SANTA AT MY DOOR On the heels of a delivery person keeping up with the online shopping spree during the festive season p6 saturday, october 18, 2014
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Spurning the regimen of office and home, a slow traveller chooses adventure and serendipity instead p10
No permanent address
MISSING DIDI Mamata Banerjee loses her sisterly edge as sexual violence worsens in her state p2
SWEETEST OF THEM ALL An illustrated tale of all things Diwali, from crackers to mithai p16
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Wild calling Let there be noise Bagworms CREATURE FEATURE
Rohan Chakravarty’s wildlife caricatures The proliferation of sexual violence in West Bengal has been worsened by the supercilious brought colour and life to the walls of The pivotal role of the wind and of ‘ballooning’ attitude of its leader and institutional forgetting Bangalore’s Indian Cartoon Gallery in the life of bagworms
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is profile says he is noto- interests from shooting birds to rious forlobbed avoiding phone evelry aside, the puja pandals which tinues to be a detonative volleyball, spottingforgetting. them) andThe India’s and institutional CPM greater governmeetings, but reaction dotted West Bengal in early October from one political side to thecalls and lesser cats, among several other next.and On June ment’s to Malik’s death was similar to Chakravarty, were also an occasion for philosoph- 14 this year, Trinamool leader,Rohan quirky illustrations. Krishnanagar its dismissal of the brutal 1990 Bantala gang exhibition ‘Wildlife Too-of three ical extrapolation. Watching Durga MP and yesteryear whose “My favourite birdCrying is theconspirwhiteTollywood star Tapas Paul the rape, health officers. nie Way’ was theBengali 101st show slay the demon Mahishasura was a reminder chose the crudest words collared blackbird,” Chakravarfrom the lex- at The acy Inis a trick that Banerjee says seems to have dian Cartoon Gallery in Bangalore of an uncomfortable truth — evil has an end- icon to warn his rivals ty, her “It sports a handsome white band in Nadia — “If any oppolearnt from predecessors. last month, comes acrossI as warm less capacity to metamorphose and return. nent touches a Trinamool across its black body, a yelgirl, father or child, For Banerjee, thebeautiful gang rape of Suzette JorandI amiable. “I think I relate dan better Mahishasura is believed to have taken on the will destroy his family. lowStreet bill and a bright,2012 spectacle-like will unleash my boys. on Park in February was a matto animals than people,” form of a buffalo, a lion and an elephant in his Rape kore chole jaabe. yellow ring around to its malign eye. It her reRape kore chole jaabe.”he says. ter “If that had been fabricated animals my cartoons epic battle with the goddess. Confessedly, a be- They will rape them, minds meon June of a well-groomed, suave he could said publish repeatedly. state. A year later, 8, there emerged me, I would possibly just lawyer liever in the supernatural, the validity of this Caught on camera,and offthe to the court. it lacks isin a thepay nation from village ofAll Kamduni skipannoyed meeting people altogether!” myth wouldn’t be lost on Mamata Banerjee. had heard him. Visibly briefcase! think it’s one yet of the Bengal’sI Barasat district anWith 72 prints marked by vivid handsomest Like the monsters of folklore and scripture, by the resultant outrage, birds I’ve seen.” Mamaother story of terrible sexual crureds, indigos sexual violence in Bengal continues to mutate, ta Banerjee too thought Beyond theautopsy anthropomorphism, that and every other colour elty. The report of a Sexual violence in in the Chakravarty used Chakravarty’s shaking foundations of worlds, both intimate bombast was her best works showstudent his ability line spectrum, of desecond-year college reBengal continues to his signature and public. verygang real fence — “He has been asked to style of caricature to to collate vealedhumour that shewith hadthe been mutate, shaking exaggerate The West Bengal chief minister should natu- tender an unconditional conflicts today.Her In apol-the features and anato- man-animal raped over severalofhours. Hanging by a silk thread A bagworm waits to ‘balloon’ with the wind ambika kamath foundations of my of his me feathered and four-legged fact,legs rally be invested in this issue. It was on Janu- ogy. What would you overhad a fourth the apart, birds and have been of torn her worlds, both intimate friends to bring out their character, animals ary 7, 1993, that Banerjee, then a Youth do? Kill him?” hisnavel, printsher at the bodydepicted ripped toinher feand public hose of us whose and “to make you want to know exhibition Congress leader, hadlivelireacheddictability Kolkata’sofWritthe windBanerjee the choice oftirelessly are identified as endanhad earned mur broken in several places and hoods do notwith depend di- the them er’s Building a pregnant, deaf treeand on mute which they feed‘Didi’. and The vulnerable on the Internathewill epithet casebetter”. of Ta- A quick walkthrough gered herorthroat slit. Enraged activists rectly on by her nature of the gallery, Dipali Basak side. Basak had been on which their children will be that. Conservation pasi Malik proves After the for instance, intro- tional soonUnion beganfor organising rallies of in sometimes forget how born. visitors raped, allegedly by a member of the Commu-bagworm Similarly, (IUCN) list. released by the raped reproducand charredduced body of the to birds that are en- Nature Kolkata. Statistics powerful nist the Party weather can(Marxist) be. It (CPM). demic to the NilgirionBiosphere of India After Chief tion, which dependsteenaged on the spread Although ‘Wildlife the Toonie activist was discovered in Singur National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) only takes something as Jyoti catastrophic as a toofmeet 28 take species that helped aren’t legitimise Minister Basu refused them, Ba- is December pheromones, subject to18,the Way’ showcased caricatures alone, 2006,Reserve, Banerjeewith didn’t long their protest. According to flood, cyclone or and drought remind found anywhere else in nerjee Basaktowere beatenwhims and arrested. of the Bawind — big gust alsorecorded known for his toastep in ascan the aggrieved elder sister. Ad-the world. the NCRB,Chakravarty West Bengalis had 30,942 us that ournerjee survival is contingent on enter The male Sarus swore she’d next Writer’stheonly scramble signaldressing sent outa by fe-in 2008, cartoons, somewomen of which rally she had said, crane’s “We willelaborate cases of crime against in tell 2012,comthe unpredictable andhead uncontrollable courtship was also with her held high. Basak, unfortunately, males that enablesnot males to how find CPM plex reminiscent forget leaders dance had raped andon display, highest in thestories country. On June of 23,Matthew the CM physical processes. A to fara footnote. less de- them. To counter the were the yellow-throated was reduced odds andUnveiled re- asby Inman ofatThe Oatmeal fame. Chakkilled her.” Trinamool leaders in sparrow looked embattled a rally. She asked those asstructive wayTwenty to appreciate de- gain asome changed birdmanto Salim Ali’s “Are one yearsthe is admittedly long time, control over lives, ravarty, however, 2011, atheir Malik statue(that in Singur is testament sembled, all the womenconsiders in the stateInman being pendence but of all on where in living Nadia,creatures the district Basak a few theyDipali have evolved measures. promise, but three years on, it raped?” Didi was fast losing that sisterly edge. the firebrand’s the weather is to understand the unwas raped, the threat of sexualEven violence conif they can’t is pick where they also an indication of opportunist tokenism While hearing the grievances of women in usual life of the bagworm. balloon to, bagworms can pick A bagworm begins its life by spin- when to balloon. Females, who can’t ning a little silk cocoon around it- travel far except by ballooning, are self. It then proceeds to stick little more likely to balloon than males. pieces of vegetation on this cocoon, And both male and female bagforming an odd agglomeration of worms make fairly sophisticated demore a humour-writer than a carsticks and leaves, with cisions about when to toonist — a title he’s hesitant to cona hole at either end to balloon. Individuals fer easily on anyone. But he does facilitate the fundaare more likely to balcredit Gary Larson, creator of The mental bodily processloon when sharing a Far Side comic, and Patrick McDonEven if they can’t pick es of eating leaves and tree with many other nell’s Mutts for inspiring his carwhere they balloon expelling waste. Male bagworms, choosing toons, and illustrator Brendan to, bagworms can bagworms eventually to move from trees Wenzel for his caricatures. Yet, wellpick when to balloon metamorphose into that lack leaves to eat; known in India’s wildlife fraternity, winged moths. But the risks of reaching Chakravarty’s green humour has adult females don’t an unsuitable tree are colour and levity that is all its own. grow wings even after outweighed by the (For future shows and prints from metamorphosis and cannot fly to lo- costs of competing for food. And ‘Wildlife the Toonie Way’, check cate a mate. Instead, they release a some species of bagworm have greenhumour.com) strong scent, a pheromone, which evolved a radical way to avoid the vatara rachel thomas is helps the males navigate to them. garies of wind-assisted reproduca Bangalore-based writer However, since they can’t fly, the tion — the females do away with females can’t choose where to lay mating altogether, producing batheir eggs. And when the next gener- bies that are little clones of themation of bagworms is born, they selves instead of babies that are can’t choose where to live either. genetic mashups of mother and faWalking around encased in a jump- ther. None of these measures elimisuit of plant matter is hardly an effi- nate the role of wind in their life; cient way to move; so young rather, they represent a comprobagworms can’t search for a home mise between capriciousness and among multiple trees. Instead, they control. It’s a bit like closing all the harness the power of physical forces windows of your house during a to disperse. They suspend them- dust storm — you know the dust will Fine find its way in, but leaving the win- feathers All is not wellselves West from a silk thread and get carried to another tree by the breeze, dows open would signal defeat at An Indian grey Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee behaving like tiny balloons. ‘Bal- the hands of the weather that you hornbill; and (below) seems to be playing a lets bagworms travel much looning’ aren’t quite ready to admit. a pair of cruel waiting game farther than they could by walking. Himalayan with the people of ambika kamath studies organismic and But in exchange for convenient monals rohan her state travel, they surrender to the unpre- evolutionary biology at Harvard University chakravarty pti/shailendra bhojak
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Pox on you Protestors burn an effigy of TMC MP Tapas Paul over his misogynistic comments pti/ashok bhaumik;
(below) Students from Jadavpur University (JU) and other colleges in Kolkata protest police action at JU pti/ sushanta patranabish
Kamduni, the West Bengal CM had historically silenced them with a fierce “Chup!” Sexual violence in the state still remains a rock that Banerjee wouldn’t have anyone look under. Trinamool MLA Deepak Haldar was purportedly being earnest when he said that “as long as the world exists, so will rape”. Banerjee ended up comparing Haldar’s critics to rabies-ridden victims in August. The causal affinity between governmental apathy and societal excess is always questionable, but the large-scale proliferation of sexual violence in West Bengal does seem to have been impacted by the supercilious attitude of its leader. Less than a month after three students of Shantiniketan’s illustrious Visva-Bharati University were arrested for stripping and molesting a junior, an undergraduate at Kolkata’s Jadavpur University alleged that she had been dragged into a hostel by a group of boys who then molested her. The campus too has now been rendered treacherous. State action As Jadavpur students began protesting against the inaction of their interim vice chancellor in September, intervention from the state did not arrive in the form of mediation, but predictably manifested itself in a charge of lathis. Once police atrocities were added to their litany of complaints, the students took to Kolkata’s streets. A procession of 30,000 protestors made Banerjee’s “petty matter” chant seem laughable. Even more ludicrous was her nephew Abhishek Banerjee’s ill-advised query — “Is this protest due to the banning of drugs, liquor and charas?” Though Jadavpur seems to have relatively quietened down in the past weeks, it would be hard for the CM and her cohorts to forget this public outcry. Mass mobilisation isn’t the monopoly of politicians. The Jadavpur agitation’s networking hashtag, ‘hok kolorob’ (let there be
Mamata Banerjee, who also holds the all-important home portfolio, can of course be condemned for ignoring the safety of her state’s women. Regrettably, however, the catalogue of her follies is longer and more menacing. Her callous indifference to sexual violence is having a top-down effect. Not only are the men of her party condoning, defending and abetting rape, they are also now being accused of being active participants in these acts. In her days as a leader of the Opposition, Banerjee saw the world in shades of black and white. Having hit roadblocks like the Saradha chit fund scam, she is now being forced to invent those murky moral greys. Crimes against women, unfortunately, require a bipolar view. On an issue that is always defined by one right or a wrong, the West Bengal CM has consistently seemed to favour a corrupted lens. Banerjee’s complacency could well be a result of simple electoral math. With the Left and the Congress virtually forgotten, her new boisterous nemesis, the BJP, is still a fledgling entity in the state. Besides, gender sensitivity hasn’t yet resonated with Bengali voters. Despite his juxtapositions of electioneering and rape (“You can either enjoy it or scream”), actor Dev won the Lok Sabha constituency of Ghatal for Didi with a margin of 5 lakh votes. Kolkata displayed its own lassitude on September 15. An eatery refused Suzette Jordan entry because she was the ‘Park Street rape victim’. The Bengali camel’s back, it would appear, can withstand many more straws. Only in a breathing dystopia can gender activists take some comfort in the fact that 13 men were recently sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for gang-raping a 20year-old woman. Precarious optimism, though, is being provided by the likes of Ainur Bibi. After hearing that her son had raped a minor, it was Bibi who first filed a complaint noise), has proved that. against her offspring in Kolkata. In a state The trouble with noise isn’t just that it can where the law-and-order machinery is often be short-lived. It can also discriminate. The na- riddled with lacunae, it is assuring to see a tion was rightly appalled when the bodies of mother’s dispassionate justice prevail, but not two teenage girls were found hanging from a all interventions in Bengal are as beneficent. tree in Uttar Pradesh’s Badaun on May 27, 2014. Earlier this month, some residents of DurBut two months later when the raped corpse gapur reportedly caught Bhola Mondal sexof an 8-year-old was found hanging from a ually brutalising a 12-year-old girl. News similar tree in West Bengal’s East Midnapore footage showed him being stripped by an anDistrict, there weren’t many whimpers of em- gry mob. He was beaten with sticks and rods. pathy. In August again, an East By the time police officers could Midnapore village reportedly arrest him, he was heavily bleedsaw a woman being dragged ing. Though perilous, there are from her house and paraded several factors that explain such naked. She was found hanging vigilantism. Bhola’s brother BaBanerjee’s callous in her home the next morning. indifference to sexual bu is a local Trinamool leader Her husband, a CPM leader, aland it was to Babu’s house that violence is having a leged she had been raped and Bhola had taken his victim. The top-down effect murdered by Trinamool workbuilding, neighbours claim, douers. The police, however, asserted bles as a party camp office. The this was a case of suicide. age of the victim makes Bhola’s The idea of eternal damnation purported crime appear even is perhaps frightful because the horrors of hell more barbaric, but it is the prevalence of such are repetitive. In the first week of September depravation that carries with it a threat of futhis year, the naked body of a Class X student ture violence. was found near the railway tracks close to her Bhola Mondal is said to have abducted the home in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district. She 12-year-old child from Durgapur’s City Centre had last been seen during the proceedings of a area. It was precisely in this vicinity that a 32self-appointed village court that had taken to year-old woman was gang raped two years beating her father. He had not been able to pay ago. According to police records, she was morent for a power tiller. When the girl inter- lested by 11 men and raped by five. One of the vened, she was asked by the court to lick spit starkest pieces of evidence found was the vicoff the ground. She refused, was taken away tim’s pair of jeans, hanging from a nearby and returned raped and murdered. The kan- tree. The obvious trouble with West Bengal is garoo court which had taken it upon itself to that such signifiers are now commonplace dispense justice was convened by a Trinamool and easy to forget. councillor. Sourav Chakraborty, Trinamool’s With too many dates in the Bengali calenJalpaiguri district president, went on record, dar coming to resemble December 16, no horparroting his party’s preposterous defence. ror is catalyst enough. The state government, “Rape is a social malady. It will continue hap- it seems, is playing a cruel waiting game with pening and so will the accusations. The more its people. the accusations grow, so will our membershreevatsa nevatia is a Kolkata-based writer ship,” he said.
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The holy knights
Europe’s largest brick construction and a spectacular Polish landmark, Malbork Castle is rife with stories of blood and gore, myth and legend, loyalty and spies
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ize matters to real men,’ reads the Michaelek. A ‘vision’, until her Nike shoes, English headline of a mostly Polish peeking from beneath the hem of her robe, flyer, featuring knights in shining give her away. Get there armour against the backdrop of With deadpan delivery in keeping with the Warsaw is connected to most what I recognise — from captioned postcards character she portrays, Michaelek explains Indian metros by one-stop flights. in my hotel room — as Malbork Castle. The that Malbork, or Marienburg (Mary’s Castle) as Malbork is four hours away by tacky headline and pixellated image apart, the it was originally named, was built in the 13th road from the capital city. flyer has my attention as it also century by the warmongering Stay seems to quote from Lonely PlanGerman religious crusaders, the Since Malbork is a rural town, et. Flummoxed, I turn to my PolTeutonic Knights. The order was make a day visit, and stay nearby ish friend and guide, Renata, for formed to aid Christians on their at the buzzing port city of Gdansk translation. She reads through pilgrimages to the Holy Land, Sprawled over 52 (30km). Try the Hilton Gdansk, the verbose copy, and adds to my but it soon grew to have military acres, this UNESCO confusion with cryptic clues like, World Heritage Site is powers. They were invited to the overlooking the Motlawa river “Malbork hits visitor like a tonne country by the High Duke of Po(from approx. ₹7,500; four times the size of of bricks”. Finally, en route to the land, Konrad I, to defend its borhiltongdansk.pl.EN) or the quirky, Windsor Castle castle, she reveals that Malbork is ders against pagan Prussians. pocket-friendly Happy Seven Europe’s largest construction in Mighty and victorious, the Hostel (approx. ₹500-7,000; brick, and the largest castle in knights also found mention in happyseven.com) the world. Sprawled over 52 the prologue to Chaucer’s The Tip acres, this UNESCO World Heritage Site is four Canterbury Tales, which, like Michaelek, waxes some time for the will take care of us eloquent times the size of UK’sho Windsor Castle. bury its dead, locals said.who were “honoured once and In on the knights forGdansk, all,” shesave added. anddanger, a church now, why are they killing At first glimpse, the panorama seems like everywhere Besides the of life, residents bemoaned forloss worthiness”. Fed up Oliwa of the Cathedral, ever-present those livrecital featuring raregovernment 18thus?” asked 15-year-old Su- their destroyed farms and houses. Many lost ing near the something out of a fairytale (had I known the border wantathe to century pipe organ. alkingtopast iron gatesviolation. and into the Bhagat, losthave her their cattle history of Malbork, man however, it who would the the cross-border Vil- permanently relocate them to safer places. courtyard of whatwith Michaelek to “We are ready to live as migrants in safer locamother, Pholi, aged and her perhaps, seemed less32, Disney and 68-year-old more Tim lages that once bustled life are refers now dethe Middle Castle, we discover thator a strucrudimentary weapons to damp, grandmother Shakuntala Devi when a mortar Burtonesque). The red brick structure stands as serted, with only unexploded shells dead and tions,” said Hitanshu Ram, even as andreaded uneasy reeking of the fear,192km each corner Malhad to to bethe built several dungeons shell fired fromthe theclear Pakistani the Interstarkly against blue side skies,ofeven as its ture cattleofin this sight.size According localinpharmacalm prevailed along border of in JamWork onPal, the High in 1272, portrays a different side of the knights’ national Border (IB) hitfalls their on Octointimidating reflection onhouse the placid No- stages. cist Mohinder moreCastle than started 200 cows and bork mu last weekend. Middlehave andbeen the Lower Castle followed, lives. But if there’s one areatoI widely had to reported pick, it’d ber river. 7. Four other family members were the gat buffaloes immobilAccording in the refused Middle 1406. Each injuries of the thousands of be the Grand Masters injured and Suman alone escaped unhurt. On the castle grounds, I feel like a child ending ised by in splinter-shell sources, residence Pakistani forces interiors come withIndicowere useddeath weighed Her fascinated village, Chilliyari in Samba district of bricks again, by the massive walls, turrets and arethat dying a slow in a whopping Castle. The elegant the sweets offered by their palm treeson to remind the and Michaelek, with care. her trained eye, is lumns that resemble Jammu division, justand 8km from theAnd Line of 10kg, and towers, defences dungeons. stepthe absence of veterinary an counterparts Eid, a decto spot roots, the Holy land’. Control (LoC), the bruntmy of fantasy the cross-borping onto the bore drawbridge, turns quick “Who will takethe careoriginal of thesebricks in- apartOfrom ades-old practice, and resorted ur livesknights have of ‘their meets sciYet, perhaps, the most fascinating der shelling from 1 to 9. Knight Residents ever more real as I October spot a Teutonic in later jured restorations. cattle underAesthetics these cir-also become to heavy shelling later in theanecevehell, we move here as he thesaid. knights employedfrom ducted dotes rise from the toilets. Perched moved out ofWalking their houses at night, the ence the distance. towards me in when a flowing cumstances?” ning oncastle’s the border outposts in place to place high inina tower, loos were to execute systems, unheard of in thoseand times. shelling intensified, andcross returned the heating white robe, with a black sewn in promiHuddling alongside hunthethe Samba sectorused of the Jammu spend nights From filled armour, uniforms — the knightsThe overfed their intensiguests, morning assess the damage. nently onto the mantle, is our costumed guide, dreds of rooms villagers at a with temporadivision. firing soon the openenemies or in when they went relieve themselves, a “Our lives have become hell, we move from ry shelter, 13-year-old Shanti fied andtomultiple Indian posts temporary and shelter gentle push iswere all it took to sendleading them hurtling place to place and spend nights in the open or clutches her school bag — the attacked, to the despite having homes down to a moat. The method is ingenious but in temporary shelters despite having homes,” only belonging she took with largest migration witnessed unbelievably coarse, and my thoughts said Sonu Lal. her when fleeing. A resident of since the 2003 ceasefire. seem to align with that Defence of an uninhibited little boy, The shelling has claimed eight lives in all, Chilliyari, the girl who loves to minister Arun Jaitley who sums it up with on brevity: “No shit!” injured close to 90 and displaced 32,000 peo- study and write exams is hopcalled Pakistan to stop the Ultimately, itattacks was theand hosts that got the betple from 113 hamlets in Jammu division, Sam- ing things will soon return to normal. “unprovoked” issued a warning. the knights. Hankering forof power, as ba and Kathua districts along the IB. But 82-year-old Shonal Devi is angry and un- ter The ofdivisional commissioner Jammu, usurped land a classic case Meanwhile, at a local school-turned-tempo- willing to settle for mere hope. “They are strik- they Shantmanu, said from morePoland than —6,000 people guests overstaying theirsources welcome onefigof rary shelter, Suman is inconsolable while the ing us again and again, which has made our of were relocated, but other put—the fiercest Medieval battles was fought and women around her try to wipe away her tears. life hell. We are living under the constant fear the ure at 18,000. Suman repeatedly cries out, “I want to see my of shells or bullets,” said Devi, a resident of Ar- won by the Poles. “Perhaps, the only war they chuckles Michaelek. mother, where is my father?” Fearing more nia village close to the border. “India should won!” What next Eventually, MalborkChief was Minister taken over by the shelling, the family has been unable to even retaliate strongly and teach Pakistan a lesson Jammu and Kashmir Omar AbPoles, largely the work of aafter spy. But dullahthanks flew to the to border areas Eid not before gained currency — prayers andanother directedlegend the state administration during themeasures war, the to Poles heard a meeting to take all ensure theofsafety of the taking the dining people place in thein affected areas.area of the Grand Master’s residence. But it summoned wasn’t so much a Meanwhile, Islamabad India’s meeting as acommissioner prayer to theirJPpatron Ma-a deputy high Singh saint, to lodge ry. The Poles fired a cannon aiming“unprofor the strong protest against whatball it termed column that from held the up the residence. voked firing” Indian side. But the knights’ werescaled answered, even toEven asprayers the firing downand on October day, a cannon is wedged in the column. 10, the peopleball at the temporary camp in Samtour Malbork with stories of baAare not of ready to sighisinrife relief yet as they exblood and gore,tomyth and legend, loyalty pect Pakistan resume its strikes. A and few spies. I feel as though I’ve walked into a period youngsters braved a visit to Chilliyari village drama. yet, homes this 13th-century structure to checkAnd if their were still intact. “We echoes times, plagued withhouses familwant tothe seemodern what has happened to our iar of war andallreligion. As I settlement go back to andissues livestock, after this is our Renata’s firsttodescriptor, nowLal. appears and we have live here,” which said Sham to Prakash be more Kumar than just a flippant pun, Malbork another youngster in the does to hit its anxious visitors to ‘like a tonne of groupseem was however return to the bricks’, forcing(Pakistan) them to question and camp: “They are not morality trustworthy society, faith they and crusades. neighbours, can hit back anytime.”
