Blink issue 29 august09 2014

ON CLOUD NINE WITH GRANNY How far is Melbourne from Delhi? Volunteers from across the globe pitch in to teach students in India p2 saturday, august 9, 2014

The Punjab and Haryana High Court designed by Le Corbusier in Chandigarh akhilesh kumar

The city built on the vision of Nehru and Corbusier is now unfettering from the tradition of modernity p9

Myth of Chandigarh

INDIA’S PRODUNOVA Despite all odds, gymnast Dipa Karmakar wins a bronze at the CWG in Glasgow p8

MARK THE DATES As the art season kicks off, a look at some of the best shows in the country p14

explore know

BL BL 222

saturday, august 9, 2014 saturday, august 9, 2014

CREATURE FEATURE

Dragonflies and other ‘flies’ What makes insects capable of catching prey nearly as large as themselves?

M

Solved!

ost of the creatures I flies vanquish large prey. But we pick to be featured in know quite a bit about how dragonthis column are ones flies hunt smaller prey, specifically that I’ve seen some- fruit flies (also ‘real’ flies). Dragonwhere, creatures that give me a rea- flies outperform fruit flies comson to find them fascinating — they pletely — they fly faster, speed up may thrive in an unexpected place, and slow down quicker, and usually exhibit unusual behaviour, or inter- the fruit fly doesn’t even realise it’s act interestingly with another orga- being hunted. But despite their nism. Once I zero in on the subject, I sniper-like precision, even dragonast June, when Daniel Spiel- Polya Prize winner, observed that sift through scientific literature to flies can fail. We learn a lot about man, Adam Marcus and the problem looked similar to the see if others have found the same dragonflies from these failures, Nikhil Srivastava posted K-S Conjecture, they decided to go animal compelling for reasons simi- from fruit flies that evade capture. their paper on the Kadison- after it. What began as a side problar to mine. I usually find what I’m How on earth does a fruit fly manSinger Conjecture online, looking for; this time, my IST,age n Julyhowever, 31, at 8.40am ‘granny’ Tali a dragonfly? lemthe in 2009 years to comto outwit doesn’t, little helpItfrom Skype grannies.

Anything is up the hadmathdescribed aviantook life five in the school ematicaland world did a to double take. Itandplete. search came up more or less empty.

Blumgart logs in toand Skype from even During the and first ractwo, it doesn’t try. Most — fruit for discussion from wildlife festivals grounds discovered opossums likeasthea 54-year-old conjecI wanted to write about an About inter- 10,209km Melbourne. away, Spielman, Srivastava flies that escapefamilies from dragonflies and futures. seemed Described “play- coons in Thierer’s backyard.

Yet, afterand bothMarcus the ture, first proposed by mathematiaction between a at robber (anschool ac- in an all fly girls’ Kalkaji, Del-anything were at Yale.in-charge Then Srivastava moved aren’t doing out the orground inof space”, the project is currently opersessions, Rekha Sharma, of the classcians RichardPune Kadison hi, a group assembles in front of a computer. ational in six locations a post-doctorate to Princeton, — Delhi, and and es,Isadore remains for optimistic.

“A few months ago, Singer villages in 1959,of had solved.

The picture is grainy and the connection, Hyderabad and in far-flung meeting thedidn’t co-authors “intermitruralbeen when we started out, they know Google.

Comments started pouring in,had fel- notently”. patchy. “Hi, I am Tali,” says 24-year-old Blum- Karnataka, in Rayalpadu the to lasttype year, relied and RameshwarwaThey idea ofInhow orthey search. low mathematicians began sharing gart, who is pursuing a degree in Education at di, which boasts a single email and Skype, for computer in one Now they’re on conversing in English andSrivastava using it, scoresgather of talksonce werea organised — had a university in Melbourne. “Like the one you man’s house where children movedshe to Bangalore. were the internet to learn,” says. For There Rashmi proof was going viral.and Thisher July,49 classmates, eat from... thali,” she continues, as the girls dis- week to meet a granny.the “many spurts hope sessions and disapWhile Dr Mitra with Dr theseofweekly solve into laughter. Thirteen-year-old Ritu, Suneeta Kulkarni choseSpielman, pointment”. when the solution HyderabadMarcus for the and pi- Srivastava are the only face-time withBut computers. were awarded GeorgeSixty-three-year-old Polya came together, who is at the head of this happy delegation, is lot, at the other locations Srivastava they decided the to “let Jackie Barrow fromsays: UK “I Prize, given every twoby yearswas for work abruptly pushed aside to make way for Rash- them come to us. We were started laughing.

It fit sowhen beautifully, then approached one of the first granny recruits the combinatorics orthe graphproject theory started. mi, the talkative one. “Hi ma’am. I’m Rashmi, I schools and NGOs that in youEvery knewTuesday, it was the ‘right’logs proof. were committed to Barrow in It Kadison and Singer had with can speak,” she screams into the mike, send- project,” says Pune-basedWhat combined ideas we had generated Dr Kulkarni. to interact students at Pune, Rayalpadu back then wasis and Rameshwarwadi, using ing her classmates into another giggling fit. overafive years.”

At Kalkaji, granny asked Blumgart’s session series of icewhether states Her friend Shivani too leans in and introduces making a nosedive. It’s After posting theispaher first“pure session and breakers to include all the children — who abelian von know Neuherself. Even tongue-tied Ritu is introduced. she can’t tell how it’son per ‘Interlacing going.

“I don’t the oldest, tallest, youngest, shortest, etc. Families They And just like that, granny Blumgart and the what level the studentsmann Mixed Characteristic are at algebras yet,” says could Blum- try storytelling in someII:sessions, YouTube It combined bits of extended granny uniquely girls begin their first online interaction. gart, perhaps the onlybe 24-year-old in clips in others. SometimesPolynomials the sessionsand are the sat-Kaideas we generated pure states on nonThe Granny Cloud project kicked off in Del- the project. The eighthtograders, dison-Singer Problem’, despite their isfactory, sometimes frustrating.

Last month, over five years ambika kamath abelian hi in February this year, making the Kalkaji training in Math classes was invited where algebras”. for instance,the antrio ambitious at- to That’s a mouthful, but tual fly,school cousin the Granny Cloud location in thedinary. theofsixth talks, When flyingabout they’re learning linear tempt to use hold a Padlet for afrom powerBosin quantum common housefly) country.

When the project resumed in early Ju-around ton to failed Bordeaux to scrambling explore over pairs, are a sim- physics it point presentation miser-and asksWhen a vital question: and a dragonfly (not asummer break, two new gran-their ly, after a long of the environment, ple distance problem. ably. “It was Bangalore. bad,” says One Barrow, For Rashmi and her 49 The robber fly The state of an electron is represent- key fly at all, has niessince had it signed up and the children’sfruitBlumgart achievements of dashed the trio’s flies routinely asks them to convert adding that the kids offproof a classmates, these seemed to struggle ed by observable quantities like po- is four wings instead of Edna was back. favourite granny their new to the“we solumake erratic turns. distance the Melbourne-Delhi of separate noteapproach later saying weekly sessions are with its oversized spin or momentum. But tion. two like The theproject, flies). It an extension of the Hole in theAnd10,209km While averaging while theinto fruitcentimetres, fly sition,the still like youthe very much”. argument In July the only face-time prey, like a harrowed according was a Wall decidedly projectonestarted 15 years ago by Dr Sugatamaygirls niftyBarrow tool in math to prove have a to perfectly look Rashmi who turns to Heisenberg’s Uncer- remains 2012, BBCatook to Pune, to with computers traveller hauling too tainty Principle, observable quanti- conjectures, sided duel clasped at Newcastle University, wasgood Mitra,—professor it applies real numturnto reason Google.for When she asks them meet her students for atotelevised large a suitcase such as position and velocity bers. between the legs of the based on an idea of “grannies reading fairy-ing,howthe the challenge lay in manydragonfly lakhs are inties a million seriesFor onthem, the project.

The stuacross the airport can’t robbertales fly towas the on Skype”. A few “benigndoesn’t children it tohad a polynomial. know it and and how many millions in abe bil-measured simultaneously. applying dents, who often taken“It’s vir-like So, canon the value of one observable trying corpse mentors” of a dragonfly volunteered, and in 2009, sessionscan’t to find average predict it, therelion — typing the questions tual tours of anher homeforincolextrapolated to others took nearly began doubleinits own Hyderabad.

These sessions allow chil-by Skype ours,”hersays Srivastava.

What they leading— to thea failed students quantity get busybe copying the Manchester, to theirs.

For Halloween that can’t Rashmi be measured size. The fly drenrobber to “self-learn” using the internet, with apredatory proved then that thethe roots excursion. questions in notebooks before yells alongside? last year, when Barrow waswas explaining fes- of question motivaseemed to struggle with its overtheataverage polynomial are less While it’s possible that dragon“five minutes please” to“The go tooriginal the second com- wastival to the kids Rameshwarwadi in Sindhuby theagain. desire for a durg, rigorous sized prey, pausing on a tree trunk flies choose onlyputer than 0.9 out.

— or,“They there’d one with specific to chase fruit flies in the tiny roomted to Google “Take the lights went satbe there foundation quan-torch to reposition its load, like a har- whose turns they polynomial property can Blumgart, predict, itand mathematical 15,” says before she knows it the afor single shining onwith theirthat faces.

It was in tum mechanics,” 35, And rowed traveller hauling too large a seems to me thatsession theitcase polynomials that interwhether a fruit inches tofly an end.

Rashmi is still says stuckSrivastava, pitch dark. was of perfect,” says Barrow. suitcase across the airport. As I stop- lives or dies in the lacealso (their While of a dragonfonjaws spelling Melbourneworking correctly.for the last two years Thewith grannies havenew theirtechnique). own social netMicrosoft ped to photograph the duo, I won- ly depends a lot on physical, that is, the quantum chance While most—ofthe the grannies areResearch from UK,inUSBangalore. work, a blog the where they vent about failed ses2008.

Spielman, who is dered at the robber fly’s hunting chance that a fruit interpretation remains fly Australia will take a—sudand only oneIt iswas from India — Dr sions or apassmechanical on ideas that worked. “Besides, professor of applied prowess. What makes it capable of den turn just as aKulkarni unproventry andto the proof what doesn’t dragonfly swoops says, “The good thing is that cultures,mathematics sometimes teachers show-off and computer science at Yale andtaught a have catching prey larger than itself? algorithms yet,and the girls conjecture down towards it.colour And I guess and chance accents don’t act as barriers.” they’ve in these sessions, are MacArthur solvingalways a has The robber fly’s feat is made all also drives those been proved The idea has more50noticeable About grannies are2012 taking sessionsfellow, at thewasalmost held back,” says true.

Barrow. different problemsince on the sparsificathe more impressive by the fact that hunting encounters wide-ranging applications, from between and drag-150 have six locations, volunteered Back in Kalakaji, as the second session ends, of graphs.

Srivastava, dragonflies are no sluggards. Just a onfly and dragonfly quantumshuffle physicsout to of graph or dragonfly the project began. “Buttion we need 350 grannies,” thethen girlsa reluctantly the theory lab. student at Yale, was workfew weeks earlier, I had seen a drag- and robber fly. Though ‘compressing networks’ ‘chance’ who is isgraduate says Dr Kulkarni, busy recruiting.

“This is our for favourite class,” they chorus,and as fiwith him.with Theylong were looking at nite says, onfly catch and feed upon another not a satisfying answer dimensional geometry.

Which to this or any ising Blumgart’s session punctuated granny Blumgart “I wish I had told them I models explain air complex net- means equal-sized dragonfly. What makes question really, it’s if, a from decade later,today your —cellan answer, pauses, a faultyone connection andtoa general too learned something them works like Facebook, this insect capable of catching prey must accept, thatofishesitation. phones work better, you can thank often true.In contrast, the earlier session at how aboutthey the lakhs and the crores.” formed, interacted almost as big as itself?

7.30am with another first-time granny —and US- how to ‘com- the trio for solving the K-S problem. and — had priyanka press’ When Gil Kalai, an ad- kotamraju Unfortunately, we don’t really ambika kamath studies basedorganismic Kari Thierer faredthem. better.

The kids junct professor at Yale and a former priyanka kotamraju know how robber flies or dragon- evolutionary biology at Harvard University

Meet the mathematicians who solved a 54-yearold puzzle to win the George Polya Prize Described as a “playground in space”, the Granny Cloud project in Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad and rural Karnataka is more than just “grannies reading fairytales to children on Skype”

L

O

Focus group At a weekly Skype session with granny Blumgart in Delhi kamal narang

Q

Q QR

R

R

CH-X _ A

3

BL

know

saturday, august 9, 2014

The devil wears Prada Accustomed to human largesse, these animals have probably forgotten how to survive in the wild ranjit lal

Capital monkeys Delhi has always had a love-hate relationship with the rhesus macaques, but their world and ours have more in common than we would imagine

T

hey’ve taken South Block. They’ve taken North Block. They’re in the Presidential Estate. They’re rioting around Parliament and India Gate.

They’ve annexed residential colonies, marketplaces, office complexes, parks, gardens, the Ridge, and places of worship. And you’d better go and check your fridge…

The city simians, rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) are everywhere. And now, the Govmant has struck back with devilish ingenuity.

It tried setting langurs after them (which, apparently was illegal anyway), but the two got into an unholy alliance: the macaques disappeared when the langurs showed up and reappeared as soon as the coast was clear.

Now, the authorities have dressed up men as langurs, making langur noises, while others are armed with paintball guns. Will this work? Only time will tell but, frankly, I doubt it. How many men will they dress up as langurs? And how long before the paintball commandos turn their guns on each other rather than holy monkeys?

The monkeys alas have influential sponsors.

Tutti-frutti parties (involving papayas, bananas, mangoes et al) and gur-parantha buffets are thrown for them every day by people in the city everywhere. On this largesse they have grown enormous and probably have cholesterol issues. At the same time, there is a section of the population that shakes sticks and throws stones at them. Which makes the simians edgy, and probably does nasty things to their blood pressure. But then, who the heck said that these alleged vegetarians be armed with two-inch canines more suited to sabertoothed tigers, and how dare they flash them at our children?

So what do we know about them? Politically, they live in large troupes, headed by a dada

alpha-male. Allegedly headed because with- reach from their moms. They meet their elder out the support of the dowager females of the siblings (some who show tremendous controupe, he’s a nobody. And yes, he must kiss cern and perform baby-sitting duties, others the babies to curry favour. Usually he has a who bully and tease) and spinster auntyjis who wingman too. But the moms are the ones who show huge interest in them, sometimes leadmake the decisions. They have their territories ing to violent flare-ups with their mothers, and patrol them. who suspect the auntyjis might have childThe Northern Ridge at one time had seven napping on their minds. Generally there’s a major troupes, each in its own area. I watched lot of TLC going around. Sometimes, alas, a baa border dispute once: a horde of macaques by does not make it, and its distraught mother came pouring out of the trees into the more will carry the skeletal little corpse around open parkland, shrieking war with her for a couple of days — cries as they raced after another whether out of grief or because troupe that had dared to lay she does not understand what’s claim to the area. If you’re caught happened, I can’t say. Some Some young females in the middle, it’s best to keep young females are so keen to be are so keen to be still. This was all-out war: the inmoms they may even kidnap moms they may even truders fled screaming. puppies. Mostly of course, the kidnap puppies.

In any troupe, there will albabies become monkeys. On the Mostly of course, the ways be rebel tough guys who Ridge, there are vines to swing babies become get kicked out — they want to be from, ponds to dive into, cables monkeys alpha but lack the required politto tightrope across and, in the ical, social and leadership skills. parking lot, cars and bikes with They’re loners, followed occaglittery mirrors… But discipline sionally by a couple of foolish is maintained even if it results in adolescent hero-worshippers. Peace normally tantrums and screaming. I’ve watched an adoreigns in a troupe, with a lot of ‘you scratch my lescent throw a hissy fit in the middle of the back I will scratch yours’ going on all the time. road, being completely ignored by his elders Economically they’re well off but, heck, it’s (the kid sister or brother was getting all the all subsidised. Without the papayas, bananas, TLC), who frankly looked disgusted. mangoes and paranthas being doled out every But when it comes to sex, they’re wonderfulday, without the markets and kitchens they ly liberal: those monkey kids begin early, realraid regularly, they’d be impoverished and ly early and right in front of the adults, who might starve. They may well have forgotten don’t turn a hair! The adults themselves start how to forage naturally in the trees like their getting involved with each other in Octoberancestors did.

November, and this is when the most violent Socially, childcare is given top priority. Ba- brawls break out. bies are born usually around April and cling Whatever you do, just don’t wear a monkey wide-eyed to their mothers’ bellies for the first suit then. few days. Then, they’re riding jockey style and soon trying to venture out of arm’s (or tail’s) ranjit lal is an author and environmentalist

Q R

work takeaway

BL BL 204

saturday, august 9, 9, 2014 saturday, august 2014

Finding old favourites Revisiting Rome nine years later meant meeting an old self and seeing the city anew… And rediscovering places that exist so vividly in memories

O

Yesterday once more Traditional board A rivergames runs manufacturers through it TheRG sun Singhonand sets theDileep Tiber, or Kumar of Ramsons the Tevere, as the Kala Prathishtana Italians call it shutterstock/s borisov Trust, Mysore, play a game of Dash-guti etched on a platform at Sheetla Ghat in Varanasi

n the list of irksome people, ‘phoren-returned’ often make it to the top. Those who mention ‘dust’ repeatedly, lament the absence of dryers (for clothes, mind you), and believe that shorts make for suitable restaurant attire.

Little can please them, other than a ticket back to foreign lands. These aren’t victims of nostalgia, but rather of chronic discontent. But when you return from Rome, little can please you. One might not be guilty of precisely the above sins, but everything seems just that much dimmer. Like the arc light has been snuffed out.

Right now, Italy might not be at the top of the European charts. Its former prime minister could have been the tenor in an opera and a clown in a farce. Its present PM’s biggest virtue might be that he is not the former PM. A recent article reported that joblessness among those aged 15-24 teetered at 43.7 per cent last month — the highest since records started in 1977. The country’s attitude towards those who look different is hardly stellar. You only have to drive to the suburbs of Rome to see graffiti that mock its most famous football striker in the most primate of ways. You might be pickpocketed in Rome, and you will be fleeced — whether by the taxi driver from the airport or the hotel you booked online, which simply does not exist. But still. It is impossible to not be moved by this city and country. To be moved beyond measure.

Tomes have been written about Rome, its history and its monuments. You have to see the Colosseo, you have to go to the Vatican, the Pantheon, the Trevi fountain, Piazza Venezia, the Roman Forum, the Spanish steps, the Pro-

Q R

Board games BC

Emperors sat engrossed in front of them, as did commoners, and now a handful of people are attempting to revive the centuries-old board games of India

T

CH-X _ A

It’s a match Mancala, manufactured by Spardha, is sold mainly to families in Hyderabad that gift it during marriages

testant cemetry, the Jewish quarters. The list Rome, like London, New York, even Delhi, is alone makes you breathless. Stroll down the one of the great capitals of the world. But unAppian way, which dates back to 4th century like New York or Delhi that excites with possiBC, admire the umbrella pines and the bilities for the future, you don’t settle in Rome smoothness of the stones that might be thou- for ambition but rather for contentment. If sands of years old. You need to see the city your idea of happiness is slanting sunshine, sprawled out before you from the top of the Vespa rides, endless ambles, scoopfuls of gelaGianicolo hill. To earn your cool cred you must to and unparalleled art. Rome is for those conbuy a bottle of wine, sip it at Piazza Monti and cerned with the now, who choose to be a bit watch couples come and go. You need to obtuse about the future. This moment is the spend an evening at Villa Borghese and follow best, they tell themselves. With its glorious flocks of swallows and swifts as pre-Christian monuments and they spin absurd shapes in the gladiatorial venues, Rome desky. You should see Mussolini’s ceives you into thinking nothing ‘Colosseo’ — for a laugh. will change, nothing needs to You have to have lunch at the change. If only countries became You don’t settle in Peroni restaurant. You have to superpowers by sipping limonRome for ambition revel in the artisanal gelato cello, eating biscotti and admirbut rather for available in all the flavours that ing the view... contentment you can only dream of — pine Having spent a couple of years nut and hazelnut, fruits of the in my early 20s in Rome, revisitforest and tiramisu. You have to ing it nine years later meant try the olive ascolane or battermeeting an old self and seeing fried olives stuffed with veal or prosciutto. the city anew. My biggest fear was being misMake a meal of the suppli, the rice balls that taken for a tourist. A tough act to pull off in Juhide a secret helping of mozzarella. Cuisine in ly in Rome; because, for one, I don’t speak Roma can leave both the vegetarian and the Italian and two, all its citizens flee to the carnivore equally pleased. And of course, the beaches in summer, leaving behind only tourcoffee drinker in ecstasies. ists and vendors. But the tourists are easy But you will never know all of Rome. Walk enough to spot in this city, with their open without a guide or destination and you will maps and mouths, they wait for the pedestristumble upon a church or fountain that will an light to turn green. The Italians don’t. They be all your own. The churches are always as make a calculated run for it. The tourists will cool as silence. Take off your shoes, and feel the order a postprandial cappuccino in a cafe. The gelid marble beneath your toes. Close your abomination! Milk — like ablutions — is only eyes, and the smell of incense, the clicking of a for the mornings, after that it is only espresso, wooden rosary and, if you are lucky, the notes to be had preferably standing by the counter. of a violin will waft towards you.

Tourists earn their tourist stripes as they pose

he Chennakesava temple in Belur, Karnataka, is not just an architectural marvel on the banks of the Yagachi river, it is also a repository of more than 20 board games, played possibly by priests as well as temple caretakers in the 12th century and until much later. Similarly, at the Mahalakshmi temple in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, the grid of the game Sixteen Sepoys is clearly visible on a stone plinth. And in Varanasi, the gateway to salvation, board games can be found etched into the platforms lining the banks of the Ganga, as also inside numerous temples.

From Pallanghuzi to Pachisi and Chaupar to Chaduranga, a range of astonishingly inventive games were played by emperors and commoners alike in the centuries gone by.

Today, a handful of people are attempting to The next question was, ‘Can we revive them?’” revive these traditional board games of India. says Singh.

