should smear with well-contained tears pulpy; but within the aaroha and aavroha of of recognition and joyous reconnection. The this mango raag lies a vast sea of compositions tears should be well-contained, almost hidden and improvisations. Talking about traditions if possible, because, even if the guy is selling and nature’s different gharanas, I’ll even conthem to you for an arm and a leg you don’t cede that some of the ones named above are want to be paying both arms and legs. truly ancient varieties, so old that they would Then. When you hold one in your hand it have been eaten in Vedic times, whereas the alshouldn’t be too big, for if it’s bigger than a phonso/hapoos is a much younger entrant, so somewhat elongated adult-sized cricket ball named because it’s a hybrid created by some it’s not from the region, the terroir of the gods, Portuguese experimenters, who grafted two but a transplanted kagemusha, a son-of-a-fake- or maybe more local Malabar coast varieties gun pretending to be the real shogun, from together to arrive at this fusion of nature’s geTranquebar or Abkibar but not nius and human endeavour. In Malabar. Besides the right size it the queue of concessions, let me has to have the specific shape, as add the business of taste-loyalty: in its elongated ‘beak’ should be the savour of mango you first re...that’s when you’re just a slight nod in the direction ceive through your mother’s allowed to cry with of the larger family of iconic milk will be the one that later joy, but only while fruit to which it belongs, nay, turns your tongue-turbines. making sure the salt over which it rules. The skin None of this matters. For me, the of your tears doesn’t should be more matte than shifact remains that there is fruit, of sully the taste of the ny, the colour the most beautiwhich mangoes are the most exproof that gods exist ful, soul-sifting deep cadmium alted example, and of the mango, yellow, with some variations and the hapoos is, without question, gradations allowable towards the crowning glory. cream yellow and light green, Now if you think I’m being with the occasional black mark like the beauty over the top, this is to be encouraged; if you spot on the rounded left buttock of… did I think the hapoos is overrated, bless you, mention the smell? The smell should be just please stick to your guns; if you want to turn so, not the crude perfume of the brasher varie- up your nose and walk past the ‘overpriced’ ties (which can offer their brief temptations), boxes to dive into the reverse snobbery of less but the subtle, seductive, multi-layered bou- dear varieties, be my guest. It’s bad enough quet you might find just outside the beautiful- that the whole world equates Indian mangoes ly crafted doors of paradise. In the safety and with alphonsos without other Indians also privacy of your home, when you finally cut getting greedy. Hopefully, between local antione open, gaze upon the deep orange-yellow hapoos prejudice and various import bans inthat is revealed, and slice it and taste it — that ternationally, there will be more hapoos for is when you’re allowed to fully cry with joy, people like me. So do enjoy your cream-yellow but only while making sure the salt of your safedas and your half-red gulabkhaas while I, tears doesn’t sully the taste of the proof that quietly, take the sharpest knife I have and cut gods exist and have given you this golden nec- myself a slice of heaven. tar in the form of the hapoos, the empress of ruchir joshi is a filmmaker and writer. He is the mangoes, Reina Alphonsa.

No, seriously, look, unlike the sneers others author of The Last Jet-Engine Laugh, and his last book launch at our beloved hapoos, we alphoncio- was Poriborton: An Election Diary shutterstock

ruchir joshi

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A league of its own R The action may be 24 hours and 15,000km away, but as Brazil kicks off the FIFA World Cup this week, time and distance cease to matter in the bylanes of Kolkata. Elsewhere in the country, new academies, many championed by international clubs, thrive and feed the football fever, even as experts wonder why, yet again, India remains a football-watching, not a football-playing, nation

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Brisk business The Bhowanipore branch of Balaram Mullick & Radharaman Mullick in South Kolkata keeps pace with the times ashoke chakrabarty

Interpreters of maladies

debates are considered an integral part of West Bengal’s genetic makeup, Mullick believes the decibel levels this year were a good notch higher. “It didn’t matter whether I was taking a swim or trying to enjoy a drink at the club. Regardless of where I went, I heard people discussing the pros and cons of some leader or another.” His ears buzzing with shrill punditry, Mullick decided that he was well-positioned to offer his clients a taste of their politics. Hitting upon the idea of nirbachoni mishti (election sweets), the young proprietor introduced four types of sandesh, each with the party symbol of a prominent political outfit etched upon it.