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Shell-shocked hamlets
At the frontlines A villager points to a wall riddled by shells in Nanga Village; in Chilliyari, about 50km from Jammu, villagers who fled home during the cross-border firing return to feed cattle and attend to daily chores before heading back to their relief camps afp/narinder nanu
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Those living along the India-Pakistan border find themselves in the crossfire yet again
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Pockmarked history Villagers clear the debris from their home, which was damaged during the cross-border firing afp/narinder nanu
kiran mehta is a Mumbai-based journalist tawqeer hussain is a Delhi-based journalist
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The prizefighter She may have lost the gold at Incheon, but Sarita Devi continues to fight not just to make a living but also expose the inconsistencies in boxing’s scoring system
Tears of anger Sarita Devi’s emotional outburst at the Asian Games was understandable, but returning her medal went against the spirit of the game ap/kin cheung
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er punches may not have been in the same league as Mary Kom’s. But with every blow she landed on her Korean opponent, Laishram Sarita Devi’s spirit soared. Pummelled into a corner, Park Ji-na staggered, wobbled and reeled under Sarita’s onslaught. Yet, astonishingly, the South Korean boxer walked away with the honours at the semifinal bout of the Asian Games. In what appeared to be an incredibly biased ruling, Sarita lost the bout. The blatant injustice was felt keenly by the sobbing Indian boxer, who refused to accept the bronze medal. For she had promised her fans a gold before leaving for Incheon. One of the most talented women boxers, Sarita, along with fellow Manipuri Mary Kom, is credited with raising the profile of boxing in the country. Like Kom, she too comes from the modest agricultural family. But living in the shadow of Kom’s popularity, her World Championship and four Asian Championship titles have gone mostly unnoticed. If Kom was adventurous, chasing away street romeos in her youth, Sarita was more diffident. In fact, she feared the boxing ring. Taekwondo and Kung Fu excited her more. The prospect of wearing gum shields discouraged her. “I feared my jaws would widen and disfigure my face,” she says, speaking about her initial days in the sport. But fuelled by her father’s passion, she decided to pursue boxing. Humble and frank, almost to a fault, Sarita’s coaches consider her the hardest worker in training camps. After giving birth to her son in February 2013, she prepared for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games with remarkable diligence, losing nearly 20kg. She turned to Mary for motivation. “I realised if a mother of three can make such a strong comeback, why couldn’t I? Mother Mary (Kom) was my inspi-
ration,” says Sarita, who returned with a silver a sport that is perceived to be masculine, Sarimedal from the games. Such was her commit- ta and her ilk have defied popular percepment to the sport that she swallowed the sep- tions. Despite their achievements, which aration from her newborn, who barely surpassed their male counterparts’ at Incherecognises her now. Sarita believes that Mary on, there is room for improvement. Competiand she have set a benchmark for all sports- tion in women’s boxing has increased women — motherhood doesn’t stop you from considerably. But if the success of the biopic scaling the heights of sport. on Mary Kom is any indication, winds are Sarita’s disappointment at Incheon was un- changing course. derstandable, as was her emotional outburst. At the Asian Games, more than the judges of But the subsequent act of returning the medal the semifinal bout, the Indian delegation let went against the spirit of the game. The con- Sarita down. Despite their lack of concern, she troversial decision notwithstanding, she went lodged an individual protest and appealed to too far. Athletes work hard, dream big. Sarita the judges. At the medal ceremony, she too had a dream. Unfortunately, it didn’t work hugged her Korean counterpart, without reout for her. But it’s not the first time a boxing lenting on her stand. “I was right. We have sufverdict has raised eyebrows at games hosted fered from poor officiating. Someone had to by Koreans. On several other ocstand up.” Sarita took the role upcasions, boxing scores have on herself, even if it meant fightcome under the scanner. At this ing a losing battle. Outside the edition of the Asian Games in Inring, facing the possibility of a cheon, even pugilists from Monlife ban, she was forced into subSarita feared the golia and Philippines raised mitting a written apology by boxing ring. The their voice against unfair rulBoxing India. Sarita may also face prospect of wearing ings. “My protest was against the sanctions from AIBA, the Internagum shields system, so that youngsters don’t tional Boxing Association. She discouraged her suffer my fate in the future,” inmay have invited the wrath of Kosists Sarita. Her case has exposed rean spectators but she earned the inconsistencies in the scorthe affection and respect of her ing system of the sport. The sysIndian fans. tem doesn’t allow points to be displayed until It is perhaps the drive to live a good life that the bout is over, keeping the process of allot- encourages individuals like Sarita and Mary ting points entirely opaque. With the next Kom to take up a gruelling sport, where the world championship set to be held in South fear of injury is real at all times. It is this drive Korea in November, it remains to be seen if that has inspired legions of youngsters. Many Sarita decides to participate. more young women are willing to ‘flex’ their Since her international debut in 2001, Sarita muscles and are taking to boxing and wreshas steadily climbed up the rankings. Puni- tling. If they can fly aircraft and don khaki, shing schedules, a strict regimen, and poor fa- why can’t they ‘fight’ to make a living? cilities or inadequate infrastructure have never stopped her. “I love to box,” she says. For vijay lokapally
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Project unlimited
Gifts on wheels
ELSEWHERE
manjula padmanabhan
Nury Vittachi aka ‘Mr Jam’ on the importance of children’s books and the secret of his prolificacy
win the Man Booker, the World ReadWith Diwali around corner, wetheme trailrather the busiest person this season — the e-commerce ers’the Award will focus on than nationality. Their mandate cleardelivery person whizzing about town ly is: “to encourage the generation of writing set at least partly outside global literature’s over-used ‘home territories’ of the US and the UK.” kash Vaid is already halfway‘Earthling’, as VittaThe 56-year-old through his workday when I meet chi calls himself, who was born in Ceyhim outside the lon, “Bikanervala lived in near Malaysia and the UK, the metro station,” as he had specihighlighted the central position that fied. A delivery person for Amazon India,inVaid Asia holds a larger scheme of had agreed to take me alongthings on his at daily theroute recent Jump Start 2014, at the behest of his superiors. When we meet, held in Delhi. He combined his knack 25-year-old Vaid, smartly dressed in his (thanks com- to business jourfor numbers he other day I had a very pleasant lunch with somepany uniform, has six packages left for nalism) anddelivhis storytelling skills one I was meeting for the first time, in her home. ery in and around the residential Delhi in his children’s (made west apparent I’ll call her Jan. She and her husband James live in a neighbourhood Rajouri Garden. books) to deliver a most engaging beautiful airy house by the sea, a few miles north of “I’ll go ahead and you can follow me,” he that the “world is talk. Underscoring ury Vittachi lives in Hong Elsewhere. The properties on either side belong to various says after the initial chit-chat. This wasand easier 2/3rd Asian 1/3rd everyone else,” — Kong, place he finds sinmillionaires, including one Indian royal family. said athan done as Vaid zipped with the conheoff believes that our books, our literagularly Heclearly The reason we met is that Jan is a member of a book club in fidence uncreative. of a person who his way today needs to retureknows and the market works in Central, London, where she and her husband spend part of the year. around town. Hewhich wouldislaterflect tell me is from thishe reality. the centre of“proper the city. At times, he needed At that book club she met a cousin of mine, a great book-lovDelhi” and “just toofknow As one Asia’samost successful and might walk down to ThetoHarbour. er, who lives in London too. When my cousin heard that Jan landmark find anyInhouse or office in the children’s book widely translated Hong Kong; the CityThe of Dreams lives in Rhode Island, she put us in touch with one another. city”. son of a(2006) readymade garments saleswriters, he believes that children’s he writes, “…man, therehe is began a Newish Build-right As the two of us chatted over the lunch she had made, I learnt working afterauthors class XIIare to the foundation of book ing and an Adjoining that she and James had once lived in Delhi. We quickly estabsupport Building… his family. near His firstthe jobentertainment was at a call industry — be it my old officecentre, therefollowed is a restaurant lished so many points of reference — Fabindia, the IIC, Lodhi by stints atpsychologically a wholesale shoe or economically. The Quite Good supplier Chinese and restaurant. Its most Gardens — that it was like meeting an old friend. Except that pizza franchise, before joiningmessage that chilimportant signature dish is Quite we’d never even heard of one another until two months ago! Amazon IndiaGood eightNoomonthsdren’s ago. books give, Vittachi says, is — dles.” At the vegetarian restaurant When she asked me for food preferences, I said soup and “The company itself is only one one-and-a-half day your mommy will be dead, called… Vegetarian the but salad were what I liked best. So she made a delicious cream of years oldRestaurant, [in India]. I wanted to join ever Economically, chilthatthem is okay. waitresses wear ‘Wait-he says. asparagus soup with other veggies added in, followed by a sincebadges I heardwith of them,” of thoudren’sOne books have revitalised the enress’ written sands on it — distinguish plated salad. She placed a big scoop of crabmeat at the centre of “To employees who have the mostindustry, detertainment be it through them from plants and fish” explains ofwest a halo crisp greens and deep crimson slices of trusty tomato. manding, yet—least appreciated jobPotter in the the Harry franchise or Thejoy Fault Delivering A customer in Delhiofpays cash on delivery; (below) Akash Vaid and his bike sibi arasu Vittachi. He feels particularly for sector, Three golden-cherry tomatoes lit up each plate like tiny ore-commerce andbad logistics in OurVaid Stars.usually Adjoining Building, as packages a day, and nearly 25-30 ange lights. For dessert there was delivers 15-20 Making money from he is sure it must sufferaround Diwali. Setting out at books ice painting. cream andFrom fresh peach halves. packages 7am, appears he finishes to only be aafter 5pm. His daily route pas- nal the blue house to the from an identity crisis. In the course of we ourfollow conversathrough neighbourhoods that are within Green skill thatses Vittachi is rathApartments, Vaid through But in this uncreative tion, Jan mentioned that she 5-7km ofin.Rajouri er well-versed As a Garden, including areas like the warrens of west Delhi, but was not once does place, Vittachi has worried about her daughter. She Mayapuri, Tagore Garden, Subhash Nagar, precocious six-year-old he look lost. Handing over the package, we get World Readers’ Today, we can live cracked plenty a joke was in Liberia, reporting on the Hari Nagar and Janakpuri. On some days, his he drew a picture and helpful pointers from a resident for the shortAward will be for the simultaneously in and spun many a yarn. outbreak of next Ebola there. It was work takes Dwarka. sold it to an also uncle. Hehim to the ‘sub-city’ est way to our destination. After that, it is world as it is — Asiaseveral worlds He is the author of 10 hard to believe, sitting inbreak. Jan’s all the packages then went“We to hisload neightime for a short dominated non-fiction books, a simsunlit living “We room,usually that onform the a mental from our centres in 15 bour’s house andfulfilment sold ilar number of fiction other side of thebefore planet, peopleout of the to 30Heminutes her a story. quicklyand are on our map heading books, and he is a busiwere fallingcentre, sick, dying passafter,” he says. These realised way thatsoon he could so weand won’t need to backness journalist. Prolificaon a disease that may, very soon, reshape hu- deliveries ‘fulfilment places make money this way.centres’ —ing track, the andfuture can of make Vaid usually delivers cy, it would seem, comes rather easily manity. weekspackages have passed since my lunch.efficiently,” On the radio,says Vaid. packages arrive to be dis-Two15-20 While book writingwhere and journalism more a day, to him. He is best known for the come- have kept him busy, humour these days, word “pandemic” coming up. I wonder: tributedhas tokept delivery persons — theand break for lunch in nearly 25-30 keeps“Sometimes dy-crime novel series The Feng Shui De- Vittachi inspired. In appear how much longer is it going to be before we all know some-and somea closely guarded 2008, to he be travbetween deliveries packages around tective, which follows the escapades of elled through Asia “investigating one to Ebola? secret in the e-commerce andconnected lothe times afterwards. It depends realDiwali. Setting out at CF Wong, a feng shui master and re- comedy scene”. His gistics It used to be, when we travelled, country sector, with everyone travels ensured ly behind on howthe the day is and the 7am, he finishes onlywe left luctant detective in Singapore. Vitta- that he is forever armed which we came, to5pm immerse ourselves in the countryAlso, to the comfromwith Amazon to the restfrom declina joke number of orders. after chi is also the founding chairman of (and its history) up his which we went. But today, with transcontinental ing to divulge too much inforsleeve. pany has a flights rewardand and recognithe Scholastic Asia Book Prize, helped electronic mation the gadgets, we can live simultaneously His prolificacy means thatabout he isthem. Once tion schemeinforseveral the person who found the Asia Literary Review and is presently working onpackages worlds. me in Elsewhere arepropicked up, Vaid em-My cousin in London connects two large delivers the most to and we get now working towards the World jects. One is a series on in her seaside home, to Jan’s daughter Liberia and to barks onHistory the ‘last mile’ toJan deliver Asian prize in money and certificates.” Readers’ Award, which will launch lat- for children with Scholastic reading column inVaid’s India. future plans too seem to revolve the products to buyersyou, who have this ordered and the er this year. Six months from now,around who knows? International them online. second is ‘creative non-fiction’, where Amazon India. “I havetravel gotten forms to Explaining the award he says, “We he attempts to solve aOutside might grind to a halt. might be imposed. Wholeafter which a blue house in Tagore Garden, VaidQuarantines real murder pursue my undergraduate degree, feel that the Pulitzer and Man Booker mystery with the helprings might be isolated. Theto virus cannot electron-rise up the the bell, a packagecountries and receipt in hand. of a real detecI want do an MBAtravel and hopefully are scandalous. They always present tive. Clearly this isn’tHe ically, but fear mobile can. Whichranks may be good thing! Maybe the For now had earlier company an author who used the in athe company,” he says. their winners as the world’s greatest suffers from writer’sphone fear that connects Jan’s daughter to me, you and buyer’sofinformation, block. loaded Explain-with thethread though, even as we are to talking, Vaid’s attenbooks. But most writers are excluded ing his working style,directions ultimately everyone everywhere will force to packages work togethand other relevant details to locate he says, “There tion is mainly onus the he still has to from both those prizes. These awards is something very uncreative er to beat this common enemy. this timeof next the houseabout in this maze-like neighbourhood. deliver.Maybe In the midst allyear, the I’ll heavy Diwali are scandalously saying, ‘This is the sitting in front of a computer stillorder, be writing tomatoes by theI seaside. As it’s ascreen. cash-on-delivery one about whichcherry I gifting deliveries, ask himMaybe. what his Diwali best that Planet Earth can produce… stay away from mine. most residents Then you areof the house seem unaware of, plans are. “Well, it is a very busy season, but MANJULA PADMANABHAN artist, writes about herfor parallel life and maybe when half the world is left out. I think free. When my colleagues a fewsee phone calls have to be made before the, author me starI’mand thinking of asking leave, marginalien.blogspot.in in Elsewhere, US, package in this fortnightly it is outrageous. Our award will be for ing out of the window, cash finally and the theyisdon’t dis-handed over mycolumn supervisor will give me an off on Diwali,” the world as it is — Asia dominated.” turb me. Instead, they delivered. The say, ‘He is onnext stop is at Green Apart- he says, before bidding goodbye and setting While you need a US passport to win chapter 17’.” ments, located opposite the Red Apartments off for his next delivery. the Pulitzer, or (until recently) a Britin the same area. This group of DDA, middleish or Commonwealth passport to nandini nair income flats are distinguished by their exter- sibi arasu
Waiting for Ebola
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Press Enter to give GiveIndia allows people to donate money online by verifying NGOs and ensuring that the money is spent fruitfully
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n a country with a penchant for shopping online, here’s an organisation that saw the potential in an online philanthropy marketplace much before the ecommerce boom struck. This non-profit organisation also succeeded in keeping a tight tab on costs. The result is GiveIndia — a platform that raises money from lakhs of people and channelises it to nearly 200 NGOs, which have been verified for credible and transparent utilisation of money. While GiveIndia does not raise funds for itself, it helps bring donors and receivers together. When the website was set up in 2001 by IIM-Ahmedabad alumni Venkat Krishnan, there were only about 40 lakh internet users in India. Despite the low internet penetration, Krishnan knew it was an idea whose time had come — a non-profit organisation that would make giving convenient and its utilisation transparent. “Nobody is asking why should I give; the bigger question is to whom, where and how to give. This is why people refrain from giving even though they want to,” says GiveIndia CEO Dhaval Udani, who started as a volunteer with the organisation almost seven years ago. Receiving end The biggest barrier to giving donations is the absence of a mechanism that will ensure its proper use. GiveIndia bridges this gap by not only evaluating the NGOs it works with, but also by tracking the end utilisation of funds. And more importantly, it raises funds at a cost of just 9.1 per cent, one of the lowest in the world. “We keep 9 per cent (of the money raised) for our costs — which include due diligence, maintaining the technology platform, payment gateway, transaction charges, etc,” says Udani. For GiveIndia, the main costs arise from maintaining the website and evaluating the NGOs. “We raise funds online and through our payroll programme and are, therefore, able to keep costs low. It also makes the model scalable as it does not cost much to increase the number of donors on our website,” says Udani. The fundraising cost for other NGOs can be
upward of 30 to 40 per cent. ses on to the NGOs concerned. TK Mathew, CEO of Deepalaya (an NGO workGiveIndia also monitors the utilisation of ing with urban and rural poor), says his orga- every donation above ₹500. “We visit one bennisation raises its own funds through direct eficiary of every programme to verify the immails and the donation box. “Our fundraising pact on the ground. We also seek photos and department has people to monitor donation profiles of the beneficiaries and families,” says boxes and find sponsors. We have to pay for Udani. So for a child whose education is being communication and administrafunded, GiveIndia will ask for his retive charges and that costs a port card, while for a group of lot of money, up to 40 per families needing a water cent of the donation at tank, a picture of the times.” GiveIndia tank would be sought. charges only 7 to 9 per cent of the Payroll goodwill funds raised toLast year, GiveIndia wards its costs. raised ₹55 crore Similarly, Om through its webPrakash Sharma, site, payroll prosecretary of Rajasgramme and than’s Gram Chetthrough high netna Kendra, worth individuals highlights that fun(HNIs). The payroll draising through Giprogramme facilitates veIndia is a better option corporate employees to than travelling 50km to make a donation, from even meet five people, who may not as little as ₹50, from their even agree to donate. “With Gimonthly salary. veIndia, there is surety,” he says. Over 50,000 people in 110 comIn the last 11 years, GiveIndia panies are part of the payroll prohas evaluated over 50,000 NGOs gramme. The conversion rate is “Nobody is asking on various parameters such as why should I give; the almost 50 per cent, implying that regulatory, governance and acat least half of the people in a bigger question is to counting compliance. “Being on company sign up for the prowhom, where and the GiveIndia platform imgramme on average. “We know how to give,” proves our visibility and credithese initiatives work and will says Dhaval Udani bility since they verify every scale them up, roping in more NGO on the list. They also offer people and getting in more dotraining and capacity-building nors to donate,” says Udani, defor our staff,” says Mathew. Sharclining to divulge how he plans ma adds his stamp of approval: “When you ap- to reach the target of ₹100 crore funds in the ply to other organisations for funding, next few years. accreditation from GiveIndia helps improve Currently, GiveIndia is growing at 30 to 40 our chances of being funded.” per cent every year and it should not be difficult for the organisation to reach the ₹100Project-specific crore target. As online connectivity improves, On the GiveIndia website, NGOs list very spe- along with people’s desire to give, Udani cific causes, such as ‘providing a water tank for should be able to achieve his dream sooner five families in a drought-prone area’ along than he anticipates. with the amount needed. Donors choose a cause and the money pas- rashmi pratap
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Knock knock Tied in knots PRESENT IMPERFECT
Diwali might make you feel like you walked onto the sets of The Shining, but as it isthe also rich in unexpected surprises, says Priya Kuriyan As long Indian marriage is seen as a mandatory symbol of sexual normalcy and a character certificate, torture, abuse and a callous indifference to real needs will be its pillars