Whether they are doing it as a non-profit iniWhile curiosity was the germ of the idea for tiative or as a commercial venture, their moti- the RKP trio, it was the close bond with their vation is the same — to familiarise the internet grandparents that led Dr Ramya Surapaneni generation with these games and preserve of Spardha Games and journalist Vinita Sidthis precious legacy. hartha of Kreeda Games to introduce board “We have documented ‘board’ games in- games like Puli-Meka (Tiger and Goat), Mancala scribed on the floors of over 100 temples, and Dahdi (Nine Men’s Morris) to the masses. mostly in Karnataka,” says RG Singh, honorary secretary at MyGames grandparents play sore’s Ramsons Kala Prathishta“My grandparents used to babyna (RKP) Trust, whose hunt for sit my children and, despite the We have documented traditional games has taken him 80-year age gap, my kids enjoyed games inscribed in from Orissa to Maharashtra, Utspending time with them. They over 100 temples, tar Pradesh to Tamil Nadu, other played games that my grandparincluding cave than the cave temples of Badaents played when they were temples in Karnataka mi, Aihole and Pattadakal in his growing up,” recalls Sidhartha. home State.

Around 2002, when she became Long before TV or movies tired of content writing, Sidharwere even dreamt of, how did tha decided to make these games our forefathers spend their free time? After for friends and family. “I also made some piecmulling over the question for years, in 2000, es for sale and we sold out in the first week.

Singh, together with Dileep Kumar and Raghu That’s how Kreeda Games was born.”

Dharmendra of RKP, began researching in earFor dentist Surapaneni — who specialises in nest. “One of the things they did was play smile designing, and shuttles between Hyde‘board’ games, inscribed in temples, houses... rabad and Indore for work — traditional

Q R

5

BL

work

saturday, august 9, 2014

Pray, play The Chennakesava temple at Somanathapura, in Mysore district, has carvings of the Mancala board game; (right) the Adu Huli, or Goats and Tigers, game grid inscribed on the wall of a well at the Chennakesava temple in Belur

games held values for life. “Winning and losing, following rules, learning to cope with loss and being a sport are traits that video games and computers can’t teach children,” she says.

She used to visit her grandparents regularly in Nimmakuru, Andhra Pradesh. “We bonded over board games. I also encouraged my cousins to visit them during the holidays. That’s when I realised that traditional games were a great way of inculcating values apart from strengthening family ties,” she says. She founded Spardha Games in February, and has since launched four games.

Both Sidhartha and Surapaneni used their savings and help from family to fund their ventures. Today, Kreeda sells anywhere from 500 to 1,000 games every month, priced between ₹100 and ₹800. Spardha’s prices range from ₹800 to ₹25,000.

Road to revival Each of these revivalists had to surmount sev-

eral challenges along the way. “You need Aside from logistical and funding challengpawns and dice, the manufacturing process es, these manufacturers are hampered by the has to be understood and artisans have to be absence of uniform rules for traditional roped in to create the games,” says Singh. Giv- games. Every few kilometres, the same game is en his experience at Ramsons, an established played under different rules and even a differcompany in the handicrafts sectors, Singh was ent name. So, for instance, Goats and Tigers is confident the games could be made by arti- known as Adu Huli, Puli Meka, Baag Bok, Huli sans. But putting it all together took almost Kattu and Bagh Bakri among a host of other names. “Our researchers use the common defive years.

“By 2005, we engaged with craft clusters nominators from all such games to make the across India. We visited these places, under- basic rules,” says Surapaneni. stood the manufacturing process, and designed the product based on the motifs and Appealing to GenNext other inputs provided by artisans,” says Singh. Efforts are on to make the games more conThis project took him to inlay craftsmen in My- temporary. Kreeda has created a module that sore, Kalamkari artists and wooden toy (Eti- teaches maths using traditional games, ankoppaka) makers in Andhra Pradesh, Batik other for executive training, and an educaartists in West Bengal, hand-weavers of Sola- tional aid for specially-abled children. Its pur in Maharashtra and Pipli appliqué artists three-series game based on the Ramayana familiarises children with the epic and its charin Orissa.

As the manufacturers of traditional games acters.

Spardha, meanwhile, is attempting to carve prefer natural materials over plastic, achieving scale and finding the right supply-chain out a new market by reminding people of the partners prove to be major challenges. “Many games that were traditionally gifted during a games are played with shells. We decided not marriage. “In South India, there is a tradition to use them to preserve biodiversity. We re- of gifting board games at marriages. We are searched and came up with a substitute — pa- trying to revive that,” says Surapaneni, who alper powder. But another challenge was to ready gets about a third of her sales from marriage halls. ensure that the probabilities (of As things stand, the revival of the dice throw outcome) did not traditional games largely rechange with the use of other mains an urban phenomenon. products,” Sidhartha explains.

The buyers are mainly from the RKP does not produce more Kreeda sells up to than 800 games a year as all the 1,000 games a month, older generation as they are likely to have played them or at least pieces are handcrafted. “We priced ₹100-800 heard of them. An emerging catedon’t want to use mass methods gory of enthusiasts comprises IT of manufacturing,” says Singh. professionals eager to reconnect The prices start at ₹300 and go with their heritage. “They have alup to ₹20,000 for large pieces like the Mancala game board with 14 pits in so created gaming apps for Tic-tac-toe and brass, which can also be used as a showpiece.

Nine Men’s Morris,” says Singh.

At Kreeda, the various parts — dice, pawns, The games are also a favourite with souvenir boards, packaging material, rules pamphlets hunters and corporate gifters. “Many corpoand so on — arrive from different suppliers. rates are putting in bulk orders for occasions “Each element of a game is sub-contracted to a like Diwali,” says Sidhartha. specific supplier. We assemble everything in In the meantime, e-commerce sites such as our own office. Managing inventory is very Amazon, eBay and Snapdeal have weighed in tough,” says Sidhartha, even as she looks for with their own brand of support. “We can’t get new ways to streamline supply chain and in- their reach. We can piggyback on them and reventory management. ach out to a larger audience,” says Sidhartha.

While RKP retails its traditional games on a She recently sold a game to a buyer in a small non-profit basis (it runs a successful business town of Spain. “Anybody who learns about in Mysore selling saris and handicrafts), Kree- them wants to try them.”

Mancala in Spain? The game is certainly on. da and Spardha are just about breaking even.

“Financial challenges remain, but it is passion rashmi pratap that keeps me going,” says Sidhartha.

Q R

Celestial spectators A game of Goats and Tigers etched on stone slabs in front of a richly carved stone pillar at the Srirangam temple in Tamil Nadu

talk read

BL BL 186

saturday, august 9, 2014 saturday, august 9, 2014

Graphic designs The many uses of rape PRESENT IMPERFECT

While Germany might be a late starter as a comics nation, India has much to learn from it

Marketing strategy, honour mechanism, creative inspiration, prayer… Rape is versatile and nifty

O

ne of the primary aims of the Del- ual identity to disturbing, even erotically hi-based German Book Office charged (though not explicit), murder mys(GBO) is to explore different as- teries. The comic/graphic book scene is even pects of book publishing in India richer. There are independent publishers such and find ways of developing them further. A as Mosaik, which nurtures the legacy of Abrafew years ago, for instance, their focus on chil- faxe, a very popular series that began in East dren’s book publishing led to the establish- Germany in the 1950s, and Reprodukt, which ment of an annual programme called specialises in graphic novels. There are also Jumpstart, whose fifth instalment is due to larger houses such as Carlsen, which began a unfold in Delhi and Bangalore at the end of Manga imprint in 2000 and also publishes this month. In general, most Indian publish- some of the most acclaimed graphic artists, ers and editors do not have sufficient opportu- including Isabel Kreitz and Reinhard Kleist. nities to meet their international Considering this range and excellence, it counterparts and see how things happen in came as a surprise that within the Euro-Amerother markets. As a joint venture ican universe, Germany is conbetween the Frankfurt Book Fair sidered a late starter as a comics and the Foreign Office, Berlin, the nation. Andreas Platthaus of the GBO is well-placed to facilitate German daily Frankfurter AllgeGermans started out such contact. With this in mind, meine Zeitung argues that the reading comics from it organises an annual editors’ reason for this was, ironically, Belgium, France and trip to Germany, centred on a difthe historical popularity of picItaly. Classics from ferent genre each year. ture stories in Germany: humorthese countries like This year, the trip focused on ous illustrated periodicals Asterix and Tintin graphic books and young adult became popular in the 19th cenremain hugely (YA) writing, enabling editors tury, and the strength of that popular from five Indian publishing tradition made Germans dis-

lent little comic bookshop in Frankfurt, revealed the German market’s continuing openness to other cultures, with a top floor filled with Manga in translation and a basement devoted to American superheroes.

It was after German reunification in 1990 that the first generation of avant-garde German graphic artists emerged. Anke Feuchtenberger and others became university professors, helping groom a second wave.

“Now we’re into the third wave and the fourth wave,” said Sebastian Oehler of Reprodukt. “At the end of the ’90s, there was a big discussion on whether comics were art. And now the discussion is, are comics literature?” More graphic artists now address ‘serious’ subjects — like Ulli Lust’s Flying Foxes on World War II, or Nicolas Mahler, who has produced graphic versions of Thomas Bernhard’s Old Masters and The Do-gooders.

The trip also provided After darkoccasion for the participating Indian editors to discuss the chalA mall manager thatcomic reader, lenges they face.once Theadmitted German at their while exposed tofootfall international comics, reads nightclubs German books avidly.

But one of the problems increased after in India, said Ameya of Penguin reports Nagarajan of rape houses — Penguin Random missive of American-style com- Random House, appeared is that Indian in the readers who acHouse, Rupa, Roli, Vani and Naics, even as they spread through tually buy graphic novels sampathprefer kumar to buy wellmedia tional Book Trust — to meet repreEurope in the early 20th century. known Western names, rather than risking o some us, rape is a violent, hei- The rapes get the Then sentatives of of German publishers mall into with who the facametrouble the Nazis, fact that it was by whatAnd is now money on inspired Indian newbies. this,known as Nagaracrime.Oetinger, The fact that it hasReprodukt, dom- police, such nous as Mosaik, Carlsen, but it’s good forcomics, customers.”

Hisittone mously ridiculed making near-imas the case is was flaunted. voila, of janNirbhaya points out, that small And proportion inated public and private discourse Carl Hanser, Suhrkamp, S Fischer and Bücherlacked any trace of irony,toand seeing theEven possible for publishers promote them. hundreds of who thousands of eyeballs were regisreaders are visually literate. last year-and-a-half indicates, ungilde.inAsthe presentations and conversations throng shoving and pushing, was easy to unafter 1945, with Americanitoccupation, comics tered. About 24 hours later when the number shockingly, widely prevalent is. Whethfolded,how it became apparent it just how varied derstand why. did not really take off in Germany (unlike, say, of commentators Regional runs mentioning the absolute er weand march in protest or stew in silence, wethese in Japan). mature German publishing is in lack The of taste sensitivity was significantly costsand of good-quality graphic publishing hopegenres, there will beofanwhich end to actnascent and thein Inboth arethe still Rape asThus an honour manymechanism Germans started out reading high,are thealso photos were takenespecially down. Rape a real hurdle, forhad smaller manydia. references that wefor now find ourGerman to YAitfiction, instance, ranges Last week, Hindu published a report after and comicsThe from Belgium, France and Italy, served its purpose. publishers.

“We are bringing out our first selvesfrom unavoidably to. (At the local Moth- that tender privy coming-of-age narratives analysing data on such 600 cases thatand came before their classics as Asterix Tintin remain graphic book series on Param Vir Chakra braver Dairy, otherissues day, for example, one old take the on board of race, disability and sexDelhihugely courtspopular. in 2013. Of the cases A visit to X-tra Boox, an excel- ery award-winners,” Rape as a prayer said Neelam Narula of Roman to another, “Rape toh aaj kal trendy hai!” fully tried, over 40 per cent dealt “Willhad pray that shea non-fiction (activist Ka-book li Books. “We published which easily translates to rape is trendy now) with consensual sex, usually invitha Krishnan) gets by the on the subject earlier, but theraped author wanted Trendy or not, what is true though is that rape volving the elopement of a n is age forced the 12-18 to reachmadrasawalas out to a younger group, There is one girl and today has many uses. It’s versatile and nifty young couple and the girl’s pardon thetwo hijab permanently years. The first books are doing(sic).” well. But four boys captured in and can be used to fit many needs. Here are ents subsequently charging the This 32-page was thebooks tweetatof₹100 one each, Rati we to sell these various not-so-subtle some examples: boy with rape, the paper reportParker on Tuesday. had to keep our (@ratigirl) costs down and increase our poses of domination ed. The parents of the girl (usual@ratigirl turns out to be more print runs.” and distress Rape as a marketing strategy ly), fraught by the damage this womanisthan girl andwhen has over The situation even tougher it comes Last year I was working on a story about an in- would wreak on the family’s 16,000in followers Twitter, “Vito publishing the regionalonlanguages. famous mall in Gurgaon. Every few months, ‘honour’, file a complaint of abwhich includes thething, primebut minissual culture is the next big it is still this particular mall was in the news for rape or duction and rape. In some cases, ter, Narendra Modi. Rati not the choice of the masses,” saidParker Aditi Masexual assault. During the day the mall was the girls depose about their parents beating seems like your neighbour in major urbanVani heshwari of average the Hindi publishing near-empty save for an odd shopper and a cosy them up, confining them to a locked room, IndiaPrakashan.

— her blog“We’re posts trying detail her adventures to create a body of canoodling couple, and when the manager of forcing them to have abortions and plead with through Dubai Oman. workVietnam, throughThailand, translation.

Butand we have to creone of the nightclubs told me he has over the court that they be allowed to go with their Her ate photographs withVani shiny a buzz forshow each her book.” hashair just re1,000 visitors a night and that most of them husbands. In others, even though the girl ini- and leased lovely clothes, sipping a beer books and smokone of the first graphic in Hindi, travelled 60 or 80km to party at his club, I was tially confesses to eloping with the boy of her ing in a hookah.

And evaluated through the collaboration with the Japan Foundation. circumspect. But I went that night and sure own will, she later changes her statement to framework of education andSakura exposure, heris the Neerav Sandhya ka Sheher, ke Desh enough, the road outside the building was that of being abducted and raped. In families words sound even more Hindi translation of barbaric. an award-winning Manga choked with tractors and SUVs. Inside, the where an inter-caste, inter-class or inter-reliEven allowing forEvening the premise that weofare called Town of Calm, Country Cherry mall was packed. Young men in gym-toned gious marriage is taboo, rape — or an accusa- now Blossoms, a nationonfirmly divided into ‘us’ and afwhat happened in Hiroshima bodies — tight T-shirts stretching around their tion of it — is a useful tool to save their honour. ‘them’ well as theexplosion. fact that activities terasthe atomic Also in on theTwitpipeline chests and jeans — ran up and down the escalater are polite, this of prayer to rape is a is ararely Hindi translation Persepolis. tors. Jostling with them were older men in Rape as creative inspiration fresh new use for an old act.

One that wasinin What about original graphic books Hindi white kurtas and dhotis, their faces weather- And just as you are ready to seal these off with fact and endorsed a large number of people. otherbyregional languages?

“The Vani beaten, their heads turbaned. They were all a class argument (often disguised as an educa- “Let’sFoundation pray someone has₹20,000 an has gets just murdered…” instituted four headed up to the third floor where the night- tion argument) out pops a photo shoot in- ominosity to it that In most fellowships for cannot writers be anddenied. illustrators of chilclubs were. In all, that night, there may have spired by the horrific gang rape in Delhi. The cases,dren’s murder affects both the victim“Selected and the felbooks,” says Maheshwari. been 4,000 men and less than 10 women on album places lissome models in glamorous perpetrator.

But get this, to thisattend is merely rape. Rape at lows will masterclasses the floor. I located the manager again. “It’s all clothes and perfect accessories in a bus. There is a useful tool.2014, It canreceive be used to teach someJumpstart mentoring from Gulthe stories of rapes here,” he told me, “they is one girl and four boys captured in various one azar lesson.

Let’sAnand, pray. and get a three-book conand Paro hear about it in the news and then want to not-so-subtle poses of domination and distract with Vani.” It’s going to be a long haul, t@veenavenugopal come here and see the place for themselves. tress. The feature is titled One Wrong Turn. The but it looks like the visual book is here to stay.

Q

T

R

Q R

CH-X _ A

VEENA VENUGOPAL is editor BLink Book marked Readers flip through the pages of the award-winning graphic novel Kinderland gbo; The Abrafaxe are among Germany’s best-loved comic characters dating and author TheofMother-in-Law back to the of days the German Democratic Republic

trisha gupta is a writer and critic based in Delhi

7

BL

talk

saturday, august 9, 2014

BAWDY LINE

Breaking bread in Gaza There is the flight of another inconvenient population, this time from Palestine. And there’s a subplot that brings in the great fetish amongst Jews of unleavened bread Alpha mail An envelope commemorating the First Zionist Congress in Basel shutterstock/arkady mazor

B

Ambarish Satwik is a Delhi-based vascular surgeon and writer

efore all of this, at the beginning, at the First World Zionist Congress at Basel in August 1897, when an assortment of Jews declared that they were a nation in need of a State or, more correctly, in need of real estate for a State, they did so in swallow-tailed coats and white ties. The finery had been enforced by their president Theodore Herzl, who wanted the delegates to feel that they were in the actual parliament of an already existing Jewish State. A few days later, two Viennese rabbis were dispatched to Palestine for some preliminary reconnaissance.

Their cable from Palestine was almost epigrammatic; the rabbis wrote: “The bride is beautiful, but she is married to another man.”

Subsequently, Joseph Chamberlain, the British colonial secretary, in an act of singular generosity offered the Jews 5,000 sq miles in the largely uninhabited plateaus of Uganda — on the forested Mau escarpment, in the midst of a scattering of lions and the Masai tribesmen.

All this when the skies were darkening for Jews in Russia. In February 1903, the corpse of a local Christian boy was discovered along the Dniester river, just outside the town of Kishinev. As the news spread, stories were bruited through the provinces that it was a case of Jewish ritual murder. The Jews, it was alleged, needed the blood of a Christian child to make matzah, their unleavened bread, for Passover.

By April, it was open season on Jews in Russia, starting with the Kishinev massacre, where, as Russian troops stood by, drunken Christian rioters armed with axes and clubs spent most of the Easter afternoon slaughtering the local Jewish population.

“The scurrying of roaches was their flight,” wrote Hayim Bialik, the Hebrew poet, about Jews fleeing Russia. In spite of this, there was a big kerfuffle at the sixth Zionist Congress at Basel in August 1903. The hardliners were at Herzl’s throat for as much as proposing the Uganda scheme. Without feeling the want of proportion, Uganda was declared unacceptable, unworthy even as an emergency measure or refuge where the tortured of the Jewish race could pause and catch their breath. At the end of it all, Herzl had to appease the Zionists with a ferrous chant — the

interfere with their customs or their faith — they have only gained by welfare. The Jews have brought us wealth and health; why should we harbor evil thoughts about them?

They live among us like brothers; why should we not return their kindly feelings?”

Where there was no need for an army.

“We are merely a society of citizens seeking to enjoy life through work and culture. We content ourselves with making our young people physically fit. We develop their bodies as well as their minds. We find athletic and rifle clubs sufficient for this purpose, even as they were thought sufficient in Switzerland.

We also have competitive games — cricket, football, rowing — like the English. Jewish children used to be pale, weak, timid. Now look at them! We took (them) out of damp cellars and Hebrew equivalent of mandir yahin banayege: hovels, and brought them into the sunlight.”

Im eshkachech yerushalayim tishkach yemini (If I Ostensibly, Herzl’s yearning for a Jewish naforget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand tional homeland wasn’t marred by any theowither). Zion it was not, Uganda would be a logical deformity. For him, the romance of the waste of Jewishness. It wasn’t in the prophecy. Jewish return wasn’t messianic. Or was it?

The Zionist undertaking was to take the Why then wasn’t Altneuland in Uganda? Or MaDiaspora Jew, the luftmensch (man of air), the dagascar or Alaska? Why was Herzl’s fantasy of cowardly weightless man, the watchmaker welding Zionism, modernistic progress, medifrom Latvia, the cabinetmaker from Galicia cine and science with a humanistic society of and make him a strapping worker and peas- equals only imaginable in the biblical homeant in the Promised Land. To reracinate him in land of the Jews? Why was the cure for the psybetter soil. Israel began its life as a written, lit- chopathology of the Jew found only between erary project, a utopian novel written by Herzl the river Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea? called Altneuland (The Old New Land), publishPerhaps the story of Erezt Yisrael can be writed in 1902. Altneuland is a fictive chronicle of ten as a sequel to the Old Testament, in the mathe creation of a Jewish homeland in Pales- jestic language of King James’ bible. And we’ll tine. Herzl’s utopia, conceived as a blueprint have to charge it to Herzl’s account. The luftfor Israel, in his narrative was something of a mensch is now manly; not just a farmer but allarge, Jewish Vienna on the Mediterranean, ca- so a soldier. The whole congregation of the pable of absorbing the world’s entire Jewry. A children of Israel has redeemed Herzl’s pledge place concurrently decadent, secular and lib- amply. At any rate, one can find biblical time eral, whose existence would reloops and cyclical recurrences in pudiate Jewish memory. Where the narrative all the way. men were expected to wear There is the flight of another white gloves to the opera. “A deliinconvenient population, concious luncheon was served in the demned by prophecy, this time Uganda would be a panelled dining room. Kingfrom Palestine. And there’s a subwaste of Jewishness scourt was especially taken with plot that brings in the great fetthe wines. They were all Palestiish amongst Jews of unleavened nian, he was told, some of them bread. Its origin is in the Book of from David’s own vineyards. The Exodus (12:39, a report of how the first Jewish villages, established in the early Israelites left Egypt in such great haste that 1880s, had... begun with viniculture. The best they could not wait for their bread dough to varieties of grape had been introduced into rise). That bread, when baked, was matzah. The Palestine, and flourished.” bread that brought about the blood libel in Where religion had been excluded from Kishinev against the Jews and their subsepublic affairs. Where the ‘Moslem’ Rachid Bey, quent massacre. A teenager’s corpse was educated in Berlin, was a full and active mem- found in Kishinev then as it was in Gush Etzion ber of the Zionist New Society and had this to in the West Bank this time. The bread-fixated say about the old inhabitants, the fellaheen: Jews replied by dropping warning leaflets into “Those who had nothing could only gain. Gaza’s towns, ordering them to run in haste.