Rather than go from door to door, psephologists should have perhaps been advised to make their way to Balaram’s instead. As it turned out, the sale of its nirbachoni line helped predict trends in Bengal as convincingly as opinion polls. While the store sold 500 pieces of the Trinamool sandesh, it found there was also a demand for 200-250 BJP lotuses. Only 50 customers asked for a show of the Congress’ hand and an even fewer 30-40 were interested in the CPI(M)’s hammer-and-sickle.

The confectioner also offered other concoctions. Impressed by Modi’s humble tea-selling background, they infused CTC and Darjeeling tea to invent a NaMo cutting chai mousse.

Helpings of nolen gurer payodhi (baked yoghurt) were named ‘Didi’ because, as Mullick later clarified, “Like nolen gur, Mamata di was Speak easy Shahid Tasleem (below) is certified to teach Uzbek, and his students are in demand as flavour of Bengal withramesh 34 Lok Sabha seats.” sharma interpreters for international patients at hospitals suchthe as Fortis (above) in Gurgaon But the most interesting item on Balaram’s uous trial-and-error, craftsman Uttam Bhatta- election menu was possibly the RaGa dessert. charya that the to artIndia of accurate sandesh 1.5 lakhargues patients travel each year, with Mullick says his reasons dedicating a chocjobs in hospitals are thefor safest and most conportraiture is oftencoming as difficult winning a sizeable number fromascentral anda olate sandesh to the Gandhi scion were simple venient,” he says. tricky constituency. “Sometimes we’d get the — The west Asia.

“He doctors, is younginand a little has turn, valueWestern. their role.He“Havbeard wrong. Sometimes the spectacles studied abroad andknows has some Italian heritage. ing someone who the language is very wouldn’t fit. And each time we’d have to start Iuseful,” Get-well lingo felt a few chocolate flakes Sharma, were warranted.” says Dr Hemant an orthofrom scratch.”have become an important link paedics “Interpreters Did he ever worry that his innovations consultant at the hospital.

“We have After having seen off Ashthe might between patients andhis thecreation hospital,”flysays lead a party leader to taketreatment, umbrage, patients coming fororbone marrow shelves forCOO, more than a fortnight, Bhattaish Bhatia, Fortis Healthcare.

“With inter- Mullick philosophical.

“Life is aproblems risk,” he patientsturns with mental issues, gastric charya sadeasy to see NaMo sandesh being preters,was it is forthe doctors to explain to muses.

“Moreover, one can accuse They us of havand a wide variety no of other illnesses. also discontinued thisnative week.language “I felt it the diagnos- come from troubled patients in their ing beennations, undemocratic.

We have so the interprethad at least another six months care.” is, treatment and post-treatment made sure every party was repreer is all the more helpful.” leftJaved in it,” he confides Akhtar, 28, worksruefully. as an interpreter for sented.” Sensitivity, however, Owner however, patientsSudip whoMullick, speak Arabic andisUzbek. Until a Never tongue-tied isn’t just limited to politics in a Narendra face afew firm believer oft-cited years ago, allinhethat could have hoped for was Modi’s Kolkata.

“I have neversometimes understoodorthodox how a person reon in the sweet adage — invention the mother a teaching job, butis today his proficiency Balaram’s also subverting the searches or works in ais region but doesn’t of ato speak of necessity.

Hefetches explains, these languages him “We a decentresembled income that city’s age-old traditions of sandbother their tongue,” says Tasleem. beatific Santa Claus, have to keep experimenting. as an interpreter.

“After complet-I esh-making.

More businessmen, than Mullick, “There are many perhaps the most have customers whofrom walkJamia, in eving my graduation though, his father, especiallyit is from GujaratPradip and appropriate likeness ery what’s newa for week a yearand or ask, so I So tried to be Mullick, who who makesventure an impasMaharashtra, out a new PM could have today? are great exteacherThese in myreally hometown Auransioned pleaAsian for more experimento central countries today. wished for pectations.” the fourteen gabad in Bihar.InFinancially it betation.

He says, “Yougroups must realise A lot of tourist head Many businessmen, years 33-year-old came since difficult though, Mullick and I we areasliving the age of people the futhere well,in apart from especially from took charge, heDelhi has tried hardup to shifted back to and took sion mishti. People wantnations’ somewho research on those Gujarat and capture State’s zeitgeist this job atthe the hospital,” he says. a NaMoissandesh.