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he Indian marriage, which has for long been identifiable with its distinctive stench of charred flesh, is now standing trial in South Africa and looking as unspeakably ugly as it always has. In how privileged its lead players — Shrien Dewani and his murdered wife Anni — are, lies the large reach and immeasurable influence of a revered ancient Indian ‘institution’. Here’s a little synopsis of the case for those who haven’t been following the story. Shrien Dewani, son of a successful Indian businessman in the UK, marries Anni Hindocha, daughter of a successful Indian businessman in Sweden. They go to South Africa on their honeymoon where, in an apparent car-jacking, Anni is murdered. Dewani goes back to the UK, seemingly broken hearted, local papers write editorials on how unsafe South Africa is, and everyone on the internet looks lovingly at their wedding picture and remarks about how a perfect fairytale came to a grisly end. Soon though, South African police allege that Dewani had paid money to have his new wife killed in a fake car-jacking. Four years later, after losing his fight against extradition to South Africa to stand trial because he was depressed and mentally ailing, Dewani is now in court, and a whole new set of truths have emerged. Dewani admits to being bi-sexual, he has hired the services of male prostitutes and indulged in extreme BDSM. He even surfed the gay hook-up website Gaydar while he was on his honeymoon. It now emerges that he was moody and constantly critical, and that Anni had her doubts about him even before they married. She told her cousin that she wanted to end the engagement, but since she was from a good Indian family, she was advised that things would change for the better once they were married. Anni was also flummoxed that while they were courting, Dewani didn’t seem interested in any physical intimacy with her. Once again, desi values were aired out and she was told to see this as a sign of his virtuous character. And the circus that is the great Indian wedding chugged along merrily — through stag parties in Las Vegas and a ₹2 crore wedding in Mumbai — until it all came to a grinding halt in that car in Johannesburg. In the morphing structure of relationships and marriages, Dewani’s story of therapy through marriage is nothing new. While the Indian marriage is seen as the cure for most personal ‘ailments’ — starting with alcoholism and gambling — it is in the ‘treatment’ of homosexuality that it finds most use. I spent 18 months starting in 2012 trailing 11 women and asking exhaustive questions about their marriage in order to research my book on mothers-in-law. It was in the course of this that I met a girl who I call Rachna in the book. Rachna met her future mother-in-law at a friend’s wedding. The woman took Rachna under her belt, building a bridge of friendship, peppered with frequent lunches, shopping expeditions and movies. Then she introduced her to her son, who had just returned from London after
Put out the light A relative of Anni Dewani displayed her photograph on his jacket at the Westminster Crown Court in London last year afp/andrew cowie
his MBA, and set them up. While his mother and Rachna — frustrated and furious — told picked a wedding date and a wedding dress the friend that her suspicions were right all and took over all the responsibilities of plan- along. Yet, she hasn’t gathered the courage to ning a perfect week of festivities, Rachna walk out of her marriage, for which “good Infound herself increasingly confused by her dian girl can talk to her elders about this? It fiancé Gaurav. He was friendly, yet distant. He seems a wrong thing to desire, a wrong thing took her on dates (often his mother planned to demand.” them and tagged along), yet did not seem very Both Anni’s and Rachna’s stories are even interested in her. The few times more pertinent now that the they spent alone in his room, he BJP’s youth wing, ABVP, has decidmade absolutely no move toed to impose Indian values and wards her, and on the couple of advocate against live-in relationoccasions that she did, he ships, which is often a eupheWhile the Indian fobbed her off by saying his mism for pre-marital sex in marriage is seen as mother wouldn’t approve of presecure relationships. Saket Bahuthe cure for most marital sex. guna, the Delhi state secretary of ‘ailments’ — starting I was introduced to Rachna by ABVP, was quoted as saying the with alcoholism and a common friend. The friend on gambling — it’s in the opposition to such relationships hearing these accounts immediwas in order to “apprise girls of ‘treatment’ of ately suspected that he was gay homosexuality that it benefits of a marriage institution and told Rachna so. I am certain and detrimental effects of being finds most use Rachna suspected it too. Yet, she in such a relationship as it prowas caught between guilt on acmotes crime against women like count of transgressing Indian torture and other abuses”. values and the disappointment His statement is particularly she would cause all around if she broke the en- ironic considering the long history of violence gagement. Besides, Gaurav’s lack of physical against wives in the Indian marriage — startinterest in her wasn’t something she could dis- ing, perhaps, with Sati and going through deccuss with anyone outside a circle of friends. ades of dowry deaths. As long as the Indian She couldn’t tell her mother about it — be- marriage is seen as a mandatory symbol of sexcause this is India, we don’t attempt to have ual normalcy and a fully endorsed character sex with our fiancés and discuss it with our certificate, torture, abuse and — as in Rachna’s parents — nor could she discuss it with her case — a callous indifference to real needs will friendly future mother-in-law. Eventually, be its pillars. With education, exposure and a Rachna decided that her risks of marrying generation that is capable of far more advenGaurav were the exact ones she would have ture, there is no better time than now to liberhad to face had she married a stranger her par- ate the Indian marriage from the so-called ents chose for her. She decided to “just settle”, Indian values. she told me, a sad but rather accurate choice of t@veenavenugopal words. It’s now 11 months since the wedding,
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BAWDY LINE
The intermammary fjord The uncovered upper chest has reached a point where there’s an unabated supply of filmic tittage around us. In contrast, the community standards of modesty have dawdled behind
The cover-up Madhubala’s suggestive yet demure bodice in Mughal-e-Azam
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Ambarish Satwik is a Delhi-based vascular surgeon and writer
he Times of India’s tweet on Deepika Padukone that warmed the hearts and loins of a great many Hindustani men wasn’t a lapse of good form as much as the rendition of a national myth about the intermammary sulcus. As a people, we’re unversed in the cleavage; it doesn’t exist in the collective iconography of our past and therefore we don’t have a proper word for it in our many languages. It is anomalous and exotic, so there should be pageantry around it. What we do have is a word in Braj bhasha that droops with vernacular loveliness: joban. Joban isn’t the post-pubertal stage or the prime or youth. It specifically refers to the oestrogenic blossoming of the rounded charms of a woman’s secondary sexual characteristics. Actually, joban is more manifold and complicated than anything encompassed by a single word. It is also the swell, the sway and the quiver. Sample this: Us ras tapakti angiya mein ek umda joban tanta hain Us joban pe voh joban hain, jo bin banae banta hain (That luscious bodice detains a bursting bosom’s swell Self-willed, the ensuant sprightliness of the bust on the belle) It’s the sort of description that takes in everything (about the breasts) that beguiles. Except that joban is the bust under an intercessory garment. It is an appeal to sexual passions brokered by the poetics of presence rather than that of display. For Hindustanis, till about the 1960s, the consumption of the body through filmic images was largely restricted to imagining the damned thing. That was the great cultural specificity of the Bombay film. The filmic breast fetish was handled by proxy. The point here was to see the angiya, aanchal, pallu, chunariya, choli or any other kind of subcontinental drapery not as a cover for the mammaries, but as desire itself. Surkh aanchal ko dabaa kar jo nichoda usne Dil pe jalta hua ik teer sa chhoda usne
This seems daffy and quaint even for those tion were the primary function, breasts would times, but that’s how it was, with absolutely have been mere glands; they wouldn’t have no boobage on display. Madhubala’s chest been enlarged with fatty adipose tissue. Fat is would be covered all the way to the clavicles. physiologically expensive. Upon the blouse or kurta would be the suppleHuman females don’t have a defined and exmentary second layer of the thoracic veil — the ternally detectable fertile period in their reaanchal/chunariya. With such a fine specimen productive cycle. Other primates do — it’s of bust, this was problematic at best and es- called estrus. So human males haven’t a clue sentialist at worst. The obscured supplied the about when she might be ovulating. For reprothrill of the obscene. And she was splendid ductive success, we need regular coital activwith her aanchal. The performity. For that to happen, we need a ance of the covering seemed to steadfast and dedicated set of atbe the most important thing tractants. Permanently enlarged rather than the idea that the covbreasts. er might be covering something. This near-tautology leaves Cleavage is breast From the 1970s, the uncovered wide open the question posed by flesh pressed into upper chest was gradually eased that queen of her species, the service. And into our cinematic byways. The matinee-photogenic, properly, manifestly put on natural history of our mammary old-fashionedly beautiful Deepiview. It is the bodice desire started with Rehana Sulka Padukone in her fulmination remaking the breast tan’s sideboob in Dastak (1970) against The Times of India: hath and has in the present climate not a woman cleavage? reached a point where there’s an No she doesn’t. She makes the unabated supply of sanctioned sulcus. Cleavage is breast flesh filmic tittage around us. In contrast, the com- pressed into service. And manifestly put on munity standards of modesty have dawdled view. It is the bodice remaking the breast. For behind. So though we do get to see fitted arti- the delectation of the observer. Well, the bodcles of clothing and a bit of galumphing of the ice along with the modern western brassiere. breasts from time to time, even the occasional The modern mammary cleavage would’ve nevunwitting down-blouse, active décolleté dis- er happened without the modern western plays aren’t exactly commonplace. The cleav- brassiere (MWB). The MWB is, on that account, age, at any rate, remains an epiphanically availed twice over — in the wearing and the affecting spectacle. One doesn’t routinely get viewing. Much like the bra-strap or the underto see them on real women. wear that she likes to show, it reissues the old The principal function of the permanently bogey that was first put out by George Berkeenlarged breasts of the post-pubertal females ley about the possibility of unperceived existof the species Homo sapiens is to solicit male at- ence: “If a tree were to fall in a forest and no tention and investment even when they (the one is around to hear it, does it make a females) are not fertile (Crawford et al, 1998). sound?” Ex hypothesi, without the beholder, Males are meant to go into some sort of excita- would the cleavage have an independent tion upon seeing them. Breasts in other pri- existence? mates enlarge only during ovulation and What she hath is a fjord; a region of separapregnancy. For the other interregnums of tion between those numinous mammaries their youth, they’re puny and pitiful. Also, fe- that find their centre of gravity not on the stermales of other primate species do not develop num, but much laterally. breasts during puberty; instead, they sprout asatwik@gmail. com and develop them during pregnancy. If lacta-
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‘Africans in India’ throws light on an episode of history long forgotten and little documented n 1606, Mughal emperor Jahangir chin principalities run by African commissioned a portrait. Obelites; of Jamal-ud-din Yakut, who was sessed with an implacable foe, Razia Sultana’s general and confidant; who was bitterly opposed to the of Malik Andal, the African eunuch Mughal invasion, the painting depictwho became one of the most promied Jahangir standing atop the world nent architects of the Deccan; and of and shooting the severed head of this Malik Ambar, a former slave who was a “night-coloured usurper,” on whose formidable opponent to the Mughals crown sat an owl. Even in his memoirs, invading Deccan. The Africans brought Jahangir refers to this enemy several in trade and introduced zebras and gitimes, calling him “Ambar, that black raffes to the Indian landscape. They wretch,” that “crafty ill-starred one”. gave us film personalities in actress ZuWho was this powerful adversary, this beida, daughter of a nawab of Sachin constant nightmare? Malik Ambar was state, and her mother Fatma Begum, an Ethiopian slave, brought to India in who was the first female film director. the 1570s, who rose through the ranks Interestingly, in most paintings and to become prime minister of Ahmaddepictions of the African elite in Indian nagar, raised an army of 10,000 African Kings of their time Nawab Sidi Ibrahim Khan II ruled in the Sachin state society, skin colour wasn’t used to idennomadic lifemen on the without a ing a family work and so forth. We allow jealcavalry and infantry androad, halted tify them. Contrary to the slave sociehome to go to, was never my ousy, judgement and hatred, often fuelled by the Mughal invasion ofback the Deccan. ties of America and Europe, racism in Butabout like all the society Little is plan. known thegood wavesthings, of forced Even or as American built economies the media,colonies to lead us before accept- 15th-century Indian society was not based all universe led methat to it. Over three and voluntary migration brought hun- centred slave labour,for hundreds of else. East on colour. While the spate of incidents of racing that around the grass is greener someone years ago, I took the plunge to quit my cubicledreds of East African traders, soldiers, archi- Africans — known as Sidis and Habshifor — sailed But really, we alone are responsible what ism this year, which have targeted African bound lifeslaves in Singapore, sayingsubcontinent, goodbye to a on tects and to the Indian Indian to what settleifinI’ve thebeen portraised cities communities in the country, tell a different we the do with ourOcean, lives. So comfortable corporate job that me of more than a century before the indulged first Africans Calicut andprotective, Dhaka. Unlike the Ameriin aGoa, conventional, small-town fam- story, Dr Diouf says, “The Africans didn’t face but didn’t quite fulfil I longed un- can arrived on the shores of me. America as partfor of the experience, theBy Indian Ocean experience ily in Dehradun? not giving up on my such problems in the past. They were outside planned adventures in places I hadinonly read transatlantic slave trade. ‘Africans India: A is remarkable because ofwith the social mobility dreams, experimenting my skills and the caste system, they presided over largely about in geography textbooks. Delhiby as enjoyed Rediscovery’, an exhibition putUsing together “American fighting by theAfrican battlesmigrants. that come my way,coloI’m Hindu states.” a base for two years, I fed my wanderlust, en- nies the Schomburg Center, New York, and curated were slave economies. making a choice every day. India was a differ(‘Africans in India: A Rediscovery’ will run at tered the realm of professional travel blog- entWhen by historian Dr Sylviane Diouf, seeks to throw experience. That’s we wanted I look back onthe mystory nomadic journey,toI IGNCA, Delhi till November 4.) ging, on broke into national andlong international light an episode of history forgotten tell, African elites in India,” says Dr Diouf. findof that the first one-and-a-half months were travel publications and coand poorly documented. The exhibition tells short tales of and Sa-I priyanka kotamraju nothing of Janjira exhilarating; founded my own responsible woke up to the possibility of new travel start-up, India Untravelled adventures every day, found (we connect travellers with offenough time and concentration beat and sustainable travel iniWhen you’re running to work and write, and drew in- of the recession that hit a few years ago. “I tiatives). By August 2013, a to catch the only train spiration from the smallest acts liked the idea of the couple not being able to semi-nomadic life had become of kindness (of which there meet. We contextualised it and set it against into a town you’ve part of my comfort zone; I had were, and continue to be, many). the spiralling recession in Bengal. The film benever heard of, outgrown my need for city living But towards the end of the sec- came about silences, the objects that the charnothing on your and my work as a freelancer had ond month, I started to grow acters interact with in each other’s absence shoulders can be gained credibility. So in another weary, like a soul without a com- and exploring love through them,” explains important enough to leap of faith, I gave up my shabby pass, wandering aimlessly with the National Institute of Design graduate. The weigh you down Delhi apartment, sold most of no end in sight and nowhere to initial version of the screenplay did have some my belongings, stored some in go back to. I couldn’t see myself sequences with dialogues, but, as the shoot t’s been an exciting couple the boot of a friend’s car (and lat- of weeks for going back to the life I had left progressed, they were deemed redundant and Aditya er atdebutante a relative’sfilmmaker place), and hit Vikram Senbehind, nor could I keep up with done away with. gupta. Last his indefinitely. Bengali film Asha the constant moving and fleeting interactions the road with mymonth, backpack, Though made on a tight budget, Sengupta of Thailand, at a nunnery the of Love) won him a on the road. My funds had started to dip, my says ForJaoar one Majhe year, I (Labour have moved, uninhibitedly, he has exhausted all in hisLadakh savingsand to in make winelabour country South Australia hasmost led me to rousing ovation Fedeora like a birdstanding with wings but noand nest,the soaring into work-life balance was going for a toss, and I this ofof love. Like it is with indeexperiences I couldn’tdrumming have had inup passing. In Award for the best director at was forever drifting in and out of internet con- pendent the skies, swooping downinona debut parts film of the filmmakers, support Australia, for instance, I ended After up meeting the prestigious Venice Film The honworld that beckoned me. Festival. I can’t help but nectivity — a nightmare for any digital nomad. from financiers proved difficult. repeatand staying withrounds a WorldofWar II Polish refugee, our was a long timeabout coming formuch Bengali cinelaugh when I think how I fretted That’s when it happened. Goa Tourism invit- edly doing the producers’ offices, whowife hadJonaki been given protection a maharaja ma, which hadn’t seen an entry the ed me for a trip to write about ‘offbeat’ Goa, his over packing my backpack when I wastoready and he decided tobybankroll the in Gujarat during his“For formative years he prestigious festival it for decade. The last(mayBen- and during my research, I stumbled upon a project to leave — I needed toalast me months themselves. the first legafter of the escaped a concentration camp in Siberia, gali film to featuresummer was Goutam Ghose’sinAbar be years), through and winter, the Goan-Portuguese homestay in the interiors of shoot, wefrom borrowed money from someone. In andsecond when the of the world had closedand its Aranye (2003). hisbeach, big win Venice, Sen- a sleepy village that offered my tired soul ev- the mountains andSince by the in at remote villagleg,rest we put in our own money doors. I continue to carry a part of these gupta has premiered his film the Busan In- erything it needed to recover — meaningful in- in es in India and fast-paced citiesathalfway across the third, we took a loan to return theplaces monand encounters in me, ofternational FilmbeFestival and a host the globe. Truth told, one week intoof myother new teractions, stable WiFi (the things we take for ey tounanticipated first person. Thankfully, we’ve paidand every ten traverse them increw the crevices ofofmy mind international film fathom festivals. wasowned also granted in our citified lives!), delicious food one life, I couldn’t even whatItI had off,” he says. His consisted only six when thewhich goingmeant gets tough. screened this week at the 16thmany Mumbai to fill those cupboards. I shed of myFilm be- and a chance to slow down, appreciate the lo- people, each person was perSometime between fourth and fifth Festival the India Goldwhen section. Filmed over cal way of life, and slowly but deeply fall in forming longingsinalong the way; you’re running multiple roles the throughout the makmonths, a nomadic my lifestyle waythe of atoyear in Kolkata North catch the onlyand train into Bengal, a town Sengupta’s you’ve nev- love. I had discovered the secret to sustaining ing. “I remember dad became sitting aon life for me. I no longer thought about work,” what I film is devoid of dialogues butyour is unmistakaer heard of before, nothing on shoulders my journey, both financially and emotionally staircase and doing all the accounting hadsays, left with behind or what would to bly film.enough “The background sounds, can abeBengali important to weigh you down. — Slow Travel. he a laugh. He ithopes bybe thelike time haveready a home to unpack in. I nofilm, longer songs and TV commentaries make it clear that he’s to make his second thecraved successa familiar café Majhe to while days in first few are weeks on the road me reno longer move at breakneck speed to dis- of myf my characters Bengali,” says made the 30-yearAsha Jaoar willaway makemy it easier for(comhim pare that the charm people-watching at a the futility of trading experiences for cover a place for a day or two, having made to oldalise director. find thetobacking of aofproducer. where no onehurdle knowsisyou) or the new most to of him us make Thepossessions concept of (because the film came after peace with the fact that I won’t be able to see café The next major looking forcomfort distribzone of foodto(Maggi Masala that trade-off regularly), theshort nextstory few taught reading a simple two-page by au- everything in this lifetime. I travel slow, linger utors in familiar the country give his film acravings theatrime to getCalvino rid of about the baggage that us longer, stay in homestays, write, cycle, volun- cal notwithstanding). I noearly longer feltyear. excited thor Italo a couple thatslows doesn’t release sometime next Butdelvfor ing into philosophies people down the most: onebecause we carry internally. get to meet eachthe other they work onI teer, adapt to the local way of life, indulge in now, he’smy set his eyes on thewhen upcoming BFIasked Lonme where I live orwhere what he I do. Inbe fact, the stanlearnt that people everywhere, from simple the quirks of local cuisine, and move beyond don different shifts. Film Festival, will competing dard responses — “you are really lucky”, “wish village folk in Turkey to city-dwellers in by CanaIn Sengupta’s film, the couple, played ac- acquaintances to make friends. Staying awhile for the coveted Sutherland Award. da, areRitwick grappling with the same — in the utopia that is Auroville, the mountain we could do that” — started to tire me out. I tors Chakraborty andinsecurities Basabdatta in the sun Director Aditya Vikram Sengupta mohini chaudhuri finding love,are feeling accepted society, mak- Moment villages of Kumaon, the northern countryside had begun to realise that there’s nothing Chatterjee, grappling withbythe pressures
A traveller and writer trades her home and belongings for a life on the road and nowhere to return to
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Triumph of labour Aditya Vikram Sengupta tells the story of a couple in hard times through a dialogue-less film
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Searching for a new folk Know your passion
Many people imagine that long-term travel is like one big holiday. While that is sometimes true, the road always has its ups and downs and chances are, you won’t be able to afford any kind of luxury. So first, try taking a sabbatical from work and travelling for a month or two with a realistic long-term budget, and see if it works for you. If you can’t get enough of the adventures (the good and the not-sogood), you know you want this.