And gain they did: employment, better food, They made phone calls and discharged the welfare. There was nothing more wretched more persuasive ‘knock-on-the-door’ missiles. than an Arab village of fellaheen at the end of “Matzah is the bread of affliction. For you came the 19th century. The tenants lived in build- out of the land of Egypt in haste. Thus, you will ings not fit for cattle. The children were naked remember the day you left the land of Egypt as and uncared for... Today, things are changed long as you live.” The Gazans will soon have indeed. People are far better than before; they their own mnemonic. are healthy, they have better food, their chil asatwik@gmail.com dren go to school. Nothing has been done to

Q R

meet read

BL BL 16 8

saturday, august 9, 9, 2014 saturday, august 2014

Not so different

ELSEWHERE

manjula padmanabhan

A young adult book that addresses social similarities and contrasts in light of the Right to Education Act Looking in Author Kate Darnton made Delhi her muse and home

that dazzle on their noses. Living in Delhi often feels like living in “a greenhouse with no walls”. To make matters worse, the most annoying people in her class insist on calling her Chhole — like in chickpeas.

The book opens with Chloe colouring her blonde hair with a permanent black marker — a desperate, if unsuccessful attempt at fitting in with the ne afternoon, while I am home alone — the way I other 98 children in her class who all usually am — I hear the sound of water running. In have black hair. She soon befriends a a small, elderly building like the one I’m in, that’s girl called Lakshmi, whose distinct apnot unusual. pearance cannot be negated by the There are six tenants and two floors, three units on each school uniform. But they are friends onfloor. The bathrooms and kitchens on each floor are directly ly at home or in the park playing with above one another. So I can hear water gurgling softly all day their mongrel dog Kali and making orilong. It’s not just the plumbing but also the hot water being gami cranes. In school, Chloe hangs out sent around the house to the radiators in each room, pumped with the cool kids like Anvi, who hands up from the furnace in the basement. out birthday invitation cards that blare ate Darnton and her hus- out songs written specially for her by a But what I hear this afternoon is out of the ordinary. The band moved to Delhi in 2009 famous Bollywood composer. tenant above me is a quiet young man called Robert. I rarely from Boston, with two suitsee him or hear him, yet we share a certain intimacy just from While The Misfits juxtaposes the lives cases, two daughters and of the affluent against those who are being one above the other. For instance, whenever he pulls one doll. They left five years later, with not well-off, it is never patronising or the flush in his bathroom, I hear it in my bedroom. It’s not 144 boxes and one more daughter in didactic. The character of the mother is loud or oppressive, more like a kind of wheezy, watery sneeze. tow. During her stay, she also wrote a slightly tedious with her preaching and If I’m standing in my bathroom, the pipes rattle as the catabook, The Misfits, which tells the story of constant reminders that her children ract from above thunders through. Whenever he takes a two young girls — Chloe and Lakshmi — treat everyone equally. But this is an imshower or drains his tub, I can hear the drumming of water and how they become friends. The twist portant book for our times as it exoverhead. Not only that, but there’s also a water-stain develin the tale, as there must always be, is plains ‘differences’ and the importance oping in the ceiling, where there’s a slight leak. I’ve already rethat Chloe is the only blonde-haired of acceptance to children. ported this to the landlady, but apparently it isn’t serious girl in Class V of Premium Academy, he BBC commentators enough to she takehad action.

For couldn’t Darnton,stop who worked for manyself-made A completely athlete, no tion and corroded by self-promoting officials, New Delhi and Lakshmi is one of the Indian raving about Dipaindustry Thisgovernment afternoon though, the sound I hear is of the toilet beyearsgymnast in the book and support is now apart from financial al- the country’s gymnastics federation was few children from the Economically Karmakar’s feat moving on the vault at the lowances ing flushed continuously.

It’s likeofRobert has either to Amsterdam with her family, at coaching camps.

Currently em- stripped all support from fallen the Union GovWeaker Section (EWS).

Commonwealththe Games inarose Glasgow. asleep two while pressing down on did the book from aployed personal as adiary gymnastics instructor with the ernment years ago. Only recently In August 2009, Parliament en-fromthat Thethe petite Bengali girl Agartala was makthe flush-handle or else there’s a chronicled the cultural InState clash SportsinDepartment earning a monthly federation regain recognition. acted the Right to (RTE)the Act, Produnova ingEducation history with vault (the malfunctioning refillgymnasts valve in the dia and mapped her own anxiety with Karmakar is pursuing a desalary of ₹6,000, I have seen young landing on which requireddaunting private handspring double front the made flush-tank.

I look out window deepgree economic in- (second year) through dis- grass in Humanities while training in the archaic conditions at It seems ridiculous to schools to enrol 25 per by Russian gymnast Elena Produmemorable of myNehru room Stadium. and, sure The enough, his of injury equality. While her eldest tance education.

Delhi’s chances have to summon Thor cent of their nova) students and a difficulty level of seven. As the lady missing. high.

Initially, I decide daughter was nine Heronly achievement at the Glasgow CWG is all arecar’s dangerously Training for eight to 10 to fix the from economically weakcommentator observed, the act called for they not to aboutapparatus, it. Then, ascraving the when India, she when you consider that the hours theleft more special onworry outdated expoThe Misfits addresses upstairs flush er sections and “massive disadvan-heel speed”. minutes tick by, I begin to fret. It’s accepting made theIndian heroines of her gymnastics team didn’t have sure women’s at international-level contests, issues of fitting in and taged communities in went on to prove she had not Karmakar on-11 asashe a Saturday.

Robert is way, oftenincluding out — a squalid story feelscoach that isand Karmakar overcame a mi- whatever foreign comes their standing out in a their incoming class. ly the speed but also unwavering resolve. fact known to me the Indian the As age children firstinbe-the qualifying round. “Only accommodation nor injury at because training ofcamps, sensitive and While its merit as piece shea bounded towards the goal, courage writaware Sound of No Flushinghave — returning come of girls socialhave dif- attempted this three gymnasts suffered it all. wise way of legislation cannot beher face, she was a picture of large on un- With only to sneeze allBisht, forferences. none of her difficult vault.

We trained foron it Sunday night. If his toilet continues Says Laxman Singh questioned, itsflinching imple-determination. through wasteinternational of water. daughtersfor having hit that just three months,” says Nan- the weekend, it will be an enormous mer junior gymmentation has been Herslipbronze medal-worthy individual perAlso the nonstop gurgling will drive me crazy. age, the biggest challenge di, who has been Karmakar’s nast and a long-time coach, The Indian women’s shod. The Misfits addresses formance rekindled memories of badminton He’syoung tall, blond andhave been for Darnton wassince to speak coach she was six. I could call the landlady’s son, Frank.

“Many careers gymnastics team did the same issues star of fitting in and stand- in Prakash Padukone’s win theofall-Enwith Norse God good looks. It seems ridiculous to of have theat voice an 11-year-old.

HerSomething combined scorelanky, in the cut short because injuries durnot have a foreign ing out in a sensitive and wise way.in 1980. gland Championship was with to summon Thor to fix the upstairs flush!

I am unwilling she Padukone accomplishes panache; two final vault attempts was ing And training.

I know some gymcoach and Karmakar Darnton says over the phone from Cape though the rare Indian sportsperson to beat themight odds seem to become cries wolf at every tiChloe rather preco- Canada’s 14.366 as against Elsa- the Local Crazy Foreigner who nasts were paralysed too. It is the overcame a minor Cod, “This legislation was and without anyradical support fromcious the system. crisis. to flow. at times, the reader her 14.433)ny bethfeels Blackfor (Silver and En- Meanwhile, the water continues mother of allI begin sports,tobut few in injury in the exciting. It soundsEven like de-segregation, today, only the foolhardy pursue a gland’s Claudia Fragpane think up wild scenarios: Robert’s beenour attacked bycare. assassins and with her.

(Gold country The equipment qualifying round but very little thought hasgymnastics been put in-in India. sport like “I was not and falls dead, straight onto the flushand handle!

Robert diesimproved of Lakshmi tooeven is a figment Darn- she narrowly 14.633). ofClearly, facilities have of to its practicality.aware There of is very little sup- ton’s what gymnastics wasimagination, when my fa- andmissed cardiac“Iarrest while flushing and grabslate, the and handle in asure death born from the and silver. the gold I am Karmakar’s port — to the teachers the parents.coach) ther (aand weightlifting took experiences me to the ofknow. grip!

Robert the Drug Smuggler fleesachievement the country will after be at- a great author’s volunteering at A beginning has been There is no dialogue about whatIis gocoaching centre. did not like it initially, was inmade. downof the toilet, thus a school in aitslum RK Puram.

She to win tempting I will look a medal to flush his stash of cocainesource motivation.” ing on. The conversation happened on- found so tough, but gradually mytheapproach blocking children there especially next month at the Asian Games it (inup!

Incheon, Ashish Kumar had earlier shown the way by ly around the edges.

I wanted tothe say 22-year-old this bright changed,” says Karmakar, who “The By teatime Iofam a nervous wreck.a Imedal call Thor. over and receptive. sky she is open Korea),” says with the confidence a winbagging eachHe atgallops the 2010 Asian Games is happening, let’s talkatabout it.” her father, kept it because Dulal Karmakar, five minutes, enters upstairs flat and, 10 minutes later, once these children arener, given an opporeven as she sets herinsights higher on the the and 2010 CWG to become the first Indian gymBeing 11, having one elder Bisweswar sister and aNandi, and coach, werethey convinced success! He has turned off thetowater and note for tunity... need to be given sup2016 Riothe Olympics. nast taste inlet victory atleft the ainternational level. younger one, isshe nothad easy.

Butit takes. life for port,” says the Harvard graduate. what Robert. he for comes my ceiling leaks and on the And why not? Hers was a feat Then unseen 20 down, As checks Karmakar landedfor triumphantly Chloe is even harder asfather she has just left Her credits her bodyInstructure — supthanksworld, me forbringing alerting him to the all around.

The Misfits, Lakshmi becomes thick long years in the gymnastics foam pitcrisis. at theSmiles CWG, she knew it was her moher school in Boston and best friend Ka-her friends ple and strong — for naturalwith gymnastic Chloe andglory they win thecoach, adto her parents, country and the ment… and that of Indian gymnastics. “AshMANJULA PADMANABHAN and artist,had tells us talesitoffor herthe parallel life My medal tie, and joined a abilities. new one But in Delhi.

Here honing them miration proved a great chal-peers of their andgymnastics parents. fraternity. entire “I could see my , author ish bhaiyya done boys. marginalien. blogspot.in in Elsewhere USAstands,” in this fortnightly series she looks different.

And sheto few lenge as everything she had access facilities.there KarmaHopefully, shallteammates be more such weeping with joy in the is for the girls.

We have the potential, and all knows is different as well — from kar’s passion for the her happy chosenendings discipline in real life. she says. Indeed joy has remained elusive in we plead for are facilities,” she says. park in front of her house, deepened after to shethe started making waves at the world of Indian gymnastics, worn down clothes people wear, to the level. shiny things nandini nair the junior by an apathetic ecosystem. Riddled by corrup- vijay lokapally is deputy editor, sports, The Hindu

Water worries

Is it a malfunctioning refill valve in the flush or other far wilder scenarios?

O

K In august company

The Misfits Kate Darnton Young Zubaan Fiction ₹250

Guts and glory Karmakar, the first Indian woman gymnast to win a Commonwealth Games medal, seen here with her coach and mentor, Bisweswar Nandi rajeev bhatt; (top) after her winning vault in Glasgow reuters

Gymnast Dipa Karmakar’s bronze at the Commonwealth Games brings to mind a certain Padukone’s feat decades ago — an Indian sportsperson beating all the odds

T

Q R

Q R Q R

CH-X _ A

9

BL

cover

saturday, august 9, 2014

Gently does it Chandigarh has always been known for its relative order and calm akhilesh kumar

No more the imagined city A new modernity is replacing Nehru and Corbusier in Chandigarh

I

n the ’70s, when Punjabi writer and journalist Sidhu Damdami left for Chandigarh from Talwandi Sabo, the dust bowl of southern Punjab, his father told him that the city was not only clean and wellplanned but also cold. For those who lived in the sandy plains seared by blazing winds, this was an added allure to the myth of Chandigarh. When the bus reached Kharar, still an hour from the city, Damdami could already feel the chill. “After that, every time I went to Chandigarh I would start shivering at Kharar,” says Damdami, who has now been in the city for more than a decade. Chandigarh, he says, was more in the mind than on the ground. It was the closest India had come to being modern in those times, and imagining it as cold completed the idea of a modernity imported from Europe. Chandigarh, therefore, was an imagined city.

India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, had in his manifesto wanted a city “unfettered by the traditions of the past”. At the same time, an architect in France wanted to destroy half of Paris to construct a city from scratch. “In Paris, prophets are kicked in the rear,” Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier had said when his plan was rejected. Providence

brought the prophets together. Chandigarh ras was more popular than Gabriel Garcia was to be Le Corbusier’s personal vision, unfet- Marquez and boys from Bathinda avidly tered not only by tradition but also from watched Jean-Luc Godard and François Trufground reality. He set naked concrete, dour fa- faut. Daljit Singh, who came to Punjab Univercades and brutal monuments of his grey sity from a Ludhiana village, could not resist imagination in a grid-iron pattern of roads the French New Wave and became Daljit Ami. cutting at right angles. Places were designated He is an angry filmmaker now, widely acfor living, working, playing and claimed for his powerful documentary on agricultural labour. shopping. His minimalist archiAt Alliance Française, people tecture was a self-referential play of forms. Crafted with exawaited the next consignment of modernity. But you could not exquisite sun breakers, his buildThe most common ings played with ample Indian pect proud Punjabis to drift into standard of an Indian creole culture. So more light. To a trained eye, it was a modernity has been than the Francophilia, in Nehru’s daily drama of light and shade. the status of women fiat to break free from tradition and, on that count, Chandigarhians found the legitiGodard buffs from Bathinda Chandigarh was A house, Le Corbusier infamousmate route to modernity. indeed modern The city was the capital of Punly declaimed, was a machine for living in. And a chaise lounge jab and Haryana but speaking Punjabi and Haryanvi would not was, well, a machine to relax in. endear you to people there. As Chandigarh, one could safely infer and Nehru would attest, was a machine to they disowned their roots and tradition, they make Indians modern. Since the French were also acquired a stiff upper lip. At a mushaira in not our colonial masters, we could easily sur- early ’90s, Bashir Badr, the poet who could render to their modernity, free of guilt. Punja- hypnotise with his lyrical genius, had to plead bis, Haryanvis and Himachalis lustily took to — with folded hands — with the audience to rebeing modern in Chandigarh. Marguerite Du- spond with the customary wah-wah and not

Q R

watch cover

saturday, august 9, 2014

When prophets meet Le Corbusier with the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in Chandigarh courtesy: le corbusier center; the hindu archives

BL

14 10

Art almanac Q 2014 R

clap in appreciation. Wah-wah was deemed to be uncouth behaviour by the city’s elite. Chandigarh came to be known as patthar da shehar (city of stones) inhabited by patthar de lok (people of stone). A furious debate that raged in those times was whether uninspiring Chandigarh could have poets of its own. Kumar Vikal, the wailing poet-laureate of the city, had written that his poems came back limping whenever they went to the elite parlours.

Nirupma Dutt, Chandigarh’s much-loved writer, activist and raconteur, who used to preside over a version of New York’s Algonquin Round Table of writers and actors at the local press club, says that when famous Hindi writer Shivani visited Chandigarh in the late ’70s, she found it odd that there wasn’t a single poster on any wall. The city was too clean, sterile and uninspiring for her, and she remarked, “Likhne ke liye Lucknow chaahiye (I have to be in Lucknow to write).”

M Rajivlochan came to Chandigarh in the ’80s from the badlands of Damoh in Madhya Pradesh via JNU to teach history at Panjab University. A few years in the socialist utopia of cookie-cutter houses robbed him of his radicalism: he found nothing to protest against.

“Social equity was built into the architecture.

It forced people to live a non-hierarchical life.

For instance, the kitchen in the middle-class 10-marla house was big enough for just one person, making it difficult to have a maid to work with you,” he says. There were no power

cuts and little crime. It was a comfortable, laid- easy mobility was a measure of their freedom. back life without pressure or tension. That’s why Chandigarh was called the city of the Who is watching? tired and retired. In a pampered enclave run Chandigarh was a puzzling dialectic of freeby the Delhi bureaucracy and protected from dom and control. Wide and quiet roads, sleepy the political and social realities of the country, houses and large roundabouts were made for people were largely depoliticised. The Back- free spirits but, at the same time, they gave an ward and Minority Communities Employees uneasy feeling of being watched. The alienatFederation (BAMCEF), started by Dalit leader ing, brutal buildings looked down on you and Kanshi Ram, was a big hit in north India. But forced you to observe yourself. People tended when Rajivlochan set up a local unit, it didn’t to conform. The city is a fine example of architake off. “No one opposed it, but no one would tectural determinism for Vinay Varma, a Hydeturn up for the meetings either,” rabad-based management he recalls. Since Chandigarh ofconsultant who grew up and fered an egalitarian life, people studied in the city where his fafound little need for traditional ther retired as the chief architect social support systems of caste at Panjab University. He returned Social equity was and community. He came from a to his father’s State after a few built into the feudal family that lorded over years in Ahmedabad and Mumarchitecture nine villages in Damoh. Chandibai. “We got so used to the geogarh gave him a chance to bemetrical order and discipline come modern. “I can say, had I that it took us a long time to adlived in Sagar or Bhopal or even just to the chaos of the metropoDelhi I would have been a slightly bad man,” lis,” he says. Chandigarh was surprisingly he says, and smiles. neat, clean and green, but it lacked the intimWhen Dutt thinks of a modern Chandigarh, ate connect of the Indian shehar. “Giving dishe finds a precious vignette from early ’70s rections, you could not tell anyone to go still lodged in her memory. “It is of a girl rid- straight, turn right at the pond and then left at ing a bicycle on a near-empty sector road. Her the mosque. All sectors and houses were numhair flying in the breeze. And as she pedalled, bered. There were no names, no landmarks, she whistled with abandon,” she says. The no shared past. We had all become the Cartemost common standard of modernity has sian subjects,” Varma says, referring to the phibeen the status of women and, on that count, losophy known for its mathematical Chandigarh was indeed modern. As a young approach to reality.

Le Corbusier’s geometrical fundamentalreporter in the ’80s, Dutt too used to cycle around the city. A number of male colleagues, ism shaped the Chadigarhian mind but could Name ofsuppress show: ArtitNight Thursday not altogether.

Adjacent to the cormany of whom went on to become top ediWhere: Thewhere Mumbai District, Colaba ridor he Art built his world-famous High tors, used to ride pillion on her bicycle. After When: August, Thursday Court, the every Secretariat and the Assembly, Chanpost-liberalisation prosperity, Chandigarh’s Whydigarh’s attend: repressed Following aself global trend, galleslowly reared its head. women gave up the bicycle for the Kinetic rists in Mumbai’s art district havecollected pooled their A government employee discarded Honda. There were more women riding scootcollective to come up with auspi-a wonglassenergies and china for years and an created ers in Chandigarh than in any other city. Their cious night of trawling the galleries. Make a night of it, a glass of wine in hand, feasting your eyes on the latest contemporary art exhibitions.

Artworks to watch for: Near the Radio Club circuit, drop in at Lakereen Gallery to view Chitra Ganesh’s gigantic wall drawings. Titled ‘Drawing from the Present’, it has women in all shapes and sizes casually reclining or bedecked in fanciful headdresses, looking partly like mad scientists, partly beloved Mother Goddesses (till August 24). Gallery Maskara opens its art season with a debut solo by artist Meenakshi Sengupta. ‘Flavour Chart’ features works that look beguilingly like traditional miniatures but have a twist in the tale. They blur the boundary between ‘traditional’ and ‘contemporary’ (till September 28).

BLink tip: Plan your evening so you don’t run out of steam until you have visited at least five galleries before sitting down to dinner.

It is officially the end of the holidays for the art fraternity.

Georgina Maddox provides a round-up of the best shows across the country to watch out for

Delhi-NCR Name of show: Homepage Where: Vadehra Art Gallery, D53, Defence Colony When: On till September 6 Why attend: Six weeks of exhibitions, talks, workshops and projects organised by Vadehra Art Gallery and the Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art (FICA). In focus are several young artists, curators and art educators. Art events and shows will spotlight FICA’s work, including support, art education and outreach.

Artworks to watch for: FICA Emerging Artist Award-winner Gipin Varghese is up first in the soNow and thenwith ‘Lifetimes’ — a body of work lo exhibitions (Right) Workers created construct over the the last two years. His delicate paintings and lineindrawings are his way of re-lookAssembly building ing at news(1960) and the images of violence, death and Chandigarh courtesy: le corbusier struggle emerging from non-urban India. Also, center, the hindu archives; don’t ‘Manifested’, a presentation by Julia (Below)miss the Punjab Villaseñor and Priyanka Choudhary on perand HaryanaBell Assembly kumar today akhilesh formance art and its bearing on activism through intercultural exchange (August 15, 6pm).

BLink tip: Invitations to the talks are on a firstcome-first-served basis.

CH-X _ A

Name of show: Institutions Where: 320, Lado Sarai When: August 12-31 Why attend: Exhibit 320, in association with Tasveer and Vacheron Constantin, brings together Christopher Taylor’s photographs of imperial buildings in Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi in a single narrative.

Artworks to watch for: Taylor’s photographs capture the transformed faces of what are the last redoubts of colonialism. Shot exclusively in black and white, the photos largely focus on the edifice and the surrounding environment, as exemplified by the image of the Kenesseth Eliyahoo synagogue in Mumbai. Every detail, from ornate chandelier to patterned flooring, is in sharp frontal focus, evoking the formal opulence of a bygone era. Author and publisher Naveen Kishore describes the works as “Haunted by the ‘then’ of a previous longpassed moment.”

BLink tip: Train your eye to move beyond the seductive surface of the image to uncover the underlying poignant narrative.