On history.like What peculiar, Maharashtra, venture thing through his mishtis.

Thereof was Explaining the nature hisa the day Narendra Modi was though, is that it is only recently out to central Asian large for Pranab Mukherjee he be- sworn work cake at Fortis’ Gurgaon facility, whencountries doubled sales if we thathave people are our beginning to todayin, I could came President andmoment a gur (jaggery) he says, “From the they sandesh for had enough stock. demand is really crazy.” learnThe Uzbek or the other lanMamata Banerjee she became (patients) land at when the airport till chief minA regular guages. at Balaram’s, Chandan I think it is a goodPrasad sign.” ister, butonthese last back, elections, they are their way we trysays Mullick, feels the ₹120 price tag forNalin a NaMo sandesh was Colonel Bhatia readily captured the public more than justified. to help them with“had everything.

“Thehim. shopThe uses sulphuragrees with army man no free The only problem isimagination with medicallike terms, sugar.

You might payon more here, but you learnt Uzbek with an eye the future.

“I have other.” which are sometimes difficult to translate, but pay for quality and, moreinimportantly, youand pay a postgraduate degree human rights Though after a few months you get a hang of that heattoo.” for his pamy innovation.” work mightNot takeone metotodisappoint Uzbekistan,” he ed interpretpolitical trons, The hospital currently has seven Mullick is trying hard ensure says. “ISudip had already learnt Persian andtothought ers who are, between them, familiar with Ara- that the hysteria election fast replaced it would be goodof toan learn Uzbekistoo.” bic, Persian, Turkmen, Kazakh, Russian, Pashto byProfessor football frenzy.

A replica the trophy for SM Pasha, who of teaches political and Uzbek. the upcoming World Cup occupies a science, sees it as a mark ofalready good neighbourliAkhtar’s colleague Barkhat Ali, 22, is an in- corner of his store and more specialswith are said ness. “We have so much in common our terpreter for the Afghan patients. “I learnt to be onAsian the way.

“I’m just waiting for thewhy day central neighbours, so I thought Pashto at an academy in Malviya Nagar in India plays in the the not learn some of tournament,” the languagesconcludes as well. There south Delhi. The experience is quite good, and proprietor. that happens, make is still a lot“When of research requiredI won’t in these rewhile other job opportunities are available for just eleven mishtis.should I’ll make 11,000.” gions and Indians surely lead the way.” us — at the embassies here in India or in Afsibi arasu nevatia is a writer based in Kolkata ghanistan and other countries, interpreter shreevatsa

For patients arriving from central Asian countries for treatment in India, a growing army of interpreters is at hand to smooth the linguistic bumps in their road to recovery

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hahid Tasleem, a 45-year-old assistant professor at Jamia Millia Islamia University, is that rare Indian qualified to teach Uzbek. Over the past decade, he has taught the language to nearly 20-40 students each year. While none of them have turned to teaching it, many have used it to find work or further their academic research.

“In India, in the last five years there has been an ever-increasing demand to learn central Asian languages,” says Tasleem, when we meet him at his house in Laxmi Nagar, just beyond the Yamuna river in east Delhi. The certificate he acquired from the University of Tashkent, where he spent a few years in the ’90s, is the centrepiece in his living room. “For medical tourism, for business and for academic research, a lot of Indians are benefiting from the connection between these countries, which were a part of the former USSR. And with Indian businessmen making regular trips to Uzbekistan and other countries there, and their people coming to India for treatment, ties will only grow,” he says. or all of 129 years, Balaram Mullick & The medical tourism business in India is exMullick has done pected toRadharaman touch $2 billion by 2015.

Moremuch than to help satisfy the cravings of South Kolkata’s sweet tooth. But during the recently concluded general elections, the confectioner realised it also had an opportunity to exploit the city’s stomach for politics. The best demonstration of Balaram’s ingenuity came in the days after May 16. Amidst rows of traditional mishtis (sweets) such as the kachagolla and patisapta, there sat the rectangular NaMo sandesh. Made with chhena (sweetened cottage cheese) and sugar, Narendra Modi’s face on the sweet resembled that of a beatific Santa Claus, perhaps the most appropriate likeness a new prime minister could have wished for. The broad smile made it clear.

Achhe din had finally arrived.