Jodhpur RIFF suggests some positive alternatives for how folk might be understood today
Make money on the go
While many prefer to save for a few years and travel for a while, sustaining yourself on the go gives you more freedom to choose how and where you’d like to travel. Find the meeting point of your skills and interests, and a way to sell it. If it can be done virtually, you’ve hit your goldmine. Make your current job count
Speaking of marketable skills, use your current job as a testing bed. Move to a role that can hone your skills, add to your credibility and build your network. You have the space to fail and start over, because you’ll still get your paycheque every month. Set a deadline
It’s never too early or too late, and you can never save enough money. Set a deadline, cut down major expenses, save everything you can, and mentally prepare yourself for the challenges ahead. Just do it
Ask yourself what’s the worst that can happen? If you spend a few months on the road and it doesn’t work out — or Park circumstantially Central park The Mehrangarh Fort rises behind Darra Khan, Shakur Khan and Kachra Khan Manganiyar as they performfinancially, at midnightemotionally in the Rao Jodha oijo/jodhpur riff — your old life will be waiting and you’ll have had enough stories to fill a lifetime. olk is a strange term. The range of mu- surprised at the band’s raucous genre-bend- roots, conjures its own context — itwind, makes I’m not saying throw caution to the sic that can be called folk is so vast ing energy; they hadn’t been expecting some sense when not in its really own surroundings. but ifeven travel is what you want to do, that, perhaps, it is best understood by quaint group of white-robed Yemenis, and if On thethe other hand, an acoustic midnight pergive road a shot. what it is not: not classical, not com- they had, they adapted quickly. formance by Darra Khan, Shakur Khan and Kamercial, and often not contemporary. The next night, the same venue was in the chra Khan Manganiyar in the Rao Jodha Park ‘Folk’ would seem to imply ‘of the people’, grip of a profound hush as Senegalese duo Bao at the base of the fort, makes sense of its surfield of work Somewhere in thethe Thailandscape. but it rarely means what is popular today. In- Sissoko and Malick Pathe Sow played a much My roundings, breathing life into siddharth goel and Bao Sissoko reveal a stead, folk is often understood to be ‘nostalgic’ gentler music, a delicate West African blues countryside Malick Pathe Sow rather than current, ‘cultural’ rather than particularly stirring to those familiar with the different kind of rootedness: the folk musibrave or courageous aboutthan the plunge I’ve tak- drab It helps me get to know a region ever the latterthey significantly outnumber popular, ‘rustic’ rather sophisticated, musichotels. of Ali Farka Toure. Following that, every and ciansif from whom are descended were if I simply growcustodians out of the of sense en; it’s merely about priorities. is not a time stea- better, something otherworldly, from aItsimpler corner make of thelasting fort’s connections old zenana with locals, the former, ororal historians, the have afilled host up I can trust read plenty of re- of liberation identity this journey fills me with, IAfter will dy income, a posh apartment or elsean and or place, something people used to do, courtyard with the(Ijubiof their people. in cracking finding a performance, home to go back extravagant lifestyle foreign city (I’ve and research where, before radioinora the internet. At exits views lant energy of 25 thoroughly Rajasthani beforehand). have no qualms their Yemight be the chalas much as I trust that the world is a to (deciding ‘where’ perimented all that in Singapore) that ex- Thirdly, worst, folk iswith a static signifier of culture. Manganiyar musicians performmen Blues bassist andbigger oud player cites but the of thought of notin the Capital ing together. good place, I carry an electric lenge, At me, a showcase ‘folk’ music Theytashadn’t beenreally).Shanir Blumenkranz explains er; I’ve never to use it in over The way I’mthat choosing to live might seem imknowing this week —which the sortpart that of is inthe abundance this All this, too, could be had called the band’s music is arranged expecting some three was yearsnothing of travelling. quaint group practical reckless first. If of you cansingset world might up inof a the week time ofI year — aend member audience, obvi- folk, and there theatidentity lead of andaround think who about this: or month from ofnow. Anyone Whenit.I Iftravel male aside that notion, ously a veteran Delhi cultural program- staid or static about it waswith a white-robed er Kahalani, grew upas in chila Yenothing dren, we are taught dream about thething,” possifriend, only difference I find and who to experience the There’s ming,desires was audibly bewildered by Ravid folk,brave it was folk at itsthe best: vivid, meniteto family. “The main Yemenis, if they or about alive, world thethe wayflamboyant I do can make it is that people tend to gohad, further bilities of where life“is might take But that the Kahalani, front-man of courageous Israeli mutable, diverse. Despite he says, to play theus. music they adapted plunge moment we you become out‘folk’ of their to look out for happen — with a lot of determifunk band Yemen Blues. She did notthe think he I’ve its taken; slipperiness, doesway seem are.”adults, we are expected quickly it’s merelytoabout when I’mway alone. a job we don’t necessarily like, nation (because lot not of people looked Jewish, shea did think they sounded be the onlyme serviceable to I have hitch- to work hard atPerhaps the best moment of getfestival married andon‘settle down’. will tell and you why it’s foolish), in music the high Jewish, on earthsome werefi-they calledpriorities Ye- describe the hiked kind of cu-Himalayas of get an MBA, the came the final day, that way of thinking, nancial planning (because in the diMaramures re- When I challenged men Blues? The first half of you the evening had rated by RIFF,Ladakh, though artistic after an interactive sessionand on need make money on the go), gion ofeschews Romania,the along the Black gave up the security a monthly paycheque been to a sensible and suitably folksy perform- rector Divya Bhatia classicalofand folk forms, during a familiar for a nomadic conSeanot coast in Turkey, and in Bahand luck. ancea bit of of traditional Hungarian music and term. He was involved in naming the and which Dr Vijaybed Verma attemptedlifea that typically rain, International and barring a few pushes my boundaries, like an The question dance. And now that therecomes was a my tall brown man event Rajasthan FolkquestionFestival stantly scholarly deconstruction of folk.I felt As soon as in my newfound freedom. Then I met way though, that gyrating of safetyback as a able I’ve been overwhelmed by the withmost a pileoften of braids on hisishead and characters, has since done his best to rechristen it outcast the session ended, Ghafoor Khan Manganiyar of strangers countless So aand fisherman Mauritius to single female traveller. Overmaking years ofthe solovenue trav- kindness and forth across the stage, Jodhpur RIFF. Still, thein festival itselfplaces. suggests his groupinrelocated to who a rugchose on thenot grass in a high-paying monotonous elling within and outside I have found a much so, I seldom miss thefor friends I’m always seem absurdly staid. OneIndia, of these things was some positive alternatives how folk might work just outside the talk’s venue and, with afactory group job like his friends. Fishing liberated him behind.today. few things not like the that other.work for me: firstly, I avoid leaving be understood of enthusiasts clustered around them, began When first set out, Iby told myself that if I from thewithout dependence on money for food, and crowded, touristy places offnight the beaThree days earlier, onand thetravel second of A dawnI performance Ustad Daoud Khan playing guidance or explanation. He live out ofthe a backpack for six months, loved theasea. ten path inedition small countryside where could the eighth the Jodhpur villages, RIFF, an annual Sadozai playing roabab, an Afghan relativeI he didn’t have chance to speak, but his generosconsider this a ‘successful’ everyone knows everyone else, and at when four-day international music festival the would of the sarod, suggests that folk is experiment. about place. ity with his music suggested folk was about reis location independent currently you’re a visitor, you can befort, sure that a hundred after the30first fewinweeks, lost track of plays time shivya beautiful Mehrangarh Yemen Blues But More than years exile, IKhan sahab sisting nath formality, about intimacyand and play. stoppedbut counting how long I had been his on travelling in Guatemala. She blogs at the-shootingeyes will the lookhouse out for you.Though Secondly, I choose brought down. RIFF is also and everywhere his own country. He calls t@shivya devika bakshi is a Delhi-based writer road. days have their andits downs, homestays or afamily-run establishments over the known to be ‘folk’ festival, nobody seemed music hisMy behtareen dost; it ups carries own star.com
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Finders, keepers Amradh, at his antique shop Sheratone Antique Artss Mumbai purchased my entire stock and paid more than a lakh without b family from Canada stumbled upon photographs of their relatives whilee
An empty gaze Portraits of children at Atheena Antique Shop, AB Salem Road
Amidst strangers A studio portrait of a child lies amidst antique ďŹ gurin
A studied guess Ramesh of Atheena Antique Shop arranges his collection of photographs. He claims he can tell from a customer’s behaviour whether he or she is a potential buyer, and calculates the price depending on the level of interest in each photograph
Lost and found Vintage photographs on display at Cochin Crafts & Cu u international tourists show more interest in potraits of heavily decked a
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s Exporters, says, “Once a man from b bargaining. Another time, an NRI Tamil e browsing through the collection.”
ines at Cochin Crafts & Curios
u urios. Shopkeepers claim that aand ornamented subjects
Hall of frame Studio portrait of a toddler on sale along with enamel tiffin carriers
Memories for sale What is it that makes tourists buy old photographs of strangers in this quiet corner of Kochi?
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toddler stares intently at the lens; a garlanded couple pose, perhaps for their first photograph together; and schoolgirls in pigtails smile bashfully in sepia — all memories from a bygone era. All images for sale in Mattancherry, the quaint, crumbling quarter of Kochi. With no details about the people on either side of the camera, such photographs are piled high in antique stores across Jew Town. Sold for a few hundred rupees, or thousands even, the price is often contingent on a buyer’s bargaining skills. Although most of these pictures appear to be from Tamil Nadu — the names of the studios written in a neat hand — even the shop-
keepers who sell them rarely know their provenance. Some say they might have been left behind by those who migrated to foreign lands. Or sourced from homes that were demolished or partitioned and sold in pieces. Homes, perhaps, long-abandoned by all but time and dust. Whenever I visit Mattancherry, I always wonder what stories these pictures might tell those who buy them. Will their new owners hang them in ornate drawing rooms in Europe? Treat them like a work of art? What is it that makes the buyers gather images and stories of strangers to make them their own? thulasi kakkat
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A passage to India
Location I independent ent
‘Africans in India’ throws light on an episode of history long forgotten and little documented n 1606, Mughal emperor Jahangir chin principalities run by African commissioned a portrait. Obelites; of Jamal-ud-din Yakut, who was sessed with an implacable foe, Razia Sultana’s general and confidant; who was bitterly opposed to the of Malik Andal, the African eunuch Mughal invasion, the painting depictwho became one of the most promied Jahangir standing atop the world nent architects of the Deccan; and of and shooting the severed head of this Malik Ambar, a former slave who was a “night-coloured usurper,” on whose formidable opponent to the Mughals crown sat an owl. Even in his memoirs, invading Deccan. The Africans brought Jahangir refers to this enemy several in trade and introduced zebras and gitimes, calling him “Ambar, that black raffes to the Indian landscape. They wretch,” that “crafty ill-starred one”. gave us film personalities in actress ZuWho was this powerful adversary, this beida, daughter of a nawab of Sachin constant nightmare? Malik Ambar was state, and her mother Fatma Begum, an Ethiopian slave, brought to India in who was the first female film director. the 1570s, who rose through the ranks Interestingly, in most paintings and to become prime minister of Ahmaddepictions of the African elite in Indian nagar, raised an army of 10,000 African Kings of their time Nawab Sidi Ibrahim Khan II ruled in the Sachin state society, skin colour wasn’t used to idennomadic lifemen on the without a ing a family work and so forth. We allow jealcavalry and infantry androad, halted tify them. Contrary to the slave sociehome to goofback to, was never my ousy, judgement and hatred, often fuelled by the Mughal invasion the Deccan. ties of America and Europe, racism in Butabout like all the society Little is plan. known thegood wavesthings, of forced Even or as the American built economies media,colonies to lead us before accept- 15th-century Indian society was not based all universe led methat to it. Over three and voluntary migration brought hun- centred slave labour,for hundreds of else. East on colour. While the spate of incidents of racing that around the grass is greener someone years ago, I took the plunge to quit my cubicledreds of East African traders, soldiers, archi- Africans — known as are Sidisresponsible and Habshifor — sailed But really, we alone what ism this year, which have targeted African boundand lifeslaves in Singapore, sayingsubcontinent, goodbye to a on tects to the Indian Indian towhat settleifinI’ve thebeen portraised cities communities in the country, tell a different we the do with ourOcean, lives. So comfortable job that me of more than a corporate century before the indulged first Africans Calicut and Dhaka. Unlike the Ameriin aGoa, conventional, protective, small-town fam- story, Dr Diouf says, “The Africans didn’t face but didn’t quite fulfil I longed un- can arrived on the shores of me. America as partfor of the experience, theByIndian Ocean experience ily in Dehradun? not giving up on my such problems in the past. They were outside planned adventures in places I hadinonly read transatlantic slave trade. ‘Africans India: A is remarkable because ofwith the social mobility dreams, experimenting my skills and the caste system, they presided over largely about in geography textbooks. Using Delhi by as enjoyed Rediscovery’, an exhibition put together “American fighting by theAfrican battlesmigrants. that come my way,coloI’m Hindu states.” a base for two years, I fed my wanderlust, en- nies the Schomburg Center, New York, and curated were slave economies. making a choice every day. India was a differ(‘Africans in India: A Rediscovery’ will run at tered the realm of professional travel blog- entWhen by historian Dr Sylviane Diouf, seeks to throw experience. That’s we wanted I look back onthe mystory nomadic journey,toI IGNCA, Delhi till November 4.) ging, on broke into national andlong international light an episode of history forgotten tell, African elites in India,” says Dr Diouf. find of that the first one-and-a-half months were travel publications and coand poorly documented. The exhibition tells short tales of Janjira and Sa-I priyanka kotamraju nothing exhilarating; founded my own responsible woke up to the possibility of new travel start-up, India Untravelled adventures every day, found (we connect travellers with offenough time and concentration beat and sustainable travel iniWhen you’re running to work and write, and drew in- of the recession that hit a few years ago. “I tiatives). By August 2013, a to catch the only train spiration from the smallest acts liked the idea of the couple not being able to semi-nomadic life had become of kindness (of which there meet. We contextualised it and set it against into a town you’ve part of my comfort zone; I had were, and continue to be, many). the spiralling recession in Bengal. The film benever heard of, outgrown my need for city living But towards the end of the sec- came about silences, the objects that the charnothing on your and my work as a freelancer had ond month, I started to grow acters interact with in each other’s absence shoulders can be gained credibility. So in another weary, like a soul without a com- and exploring love through them,” explains important enough to leap of faith, I gave up my shabby pass, wandering aimlessly with the National Institute of Design graduate. The weigh you down Delhi apartment, sold most of no end in sight and nowhere to initial version of the screenplay did have some my belongings, stored some in go back to. I couldn’t see myself sequences with dialogues, but, as the shoot t’s been an exciting couple the boot of a friend’s car (and lat- of weeks for going back to the life I had left progressed, they were deemed redundant and Aditya er at debutante a relative’sfilmmaker place), and hit Vikram Senbehind, nor could I keep up with done away with. gupta. Last his indefinitely. Bengali film Asha the constant moving and fleeting interactions the road with mymonth, backpack, Though made on a tight budget, Sengupta of Thailand, at a nunnery and the of Love) won him a on the road. My funds had started to dip, my says ForJaoar one Majhe year, I (Labour have moved, uninhibitedly, he has exhausted all in hisLadakh savings to in make winelabour country South Australia hasmost led me to rousing ovation Fedeora like a birdstanding with wings but noand nest,the soaring into work-life balance was going for a toss, and I this ofoflove. Like it is with indeexperiences I couldn’t drumming have had inup passing. In Award for the best director at was forever drifting in and out of internet con- pendent the skies, swooping down inona debut parts film of the filmmakers, support Australia, for instance, I ended After up meeting the prestigious Venice Film The honworld that beckoned me. Festival. I can’t help but nectivity — a nightmare for any digital nomad. from financiers proved difficult. repeatand staying withrounds a Worldof War II Polish refugee, our was a long timeabout coming formuch Bengali cinelaugh when I think how I fretted That’s when it happened. Goa Tourism invit- edly doing the producers’ offices, whowife hadJonaki been given protection bybankroll a maharaja ma, which hadn’t seen an entry the ed me for a trip to write about ‘offbeat’ Goa, his over packing my backpack when I wastoready and he decided to the in Gujarat during his“For formative years he prestigious festival itfor decade. The last(mayBen- and during my research, I stumbled upon a project to leave — I needed toalast me months themselves. the first legafter of the escaped a concentration camp in Siberia, gali film to featuresummer was Goutam Ghose’sinAbar be years), through and winter, the Goan-Portuguese homestay in the interiors of shoot, wefrom borrowed money from someone. In andsecond when the of the had closedand its Aranye (2003). hisbeach, big win Venice, Sen- a sleepy village that offered my tired soul ev- the mountains andSince by the in at remote villagleg,rest we put in world our own money doors. I continue to carry a part of these gupta has premiered his film the Busan In- erything it needed to recover — meaningful in- in es in India and fast-paced citiesathalfway across the third, we took a loan to return theplaces monand encounters in me, and ofternational FilmbeFestival and a host the globe. Truth told, one week intoof myother new teractions, stable WiFi (the things we take for ey tounanticipated first person. Thankfully, we’ve paid every ten traverse them increw the crevices ofof my mind international filmfathom festivals. wasowned also granted in our citified lives!), delicious food one life, I couldn’t even whatItI had off,” he says. His consisted only six when thewhich goingmeant gets tough. screened this week at the 16thmany Mumbai to fill those cupboards. I shed of myFilm be- and a chance to slow down, appreciate the lo- people, each person was perSometime between fourth and fifth Festival the India Goldwhen section. Filmed over cal way of life, and slowly but deeply fall in forming longingsinalong the way; you’re running multiple roles the throughout the makmonths, a nomadic my lifestyle waythe of atoyear in the Kolkata North Sengupta’s catch onlyand train into Bengal, a town you’ve nev- love. I had discovered the secret to sustaining ing. “I remember dadbecame sitting aon life for me. I no longer thought about work,” what I film is devoid of dialogues butyour is unmistakaer heard of before, nothing on shoulders my journey, both financially and emotionally staircase and doing all the accounting hadsays, left with behind or what would to bly film.enough “The background can abeBengali important to weigh yousounds, down. — Slow Travel. he a laugh. He ithopes bybe thelike time haveready a home to unpack in. I nofilm, longer songs and TV commentaries make it clear that he’s to make his second thecraved successa familiar café Majhe to while days in first few weeks on the road me reno longer move at breakneck speed to dis- of myf my characters are Bengali,” says made the 30-yearAsha Jaoar willaway makemy it easier for(comhim pare that the charm people-watching at a the futility of trading experiences for cover a place for a day or two, having made to oldalise director. find thetobacking of aofproducer. where no onehurdle knowsisyou) or the new most to of him us make Thepossessions concept of (because the film came after peace with the fact that I won’t be able to see café The next major looking forcomfort distribzone of foodto(Maggi Masala that trade-off regularly), theshort nextstory few taught reading a simple two-page by au- everything in this lifetime. I travel slow, linger utors in familiar the country give his film acravings theatrime to getCalvino rid of the baggage that us longer, stay in homestays, write, cycle, volun- cal notwithstanding). I noearly longer felt year. excited thor Italo about a couple thatslows doesn’t release sometime next Butdelvfor ing into philosophies people down most: onebecause we carry internally. get to the meet eachthe other they work onI teer, adapt to the local way of life, indulge in now, he’smy set his eyes on thewhen upcoming BFIasked Lonme where I live orwhere what Ihe do. In be fact, the stanlearnt that people everywhere, from simple the quirks of local cuisine, and move beyond don different shifts. Film Festival, will competing dard responses — “you are really lucky”, “wish village folk in Turkey to city-dwellers in by CanaIn Sengupta’s film, the couple, played ac- acquaintances to make friends. Staying awhile for the coveted Sutherland Award. da, areRitwick grappling with the same — in the utopia that is Auroville, the mountain we could do that” — started to tire me out. I tors Chakraborty andinsecurities Basabdatta in Kumaon, the sun Director Aditya Vikram Sengupta mohini chaudhuri finding love,are feeling accepted society, mak- Moment villages of the northern countryside had begun to realise that there’s nothing Chatterjee, grappling withbythe pressures
A traveller and writer trades her home and belongings for a life on the road and nowhere to return to
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Triumph of labour Aditya Vikram Sengupta tells the story of a couple in hard times through a dialogue-less film
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Searching for a new folk Know your passion
Many people imagine that long-term travel is like one big holiday. While that is sometimes true, the road always has its ups and downs and chances are, you won’t be able to afford any kind of luxury. So first, try taking a sabbatical from work and travelling for a month or two with a realistic long-term budget, and see if it works for you. If you can’t get enough of the adventures (the good and the not-sogood), you know you want this.