Mumbai

derland of beautiful folk figures, gothic labyrinths and waterfalls and mystifying tunnels.

Eventually, Chandigarh came to be known more for Nek Chand’s Rock Garden than Le Corbusier’s behemoths. The revenge of the repressed was a logical denouement in the story of Chandigarh, if you believe filmmaker Ami. “You can understand the city’s politics by finding out who is included and who is excluded.

It has been too generous to the middle and upper classes by inviting them to the city and offering them land at low rates, but it banishes the poor to the fringes,” he says. A few months ago, the civil society in Chandigarh agitated over the demolition of slums. The administration wants to create a slum-free city and is trying to relocate the slum-dwellers to the villages outside the city where it has constructed special houses for them. Many have

BL

watch cover

saturday, august 9, 2014

Name of show: Renewable Pleasures — The India Chapter Where: Gallery Chemould, Prescott Road, Queen’s Mansion, Fort When: Till August 23 Why attend: Geneva-based artist Esther Brinkmann, known for creating ‘wearable art’, is showing in India for the first time, and is worth catching if you appreciate the blurring of boundaries between art, design and jewellery.

Artworks to watch for: Sublime pieces such as ‘Cocoon’, ‘Shield’, ‘Out of Question’ and ‘Last Drop’, which evoke the aesthetics of texture and form.

BLink tip: Don’t try to wear it even if it says wearable art!

Chennai Bling it on While Le Corbusier believed that houses were machines for living in, today the houses in Chandigarh bear an obvious Punjabi baroque stamp; (Right) Le Corbusier’s sun breakers played with light and shade sandeep sahdev

Bangalore Name of show: A Goldfish Bowl Where: Gallery SKE, 2, Berlie Street, Langford Town When: Till August 16 Why attend: An innovative exhibition by Rathin Barman that looks at the expansion of cities that have grown essentially from a colonial model. It dwells on the physical and visual contradictions of the urban sprawl.

Artworks to watch for: Sculptures, paper works and assemblages. A rejected architectural plan is the most ambitious of the lot, consisting of a large floor installation of spiral rods welded together to spell out street names and addresses.

The letters are jumbled, so it’s difficult to make out the names — a perfect metaphor for the chaos and anonymity offered by a big metropolis.

BLink tip: Do not go expecting pretty or picturesque art. These are hard-hitting works — their raw architectural beauty likely an acquired taste for even the art-literate.

been left out. “The administration has put absurd conditions for identification of old residents. When it comes to the poor, they have iron-clad laws. If they can give away prime land to the middle class within the city, why can’t they be a little liberal with the poor too?”

Ami asks.

Being a Western implant, Nehru’s modernity was very much colonial. We were independent but still mimicking the masters.

Countless seminars, conferences and film festivals celebrated Le Corbusier for decades while Chandigarh’s intellectuals carefully avoided talking about the nameless architectplanner and his team who laid a similar rectangular grid 4,000 years ago in another modern city below present-day Chandigarh. Just miles away at Sanghol languish the relics of the Indus Valley civilisation.

As Chandigarh’s population nearly doubles to around 10 lakh, the protected sarkari utopia has begun to crack. Traffic has reached disruptive proportions. Infrastructure sags because of heavy growth on the fringes. Power cuts have arrived. Roads are no longer quiet. Unable to channel rising traffic, the idyllic roundabouts are giving way to traffic signals.

Chandigarh had the lustre and mystique of

Name of show: The Collection Where: Government Museum, Chennai and District Museum, Pudukkottai When: Round the year, except on Mondays and government holidays Why attend: After a grand makeover in June, one of India’s oldest museums, the Chennai Govpeople have moved from to property ernment Museum (1851) is ready to open up itslyvast collection of artwork topoetry the public.

The new Dutt. were once fibre optic lighting, restored artworks, ambient rates,” settings,says guided andChandigarhians curated exhibits, and interacproud their understated European modtive touchscreens have put the Chennai museum on parofwith its Mumbai and Delhi counterparts. ernism, but now the cityfor is yielding to the Artworks to watch for: The new Rock and Cave Art Gallery recreates visitors the rocknew art brash modernity of a globalised India that is found in remote areas of Tamil Nadu such as Perumukkal in South Arcot (petroglyphs), Alambadi, not about culture but money Keezhvalai in Villupuram district, and Vellarikombai and high Iduhatti in Nilgiris district.and Kidstechand nology.atmosphere In the middle of the Leisure the grown-ups alike will be enamoured by the simulated of caves, the son Valley, et lumiere, cultural centre of the city, a tacky touchscreens and slides. Renowned artist Raja Ravi Varma’s mythological paintings of gods and goddesses have been restored and pleasingly illuminated. replica of the Eiffel Tower has up.delightful This brazen specimen BLink tip: Reserve an entire day for the museum as there arecome several and educational of shopping-mall kitsch mocks exhibitions under one roof, showcasing toys, crafts, coins and rare maps.

New money has the elegant museum across the brought a desire for road that Le Corbusier designed. ornamentation among the egalitarian Architect Sangeet Sharma, whose father SD Sharma had middle class worked with the French master on the museum building, says Name of show: The Kochi Muziris Biennale people have grown indifferent Where: Throughout the city and is the administration inattenWhy attend: One of Kochi’s most-awaited events, the Biennale a 108-day celebration tive and to aesthetics.

New money brought a of art accompanied by lively talks, performances artist demonstrations.

Thehas second desireJitish for ornamentation among the egalitarBiennale, curated by leading contemporary artist Kallat, will showcase interesting ian middle-class of Rajivlochan’s time. The projects by acclaimed international and South Asian artists. The works range from intersize of the remains the same active performances, videos, paintings and sculpture to kitchen interventions in public spaces.but the facades ofearly houses are The participating artists come in all age groups — from 20s to latebeing 80s. decorated with granite and marble. Lions guard the gates of When: December 12, 2014, to March 29, 2015 houses.

The PunjabisoBaroque, as archiArtworks to watch for: Many of the displaysmany are still works-in-progress, it’s too soon tect-writer Gautam Bhatia it, his is taking to take a call. Young Mumbai-based artist Sahej Rahal is already in Kochi andcalled creating the minimalist ‘machines to live work at the very site where it will be displayed,over while Mithu Sen is inspecting the site allot-in’ that Le Corbusier’s cousin Pierre Jeanneret deted to her and planning her work.

Sharma, a Le Corbusier evangelist who BLink tip: Blink and you might miss some ofsigned. the artworks! an imported good in the pre-globalised econo- has written the quaint and delightful book my. The young, post-liberalisation Chandigar- Corb’s Capitol, says there must be an urban hians, who are connected to the world arts commission to prevent the Punjabi Bathrough the internet and foreign education, roque from spreading to public buildings. are certainly not in awe of Le Corbusier. India’s “The Governor’s house already has rang-birannew modernity is reshaping the city. The im- gi (multi-coloured) tiles because no one cares ported modernism of Chandigarh is unravel- anymore,” he says. ling as it contends with global consumerist You can see Le Corbusier everywhere, even modernity. Sector 17 Plaza, everyone’s evening where you least suspect. A temple has a rectanhaunt just five years ago, now looks forlorn. gular gopuram, perhaps as a nod to the local Blackening, crumbling concrete makes it demi-god that he had become. You might even seem like a war ruin. “Pavements are caving in find him beneath your feet: his design is embecause rats have hollowed out the ground. bossed on the manhole covers. One such cover And often the basements leak,” says Tribhuvan came up at Christie’s two years ago and Chopra of Chopra Pen Centre. Chandigar- fetched $20,000. In what many call a heritage hians have abandoned their iconic market for heist, articles related to him and his cousin Elante Mall in the industrial area on the out- Jeanneret are shipped out surreptitiously and skirts. Inside the mall, you are no longer in emerge suddenly at international auction Chandigarh. It could be Mumbai, Bangalore or houses. Most of these articles are chairs and taDelhi. If it’s any consolation, Cafe Mocha has bles mass produced from their designs and been themed after Le Corbusier. In the true junked by city offices after decades of use. In fashion of postmodern pastiche, the shelves their rush to Elante Mall for consumerist nirimitate his signature sun-breakers of the High vana, Chandigarhians have little time for Le Court building. Here, his modernist forms Corbusier or his heritage. It seems Nehru’s city play not with sun but orange light. is again unfettering from tradition, the tradiThe Dutt Roundtable at the press club, tion of modernity. where gossip and poetry flowed as freely as rum and beer, is a rare sight these days. “Slow- dharminder kumar is a Delhi-based writer

Q

Kochi

R

CH-X _ A

11 15

shoot

saturday, august 9, 2014

BL

12

Little red homes fivee

One stitch at a time Ni Cin, 72, fled Myanmar in 2008 along with her daughter and six grandchildren. Her daughter Bawi Tial, 36 — the only earning member of the family — works as a tailor at a local unit in Vikaspuri. Her biggest concern is her grandchildren’s education, halted due to a lack of funds

Kitchen chronicles Utensils hang in the kitchen of Van Hup Mang, 32, who came to India in 2009 along with his wife and daughters. Initially, Van worked as a security guard but he was injured on the job. He now stays home and takes care of the children, while his wife works as a cleaner at a local factory

Step by stt haven for t

We are only refugees A photo book captures the exhaustion of life as a Chin asylum seeker in Delhi

I

I Often Think of Those I Left Behind Shivani Dass AuthorsUpFront ₹2,499

n Bodella, west Delhi, where a large number of the Chin people [ethnic minorities forced to flee Myanmar after the rise of the military junta] live, most of the houses are in ramshackle condition. Despite appalling states of disrepair, the rents are relatively high, and mostly beyond the means of the tenants. The landlords also tend to be abusive and exploitative, picking fights on the slightest pretext, beating up the Chin women and cutting off the water or electric supply to teach the defaulters a lesson for their delay in clearing dues. Some of these families have been forced to move as many as 10 times in the few years they have lived in Delhi. The squalid lodgings, along with the lack of nutritious diet and access to proper health-

care, leave the Chin people physically vulnerable to a range of diseases.

Yet, in spite of the daily inhumanities, routine atrocities, and ceaseless intimidations, these broken spirits refuse to give up. Families are parted, and some people die on the hard journey to India. Others come together in the foreign land, daring to get married, start families, and fight back.

Children are born and loved ones mourned. These photographs holds up a mirror to the reality of lives that most of us fail to notice or do not care enough to engage with.

Excerpt and images from I Often Think of Those I Left Behind: The Chin Refugees of Delhi by Shivani Dass

Lost grou u

BL

shoot

saturday, august 9, 2014

dress Ciin Lam Vung, 44, who escaped along with her family in July 2011, belongs to the Tiddim community, and has shifted e times since their arrival

ttep A patient receives treatment at 64-year-old Tint Swe’s clinic in west Delhi. This is the only support system and a safe tthe 100-odd Chin refugees who come here every week

u und Biak Rem Sang, 38, ed in 2009. He often thinks about the life and family he left behind, including his mother

A spot of sunshine A Myanmarese child in Bodella, west Delhi

CH-X _ A

13

watch cover

saturday, august 9, 2014

When prophets meet Le Corbusier with the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in Chandigarh courtesy: le corbusier center; the hindu archives

BL

14 10

Art almanac Q 2014 R

clap in appreciation. Wah-wah was deemed to be uncouth behaviour by the city’s elite. Chandigarh came to be known as patthar da shehar (city of stones) inhabited by patthar de lok (people of stone). A furious debate that raged in those times was whether uninspiring Chandigarh could have poets of its own. Kumar Vikal, the wailing poet-laureate of the city, had written that his poems came back limping whenever they went to the elite parlours.

Nirupma Dutt, Chandigarh’s much-loved writer, activist and raconteur, who used to preside over a version of New York’s Algonquin Round Table of writers and actors at the local press club, says that when famous Hindi writer Shivani visited Chandigarh in the late ’70s, she found it odd that there wasn’t a single poster on any wall. The city was too clean, sterile and uninspiring for her, and she remarked, “Likhne ke liye Lucknow chaahiye (I have to be in Lucknow to write).”

M Rajivlochan came to Chandigarh in the ’80s from the badlands of Damoh in Madhya Pradesh via JNU to teach history at Panjab University. A few years in the socialist utopia of cookie-cutter houses robbed him of his radicalism: he found nothing to protest against.

“Social equity was built into the architecture.

It forced people to live a non-hierarchical life.

For instance, the kitchen in the middle-class 10-marla house was big enough for just one person, making it difficult to have a maid to work with you,” he says. There were no power

cuts and little crime. It was a comfortable, laid- easy mobility was a measure of their freedom. back life without pressure or tension. That’s why Chandigarh was called the city of the Who is watching? tired and retired. In a pampered enclave run Chandigarh was a puzzling dialectic of freeby the Delhi bureaucracy and protected from dom and control. Wide and quiet roads, sleepy the political and social realities of the country, houses and large roundabouts were made for people were largely depoliticised. The Back- free spirits but, at the same time, they gave an ward and Minority Communities Employees uneasy feeling of being watched. The alienatFederation (BAMCEF), started by Dalit leader ing, brutal buildings looked down on you and Kanshi Ram, was a big hit in north India. But forced you to observe yourself. People tended when Rajivlochan set up a local unit, it didn’t to conform. The city is a fine example of architake off. “No one opposed it, but no one would tectural determinism for Vinay Varma, a Hydeturn up for the meetings either,” rabad-based management he recalls. Since Chandigarh ofconsultant who grew up and fered an egalitarian life, people studied in the city where his fafound little need for traditional ther retired as the chief architect social support systems of caste at Panjab University. He returned Social equity was and community. He came from a to his father’s State after a few built into the feudal family that lorded over years in Ahmedabad and Mumarchitecture nine villages in Damoh. Chandibai. “We got so used to the geogarh gave him a chance to bemetrical order and discipline come modern. “I can say, had I that it took us a long time to adlived in Sagar or Bhopal or even just to the chaos of the metropoDelhi I would have been a slightly bad man,” lis,” he says. Chandigarh was surprisingly he says, and smiles. neat, clean and green, but it lacked the intimWhen Dutt thinks of a modern Chandigarh, ate connect of the Indian shehar. “Giving dishe finds a precious vignette from early ’70s rections, you could not tell anyone to go still lodged in her memory. “It is of a girl rid- straight, turn right at the pond and then left at ing a bicycle on a near-empty sector road. Her the mosque. All sectors and houses were numhair flying in the breeze. And as she pedalled, bered. There were no names, no landmarks, she whistled with abandon,” she says. The no shared past. We had all become the Cartemost common standard of modernity has sian subjects,” Varma says, referring to the phibeen the status of women and, on that count, losophy known for its mathematical Chandigarh was indeed modern. As a young approach to reality.

Le Corbusier’s geometrical fundamentalreporter in the ’80s, Dutt too used to cycle around the city. A number of male colleagues, ism shaped the Chadigarhian mind but could Name ofsuppress show: ArtitNight Thursday not altogether.

Adjacent to the cormany of whom went on to become top ediWhere: Thewhere Mumbai District, Colaba ridor he Art built his world-famous High tors, used to ride pillion on her bicycle. After When: August, Thursday Court, the every Secretariat and the Assembly, Chanpost-liberalisation prosperity, Chandigarh’s Whydigarh’s attend: repressed Following self a global trend, galleslowly reared its head. women gave up the bicycle for the Kinetic rists A in government Mumbai’s art district havecollected pooled their employee discarded Honda. There were more women riding scootcollective to come up with auspi-a wonglass energies and china for years and an created ers in Chandigarh than in any other city. Their cious night of trawling the galleries. Make a night of it, a glass of wine in hand, feasting your eyes on the latest contemporary art exhibitions.

Artworks to watch for: Near the Radio Club circuit, drop in at Lakereen Gallery to view Chitra Ganesh’s gigantic wall drawings. Titled ‘Drawing from the Present’, it has women in all shapes and sizes casually reclining or bedecked in fanciful headdresses, looking partly like mad scientists, partly beloved Mother Goddesses (till August 24). Gallery Maskara opens its art season with a debut solo by artist Meenakshi Sengupta. ‘Flavour Chart’ features works that look beguilingly like traditional miniatures but have a twist in the tale. They blur the boundary between ‘traditional’ and ‘contemporary’ (till September 28).

BLink tip: Plan your evening so you don’t run out of steam until you have visited at least five galleries before sitting down to dinner.

It is officially the end of the holidays for the art fraternity.

Georgina Maddox provides a round-up of the best shows across the country to watch out for

Delhi-NCR Name of show: Homepage Where: Vadehra Art Gallery, D53, Defence Colony When: On till September 6 Why attend: Six weeks of exhibitions, talks, workshops and projects organised by Vadehra Art Gallery and the Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art (FICA). In focus are several young artists, curators and art educators. Art events and shows will spotlight FICA’s work, including support, art education and outreach.

Artworks to watch for: FICA Emerging Artist Award-winner Gipin Varghese is up first in the soNow and then with ‘Lifetimes’ — a body of work lo exhibitions (Right) Workers created construct over the the last two years. His delicate paintings and lineindrawings are his way of re-lookAssembly building ing at news(1960) and the images of violence, death and Chandigarh courtesy: le corbusier struggle emerging from non-urban India. Also, center, the hindu archives; don’t ‘Manifested’, a presentation by Julia (Below)miss the Punjab Villaseñor and Priyanka Choudhary on perand HaryanaBell Assembly kumar today akhileshart formance and its bearing on activism through intercultural exchange (August 15, 6pm).

BLink tip: Invitations to the talks are on a firstcome-first-served basis.

CH-X _ A

Name of show: Institutions Where: 320, Lado Sarai When: August 12-31 Why attend: Exhibit 320, in association with Tasveer and Vacheron Constantin, brings together Christopher Taylor’s photographs of imperial buildings in Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi in a single narrative.

Artworks to watch for: Taylor’s photographs capture the transformed faces of what are the last redoubts of colonialism. Shot exclusively in black and white, the photos largely focus on the edifice and the surrounding environment, as exemplified by the image of the Kenesseth Eliyahoo synagogue in Mumbai. Every detail, from ornate chandelier to patterned flooring, is in sharp frontal focus, evoking the formal opulence of a bygone era. Author and publisher Naveen Kishore describes the works as “Haunted by the ‘then’ of a previous longpassed moment.”

BLink tip: Train your eye to move beyond the seductive surface of the image to uncover the underlying poignant narrative.

Mumbai

derland of beautiful folk figures, gothic labyrinths and waterfalls and mystifying tunnels.

Eventually, Chandigarh came to be known more for Nek Chand’s Rock Garden than Le Corbusier’s behemoths. The revenge of the repressed was a logical denouement in the story of Chandigarh, if you believe filmmaker Ami. “You can understand the city’s politics by finding out who is included and who is excluded.

It has been too generous to the middle and upper classes by inviting them to the city and offering them land at low rates, but it banishes the poor to the fringes,” he says. A few months ago, the civil society in Chandigarh agitated over the demolition of slums. The administration wants to create a slum-free city and is trying to relocate the slum-dwellers to the villages outside the city where it has constructed special houses for them. Many have

BL

watch cover

saturday, august 9, 2014

Name of show: Renewable Pleasures — The India Chapter Where: Gallery Chemould, Prescott Road, Queen’s Mansion, Fort When: Till August 23 Why attend: Geneva-based artist Esther Brinkmann, known for creating ‘wearable art’, is showing in India for the first time, and is worth catching if you appreciate the blurring of boundaries between art, design and jewellery.

Artworks to watch for: Sublime pieces such as ‘Cocoon’, ‘Shield’, ‘Out of Question’ and ‘Last Drop’, which evoke the aesthetics of texture and form.

BLink tip: Don’t try to wear it even if it says wearable art!

Chennai Bling it on While Le Corbusier believed that houses were machines for living in, today the houses in Chandigarh bear an obvious Punjabi baroque stamp; (Right) Le Corbusier’s sun breakers played with light and shade sandeep sahdev

Bangalore Name of show: A Goldfish Bowl Where: Gallery SKE, 2, Berlie Street, Langford Town When: Till August 16 Why attend: An innovative exhibition by Rathin Barman that looks at the expansion of cities that have grown essentially from a colonial model. It dwells on the physical and visual contradictions of the urban sprawl.

Artworks to watch for: Sculptures, paper works and assemblages. A rejected architectural plan is the most ambitious of the lot, consisting of a large floor installation of spiral rods welded together to spell out street names and addresses.

The letters are jumbled, so it’s difficult to make out the names — a perfect metaphor for the chaos and anonymity offered by a big metropolis.

BLink tip: Do not go expecting pretty or picturesque art. These are hard-hitting works — their raw architectural beauty likely an acquired taste for even the art-literate.

been left out. “The administration has put absurd conditions for identification of old residents. When it comes to the poor, they have iron-clad laws. If they can give away prime land to the middle class within the city, why can’t they be a little liberal with the poor too?”

Ami asks.

Being a Western implant, Nehru’s modernity was very much colonial. We were independent but still mimicking the masters.

Countless seminars, conferences and film festivals celebrated Le Corbusier for decades while Chandigarh’s intellectuals carefully avoided talking about the nameless architectplanner and his team who laid a similar rectangular grid 4,000 years ago in another modern city below present-day Chandigarh. Just miles away at Sanghol languish the relics of the Indus Valley civilisation.

As Chandigarh’s population nearly doubles to around 10 lakh, the protected sarkari utopia has begun to crack. Traffic has reached disruptive proportions. Infrastructure sags because of heavy growth on the fringes. Power cuts have arrived. Roads are no longer quiet. Unable to channel rising traffic, the idyllic roundabouts are giving way to traffic signals.

Chandigarh had the lustre and mystique of

Name of show: The Collection Where: Government Museum, Chennai and District Museum, Pudukkottai When: Round the year, except on Mondays and government holidays Why attend: After a grand makeover in June, one of India’s oldest museums, the Chennai Govpeople have moved from to property ernment Museum (1851) is ready to open up itslyvast collection of artwork to poetry the public.