Rajendra Nath Moulick visits Balaram’s at least once a week. Though avowedly apolitical, he confesses he was particularly impressed by the still talked about NaMo sandesh. “We need to put Narendra Modi’s efforts in perspective,” he says. “Think about the number of rallies he addressed, the amount he travelled and then consider the margin of his win. For all that labour, I think Balaram’s was justified in putting his portrait on a special sandesh.”

Describing an arduous process of contin-

When victory is sweetmeat

Kolkata’s sweet tooth was spoilt for choice between a NaMo sandesh, Didi yoghurt and other ‘election mishtis’ churned out by a 129-year-old confectionery

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Poll pudding The NaMo cutting chai mousse and an assortment of sandesh graced by sundry party symbols, Didi and PM Modi ashoke chakrabarty

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To catch a thief… … Log in to Facebook first

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ast week, a woman sitting at the Bremerton ferry terminal in Washington was robbed. The alleged thief struck her head from behind, stole her purse and ran for his life. She didn’t see the man but noticed a tattoo of a triangle on his neck. The next day, when a certain 28-year-old Riley Allen Mullins sent her a Facebook friend request, she thought there was something familiar about him. Noticing the tattoo, she informed the police and Mullins has now been charged with second-degree robbery. Moral of the story: don’t bite the hand that feeds you. And cover your tracks… er, tattoos.

Dog days What astrology can do for dog adoption

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hen Saturn is in the retrograde zone, astrologers will have you know that a trying time lies ahead. Beginning in early March this year, this period of shani vakri is expected to last till July. And this is starting to have its effect, curiously, on dog shelters. As reported by news website Scroll.in, stray dog shelters in India have been flooded with adoption requests. Why you ask? Because astrologers claim feeding canines, especially black ones, brings good luck.

Several dog adoption agencies such as Welfare of Street Dogs in Mumbai, Friendicoes in Delhi have reported a spurt in

Cultured corners Mumbai gets creative with a set of new, reimagined spaces

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more noise than us,” says Wood, who performs regularly with his band at both venues.

His current agenda is to scout for talent in the neighbourhood: “Young, upcoming artistes need a platform to polish their art. This could be a stepping stone for them.” Thanks to the association with Mukta Arts, Ghai’s production company, Wood admits they managed to bypass many obstacles, including Mumbai’s cut-throat rents. Having their own space also meant more creative licence to feature acts they believed in. “Commercial ventures like Blue Frog have large overheads. They’re under all kinds of pressure to deliver, so they have to be careful about their programming,” he says.

For the Jhavars, too, finding a home for Easel was stress-free. Since their primary business is real estate, they dedicated an unused property to this passion project. The challenge however, was to convert a building under lockand-key for 15 years into a canvas worthy of displaying high-end paintings and sculptures.

Unlike the others, Kilachand says she checked out a number of venues before stumbling upon an old furniture shop in central Mumbai. She now has an exorbitant rent to cough up for The Warehouse, and the modest-

Venus in furs

n October last year, Mumbai-based Neha Sheth breathed life into a rotting godown her family owned in the city’s Kala Ghoda area. After flirting with the idea of turning it into an eatery, she decided to use the 1,700sqft area to host art and culturalhe Fussy Librarian website recently took a have had 11 or more sexual partners, have a bit of events instead. Not that there was a dearth of poll of 103 erotica authors about their sex a thing for doing it in the office and on horsethem in South Mumbai. Sheth’s friendly lives and discovered that they’re doing it all over back. Nearly 76 per cent of them admit to having requests for black are pups to ward offlike Sat-the Jehangir neighbours institutions the place — on horseback, on the Haunted Man- a sex scene in their novels based on something urn’s evil eye. But National the agencies are not Art Gallery, Gallery of Modernsion Art ride at Disney World, at the Louvre and in that happened to them in real life, and nearly 50 buying it, the as most of these pups will be among cemeteries! and Chatterjee and Lal gallery, othAccording to Fussy Librarian, the per cent of them have had sex as “research” for a abandoned At Friendicoes, on-disposedauthors ers. Yetafter she July. chased away the rats, the are having “more threesomes, practis- novel! The only disappointing finding: 94 per Open spaces ly onefurniture out of 20 and client requests turngutted the are base, only to replace ing more BDSM, and they just love doing it out- cent of the respondents were female and 89 per (clockwise from left) ing out be genuine. it to with marble flooring. The pillars wereside”. re- They are also three times more likely to cent were straight.