Jodhpur RIFF suggests some positive alternatives for how folk might be understood today
Make money on the go
While many prefer to save for a few years and travel for a while, sustaining yourself on the go gives you more freedom to choose how and where you’d like to travel. Find the meeting point of your skills and interests, and a way to sell it. If it can be done virtually, you’ve hit your goldmine. Make your current job count
Speaking of marketable skills, use your current job as a testing bed. Move to a role that can hone your skills, add to your credibility and build your network. You have the space to fail and start over, because you’ll still get your paycheque every month. Set a deadline
It’s never too early or too late, and you can never save enough money. Set a deadline, cut down major expenses, save everything you can, and mentally prepare yourself for the challenges ahead. Just do it
Ask yourself what’s the worst that can happen? If you spend a few months on the road and it doesn’t work out — or Park circumstantially Central park The Mehrangarh Fort rises behind Darra Khan, Shakur Khan and Kachra Khan Manganiyar as they performfinancially, at midnightemotionally in the Rao Jodha oijo/jodhpur riff — your old life will be waiting and you’ll have had enough stories to fill a lifetime. olk is a strange term. The range of mu- surprised at the band’s raucous genre-bend- roots, conjures its own context — itwind, makes I’m not saying throw caution to the sic that can be called folk is so vast ing energy; they hadn’t been expecting some sense when not in its really own surroundings. but ifeven travel is what you want to do, that, perhaps, it is best understood by quaint group of white-robed Yemenis, and if On thethe other hand, an acoustic midnight pergive road a shot. what it is not: not classical, not com- they had, they adapted quickly. formance by Darra Khan, Shakur Khan and Kamercial, and often not contemporary. The next night, the same venue was in the chra Khan Manganiyar in the Rao Jodha Park ‘Folk’ would seem to imply ‘of the people’, grip of a profound hush as Senegalese duo Bao at the base of the fort, makes sense of its surfield of work Somewhere in thethe Thailandscape. but it rarely means what is popular today. In- Sissoko and Malick Pathe Sow played a much My roundings, breathing life into siddharth goel and Bao Sissoko reveal a stead, folk is often understood to be ‘nostalgic’ gentler music, a delicate West African blues countryside Malick Pathe Sow rather than current, ‘cultural’ rather than particularly stirring to those familiar with the different kind of rootedness: the folk musibrave or courageous aboutthan the plunge I’ve tak- drab It helps me get to know a region ever the latterthey significantly outnumber popular, ‘rustic’ rather sophisticated, musichotels. of Ali Farka Toure. Following that, every and ciansif from whom are descended were if I simply growcustodians out of the of sense en; it’s merely about priorities. is not a time stea- better, something otherworldly, from aItsimpler corner make of thelasting fort’s connections old zenana with locals, the former, ororal historians, the have afilled host up I can trust read plenty of re- of liberationidentity this journey fills me with, IAfter will dy income, a posh apartment or elsean and or place, something people used to do, courtyard with the(Ijubiof their people. in cracking finding a performance, home to go back extravagant lifestyle foreign city (I’ve and research where, before radio inora the internet. At exits views lant energy of 25 thoroughly Rajasthani beforehand). have no qualms their Yemight be the chalas much as I trust that the world is a to (deciding ‘where’ perimented all that in Singapore) that ex- Thirdly, worst, folk iswith a static signifier of culture. Manganiyar musicians performmen Blues bassist andbigger oud player cites but the of thought of notin the Capital ing together. good place, I carry an electric lenge, At ame, showcase ‘folk’ music Theytashadn’t beenreally).Shanir Blumenkranz explains er; I’ve never to use it expecting in over The way I’mthat choosing to live might seem imknowing this week —which the sortpart that of is inthe abundance this All this, too, could be had called the band’s music is arranged some three was yearsnothing of travelling. quaint group practical reckless first. If of you cansingset world might up inofa the week time ofI year — aend member audience, obvi- folk, and there theatidentity lead of andaround think who about this: or month from ofnow. Whenit.I Iftravel male aside that notion, ously a veteran DelhiAnyone cultural program- staid or static about it waswith a white-robed er Kahalani, grew upas in chila Yenothing dren, we are taught dream about thething,” possifriend, only difference I find and who to experience the There’s ming,desires was audibly bewildered by Ravid folk,brave it was folk at itsthe best: vivid, meniteto family. “The main Yemenis, if they or about alive, world thethe wayflamboyant I do can make it is that people tend to gohad, further bilities of where life“is might take Butthat the Kahalani, front-man of courageous Israeli mutable, diverse. Despite he says, to play theus. music they adapted plunge moment we you become out‘folk’ of their to look out for happen — with a lot of determifunk band Yemen Blues. She did notthe think he I’ve its taken; slipperiness, doesway seem are.” adults, we are expected quickly it’s merelytoabout when I’mway alone. a job we don’t necessarily nation (because lot not of people looked Jewish, shea did think they sounded be the onlyme serviceable to I have hitch- to work hard atPerhaps the best momentlike, of getfestival married andon‘settle down’. will telland you why it’s foolish), in music the high Jewish, on earthsome werefi-they calledpriorities Ye- describe the hiked kind of cu- Himalayas of get an MBA, the came the final day, that way of thinking, nancial planning (because in the diMaramures re- When I challenged men Blues? The first half of you the evening had rated by RIFF,Ladakh, though artistic after an interactive sessionand on need make money on the go), gion ofeschews Romania, along the Black gave up the security a monthly paycheque been to a sensible and suitably folksy perform- rector Divya Bhatia the classicalofand folk forms, during a familiar for a attempted nomadic life conSeanot coast in Turkey, and in Bahand luck. ancea bit of of traditional Hungarian music and term. He was involved in naming the and which Dr Vijaybed Verma a that typically rain, International and barring a few pushes my boundaries, like an The question dance. And now that therecomes was a my tall brown man event Rajasthan FolkquestionFestival stantly scholarly deconstruction of folk.I felt As soon as in my newfound freedom. Then I met way though, that gyrating of safetyback as a able I’ve been overwhelmed by the withmost a pile often of braids on hisishead and characters, has since done his best to rechristen it outcast the session ended, Ghafoor Khan Manganiyar of strangers countless So aand fisherman Mauritius to single female traveller. Overmaking years ofthe solovenue trav- kindness and forth across the stage, Jodhpur RIFF. Still, the in festival itselfplaces. suggests his groupinrelocated to who a rugchose on thenot grass in a high-paying monotonous elling within and outside I have found so, I seldom miss thefor friends I’m always seem absurdly staid. One India, of these things wasa much some positive alternatives how folk might work just outside the talk’s venue and, with afactory group job like his friends. Fishing him behind.today. few things that work for me: firstly, I avoid leaving not like the other. be understood of enthusiasts clustered aroundliberated them, began When first set out, Ibytold myself that if I from thewithout dependence on money for food, and crowded, touristy places offnight the beaThree days earlier, onand the travel second of A dawnI performance Ustad Daoud Khan playing guidance or explanation. He live out ofthe a backpack six months, loved theasea. ten path inedition small countryside villages, where could the eighth the Jodhpur RIFF, an annual Sadozai playing roabab, anfor Afghan relativeI he didn’t have chance to speak, but his generosconsider this a ‘successful’ experiment. everyone knows everyone and at when four-day international musicelse, festival the would of the sarod, suggests that folk is about place. ity with his music suggested folk was about reis location independent currently you’re a visitor, you can befort, sure that a hundred after the30first fewinweeks, lost track ofplays time shivya beautiful Mehrangarh Yemen Blues But More than years exile, IKhan sahab sisting nath formality, about intimacyand and play. stoppedbut counting how long I had beenhis on travelling in Guatemala. She blogs at the-shootingeyes will the lookhouse out for you.Though Secondly, I choose brought down. RIFF is also and everywhere his own country. He calls t@shivya devika bakshi is a Delhi-based writer road. days have their andits downs, homestays or afamily-run establishments over the known to be ‘folk’ festival, nobody seemed music hisMy behtareen dost; it ups carries own star.com
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Knock knock Tied in knots PRESENT IMPERFECT
Diwali might make you feel like you walked onto the sets of The Shining, but as it isthe also rich in unexpected surprises, says Priya Kuriyan As long Indian marriage is seen as a mandatory symbol of sexual normalcy and a character certificate, torture, abuse and a callous indifference to real needs will be its pillars
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he Indian marriage, which has for long been identifiable with its distinctive stench of charred flesh, is now standing trial in South Africa and looking as unspeakably ugly as it always has. In how privileged its lead players — Shrien Dewani and his murdered wife Anni — are, lies the large reach and immeasurable influence of a revered ancient Indian ‘institution’. Here’s a little synopsis of the case for those who haven’t been following the story. Shrien Dewani, son of a successful Indian businessman in the UK, marries Anni Hindocha, daughter of a successful Indian businessman in Sweden. They go to South Africa on their honeymoon where, in an apparent car-jacking, Anni is murdered. Dewani goes back to the UK, seemingly broken hearted, local papers write editorials on how unsafe South Africa is, and everyone on the internet looks lovingly at their wedding picture and remarks about how a perfect fairytale came to a grisly end. Soon though, South African police allege that Dewani had paid money to have his new wife killed in a fake car-jacking. Four years later, after losing his fight against extradition to South Africa to stand trial because he was depressed and mentally ailing, Dewani is now in court, and a whole new set of truths have emerged. Dewani admits to being bi-sexual, he has hired the services of male prostitutes and indulged in extreme BDSM. He even surfed the gay hook-up website Gaydar while he was on his honeymoon. It now emerges that he was moody and constantly critical, and that Anni had her doubts about him even before they married. She told her cousin that she wanted to end the engagement, but since she was from a good Indian family, she was advised that things would change for the better once they were married. Anni was also flummoxed that while they were courting, Dewani didn’t seem interested in any physical intimacy with her. Once again, desi values were aired out and she was told to see this as a sign of his virtuous character. And the circus that is the great Indian wedding chugged along merrily — through stag parties in Las Vegas and a ₹2 crore wedding in Mumbai — until it all came to a grinding halt in that car in Johannesburg. In the morphing structure of relationships and marriages, Dewani’s story of therapy through marriage is nothing new. While the Indian marriage is seen as the cure for most personal ‘ailments’ — starting with alcoholism and gambling — it is in the ‘treatment’ of homosexuality that it finds most use. I spent 18 months starting in 2012 trailing 11 women and asking exhaustive questions about their marriage in order to research my book on mothers-in-law. It was in the course of this that I met a girl who I call Rachna in the book. Rachna met her future mother-in-law at a friend’s wedding. The woman took Rachna under her belt, building a bridge of friendship, peppered with frequent lunches, shopping expeditions and movies. Then she introduced her to her son, who had just returned from London after
Put out the light A relative of Anni Dewani displayed her photograph on his jacket at the Westminster Crown Court in London last year afp/andrew cowie
his MBA, and set them up. While his mother and Rachna — frustrated and furious — told picked a wedding date and a wedding dress the friend that her suspicions were right all and took over all the responsibilities of plan- along. Yet, she hasn’t gathered the courage to ning a perfect week of festivities, Rachna walk out of her marriage, for which “good Infound herself increasingly confused by her dian girl can talk to her elders about this? It fiancé Gaurav. He was friendly, yet distant. He seems a wrong thing to desire, a wrong thing took her on dates (often his mother planned to demand.” them and tagged along), yet did not seem very Both Anni’s and Rachna’s stories are even interested in her. The few times more pertinent now that the they spent alone in his room, he BJP’s youth wing, ABVP, has decidmade absolutely no move toed to impose Indian values and wards her, and on the couple of advocate against live-in relationoccasions that she did, he ships, which is often a eupheWhile the Indian fobbed her off by saying his mism for pre-marital sex in marriage is seen as mother wouldn’t approve of presecure relationships. Saket Bahuthe cure for most marital sex. guna, the Delhi state secretary of ‘ailments’ — starting I was introduced to Rachna by ABVP, was quoted as saying the with alcoholism and a common friend. The friend on gambling — it’s in the opposition to such relationships hearing these accounts immediwas in order to “apprise girls of ‘treatment’ of ately suspected that he was gay homosexuality that it benefits of a marriage institution and told Rachna so. I am certain and detrimental effects of being finds most use Rachna suspected it too. Yet, she in such a relationship as it prowas caught between guilt on acmotes crime against women like count of transgressing Indian torture and other abuses”. values and the disappointment His statement is particularly she would cause all around if she broke the en- ironic considering the long history of violence gagement. Besides, Gaurav’s lack of physical against wives in the Indian marriage — startinterest in her wasn’t something she could dis- ing, perhaps, with Sati and going through deccuss with anyone outside a circle of friends. ades of dowry deaths. As long as the Indian She couldn’t tell her mother about it — be- marriage is seen as a mandatory symbol of sexcause this is India, we don’t attempt to have ual normalcy and a fully endorsed character sex with our fiancés and discuss it with our certificate, torture, abuse and — as in Rachna’s parents — nor could she discuss it with her case — a callous indifference to real needs will friendly future mother-in-law. Eventually, be its pillars. With education, exposure and a Rachna decided that her risks of marrying generation that is capable of far more advenGaurav were the exact ones she would have ture, there is no better time than now to liberhad to face had she married a stranger her par- ate the Indian marriage from the so-called ents chose for her. She decided to “just settle”, Indian values. she told me, a sad but rather accurate choice of t@veenavenugopal words. It’s now 11 months since the wedding,
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BAWDY LINE
The intermammary fjord The uncovered upper chest has reached a point where there’s an unabated supply of filmic tittage around us. In contrast, the community standards of modesty have dawdled behind
The cover-up Madhubala’s suggestive yet demure bodice in Mughal-e-Azam
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Ambarish Satwik is a Delhi-based vascular surgeon and writer
he Times of India’s tweet on Deepika Padukone that warmed the hearts and loins of a great many Hindustani men wasn’t a lapse of good form as much as the rendition of a national myth about the intermammary sulcus. As a people, we’re unversed in the cleavage; it doesn’t exist in the collective iconography of our past and therefore we don’t have a proper word for it in our many languages. It is anomalous and exotic, so there should be pageantry around it. What we do have is a word in Braj bhasha that droops with vernacular loveliness: joban. Joban isn’t the post-pubertal stage or the prime or youth. It specifically refers to the oestrogenic blossoming of the rounded charms of a woman’s secondary sexual characteristics. Actually, joban is more manifold and complicated than anything encompassed by a single word. It is also the swell, the sway and the quiver. Sample this: Us ras tapakti angiya mein ek umda joban tanta hain Us joban pe voh joban hain, jo bin banae banta hain (That luscious bodice detains a bursting bosom’s swell Self-willed, the ensuant sprightliness of the bust on the belle) It’s the sort of description that takes in everything (about the breasts) that beguiles. Except that joban is the bust under an intercessory garment. It is an appeal to sexual passions brokered by the poetics of presence rather than that of display. For Hindustanis, till about the 1960s, the consumption of the body through filmic images was largely restricted to imagining the damned thing. That was the great cultural specificity of the Bombay film. The filmic breast fetish was handled by proxy. The point here was to see the angiya, aanchal, pallu, chunariya, choli or any other kind of subcontinental drapery not as a cover for the mammaries, but as desire itself. Surkh aanchal ko dabaa kar jo nichoda usne Dil pe jalta hua ik teer sa chhoda usne
This seems daffy and quaint even for those tion were the primary function, breasts would times, but that’s how it was, with absolutely have been mere glands; they wouldn’t have no boobage on display. Madhubala’s chest been enlarged with fatty adipose tissue. Fat is would be covered all the way to the clavicles. physiologically expensive. Upon the blouse or kurta would be the suppleHuman females don’t have a defined and exmentary second layer of the thoracic veil — the ternally detectable fertile period in their reaanchal/chunariya. With such a fine specimen productive cycle. Other primates do — it’s of bust, this was problematic at best and es- called estrus. So human males haven’t a clue sentialist at worst. The obscured supplied the about when she might be ovulating. For reprothrill of the obscene. And she was splendid ductive success, we need regular coital activwith her aanchal. The performity. For that to happen, we need a ance of the covering seemed to steadfast and dedicated set of atbe the most important thing tractants. Permanently enlarged rather than the idea that the covbreasts. er might be covering something. This near-tautology leaves Cleavage is breast From the 1970s, the uncovered wide open the question posed by flesh pressed into upper chest was gradually eased that queen of her species, the service. And into our cinematic byways. The matinee-photogenic, properly, manifestly put on natural history of our mammary old-fashionedly beautiful Deepiview. It is the bodice desire started with Rehana Sulka Padukone in her fulmination remaking the breast tan’s sideboob in Dastak (1970) against The Times of India: hath and has in the present climate not a woman cleavage? reached a point where there’s an No she doesn’t. She makes the unabated supply of sanctioned sulcus. Cleavage is breast flesh filmic tittage around us. In contrast, the com- pressed into service. And manifestly put on munity standards of modesty have dawdled view. It is the bodice remaking the breast. For behind. So though we do get to see fitted arti- the delectation of the observer. Well, the bodcles of clothing and a bit of galumphing of the ice along with the modern western brassiere. breasts from time to time, even the occasional The modern mammary cleavage would’ve nevunwitting down-blouse, active décolleté dis- er happened without the modern western plays aren’t exactly commonplace. The cleav- brassiere (MWB). The MWB is, on that account, age, at any rate, remains an epiphanically availed twice over — in the wearing and the affecting spectacle. One doesn’t routinely get viewing. Much like the bra-strap or the underto see them on real women. wear that she likes to show, it reissues the old The principal function of the permanently bogey that was first put out by George Berkeenlarged breasts of the post-pubertal females ley about the possibility of unperceived existof the species Homo sapiens is to solicit male at- ence: “If a tree were to fall in a forest and no tention and investment even when they (the one is around to hear it, does it make a females) are not fertile (Crawford et al, 1998). sound?” Ex hypothesi, without the beholder, Males are meant to go into some sort of excita- would the cleavage have an independent tion upon seeing them. Breasts in other pri- existence? mates enlarge only during ovulation and What she hath is a fjord; a region of separapregnancy. For the other interregnums of tion between those numinous mammaries their youth, they’re puny and pitiful. Also, fe- that find their centre of gravity not on the stermales of other primate species do not develop num, but much laterally. breasts during puberty; instead, they sprout asatwik@gmail. com and develop them during pregnancy. If lacta-
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Project unlimited
Gifts on wheels
ELSEWHERE
manjula padmanabhan
Nury Vittachi aka ‘Mr Jam’ on the importance of children’s books and the secret of his prolificacy