The new rates,” says Dutt. were once fibre optic lighting, restored artworks, ambient settings, guided andChandigarhians curated exhibits, and interacproud their understated European modtive touchscreens have put the Chennai museum on parofwith its Mumbai and Delhi counterparts. ernism, but now the cityfor is yielding to the Artworks to watch for: The new Rock and Cave Art Gallery recreates visitors the rocknew art brash modernity of a globalised India that is found in remote areas of Tamil Nadu such as Perumukkal in South Arcot (petroglyphs), Alambadi, not about culture but money Keezhvalai in Villupuram district, and Vellarikombai and high Iduhatti in Nilgiris district.and Kidstechand nology.atmosphere In the middle of the the Leisure the grown-ups alike will be enamoured by the simulated of caves, son Valley, et lumiere, cultural centre of the city, a tacky touchscreens and slides. Renowned artist Raja Ravi Varma’s mythological paintings of gods and goddesses have been restored and pleasingly illuminated. replica of the Eiffel Tower has up.

This brazen specimen BLink tip: Reserve an entire day for the museum as there arecome several delightful and educational of shopping-mall kitsch mocks exhibitions under one roof, showcasing toys, crafts, coins and rare maps.

New money has the elegant museum across the brought a desire for road that Le Corbusier designed. ornamentation among the egalitarian Architect Sangeet Sharma, whose father SD Sharma had middle class worked with the French master on the museum building, says Name of show: The Kochi Muziris Biennale people have grown indifferent Where: Throughout the city and is the administration Why attend: One of Kochi’s most-awaited events, the Biennale a 108-day celebrationinattentive and to aesthetics.

New money brought a of art accompanied by lively talks, performances artist demonstrations.

Thehas second desireJitish for ornamentation among the egalitarBiennale, curated by leading contemporary artist Kallat, will showcase interesting ian middle-class of Rajivlochan’s time. The projects by acclaimed international and South Asian artists. The works range from intersize of the remains the same active performances, videos, paintings and sculpture to kitchen interventions in public spaces.but the facades ofearly houses are The participating artists come in all age groups — from 20s to latebeing 80s. decorated with granite and marble. Lions guard the gates of When: December 12, 2014, to March 29, 2015 houses.

The Punjabi as archiArtworks to watch for: Many of the displaysmany are still works-in-progress, soBaroque, it’s too soon tect-writer Gautam Bhatia it, his is taking to take a call. Young Mumbai-based artist Sahej Rahal is already in Kochi andcalled creating minimalist ‘machines to live work at the very site where it will be displayed,over whilethe Mithu Sen is inspecting the site allot-in’ that Le Corbusier’s cousin Pierre Jeanneret deted to her and planning her work.

Sharma, a Le Corbusier evangelist who BLink tip: Blink and you might miss some ofsigned. the artworks! an imported good in the pre-globalised econo- has written the quaint and delightful book my. The young, post-liberalisation Chandigar- Corb’s Capitol, says there must be an urban hians, who are connected to the world arts commission to prevent the Punjabi Bathrough the internet and foreign education, roque from spreading to public buildings. are certainly not in awe of Le Corbusier. India’s “The Governor’s house already has rang-birannew modernity is reshaping the city. The im- gi (multi-coloured) tiles because no one cares ported modernism of Chandigarh is unravel- anymore,” he says. ling as it contends with global consumerist You can see Le Corbusier everywhere, even modernity. Sector 17 Plaza, everyone’s evening where you least suspect. A temple has a rectanhaunt just five years ago, now looks forlorn. gular gopuram, perhaps as a nod to the local Blackening, crumbling concrete makes it demi-god that he had become. You might even seem like a war ruin. “Pavements are caving in find him beneath your feet: his design is embecause rats have hollowed out the ground. bossed on the manhole covers. One such cover And often the basements leak,” says Tribhuvan came up at Christie’s two years ago and Chopra of Chopra Pen Centre. Chandigar- fetched $20,000. In what many call a heritage hians have abandoned their iconic market for heist, articles related to him and his cousin Elante Mall in the industrial area on the out- Jeanneret are shipped out surreptitiously and skirts. Inside the mall, you are no longer in emerge suddenly at international auction Chandigarh. It could be Mumbai, Bangalore or houses. Most of these articles are chairs and taDelhi. If it’s any consolation, Cafe Mocha has bles mass produced from their designs and been themed after Le Corbusier. In the true junked by city offices after decades of use. In fashion of postmodern pastiche, the shelves their rush to Elante Mall for consumerist nirimitate his signature sun-breakers of the High vana, Chandigarhians have little time for Le Court building. Here, his modernist forms Corbusier or his heritage. It seems Nehru’s city play not with sun but orange light. is again unfettering from tradition, the tradiThe Dutt Roundtable at the press club, tion of modernity. where gossip and poetry flowed as freely as rum and beer, is a rare sight these days. “Slow- dharminder kumar is a Delhi-based writer

Q

Kochi

R

CH-X _ A

11 15

meet read

BL BL 168

saturday, august 9, 9, 2014 saturday, august 2014

Not so different

ELSEWHERE

manjula padmanabhan

A young adult book that addresses social similarities and contrasts in light of the Right to Education Act Looking in Author Kate Darnton made Delhi her muse and home

that dazzle on their noses. Living in Delhi often feels like living in “a greenhouse with no walls”. To make matters worse, the most annoying people in her class insist on calling her Chhole — like in chickpeas.

The book opens with Chloe colouring her blonde hair with a permanent black marker — a desperate, if unsuccessful attempt at fitting in with the ne afternoon, while I am home alone — the way I other 98 children in her class who all usually am — I hear the sound of water running. In have black hair. She soon befriends a a small, elderly building like the one I’m in, that’s girl called Lakshmi, whose distinct apnot unusual. pearance cannot be negated by the There are six tenants and two floors, three units on each school uniform. But they are friends onfloor. The bathrooms and kitchens on each floor are directly ly at home or in the park playing with above one another. So I can hear water gurgling softly all day their mongrel dog Kali and making orilong. It’s not just the plumbing but also the hot water being gami cranes. In school, Chloe hangs out sent around the house to the radiators in each room, pumped with the cool kids like Anvi, who hands up from the furnace in the basement. out birthday invitation cards that blare ate Darnton and her hus- out songs written specially for her by a But what I hear this afternoon is out of the ordinary. The band moved to Delhi in 2009 famous Bollywood composer. tenant above me is a quiet young man called Robert. I rarely from Boston, with two suitsee him or hear him, yet we share a certain intimacy just from While The Misfits juxtaposes the lives cases, two daughters and of the affluent against those who are being one above the other. For instance, whenever he pulls one doll. They left five years later, with not well-off, it is never patronising or the flush in his bathroom, I hear it in my bedroom. It’s not 144 boxes and one more daughter in didactic. The character of the mother is loud or oppressive, more like a kind of wheezy, watery sneeze. tow. During her stay, she also wrote a slightly tedious with her preaching and If I’m standing in my bathroom, the pipes rattle as the catabook, The Misfits, which tells the story of constant reminders that her children ract from above thunders through. Whenever he takes a two young girls — Chloe and Lakshmi — treat everyone equally. But this is an imshower or drains his tub, I can hear the drumming of water and how they become friends. The twist portant book for our times as it exoverhead. Not only that, but there’s also a water-stain develin the tale, as there must always be, is plains ‘differences’ and the importance oping in the ceiling, where there’s a slight leak. I’ve already rethat Chloe is the only blonde-haired of acceptance to children. ported this to the landlady, but apparently it isn’t serious girl in Class V of Premium Academy, he BBC commentators enough to she takehad action.

For couldn’t Darnton,stop who worked for manyself-made A completely athlete, no tion and corroded by self-promoting officials, New Delhi and Lakshmi is one of the Indian raving about Dipaindustry Thisgovernment afternoon though, the sound I hear is of the toilet beyearsgymnast in the book and is now apart from financial support al- the country’s gymnastics federation was few children from the Economically Karmakar’s feat moving on the vault at the lowances ing flushed continuously.

It’s likeofRobert has either to Amsterdam with her family, at coaching camps.

Currently em- stripped all support from fallen the Union GovWeaker Section (EWS).

Commonwealththe Games Glasgow. asleep two while pressing down on did the bookinarose from aployed personal as adiary gymnastics instructor with the ernment years ago. Only recently In August 2009, Parliament en-fromthat Thethe petite Bengali girl Agartala was makthe flush-handle or else there’s a chronicled the cultural InState clash SportsinDepartment earning a monthly federation regain recognition. acted the Right to (RTE) the Act, Produnova ingEducation history with vault (the malfunctioning refillgymnasts valve in the dia and mapped her own anxiety with Karmakar is pursuing a desalary of ₹6,000, I have seen young landing on which requireddaunting private handspring double front the made flush-tank.

I look out window deepgree economic in- (second year) through dis- grass in Humanities while training in the archaic conditions at It seems ridiculous to schools to enrol 25 per by Russian gymnast Elena Produmemorable of myNehru room and, sure enough, his of injury equality. While her eldest tance education.

Delhi’s Stadium.

The chances have to summon Thor cent of their nova) students and a difficulty level of seven. As the lady missing. high.

Initially, I decide daughter was nine Heronly achievement at the Glasgow CWG is all arecar’s dangerously Training for eight to 10 to fix the from economically weakcommentator observed, the act called forthey not to aboutapparatus, it. Then, ascraving the when left India, she when you consider that the hours the more special onworry outdated expoThe Misfits addresses upstairs flush er sections and “massive disadvan-heel speed”. minutes tick by, I begin to fret. It’s accepting made theIndian heroines of her gymnastics team didn’t have sure women’s at international-level contests, issues of fitting in and taged communities in went on to prove she had not Karmakar on-11 asashe a Saturday.

Robert is way, oftenincluding out — a squalid story feels coach that isand Karmakar overcame a mi- whatever foreign comes their standing out in a their incoming class. ly the speed but also unwavering resolve. fact known to me the Indian the As age children firstinbe-the qualifying round. “Only accommodation nor injury at because training ofcamps, sensitive and While its merit as piece shea bounded towards the goal, courage writaware Sound of No Flushinghave — returning come of girls socialhave dif- attempted this three gymnasts suffered it all. wise way of legislation cannot be her face, she was a picture ferences. large on of un- With onlyforonit Sunday night. If his toilet continues to sneeze all Bisht, fornone of her difficult vault.

We trained Says Laxman Singh questioned, itsflinching imple-determination. through wasteinternational of water. daughtersfor having hit that just three months,” says Nan- the weekend, it will be an enormous mer junior gymmentation has been Herslipbronze medal-worthy individual perAlso the nonstop gurgling will drive me crazy. age, the biggest challenge di, who has been Karmakar’s nast and a long-time coach, The Indian women’s shod. The Misfits addresses formance rekindled memories of badminton He’s young tall, blond andhave been for Darnton wassince to speak coach she was six. I could call the landlady’s son, Frank.

“Many careers gymnastics team did the same issues of in and stand- in starfitting Prakash Padukone’s win theofall-Enwith Norse God good looks. It seems ridiculous to of have theat voice an 11-year-old.

HerSomething combined scorelanky, in the cut short because injuries durnot have a foreign ing out in a sensitive and wise way.in 1980. gland Championship was with to summon Thor to fix the upstairs flush!

I am unwilling she Padukone accomplishes panache; two final vault attempts was ing And training.

I know some gymcoach and Karmakar Darnton says over the phone from Cape though the rare Indian sportsperson to beat themight odds seem to become cries wolf at every tiChloe rather preco- Canada’s 14.366 as against Elsa- the Local Crazy Foreigner who nasts were paralysed too. It is the overcame a minor Cod, “This legislation was and without anyradical support fromcious the system. crisis. to flow. at times, the reader for her 14.433)ny bethfeels Black (Silver and En- Meanwhile, the water continues mother of allI begin sports,tobut few in injury in the exciting. It soundsEven like de-segregation, today, only the foolhardy pursue a gland’s Claudia Fragpane think up wild scenarios: Robert’s beenour attacked bycare. assassins and with her.

(Gold country The equipment qualifying round but very little thought hasgymnastics been put in-in India. sport like “I was not and falls dead, straight onto the flush and handle!

Robert diesimproved of Lakshmi tooeven is a figment Darn- she narrowly 14.633). ofClearly, facilities have of to its practicality.aware There of is very little sup- ton’s what gymnastics wasimagination, when my fa-andmissed cardiac“Iarrest while flushing and grabslate, the and handle in asure death born from the and silver. the gold I am Karmakar’s port — to the teachers the parents.coach) ther (aand weightlifting took experiences me to the ofknow. grip!

Robert the Drug Smuggler fleesachievement the country after author’s volunteering at A beginning has been will atbe a great There is no dialogue about whatIisdid go-not like coaching centre. it initially, was inmade. downof the toilet, thus a school in a itslum RK Puram.

She to win tempting I will look a medal to flush his stash of cocainesource motivation.” ing on. The conversation happened on- found so tough, but gradually mytheapproach blocking children there especially next month at the Asian Games it (inup!

Incheon, Ashish Kumar had earlier shown the way by ly around the edges.

I wanted to the say 22-year-old this bright changed,” says Karmakar, who “The By teatime Iofam a nervous wreck.aImedal call Thor.

Heatgallops over and receptive. sky she is open Korea),” says with the confidence a winbagging each the 2010 Asian Games is happening, let’s talkatabout it.” her father, kept it because Dulal Karmakar, five minutes, enters upstairs flat and, 10 minutes later, once these children arener, given an opporeven as she sets herinsights higher on the theand 2010 CWG to become the first Indian gymBeing 11, having one elder Bisweswar sister and aNandi, and coach, werethey convinced success! He has turned off thetowater and note for tunity... need to be given sup2016 Riothe Olympics. nast taste inlet victory atleft the ainternational level. younger one, isshe nothad easy.

Butit takes. life for port,” says the Harvard graduate. what Robert. he for comes my ceiling leaks and on the And why not? Hers was a feat Then unseen 20 down, Aschecks Karmakar landedfor triumphantly Chloe is even harder asfather she has just left Her credits her bodyInstructure — supthanksworld, me forbringing alerting him to the all around.

The Misfits, Lakshmi becomes thick long years in the gymnastics foam pitcrisis. at theSmiles CWG, she knew it was her moher school in Boston and best friend Ka-her friends ple and strong — for naturalwith gymnastic Chloe andglory they win the coach, adto her parents, country and the ment… and that of Indian gymnastics. “AshMANJULA PADMANABHAN and artist,had tells us talesitoffor herthe parallel life My medal tie, and joined a abilities. new one But in Delhi.

Here honing them miration proved a great chal-peers of their andgymnastics parents. fraternity. entire “I could see my , author ish bhaiyya done boys. marginalien. blogspot.in in Elsewhere USAstands,” in this fortnightly series she looks different.

And sheto few lenge aseverything she had access facilities.there KarmaHopefully, shallteammates be more such weeping with joy in the is for the girls.

We have the potential, and all knows is different as well — from kar’s passion for the her happy chosenendings discipline in real life. she says. Indeed joy has remained elusive in we plead for are facilities,” she says. park in front of her house, deepened after to shethe started making waves at the world of Indian gymnastics, worn down clothes people wear, to the shiny the junior level. things nandini nair by an apathetic ecosystem. Riddled by corrup- vijay lokapally is deputy editor, sports, The Hindu

Water worries

Is it a malfunctioning refill valve in the flush or other far wilder scenarios?

O

K In august company

The Misfits Kate Darnton Young Zubaan Fiction ₹250

Guts and glory Karmakar, the first Indian woman gymnast to win a Commonwealth Games medal, seen here with her coach and mentor, Bisweswar Nandi rajeev bhatt; (top) after her winning vault in Glasgow reuters

Gymnast Dipa Karmakar’s bronze at the Commonwealth Games brings to mind a certain Padukone’s feat decades ago — an Indian sportsperson beating all the odds

T

Q R

Q R Q R

CH-X _ A

cover read

saturday, august 9, 9, 2014 saturday, august 2014

Gently does it Chandigarh has always been known for its relative order and calm akhilesh kumar

The stage is set Ancient crafts and trades are still carried out in the walled city of Jaipur rohit jain paras

HOME SPUN

Pavilion in the garden

No more the F imagined city

Jaipur skipped the process of how cities normally develop, but unlike others it is still home to a range of social, cultural and economic assets

feisal alkazi

or 20 years I spent a month every year at the guesthouse of the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh Vidyalaya in Jaipur.

The three-foot-thick walls kept out the heat but they couldn’t subdue the piercing, plaintive cry of the peacock every morning. And as the heat gave way to sultry monsoon days, the trees in the garden would shake their wet leaves in the delicious breeze, brooding clouds overhead. Winter and Jaipur would take on a completely different hue, as sodium vapour lamps draped the pink painted city in a surreal light. Jaipur, for me, remains that building in the Mughal miniature: perfect, painted, only two-dimensional, a pathein’70s, when Punjabi writer and jourvilionnset a garden.

Exquisite. nalist Sidhu Damdami left for city ChandiAnd as I worked in this charming over garhspending from Talwandi Sabo, dust bowl 27 years, a month eachthe year, I got inof in southern his father told him volved projectsPunjab, that allowed me to underthat city was not only clean and wellstandthe its genesis and vitality. planned but also Forinthose who lived in Jaipur came intocold. being 1726AD when Sawthe seared blazing winds, this ai Jaisandy Singhplains II decided, forbythe first time in Indiwas an added of Chandian history, to allure build toa the citymyth on the plains, garh.

When thefortification. bus reachedFor Kharar, still an without much the previous hour from thethe city, Damdami couldofalready two centuries Kachwaha Rajputs Jaipur feel chill. in “After every timemainly I went to had the worked the that, Mughal court, in Chandigarh I would shivering Kharar,” military posts.

Moststart ancient Indianatcities desays Damdami, has now in was the city veloped aroundwho a shrine.

Firstbeen there the for more than aon decade.

Chandigarh, says, dargah (shrine) the dariya (stream)he that, in was the mind than to onitthe It turn,more drewindaulat (wealth) — ground. and then, was the closest India had centre come togrew being around this pilgrimage a modcomern in those times,But and imagining it aswhere cold mercial township.

Jaipur was built completed the idea of aitmodernity imported nothing existed before; skipped the process from Europe.

Chandigarh, therefore, wasa an of how cities normally develop: a village, loimagined cal shrine,city. a centre of trade developing over a India’s firstinto Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehmillennium a metropolis. ru,Traditionally, had in his manifesto wanted a city “unfetit was believed that till the sevtered by do thenot traditions the in past”. the en trades come andofsettle closeAtvicinsame time, or anaarchitect in France wanted ity, a village town cannot really be calledtoa destroy half of Paris toare construct city from city. These seven trades panigersa(makers of scratch. areinkicked in the the gold“In andParis, silverprophets leaf used architecture rear,” Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier had and even on paans and mithais), nilgar (dyers), said when his plan was shorgar rejected.(toProvidence karigar (to build houses), make fire-

crackers), kamnigar (workers), sikligar (sword with the Jaipur Virasat Foundation, brought a makers) and namdagar (to make a kind of a different urban reality to life for me. I started felt rug). to understand those carrying out ancient Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh invited all these crafts and trades on the street itself. The Thatedifferent trades to come and settle in Jaipur ron ka Rasta, where traditional utensil makers from the existing trade centres of North and still rhythmically beat brass into cooking Eastern India. Merchants, bankers, artisans, pots; Maniharon ka Rasta, where legendary shopkeepers flocked to the new city of Jaipur Hajjan Lalli Begum spins out her lac bangles in the middle of the 18th century. They came over a tiny flame. And the endless galis with on Jai Singh’s invitation, and were allowed to shops that specialise in leherya dupattas for build havelis in their own design as long as the monsoon, gota garlands for weddings and they conformed to the master plan of the city. flowers for worship. Snaking out from Badi Jaipur plunged swiftly into an urban reality, Chaupa in the centre of the old city is a warren the citizens having to learn how to live togeth- of streets, each still practising its traditional er as a well-knit unit, under the trade, 280 years after it began. brought prophets popular than Garcia watchful the eye of the king.together. Chandigarh ras was more And here you stillGabriel can smell the boys bouquet from Bathinda avidly was to be Le Corbusier’s personal Certainly Sawai Jai Singh II did vision, unfet- Marquez and bazaar of roasted cutered notasonly bymoney tradition but also from watched Jean-Luc François Trufnot have much at his min, Godard jasmineand flowers, sandalEven today the city Punjab Univerground He set naked dour fa- faut. Daljit Singh, disposalreality. to build Jaipur as concrete, the woodwho andcame fryingtoonions. flourishes on a town village,I could notto resist cades andhad brutal monuments Mughals in building their of his grey sity from a Ludhiana Last month, returned the plan laid down in 1726 cityWave imagination inpalaces, a grid-ironforts, pattern of roads the French New becametoDaljit Ami. luxurious with and colleagues begin an cutting at right angles. Places were filmmaker now,that widely mosques and mausoleums.

So designated He is an angry exciting new project looksacat for living, working, playing way and claimed for his powerfulculture docuhe thought of an ingenious the interface of ecology, mentary on agricultural labour. shopping. minimalist to cut costsHis with no loss ofarchistyle. and lifestyle in different pockets Française, people tecture self-referential Quartzitewas stonea from the local hills of Nahar- of India. WithAtusAlliance were a host of local experts, play forms. Crafted with exnextofconsignment of garh,of Amargarh and Jhalana was used as the drawn from awaited differentthe parts Rajasthan: the modernity. youofcould notand exquisite sun breakers, hisThis buildbasic building material. was then coated lush Braj region, the dry But desert Bikaner The most common ings ample Indian pect proud Punjabis drift into with aplayed layer ofwith lime-mortar, followed by geru — the bordering Gujarat.toFortunatestandard oftribal areas an Indian creole culture.

So more light.

To ayellow trained eye,Initthis wasway, a without a creamy wash. acly, Jaipur, unlike other parts of India that are modernity has been the Francophilia, in Nehru’s daily of light andorshade. tuallydrama using sandstone marble, thethe effect of ofturning anonymous urban clusters, constatus womeninto than fiat to to break free from tradition sandstone and marble was created. Over these an extraordinary range and, on thattinues count,to be home Chandigarhians found the legitiGodard from Bathinda surfaces,buffs drawings were made in white Chandigarh lime to of was social, cultural and economic assets.

In its A house, Le Corbusier mate route to modernity. give the impression ofinfamousmarble inlay, . indeed modern traditional knowledge systems, oral tradicityofwas ly declaimed, was machine forwindows and tions and in theThe Similarly the jalia work of the skills art the andcapital craft. of Punliving in.was Andnot a chaise jab workshop and Haryana butonspeaking jharokas really lounge sandstone but lime And while our carries indoors, and aHaryanvi wouldwelnot was, well,Araish a machine relax mortar in. mortar. work to — lime surfaces outdoors in Punjabi the garden, lone peacock endear you to people there.