The Warehouse, House tained to preserve the underground vibe of its of Tales and Easel paul noronha former avatar. The beauty of House of Tales, says Sheth, is that it can be anything you want it to be. Construct a makeshift stage, lay out a saw the launch of two other hubs — The Ware- ly priced classes (up to ₹3,000) alone might few mattresses, and it turns into a theatre ven- house in Mahalakshmi and Andheri Base. not generate sufficient revenue. “There’s very ue. For celebrity chef Ritu Dalmia’s pop-up For a while now, restaurants and cafés in little money in cultural activities. I hope to kitchen, it was transformed into a replica of Mumbai have tried to satiate the city’s artistic sustain this for as long as I can. I’m open to her Delhi restaurant, Diva, for three days. “We appetite by doubling as venues for plays, renting it out for photo shoots and college recreated it entirely, right down to the orange- stand-up comedy and music gigs. Last year, events. But I’ll avoid private parties,” she says. in judging storm hat’s Bandra’s in a name, you ask?Café Plenty, apparently. and-brown chairs,” she says.

Big Bang dialled down the pears deci- that Sheth is clear thatintensity, House ofpeople Tales isgoa forAnalysing onQuasar every hurricane in the with beliefs aboutShe howdoes, menhowever, and women Last week, Nidhi, Dhruv and Deep Jhavar unbels todata stage Thakore Padamsee’s play theprofit gallery. alterbethe fee have. Allfor thesmall-scale storms in the pre-1970 “Right era hadnow female US Easel. from 1950 to 2012,Brand researchers Illinois veiled a similar initiative in Juhu called Nostalgia ChewingatGum. BarUniand lounge gatherings: I’m a litversity say that hurricanes female kill Door names the storms to be as The two-storeyed contemporary space debutChevel in Kala with Ghoda and names The Little in because tle confused aboutwere howthought we should position three times Andheri more than storms afterdoors men. forunpredictable as women.

“Now, hurricanes with ed as an art gallery featuring reputed artists often thrownamed open their new ourselves.

Do we take bookings for everything, the US, hurricanes areblock. named a pre-detersuchan as identity Belle or Cindy seem such as Ajay De, Anjum Motiwala andInBrinda bands on the Butby now a handful of very plac-feminine or givenames the space by being a little order that hasthemselves little to with the less violent,” the research says.In The names of this Miller. The trio are also looking to addmined, fashion,alternating es have taken it upon choosy?” comparison, the revwill start with Arthur, Berstrength storm, a practice that began in the year’s Atlantic stormsenue film and food-related events to their roster. of the to focus solely on culture. model of Andheri Base is but don’t While thisRohita approach was meant avoid gen- tha, Cristobal and Dolly Apart from Easel, the week that went’70s. by also Kilachand, a to former simple — thejudge ticketa hurriprices for der bias, the exactfor opposite to have by itsBase name!

Teach India seems educator, has hap- Thecane paid events must be cheaper Andheri pened. “A hurricane with athe masculine been nursing idea of name The can revenue model: ticket than a bottle of beer. “People cause 15 deaths, whereasfor a hurricane a femiWarehouse nearly twowith years. prices for paid events want things for free. They don’t nine name causes 41 deaths,” studystand says. It apWhat makes her the project must be cheaper than think twice before spending on out is its exciting tap-dancing, five-six beers, but when it comes a bottle of beer hula-hooping and copper-enamto cultural events, it’s a different elling workshops, which are matter. So I didn’t want the ticket ake a bow, residents of the fictional hard to come by elsewhere in prices to discourage them from town of Panem. For the three-fingered the city. “There are two types of coming here,” says Wood. salute of the oppressed masses from the film learning — one, doing it with your hands and That such projects are burgeoning in differand book franchise has gone live. Protesters the other, audio visual, where you learn from ent corners of the city is encouraging. But is it demonstrating against the Thai military, other people’s journeys. I wanted both for my enough? “Not really,” says Wood, “This is an which took power in last month’s coup d’éspace. And it doesn’t matter if you’re not artis- artist-unfriendly city. For a city this large, it is tat, have been giving the Hunger Games satically inclined. The point is to learn. You never shocking how little cultural activity there is. lute. It’s not the first time that a gesture of know what you get out of it,” says Kilachand.