win the Man Booker, the World ReadWith Diwali around corner, wetheme trailrather the busiest person this season — the e-commerce ers’the Award will focus on than nationality. Their mandate cleardelivery person whizzing about town ly is: “to encourage the generation of writing set at least partly outside global literature’s over-used ‘home territories’ of the US and the UK.” kash Vaid is already halfway‘Earthling’, as VittaThe 56-year-old through his workday when I meet chi calls himself, who was born in Ceyhim outside the “Bikanervala lon, lived in near Malaysia and the UK, the metro station,” as he had specihighlighted the central position that fied. A delivery person for Amazon India,inVaid Asia holds a larger scheme of had agreed to take me alongthings on his at daily theroute recent Jump Start 2014, at the behest of his superiors. When we meet, held in Delhi. He combined his knack 25-year-old Vaid, smartly dressed in his (thanks com- to business jourfor numbers he other day I had a very pleasant lunch with somepany uniform, has six packages left for nalism) anddelivhis storytelling skills one I was meeting for the first time, in her home. ery in and around the residential Delhi in his children’s (made west apparent I’ll call her Jan. She and her husband James live in a neighbourhood Rajouri Garden. books) to deliver a most engaging beautiful airy house by the sea, a few miles north of “I’ll go ahead and you can follow me,” he that the “world is talk. Underscoring ury Vittachi lives in Hong Elsewhere. The properties on either side belong to various says after the initial chit-chat. This wasand easier 2/3rd Asian 1/3rd everyone else,” — Kong, a place he as finds millionaires, including one Indian royal family. said than done Vaidsinzipped with the conheoff believes that our books, our literagularly uncreative. Heclearly The reason we met is that Jan is a member of a book club in fidence of a person who hismarket way today needs to retureknows and the works in Central, London, where she and her husband spend part of the year. around town. Hewhich wouldislaterflect tell me is from thishe reality. the centre of“proper the city. At times, he needed At that book club she met a cousin of mine, a great book-lovDelhi” and “just toofknow As one Asia’samost successful and might walk down to The er, who lives in London too. When my cousin heard that Jan landmark toHarbour. find anyIn house or office in the children’s book widely translated Hong Kong; the CityThe of Dreams lives in Rhode Island, she put us in touch with one another. city”. son of a(2006) readymade garments saleswriters, he believes that children’s he writes, “…man, therehe is began a Newish Build-right As the two of us chatted over the lunch she had made, I learnt working afterauthors class XIIare to the foundation of book ing and an Adjoining that she and James had once lived in Delhi. We quickly estabsupport Building… his family. near His firstthe jobentertainment was at a call industry — be it my old office therefollowed is a restaurant lished so many points of reference — Fabindia, the IIC, Lodhi centre, by stints atpsychologically a wholesale shoe or economically. The Quite Good supplier Chinese and restaurant. Its most Gardens — that it was like meeting an old friend. Except that pizza franchise, before joiningmessage that chilimportant signature dish is Quite we’d never even heard of one another until two months ago! Amazon IndiaGood eightNoomonthsdren’s ago. books give, Vittachi says, is — dles.” At the vegetarian restaurant When she asked me for food preferences, I said soup and “The company itself is only oneone-and-a-half day your mommy will be dead, called… Vegetarian the but salad were what I liked best. So she made a delicious cream of years oldRestaurant, [in India]. I wanted to join ever Economically, chilthatthem is okay. waitresses wear ‘Wait-he says. asparagus soup with other veggies added in, followed by a sincebadges I heardwith of them,” of thoudren’sOne books have revitalised the enress’ written sands on it — distinguish plated salad. She placed a big scoop of crabmeat at the centre of “To employees who have the mostindustry, detertainment be it through them from plants and fish” explains ofwest a halo crisp greens and (below) deep crimson slices of trusty tomato. manding, yet—least appreciated jobPotter in the the Harry franchise or Thejoy Fault Delivering A customer in Delhiofpays cash on delivery; Akash Vaid and his bike sibi arasu Vittachi. He feels particularly for sector, Three golden-cherry tomatoes lit up each plate like tiny ore-commerce and bad logistics in OurVaid Stars.usually Adjoining Building, as packages a day, and nearly 25-30 ange lights. For dessert there was delivers 15-20 Making money from he is sure it must suffer ice painting. cream andFrom fresh peach halves. packages around Diwali. Setting out at books 7am, appears he finishes to only be aafter 5pm. His daily route pas- nal the blue house to the from an identity crisis. In the course of we ourfollow conversathrough neighbourhoods that are within Green skill thatses Vittachi is rathApartments, Vaid through But in this uncreative tion, Jan mentioned that she 5-7km ofin.Rajouri er well-versed As a Garden, including areas like the warrens of west Delhi, but was not once does place, Vittachi has about her daughter. She Mayapuri, Tagore Garden, Subhash Nagar, precocious six-year-old heworried look lost. Handing over the package, we get World Readers’ Today, we can live cracked plenty a joke was in Liberia, reporting on the Hari Nagar and Janakpuri. On some days, his he drew a picture and helpful pointers from a resident for the shortAward will be for the simultaneously in and spun many a yarn. outbreak of next Ebola there. It was work takes sold it to an also uncle. Hehim to the ‘sub-city’ est way to our destination. After that, it is world as it is — Asiaseveral Dwarka. worlds He is the author of 10 hard to believe, sitting Jan’s all the packages then went“We to hisload neightime for a shortinbreak. dominated non-fiction books, a simsunlit living “We room,usually that on the a mental from our fulfilment centres in 15 bour’s house and sold form ilar number of fiction other side map of thebefore planet, peopleout of the to 30Heminutes her a story. quicklyand are on our heading books, and he is a busiwere fallingcentre, sick, dying passafter,” he says. These realised way thatsoon he could so weand won’t need to backness journalist. Prolificaon a disease may, very soon, reshape hu- deliveries ‘fulfilment centres’ —ing places make money this way. track, the andfuture can of make Vaidthat usually delivers cy, it would seem, comes rather easily weekspackages have passed since my lunch.efficiently,” On the radio,says Vaid. packages arrive tomanity. be dis-Two15-20 While book writingwhere and journalism more a day, to him. He is best known for the come- have kept him busy, humour these days, word “pandemic” coming up. I wonder: tributedhas to kept delivery persons — theand break for lunch in nearly 25-30 keeps“Sometimes dy-crime novel series The Feng Shui De- Vittachi inspired. Inappear how much longer is it going to be before we all know some-and somea closely guarded 2008, to he be travbetween deliveries packages around tective, which follows the escapades of elled through Asia “investigating one to Ebola? secret in the e-commerce andconnected lothe times afterwards. It depends realDiwali. Setting out at CF Wong, a feng shui master and re- comedy scene”. His gistics It used to be, when we travelled, behind country sector, with everyone travels ensured ly on howthe the day is and the 7am, he finishes onlywe left luctant detective in Singapore. Vitta- that he is forever armed which we came, to5pm immerse ourselves in the countryAlso, to the comfromwith Amazon to the restfrom declina joke number of orders. after chi is also the founding chairman of (and its history) up his which we went. But today, with transcontinental ing to divulge too much inforsleeve. pany has a flights rewardand and recognithe Scholastic Asia Book Prize, helped electronic mation the gadgets, we can live simultaneously His prolificacy means thatabout he isthem. Once tion schemeinforseveral the person who found the Asia Literary Review and is presently working onpackages worlds. me in the Elsewhere arepropicked up, Vaid em-My cousin in London connects two large delivers most to and we get now working towards the World jects. One is a series on in her seaside home, to Jan’s daughter Liberia and to barks onHistory the ‘last mile’ toJan deliver Asian prize in money and certificates.” Readers’ Award, which will launch lat- for children with Scholastic reading column inVaid’s India. future plans too seem to revolve the products to buyersyou, who have this ordered and the er this year. Six months from now,around who knows? them online. second is ‘creative non-fiction’, where AmazonInternational India. “I havetravel gotten forms to Explaining the award he says, “We he attempts to solve aOutside might grind to a halt. be imposed. Wholeafter which a blue house in Tagore Garden, VaidQuarantines real murder pursue mymight undergraduate degree, feel that the Pulitzer and Man Booker mystery with the helprings might be isolated. Theto virus cannot electron-rise up the the bell, a packagecountries and receipt in hand. of a real detecI want do an MBA travel and hopefully are scandalous. They always present tive. Clearly this isn’tHe ically, but fear mobile can. Which may be good thing! Maybe the For now earlier company an had author who used the ranks in athe company,” he says. their winners as the world’s greatest suffers from writer’sphone fear that connects Jan’s daughter to me, you and buyer’sofinformation, block. loaded Explain-with the thread though, even as we are to talking, Vaid’s attenbooks. But most writers are excluded ing his working style,directions ultimately everyone everywhere will force to packages work togethand other relevant details to locate he says, “There tion is mainly onus the he still has to from both those prizes. These awards is something very uncreative er to beat this common enemy. this timeof next the houseabout in this maze-like neighbourhood. deliver.Maybe In the midst allyear, the I’ll heavy Diwali are scandalously saying, ‘This is the sitting in front of a computer stillorder, be writing tomatoes by theI seaside. As it’s ascreen. cash-on-delivery one about whichcherry I gifting deliveries, ask himMaybe. what his Diwali best that Planet Earth can produce… stay away from mine. most residents Then you areof the house seem unaware of, plans are. “Well, it is a very busy season, but MANJULA PADMANABHAN artist, writes about herfor parallel life and maybe when half the world is left out. I think free. When my colleagues a fewsee phone calls have to be made before the, author me starI’m and thinking of asking leave, marginalien.blogspot.in in Elsewhere, US,package in this fortnightly it is outrageous. Our award will be for ing out of the window, cash finally handed over and the theyisdon’t dismycolumn supervisor will give me an off on Diwali,” the world as it is — Asia dominated.” turb me. Instead, they delivered. say, ‘He The is onnext stop is at Green Apart- he says, before bidding goodbye and setting While you need a US passport to win chapter 17’.” ments, located opposite the Red Apartments off for his next delivery. the Pulitzer, or (until recently) a Britin the same area. This group of DDA, middleish or Commonwealth passport to nandini nair income flats are distinguished by their exter- sibi arasu
Waiting for Ebola
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Searching for driftwood Press Enter to give
Savvy and cosmopolitan readers flock to Haruki Murakami in millions because of the particular ‘Americanness’ of his novels
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Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage Haruki Murakami Harvill Secker (Random House) Fiction ₹699
aruki Murakami is that most conLike Prada Author Murakami has become temporary of things — a global a brand unto himself ap brand. ‘MURAKAMI’ is emblazoned in large type across the cover of his new novel, Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, like Prada or Versace across a shopping bag. So famous is Murakami that like a Brazilian footballer he only needs one name; after all, which other Murakami (certainly not Ryu) could the savvy, cosmopolitan bibliophile possibly be reading? As with the release of, say, the iPhone 6, Murakami’s fans, and there are millions, will queue in front of bookshops for several nights to be first in line to get their hands on his latest book. 1Q84, the novel before Colourless Tsukuru, was so relentlessly hyped that the marketing of the book was as much the subject of awed early reviews as the book itself. Colourless Tsukuru, like its predecessor, went straight to the top of The New York Times beshutterstock stseller list upon release. In Japan, Murakami’s books are reported to sell as many as a million copies in a single month. n a explains country this with astonishing, a penchant for shop- upward of 30 to 40 per cent. What universal ses on to the NGOs concerned. ping online, here’s an is organisation that popularity? One argument that Murakami, TK Mathew, CEO of Deepalaya (an NGO workGiveIndia also monitors the utilisation of saw the and potential in an online aphilana lover of jazz American literature, trans- ing with urban and rural poor), says his orga- every donation above ₹500. “We visit one benbeforeCarver the e- nisation raises its own funds through direct eficiary of every programme to verify the imlator thropy of JD marketplace Salinger andmuch Raymond commerce boom struck.to This non-profit orga- mails and the donation box. “Our fundraising pact on the ground. We also seek photos and among others, appeals American readers nisation also succeeded keeping a tighthe tab (and by corollary British in readers) because is department has people to monitor donation profiles of the beneficiaries and families,” says on costs.provides The result GiveIndiaflattering — a platform familiar, anisadmiring, mir- boxes and find sponsors. We have to pay for Udani. So for a child whose education is being that from And lakhs of people and communication and administraror ofraises their money own culture. where American funded, GiveIndia will ask for his rechannelises to nearly 200Anglophile NGOs, which have tive charges and that costs a (and British)itreaders lead, Indians port card, while for a group of been verified forMuch credible transparent util- lot of money, up to 40 per dutifully follow. hasand been made — particfamilies needing a water isation of money. ularly by Horace Engdahl member of the cent of the donation at tank, a picture of the While GiveIndia notawards raise funds for it- times.” Swedish Academy does which the Nobel GiveIndia tank would be sought. self, helps bring — donors receivers toPrizeitfor literature of theand parochialism of charges only 7 to 9 gether. When the website setofuptranslation in 2001 by per cent of the American publishing, thewas lack Payroll goodwill IIM-Ahmedabad alumni Venkatto Krishnan, and the pronounced indifference the world funds raised toLast year, GiveIndia there were onlyadmittedly about 40 lakh internet users wards outside its own capacious borders. its costs.such as New York, London, To- the pain of their rejection.raised ₹55 crore conurbations in India. Despite internet fondness penetration, Murakami, with the his low unabashed for kyo, Similarly, Om Shanghai, or Delhi. The alienation of a typthrough webOn the surface, Colourless Tsukuru,its is one of Krishnan it was anfor ideaWestern whose time had Prakash Americanknew pop culture, classical Sharma,character is an urban Murakami’s most accessible ical Murakami site,novels, payroll prowithout come a non-profit organisation would secretary music,—for European food, fares wellthat in translaRajasalienation,ofthe feeling of being adrift in a vast the surreal comedy, the flights gramme and of magical realmake convenient and its Murakami, utilisation than’s tion. Ingiving a BBC documentary about Gram Chet- driftwood to latch onto, ist fancy, the sometimesthrough sea with not even high netcloying whimsy of transparent. is asking why should the presenter“Nobody Alan Yentob remarks that Mura-I na Kendra, with which to anchor yourself. worth individuals work such as 1Q84, Kafka on the Shore, The Windgive; bigger question to self-discipline, whom, where highlights kami’sthe fabled work ethic,ishis that funIn Murakami’s new novel, the eponymous Up Bird Chronicle or A Wild (HNIs). The But payroll Sheep Chase. this and how to give. This is why is people refrain draising his obsession with routine, a “Japanese through Tsukuru Tazaki has Gileft his provincial home is a peculiar, unsettling programme facilitates novel. Tsukuru’s quest from even want to,” says veIndia trait”.giving It strikes methough as ratherthey American: all that is a better optionto study engineering. appears successful, almost city of Nagoya for Tokyo corporate employeeseasto too successful, GiveIndia CEO Dhaval Udani, who started as a than running, all that self-improvement. travelling 50km Tsukuru to A dedicated trainspotter, is preparing ily finding the (shocking) make a donation, even answer tofrom the quesvolunteer theMurakami’s organisation almost But whatwith about legions ofseven Japa- meet five people, whotrain maystations, not for a career building or rather tion of why the as group little shut as ₹50, from him out andtheir able years ago. nese readers? Perhaps it’s Muraeven agree todesigning donate. “With Giimprovements and to explain it monthly salary. away to his satisfaction. Life for kamit’s ‘Americanness’ that they veIndia, thereadditions is surety,” he to says. existing stations. Tsukuru appears Over 50,000 people 110 proscomwhole again, withinthe Receiving too find end appealing, or rather In the last He 11 years, GiveIndia wants, he says, to make pect of fulfilling panies part of the on payroll proloveare glimmering the horiThethat biggest barrier todenotes giving donations is has evaluated what Americanness over 50,000 peopleNGOs can see. The solidi- iszon. is Tsukurugramme. is a nice The guy, conversion his friends rate attest, “Nobody asking What Murakami holds things the absence of a mechanism that will out ensure — modernity, individuality. Muraon various parameters such as ty of the stations is at odds with almost 50 per cent, implying that polite, handsome, from a rich family. He has why should I give; the to all readers, its proper use. GiveIndia bridges gap by Japanese, kami’s rejection of a certain kind this regulatory, governance and ac- life, Tsukuru’s personal which at life least of the people in a set up forhalf himself: a small inheritbigger question is atosimple American, not only evaluatingthe thenationalNGOs it worksor with, of ‘Japaneseness’, “Being onintangible, seems ephemeral, al-where company sign of upTokyo; for the proed apartment in the centre a job at whom, and Indian,counting is the compliance. but also by tracking the Mishiend utilisation of ism of a writer like Yukio the GiveIndia platform immost indistinguishable from his gramme on average. “We know which he is competent, even good; he is lonely, how to give,” profound appeal of funds. And more to importantly, it raises funds at proves ma, submission authority, the dreams. and Backcrediin Nagoya,says in high these initiatives work and will condition not unknown to the denizens of Dhavala Udani personal liberty our visibility arefusal cost oftojust 9.1 perthe cent, one of confront horrors ofthe lowest in bility since school, they verify everywas part of a large cities, but Tsukuru scale up, roping in more hasthem had a number of meaningthe world.imperialism in China, Japanese NGO on the list. Theyalmost also offer close, claustrophobic less affairs and people getting on in more dois nowand embarking a promiskeep 9 of pertradition cent (ofand theremoney raised) training and group the“We disavowal capacity-building of five friends, two of ing relationship. nors to donate,” says Udani, defor our costs to — which include due diligence, for our staff,” them sponsibility tradition, must says Mathew. Shar- left to study girls. Having to divulge howappears he plans By the endclining of the novel, Tsukuru to maintaining technology platform, pay- ma feel liberatingthe to his readers. What Murakami adds his of approval: “Whenbrutally you ap- to in Tokyo, he stamp finds himself arbitrarily, reach of ₹100 crore in the have put the the target past behind him andfunds is prepared ment charges, Japanese, etc,” says ply holds gateway, out to alltransaction readers, American, tobyother organisations foryear funding, cut off his friends in his second at uni- next years. to befew happy. But the reader is left puzzled, unUdani. or Indian, is the profound appeal of personal accreditation from GiveIndia helps improve versity. For months, all Tsukuru “could think convinced Currently, is growing at 30 todis40 byGiveIndia the too-pat resolutions and For GiveIndia, main costs from our liberty. We are freethe to construct ourarise own idenchances of beingwrites, funded.” about”, Murakami “was dying”. He per centbyevery year and itofshould not dreams. be diffiturbed the mysteries Tsukuru’s maintaining website evaluating tities. He alsothe reflects his and readers’ feelingsthe of does not understand why he has been aban- cult for the organisation reach ₹100Moral resolution is not whytoyou readthe MurakaNGOs. raise funds onlineapart and through our Project-specific intense“We solitude, of feeling from, even doned and doesn’t have the courage to ask his crore target. As online improves, mi. Contemporary life,connectivity in Murakami’s novels, payroll programme and are, therefore, able to On alienated by community. the GiveIndia website, NGOs very spe- along friends why they’ve rejected him list so summariwith explained people’s desire to shallows give, Udani is not easily but in its are keep costs low. It also makes model scalaMurakami’s appeal is so the widespread be- cific as ‘providing a water tankthat for should ly, socauses, finally. such The wound is lasting enough be able questions, to achieve which his dream sooner uncomfortable author and ble as it cost much the five cause to does readnot Murakami is to to increase understand families drought-prone area’she along 16 years later in hisa girlfriend tells him can than heboth anticipates. reader seem unprepared to confront. number of of donors onisour website,” says Udasomething what it to live in the world as it with amount only the consent to aneeded. serious relationship if he shougatpratap dasgupta is a freelance journalist ni. Therather fundraising costcity for other be seeks is, or the global as it is,NGOs vast can global Donors a causefriends and theand money pas- rashmi out choose his erstwhile resolves
GiveIndia allows people to donate money online by verifying NGOs and ensuring that the money is spent fruitfully
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The holy knights
Europe’s largest brick construction and a spectacular Polish landmark, Malbork Castle is rife with stories of blood and gore, myth and legend, loyalty and spies