Chandigarh, one could marble safely in-— reached its comes the first polished to resemble clouds of the monsoon withAsa fer and would of attest, wasEven a machine to they disowned peak in Nehru the building Jaipur. today the plaintive cry. their roots and tradition, they make Indians modern.

Since thethat French a stiff upper lip. Atchronicle a mushaira in city flourishes on a town plan waswere laid also (Inacquired this monthly series, authors the cinot ourincolonial could easilyfloor, sur- early ’90s, down 1726 — masters, shops onwethe ground ties they callBashir home.) Badr, the poet who could render to theirabove, modernity, freebyofthe guilt.

Punja- hypnotise with his lyrical genius, had to plead broad terraces flanked residence feisal an educationist, theatre directorto and withalkazi folded ishands — with the audience rebis, Haryanvis and Himachalis lustily took to — of the shop owners.

Srinagar; Architectural Legacy and not being modern in Chandigarh.

Marguerite Du- spond the An customary wah-wah author ofwith My work in the walled city for several years,

A new modernity is replacing Nehru and Corbusier in Chandigarh

I

Q R Q R

CH-X _ A

9 17BL BL

talk read

BL BL 186

saturday, august 9, 9, 2014 saturday, august 2014

Graphic designs The many uses of rape PRESENT IMPERFECT

While Germany might be a late starter as a comics nation, India has much to learn from it

Marketing strategy, honour mechanism, creative inspiration, prayer… Rape is versatile and nifty

O

ne of the primary aims of the Del- ual identity to disturbing, even erotically hi-based German Book Office charged (though not explicit), murder mys(GBO) is to explore different as- teries. The comic/graphic book scene is even pects of book publishing in India richer. There are independent publishers such and find ways of developing them further. A as Mosaik, which nurtures the legacy of Abrafew years ago, for instance, their focus on chil- faxe, a very popular series that began in East dren’s book publishing led to the establish- Germany in the 1950s, and Reprodukt, which ment of an annual programme called specialises in graphic novels. There are also Jumpstart, whose fifth instalment is due to larger houses such as Carlsen, which began a unfold in Delhi and Bangalore at the end of Manga imprint in 2000 and also publishes this month. In general, most Indian publish- some of the most acclaimed graphic artists, ers and editors do not have sufficient opportu- including Isabel Kreitz and Reinhard Kleist. nities to meet their international Considering this range and excellence, it counterparts and see how things happen in came as a surprise that within the Euro-Amerother markets. As a joint venture ican universe, Germany is conbetween the Frankfurt Book Fair sidered a late starter as a comics and the Foreign Office, Berlin, the nation. Andreas Platthaus of the GBO is well-placed to facilitate German daily Frankfurter AllgeGermans started out such contact. With this in mind, meine Zeitung argues that the reading comics from it organises an annual editors’ reason for this was, ironically, Belgium, France and trip to Germany, centred on a difthe historical popularity of picItaly. Classics from ferent genre each year. ture stories in Germany: humorthese countries like This year, the trip focused on ous illustrated periodicals Asterix and Tintin graphic books and young adult became popular in the 19th cenremain hugely (YA) writing, enabling editors tury, and the strength of that popular from five Indian publishing tradition made Germans dis-

lent little comic bookshop in Frankfurt, revealed the German market’s continuing openness to other cultures, with a top floor filled with Manga in translation and a basement devoted to American superheroes.

It was after German reunification in 1990 that the first generation of avant-garde German graphic artists emerged. Anke Feuchtenberger and others became university professors, helping groom a second wave.

“Now we’re into the third wave and the fourth wave,” said Sebastian Oehler of Reprodukt. “At the end of the ’90s, there was a big discussion on whether comics were art. And now the discussion is, are comics literature?” More graphic artists now address ‘serious’ subjects — like Ulli Lust’s Flying Foxes on World War II, or Nicolas Mahler, who has produced graphic versions of Thomas Bernhard’s Old Masters and The Do-gooders.

The trip also provided After darkoccasion for the participating Indian editors to discuss the chalA mall manager once thatcomic reader, lenges they face.

Theadmitted German footfall at their while exposed to international comics, reads nightclubs German books avidly.

But one of the problems increased after in India, said Ameya Nagarajan of Penguin reports of rape houses — Penguin Random missive of American-style com- Random House, appeared is that Indian in the readers who acHouse, Rupa, Roli, Vani and Naics, even as they spread through tually buy graphic novels sampathprefer kumar to buy wellmedia tional Book Trust — to meet repreEurope in the early 20th century. known Western names, rather than risking o some us, rape is a violent, hei- The rapes get the Then sentatives of of German publishers mall into with the cametrouble the Nazis, who fafact that it was by whatAnd is now money on inspired Indian newbies. this,known as Nagaracrime.Oetinger, The fact that it hasReprodukt, dom- police, such nous as Mosaik, Carlsen, but it’s good forcomics, customers.”

Hisittone mously ridiculed making near-imas the case is wasthat flaunted. voila, of janNirbhaya points out, small And proportion inated public and private discourse Carl Hanser, Suhrkamp, S Fischer and Bücherlacked any trace of irony,toand seeing theEven possible for publishers promote them. hundreds of who thousands of eyeballs were regisreaders are visually literate. last year-and-a-half indicates, ungilde.inAsthe presentations and conversations throng shoving and pushing, was easy to unafter 1945, with Americanit occupation, comics tered. About 24 hours later when the number shockingly, widely prevalent is. Whethfolded,how it became apparent itjust how varied derstand why. did not really take off in Germany (unlike, say, of commentators Regional runs mentioning the absolute er weand march in protest or stew in silence, wethese in Japan). mature German publishing is in lack The of taste sensitivity was significantly costsand of good-quality graphic publishing hopegenres, there will beofanwhich end to the actnascent and thein Inboth are still Rape asThus an honour manymechanism Germans started out reading high,are thealso photos were takenespecially down. Rape a real hurdle, forhad smaller manydia. references that wefor now find ourGermanto YAitfiction, instance, ranges Last week, Hindu published a report after and comicsThe from Belgium, France and Italy, served its purpose. publishers.

“We are bringing out our first selvesfrom unavoidably to. (At the local Moth- that tender privy coming-of-age narratives analysing data on such 600 cases thatand came before their classics as Asterix Tintin remain graphic book series on Param Vir Chakra braver Dairy, otherissues day, for example, one old take the on board of race, disability and sexDelhihugely courtspopular. in 2013. Of the cases A visit to X-tra Boox, an excel- ery award-winners,” Rape as a prayer said Neelam Narula of Roman to another, “Rape toh aaj kal trendy hai!” fully tried, over 40 per cent dealt pray that shea non-fiction (activist Ka-book li Books. “Will “We had published which easily translates to rape is trendy now) with consensual sex, usually invitha Krishnan) gets raped by the on the subject earlier, but the author wanted Trendy or not, what is true though is that rape volving the elopement of a n is age forced the 12-18 to reachmadrasawalas out to a younger group, There is one girl and today has many uses. It’s versatile and nifty young couple and the girl’s pardon thetwo hijab permanently years. The first books are doing(sic).” well. But four boys captured in and can be used to fit many needs. Here are ents subsequently charging the This 32-page was thebooks tweet atof₹100 one each, Rati we to sell these various not-so-subtle some examples: boy with rape, the paper reportParker on Tuesday. had to keep our (@ratigirl) costs down and increase our poses of domination ed. The parents of the girl (usual@ratigirl turns out to be more print runs.” and distress Rape as a marketing strategy ly), fraught by the damage this womanisthan girl andwhen has over The situation even tougher it comes Last year I was working on a story about an in- would wreak on the family’s 16,000in followers Twitter, “Vito publishing the regionalonlanguages. famous mall in Gurgaon. Every few months, ‘honour’, file a complaint of abwhich includes thething, primebut minissual culture is the next big it is still this particular mall was in the news for rape or duction and rape. In some cases, ter, Narendra Modi. Rati not the choice of the masses,” saidParker Aditi Masexual assault. During the day the mall was the girls depose about their parents beating seems like your neighbour in major urban Vani heshwari of average the Hindi publishing near-empty save for an odd shopper and a cosy them up, confining them to a locked room, IndiaPrakashan.

— her blog“We’re posts trying detail her adventures to create a body of canoodling couple, and when the manager of forcing them to have abortions and plead with through Dubai Oman. workVietnam, throughThailand, translation.

Butand we have to creone of the nightclubs told me he has over the court that they be allowed to go with their Her ate photographs withVani shiny a buzz forshow each her book.” hashair just re1,000 visitors a night and that most of them husbands. In others, even though the girl ini- and lovely sipping a beer books and smokleased clothes, one of the first graphic in Hindi, travelled 60 or 80km to party at his club, I was tially confesses to eloping with the boy of her ing ain hookah.

And evaluated through the collaboration with the Japan Foundation. circumspect. But I went that night and sure own will, she later changes her statement to framework of education andSakura exposure, heris the Neerav Sandhya ka Sheher, ke Desh enough, the road outside the building was that of being abducted and raped. In families words sound even more Hindi translation ofbarbaric. an award-winning Manga choked with tractors and SUVs. Inside, the where an inter-caste, inter-class or inter-reliEven allowing forEvening the premise that weofare called Town of Calm, Country Cherry mall was packed. Young men in gym-toned gious marriage is taboo, rape — or an accusa- now Blossoms, a nationon firmly into ‘us’ and afwhat divided happened in Hiroshima bodies — tight T-shirts stretching around their tion of it — is a useful tool to save their honour. ‘them’ well as the explosion. fact that activities terasthe atomic Also in on theTwitpipeline chests and jeans — ran up and down the escalater are this of prayer to rape is a is ararely Hindi polite, translation Persepolis. tors. Jostling with them were older men in Rape as creative inspiration fresh new use for an old act.

One that wasinin What about original graphic books Hindi white kurtas and dhotis, their faces weather- And just as you are ready to seal these off with fact endorsed a large number of people. and otherbyregional languages?

“The Vani beaten, their heads turbaned. They were all a class argument (often disguised as an educa- “Let’sFoundation pray someone has₹20,000 an hasgets just murdered…” instituted four headed up to the third floor where the night- tion argument) out pops a photo shoot in- ominosity to it that denied.

In most fellowships for cannot writers be and illustrators of chilclubs were. In all, that night, there may have spired by the horrific gang rape in Delhi. The cases,dren’s murder affects both the victim “Selected and the felbooks,” says Maheshwari. been 4,000 men and less than 10 women on album places lissome models in glamorous perpetrator.

But get this, to thisattend is merely rape. Rape at lows will masterclasses the floor. I located the manager again. “It’s all clothes and perfect accessories in a bus. There is a useful tool. 2014, It canreceive be used to teach someJumpstart mentoring from Gulthe stories of rapes here,” he told me, “they is one girl and four boys captured in various one azar lesson.

Let’sAnand, pray. and get a three-book conand Paro hear about it in the news and then want to not-so-subtle poses of domination and distract with Vani.” It’s going to be a long haul, t@veenavenugopal come here and see the place for themselves. tress. The feature is titled One Wrong Turn. The but it looks like the visual book is here to stay.

Q

T

R

Q R

CH-X _ A

VEENA VENUGOPAL is editor BLink Book marked Readers flip through the pages of the award-winning graphic novel Kinderland gbo; The Abrafaxe are among Germany’s best-loved comic characters dating and author TheofMother-in-Law back to theof days the German Democratic Republic

trisha gupta is a writer and critic based in Delhi

takeaway talk

saturday, august 9, 9, 2014 saturday, august 2014

BAWDY LINE

Breaking bread in Gaza There is the flight of another inconvenient population, this time from Palestine. And there’s a subplot that brings in the great fetish amongst Jews of unleavened bread Alpha mail An envelope commemorating the First Zionist Congress in Basel shutterstock/arkady mazor

shutterstock.com/alex roz

interfere with their customs or their faith — they have only gained by welfare. The Jews have brought us wealth and health; why should we harbor evil thoughts about them?

They live among us like brothers; why should we not return their kindly feelings?”

Where there was no need for an army.

“We are merely a society of citizens seeking to enjoy life through work and culture. We content ourselves with making our young people physically fit. We develop their bodies as well as their minds. We find athletic and rifle clubs sufficient for this purpose, even as they were thought sufficient in Switzerland.

We also have competitive games — cricket, football, rowing — like the English. Jewish children used to be pale, weak, timid. Now look at them! We took (them) out of damp cellars and efore all of this, at the beginning, at Hebrew equivalent of mandir yahin banayege: hovels, and brought them into the sunlight.” the First World Zionist Congress at Im eshkachech yerushalayim tishkach yemini (If I Ostensibly, Herzl’s yearning for a Jewish naBasel in August 1897, when an assort- forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand tional homeland wasn’t marred by any theothe that wisdom in throwa moment here towould pausebe anda conunsavoury, say it long and people ment of Jewshere’s declared they were wither). et’s Ziontake it was not, Uganda logical deformity.

For him, enough, the romance of the will ing or, themore babycorrectly, out with if all this regurgitated anger is really believe you.

Othersmessianic. still have carved second a nation in need of a State in the waste of sider Jewishness.

It wasn’t in the prophecy.

Jewish return wasn’t Or wasa it? bathwater, the cake self-aggrandisement.

Or,the worse, off it.Altneuland Prolific —inwith hundreds need of real estate for a State, they did sowith in the Themisdirected Zionist undertaking was to take Why career then wasn’t Uganda?

Or Ma-of reconked oven, ask? Well, ignorance.

A trait I may have viewsor—Alaska? star-ratings and followers swallow-tailed coats and white ties. you The finery Diaspora Jew, the luftmensch (maninofcommon air), the with dagascar Why was Herzl’s fantasyofoftheir what if it’s the fly soup or Theothe scumthe two kinds of people usually feel entitown,Zionism, they stand to get paid for positive had been enforced by with theirthe president cowardly weightless man, who the watchmaker welding modernistic progress, medi-‘user boyfriend with his to criticise anything on afrom plate.Galicia cine reviews’ andwith for dissing competition. dore bag Herzl, who wanted thescumbag delegatesfriends? to feel fromled Latvia, the cabinetmaker and science a humanistic societyAoflucky Sometimes, it’sactual best to make a clean cut. To Thehim first akind, of course, are and ‘people whose fewonly mayimaginable even snag ainDom hamper! that they were in the parliament of an and make strapping worker peasequals the Perignon biblical homegiveexisting up hope.

To flee.

To accept defeat.

To stay matters’.

People who bandy about month, I had of acquaintalready Jewish State.

A few days later, ant inopinion the Promised Land.

To reracinate him in land of Last the Jews?

Why wasthe theprivilege cure for the psydefeated.rabbis For after andispatched evening spent dressing words like unctuous texture ing myselfofwith justfound such aonly specimen of the two Viennese were to Palesbetter soil. Israel began itsand life umami, as a written, lit- and chopathology the Jew between willingly in the wrong direction in like they invented critical massand online.

At the receivingSea? end of his tine up, for driving some preliminary reconnaissance. erarydecadence project, a utopian novel written them.

by HerzlThose the river Jordan the Mediterranean traffic, dead faint hunger likely (The to say much publishvenom — over 700 in two Theirpeak-hour cable from Palestine was with almost epi- and calledmost Altneuland Old“too New Land), Perhaps the story of Erezt Yisrael canwords be writwith months of expectations cartwheeling or “sumacisis athe new chronicle jeeinstalments — was a first-time grammatic; the rabbis wrote: “The bride is in ed intruffle” 1902. Altneuland fictive of ten as a sequel to the Old Testament, in the mathe stomach The Best Meal Ever, ra” whenofalla they really want af- in Pales- jestic language ofrestaurateur and friend who now beautiful, but she isfor married to another man.”disapthe creation Jewish homeland King James’ bible.

And we’ll pointment is a hard pill to swallow. junket number 450 is hellaccount. hath noThe fury Subsequently, Joseph Chamberlain, theAnd Brit-once tine. ter Herzl’s utopia, conceived as dal a blueprint have to charge it knows, to Herzl’s luft-like a you do that a handful times, or untilgeyou hit chawal Pillars the Iself-proclaimed Malayali ish colonial secretary, in anofact of singular for Israel, inand his pickle. narrative wasof something of anearly mensch is now not just a farmer but(or al- BenWe ordered a manly; youroffered credit the cardJews limit, the sq prospect dining orcongregation Tamil) foodieof scorned. nerosity 5,000 miles inofthe large,scratch-your-back-with-celeryJewish Vienna on the Mediterranean, ca- so a to soldier. whole the jackhammer ‘breakThe gali outuninhabited is not that palatable Oneredeemed who was convinced the moilargely plateaus anymore. of UgandaCooking — on or pablewhile-you-scratch-mine-with-asof absorbing the world’s entire Jewry.bread’ A children of Israel has Herzl’s pledge that night ordering in to eat in yourin pajamas — the club, they walk the ethi- and lib- amply. At any rate, lee’s sauce thin, the the forested Mau escarpment, the midst of ascent placeparagus concurrently decadent, secular one can was findtoo biblical timeaviyal of garlic on your sleeves House MD for minefield that would is the meeting enough, and yet scattering of lions and the Masaiand tribesmen. eral, cal whose existence reloopsnot andMallu cyclical recurrences in he is infinitely more exciting.for Now,pudiate I ground of chefs, PR machinery, decimated every plate of food Allcompany this when—the skies were darkening Jewish memory.

Where the narrative all the way. may not be chef. Or even cook that isswung through the kitchen Jews in Russia.

InaFebruary 1903,the the best corpse of ain my men food were writers, expectedreviewers to wear and There the flight of another But hey, least I like my along own cooking. a practiced ease all Elvis. In this door. What else could he do, poor fellow? local block.

Christian boy at was discovered the whitebloggers, gloves towith the opera.

“A deliinconvenient population, con- If ofwas incest, eschewing and be you a Mallu atbya Mallu restaurant that his Dniester river, just outside the town of Kishi- ciouscesspool luncheon served in the anonymity prophecy, this time Uganda would a feeddemned ecently, a rarestories moment of weakness, creating a ‘buzz’ for ‘friends’ onlyof way to mother doesn’t run, surely asking nev. As the news in spread, were bruited afpanelled dining room.

King- is the from Palestine.

Andyou’re there’s a sub-for it. waste Jewishness ter provinces shunning that any place a white stay to get invited Former Regina through the it waswith a case of Jew-tablescourt wasafloat, especially taken with to the next big plotNew that York bringsTimes in thewriter great fetcloth murder. for months, endedit up New Delhi’s launch, to clink malts at ‘exclusive’ tast- Schrambling — also the alleged owner of the ish ritual The IJews, wasat alleged, the wines.

They weresingle all Palestiish amongst Jews of unleavened newest deli. ofBut even the best insurance — and tosome beat everyone handleIts@RuthBourdain, a “parody needed the blood a Christian child to make nian,ings he was told, of them with an iPad and Twitter bread. origin is in the Book of against bad meal —bread, a goodfor companion opinion onvineyards. thepla andThe caviar. mash-upExodus of (ex-Gourmet editor) Ruththe Reichl matzah, theiraunleavened Passover. and froman David’s own (12:39, a report of how chilled beer (elsewhere, since didn’t have Ethics, by definition, are fluid. national and (author-TV Anthony

By April, it was open season on Jewsthey in Russia, first Jewish villages, established in theIfearly Israelites left Egypt celebrity) in such great hasteBourdain” that a liquor yet) —massacre, couldn’t save theasday. 1880s, If dailies have rack rates for reviews, oncenot described a book the latter “puke starting with licence the Kishinev where, had... can begun with viniculture.

The best why they — could wait for their by bread doughasto anything, made by, it worse.

WhyChristian didn’t we just should their employees have compunctions a page”. tropical upchuckThe is only Russian troopsitstood drunken varieties of grape had been introduced into rise).on That bread,Zomato’s when baked, was matzah. head out with to our favourite watering hole and aboutand comped room nights and minibar bills? shadesabout greener. rioters armed axes and clubs spent most Palestine, flourished.” breada million that brought the blood libel in anafternoon evening of it — at half the local price and Where Surely, recession-proof Perignon of themake Easter slaughtering religion had beenDom excluded fromhamKishinev against the Jews and their subseon’t get me I admire independent, thrice the satisfaction? Sure, their pub grub is pers for Diwali for theRachid 12-course Jewish population. public affairs.

Whereare thepar ‘Moslem’ Bey,‘free’ quent massacre.

A wrong. teenager’s corpse was critical voices that addintoGush the white greasy and the fries single-fried, but at least lunches they burp onactive Twitter all year.

“The scurrying of roaches was their flight,” educated in Berlin, was aabout full and memfound in Kishinev then as it was Etzionnoise online, just asthis I admire who take their menu doesn’t promisepoet, a (mustard-sodcan anyone who sauerkraut wrotetheir Hayim Bialik, the Hebrew about ber ofHow the then, Zionist New Society andspells had this to in the West Bank time. parents The bread-fixated to ITC Bukhara. den) Philly cheesesteak pulled pork burgers rightthe takeold restaurant reviewers seriously? Jews Happy Jews fleeing Russia.

In spite oforthis, there was a say about inhabitants, the fellaheen: repliedMeal-loving by droppingkids warning leaflets into Free will ought to be exercised at allincosts (that make And Perhaps, the only people more suspect big kerfuffle at thesachertortes sixth Zionistblush).

Congress at god “Those who had nothing could only gain.than Gaza’s towns, ordering them to run haste.(even forced paydischarged 10 per cent the extra as — and so would the waiter, if he professional are their illegitimate Baselknows in August 1903.

The hardliners were at had And gain they did:reviewers employment, better food, Theywhen madeyou’re phone calls to and charge).

Food must be celebrated. paid attention we nearly ordered a jackhamfrogspawn — thenothing growingmore tribe wretched of unpaid doHerzl’s throat for as— much as proposing the welfare.

There was moreservice persuasive ‘knock-on-the-door’ missiles. On Facebook.

On Instagram.