In a place like Amsterdam, with a much smalldefiance and protest has sprung from popAndheri Base is a bigger, more ambitious er population, you’ll find hundreds of comular culture; like in V for Vendetta, the Guy version of its sibling Bandra Base, an initiative munity-based initiatives.” Kilachand and Fawkes mask has become the de facto sign of by filmmaker Subhash Ghai. Both spaces are Sheth, both raised in the city, are more forgivany protest, from Anonymous hacker collecmanaged by musician D Wood and Meghna ing — they’ve noticed an exponential rise in tives to Occupy Wall Street protesters. Like in Ghai Puri (Ghai’s daughter). While Bandra cultural events from when they were growing the film, where the denizens of Panem are Base’s charm lies in its no-fuss, intimate gath- up. One can only hope their initiatives mark subjected to attacks, some reports have said erings, its location in a residential area can be the shape of things to come. that a woman in Bangkok was taken away a bit of a downer. “Now we are near Hard Rock after giving the salute.

Café in Andheri, so I’m sure they’ll be making mohini chaudhuri

Erotica authors are living their dreams and their novels

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A hurricane by any other name

New research reveals gender bias in naming hurricanes

May the odds be ever in your favour

The Hunger Games salute becomes a gesture of protest in Thailand

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cornerstone in-faq by joy bhattacharjya World Cup Quiz

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This one can be worked out. Even though four other countries had applied, why did FIFA decide to award the very first FIFA World Cup tournament to Uruguay?

2 3

Complete the sequence with one more name: Peter Beardsley, Steve Hodge, Peter Reid, Terry Butcher, Terry Fenwick and ... ?

This story is probably apocryphal, but the question is valid. When Tofik Bakhramov was on his deathbed, he was asked if he was sure about his decision. They say that his one word answer was ‘Stalingrad!’ Who is Tofik, and what is this story’s relevance in a World Cup quiz?

4

This Brazilian soccer player who was the top scorer in the 1938 World Cup, was unbelievably rested by Brazil for its semifinal match versus Italy to save him for the final.

Unfortunately Brazil lost 2-1, this was one of the most controversial managerial decisions in World Cup history. Name the player.

5

Strictly not a World Cup question but it deserves to be in this quiz. National teams are not allowed to retire numbers, but AC Milan has retired legendary defender and World Cup star Paulo Maldini’s number #3. With one caveat! What is the caveat?

6

A couple of questions on strange team records. Which is the only team to have beaten eventual champions and hosts West Germany? Hint, this can never happen again!

the new york times crossword-0420

it’s taxing

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Another crazy record. Which team was eliminated from the 2006 World Cup despite not conceding a single goal in regulation time?

They finally went out on penalties against Chile creating another record by missing all their shots!

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“I thought that was a goal.”______ “You and me both.” ______ This is an exchange after probably the most famous save in World Cup history, during the 1970 World Cup. Just fill in the blanks with the names of two legends of the sport.

9

Born at Weymouth in the UK, he became famous during his stay at Oberhausen in Germany. He retired in 2010 and died in October that year. Earlier that year, he was threatened in his home country and Spanish prime minister Jose Zapatero offered to send official State protection for him. I need a name and a story.

10

Ending with a sitter. Who came back to World Cup football in 1990 and became a star three years after retiring from soccer and settling down on the Island of Reunion?

Answers 1. They were the current Olympic champions, having won the title in 1936.

2. Peter Shilton. These are the players Maradona went past to score probably the goal of the century in the 1986 World Cup. 3. Tofik was the linesman in the 1966 England-West Germany final who had judged England striker Hurst’s shot to have gone over the line. Germans still regard that decision as unfair and Tofik’s supposed reference to one of the bloodiest battles between the Soviet Union and Germany obviously bolsters their case.

4. Leonidas Da Silva 5. If either of his two sons, Daniel and Christian play for AC Milan, they will wear the number. Currently both are stars in their youth teams.

6. East Germany 7. Switzerland 8. Pelé and Gordon Banks of England. Great save, but not enough to save England from defeat.

9. Paul the Octopus, who was a darling of the German fans predicting all their league matches right till he called a Spanish victory in the semifinals. He was right, and there were calls for him to be cooked and eaten.