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ize matters to real men,’ reads the Michaelek. A ‘vision’, until her Nike shoes, English headline of a mostly Polish peeking from beneath the hem of her robe, flyer, featuring knights in shining give her away. Get there armour against the backdrop of With deadpan delivery in keeping with the Warsaw is connected to most what I recognise — from captioned postcards character she portrays, Michaelek explains Indian metros by one-stop flights. in my hotel room — as Malbork Castle. The that Malbork, or Marienburg (Mary’s Castle) as Malbork is four hours away by tacky headline and pixellated image apart, the it was originally named, was built in the 13th road from the capital city. flyer has my attention as it also century by the warmongering Stay seems to quote from Lonely PlanGerman religious crusaders, the Since Malbork is a rural town, et. Flummoxed, I turn to my PolTeutonic Knights. The order was make a day visit, and stay nearby ish friend and guide, Renata, for formed to aid Christians on their at the buzzing port city of Gdansk translation. She reads through pilgrimages to the Holy Land, Sprawled over 52 (30km). Try the Hilton Gdansk, the verbose copy, and adds to my but it soon grew to have military acres, this UNESCO confusion with cryptic clues like, World Heritage Site is powers. They were invited to the overlooking the Motlawa river “Malbork hits visitor like a tonne country by the High Duke of Po(from approx. ₹7,500; four times the size of of bricks”. Finally, en route to the land, Konrad I, to defend its borhiltongdansk.pl.EN) or the quirky, Windsor Castle castle, she reveals that Malbork is ders against pagan Prussians. pocket-friendly Happy Seven Europe’s largest construction in Mighty and victorious, the Hostel (approx. ₹500-7,000; brick, and the largest castle in knights also found mention in happyseven.com) the world. Sprawled over 52 the prologue to Chaucer’s The Tip acres, this UNESCO World Heritage Site is four Canterbury Tales, which, like Michaelek, waxes some time for the will take care of us bury times the size of UK’sho Windsor Castle. its dead, locals said.who were “honoured once and In eloquent on the knights forGdansk, all,” shesave added. and a church now, why are they killing At first glimpse, the panorama seems like everywhere Besides the of life, residents bemoaned forloss worthiness”. Fed up Oliwa of the Cathedral, ever-present danger, those livrecital featuring rare 18thus?” asked 15-year-old Su- their destroyed farms and houses. Many lost ing near the something out of a fairytale (had I known the border wantathe government to century pipe organ. alking iron gatesviolation. and into the Bhagat, losthave her their cattle history of Malbork, man however, it who would topast the the cross-border Vil- permanently relocate them to safer places. courtyard of whatwith Michaelek to “We are ready to live as migrants in safer locamother, aged and her perhaps, Pholi, seemed less32, Disney and 68-year-old more Tim lages that once bustled life are refers now deas the Middle Castle, we discover thator a strucand rudimentary weapons to damp, grandmother Devi when a mortar Burtonesque).Shakuntala The red brick structure stands serted, with only unexploded shells dead tions,” said Hitanshu Ram, even as andreaded uneasy dungeons reeking of the fear,192km each border corner of Malture of had to to bethe built several calm shell fired fromthe theclear Pakistani the Interstarkly against blue side skies,ofeven as its cattle in this sight.size According localinpharmaprevailed along in Jamstages. Work onPal, the more High Castle started in 1272, borklast portrays a different side of the knights’ national Border (IB) hitfalls theironhouse on Octointimidating reflection the placid No- cist Mohinder than 200 cows and mu weekend. the Middle andbeen the Lower Castle followed, lives. But if there’s one areatoI widely had to reported pick, it’d ber 7. Four other family members were buffaloes gat river. have immobilAccording Masters residence in therefused Middle ending 1406. Each injuries of the thousands of be the Grand sources, injured andcastle Suman alone escaped unhurt. On the grounds, I feel like a child ised by in splinter-shell Pakistani forces interiors come withIndicobricks were useddeath weighed Her fascinated village, Chilliyari in Samba district of and again, by the massive walls, turrets arethat dying a slow in a whopping Castle. The elegant the sweets offered by their palm treeson to remind the 10kg,absence and Michaelek, with care. her trained eye, is lumns that resemble Jammu division, justand 8km from theAnd Line of the and towers, defences dungeons. stepof veterinary an counterparts Eid, a decquick will to spot roots, the Holy land’. Control (LoC), the bruntmy of the cross-borping onto thebore drawbridge, fantasy turns “Who takethe careoriginal of thesebricks in- apartOfrom ades-old practice, and resorted ur livesknights have of ‘their later restorations. meets sciYet, perhaps, the most fascinating der from 1 to 9. Residents ever shelling more real as I October spot a Teutonic Knight in jured cattle underAesthetics these cir-also become to heavy shelling later in theanecevehell, we move ence here as he thesaid. knights employedfrom ducted dotes rise from toilets. Perched moved out ofWalking their houses at night, the cumstances?” the distance. towards me in when a flowing ningthe oncastle’s the border outposts in place to place high inina tower, loos were to execute systems, unheard of in thoseand times. shelling intensified, and cross returned the heating white robe, with a black sewn in promiHuddling alongside hunthethe Samba sectorused of the Jammu spend nights From filled armour, uniforms — the knightsThe overfed their intensiguests, morning assess the damage. nently onto the mantle, is our costumed guide, dreds of rooms villagers at a with temporadivision. firing soon the openenemies or in when they went relieve themselves, “Our lives have become hell, we move from ry shelter, 13-year-old Shanti fied andtomultiple Indian postsa temporary and shelter gentle push iswere all it took to sendleading them hurtling place to place and spend nights in the open or clutches her school bag — the attacked, to the despite having homes down to a moat. The method is ingenious but in temporary shelters despite having homes,” only belonging she took with largest migration witnessed unbelievably coarse, and my thoughts said Sonu Lal. her when fleeing. A resident of since the 2003 ceasefire. seem to align with that Defence of an uninhibited little boy, The shelling has claimed eight lives in all, Chilliyari, the girl who loves to minister Arun Jaitley who sums it up with on brevity: “No shit!” injured close to 90 and displaced 32,000 peo- study and write exams is hopcalled Pakistan to stop the Ultimately, itattacks was theand hosts that got the betple from 113 hamlets in Jammu division, Sam- ing things will soon return to normal. “unprovoked” issued a warning. ter ofdivisional the knights. Hankering for as ba and Kathua districts along the IB. But 82-year-old Shonal Devi is angry and un- The commissioner of power, Jammu, they usurped said land from a classic case Meanwhile, at a local school-turned-tempo- willing to settle for mere hope. “They are strik- Shantmanu, morePoland than — 6,000 people of guests overstaying theirsources welcome onefigof rary shelter, Suman is inconsolable while the ing us again and again, which has made our were relocated, but other put—the the at fiercest women around her try to wipe away her tears. life hell. We are living under the constant fear ure 18,000.Medieval battles was fought and Suman repeatedly cries out, “I want to see my of shells or bullets,” said Devi, a resident of Ar- won by the Poles. “Perhaps, the only war they won!”next chuckles Michaelek. mother, where is my father?” Fearing more nia village close to the border. “India should What Eventually, MalborkChief was Minister taken over by the shelling, the family has been unable to even retaliate strongly and teach Pakistan a lesson Jammu and Kashmir Omar AbPoles, thanks largely the work of aafter spy. But dullah flew to the to border areas Eid not before gained currency — prayers andanother directedlegend the state administration during themeasures war, the to Poles heard a meeting to take all ensure theofsafety of the taking place the dining people in the in affected areas.area of the Grand Master’s residence. But it summoned wasn’t so much Meanwhile, Islamabad India’sa meetinghigh as acommissioner prayer to theirJPpatron saint, Ma-a deputy Singh to lodge ry. The Poles fired a cannon aiming“unprofor the strong protest against whatball it termed column that from held the up Indian the residence. But the voked firing” side. knights’ werescaled answered, even toEven asprayers the firing downand on October day,the a cannon is wedged in the column. 10, people ball at the temporary camp in Samtour Malbork with stories of baAare not of ready to sighisinrife relief yet as they exbloodPakistan and gore,tomyth and legend, loyalty pect resume its strikes. A and few spies. I feel as though I’ve walked into a period youngsters braved a visit to Chilliyari village drama. yet, homes this 13th-century structure to checkAnd if their were still intact. “We echoes times, plagued withhouses familwant tothe seemodern what has happened to our iar issues of war andallreligion. As I settlement go back to and livestock, after this is our Renata’s firsttodescriptor, nowLal. appears and we have live here,” which said Sham to Prakash be moreKumar than just a flippant pun, Malbork another youngster in the does seem to hit itsanxious visitors to ‘like a tonne of group was however return to the bricks’,“They forcing(Pakistan) them to question and camp: are not morality trustworthy society, faith they and crusades. neighbours, can hit back anytime.”
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Shell-shocked hamlets
At the frontlines A villager points to a wall riddled by shells in Nanga Village; in Chilliyari, about 50km from Jammu, villagers who fled home during the cross-border firing return to feed cattle and attend to daily chores before heading back to their relief camps afp/narinder nanu
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Those living along the India-Pakistan border find themselves in the crossfire yet again
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Pockmarked history Villagers clear the debris from their home, which was damaged during the cross-border firing afp/narinder nanu
kiran mehta is a Mumbai-based journalist tawqeer hussain is a Delhi-based journalist
takeaway meet
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All a day’s walk Theinprizefighter In five years, Mysore-based has Sarita changed thecontinues way tourists (andnot locals) seemake the She may havea lost the gold atcompany Incheon, but Devi to fight just to royal city itsexpose timeless a living butand also thelanes inconsistencies in boxing’s scoring system
Old streets, new ways Cycle tours are just as popular as walks around the city
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he 10-day Dasara celebration in My-
sive Market Walk. The Food Tour tackles
leading all our tours. We are all passionate
Tears of anger Devi’s emotional outburst atpathe Asian Games was understandable, returning medal went against the spiritthings of the game cheung soreSarita culminates in a torchlight questions like how Mysorebut pak got itsher name, about different but ap/kin what binds us to-
rade, at the end of which the skies er punches may not have in erupt in a spectacular showbeen of fireworks. This,the in same effect, league signalsas theMary end Kom’s. of the withhere. everyMysore blow she landed peak touristBut season goes backon to her Korean Laishram being a ‘weekend break’opponent, from Bangalore or a Sarita Devi’s spirittosoared. Pummelled stopover en route other places on theinto tour-a corner, Park Ji-na staggered, wobbledcalled and ist trail in South India. But a company reeled Mysore under Sarita’s Yet, astonishRoyal Walks onslaught. (RMW) believes there’s ingly, to the Korean boxer apogee. walked away more theSouth city than its annual with the honours at the semifinal bout of the I meet Vinay Nagaraju, who, along with ViAsianParameswarappa Games. In what appeared to be an innay started the outfit in credibly Sarita lost the bout. The 2009 to biased provideruling, offbeat cultural experiences blatant to injustice was of felttheir keenly by the sobrelated the history hometown. He bing “History Indian boxer, refused accept the says, need who not be abouttodates, it can bronze For had promised herintrofans be aboutmedal. stories. Weshe provide an intimate a gold before leaving forgoes Incheon. duction to Mysore that beyond what you One theinternet most talented women read onofthe or are told by a boxers, tourist Sarita, Do along fellow Manipuri Mary Kom,a guide. youwith know, for instance, why there’s is creditedinwith profile of boxing in painting oneraising of the the NASA facilities depictthe country. Like Kom,Wars?” she too comes from the ing the Anglo-Mysore modest family. Butitliving in the While agricultural I resist the urge to look up on the inshadow of Kom’s popularity, her World Chamternet (where, as it happens, one can now find pionship andNagaraju four Asian Championship titles the answer), narrates an example of have history gone mostly unnoticed. If Kom adhow well told, and trivia, canwas bring venturous, chasing away romeos in her alive any place. “Let’s say street you visit the Mysore youth, Sarita was more diffident. fact, you she Palace. It is just a structure whose In details feared thelook boxing ring. Taekwondo Kung can easily up online. But what ifand I told you Fu excited her more. of brought wearing that a Hollywood starThe wasprospect born and gumclose shields discouraged her.you “I know feared that my up to the palace? Did jaws would widen and disfigure my face,” she there is a sixth-generation stone carver whose says, speaking about in the family has worked on her moreinitial than days 60 idols for sport. But of fuelled by her father’s passion, the Palace Mysore? Or the fact that there she are decided to pursue boxing. connections between Mysore and the AmeriHumble frank, almost a fault, Sarita’s can War of and Independence andtothe French Revcoaches consider her the hardest olution? It’s these connections that worker matter.”in training camps.a After giving birth to her The son RMW offers handful of open tours. in February she prepared GlasRoyal Walk in2013, the morning linksfor thethe city’s regowand Commonwealth with remarkable gal colonial pastGames with events that hapdiligence, losingacross nearly the 20kg. She turned to pened halfway world and also Mary for motivation. “I realised if a mother of includes a tour of the 125-year-old Devaraja three can makeatsuch strong comeback, why Market, abuzz that ahour with stalls of flowcouldn’t Mother Mary (Kom) inspiers, fruitsI?and vegetables. It alsowas has my an exclu-
between mouthfuls of many such local delica- gether is our love for history, for Mysore and ration,” Sarita,Tour whoisreturned with a of silver cies. Thesays Elements a combination the for a sport that is perceived to be masculine, Saripeople.” medal Walk, from the was herthe commitRoyal thegames. MarketSuch Walk and Food ta But andhow herdoes ilk have defied popular percepthe company sustain its busimentand to the sport thata she sep- ness Tour, goes on for littleswallowed over threethe hours. tions. beyond DespiteDasara? their achievements, which “From November to aration these, fromthere her are newborn, whoconductbarely March, Besides special walks surpassed male counterparts’ at Inchewe their are busy with individual travellers recognises her now.like Sarita thatwhich Mary from ed during Dasara, the believes Night Tour, on, there is and roomabroad. for improvement. India From MarchCompetito June, and she set a the benchmark for all sportstakes onehave through city, resplendent in its when tion schools in women’s boxingholidays, has increased have summer we have women — motherhood doesn’t stop you from more illuminated glory. considerably. But if thesays success of the biopic Indian tourists,” Nagaraju. scaling the heights of sport. Personalised private tours are available too. onBesides, Mary Kom is any indication, winds are Mysore is usually preferred by corSarita’s disappointment at KoIncheon was un- changing course. The company created one for porates in Bangalore for offsites derstandable, was her emotional outburst. fi Annan, the as former secretary At the Asian more the judges of —Games, often held inthan the shoulder seaBut the subsequent actNations. of returning general of the United It the medal the semifinalsons. bout,“Our the corporate Indian delegation let training acwent against the spirit of the game. What The contailored another interesting Sarita Despite concern, she tivities their are lack builtof around the if I told youdown. a troversial decision she went tour for a client whonotwithstanding, was putting lodged an individual protest and appealed to history of Mysore. There’s not Hollywood star was too far. Athletes work hard, Sarita together a coffee-table bookdream on big. the judges. At the medal ceremony, she much difference between a corborn and brought up too had professions. a dream. Unfortunately, work dying “We metit didn’t without reporate counterpart, team-building activity close to thehugged palace? her Korean out for10 her. not the about orBut 12 it’s people whofirst aretime a boxing lenting on her stand. “I was right. sufand a war. So we tryWe to have emulate verdict has raised eyebrows at agames hosted fered from poor still in ancient professions, like hadand to the officiating. same ideas,Someone strategies by Koreans. On several other ocpalmist, a duplicate key maker stand up.” Sarita the role For upideologies,” saystook Nagaraju. casions, scoreswho have and a Koleboxing Basava artiste, acon herself,it’s even if it learning meant fightchildren, about hiscome undera the scanner. Atdoor-to-door.” this companies bedecked bull ingIf athey losing Outside tory in context. wantbattle. to know about the edition thename Asian Games in InWhileofthe suggests that RMW only War of Srirangapatna, ring, facing possibility for the example, RMW of cre-a cheon, even pugilists from Mon-includes conducts walks, its repertoire cycle life ban, she was forced into subates a treasure hunt around it. Sarita feared the golia although and Philippines tours; the tour raised that seems to have ring. Five a written apology by after they started, do they see boxing The years mitting their voice against unfair rulcaught the fancy of younger travellers is the of RMW Boxing India. face expanding? “We do aSarita little may bit ofalso Sriranprospect wearing ings.in“My was against thejeep. one an protest open-top vintage 1973 from AIBA, the Internagapatna and sanctions a few tours to Bylakuppe, but as gum shields system, that youngsters don’t “Socialsomedia is where most of the younger tional expanded Boxing Association. She of now, geographically. discouraged her we haven’t suffer my fatethere in the in-of people who Hopefully, somewhere crowd is, but arefuture,” also a lot may have invited theline, wrath Kodown the weofmay sists Sarita. Her case it, has exposed simply don’t access and are just as interest- do that but asrean spectators but she earned of now we are happy, right here theininconsistencies in the scored travel,” says Nagaraju, “We’ve always be- in Mysore.” the affection and respect of her ing system the sport. Thebe sys-a fair mix of lieved thatofthere has to fans. It’s time toIndian wind up and I’m still wondering tem doesn’tmedia allow points to be displayed traditional and social media to getuntil our what It isconnects perhaps that the drive live a good that NASAto painting withlife Karnathe bout over,the keeping of allotname outisinto world.the Ourprocess brochures and taka, encourages individuals like Sarita and “Tipu Mary when Nagaraju relents, and says, ting cards points opaque. the tent areentirely displayed at someWith of the topnext ho- Sultan Kom toistake up a gruelling sport, where the considered by many, including world championship set to be held tels of Mysore which recommend us.”in South space fear of exploration injury is real agency, at all times. It is this drive as the father of Korea in November, remains to absence be seen of if modern Nagaraju leads theitteam in the that has inspired legions of youngsters. rocket technology — he createdMany and Sarita decides to participate. Parameswarappa, who is currently on a hiatus used morethis young women are willing to ‘flex’ form of weaponry to fight thetheir BritSinceare herboth international debut in 2001, Sarita — they fulltime employees, as are the ish.” muscles are taking to boxing and really wresBut and to know the futurist that Tipu has steadily the rankings. others on theclimbed team. Aup foodie, Nagaraju Puniis an was, tling.I’llIf have they to can aircraft don gofly to war or atand least, go khaki, to the shing schedules, a strictwhile regimen, fa- battlefield engineer by training, twoand of poor his colwhy can’t they with‘fight’ RMW.to make a living? cilities are or architects inadequate leagues andinfrastructure theatre artists.have “Evvijay lokapally rao rayachoti is a Chennai-based writer never stopped loveistoequally box,” she says. For ery person on her. the “I team capable of saritha
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Wild calling Let there be noise Bagworms CREATURE FEATURE
Rohan Chakravarty’s wildlife caricatures The proliferation of sexual violence in West Bengal has been worsened by the supercilious brought colour and life to the walls of The pivotal role of the wind and of ‘ballooning’ attitude of its leader and institutional forgetting Bangalore’s Indian Cartoon Gallery in the life of bagworms
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is profile says he is noto- interests from shooting birds to rious forlobbed avoiding and phone evelry aside, the puja pandals which tinues to be a detonative volleyball, spottingforgetting. them) andThe India’s greater institutional CPM governmeetings, but reaction dotted West Bengal in early October from one political side to thecalls and lesser cats, among several other next.and On June ment’s to Malik’s death was similar to Chakravarty, were also an occasion for philosoph- 14 this year, Trinamool leader,Rohan quirky illustrations. Krishnanagar its dismissal of the brutal 1990 Bantala gang whose exhibition ‘Wildlife Too-of three ical extrapolation. Watching Durga MP and yesteryear Tollywood “My favourite bird is theconspirwhitestar Tapas Paul the rape, health officers. Crying nie Way’ was the 101st show slay the demon Mahishasura was a reminder chose the crudest words collared Chakravarfrom the Bengali lex- at The acy Inis a trick thatblackbird,” Banerjee says seems to have dian Cartoon in Bangalore of an uncomfortable truth — evil has an end- icon to warn his rivals ty,her “It sports a handsome white band in Nadia — “IfGallery any oppolearnt from predecessors. last month, comes acrossI as warm less capacity to metamorphose and return. nent touches a Trinamool across the its beautiful black body, a Joryelgirl, father or child, For Banerjee, gang rape of Suzette andI amiable. “I think I relate dan better Mahishasura is believed to have taken on the will destroy his family. low bill and a bright,2012 spectacle-like will unleash my boys. on Park Street in February was a matto animals than people,” “If had form of a buffalo, a lion and an elephant in his Rape kore chole jaabe. yellow ring around to itsmalign eye. It her reRape kore chole jaabe.”he says. ter that been fabricated animals my cartoons epic battle with the goddess. Confessedly, a be- They will rape them, minds meon June of a well-groomed, suave he could said publish repeatedly. state. A year later, 8, there emerged me, I would possibly just lawyer liever in the supernatural, the validity of this Caught on camera,and to the court. it lacks isina thepay nation fromoffthe village ofAll Kamduni skipannoyed meeting people altogether!” myth wouldn’t be lost on Mamata Banerjee. had heard him. Visibly briefcase! think it’s one yet of the Bengal’sI Barasat district anWith 72 prints marked by vivid handsomest Like the monsters of folklore and scripture, by the resultant outrage, birds I’ve seen.” Mamaother story of terrible sexual crureds, indigos sexual violence in Bengal continues to mutate, ta Banerjee too thought Beyond theautopsy anthropomorphism, that and every other colour elty. The report of a Sexual violence in in line the of spectrum, Chakravarty used Chakravarty’s shaking foundations of worlds, both intimate bombast was her best show his ability desecond-yearworks college student reBengal continues to his signature and public. verygang real fence — “He has been asked to style of caricature to to collate vealed humour that shewith hadthe been mutate, shaking exaggerate The West Bengal chief minister should natu- tender an unconditional conflicts today.Her In apol-the features and anato- man-animal raped over several ofhours. Hanging by a silk thread A bagworm waits to ‘balloon’ with the wind ambika kamath foundations of my of his me feathered and four-legged fact,legs rally be invested in this issue. It was on Janu- ogy. What would you overhad a fourth theapart, birds and have been of torn her worlds, both intimate friends to bring out their character, animals ary 7, 1993, that Banerjee, then a Youth do? Kill him?” hisnavel, printsher at the body depicted ripped toinher feand public hose of us whose and “to make you want to know exhibition Congress leader, hadlivelireacheddictability Kolkata’s of Writthe windBanerjee the choice are identified as endanhadoftirelessly earned mur broken in several places and hoods do notwith depend di- the them er’s Building a pregnant, deaf and tree onmute which they feed‘Didi’. and The vulnerable on the activists Internathe will epithet casebetter”. of Ta- A quick walkthrough gered heror throat slit. Enraged rectly Basak on by her nature of the Dipali side. Basak had been on which their children will be that. Conservation of pasi Malik proves Aftergallery, the for instance, intro- tional soonUnion began for organising rallies in sometimes forget how born. visitors raped, allegedly by a member of theSimilarly, Commu-bagworm (IUCN) list. released by the raped reproducand charred duced body of the to birds that are en- Nature Kolkata. Statistics powerful nist the Party weather can(Marxist) be. It (CPM). demic to the NilgirionBiosphere of India After Chief tion, which depends on the spread Although the Toonie teenaged activist was discovered in Singur National Crime Records‘Wildlife Bureau (NCRB) only takes something asJyoti catastrophic as a toofmeet 28 take species aren’t legitimise Minister Basu refused them, Ba- isDecember pheromones, subject