OnFor credit card bills. merscheme. to ‘breakWithout bread’ that night. who thrive online.at The MasterchefUganda feeling the want of than gooders an Arab village of fellaheen the end of “Matzah is the bread of affliction. you came #again — insert Admittedly, in bad taste to kick a place watchers andThe Mark Bittman proportion, Ugandait’swas declared unacceptthe 19th century. tenants livedgroupies in build- who out of#Sunday the land#brunch of Egyptat in#five-star haste. Thus, you will familythe picture here, byassurly it’s down. theemergency deli has hadmeaits share hopfit from restaurant to restaurant, review site able, when unworthy evenAnd as an ings not for cattle.

The children were naked remember day you left photobombed the land of Egypt is worth every paisa ₹10,000, to the gut — mostly by people whose to reviewfor... site, writing reviews they read out to sure of orblows refuge where the tortured of the and uncared Today, things are changed long waiter as you—live.”

The Gazans will of soon have not of taxes. But if you’ll excuse me, I’ll opinion (and no, we catch don’t mean themselves onfar thebetter pot and to friends dinner Jewish race matters could pause and their payindeed.

People are than before; at they theirinclusive own mnemonic. ingAt customers). must youhad partto with parties. they Somehave evenbetter graduate to their starting a blog return to my dinner and to dishy Dr House. breath. the end ofBut it all, Herzl ap- your are healthy, food, chiland with your ahard-earned money, group forNothing ‘foodies’,has once they’ve asatwik@gmail.com peaseempathy the Zionists ferrous chant — theall at dren or goato school. been donecracked to the same time? the self-serious critic’s code: say something soity banerjee

Won’t eat out if you pay me

B W

A slew of dining disappointments and dodgy reviews have ensured I eat on the couch

soity banerjee

R

L

Q R Q R D

Ambarish Satwik is a Delhi-based vascular surgeon and writer

CH-X _ A

7 19BL BL

work takeaway

BL BL 20 4

saturday, august 9, 9, 2014 saturday, august 2014

Finding old favourites Revisiting Rome nine years later meant meeting an old self and seeing the city anew… And rediscovering places that exist so vividly in memories

O

Yesterday once more Traditional board A rivergames runs manufacturers through it TheRG sun Singh sets onand theDileep Tiber, or Kumar of Ramsons the Tevere, as the Kala Prathishtana Italians call it shutterstock/s borisov Trust, Mysore, play a game of Dash-guti etched on a platform at Sheetla Ghat in Varanasi

n the list of irksome people, ‘phoren-returned’ often make it to the top. Those who mention ‘dust’ repeatedly, lament the absence of dryers (for clothes, mind you), and believe that shorts make for suitable restaurant attire.

Little can please them, other than a ticket back to foreign lands. These aren’t victims of nostalgia, but rather of chronic discontent. But when you return from Rome, little can please you. One might not be guilty of precisely the above sins, but everything seems just that much dimmer. Like the arc light has been snuffed out.

Right now, Italy might not be at the top of the European charts. Its former prime minister could have been the tenor in an opera and a clown in a farce. Its present PM’s biggest virtue might be that he is not the former PM. A recent article reported that joblessness among those aged 15-24 teetered at 43.7 per cent last month — the highest since records started in 1977. The country’s attitude towards those who look different is hardly stellar. You only have to drive to the suburbs of Rome to see graffiti that mock its most famous football striker in the most primate of ways. You might be pickpocketed in Rome, and you will be fleeced — whether by the taxi driver from the airport or the hotel you booked online, which simply does not exist. But still. It is impossible to not be moved by this city and country. To be moved beyond measure.

Tomes have been written about Rome, its history and its monuments. You have to see the Colosseo, you have to go to the Vatican, the Pantheon, the Trevi fountain, Piazza Venezia, the Roman Forum, the Spanish steps, the Pro-

Q R

Board games BC

Emperors sat engrossed in front of them, as did commoners, and now a handful of people are attempting to revive the centuries-old board games of India

T

CH-X _ A

It’s a match Mancala, manufactured by Spardha, is sold mainly to families in Hyderabad that gift it during marriages

testant cemetry, the Jewish quarters. The list Rome, like London, New York, even Delhi, is alone makes you breathless. Stroll down the one of the great capitals of the world. But unAppian way, which dates back to 4th century like New York or Delhi that excites with possiBC, admire the umbrella pines and the bilities for the future, you don’t settle in Rome smoothness of the stones that might be thou- for ambition but rather for contentment. If sands of years old. You need to see the city your idea of happiness is slanting sunshine, sprawled out before you from the top of the Vespa rides, endless ambles, scoopfuls of gelaGianicolo hill. To earn your cool cred you must to and unparalleled art. Rome is for those conbuy a bottle of wine, sip it at Piazza Monti and cerned with the now, who choose to be a bit watch couples come and go. You need to obtuse about the future. This moment is the spend an evening at Villa Borghese and follow best, they tell themselves. With its glorious flocks of swallows and swifts as pre-Christian monuments and they spin absurd shapes in the gladiatorial venues, Rome desky. You should see Mussolini’s ceives you into thinking nothing ‘Colosseo’ — for a laugh. will change, nothing needs to You have to have lunch at the change. If only countries became You don’t settle in Peroni restaurant. You have to superpowers by sipping limonRome for ambition revel in the artisanal gelato cello, eating biscotti and admirbut rather for available in all the flavours that ing the view... contentment you can only dream of — pine Having spent a couple of years nut and hazelnut, fruits of the in my early 20s in Rome, revisitforest and tiramisu. You have to ing it nine years later meant try the olive ascolane or battermeeting an old self and seeing fried olives stuffed with veal or prosciutto. the city anew. My biggest fear was being misMake a meal of the suppli, the rice balls that taken for a tourist. A tough act to pull off in Juhide a secret helping of mozzarella. Cuisine in ly in Rome; because, for one, I don’t speak Roma can leave both the vegetarian and the Italian and two, all its citizens flee to the carnivore equally pleased. And of course, the beaches in summer, leaving behind only tourcoffee drinker in ecstasies. ists and vendors. But the tourists are easy But you will never know all of Rome. Walk enough to spot in this city, with their open without a guide or destination and you will maps and mouths, they wait for the pedestristumble upon a church or fountain that will an light to turn green. The Italians don’t. They be all your own. The churches are always as make a calculated run for it. The tourists will cool as silence. Take off your shoes, and feel the order a postprandial cappuccino in a cafe. The gelid marble beneath your toes. Close your abomination! Milk — like ablutions — is only eyes, and the smell of incense, the clicking of a for the mornings, after that it is only espresso, wooden rosary and, if you are lucky, the notes to be had preferably standing by the counter. of a violin will waft towards you.

Tourists earn their tourist stripes as they pose

he Chennakesava temple in Belur, Karnataka, is not just an architectural marvel on the banks of the Yagachi river, it is also a repository of more than 20 board games, played possibly by priests as well as temple caretakers in the 12th century and until much later. Similarly, at the Mahalakshmi temple in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, the grid of the game Sixteen Sepoys is clearly visible on a stone plinth. And in Varanasi, the gateway to salvation, board games can be found etched into the platforms lining the banks of the Ganga, as also inside numerous temples.

From Pallanghuzi to Pachisi and Chaupar to Chaduranga, a range of astonishingly inventive games were played by emperors and commoners alike in the centuries gone by.

Today, a handful of people are attempting to The next question was, ‘Can we revive them?’” revive these traditional board games of India. says Singh.

Whether they are doing it as a non-profit iniWhile curiosity was the germ of the idea for tiative or as a commercial venture, their moti- the RKP trio, it was the close bond with their vation is the same — to familiarise the internet grandparents that led Dr Ramya Surapaneni generation with these games and preserve of Spardha Games and journalist Vinita Sidthis precious legacy. hartha of Kreeda Games to introduce board “We have documented ‘board’ games in- games like Puli-Meka (Tiger and Goat), Mancala scribed on the floors of over 100 temples, and Dahdi (Nine Men’s Morris) to the masses. mostly in Karnataka,” says RG Singh, honorary secretary at MyGames grandparents play sore’s Ramsons Kala Prathishta“My grandparents used to babyna (RKP) Trust, whose hunt for sit my children and, despite the We have documented traditional games has taken him 80-year age gap, my kids enjoyed games inscribed in from Orissa to Maharashtra, Utspending time with them. They over 100 temples, tar Pradesh to Tamil Nadu, other played games that my grandparincluding cave than the cave temples of Badaents played when they were temples in Karnataka mi, Aihole and Pattadakal in his growing up,” recalls Sidhartha. home State.

Around 2002, when she became Long before TV or movies tired of content writing, Sidharwere even dreamt of, how did tha decided to make these games our forefathers spend their free time? After for friends and family. “I also made some piecmulling over the question for years, in 2000, es for sale and we sold out in the first week.

Singh, together with Dileep Kumar and Raghu That’s how Kreeda Games was born.”

Dharmendra of RKP, began researching in earFor dentist Surapaneni — who specialises in nest. “One of the things they did was play smile designing, and shuttles between Hyde‘board’ games, inscribed in temples, houses... rabad and Indore for work — traditional

Q R

work takeaway

saturday, august 9, 9, 2014 saturday, august 2014

Test of time The Colosseo dominates the city centre

shutterstock/matej kastelic;

(right) Trastevere, a favourite meeting point for friends and family shutterstock/ tupungato

Pray, play The Chennakesava temple at

Travel Log

with leather-skirt-wearing, thigh-flashing sprawling population descended from the Somanathapura, in Mysore district, has carvings of ‘gladiators’ outside the Colosseo and then original Romans. To stand on these streets is the Mancala board game; (right) the Adu Huli, or Goats and Tigers, game grid inscribed on the wall of a seem surprised when they get harangued for to stand where Michelangelo once stood, in Get there well at the Chennakesava temple in Belur five euros. You’ll see them raring down in their the 15th century, and to see what he saw — “a In June this year, Air India started labyrinth of narrow streets”. white sneakers and short shorts; direct flights from Delhi to Rome What thrilled me about Rome the Italians, however, strut along and Milan. along need games heldstilettos values for life. “Winning and los- eral challenges on this visitthe wasway. not “You only re-reAside from logistical and funding challengin their unflustered ing, following rules, learning to cope with loss pawns and dice, the manufacturing process membering its history and myth es, theseStay manufacturers are hampered by the when their heels ensnare in the stand on these and being a sportMost are traits games has to be understood and artisans have to exbe absenceWe but rediscovering places that of stayed uniform rulesLancelot, for traditional cobbled streets. tellingthat of videoTo at Hotel located streets stand roped in to create games,” Singh. Givandacomputers can’task teach she says.is to ist so the vividly in mysays memories.

On games. Every few kilometres, the game is all, tourist might for children,” pineon a quiet side street, 10same minutes where Michelangelo at Ramsons, an established She used to visit her An grandparents regularly en his experience a cruelly blue evening, I travers- played under different rulesWhile and even a differapple on their pizza.

Italian from the Colosseo. the stood in the 15th in the in Nimmakuru, Andhra Pradesh. company sectors, ed handicrafts these streets withSingh an was old ent name.

So, forisinstance, Tigers waiter once replied, “We make “We bonded location ideal, theGoats hoteland staff and is century Adu Huli, Puli Meka, Baag Bok, Huli over board games. I also encouraged my cou- confident thefriend games could by artiwho livesbe in made Trastevere, at- known as pizza, not cake”. breakfast also merit mention Bagh Bakri among a host of other sins to visit during themy holidays. That’s sans. But putting it all together tookpizzeria almost Kattu and tempting to find the I was on athem mission to find (lancelothotel.com). when I realised that favourite pizzeria intraditional the city, lo-games were a five years. from where I used to buy a slice names. “Our researchers use the common de“By 2005, for we lunch engaged clusters great way of inculcating andwith eat oncraft the steps by nominators cated in Trastevere.

Todayvalues Tras- apart from Eat from all such games to make the says Surapaneni. across India.

We remember visited these places,and understrengthening ties,” she planted says. She river.

I didn’t its name had basic rules,” tevere is a trendyfamily neighbourhood, on the If you want traditional Roman fare stood and defounded Gamespacked in February, and has no ideathe if it manufacturing existed a decade process, later. the banksSpardha of the Tiber, with gawking try Bucatino, in Testaccio, complete to GenNext the product based the motifs since launched four games.

We wound our way to ViaonGiulia, whereand ivy Appealing tourists, residential expats and foreign stu- signed with rabbit meat and ox tail. But you to make makeathe games more conother down inputsan provided bylanguid artisans,” says Singh.

BothBut Sidhartha and Surapaneni their drips arch with ardour, mak- Efforts are The Agony dents. it also finds mention in used canon also meal of their Kreedabuffet has created a module that Thisaproject him to inlay in My- temporary. savings and help family to that fundMichetheir ing forfrom it is from here perfecttook lover’s alcove.

Thecraftsmen arch is testimoand the Ecstasy, wonderful of appetizers.

I am using traditional games, ventures.

Today, Kreeda sellsofanywhere sore, artists and plan wooden toy back (Eti- teaches amaths to Kalamkari an incomplete master dating langelo Buonarroti ‘sculptor Florence’ from used ny fan of L'Antica Birreria Peroni, 10anexecutive and anoreduca500buy to his 1,000 games marble. every month, be- to koppaka) makers in Andhra Pradesh, Batik other for to Caracalla Irvingpriced Stone dethe 1540s.

We stopped

by Polvere di Tempo, minutes fromtraining, Piazza Venezia the tween ₹100 ₹800. Spardha’s range in West hand-weavers of Sola- tional aid for specially-abled children. Its precious shopBengal, that sells antique timepieces, scribes it asand a densely inhabitedprices section of aartists city centre. With its intricate pur in Maharashtra Piplishall appliqué artists from ₹800 to ₹25,000. you that and this too pass. Just as three-series game based on the Ramayana faRome, home of the potters, tanners, fisher- reminding frescoes, rustic interiors and frenzied in Orissa. men, boatmen, gardeners… a brawling, we turned off Piazza Trilussa (watched over by miliarises children with the epic and its charatmosphere, it is a great place for a As the manufacturers of traditional games acters.

Road to revival meal.

And it is very reasonable!

Spardha, meanwhile, is attempting to carve Each of these revivalists had to surmount sev- prefer natural materials over plastic, achievmarket by reminding people of the ing scale and finding the right supply-chain out a new tip gifted partners prove to be major challenges. “Many games that Staywere cleartraditionally of restaurants thatduring face a “In South India, there is a tradition games are played with shells. We decided not marriage. the famous monuments or are boardatgames at marriages.

We are to use them to preserve biodiversity. We re- of gifting located the centre of the square. searched and came up with a substitute — pa- trying to revive that,” says Surapaneni, who alItalians never eat here because the per powder. But another challenge was to ready gets about a third of her sales from marfood is over-priced and substandard. riage halls. ensure that the probabilities (of Wander away from these tourist As things stand, the revival of the dice throw outcome) did not trapstraditional and find yourself gamesa trattoria, largely or rechange with the use of other family-run restaurant. mains an urban phenomenon. products,” Sidhartha explains.

The buyers are mainly from the RKP does not produce more Kreeda sells up to older generation as they are likethan 800 games a year as all the 1,000 games aa month, statue of the poet best known for hanging to have played them least pieces are handcrafted. “We out on street ly corners and writing of or theateverypriced ₹100-800 heardin ofconversation them. An emerging don’t want to use mass methods day) two benches caughtcatemy goryit.ofWe enthusiasts IT of manufacturing,” says Singh. eye. I had found were sooncomprises biting into professionals The prices start at ₹300 and go the best sausage and ricottaeager pizzato in reconnect the whole with their heritage. “They have alup to ₹20,000 for large pieces of Rome. Nothing had changed. created gaming apps Tic-tac-toe and like the Mancala game board with 14 pits in so We ambled to Campo de’for Fiori, a flea market brass, which can also be used as a showpiece.

Nine Men’s Morris,” says Singh. on weekends and a raucous drinking arena at At Kreeda, the various parts — dice, pawns, night.

The games areof also a favourite with who souvenir A statue Giordano Bruno, was boards, packaging material, rules pamphlets burned huntersatand gifters.

“Many the corporate stake at that very spot — forcorpohereand so on — arrive from different suppliers. sy rates are putting bulk ordersOne for can occasions — presides overinthe piazza. easily “Each element of a game is sub-contracted to a imagine like Diwali,” Sidhartha. himsays casting aside his hood and tutspecific supplier. We assemble everything in tutting In the the meantime, e-commerce sites around such as brawlers and drinkers our own office. Managing inventory is very him.

Amazon, eBaynumerous and Snapdeal I threw coinshave into weighed the Tiberin — tough,” says Sidhartha, even as she looks for in with their brandreturn. of support. “We can’t get hope forown a speedy new ways to streamline supply chain and in- their reach. piggyback them andoutreFinally, weWe satcan down at one ofonthe many ventory management. ach out to aordered larger audience,” says Sidhartha. door cafes, glasses of white wine, deWhile RKP retails its traditional games on a clined She recently soldofa red game to aand buyer in aasmall bouquets roses raised toast non-profit basis (it runs a successful business to town of Spain.

“AnybodyThere who was learns about finding old favourites. music in in Mysore selling saris and handicrafts), Kree- the them wants tonight. try them.” cafes that And, I could swear, there Mancala in Spain? da and Spardha are just about breaking even. were fireworks in theThe air. game is certainly on.

“Financial challenges remain, but it is passion rashmi pratap that keeps me going,” says Sidhartha. nandini nair

Q R

Flames and furies Campo di fiori today bustles with drinkers and revellers at night.

In ancient times the ‘heretics’ were burnt at the stake here shutterstock/iakov kalinin

Q R

Celestial spectators A game of Goats and Tigers etched on stone slabs in front of a richly carved stone pillar at the Srirangam temple in Tamil Nadu

CH-X _ A

5 BL 21 BL

explore know

BL BL 222

saturday, august 9, 9, 2014 saturday, august 2014

CREATURE FEATURE

Dragonflies and other ‘flies’ What makes insects capable of catching prey nearly as large as themselves?

M

Solved!

ost of the creatures I flies vanquish large prey. But we pick to be featured in know quite a bit about how dragonthis column are ones flies hunt smaller prey, specifically that I’ve seen some- fruit flies (also ‘real’ flies). Dragonwhere, creatures that give me a rea- flies outperform fruit flies comson to find them fascinating — they pletely — they fly faster, speed up may thrive in an unexpected place, and slow down quicker, and usually exhibit unusual behaviour, or inter- the fruit fly doesn’t even realise it’s act interestingly with another orga- being hunted. But despite their nism. Once I zero in on the subject, I sniper-like precision, even dragonast June, when Daniel Spiel- Polya Prize winner, observed that sift through scientific literature to flies can fail. We learn a lot about man, Adam Marcus and the problem looked similar to the see if others have found the same dragonflies from these failures, Nikhil Srivastava posted K-S Conjecture, they decided to go animal compelling for reasons simi- from fruit flies that evade capture. their paper on the Kadison- after it. What began as a side problar to mine. I usually find what I’m How on earth does a fruit fly manSinger Conjecture the mathlooking for; this time, my IST,age n Julyhowever, 31, at 8.40am ‘granny’ Tali a dragonfly? lemthe in 2009 years to comto outwit doesn’t, little help It from Skype grannies.

Anything isonline, up had described avian took life five in the school ematicaland world did ato double take. Itandplete. search came up more or less logs empty.

Blumgart in to and Skype from even During the and first rac-two, it doesn’t try. Most —fruit for discussion from wildlife festivals grounds discovered opossums likeasthe conjecI wanted to write about an About inter- 10,209km Melbourne. away, Spielman, Srivastava flies that escapefamilies from dragonflies and futures. seemed Described a 54-year-old “play- coons in Thierer’s backyard.

Yet, afterand bothMarcus the ture, first proposed by mathematiaction between a at robber fly (an ac- inaren’t an all girls’ school Kalkaji, Del-anything were at Yale.in-charge Then Srivastava moved doing out of the orground in space”, the project is currently opersessions, Rekha Sharma, of the classcians Richard Kadison hi, a group assembles in front of a computer. ational in six locations for a post-doctorate to Princeton, — Delhi, Pune and and es,Isadore remains optimistic.

“A few months ago, Singervillages in 1959, solved.

The picture is grainy and the connection, Hyderabad and in far-flung meeting thedidn’t co-authors “intermitof had ruralbeen when we started out, they know Google.

Comments started pouring in,had fel- notently”. patchy. “Hi, I am Tali,” says 24-year-old Blum- Karnataka, in Rayalpadu theto last year, relied and RameshwarwaThey idea of In how type or they search. low mathematicians began sharing gart, who is pursuing a degree in Education at di, which boasts a single on email and Skype, for computer in one Now they’re conversing in English andSrivastava using it, scoresgather of talks were — had a university in Melbourne. “Like the one you man’s house where children movedshe to Bangalore.

There were once a organised the internet to learn,” says. For Rashmi proof was going viral.and Thisher July, eat from... thali,” she continues, as the girls dis- week to meet a granny. the “many spurts hope sessions and disapWhile Dr Mitra with Dr 49 classmates, theseofweekly and Srivastava solve into laughter. Thirteen-year-old Ritu, Suneeta Kulkarni choseSpielman, pointment”. when the solution HyderabadMarcus for the piare the only face-time withBut computers. were the“letGeorgeSixty-three-year-old Polya came together, who is at the head of this happy delegation, is lot, at the other locations Srivastava theyawarded decided to Jackie Barrow fromsays: UK “I Prize, given every twobyyearswas for one workof the abruptly pushed aside to make way for Rash- them come to us. We were started laughing.

It fit so beautifully, then approached first granny recruits when the in combinatorics orthe graphproject theory started. mi, the talkative one. “Hi ma’am. I’m Rashmi, I schools and NGOs that were youEvery knewTuesday, it was the ‘right’ proof. committed to Barrow logs in It Kadison and Singer had with can speak,” she screams into the mike, send- project,” says Pune-based What combined ideas we had generated Dr Kulkarni. to interact students at Pune, Rayalpadu back session then was ing her classmates into another giggling fit. overafive years.”

At Kalkaji, granny asked Blumgart’s is and Rameshwarwadi, using series of icestates Her friend Shivani too leans in and introduces making a nosedive. It’swhether After posting the her first“pure session and breakers to include all the children — who is paabelian von know Neu- the oldest, tallest, youngest, herself. Even tongue-tied Ritu is introduced. she can’t tell how it’son per ‘Interlacing Families going.