10. Roger Milla

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joy bhattacharjya is a quizmaster, director Kolkata Knight Riders and author of Junior Premier League — The First XI t@joybhattacharj

ACROSS

1 Crazy places 5 Supply (with) 8 Yogi in the New Jersey Hall of Fame 13 Give up on 18 Neutral zone, say 20 Geneva’s ___ des Nations 21 It’s organized in a family 22 Fragile decoration 23 Elevated 24 Hangovers at home?

25 Agreement for an amount to be taken from one’s salary?

28 Samoan capital 31 Glow 32 Soil 33 What C.P.A.’s wish for their clients?

39 Reactor 43 For 44 “We shun it ___ it comes”: Dickinson 45 Guest book, e.g.

46 Purim villain 47 First name of the first female Supreme Court justice 49 C.P.A.’s advice for lowering future-year liabilities?

55 Serious overcharging

57 Place in trust 58 Tony-winning Robert Morse role 59 Fast 62 European wheels?

64 Alley ___ 65 Match 66 Ample, informally 67 Chart used to calculate a married couple’s taxes?

70 ___ Reader 71 Have a series of sudden inspirations?

72 General mailing address?: Abbr.

73 Night hunter 74 Let loose 75 What pop-ups do 76 Websites of interest?

79 First name among Mouseketeers 81 I.R.S. update?

84 Soccer team 88 Three-time ’70s World Series champs 89 Alpine stream 90 Milk 91 Halves of zygotes 92 G.P.S. component: Abbr.

93 Last-minute way to reduce tax for a desperate filer?

100 Deadline time

appropriate to this puzzle 102 “Sad to say …”

103 Choice word?

104 C.P.A.’s masterstroke?

112 “Vive ___!”

113 South American land 114 Troublemakers 118 Triatomic oxygen molecule 119 Strengthen 120 Certain fund-raiser 121 Ebbed 122 Certain tracks 123 Foxy 124 Wail

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1 When repeated, one of the Gabors 2 Galley sight 3 Time and again 4 Modern two-wheeler 5 “How now! ___?”: Hamlet 6 Alter, as a form 7 Digital olio 8 Tour group?

9 K-12 10 Parade spoiler 11 Sailor, sometimes 12 Waste place 13 Perfume

14 Where to land for the night 15 Break apart 16 “___, brother!”

17 Nudnik 19 “Aladdin” prince 20 Like some opposites 26 Suffix with deposit 27 Choice words 28 Hypes (up) 29 Chute opener?

30 Hip to 34 Judean ruler 35 19-Down, e.g.

36 Wing 37 Gift for many a PBS donor 38 Lousy “reviews” 40 Ape 41 Division head?

42 Double-checked, e.g.

46 Conform (to) 48 Go with the flow 49 Breed of hunting dog 50 Like some traditions 51 ___ disease 52 Transition area from deciduous to evergreen, e.g.

53 ___ Plaza (hotel chain) 54 El ___ (cheap cigar, slangily) 56 “Do me one favor …”

59 Important parts of Thanksgiving and Easter 60 “There is no greater evil than ___”: “Antigone” 61 They might be pulled 63 Airport on a bay, for short 65 Food processor setting 67 Classic perfume 68 Algerian port 69 Call up 74 Army base near Petersburg, Va. 76 S.A.S.E. recipients 77 1980s Chrysler offering 78 Retrieve and throw back, in baseball practice 80 Syndicated radio host John 82 What to “never” do, according to the title of a 2005 best seller 83 Exist 85 Raise one’s hand, say 86 Tied up 87 ___ a one 90 Co. with the longtime

stock symbol “X” 93 Verdi’s “___ tu” 94 Alternatives to Mustangs 95 Pacific current event?

96 2008 Olympic tennis gold medalist 97 Actor Gulager of old TV 98 Settings for “Skyfall” and “Casino Royale” 99 Laxness 101 Engaged in, as a trade 104 Sudden misfortune 105 Shah ___ Pahlavi 106 Wood alternative 107 Where Davy Crockett was born: Abbr.

108 Last little bit 109 Memorable times 110 In a bad way 111 “Bravo!”

115 Cry of discovery 116 Partner of again 117 ___ Digital Short

By Dan Schoenholz / Edited by Will Shortz

Reach us at blink@thehindu.co.in. Follow us on t@Ink_BL and facebook.com/hbl.blink or thehindubusinessline.com/blink