to18,the Way’ showcased caricatures alone, 2006,Reserve, Banerjeewith didn’t longthathelped their protest. According to flood, cyclone orand drought remind found anywhere else in world. nerjee Basakto were beaten and arrested. whims of theBawind to — astep big gust alsorecorded known for his in ascan the aggrieved elder sister. Ad-the the NCRB,Chakravarty West Bengalishad 30,942 us that ournerjee survival is contingent onenter The she male crane’s swore she’d next Writer’sthe only scramble signaldressing sent outa rally by fe-in 2008, cartoons, somewomen of which tell comhadSarus said, “We will elaborate cases of crime against in 2012, the unpredictable andhead uncontrollable courtship was also with her held high. Basak, unfortunately, males that enablesnot males to how find CPM reminiscent forget leaders dance had raped andon display, highest inplex thestories country. On June of 23,Matthew the CM physical processes. A tofar less de- them. To counter the were the yellow-throated was reduced a footnote. odds andUnveiled re- asby Inman ofatThe Oatmeal fame. Chakkilled her.” Trinamool leaders in sparrow looked embattled a rally. She asked those asstructive way to appreciate de- gainasome changed birdmantoSalim Ali’s “Are Twenty one yearsthe is admittedly long time, control 2011, over atheir lives, ravarty, however, Malik statue(that in Singur is testament sembled, all the womenconsiders in the stateInman being pendencebut of all on where in living Nadia,creatures the district Basak a the theyDipali have evolved few firebrand’s measures. promise, but three years on, it raped?” Didi was fast losing that sisterly edge. the weather is to understand theof un-sexualEven was raped, the threat violence conif they can’t is pick they alsowhere an indication of opportunist tokenism While hearing the grievances of women in usual life of the bagworm. balloon to, bagworms can pick A bagworm begins its life by spin- when to balloon. Females, who can’t ning a little silk cocoon around it- travel far except by ballooning, are self. It then proceeds to stick little more likely to balloon than males. pieces of vegetation on this cocoon, And both male and female bagforming an odd agglomeration of worms make fairly sophisticated demore a humour-writer than a carsticks and leaves, with cisions about when to toonist — a title he’s hesitant to cona hole at either end to balloon. Individuals fer easily on anyone. But he does facilitate the fundaare more likely to balcredit Gary Larson, creator of The mental bodily processloon when sharing a Far Side comic, and Patrick McDonEven if they can’t pick es of eating leaves and tree with many other nell’s Mutts for inspiring his carwhere they balloon expelling waste. Male bagworms, choosing toons, and illustrator Brendan to, bagworms can bagworms eventually to move from trees Wenzel for his caricatures. Yet, wellpick when to balloon metamorphose into that lack leaves to eat; known in India’s wildlife fraternity, winged moths. But the risks of reaching Chakravarty’s green humour has adult females don’t an unsuitable tree are colour and levity that is all its own. grow wings even after outweighed by the (For future shows and prints from metamorphosis and cannot fly to lo- costs of competing for food. And ‘Wildlife the Toonie Way’, check cate a mate. Instead, they release a some species of bagworm have greenhumour.com) strong scent, a pheromone, which evolved a radical way to avoid the vatara rachel thomas is helps the males navigate to them. garies of wind-assisted reproduca Bangalore-based writer However, since they can’t fly, the tion — the females do away with females can’t choose where to lay mating altogether, producing batheir eggs. And when the next gener- bies that are little clones of themation of bagworms is born, they selves instead of babies that are can’t choose where to live either. genetic mashups of mother and faWalking around encased in a jump- ther. None of these measures elimisuit of plant matter is hardly an effi- nate the role of wind in their life; cient way to move; so young rather, they represent a comprobagworms can’t search for a home mise between capriciousness and among multiple trees. Instead, they control. It’s a bit like closing all the harness the power of physical forces windows of your house during a to disperse. They suspend them- dust storm — you know the dust will Fine find its way in, but leaving the win- feathers All is not wellselves West from a silk thread and get carried to another tree by the breeze, dows open would signal defeat at An Indian grey Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee behaving like tiny balloons. ‘Bal- the hands of the weather that you hornbill; and (below) seems to be playing a looning’ lets bagworms travel much aren’t quite ready to admit. a pair of cruel waiting game farther than they could by walking. Himalayan with the people of ambika kamath studies organismic and But in exchange for convenient monals rohan her state travel, they surrender to the unpre- evolutionary biology at Harvard University chakravarty pti/shailendra bhojak
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Chor police
‘Poolish’ idea
Mamata Banerjee, who also holds the all-important home portfolio, can of course be condemned for ignoring the safety of her state’s women. Regrettably, however, the catalogue of her follies is longer and more menacing. Her callous indifference to sexual violence is pti/ashok bhaumik; (below) Students from having a top-down effect. Not only are the Jadavpur University men of her party condoning, defending and (JU) and other hat comes first,abetting a swimming the contract for its mainrape,pool theyor are also now being accused colleges in Kolkata tenance? In Chennai, according to the vice chancellor of the of being active participants in these acts. In protest police University of Madras, it seems the latter. In aOpposition, senate meeting (a her daysto asbe a leader of the Baneraction at JU pti/ sushanta patranabish onday blues get to everyone, and meeting of all section and departmental jee saw the world inheads shades of black and white. the Delhi police had a bad case of of the university) last week, tried to like the Saradha chit Havingthe hitVCroadblocks it last week. The constables on night dupass a resolution to award contract a fund ascam, she to is now being forced to invent ty at a south Delhi police station took a particular company for the construction those murky moral greys. Crimes against snooze only to wake up and discover and maintenance of awomen, swimming pool unfortunately, require a bipolar view. that they had been robbed. Some clever for a period of 33 years.On When the othan issue that is always defined by one right thieves had entered the ‘lion’s lair’ and er members opposed or this, a resolu-the West Bengal CM has consisa wrong, had not only taken all the money out of tion was then passed to award the to favour a corrupted lens. tently seemed the ATM at the station premises but also same company the maintenance Banerjee’s complacency could well be a remoney that was in the cash register at contract of the swimming pool sult of simple electoral math. With the Left the canteen. The police at this station, for a period of three years. The and the Congress virtually forgotten, her new which has handled many high-profile only hitch in this careful plan nemesis, the BJP, is still a fledgling boisterous cases, decided not to file an FIR to save is that no one knowsentity if the in the state. Besides, gender sensitivity face. However, a local daily reported pool will be built at all,hasn’t even yet resonated with Bengali voters. Dethat they are unofficially investigating though the company spite his juxtapositions of electioneering and and hopefully, will unofficially catch will get paid for rape (“You can either enjoy it or scream”), acthe thieves who committed the robmaintaining it. tor Dev won the Lok Sabha constituency of bery that officially never took place. What next we Ghatal for Didi with a margin of 5 lakh votes. wonder. A deKolkata displayed its own lassitude on Sepgree before you tember 15. An eatery refused Suzette Jordan complete your entry because she was the ‘Park Street rape viccourse? tim’. The Bengali camel’s back, it would appear, can withstand many more straws. Only in a breathing dystopia can gender activists take some comfort in the fact that 13 men were recently sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for gang-raping a 20year-old woman. Precarious optimism, though, is being provided by the likes of Ainur Bibi. After hearing that her son had raped a minor, it was Bibi who first filed a complaint Kamduni, the West Bengal CM had historically noise), has proved that. against her offspring in Kolkata. In a state hen veterinarian putthe outlaw-and-order ads for her missing bird isnine silenced them with a fierce “Chup!” Sexual vioThe trouble with noise isn’t just thatTeresa it can Micco where machinery often months ago in California, did she know that sheitwould end upto facildiscriminate. The na- little akistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader and lence in the state still remains a rock that Ba- be short-lived. It can also riddled with lacunae, is assuring see a itating bird when reunions. In what her dispassionate fifth parrot reconciliation, appalled the bodies of became former cricketer Imran Khan is perhaps nerjee wouldn’t have anyone look under. tion was rightly mother’s justice prevail,Micco but not found Nigel, an African parrot, tracked its microchip to Darren who were found hanginggrey from a all discovering how tiresome civil disobedi- Trinamool MLA Deepak Haldar was purported- two teenage girls interventions in Bengal are asChick, beneficent. lives in the UK and bird four years ago. and Nigel had an eventBadaun onhad Maylost 27, his 2014. ence can be. First, in August, Khan was crit- ly being earnest when he said that “as long as tree in Uttar Pradesh’s Earlier this Chick month, some residents of Durful later reunion; Chick cried with joy, Nigel bitreportedly him. Not much is known about thesexwhen the raped corpse icised for paying his electricity bill, which the world exists, so will rape”. Banerjee ended But two months gapur caught Bhola Mondal bird’s the last four has lost his upper lipgirl. and News acwastravels foundinhanging fromyears, a but came after he asked people to join a civil up comparing Haldar’s critics to rabies-ridden of an 8-year-old uallyNigel brutalising a stiff 12-year-old a jolly Spanish accent. At afootage dog-grooming to spruce up by before West Bengal’s East Midnapore disobedience movement against Nawaz victims in August. The causal affinity between similar tree inquired showed salon, him being stripped an anChick,whimpers Nigel serenaded audience with weren’t many of em- thegry Sharif’s government. Then, last month, governmental apathy and societal excess is al- District, there meeting mob. He wasSpanish beaten numbers, with sticksclaimed and rods. he was from dogs. paso! again, anPanama East and barked along with the By Khan burned his bills in defiance at a pro- ways questionable, but the large-scale prolif- pathy. In August theQue time police officers could test. Hundreds followed suit, raging eration of sexual violence in West Bengal does Midnapore village reportedly arrest him, he was heavily bleedagainst a government that had failed to seem to have been impacted by the supercili- saw a woman being dragged ing. Though perilous, there are from her house and paraded curb power theft and had raised tariffs by ous attitude of its leader. several factors that explain such Less than a month after three students of naked. She was found hanging 80 per cent in a year. Now, after issuing a vigilantism. Bhola’s brother BaBanerjee’s callous Shantiniketan’s illustrious Visva-Bharati Uni- in her home the next morning. indifference to sexual bu is a local Trinamool leader warning, the Islamabad Electric versity were arrested for stripping and molest- Her husband, a CPM leader, alSupply Company has cut off and it was to Babu’s house that violence is having a ing a junior, an undergraduate at Kolkata’s leged she had been raped and power supply to Khan’s palaBhola had taken his victim. The top-down effect Jadavpur University alleged that she had been murdered by Trinamool worktial residence, which has building, neighbours claim, doudragged into a hostel by a group of boys who ers. The police, however, asserted three power connecbles as a party camp office. The then molested her. The campus too has now this was a case of suicide. tions, for non-payment age of the victim makes Bhola’s been rendered treacherous. The idea of eternal damnation of electricity bills purported crime appear even is perhaps frightful because the horrors of hell more barbaric, but it is the prevalence of such amounting to over ₹1 State action are repetitive. In the first week of September depravation that carries with it a threat of fulakh. We think Islamadvertising can, sometimes, As Jadavpur students began protesting this year,go thevery naked body of a Class X student ture violence. bad and Imran Khan wrong.vice Forchaninstance, against the inaction of their interim was fruit foundjuices near the railway tracks close to her need to watch KatiyaBhola Mondal is said to have abducted the that claim ‘you death’, cars cellor in September, intervention from can the cheat home in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district. She 12-year-old child from Durgapur’s City Centre baaz pronto! that are gas guzzlershad but state did not arrive in the form of mediation, lastoverstate been seen during the proceedings of a area. It was precisely in this vicinity that a 32mileage, energy drink that ‘gives but predictably manifested itself or in an a charge self-appointed village court that had taken to year-old woman was gang raped two years you wings’. Bull, that of lathis. Once police atrocities were Red added to bearing beating hertagline father. He had not been able to pay ago. According to police records, she was mofor the nearly two decades now,forhas lost a tiller. US When the girl inter- lested by 11 men and raped by five. One of the their litany of complaints, students took rent a power class actionoflawsuit accused of misto Kolkata’s streets. A procession 30,000thatvened, shethem was asked by the court to lick spit starkest pieces of evidence found was the vicleading advertising Red Bull doesn’t give was taken away tim’s pair of jeans, hanging from a nearby protestors made Banerjee’s “petty matter”claims. off the ground. She refused, literally orand figuratively. According to the The kan- tree. The obvious trouble with West Bengal is chant seem laughable. you Even wings, more ludicrous returned raped and murdered. plaintiffs, the company’s claim that the drink canitimprove was her nephew Abhishek Banerjee’s ill-ad- garoo court which had taken upon itself to that such signifiers are now commonplace concentration speeds is without scientific basis. vised query — “Is this protest due to theand ban-reaction dispense justice was convened by a Trinamool and easy to forget. charas?” Though Using terms like ‘wings’councillor. and ‘boost’, Red Bull seemed to Trinamool’s have given a false impression ning of drugs, liquor and Sourav Chakraborty, With too many dates in the Bengali calenJadavpur seems to havethat relatively quietened the drink gives oneJalpaiguri some sortdistrict of a ‘lift’. While none complainants thought president, wentofonthe record, dar coming to resemble December 16, no hordown in the past weeks,they’d it would be hard for wings, actually grow manyhis were disappointed to seedefence. no improvement in their parroting party’s preposterous ror is catalyst enough. The state government, the CM and her cohortsathletic to forget this public This performances. to cost the It company at least $13 million — $10 per a cruel waiting game with “Rapeisisgoing a social malady. will continue hapit seems, is playing outcry. Mass mobilisation isn’t the monopoly for person compensation the millions of Red Bull drinkers the years. pening and so will the accusations. Theover more its people. of politicians. The Jadavpur agitation’s net- the accusations grow, so will our membershreevatsa nevatia is a Kolkata-based writer working hashtag, ‘hok kolorob’ (let there be ship,” he said. Pox on you Protestors burn an effigy of TMC MP Tapas Paul over his misogynistic comments
Forget about the city, Delhi police can’t protect itself
Only in India can a non-existent swimming pool get funds for its upkeep
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Identity crisis
Powerless
Nigel the British parrot returns four years later, only to serenade in Spanish
Imran Khan is paying the price for his protests
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Clipped wings
Red Bull ‘loses wings’ and a lawsuit
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saturday, october 18, 2014
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cornerstone in-faq by joy bhattacharjya Travel
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n case the Diwali fireworks don’t suit you, here is a travel quiz just before you escape town.
He already had an asteroid named after him, and in 2002, Virgin Trains named a highspeed train after him. He has set up a centre for children who stammer, and in 2009, was elected president of the Royal Geographical Society. Identify this well-known television and film actor-turned-travel-show-presenter, who has often been described as ‘Britain’s Nicest Man’?
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For the discerning culinary traveller — which city has the most Michelin-starred establishments, more than New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and London combined?
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Of which mid ’50s novel, featuring the characters Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty, did Bob Dylan say “It changed my life like everyone else’s?” The work coined a term for a specific generation.
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What reason is ascribed to New Zealand tourism numbers growing 40 per cent between 2001 and 2006? One of the strangest national tourism taglines ever: Fill in the blanks with the name of a country in the Americas, ‘ _______, the only risk is wanting to stay.’
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the new york times crossword-0907
heard at the movies
Which European capital city gets its name as a combination of two localities on the opposite banks of the Danube? Janakpur, a city in Nepal just 20km from the Indian border, takes its name from the most well-known mythological king of the Videha kingdom. What was the ancient name of this city?
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Which fictional journey started at Iceland’s Snaefellsjokull volcano and ended at Stromboli in Italy? Known as one of the most predictable geographical features on Earth, erupting almost once every 91 minutes, it got its most commonly used name in 1870, during the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition. What are we talking about?
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It was laid out in the late 15th century on a site where houses had been originally destroyed by fire and was therefore called ‘Fire Square.’ From the late 16th century, it became ‘Trinity Square’ from the church of the Holy Trinity, which stood where a famous current landmark now stands. It gained its current name from the 17th century, about 300 years earlier than what most tourists believe! Identify this well-known tourist attraction. Answers
1. Michael Palin, from Monty Python and many well-known travel documentaries. 2. Tokyo, currently 14 three-star, 59 two-star and, a staggering, 208 one-star establishments. 3. Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, the bible for the Beat Generation. 4. The Lord of the Rings. Tourism New Zealand once described the trilogy as their best unpaid advertisement ever. 5. Colombia; yes, I agree with you. 6. Budapest, from Buda and Pest 7. Mithila 8. Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne 9. Old Faithful, the geyser in Yellowstone National Park. 10. Red Square, the original meaning is ‘Beautiful Square’ from old Russian ‘Krassny’, which now means red. St Basil’s Cathedral now stands on the location of the original church.
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joy bhattacharjya is a quizmaster and author of Junior Premier League — The First XI t@joybhattacharj
ACROSS 1 Halle Berry was once runner-up for this 8 Foreheads 13 Hanes competitor 16 Identify on Facebook 19 Ties up 20 French filmmaker who led the Cinéma Pur movement 22 When Earth Day is celebrated: Abbr. 23 Jewish bread/Played, as a violin/Throw (1950) 25 Tan-line producer, maybe 26 Ring material 27 ___ cloud (source of comets) 28 Org. in “The Sopranos” 29 Spend time in idle reverie 30 One quarter of a quartet 31 Toyota rival/Measure of power/Insult (1954) 36 Parisian possessive 37 Sound units 38 Strip club fixture 39 Anagram — and synonym — of 71-Across 40 Peace in the Middle East
119 Holes in shoes DOWN 1 Shopping malls on Black Friday, e.g. 2 Scarf down 3 Some wide receiver routes 4 Round of shots 5 Campus attended by Elle in 42 Forbes competitor 84 Have the lead “Legally Blonde” 44 Ca, Ce, Co or Cu 85 “Chances ___ …” 6 Beach homes? 47 Reside/Savage/Puzzle 86 Load bearer? 7 Kind of blond (out)/Wash (2013) 87 Memo opener 8 Ponder, with “on” 53 Greatly desired objects 90 California-roll ingredient 9 Prepare to put back in the 54 Any of the “South Park” 93 “That’s what she ___” fridge, say characters 94 Road block? 10 Pair of socks? 55 Strike concern 97 “In what way?”/Like 11 Unite 56 Kiss’s partner overcooked steak/ 58 Bananas Possess/European capital 12 Duke, e.g.: Abbr. 13 Start of a children’s rhyme 59 Number by a door? on a gulf (1985) 14 Make more intense, as 61 Islamic spirit 102 Get whipped colors 62 Inner: Prefix 103 British author who wrote 15 Rap mogul, briefly 63 Dating-service datum “The Old Devils” 16 Prohibited 64 Hooligan/Strange/Silo 104 “___ man!” 17 Where a golf fairway contents (1972) 105 Oklahoma tribe transitions into a green 68 Only non-U.S. M.L.B. team: 106 Brave group, informally? 18 President after Johnson Abbr. 108 Kind of garden 21 One half of a 10-Down 69 Some cameras, for short 109 What you get when you 71 See 39-Across say 23-, 31-, 47-, 64-, 79- 24 Growing art form? 29 Fred Flintstone’s boss 72 Like a milquetoast or 97-Across out loud 32 Minnesota’s St. ___ 73 Complete reversal 113 Meringue ingredient College 75 Comedian Kevin 114 P.O.W.’s, e.g. 76 Seed 115 Rush-hour subway rider, 33 Strange 34 Heavenly bodies? 77 Obama follower? facetiously 35 Mood 78 Sad news 116 ___ Islas Filipinas 37 Plebiscite, e.g. 79 Wildlife protector/ 117 “Inglourious Basterds” 40 Número of Mexican states Difficult/Hotel door org. that border the U.S. feature (1980) 118 ___ nous
41 Subway systems 43 Figures on some Valentine’s Day cards 45 Ultimate 46 “Careless Hands” crooner 47 Narcs enforce them 48 Marsh rodent 49 Cross 50 It was satirized in “Dr. Strangelove” 51 Kind of blond 52 Last word of an annual holiday song 53 Grind 57 “S.N.L.” producer Michaels 59 Bring up to speed 60 First name in mysteries 61 Rachel’s firstborn, in the Bible 65 Build up 66 Alecto, Megaera or Tisiphone 67 Made haste 70 Some shipping routes 74 One of the superheroes in 2012’s “The Avengers” 77 Former Oldsmobile model 78 Road starting at the Porta Capena
80 Film villain with prosthetic hands 81 Cheeky 82 Less puzzling 83 Kindle purchase, in brief 88 “Daniel in the Lions’ Den” artist 89 Discharges 91 Long-legged shorebird 92 Surpass 94 “Happy Days” girl 95 Green light 96 96 for Big Ben, heightwise 97 Eye shade 98 Symbol for ohms 99 Common bar food 100 Kind of mail 101 Get up 102 Three-time French Open champ 107 Euros replaced them 109 Work for Plutarch, informally 110 Not post111 Hog’s Head, in the Harry Potter books 112 Tip of the tongue? By Joel Fagliano / Edited by Will Shortz
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