“I don’t shortest, etc. They And just like that, granny Blumgart and the what level the studentsmann Mixed Characteristic are at algebras yet,” says could Blum- try storytelling in some II:sessions, YouTube It combined bits of extendedgranny uniquely girls begin their first online interaction. the Kagart, perhaps the onlybe 24-year-old in clips in others. SometimesPolynomials the sessionsand are satideas we generated pure states on their non- isfactory, sometimes frustrating.

The Granny Cloud project kicked off in Del- the project. The eighthtograders, dison-Singer Problem’, despite Last month, over five years ambika kamath abelian hi in February this year, making the Kalkaji training in Math classes was invited where algebras”. for instance,the antrio ambitious at- to That’s a mouthful, but tual fly, cousin the Granny Cloud location in the dinary. school theofsixth talks, flyingabout they’reWhen learning linear tempt to use ahold Padlet for afrom powerBosin quantum physics it common housefly) country.

When the project resumed in early Ju- around ton tofailed Bordeaux to scrambling explore over pairs, are a simpoint presentation miser-and asksWhen a vital question: and a dragonfly (not summer a ly, after a long break, two new gran- their of the environment, ple distance problem. ably. “It was Bangalore. bad,” says One Barrow, For Rashmi and her 49 The robber fly state of an electron is represent- adding fly at nies all, since has had itsigned up and the children’s fruit key achievements of dashed the trio’s flies routinely Blumgart asks them toThe convert that the kids offproof a classmates, these seemed to struggle ed by observable quantities like po- separate four wings instead of Edna was back. favourite granny is their new to the solumake erratic turns. distance the Melbourne-Delhi of noteapproach later saying “we weekly sessions are with its oversized spin or momentum. But still two likeThe theproject, flies). an It extension of the Hole in the And10,209km tion.like While averaging while theinto fruitcentimetres, fly sition,the youthe very much”. argument In July the only face-time prey, like a harrowed according was a Wall decidedly projectonestarted 15 years ago by Dr Sugata may remains niftyBarrow tool in math to prove have a to perfectly girls look Rashmi who turns to Heisenberg’s Uncer- 2012, BBCatook to Pune, to with computers traveller hauling too tainty Principle, observable quanti- meet sided Mitra, duel —professor clasped at Newcastle University, was good conjectures, it applies real numreason for turnto Google.

When she asks them her students for ato televised large a suitcase such as position and velocity series between the legs of the based on an idea of “grannies reading fairy- ing,howthe bers. For the challenge lay in manydragonfly lakhs are in ties a million onthem, the project.

The stuacross the airport robbertales fly towas the on Skype”. A few “benign doesn’t children applying it to a polynomial. know it millions and can’t and how many in a be bil-measured simultaneously. dents, who had often taken“It’s vir-like So, canon the value of one observable tual corpsementors” of a dragonfly volunteered, and in 2009, sessions can’t tryingtours to find predict it, therelion — typing the questions of anheraverage homeforincolextrapolated to others took nearly began double own inits Hyderabad.

These sessions allow chil- by Skype ours,” Srivastava.

What they leading— to failed quantity thea students get busy be copying the Manchester, hersays to theirs.

For Halloween that can’tRashmi be measured size. The fly using the internet, with a predatory dren robber to “self-learn” proved then that the excursion. questions in notebooks before yells alongside? last year, when Barrow waswas explaining theroots fes- of question motivaseemed to struggle with its overtheat average polynomial are less While it’s possible that dragon“five minutes please” to“The go tooriginal the second com- was tival to the kids Rameshwarwadi in Sindhuby theagain. desire for a durg, rigorous sized prey, pausing on a tree trunk flies choose onlyputer than 0.9out.

— or,“They there’d onewith specific to chase fruit flies in the tiny roomted to Google “Take the lights went satbe there mathematical foundation quan-torch to reposition its load, like a har- whose turns they polynomial property can Blumgart, predict, itand before 15,” says she knows it the afor single shining onwith theirthat faces.

It was in tum mechanics,” says Srivastava, 35, And rowed traveller hauling too large a seems to me thatsession theitcase of polynomials that interwhether a fruit inches to fly an end.

Rashmi is still stuck pitch dark. was perfect,” says Barrow. suitcase across the airport. As I stop- lives or dies in the lace (their While of a dragonfonjaws spelling Melbourne working correctly.for the last two years Thewith grannies also have new their technique). own social netMicrosoft ped to photograph the duo, I won- ly depends a lot on the physical, that is, the quantum chance While most—ofthe the grannies areResearch from UK,in USBangalore. work, a blog where they vent about failed ses2008. who or is apassmechanical dered at the robber fly’s hunting chance that a fruit interpretation remains flyAustralia will take a—sudand only oneItiswas from IndiaSpielman, — Dr sions on ideas that worked. “Besides, professor of applied prowess. What makes it capable of den turn just as Kulkarni unproventryand proof what doesn’t a dragonfly swoops says, “The good thing is that cultures,mathematics sometimes teachers to the show-off and computer science at Yale andtaught a have catching prey larger than itself? algorithms yet,and thegirls conjecture down towards it.colour And I guess and chance accents don’t act as barriers.” they’ve in these sessions, are MacArthur solvingalways a has The robber fly’s feat is made all also drives those been proved true. The idea has more50noticeable About grannies are2012 taking sessionsfellow, at thewasalmost held back,” says Barrow. different problemsince on the sparsificathe more impressive by the fact that hunting encounters wide-ranging applications, from between and dragsix locations, 150 have volunteered Back in Kalakaji, as the second session ends, of graphs.

Srivastava, dragonflies are no sluggards. Just a onfly and dragonfly quantumshuffle physicsout to of graph theory or dragonfly the project began. “But tion we need 350 grannies,” thethen girlsareluctantly the lab. student at Yale, was few weeks earlier, I had seen a drag- and robber fly. says for ‘compressing networks’ Though ‘chance’ who is isgraduate Dr Kulkarni, busy recruiting.

“Thisworkis our favourite class,” they chorus,and as fiwith him.with Theylong were looking at nite says, onfly catch and feed upon another not a satisfying answer dimensional geometry.

Which to this or any ising Blumgart’s session punctuated granny Blumgart “I wish I had told them I models explainaircomplex net- something equal-sized dragonfly. What makes question really, pauses, means if, a from decade later,today your—cellit’s an answer, a faulty one connection andtoa general too learned them works like session Facebook, this insect capable of catching prey must accept, thatofishesitation. phones work better, you can thank often true.In contrast, the earlier at how aboutthey the lakhs and the crores.” formed, interacted almost as big as itself?

7.30am with another first-time granny — and US- how to ‘com- the trio for solving the K-S problem. and — had priyanka press’ Gil Kalai, an ad-kotamraju Unfortunately, we don’t really ambika kamath studies basedorganismic Kari Thierer faredthem. better.When The kids junct professor at Yale and a former priyanka kotamraju know how robber flies or dragon- evolutionary biology at Harvard University

Meet the mathematicians who solved a 54-yearold puzzle to win the George Polya Prize Described as a “playground in space”, the Granny Cloud project in Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad and rural Karnataka is more than just “grannies reading fairytales to children on Skype”

L

O

Focus group At a weekly Skype session with granny Blumgart in Delhi kamal narang

Q

Q QR

R

R

CH-X _ A

scan know

saturday, august 9, 9, 2014 saturday, august 2014

The devil wears Prada Accustomed to human largesse, these animals have probably forgotten how to survive in the wild

Kathi wars The latest on Manhattan’s streets is a turf war between two kathi roll joints

W

ho doesn’t love the deliciously snacky kathi roll? Rumoured to have originated in the streets of Kolkata, the kebab-in-a-paratha is stuff of fast-food legend in this country. In New York though, the love for the kathi roll is threatening to turn into an all-out kathi war. The 12year-old Kati Roll Company in the city claims that the recently opened Kati Junction has not only stolen its colour scheme and décor, but also poached its staff and, consequently, its ‘secret’ recipes. The Kati Junction people argue that a kathi is a kathi and no one really owns the recipe for it. The manager of the new entrant was quoted by a daily as saying, “Burger King and McDonald’s have similarities but you wouldn’t say they’re the same.” Meanwhile, a legal battle ensues, and there’s no love lost between the competitors. But New York isn’t complaining, as it just means more kathi for the taking.

Farewell, Pran Chacha The man who gave us the faster-thana-computer chacha is no more

I

Capital monkeys

n 1971, Chacha Chaudhary and sidekick Sabu made their debut in Lotpot magazine. Back then, when Nagaraj and Super Commando Dhruv made up the Indian superhero contingent, here was a diminutive old man, who could’ve been your avuncular neighbour, fighting crime and delivering justice. In Pran’s hands, the much-moustachioed Chacha and the Jupiter-returned, halwa-gobbling Sabu became everyday heroes, saving ordinary folks with a ‘faster-than-a-computer’ wisdom. Pran created a cast of unforgettable characters, using our middle-class lives to churn out adventures filled with mischievous children, preposterous baddies and a chacha with a solution to all problems. RIP.

ranjit lal

Tilt to save In Australia, passengers come together to move a train to save one man

W

hat happens when one commuter forgets to ‘mind the gap’?

Well, he gets stuck in it. This is exactly what happened in Perth, Australia, when a man got trapped in the gap between the platform and the train. While station officials ensured the train didn’t pull out of the station, they couldn’t pull the man out. That’s when the good Samaritans came to his rescue. The train emptied out and all the passengers stepped on to the platform to give the train a good ol’ heave-ho. A few minutes later, the train had tilted under all that pushing, and the commuter was pulled to safety. What’s funny is that the man was standing on the ‘mind the gap’ sign when he fell. One of the witnesses told The Guardian that the mishap made him rethink the warning. “It’s not something you take seriously. I always thought it was a bit of a joke, but now, you kind of do.” Lesson learnt.

Delhi has always had a love-hate relationship with the rhesus macaques, but their world and ours have more in common than we would imagine

T

hey’ve taken South Block. They’ve alpha-male. Allegedly headed because with- reach from their moms. They meet their elder taken North Block. They’re in the out the support of the dowager females of the siblings (some who show tremendous conPresidential Estate. They’re rioting troupe, he’s a nobody. And yes, he must kiss cern and perform baby-sitting duties, others around Parliament and India Gate. the babies to curry favour. Usually he has a who bully and tease) and spinster auntyjis who They’ve annexed residential colonies, market- wingman too. But the moms are the ones who show huge interest in them, sometimes leadplaces, office complexes, parks, gardens, the make the decisions. They have their territories ing to violent flare-ups with their mothers, Ridge, and places of worship. And you’d better and patrol them. who suspect the auntyjis might have childfridge…seemed a tad too indulgent. he Valencian town may not know it yet, butgo itsand to- check this your celebration disTheThe Northern Ridge at one time had seven napping on their minds. Generally there’s a simians, rhesus macaques (Macaca mato-throwing festival skipped continents The and citytrict administration took notice (long major after the last each in its own area. I watched lot of TLC going around. Sometimes, alas, a batroupes, mulatta) everywhere. now, the arrived in Gujarat this year on Friendship Day last are tomato had beenAnd squished), onlyGovto discover that dispute the a border once: a horde of macaques by does not make it, and its distraught mother mant has organisers struck backhad with devilish ingenuity. tax. week. At the privately sponsored event in Vadodara, evaded entertainment Thepouring spon- out of the trees into the more will carry the skeletal little corpse around came It tried langurs themwith (which, ap-lakhopen 3,000 people turned up and paid ₹300 a head to setting sors have beenafter slapped a ₹4.5 fine. But, for parkland, shrieking war with her for a couple of days — parently was anyway), but the two squish, squash and hurl five tonnes of tomatoes. now,illegal in Gujarat and elsewhere ingot the country, to- raced after another cries asthe they whether out of grief or because into an unholy macaques disapWith prices of tomatoes still riding high at ₹100/kg, mato’salliance: rightful the place remains in the kitchen. troupe that had dared to lay she does not understand what’s peared when the langurs showed up and re- claim to the area. If you’re caught happened, I can’t say. Some Some young females appeared as soon as the coast was clear. in the middle, it’s best to keep young females are so keen to be are so keen to be Now, the authorities have dressed up men still. This was all-out war: the inmoms they may even kidnap moms they may even as langurs, making langur noises, while oth- truders fled screaming. puppies. Mostly of course, the kidnap puppies. ers are armed with paintball guns. Will this In any troupe, there will albabies become monkeys. On the Mostly of course, the work? Only time will tell but, frankly, I doubt ways be rebel tough guys who Ridge, there are vines to swing babies become it. How many men will they dress up as lan- get kicked out — they want to be from, ponds to dive into, cables monkeys gurs? And how long before the paintball com- alpha but lack the required politto tightrope across and, in the mandos turn their guns on each other rather ical, social and leadership skills. parking lot, cars and bikes with than holy monkeys?

They’re loners, followed occaglittery mirrors… But discipline The monkeys alas have influential sponsors. sionally by a couple of foolish is maintained even if it results in Tutti-frutti parties (involving papayas, ba- adolescent hero-worshippers. Peace normally tantrums and screaming. I’ve watched an adonanas, mangoes et al) and gur-parantha buffets reigns in a troupe, with a lot of ‘you scratch my lescent throw a hissy fit in the middle of the are thrown for them every day by people in back I will scratch yours’ going on all the time. road, being completely ignored by his elders the city everywhere. On this largesse they have Economically they’re well off but, heck, it’s (the kid sister or brother was getting all the grown enormous and probably have choleste- all subsidised. Without the papayas, bananas, TLC), who frankly looked disgusted. rol issues. At the same time, there is a section mangoes and paranthas being doled out every But when it comes to sex, they’re wonderfulast week, Russia announced a ban on some fruit and vegetable imports, of the population that shakes sticks and day, without the markets and kitchens they ly liberal: those monkey kids begin early, realincluding apples from (read EU sancthrows stones at them. Which makes the si- raid regularly, they’d be impoverished and Poland, ly earlyfor and“sanitary right in reasons” front of the adults, who Since then, hundreds of Poles have flooded withstart apmians edgy, and probably does nasty things to might starve. They tions). may well have forgotten don’t turn a hair!

Thesocial adultsnetworks themselves ple-eating The their campaign, billedinvolved the “healthiest protest onin Facebook”, their blood pressure. But then, who the heck how to forage naturally in theselfies. trees like getting with each other Octoberhas gone national and viral. ItNovember, has also spawned anisFBwhen page the called Eat violent Apples said that these alleged vegetarians be armed ancestors did. and this most where Bathe most popular with two-inch canines more suited to saberSocially, childcaretoisAnnoy given Putin, top priority. brawls breakparody out. pictures have been liked nearly 20,000 Poland is Whatever the world’s largest apple exporter and, actoothed tigers, and how dare they flash them bies are born usually around Apriltimes. and cling you do, just don’t wear a monkey cording bellies to Reuters, more half of the country’s exported apples go to at our children? wide-eyed to their mothers’ for the firstthan suit then.

Russia.

If Putin wants take the bite out of Poland’s apple exports, it’s time So what do we know about them? Political- few days. Then, they’re riding jockey styleto and ranjit lal is an author and environmentalist for war. eat apples everyone! ly, they live in large troupes, headed by a dada soon trying to venture out #jedzjabłka of arm’s (or —tail’s)

A damp squib

La Tomatina comes to Gujarat, draws govt ire

T

Q R

An apple a day…

…Will keep Putin annoyed

L

CH-X _ A

3 23BL BL

HANG

saturday, august 9, 2014

BL

24

cornerstone in-faq by joy bhattacharjya Protests

O

n August 8, 1942, Mahatma Gandhi asked the British to quit India. A day later, the jails were full of arrested Congress leaders. Here's a chance to do your patriotic duty. Try and crack this quiz dedicated entirely to all manner of protests.

1

While on the Quit India movement: since most of the senior Congress leadership was already behind bars, which 33-year-old presided over the AICC Session on August 9 and hoisted the Indian flag at the Gowalia Tank maidan in the city of Bombay?

2

Which word in the English language derives from the name of the land agent of a certain Lord Erne, who took some extremely unpopular measures against Irish tenants after a poor harvest in 1880?

3

In which year did the losers of the Olympic men’s basketball final refuse to accept their medals in protest against the refereeing in the final minutes of the game?

4 5

The Velvet revolution was a series of nonviolent protests that rocked which European country between 1989 and 1991?

In the play Lysistrata written by Aristophanes and originally performed in 411 BC, what unique method did Lysistrata advocate to try and end the Peloponnesian war?

the new york times crossword-1117

bye-lines

6

A member of Parliament from Bihar between 1967 and 1979, he was also the chief minister of Bihar for 48 days in 1968. However, he is most remembered for a job he undertook in 1978 for the Morarji Desai government, although his recommendations came into effect much later.

Identify this gentleman whose name the whole country got to know in the late ’80s.

7

Jayaprakash Narayan’s mammoth Boat Club rally in 1975, where he memorably quoted Dinkar, was one of the largest ever at the venue, attracting over one lakh protestors. What unusual, though unsuccessful, ploy did the ruling government try to lessen the attendance?

8 9 10

Which actress was famously photographed in Hanoi standing beside an anti-aircraft battery to protest US military action in Vietnam?

In 1976, most African nations boycotted the 1976 Summer Olympics protesting the presence of which country in the games?

Which famous satire describes a huge political controversy after a significant number of citizens in a fictional island broke away to form a new nation, protesting a ruling about breaking eggs on the smaller end?

Answers

1. Aruna Asaf Ali; amazing lady, she would use public transport in Delhi well into her 80s.

2. Boycott — the man being Captain Charles Boycott.

3. 1972, Munich. The US team had won when the final whistle went off, but the Soviet Union protested and a fraction of a second was again added to the clock. The Russians scored in that time.

4. Czechoslovakia 5. She asked the Greek women to deny their menfolk sex till they stopped the war.

6. BP Mandal, the man who authored the Mandal Commission report.

7. They showed the super-hit film Bobby on Doordarshan. The ploy did not work.

8. Jane Fonda; she became known as Hanoi Jane and later claimed she had been manipulated into posing for that picture.

9. New Zealand, as its rugby team had just toured South Africa.

10. Gulliver’s Travels, written by Jonathan Swift.

Lilliput and Blefuscu were the warring countries.

CH-X _ A

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

ACROSS 1 Former Belgian national airline 7 Just says no 14 Cremona craftwork 20 Origami staples 21 1993 5x platinum Nirvana album 22 Wise guy 23 The Lone Ranger 25 Phillip, e.g., in Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty” 26 Carrier inits.

27 Kemo ___ (the Lone Ranger) 28 Move a muscle?

29 No longer in enemy hands 30 Kind of appeal 32 Base, e.g.

34 Infusing with a soda maker 35 Hospital supply 37 ___ Fáil, Ireland’s coronation stone 38 Strike callers 39 Massachusetts motto starter 40 Dietary claim 44 Deeply rooted 46 Toothpaste type 47 Roger Ebert 52 84-Down writer’s monogram 53 Opportunities,

metaphorically 54 Hands (out) 55 Trig ratio 59 Old camera settings, for short 61 Add (up) 62 François Truffaut’s field 63 Sweet-talk 64 Porky Pig 69 Fixes up, as a run -down house 70 Cato’s man 71 When doubled, one of the Teletubbies 72 “Now!” 73 “August: ___ County” (2008 Pulitzer winner for Drama) 74 “S.N.L.” alum Cheri 76 Mimicry 78 July third?

79 George Burns 83 Genus of small rodents 86 Items sometimes sniffed at a supermarket 87 Highlights 88 Mille ___ (part of Québec with a rhyming name) 90 Fill 91 Other side 92 Volleyball venue 96 Hair extensions?

98 Something you want to

come down from quickly 102 Dry: Prefix 103 Home of Banff National Park 104 Animal house 105 2004 Chevy debut 107 “___ can’t” 108 Beefeaters, e.g.

109 Red Skelton 112 Record of the Year Grammy nominee for “Lose Yourself” 113 Primary pigment for printers 114 Rays’ div.

115 Luna’s counterpart 116 Auto steering system components 117 Potential sweethearts DOWN 1 Downhill run 2 Massenet opera based on Greek myth 3 Bears’ home in Texas 4 2005 Drama Pulitzer finalist Will 5 Costner role 6 Like the origin of the food in many fusion restaurants 7 Pulled apart 8 Compass dir.

9 Nickname for Huntington

Beach, Calif.

10 Bologna’s place 11 Clinched, with “up” 12 “Time ___” (bygone sci-fi series) 13 ___-based 14 Defames 15 One of the von Trapp girls 16 Do some banking, say 17 Going down in the rankings, say 18 Holy smoke 19 First Mets manager 24 CNBC news item 29 Mag proofs 31 Shallot, e.g.

33 Keyes and King 34 Mosey along 36 “Beowulf” quaff 38 Jesse and Leo of TV sitcoms 41 Poky sorts 42 Order to go?

43 Onward 44 Sees through 45 Latte option 47 Ópera venue 48 Chops up 49 S. ___ Merkerson, fourtime N.A.A.C.P. Image Award-winning actress 50 Oscar-winning Forest Whitaker role

51 Judo gyms 56 Ancient Mexican 57 Base 58 Company that owns Gerber 60 Layered coifs 62 Groups of strings, maybe 63 Sword fight sounds 65 Letter-shaped bridge support 66 Mr. Right 67 Dominant 68 Church group 74 Black Hills native 75 Sweetie 76 Lace’s end 77 Vittles 80 Possible answer to “Is that you?”

81 Apple product 82 Extreme point 83 Sights not to be believed 84 Poem that ends, “This ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir” 85 What a judge might do

during a hearing 89 “A Sentimental Journey” author 91 Thomas Jefferson or Jimmy Carter, once 93 Virgil hero 94 Bit of field sport equipment 95 Lifts 97 Where to find “books in the running brooks,” per Shakespeare 98 Star, maybe 99 Indian melodies 100 Nobelist writer Andric 101 Go by bike 104 Beginning of some temple names 106 Preceder of “di” or “da” in a Beatles song 109 Invoice fig.

110 Since 1/1 111 “___ SYLPHIDES” (BALLET)

By Alan Olschwang / Edited by Will Shortz

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